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Chess Chats 02 Aug 1959, Sun The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
Chess Chats by George Koltanowski
International Chess Master
Problem No. 191
White to play and mate in two moves.
FEN 8/6p1/6Kp/1p5Q/1P1pN3/1B1Nk3/8/8 w - - 0 1
Solution: N-B4?? 1. Bd1 Kxd3 2. Qe2#
The Press Democrat Chess Chats by George Koltanowski, Sunday, August 02, 1959, Santa Rosa, California Problem No....
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Sunday, April 3, 2022
GENIUS OF THE PAWNS
Andre Danican Philidor, (he seems to have added Francois as a first name in later life), was born of a musical family at Dreux in France on Sept. 6, 1926. At the age of six he became a page at Louis XV's chapel, under Andre Campra. The child used to watch the Kings musicians playing chess in their quarters, while they awaited early mass.
One morning, when Philidor was 10, an elderly and testy member of the orchestra arrived by mischance before his comrades. His bitter complaints at having to wait for his game induced Philidor, to offer himself as an opponent.
“O la, la! Well, let us give the boy a small lesson.”
The reader knows what is coming. Poor old Double-Bass gets into trouble. Philidor, with typical choirboy's anticipation of physical punishment for any precocity, slips gradually from the chair as the game approaches the climax, makes his final move, and runs like a hare to the door, screaming out “mate.” Philidor soon was able to beat all 80 musicians.
Philidor received chess lessons from Legal, the leading player in France, and bettered his instructor while still in his 'teens.
It was in 1745 that he first took up the game as a profession, curiously enough during a musical tour of Holland, undertaken to escape his Parisian creditors.
Poetic justice saw him stranded in Rotterdam, without an engagement. Philidor found a new means livelihood by giving chess instructions to English officers. It was under their patronage that he brought out his book. “L'Analyse do Jeu d'Echecs,“ in 1749 (reprinted in 1787), which was dedicated to the Duke of Cumberland, and is best known for his strong recommendation of pawn to queen's third for Black the King's Knight's Opening, now called (though of much greater antiquity) “Philidor's Defense.”
The charming ending, with a queen sacrifice leading to a “smothered” mate, “Philidor's Legacy,” is also only by courtesy attributed to him. This particular tour took Philidor to Amsterdam, where he defeated Philip Stamma,native of Aleppo, later a writer on chess, by eight games to two. He progressed to Germany, where Frederick the Great, a pinchbeck Jubal-Trubal, refused to meet him over the board, but watched him play. I very much fear that Philidor was compelled to listen to Frederick's tootling on the flute.
The young master visited England in 1747, where his modest and genial manner made him well like, and he spent a great deal of the rest of his life between London and Paris. The French Revolution kept Philidor in London and Paris. The French Revolution kept Philidor in London, where he died on August 31, 1795. Philidor's body lies in St James's Church, Piccadilly.
I put him down as a great virtuoso of chess, and an excellent showman. Philidor, over the board, was without doubt the strongest player in central and northern Europe.
Puig (White) vs Queimadelos (Black)
Nimzo-Indian Defense: Leningrad Variation
(a) Better is 4. … P-KR3.
(b) If 7. … Q-R4; 8. N-K2 N-K5; 9. B-R4 NxQBP; 10. Q-Q2 and black loses a piece.
(c) Puts the Queen completely out of action.
(d) Bad. BxP was the move.
(e) If 15. … N-K6; 16. Q-Q3 etc.
(f) White threatens mate on K7. If 19. … N-B4; 20. QxBch K-B1; 21. QxRch etc.
Annual Valley of the Moon Chess Festival 02 Aug 1959, Sun The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
Chess Fete Sunday In Sonoma 03 Aug 1959, Mon The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
Chess Fete Sunday In Sonoma
SONOMA — Those who move with a purpose will concentrate at Sonoma Sunday to compete in the annual Valley of the Moon Chess Festival.
Classified as one of the top Redwood Empire intellectual events, the Chess Festival is held in Sonoma's historic plaza where the Bear Flag of the California Republic was raised in 1846.
This year's tournament has been dedicated to George Koltanowski, international chess master and director of the event. While the main feature of the Festival is a short tournament, there is another of equal note which sees Mr. Koltanowski play 30 opponents simultaneously. Anyone who defeats the director will be awarded a bottle of wine donated by the wineries of Sonoma.
Competitors in the tournament proper will be classified according to playing strength as indicated on their applications. Also, there will be sections for women and juniors.
More and more players, according to the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the Festival, are staying on to enjoy the community facilities for recreation and such attractions as a visit to the wineries, to the ancient Mission San Francisco Solano do Sonoma, to Gen. Vallejo's Home, to the Hanna Center for Boys, and many more.
Mr. Koltanowski has announced that a round robin tournament, an innovation this year, will precede the chess festival. Players will compete in the new feature on Aug. 6, 7 and 8.
06 Aug 1959, Thu The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
It's Checkmating Day in Sonoma by Staff Correspondent
SONOMA—Invitational, pre-festival chess tournament play will begin today at the Veterans Memorial Building in Sonoma.
