Olimpiu G. Urcan Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (1800-1872) [From a feature in the Illustrated London News, 28 December 1844, page 416; also published in Edward Winter’s C.N. 7610] A complete and competent biography of Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (1800–1872) would be something to truly…
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Adrian Harvey reviews The average life expectancy for males in the nineteenth century was forty-six.1 What is striking about this selection of major figures in Victorian chess is the very long lives they enjoyed. With the exception of Zukertort, whose lifespan was average for…
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Olimpiu G. Urcan offers the following tragic-comic true story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer of December 30, 1910 (page 11). It’s not clear who won the game but we hope it was Carman. G.B. Carman and his brother-in-law, Arthur Gradolph, living at 1343 E. 112th-st.,…
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Olimpiu G. Urcan Literary descriptions of scenes from chess tournaments of the past were habitually the work of insiders (e.g. experienced chess columnists). How would a talented sportswriter with little or no chess expertise describe such an event? The February 24, 1927 edition of the…
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A recent radio broadcast examined the history of chess on the BBC. Between 1958 and 1964 there were regular chess programmes on the Third Network (now Radio 3), a mixture of essays, interviews and games. Contributors included Alexander, Barden, Euwe, Fischer, Gligoric and Golombek. Some…
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Max Euwe makes the first move in Browne v Karpov (Amsterdam 1976) Tony Miles’ 1…a6 is not the worst insult Karpov has suffered during a game. Four years earlier Walter Browne showed his utter contempt for the World Champion by arriving at the board in…
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NTBCM was a funny spoof magazine edited by Murray Chandler. Borrowing the format of its venerable target, NTBCM published only one issue (in 1984), an entertaining mix of strange games, jokes and witty articles such as ‘How Weird Is Your Chess’ by Jon Speelman,…
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Kingpin reader Florence Manny (Manila, The Philippines) writes: ‘Grandmaster Keene’s twin acts of treachery against Korchnoi in the 1978 World Championship are in my humble opinion the apogee of his two-timing career. He stitched up Korchnoi before the match by signing a contract he had…
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