Chess Notes by Edward Winter

Chess Notes

Edward Winter


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2 February 2020: C.N.s 11701-11703
3 February 2020: C.N. 11704
4 February 2020: C.N.s 11705-11706
5 February 2020: C.N.s 11707-11709
chess

Tony Miles

A selection of feature articles:

Tony Miles (1955-2001)
Chess Pen Portraits
Tolstoy and Chess

Archives (including all feature articles)

Factfinder



11701. A girl prodigy

From page 234 of Chess Life, August 1967, in the ‘Women’s Chess’ column by Kathryn Slater:

purdy

C.J.S. Purdy was referring to Jutta Hempel, whom he had discussed in Chess World earlier in the year:

purdy hempel

The following page had the photograph of Jutta Hempel shown in C.N. 9613, and on page 52 Purdy concluded with some general remarks on prodigies and on male and female chessplayers:

‘Alas for the popular fallacy that prodigies “burn themselves out”! No chess prodigy has done this.

In my opinion the general male superiority in chess has been mainly a matter of fashion. For a long time it has been “in” for boys to play chess, and for some of them to study it from books – only those who study it become good. It has not hitherto been “in” for girls, and among them the idea of studying chess books has been regarded as eccentric. This situation is altering slightly. If it begins to change completely, chess will become again a two-sex game, as it has been at other times in history, especially in mediaeval Europe.’



11702. Chernev and Purdy

Also from page 52 of the March-April 1967 Chess World:

purdy
                  chernev

Purdy’s ‘How to Advance in Chess’ article was on pages 77 and 80 of the same issue. Most of his praise of Irving Chernev was quoted in C.N. 9713, but below is an additional passage in which Purdy related that he had recently given a chess lesson, lasting just over an hour, to a 13-year-old girl, ‘a fairly raw beginner’:

‘What would I charge for such a lesson normally? Well, at least $4, assuming I was willing to give one at all. Not many beginners care to pay so much for early lessons.

What is the answer? I saw it at once, and told the pupil, who realized I would not have time to give further lessons.

Ten years ago there was no answer. Now there is. It is Chernev’s Logical Chess Move by Move.

For this is the only book of annotated games that is comprehensible to a tyro. Every other book of annotated games leaves some moves unexplained.’



11703. Platz v Fulop

Observations by Capablanca on a game played two weeks before he died were mentioned by Joseph Platz on pages 41-42 of Chess Memoirs (Coraopolis, 1979).

Platz’s victory over J. Fulop in a Metropolitan Chess League match:

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 h4 c5 7 Nb5 f6 8 Bd3 a6 9 Qh5+ Kf8 10 Nd6 Bxd6 11 exd6 fxg5 12 hxg5 Qe8 (‘According to Capablanca, who was a spectator and analyzed the game with me later (just one week before his death), this is best as White was threatening Rh3.’) 13 Bg6 hxg6 14 Qxh8+ Kf7 15 Qh7 (‘Capablanca said that 15 Qxe8+ Kxe8 16 Rh8+ Nf8 17 dxc5 was necessary because Black would now have a satisfactory defense with ...Nf8.’) 15...cxd4 16 O-O-O Nc6 17 Rh3 Nde5 18 Rh4 Ne7 19 dxe7 Qxe7 20 Qh8 Resigns.

The bare score of the game, played in a Manhattan Chess Club v Bronx-Empire City match, was published on page 36 of the March-April 1942 American Chess Bulletin and on page 294 of The Golden Treasury of Chess by Francis J. Wellmuth (New York, 1943). The venue and date (Manhattan Chess Club, 21 February 1942) were announced by Hermann Helms on page 14 of the Brooklyn Eagle, 5 February 1942, and the results appeared on page 15 of the 26 February 1942 edition.



11704. Emanuel Lasker and the 1924 and 1927 New York tournaments

Emanuel Lasker’s absence from New York, 1927 was due to a bitter dispute with the organizers of New York, 1924, and he issued a lengthy statement on the affair at the end of 1926. Much confusion and additional controversy arose because the text was published – in German, Dutch, Spanish and English – with many variants and discrepancies. Richard Forster (Winterthur, Switzerland) has sifted through all available versions of the statement in a special article presented here: Lasker Speaks Out (1926).



