Chess history trivia

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
Mike Truran
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Mike Truran » Wed Dec 20, 2017 1:44 pm

No games between them turn up in either the chessgames.com or ChessBase databases :?:
The 8th Soviet Championship bulletin apparently only includes 46 games. Presumably the game in question (plus most of the other games from the event) have been lost.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Wed Dec 20, 2017 9:43 pm

Well done Mike, indeed that is correct.

Tim Harding
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Tim Harding » Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:04 pm

MJMcCready wrote:
Tue Dec 19, 2017 10:09 pm
Who, at a Soviet Championships, once decided to infuriate Botvinnik, described as a young upstart by his opponent, by playing on in a K+R V K+R endgame after all pawns were captured, taking the game into over 100 moves before intervention brought it to a grinding halt?
Duz-Khotimirsky, according to Cafferty and Taimanov's book on the USSR Championships.
Tim Harding
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Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
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Mike Truran
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Mike Truran » Wed Dec 20, 2017 11:05 pm

Tim

You may have missed a few previous posts.

But that was indeed the source.

Mike

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:17 pm

So I have three questions here:

1. Who designed the problem below?
2. Who claimed it was one of his favourite puzzles?
3. How does white checkmate in two moves?
2011-08-19-two-chess-problems-2.png
2011-08-19-two-chess-problems-2.png (13.78 KiB) Viewed 1723 times

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:38 pm

3. 1.Qc8 seems to do the trick:

1...Nac4 2.Nd1#
1...Ne moves anywhere 2.Rxd3#
1...B along long diagonal 2.Nb5#
1...B along short diagonal 2.Nd5#
1...Qxa3/b4/d5/xb6/e7/f8 2.Nd5#
1...Qxe3/d4/d6/b5/e7/f8 2.Nb5#
1...Qc4 2.Nd1#

Paul Habershon
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Paul Habershon » Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:49 am

MJMcCready wrote:
Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:17 pm
So I have three questions here:

*So' should have been proclaimed 'Word of the Year' instead of 'youthquake'. Have you noticed how frequently it is used in broadcast interviews and general conversation? I have no strong objection to it. Probably better than 'well'. Go, Wesley!

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:02 am

'Well' sounds more British than 'So', apologies if I sounded awfully American there.

Some clues over the puzzle.

1. He was born in Philidelphia when Martin Van Buren was the President of America. He was a mathematician and came up with some very difficult puzzles indeed.

2. The man who claimed it was a favourite puzzle of his visited Bedford at least twice [so my sources] when Victoria was on the throne. His nickname is connected to something which is sadly described as 'The Peasants' Revolt' by some.

3. The answer can be found above.

carstenpedersen
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by carstenpedersen » Wed Dec 27, 2017 9:51 am

Is 1. Sam Lloyd? Van Buren famously lost the presidency at least in part due to his lavish personal consumption while imposing austerity in response to the economic crash in 1837 and Lloyd was born 1841 (I cheated and checked Wikipedia on that), so the dates fit.

2. Blackburn?
He was nicknamed The Black Death, and historians often regard the Peasants Revolt as a reaction to the social changes caused by the Black Death. No idea how many times he visited Bedford but two simuls before 1901 sounds plausible.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Wed Dec 27, 2017 10:24 pm

Yes that's correct.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:09 pm

Who once wrote this and where was it published? [no googling please]

'Cherished chess! The charms of thy checkered chambers chain me changelessly. Chaplains have chanted thy charming choiceness; chieftains have changed the chariot and the chase for the chaster chivalry of the chess-board, and the cheerier charge of the chess-knights. Chaste-eyed Caissa! For thee are the chaplets of chainless charity and the chalice of childlike cheerfulness. No chilling churl, no cheating chafferer, no chattering changeling, no chanting charlatan, can be thy champion; the chivalrous, the charitable, and the cheerful, are the chosen ones thou cherishest. Chance cannot change thee: from the cradle of childhood to the charnel-house, from our first childish chirpings to the chills of the church-yard, thou art our cheery, changeless chieftainess. Chastener of the churlish, chider of the changeable, cherisher of the chagrined, the chapter of thy chiliad of charms should be chanted by cherubic chimes, and chiseled on chalcedon in cherubic chirography.'

James Pratt
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by James Pratt » Thu Dec 28, 2017 10:58 am

Charlie Chester?

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:34 am

Not him, no.

Paul Habershon
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Paul Habershon » Fri Dec 29, 2017 8:35 am

Heinrich Fraenkel (Assiac)?

Richard James
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Richard James » Fri Dec 29, 2017 10:02 am

Chielamangus (Cecil Purdy)?

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