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Apr-07-12
 | | FSR: Here's the top of the September 1929 rating list (Nimzowitsch's peak rating): 1.Alekhine 2796
2.Capa 2795
3.Nimzo 2780
4.Bogo 2738
5.Euwe 2733
http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Sing... |
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| Apr-07-12 | | Lambda: <Well, Bogolyubow did play two matches with Alekhine for the world title. According to Chessmetrics, he ranked #1 in the world for two months at the beginning of 1927. http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Play... No one considered Euwe a threat to Alekhine's title either, until Euwe beat him.> And likewise, nobody considered Alekhine a threat to Capablanca's title until he won it. Bogo was a good-quality challenger in 1929, I don't think you could point to anyone with a stronger claim to challenge for the title. Maybe some equal claims, but none stronger. Certainly, Capablanca was not raising himself way above the rest of the crowd any more. |
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| Apr-07-12 | | Lambda: On Lasker and Capablanca, I think Capablanca has an exceptional peak period, of roughly 1918-1922, where he plays at a level not even Lasker ever reached. (This is the foundation of his "eight years unbeaten" legend, (though for fewer games than Tal managed twice), as well as the time at which he opens up the gap in their head-to-heads.) But outside of this period, he is less effective than Lasker 1890-1935 in every respect, and for a far shorter period of time. So the only reason anyone might rate Capablanca higher is if they prize peak ability far above what a player does in their broader career. Which seems to me to be... unbalanced. |
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| Apr-07-12 | | King Death: <FSR> From the book Championship Chess
by Philip W Sergeant: <"Nevertheless, it was Bogoljuboff who was the accepted challenger. Now, while it could not be denied that Bogoljuboff's tournament record, particularly his first prizes at Moscow in 1925 and Kissingen in 1928, gave him a claim to a match against Alekhine, it cannot be said that any but one result was expected. The question was by how much Alekhine would win."And this before the second time around: "...Before he left the (United) States, (Alekhine) was induced to say whom he thought likely challengers for his title in the future. He named two Americans, Kashdan, who was favourably known in Europe already, and R. Fine, whose achievements were so far mainly in his own country, and the Czecho-Slovakian, Flohr. It cannot be said that the announcement, early in 1934, that Alekhine's next match would be a return encounter with Bogoljuboff was anything but a disappointment to the chess world in general. It was right, no doubt, that promises of return matches should be performed. But where was the return to the match of 1927? A new Alekhine-Bogoljuboff match was a poor substitute for that."> |
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Apr-07-12
 | | maxi: During the years 1925-1930 Capa's health began its downhill slide. His best years were (more or less) between 1918-1922. (He didn't play either in 1917 nor in 1923.) Imagine Capa with a health like Lasker's, with full pep for 20 years. That would have been a champ. Unfortunately he died at 53... |
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Apr-07-12
 | | RookFile: Capablanca won everything in 1936. Which is more likely? 1) He suddenly remembered how to play chess, or
2) After losing to Alekhine, he lost interest for a time. |
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| Apr-07-12 | | JoergWalter: The only reason for Lasker's long-lived career is that he was a heavy smoker. Why is that so? Because smoked meat stays around longer than fresh meat. How long are we going into this hypothetical scenarios of "had he worked harder", "had he lived healthier" or "had he be a good christian" bs? They lived their lives. |
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Apr-07-12
| | maxi: Had Lasker not smoked so much he would have been a much better chess player. |
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Apr-07-12
| | maxi: Unfortunately, he would have still lost to Capablanca, had Capablanca worked harder. |
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| Apr-07-12 | | JoergWalter: <maxi> had Lasker stopped smoking he would still beat the s..t out of everyone today at age 144. |
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Apr-07-12
| | maxi: It is a sobering thought to realize that Lasker was born in 1868. |
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Apr-07-12
| | FSR: <JoergWalter: <maxi> had Lasker stopped smoking he would still beat the s..t out of everyone today at age 144.> Where's the "Like" button for that comment?
