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Samuel Loyd

SAMUEL LOYD (born Jan-30-1841, died Apr-10-1911, 70 years old) United States of America [what is this?] Samuel Bolson Loyd was born in Philadelphia. By age 9, young Sam won his club championship (one of the New York chess clubs (1) hosted a city championship in 1850), becoming deeply obsessed with chess, & frequented that club where his interest in making puzzles started. His first problem was published by a New York paper when he was 14, and during the next five years his output of chess puzzles was so prolific that he was known throughout the chess world. By 1858 he was hailed as the leading American writer of chess problems. When Loyd was only 17, he invented his ingeniously difficult "Trick Mules Puzzle," which was later sold to showman Phineas T. Barnum for $10,000. Loyd's most famous puzzle was the "15 Puzzle" which he produced in 1878. The craze swept America where employers put up notices prohibiting playing the puzzle during office hours. Recent research, however, casts doubts upon whether Loyd was actually the originator of this puzzle. He published a book of 500 chess problems, entitled Chess Strategy in 1878, comprised mostly of his weekly chess columns he wrote for the Scientific American Supplement & NYC dailies such as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as a puzzle contributor. He also served as a chess columnist for the American Chess Journal (called Dubuque Chess Journal formerly when Orestes Brownson Jr. edited it). Brothers: Isaac S Loyd and Thomas L Loyd. Reference: (1) Brooklyn Daily Eagle (March 22nd, 1896). Wikipedia article: Sam Loyd Last updated: 2024-06-19 15:54:46

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page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 40  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. S Loyd vs C C Moore 1-0 24 1853 corr C33 King's Gambit Accepted 2. S Loyd vs F Perrin 0-1 29 1856 Casual game D30 Queen's Gambit Declined 3. C Stanley vs S Loyd 0-1 15 1859 Stanley's Chess Room C00 French Defense 4. J Leonard vs S Loyd   0-1 33 1861 New York C01 French, Exchange 5. S Loyd vs J Leonard   0-1 19 1861 New York C77 Ruy Lopez 6. S Loyd vs de Riviere 0-1 50 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 7. de Riviere vs S Loyd 1-0 41 1867 Paris C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 8. de Vere vs S Loyd 1-0 43 1867 Paris C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 9. S Loyd vs de Vere 0-1 42 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 10. S Loyd vs E D'Andre 1-0 31 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 11. E D'Andre vs S Loyd 0-1 24 1867 Paris A03 Bird's Opening 12. S Loyd vs S Rosenthal 1-0 36 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 13. S Rosenthal vs S Loyd ½-½ 51 1867 Paris C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 14. S Loyd vs E Rousseau   0-1 26 1867 Paris C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 15. E Rousseau vs S Loyd 0-1 36 1867 Paris C52 Evans Gambit 16. S Loyd vs G Neumann 0-1 46 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 17. G Neumann vs S Loyd 1-0 27 1867 Paris C52 Evans Gambit 18. S Loyd vs Winawer 0-1 44 1867 Paris C42 Petrov Defense 19. M From vs S Loyd 1-0 26 1867 Paris C45 Scotch Game 20. S Loyd vs M From 0-1 40 1867 Paris C60 Ruy Lopez 21. Winawer vs S Loyd 1-0 51 1867 Paris C62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense 22. H Czarnowski vs S Loyd   1-0 24 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 23. S Loyd vs H Czarnowski   0-1 39 1867 Paris C50 Giuoco Piano 24. S Loyd vs Steinitz 0-1 29 1867 Paris B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 25. Steinitz vs S Loyd 1-0 17 1867 Paris C27 Vienna Game  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 40

