Regal Games from the Realms of Yore - Benjamin Franklin and André Danican Philidor

Today, in our Sunday series Regal Games from the Realms of Yore, we feature Benjamin Franklin - one of the most talented and remarkable men from the annals of history. It should come as no surprise that Franklin was a chess player. Bill Wall has done an admirable documenting information concerning Benjamin Franklin's life long involvement with chess at his web page Benjamin Franklin and Chess by Bill Wall and John McCrary, past president of the USCF and the US Chess Trust has authored an interesting PDF document Chess and Benjamin Franklin: His Pioneering Contributions

That got me thinking whether or not there are any games on record as having been played by Benjamin Franklin. The answer appears to be "no." So, as a substitute I shall have to offer a game by Captain Smith vs François André Philidor, London, England 1790, Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense (C24), 0-1 which features "a good sample of Philidor's ideas about pawns; plus a nice mating combination at the end." Franklin had the opportunity of meeting and playing chess with Philidor, probably the greatest chess player of the 18th century, at the famous Café de la Régence in Paris.

Regal Games from the Realms of Yore - George Koltanowksi vs. Humphrey Bogart

Today, in our Sunday series Regal Games from the Realms of Yore, we feature a game by Humphrey Bogart. Bogart was actually an accomplished chess player (you can read more about that in my previous blog entry Humphrey Bogart - Chess Expert). In this game, Bogey puts up a good effort against International Master George Koltanowski. The game is variously reported as being either a simultaneous exhibition or blindfold game.

Koltanowski is also an interesting chess player. He set the world's blindfold record on September 20, 1937, in Edinburgh, by playing 34 chess games simultaneously while blindfolded. His record still stands in the Guinness Book of Records.

Rook's Rudimentary Resources - Online Chess Databases

"Chess is an aesthetic experience – the more you understand, the more you enjoy the beauty of this game."

One of the best ways to appreciate the "aesthetic experience" AND improve at chess is by studying the games of great players. Here are several FREE Internet chess database collections which will give you a wealth of great chess games to explore:

• ChessGames.com. ChessGames.com is a web-based chess database and community. It contains over 400,000 searchable chess games and offers daily features, such as a "Game of the Day" and a "Puzzle of the Day", taken from games in the database. There is also a "Premium Membership" ($25 annually) which adds access to numerous features including a "Guess-the-Move" chess training tool and the Opening Explorer, Endgame Explorer, and Sacrifice Explorer.
• ChessLab.com. A collection of "two million interactive chess games online (1485 - 2006)" which you can search and analyze online. Also included is a puzzle section which includes things like "find mate in 2" and "find the best move."
• ChessBase Online. This is a high quality database of 2.4 million unannotated chess games that is kept updated with new and historic games on a weekly basis.
• NICBase Online. Sponsored by New in Chess, this online database features "over 1.25 million chess games." Online consists of 4 major functions: Searching for a game, Classifying a game, Browsing through NIC-Key Tree, and Viewing a game.
• MonRoi World Databank of Chess Free database of recent tournament games.

If you have a PGN file viewer or a chess database program for managing games (e.g. ChessBase or Chess Assitant) you can also download complete collections of chess games in a PGN file format to your PC. For more recent games, Convetka has a good collection here.

Regal Games from the Realms of Yore: Morphy vs Duke Karl and Count Isouard 1858

Today, in our Sunday series Regal Games from the Realms of Yore, we feature the first (and so far only the second) game of Paul Morphy that I am familiar with - primarily because it was featured in one of my first chess books (see Rave - The World of Chess).

I'm sure I can't add much to what has been said about this game, but for the novice it's an excellent introduction to Morphy's games - because as Saidy and Lessing said, in The World of Chess, it is a "miniature jewel." I whole-heartedly agree.

One nice thing about being a chess novice (just getting back into chess after 25 years) is I still have ahead of me the whole collection of Morphy's brilliant games to explore and enjoy.

Regal Games from the Realms of Yore: La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell 1834

Today, in our Sunday series Regal Games from the Realms of Yore, we feature the famous fiftieth game of the McDonnell-La Bourdonnais Championship Match of 1834. Wikipedia says of the match:

It was the first match of any importance in the history of chess and is still referred to today as the World Championship of 1834. The games were published widely, and were annotated and discussed by enthusiasts all over Europe. In the course of the mammoth encounter, both players introduced several innovations, a few of which are still seen today. It might even be said that the modern era of chess began with the McDonnell-La Bourdonnais match of 1834.

Like the first game in the Regal Game series (Celebrated Chess Games from History - Stefan Levitsky vs Frank James Marshall 1912), this is one of the earliest "classic" games I remember playing through. The game was included in the Random House book The World of Chess by Anthony Saidy and Norman Lessing, which is where I came across it in 1974.

