Chess Notes

Edward Winter


Latest batch of C.N. items (3 February 2026): C.N.s 12271-12275.

C.N.’s main focus is on material not readily available elsewhere. If contacting us by e-mail (ewinter@sunrise.ch), correspondents need to include their name and full postal address; otherwise, messages are filtered out. Regrettably, we can no longer handle readers’ private research requests.



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Two new feature articles have just been posted:

Interviews with Steinitz and Chess: the Gymnasium of the Mind.




For pondering

‘Never play quickly against a slow resigner just to show how easy it is. Likewise, never resign prematurely just to show you recognize your game is lost. In other words, showing off doesn’t pay.’

Source: C.J.S. Purdy, Chess World, 1 April 1949, page 92. C.N. 11430. See also Resignation in Chess.

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Chess thoughts

Unspecific accusations of dishonesty concerning chess players will result in an international news story. Specific proof of dishonesty concerning chess writers will result in international silence.

***

Archives: for pondering quotes, and chess thoughts (our own observations).



1 January 2026: C.N.s 12262-12266
15 January 2026: C.N.s 12267-12270
3 February 2026: C.N.s 12271-12275
chess

Emanuel Lasker

A selection of feature articles:

A Series of Books on Lasker
The Pronunciation of Chess Names
A Problem by Paul Morphy
Alterations to Chess Images
Norman Willem van Lennep
Hype in Chess
The Homes of Chess Masters
Chess and Alcohol
Over and Out
Chess and Poverty
Excuses for Losing at Chess
Schuster v Carls
Reliability Eroded
Capablanca v Kalantarov
An Anderssen Loss?
A Brilliancy by Hermann Helms
Rebuttals
Chess Pen-portraits
Boden’s Mate
Timothy D. Harding
Chess in Advertisements
Chess and Hypnosis

Archives (including all feature articles)

Factfinder




12262. Check and checkmate

dia

White played 39 Bxh6 Be5+ 40 Bf4 mate.

As discussed in Check and Checkmate, Bogoljubow v Trott, Southsea, 1950 was depicted in the animated film War Is Over!, written and directed by Dave Mullins.

Peter Trott (Paddock Wood, England) has sent us his father’s score of the game:

bogoljubow trott

bogoljubow trott

1 e4 c5 2 Ne2 Nc6 3 Nbc3 d6 4 g3 g6 5 Bg2 Bg7 6 d3 e6 7 Nf4 Nge7 8 O-O O-O 9 Re1 Rb8 10 Nce2 b5 11 c3 Qa5 12 a3 b4 13 Bd2 bxa3 14 Rxa3 Qb6 15 Bc1 Bd7 16 Ra2 Rfc8 17 g4 Na5 18 h3 Nb3 19 Be3 e5 20 Nd5 Nxd5 21 exd5 f5 22 gxf5 Bxf5 23 Ng3 Rf8 24 Kh2 Rb7 25 Rg1 Kh8 26 Ra3 Bd7 27 Ne4 a5 28 Bf3 Be8 29 Rg2 h6 30 Be2 a4 31 Qg1 Nd4 32 cxd4 Qxb2 33 dxc5 Qxa3 34 Nxd6 Rb8 35 Nxe8 Rfxe8 36 Rxg6 Rg8 37 Qg4 e4 38 Qh5 Rge8 39 Bxh6 Be5+ 40 Bf4 mate.

We are also grateful to Peter Trott for this photograph taken shortly after the game started:

bogoljubow trott

See too Efim Bogoljubow.

An earlier photograph courtesy of our correspondent:

trott
                    meek penrose

From left to right: A.H. Trott, H. Meek, O. Penrose
London Boys’ Championship, January 1947



Addition on 3 January 2026:

Two further photographs of his father from Peter Trott:

trott chess

The board position occurs a number of times in databases, the earliest game being Richter v Engels, Bad Oeynhausen, 1938.

trott chess

Regarding this shot taken on Southsea pier (in, we believe, April 1951), Leonard Barden (London) informs us:

‘The man on the right is Donald G. Mackay, and the one in the centre looks like Stephen Hawes.

Trott’s chess career effectively terminated at Beverwijk, 1953, where he finished joint last on 1/11, including a particularly brutal defeat by Donner. After that his name virtually disappeared from competitive chess.’



