1936
1936, Clinton Joseph Cucullu, Tulare University
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Ariel Mengarini, 1998
Ariel Mengarini, Youth
Ariel Mengarini
January 25 1998
MENGARINI, Ariel.
On January 9, 1998, Ariel Mengarini, M.D. board certified psychiatrist, born October 19, 1919 in Rome to what the Dictionary of American Biography calls “a distinguished Roman family.”
Ariel, with his mother, the sculptress Fausta Vittoria Mengarini, came to the United States when he was still a young boy. He finished his education in Washington, D.C. and in New York.
When he was 23, he became United States Amateur Chess Champion. Chess was a lifelong obsession for him. He became a United States citizen in 1942. He honorably served in World War II. He was a Captain in the United States Army Medical Corps-Neuropsychiatrist. In Germany, he made part of a team to take over the administration of a large prison-of-war hospital.
He received three campaign medals and the World War II Victory Medal. Honorably discharged in October 1946. He worked for the United States Government as a psychiatrist. He was devoted to his patients and said that he was “proud to have helped a great many of them.”
Upon retiring, he continued his intense interest in the game of chess, playing in tournaments throughout the rest of his life. He wrote a book on chess: “Predicament in 2-Dimensions: The Thinking of a Chess Player,” which had three printings.
He wrote chess articles and articles on his medical specialty. He was an avid reader with a wide interest which included history, philosophy, poetry, fiction and the study of the human brain.
He is survived by his loving wife Aristea Drivas Mengarini, his daughter Athena, his son Will, and by nephews and nieces in Maryland, along with their children and grandchildren and by first cousins in Italy, Germany and Sweden.
He died of brain cancer after an illness lasting eight months.
“Comforter, where, where is your comforting?”
Magnus Smith, 1915
January 26 1915
The Standard Union, Brooklyn, New York, Tuesday, January 26, 1915
Obituary
AUGUST STEINBUHLER.
August Steinbuhler, New York representative of the Charles Horn Shoe Company of Pennsylvania, died yesterday after a brief illness at his home, 351 Fifty-fourth street, where he had lived for many years. He was formerly an active member of the Church of St. Andrew; Fourth avenue and Fiftieth street. He served as treasurer, warden and vestryman of the church. Recently he had attended the Church of the Redeemer in Pacific street. He is survived by four children, Charles, Frederick, William and Mrs. Magnus Smith. Funeral services to-morrow night at 8 o'clock will be conducted by the Rev. Dr. Lacey, rector of the Church of the Redeemer. Interment will be made at Greenwood Cemetery Thursday morning. Mr. Steinbuhler was born in Austria seventy-two years ago, came to Brooklyn in his early youth and was active in business almost until the day of his death.
Magnus Smith, 1916
November 01 1916
Free Press Prairie Farmer, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Wednesday, November 01, 1916
PIONEER LAID TO REST
Late Hannes Sigurdson One of First Settlers in Bru District.
Glenboro, Man., Oct. 30.—The funeral of the late Hannes Sigurdson held last week was one of the largest in the history of the Bru district. The funeral services at the home and in the Bru church were conducted by the Rev. Fr. Hallgrimson, of Baldur. The pallbearers were all neighbors of the deceased, and old-timers of the district: Messrs. Skuli Anderson, Halldor Anderson, Jon Helgason, Thorstein Johnson, Sig. Landy and Gudmundur Nordman. The casket was very beautiful. The earthly remains were laid to rest in Bru church cemetery.
The late Hannes Sigurdson was one of the old-timers of Manitoba. He came from Iceland in the early days and was one of the pioneers of the Bru district. He went there without means, but through hard work and business ability he climbed the ladder to success and was one of the wealthiest farmers of the community. His home was one of the most up-to-date and beautiful in the surrounding country. Mr. Sigurdson was always a worker. As husband and a father there was no better; he was kind-hearted and generous and had many friends. He leaves a wife and eight children. He was about 60 years of age. He had been suffering from heart trouble for some considerable time, but was up and about every day to the last. On Friday morning be had a sudden collapse, and death come without a warning. A half-brother, J. J. Anderson, resides at Glenboro. Mr. Magnus Smith, of Now York, at one time the chess champion of Canada, was also a brother of his.
Magnus Smith, 1910
April 13 1910
Manitoba Morning Free Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Wednesday, April 13, 1910
CHESS.
LETTER FROM MAGNUS SMITH.
