chessgames.com

Koltanowski 
Photograph circa 1975; courtesy of Cleveland Public Library.  
Georges Koltanowski
Number of games in database: 377
Years covered: 1921 to 1994
Overall record: +92 -38 =63 (64.0%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      184 exhibition games, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Queen's Pawn Game (58) 
    D05 D04 A46 A40 D02
 Two Knights (29) 
    C55 C56
 Giuoco Piano (21) 
    C50
 Orthodox Defense (19) 
    D51 D63 D62 D53 D64
 Sicilian (13) 
    B20 B60 B27 B22
 King's Indian (11) 
    E67 E60 E81 E61 E70
With the Black pieces:
 King's Indian (28) 
    E60 E67 E72 E90 E61
 Philidor's Defense (14) 
    C41
 Queen's Pawn Game (7) 
    A50 A40 D04 A41 A45
 Ruy Lopez (6) 
    C73 C64 C87
 Grunfeld (5) 
    D95 D92 D80 D82
 Two Knights (5) 
    C55 C58 C59
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Koltanowski vs M Defosse, 1936 1-0
   Koltanowski vs A Dunkelblum, 1923 1-0
   Koltanowski vs NN, 1946 1-0
   Koltanowski vs Diller, 1960 1-0
   Koltanowski vs Day, 1960 1-0
   Koltanowski vs J Salazar, 1940 1-0
   Koltanowski vs H Bogart, 1952 1-0
   Koltanowski vs A Dunkelblum, 1924 1-0
   Koltanowski vs NN, 1945 1-0
   Koltanowski vs T Allen, 1960 1-0

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   colle & related systems by gmlisowitz
   blindfold masters by biohaz
   KKW's 'Minature chess games' by KKW
   Hastings 1935/36 by Phony Benoni
   Hastings 1928/29 by suenteus po 147
   Sicilian Wing Gambitz by fredthebear
   WingGambit by lord1412
   wing gambit victories by InspiredByMorphy
   Ramsgate 1929 team tournament by crawfb5
   Colle System Classics (Koltanowski variation) by Dudley

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Georges Koltanowski
Search Google for Georges Koltanowski


GEORGES KOLTANOWSKI
(born Sep-17-1903, died Feb-05-2000) Belgium (citizen of United States of America)

[what is this?]
Georges Koltanowski was born on the 17th of September 1903 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was awarded the IM title in 1950, an honorary GM title in 1988 and became an International Arbiter in 1960. The USCF also gave him the title of "The Dean of American Chess". More than a player, "Kolty" was also an exhibitor, writer, promoter and showman. Occasionally, he edited a column for newspapers such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Kitchener Record & others in those syndication chains.

His best tournament wins were Antwerp 1932, Barcelona 1934 and Barcelona 1935. He was Belgian Champion in 1923, 1927, 1930 and 1936, but was best known for his exploits in simultaneous blindfold play.

Of his many exhibitions, one stands out above the rest: in 1937 at Edinburgh Scotland he played 34 games simultaneously without sight of the boards, scoring +24 =10 in thirteen and a half hours, a world record. When his exhibitions were over, as a finale, he would often recite the complete moves of the games without looking at the board.

Koltanowski was one of many masters who chose not to return to Europe after the 1939 Olympiad in Argentina, which coincided with the outbreak of World War II. When the Nazis overran Belgium, several of his family members perished in the Holocaust. Koltanowski was in Guatemala at the time and was allowed to immigrate to the United States, due partly because a chess-playing consul in Cuba had been amazed by one of his exhibitions.

He directed the 1947 US Open, the first time the Swiss System was used for that event, and was greatly responsible for popularizing the Swiss System for tournaments in the US. His last International appearances were playing for the US Olympiad team of 1952 and a match against Henri Grob in 1953. He was also President of the USCF from 1975 to 1978.