12263. Alekhine v Lilienthal (C.N. 3348)

From Michael Sharpe (Toronto, Canada):

‘C.N. 3348 discusses the game Alekhine v Lilienthal, Hastings, 1933-34 and its possible significance in encouraging Euwe to challenge Alekhine for the world championship title. The moves of Alekhine’s winning combination in that game are of interest:

dia

Position after 50 Rf6-h6

In his 1969 autobiography, Zhizn shakhmatam, pages 30-32 Lilienthal gives the concluding moves as 50. ... Kf5 51 Rh4! Kg6 52 Rc8 Qxc8 53 h8(Q) Qe6+ 54 Kb1 Qe1+ 55 Kc2 Qe2+ 56 Kc3 Resigns. That continuation also appears in the Hungarian version of his autobiography, Életem, a sakk (page 65), the German translation Schach war mein Leben (pages 45-46) and in the English translation published in 2024, Chess Survivor (pages 48-49).

However, in their book Alexander Alekhine’s Chess Games, 1902-1946 (1998), pages 482-483, Skinner and Verhoeven give the conclusion as 50...Kf4 (rather than 50...Kf5), followed by 51 Rc8 Qxc8 52 Rh4+ Kg5 53 h8(Q) Qe6+ 54 Kb1 Qe1+ 55 Kc2 Qe2+ 56 Kc3 Resigns. Their book provides a number of sources for the game, including The Times, 30 December 1933 (quoted in Britbase) and Tarrasch’s Schachzeitung, 15 January 1934, pages 119-123. Additional sources which I have located: F. Reinfeld (Chess Review, January-February 1934, pages 13-14; Deutsche Schachzeitung, January 1934, pages 21-22 (notes by M. Blümich); BCM, February 1934, pages 84-85 (notes by J.H. Blake); L’Echiquier, February 1934, pages 396-397, as well as several Hungarian sources: Budapesti Sakkujság, 15 February 1934, page 10, and Magyar Sakkvilág, February 1934, page 44. Budapesti Sakkujság was a magazine to which Lilienthal contributed at least one annotated game in 1934 (1 May 1934 issue, pages 92-93). Endre Steiner annotated the Alekhine v Lilienthal game in the chess column in Magyar Hirlap, 21 January 1934, page 28. All these sources give the moves indicated by Skinner and Verhoeven, i.e. 50...Kf4 (rather than 50...Kf5), followed by 51 Rc8 Qxc8 52 Rh4+ Kg5 53 h8(Q) Qe6+ 54 Kb1 Qe1+ 55 Kc2 Qe2+ 56 Kc3 Resigns.

Alekhine’s attacking line beginning with 51 Rc8 was flawed, as Lilienthal could have drawn, after 51...Qxc8 52 Rh4+, with 52 ... Kf3!, whereas 52...Kg5 as played in the game loses. I am not sure when the drawing resource of 52...Kf3 was first published – none of the above sources has that variation in the notes – but page 418 of the 2002 book Alexander Alekhine II Games 1923-1934 gives the variation 52...Kf3 53 h8(Q) Qe6+ 54 Kb1 Qe1+ 55 Kc2 Qf2+ 56 Kc3 Qc5+ 57 Kd2 Qf2+ 58 Kd3 Qe3+ as drawing.’



12264. Assiac/Heinrich Fraenkel

From the ‘William Hickey’ column on page 6 of the Daily Express, 1 May 1935:

assiac heinrich fraenkel



12265. Morphy cartoons in Le Charivari

Jean Fontaine (Montreal, Canada) refers to page 170 of the New York edition of F.M. Edge’s 1859 book on Morphy:

edge morphy charivari

Page 152 of the London edition is almost identical.

Mr Fontaine comments:

Gallica’s digitized archives of Le Charivari cover the months of Morphy’s first stay in Paris. I have found five Morphy-related cartoons by the French caricaturist Cham (a pseudonym of Charles Amédée de Noé, 1818-79), including both pictures described by Edge:

morphy charivari

1 November 1858, page 3

morphy charivari

14 November 1858, page 3

morphy charivari

21 November 1858, page 3

morphy charivari

28 November 1858, page 33

morphy charivari

16 January 1859, page 3

What Edge calls “cuts” seem to be lithographs. Cham apparently had only a vague idea of Morphy’s looks, name (misspelled Morphi and Murphy) and fast play (the mandatory joke about chess being a slow game). His humour sometimes involves French wordplay, exploiting the double meaning of “échecs”, “dame” and “battu”.’



12266. 1960

Ross Jackson (Raumati South, New Zealand) sends the following (Punch, 3 February 1960) from his collection:

punch 1960 mainsbridge cartoon

The cartoon, by Norman Mainsbridge (1911-93), is being added to From Former Times (Chess).



