“I got strong ideas about my house. I’m going to hire the best architect and have him build it in the shape of a rook. Yeah, that’s for me. Class. Spiral staircases, parapets, everything. I want to live the rest of my life in a house built exactly like a rook.”
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Stefano Roselli del Turco was a strong international chess player in the 1920’s and 1930’s. He won the Italian Chess Championship in 1920, 1923, and 1931. Even this strong chess master was not immune to bad games or blunders.
At the famous 1925 Baden-Baden tournament, he played a game against the legendary Efim Bogoljubow in which he was playing the black side of a Queen’s Gambit Declined. On the 17th move he inexplicably played 17… Rf4??? and quickly resigned one move later.
Samuel Reshevsky, the legendary chess prodigy who was born in Poland and later immigrated to the United States, made his tournament debut at the age of 10 years old. The site was the Chess Club International in New York City and the date was October 8th, 1922.
The youngster’s opponent was Charles Jaffe, a very accomplished and seasoned American chess player. Reshevsky (then spelled “Rzeschewski”) played the black side of a Ruy Lopez. The game was initially adjourned with little Reshevsky enjoying an advantageous position and an additional pawn. Jaffe would eventally equalize the position after play resumed and the result was a hard fought 59-move draw.