11705. Purdy’s year of birth (C.N. 4924)

When the mess over the year of birth of C.J.S. Purdy (1906 or 1907?) was discussed in C.N. 4924, these statements from his own output were listed:

  • Page 146 of the 1 July 1949 Chess World: ‘b. Port Said, 1907’;

  • Page 282 of the December 1951 Chess World (article about Purdy by Gunars Berzzarins): ‘Purdy was born in 1907 in Port Said’;

  • Page 161 of the August 1960 Chess World: ‘Born Port Said, Egypt, 1907’;

  • Second edition of Purdy’s book Guide to Good Chess (Sydney, 1951), in a ‘thumbnail biography from Who’s Who in Australia’: ‘Born March 27, 1907, Port Said, Egypt’.

The list can be expanded:

  • Page 52 of Chess World, 1 March 1948: ‘Purdy was born in 1907’;

  • First edition of Guide to Good Chess (Sydney, 1950), in a ‘thumbnail biography from Who’s Who in Australia’: ‘Born March 27, 1907, Port Said, Egypt’;

  • Third edition of Guide to Good Chess (Sydney, 1954), in the back-cover blurb, as shown in C.N. 9571:
purdy

The back cover of the fourth edition (1957) gave no year of birth but stated:

‘C.J.S. Purdy has had a distinguished Chess career dating from 1924, when at seventeen he became Chess Champion of New Zealand.’

When he won that event (Nelson, December 1924-January 1925) his youth was frequently remarked upon; his reported age, 17, is compatible with a birth-date of 27 March 1907. According to page 181 of the April 1925 BCM, Purdy was ‘only 17 years and nine months old’. The New Zealand press regularly stated that he was aged 17 and/or that he was born in 1907, and features such as the one below (from page 7 of the Manawatu Times, 8 January 1925) were commonplace:

purdy

1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 Nc3 c5 5 cxd5 exd5 6 g3 Nc6 7 Bg2 cxd4 8 Nxd4 Bc5 9 Nxc6 bxc6 10 O-O O-O 11 Bg5 Ba6 12 Na4 Be7 13 Re1 Re8 14 Qd4 Ne4 15 Bxe7 Rxe7 16 e3 Nd6 17 Qc3 Rc8 18 Bh3 Rcc7 19 Qa5 Bc8 20 Bf1 Ne4 21 Rac1 Qd6 22 Nc5 Ng5 23 Bg2 Nh3+ 24 Bxh3 Bxh3 25 Qc3 h6 26 Red1 Bg4 27 Rd4 Qg6 28 Rf4 Bh3 29 Qd4 Bc8 30 f3 f5 31 e4 Qe8 32 exf5 g5 33 fxg6 Re1+ 34 Rxe1 Qxe1+ 35 Kg2 Re7 36 Rf8+ Kxf8 37 Qh8 mate.

Other Purdy games from the championship published in New Zealand newspapers were his encounters with E.H. Severne and B.W. Stenhouse, both with Purdy’s notes. An unnumbered page of Australian Chess 1915 to 1930 by Anthony Wright (Melbourne, 1997) gave the score of Purdy v F.K. Kelling (game 178), without a source.

With the barrage of evidence, and particularly from Purdy’s own pen, in favour of 1907 as his year of birth, it was natural for reference books to follow suit. See, for instance, the Purdy entries in the works by Horton (1959), Le Lionnais/Maget (1967 and 1974), Sunnucks (1970 and 1976), Chicco/Porreca (1971) and Golombek (1977). Purdy reviewed the Horton volume positively on page 226 of the October 1959 Chess World; whilst observing that his own entry was too long, he did not demur from its statement that he was born in 1907.

In the second impression (1980) of Golombek’s work, as well as the 1981 paperback edition, 27 March 1907 quietly became 27 March 1906. A possible explanation is this brief item by K. Whyld in his Quotes & Queries column on page 152 of the March 1980 BCM:

purdy

Such a bald assertion would not pass muster today. A proper source is required, with acknowledgement that it was Purdy himself who had been the most active disseminator of 1907. That takes us back to the unanswered question in C.N. 4924: when did he discover that 1907 was wrong? If a reader has access to a run of Who’s Who in Australia, we should like to know when that publication switched from 1907 to 1906.

