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William A Shinkman
W Shinkman 
Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.  

Number of games in database: 8
Years covered: 1869 to 1888
Overall record: +5 -3 =0 (62.5%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

Most played openings
C50 Giuoco Piano (2 games)


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WILLIAM A SHINKMAN
(born Dec-25-1847, died May-25-1933, 85 years old) United States of America

[what is this?]

William Anthony Shinkman was a child of Bohemian immigrants who came to Baltimore at the age of 6 years. Later he lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan and at first worked there as insurance and estate broker.

Shinkman, nicknamed "the Wizard of Grand Rapids", was not only an enormously talented problemist but was also influential in the theoretical development of chess puzzles. He introduced the elevator theme, provided the first proof-game that 6 pawns of the same color can occupy a rook file simultaneously.

Otto Bernard Wurzburg was his nephew.

Last updated: 2024-02-23 20:28:42

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 page 1 of 1; 8 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. W Shinkman vs H Smith  0-1311869Correspondence GameC50 Giuoco Piano
2. W Shinkman vs Lewis H Watson  1-0201871Correspondence GameC20 King's Pawn Game
3. A Jerome vs W Shinkman 0-1211874corrC50 Giuoco Piano
4. W Shinkman vs T Thompson 1-0151875Maryland Chess Review Postal Card TournamentC33 King's Gambit Accepted
5. O Brownson vs W Shinkman  1-0271875corrC51 Evans Gambit
6. E Alberoni vs W Shinkman  0-1321876Offhand GameC55 Two Knights Defense
7. E Alberoni vs W Shinkman  0-1231876Offhand GameC52 Evans Gambit
8. O B Wurzburg vs W Shinkman 1-0271888Offhand gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Shinkman wins | Shinkman loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Aug-30-08  DoctorD: No one has noted that this is one of America's greatest problemists against the "Jerome Gambit" originator?
Aug-31-08  myschkin: . . .

<William Anthony Shinkman>

(1847 in Bohemia - 1933 in Michigan)

aka <M. Ham Nawki> (pseudonym)

aka <the Wizard of Grand Rapids>

was a genius of the early modern chess problem (3500+ remained).

*

As child of Bohemian immigrants by the name of <Tschinkman> he came to Baltimore at the age of 6 years. Later he lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan and at first worked there as insurance and estate broker. From 1893 he had a job in the city council.

*

Some compositions:
http://www.softdecc.com/pdb/search.... http://www.silverpawn.com/Predefine...

*

Bio in German:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willia...

*

His "Immortal":

http://blog.chess.com/kurtgodden/6-...
http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/...

*

Planchutta example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plachu...

Mar-06-09  whiteshark: The following Shinkman gem of a miniature was published 1907:


click for larger view

White to move mates in six.

A hint you will find here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excels...(chess_problem) --> Sports and games

Jun-05-09  vonKrolock: Newly on-line in Edward Winter's "Chess Notes" http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... number 6158. <‘Trio of famous composers>’, a photo showing Shinkman, his nephew and follower as leading problemist Otto Wurzburg (1875-1951), and Dr. Samuel Gold (1835-1920) - see Carl Schlechter page 9

(Many thanks for this invaluable image, Mr. Winter)

Aug-17-09  gauer: Amongst other studies, he popularized the Elevator theme that also happened to be featured in an actual game of L Spassov vs T Porrasmaa, 1966.
Dec-25-09  Kris Kringle: Wow 1 out of 1 = 100%... Happy Birth Anniversary!
Oct-04-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: He's being inducted today into the US Chess Hall of Fame alongside Yury Shulman and Lisa Lane.

I think he looks like Ioan-Cristian Chirila.

Oct-04-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: Like its baseball equivalent, the Chess Hall has no standards.
Oct-04-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Harsh.

<However, Bonds -- and Roger Clemens (65.2 percent), also in his final year -- was held back due in large part to his connections with performance-enhancing drugs. Per the BBWAA’s website, consideration shall be based not only on statistics and playing ability, but “integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”>

https://www.mlb.com/news/barry-bond...

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