Like Chernev and Reinfeld did earlier, Saidy and Lessing hooked me into playing over this game with an intriguing statement:

McDonnell sacrifices his queen on the 13th move, a sacrifice that only leads to fruition twenty -three moves later.

White resigns - he is helpless against the threat of ...Ng2 check followed by ...Rh3 mate.

The authors conclude:

Beyond inserting a number of exclamation points it is useless to try and analyze the wildly uninhibited game. Howard Stauntion, the famous English player, made the attempt some years later, only to give up with the historic remark: "It seems uttertly impossible for either player to save the game!"

Chess Books That Should Be Reprinted

Speaking of The Fireside Book of Chess, here is a fantastic list of "Chess Books That Should Be Reprinted" compiled and commented on by by C. Dunn over at Amazon.com. I have heard a lot about some of these titles - it is a shame that they are no longer being published. Are there other books we should add to this list?

1. Winning Chess by Irving Chernev. "The best chess book ever! Teaches tactical combinations in the most effective way."



2. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer. "One of the best game collections ever. Fischer's annotations are instructive for all levels of players. There was controversy over the reprint, but both editions are hard to obtain cheaply."



3. Essential Chess Endings: The Tournament Player's Guide by James Howell. "If not this book try Silman's Essential Chess Endings Explained Move by Move, or Griffiths' Endings in Modern Theory and Practice."



4. Impact of Genius: Five Hundred Years of Grandmaster Chess by Richard E. Fauber. "Reprinted recently, but hard-to-find now. This has far more 19th century games than The Development of Chess Style by Euwe and Nunn, and even includes games of the early 19th century French master Labourdonais! Interesting perspective on players' styles."



5. March of Chess Ideas: How the Century's, The: Greatest Players Have Waged the War Over Chess Strategy (Chess) by Anthony Saidy. "Wonderful book. A very fun read. Interesting. And in Algebraic Notation. A good companion to Fauber, as the overlap is minimal. Chapters on Bronstein and Tal, and emphasis on later players."



6. Morphy Chess Masterpieces by Fred Reinfeld. "Alternatives include David Lawson's Morphy, The Pride and Sorrow of Chess or Shibut's Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory. Sargeant's collection of Morphy games is not well-annotated."



7. The Fireside Book of Chess by Irving Chernev. "Another gem by Chernev (with Reinfeld, who was a less consistent author). Fun stories to read at the fireside. Also, see Reinfeld's Human Side of Chess (aka Great Chess Masters and Their Best Games)."



8. Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games: Improve Your Chess by Studying the Greatest Games of All time, from Adolf Anderssen's 'Immortal' Game to Kramnik Versus Kasparov 2000 by Graham Burgess. "Great book. Intermediate to advanced annotations. Wonderful selection of games. Interesting commentary ahead of each one. Instructive game summaries. And cheap!"



9. What's the Best Move?: The Classic Chess Quiz Book that Teaches You Openings with No Memorizing of Moves (Fireside Chess Library) by Larry Evans. "A useful way for intermediate players to learn openings. Instead of memorizing move sequences, use this book to train yourself to see (and avoid) subtle tactics,and to improve your position gradually."



10. Winning Chess Traps (Chess) by Irving Chernev. "A top ten chess book, wonderful for improving players under 1500. Maybe it will be converted to algebraic notation? Hardly matters for such short games."



11. Invitation to Chess by Irving Chernev. "A classic for novices, but I guess the birds-eye chessboard photos would have to be re-shot."



12. Masters of the Chessboard by Richard Reti. "436 pages; a bargain when it was in print. There are other books like this (Euwe, Fine, Fauber...) but many players enjoy Reti's annotations."



13. Russian Chess (Fireside Chess Library) by Bruce Pandolfini. "Pandolfini's 2nd best (after his best-selling endgame book), this is a perfect follow-up to Chernev's Logical Chess, being similar but slightly more advanced. Very entertaining!"



14. Smyslov's 125 Selected Games by Vasily V. Smyslov. "Not only the best Smyslov collection, but a wonderfully well annotated one. Hopefully, Everyman will put out a new edition."



15. The Test of Time (Russian Chess) by Garry Kasparov. "Great games. Great annotations. For very advanced players."



16. Point Count Chess by I. A. Horowitz. "I'm told that this book has some great instruction on assessing the merits of a position. A great early-intermediate book."



17. Larsen's Selected Games of Chess, 1948-69; by Bent Larsen. "An under-rated collection of Larsen, by Larsen."



18. Grandmaster Meets Chess Amateur (Batsford Chess Library) by Steve Davis. "Short, but instructive and very amusing. Master vs. Amateur games are the best way to learn, and humor never hurts. The level of advice here is similar to Sadler's Tips for Young Players."