Wikipedia article: George Koltanowski


 page 1 of 16; games 1-25 of 377  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. Tchabritch vs Koltanowski ½-½33 1921 simul blind 1/2C25 Vienna
2. E Sapira vs Koltanowski 0-139 1921 ch?C48 Four Knights
3. A Dunkelblum vs Koltanowski  0-138 1922 Belgium chC64 Ruy Lopez, Classical
4. Koltanowski vs Colle 1-030 1922 ch BELA03 Bird's Opening
5. Koltanowski vs Colle  ½-½29 1923 rapid playA01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack
6. Koltanowski vs A Dunkelblum 1-015 1923 AntwerpB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
7. Koltanowski vs Colle 1-041 1923 rapid playA01 Nimzovich-Larsen Attack
8. Colle vs Koltanowski 0-171 1923 ch BELE60 King's Indian Defense
9. Koltanowski vs Colle  1-050 1923 ch BELA10 English
10. Koltanowski vs V Soultanbeieff 1-026 1923 ch BELC49 Four Knights
11. Koltanowski vs K Sterk  1-065 1924 ol final BE61 King's Indian
12. Koltanowski vs K Piltz  1-063 1924 ol prelim 2D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
13. Koltanowski vs A Selezniev  ½-½41 1924 MeranoC25 Vienna
14. Hromadka vs Koltanowski  ½-½69 1924 ol final BB13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
15. Koltanowski vs A Dunkelblum 1-027 1924 simul blind 1/10C55 Two Knights Defense
16. J Schulz Sr vs Koltanowski  ½-½64 1924 ol final BC41 Philidor Defense
17. G Cenni vs Koltanowski  0-136 1924 ol prelim 2C25 Vienna
18. B Patay vs Koltanowski  0-152 1924 MeranoA40 Queen's Pawn Game
19. Spielmann vs Koltanowski 1-044 1924 MeranoB13 Caro-Kann, Exchange
20. J O'Hanlon vs Koltanowski  0-127 1924 ol final BD46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
21. Euwe vs Koltanowski  1-041 1924 ol ?D30 Queen's Gambit Declined
22. G Oskam vs Koltanowski  0-124 1924 ol prelim 2D46 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav
23. Colle vs Koltanowski 0-140 1924 MeranoD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
24. Koltanowski vs D Reca  0-129 1924 ol final BE14 Queen's Indian
25. S Rosselli del Turco vs Koltanowski  1-024 1924 MeranoB10 Caro-Kann
 page 1 of 16; games 1-25 of 377  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Koltanowski wins | Koltanowski loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-18-08  myschkin: <Dean of American Chess> Title of George Koltanowski.
Aug-28-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: According to Edward Winter, Koltanowski was part of a plot to stop Edward Colle winning the 2nd Belgian championship, which was held in Antwerp in September 1922. Koltanowski defeated Buruchowitz, the winner of the 1921 championship, in 2 moves 1. f3 e5. 2 g4 Qh4#.

Sep-02-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Source: CN 2928 Edward Winter, "Chess Facts and Fables", McFarland Publishing, 2006
Sep-04-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: Quote of the Day

" [Blindfold-chess legend] <Koltanowski> is survived by his wife, Leah, who never learned to play chess and often joked that her husband could not remember to bring bread home from the grocery. "

-- The New York Times

Boys will be boys and gals will be gals. :D

Sep-04-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  sallom89: 34 games without looking at any board!? how come, just cant imagine it.
Dec-24-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  gauer: Did anyone ever try to estimate his rating strength after the 70's, when the ELO system was taking form? - many games show up as simuls, & of the 300+ to date in the database here, that would only account for about 5 or 6 simuls' worth of events, given that all the simuls could be pooled into only a few tourneys ;). Having Koltanowski paired to Alekhine in tandem (each player of each side alternate each kth turn in tandem to decide a team's strategy) / team play must've been like a GM reading a textbook when it came to reeling off an opening repertoire. A FIDE card didn't show up, & there don't seem to be many classical-pace time games that he'd played which had game-scores recorded to the database.
Jan-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  PhilFeeley: <sallom89> Chessbase published an article today about a book that may question his simultaneous claims:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...

Jul-20-09  Dredge Rivers: Blindfold is for wimps! He should have tried blindfolded, gagged, and handcuffed! Now, that's HARDCORE! :)
Oct-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Second longest-lived GM, after Enrico Paoli.
Oct-06-09  AnalyzeThis: I guess Smyslov is 'only' 88 and Dake was only 90.
Oct-06-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Fusilli: Actually, I made a mistake. The GM with the longest life span is Andre Lilienthal, who is 98 and therefore outlived Enrico Paoli (who died at 97) and Koltanowski, who died at 96. The second oldest living GM is, indeed, the great Vasily Smyslov, who is 88.
Jan-02-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Jedzz: I received a couple of old, old school chess books for Christmas, and bookmarking one of them was a yellowed newspaper clipping of a chess column by Koltanowski, which I'd thought I'd replicate here:

First was a game between an O.I. Truelsen and C. Madsen , played in Norway in 1957. Neither player is in the database, for soon-to-be obvious reasons in Madsen's case. This was originally in descriptive notation, which I've translated to algebraic.