12267. Milan Vidmar

milan vidmar

Thomas Herbst (Nuremberg, Germany) recommends publication of an English edition of the chess autobiography Goldene Schachzeiten by Milan Vidmar (Berlin, 1961). Pages 242-243 are shown in C.N. 8293.

It is a longstanding need (mentioned in our 1999 article Wanted), and an enterprising publisher might even combine the German volume with Vidmar’s Pol stoletja ob šahovnici (Ljubljana, 1951).



12268. Skittles and speed

Earliest Occurrences of Chess Terms includes an entry for ‘Skittles’, together with ‘Skittling’; an addition regarding the latter is an article on page 87 of the Westminster Chess Club Papers, November 1868.

In a letter on page 3 of the Daily News, 30 May 1894 Samuel Tinsley wrote:

‘There is, as every experienced chessist knows, all the difference in the world between what is known as off-hand play or “skittles” and chess. Multitudes can enjoy the set-’em-up-and-knock-’em-down game; not everyone can play games that will in the main bear after analyses, and afford intellectual pleasure to the student as years go by; and certainly no-one can play good chess at less than the now well recognized 15 or 20 moves an hour.’

Tinsley’s letter was in a series of four published by the Daily News (London) in 1894 on the subject of fast chess:

bird

29 May 1894, page 2

tinsley

30 May 1894, page 3

bird medley

31 May 1894, page 7

Bird’s first letter was also published in the Evening Standard, 29 May 1894, page 6.

See too pages 8-9 of Hans Renette’s monograph on Bird (Jefferson, 2016), which gave the first letter and mentioned the second and third ones.

The title ‘Senior Chess Master’ had been used in connection with a Bird letter on page 3 of the Morning Post, 4 September 1893 about draws and stalemate:

bird draws

The heading of a brief notice on page 32 of the St James’s Budget, 17 April 1908:

bird death




12269. Errol Flynn

olivia
                    de havilland errol flynn

Olivia de Havilland and Errol Flynn

From page 5B of the Sunday Sun (San Diego), 29 August 1937:

errol flynn chess

In many other newspaper paragraphs on the topic that year, Errol Flynn was called ‘Anglo-Irish’, a twofold error.

Chess and Hollywood has so many references to his reputed interest in chess that we have just produced a separate feature article, Errol Flynn and Chess.



12270. The Encyclopaedia of Chess by Anne Sunnucks

the encyclopaedia of chess by anne sunnucks

The conclusion of B.H. Wood’s column about the first edition of Sunnucks’ encyclopaedia on page 42 of the Illustrated London News, 30 May 1970:

‘Of course there is scope here for divergencies of opinion and you may well disagree with me. Perhaps the Women’s World Championship really does deserve more than three times as much space as the World Championship itself. Perhaps Lisa Lane merits more space than Spassky or Smyslov ..!

Yet Miss Sunnucks has assured herself of immortality, for her Encyclopaedia will undoubtedly be in print, its inadequacies rectified and its faults eliminated, a century hence, by then the accepted standard work of reference on the subject. This thought may console her for some of the criticism this first edition will receive.’

Wood wrote similarly in his first reaction to the book on page 288 of CHESS, 12 May 1970, as quoted in C.N. 9280:

‘... the book provides pleasant browsing for many an evening and, its faults rectified, will probably be in print a century hence.’

The prediction was wisely omitted from his column on page 11 of the Daily Telegraph, 18 March 1978, which gave an overview of chess encyclopaedias. The highest praise was awarded to Shakhmatny Slovar (Moscow, 1964). Anne Sunnucks’ The Encyclopaedia of Chess (a ‘grandiose title’) was deemed ‘a worthy though uneven production’ which was ‘only partially revised’ in 1976:

‘Her extraordinary achievement of allocating the women’s world championship more than twice as much space as the world championship itself remains unaltered though these two sections follow consecutively so that the imbalance could have been rectified.’

Turning to the most recent (1978) single-volume reference work, Wood commented:

‘To give his book the same title: The Encyclopaedia of Chess (Batsford, 1977) ... struck me as confusing and a little unkind on Harry Golombek’s part.’

The titles of Sunnucks’ Encyclopaedia and Golombek’s Encyclopedia differed by one letter, both spellings being acceptable in British English.

The Daily Telegraph column also mentioned the Dictionnaire des échecs (Le Lionnais and Maget), the Dizionario enciclopedico degli scacchi (Chicco and Porreca) and An illustrated Dictionary of Chess (Brace); six in all, ‘with a seventh by Paul Langfield on the way’. (That one never materialized, but see C.N.s 23 and 74 in The Chess Chamber of Horrors.) Wood made errors in the title and date of the Russian volume and in the date of the Italian one.

