A few weeks ago we posted an article on the Reichhelm form of chess notation that was used back in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s for overseas cable matches.  Fellow chess enthusiast Taylor Kingston pointed out that this particular form of notation was eventually replaced by the Gringmuth Telegraphic Code, which was developed by Mr. D. Gringmuth of Russia.

Mr. Kingston was kind enough to send us an article that explains the use of this particular form of chess notation, as seen below:

SOURCE: William Steinitz, The Modern Chess Instructor (1889)

Samuel Lipschutz was born in 1863 in Hungary but emigrated to the USA in 1880 at the age of seventeen.  His chess career started to blossom in 1883, as he was chosen to participate in high level chess club matches, representing New York against Philadelphia.  In 1885 he won the championship of the New York Chess Club.  He had impressive tournament victories over Johannes Zukertort and George Henry Mackenzie in the 1886 London International Tournament.

At the 6th American Chess Congress in 1889, Lipschutz would assume the title of United States Champion by virtue of being the highest placing American in the tournament.  He would lose his title in 1890 to Jackson W. Showalter, but regain it two years later in convincing fashion (+7 -1 =7) over Showalter in 1892.  Lipschutz then announced his retirement from competitive chess and the title reverted back to Showalter. He would eventually come out of retirement in 1895 and wanted his title back, but was again beaten by Showalter (+4 -7 =3).

At the Manhattan Chess Club Championship in 1900, Lipschutz would finish first over an impressive field that included Showalter and future United States Champion, Frank Marshall.  He would face world champion Emanuel Lasker three times in 1901 and 1902, winning once and drawing twice.  Lipschutz was ailing from lung disease during his later years. He traveled to Hamburg in 1905 for treatment, where he ended up dying after an operation.

Below is a game from 1897 between Lipschutz and William E. Napier, as reported by American Chess Magazine.

Game analysis as reported by the American Chess Magazine editors and/or writers:

White to Move.   What is the best continuation?

This is the final part of the New York Times account of Wilhelm Steinitz’s death on August 14, 1900.

STEINITZ’S LIFE HISTORY

 

The life history of Steinitz is, up to the last few years, that of a conqueror.  He was born at Prague on May 18, 1837.  In his boyhood he was considered one of the best chess players of his native city.  He then went to Vienna, where he met like success.  He went to England in 1862, as the Austrian delegate to a chess tournament.  In London he gained world-wide fame by his successful playing with Anderssen and Paulsen.  From that time on he made chess playing his profession.  He remained in England until 1882, when he came to the United States, where he in due time became a naturalized citizen.

 

In the course of his career Steinitz had vanquished Anderssen, Zukertort, Blackburne, Gunsberg, and Tschigorin, and he held a rank far above that of any other chess player.  He became so confident in his play that he would often use experimental moves outside of his usual plan of carrying on the game.  These experiments often put him in a dangerous postiion, especially when he was playing in tournaments, or in exhibition games, and they were the real cause of his downfall when he met Lasker in his memorable first encounter.

 

The negotiations for this match were of the most protracted character, and it was the event of its day in the chess world.  It was two years before the champions met.  Confident in his ability, the young Prussian player demanded high stakes, and the £400 a side for which he and Steinitz played was a reduction of his original demand.  He had beated Bird and Blackburne in matches, and had passed both of them, with Gunsberg and Mason in the Masters’ Tournament of 1892.

 

He at length threw down his gauntlet to Steinitz.  He had a difference of thirty-two years, and the “new theories” in his favor, for Steinitz was by this time fifty-eight years old.  The great series of games was played at New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal between March 15 and May 26, 1894.  It resulted in favor of Lasker by ten games to five, with four draws.

 

BORNE DOWN BY DEFEAT

 

After this defeat Steinitz seemed to decline.  He brooded over the result and couldnot be reconciled, owing to the fact that he had not played his usual game, but had used experimental moves.  In 1897 he managed to arrange another match with Lasker.  This took place at Moscow, and again Steinitz was defeated.  This was too much for him.  He became so intensely excited that he was placed in a private asylum for the insane in Moscow.  After being there for forty days he was released.

 

He claimed after his release that his confinement had been unjust and that he was only intensely nervous over the outcome of the game.  The United States Consul at Moscow had aided the people at the house where Steinitz was living in having him put in the asylum, and the chess player always vowed that he would have revenge, but he never took any action.

