Chess history trivia

[MJMcCready]

Yes that is rather annoying,

[Hans Renette]

I have the following question/querry:

In 1999 a consultation game Kasparov vs. the World was played. Which master was the first to play against a group of players (i.e. readers of a magazine) according to this principle?

I have a player in mind, but it may be well possible that someone comes up with an earlier occurence of such a game.

[Roger de Coverly]

Which master was the first to play against a group of players (i.e. readers of a magazine) according to this principle?

Without knowing the answer, I might speculate that it goes back as far as the era of Staunton. Earlier than that, postal systems had yet to be invented, or for that matter railways which enable post to be delivered without much delay.

[Tim Harding]

I have the following question/querry:

In 1999 a consultation game Kasparov vs. the World was played. Which master was the first to play against a group of players (i.e. readers of a magazine) according to this principle?

I have a player in mind, but it may be well possible that someone comes up with an earlier occurrence of such a game.

One problem with such games is whether the master's opponent had a moderator who chose the replies from among readers' suggestions, or whether the reply was selected by majority vote.
In the latter case the master was very likely to win as he only had to set some plausible traps. In moderated games (like the BBC Third Programme's Master v Listeners games, in the 1960s) it was tougher for the master as the moderator was effectively the opponent.

For example the game DDR TV Viewers v Tigran Petrosian, 1970-71, won by the former. The East German public made suggestions and every week a move was made but in reality Horst Rittner (6th correspondence world champion) effectively played the game himself. Source: Fritz Baumbach's book, "52-54 Stop," page 147.

[Hans Renette]

In March 1898 Bird began two games against the readers of a London magazine, Pearson's Weekly. To make the games attractive he opened twice with the King's Gambit. After 11 moves both games were silently stopped.

[John Townsend]

Further to Roger's suggestion, Staunton played some members of the Bristol Chess Club by correspondence in 1840, but no magazine was involved.

[John Townsend]

Another question.

In which fictional game of chess did Apollo lose with White?

[Nick Grey]

Scacchia Ludus ("The Game of Chess").

[John Townsend]

Yes, well done, Nick.

[Tim Harding]

Next puzzle, sorry if it's too hard. Identify the writer and source of a poem about chess beginning:

Arms, and the Game I sing, whose varied maze
The subtle arts of warring hosts displays;
O'er which nor Jove nor Juno's self presides,
Nor chance directs, nor erring Fortune guides –
But skill alone the pensive strife decides!

[Barry Sandercock]

That is a hard one. Could it be by a chess player, named M.Slous ?

[Tim Harding]

That is a hard one. Could it be by a chess player, named M.Slous ?

Getting warm; that is an alternative spelling of the poet's surname (the one usually seen in chess sources but not on the the book)

but M is not the right initial.

[Barry Sandercock]

How about F.L.Slous alias Selous.

[Tim Harding]

How about F.L.Slous alias Selous.

Yes, Frederick Lokes Selous [aka Slous], father of a famous big game hunter who is in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Strong player in the 1830s and occasionally active thereafter. One of those who, some claimed, could (like Buckle) have rivalled Staunton had he been bothered.

Now supplying the source should be easy...

[Mike Truran]

"The Chess Player's Chronicle" Volume 5 1845 (pp. 274-278).

Republished from "Leaves from the Scrapbook of an Awkward Man" (1844).

Apparently "first published as a waistcoat-pocket pamphlet...... some ten or a dozen years back".