<Lambda: On Lasker and Capablanca, I think Capablanca has an exceptional peak period, of roughly 1918-1922, where he plays at a level not even Lasker ever reached. (This is the foundation of his "eight years unbeaten" legend, (though for fewer games than Tal managed twice), as well as the time at which he opens up the gap in their head-to-heads.)But outside of this period, he is less effective than Lasker 1890-1935 in every respect, and for a far shorter period of time. So the only reason anyone might rate Capablanca higher is if they prize peak ability far above what a player does in their broader career. Which seems to me to be... unbalanced.> Well said. One could make a similar argument about Fischer. Apart from the 1992 Spassky rematch, his international career only lasted 14 years (1958-72). He was one of the world's top players for all of that period, but he is remembered mostly for his extraordinary results in 1970-72 (and especially 1970-71; he actually lost a few rating points by beating Spassky). |
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Apr-07-12
| | FSR: <maxi: It is a sobering thought to realize that Lasker was born in 1868.> On Christmas Eve. Just like his "brother from another mother" Richard Teichmann. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richar... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanue... The chess equivalent of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charle... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraha... |
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Apr-07-12
| | maxi: <FSR> Interesting. I noticed too that Capa survived Lasker by one year and two months, then Alekhine died four years later. All three great rivals died within a 5 year period. |
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| Apr-08-12 | | JoergWalter: <maxi: All three great rivals died within a 5 year period.> no doubt, this is the handwriting of Stalin's secret service. They paved the way for Botvinnik.:-) |
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Apr-08-12
| | maxi: Hey, <JW>, do you have an opinion on Alekhine's peculiar demise? The photo does look staged to me. |
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| Apr-08-12 | | JoergWalter: <maxi: Hey, <JW>, do you have an opinion on Alekhine's peculiar demise? The photo does look staged to me.> <maxi> i don't have an opinion on this - i have the facts. (3 exclams?) Unfortunately, if i tell you i have to kill you.
But you are right the photo is staged. the guys from the french resistance stole the bottle of Carlos Primero from the table before
the picture was taken. |
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Apr-08-12
| | FSR: <JoergWalter: <maxi: All three great rivals died within a 5 year period.> no doubt, this is the handwriting of Stalin's secret service. They paved the way for Botvinnik.:-)> That explains that curious coincidence about each of them getting stabbed with an umbrella a few days before his death. :-) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/215... I guess the Russkies figured Euwe was too weak to bother about. They were right. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_... |
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| Apr-08-12 | | JoergWalter: <FSR: I guess the Russkies figured Euwe was too weak to bother about.> Euwe was on that list, too. but the soviet production of umbrellas was facing serious supply problems in materials at that time. The responsible secretary for umbrella manufacturing was never seen again. |
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| Apr-08-12 | | King Death: <FSR> Yup, the real contenders in 1948 needed a punching bag. What I find weird about Euwe's score is that the winner had the worst result against him, even Smyslov went 4-1 in spite of contributing Euwe's only win in 20 games. |
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Apr-08-12
| | maxi: What about Old Blood and Guts? A 30mph accident, and General Patton is paralyzed from the neck down. Sounds like an umbrella job to me. And if anybody was a pain in the neck to the Soviets it was him. |
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| Apr-08-12 | | King Death: If Patton had his way the army would've gone clear to Moscow. |
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Apr-08-12
| | RookFile: He would have tried. The Germans found out just how huge Russia was. When the Germans were on the offensive, the Russians retreated faster than they could attack, and followed a scorched earth policy. There are technical difficulties in maintaining a 1000 mile supply chain. Then the winter came, and it was bad news for the Germans even before the crushing counterattack came by the Russians. I admire some of the things Patton did, but they did the right thing in getting a loose cannon out of a command position. It was too bad that he had that fatal accident, though. |
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Apr-08-12
| | FSR: <King Death> A <real> champion would have swept Euwe. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Not many know it, but "Euwe" wasn't even his real name. That was actually just the nickname he got because people made that sound in reacting to his blunders: "Euwe, I can't believe he played 6...b5?? !" Alekhine vs Euwe, 1937 "Euwe, I can't believe he played 23...Ba5?? !" Lasker vs Euwe, 1936 "Euwe, I can't believe he played 30...Ra6?? !" Capablanca vs Euwe, 1931 "Euwe, I can't believe he played 71.Bd5?? !" Euwe vs Lilienthal, 1937 |
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Apr-08-12
| | maxi: My question is if Patton was left alone even for just a few seconds. Also, as paranoid as it sounds, both the driver and Gay had to be investigaded for communist affiliations or links. |
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