From the final paragraph of his 1978 article:

‘It is strange how all the authors have started from scratch. You would expect them to consult their predecessors, each building on the work that has gone before. This would not be plagiarism, but just natural efficiency. Instead, they more or less ignore each other. The result is big gaps and even steps backward.’

‘Building on’ is not the term to convey what Nathan Divinsky did to Golombek’s book in 1990.

See also our recent feature article Wolfgang Heidenfeld, as well as Chess and Women.



12271. Internet chess broadcasters

As shown in Chess Broadcasts on the Internet, C.N. 9085 gave our choice of the five best online chess hosts/presenters in English. Eleven years on, a new list is now offered (in alphabetical order): Jan Gustafsson, Jovanka Houska, Yasser Seirawan and Peter Svidler. How we wish that a fifth name could be added: Daniel Naroditsky.



12272. Unchessy

‘Chessy’ exists, but so does ‘unchessy’. Donald Whitlock (Solihull, England) notes that the word appears in Alekhine’s second Best Games volume (Alekhine v Lundin, Örebro, 1935 – page numbers vary), in connection with the possibility of 7...Qb6:

dia

‘This counterattack aims at an immediate material win at the cost of time and, eventually space – a dangerous and, to my mind, unchessy idea ...’

The original language of Alekhine’s annotations is often uncertain.



12273. Emanuel Lasker on blindfold chess

‘The impression that one gathers from the perusal of the games [a series between Schlechter and Mieses] is a disappointment. Chess sans voir cannot compare, in brilliance or profundity, with the chess played before the board. The fact cannot surprise. Why should man, in his enterprises, not employ the most favourable conditions that he can procure? There are enough tasks to be performed only with extreme effort, and hardly then. To surmount difficulties artificially created is a trick, a “tour de force”, a waste of good energy, and, in a measure, irreligious.

Men born blind often find happiness in playing chess by the sense of touch. Let playing sans voir be reserved for them and for tyros, who do not matter! The chessmaster should indulge in it only on insignificant occasions.’

Source: New York Evening Post, 5 February 1909, page 6.



12274. Health

From Lasker’s column on page 9 of the 17 April 1909 edition of the New York Evening Post:

‘Chessmasters, as a rule, do not sufficiently consider their health. The brain has not, as yet, developed an organ to give warning of overstrain; probably because in previous ages the brain had a leisurely life. Fatigue of the body makes pain and forces you to seek rest; fatigue of the brain shows itself merely by an indisposition to think and, perhaps, by depriving you of sleep. The brain worker must therefore use the intellect in order to keep himself efficient, whereas he who works with muscle is protected by instinct.

If chessmasters, in more instances than one should expect, have failed to show a wise regard for their health, part of the blame falls upon the chess world. Chess amateurs are invariably astonished when a master refuses an invitation to play, and they are hurt when the master makes a habit of refusing. I remember that there was a general outcry in the chess press against me when, at Havana, in 1893, I did not accept a match with Walbrodt; no-one said that I had had an uninterrupted course of hard chess, two tournaments in London, a match with Blackburne, another with Bird, many match-games in the United States, also much travelling, all between March and December 1892. Other chessmasters have had similar experiences, for instance Harwitz [sic], whose chess life was a lot of work and of abuse with little pay. He retaliated by abandoning chess. The strongest opponent of Morphy lived the last 25 years of his life out of sight of the chessboard.

Let the chess world ask less, even, if need be, admire less, but be more ready with sacrifice; let the chessmaster be allowed as much leisure as an artist. Then he will bring forth conceptions subtle and strong.’



12275. Supremacy

An article on page 8 of the New York Evening Post, 19 December 1908:

rosenbaum
                    chess and jews

‘Chess is an old game, yet all the paraphernalia of tournaments, matches, magazines, and chess columns in the newspapers is a modern development. The first notable chess match, that between [McDonnell] and Labourdonnais, took place less than 100 years ago; the first international chess tournament took place in London less than 60 years ago, and the first periodical (the Illustrated London News) to deal regularly with chess commenced about the same time.

Although Hebrew literature is studded with allusions to chess, there is nothing to indicate the comparative ability of Jewish and Gentile players. For all practical purposes, modern chess began with the 1851 tournament. Since then, many others have taken place, many matches have been played; all the records have been kept, and the relative and comparative merits of the principals are well understood.

