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Indeed, an embarrassment of riches!  But, for all that, it seems, to this writer’s mind at least, that something is missing.

Turning our attention to the ancient cultures of China and Japan, we find the concept of the true man altogether more straight-forward: this rare individual is at once skilled in combat and also capable of the expression of profound thought. While the most famous exponents of this paradigm were the Samurai, it should not be forgotten that Confucius and his disciples were quite capable, if need be, of deadly swordplay.

So then, if we take the honored “Way of the Pen and the Sword” as the measure of the complete man, how many men, through history or at present, make the mark?

Hard truth be told, few indeed. Most men are limited, at best, to but one field of ability. Certainly, the ages have produced many brave warriors. And many fine thinkers, as well. And yet, how many fighting philosophers can you name?

In this Past Pawns, we’ll meet one.

Early Life: Irish-Anglo Aristocracy

Merely being christened Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, would seem, if not actually to augur, at least to foreshadow, a life of some importance. In the present case, however, Fate triple-guarded herself: the appellation rang with dignity, the family background was illustrious, and, most importantly, the child so-named was possessed of many exceptional qualities (note 1).

Naturally, young Edward was raised in an environment very much upper-class.  For example, secondary education at Eton College followed by undergraduate studies at The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (graduated 1899) were marks par excellence of this privileged group (note 2).  Thus, at 21 years of age, Plunkett, having obtained his officer’s commission, and his mature height of 6’4, was quite ready to take on the world.

Though the young man had exhibited some talent for writing, at this time he evidently envisioned a career in the military, possibly with politics, later on.  Regarding chess, we find the following in his autobiographical work Patches of Sunlight (1938):

In 1895 I went to cram with the Rev. C.S. Isaacson at Hardingham Rectory in Norfolk ... One day I tried to get a game of chess with Mr. Isaacson, but it took me some time to do it; because he did not like being bothered by any of his pupils to engage in a contest that experience had shown him was never of any interest to him. Finally he said he would play me one game only, and we played it for the rest of the evening. He beat me, and after that we often played again, and he always beat me, except on Saturdays. On Saturdays I used to beat him, because he was tired after preparing his sermon. I joined the Hingham Chess Club and the Wymondham Chess Club, each of which met once a week; and that year I was asked to play for Norfolk, while I was still only 16. I never did play chess for Norfolk, because I left Hardingham too soon, to go to a crammer’s under a gloomier sky, but I was very pleased at being asked to one day at Yarmouth when I was playing chess for Wymondham against that town. I knew nothing worth knowing about any opening at this time, and often wonder that I got on as well as I did. For instance about a year later I went one day into Simpson’s Divan, close to Charing Cross, where masters and other professionals used to play for a shilling a game. You paid sixpence downstairs, which entitled you to a cigar and to go up to the room in which chess was played. Chess was not mentioned where one bought one’s ticket, and the cigar was evidently thought to be the more important of the two. And who can say, seeing how much ends in metaphorical smoke, that what makes visible smoke is not more important than anything? I bought my cigar-ticket and went upstairs, and there was a Frenchman waiting for a game with a tumbler of water before him into which he was dipping a lump of sugar. I had a game with him and won. But the next time I went there I had the black pieces, which move second, not the white pieces as I had the first time; and the professional with whom I played on this occasion played the Evans Gambit against me, of which, like all other openings, I knew nothing; and it was too much for me. This not only prevented me from getting my head turned, but it rather turned it in the other direction and discouraged me from returning to Simpson’s.

Simpson’s in the good old days.
 

The Gods of Pegana (1905), a vivid re-working of various myths, was Dunsany’s first book. The general fantasist style here adopted, very often coloring into the weird, would set the tone for much of his later writing (and, some years later, strongly influence, among many others, that master of cosmic dread, H.P. Lovecraft).