19. Mastering the King's Indian Defense (A Batsford Chess Book) by Robert Bellin. "For club players, few books on openings are worth the paper they're printed on. This one is superlative, like the others (with Ponzetto) on the Spanish and the Benoni/Benko."



20. Chess Openings: Theory And Practice by I. A. Horowitz. "Best openings manual for the intermediate player ever. Not just key variations, but also plans, traps, ideal set-ups, typical board positions, and sample games. Plenty of verbiage."



21. The Middlegame in Chess by Reuben Fine. "This IS the reprint, but there are so many typos that it needs to be reprinted again."



22. The Art of Positional Play (Chess) by Samuel Reshevsky. "Ditto. Fire Burt Hochberg and fix the damn typos!"



23. The Genesis of Power Chess: Effective Winning Technique for Strategy and Tactics by Leslie Ault. "This would be the next level past Pandolfini. The right way to teach positional ideas to advanced beginners."



24. Road to Chess Mastery by Max Euwe. "Excellent followup to Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur. This book has the master playing against Class B up to Expert, with every move explained in detail. Also, ideas in the openings."



25. Chess Secrets I Have Learned from the Masters by Edward Lasker. "A delightful book, full of anecdotes, biography, autobiography, chess tips, and of course games. Ed Lasker had contact with dozens of masters through the decades of his career. And he loves chess."

Celebrated Chess Games from History - Stefan Levitsky vs Frank James Marshall 1912

David Shenk, in his excellent book The Immortal Game describes how, in an attempt to improve his game, he needed to "seek some expert help." As part of that quest he came upon a book of famous chess games, and from there upon one game in particular - "The Immortal Game" by Adolf Anderssen vs. Lionel Kieseritzky played June 21, 1851 in London.

For me, the first classic game I stumbled upon, after first learning the game of chess, was "Levitzky vs. Marshall", Breslau 1912. Why this particular game? Well, the book I was reading made this statement:

The most brilliant move ever seen on a chessboard was made by Frank J. Marshall, in a game against Levitzky. So electrifying was the effect on the spectators that they showered his board with gold pieces!

I had never played through classic game up to that point (I was about 9 or 10 years old), but with a claim like "the most brilliant move ever seen on a chessboard" and the mention of gold pieces being showered on the board I was hooked. This I had to see.

What a game! Marshall's last move consisted of a stunning queen sacrifice, seemingly out of the blue, allowing Levitsky to capture it in three different ways! Even with my limited understanding of chess I could appreciate the shock such a move must have created. Here is the game:

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.dxc5 Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bg4 Qd6 13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2 Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Qe2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5 Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6 22.Qg5 Rxh3 23.Rc5 Qg3!! 0-1

To this day, I remember it fondly as the first "classic game" of chess I ever played over.

What was your first memorable classic game?

UPDATE: I found an interesting discussion about the legend that "spectators showered the board with gold pieces" in a discussion in the Kibitzer's Corner at www.chessgames.com/:

"It is not strange that a game as old as chess should have its fabulous legends. Columbus's voyage to America, for example, according to one tale, would not have been possible had not King Ferdinand of Spain managed to retrieve a lost game (with the assistance of one of Columbus's well-wishers). A battle in the Revolution could have been won had a British general not pocketed a note during a chess game, in which he was much absorbed, warning him of the approach of the Americans. One myth has made the rounds so often that it has gained wide currency through reiteration, even though there isn't a grain of truth in it. It concerns the famous brilliancy at Breslau in 1912 in the game Marshall-Lewitzky [sic]. On his twenty-third move, the late U.S. champion won fantastically by subjecting his Queen to capture in three different ways on one move. This was dubbed the most beautiful move ever made on the chessboard. Enthusiastic spectators are alleged to have showered the board with gold pieces. But Caroline Marshall, who ought to know, disclaims knowledge of even a shower of pennies." I.A. Horowitz, All About Chess, 1958.

And this follow-up comment:

Its difficult to know for sure, but Caroline Marshall is probably right. Andrew Soltis in Frank Marshall, Chess Champion (McFarland, 1994) had Marshall's original notes for the "My Fifty Years in Chess". Marshall says only that he received "a purse" after the game. Why did he get money after the game? Apparently, some Russian nationals like P.P. Saburov and Alekhine bet that their countryman Levitsky would win. After the game, they dumped their coins on board to pay off Marshall. The story was recounted by Walter Korn in American Chess Heritage. Korn was not present but told the story as it was circulated around Europe.
Still, why didn't Caroline Marshall see the payoff? And why did Marshall after the publication of the book insist that the shower of gold story was true? The rumor has always been that Fred Reinfeld helped with My Fifty Years in Chess, so perhaps it was he who exaggerated the facts a bit and Marshall simply loved the idea.