 

After returning to the United States Steinitz never again engaged in active chess play.  He devoted his whole energies to three things, his practice of the Kneipp cure, the preparation of his books, and the perfection of a wireless telephone.  Back of the house in which he lived at 155 East One Hundred and Third Street was a small yard.  Every morning, without regard to season or weather, he would carefully dress himself with all but shoes and stockings and walk barefooted up and down the yard for an hour or more.

 

After this exercise was completed he would experiment with his wireless telephone.  His theory was that he could use his will power to convey words any distance.  For hours he would stand in his room trying to “call up” various people he knew in Europe.

 

After he was tired of these experiments he would devote his time to writing his books.

 

HE BECOMES INSANE

 

One of these books he had published and the very day the copies were returned from the printer he became so violently insane that he was sent to Bellevue Hospital.  From there he went to Ward’s Island and later he was sent to the Rivercrest Sanitarium at Astoria.  He was discharged from there in March last, and returned to his home, where he remained two weeks.  Again he had to be sent back to the Manhattan State Hospital, where he remained until his death on Sunday.

 

The funeral services will take place at an undertaking establishment at 132 Essex Street this afternoon.

 

Steinitz was an honorary member of the Manhattan Chess Club, as well as of a number of other clubs in both the United States and Europe.  His prowess as a chess player can best be realized from the fact that out of 395 games played with the most renowned chess players of the world from 1863 to 1894, when his downfall began, he won 240 games, lost 71, and 74 were drawn.

SOURCE: New York Times – August 14, 1900

I recently came across the sad obituary of Wilhelm Steinitz as reported by the New York Times on August 14, 1900.  The column is very informative and also very long, so I will share this with you in two parts, with the second part being posted next week. 

WILLIAM STEINITZ DEAD

Chess Champion of the World Over Twenty Years

---

DEFEAT BROKE HIS SPIRIT

---

Memorable Tournaments in Which Lasker Lowered His Proud Record

— His Sad Decline and Insanity

 

William Steinitz, who for years was the champion chess player of the world, died Sunday afternoon in the Manhattan State Hospital on Ward’s Island.  For months he had been insane.  The last few years of his life were especially tragic.  After being recognized as the most expert chess player in the world for over twenty years, he met his defeat at the hands of Lasker, a comparatively young man.

 

Thus defeat was his undoing, and since early in 1894 he had not been himself.  His mental condition had been of the best since then, and after his second meeting with Lasker, at Moscow, Russia, in 1897, where he again met defeat, his decline was rapid.  After this second defeat he almost entirely discarded all thoughts of the games and devoted himself to other matters.  He became an enthusiastic believer in the Kneipp cure.  At the same time time he was devoting some energy to the study of sociological questions.

 

Twice during the present year Steinitz was sent to the hospital.  He had just completed his first pamphlet of a series he intended to write when he was first sent the hospital in February last.  The pamphlet had been returned from the printers and he was about to arrange for its general circulation when he became so demented that his wife had him committed.  The pamphlets, with the exception of one copy, were destroyed by his family.  This pamphlet contains some twenty pages.  The title page reads:

 

“My advertisement to Anti-Semites in Vienna and Elsewhere: by ‘A Schacher June.’ (Mercenary Jew:) or An Essay on Capital, Labor, and Charity.”

 

THE MANY DEDICATIONS

 

The next pages of the pamphlet bear dedications to his first wife, Caroline, and his dead daughter Flora.  These are followed by a dedication to “The Memory of Praelat Monsignor Sebastian Kneipp, the greatest practical philanthropist of the last century.”

 

Twenty-seven other dedications also follow, and the larger portion of the pamphlet is taken up with the explanation of why he dedicated it to friends and clubs.  A portion of the pamphlet is devoted to his defeat by Lasker, in which he shows what a heart-broken man he was.  He closes the book with this pathetic appeal:

 

“And since 1895 I have been obliged at an advanced age and while I was half crippled to export myself in order to import only a portion of my living for myself and for my family, and this portion did not amount to $250 per annum within the last two years when I deduct traveling expenses and increased cost for staying abroad, although I was chess champion of the world for twenty-eight years!!!”

 

Prior to his being sent to hospital for the insane, Steinitz lived with his second wife and two young children at 1555 East One Hundred and Third Street.  At the time he was sent away he had little if any money to support his family, and a fund of $1050 was raised to care for the family.  When he returned from the hospital the first time the family was living on this fund.  The added expense of obtaining medical attendance for him soon ate up a large portion of the fund.

