Calculation in chess

Calculation in Chess

Recently, Jacob Aagaard wrote a new book called Grandmaster Preparation – Calculation. It is a very instructive book with lots of advice for chess players at all levels. In 2004, he wrote Excelling at Chess: Calculation. His new book is updated with lots of diagrams and positions to work through from recent games.

The main advice seems to be concentration and deeply analyzing a position. If the position is of a positional nature, there is not much to calculate. For tactical positions, however, you must learn to calculate.

Aagaard recommends that you keep your ideas simple, which will assist you in focusing on the most important aspects of the position. Forget about that complicated idea about the tree of analysis, recommended by Kotov in Think Like a Grandmaster.

Calculation is only a tool to aid in the decision-making process in choosing a move. It is not important what you see on the chess board, but what you play, Making better decisions is what improving in chess is all about.

The first step is to come up with candidate good moves to choose from. You may see a few candidate moves right away, but there is no guarantee that they are the best candidate moves. You need to train yourself for additional ideas to come up with a bigger list of interesting moves.

Look for combinations. Almost all combinations are based on some well-known pattern that has been played many times before. In order to be good at calculation, you need to spend some significant amount of time solving combinations.

Pay attention to your opponent’s ideas and counter-chances. Look for his threats. Focus on your opponent’s intentions to attack or defend. Try to see tricky plans and traps for your opponent, so you can prevent them in time.

If you come up with two similar decisions on what move to make, you need to compare these decisions and work out the difference. Look at the advantages of one move over another as well as some subtle idea that makes the difference in choosing the best move.

Be able to analyze what’s wrong with a move rather that what’s good about it, especially when trying to defend your position.

When everything else has failed, try setting a trap. Make a move that your opponent is likely to make a mistake if he doesn’t find the best move. It may not work every time, but if you are desperate, or running out of time, you may try to play trappy chess.

Calculate forcing moves first. They are usually easier to calculate than quiet moves that are not so forcing.

Only analyze necessary variations. Calculate slower but more accurate. This will save you a lot of time and it is more practical for effective decision-making. Your analysis should show quality, not quantity, so make sure you are calculating the right variations. And sometimes you have to calculate more slowly and check out every legal move in a position to make sure you don’t miss anything. That is very true in correspondence chess.

Consider whether or not it is necessary to calculate a variation deeply and calculate only what you have to. Aagaard quotes trainer Mark Dvoretsky that “new ideas at the start of a variation are a good deal more important than refinements at the end of it.”

When you think you have made up your mind, make your move. If you keep thinking after you have decided on what move you want to make, you may change your mind and make a weaker move as well as run into time trouble. If you have made a definite conclusion, you don’t need to waste time analyzing deeper.

One good tip that Aagaard recommends is to calculate one half move longer. He says to make it a habit to look for candidates for a brief moment to avoid any nasty surprises or traps against you.

Look for clear simple solutions in winning positions and look for the opposite in lost positions.

When you go over a game, get into the habit of moving pawns and pieces in your mind more often. Avoid moving your pieces on the board right away when you are analyzing your games.

– Bill Wall

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Chess and Schools

Schools and Chess

The Annenberg Foundation is one of the biggest contributors to chess in America’s public schools. In New York, the Annenberg Foundation gave $200,000 to implement the in-school weekly program in eight New York City schools as part of the Chess-In-The-Schools (CIS) program. A list of other sponsors is listed at http://www.chessintheschools.org/s/index.cfm?SSID=16

Since 1986, Chess-in-the-Schools, a non-profit organization, have touched 400,000 students in the New York City public schools. In 2007, 20,000 students were involved in the Chess-in-the-Schools program. In 2008, Chess-in-the-Schools raised over $1 million to support chess in New York schools. In 2009, college bound high school seniors involved in CIS received 84 college acceptances and more than $525,000 in scholarships and financial aid.

The Manhattan School for Children is an Annenberg Challenge School and an Annenberg New York City Partnership for the Arts School. One of its clubs it sponsors and supports is the American Chess Foundation Chess Club.