Magnus Smith, a former Winnipegger and champion chess player, writes as follows to the Free Press from Brooklyn. N. Y., under date of April 8:
“In reply to a number of complaints addressed to me personally by subscribers of the Chess Weekly, who have not received that publication of late. I wish to announce that I have severed my connection with the magazine during the latter part of February, 1910, and that I am in no way responsible for any irregularity in its issue since that time. I also wish to thank American chess players generally for their kind appreciation of my humble efforts while connected with the Chess Weekly, and hope my able successors, Messrs. Rosebault and Capablanca, will carry on the work in a still more satisfactory manner. May I ask that you kindly note the above in your valuable paper.”
Magnus Smith, 1934
September 27 1934
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Thursday, September 27, 1934
Magnus Smith Passes
Joel F. Hewes of Titusville, Pa., a prominent chess enthusiast of that place, announces the recent death there of Magnus Smith, formerly prominent in metropolitan chess circles as champion of the Brooklyn chess Club and, later, of the Manhattan Chess Club. Before coming to this country Smith lived in Winnipeg and frequently held the Canadian national title. Smith was born in Iceland 64 years ago and was brought to Canada as a lad.
Magnus Smith, 1956
June 16 1956
The Province, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Saturday, June 16, 1956
The rising young star of Iceland, Fridrik Olafsson, 20, who tied for first place in the recent tournament at Hastings, and who later won four and drew two games to defeat grandmaster Herman Pilnik (Argentina) in a match at Reykjavik, is a grand-nephew of the late Magnus Smith. Smith, a native of Iceland, when a resident of Winnipeg won the Canadian championship title three times in succession in 1899 (Montreal), 1904 (Winnipeg) and 1906 (Montreal).
Magnus Smith, 1901
1901
Relation: Lodger Name: Magnus M Smith Gender: Male Birth: Dec 10 1870, Iceland Immigration year: 1885 Residence: Mar 31 1901 Ward No. 3, Winnipeg (City), Manitoba, Canada Age: 31 Marital status: Single Race: Icelandic Religion: Lutheran
Robert Thomas Durkin, 1967
February 20 1967
Press of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Monday, February 20, 1967
Chess Player's Prize—Robert T. Durkin of Pleasantville holds Hoffman Memorial Trophy which he retained as highest scoring member of the South Jersey Chess Association's fourth annual open tournament. (Press photo by Ron Sarner).
Resort Chess Tourney
Psychiatrist Wins First
The South Jersey open chess tournament at the President Hotel was won by Dr. Ariel Mengarini of The Bronx, N. Y., who won five games and drew one in the six-round tournament staged over the weekend.
Dr. Mengarini, 47, a psychiatrist with the Veterans Administration in New York, defeated chessmasters Ivan Theodorvitch of Toronto and Paul Brandts of New York City, and drew with expert Edgar McCormick of Elizabeth on the way to winning the $250 first prize.
The event, sponsored by the South Jersey Chess Association, attracted 68 players from the Eastern states and Canada.
Robert T. Durkin of West Adams Avenue, Pleasantville, retained the Hoffman Memorial Trophy, which he won last year, awarded to the highest scoring member of the South Jersey Chess Association. Durkin scored five points.
Scores of other Atlantic City Chess Club players who took part were: Marvin Sills, 4½;
Lionel Friedberg, 3;
Abraham Levin, 2½;
James Doran 2½;
Norman Cohen, 2½;
Roland Horner, 2 and Lawrence Hooley, 2. John Yehl of Hammonton scored 3.
Tied with Durkin for second place in the tournament were McCormick, Larry Heinin of Washington, D.C., and Roy D. Mallett of The Bronx.
Robert Thomas Durkin, 1996
May 31 1996
Press of Atlantic City, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Friday, May 31, 1996
Heir of mystery compounds property problem in Somers Point
By Bett Norcross McCoy
Somers Point—City officials will foreclose on the late Robert T. Durkin's Gibbs Avenue home unless an heir apparent before the process is complete, according to City Administrator Wes Swain.
“We'd like somebody to come forward,” Swain said, otherwise the state Division of Taxation gets a letter from the city outlining the situation, to get the legal wheels rolling.
Right now the property at 23 Gibbs Ave., is an eyesore, but it isn't a public-health nuisance, Tracey McArdle, director of the Atlantic County Division of Public Health, said Wednesday.
“We conducted an inspection Friday and there were no public-health violations at that time. No odors, no rodents. There were problems related to property maintenance … weeds, grass, junk,” McArdle said. That's the city's responsibility, she said.
