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Chessville
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The Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia From the Mad Aussie, Graham Clayton Chess Playing Pope? The recent death of Pope John Paul II reminds me of a practical joke that was played using the Pope's name in the early 1980's. The first edition of Batsford Chess Openings featured on page 51 in the section on the Veresov Opening the opening moves of the following game: Wanda Zartobliwy-Karol Wojtyla, Poland 1946, 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bg5 Nbd7 4. Nf3 h6 5. Bh4 e6. Many chess players were excited to discover that the Pontiff was a chess player in his youth. Alas, it was soon discovered that the game score was a hoax. "Zartobliwy" is Polish for facetious or jokey. Here's another game purported to have been played by Karol Wojtyla (I wonder if this one is authentic???): Kapfer, T - Karol Wojtyla 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Nf3 Bd7 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.Bd2 Ba4 10.Bd3 Nd7 11.0-0 Nxc5 12.Qe2 Nxd3 13.cxd3 Qa6 14.Rfc1 0-0 15.c4 dxc4 16.dxc4 h6 17.Bb4 Rfe8 18.Rc3 Rad8 19.Qa2 Nc8 20.Re1 Rd7 21.Nd2 Bc6 22.Rce3 Red8 23.Ne4 Bxe4 24.Rxe4 Qb6 25.c5 Qc7 26.a4 a5 27.Ba3 Rd2 28.Qc4 R8d5 29.f4 Ne7 30.h3 Nf5 31.g4 Nd4 32.R1e3 Nc2 33.Rc3 Rd1+ 34.Kg2 R5d2+ 35.Kg3 Rg1+ 36.Kf3 Ne1+ 0-1 Chess Playing Pope! The strongest chess playing Pope was Pope Leo XIII, who was Pontiff from 1878 to 1903. Here is an example of his play: Father Guila-Joachim- Cardinal
Pecci (future Pope Leo XIII) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 ed4 6. e5 d5 7. ef6 dc4 8. Qe2+ Be6 9. fg7 Rg8 10. cd4 Nd4 11. Nd4 Bd4 12. Qh5 Qf6 13. 0-0 Rg7 14. Qb5+ c6 15. Qb7 Rg2+ 16. Kg2 Qg6+ 17. Kh1 Bd5+ 18. f3 Bf3+ 19. Rf3 Qg1# Who Am I?: For more than 20 years, I was one of the 10 best players in the world. I played regularly in my national championship over a 30 year period, with 2 victories and several minor placings. I also competed in 5 chess Olympiads. I had a long and impressive career in World Championship tournaments and matches, playing in 7 Interzonal tournaments, 3 Candidates tournaments and 3 Candidates matches. I have also been a "second" to a player in a World Championship match. I also won over half a dozen tournaments in the 1960's and 1970's. I am well known for my knowledge in openings such as the Ruy Lopez, Kings Indian, Sicilian and Slav Defence. Who Am I? Drag your cursor across the space between the asterisks to reveal the answer: *** Yefim Geller (USSR) *** Who Am I?: I won my country's national championship outright once, and shared the title twice over a 20 year period, along with competing in 6 Chess Olympiads. My best tournament results were in the 1930's, where I finished ahead of players such as Tartakower, Petrov, Stahlberg, Eliskases and Bogulyubov. After Word War 2 I drew a match with Dr Max Euwe. I am probably best known for having an opening named after me, although in some parts of the world this opening is known by another name. Who Am I? Drag your cursor across the space between the asterisks to reveal the answer: *** Vasja Pirc (Yugoslavia) *** Slow Start: In round 9 of the 25th USSR championship at Riga in1958, David Bronstein took 18 minutes of thought before playing 1...c5 in response to Aivar Gipslis' move of 1. e4. Fast Finish: In October 2004, Swiss GM Viktor Korchnoi played on Board 1 for the Swiss Team in the World Senior Team Tournament on the Isle of Man. After 4 rounds, he then left to represent Switzerland in the "Open" Chess Olympiad at Calvia in Spain. Fighting for Change: In the mid 1920's, Jose Capablanca suggested that changes be made to chess to avoid it being "played out". His idea was for a 10x10 board, with two extra pieces. The Marshall would have the combined moves of a Rook and Knight, while the Chancellor would have the combined moves of a bishop and knight. Two extra pawns would also be added, and a pawn could move 3 squares on its opening move. Fighting Against Change: Grandmaster Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956) fought with the Austrian Army in