Chess history trivia

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
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John Upham
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Upham » Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:54 am

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Fri Feb 25, 2022 11:20 am
John Saunders wrote:
Thu Feb 24, 2022 4:36 pm
That's one correct answer - there are at least seven more.
I expect there would be quite a few with OBEs including the one who used it as part of his email address.
and you would be correct.

See

https://britishchessnews.com/honours-for-chess/
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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:39 pm

okay thanks. I took a look into it all and saw the publication Soviet Outcast on offer on Amazon. I've already ordered it thanks.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:09 am

I may need to reword this but who was the first official world champion to be born in a place which, at his time of birth, belonged to a country which he is officially recognised as coming from/playing for nowadays?

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Thu Mar 03, 2022 8:08 am

Depending on whether you count the Russian Empire of 1892 as the same country as modern-day Russia, the answer is either Alekhine or Euwe.

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MJMcCready
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by MJMcCready » Fri Mar 04, 2022 7:16 am

Apologies for this question, it's not quite as easy to answer as I thought. I assumed it was Capablanca but have been informed that Cuba did not exist as a country at the time of his birth so perhaps it is Alekhine then? Apologies but I thought the question was easier to answer then what it is.

John Townsend
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Fri Mar 18, 2022 10:56 am

An international chess master, also a strong bridge player, described the standard of bridge played by three chess world champions as "wild", "dreary" and "feeble". Who was he, and who was "wild", who was "dreary", and who was "feeble"?

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:15 pm

Gerald Abrahams?

And if so I am going to guess the "feeble" was Lasker.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

John Townsend
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:25 pm

Matt,

Gerald Abrahams is wrong, but, curiously, Lasker is correct! I don't know how you arrived at that, but well done!

Let's see if someone can get the rest now.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Mar 18, 2022 3:46 pm

Precisely because Abrahams had (also) said that he wasn't that good, despite his reputation.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

John Townsend
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Fri Mar 18, 2022 4:01 pm

Yes, I see what you mean if Abrahams was also critical of Lasker's bridge. The popular belief among chessplayers seems to be that he was pretty hot.

It's time for a clue. Ukraine has been much in the news, so think about that ...

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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Sat Mar 19, 2022 9:51 am

It was Victor Buerger who labelled Alekhine as "wild", Capablanca as "dreary", and Lasker as "feeble". You can read more about this in Peter Hasenson's British Bridge Almanack, 2004, page 110, which is the source. (It also says the four of them played bridge together at a pre-war Hastings tournament, but I don't see how that part is possible, unless I have misunderstood something.)

Victor Buerger was born in the Ukraine and naturalized in England in 1927. He ran a bridge club in London for some time.

For more about Buerger's chess activities, see Edward Winter's C.N. 6387:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/win ... ml#CN_6387

See also Winter's article, Chess and Bridge, which includes discussion of the controversy over Lasker's bridge proficiency:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/bridge.html

It is interesting to see that, after Buerger's death in 1996, Christie's auctioned some chess score-books of his:

"The Property of the late Victor Berger (formerly Buerger):

BRITISH EMPIRE CLUB, MASTERS' CHESS TOURNAMENT, LONDON 1927 -- A set of ten score books, kept by ten of the twelve participants, Nimzowitsch, Tartakower, Vidmar, Bogoljubow, Reti, Colle, Buerger, Thomas, Yates and Fairhurst, each book containing 11 games with the moves recorded in pencil (some leaves in Nimzowitsch's book detached), original printed wrappers, modern cloth box. The other two participants, whose score books are no longer present, were Marshall and Winter."

[url]See: https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-696573[/url]

Tim Harding
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by Tim Harding » Sun Mar 20, 2022 1:09 pm

In volume 2 of the Forster/Negele/Tischbierek book on Lasker (Exzelsior Verlag, Berlin 2020) there is a 50-page chapter on Lasker as a bridge expert by Bob van der Velde.
Tim Harding
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John Townsend
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:25 pm

Thanks for that, Tim. 50 pages sounds substantial. As the chapter is entitled "Lasker as a Bridge Expert", I assume that Bob van de Velde would not agree with Abrahams, Buerger and Vidmar. Is it possible to summarize how this criticism is dealt with?
Last edited by John Townsend on Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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John Upham
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Upham » Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:40 pm

John Townsend wrote:
Sun Mar 20, 2022 3:25 pm
Thanks for that, Tim. 50 pages sounds substantial. As the chapter is entitled "Lasker as a Bridge Expert", I assume that Bob van der Velde would not agree with Abrahams, Buerger and Vidmar. Is it possible to summarize how this criticism is dealt with?
Bridge criticism / dealt with: I like what you did there John.
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John Townsend
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Re: Chess history trivia

Post by John Townsend » Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:25 pm

Tim, your spelling of van de Velde was incorrect and it also tripped me up because I copied it! You would have avoided this pitfall if you made more use of Chess Notes, as the article which I cited above, "Chess and Bridge", has the correct spelling four times!

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