Durkin's property became the city's aesthetic and financial problem when he died in a veteran's hospital in Somerset County on August 24, 1994, apparently without a will. Durkin, 75, was on 100 percent disability and was exempt from property taxes.
But city officials didn't know it was their problem until condition came into City Hall nearly a year later.
“Everyone here knew who he was and that he died, but we had no proof,” Swain said. So the city “bulldozed” the weeds, boarded up the opened front door to stop kids from playing inside, and set out to confirm Durkin's death.
Then it was Catch-22 time.
When Tax Assessor Diane Hesley asked the Department of Veterans Affairs for Durkin's death certificate, she was told such things are confidential. Then she hit on the idea to ask if he was still eligible for his benefits. She was told no.
Eventually, the city got the death certificate, and the property was listed as an added assessment on the tax rolls by the end of last year.
Last week, a Gibbs Avenue resident complained at a City Council meeting about an obnoxious odor coming from the over-grown backyard where Durkin had several sheds.
That's when the Health Department was called in to do Friday's inspection—which turned up nothing but the city's resolve to settle the matter.
“We want to do this without needless expense to the taxpayers,” Swain said.
For anyone trying to figure out if they may be Durkin's heir, he was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. And if he's the same man named in 1940s articles in The Press library, he had four brothers—Joseph, George, Frank and William — and two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. In December 1941, his mother, Mrs. D. F. Durkin, lived at 6803 Atlantic Ave., Atlantic City.
Prior to moving to Somers Point in 1976, he'd apparently lived in Pleasantville and Linwood.
If you think you're an heir, call Swain or City Clerk Carol L. Degrassi at 927-9088.
Meanwhile, articles from the 1970s say Durkin was a champion chess player. That was confirmed Tuesday by Jay McKenn, who learned of Durkin's death last summer when he tried to renew their friendship.
McKeen, a Hamilton Township police sergeant, said Durkin was a “chess idol” to several players, including himself. “He was an innovator, eccentric, but an innovator. There's an opening move named after him. The Durkin Attack, Knight to A3.” Durkin's chess buddies lost touch with him as he became more and more reclusive, McKeen said.
Plans are under way for a Robert T. Durkin Memorial Chess Tournament, he said.
Edward Beckley Adams, 1922
June 29 1922
Rapid Transit 29 Jun 1922, Thu The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York) Newspapers.com
The rapid transit tournament, conducted concurrently, resolved itself into a team match, six on a side, between the “Y” players and the Swedish Chess Club. The Centrals won by 29½-6½. Clean scores of 6-0 were made by R. Start. E. B. Adams and M. Schroeder. In the play-off Start and Adams captured the two prizes set aside for this contest.
E. B. Adams made formal presentation of the several awards in connection with the recent interclub team matches, in which the Swedish Chess Club defeated the Centrals by 18-12. The victors were made the recipients of a framed score card as trophy, the individual prizes going as follows:
Brilliancy prize to L. W. Bubbett, Central Y. M. C. A., for his game against C. Carlson; best game won by white, to G. Gustafson, Swedish Chess Club, for his game against A. E. Johnson; best game won by black, to A. Sundberg, Swedish Chess Club, for his game against E. B. Adams.
Edward Beckley Adams, 1937
February 18 1937
Evening Star, Washington, District of Columbia, Thursday, February 18, 1937
EDWARD B. ADAMS DEAD HERE AT 67
Founder of Hotel Supply Firm Retired From Business in 1931.
Edward Beckley Adams, 67, founder and former president of E. B. Adams & Co. dealers in hotel supplies and household furnishings, died today after a long illness at his home, 103 Leland Street, Chevy Chase. Md.
Mr. Adams, widely known here, formerly was chess champion of the District for several years and long had been active in the Capital City Chess Club, which he once served as president.
He founded the business firm here in 1902 and retired in 1931, at which time he sold his interest in the business.
Active in a number of organizations. Mr. Adams was a former president of the Retail Credit Men's Association, was a member of the Civitan Club, the Columbia Country Club and the Racquet Club.
Surviving him are his widow, Mrs. Sarah Godman Adams; three daughters, Mrs. Dorothy Bowie and Miss Sarah Margaret Adams, both of this city, and Mrs. Ruth Patton, Englewood, N. J.; two sons, Edward G. and Donald H. Adams, this city; a brother, William Adams, and a sister, Miss Margaret Adams, both of Baltimore, and six grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Mr. Adams' late residence. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery, Baltimore Md.