Participants will be several state champions and skilled players in Northern California, among them George Koltanowski in whose honor the festival is given this year.
The pre-festival will continue, through August 6, 7, and 8, and the festival tournament will at 11 a.m. on August 9.
Prizes are being donated by the local merchants and organizations: Wine from Pagani Bros. Sebastiani Winery, Buena Vista Vineyards and Mancuso Winery; trophies from MacDonald Jewelers, G. H. Hotz Co., Broadway Hardware, Vella's Foundation, Palms Inn, El Dorado Hotel, Swiss Hotel, Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
Other prizes will be cheese from the Sonoma Valley Cheese Factory and the Vella Cheese Co.
Lois McVeigh, manager of the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce has listed the following local people signed up for the Sunday tournaments: Marion Brackenridge, Sonoma; Henry Hess, Sonoma; Walter L. Sherman, Glen Ellen; Earl Stixrud, Louis Mugele, Don Parsons, Herman Ballert, Rick Dunseth and Terry Fowler, all of Sonoma.
Dunseth and Fowler are on the school chess team here.
Most of the entries are from Central and Northern California, but two entries came from Phoenix. Ariz., one from Aurora, Colo., and from as far away as Atlanta, Ga.
U.S. Chess Champ In Need of Aid 07 Aug 1959, Fri The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
US Chess Champ In Need of Aid
NEW YORK (UPI)—The mother of America's chess prodigy, Bobby Fischer, who hopes to wrest the world's chess championship from Soviet Russia, appealed today for financial aid so her son can enter the playoffs in Yugoslavia.
Mrs. Regina Fischer of Brooklyn, N.Y., said she and her 16-year-old son, the youngest international grand master in the world, have saved nearly $2,000—half the amount needed to pay the expenses for the nearly two-month long tournament.
“With another $2,000 Bobby could be sure of being able to take part in this tournament,” Mrs. Fischer said.
Frank Brady, business manager of the U.S. Chess Federation, said that if the Fischers do not raise the money within a few days Bobby probably will not be able to participate.
The candidates tournament is scheduled to begin in Bled, Yugoslavia on Sept. 6 and will last until Oct. 31. This will be an elimination tournament and the winner will face the present world champion, Russia's Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960.
Silence Prevails At Chess Tourney 07 Aug 1959, Fri The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) Newspapers.com
Silence Prevails at Chess Tourney by Ted Salinas, Staff Correspondent
SONOMA—The pre-festival Round Robin Chess tournament kicked off last night with 27 first arrivals maneuvering pawns, knights, castles and kings in the beginning of a three-day schedule.
George Koltanowski, internationally famous chess expert and Press Democrat chess columnist, said in an interview yesterday that this year was the first tryout of this type of tournament play in the annual valley event, but that he planned to make it a permanent part of the festival.
Rules for the tournament are different from Swiss play, in that everyone in each class plays everyone else in that class, and points are gleaned for wins, and high point man comes out on top.
Round Robin play consists of four classes: Expert; Class A; Class B; and Class C. Each contestant is classed according to his or her playing ability, and must compete in the class to which he is assigned. Those entered in the expert class must play to a limit of four hours, and the others are three hours, and everyone in all groups must complete a total of 50 moves in two hours or the flag is dropped on them.
However if the 50 moves are made in less than two hours, the game must continue until the time limit is up or there is a winner. Confusing to a neophyte, but the players seem to take it in stride.
Play started at 7:30 p. m. at the Sonoma Veteran's War Memorial Building, and after a few minutes of shuffling and low buzzing of voices, silence began to creep over the auditorium.
By 10 o'clock you could hear the ducks quacking in the Plaza, four blocks away, and the concentration was deafening. (Felt cloth on the bottoms of the chess-men muffled the moves.)
Non-Poker Faces
Occasionally a smile would trickle along the face of a player as he made a good move, or his opponent made a poor one, but beyond that, even the timing clocks beside them ticked silently.
Some of the enthusiasts had brought lunches, and nibbled quietly while waiting for an opponents move.
These people take their chess seriously, and the study and effort they put into it shows to excellent advantage.
Many of these players are champions—Eric Osbun of Santa Rosa; David Krause of Palo Alto and Mrs. Elmer Burlingame from Phoenix, Ariz., to name a few.
Mrs. Burlingame, incidentally, is the first woman to play in the expert class in Valley of the Moon Festival play.
Mr. and Mrs. Burlingame both play in competition, but he says she is the chess player of the family. As a matter of fact she is the Arizona State Women's Champion, as well as secretary of the Phoenix Chess Club.
Play began at 10 a. m. today.
Mr. Koltanowski said that he had originally planned this for a trial tournament, and that it would be invitational, but that the newspapers had given advance publicity in error about it so that many more players showed up than he had expected.
However he managed to rearrange the schedules to handle the additional players.
Mr. Koltanowski said that there were some 250 entries for the tournament play during the festival Sunday, which is more than at any time since they began six years ago.
He added that this is the largest festival of its kind in the nation, and possibly in the world. He should know; he's played them all.
According to the entry list, players from all over the country will be here, from Georgia, Arizona, Delaware, Colorado and California.
