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Loyd 
 
Sam Loyd
Number of games in database: 29
Years covered: 1855 to 1898
Overall record: +8 -19 =1 (30.4%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games
      Based on games in the database; may be incomplete.
      1 exhibition game, odds game, etc. is excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Giuoco Piano (7) 
    C50
With the Black pieces:
 Ruy Lopez (4) 
    C62
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   Fitzgerald vs Loyd, 1898 0-1
   Loyd vs S Rosenthal, 1867 1-0
   C Golmayo vs Loyd, 1867 0-1

GAME COLLECTIONS: [what is this?]
   great games by awesome players by zzzzzzzzzzzz

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SAM LOYD
(born Jan-30-1841, died Apr-11-1911) United States of America

[what is this?]
Sam Loyd was born in Philadelphia on January 30, 1841. Young Sam became deeply obsessed with chess and frequented a chess club where his interest in making puzzles started. His first problem was published by a New York paper when he was 14, and during the next five years his output of chess puzzles was so prolific that he was known throughout the chess world. By 1858 he was hailed as the leading American writer of chess problems. When Loyd was only 17, he invented his ingeniously difficult "Trick Mules Puzzle," which was later sold to showman Phineas T. Barnum for $10,000.

Loyd's most famous puzzle was the "15 Puzzle" which he produced in 1878. The craze swept America where employers put up notices prohibiting playing the puzzle during office hours. Recent research, however, casts doubts upon whether Loyd was actually the originator of this puzzle.

In 1878, he published a book of 500 chess problems, entitled Chess Strategy, comprised mostly of his weekly chess columns he wrote for the Scientific American Supplement.


 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 29  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves Year Event/LocaleOpening
1. T Loyd vs Loyd 1-027 1855 New YorkC44 King's Pawn Game
2. Loyd vs F Perrin 1-023 1856 New YorkD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
3. Loyd vs F Perrin 0-129 1856 New YorkD30 Queen's Gambit Declined
4. Loyd vs Moore 1-024 1856 CasualC33 King's Gambit Accepted
5. Steinitz vs Loyd 1-017 1867 London (5)C25 Vienna
6. Loyd vs De Riviere 0-150 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
7. Loyd vs Winawer 0-144 1867 ParisC42 Petrov Defense
8. De Vere vs Loyd 1-043 1867 ParisC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
9. Loyd vs Kolisch 0-119 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
10. Winawer vs Loyd  1-051 1867 ParisC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
11. Kolisch vs Loyd 1-026 1867 Paris (France)C52 Evans Gambit
12. Loyd vs E D'Andre  1-031 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
13. Loyd vs Steinitz 0-129 1867 ParisB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
14. De Riviere vs Loyd  1-041 1867 ParisC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
15. Loyd vs C Golmayo  1-049 1867 ParisB21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4
16. E Rousseau vs Loyd 0-136 1867 ParisC52 Evans Gambit
17. Loyd vs H Czarnowski  0-139 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
18. Loyd vs E Rousseau  0-126 1867 ParisC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
19. E D'Andre vs Loyd  0-124 1867 ParisA03 Bird's Opening
20. Loyd vs M S From 0-140 1867 ParisC60 Ruy Lopez
21. S Rosenthal vs Loyd  ½-½51 1867 ParisC62 Ruy Lopez, Old Steinitz Defense
22. C Golmayo vs Loyd 0-136 1867 ParisC45 Scotch Game
23. Loyd vs S Rosenthal 1-036 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
24. H Czarnowski vs Loyd  1-024 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
25. Loyd vs De Vere  0-142 1867 ParisC50 Giuoco Piano
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 29  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Loyd wins | Loyd loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 15 OF 15 ·  Later Kibitzing >
Feb-13-07   thatsmate: "syracrophy: <Milo: 1.d5 Qxd5 2.Bg2 maybe?>

1.d5? Bxd5!"

I am afraid this is incorrect- if Bxd5, Bc4 wins. However, 1. d5? loses to ...Qxd5 2. Bg2 (or Bc4) Qxd2! with mate in one.

The answer is very simple and elegant:

1. Bc4! Qxc4
2. Rh1!! Qg8
3. Rh8 Ke1
4. Rxg8+ Kf7
4. Rf8+ Kxg7
5. Rxf2

And black cannot hold.

Jun-29-07   gauer: Composed by Samuel Loyd, La Strategie, 1867, seven men vs three men:


click for larger view

White plays, Checkmating in two moves.

A hint is the idea behind the related theme:


click for larger view

For other ideas of what I like to think of as the Red Rover theme, see: Kudrin vs R Douven, 1989

Jul-13-07   pferd: <gauer> Qg4+ and if f5 then gxf6++. Only Loyd could get away with such a key move (giving check!)

Now for something easy:


click for larger view

White to win

Jul-18-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  BishopBerkeley: Was Sam Loyd indirectly responsible for the management slogan, "Think outside the box"? It appears that the famous "nine dots" puzzle which appeared in his 1914 "Cyclopedia of Puzzles" is widely regarded as the origin of this familiar exhortation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinki...