February 19 1937
Evening Star, Washington, District of Columbia, Friday, February 19, 1937
Funeral Tomorrow For Edward B. Adams
Retired Business Man Was Widely Known—Was D. C. Chess Champion.
Funeral services for Edward Beckley Adams, 67, founder and former president of E.B. Adams and Co., will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at his residence, 103 Leland street, Chevy Chase, Md., where he died yesterday.
Mr. Adams founded the firm here in 1902 and retired in 1931, when he sold his interest in the business.
Widely known in this city, he formerly was chess champion of the District for several years, and long had been active in the Capital Chess Club, which he had served as president. He was a former president of the Retail Credit Men's Association, was a member of the Civitan Club, the Columbia Country Club and the Racquet Club.
Isaac Boleslavsky, 1950
April 1950
Inaugural Candidates Tournament in Budapest from April 11 to May 18, 1950. Shown here are Isaac Boleslavsky, Seymon Furman, and David Bronstein. It was a double round-robin competition with 10 competitors: Bronstein, Boleslavsky, Smyslov, Keres, Najdorf, Kotov, Stahlberg, Lilienthal, Szabo, and Flohr. The Budapest event became the only Candidates Tournament to result in a first-place tie with no tiebreaker in place. Original b/w photo source: FIDE.
Pal Benko, 1968
March 14 1968
Reno Gazette-Journal, Reno, Nevada, Thursday, March 14, 1968
1968 National Chess Tourney Set for Tahoe
Four international grandmasters of chess will compete in the 1968 National Chess Championships March 24-19 at the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.
Pal Benko, William Lombardy, Robert Byrne and Anthony Saidy have announced their intentions of entering the contest at the Sahara-Tahoe Hotel at Stateline.
The tournament has been held in Las Vegas for the last several years. It is sanctioned by the United States Chess Federation and competition will be arranged by the Reno and University Chess Club.
The tourney features a $5,000 prize fund, the largest ever offered in a national open tournament.
Entrants must pay a $25 entry free and federation dues if not members.
Registration closes at 4 p.m. March 24.
Eight rounds are scheduled for the opening day.
The top scorer's prize will be $1,250. Cash prizes will go to the second to fifth place finishers.
Play will be in four classes, Expert, A, B, and C, including unrated players.
Pal Benko, 1967
January 04 1967
Rutland Daily Herald, Rutland, Vermont, Wednesday, January 04, 1967
Brandon Chess Player Third in U.S. Finals
Brandon—(Special)—James Sherwin of Brandon tied for third place with Pal Benko of New York in the United States Chess Championship held in New York.
There were twelve contestants. Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn the defending titleholder and Larry Evans of Las Vegas, Nev. took first and second places respectively.
Sherwin played a 100-move game with Fischer and was in an easy position for a draw but blundered and lost the game. He drew his game with Evans and beat Benko with whom he tied for third place.
Sherwin was New York State chess champion at 16, intercollegiate chess champion, and for several years United States speed chess champion. Last year he won the Marble City Open Chess Tourney held at Rutland.
August 27 1967
The Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, Georgia, Saturday, August 26, 1967
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, Sunday, August 27, 1967
Pal Benko Wins 5th Chess Title
Atlanta, Ga (AP)—Pal Benko has won his fifth U.S. Open Chess Championship. The international grand master defeated Dr. Anthony Saidy 11-10½ Friday.
Benko defeated Edward Vano in the final round while Saidy and Walter Browne, the national junior champion, battled to a draw.
Robert Byrne, another international grand master and defending co-champion with Benko, placed third with 9½ points.
Mrs. Mary Bain won the women's trophy with 7 points.
Georgia's only master, David Truesdel of Macon, tied with seven others for fourth. Others in that category were Nicholas Rossolimo, Dr. Harry Avram, Browne, William Goichberg, Dr. E. S. Martinowsky, N. S. Weinstein and Edward Formanek.
Pal Benko, 1965
February 05 1965
Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona, Friday, February 05, 1965
Carter Lenoir In Chess Meet
Las Vegas (Special)—Carter Lenoir of Tucson will compete in the first National Open Chess Tournament here at the Stardust Hotel Feb. 7-13.
The players will be vying for a total of $4,500 in prize money as well as the “Stardust Trophy,” symbolic of the championship.
