English Chess Forum

In response to -

Geoff Chandler (Re: Media comments on chess in General Chat)>

Hi John,

Will do, thought it was bit extreme to blow up the jury.
M are paying this lad a small fortune they could have used this to bribed them instead.

Might be a while as I've started on two other books.
One on Abraham Lincoln and the other about Glencoe.

BTW stumbled upon this game by chance:

S. Tarrasch - E. Bogoljubow, Goteborg, 1920.

A sheer joy to note up. I had not seen it before.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread ... postid=148

Tarrasch stumbles into an opening trap and fights like a cornered rat.
Tarrasch on the swindling path is always fun to see. He was a crafty player.
Bogoljubow eventually calms the position down and then makes an horrific blunder.<

Hi Geoff,

Played through the game in the link (thanks for that) to your excellent site above.

Result of the tournament - 1. Reti 9.5/13, 2. Rubinstein 9, 3.Bogoljubov 8, 4-7. Tarrasch... 7.5

From the same tournament -
Rubinstein-Tarrasch

According to Kmoch, Tarrasch hoped to "swindle" Rubinstein with 33... Qe7 and if 34.Be5+ Rxe5, but there was a hole in it and white could still win if he found the right continuation, Kmoch said.

Perhaps there should be a Swindlers List of famous games, if there isn't one already.

Regarding the two books you're reading in addition to Judge & Jury -

I took the wife (she wanted to go) to see the film, Lincoln, in which Daniel Day-Lewis plays Honest Abe.
A longish film (150 mins.) worth seeing for Daniel's performance and if you are interested in history.

I've been through Glencoe (a somewhat forbidding place on a wet and misty day) on coach tour with the wife, again, when I took her to visit the land of my father.

What's the other book that you got in your 4 for a pound deal?

Hi John,

Just noticed this, Glad you like the site. I enjoy doing it, when I don't and it seems like work I'll stop.

Rubinstein, Kmoch's book is the only one I have and I found the writing awkward and
joyless for what was being served. (It's possibly a poor translation.)

Some of the games of course are brilliant but way beyond anything I could create.
and I did find myself arguing with what was played by his opponent.
(usually a clear glass trap that should have been tried.)
Mind you I argue with every book....Nothing is sacred or safe from my two bob analysis.

Just noticed, that book has more games v Tarrasch than anyone else.
Tarrasch has no Rubinstein games in his book of best games which is hardly surprising
given Tarrasch's record v Rubinstein. My DB has P.20 W0. D.13 L7.

Used Rubinstein as my BOS password when I was there.
I deliberatley spelt it as Rubenstein (pretty crafty eh...?)

The Tarrasch Swindle. (Rubinstein is White)

[FEN "6rk/4q2p/p7/2P2p2/3P1Bn1/P4Q2/4r1PP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 34"] 34. Be5+ {In the actual game Rubinstein played Bd6.} 34... Rxe5 35. dxe5 Qxe5 {The translated Kmoch line now goes...} 36. Qh3 Qxc5+ 37. Kh1 Nf2+ {I suppose if Ne3 then Rd7.} 38. Rxf2 Qxf2 39. Qc3+ {Mating.}

Update:
The Contract killer's son, Pavel, is taking chess lessons from Master Sergei Abhramov
and Pavel has discovered a defence to Kasparov's Spanish Opening.

The Lincoln book concentrates more on the J.W.Booth side.
Did not know that many years before the assassination Booth's father saved the life of
one of Lincoln's sons and when they carried Lincoln from the theatre across the road he was
laid on a bed that John Wilkes Booth had actually slept on.

Also the 'bodyguard/guest' in the box with Lincoln, Major Rathbone was stabbed by Wilkes
after he shot the Lincoln.
20 odd years after the assassination Rathbone murdered his wife and was committed to a nut house.

Lincoln's wife is reported to be a bit of a tyrant and very jealous of any woman who got close to Lincoln,
is that how the film captures her?

All the talk north of the border is about Independance, I heard someone say that the original union
started with the murders at Glencoe.
Apparently the English were not too keen on the idea unless the Highlands could be pacified.
The McDonalds seem to have been singled out as an example of what would happen
if no clan toed the line.
Not got to the fateful day yet but they sure were bloody times.
It was punishable by death to be called a McGregor!

Other book is Sc-Fi short stories, I lap them up.

Hi Geoff,

Kmoch's Rubinstein Gewinnt! was published 1933, Vienna and translated from German to English as Rubinstein's Chess Masterpieces 1941, New York. I believe its a pretty faithful translation so perhaps the problem was that it was written in a fairly awkward, joyless language to begin with.

I also think that at heart you are not a player in the Steinitzian Modern Chess Instructor mould but a player in the Zukertortian Compendium of Chessgames one. Therefore you appreciate the more attacking style of Tarrasch - piece mobility even at the cost of pawn structure - and eschew the more defensive style of Rubinstein with its restrained pawn structure.