The Annenberg Foundation donates to the Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League, comprised of 24 high school teams from around the city. The Philadelphia Scholastic Chess League has 220 active chess clubs with 3,000 participants playing weekly.

The Annenberg foundation provided financial assistance to the HEAF (Harlem Educational Activities Fund) chess club in Harlem, located at the Police Athletic League/Phipps Center.

In Chicago, the Chess Academy is an approved on-site after-school enrichment provider for Chicago Public Schools. It is an approved Professional Development Provider by the Illinois State Department of Education. Also in Chicago, the Renaissance Chess Foundation works with the Chicago’s Mayor’s Office of Special Events to provide chess activities at community events. They also act as a consultant to the Chicago Public Schools Chess Programs.

In 2008, the Department of Education invested $120,000 for chess in 100 public schools and expanded this fall to 100 more.

The United States Chess Federation estimates 500,000 students in the public school system are being taught some aspect of chess.

America’s Foundation for Chess (AF4C) has developed a program called First Move. It is being taught in 26 states at the 2nd and 3rd grade level. It uses chess as a learning tool to teach higher level thinking skills, advanced math and reading skills. It also uses chess to build self-esteem in students. First Move was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show.

In Washington State, King County (Seattle) provided $25,000 to fully fund the AF4C First Move chess curriculum in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms.

In Philadelphia, the 7th largest school system in the country, 18 of the 280 public schools have added the AF4C First Move chess program to their curriculum. Additionally, the Philadelphia Eagles NFL football league has made a commitment to chess in the Philadelphia schools as part of its Eagles Youth Partnership After-Schools Activities Partnership (ASAP) program.

The Maryland State Department of Education granted $10,000 to 24 public schools to support a Chess in Maryland Schools (CMS) program.

In 2007, the University of Aberdeen sponsored a Chess in the Schools and Communities International Conference (CISCCON).

In the UK, the British Schools Chess Championship has been held every year since 1958. At its height in the 1970s, over 1,000 teams took part. In 2008, there were 135 teams. In 2007, there were only 93 teams, the lowest ever.

In Detroit, the Michigan First Credit Union (formerly the Detroit Teachers Credit Union) has donated $20,000 to chess in the Detroit Public Schools. The Detroit public schools have produced several national scholastic chess champions.

In Baltimore, about 1,200 students are playing chess in 60 public schools as part of the Baltimore Kids Chess League, which started four years ago with 20 schools. The effort is sponsored by the Abell Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Each school gets about $2,000 in grants to support chess. In 2007, the Maryland State Department of Education provided 24 chess programs with up to $10,000 each in grant funding to support a Chess in Marylands Schools program. Statewide funding for chess in the schools totaled $255,000 with 750 students participating.

In California, the Berkeley Chess School (BCS) offers chess free of charge to 500 children from Oakland’s underserved public elementary schools. The BCS Oakland Chess Program provides weekly classes to 500 3rd-thru-5th graders from five low-income schools in Oakland. Sponsors include the Hellman Family Foundation and a grant from the Irene S. Scully Family Foundation.

In October, 2008, elementary school children in the USA played a chess match with astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who was on the International Space Station.

Idaho included a budget up to $60,000 to finance chess instruction in their schools.

In March 2012, the European Parliament endorsed the ‘Chess in European schools’ program, a cooperation between the European Chess Union (ECU) and the Kasparov Chess Foundation.

An unfortunate incident occurred in the Washington, D.C. public school system in 2007. $73,000 was donated to support chess in the public schools. However, a school business manager ripped off most of the money. He used the school’s ATM card more than 100 times to steal from the public school chess fund.

