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Saumchurn Guttack

Number of games in database: 238
Years covered: 1855 to 1861
Overall record: +85 -139 =14 (38.7%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

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D00 Queen's Pawn Game (37 games)
B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 (27 games)
D30 Queen's Gambit Declined (15 games)
B06 Robatsch (12 games)
C20 King's Pawn Game (12 games)
B10 Caro-Kann (10 games)
C41 Philidor Defense (10 games)
C39 King's Gambit Accepted (10 games)
D02 Queen's Pawn Game (9 games)
B32 Sicilian (8 games)

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SAUMCHURN GUTTACK
India

[what is this?]

Saumchurn Guttack, aka Somacarana Guttock or Shyamacharan Ghatak.

Given as just Saumchurn by John Cochrane

Last updated: 2024-10-20 21:25:06

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 page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 238  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 0-1561855Casual gameA21 English
2. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 1-0441855Casual gameA80 Dutch
3. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 1-0291855Casual gameD02 Queen's Pawn Game
4. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  0-1411855Casual gameB27 Sicilian
5. Saumchurn vs Cochrane  0-1451855Casual gameA30 English, Symmetrical
6. Saumchurn vs Cochrane ½-½381855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
7. Cochrane vs Saumchurn 1-0391855Casual gameD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
8. Saumchurn vs Cochrane ½-½621855Casual gameD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
9. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  0-1261855Casual gameA02 Bird's Opening
10. Cochrane vs Saumchurn 0-1271855Casual gameA02 Bird's Opening
11. Cochrane vs Saumchurn 1-0251855Casual gameC37 King's Gambit Accepted
12. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  ½-½411855Casual gameB20 Sicilian
13. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 0-1351855Casual gameA21 English
14. Cochrane vs Saumchurn 1-0721855Casual gameD10 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
15. Saumchurn vs Cochrane  0-1471855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
16. Saumchurn vs Cochrane  0-1371855Casual gameD05 Queen's Pawn Game
17. Saumchurn vs Cochrane  0-1411855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
18. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 0-1281855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
19. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  1-0351855Casual gameB32 Sicilian
20. Saumchurn vs Cochrane 0-1341855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
21. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  1-0441855Casual gameA02 Bird's Opening
22. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  0-1521855Casual gameB32 Sicilian
23. Cochrane vs Saumchurn 0-1301855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
24. Cochrane vs Saumchurn  1-0401855Casual gameB32 Sicilian
25. Saumchurn vs Cochrane  0-1321855Casual gameD00 Queen's Pawn Game
 page 1 of 10; games 1-25 of 238  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Saumchurn wins | Saumchurn loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-15-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  chessgames.com: Not much is known about this player, and yet he was good enough to play John Cochrane, beating him over 40 times. He never once received odds, which in those days means that Cochrane regarded him as a peer.

Somacarana is probably a transliteration of an Indian name, and perhaps appears elsewhere in our database under different spelling. Can anybody shed more light on the talented but mysterious "Somacarana"?

Jul-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: He invented a group Rain Dance involving placing one's hands on opposite shoulders, and chanting "Hey, Somacarana"
Jul-19-09  Pesach: I can shed some light on his name at least: The Sanskrit compound word "soma-carana" means the drinking of [the juice of] the soma plant. Ancient Vedic texts describe both the drinking of this juice or extract and its being offered to the gods as a libation.
Sep-13-09  laskereshevsky: I wouldnt ever presumed the doping problem in the chess cam from so far away in time....:)
Jan-26-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: Interesting that Somacarana appears to have played no games against the other Indian player in Calcutta, namely Mohishunder.
Oct-12-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <Interesting that Somacarana appears to have played no games against the other Indian player in Calcutta, namely Mohishunder.> They probably have played each other but games were not recorded or survived. We know their games with Cochrane only due to Cochrane's habit to record his games.
Jan-04-11  FourQ: Hey, games that I can understand without enlisting Rybka!

Really quite interesting though. Shows what a talented individual Somacarana must have been to learn a second type of chess and play it at quite a skilled level with, presumably, no education whatsoever other than experience.

In the games I've looked at he still seems a little reticent to make certain moves of modern European chess (like O-O) preferring closed games with a central king.

Apr-29-11  Whitehat1963: SOOO not a good dancer!
Aug-06-15  SBC:

This is Somacarana Guttock aka Saumchurn Guttock

Oct-20-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: <Honza Cervenka: <Interesting that Somacarana appears to have played no games against the other Indian player in Calcutta, namely Mohishunder.> They probably have played each other but games were not recorded or survived.>

It would appear that roughly 32 Moheschunder vs Saumchurn games survived and can be found in the four volumes of Cochrane's unpublished <Loose Indian Chess Leaves>; the manuscript is held by the Cleveland Public Library. I'm in the process of adding those games to my database for eventual upload to <CG>.

Oct-20-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  Honza Cervenka: <jnpope> That's great news.
Oct-21-24
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: I was able to source 30 Saumchurn vs Moheschunder games, apparently the index from vol. 4 included two of Cochrane's games in the "Saumchurn and Moheschunder" section (or the game numbers were given wrong in that index and I have yet to stumble across them):

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

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