A new chessproblem:

<Stella> (from 1852)

click for larger view

White to play and mate in 5.

------

Rod Edwards:

<She had also been of assistance to Staunton in a way that he repeatedly acknowledged, most likely in the capacity of a problem examiner. Then, after just a little over 3 years on the scene she disappeared from view. And we don't even know who she was.

There are precious few clues to help identify or locate Judy. We know she was a "Lady". The fact that she played a game against a "Metropolitan Amateur" might suggest that she lived in London, but it seems equally possible that Judy was visiting London or that they met elsewhere. Slightly more telling might be the fact that some of Judy's early problems appeared in the Gateshead Observer. While the ILN and the CPC were read everywhere, it seems less likely that Judy would submit problems to a Northern newspaper if she did not live in the vicinity, or at least in the North.

Although essentially pure speculation, it is tempting to wonder if Judy might have been one of the ladies present at chess meetings in Lincolnshire in 1851 and 1854. These events appear to have had an unusually strong female contingent. The first meeting took place at Caistor on October 9, 1851.

The most attractive and delightful feature in the interesting reunion was the presence of a gay bevy of ladies, most of whom were evidently well versed in all the intricacies of the beautiful game they had met to celebrate, and who took and maintained their places in the lists, with a gallantry and skill which excited general admiration even from the veteran players of the other sex. "October 18, 1851 (ILN, p.499)"

The meeting in the course of the evening was graced with the presence of a number of fair chess-players, whose skill in the noble game was gallantly acknowledged by Herr Loewenthal and others. "October 18, 1851 (The Chess Player, p.110)"

Staunton was present at this meeting (ILN, September 27, 1851, p.394) and so could have met Judy if she was there. Note that the game between Judy and the "Metropolitan Amateur" (see Part I) appeared shortly after this in the November 1851 issue of the CPC.

The second Lincolnshire meeting took place again at Caistor, on October 25 and 26, 1854 (ILN, November 11, 1854, p.495; CPC, December 1854, p.391). Again, many ladies were present, and the names of 26 of them are actually given in the CPC.

On this, as on the previous occasion, an interesting feature of the assemblage was the presence of several ladies, some of whom, indeed, displayed a proficiency in Chess that would have astonished many ambitious amateurs of the other sex. December 1854 (CPC, p.391)

This event occurred some months after Stella's last enigma and problem appeared in the ILN (in December 1853 and January 1854, respectively), and nothing had appeared before those since April 1853. So even if Judy was from this area, she may no longer have been active by the time of the second Caistor meeting. But if she was there, then she might well have been one of the twenty-six women named in the CPC report.

Another lead might be to identify Judy's chess partner, "Lady B." But the probability that her true name began with a "B" is not much to go on. "Lady B." corresponded with the ILN at least once, a couple of years later, just to submit correct solutions to a Problem and Enigmas (July 26, 1856, p.104).>

Also interesting:

http://sbchess.sinfree.net/baird.html

The entire text of Mrs. Baird's "Seven hundred chess problems" is in the public domain, so if you are so inclined, enjoy (in PDF format):

http://books.google.com/books?id=Gm...

or

http://tinyurl.com/6cwdy3

She closes her book with a picture of a box of Chessmen being closed and the words

Farewell

My task is done; and like the bard of old,
My toils are over; and my tale is told:
Yet still I pause beneath the enchanter's spell --
Still I hesitate to say the word "Farewell":
But howso we may linger o'er the past
The parting word must be pronounced at last.
So, critics all, I thank your kind attention
To these few pages of my poor invention;
Whether your verdict be for good or ill --
In praise or blame -- yea -- I would thank you still. But should I one approving glance descry
My goal is numbered -- or, in fact, if I
One smile -- one joy -- one pleasing look have won,
Then farewell all, my destined task is done.

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Somehow, Mrs. Baird's closing words about "one smile -- one joy -- one pleasing look" reminded me of Ralph Waldo Emerson's thought:

"To share often and much; to leave the world a little better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. That is to have succeeded."

I am also reminded of the words of H. H. the Dalai Lama about smiles ( http://www.dalailama.com/page.10.htm ):

"I often joke that if you really want to be selfish, you should be very altruistic! You should take good care of others, be concerned for their welfare, help them, serve them, make more friends, make more smiles. The result? When you yourself need help, you find plenty of helpers!....

"Though sometimes people laugh when I say it, I myself always want more friends. I love smiles. Because of this I have the problem of knowing how to make more friends and how to get more smiles, in particular, genuine smiles. For there are many kinds of smile, such as sarcastic, artificial or diplomatic smiles. Many smiles produce no feeling of satisfaction, and sometimes they can even create suspicion or fear, can't they? But a genuine smile really gives us a feeling of freshness and is, I believe, unique to human beings. If these are the smiles we want, then we ourselves must create the reasons for them to appear...."

Best wishes....

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Ah, so true.

