Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
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Tim Harding
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by Tim Harding » Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:30 pm
MJMcCready wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 7:29 am
I would like to ask a question but unfortunately I don't know the answer yet (although I am still looking) but I will ask to see if someone can get to the answer before I can.
Which was the first internationally recognized tournament where the participants arrived by air via commercially recognized flights?
Do you mean all the participants or just the ones not representing the host country?
If the former, I guess it could have been in Antarctica or Greenland but really I have no idea.
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter
Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com
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John Upham
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by John Upham » Mon Jan 09, 2023 5:32 pm
MJMcCready wrote: ↑Mon Jan 09, 2023 7:29 am
I would like to ask a question but unfortunately I don't know the answer yet (although I am still looking) but I will ask to see if someone can get to the answer before I can.
Which was the first internationally recognized tournament where the participants arrived by air via commercially recognized flights?
Apparently:
The world's first airline originated in St. Petersburg, Florida. The world's first regularly scheduled heavier-than-air airline took off from the Municipal Pier in St. Petersburg on New Year's Day 1914.
Arbiter, Organiser, Swiss Mangler person, Rating Officer, Teacher, Coach and Photographer
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MJMcCready
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by MJMcCready » Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:59 am
I meant those playing who were able to fly to the venue rather than go by boat or train for the first time. Around the time commercial flights became operational I suppose.
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Roger de Coverly
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by Roger de Coverly » Tue Jan 10, 2023 11:07 am
MJMcCready wrote: ↑Tue Jan 10, 2023 6:59 am
Around the time commercial flights became operational I suppose.
For the UK (and France), I believe the first flights were in 1919 with a London to Paris route. I doubt it's recorded as to which chess players were the first to take advantage of this or other new routes in the same era.
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Matt Mackenzie
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by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Jan 11, 2023 3:12 pm
So at least it is very probable the answer was in the early 1920s, but it is unlikely to be pinned down any further than that.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
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MJMcCready
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by MJMcCready » Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:55 am
Before the breakdown of the Soviet Union, which was the only Olympiad where the highest rated player participating wasn't from the Soviet Union? And who was he?
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MJMcCready
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by MJMcCready » Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:33 am
Correction, yes he was, so in fact there are two examples of this happening and not one. Can you guess the other occasion?
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John Upham
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by John Upham » Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:10 am
MJMcCready wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:33 am
Correction, yes he was, so in fact there are two examples of this happening and not one. Can you guess the other occasion?
Top tip: research the question and possible answers
before asking it.

Arbiter, Organiser, Swiss Mangler person, Rating Officer, Teacher, Coach and Photographer
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
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Gerard Killoran
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by Gerard Killoran » Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:14 pm
John Upham wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 11:10 am
MJMcCready wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:33 am
Correction, yes he was, so in fact there are two examples of this happening and not one. Can you guess the other occasion?
Top tip: research the question and possible answers
before asking it.
Wishful thinking I'm afraid.
A 'miserable worm' - Nigel Short
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Matt Mackenzie
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by Matt Mackenzie » Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:27 pm
You surely don't need to count 1970 if you include the Haifa event in 1976, when the Soviet bloc didn't even take part.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)
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MJMcCready
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by MJMcCready » Thu Feb 02, 2023 8:36 am
Therein lies the second answer. Haifa -Anderssen 2585