Great Chess Composers

Great Chess Composers

Compositions are chess positions other than which arises during a chess game, usually, but not necessarily, composed for solving. The chess problem and the composed chess ending are the true art forms of chess. Orthodox compositions consist of direct mate problems or an ending with the demonstration of a win or a draw. Many times it calls for mate in a specified number of moves. A chess composition consists usually of a position on the chess board, a stipulation in the form of words by the composer (or problemist), and a solution. It may also have the element of difficulty, a theme, and judged on originality.

Unorthodox compositions, known as Fairy Chess, may have no relationship to the real game of chess. It has invented pieces such as Grasshopper (hops over other pieces), Camel (a leaper), Zebra (a leaper), Nightrider (moves like a knight, but more squares), etc. It may even use unorthodox chess boards.

Retrograde analysis is a branch of composition based on determining the play leading to the given position.

Studies are positions in which White (who usually plays first) has to reach a clearly won or drawn position following the best play from both sides.

Chess compositions can be classified into groups such as direct mates (two-movers, three-movers, and more-movers), selfmates, helpmates, etc. A selfmate is a composition in which White is to play and force Black to deliver mate. A helpmate is a composition in which Black and White cooperate to reach a mate for White.

A chess composition is called cooked if it has a solution that differs from the author’s solution or intention.

Here are some famous chess composers.

Fadil Abdurahmanovic (1939- ) is a Bosnian Grandmaster of chess composition (1992) and an International Judge of Composition. His best work is in the form of helpmates and fairy problems.

Yochanan Afek (1952- ) is a chess composer of endgame studies and problems. In 1989, he was awarded the title of International Master for chess composition by FIDE. Her has published about 120 studies and he has won 11 first place awards for his compositions.

Iuri Akobia (1937- ) of Soviet Georgia has composed over 300 studies. He has written several chess books on endgame composition.

Edith Helen Baird (1859-1924) of England, born Winter Wood (known as Mrs. W.J. Baird), is the most famous female chess composer. She published her problems using the name “Mrs W. J. Baird.” She composed over 2,000 problems. In 1902 she wrote 700 Chess Problems, which took her 14 years to complete. In 1907, she wrote The Twentieth Century Retractor (take a move back to make a stronger move to mate or win the game), which was full of Shakespeare quotes.

Pal Benko (1928- ) is an International Grandmaster and Endgame Composer. He was born in France, grew up in Hungary, and settled in the USA. He was awarded the title of International Master of Chess Composition by FIDE. He has won 24 first place awards for his chess compositions. He recently composed several chess problems that were in this month’s Chess Life magazine in recognition to Bobby Fischer’s 70 birthday if he had lived.

Vladimir Bron (1909-1985) was a top Soviet chess composer and master. He composed over 400 studies during his lifetime. In 1969 he wrote Selected Studies and Problems. He won 31 first prizes for his chess compositions in composing tournaments. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster for chess composition.

Ignazio Calvi (1797-1872) was an Italian chess player and composer. He was perhaps the first person to use under-promotion (not promoting to a queen) in endgame studies.

Luigi Centurini (1820-1900) was an Italian chess player and composer who specialized in bishop vs. rook and queen vs. rook endings.

Vitaly Chekover (1908-1965) was a Russian master and composer of around 150 studies. He was a specialist on knight endings. Together with GM Yuri Averbakh, he published a four-volume encyclopedia on endgames in 1956.

Andre Cheron (1895-1980) was the chess champion of France in 1926, 1927, and 1929. He wrote the four-volume Lehr- und Handbuch der Schachendspiele from 1952 to 1971. He is one of the most famous endgame composers. In 1959, FIDE awarded him the title of International Master of Chess Composition. He composed over 300 studies during his lifetime.

Eugene Beauharnais Cook (1830-1915) of New Jersey was the first American chess composer of note. In 1868 he wrote American Chess Nuts, a collection of over 2,400 positions. He was President of the New Jersey Chess Association and was the Problem Editor of the Chess Monthly. He personally composed over 800 chess problems. When he died, he had the third largest chess book collection in the world. His library of over 2,500 chess books was presented to Princeton University. (Nowadays, a library of 2,500 chess books is common. I personally have a library of over 5,000 chess books – Wall)

Thomas Rayner Dawson (1889-1951) was the Problem Editor for the British Chess Magazine and the Fairy Chess Review. He was considered the father of Fairy Chess and invented many fairy pieces and new chess conditions for chess problems and compositions. He composed 5,320 fairy chess problems, 885 directmates, 97 selfmates, and 138 endings. He was awarded prizes for 120 of his problems. He invented the Nightrider and the Grasshopper. The Nightrider moves like a knight, but then can continue to moves as a knight as long as the spaces visited by all but the last jump remain empty. The Nightrider is denoted as an inverted knight. The Grasshopper is denoted as an inverted queen. It moves as a chess queen, but must jump exactly one piece when it moves, and it stops, directly at the square after the piece it jumped. Pieces jumped by a grasshopper are not captured.