(: B Bishop Berkeley B :)

Jul-18-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  ahmadov: I think Sam should have refrained from playing chess in order to save a better image as a person involved in this game...
Nov-24-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: One day a patzer claimed to draw easily against Loyd only by copying his moves. Here's the game Loyd-N.N. that followed:

<1.d4 d5 2.Qd3 Qd6 3.Qh3 Qh6 4.Qc8#>

Nov-24-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  alexmagnus: <whiteshark> It is even possible to win by copying moves:

<1.e4 e5 2.Ke2 Ke7 3.Ke3 Ke6 4.Qf3 Qf6 5.Ne2 Ne7 6.b3 b6 7.Ba3 Ba6 8.Nd4+ and black has no way out - 8...exd4#>

Nov-24-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: <alexmagnus> Nice finding!

It looks like the first serious win with a <WannaBe>Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Ke2) ;D.

Jan-12-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  ahmadov: <A piece in the hand is worth a mate in the bush.> A very well rephrased proverb...
Jan-12-08   goldenbear: <admadov> Without getting too crude, I'd like to say that I profoundly disagree with that quote.
Jan-13-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  ahmadov: <goldenbear: <admadov> Without getting too crude, I'd like to say that I profoundly disagree with that quote.> You do not sound any rude, but do you not get a mate by winning more pieces... Does <a mate in the bush> mean we could be far from reaching it?

Anyway, your point provokes me to challenge you to a game on gameknot.com :-)

Feb-23-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knight13: He drew a picture of Henry Edward Bird, which can be viewed by clicking on that link.
Jun-16-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  whiteshark: Quote of the Day

"My theory of a key-move was always to make it just the reverse of what a player in 999 cases out of 1000 would look for."

-- Sam Loyd

Jun-16-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sneaky: <Knight13: He drew a picture of Henry Edward Bird, which can be viewed by clicking on that link.> And what a great sketch it is! On top of everything else, the guy is even handy with pen & ink. What an incredible talent Loyd was--a true genius.
Jul-09-08   SBC: <syracrophy: <<T Ciddasselepoh>: Did Sam Loyd ever meet Paul Morphy?> I don't know. I don't think so, because Paul Morphy was an avid player of tournaments and Sam Loyd just appeared in a few tournaments. But I don't really know>

Morphy and 16 yr. old Sam Loyd met at the 1st American Chess Congress of 1857 (Morphy's ONLY tournament). Morphy gave Sam Loyd Queen Knight odds (and won) on Oct. 10, 1860 while they both worked for the Chess Monthly, however the score doesn't exist. They possibly played other games besides. Morphy was anything BUT an avid tournament player, believing that match play was the ONLY true test of skill and that tournaments left too much to chance.

Aug-17-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  vonKrolock: Alain C. White, circa 1911: <"Morphy and Loyd alike first tried their spurs against any powerfull corps of adversaries in the lists of the First American Chess Congress. Morphy readily carried off the First Prize from all comers in the Grand Tournament; but in the Problem Tourney Loyd was only placed third. For this there were, I think, several reasons. His opponents, notably Rudolf Willmers and Conrad Bayer , who defeated him, were relativelly stronger than the opponents of Morphy, with the exception of Paulsen" -< to be continued - for Willmers, have a look on> Schumann
Jan-02-09   zzzzzzzzzzzz: i've seen one of his awesome puzzles
Jan-02-09   YJGYJ: I played the 15 puzzle as a kid. I love now knowing where it came from. Banning it during work hours in the 1800's reminds me of workplaces trying to ban Soduko and Solitaire!
Jan-02-09   YJGYJ: But Wikipedia says he didn't INVENT the puzzle at all, but popularized it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiftee...
Jan-02-09   WhiteRook48: Loyd also composed the shortest stalemate
Jan-02-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  sleepyirv: <YJGYJ> But then Sam Loyd's wiki entry says he MIGHT have- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Loyd But that's what you get with wikipedia
Mar-02-09   MrMelad: Sam Loyd loved 8x8 boards...

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Curricu...

Jun-14-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  vonKrolock: article on-line by G. K. Ware <"Mr. Postman, Have You Got A Letter For Me? "> http://main.uschess.org/content/vie... on this genre of 'alphabetic chess problems' - Loyd make some notorious incursions in this field, but the names that comes to mind immediatelly are Charles Gilberg and Mrs. Baird for the ancients, and the newers Pal Benkö, Anthony Taffts and the portuguese Rui Nascimento (born 14-vi-1914 - 95 today!)
Jun-15-09   chesssantosh: great man sam loyd
Aug-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  BishopBerkeley: Some phrases are fresh and meaningful when they are first used, but overuse often reduces them to cliches.

Perhaps one of the most overused phrases among management folk is "(to) think outside the box".

I think the phrase itself has worked its way INTO the box: the hum-drum, uncreative pronouncements that we sometimes make without thinking much about them.

Animator Joseph Pelling has a bit of fun with this one -- two pseudo-visionary consultant-types trying to out-clever one another with this tired phrase. Fun viewing! (Best viewed on full screen.)

http://www.vimeo.com/5225011

Incidentally, I think there is general agreement that the phrase originated with the famous "nine dots" puzzle of 19th century puzzle maestro Sam Loyd.

The goal of the puzzle is to link all 9 dots using four straight lines or less, without lifting the pen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:N...

Of course, most people try this for awhile, come to believe it cannot be done, and then give up.

It CAN be done, IF and ONLY IF we are willing to wander outside the unreal boundaries of the box that the mind (typically) places around it:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...

All rather amusing....

(: B Bishop Berkeley B :)

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