Original cover, 1905

Over the next decade, novels, short stories, essays, and even plays would flow from Dunsany’s imagination. Of particular note during this period is The Book of Wonder (1912).  The description for this work from Amazon.com reads:

"Not only does any tale which crosshatches between this world and Faerie owe a Founder's Debt to Lord Dunsany, but the secondary world created by J.R.R. Tolkien--from which almost all fantasylands have devolved--also took shape and flower from Dunsany’s example." -- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy.  Most fantasy enthusiasts consider Lord Dunsany one of the most significant forces in modern fantasy; his influences have been observed in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, L. Sprague de Camp, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, and many other modern writers.  The Book of Wonder is Dunsany at his peak of his talent.  The stories here are a lush tapestry of language, conjuring images of people, places, and things which cannot possibly exist, yet somehow ring true.  They are, in short, full of wonder.  Together with Dunsany's other major collections, A Dreamer's Tales and Tales of Three Hemispheres, they are a necessary part of any fantasy collection.

In 1914, with the arrival of WWI, Dunsany again entered into the fray, now serving as a captain in the Royal Inniskillings Fusiliers (note 4).  A note on the regiment from http://royalirishrangers.co.uk/ennis.html reads:

The exploits of the Irish regiments in the 1914-18 War will never be forgotten.  Three Irish divisions were formed.  The 10th, which included the 5th and 6th Inniskillings, was the first-ever all Irish division, serving with great distinction at Gallipoli (where the 1st Battalion also fought splendidly with the gallant 29th Division), and later in Macedonia.  The 16th (Irish) Division, which included the 7th and 8th Inniskillings, and the 36th (Ulster) Division, including the 9th, 10th and 11th Inniskillings, served in France and Flanders, fighting with great gallantry, and suffering terrible casualties, in many campaigns from the Somme in 1916 until the end of the war.

As if this weren’t enough, the man even managed to see action when home on leave!  While taking a bit of R&R in Dublin, the Easter Rebellion erupted (April 24, 1916).  Capt. Dunsany immediately joined government forces in squashing the uprising, and was moderately wounded in the skirmish (note 5).

From the resultant ashes of the “war-to-end-all-wars” (as the conflict was optimistically phrased for a couple of decades) came a burst of cultural regeneration.  As already seen, however, Dunsany had hit his literary stride well-before the post-war period; now, returning to Ireland, he simply set to work again.  From this time until his death, in 1957, Dunsany would continue to write.

The man’s literary output, however, tells but half the story.  In the realm of action, to give a few examples, Dunsany was Irish pistol champion for several years, a big game hunter in Africa, and world-traveler.

And, of course, Lord Dunsany played chess.
 

The 18th Lord and the King of Games

As seen, Dunsany’s involvement with chess dates from his early teens; unfortunately, we do not have (to my knowledge) any of his games or problems from this period.  In fact, it’s not until the 1920’s that examples begin to surface.  First, there are a series of compositions, ranging in type from two-movers to retrograde analysis, published in The Times Literary Supplement (London).  Here are two:

solutions

Regarding games, Dunsany twice played in simuls against the mighty Capablanca: first, 1928, November 22, at the Imperial Chess Club in London (Dunsany lost, and the game score, evidently, has not been preserved) and 1929, April 12, which was drawn.

For details about this second contest, we again turn to an autobiographical work of Dunsany, While the Sirens Slept (London, 1945):

