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| Nov-26-04 | | LIFE Master AJ: In all due seriousness, I would love to get a top man in the field of medicine to review this case. Could he figure out exactly when Pillsbury contracted his illness/disease? Could he make other - previously undiscovered - determinations? I think it quite likely, it certainly would be informative to get a grad student or a <fairly good> player ... looking for the subject of his thesis ... to take a stab at it. |
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| Jan-02-05 | | LIFE Master AJ: By the way ... I have annotated this game. (You should take a look at it. http://www.angelfire.com/games4/lif...) Comments would be appreciated. |
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| May-20-05 | | aw1988: Pillsbury most likely got this disease through sexual intercourse of some kind. He was not one to live in a quiet lifestyle! Of course, he may have simply been unlucky... I have no clue of the science of STD's. |
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May-20-05
 | | keypusher: Silly Harry, everyone knows chessplayers aren't supposed to have sexual intercourse of ANY kind. |
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May-20-05
 | | tpstar: Especially not during a game, and especially not with your opponent. Dirty Harry ... |
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Aug-08-05
 | | Gypsy: <If Pillsbury had contracted syphilis in 1896, he might have noticed the initial chancre stage around 2-6 weeks after exposure;...> It is, however, most likely that Pisbury was informed by a doctor when the woman tested positive and long before he himself had any problems. Had she been a prostitute associated with a house, for instance, there probably was mandatory periodic testing requirement in place... I can quite understand that just learning of such potentially deadly exposure would have been devastating. |
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Aug-08-05
 | | Calli: The Brooklyn Eagle on 15 Jan 1896 reported that "Pillsbury has been suffering from a severe attack of influenza ever since the second half of the tournament..." Sounds like second stage already, meaning he contracted the disease some months before. |
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Aug-08-05
| | Gypsy: <Sounds like second stage already, meaning he contracted the disease some months before.> Yes, it does. |
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| Aug-16-05 | | LIFE Master AJ: << Aug-08-05 Calli: The Brooklyn Eagle on 15 Jan 1896 reported that "Pillsbury has been suffering from a severe attack of influenza ever since the second half of the tournament..."
Sounds like second stage already, meaning he contracted the disease some months before. >> I must agree with you, good sir. This definitely does NOT sound like the first stage, but a second stage, or possibly one of the later bouts with the disease. As a note to the above discussion, I first wanted to apologize to everyone. I realize I get a bit acerbic at times, there may be people who are simply joking, and I take them too seriously. However, I found the entire threat to be beneficial in the larger sense of trying to understand exactly what happened to poor Pillsbury, whom I feel was one of the best players of all time. Secondly, I consider Pillsbury o be one of the greatest talents of all time. I remember a few years ago I made this statement to a former U.S. Champion. He repsonded that, "there must be at least 30 people who would rank ahead of Pillsbury, possibly a lot more." (Or something to that effect. This is from memory, the general gist of the quote is correct, if not the exact content.) I once gave a lecture ... at a US Open. I said something to the effect that, "According to my calculations, Pillsbury was probably in the 'Top Ten' of all time, based on his play over about a three-to-five-year period." Many experts, including a former PB member openly challenged this conclusion. I am pleased to show that there are several other experts that have basically reached the same conclusion. (See the following link - http://www.chessmetrics.com/CM2/Pea...) I am considering writing a (short?) web page on Pillsbury, I have been gathering information and material towards goal now for several years. Comments?
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Aug-29-06
 | | gawain: As for the Marshall-Pillsbury game--instead of poor Pillsbury's disease--it appears that Black had more or less equalized until his error 18 ... Kg7. 18 ...b6 19 Bxg6 Bb7 would have given Black a decent chance, I think. Then if 20 Ba5 f5 21 Ng6 Rf6 22 gxf5 Kh7 (!?) it gets wild. Black's King gains a little shelter and White's is suddenly exposed on the g-file! Black's bishop has become very menacing, too. |
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| Sep-02-07 | | Karpova: <Many diseases like syphillis are now thought to be carried by viruses ... which 'piggy-back' on certain bacterium. (This was confirmed by a doctor who works at the Atlanta Center for Disease Control> Syphilis is caused by the Bacterium Treponema pallidum. There are in fact other bacteria which become pathogens only after having been infected by a bacteriophage (whose genome contains the virulence factors) like Corynebacterium diphteriae. But there seems to be no evidence that the pathogenicity of T. pallidum was caused by a bacteriophage infection.
This kind of information may surprise laymen but are actually nothing new - even the human genome contains a lot of remains from viruses.