Vincent Lanius Eaton (1915-1962) was one of America’s greatest chess composers. He graduated from Harvard at the age of 18. He worked as a scholar at the Library of Congress. From 1939 to 1941 he was the Problem Editor of Chess Review. He published over a thousand chess problems. He was an International Judge for Chess Composition.

Nikolai Grigoriev (1895-1976) was a Russian chess master and problem composer. He composed over 300 studies and was an authority on pawn endings and rook and pawn endings.

David Gurgenidze (1933- ) from Soviet Georgia, has published over 600 studies and has won 32 first prizes. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster for chess composition by FIDE.

Edgar Holladay (1925-2003 ) was one of America’s leading chess problemists. He conducted the problem department in the American Chess Bulletin. He composed chess problems for over 70 years, composing over 2,000 problems.

Bernhard Horwitz (1807-1885) was a German composer of around 400 studies. Along with Josef Kling, he authored the first anthology of endgames in 1851.

Genrikh Kasparian (1910-1995) was one of the first Grandmasters of Chess Compositions. He is considered to have been one of the greatest composers of chess endgame studies ever. In 1972, he was the first person to be awarded the title of International Grandmaster of Chess Composition by FIDE. In 1980 he wrote Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies. He composed about 600 studies and won 57 first places.

Cyril S. Kipping (1891-1964) of England was one of the most prolific composer of chess problems in the world. He composed over 7,000 chess problems in his lifetime. He was the Problem Editor of “The Chess Amateur” and the General Editor of “The Problemist” magazine. From 1935 to 1958, he was the Problem Editor of “Chess” magazine.

Karl Leonid Kubbel (1891-1942) was a Russian endgame composer and problemist. He composed over 1,500 endgame studies and problems. He is considered one of the greatest of all endgame composers.

Sam Loyd (1841-1911) was known as the Puzzle King. He produced over 10,000 puzzles in his lifetime. He was the most famous American chess composer. He composed over 700 chess problems. He was the chess problem editor of “Chess Monthly Magazine.”

Comins Mansfield (1896-1984) was one of the most famous of all problem composers. He composed chess problems for 72 years. In 1972 he was one of the first four to be awarded the title of Grandmaster for Chess Compositions. The other three were Genrich Kasparyan, Lew Loschinsky, and Eeltje Visserman. He was the first British chess player to become a chess Grandmaster (but for Composition, not over-the-board play).

William Meredith (1835-1903) was a problem composer. He composed about 200 chess problems in his career. A problem in which there are from 8 to 12 men on the board is called a Meredith (a problem of less than 8 men is called a miniature). His father was once the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1849-1850).

Geoffrey Mott-Smith (1902-1960) was a prolific chess problem composer. He was once known as the world’s leading authority on games.

John Nunn (1955- ), is a British grandmaster and composer of over 300 studies. In 2004 and 2007, he won the world championship for solving of chess compositions. He is an expert in compiling endgame tablebases for chess-playing engines.

Joseph Peckover (1897-1982) was the best known American chess composer in the early 20th century. He was born in England but immigrated to New York in 1921. He was the endgame editor for the American Chess Quarterly from 1961 to 1965. He composed over 100 endings.

Vasily Platov (1881-1952) and Mikhail Platov (1883-1938) were Latvian brothers that teamed together to compose over 300 endgames. In 1928 they wrote Selection of Chess Studies.

Richard Reti (1889-1929) was a Czech master and composer of about 300 studies.

Henri Rinck (1870-1952) was a French endgame composer. He settled in Spain in 1910. In 1952 he wrote 1414 Fins de Parties. He published 1,670 chess studies and won 58 first place prizes. He is considered one of the founders of modern endgame composing.

John Roycoft (1929- ) is an English GM of chess composition. In 1965, he founded EG, the quarterly chess magazine entirely dedicated to endgame studies.

Aleksei Selesniev (1888-1967) was a strong Soviet endgame composer and chess master.

William Shinkman (1847-1933) was one of America’s greatest chess composers. He published over 3,500 problems.

Alexei Troitsky (1866-1942) is regarded as the greatest chess composer of endgame studies. He has over 1,000 studies to his credit. He is considered the father of the contemporary school of study composition.

