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Chess by Isaac Kashdan 29 Nov 1959, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Chess By Isaac Kashdan
International Grandmaster
ADD CHESS BOOKS TO SHOPPING LISTS
One measure of the increasing interest in chess is the growing output and ready sale of chess books. More publishers are entering the field and dozens of excellent books are available for all classes of players.
With the holiday season approaching, devotees of the game may want to add chess books to their gift list. In the next few weeks we shall try to review some of the interesting works recently issued.
One book we enjoyed was the biography of a chess immortal: EMANUEL LASKER, THE LIFE OF A CHESS MASTER (Simon & Schuster: $5.95), It was written originally in German by Dr. J. Hannak and translated by Heinrich Fraenkel. Both knew Dr. Lasker well and could write with authority on his great career.
Emanuel Lasker was born in Berlinchen, Germany, in 1868. He won the world chess championship in match play against Wilhelm Steinitz in 1894 and lost it to Jose R. Capablanca in 1921. Lasker still won chess prizes in 1936 and played right to the year of his death in New York in 1941.
Those are the statistics. They reveal little of the man who was a leading mathematician and philosopher, who played chess professionally only when he had to and who demonstrated his wizardry anew after each long absence from chess competition.
Lasker had great moments in his career and his share of disappointments. He had retired to a quiet life in his native Germany when he was forced into exile by Hitler's coming to power in 1933.
Interspersed in the biography are 100 annotated games, representing the many facets of Lasker's style. He was perhaps the first great master who played the man rather than the board, who preferred psychology to detailed analysis of the openings.
The book has a foreword by Albert Einstein, who indicates his respect for Lasker's ability as a mathematician. The 320 pages are well printed, with illustrative diagrams throughout the game sections.
Following are two brilliant games from the book, played some 40 years apart:
Harry Nelson Pillsbury vs Emanuel Lasker
St. Petersburg (1895/96), St. Petersburg RUE, rd 10, Jan-04
Queen's Gambit Declined: Pseudo-Tarrasch. Primitive Pillsbury Variation (D50) 0-1
Ilia Kan vs Emanuel Lasker
Moscow (1935), Moscow URS, rd 1, Feb-15
Slav Defense: Exchange Variation. Symmetrical Line (D14) 0-1
HAMMAN VALLEY WINNER
The San Fernando Valley Open Chess Tournament, sponsored by the Van Nuys Chess Club, 14947 Victory Blvd., resulted in a victory for Robert Hamman with a final tally of 7-1.
John Kinder was runner-up with a 6½-1½ score. Tied for third at 6-2 were Case Lukaart and Heino Kurruk. A record-breaking 46 players participated. The top eight players will now start a round-robin tournament to determine the club champion.
CITY TERRACE TOURNEY
Gordon Barrett and Paul Klaus tied at 5-1 after the sixth and concluding round of the East Side Open Chess Tournament at the City Terrace Chess Club, 3875 City Terrace Dr. Barrett, who had been leading, lost his last game to D. Young but still won first prize on the tie-breaking system, with Klaus taking second.
Young took third place with a score of 4½-1½ and Ben Kakimi was fourth with 4-2. J. Freed and C. E. Swett tied at 3½-2½.
SMYSLOV DISAPPOINTS
Former world champion Vassily Smyslov disappointed his followers by his relatively poor showing in the recent Challengers' Tournament. In a number of games he had clearly winning advantages, as much as a piece ahead, only to draw or lose by weak play.
The following games show that Smyslov's strategical powers were still in evidence, despite the occasional lapses.
Paul Keres vs Vasily Smyslov
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 23, Oct-19
Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation. Matanovic Attack (B82) 0-1
Svetozar Gligoric vs Vasily Smyslov
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 19, Oct-10
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal. Gligoric System Smyslov Variation (E54) 0-1
Vasily Smyslov vs Svetozar Gligoric
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 26, Oct-25
Indian Game: West Indian Defense (E61) 0-1
Fridrik Olafsson vs Vasily Smyslov
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 27, Oct-26
English Opening: King's English. Two Knights' Variation Smyslov System (A22) 0-1
Fridrik Olafsson vs Vasily Smyslov
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 13, Sep-28
English Opening: King's English Variation. Reversed Sicilian (A21) 0-1
The Los Angeles Times, Chess by Isaac Kashdan, Sunday, November 29, 1959, Los Angeles, California Times Problem 3121 By...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, June 12, 2022
Times Problem 3121 By H. L. Musante
Black 7
White 9
White mates in two.
