Some Nice Games - Purely For The Joy Of Looking At Them - And A Heartfelt Goodbye.
Afternoon everyone. I won't be posting for a few weeks. I have been asked to do a little project for a chess historian friend of mine, and then - my wife's health permitting - will be away for a week.
I have been posting games on bluesky under simaginfan, and will post some of the games I have used in this blog. A couple are in old blogs, and I have done notes as I have been through them. Last time round I did some proper, primary source, history - heavy reading but valuable stuff - so this time just some fun! Just enjoy the chess!
To start with, back to the last 'lucky bag' In Fialla's latest Quarterly there is a great article on a forgotten match between two young players - based on John Hilbert's ( he is a nice guy and has been a wonderful chess history researcher since before the days of the internet. Serious respect mate.) wonderful research. The 16 year old William Ewart Napier
against the slightly older, but still teenaged, Frank Marshall. ( Fialla gives a great picture of the young Marshall, but I won't just steal it for here - go buy the book!!) This game caught my eye. Lots in it that I found interesting.
Quickly a game dear to my heart - I used the ideas to win a correspondence tournament game once. At some point I really must write properly on Ragozin - I recall doing something on him for a correspondence chess magazine many years ago.
My long suffering readers will know that I am the friend of 'the forgotten'. Here's one! He is on the list of great names who won the Master title via the German 'Hauptturnier' system - in his case Breslau 1925. Gottlieb Machate. He never made it to the top level - I don't know the reasons - but he could play!
There is a nice little puzzle at the end for you to solve.
I know nothing about the players here, but the finish - 5 Pawns on one file - is, to say the least, unusual!
I DO know about the fascinating chess figure Bora Kostic - over on twitter someone was kind enough to link to my blog on him as a source. I love this game - nothing seems to be going on and suddenly it all gets rather wonderful!
One just for the sheer fun of it. The finish is a delight. I wrote a blog on Showalter which was enjoyed by many, and hopefully showed that he was a fine player indeed.
Well, that was this weeks blog. However, I have to add something.
This is a very sad week for all true chess lovers. We had to say goodbye to one of the greatest and most loved players in the history of our game. The GREAT Boris Spassky. Great in every way, and sadly underestimated by many as a result of one match, which is both sad, and in my opinion, unjustified.
I have done at least two blogs on him. One lists his match victories which by itself ranks him as one of the very best players the world has ever seen. He really was the most magnificent player. His games are a joy forever, and will be looked at for all time.
As a human being he was a true gentleman. One of the few who - unusually in the ego driven world of elite level chess - his contemporaries held in the highest personal regard. I will say that when the Kremlin wanted him to return home, and claim the 1972 match by default, he refused, even though he believed that Fischer was his superior at the time. The man had integrity and would not just take that which he had not earned.
Elsewhere i have quoted another under - estimated great and true gentleman Max Euwe - ''Spassky is and will be for many years to come one of the favourites of all chess players.''
He is, and will always be, one of the favourites of this particular chess player and chess lover. Both as a player and as a human being.
Goodbye World Champion. You gave us great pleasure and taught us all that to be great does not preclude behaving with grace, honour and dignity. Thank you.
