English Chess Forum

I came across this news item about Wladislaw Tabakiernik:


Which lead me to find two of his pre-war games in a Polish military magazine, which indicates he joined the Polish army at least a year before the outbreak of war.

Amazing find, Gerard.

Can I ask where you found the Polish military magazine?

Hopefully someone can re-jig the moves of those games into 'English' algebraic and into a PGN viewer. I suppose translating the Polish text might be too much to ask? (I am struggling to work out the moves, let alone who won the games.)

[He also played in the 1966 British Championships and 1967 British Championships, in case that was not clear. It was also Tabakiernik's withdrawal due to illness in 1957 that led to his replacement (Alexander) winning the event!]

"biale" is probably white (Russian is similar), so I guess it's saying white resigns
Looking at the score, but not playing the moves on a board, I think, S = N, G = B, H = Q, K = K(!), W = R

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 10, 2024 2:01 pm

Amazing find, Gerard.

Can I ask where you found the Polish military magazine?

https://obc.opole.pl/dlibra

Another picture of Tabakiernik

Date:1939-01-08

Caption: The individual champion in the chess tournament, Corporal Tabakiernik, receives the award. On the right, Senior Sergeant Gen. Podborączyński

W i a r u s s z a c h i s t a
GAMES from the NATIONAL NON-OFFICERS' TOURNAMENT FOR THE ARMY AND "WIARUS" CHAMPIONSHIP,
PLAYED FROM 6 TO 13 DECEMBER 1937 IN POZNAŃ

The first game is a bit garbled but here's his second.

[Event "NATIONAL NON-OFFICERS' TOURNAMENT"] [Site "Poznan"] [Date "1937.12.11"] [Round "8"] [White "Szkubnia (Petty Officer)"] [Black "Tabakiernik, Wladislaw"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C24"] [Opening "Bishop's opening: Berlin defence"] 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Bc5 4. Bg5 d6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. c3 Ne7 7. Qb3 O-O 8. Bxf6 gxf6 9. g4 Ng6 10. h3 c6 11. Qc2 b5 12. Bb3 a5 13. a4 b4 14. c4 Qb6 15. Rh2 Kh8 16. Nbd2 Nf4 17. Nf1 Be6 18. Ng3 Rac8 19. O-O-O d5 20. Kb1 Rg8 21. Nh4 Rcd8 22. f3 Bg1 23. Rh1 dxc4 24. Bxc4 b3 25. Qc1 Be3 26. Qc3 Bd4 27. Qc1 Qb4 28. Bxe6 fxe6 29. Qxc6 Rc8 30. Qd7 Rc2 {Wiarus : organ Podoficerów Wojska Ladowego i Marynarki Wojennej. R.9, nr 2} 1-0

Died in 1997 and has an entry in the ECF rating database - even though no games/grades are listed that suggests he was playing well into old age.

Here's Tabakiernik's earlier game from that event. (Note the correct spelling of his forename, which uses the Polish L-with-stroke (ł - pronounced as "w") rather than a regular "l".)

[Event "National NCOs' Championship"] [Site "Poznan"] [Date "1937.12.07"] [Round "5"] [White "Tabakiernik, Corporal Władysław"] [Black "Kasprowicz, Senior Sergeant"] [Result "0-1"]1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Qc2 Bc5 5.h3 d5 6.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 7.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 8.Kg1 Nxe5 9.d4 Ng6 10.Bd3 Ng3 11.Rh2 O-O 12.Be3 f5 13.Bf2 Ne4 14.Nd2 Qd6 15.Nf3 Bd7 16.Raf1 Rae8 17.h4 h5 18.Qd1 Nf6 19.Qd2 Ng4 20.Rh1 Qf4 21.Qd1 Re7 22.Rh3 Rfe8 23.g3 Qd6 24.b4 Nf8 25.Ne5 Nh7 26.Nxd7 Qxd7 27.Qf3 g6 28.a4 Nhf6 29.b5 Nxf2 30.Qxf2 Re3 31.Qd2 f4 32.Kg2 f3+ 33.Rxf3 Rxf3 34.Kxf3 Qxh3 35.b6 axb6 36.Bxg6 Qg4+ 0-1

The score as printed in the military magazine had one or two errors which I think I've been able to correct to yield a reasonably sensible game.

Prompted by Kevin's earlier post, I've been taking a look at chess terms in Polish (a language which, although I don't speak or understand it, has always fascinated me). The results have been interesting to say the least.

Consider the names of the pieces.
King = Krόl (pronounced roughly as "krool") - similar to the Russian "korol".
Queen = Hetman (supreme military commander) - harks right back to the days of chess ancestor chaturanga, when the king had a chief minister at his side, not a queen. Poland has always had to be a militaristic sort of society, what with Germans, Russians and even Austrians constantly chipping away at its territory, and this term reflects that reality.
Rook = Wieża (tower) - pronounced "vee-ET-sa".
Bishop = Goniec (pronounced GON-yets) - which can have as secondary meanings "courier" or "messenger", thus evoking the chess variant "Courier" formerly played in Germany.
Knight = Skoczek (pronounced SKOTcheck - which humorists will doubtless enjoy rendering as "Scotch Egg" - meaning "jumper", similar to the "springer" of German).
Pawn = Pion (exactly the same as in French).

As Kevin suggests, the recurring phrase "i Białe poddały sie" means " .... and White resigns" (or, more literally, gives up). The text appended to the last of the four games given in the magazine article appears to mean something like " ... and Black, already having the worst of it, resigned after a few more moves". "Petty Officer" best describes the loser's rank, although the literal translation of it is "boatswain" (or bo's'un).

I'm pretty sure I played Tabakiernik in a county match in the late 80s or early 90s. I'll have a look.

Maybe Essex v Berkshire.

He appears to have had a dry sense of humour, too. Chess once carried a report of him playing Otto Hardy, presumably a fairly high board county game. "Draw, Tabby?" inquires Otto after a few moves. "Ask me later, Otto. Now I not know".
A few moves later, Hardy repeats the draw offer.
"Why you not ask me before, Otto? Now is too late". And Tabakiernik duly went on to win.

He became a member of the Letchworth club in Hertfordshire in the eighties and played for the Herts county team too. He's in quite a few of the old SCCU bulletins which have been digitised on the SCCU archive page.