FEN 7K/R4N2/5kpp/5P1q/1B4nn/2N2B2/3p4/3Q1R2 w - - 0 1
Solution: Q-N3; 1. Qb3 Qxf5 2. Be7#
The Los Angeles Times, Chess by Isaac Kashdan, Sunday, November 29, 1959, Los Angeles, California Times Problem 3122 By...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, June 12, 2022
Times Problem 3122 By A. Witte
Black 4
White 4
White mates in three.
FEN rk6/p7/P2K4/5B2/5Pb1/8/7B/8 w - - 0 1
Solution: K-Q7; 1. Kd7 Bxf5+ 2. Kd8 Be4 3. f5#
If BxBch, 2. K-Q8; if B-R6, 2. B-N4; if B-R4, 2. B-N6; if B-B6, 2. B-K4; if B-K7, 2. B-Q3; if B-Q8, 2. B-B2.
The action in 3121 is based on the captures of the white pawn, which lead to four widely varied mates. A neat dual between the bishops features the lightweight three-mover.
SOLVERS' LIST
Five points— W. S. Aaron, F. Aks, Dr. B. R. Berglund, J. F. Brown, M. Chutorian, C. Cresswell, J. Gotta, H. Guadarrama, J. Kaufman, N. J. Lomax, C. L. Lund, W. L. Rankel, D. Rothman, A. A. Rothstein, C. E. Stern.
Four points— J. Lacy.
Two points— M. Dick, N. Lesser, Mrs. J. W. Moore, M. Rosen, Maj. H. Triwush, W. B. Turner.
One point— J. P. Foley, S. Ostrofsky.
Reproduction of Original 15th Century Chess Set 29 Nov 1959, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Chess Tourney Set for Friday 29 Nov 1959, Sun The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
Chess Tourney Set for Friday
LA CRESCENTA—The Latvian Chess Team, an all-county group composed of top Class-A players of Latvian descent, will meet the Verdugo Hills Smokeless Chess Club in a tournament at 7 p.m. Friday in the basement of the Lutheran Church in the Foothills, 1700 Foothill Blvd.
All 10 members of each team will play two games each, according to Arnold Davidson of La Crescenta, president of the unusual Smokeless Chess Club.
You're On Your Own When You Play Chess 01 Dec 1959, Tue The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
CITYSIDE: You're on Your Own When You Play Chess
By Gene Sherman
On any given day in Pershing Square or MacArthur Park you will find men grouped around a battered board of squares intent on an absorbing problem involving the manipulation of curiously fashioned tokens.
Which is about as ponderous a way of describing a public game of chess as you'll read today. It's unfair to the game, really. It's not a ponderous pastime at all. I will admit first off, though, that I am hopelessly prejudiced on this subject. Chess is one of the two games I really enjoy playing, the other being poker.
To my mind they are the only two games worth fooling with and I wish I could say I win consistently at both.
I have played chess ever since my father taught it to me in my boyhood and no more positive proof that it requires much less than towering brilliance is available. Every chess player plays to win, but you don't have to be a mental giant to become engrossed.
Furthermore, it is not an old man's game, although old men find youthful joy in it. The present American champion, to cinch this point, is a lad of 16.
I don't know why I find myself launched into this paean except that I was revolted by a move I watched a bearded bum make near the top of the escalator in the Square.
Naturally, I didn't say anything, but it set me thinking about the game again.
There are all sorts of misconceptions about chess, including the notion it is outlandishly difficult to learn and needs a long Sunday afternoon to undertake.
Actually, it is much less difficult to learn than some of the furiously complicated concocted games on the popular market, its fascination being the broad horizon for refinement and perfection it presents within its inflexible standards.
It employs no tricky gimmicks but demands total responsibility. An error is fatal or at least stunningly crippling, depending upon the skill of your opponent. There is no margin for sloppy thinking.
This total lack of forgiveness is a compelling lure. When you lose a chess game you can shift not one iota of the blame from yourself. You can't take it out on the run of the cards or the stupidity of a partner.
The blame is all yours. And you'd be surprised how character building this is for someone whose tendency is to avoid reality.
Despite legends assigning the origin of the game as far back as 6000 BC, the best informed research pegs its beginning at, AD 600 as a development of a Hindu game called chaturanga.
The Persians took it to heart and refined it to more or less its present form. The central piece, called the rajah, in India, became known as the shah, from which the modern game gets its name. The term checkmate derives from the Persian shah mat, “the king is dead.”
It's as modern and intriguing now as it was then, which you can't say for Flinch, at least I can't. I don't give a hoot how you played your last bridge hand, but I'll always wonder what would have happened if that bum had moved his knight instead of his bishop.
Samurai Chess Men 02 Dec 1959, Wed The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) Newspapers.com
