I was not thinking of you when I mentioned the 'D' word. I know you have at least played over his games and his notes and made up your own mind. I have no problem with that.

' Any evidence that anyone "shunned" his work?'

I'm running on the fact it took so long to get 300 hundred translated. It was published in 1896 (I never never knew about the limited edition in 1959 the advert for the 1999 Hays edition states 'This book is the first English Language edition of a chess classic.' so they did not know either.)

His 'Die moderne Schachpartie' by all accounts an excellent book is still waiting translation and see above. A publisher today thinks any book on Tarrasch would be '... '...commercially too risky.'' As I said, he has a bad P.R.

Hi Perfidious,

I too take the odd pop at some of Reinfeld's work but his one on Tarrasch and funnily enough Nimzovitch (Hyper Modern Chess) I really did enjoy (still take the occasionally dip into them.)

Yes Danny could sometimes be a handful when it came to a point of view or what ever. I had one or two tumbles with him but we were always friends.

Scotland was not prepared for him when he landed amongst us without warning. Soon Edinburgh was awash with Danny Kopec stories, some funny, some not, but always entertaining. He was not a shrinking violet, you knew when he was about. An excellent coach/teacher/team captain and friend.

He too had many tales to tell regarding the American chess scene. A great character, once met never forgotten.

Yes 'schmuck' was one of Danny's favourite phrases. I think everyone in his Scottish chess circle caught that at one time or another.

During blitz another of his favourite sayings was booming out 'Hello!' when playing a winning threat.

<8331. Tarrasch quote

The haphazard dissemination of quotes is illustrated by a famous Tarrasch remark:

‘Chess is a terrible game. If you have no centre, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a centre, then you really have something to worry about.’

Some brief observations:

1) The quote appears on countless English-language websites, without any source;

2) No German version is easily traceable on the Internet;

3) The English version was given by F. Reinfeld on pages 61-62 of Tarrasch’s Best Games of Chess (London, 1947) in a note to 19...Nf6 in Schiffers v Tarrasch, Leipzig, 1894;

4) After 16...Rfe8 in the same game, Tarrasch wrote in Dreihundert Schachpartien (the page number varies according to the edition):

‘Ein schreckliches Spiel, das Schachspiel! Hat man kein Zentrum, so hat der Gegner die freiere Stellung; und hat man eins, dann macht es einem schwere Sorge!’>

C.N. 8831

Winter lamentablely often omits the English translation. Google translate to the rescue!

<'A terrible game, chess! If you don't have a center, your opponent has a freer position; and if you have one, then it gives you serious trouble!'>

(Though it's also true I'm at woodpusher level in quotes).

Another example would be my not knowing "Cognito, ergo sum" is the original latin phrase from Descrates (here I might have been able to figure it out, but google was quicker).

Possibly a misprint, Edward Winter has; https://www.chesshistory.com/winter...

"Did Siegbert Tarrasch have a middle name? Pages 254-255 of The Best In Chess by I. Horowitz and J.S. Battell (New York, 1965) twice refer to ‘S.G. Tarrasch’, although there may well have been confusion with Tartakower.

further down on the same site;

‘The answer is apparently yes: Kurt. See the article “Unser Landesverband” by Dr. Klaus-Norbert Münch on pages 95-105 of Der Bayerische Schachbund. Aufbruch in das dritte Jahrtausend edited by A. Diel (Beyer Verlag, 2000). A footnote on page 99 reads:

“Dr. Tarrasch führte den zweiten Vornamen Kurt. Dass er davon auch Gebrauch machte, ist aus einem überlieferten Geburtstagsgruss vom 11. Dezember 1920 an seine spätere zweite Frau Gertrud Schroder zu ersehen.”’

<but>

From Manuel Fruth: Unterhaching, Germany

‘In fact Tarrasch’s only forename was Siegbert, but with his family and close friends he regularly signed himself “Kurt” or “Curt”.’

They reckon who ever did it had medical knowledge. There are no games here by Dr. Tarrasch here between those dates.