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Later Kibitzing> |
| Jan-26-09 | | Edwin M: <chancho> Well, i can't argue with that, now can i? It's about time i get the book myself. |
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| Jul-09-09 | | myschkin: . . .
"The death of Znosko-Borovsky deprives the chess world of one of the few survivors of an intellectually rich generation, the Russian Masters of the old regime ... My own memories of Znosko go back to 1923-24. I found him then, and at all times later, a stimulating friend and a delightful conversationalist in many subjects. His reputation as a dramatic and literary critic was, at one time considerable in Europe, though England knew little of this. Those who have read his chess works, however, must be aware that their writer was a <kultur mensch in the best sense>. Withal, he was stoical in adversity (adversity was always his lot) and possessed of great humour and resilience ... As a player he suffered from the demands of a professionalism that is incompatible with great performance: but he leaves records of many games which reveal, if not genius, then a great talent ... those who knew him will all agree that his life enriched, and in a degree inspired, the chess world." (by Gerald Abrahams, BCM, 1955) Bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene... |
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Jul-12-09
 | | visayanbraindoctor: Was Znosko-Borovsky ever awarded the FIDE GM title? (Of course we know he was of GM caliber but did FIDE acknowledge it when they started passing around the GM title in the 1950s?) Here is his Chessmetrics Player Profile (by Jeff Sonas): Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
Born: 1884-Aug
Died: 1954-Dec
Best World Rank: #17 (3 different months between the May 1916 rating list and the July 1916 rating list )
Highest Rating: 2613 on the December 1914 rating list, #18 in world, age 30y4m
Best Individual Performance: 2608 in Ostend, 1907, scoring 10/20 (50%) vs 2598-rated opposition |
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Jul-12-09
 | | Karpova: <visayanbraindoctor: Was Znosko-Borovsky ever awarded the FIDE GM title? (Of course we know he was of GM caliber but did FIDE acknowledge it when they started passing around the GM title in the 1950s?)> According to Jeremy Gaige ("Chess Personalia: A Biobibliography") he wasn't. |
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Jul-12-09
| | visayanbraindoctor: <Karpova> Thanks for the info. I could say <it's a pity that Znosko-Borovsky did not get the GM title> but no one cares; every one knows anyway that he played like a GM. This topic may be related or not, but it's probably the perception that the GM title has been devalued in the past two or three decades that is causing talk that FIDE titles should simply be abolished. |
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Aug-16-09
 | | ketchuplover: Happy birthday Eugene. Anyone else think he was two people? |
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| Aug-16-09 | | WhiteRook48: <1. d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Nbd7 I wager that 99 out of every 100 players who play 4...Nbd7 do not realize they are offering to sacrifice their queen.>
do you mean 5 cxd5 exd5 6 Nxd5?? Nxd5 7 Bxd8 ? |
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| Aug-16-09 | | felixd: What a name... Poor him... I just try to imagine how it was when he was in school :D |
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Sep-12-09
 | | karnak64: Heh -- about 40 years ago I bought a copy of his "How Not to Play Chess," and I remember that its first chapter had the following useful advice: "avoid mistakes." Thanks, Eugene. Really helpful ... |
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| Sep-25-09 | | e4forme: Reading "How to play the Chess Openings" raised my Chess rating by a Hundred Points or better. He had a gift for writing, very lucid. He could take a complex Idea and present it simply. |
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| Oct-30-10 | | Knight13: Znosko-Borovsky's "The Art of Chess Combinations" is extremely good. "Winning Chess Tactics" by Seirawan is nothing compared to Znosko-Borovsky's work. |
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| May-07-11 | | DanielBryant: <I would wager that 99 out of every 100 players in making the move 4...Nbd7 do not realize they are offering to sacrifice their Q, and they would be greatly astonished if anyone told them that this was the case.> Can somebody explain what he meant by this? |
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Aug-16-12
 | | Infohunter: I must say that I have never seen a better writer of chess instruction books than Znosko-Borovsky. I say this on the basis of forty years of collecting chess literature. |
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Aug-16-12
| | Infohunter: <DanielBryant: <I would wager that 99 out of every 100 players in making the move 4...Nbd7 do not realize they are offering to sacrifice their Q, and they would be greatly astonished if anyone told them that this was the case.> Can somebody explain what he meant by this?> Well, to answer your question that was posed well over a year ago, he means this: After 4...Nbd7 it looks as though White can win a Pawn, thanks to his Queen Bishop's pin on Black's Knight at f6, thus: 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Nxd5. Black, however, refutes this with 6...Nxd5, thus sacrificing his Queen. However, after 7.Bxd8 comes 7...Bb4+! Now all White has is 8.Qd2, and after 8...Bxd2+ 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 it will be seen that the win of the Pawn has cost White a piece. If White plays 5.e3 or 5.Nf3 then his threat to win the Pawn becomes real; Black therefore continues either 5...Be7 or 5...c6. Alternately, White can inaugurate the Exchange Variation with 5.cxd5 exd5 and then, not 6.Nxd5? but 6.e3. That's what he meant. |
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Aug-16-12
 | | brankat: A great author indeed. I got his "The Art of Chess Combinations" way back in 1966, one of my very first chess books, and to this day one of the most favourite ones. |
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Aug-16-12
 | | Cemoblanca: Man, with this name he was definitely always in time trouble! :D |
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Aug-16-12
 | | Castleinthesky: I'll repeat a post of mine from 2006, which I hope is still entertaining: A famous story about Z-B and Capablanca is that Capablanca, upon learning that Z-B was going to write a book about Capablanca's worst games, said that he wanted to write a book about Z-B's greatest games, but couldn't find any. |
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Aug-16-12
| | karnak64: I first learned of this fellow when as a teen I read his little book, "How Not to Play Chess." His first dictum: "Avoid mistakes."
Were it only so easy. |
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Aug-16-12
| | brankat: <karnak64> This reminds me of a Tartakower anecdote (and there are many) when he was staring intensly at the chessboard with the pieces still in the initial position. This went on for some time and a bystander asked something like: "Herr doctor what is so interesting about this position?" Replied Tarta: "I'm looking at all the mistakes just waiting to be made." :-) |
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Aug-16-12
 | | perfidious: <brankat> Wasn't one of the great master's aphorisms 'The mistakes are all there, waiting to be made'? |
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Aug-16-12
| | brankat: <perfidious> You are right. The one I posted may have been one of the Variations. After all Tartakower did introduce quite a few, in just about every Opening :-) There have been so many anecdotes, aphorisms coming from Dr.Tartakower, and they have been told and retold over and over, that some of the original wordings have somewhat changed, but the essence, I think, has mostly been preserved. |
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Aug-16-12
 | | Xeroxx: best name |
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Aug-16-12
 | | GrahamClayton: I have the 2nd revised edition (published in 1937) of "How To Play The Chess Openings" in my library. |
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| Aug-16-12 | | wordfunph: trivia on his book How Not to Play Chess..
<In Liverpool October 1926, while walking under the overhead railway and thinking over a lecture which he had been invited in that town, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky first came to his mind the title of his book "How Not To Play Chess".> |
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| Sep-24-12 | | Chris1971: In my many years of playing there is none finer a writer than ZB. His teachings still hold true to this very day. If you are a class player take the time to study ZB's works. |
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