Milan Vukcevich (1937-2003) was an International Master and International Composition Grandmaster. He was editor of StrateGems, the publication of the Society of U.S. Chess Problemists. In 1988, he became the first American to be awarded the title of Grandmaster for chess composition.

Alain Campbell White (1880-1951) was an American problem composer and chess patron. For 32 years, from 1905 to 1936, he published the Christmas series of chess problems. He did more than any other player to promote worldwide interest in chess problems.

100 Years

100 Years Ago (1913)

100 years ago, the 16th Amendment, federal income tax, was ratified. Marcel Duchamp was playing chess and introduced his painting to America. Woodrow Wilson, a chess player, became the 28th President of the Unites States.

On January 9, 1913, Oxford defeated Cambridge in their annual university match.

On January 17, 1913, Lev Loshinsky was born. He was perhaps the greatest chess composer of three-movers. He died in 1976.

On January 27, 1913, Lodewijk Prins was born in Amsterdam. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1951, and was made an honorary grandmaster (GM) in 1982. In 1965, he won the Dutch championship. He organized the Amsterdam 1950 International, Amsterdam 1954 (the Chess Olympiad) and Amsterdam 1956 (the Candidates tournament). Prins was an International Arbiter (1960) and an endgames judge. In his later years he had a problems column, organizing yearly composing competitions. He also coauthored several chess books with Max Euwe. He died in 1999.

On February 5, 1913, Capablanca won the 2nd American National Tournament, ahead of Frank Marshall. It was held at the Manhattan Chess Club. Capablanca won his first 10 games in a row.

On February 15, 1913, Erich Eliskases was born in Innsbruck, Austria. He became an IM in 1950 and a GM in 1952. He won the Austrian championship at the age of 16. He won the Hungarian championship in 1934. He won the German championship in 1938 and 1939. He represented Austria, Germany, and Argentina in international competition. He was stranded in Argentina during World War II and washed dishes for a living before being hired as a chess teacher. At one time, he was considered a potential contender for a world championship match. During his career, he defeated Max Euwe 3 times, Capablanca twice, and beat Bobby Fischer one. He died in Argentina in 1997.

In February-March 1913, Alexander Alekhine defeated S. M. Levitsky in a match held in St. Petersburg with 7 wins and 3 losses. Years later, Alekhine published and falsified a game score from this match, showing a brilliant combination that never occurred.

On March 6, 1913, Frank Marshall won at the Havana Congress, ahead of Jose Capablanca and David Janowski. Marshall defeated Capablanca with the Black pieces. Capablanca had the mayor of Havana clear the tournament room so that Capablanca could resign his game to Marshall without anyone seeing him resign.

On April 6, 1913, Carlos Guimard (Car-Ri-Mard) was born in Argentina. He became an IM 1950 and a GM in 1960. He was Argentine champion in 1947, 1949, and 1953. Guimard was a partner with Miguel Najdorf in the insurance business and became wealthy. He died in 2001. Happy 100th birthday.

On April 22, 1913, Alekhine and Levenfish tied at St. Petersburg.

On May 12, 1913, Igor Bondarevsky was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. He was the USSR champion in 1940. He was awarded the GM title in 1950. He was awarded the GM of Correspondence Chess (GMC) title in 1961. He was a coach to Boris Spassky until the 1972 match with Fischer. He was an economist by profession. He died in 1979.

On June 24, 1913, Rudolf Spielmann won the Jubilee tournament of the Vienna Chess Club, ahead of Tartakower and Reti.

In July 1913, Frank Marshall played 57 players simultaneously in Pittsburgh, and won all 57 games.

On August 8, 1913, Alekhine won the 40th Anniversary of the Nederlandschen Schaakbond (NSB) Commemorative Tournament in Scheveningen, Holland, ahead of David Janowski.

On August 12, 1913 Alexander Kotov was born in Tula, Russia. He was Moscow champion in 1941. He was the USSR co-champion in 1948 (with Bronstein). He was awarded the GM title in 1950 (he was the 3rd Soviet GM after Botvinnik and Levenfish). He was a Candidate 1950 and 1953. He wrote several chess books, including “Think Like a Grandmaster.” He died 1981.

On August 18, 1913, Capablanca won the Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament with the score of 13-0.

On August 23, 1913, Frederick Yates won the British chess championship (British Federation Congress) at Cheltenham. He won again in 1914.

On August 24, 1913, Bradford Jefferson of Memphis, Tennessee, won the 14th Western Chess Association (US Open) in Chicago.

In August 1913, Emanuel Lasker agreed to play Akiba Rubinstein for the world championship match to be held in 1914. World War I interrupted that match.

