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Chess Notebook 06 Dec 1959, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
Chess Notebook By Lyman Burgess
More books have been written about chess than any other game and more pamphlets too. And, just perhaps, chess is the most organized game. There are international, national, regional, state, league, county and city organizations, to say, nothing of clubs and correspondence associations. Nevertheless the laws of the game are simple, the rules easy to grasp and tournament regulations are certainly not beyond anyone's comprehension. Yet trouble continues to arise because many chessplayers have not familiarized themselves with the regulations.
Recently Team A met Team B in a Met League match. Team A had traveled a considerable distance and at midnight requested adjournment of the final game. The captain of Team B refused to adjourn the game and play went on until after 1 a.m. so Team A was short-changed on sack time.
The captain of A registered a very mild protest and suggested something be done by league officials to prevent a recurrence. Well, the sad truth is the league officials did something about that years ago. All Met League games are subject to adjournment at midnight, therefore a request to adjourn is tantamount to an edict.
It makes no difference if B wants to play on; A has the right to adjourn. Of course, games may continue by mutual agreement. If, after adjournment a time and place for concluding the game cannot be agreed upon, then the torso of the game is to be submitted to the league president for adjudication. Moral: Know your rules and get your sleep.
Some book recommendations as requested: “Invitation to Chess” by Chernev and Harkness; “Guide to Good Chess” by C.J.S. Purdy; “Easy Guide to Chess” by B. H. Wood, These three are the finest books for beginners now in print.
Of books on the openings may I first caution all tyros that the famous “Modern Chess Openings” is not a book of instruction but is basically a reference work. Reuben Fine's “Ideas Behind the Chess Openings” and H. Golombek's “Modern Opening Chess Strategy” are the books to look for in this category.
In the middle game seek out Chernev and Reinfeld's “Winning Chess” for practice and “Judgment and Planning in Chess” by Max Euwe for theory. Take this as a lukewarm recommendation for Fine's encyclopedic “Middle Game.”
Reuben Fine is the boy in the end game; his “Basic Chess Endings” is undeniably great.
General treatises I do not believe in (except in the beginners' category) but, if you must have one, try Dr. Edward Lasker's “Modern Chess Strategy.” Tarrasch me no Tarrasches and Reti me no Retis, I have spoken.
Top tip of all: For pleasure and profit try any well annotated collection of master games. From round IV of the recent Candidates' Tournament:
Robert James Fischer vs Svetozar Gligoric
Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates (1959), Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade YUG, rd 4, Sep-11
Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation. General (B56) 1-0
David Niven 11 Dec 1959, Fri The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
DAVID NIVEN tries to argue his way out of a chess defeat by Kevin Coughlin in “Happy Anniversary” at the Gary.
