| Oct-09-06 | | Maatalkko: In Irving Chernev's book "1000 Best Games of Chess", the caption for the above game says something like "the craftiness of the Egyptian Marmorosh makes it seem as though he has an inexhaustible supply on tap!" I googled his name and came up with the following interesting anecdote from Chess Notes by Edward Winter: <4211. King Abdullah I v Menachem Marmorosh
Avital Pilpel (Haifa, Israel) writes:
‘In the April 1978 issue of Shachmat, the Israeli Chess Federation’s journal, the regular history column (“from the past”) contains (pages 105-106) an article by Shlomo Kandelsheen, an Israeli chess journalist, player, and historian, about the chess writer Menachem Marmorosh (born 1903). Kandelsheen notes that Marmorosh “received him enthusiastically”, that their talk “lasted for many hours”, and that Marmorosh’s apartment was full of biographical and chess material which would “make every historian jump”. Kandelsheen, whom I know personally, is a serious chess historian who has written a few small but high-quality biographies of Israeli chess players. Among other interesting material Kandelsheen writes about what is probably a unique event in modern times: a Jewish player contesting (and winning) chess games against an Arab king. The monarch in question was Abdullah I (1882-1951), and here is Kandelsheen’s description, in my translation and with my comments in square brackets: “In 1928 Marmorosh’s fame as a strong player reached the Hashemite King Abdullah, the founder of Jordan and grandfather of Hussein, who was himself an enthusiastic chess fan and considered himself a strong player [i.e. King Hussein of Jordan at the time Kandelsheen was writing, in 1978]. In passover [1928] Marmorosh received a formal invitation to a chess match in his palace. It was ‘an offer you can’t refuse’, and Marmorosh went to the contest as a formal guest of the Hashemite crown. [From an interview with S. Smiltiner and other sources, I know that he was driven in one of the King’s limousines from his home in Tel Aviv to Amman in Jordan, the capital.] He was received with honours, and the special guard that followed him included three ministers. On the eve of the match a crowd of spectators came to see him, including old men who said in admiration and envy: ‘We’re 80 and never saw the King personally; you’re 25 and already do so.’ Additional advice was received from one of the court advisers, who told him politely to play wisely and not to hurt the King’s prestige.> |
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| Oct-09-06 | | Maatalkko: <Abdullah appeared at the game, which took place in the royal tent, as a real warrior, wearing a diamond-studded sword. He smiled, shook Marmorosh’s hand, and the game began. After a few moves Marmorosh knew he could win [all of the games] easily, but out of respect for the King (...and fear) he decided to let the King win some as well. However, to avoid this being noted he decided to end one game in a draw and then lose two. In the first two games Marmorosh won, the third ended in a draw, and in the fourth his position was completely lost. Abdullah, who was a clever man and felt that the Jew was letting him win, looked at Marmorosh with a questioning glance and said, ‘enough with the blunders’, and Marmorosh was forced to win the game from the lost position. The games took a week, to the satisfaction of the King, who was happy to have played with an excellent chessplayer, whom he nicknamed ‘Capablanca’. When Marmorosh left, the King gave a banquet in his honour in the best tradition of Arab hospitality, and said: ‘My home is open to you at any time’.” Almog Burstein, an Israeli chess official, has told me that he has seen in the Chess Club of Amman a picture of the two playing chess. The question is: do any game-scores exist?’>
http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
I suppose that Marmorosh an Egyptian Jew who was mostly a historian, though a good player as well. I wonder how his strength compared with European tournament players at the time. |
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Kibitzing