 

About two months ago Mrs. Steinitz, in order to maintain her two children, opened a small candy store at 505 West Twenty-Sixth Street, just beyond Tenth Avenue.  Here she is making a hand-to-mouth living.  All that was left of the money which was raised for her is invested in this store, and the return is small.

SOURCE: New York Times - August 14, 1900

As seen in our previous postings, the history between Vladmir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand is quite extensive.  It’s hard to believe that these two great players are just now playing each other in a true match play event for the world title.

We hope that you have enjoyed our preview series on the upcoming match and leave you with the following statistics, poll results, upcoming match details, and one of their more memorable games:

Head-To-Head Statistics

(Anand leads): 19 Wins – 15 Losses – 92 Draws = 126 Games

Anand (as White): 12 Wins – 3 Losses – 43 Draws = 58 Games
  e4 (52 games): 11 – 3 – 38
  d4 (4 games): 1 – 0 – 3
  Nf3 (2 games): 0 – 0 – 2

Kramnik (as White): 12 Wins – 7 Losses – 49 Draws = 68 Games
  e4 (12 games): 1 – 0 – 11
  d4 (28 games): 4 – 2 – 22
  Nf3 (28 games): 7 – 5 – 16

Poll Results (Who Will Win the 2008 Kramnik-Anand World Championship Match ?)

Kramnik 65 votes (52%) – Anand 61 votes (48%)

Match Dates & Times

The opening of the first game of the match Anand-Kramnik will take place on Tuesday, 14 October at 3 p.m. in the Art and Exhibition Hall, Bonn. The match will consist of twelve games with classical time control, from 14 to 31 October 2008. In case of a tie, a tiebreak will be played on 2 November 2008.

Schedule for the World Chess Championship 2008:

Game 1 Tuesday October 14 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 2 Wednesday October 15 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 3 Friday October 17 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 4 Saturday October 18 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 5 Monday October 20 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 6 Tuesday October 21 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 7 Thursday October 23 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 8 Friday October 24 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 9 Sunday October 26 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 10 Monday October 27 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 11 Wednesday October 29 – 3:00 p.m.
Game 12 Friday October 31 – 3:00 p.m.
Tiebreak Sunday November 2 – 3:00 p.m.

Official website: http://www.uep-worldchess.com

Classic Kramnik-Anand Game From 2001

I recently purchased several of the Chess Player publications by A.J. Gilliam for reference material on the great cable matches of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  These legendary contests were held annually between the United States and Great Britain.

Each country was represented by the 10 best players that they could produce at the time of the match.  The best players were seated at the highest tables and would play each other accordingly in a single game.  The winning country was given the coveted Anglo-American trophy.

The method by which moves were communicated between the two countries was through the use of two cables provided by the Post Office.  Transmission of the moves could take a few seconds, and in some cases a few minutes.  English notation proved ineffective for this type of communication, as many mistakes were made in the relay of information.  

Famed chess player and columnist Gustavus C. Reichhelm developed a method of notation specifically for occassions similar to this one.  The explanation of his noted method is given below:

The Reichhelm Cable Notation

In compliance with the request of several correspondents we publish the system of notation originated by G. Reichhelm, of Philadelphia. It will be found very ingenious.

The names of the squares are as follows:

It will be seen that the lower half of the board is a repetition of the upper half. Each move is described by two characters, the first describing the piece or Pawn, and the second describing the square.

Now, each piece or Pawn has two character names-upper half name and lower half name, and the names are derived from the squares on which they originally stood, utilizing your adversary’s original square characters to describe your moves on his half of the board.

All moves must be made, calculated, as it were, from white, or lower, side of the board, irrespective of which side has the move. You want to say, K-KB 6 for white. You say” 5 N.”

Now, If black were to play K-KB 6, he would say” UF,” for black’s KB 6 is the same as white’s KB 3. A certain piece to an identical square is described the same way whether white or black makes it.

When a piece or Pawn moves to square in the upper half it takes its upper name, and the same way with the lower half. Thus.a E means QK7, but TE means Q-K 3. In the latter case, the ••T” being the Queen’s lower name, we must seek the E square in the lower half of the board.

We will now describe Mr. Morphy’s (White) celebrated game against the Duke of Brunswick (Black):

5

As only one Pawn can go to 5, one character is sufficient, otherwise MS would mean absolutely KP-K4. A single character is always a Pawn move.

            U

EU would be a full description of black’s P-K4.

