Tidbits
I've simply collected and compiled a few random, unassociated yet intersting articles I found in the 1897-98 issues the American Chess Magazine. |
GERMANY. This year's chess festival of the Chess Club "Centrum," Berlin, included the performance of a melodrama entitled "The Chess Contest at Alba Terra," at the theatre in that part of the city from which the club takes its name. The author of the play hid his identity under the pseudonym, "Caissus Mate." The plot is as follows : The King of Alba Terra, having been initiated into the mysteries of chess, becomes so infatuated with the game that he is not to be had for any other pastimes or enjoyments. His neighbor, the King of Melagonia, also a chess player, and his spouse are paying a visit to Alba Terra, and for some trivial cause a dispute arises between the two queens which assumes serious proportions, leading dangerously near to bloodshed. The King of Alba Terra then proposes to settle the difference by a game of chess, the loser to make full amends. This game, with living pieces, is the chief feature of the play. The costumes of the cast were of rare brilliancy and taste, while the difference between white and black was sufficiently marked. The execution of the single moves was both skilled and graceful. The stage-management was in the hands of Herr Frommermann-Romanow, the music composed and conducted by Herr Eugene Philippi. The game itself, but for a transposition of the opening moves, is identical with one played in Havana, 1893, between C. S. Walbrodt* and Judge Golmayo. The moves are printed elsewhere. * Judge Golmayo is, of course, the Cuban champion, Celso Golmayo Zúpide. I'm unsure if C.S.Walbrodt should be C.A.(K.A.) Walbrodt - Carl (Karl) August Walbrodt. I haven't yet been able to uncover a match between the two, let alone this particular Scotch Gambit. |
AUSTRIA. Prague—The historical chess game with living pieces, representing the victory of King George Podiebrad of Bohemia over King Mathew Corvinus of Hungary, 1469, which was first performed during the Fair of 1895, was again presented before over 5000 spectators. The extent of the chess board was over 1½ square miles. The single pieces were represented by groups aggregating 300 people, with 20 horses. The game has been revised and slightly altered by Dr. Jan Dobrusky. The music is by K. Pospisil, the artistic arrangements being designed by Smolik Klenka, and the conception of the plan is due to F. Moucka. Dr. Dobrusky and K. Pospisil are famous problem composers, and P. Moucka is the editor of the chess column in the Bohemian paper Svetozor. A repetition of the performance took place on June 6. |
New Orleans Chess, Checker and Whist Club. One of the delightful musical impromptus of the Chess, Checkers and Whist Club Glee Club took place in the large assembly hall of the club on May 29 The affair was given complimentary to the members of the club at large and a large attendance was present thoroughly enjoying the excellent programme rendered by the well-known musicians present. There were piano solos, duets, violin solos, mandolin solos and vocal solos, duets, triets and quartettes. Among those who participated were Messrs. Alf Kernion, Hon. Geo. Theard, Alf Duiilho, R. E. Wells, Dr. Brickell, Henry Wehrmann, Dr. L. Cusachs, T. Norton and Prof. Geo. L. O'Connell, musical director. |
JOHN HOWARD TODD. Mr. J. H. Todd, who died in this city last month, was one of the most original characters in chess. Born in Ireland from Protestant parents, he was and always remained the staunch- est of Orangemen. Mr. Todd joined the then New York Chess Club in 1886 and soon obtained a certain proficiency. He would have been a dangerous opponent for every one, had not his Hibernian temperament asserted itself so often. Like all Hotspurs he was incessantly involved in quarrels, with the upshot that he was suspended from the club, whereupon he instantly invoked the aid of the courts to be reinstated. |
Mrs. Harriet Worrall, American representative in the Ladies' International Chess Congress held in London in June, arrived on a Wilson Line steamer on September 7. In speaking of her experiences on the other side of the ocean, Mrs. Worrall was unstinted in her expressions of pleasure at the many favors she had received from the managers of the tournament, the players, and the British amateurs and professionals whom she had met. |
The first London chess column appeared, curiously enough, in the Lancet (1823), the game being introduced to the medical profession as "the only one to which the medical student may profitably devote any portion of his time and attention. It is liable to none of the objections which apply to games of chance ; it holds out no encouragement to cupidity. And while it affords an agreeable relaxation from more serious pursuits, it strengthens the intellectual faculties by the unremitting attention which it demands, and may even have some influence on our moral habits by the lessons of foresight, patience and perseverance which it inculcates." The column appeared without diagrams, and its life was a very short one. The following is the Lancet's first problem, and it will be found easier than most modern two- movers :—No. 382.—White (6 pieces), К at QR3 ; R at QВ sq ; В at QR5 ; Pawns at QR 4. QKt2, QB7. Black (4 pieces), K at QR2 ; Q at Q4 ; Pawns at QR3 and QKt2 . White mates in three. [The earliest chess column published in England is said to have been that in the Liverpool Mercury in 1813 The diagrams were printed without the squares being shaded, but in other respects the pieces and general arrangements differed little from those at present in use.]
|