Chess and World War II

Chess and World War II

World champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was supposed to play a title match with Paul Keres in 1940, but World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939.
When World War II broke out, George Koltamowski (1903-2000) of Belgium was in Central America. He then came to the US and became a US citizen. Many of his family members died in concentration camps.
Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), a Kiev master, fled to Poland after the start of World War II, and died there after the Nazi invasion.
David Przepiorka (1880-1940), a Polish master, died in a mass execution in Palmry, outside Warsaw around April 1940. During the Nazi invasion of Poland, his apartment was destroyed and he moved to share an apartment with another chess player in Warsaw. He was arrested after a Gestapo raid of his apartment. The Jews were later rounded up an executed.
On September 23, 1940, the Germans bombed the National Chess Centre in London, which burnt down. It may have been the largest chess club in the world with over 700 members. The contents of the chess center were entirely destroyed. It opened in September 1939, the same month as the start of World War II. Vera Menchik, world women’s champion, was its manager. The National Chess Centre was re-opened in 1952.
The finals for the 13th Soviet Championship was set for the fall of 1941. In June, 1941, one of the semi-finals was being held at Rostov-on-Don. During the 9th round, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Moscow officials wanted the tournament to continue, but some of the players left for home and others were ordered to induction centers. The 13th Soviet Championship resumed in 1944.
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) may have been killed on September 3, 1941, during the siege of Leningrad. He was on a barge on Lake Ladoga, east of Leningrad, when a German aircraft bombed the barge. He was the only one killed on the barge, which was displaying Red Cross flags. Other sources say that he was a victim of Stalin’s purges since Alexander was part of the Old Guard of revolutionists.
Genrikh Kasparyan (1910-1995) spent the first year of the war on the Crimean front in some of the heaviest fighting of World War II.
In November, 1941, Viktor Korchnoi’s father was killed in battle east of Leningrad. His father was part of a volunteer defense unit.
During the siege of Leningrad, officials ordered the evacuation of all children, which included four-year-old Boris Spassky (1937- ). Spassky learned to play chess on a train evacuating from Leningrad.
In 1941 Karel Treybal, one of the strongest Czech players of his period, was executed by the Nazis in Prague.
In 1942 Ilya Rabinovich, Leonid Kubbel, Mikhail Kogan (chess historian), Samuil Vainshtein (chief arbiter), and Alexei Troitzky starved to death during the siege of Leningrad.
During World War II, many prisoners of war spent much of their time playing chess. Chess sets and boards were sent to POWs and were used to hide maps, and sometimes a compass.
Prisoners in German concentration camps made chess sets out of candle wax and soap, which they colored, and wood.
A prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp made a chess set out of rye bread for an SS guard. The king piece on the brown German side was crafted to resemble Hitler.
Chess was popular in the air raid shelters during the Blitz against Britain.
During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada. Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions.
During World War II, the world chess federation (FIDE) headquarters was transferred to Buenos Aires, Argentina. During that time, Augusto de Muro, president of the Argentine Chess Federation, became president of FIDE.
Reuben Fine spent most of his time during World War II as a translator (he spoke 7 languages) in Washington D.C., and worked on mathematical models to predict movements of enemy submarines.
British Master Harry Golombek was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Sonja Graf was the ladies woman champion of Germany, but she was not allowed to play on the German chess Olympiad team by a Nazi edict. She went on to play at large under the banner of “Liberty.”
Chess masters in England were recruited as code breakers. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was also known as the Gold, Cheese and Chess Society. Harry Golombek, Stuart Milner-Berry, and C.H. O’D Alexander (promoted to Colonel) were on the team which broke the German Enigma code.
During World War II, Alexander Alekhine served briefly as an interpreter in the French army.
Alekhine played in Nazi chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg, Warsaw, and Prague.
Ossip Weinstein was a top Russian master and editor of the Soviet chess magazine Shakmatny Listok before World War II. He became a civilian casualty of the German bombardment of Leningrad during World War II.
Akiba Rubinstein was put in an insane asylum during World War II to protect him from the Germans.
Miguel (Mendel) Najdorf’s entire Polish family died in German concentration camps during World War II. Najdorf tried to communicate to his family that he was alive in Argentina by giving large chess simultaneous exhibitions for publicity.
