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Sep-18-20
 | | OhioChessFan: Hello. Someone asked this at the Kibitzers Cafe. I figured you know. <Somebody knows why Owen Defense is called Greek Defense too?> |
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Sep-25-20
 | | wwall: It was coined by Johann Allgaier in the 1790s. HJR Murray referenced Greek chess and Allgaier in his book A History of Chess, page 168. Allgaier got the term from Viennese chess players |
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Oct-19-20
 | | Joshka: <WWall> Ahh..think a NewYorker like Darin would have been able to coax Bobby to play in this tourney. The largest purse, Bobby liked that, and being a celebrity...really believe Fischer would have attended, and who knows what would have happened for chess here in America had Bobby been able to hold the tournament. Thanks |
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Oct-21-20
| | wwall: At least Darin might might have gotten Fischer on his Bobby Darin Show in 1973. Or Fischer may have showed up as a guest at the tourney, maybe as an observer like he did in San Antonio in 1972 at the Church's Fried Chicken event. Lt Col Ed Edmundson would have been a go-between. Or Fischer would have played the winner of the Darin Classic for a bunch of money. |
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Oct-21-20
| | Joshka: <WWall> <Played the winner for a bunch of money> There ya go, good take. Oh well. There are youtube clips of Bobby in Asia in 1973, sure looked normal and very happy as a host of the Marcos family. He showed his sense of humor and self deprecating at that, on the Bob Hope Show right after the match with Spassky in 1972....it just wasn't in the cards for this to play out in a happy ending for Bobby. thanks |
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Oct-21-20
 | | AylerKupp: <<Joshka> I've never read anyone talking about the what if, had Spassky just taken his title back to the Soviet Union after the forfeit on Game 2.> Spassky couldn't do that for the simple reason that the title was neither his nor Fischer's to take home. The title was FIDE's. If the title was the "property" of the defending champion then we would have been back to the pre-1948 days when the "owner" of the title could determine under what conditions he would be willing to defend the title. And FIDE could not have stripped Fischer of his title for failing to defend it against Karpov in 1975. And why would Spassky have gone home after Fischer's game 2 forfeit? Unless you mean after Euwe threatened Spassky with a forfeit of game 3 if he did not agree to play game 3 in a small room instead of the main hall as specified in the contract? In that case Spassky could have refused, gone home, and forfeited the title, leaving Fischer as the WCC. A situation in which Fischer would have found it difficult to claim that he was the WCC in spite of not defeating Spassky in the WCC match and not having won a game against him. Doubtful that Fischer would have effectively retired under that situation. |
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| Apr-28-21 | | Nosnibor: His results in the annual LERA event seem very poor. |
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Apr-28-21
 | | perfidious: The miniatures in those LERA events, such as there were, also tended to go the wrong way. |
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Apr-28-21
 | | fredthebear: How did you do <Nosnibor>? Please post your results. * Luck happens: http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/a... |
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| Apr-29-21 | | Nosnibor: <fredthebear> I do not fully understand your post. The LERA event was held in America whereas I live in England and have never played in that country. Unless you you are referring to personal bad luck myself which did happen on one occasion in the recent past. |
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| Apr-29-21 | | Nosnibor: <fredthebear> I notice under Bill Walls list of bad luck there is no reference to Ian Wells who played in a chess tournament in Brazil, did well and finished 3rd. This was late December 1981 for a World Junior Championship. He was 17 years of age at the time and decided to celebrate by going for a swim at the local beach. Unfortunately he got into difficulties and was pulled out of the sea and taking to a local hospital where he never recovered from a coma and died 5 days later on January 5th 1982. |
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Apr-29-21
 | | MissScarlett: Bad luck is sitting on a piece of chewing gum, not drowning to death. |
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Apr-29-21
| | perfidious: How, exactly does Wall define 'bad luck'? Wells' passing sounds like a healthy dollop of misfortune from my angle. |
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| Apr-29-21 | | Nosnibor: In Wall`s long list he refers to Perlis climbing a mountain and not able to get back and dying of exposure. This is not significantly different to Ian Wells case. Both cases are misfortunate. |
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Apr-29-21
 | | saffuna: <On October 16 1913, Dr. Julius Perlis (1880-1913), an Austrian chess master and lawyer, died in a mountain climb in the Alps. During a pleasure trip, he lost his way. His cries for help were heard by two tourists, but they failed to find his whereabouts. His frozen body was found the next day. He died of extreme exposure to low temperatures during a climb in the Austrian Inntaler Alps. He had only taken light clothing and fell asleep on a ledge. He froze to death. > That sounds like a hike, not a climb. |
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Apr-29-21
 | | Diademas: The most dangerous job in showbiz.