World War 1, and with the Free French army in World War 2. Correspondence Beginnings: In the decades prior to the commencement of World War 1, newspapers with chess columns and chess magazines in many countries organized and ran correspondence chess tournaments. These tournaments were a way for the newspapers and magazines to attract new readers and/or subscribers, and also provided "copy" to fill the newspaper columns and magazines. In the period shortly after World War 1, national correspondence chess bodies had started to organized tournaments, which eventually lead to those newspapers and magazines eventually abandoning the organization of such events. Correspondence Conclusions: After the conclusion of games in Preliminary Group A for the 2nd ICCF World Correspondence Championship, there was a triple dead heat for first place. J Balogh, F Batick and B Koch each finished with a score of 5/6, and qualification for the final. Tournament director Larsson has concerns that the 3 players had "engineered" the dead-heat, but had no conclusive proof. He eventually agreed to let all 3 players contest the final. According to ICCF rules, he could have declared Balogh the winner of the group, on the basis of having the most wins with the Black pieces. Preliminary Group J featured a contestant who was better known for his writings than his play. Walter Korn is best known as being the long time chief editor of "Modern Chess Openings". He scored 2.5/6 and did not play in the final. Minor Champion: FIDE organized 2 world "amateur" chess championships in the 1920's. The first was held at Paris in 1924 to coincide with the Olympic Games, and was won by the Latvian player Herman Marrison. The second championship was held at the Hague in 1928, and was won by Max Euwe, thus making Max Euwe the only player to ever win both the Amateur & regular World Championships. Minor Master: Here is some more information on Horatio Caro (1862-1920): Although born in England, Caro spent his entire life in Germany. He was a minor master, playing in German national events. He lost matches to Mieses and Winawer, drew twice with von Bardeleben, and lost to Lewitt. He also edited a publication called "Bruderschraft". In 1886 he published the analysis of the Caro-Kann that he had done with Vienna player Marcus Kann (1820-1886). The only game of Caro's that is well known is a 14 move win over Emanuel Lasker in Berlin in 1890: Caro,H - Lasker,E 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Bf5 3.c4 c6 4.Qb3 Qc8 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Nc3 e6 7.Bf4 a6 8.Na4 Ra7 9.Nb6 Qd8 10.Bxb8 Qxb8 11.Qa4+ Ke7 12.Rc1 g5 13.Ne5 Nh6 14.Nc8+ 1-0 Championship Format: The 6th USSR championship at Odessa in 1929 featured a very unusual format, with 36 players playing in 4 preliminary groups, followed by 2 semi final groups of 4 players each and a final of 4 players. The final was won by Verlinsky (3.5/4), ahead of Freyman (2/4) and Kan (0.5/4). Izmailov was the other player in the final, but he had to withdraw due to university exams. The tournament reverted to the usual round-robin format the following year. Championship Challenge: There were several occasions between 1920 and 1941 when a "challenge" match was held to determine the USSR champion. Here is a summary of those matches:
Who Am I?: Although born in Romania, I moved to Vienna in the last decade of the 19th century, and won several tournaments that were held in the city. My international success was limited by my cautious playing style. It was said that I played "keeping the draw in hand". My best placings were =4th at Dresden and Cambridge Springs. I achieved fame away from the board through my writings. I edited the "Wiener Schachzeitung" from 1898 to 1914. I also edited the tournament books for Vienna 1903, Ostend 1906, Carlsbad 1907, Vienna 1908 and Baden 1914. My annotations featured humourous and witty notes. Who Am I? Drag your cursor across the space between the asterisks to reveal the answer: *** Georg Marco (1863-1923) *** Unusual Team Composition: The English 4NCL club championship has a rule that each team must field 7 players of the same gender in a match, which usually means 7 males and 1 female player. Wood Green decided to reverse this and fielded a team made up of 7 female players and 1 male players in a recent round. The seven female players were:
