I love chess, and I hope you do too. I am curious to learn more about chess and it's history; would you like to share some interesting facts about a player, insights about the game or anything in general that can help us expand our knowledge of the game we love so dearly?
The number of possible unique chess games exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the visible universe.
@Quasar3C273 said [^](/forum/redirect/post/HSXI9Xgw)
> The number of possible unique chess games exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the visible universe.
fortunately, I knew this already. thanks for sharing though!
Savielly Tartakower served in the French army in 1940, despite being more than 50 year old. He served in the Légion Étrangère, since he didn't had the French nationality. After the Call of the 18 June, he joined London and the French Resistance, offering his experience as a translator since he knew German and Russian, under the name "Lieutenant Cartier"
After WW2 and for his service in the Légion Étrangère and the Free French Forces, Tartakower received the French nationality.
Before mechanical chess clocks were available, Hour/Sand glasses were used. It has been said, that chess game timers were needed, to games from being won, by the one with the best set of buttocks ! - Known as 'out sitting' your opponent! -:]
"... Steinitz often had people over to his house ... On one of those visits by Loyd, ... Steinitz decided to play a little trick on his visitor. The following is not a literal account of what happened, but it is a true representation of the substance of it according to Steinitz.
'"Could you judge approximately the strength of two players if I showed you part of one of their games, and if in order to save time I gave you some critical comments which, of course, you may judge for yourself?" I asked,
"Yes, I think so," replied Loyd modestly.
"Well," I said, "Please look at the following position: ..."
[Diagram of position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 Bc5 6 c3 b5 7 Bc2 d5 8 exd5 Nxd5.]
Continuing my little lecture I said: "You notice that ..."
[Steinitz commenting to Loyd about various aspects of the play in the game. (Sorry, too much to type.)]
... "... Now, what do you think of the strength of the two players. Are they first, second or third class?" ...
... he answered at once: "Third class at the utmost."
"Would you be surprised to learn," I said, "that this play occurred not merely once, but actually in two games of the match between Morphy and Anderssen, ..." ...
... The two great masters ... had not the slightest suspicion that their development contained defects that about twenty-eight years later could only be described as grave strategical errors.'
... Steinitz was completely wrong on almost all counts! ...
... Steinitz could not have come up with a worse example of the superiority of the modern school over the old. ..." - The Ink War (2022) by IM Willy Hendriks
Since Tartakower was mentioned -
He was usually poor. When he won prize money at tournaments, he'd go to the nearest casino and gamble it away.
He invented a lot of openings. At Barcelona, the tournament organisers asked him for a new idea that they could name after the event. And so the Catalan was born!
@lizani said [^](/forum/redirect/post/xZZsKg4a)
> Since Tartakower was mentioned -
> He was usually poor. When he won prize money at tournaments, he'd go to the nearest casino and gamble it away.
> He invented a lot of openings. At Barcelona, the tournament organisers asked him for a new idea that they could name after the event. And so the Catalan was born!
Moreso:
Réti vs. Leonhardt, Berlin 1928 pre-dated Barcelona 1929, and the Catalan was **reborn** at Barcelona.
Kramnik popularised the opening in the 2000's during the World Chess Championship 2006. Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, and Fabiano Caruana, have adopted the opening regularly.
Good historical books on chess and famous players are published by MacFarland. I own the Capablance and Nimzovitch editions. If you like history, you get a ton of back-drop stories. Also the Fischer books by Donaldson and one by Karsten Muller are good reads.
About Steinitz-Loyd, black should recapture with his queen
https://lichess.org/7jle0zLm#15