"ENGLISH OPENING
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. d4 Be7(a) 8. Nf3 h6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. Qe2 O-O 11. h4(b) Bd6 12. g4 c5 13. g5 Qe7 14. gxh6 g6 15. h5(c) gxh5 16. Rg1+ Kh8 17. Rg7 e5 18. Bg5 Qe8(d) 19. dxe5 Nxe5(e) 20. Rh7+ Kg8 21. Rh8+ Kxh8 22. Bf6+ Kg8 23. h7# 1-0

(a) Better would have been 7. ... Bd6. (b) White threatens 12. Bg5 hxg5 13. hxg5 Qf4 14. g3 Qg4 15. Bh7+ Kh8 16. Bb5+ etc. (c) White is putting on pressure, and will finish in brilliant style! (d) After 18. ... Qe6, there can follow 19. d5 Qh3 20. O-O-O. (e) 19. ... Bxe5 staves off the defeat by one more move."

Next was a puzzle:


click for larger view

"White is to play and mate in two moves."

See if you can figure this one out.

Jan-03-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Doesn't B-f8# win at once? Or, is the trick to make it a legal mate in two, which would be more difficult?
Jan-03-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Jedzz: HeHateMe, 1. Bf8+ Kxc5. White is moving up the board, and thus the knight is en pris.
Jan-03-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: oops. My chess GPS navigotor was off.
Aug-14-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  wordfunph: According to George Koltanowski in his book TV Chess, a player came complaining that he had just been mated by a rook and that he protested the outcome. His 20-year-old opponent had a long wide beard and he had "covered his rook with his beard". And then, when it was his turn to move, had lifted his beard and mated with the "hidden" rook!
Aug-14-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Ha!, I love that--Capa's 'submarine piece'!
Oct-28-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: 1925 photo: http://tinyurl.com/2e8ut99
Aug-19-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  wordfunph: H. Wallis' scoresheet played against Koltanowski in Leeds in 1938..

http://www.leedschessclub.org/oldsc...

Oct-18-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: < Despite the documented evidence by chess historian HJR Murray, I've always thought that chess was invented by a goddess >

~George Koltanowski

Apr-16-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Caissanist: The story <Wordfunph> mentions was probably copied from Alfred Kreymborg's <Chess Reclaims a Devotee>, an amusing portrait of the New York chess world of a century ago: http://www.unz.org/Pub/AmMercury-19...
Sep-17-12  Lil Swine: Happy Birthday Kolty
Sep-18-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: George is no longer with us, though I'm sure he'd be willing to play the whole site at blindfold chess, were it technically possible.
Oct-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  wordfunph: <Caissanist> thanks for the link, extracted the story from a signed copy of TV Chess by Koltanowski.

read somewhere that Kolty abandoned the idea of drawing a chessboard on the ceiling of his bedroom to study blindfold, ohhhh...hardcore chess!

Feb-24-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: In today's SF Chronicle, they had a classic reprint from 1981:

http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment...

Note the spelling by the author of Koltanowski's first name.

Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 3)
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing>
NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community!
If you already have an account, you should login now.
Please observe our posting guidelines:
  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
  3. No personal attacks against other users.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.
Blow the Whistle See something which violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform an administrator.


NOTE: Keep all discussion on the topic of this page. This forum is for this specific player and nothing else. If you want to discuss chess in general, or this site, you might try the Kibitzer's Café.
Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors.
Spot an error? Please suggest your correction and help us eliminate database mistakes!


home | about | login | logout | F.A.Q. | your profile | preferences | Premium Membership | Kibitzer's Café | Biographer's Bistro | new kibitzing | chessforums | Tournament Index | Player Directory | World Chess Championships | Opening Explorer | Guess the Move | Game Collections | ChessBookie Game | Chessgames Challenge | Little ChessPartner | privacy notice | contact us
Copyright 2001-2013, Chessgames Services LLC
Web design & database development by 20/20 Technologies