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Samuel Reshevsky vs Dare Barkuloo
Living chess game (1921) (exhibition), St. Paul, MN USA, May-21
Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern Variation. Normal Line (D55)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-09-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Can't find a specific date for this living pieces exhbition game, which took place alongside nine regular simul games - it's not clear whether concurrently or consecutively - but it must have been on either Friday, May 20th or Saturday, the 22nd, because Sammy was already engaged on the Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. As Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, Friday is the obvious inference.
May-24-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <MoissScarlett> Here is the text of an advertisement appearing in the "Minneapolis Start Tribune", May 20, 1921, p. 4:

<""Dad -- Let's Go!"
See
Samuel Rzesziski
(Just call him Sammy)
Polish Boy
Chess Marvel

Mounted on a pony at his request he will play
chess against Dare Barkuloo state champion. He
will play on a chessboard 24 feet square with
school boys in costume as living chessmen.

The most unique entertainment offered to
the Twin Cities. An entertainment for young
and old.

Dad, if your boy is normal he will want to see
this eight-year-old Marvel. Ask him! Are you
and your boy chums? Take him to see Sammy.
He'll remember it always.

St. Paul AUditorium
Wst 14th and Franklin
Saturday, May 21
8:15 P.M.

Admission: Children 50ยข
Adults $1.00 and $1.50
(Seats together)

"SURE SON -- WE'LL ALL GO!>

-----------

They appear to have had strange notions of "normal" in those days.

As for the Sabbath, I suggest that 8:15 P.M. Saturday came after sundown, meaning the Sabbath was over. Or maybe being on the pony made a difference.

This does not mention the other nine games, but fortunately the "Star tribune" has a short report on Sunday, May 22, p. 2"

<"Sammy Defeats State Champion of St. Paul

Dare Barkuloo, state chess champion,
who played a draw with nine-year-old
Samuel Rzescheweski, the Polish
wizard, here, was defeated by the youth
in St. Paul last night. The lad was
reported at his best and with apparent
eae disposed of the state champion
and nine other St. Paul players of note.
Barkuloo and the lad played on a giant
board, using high school boys as chessmen.">

Still nothing on how those other nine games were handled. However, there certainly seems enough here to change the date to Saturday, May 21.

May-25-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <Missscarlett> Sorry about screwing up you name. My Certain Set of Skills does not seem to include spelling and proofreading.
May-25-19  RookFile: Too bad. If Dare had played 26...Rc1+ Reshevsky probably would have resigned on the spot.
May-25-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Possibly, the c1 square was piled with pony poop.
May-25-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <RookFile> That is bad enough that I rechecked the original score to make sure we have it right (American Chess Bulletin, November 1921, p. 193). Everything matches.

These things happen ,a nd we have to accept them in the absence of a better explanation.

There are a couple of spots where the score might be wrong. For example, moves 25 and 26 could have been reversed. The sequence <25.Nb6 Re8 26.xcb5 axb5> is fine. Also, 26.Nb6 could be a typo for 26.Nb2. Neither of these possibilities seem right to me.

You'll there are no checks in this 49-move game. Perhaps there was an agreement to that effect. After all, this was supposed to be a Family Friendly event, and they may have wanted to cut down on the violence.

Finally remember that the living pieces were being played by high school boys. If teenagers in 1921 were anything like teenagers today, I can imagine the following dialogue taking place:

Barkuloo: "Rook to bishop Eight, giving check!"

Rook: "Oh, do I have to move all the way down there?"

Barkuloo: }"es, you do! You must do everything I say!"

Rook: "I don't have to listen to you! You're not my father!"

Barkuloo: "Don't you see the combination? White must move his King to Bishop Two. then our Knight checks on King 5 forking the King and Rook."

Rook: "So that's your game -- I do all the work, and the Knight gets all the credit! I'm just gonna sit here and wait for them to invent television."

Barkullo: "Oh, all right. Can you at least move to King One instead.?"

Rook: "OK, OK> Just let me finish this level of Norman T. Whitaker's "Grand Theft Auto.".

May-25-19  Granny O Doul: Yeah, Black missed the win two moves in a row according to this score. It looks semi-plausible at move 25 but almost incredible at 26.
May-26-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: We're assuming Barkuloo had sight of a regular board. If Little Napoleon was meant to be mounted, maybe the players were surveying the field from afar. Through the gloaming and hubbub of battle, such tactics are readily missed.

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