During World War II, Savielly Tartakover escaped the German occupation in France and served as a Lieutenant Colonel (named Cartier) under Charles de Gaulle. After World War II, he was granted French citizenship.
During World War II, Svetozar Gligoric saw action as a Yugoslav partisan against the Germans. He was considered a war hero.
During World War II, Arnold Denker gave simultaneous exhibitions at military bases and aboard aircraft carriers.
Top Hungarian chess master Bora Kostic spent some time in a German concentration camp.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov was a decorated veteran of World War II and grandmaster strength.
Walter Korn fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, and came to the USA.
During World War II, Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, ordered German chess masters to visit hospitals and barracks to play exhibition chess matches. The same thing was happening with chess masters in the Soviet Union.
During World War II, the Japanese confiscated chess books from prisoners, thinking they were military code.
During World War II, Alexander Kotov was made a chief engineer and created the first breech-loading mortar. He was awarded the Order of Lenin at a Kremlin ceremony for his work.
Hungarian champion Laszlo Szabo was in a Hungarian Forced Labor unit where he was captured by the Russian army. He was a prisoner of war until after the end of World War II.
Larry Evans learned chess from his older brother. His brother was later killed in action as a bomber crew member during World War II.
Arvid Kubbel was a noted chess problemist. For over 30 years, the Soviets said he died in the siege of Leningrad. Instead, he died of nephritis in a Soviet gulag.
During World War II, Paul Keres of Estonia participated in several German and German-sponsored chess tournaments. When the Red Army liberated his country, Soviet authorities planned to execute Keres. Mikhail Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin, and Keres was spared. During World War II, it was rumored that Keres was killed. This was reported in Chess Review.
World women’s chess champion Vera Menchik died in 1944 at the age of 38 during a German V2 bombing raid on the city of London. Her sister Olga also died from the bombing raid.
Klaus Junge was an officer in the 12th SS-battalion defending Hamburg. When he was asked to surrender, he stood up, shouted “Sieg Heil!” and was shot just three weeks before the end of World War II.
After World War II, world champion Alexander Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments because of his Nazi affiliation.
Soviet master Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov was shot just after World War II began for the Soviets. He was shot on suspicion of being a German spy only because there was a German general named Schneiderman.
The first sporting event after World War II was the USA vs. USSR radio chess match in September, 1945. The Russians won.
One of the world’s strongest chess players was a Latvian named Vladimir Petrov. After World War II, the Soviets occupied Latvia. The Soviets suspected that Petrov collaborated with the Nazis. Petrov was sent to Siberia and never returned.
The Latvian master Karlis Ozols was accused to have taken part in atrocities during World War II. After the war, he fled to Australia. He became Australian champion in 1958. Ozols was a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Latvian militia who carried out mass executions of Jews in Latvia.
Prominent chess players lost during World War II included Polish master Isaak Appel (1905-1941), Hungarian master Zoltan Balla (1883-1945), Moscow chess champion Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942), Russian master Fyodor Fogelevich (1909-1941), Henryk Friedman (1903-1943), Polish master Achilles Frydman (1905-1940), Polish champion Eduard Gerstenfeld (1915-1943), Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941), Klaus Junge (1924-1945, Lev Kaiev (1913-1942), Mikhail Kogan (1898-1942), Josek Kolski (1900-1941), Plish master Leon Kremer (1901-1940), Arvid Kubbel (1889-1942), Leonid Kubbel (1892-1942), Salo Landau (1903-1943), Benjamin Levin ( -1942), Moishe Lowekl (1881-1940), Kiev master Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), Moscow Champion Isaak Maisel ( -1943, Mikhail Makogonov (1900-1943), Olga Menchik (1908-1944), Vera Menchik (1906-1944), Latvian champion Vladimir Petrov (1907-1945), Mikhail Platov (1883-1940), David Przepiorka (1880-1940), Ilya Rabinovich (1878-1943), Vesevold Rauzer (1908-1941), Nikolai Riumin (1908-1942), Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov ( -1941), Byelorussian champion Vladimir Silich (1906-1943), Vasily Solkov ( -1944), Endre Steiner (1901-1944), Mark Stolberg (1922-1943), Polish master Abram Szpiro (1910-1941), Karel Treybal (1885-1941), Alexei Troitzky (1866-1942), Samuil Vainstein (1894-1942), Boris Vaksberg ( -1942), Otaker Votruba (1894-1943), Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943), and Lazar Zalkind (1886-1945).
During World War II, prominent chess players that died included Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942), and Frank Marshall (1877-1944).
– Bill Wall

