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Jun-21-25
 | | GrahamClayton: If the good old chess was really so interesting, we should expect it to have flourished in the first International Tournament, held in London in 1851. If we turn to the Book of the Tournament, however, we discover that it is an epochal collection of the most dreary, tedious, witless, planless, slovenly and inept chess that has ever been assembled between the covers of a book. Of the 85 games in the main event, not more than five could be described as brilliant by the most charitable man in the world; and he would be hard put to find ten games that were worth looking at." Fred Reinfeld, "Modern Chess Dull?!", Chess Review, March 1940, p. 32. |
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Jun-21-25
 | | HeMateMe: I often wonder why Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, didn't create a novel or short story mystery with the 1851 tournament as the backdrop. It would have fit in perfect with Holmes and Watson. Are there any published novels/short stories with the big 1851 chess tournament as the backdrop? Who needs Bond and Monte Carlo when you can have grandmaster chess? Fun fact: Doyle and escape artist of fame Harry Houdini were friends and lived in the same brownstone apartment building on the west side of Manhattan. <https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/h...> Holmes meeting Houdini in a short story? Now THERE'S a Pairing! |
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Jun-21-25
 | | Sally Simpson: <HeMateMe>
In the Sherlock Holmes film; ' A Game of Shadows' the game Larsen vs Petrosian, 1966 is used as a backdrop but it typically messed up to fit in with the story. (Lasker's other motto: 'When you see a good movie - look for a better one.) The USA TV series 'Elementary' has a good chess scene in the episode titled; “Bang Bang Shoot Chute” with Holmes playing chess in the park playing a Stafford Gambit. N Vanderhallen vs B Skjoldan, 1998 More on that here; https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess-bl... |
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Jun-21-25
 | | moronovich: <(Lasker's other motto: 'When you see a good movie - look for a better one.)> Brilliant ! |
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Jun-22-25
| | HeMateMe: I've seen just a smattering of <Elementary> here in the USA. With 1,000+ channels available you can pretty much view everything ever made. This would seem to be the vehicle that made a name for Bernard Cumberpatch? It brought him from TV to the movies. |
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Jun-22-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Hi HeMateMe>
'With 1,000+ channels available you can pretty much view everything ever made.' Far too many. Soon after 'Elementary' I cancelled all the sub channels and now have a basic T.V. too watch a few of daily quiz programmes. Often see a chess player taking part.
Daniel Gormally and Paul Littlewood been on fairly recently. (though Danny's was a repeat - I like watching repeats of quiz programmes I've seen when the grand kids are round. They think I'm a genius.) |
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Jun-22-25
| | Sally Simpson: <hello again>
A good idea that, a murder mystery revolving around the 1851 chess tournament. I'll knock out a novel later on this week.
Howard Staunton uses a double to play his match v Anderssen (that is why he lost) whilst he is off to murder Herbert Gumms who was blackmailing Staunton because he knew Staunton bumped off another chap 'Joshua Clutterbottom' in 1849. Jaques of London originally wanted Joshua to endorse their chess set. Staunton shot him and got the lucrative endorsement instead.