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 14 OF 17 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-23-06    T Ciddasselepoh: Did Sam Loyd ever meet Paul Morphy? Sep-23-06    syracrophy: <<T Ciddasselepoh>: Did Sam Loyd ever meet Paul Morphy?> I don't know. I don't think so, because Paul Morphy was an avid player of tournaments and Sam Loyd just appeared in a few tournaments. But I don't really know Sep-28-06    syracrophy: Another chess puzzle: click for larger view WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN Oct-15-06    Milo: 1.d5 Qxd5 2.Bg2 maybe? Oct-18-06    syracrophy: <Milo: 1.d5 Qxd5 2.Bg2 maybe?> 1.d5? Bxd5! Oct-26-06    Manic: There is a Sam Loyd problem recently posted on the chessbase site : http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp... Oct-26-06    syracrophy: <Peligroso Patzer> Yes. You're answer to the Sam Loyd puzzle is correct. I also have that problem in my book and it's correct your answer Jan-06-07    vonKrolock: About the allegged Loyd's precedence on the invention of the form Helpmate (story included in the recent Nunn/Chessbase Christmas Puzzle articles), there's an interesting entry here in this forum http://chessproblem.net/viewtopic.p... Jan-24-07    Dr.Lecter: <syracrophy> How about Bh3? 1.Bh3 Qd5 2.Rf1 or something like that. All I know is that you have to deflect the black queen to stop eyeing the g8 square so that the pawn can queen and deliver a mate. Jan-24-07    Dr.Lecter: By the way, what is this 15 puzzle? Jan-25-07    Gregor Samsa Mendel: http://www.cut-the-knot.org/pythago... Jan-30-07    Dr.Lecter: That was easier than I expected. Well, I thought it was a chess puzzle. Feb-13-07    thatsmate: "syracrophy: <Milo: 1.d5 Qxd5 2.Bg2 maybe?> 1.d5? Bxd5!" I am afraid this is incorrect- if Bxd5, Bc4 wins. However, 1. d5? loses to ...Qxd5 2. Bg2 (or Bc4) Qxd2! with mate in one. The answer is very simple and elegant: 1. Bc4! Qxc4 2. Rh1!! Qg8 3. Rh8 Ke1 4. Rxg8+ Kf7 4. Rf8+ Kxg7 5. Rxf2 And black cannot hold. Jun-29-07    gauer: Composed by Samuel Loyd, La Strategie, 1867, seven men vs three men: click for larger view White plays, Checkmating in two moves. A hint is the idea behind the related theme: click for larger view For other ideas of what I like to think of as the Red Rover theme, see: Kudrin vs R Douven, 1989 Jul-13-07    pferd: <gauer> Qg4+ and if f5 then gxf6++. Only Loyd could get away with such a key move (giving check!) Now for something easy: click for larger view White to win Jul-18-07    BishopBerkeley: Was Sam Loyd indirectly responsible for the management slogan, "Think outside the box"? It appears that the famous "nine dots" puzzle which appeared in his 1914 "Cyclopedia of Puzzles" is widely regarded as the origin of this familiar exhortation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinki... (: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :) Jul-18-07    ahmadov: I think Sam should have refrained from playing chess in order to save a better image as a person involved in this game... Nov-24-07    whiteshark: One day a patzer claimed to draw easily against Loyd only by copying his moves. Here's the game Loyd-N.N. that followed: <1.d4 d5 2.Qd3 Qd6 3.Qh3 Qh6 4.Qc8#> Nov-24-07    alexmagnus: <whiteshark> It is even possible to win by copying moves: <1.e4 e5 2.Ke2 Ke7 3.Ke3 Ke6 4.Qf3 Qf6 5.Ne2 Ne7 6.b3 b6 7.Ba3 Ba6 8.Nd4+ and black has no way out - 8...exd4#> Nov-24-07    whiteshark: <alexmagnus> Nice finding! It looks like the first serious win with a <WannaBe>Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Ke2) ;D. Jan-12-08    ahmadov: <A piece in the hand is worth a mate in the bush.> A very well rephrased proverb... Jan-12-08    goldenbear: <admadov> Without getting too crude, I'd like to say that I profoundly disagree with that quote. Jan-13-08    ahmadov: <goldenbear: <admadov> Without getting too crude, I'd like to say that I profoundly disagree with that quote.> You do not sound any rude, but do you not get a mate by winning more pieces... Does <a mate in the bush> mean we could be far from reaching it? Anyway, your point provokes me to challenge you to a game on gameknot.com :-) Feb-23-08    Knight13: He drew a picture of Henry Edward Bird, which can be viewed by clicking on that link. Jun-16-08    whiteshark: Quote of the Day "My theory of a key-move was always to make it just the reverse of what a player in 999 cases out of 1000 would look for." -- Sam Loyd Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 17) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 14 OF 17 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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