In September 1913, Capablanca obtained a post in the Cuban Foreign Office. He was expected to be an ambassador-at-large for Cuba. His official title was “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary General from the Government of Cuba to the World at Large.” He had no specific duties except to play chess around the world. In October 1913, he departed for St. Petersburg to take up his duties as chancellor of the Cuban embassy.

In September 1913, Alekhine defeated Edward Lasker in a match in Paris, France, and won 1,000 francs. Shortly after that, his 1,000 francs was stolen. He had to borrow money from Edward Lasker to return home.

On November 4, 1913.11, Elizaveta Bykova was born in Bogoliubovo, Russia. She was the 3rd world’s women champion from 1953 to 1956 and the 5th word’s women champion from 1958 to 1962. She was the first woman to lose her title, and then regain it again. From 1956 to 1958 she lost her title to Olga Rubtsova. In 1962 she lost her title to Nona Gaprindashvili. She was USSR Women’s champion in 1947, 1948, and 1950. She earned the Women’s International Master title in 1950. In 1953, she earned the men’s International Master title. She earned the Women’s Grandmaster title in 1976. She was the first woman to be ranked as a Soviet master. She died in 1989.

In 1913, at the age of 21, Alekhine fathered an illegitimate daughter, Valentina (born on December 15, 1913) with a Russian baroness (Anna von Sewergin). Alekhine and the baroness married in 1920 to legitimize the daughter’s birth. Valentina died in the mid 1980s in Vienna.

In 1913, H.J.R. Murray (1868-1955) published “History of Chess.”

In 1913, the first edition of “Modern Chess Openings” was published by R.C. Griffith and J.H. White.

– Bill Wall

100 Years

100 Years Ago (1913)

100 years ago, the 16th Amendment, federal income tax, was ratified. Marcel Duchamp was playing chess and introduced his painting to America. Woodrow Wilson, a chess player, became the 28th President of the Unites States.

On January 9, 1913, Oxford defeated Cambridge in their annual university match.

On January 17, 1913, Lev Loshinsky was born. He was perhaps the greatest chess composer of three-movers. He died in 1976.

On January 27, 1913, Lodewijk Prins was born in Amsterdam. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1951, and was made an honorary grandmaster (GM) in 1982. In 1965, he won the Dutch championship. He organized the Amsterdam 1950 International, Amsterdam 1954 (the Chess Olympiad) and Amsterdam 1956 (the Candidates tournament). Prins was an International Arbiter (1960) and an endgames judge. In his later years he had a problems column, organizing yearly composing competitions. He also coauthored several chess books with Max Euwe. He died in 1999.

On February 5, 1913, Capablanca won the 2nd American National Tournament, ahead of Frank Marshall. It was held at the Manhattan Chess Club. Capablanca won his first 10 games in a row.

On February 15, 1913, Erich Eliskases was born in Innsbruck, Austria. He became an IM in 1950 and a GM in 1952. He won the Austrian championship at the age of 16. He won the Hungarian championship in 1934. He won the German championship in 1938 and 1939. He represented Austria, Germany, and Argentina in international competition. He was stranded in Argentina during World War II and washed dishes for a living before being hired as a chess teacher. At one time, he was considered a potential contender for a world championship match. During his career, he defeated Max Euwe 3 times, Capablanca twice, and beat Bobby Fischer one. He died in Argentina in 1997.

In February-March 1913, Alexander Alekhine defeated S. M. Levitsky in a match held in St. Petersburg with 7 wins and 3 losses. Years later, Alekhine published and falsified a game score from this match, showing a brilliant combination that never occurred.

On March 6, 1913, Frank Marshall won at the Havana Congress, ahead of Jose Capablanca and David Janowski. Marshall defeated Capablanca with the Black pieces. Capablanca had the mayor of Havana clear the tournament room so that Capablanca could resign his game to Marshall without anyone seeing him resign.

On April 6, 1913, Carlos Guimard (Car-Ri-Mard) was born in Argentina. He became an IM 1950 and a GM in 1960. He was Argentine champion in 1947, 1949, and 1953. Guimard was a partner with Miguel Najdorf in the insurance business and became wealthy. He died in 2001. Happy 100th birthday.

On April 22, 1913, Alekhine and Levenfish tied at St. Petersburg.

On May 12, 1913, Igor Bondarevsky was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. He was the USSR champion in 1940. He was awarded the GM title in 1950. He was awarded the GM of Correspondence Chess (GMC) title in 1961. He was a coach to Boris Spassky until the 1972 match with Fischer. He was an economist by profession. He died in 1979.