In the first tournament several Jews took a prominent part, the most notable being Szén, Harowitz [sic – and Harrwitz was not a participant] and Horwitz. Soon after, the Jewish players asserted unmistakable superiority over the players of the rest of the world, and have maintained that position almost unchallenged. In 1866, Steinitz wrested the title of chess champion of the world from Professor Anderssen, and retained it for 28 years. Before Steinitz became a chessplayer he was a student in a Jewish seminary, with the evident intention of becoming a rabbi. His most dangerous challengers were coreligionists – Zukertort and Gunsberg.

Emanuel Lasker, a German Jew, defeated Steinitz in 1894, and now he has more firmly established his title by his success over Siegbert Tarrasch, another German Jew, the only player whom the chess world considered to be a dangerous challenger. In order to firmly establish the idea of the pre-eminence of Jews in chess it should only be necessary to mention Szén, Löwenthal (Morphy’s editor), Horwitz (author of end-games), Harowitz [sic], Steinitz, Zukertort, Rosenthal, Winawer, two Laskers, Tarrasch, Janowsky, Schlechter, Bernstein, Rubinstein, and Gunsberg. Of equal eminence the rest of the world can only point to Morphy, Pillsbury, Anderssen, Maróczy, Marshall, Blackburne and Staunton.

The supremacy of Jews in chess might be demonstrated in another way. An international tournament today without Jews would not be recognized or acknowledged, while one composed entirely of Jews would only miss Maróczy and Marshall. How is this supremacy to be accounted for? First and foremost, I believe it is due to the general abstemiousness of the race. I do not mean merely the abstinence of the present or past generation, but the inherited effect of the abstinence which has prevailed among all the Oriental races. I attach the utmost importance to this because, obviously, where and when the strain is great, every resource of mental reserve counts. If it is true that we are more abstemious, and it is an uncontested claim, then we have an undoubted advantage. Upon this phase of the subject I am not conjecturing, but am very much impressed by personal experience and contact with the greatest players of the day.

Temperance is not the only beneficial factor which Jews inherit. I attach great importance to the peculiar faculty for dialectics which Jews possess. By this I mean the ability to distinguish minute differences. This faculty has been acquired through association with the Talmud and its commentaries. I would not be surprised if upon investigation the supremacy of Jews in high finance were traced to the same cause.

Chessplayers know to what an extent the process of refinement has been going on. This faculty enables the possessor to estimate correctly the finest points that come up for argument: bishop or knight of about equal value, when one is preferable; the doubled or isolated pawn, when it is and when it is not a disadvantage, etc.

Closely allied to this faculty in dialectics is a superior psychological instinct which enables Jews to forecast more successfully the nature of the strategy which they will have to encounter. This instinct has been produced by the political and social conditions of the past and present. Even in an out-of-the-way book like Smith’s Wealth of Nations we find the assertion that cunningness and superior mental qualities are nourished and developed whenever and wherever physical conditions are insuperable or political and social conditions are harassing and unfair.

The causes which militate against America and England producing the greatest chessplayers are the causes of Russia, Germany and Hungary giving to the world the foremost players of the day. And as the Jews are always worse off than the people round them, they naturally turn for supremacy to fields where there are no arbitrary obstacles.

The study of chess needs neither university nor professor. The man who has the ability can demonstrate it to the world without possibility of quibble or question. And this is how the Jews obtain revenge for the unfairness with which they have to contend in the affairs of the world. Those who are jealous of this supremacy and wish to remove the cause must confine themselves to removing the obstacles which stand in the way of the development of the Jews. Those who think it is a pity that such splendid talent should be spent on a game rather than on things which might benefit mankind materially must concentrate their energies in seeing to it that the Jews shall enter into the affairs of the world confident of fair and just treatment.

In America and England, Jews have not much to complain about. Neither country has produced a great Jewish chessplayer. Yet they are producing their share of useful men in all walks of life. If what I have asserted is true, it is an extraordinary fact that in two fields in which Jews are pre-eminent, finance and chess, the qualities which contribute towards success are the same. And to nullify the assertion that Jews only concern themselves in subjects offering material gain, in the sordid affairs of life, we can point to the poor chess master, endowed with the finest talent, pursuing an ideal, demonstrating principles, amusing and interesting the chess world while suffering poverty in inverse ratio to his eminence and worth.’

Information about Harry Rosenbaum (1876-1951), who later took the surname Rowson, is given on pages 75-77 of the final volume (Berlin, 2022) of the Emanuel Lasker trilogy by Richard Forster, Michael Negele and Raj Tischbierek.

See also Chess and Jews, which covers a few points of detail in Rosenbaum’s article.



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