‘Early that same spring Capablanca, perhaps the greatest chess-player the world has ever known, and at that time Champion of the World, came to London and gave a display at Selfridge’s.  He played simultaneous chess against three representatives from each of the seven counties that are nearest to London, which means roughly the seven strongest counties in England, and Mr. Selfridge offered a prize to whatever county did best against him.  I was asked to be one of the players from Kent.  We sat at a row of tables in a long room with a large crowd leaning over us, and Señor Capablanca walked along the row.  I was rather anxious that it should not be thought that I had been chosen to play merely because I was president of the Kent Chess Association, and the only way of showing that was to hold out for at least half an hour.  I have mentioned earlier my ignorance of the openings, and Capablanca, who of course had first move on every board, chose the opening that probably corresponds with whatever is the most complicated theory in any science, that is to say the Ruy López.  I made for my fourth move one that should have come later, not realizing how much it mattered.  Of this simple blunder Capablanca naturally took immediate advantage, and I looked very unlikely to hold out for half an hour.  But then I began to play, and by sacrificing a pawn got out of the muddle into which I had strayed, though playing with a pawn down against Capablanca did not seem a very hopeful proposition.  Curiously enough my blunder saved me, for in the complications of an ordinary Ruy López as played by Capablanca I should no doubt have been easily beaten; but the clock went on and I was still playing, and at last I got the pawn back, and at the end of four hours when play ended, I had an obvious draw, and Capablanca conceded rather reluctantly a draw to my neighbour on my left, so that Kent had scored one point against him, a draw being half; and a player from Hertfordshire had won his game, and, these two counties being equal, the man who had won and we two who had drawn were all given a prize by Selfridges.  For Capablanca had beaten all the rest.  As the prize was handed to me the representative of the firm who gave it said, “And if there is anything you would prefer, do let us know.”  The prize was wrapped up in a box, and I said I was sure that there would not be anything that I should prefer to it.  But when I got home and opened the box, I found that the prize was a cocktail-shaker; a very handsome one, but still to a chess-player as useless as reindeer-harness to anyone in a Southern country.  So in spite of what I had said, I wrote asking if, with the exception that I have mentioned, I could be given anything else, and I was kindly given, duly inscribed, the largest and most useful thermos flask that I have ever had, and after nearly 15 years it is as good as ever.  My game with Capablanca was recorded in The Times, in the Chess Column, that year.’

5. Bb3 Nf6 6. Ng5 (OOB: 0-0 is the standard move here.) d5 7. exd5 Ne7 8.d6 Ned5 9. dxc7 Qxc7 10. Nc3 Bb7 11. a4 b4 12. Nxd5 Bxd5 13. Bxd5 Nxd5 14.O-O Be7 15. d4 O-O 16. dxe5 Qxe5 17. Re1 Qd6 18. Ne4 Qc6 19. Bg5 Bxg5 20.Nxg5 Rac8 21. Qf3 Nf6 22. Re2 h6 23. Qxc6 Rxc6 24. Nf3 a5 25. Nd4 Rc5 26.Nb3 Rd5 27. Rae1 Nd7 28. Re4 Nb6 29. Re5!?

Finally, we need to note that in 1942 Dunsany created his own chess variant called, appropriately enough, Dunsany’s Chess.  The set-up is as follows:

(In researching this article, I found several comments to the effect that, according to such-and-such chess program, this variant is a “sure win” for Black. It should be glaringly obvious however that as said programs are not designed for Dunsany’s Chess they can make no evaluation thereof!!! I am reminded that, some time back, GM Morozevich remarked that chess players no longer bother to think ~ they just switch on the stupid computer. Indeed.)

A variant of Dunsany’s Chess, called Horde Chess, has been developed by ItsYourTurn.com.
 

The Three Sailor’s Gambit

Dunsany had a number of stories related to chess; I conclude by here offering the best known: The Three Sailor’s Gambit.
 

Solutions

Notes

1.      The following two pages are good for general info on Dunsany:

     http://www.dunsany.net/

     http://www.alangullette.com/lit/dunsany/

Also, a great deal of Dunsany’s fiction is freely available on the net. For example, try:

     http://manybooks.net/authors/dunsany.html

     http://www.sff.net/people/DoyleMacdonald/lit.htm

Info on Dunsany Castle (and other historic Irish buildings) can be found at:

     http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/

2.      Ian Fleming was later to attend the same two schools.

3.      For more on the Boer War see:

     http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/8141/boerwar.html

4.      For more on the Dunsany’s regiments:

     http://www.coldstream-scotland.co.uk/guards.html

     http://www.royalirishrangers.co.uk/ennis.html

5.      Info on the Easter Rebellion:

     http://users.bigpond.net.au/kirwilli/1916/

6.      Info on Simpson’s:

     http://www.fairmont.com/savoy/SimpsonsintheStrand.htm

     http://www.chessbase.de/nachrichten.asp?newsid=5672  (in German)

Past Pawns

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