<In 1915, Ajeeb, a chess automaton, was set up at Coney Island. One player lost to it and was so angry he took out a gun and shot at the automaton. The unlucky hidden operator, Sam Gonotsky, was killed, which was covered up. In another incident with Ajeeb, a Westerner emptied his pistol into the automaton, hitting the unlucky operator in the shoulder. One lady who lost to the Ajeeb automaton was so enraged that they stuck a hatpin into the automaton, stabbing its operator in the mouth.> |
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| Apr-29-21 | | Nosnibor: <saffuna> Have you ever climbed the Alps? I can assure you it is not a hike and in Perlis`s day it would have been even more perilous. |
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Apr-29-21
 | | moronovich: <Diademas: The most dangerous job in showbiz.
<In 1915, Ajeeb, a chess automaton, was set up at Coney Island. One player lost to it and was so angry he took out a gun and shot at the automaton. The unlucky hidden operator, Sam Gonotsky, was killed, which was covered up. In another incident with Ajeeb, a Westerner emptied his pistol into the automaton, hitting the unlucky operator in the shoulder.> Gives bullit chess a broader meaning. |
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Apr-30-21
| | saffuna: <Have you ever climbed the Alps? I can assure you it is not a hike and in Perlis`s day it would have been even more perilous.> I have hiked in the Alps, not climbed. And a great deal in the Andes, where trails sometimes go up to 5000 meters. The description of Perlis' death suggests it was a hike, not a climb. Two tourists heard him. He had only light clothing. Nobody is going to go to the top of a mountain with only light clothing. "Found on a ledge" does suggest he might have been scrambling or climbing on a wall. |
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Dec-09-21
 | | jnpope: <In 1915, Ajeeb, a chess automaton, was set up at Coney Island. One player lost to it and was so angry he took out a gun and shot at the automaton. The unlucky hidden operator, Sam Gonotsky, was killed, which was covered up.> Who wrote that bit of silliness? Bill didn't give a source so I'm a little puzzled why he would even have it on his 1915 timeline. Samuel Gonotsky was a famous American checker player who competed up until the time of his death. Unless I'm supposed to believe a Paul McCartney level replacement conspiracy and someone else played under his name during the 1929 American checker championship? WTH? <Since all checkerists are interested in everything pertaining to Samuel Gonotsky, checker genius of the first rank, who was the winner of this tourney and who died shortly after his victory, we reproduce from the proof sheets the following brief biographical sketch:<Samuel Gonotsky, winner of first prize and the American championship, was born in Russia 26 years ago but was reared and educated in America. [...] He died April 5 in Hurley hospital, Flint, Mich., of pleural tuberculosis, following Michael Leiber, his chum, fellow worker and opponent, who died in the same hospital March 23.> <Columbia State, 1929.06.16, p35>> |
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Dec-17-21
| | wwall: You are right. Not well-sourced for this 1915 story on Ajeeb and being shot at. The source I found mentioned that it was Gonotsky's apprentice that had been shot. Cannot find a more reliable source than the one I used at https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/... |
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Dec-19-21
| | wwall: Another source of the shooting and killing - http://www.pizzateen.com/2007/10/ro... "One day his understudy was operating the machine when a coney island visitor got so pissed over losing, he shot Ajeeb in the torso, killing the man inside." |
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Dec-19-21
 | | HeMateMe: Mr. Wall, what do you think of the seven part series <The Queens Gambit>? I assume you've seen it. Here, it would seem that she plays a thinly disguised Boris Spassky in the final round of a big tournament in Moscow <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtD...> |
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Dec-19-21
| | wwall: I liked the Queen's Gambit TV series, a fictional story by Walter Tefis of Beth Harmon, most likely based on the American female chess player Diana Lanni, whom I know. Very well done, but a few chess mistakes in the movie, as in all chess movies. Its a world without Bobby Fischer in the 1950s and 1960s. The acting was very good. Kasparov and Pandolfini were the technical advisors. Spassky was an inspiration for Tevis's novel. |
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Dec-19-21
| | HeMateMe: Well, I think the maverick, somewhat unreliable guy who tutors Harmon in his NYC basement apartment (and beats her at 5 minute blitz) is Bobby Fischer. Obviously not a completely accurate depiction of RJF, but I would say that this fellow was the scriptwriter/director's way of noting the presence of Fischer in the 1960s. The guy in question lives a monkish existence, can't be counted on to play in tournaments, but is good enough to win any tournament he's in, including the USA championship. That's Fischer. |
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