|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 251 OF 284 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
May-08-13
 | | Phony Benoni: <"Mr. Steinitz says: 'When I first met Mr. Anderssen in 1862, he spoke in the highest possible terms of Morphy. Once he described to me Morphy's manner when contemplating a deep-laid scheme in the following words, which the Professor accompanied with some mimic efforts: "Wenn der Morphy eine echte Lumperel in Sinne hat, da macht er so ein schafsgesticht."' (If Morphy has a piece of genuine rascality on his mind, he puts on such a sheepish face.)"> -- Baltimore American, March 15, 1885. http://www.chessarch.com/excavation... |
|
| May-08-13 | | thomastonk: <Phony Benoni> The original source is probably Steinitz' "International Chess Magazine", 1885, p 46. After the qoute from the "Baltimore American", the text continues there as follows: <It was comical to see the Professor, who usually sat soldier-like and erect before the table, all at once trying to assume a languid attitude and expression of face, dropping his arms at length, crossing his hands, and half closing his eyelids. Twenty years later, I saw poor Morphy for the first time, and I noticed as he spoke to me in the street that he crossed his hands in the way described.In 1866 I had another conversation with Anderssen about Morphy. The professor had much cooled down in his enthusiasm, and he did not seem to think that Morphy could always beaten him for certain. My own impression is that Anderssen, who could not play a single game blindfold, was at first overawed by Morphy's wonderful sans voir performances, and he overworked himself by calculations out of his real depth. But he subsequently found that he could hold his own against blindfold players like Blackburne, Paulsen, Suhle and Zukertort, by relying on his natural fine judgement, and then he began to doubt whether his fear was based on real grounds. The professor, at any rate, ridiculed the idea of Morphy's overwhelming superiority which some critics claimed to the extent of his being able to give material odds of Pawn and move to all of his contemporaries. Zukertort informed me that Anderssen said of one of those writers: ``Vor dem transatlantischen Meister liegt er auf allen Vieren.ยดยด (He lays on all fours before the transatlantic master.)> |
|
| May-23-13 | | arrigato: why cant a composite of Paul Morphy's genius be ackowledged,as,being a once in a lifetime achievement. He was so far ahead of anyone in his time including the doubting Steinitz his most frequent critic that he baffles the imagination!! It is comical to compare Morphy to current grandmasters We will never know how he would have been successful or not but to all who read this God be blessed for giving us our hero Paul Morphy!!! |
|
| May-23-13 | | brankat: It could also be said: "God be blessed for giving us the Teacher: Steinitz." |
|
| May-24-13 | | savagerules: When near his death Morphy was asked about Steinitz Morphy replied cryptically 'his gambit is not good'. Either meaning the Steinitz gambit opening itself was not good or Steinitz's play overall was not good or at least Morphy didn't respect it all that much. In any event it seemed Morphy kept studying chess in private years up till his death. |
|
| May-25-13 | | ughaibu: Can one meaningfully describe a person as near their death if they die young and unexpectedly? |
|
| May-25-13 | | Fiona Macleod: From hindsight, yes. |
|
| May-25-13 | | ughaibu: How is it meaningful from hindsight? |
|
| May-25-13 | | brankat: Chess addiction can be deadly :-) |
|
| May-25-13 | | ughaibu: I'll take precautions. |
|
Jun-17-13
 | | ketchuplover: Apparently the USCF is offering certificates for $18.63 off an order of at least $100 from USCF sales for every year of premium membership you purchase. Limit of 3 years/3 certificates. Offer ends at midnight on Paul Morphy day aka June 22. Offer commemorates Paul's 150th birthday! |
|
| Jun-17-13 | | Maatalkko: What in the heck, it's not his 150th birthday.
