Jul-02-04
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: According to legend, before his game with her, Becker sneered that she had no place at the Carlsbad tournament, and that any man who lost to her should be forced to join "The Vera Menchik Club." He was the first man to join (after his suggestion; of course he wasn't the first man to lose to her). But that is just the legend; does anyone know if it's true? |
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| Feb-16-06 | | Runemaster: I grew up hearing that Becker story, but I don't know whether it's true, either. |
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Jan-08-07
 | | WannaBe: See <Albertan>'s post on Becker's page. |
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| Aug-22-07 | | Karpova: <The fool learns by suffering. [Hesiod (c. 8th century B.C.), Greek didactic poet. Works and Days, 216.]>
http://www.poemhunter.com/quotation... Though it's not quite clear if Becker was indeed the one to suggest the <Vera Menchik Club>
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... |
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| Aug-22-07 | | whiteshark: There were also some postings here:
Euwe vs Menchik, 1929
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| Dec-18-07 | | PhilFeeley: Jennefer Shahade assumes the Becker story is true in her book "Chess Bitch". |
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| Jan-03-15 | | Severin: Let's not forget that Becker finished with 12/21 and Menchik finished with 3/21. People tend to underrate Becker due to this incident, but he was the stronger player of the two without question. |
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Jun-15-15
 | | Honza Cervenka: <Severin: Let's not forget that Becker finished with 12/21 and Menchik finished with 3/21. People tend to underrate Becker due to this incident, but he was the stronger player of the two without question.> I don't think that anybody tend to underestimate Max Euwe, who lost twice to Vera. Albert Becker was a strong master for sure, and yes, his performance in Karlsbad 1929 tournament was better then Vera's performance there. But don't forget, that Vera was then novice at this level of competition. With all respect, Scarborough 1928, Paris 1929 or Ramsgate 1929, where Vera played in a team with Capa, Akiba Rubinstein, Geza Maroczy, George Koltanowski, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky and Victor Soultanbéieff against local English players (Thomas, Yates, Michell, Tylor, Winter, Sergeant and Price), were nowhere close to the level of the field, she had to face in Karlsbad. With more experience her result there could have been much better as she missed some good opportunities in better positions and lost many games after long fight by mistakes made from weariness and lack of experience in tournament play against top players of the time. And this game was no accidental win caused by Becker's blunder. Vera simply outplayed her opponent here. |
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| Jul-25-23 | | generror: <People tend to underrate Becker due to this incident, but he was the stronger player of the two without question.> Sure, but it's still very satisfying that someone who talks so big and stupid loses gets his (hairy) ass whipped by a mere female, and that he's mainly remembered by this fact. Provided the story is true, which as usual with chess history is doubtful. But even if it isn't, I'm sure there were a lot of jokes and nasty remarks and sniggers during the tournament, and Vera deserves respect for even facing this. At least Hans Kmoch had enough balls to admit he had underestimated her. |
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