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Chess and World War II

Chess and World War II

World champion Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946) was supposed to play a title match with Paul Keres in 1940, but World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939.
When World War II broke out, George Koltamowski (1903-2000) of Belgium was in Central America. He then came to the US and became a US citizen. Many of his family members died in concentration camps.
Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), a Kiev master, fled to Poland after the start of World War II, and died there after the Nazi invasion.
David Przepiorka (1880-1940), a Polish master, died in a mass execution in Palmry, outside Warsaw around April 1940. During the Nazi invasion of Poland, his apartment was destroyed and he moved to share an apartment with another chess player in Warsaw. He was arrested after a Gestapo raid of his apartment. The Jews were later rounded up an executed.
On September 23, 1940, the Germans bombed the National Chess Centre in London, which burnt down. It may have been the largest chess club in the world with over 700 members. The contents of the chess center were entirely destroyed. It opened in September 1939, the same month as the start of World War II. Vera Menchik, world women’s champion, was its manager. The National Chess Centre was re-opened in 1952.
The finals for the 13th Soviet Championship was set for the fall of 1941. In June, 1941, one of the semi-finals was being held at Rostov-on-Don. During the 9th round, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Moscow officials wanted the tournament to continue, but some of the players left for home and others were ordered to induction centers. The 13th Soviet Championship resumed in 1944.
Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941) may have been killed on September 3, 1941, during the siege of Leningrad. He was on a barge on Lake Ladoga, east of Leningrad, when a German aircraft bombed the barge. He was the only one killed on the barge, which was displaying Red Cross flags. Other sources say that he was a victim of Stalin’s purges since Alexander was part of the Old Guard of revolutionists.
Genrikh Kasparyan (1910-1995) spent the first year of the war on the Crimean front in some of the heaviest fighting of World War II.
In November, 1941, Viktor Korchnoi’s father was killed in battle east of Leningrad. His father was part of a volunteer defense unit.
During the siege of Leningrad, officials ordered the evacuation of all children, which included four-year-old Boris Spassky (1937- ). Spassky learned to play chess on a train evacuating from Leningrad.
In 1941 Karel Treybal, one of the strongest Czech players of his period, was executed by the Nazis in Prague.
In 1942 Ilya Rabinovich, Leonid Kubbel, Mikhail Kogan (chess historian), Samuil Vainshtein (chief arbiter), and Alexei Troitzky starved to death during the siege of Leningrad.
During World War II, many prisoners of war spent much of their time playing chess. Chess sets and boards were sent to POWs and were used to hide maps, and sometimes a compass.
Prisoners in German concentration camps made chess sets out of candle wax and soap, which they colored, and wood.
A prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp made a chess set out of rye bread for an SS guard. The king piece on the brown German side was crafted to resemble Hitler.
Chess was popular in the air raid shelters during the Blitz against Britain.
During World War II, no postal chess play was allowed between civilians and servicemen in the United States and Canada. Soldiers overseas were not allowed to play postal chess due to censorship restrictions.
During World War II, the world chess federation (FIDE) headquarters was transferred to Buenos Aires, Argentina. During that time, Augusto de Muro, president of the Argentine Chess Federation, became president of FIDE.
Reuben Fine spent most of his time during World War II as a translator (he spoke 7 languages) in Washington D.C., and worked on mathematical models to predict movements of enemy submarines.
British Master Harry Golombek was a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
Sonja Graf was the ladies woman champion of Germany, but she was not allowed to play on the German chess Olympiad team by a Nazi edict. She went on to play at large under the banner of “Liberty.”
Chess masters in England were recruited as code breakers. The Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) was also known as the Gold, Cheese and Chess Society. Harry Golombek, Stuart Milner-Berry, and C.H. O’D Alexander (promoted to Colonel) were on the team which broke the German Enigma code.
During World War II, Alexander Alekhine served briefly as an interpreter in the French army.
Alekhine played in Nazi chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg, Warsaw, and Prague.
Ossip Weinstein was a top Russian master and editor of the Soviet chess magazine Shakmatny Listok before World War II. He became a civilian casualty of the German bombardment of Leningrad during World War II.
Akiba Rubinstein was put in an insane asylum during World War II to protect him from the Germans.
