Adjournment after move 40 might have been an issue. As it was the last round of the prelims, it was also presumably the last "proper" game Alexander would play for approaching six years.Matt Mackenzie wrote:Surely it might be worthwhile White playing on in the final position there!?
Excelsior!?
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Re: Excelsior!?
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Re: Excelsior!?
The Oxford Companion to Chess notes that although Sam Loyd was responsible for the name Excelsior, the theme had been shown earlier:
The Companion notes that Loyd achieved the task 'much less crudely'.
The Companion notes that Loyd achieved the task 'much less crudely'.
Ian Kingston
http://www.iankingston.com
http://www.iankingston.com
Re: Excelsior!?
Thanks to Ian, above, for taking us back - before Loyd.
I don't think I've ever come close to a real excelsior, or even a delayed one. Think I'd remember if I had. Can't even recall the last time I promoted a pawn - only truncated league games lately. Off topic again, but the last time I remember coming close to promoting was this excruciating double-delayed-indefinitely-deferred-pawn-promotion race -
I don't think I've ever come close to a real excelsior, or even a delayed one. Think I'd remember if I had. Can't even recall the last time I promoted a pawn - only truncated league games lately. Off topic again, but the last time I remember coming close to promoting was this excruciating double-delayed-indefinitely-deferred-pawn-promotion race -
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Re: Excelsior!?
[Event "4NCL Division 1a"]
[Site "Daventry, ENG"]
[Date "2018.11.11"]
[Round "2.31"]
[White "Sreeves, Clement"]
[Black "Rudd, Jack"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2358"]
[BlackElo "2234"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2018.11.11"]
[WhiteTeam "Alba"]
[BlackTeam "West is Best 1"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8.
Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Nf6 11. Qe2 c5 12. Bd2 O-O 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. O-O-O
Qb6 15. Ne5 Rd8 16. Kb1 Bd7 17. g4 Nd5 18. g5 Rac8 19. gxh6 g6 20. h7+ Kg7 21.
h8=Q+ 1-0
[Site "Daventry, ENG"]
[Date "2018.11.11"]
[Round "2.31"]
[White "Sreeves, Clement"]
[Black "Rudd, Jack"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2358"]
[BlackElo "2234"]
[PlyCount "41"]
[EventDate "2018.11.11"]
[WhiteTeam "Alba"]
[BlackTeam "West is Best 1"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e6 7. N1f3 Bd6 8.
Qe2 h6 9. Ne4 Nxe4 10. Qxe4 Nf6 11. Qe2 c5 12. Bd2 O-O 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. O-O-O
Qb6 15. Ne5 Rd8 16. Kb1 Bd7 17. g4 Nd5 18. g5 Rac8 19. gxh6 g6 20. h7+ Kg7 21.
h8=Q+ 1-0
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Re: Excelsior!?
[Come on Jack! It's quite easy to learn how to do it].
Re: Excelsior!?
Good of Jack (and Michael F) to posthumorously publish how he was run through by an Excalibur pawn.
If you are going to lose on the morning after the night before you may as well do so in a blaze of reflected glory rather than prolong your suffering.
(Alba 4.5 - 3.5 WiB probably hurts more than the individual result.)
If you are going to lose on the morning after the night before you may as well do so in a blaze of reflected glory rather than prolong your suffering.
(Alba 4.5 - 3.5 WiB probably hurts more than the individual result.)
Last edited by John McKenna on Tue Nov 13, 2018 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Excelsior!?
I think I know what you mean, but I suspect "posthumously" isn't the right word.John McKenna wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 1:39 pmGood of Jack (and Michael F) to posthumously publish how he was run through by an Excalibur pawn.
Re: Excelsior!?
Not to worry Alex - I'm sure Jack was soon fully restored to life after the morning of the living zombies effect wore off.
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Re: Excelsior!?
What's the longest a failed Excelsior has sat on the 7th after failing to make it the final step?
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Re: Excelsior!?
An excelsior using minimal material (study by H F Blandford, 1949). White to win - by means of a strange device of course.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Excelsior!?
That should be WORMALD, Robert Bownas
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
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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Re: Excelsior!?
Matt is right!Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:22 pmAdjournment after move 40 might have been an issue. As it was the last round of the prelims, it was also presumably the last "proper" game Alexander would play for approaching six years.Matt Mackenzie wrote:Surely it might be worthwhile White playing on in the final position there!?
A curious and instructive endgame, thank you. I will tell Karsten Mueller about it.
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
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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Re: Excelsior!?
Dont you think that the excelsior has no technical meaning and is a curiosity?