That is how close we came to calling the classic design of chess sets; 'Clutterbottoms' |
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Jun-23-25
| | HeMateMe: Its 1851! Surely Russian Marxist agitators must be involved in your murder/mystery? |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <HeMateMe>
That will be the mystery that will confound everyone; 'Why are there no Russian agitators in this wonderful book?' Then they will come here and find all the comments on the game Horwitz vs Staunton, 1851 have been removed....Why? It is only when you realise that both Horwitz and Marx are buried in Highgate Cemetery and plots (a pun!!) abound. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | fabelhaft: Russian Marxist agitators in London 1851 would be something quite rare indeed. Maybe you could have found one for London (1899) |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Fabelhaft>
The Russians, Alexander Petrov, Carl Jaenisch and Ilya Shumov were all penciled in to take part in this tournament but in a letter to Staunton the Queen wrote; Hi Howie,
I do not want potential Russian agitators in my country. Love, Vicky,
PS: Prince Albert wants to the German Adolf Anderssen to win. Can you please arrange it so this happens. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: Hi Vicky
Carl Friedrich August von Jaenisch is a Finn. May I send him? Give my dearest to the family, yours faithfully
Alex |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Hi Olavi>
He might have been born in Finland but he was in the Russian army in 1851. There is no way Queen Vic would let him take part. (they say he was a Russian on here - Carl Jaenisch - send a correction slip.) I've finished the book: 'Staunton The Murderer.' In the postscript I mention Staunton did not play Morphy because he did not want his name in the headlines and thus attract attention to detectives working on unsolved 1851 murders. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: < Sally Simpson> He was of German descent, and as many the family found lucrative opportunities in the empire. He considered himself a Finn; of this there is no doubt. His sister lived all her life in Finland, for instance, and he bequeathed his library to the Helsinki university. But he was multi-national, as many families in Czarist Russia were. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: But indeed von Jaenisch arrived in London in 1851, only a bit late, and played a series of games with Staunton. Whether the outcome of said series had influence on the Crimean war, I dare not say. |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Hi Olavi>
I decided to look him up. He was born in Russia (withdraw the correct slip before it gets corrected.) The fact is being Russian he was refused entry into the UK so he crossed the channel in a rubber dingy.
His chess books fell overboard and washed up on Helsinki harbour and they kept them. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: < Sally Simpson> Yes, he was born in Russia. Mihail Botvinnik was born in Kuokkala, Finland. Just occurred to me. |
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Jun-23-25
 | | beatgiant: Both Vyborg (Jaenisch's birthplace) and Kuokkala/Repino (Botvinnik's birthplace) share a history as a part of Finland until the USSR conquered the region in WWII and annexed it to the Russian republic. |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Hi Olavi>
I'm glad who have go who was born all sorted out....or have we? Botvinnik and Jaenisch were both born in Vyberg,
Botvinnik when Vyberg was Finnish and Janeisch when Vyberg was Russian. According to Wiki Vyberg started out as a fort under Sweden rule. I am now sending in half a dozen correction slips to get it all catalogued correctly. Interesting to note on the page of "Sportspeople from Vyborg" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Categ... Jaenisch is mentioned but not Botvinnik. (I'll send them a correction slip) |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: <Sally Simpson> You will notice almost all the people on "Sportspeople from Vyborg" have Finnish names... Kuokkala (Terijoki), Botvinnik's birthplace, is and was not part of Vyborg, Viipuri, Finland's second largest town at the time. |
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Jun-23-25
| | beatgiant: <Sally Simpson> Both the cities were Finnish at the times of both Jaenisch's birth and Botvinnik's birth, but Finland itself was in the Russian empire until near the end of WWI. As I pointed out above, the cities were transferred to Russia later, in WWII. |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Hi Olavi>
I know, I sent in the it should be Kuokkala correction slip. Then another correction slip saying to day Vlipuri is called Vyborg. Mikhail Botvinnik Further research have revealed his birth was registered in Kuokkala but born in Viipuri (today Vyborg) Yet another correction slip is on it's way. (I've just had an email. 'STOP sending in corection slips'...they spelt 'correction' wrong - I replied with a correction slip.) |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: <beatgiant> It's a question of definition: <Finland itself was in the Russian empire> Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy under the Czar. It had its own parliament and law - the Swedish law from 1789. |
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Jun-23-25
| | Sally Simpson: <Beatgiant & Olavi> Lads I'm only mucking about killing time. I'm waiting for someone at RHP to move, they have avoided one trap, I'm setting them another but it looks like they have gone to bed. (he has 22 hours to move) I'm now off to bed. Take Care. |
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| Jun-23-25 | | Olavi: Finland had its own team at the Olympics before WWI, under its own flag. It is a pity the Stockholm 1912 games didn't have a chess tournament, the one year old Botvinnik would have needed to choose which team to represent. |
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