Oct-23-03
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| Helloween: <A photo of Santasiere> http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller... He is credited with inventing the opening system 1.Nf3 d5 2.b4!?, known as Santasiere's Folly. The opening acquired this name after Santasiere said he meant to move the pawn to b3 instead! |
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Apr-29-05
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| Caissanist: I saw a couple of postings on the Chigorin board which may be of interest here. First, from "yeah": I was in a moldy used bookstore, with commie propaganda from the old chess days. Workers unite! And there was this really effeminite looking book called "My Love Affair With Tchigorin." I looked inside, and it was a short, elegant collection of his best games, I think by a Russian artist who felt a kinship with the master. I wanted to buy it, but, looking at the ridiculous cover again, I started to get embarrassed! It was like this box of chocolates heart, and flowery script. It was at this point I seriously questioned whether my interest in chess had driven me mad. And a response from "Resignation Trap":
This is not by a Russian, but by an American, Tony Santasiere. His writings earned him the nickname of "The American Tartakover." My favorite line of his is "The Queen's Gambit is like a piece of dead fish kept overlong on ice." Santasiere was a teacher, and an oil painter. Oh, yes, he was also gay. |
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Apr-29-05
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| Eric Schiller: <caissanist> Do you have a source for that wonderful QG quote? |
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Apr-29-05
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| keypusher: I understand that Santasiere also wrote an article trashing Reshevsky's chess on aesthetic grounds. Does anyone know where I can find a copy? |
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Apr-29-05
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| Caissanist: keypusher - I know that that article appeared in Chess Life in the early sixties, but I have no idea which issue or where you could get a copy. Larry Evans wrote a response to it which he included in his book "Chess Catechism". Eric - I'm afraid I don't have a source, no. Perhaps "Resignation Trap" does, he just posted a few minutes ago on the Ruslan Ponomariov page. |
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| Apr-29-05 |
| tanginamo: i think mr. santasiere wrote books on the king's gambit & the vienna where he's an expert. i may be wrong though. |
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Oct-28-05
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| refutor: he did write an interesting book on the King's Gambit called "The Romantic King's Gambit" |
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| Nov-16-05 |
| hayton3: Santasiere's folly: what an alluring appellation for an opening. I would be inclined to adopt it on these grounds alone. |
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| Mar-15-06 |
| blingice: The original:
Santasiere vs Coggan, 1945
Others:
Najdorf vs G Moreira, 1947 (This one is in my Game Collection: Best A00 Games) Weenink vs P Van de Boogaard, 1918
And the only other games that have the title itself, all other games beginning with that opening are just A00, with "Uncommon Opening" next to it. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... |
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| Mar-15-06 |
| BIDMONFA: Anthony Santasiere SANTASIERE, Anthony E.
http://www.bidmonfa.com/santasiere_...
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| Mar-15-06 |
| Brown: This is a nicely played game by the player of the day. Starting with 35.Bxe5! the tactics are pretty straight forward but nice nonetheless. Santasiere vs Pinkus, 1939 |
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| Mar-15-06 |
| Monoceros: No picture of Santasiere?
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Nov-08-06
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| Resignation Trap: Here's a well-known photo of Santasiere: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~goeller... . |
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Nov-29-06
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| Resignation Trap: For December 2006, I'm concentrating my attention on Santasiere. In the book of the US Open in Pittsburgh, 1946, a photo appears with Weaver Warren Adams seated at a board across from Tony, with Adams on the Black side. They played a short game in the last round (NOT a draw!): Santasiere vs W Adams, 1946 . Santasiere played the <White> side of a Vienna against the Apostle of Aggression, and won! A few rounds earlier, Santasiere had Black against the same opening, and defeated a young Larry Melvyn Evans in Larry Evans vs Santasiere, 1946 . The position on the board is from analysis of the latter game:
click for larger viewWhite's Bishop had just captured a Black Knight on d2, and the Knight was in Santasiere's right hand in the photo. |
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Dec-07-06
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| Resignation Trap: Here is Santasiere's tirade on the Queen's Gambit:
'Now I wish to discuss, for your instruction, a <phony> Gambit, i.e., an opening which is called a Gambit, but is in reality, an extremely conservative opening. For sixty years this opening dominated chess play (the end is not yet). It is called the Queen's Gambit.' 'But first a breather --
"'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things;
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax -
Of cabbages and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot -
<And whether pigs have wings.>'"
(Italics mine)
(From "Through the Looking Glass")'
'The Queen's Gambit is neither a gambit nor an honor to any
Queen. It is like a piece of dead flesh kept overlong on ice.
Once it had the bloom of early youth; now it lacks <any> of the
spiritual fire that belongs to a glorious old age. Yes, it is
safe and sound - but exceedingly well memorized, and more the
tool of a coward than an adventurer. Where a game beginning
with that opening has interest, it is not because of white who
is so afraid to lose, and anxious to win safely, but because
of <black> who takes on a difficult job, and <fights>! This phony
gambit is always small time stuff - too fearful, too hungry -
no humility, no love; only ego, and a very sharp ego, you may
be sure. This stingy gambit won't permit even a virus to
approach, let alone a song. Only poetry (and allied arts)
make life worth while, sometimes even a joy; but small experts
are too busy counting pinpricks to indulge in dreams.' |
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Dec-07-06
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| Resignation Trap: That quote is from <Essay on Chess> by Santasiere (Chess Digest, 1972), an unusual book without games or diagrams. My personal copy was from an internet purchase and it arrived yesterday. |
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Dec-18-06
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| RonB52734: <Resignation Trap> What a great quote! And very timely in light of the dominance of 1.d4 in the late Topalov-Kramnik match. I have the 1946 Pittsburgh book at my elbow, and once I can convince myself that there are no copyright issues, I'll scan the photos and send them along to <chessgames.com>. In the meantime, <Phony Benoni> and I are uploading the games. |
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Jan-03-07
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| mack: <Only poetry (and allied arts) make life worth while, sometimes even a joy; but small experts are too busy counting pinpricks to indulge in dreams.> Brilliant. Gay men really do make the best writers, don't they? |
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| Apr-13-08 |
| hellbunnie: Graaah. Years of watching my dad and his obsession with chess, and he chooses not to tell me until yesterday that his uncle and my great-uncle was Anthony Santasiere. At least now I know where I get my writing urges from. The bad part?
I learned I was part French the same day. |
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f3 and 2.b4.