On June 24, 1913, Rudolf Spielmann won the Jubilee tournament of the Vienna Chess Club, ahead of Tartakower and Reti.

In July 1913, Frank Marshall played 57 players simultaneously in Pittsburgh, and won all 57 games.

On August 8, 1913, Alekhine won the 40th Anniversary of the Nederlandschen Schaakbond (NSB) Commemorative Tournament in Scheveningen, Holland, ahead of David Janowski.

On August 12, 1913 Alexander Kotov was born in Tula, Russia. He was Moscow champion in 1941. He was the USSR co-champion in 1948 (with Bronstein). He was awarded the GM title in 1950 (he was the 3rd Soviet GM after Botvinnik and Levenfish). He was a Candidate 1950 and 1953. He wrote several chess books, including “Think Like a Grandmaster.” He died 1981.

On August 18, 1913, Capablanca won the Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament with the score of 13-0.

On August 23, 1913, Frederick Yates won the British chess championship (British Federation Congress) at Cheltenham. He won again in 1914.

On August 24, 1913, Bradford Jefferson of Memphis, Tennessee, won the 14th Western Chess Association (US Open) in Chicago.

In August 1913, Emanuel Lasker agreed to play Akiba Rubinstein for the world championship match to be held in 1914. World War I interrupted that match.

In September 1913, Capablanca obtained a post in the Cuban Foreign Office. He was expected to be an ambassador-at-large for Cuba. His official title was “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary General from the Government of Cuba to the World at Large.” He had no specific duties except to play chess around the world. In October 1913, he departed for St. Petersburg to take up his duties as chancellor of the Cuban embassy.

In September 1913, Alekhine defeated Edward Lasker in a match in Paris, France, and won 1,000 francs. Shortly after that, his 1,000 francs was stolen. He had to borrow money from Edward Lasker to return home.

On November 4, 1913.11, Elizaveta Bykova was born in Bogoliubovo, Russia. She was the 3rd world’s women champion from 1953 to 1956 and the 5th word’s women champion from 1958 to 1962. She was the first woman to lose her title, and then regain it again. From 1956 to 1958 she lost her title to Olga Rubtsova. In 1962 she lost her title to Nona Gaprindashvili. She was USSR Women’s champion in 1947, 1948, and 1950. She earned the Women’s International Master title in 1950. In 1953, she earned the men’s International Master title. She earned the Women’s Grandmaster title in 1976. She was the first woman to be ranked as a Soviet master. She died in 1989.

In 1913, at the age of 21, Alekhine fathered an illegitimate daughter, Valentina (born on December 15, 1913) with a Russian baroness (Anna von Sewergin). Alekhine and the baroness married in 1920 to legitimize the daughter’s birth. Valentina died in the mid 1980s in Vienna.

In 1913, H.J.R. Murray (1868-1955) published “History of Chess.”

In 1913, the first edition of “Modern Chess Openings” was published by R.C. Griffith and J.H. White.

– Bill Wall

Die Hard Actress Also a Chess Master

http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2013/02/die-hard-actress-also-chess-master-by.html

The Chess Expert

The Chess Expert

In 1995, International Master Eric Tangborn wrote a book called “A Road to the Expert Title.” The aim of the book was to focus on just what is necessary to become an expert (Candidate Master). Here is his advice.

Find an opening repertoire which fits your style in which you have great confidence. It should be a simple, easy opening that does not require a lot of memorization (Tangborn recommends the King’s Indian Attack for White and the King’s Indian Defense as Black if your opponent plays 1.d4 and Sicialian Accelerated Dragon if 1.e4 is played). He advises the way to learn any opening is by studying complete games and learning strategies and tactics of typical positions. Ideally, you want to study games played by masters, International Masters, and Grandmasters.

Strive for these four elements in the opening: 1) get control of the center; 2) strive for the quickest and most active development; 3) castle early; 4) get an advantageous pawn structure.

You need to have a good positional judgment. You need to have a strong feel for where to put your pieces and how to take advantage of structural weaknesses.

You must be very sharp tactically. Practice finding combinations in chess games. Buy a book on combinations and try to solve a few positions.

Study well-annotated games played by masters.

Practice analyzing positions alone or with friends.

Pick out candidate moves that seem to be good moves in a particular position. When analyzing complicated chess variations in your head, try to examine each branch of candidate moves once and only once. Wandering to and fro will just lose time and cause confusion.

Pick out positions that are well analyzed from a chess book, close the book, and write down your own analysis. After a fixed amount of time, compare your analysis with the analysis in the book.

Play competitively on a regular basis. Annotate your games and try to learn from your mistakes.

