" Chess is so ancient that, by that distinction alone, it seems taken beyond the category of games altogether; and it has been said that it probably would have perished long ago, if it had not been destined to live for ever. "

CHESS MASTERPIECES.

By H. E. BIRD,

Practical Accountant and Statistician, Compiler of " Railway Statistics, 1862, in connexion with Board of Trade, and Parliamentary Committee Inquiries, as to Principles o/ Amalgamation*" Author of " Comprehensive Analysis of Railways in United Kingdom, 1867 ;"* and now preparing for press, " Exhaustive Review of the Progress of Railways to 31st January, 1882, with statements, comparative and otherwise, of their real position."

COMPRISING

A collection of 156 Choice Games of the past quarter of a century, with Notes, including the finest Games in the Exhibition of 1851, and in the Vienna Tournament of 1873, with excellent specimens of the styles of Anderssen, Blackburne, Der Lasa, Hanstein, Kolisch, Lowenthal, Morphy, Staunton, Steinitz, and the principal English players. Supplemented by Games of Labourdonnais, Macdonnell, and Cochrane, contested prior to 1849. Compiled by H. E. Bird.

Cloth, black lettered, 3s.; or, handsomely bound, gilt and gilt edges, 5s.

The entire series will be found full of interest and points of excellence, and can scarcely fail to afford amusement and pleasure, as well as to impart instruction, to all who may avail themselves of the opportunity of examining them; they will be of especial service to amateurs who aspire to preeminence in Chess.

* Effingham Wilson, Eoyal Exchange.

Some highlights from browsing through it:

Bird hints (quoting Wormald) that he was largely responsible for reviving the Ruy Lopez as an opening for White. For Black, he advocates the slightly notorious defense that bears his name (3...Nd4).

In the King's Gambit, he advocates the Cunningham defense for Black (3...Be7, intending 4...Bh4+, to prevent White from castling). He does not attempt to keep the pawn, however, handing it back with a quick ...d5 for the sake of development.

He likes Bird's Opening (of course), thinking From's gambit dangerous but unsound, but concludes that Grob's opening (1.g4) has "little beyond novelty to recommend it".

Answer: If you're white, you're Bird, and you're labelled an eccentric.

But if you're black, and you're Nimzo, you're labelled an original thinker.>

ok, Bird lost to Morphy, but so did everyone else.

Meanwhile, Nimzovitch also got smacked around pretty badly against the Morphys of his day.

<Overall record: Jose Raul Capablanca beat Aron Nimzowitsch 5 to 0, with 6 draws.>

And if you're RookFile posting about Nimzowitsch, you're an idiot.

<knight13, Blackburg> 19th century ratings don't mean a hell of a lot, but Bird was pretty strong in the 1870s.

Meanwhile, <most> of Nimzovich's ideas are widely accepted and played. He even wrote a book on his ideas and many followed it and acclaimed his ideas.

Bird didn't get that kind of recognition, did he?

Which means...

Nimzovich was a a lot stronger player AND had a lot better ideas.