Chess history trivia

[MJMcCready]

Not him, he came after.

Capt. Joseph Bertin?

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/ ... edir_esc=y

Yes, that's him.

[John Upham]

Not him, he came after.

Capt. Joseph Bertin?

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/ ... edir_esc=y

Yes, that's him.

I had no idea and resorted to use of a Search Engine.

[John Clarke]

Joseph Bertin and his book get a short piece in the OCC, but it's not cross-referenced to any other item, hence it's unlikely anyone would stumble across him there. No mention of him in any other popular works that I have (including Golombek's History and Encyclopedia).

As to my own question: John Townsend nails it. Rather an amusing story there (can't remember where I first read it - most likely in John Roycroft's magnum opus on the subject). Smith/Bingham produced an English translation of Ercole del Rio's book Sopra Il Giuoco Degli Scacchi (1750), the third section of which comprises twenty composed positions and invites the reader to find the win (or sometimes the draw) in each - but without providing the solutions! The very last of them gives this position:
8/8/5r2/8/1N6/K7/1P5R/1k6
- along with the caption "Black has the move. It is a drawn game. Who knows the study?"
As a matter of fact, this is a grossly incorrect translation of the original Italian, which IIRC should actually read "Let him who can, study it."

And on the very first page in the book, before even the title page, as a sort of appetiser, there's one of those composed positions from the final section, under the heading "A Study (see page 323)".

A scan of the whole book - plus one of Greco's - can be found here.

So there we are. A new term for a composed position has its origins in a linguistic mix-up. About thirty years afterwards, it becomes firmly established with the appearance of Kling and Horwitz's Chess Studies (1851), and the rest is history.

[John Townsend]

That's an interesting story, John. I tried to find the original Italian, using Google Books, but, for some reason, I couldn't find a third section of Rio's 1750 work, only Parte Prima and Parte Seconda.

[John Townsend]

John, I think the link you gave is to Ponziani's work, not Ercole del Rio's. Ponziani's first edition was anonymous and Smith, when translating, thought the author was Ercole del Rio! Ponziani's second edition made it clear that he was the author of both, so it seems Smith had no excuse.

I think page 369 of Ponziani's work contains the Italian phrase I was looking for: "Chi sa lo studj"

[MJMcCready]

Capt. Joseph Bertin?

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/ ... edir_esc=y

Yes, that's him.

I had no idea and resorted to use of a Search Engine.

It's in H.J.R.Murray's account of chess.

[MJMcCready]

Which was the first newspaper in England to have a column devoted to chess?

[JonManley]

Liverpool Mercury (July 1813).

[MJMcCready]

Indeedy.

[Richard James]

Which famous chess player was known as the Jolly Doctor?

And which less famous chess player was known as the Dutch Doll?

[MJMcCready]

Tough questions, any clues on approximately when they played?

[John Upham]

Which famous chess player was known as the Jolly Doctor?

Siegbert Tarrasch?

And which less famous chess player was known as the Dutch Doll?

No idea!

[MJMcCready]

I thought Tarrasch and Prins

[Richard James]

Tarrasch is correct, although I'm not sure jolly is the first word that comes to mind when I think of him.

Some clues for the second question:

The two sobriquets were taken from the same article.

He was known as the Dutch Doll because of his small stature (thus ruling out the likes of Donner and Euwe).

On another occasion he found himself up before a jury accused of picking pockets.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Louis Van Vliet. Never heard of him.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=19156