English Chess Forum

Which famous chess player once raised funds for a new hospital by dressing up in an oriental costume and taking on up to five visitors simultaneously for a stake of five shillings a game, and met Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the event?

Savielly Tartakower is my guess.

I'm sorry, Barry. It's the wrong answer!

Tarta was just a boy back then, tbf - was it Blackburne?

Sorry, not Blackburne either.

John Townsend wrote: and met Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the event?

Prince Albert died in 1861, which places the event in the era of Staunton and his contemporaries.

A pompous character like Staunton would surely have been highly unlikely, and nor can I see Morphy wanting himself to be used that way. Anderssen and Harrwitz don't seem right either, somehow.

Bird was eccentric enough; Steinitz could just possibly have been persuaded (though it's a bit early for him); perhaps Lowenthal??

I'm assuming it wasn't anyone on this forum, could you give us a clue?

How about Marmaduke Wyvill? He was a politician so probably used to dramatic gestures to get publicity.

No correct guesses so far. The event took place on an island.

Bird?

My guess is Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (1818-79) on the Isle of Wight?

(Edit: I see, just above, that the knowledgeable Peter Farr of Sussex has proposed Henry Edward Bird (1830-1908).
Some others might like to suggest a name starting with C,D,E...)

Sorry, not Bird, not Anderssen.

Let's try and guess the island...

Channel Islands?
Isle of Man?

Was it one of the UK (or nearby) islands, or one of the far-flung British imperial possessions?
Hopefully it wasn't a small island in a lake or something.

Have been trying to work out which hospital as well (though there are many candidates).

"The event took place on an island". Well, that fails to rule out a whole host of places, most notably Great Britain itself.