Just shows that the USCF is a joke run by overpaid dummies who don't really care about chess. |
|
Jun-17-13
 | | HeMateMe: I think the USCF has done a marvelous job. We have a huge reservoir of homegrown talent, in the second and third grades. |
|
| Jun-18-13 | | Maatalkko: And that is thanks to them? Maybe I am ignorant, but what exactly does the USCF do to promote young players? Homegrown talent Awonder Liang had to take up a neighborhood collection to get to the World U-8 Championships, which he duly won. http://990s.foundationcenter.org/99... These are the USCF's finances. They collected $2.8M in revenue and had $2.6M of total expenses. They spent $520K on tournaments and collected $510K of entry fees, so that's basically a wash. They pay $893K in total compensation, even though the board is unpaid. I assume they need to hire website admins and a few other people. So I take back the "overpaid" part, as it's not a crazy amount of salary, although it is a bit opaque where the money is going. I hope it's not going towards the magazine, which appears to be a money loser as it takes in $139K of ad revenue, and $50K of "mailing list sale" in exchange for $600K of printing costs. (Also, isn't it nice that they are selling your name to a mailing list?) |
|
Jun-19-13
| | HeMateMe: <Maatalkko:> I was being sarcastic. They don't seem to be able to develop adult talent. |
|
| Jun-19-13 | | brankat: The fact that, in last couple of decades, there has been considerably more chess related activities, that chess has become more popular in the USA is mostly due to many Russian (and other) players/immigrants, not to the USCF |
|
| Jun-21-13 | | Maatalkko: <HeMateMe> I should have known you were being sarcastic. I thought you were being a Pollyanna. <brankat> There is growth in specific local areas everywhere. A National Master named Elliott Neff runs a profitable business called Chess4Life in the Greater Seattle area, and elementary school tournaments are exploding. This is because he has successfully sold parents and schools on chess being a valuable enrichment activity alongside more traditional stuff like violin or French lessons. In an ideal world, USCF would be a resource for coordinating sponsorship of chess and lobbying for chess based curriculum at a national level. If it was run by people as motivated and professional as Neff it could probably go somewhere in those directions. Instead they charge annual fees in exchange for maintaining a rating list and website - something FICS manages to do for free. Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Chess4Life or USCF (not even membership). |
|
Jun-22-13
| | HeMateMe: I worry about the USCF, in that they seem dependent on one deep pocketed patron, Rex Sinequefeld. Suddenly it becomes important for top players to be friends with a King maker, and for trainers to buddy up with someone who can pay them to work with young talent (Ben Finegold getting a paid job as in-house chess tutor at the St. Louis club, etc.). This isn't a positive sign in any sort of sport. Amazing, a country this wealthy, and we have no corporations willing to host several elite chess tournaments per year, within the USA. People like Gata Kamsky shouldn't have to go to Kazakhstan or Nanking to pick up an appearance fee + prize money. Same for Irina Krush. We do have the dynamic, relatively new player, Nakamura, but no corporate interest? Maybe it is a hangover from the litigation of the USCF v. certain individuals, over the past few years. That, and the stagnant economy. Seems a shame. I'm glad we have a Rex S. to put some money into the game, but broad based corporate sponsorship is preferable. |
|
| Jun-23-13 | | RookFile: I was look at Paul Morphy's record as white in the Evans Gambit. 45 games - with just a few exceptions, it's literally 1-0 in game after game after game. It is a ridiculously successful score on his part. |
|
| Jun-23-13 | | JoergWalter: <rookfile> did you also see his result with the black side in the evans? 80% |
|
| Jun-23-13 | | brankat: R,I,P. Mr Morphy. |
|
Jun-23-13
 | | Sneaky: Morphy was literally a game-changer.
People will always debate which player is the "best that ever was" but few true chess fans will seriously argue that in his day, Morphy was anything less than greatest the world had ever seen. I think it was Botvinnik who said that the only thing we've learned from chess since Morphy was about closed positions. Steinitz, Nimzowitch, Lasker, the later masters: they all contributed so much--but Morphy set the ground rules. He showed his contemporaries "No, you can NOT play like that, or I'll flay you alive!" |
|
| Jun-23-13 | | RookFile: Great point JoergWalter. Morphy had a way of neutralizing gambits that probably had never before been seen with such effectiveness. |
|
| Jun-26-13 | | Boomie: <Steinitz, ... the later masters...> I've seen a lot of comments around saying that Morphy was playing in a different era than Steinitz. Steinitz was actually a year older than Morphy! Had Morphy continued his chess career, then Steinitz's great work would have been that much more enriched. Plus Morphy would have adapted his style to the new ideas and made more wonderful discoveries. Together they would have advanced chess theory another 50 or so years. Alas! |
|
| Jul-19-13 | | The Rocket: Paul Morphys level of play was the highest - concidering how little theory was known at the time. But this is an unfair assesment to modern players with knowledge. They have never got show how they themself would fare restricted by the conditions Morphy lived under. And vice versa... |
|
 |
|
|
< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 251 OF 284 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Kibitzing