Develop your knights towards the center of the board and put your bishops on long diagonals. Do not block them by your own pawns. The bishops are stronger when used in pairs.

The king should be castled as soon as possible and tucked away in safety in the middlegame. Only activate the king in the endgame.

In order to tell if your attack is going to succeed, count the number of attackers and the number of defenders. If there are more attackers than defenders, the attack will usually succeed.

Before commencing with a plan, you must be able to evaluate a position. You have to ask yourself are you ahead, behind, or even in material? Are your pawns well placed? How much freedom of action do your pieces have? Is your king safe or exposed to attack? What is the threat? Is there a favorable exchange of pieces? Are there any holes in your position or your opponent’s position?

The most important rule is that your pieces need to be active and coordinated.

As a player who has been up and down the expert scale (2000 to 2199 and back down again), I have found that the most important thing to make expert and keep expert is to play often. A tournament once a year is not enough to stay expert strength. You need to play in 5 or 6 tournaments a year to stay sharp. I vary my openings so that my opponents cannot prepare against me so much. I avoid opening that my opponents are familiar with if I know the history of my opponent. I try to manage the clock better, but as you get older, that is harder to do. I am often in time trouble in my 60s when I did not have that problem when I was younger. Most of my wins against other experts and masters have come from tactical shots that I saw and my opponent missed. Playing positional or for an even endgame has not been my best way to stay expert strength. As White, I play less common openings such as 1.b3 or 1.g3. As Black, I play the Sicilian with offbeat 3rd or 4th moves for Black, or the Nimzo-Indian when I see 1.d4. If I have nothing to lose, I play gambits; otherwise I try to play solid moves and avoid exchanges. I play a lot of blitz chess online to experiment with certain openings. When I am preparing for a tournament, about a month before the event, I study the latest games that feature the opening ideas I want to play. I usually have two openings in mind as White, and two openings for Black for every possible White move.

Bobby Fishers's Chess Tournaments

Bobby Fischer’s First Chess Tournaments

Bobby Fischer (1943-2008) was probably the greatest chess player who ever lived. How did he get so good so quick? In March 1949, when Bobby turned 6, he learned the game of chess from instructions on a plastic chess set that his sister, Joan (1938-1998), bought at a candy store for $1. At the time, he did not know anyone who played chess and he never saw anyone playing chess. His only chess partners at age 6 was his 11 year old sister and sometimes his mom, Regina. Soon, Joan got tired of the game and his mother was too busy to play. He later discovered a chess book and spent his summer vacation going over the games in this book (Tarrasch’s Best Games of Chess).

In November 1950, Bobby’s mother attempted to place an ad in a newspaper looking for chess opponents for the 7-year-old-Bobby. The ad was never published. However, in January 1951, Hermann Helms (1870-1963) learned of the ad and replied that there was going to be a chess simultaneous exhibition at the Grand Army Plaza Public Library in a few days. Bobby showed up with his new chess board and set that he got for Christmas, but lost in 15 minutes to Senior Master Max Pavey (1918-1957). Bobby burst into tears when he lost, but later admitted that the loss had a great effect in motivating him to get better at chess.

At the event, Bobby met Carmine Nigro (1910-2011), President of the Brooklyn Chess and Checkers Club. Carmine agreed to give Bobby some chess lessons. Bobby also joined the Brooklyn Chess Club. On his first night at the club, he lost every game. Despite the losses, he continued to show up at the club and play chess.

By the end of 1952, Fischer was becoming a fairly good player and started beating Nigro and others at the Brooklyn Chess Club. He was also starting to read every chess book he could find at the public libraries.

Around January 1953, 9-year-old Fischer played Dan Mayers (born in 1922) at the Brooklyn Chess Club. Mayers recorded the game, and it is the first known recorded chess game of Bobby Fischer. However, Fischer got mated in 17 moves.

Mayers (1900) – Fischer (Unrated), Brooklyn Chess Club, January 1953

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.d4 Bb4 6.e5 Ne4 7.Qh5 O-O 8.Ne2 d5 9.Bb3 g6 10.Qh6 Bg4 11.Bd2 Nxd2 12.Kxd2 g5 13.h4 gxh4? [13…Be7] 14.Rxh4 Bf5 15.Rah1 Be7?? [15…f6] 16.Rg4 Bg6 17.Qxh7 mate 1-0

Dan had worked as a physicist at Los Alamos during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. He was the 1939 New York City High School Champion. In 1948, he won the New England Chess Championship. In 1996, he won the British Senior Championship, and in 2004, he won the U.S. Senior championship for players 75 and older. At age 90, he is still playing chess.