The pathogen is still the bacterium and not the bacteriophage (as bacteriophages can infect bacteria only) and that's why they are best treated with antibiotics and not antiviral agents. To quote http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ar... <In contrast, T. pallidum, which survives predominantly in the relatively secluded environment of human tissue, has no recognized RM systems, insertion sequence elements, or bacteriophage.> For those who want to read more about it:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ar... |
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Sep-02-07
| | keypusher: <gawain> 18...b6 19. Bxg6 Bb7 looks like a good idea but: <Then if 20 B[h]5 f5 21 Ng6 Rf6 22 gxf5 Kh7 (!?) it gets wild.> The queen is hanging after 21. Ng6 Rf6, or I have the board set up wrong. Great avatar, by the way. |
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Dec-30-07
 | | Gambit All: Keypusher - I'm glad somebody analyzed the game.
I don't quite see the checkmate/forced win. If 21...fxg6 than 22.Rxg6+ Kh8 23.Rxh6+ Kg7 24Rf6 followed by bringing up the Queen? What's the best winning line? |
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Dec-30-07
| | tpstar: <Gambit All> Your line is right, just finish it off with 24. Rh7#. Or 22 ... Kh7 23. Rxe6+ Kg7 (23 ... Kh8 24. Rxh6+) 24. Qe5+ mates. |
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May-13-08
| | keypusher: <Gypsy: <If Pillsbury had contracted syphilis in 1896, he might have noticed the initial chancre stage around 2-6 weeks after exposure;...> It is, however, most likely that Pisbury was informed by a doctor when the woman tested positive and long before he himself had any problems. Had she been a prostitute associated with a house, for instance, there probably was mandatory periodic testing requirement in place... I can quite understand that just learning of such potentially deadly exposure would have been devastating.> I would be surprised if they had a test for syphillis in 1895-96. Does anyone know? <LifeMasterAJ: <Gregor Samsa Mendel> If you want to mail me a copy of your school records ... I will give you a gold-plated, obtuse, and complete apology.> I hope whoever collects classic quotes on this site has this one. |
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May-14-08
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: I wouldn't be surprised if they had a test for syphillis in 1895-1896, given that they did have a treatment for it. However, that treatment was mercury, which had a poor cure rate and was sometimes a cure worse than the disease. Salvarsan (arsenic phenylamine) wasn't introduced until 1909. It was somewhat effective vs. Stage 1 syphillis, with a rate of relapse of "only" 30-33%. Since the active ingredient was arsenic, this cure was also sometimes worse than the disease. Also, if the infection had reached Stage 2 or 3, Salvarsan was useless. It's amazing what facts you learn once you get into the acting or writing worlds. |
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May-14-08
| | keypusher: <An Englishman> According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica (behind a subscription wall, unfortunately), the first reliable test for syphilis was the Wasserman blood test introduced in 1906. Poor Pillsbury's timing really was tragically bad. |
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May-16-08
| | An Englishman: Good Evening: Thank you for the input, <keypusher>. That's an interesting fact you've uncovered, because I'm aware of the 19th Century public health campaign by the French government against the disease (my French is abysmal, but the slogan was something like "Defendez contre le Syphille"). My apologies to all French speakers. So by the 19th Century, there was at least some awareness of what the disease was, and a campaign against it, but no reliable test for it. Curious. |
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May-16-08
| | keypusher: <So by the 19th Century, there was at least some awareness of what the disease was, and a campaign against it, but no reliable test for it. Curious.> I think reliable tests for almost any disease are a recent development. Before tests, diseases were diagnosed by the symptoms that accompanied them (which of course meant only after they had started to do damage). I am sure there was no test for smallpox when Jenner invented his vaccine against it in the 1790s(?), for example. Or think of how much there is about leprosy in the Bible. |
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| Dec-30-08 | | capanegra: 22…Kxf6?? (overlooking mate) was the final mistake. After 22…Ne8 23.Rf4 fxg6 24.Qe5+ Kh7 25.Rf7+ Rg7 Black's position, though precarious, was still defendable. |
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| Jan-25-09 | | WhiteRook48: Black might just have been trying to get 2 Rooks for his Queen |
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| Jan-25-09 | | WhiteRook48: well, let's Marshall all the pieces! |
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| Mar-21-09 | | WhiteRook48: 21...Qxf6?? is such an error |
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Jan-22-10
 | | OhioChessFan: <After 22…Ne8 23.Rf4 fxg6 24.Qe5+ Kh7 25.Rf7+ Rg7 Black's position, though precarious, was still defendable.>
click for larger view
Black is dead in the water. 26. Qh5 Kg8 27. Rxg7+ Nxg7 28. Qxg6 Black's h Pawn will fall and there's no way to stop the g and h Pawns. 
click for larger view |
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| Sep-23-10 | | morphy2010: Syphilis is caused by the Bacterium Treponema pallidum. There are in fact other bacteria which become pathogens only after having been infected by a bacteriophage (whose genome contains the virulence factors) like Corynebacterium diphteriae. But there seems to be no evidence that the pathogenicity of T. pallidum was caused by a bacteriophage infection. This kind of information may surprise laymen but are actually nothing new - even the human genome contains a lot of remains from viruses. The pathogen is still the bacterium and not the bacteriophage (as bacteriophages can infect bacteria only) and that's why they are best treated with antibiotics and not antiviral agents. |
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