Jul-14-18
 | | MissScarlett: Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, April 21st 1888, p.154: <First on our list let me place Mr. A. P. Belaieff, who many years ago used to contend on equal terms with the leading champions of the day. A pleasant and humorous man was the Russian champion, Belaieff. He never, as well as I remember, took part in any tournament; but he played every game as if it were a match game, or, at all events, as if a solid lump of gold depended upon the result. He was not quite first-cass [sic], but few, if any, could have yielded him successfully the smallest odds, He was ambitious, and for games of skill undoubtedly possessed genius. Years ago, however, finding that owing to circumstances, or to his own peculiar temperament, he could not achieve one of the highest places amongst chess-players, he turned his attention to whist, and soon became primus in that game at the old Westminster Chess Club; at least, only one member, Mr. Fred Lewis, disputed with him the palm. But he never wholly deserted his first love, chess, and frequently in latter days he was to be seen fighting over the checkered board at Purssell's, or some other high-class chess resort. Poor fellow, he always had his little joke, and used, when playing chess, to kneel upon a chair and tie his legs in a knot that not King Alexander himself could have cut, much less unravelled. Men used to stand behind his back in the hope of seeing how the trick of untying was effected, but no one ever picked it up, although Belaieff performed it about once in every ten minutes. Bright and solid of intellect was Belaieff, kind hearted, and right principled too. I remember asking him in 1869 for a subscription to a testimonial. "Well," said he, "I don't approve of it, because the young man is idle, but I will give you a guinea." He did not mention that he had given many a guinea, as I learnt afterwards, to the same young gentleman. Belaieff was a man that everybody was always glad to meet. He was a Russian merchant in good business, and was highly accomplished. He died at the early age of fifty-two.> |
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| Mar-13-21 | | Jean Defuse: ...
CG: Will give a modern translation, but from an academic historian's point of view, the spelling <Belaieff> is correct - anything else brings more confusing than it helps... http://www.edochess.ca/players/p343...
see: Forster, Renette and Edwards (only Prof. Harding found a new way to make research more complex with <Belayev>) ... |
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| Mar-13-21 | | Z truth 000000001: <Jean Defuse> - not just from a strictly academic viewpoint, I would proffer. There's a pragmatic side as well, as keeping the spelling conformant with its historical form will allow easier researching (e.g. you can just take the name off the PGN for google-booking). Additionally, the historical name will remain static, even if transliteration fashion changes. We (i.e. CG) already use historical naming convention for some players, e.g. <Nimzowitsch> vs <Nimcovich> But not others:
<Urusov> vs. <Ouroussoff> Of course, opening being a fashion, it's Urusov Gambit. But try finding Urusov in the original (en) literature, and you'll be gasping for air. In Z-base I try to follow the contemporaneous English usage as much as possible. |
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Kibitzing