WF

Namely, W, lower KKt’s name, to F square.

            L

4          87

As the Queen’s Bishop enters the lower half, it must take its lower name, “S.”

U

Could also say “DU”, the D being uppername or Queen’s Pawn.

            SF

Or, lower name QB goes to F, necessarily taking Knight.

TF        U

Or, DU, if spelled out.

V3

Lower name KB, to 3

                        7N

TB                    4E

RC                    K

3W                   R

2R                    R

6R                    2D

US

In other words, K-QB square, which means Castles QR.

                         14

ID                     ID

XT                    4M

6D                    7D

42                    72

84 mate

Even Pawn promotions are amply provided for D4 means QP Queens.

There are four characters – 9, o, Y, Z – not used in above, and from these twenty different combinations of one or two characters can be derived, thus:

o – Draw proposed.

oo – Draw accepted.

o9 – Draw declined.

oY – Referee decides go on.

oZ – Referee decides stop.

9 - False move, move King.

9o – False move, move piece.

99 – False move, take piece.

9Y – Referee allows claim.

9Z – Referee does not allow claim.

Y – Appeal to referee.

Yo – Referee decides move stands.

Y9 – Referee decides draw.

YY – Referee decides won for you.

YZ – Referee decides won for us.

Z – Resigns.

Zo – Claim game on time limit.

Z9 – Claim of game allowed.

ZY – Claim of game disputed.

ZZ - You’re in error as to time.

SOURCE: American Chess Magazine 1897-98 (p.380)

After capturing the FIDE championship title in 2000, Viswanathan Anand would eventually lose the title in the 2002 FIDE Knock-Out tournament.  His semifinal loss to Vassily Ivanchuk (+0 -1 =3) in that tournament would end his brief FIDE reign as champion.

Vladimir Kramnik would successfully defend his Brain Games Network sponsored title in 2004 against Peter Leko in a 14 round tie (+2 -2 =12).  The following year in 2005, FIDE changed their format to a round-robin tournament to decide their champion, who would then take on Kramnik to unify the title for the first time in 12 years. 

Veselin Topalov would finish in first place, a full point and a half ahead of both Anand and Peter Svidler.  The showdown between Topalov and Kramnik for the unified World Chess Championship began on September 23rd, 2006 in Elista, Kalmykia.

The famous “Toilet Gate” match was brutal both on and off the board.  After twelve fiercely contested games, a forfeit by Kramnik, and a slew of cheating accusations, the match was even (+3 -3 =6) and headed for a tiebreak consisting of four rapid chess games (25 minutes per player + 10 seconds increment per move).   Kramnik would eventually win (+2 -1 =1) and become the first unified champion since 1993.

FIDE would then, in all its “glory and wisdom”, decide to have the champion in 2007 be declared in another round-robin tournament (without Topalov) in Mexico City.  The winner would be champion and Kramnik would get to challenge for the title.  Anand would go on to win the tournament by a full point over Kramnik and Boris Gelfand.

Despite all of the confusion and bad decisions on the part of FIDE, this has probably turned out to be the best possible scenario.  A 2008 match between Kramnik and Anand in Bonn, Germany in October, 2008.  Arguably the two best players (aside from the retired Garry Kasparov) in the world over the last 14 years are finally going to have a showdown for the ages to decide the World Chess Championship.

Next Week: FINAL Kramnik-Anand Preview (with head-to-head stats and poll results)

Today we give you a double dose of chess trivia, as we challenge you to identify various facts in regard to two separate historical photographs: 

In this first picture, identify the players, the year, the tournament, and what move has just been played (for those experts out there).

The second picture shows a group of youngsters in the city of Leningrad, Russia.  Five of these individuals (pointed out in the photo) are of historical chess significance.  One went on to become world champion, one went on to challange for the title, and the other three are a little less well known.

The late 1800’s provided us with many great chess games and novelties from several underrated players of that era.   Many of these games have been forgotten or simply never seen by chess enthusiasts of today.

The game below was played between David Janowsky of France and Simon Winawer of Poland.  The event was the Berlin Tournament of 1897 in Germany, which included many of the great players of the era, such as Blackburne, Chigorin, Schlechter, Albin, and Teichmann.  Despite this impressive cast, the tournament was won by the Hungarian youngster Rudolph Charousek.

The game was analyzed below by great American chess player and columnist Emil Kemeny in the 1897 edition of American Chess Magazine.