By 1954, Fischer was playing a lot of chess at the Brooklyn Chess Club and at the Brooklyn YMCA. In December 1954, he took 3rd-5th place at the Brooklyn CC championship. Two off-hand games were recorded between Fischer and Brooklyn player Jacob Altusky.

Fischer – Altusky, Brooklyn 1954

1.d4 g6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 O-O 5.Bg5 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 Ng4 9.Nd5 Ngxe5? [9…Re8] 10.Bxe7 Kh8 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bxd8 and Black resigned 1-0

Altusky-Fischer, Brooklyn 1954

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 b5 6.Bb3 Bg4 7.Bxf7? Kxf7 8.Ng5 Qxg5 and White resigned 0-1

In early 1955 Fischer was playing in a Chess Review correspondence tournament (section 55-P-32). He was mentioned as a new postalite in the May, 1955 issue of Chess Review in the Class B at 1200 section. The August 1955 issue of Chess Review, page, 249 has section 55-P-32 stating “Fischer licks Maxwell, loses to Conger.” The October 1955 issue has section 55-P-32 stating “Reithel tops Fischer.”

Fischer had an 1198 postal rating in the August, 1955 list of Chess Review and a 1082 postal rating in the March, 1956 issue of Chess Review. He remained at 1082 in the August, 1956 issue if Chess Review. He lost one of his postal games in 12 moves to A. Wayne Conger (1418 postal).

Conger (1274) – Fischer (1200), Corr. 1955

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 O-O 7.f4 c5 8.d5 Qa5 9.Qd2 Qc7 10.Bd3 e6 11.Nb5 Qb6 12.Nxd6 and Fischer resigned 1-0

Donald Reithel recalls that he played Fischer in a correspondence game in 1955. Fischer wrote to Reithel that he was a Brooklyn Dodger fan. Fischer did not finish the correspondence game with Reithel because he was starting to play in over-the-board tournaments.

Donald Reithel said, “In 1955 I played Bobby in postal chess – a prize tourney in Chess Review. I remember him as a typical American kid: Brooklyn Dodger fan, somewhat opinionated about school and somewhat desirous to exchange ideas and thoughts. He also liked listening to the radio and religiously was reading and studying the Bible.”

The winner of the postal section was S. Frankel with 5 wins and 1 draw. Fischer defeated J. Maxwell (1048), lost to Conger (1274) and Reithel (1256), and withdrew and lost to Frankel (1068), J. Ellis (1126), and V. Mattern (1256).

On May 21-22, 1955, Fischer played in his first U.S. Chess Federation (USCF) tournament. He scored 2.5 points (out of 6) in the 5th U.S.Amateur Championship in Lake Mohegan, New York (played at the Mohegan Country Club). Carmine Nigro took him to the event. Fischer, age 12, only wanted to watch, but was persuaded to play by Nigro. Nigro paid the $5 entry fee for Bobby and his USCF membership. The time control was 50 moves in 2 hours. The only known Fischer game from this event was Humphrey-Fischer in round 6. Fischer drew that game, but could have won it. Fischer won 2, drew 1, and lost 3. He tied for 33rd place. The event was won by Clinton L. Parmalee (sometimes spelled Parmelee) of New Jersey and organized by Kenneth Harkness (1896-1972). There were 75 entrants. The event was open to anyone except rated masters (masters were anyone rated 2300 or over). The event was covered in the June 5, 1955 issue of Chess Life and in Chess Review, June, 1955, page 164. Fischer’s post-tournament provisional USCF rating was 1826.

Albert B. Humphrey (1780) – Bobby Fischer (Unr), Lake Mohegan, NY, Rd 6, May 22, 1955

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.h3 Nbd7 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 a5 9.Be2 b6 10.O-O Ne8 11.Qc2 Nc5 12.Nh2 f5 13.f3 f4 14.Bf2 Qg5 15.Kh1 Bd7 16.Rg1 Nf6 17.g4 fxg3 18.Rxg3 Qh6 19.Nd1 Nh5 20.Rg1 Bxh3 21.Be3 Nf4 22.Nf2 Bf6 23.Rg3 Bd7 24.Nfg4 Bxg4 25.Rxg4 Qg7 26.Rag1 Be7 27.Qd2 Rf7 28.R1g3 Raf8 29.Bxf4 Rxf4 30.Rh3 Qf7 31.R4g3 Bh4 32.Rg4 Bf2 33.Bd1 1/2-1/2

– Bill Wall

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Celebrities, movies and Chess

Celebrities, Movies, and Chess 3

Antonio Banderas (born in 1960) plays chess. In the 1995 movie, Assassins, Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas) plays chess with Robert Rath (Sylvester Stallone). In the 2008 movie, The Other Man, Ralph (Antonio Banderas) plays chess with Paul (Liam Neeson).

