|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 12 ·
Later Kibitzing > |
Feb-19-08
 |
| keypusher: From Cheshire's bio of Pillsbury in the Hastings tournament book: <22 at the time of the tournament, Pillsbury was born on December 5, 1872 at Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He was educated for a commercial career, and did not make a study of the game until five years ago.Mr. Pillsbury is decidedly pleasant and unassuming in manner, and a perfect type of American and a tremendous smoker. He is remarkably self-composed, and sits at the chess table in a comfortable smile and with a self confident look on his face. His style of play is energetic, free from fads, and correct; while looking carefully after his defenses, he is always pressing forward for chances to win, which he is very quick to detect. The openings are thoroughly known, and in the middlegame his fearless maneuvers are superb. His chief successes are:
1890. He beat Steinitz, receiving pawn and move.
1890. He beat H.N. Stone by 5 to 2.
1893. He beat Walbrodt.
1893. He beat Schottlander.
1893. He won first prize, New York City Chess Club.
1895. He won first prize, Hastings.> |
 |
Feb-20-08
 |
| brankat: <keypusher. A meteoric rise, indeed. The end, too, reminds of a meteor's destiny. |
|
| Feb-23-08 |
| littlefermat: Has anybody read "Pillsbury" by the Russian GM Cherniaev. Or found a review of it online? I haven't found much on his life or games. |
|
| Feb-23-08 |
| MichAdams: Sorry if this ground has been trampled over before, but what's the evidence that Pillsbury died from syphillis? |
|
Feb-23-08
 |
| Calli: Jacques Pope in "Harry Nelson Pillsbury, American Chess Champion" comfirmed that it was syphilis through the death certificate. I think it is an error, however, to say that he contracted it in St. Petersburg as is often stated by many authors. The time frame of his arrival and his flu symtoms in the tournament is too short. |
|
| Feb-23-08 |
| MichAdams: Misspelling syphilis is another common error. Two ls in Pillsbury, one in syphilis. |
|
| Feb-23-08 |
| RookFile: His descendant was the Pillsbury dough boy. |
|
| Feb-23-08 |
| Jim Bartle: His son fought in World War I? |
|
Feb-25-08
 |
| Knight13: <Number of games in database: 406
Years covered: 1889 to 1904> Wow, he played THAT many games in such short amount of time! |
|
| Mar-05-08 |
| edbermac: A shame for him that Durex hadn't been invented back then. |
|
| Mar-05-08 |
| MichAdams: Huh? Where do you think Nimzowitsch got the notion of <prophylactics> from? |
|
| Mar-05-08 |
| Voltaic: for him and for chess. i really find tragic the way he and consequently his chess deteriorated from a very high point where he could have been a rightful chess champion. |
|
Mar-13-08
|
| Knight13: First place finisher in Hastings, 1895.
Hastings result (Based on 22 rounds, in order):
Pillsbury X 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 ˝ ˝ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ˝ 1 1 1 1 16˝ |
|
May-04-08
|
| Calli: After about a year and a half, I have settled on C F Burille as the unknown kibitzer in the famous Lasker-Pillsbury picture from 1893. A comparision of Burille pictures is also in the album. You can see if you agree with my choice. http://picasaweb.google.com/Caissa1... |
|
May-16-08
|
| Knight13: Chessmetrics Player Profile: Harry Pillsbury
Born: 1872-Dec
Died: 1906-Jun
Best World Rank: #1 (16 different months between the January 1903 rating list and the April 1904 rating list ) Highest Rating: 2816 on the July 1901 rating list, #2 in world, age 28y7m Best Individual Performance: 2826 in Vienna, 1898, scoring 28/39 (72%) vs 2649-rated opposition |
|
May-26-08
|
| brankat: <Calli> Regarding the famous photo. There is W.Steinitz kibitzing there, too :-) |
|
| Aug-23-08 |
| Karpova: Pen-portrait (London tournament, 1899):
<Pillsbury is a slim young man with lively, intelligent eyes, and a pale, clean-shaven face which has a sad, resigned air, as if chess were an extremely painful task for him.> Source: "La Stratégie", 15 July 1899
Edward Winter's article "London, 1899 Pen-portraits": http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
|
Dec-05-08
|
| brankat: Born on Dec/05, 136 years ago. Yet, he seems to be forever young! R.I.P. master Harry Nelson. |
|
| Jan-20-09 |
| Karpova: Irving Chernev: <Pillsbury was the first master to realize that combinations directed at the opponent’s king were affected by conditions outside of that immediate area.> From page 124 of "Combinations The Heart of Chess" by I. Chernev (New York, 1960).