Miguel (Mendel) Najdorf’s entire Polish family died in German concentration camps during World War II. Najdorf tried to communicate to his family that he was alive in Argentina by giving large chess simultaneous exhibitions for publicity.
During World War II, Savielly Tartakover escaped the German occupation in France and served as a Lieutenant Colonel (named Cartier) under Charles de Gaulle. After World War II, he was granted French citizenship.
During World War II, Svetozar Gligoric saw action as a Yugoslav partisan against the Germans. He was considered a war hero.
During World War II, Arnold Denker gave simultaneous exhibitions at military bases and aboard aircraft carriers.
Top Hungarian chess master Bora Kostic spent some time in a German concentration camp.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov was a decorated veteran of World War II and grandmaster strength.
Walter Korn fled Czechoslovakia during World War II, and came to the USA.
During World War II, Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, ordered German chess masters to visit hospitals and barracks to play exhibition chess matches. The same thing was happening with chess masters in the Soviet Union.
During World War II, the Japanese confiscated chess books from prisoners, thinking they were military code.
During World War II, Alexander Kotov was made a chief engineer and created the first breech-loading mortar. He was awarded the Order of Lenin at a Kremlin ceremony for his work.
Hungarian champion Laszlo Szabo was in a Hungarian Forced Labor unit where he was captured by the Russian army. He was a prisoner of war until after the end of World War II.
Larry Evans learned chess from his older brother. His brother was later killed in action as a bomber crew member during World War II.
Arvid Kubbel was a noted chess problemist. For over 30 years, the Soviets said he died in the siege of Leningrad. Instead, he died of nephritis in a Soviet gulag.
During World War II, Paul Keres of Estonia participated in several German and German-sponsored chess tournaments. When the Red Army liberated his country, Soviet authorities planned to execute Keres. Mikhail Botvinnik interceded by talking to Stalin, and Keres was spared. During World War II, it was rumored that Keres was killed. This was reported in Chess Review.
World women’s chess champion Vera Menchik died in 1944 at the age of 38 during a German V2 bombing raid on the city of London. Her sister Olga also died from the bombing raid.
Klaus Junge was an officer in the 12th SS-battalion defending Hamburg. When he was asked to surrender, he stood up, shouted “Sieg Heil!” and was shot just three weeks before the end of World War II.
After World War II, world champion Alexander Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments because of his Nazi affiliation.
Soviet master Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov was shot just after World War II began for the Soviets. He was shot on suspicion of being a German spy only because there was a German general named Schneiderman.
The first sporting event after World War II was the USA vs. USSR radio chess match in September, 1945. The Russians won.
One of the world’s strongest chess players was a Latvian named Vladimir Petrov. After World War II, the Soviets occupied Latvia. The Soviets suspected that Petrov collaborated with the Nazis. Petrov was sent to Siberia and never returned.
The Latvian master Karlis Ozols was accused to have taken part in atrocities during World War II. After the war, he fled to Australia. He became Australian champion in 1958. Ozols was a senior officer in the pro-Nazi Latvian militia who carried out mass executions of Jews in Latvia.
Prominent chess players lost during World War II included Polish master Isaak Appel (1905-1941), Hungarian master Zoltan Balla (1883-1945), Moscow chess champion Sergey Belavenets (1910-1942), Russian master Fyodor Fogelevich (1909-1941), Henryk Friedman (1903-1943), Polish master Achilles Frydman (1905-1940), Polish champion Eduard Gerstenfeld (1915-1943), Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky (1894-1941), Klaus Junge (1924-1945, Lev Kaiev (1913-1942), Mikhail Kogan (1898-1942), Josek Kolski (1900-1941), Plish master Leon Kremer (1901-1940), Arvid Kubbel (1889-1942), Leonid Kubbel (1892-1942), Salo Landau (1903-1943), Benjamin Levin ( -1942), Moishe Lowekl (1881-1940), Kiev master Moizhem Lowtzky (1881-1940), Moscow Champion Isaak Maisel ( -1943, Mikhail Makogonov (1900-1943), Olga Menchik (1908-1944), Vera Menchik (1906-1944), Latvian champion Vladimir Petrov (1907-1945), Mikhail Platov (1883-1940), David Przepiorka (1880-1940), Ilya Rabinovich (1878-1943), Vesevold Rauzer (1908-1941), Nikolai Riumin (1908-1942), Georgy Schneiderman-Stepanov ( -1941), Byelorussian champion Vladimir Silich (1906-1943), Vasily Solkov ( -1944), Endre Steiner (1901-1944), Mark Stolberg (1922-1943), Polish master Abram Szpiro (1910-1941), Karel Treybal (1885-1941), Alexei Troitzky (1866-1942), Samuil Vainstein (1894-1942), Boris Vaksberg ( -1942), Otaker Votruba (1894-1943), Heinrich Wolf (1875-1943), and Lazar Zalkind (1886-1945).
During World War II, prominent chess players that died included Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941), Jose Capablanca (1888-1942), Rudolf Spielmann (1883-1942), and Frank Marshall (1877-1944).
– Bill Wall