I am reminded of the closing words of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza in his "Ethics":

Whereas the wise man, in so far as he is regarded as such, is scarcely at all disturbed in spirit, but, being conscious of himself, and of God, and of things, by a certain eternal necessity, never ceases to be, but always possesses true acquiescence of his spirit. If the way which I have pointed out as leading to this result seems exceedingly hard, it may nevertheless be discovered. Needs must it be hard, since it is so seldom found. How would it be possible, if salvation were ready to our hand, and could without great labour be found, that it should be by almost all men neglected? But all things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~rbombard/RB/...

Best wishes in this noble quest!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Just finished re-reading A.Solzhenitsyn's
"The First Circle". Some half dozen out of his unforgettable gallery of characters seems to think along the same or similar lines (Emerson, Dalai Lama, Spinoza). While in prison, where there is nothing else to do, but to kill time in any conceivable way.

But things usually assume different life (of there own) once on the outside. More "pressing", immediate concerns, necessarily "selfish", guide our everyday lives. It is the same with most of us.

An occasional flash of conscience that may awake a thought, or inspire an act which would raise one above one's own petty drudgery of an existence, is soon buried under an avalanche of things which don't truly matter.

To paraphrase a stanza from Goethe's "Faustus":

"Things that we know
We do not need,
Things that we need
We do not know."

I suspect this is how we, the humans, have been "constructed". On the other hand, without this stubborn resilience, without this survival instinct, we would have ceased to exist ages ago. Not unlike our brothers, relatives and neighbours from the so-called natural world.

Balance, I think, is the key. Between individual and collective, between self-concern and the care for others.

Just like the balance we see, or sense, everywhere else in the universe. And beyond.

Light and darkness, good and bad (evil?), sunshine and moonlight, tide and ebb, north and south, cold and heat, victory and defeat, love and hate, joy and pain. Life and Death.

One without the other would be meaningless. It can't be any other way.

I am tempted to add to them, but you have expressed them so well, I think I would diminish rather than augment!

So thank you once again....

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Both Judy and Lady B. seem to be 19th century versions of my chat room pal "coolgirl". Except for unverifiable information provided via an anonymizing medium, we know only that the correspondent has access to someone with knowledge of what is posted.

We don't know if they are ladies in title, behaviour, or gender. They could be nom de plumes of Morphy, as suggested, of Staunton himself, or any other woman or man or group with knowledge of chess and capable of writing in the style.

Staunton seems to support that Judy is a titled female, but he doesn't. He only allows to be printed "M.P. 1. Judy is a lady". A lower case "l" is Oll Korect when used in this manner, whether he is indicating possession of a title or not. Staunton also includes the word "female" in praising Judy/Stella, but neglects to state how he knows her gender, let alone provide traceable references.

All Seriousness Aside
---
My late Aunt Dorothy confided to me via a YesYes board that Judy was a machine known as The Turk <search "the turk>"; providing posthumous guidance from Beyond after losing his (its?) life in a fire in 1854. Presumably, the earlier correspondence was via more conventional means.

My nominee is that Judy was a pen name for Jenny, a Manchester mule communicating with a complex code of hoof-taps. Her messages were then decoded and transcribed into high-spirited ennobled prose by a Martian. (The alien was transferred from a starship by electronics genius Charles Wheatstone to provide a secret wife and cryptography expert for a local chemistry professor, Lyon Playfair.) The professor always exalted his modest wife as "she that hath been beamed down," or, intimately, "Beemie". The spelling is speculative, as the historical record draws from variously-transcribed references in the letters of acquaintances. Upon Lord Playfair's death, his papers did include a reference to "my most honourable and glorious consort, the beloved B., LGP".

While keeping a stiff upper lip by dint of long practice at secretly blowing under her veil over the top of her too-hot tea, the adventurous Martian moved and travelled with her more-famous husband, who had frequent business about the nation, including of course considerable public duties in the capital.

It has been brought to my attention that "Korect" is an enkorrekt spelling.

It has been brought to my attention that Mr. Dickens spelled Uriah's surname "Heep".

1.Ra7 Rh6
2.Ra1 Rxh7
3.Rh1+ Kg5
4. Rxh7

1. Ra7 Kg5
2. Ra5+ K(any)
3. Rxh5 Kxh5
4. h8=Q -

""STELLA". - Under the above heading we have lately met with some very ingenious speculations as regards the individuality of this presumed lady contributor of problems to the columns of the Illustrated London News, tending to prove that the lady is no lady at all, none other than the far-famed problemist, the Rev. H. Bolton. The reasons given for the supposition are as follows: - Firstly: "Stella" (------ Judy) was unknown until after Mr. Bolton's withdrawal from the "chequered field" in 1850, Secondly: Judy commenced by composing well - a singular fact, since the road to this kind of fame has hitherto been more or less steep and long. Thirdly: The problems of Judy and Mr. Bolton are not at all dissimilar in style, Fourthly, and lastly: On the 23d of October last was noticed the following announcement in the columns of the Illustrated London News: - "We have the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of several beautiful problems this week from the Rev. H. Bolton, Mr. F. Healey, and J. B. (of Bridport), all of which shall have speedy insertion." Since when we have had eight fine productions of Mr. Healey, three of J. B. (of Bridport), and two of "Stella"; the remaining portions bearing the names of G. M. (whom we know), R. B. Wormald, Esq., and others."