Source: C.N. 5960
Link: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... This is just the first sentence of that quote. |
|
Jun-08-09
|
| Calli: Pillsbury in the Press, a collection of clippings from contemporary sources: http://picasaweb.google.com/Caissa1... The first slide is an interesting interview which you must zoom via the magnifier button in the upper right corner in order to read. |
|
| Jun-08-09 |
| visayanbraindoctor: Poor Pillsbury. He is always associated with a sexually transmitted disease. Below are better epitaphs:
<Helloween>: "I can see it now "Behind the Music: Harry Nelson Pillsbury" on VH1. Then after you lure the kids in with pictures of him smoking blunts of cheeba in the commercials, you reveal to them that he was a chess master who could memorize long lists of words forwards and backwards while playing a 30 person blindfold simul!" <keypusher>: "From Cheshire's bio of Pillsbury in the Hastings tournament book: 22 at the time of the tournament, Pillsbury was born on December 5, 1872 at Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He was educated for a commercial career, and did not make a study of the game until five years ago. Mr. Pillsbury is decidedly pleasant and unassuming in manner, and a perfect type of American and a tremendous smoker. He is remarkably self-composed, and sits at the chess table in a comfortable smile and with a self confident look on his face. His style of play is energetic, free from fads, and correct; while looking carefully after his defenses, he is always pressing forward for chances to win, which he is very quick to detect. The openings are thoroughly known, and in the middlegame his fearless maneuvers are superb. His chief successes are:
1890. He beat Steinitz, receiving pawn and move.
1890. He beat H.N. Stone by 5 to 2.
1893. He beat Walbrodt.
1893. He beat Schottlander.
1893. He won first prize, New York City Chess Club.
1895. He won first prize, Hastings."
There is no doubt that Pillsbury is the greatest American-born chessplayer right after the Morphy era. Not until Fine came along did an American come close to being a serious Challenger who would have some chances to win the Title. (I don't think Marshall ever came close to besting Lasker, but Pillsbury would have more realistic chances; although I still think Lasker would have beaten Pillsbury by a close margin.) I would regard the 4 strongest American-born chessplayers, by temporal order, as Morphy, Pillsbury, Fine, and Fischer. |
|
| Jun-08-09 |
| James Demery: Anyone that can beat Lasker 5 games out of 10(draws not counting) has to be a tremendous player. When Pillsbury died I understand Lasker was quoted as saying "A genius has left us." |
|
| Jun-09-09 |
| docR: agree, pillsbury greatness is often underestimated. we tend to reward the very good for a long time, think robert parrish,greg maddux, emmitt smith over the shorter meteoric careers of gayle sayers, jr richard. etc |
|
| Jun-12-09 |
| drnooo: It is not impossible that Pillsbury might have been the best player ever in America, now or then. We will never know. To have picked the game up at 16 and do what he did was incredible. Probably the nod should still go to Morphy, then Pillsbury, and only then Fischer, talent wise. All three had remarkable minds, but my hunch is had Pillsbury tuned and trained his sights on chess, he might have outclassed even the other two. Fischer homed in exclusively on the 64 squares, it seems they were a mere way station for Pillsbury. Odd the quote by Lasker though: I have known many chessplayers, and one chess genius. Capablanca. He seemed to forget just how great Pillsbury was, and what he said about him, unless he was merely stating the obvious that Pillsbury certainly by defintion was just your standard ho hum genius. He almost certainly meant chess genius , look at the record against each other. |
|
| Jun-12-09 |
| Petrosianic: <It is not impossible that Pillsbury might have been the best player ever in America, now or then.> A lot of things are possible. It's easier to tell what's proven. Morphy and Fischer each proved themselves to be the best player in the world at a given time. Pillsbury never did. Could he have? Possibly. So possibly could a lot of other players who never did. That's one reason the world title means so much. There are a lot of REALLY good players who never got it. Whether he was or he wasn't, it shouldn't stop you from enjoying his games, though. |
|
 |
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 12 ·
Later Kibitzing > |
