English Chess Forum

From Marshall's Chess Openings 1904

The French Defence I have found widely adopted by amateur players who are not thoroughly conversant with the many combinations which may follow Pawn to King’s fourth on both sides, and I am inclined to agree with the writer who described it as, "the sheet anchor of dull mediocrity."

So who was Frank Marshall quoting - or misquoting?

Off the top of my head, two names, Blackburne or Bird.

'Pawn to King’s fourth....' a mid Victorian player. Staunton? I have ran out of guesses.

James Mason?

Could Marshall have been (mis)quoting J W Mellor, who aimed this barb at the Ruy Lopez in a column for New Zealand's Evening Star newspaper in 1895?

In the May 25 issue of that year he writes: "It fosters and stimulates the imagination, broadens the view of the board very much, and saves players with a tendency to dulness from falling into a species of dry rot and monotony in the selection of opening play—the Ruy Lopez, that sheet anchor of dull mediocrity, only making room for the French Defence with alternating move."

"It" refers to forcing players to play certain openings with both white and black (I should say, first and second moves). I'm not entirely sure what Mellor means by "with alternating move", but to me he seems to be saying that the French Defence is the antidote to the dull mediocrity of the Ruy Lopez.

To anyone who's interested the paper can be downloaded as a pdf here: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/image ... 950525.pdf and the chess article is on the last page. (Found by google, in case anyone is under the misconception that I know anything about 19th century NZ newspapers!)

It seems strange that Marshall would know about this article, but equally would seem to be a big coincidence in turn of phrase if this weren't the source.

Steinitz hardly ever played the French as Black and was known to be sniffy about it, so possibly him?

Isidor Gunsberg also applied the same description to the Ruy Lopez in his "Mephisto" column in Knowledge, volume XIII, 1890, page 20 (viewable on Google Books). But he used inverted commas around it, suggesting that he too was quoting a previous writer.

Morning Post, 13 May 1889, page 3: this also refers to the Ruy Lopez as "the sheet anchor of dull mediocrity". Who wrote this column? No inverted commas this time, and slightly earlier.

Tim Harding's British Chess Literature to 1914, page 325, indicates that Antony Guest conducted the column in the Morning Post at that time.

John Townsend wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:06 pm

Morning Post, 13 May 1889, page 3: this also refers to the Ruy Lopez as "the sheet anchor of dull mediocrity". Who wrote this column? No inverted commas this time, and slightly earlier.

I had mistakenly thought it was from the following where Blackburne is possibly repeating himself. Also, what does 'a net score of 80' mean?

From the Daily Record (Glasgow) - Saturday 31 October 1896

MR. J. H. BLACKBURNE'S VISIT.

This eminent master and blindfold player arrived from England on Monday afternoon. He began his labours in Glasgow by playing 22 simultaneous games at Hillhead on Monday evening. winning 15, drawing 6, with only one loss to Mr. Court. On Wednesday night he played six blindfold games in Steel's Hotel. The games were all ably contested, and the names of the players and openings are as follows:

C. M. Jones, Evan's Gambit.
A. J. Neilson, Vienna Opening.
J. Macdonald, Danish Gambit.
Archd. Bowie, French Defence.
R. Ronald, Irregular Opening.
Major Drummond, French Defence.

Mr. Blackburne won Boards No. 1, 2. and 6. The others were drawn. The defence at Board No. 4 was very accurately played by Mr. Bowie, who is awarded the prize. Mr. Blackburne remarked afterwards that it looked to him as if Burn or Mason were playing at this board, as he had the Liverpool trade mark complete.

Mr. Blackburne gave an exhibition of simultaneous play in the rooms of the Glasgow Chess Club, Athenaeum, on Thursday night. Thirteen games were played, some being very lively throughout the result was greatly in Mr. Blackburne's favour. He won 10, drew 2, and lost 1 game to Mr. Finlayson, president of the club, with a net score of 80.

Talking of the Nuremburg Tournament, Mr. Blackburne says these tournaments really don't pay. "We have no chance now beside the young players who have sprung up within the last two or three years. They have learnt all that the older masters have taught, and no sooner is a new defence or departure in an opening introduced by one of us, then it gets into all the chess columns, tending to spoil the chances of the older professional players. Charousek I think a lot of for his dash and courage in playing Gambits. He is the Tchigorin of the future. The majority at the Buda-Pesth, as well as at the Nuremburg Tournament, played that eternal Ruy Lopez, which I call the sheet anchor of dull mediocrity. Fancy nine boards going and all the Lopez. Then Janowski and the French Defence! Now, chess enthusiasts begin to think that something ought to be done to vary the openings." Mr. Blackburne advocates the system of drawing for players, and the opening to be played the same as they do here in the draughts tournaments. We would like to see this done.

The following game was played at Steel's Hotel on Wednesday, Mr. Blackburne playing without sight of the board:—

[Event "Blindfold Simultaneous Exhibition"] [Site "Glasgow"] [Date "1896.10.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Blackburne, Joseph Henry"] [Black "Drummond (Major)"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 c5 4. exd5 cxd4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. dxc6 Qxd4 8. cxb7+ Nd7 9. bxa8=Q Qe5+ 10. Nge2 Qc7 11. Bf4 Qb7 12. Qxb7 Bxb7 13. O-O-O {Daily Record - Saturday 31 October 1896 p.8} 1-0

Gerard Killoran wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 5:55 pm

Also, what does 'a net score of 80' mean?

Possibly simply an approximate percentage score, although I would have said 85. 11/13 is 84.6%.

I now think it must be a misprint and should have been, 'a net score of 8'. i.e. 10 - (2*1/2) -1 = 8

I can see how Henry Bird jumped into my mind, he won the first brilliancy prize which was put up by Siegfried Lieders
hoping it would prevent and discouraged 'wearying' French and Sicilian Defences (The Bird - French bad press link stuck)

Bird - Mason, New York 1876. (an exchange French!) https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1027995

Gerard Killoran wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:48 am

I now think it must be a misprint and should have been, 'a net score of 8'. i.e. 10 - (2*1/2) -1 = 8

That is certainly a possibility, I although I would consider 11/13 to be a net score of 9.