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Chess Limericks

Chess Limericks

There once was a man from Maine,

Who played chess on a fast train.

He took a move back

And was thrown off the track,

And he never played chess again.

There once was a lady named Flo,

Who liked to mate, you know;

When someone castled long,

She helped along,

and would say, “O – O – O.”

There once was a man named Maloney,

Who always played the Benoni.

But his counterattack,

failed to a sac;

And his Benoni was just baloney.

There once was a lady in the nude,

Who played chess with some dude;

She announced to her date,

She was ready to mate,

But her meaning was quite misconstrued.

There was a young fellow named Fyfe,

Whose marriage was ruined for life,

For he played chess all day

and was always away,

and avoided mating his wife.

There was a young lady named Mable

Who played chess on a very big table,

When she played against a man,

she always began,

“Try to mate me if you are able.”

There once was a chess player named Nate,

Was anything but sedate;

When moving to win,

He broadly would grin,

And bellow: “That’s check – and mate!”

There once was a lady with one ambition,

To win chess under any condition.

But to this date

She has yet to mate

She just can’t find the right position.

There once was a Grandmaster named Browne,

Who always wore a perpetual frown;

As he played blitz against Dzindzi,

The crowd got all cringy,

He said just one word, that was, “DOWN!”

There’s something chess computers lack;

It’s not that they know how to attack;

They can fork and pin;

They may lose, more often win.

But they just will never talk back.

Postal chess is still being played today,

And there’s no reason why I shouldn’t play.

It is nice and slow,

And I can use my ECO,

It’s the postage I can’t afford to pay.

This has happened to you, I bet.

You bring your chess set and didn’t forget.

Then you notice with shock

You have a broken chess clock,

And a piece is missing from the set.

The USCF rating system is inflated,

But the lower rated players are elated.

They can lose every game,

But their rating stays the same,

Or even become higher elevated.

A chess board of a new design

that prevents an early resign.

With a different king

On either wing

The board must be 9 by 9.

There once was a strong chess master

Who moved faster and faster,

But he couldn’t wait

To find a mate

So his games were always a disaster.

There once was a lady with big tits

Who played a match with Deep Fritz;

She tried to distract

By showing her rack

But got mated instead in blitz.

There once was a famous chess café

Where famous players came to play.

They paid a franc;

Played chess and drank.

And got checkmated all day.

There once was a blind man in jail,

Who beat everyone at chess without fail.

He recorded his moves,

With little grooves,

By writing everything in Braille.

There once was a player named Bob

Who was fired from his job.

He played chess at work

With some known jerk

Who always beat Bob with the Grob.