Entries Tagged 'Chess' ↓

The Immortal Game

Anderssen-Kieseritsky 1851

This game was played as a friendly aside to the 1851 Great Exhibition tournament - the first ever international chess event - which Anderssen won. His opponent, Kieseritsky, was chess tutor at the Cafe de la Regence, in Paris, where he gave lessons at five francs an hour.

1.e4 e5
2.f4 exf4
3.Bc4 Qh4
4.Kf1 b5

A whim of Kieseritzky

Immortal Game 1

5.Bxb5 Nf6
6.Nf3 Qh6
7.d3 Nh5
8.Nh4 Qg5
9.Nf5 c6
10.Rg1 cxb5
11.g4 Nf6
12.h4 Qg6
13.h5 Qg5
14.Qf3 Ng8

Otherwise the queen would be lost

Immortal Game 2

15.Bxf4 Qf6
16.Nc3 Bc5
17.Nd5 Qxb2
18.Bd6 Qxa1
19.Ke2 Bxg1
20.e5

Blocks the diagonal

Immortal Game 3

20…Na6
21.Nxg7 Kd8
22.Qf6 Nxf6
23.Be7++

1-0

Immortal Game 4

The vanquished Kieseritsky was so impressed by the brilliance of Anderssens play that he immediately telegraphed the moves to an awaiting audience in Paris, and the game ever since has been known by the unimproveable sobriquet, the Immortal Game.

Moves and a diagram from the game later appeared on German 75 pfennig currency coupons in the 1920’s.

The Psychology of the Chess Player

By Reuben Fine

Chess is a contest between two men in which there is considerable ego-involvement. In some way it certainly touches upon the conflicts surrounding aggression, homosexuality, masturbation and narcissism which become particularly prominent in the anal-phallic phases of development.

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All Time Chess Rankings

The Keene-Divinsky list is far from being perfect but is a honest attempt to make an all time ranking list and, most important of all, is based on objective data: games. It also consider some players who may not be very famous in the West but are very good players indeed (Stein #15; Kholmov #24; Furman #26; Szabo #46).

This is the complete Keene-Divinsky list based on 64 (previously subjectively selected) players’ one another games from 18th century to mid-1987.

1. Kasparov
2. Karpov
3. Fischer
4. Botvinnik
5. Capablanca
6. Lasker
7. Korchnoi
8. Spassky
9. Smyslov
10. Petrosian
11. Morphy
12. Polugaevsky
13. Geller
14. Tal
15. Stein
16. Keres
17. Bronstein
18. Alekhine
19. Sokolov
20. Boleslavsky
21. Portisch
22. Reshevsky
23. Yusupov
24. Kholmov
25. Averbakh
26. Furman
27. Belyavsky
28. Timman
29. Larsen
30. Taimanov
31. Vaganian
32. Kotov
33. Flohr
34. Ljubojevic
35. Najdorf
36. Szabo
37. Gligoric
38. Fine
39. Huebner
40. Andersson
41. Seirawan
42. Euwe
43. Hort
44. Rubinstein
45. Mecking
46. Maroczy
47. Steinitz
48. Vidmar
49. Bernstein
50. Nimzovitsch
51. Bogoljubov
52. Short
53. Tarrasch
54. Pillsbury
55. Schlechter
56. Marshall
57. Anderssen
58. Charousek
59. Chigorin
60. Teichmann
61. Janowski
62. Duras
63. Blackburne
64. Zukertort

Chess Firsts

Oxford was the first university to have a chess club, in 1845.

The first newspaper chess column appeared in the Liverpool Mercury in 1813.

George Koltanowski played 56 consecutive games blindfolded in 1960. He won 50 and drew the other 6. =continued=

The Chesse Play

By Nicholas Breton (1542-1626)

THE KING
The King himself is haughtie care,
Which ouerlooketh all his men,
And when he seeth how they fare,

=continued=

Chess Trivia

Efim Bogoljobov (1889-1952) died of a heart attack after a simultaneous exhibition.

Jose Capablanca (1888-1942) died of a stroke after watching a skittles game at the Manhattan Chess Club. President Battista of Cuba proclaimed a national day of mourning for their fallen warrior.

Edmundson (? - 1982) died of a heart attack in Hawaii while playing chess on the beach. =continued=

The Chess Memory

By David Norwood

“Hmm, you’re a chessplayer,” people say, struggling to avoid saying “you must be boring”; then, they decide to opt for “you must have a good memory” instead.

Of all the stories about the transferral of skills, the most common one is that good chessplayers have good memories and that playing chess helps to improve memories.

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Movies With Chess Scenes

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A Safe Place (1971)

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1996)

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Man Killed Over Chess Dispute

From the Boulder Daily Camera, 16th August, 1994

FORT COLLINS - A 37-year-old man has been arrested for investigation of murder charges after he allegedly shot a friend on his birthday after the two argued over a chess game. =continued=