Adam Baldwin (born in 1962) plays chess in real life. In 1987, he starred inFull Metal Jacket. While on the set, he played about 50 games of chess with Stanley Kubrick. When Baldwin was asked if he had a great memory fromFull Metal Jacket, he responded, “Beating Stanley Kubrick at chess.” There is a photo of him playing blitz chess with William Windom in 1988. In the 1992 movie, Deadbolt, Alec (Adam Baldwin) plays chess with Marty Hiller (Justine Bateman) and Jordan (Chris Mulkey).

Ian Bannen (1928-1999) was a Scottish character actor who played chess in a few films. In the 1973 movie, The Mackintosh Man, Ronald Slade (Ian Bannen) plays chess with Joseph Reardon (Paul Newman). In the 1997 British TV series, Original Sin, Gabriel Dauntsey (Ian Bannen) plays chess with Francis Peverell (Amanda Root).

Harry Belafonte (born in 1927) is a chess player. He was recently interviewed and said, “Every day for me is a chess game, another day at the board.” In the 2006 movie, Bobby, Nelson (Harry Belafonte) plays chess with the doorman, John Casey (Anthony Hopkins ).

Ralph Bellamy (1904-1991) was an actor for 62 years and played chess in a few movies. In 1939, in the movie, Blind Alley, Dr. Anthony Shelby (Ralph Bellamy) plays chess with gangster Hal Wilson (Chester Morris). In the 1976 TV film, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Dr. Ernie Guther (Ralph Bellamy) plays chess with Todd (John Travolta).

Jim Belushi probably plays chess in real life. In 1984, he did a funny sketch on Saturday Night Live playing a chess coach called Donald Ramp. In the 1988 movie, Red Heat, Chicago detective Art Ritzik (Jim Belushi) plays chess with his chess computer. He takes some chess advice from Russian Captain Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzenegger).

William Bendix (1906-1964) played chess in real life. In the 1947 movie,The Web, Lt. Damico (William Bendix) plays chess with Robert Regan (Edmond O’Brien). He was friends with Arnold Denker and Herman Steiner.

Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957) is perhaps the most well known chess-playing actor. He learned chess as a teenager in New York City. In 1929, after the stock market crashed, he hustled chess players for money in New York City parks and at Coney Island. He was known to have played chess and hustle in Times Square as late as 1933. In the 1942 movie, Casablanca, Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) played chess with Captain Louis Renault (Claude Reins). All the chess playing scenes were his idea. He wanted a character that was a chess player that drank too much. There were some chess scenes of Bogart studying a chess game while Peter Lorre looked on, but these scenes did not make the final cut in the film. During the making ofCasablanca, Bogart played several games with Paul Henreid (1908-1992), who played Victor Laszlo in Casablanca. According to Henreid, Bogart didn’t win a single game from him. During World War II, Bogart played correspondence chess with sever GIs overseas. One of his chess postcards to one of the troops sold for $2,500 in a recent Hollywood auction. In 1944, during the making of Passage to Marseille, Bogart played many of the actors and film crew during breaks. In the June-July 1945 issue of Chess Review, Bogart and his new wife, Lauren Bacall, appeared in the cover while Bogart played Charles Boyer a game of chess during a break in the making of The Confidential Agent. Bogart showed up on the set almost every lunch hour in the set to play Boyer a game of chess. In the 1949 movie, Knock on Any Door, attorney Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) is playing chess with Susan Perry (Candy Toxton) and Mr. Elkins (Curt Conway). During breaks of his films, Bogart played a lot of chess with his make-up artist, Karl Silvera. In the early 1950s, Marlon Brando would drive over to Bogart’s elegant mansion in Holmby Hills, and the two would play chess for hours. In the 1955 movie, The Left Hand of God, Jim Carmody/Father O’Shea (Humphrey Bogart) checkmates Dr. Dave Sigmond (E.G. Marshall). In 1956, Bogart, as Black, drew former U.S. chess champion Sammy Reshevsky in a 70 board simultaneous exhibition in Los Angeles. The game lasted 28 moves in a bishop and pawns vs knight and pawns endgame. A few years earlier, Bogart lost to George Koltanowski in a blindfold exhibition in San Francisco. When Bogart was dying of cancer, his only activity with friends was playing chess. His most common chess partner in his last days was screenwriter and film director Richard Brooks, who probably was Bogart’s last chess opponent in late 1956.