That the year 1907 is wrong can hardly be disputed given the public announcement of his birth cited in C.N. 4924. From page 1 of The Times (London) of 26 May 1906:

purdy

It remains to be clarified how the later muddle occurred.



11706. C.J.S. Purdy and Errol Flynn

From page 14 of C.J.S. Purdy, His Life, His Games and His Writings by J. Hammond and R. Jamieson (Melbourne, 1982), in the chapter ‘C.J.S. Purdy – His Life’ by Anne Purdy, his widow:

purdy flynn

The Hutchins School was mentioned on pages 13-15 of The Young Errol by John Hammond Moore (Sydney, 1975), which asserted that Errol Flynn (born on 20 June 1909) was a pupil there:

‘Errol began his formal education at the Franklin House School on Davey Street, but by 1918 was enrolled in the junior division of the Hutchins School, Hobart’s most prestigious private, old-tie institution for miniature bluebloods.

... Errol lasted only one more term at Hutchins. (Australian schools traditionally operate on three terms of several months each from February to December.) In April of 1920 he entered Friends’ School ...’

flynn

Different information is on pages 7 and 9 of Errol Flynn The Tasmanian Story by Don Norman (Hobart, 1981):

‘Errol first attended Franklin House School in July 1916, which was later incorporated in Hutchins Junior School in June 1917 ... Hutchins School is a prestigious establishment for boys begun in 1846 and modelled on the lines of the upper class English schools.

Errol went with the boys of Franklin House School to Hutchins Junior in June 1917, but remained there for only a short time before attending Albuera Street Model School ...

There is no explanation as to why Errol was taken away from Albuera Street School when he was ten years and ten months old and placed as a boarder at Friends School, a long established academy for girls and boys. He was nine months at Friends leaving on 20 December 1920.’



11707. Ghostwriter

Wanted: information about chess ghostwriting by David Daniels.

From the dust-jacket of a book which he co-authored with William Lombardy, Chess Panorama (Radnor, 1975):

daniels



11708. Harrie Grondijs (C.N.s 10439 & 10675)

Volume six of Chess Craze Bad by Harrie Grondijs, just published, is a 278-page hardback on Theodore Lichtenhein (1829-74). The back of the dust-jacket:

lichtenhein



11709. Prize for the ‘best recovery’

An addition to C.N. items about unusual game prizes (listed in the Factfinder) is a draw between F.K. Kelling and E.A. Hicks which, as reported on page 13 of the Evening Star, 10 March 1923, won White the ‘best recovery’ prize in the New Zealand Championship, Christchurch, 26 December 1922:

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Nf3 Ngf6 6 Bd3 Nxe4 7 Bxe4 Nf6 8 Bd3 b6 9 Bb5+ Bd7 10 Bxd7+ Qxd7 11 Ne5 Qd5 12 O-O c5 13 c4 Qb7 14 Qa4+ Nd7 15 Rd1 Rd8 16 Nc6 Rc8 17 d5 a6 18 Qb3 Nf6 19 Qe3 Bd6 20 f4 O-O 21 Qd3 exd5 22 cxd5 Rfe8 23 b3 Bf8 24 Bb2 Nxd5 25 Na5 bxa5 26 Qxd5 Qb4 27 Be5 Red8 28 Qxd8 Rxd8 29 Rxd8 f6 30 Bb2 c4 31 Bd4 cxb3 32 axb3 Kf7 33 Rc1 Kg6 34 g4 Bd6 35 f5+ Kg5

dia

36 Be3+ Kh4 37 Kf2 Bf4 38 Rd3 Qe4 39 Ke2 Bxe3 40 Rxe3 Qg2+ 41 Kd3 a4 42 Rc4 Qb2 43 Ke4 Kxg4 44 Kd5+ Kxf5 45 Rf3+ Kg6 46 Rg3+ Drawn.

dia



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