Thanks for telling me about Tarrasch's rotten, zero wins, record against Rubinstein - they played 20 games so all their encounters are in your database.

One significant difference between them is that Tarrasch played a World Ch. match against Lasker (1908) and he won 3!!, drew 5! and lost 8.

Anyway, back to Goteborg in 1920

In your two-bob analysis above - I suppose if 37... Ne3 then 38.Rd7.
My two-bit contribution is - 37... Ne3 38.Rc1, etc.
(We can compare engine analysis later if you like.)

Thanks for the next chessical snippet from Judge & Jury.
I may even start trying to imagine what happens in between until I find a copy.

Lincoln, the Spielberg film, ends with the assassination of Abe at one theatre while his family are watching the opera Norma (I think) at another. Norma was a favourite of Morphy's - he always felt bitter because no one would give him a useful job (on the side of the South) in the Civil War. Instead I think he visited Europe and played some chess, which is to our benefit if not his.

Since seeing that film I discovered that it was meant to be a triple assassination - President Lincoln, Vice-President Johnson and Sec. of State Seward. Only Booth succeeded. George Atzerodt bottled out and disappeared when he discovered at the last minute that he was not just supposed to kidnap VP Johnson and Lewis Powell only manged to seriously wound SS Seward, who went on to serve President Andrew Jackson and buy Alaska from the Russians - people thought that sheer folly at the time!

Seward's wife died six weeks after the assassination attempt, which also greviously wounded a son of theirs, possibly due to the shock of it all.

Lincoln and his wife Mary were depicted as a dedicated couple but their marriage was said to be 'tumultuous' at times. One bone of contention was responsibility and guilt over the death of their son William Wallace! He was know as Willie and died of fever, maybe typhoid, in 1862, Feb. Mary tried to keep another son of military age from going to the Civil War but he insisted and Lincoln got him an army staff job. Can't blame him.

I won't go into Glencoe or BOS tonite, both are too gory.

A book of Sci-fi short stories is a good combination to go with the other three books.

Keep up the good stuff at RHP - I look in from time to time.

Nite.

Hi John,

"I also think that at heart you are not a player in the Steinitzian Modern Chess
Instructor mould but a player in the Zukertortian Compendium of Chessgames one.
Therefore you appreciate the more attacking style of Tarrasch - piece mobility even at
the cost of pawn structure - and eschew the more defensive style of Rubinstein with
its restrained pawn structure. "

If that means I enjoy a good hack with cheapo's galore then yes.

(Did I not see one of your games in the 4NCL where you played 1.a4 what Chess School is that?)

My 38.Rd7 v your 38.Rc1 and your comment.
"We can compare engine analysis later if you like" was a joke yes?
I don't do engine analysis, it's poxy, cold, unimaginative and is the tool of the lazy.

After my 38.Rd7 I have a Rook on the seventh and threatening Mate.

6rk/3R3p/8/p1q2p2/8/P3n2Q/6PP/5R1K b - - 0 5

You can argue with me but you cannot argue with mate.

Black's reply is forced 38...Rg7 and White has a perpetual if he wants it.
(read somewhere good guys always keep a draw in their back pocket.)
And I have just decided that I will take the draw by perpetual because that is what I want to do.

This position was posted on RHP a few days ago. White to play.

r5k1/pb4p1/1pq2nQp/8/2Pp1P1R/3Br3/PB4PP/5RK1 w - - 0 1

You could almost the smell the silicon burning as the national grid
struggled to keep up with sudden demand.

I hit them with:

[FEN "r5k1/pb4p1/1pq2nQp/8/2Pp1P1R/3Br3/PB4PP/5RK1 w - - 0 1"] 1. Rg4 Nxg4 2. Qh7+ Kf8 3. Ba3+ Ke8 4. Qg8+ Kd7 5. Bf5+ Kc7 6. Qf7+ Kb8 7. Qf8+ Re8 8. Qxe8+ Qxe8 9. Bd6

Yes totally unsound but you won't get that line from a tin box, it's all mine.

More Strange Facts:

Lincoln had no money on his person when he was shot except for one $5 Confederate bill.

The Sergeant who shot and mortally wounded Booth was one Sgt.Boston Corbett.

His real name was Thomas H. Corbett and was born in London.
He migrated to the USA where his wife died so he took to drink. (as you do.)
One night in Boston he 'saw the light of God' changed his name to Boston,
castrated himself with a pair of scissors (as you do) and became a street corner preacher.
He too eventually ended up in a nut house but escaped.

I've finished the Lincoln book and the other one, PM me your address.
The Sci-fi is at my work and Glencoe (by John Prebble) is nearly done
A mate at work wants it.