Le blog de la Batgirl
* * * Please Note * * *
This blog, like most of what I write, focuses on the historical and cultural aspects of chess - with a few rants thrown in for good measure.
I don't accept friend requests; I don't play chess here; and I don't generally respond to notes, but I will respond to messages if they seem to have a purpose other than meaningless chat. I'm only mentioning this so everyone knows there's nothing personal in my lack of response to any of the above.
Submitted by
on Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:44am.
Charles S. Martinez, the chess player who defeated Champion Lasker at the Franklin Chess Club, Philadelphia, last week, was born in Cuba in 1868. He is the son of the well known expert, D. M. Martinez, who played several matches with Steinitz a... Read more »
Submitted by
on Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:01pm.
Something about the idea of coffeehouses appeals to me. When chess is added to the blend, the appeal becomes almost irresistible. No coffeehouse comes close to the Café de la Régence in Paris. I've written about the Café several times * and ... Read more »
Submitted by
on Thu Aug 13, 2009 4:52pm.
I've written about P.Ch.F. de Saint-Amant before, but someone had contacted me with some queries concerning St. Amant, so I found some old information that I hadn't ever published and some new information, or at least confirmations, that I though... Read more »
Submitted by
on Tue Aug 11, 2009 6:29pm.
Capt. Evans Isaac Leopold Rice
The Makers of Gambits.
Gambit is stated by Potter to be from the Italian word gambctto, a "tri... Read more »
Submitted by
on Sun Aug 9, 2009 3:09pm.
PHILOSOPHY IN THE GAME Lasker Lectures on Great Skill of Morphy the Chess Master. NOTED PLAYER TELLS HOW INTELLIGENCE AND LOGICAL METHODS WON OVER CUNNINGLY LAID COMBINATIONS --- SPEAKER INVESTS TECHNICAL SUBJECT WITH MUCH HUMAN INTEREST. ... Read more »
Submitted by
on Thu Aug 6, 2009 8:42pm.
As most folks know, the custom of saving games didn't really begin in earnest until 1836 when William Greenwood Walker published the Labourdonnais-M'Donnell match he recorded in 1834.
In the intervening year, 1835, another Walker - George - p... Read more »
Submitted by
on Wed Aug 5, 2009 12:26pm.
In February of 2009 a gentleman joined chess.com [apparently] only to inquire about his great, great, great, great grandfather, Peter Unger Williams. A few weeks later a woman also joined with the same apparent intention. Both messaged me on the s... Read more »
Submitted by
on Mon Aug 3, 2009 6:10pm.
The eminent Bishop Berkeley, friend to all, recently sent me Struggle, the English translation of Emanuel Lasker's 1907 treatise Kampf. He also guided me towards a 1930 article in the New York Times by Albert Einstein called Science and Rel... Read more »
Submitted by
on Sat Aug 1, 2009 4:47pm.
Schachdorf U. S. A.
What does "Lindsborg, Kansas," "Little Sweden" and "Chess City" - have in common?
They're all the same place.
The reason that Lindsborg, Kansas bills itself "Little Sweden" is obvious.
According to the Amer... Read more »
Submitted by
on Wed Jul 29, 2009 7:08pm.
I've always felt that Paul Morphy's brief visit to Philadelphia was a particularly fascinating event. This item, describing that visit, came from an 1898 edition of the American Chess Magazine. The article doesn't come out and say it, but it s... Read more »