Chess history trivia

[Geoff Chandler]

No body got it, or probably thought it was one of my daft jokes.
No Joke. Thomas Worrall and his wife Harriet Worrall both played Morphy. Harriet had quite an interesting life and also took part in a Capablanca simul in 1910. see http://tartajubow.blogspot.com/2014/02/ ... rrall.html

[John Townsend]

Can you name this British player (sadly, no longer with us)?

His style was described in a post-war book as combining "inflexible conservatism with a wide variety of attacking motifs"; he was noted as favouring the Vienna Game and King's Gambit, and as being always on the lookout for gambit continuations in other openings, such as the Nimzo-Indian and Caro Kann; he sometimes overestimated the strength of an attack, but was a sensitive artist, capable of beautiful play.

He played for his country on a number of occasions.

[John Upham]

Can you name this British player (sadly, no longer with us)?

His style was described in a post-war book as combining "inflexible conservatism with a wide variety of attacking motifs"; he was noted as favouring the Vienna Game and King's Gambit, and as being always on the lookout for gambit continuations in other openings, such as the Nimzo-Indian and Caro Kann; he sometimes overestimated the strength of an attack, but was a sensitive artist, capable of beautiful play.

He played for his country on a number of occasions.

My immediate thought was Mieses but no doubt I am incorrect on many levels.

[John Townsend]

Thank you, John, but not Mieses.

[Leonard Barden]

Milner-Barry?

[John Townsend]

Yes, well done, Leonard. You must have known him quite well!

I am obliged to Fred Reinfeld's book, British Chess Masters, Past and Present (G. Bell & Sons, 1947), page 58, for the description.

[Leonard Barden]

We shared a room at the 1952 Helsinki Olympiad. But Reinfeld's description is just wrong about the Milner-Barry variation of the Nimzo-Indian (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 Nc6!?) being a gambit continuation. When I tried to refute it with some prepared analysis, M-B ground me down in the ending.

[John Townsend]

It's not a gambit, is it? - assuming that is the line which Reinfeld had in mind. The gambit which M-B used to play in the Advance variation of the French wasn't mentioned, but perhaps that was largely after the book was written.

I found Reinfeld's description attractive enough as a piece of writing, but I think he was prone to inaccuracies.

[John Townsend]

Who wrote these words?

“It makes one’s heart ache to think of the thousands in this huge city without befitting food and fire and covering during such bitter weather”.

[John Upham]

Is this a reference to the Siege of Lenningrad (or similar)?

A guess...

[John Townsend]

An interesting thought, but not the answer.

[Roland Kensdale]

Who wrote these words?

“It makes one’s heart ache to think of the thousands in this huge city without befitting food and fire and covering during such bitter weather”.

Lasker playing at Moscow?

[John Townsend]

No, I'm afraid it's not Lasker playing at Moscow.

This may be a hard question if it doesn't ring a bell. The player was very famous, but perhaps not readily associated with compassion.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Steinitz in London at some point?

[John Townsend]

Christopher, London is the right city, but it's not Steinitz.