The "token" male was Alexei Shirov, who is married to Viktorija Cmilyte. Unusual King Hunt: The game between Milkhail Botvinnik and Svetozar Gligoric from the 1956 Moscow Olympiad features one of the most unusual "king hunts" ever seen in international chess. Gligoric's king travels all the way from e8 to b2 without Botvinnink giving one check during the journey. Most King hunts feature sacrifices, checks and forced moves. Here is that game: Botvinnik,M - Gligoric,S [A37] 1.c4 g6 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nh6 6.h4 d6 7.d3 Rb8 8.h5 Bd7 9.Bxh6 Bxh6 10.hxg6 hxg6 11.Qc1 Bg7 12.Rxh8+ Bxh8 13.Qh6 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 e6 15.Ng5 Ke7 16.Kd2 Be8 17.Qg7 Kd7 18.f4 Qe7 19.Rh1 Nd8 20.Ne4 Kc7 21.Rh8 Bc6 22.Nf6 Kb6 23.Bxc6 Nxc6 24.Rh7 Nd8 25.Qxg6 Ka6 26.a4 Ka5 27.Qg5 Kxa4 28.Rh1 Kb3 29.Qh4 Kb2 30.g4 1-0 Players With More Than One Country: The Australian women's team that competed at the 2004 Chess Olympiad at Calvia in Spain featured three players who were making their international debuts for Austrralia after representing another country earlier in their chess career. The 3 players were: Arianne Caoli (Philippines); Anastasia Sarokina (Belarus); and Ingela Eriksson (Sweden). Players Without A Country: The 36th Chess Olympiad at Calvia in Spain featured 2 teams in the men's competition that did not represent a country. The 2 teams were: IPCA (Disabled) Team; and IBCA (Blind) Team. The teams finished 66th (19.5 points) and 75th (18.5 points) respectively. Purdy, Chess Champion: CJS Purdy was the 1st World Correspondence Chess Champion. His entire correspondence career consisted of a mere 46 games. As one of the "co-authors" of How Purdy Won, Frank Hutchings said, "Many CC addicts have more games than this in progress at once." Yet these 46 games netted Purdy two Australian titles and a World Championship. His overall record was +34 -2 =10. Here is a breakdown of the games that he played:
Purdy was an OTB IM, so I presume his rating would have been in the 2200-2300 range. He was the Australian OTB champion in 1935, '37, '49 & '51. Paranoia, Mysterious Champion: During the course of the 1972 World Championship match between Booby Fischer and Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, the Soviet delegation requested that an X-ray be made of Fischer's chair. The X-ray showed an object around 12 inches long with a loop in it. Mysteriously, when a second x-ray of the chair was made a short time later, the "object" did not appear. There is still confusion as to what the "object" was, who put in the chair, and then who apparently removed it as well. Playing Sparsely: In the 14 years between the turn of the 20th century and the commencement of World War 1, World Champion Emanuel Lasker only competed in the following 4 international tournaments during that time:
Writing Sparsely: In 1919, Emanuel Lasker published in Berlin a 20 page monograph on the studies of Russian study composer A Selesniev. Olympic Heroes: Two World champions have competed for France in chess Olympiads, although neither player was born in France. Alexander Alekhine played in the 1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935 and 1939 Olympiads, while Boris Spassky played in the 1984, 1986 and 1988 Olympiads. Olympic Heroics: Victor Korchnoi's only loss at the 1970 Chess Olympiad was in Round 3 against Spain, when Korchnoi overslept and lost on time. What's In A Name?: In 1950, FIDE started awarding the "Grandmaster" title to players. Whoever received the title was open to the discretion of FIDE. In 1951, a set of conditions was introduced for the awarding of the GM title. Today, there are thousands of GM titles, and many feel the title has been devalued in recent years. Which Name?: Quoting Hans Kmoch about Aron Nimzowitsch, (1886-1935), called “The Father of Hypermodern Chess Theory”:
To which ICCF-IM Keith Hayward adds:
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