The tournament, under the auspices of the United States Chess Federation, will also attract famed grandmasters Samuel Reshevsky, Pal Benko, Larry Evans, Arthur Bisguier and Robert Byrne.
Mikhail Tal, 2004
April 04 2004
Hartford Courant, Hartford, Connecticut, Sunday, April 04, 2004
To Tal, Chess Was An Art, Not A Sport
By SHELBY LYMAN
For Mikhail Tal, the fabled chess magician of Riga, play and love and life itself were an indissoluble whole. Once asked to name the best game he had played, he replied: “The one with my young bride on our honeymoon.”
He was married to actress and singer Sally Landau for 17 years, but their mutual love and care endured until his death 21 years later, in 1992. They were united by a common passion for music and theater and delighted in mimicry. Both had a desire to please an audience, but the audiences were disparate. In the end, the actress heeded her calling and the now ex-World Champion of chess, his own.
For Tal, the world was a rich and magical place in which he had a special role. It was not winning that most compelled him although he was among the best at that. It was the logic, fantasy and joy of creation and the tumultuous spectacle he created for his adoring audience.
Tal bridled at the notion that chess was a sport. It was both an art and a form of play, he insisted. He painted wondrously and indefatigably on its many-dimensioned canvas.
“Sometimes I think that Mischa flew in from another planet just to play chess and then to fly home,” Sally Landau explains.
It is likely that chess added years to the life of the chronically ill grandmaster. Despite an unremitting fever, Tal won the 1988 World Blitz Championship. Four years later, not long before his death, he left his hospital bed to defeat Gary Kasparov in an individual game during the Moscow Blitz Tournament.
Tal made a unique impression on this writer. His accessibility and friendliness had an endearing quality. He responded with humor and playfulness rather than harsh criticism to what was unpleasant around him. He assumed Olympian proportions when he sat at the chessboard.
Mikhail Tal, 1992
July 01 1992
The Modesto Bee, Modesto, California, Wednesday, July 01, 1992
Mikhail Tal
Chess champion
Mikhail Tal, a Latvian grand master who held the world chess championship in 1960-61 and was one of the game's most popular and exciting players died in Moscow on Sunday after a long illness the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported. He was 55.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Tal had hoped to represent Latvia in this month's world chess Olympiad in Manila but was unable to make the trip because of illness.
Known in chess circles as a swashbuckling attacker who reveled in daring sacrifices and all-but-unfathomable complications over the board, Tal won the world championship in 1960 at the age of 23 — becoming the youngest person to hold the title in this century — by defeating Mikhail Botvinnik who had been the champion since 1948.
Although Tal lost the championship in a return match with Botvinnik a year later and never became a title challenger again he continued to play at world-class levels of competition and steadily won tournament and brilliancy prizes in an illustrious chess career.
Mikhail Tal, 1965
August 16 1965
The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Monday, August 16, 1965
Tal Chess Winner
Belgrade. Aug. (AP)-Mikhail Tal, former world chess champion, played a simultaneous match on 40 boards against Yugoslav players last night. The score was 33½ to 6½ for Tal.
October 31 1965
November 01 1965
Mikhail Tal, 1964
May 19 1964
Interzonal chess tournament officially opened by Alderman Mr. R. Van de Bergh in Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, May 19, 1964. From left to right, Mikhail Tal, Alderman Van de Bergh, Vasily Smyslov and Max Euwe.
May 26 1964
Mikhail Tal plays black against Ludek Pachman.
Is it this game?
Ludek Pachman vs Mikhail Tal
Amsterdam Interzonal (1964), Amsterdam NED, rd 6, May-26
Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Dunne Attack (B20) 0-1
Mikhail Tal, 1961
April 1961
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April 16 1961
Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, Sunday, April 16, 1961
Tal's Position Strong In 12th Chess Game
(c) 1961 New York Times
New York - Mikhail Tal of Latvia, the defender, outplayed Mikhail Botvinnik of Russia Friday in the 12th game of their match for the world chess championship at the variety theater in Moscow.
When the game was adjourned after 40 moves, Tal had what was regarded by other masters present as a fairly certain victory. Action was to resume yesterday.
The opening, as in the first game of the match last year, was a French defense played by Botvinnik. It followed the course of the 1960 game. At the 12th move, Botvinnik changed his tactics; nevertheless, his position was still inferior.
Lively play in the middle game led to an exchange of queens, but Tal emerged from the melee with the exchange ahead and four pawns on a side. He had a bishop and rook, on the open file, opposed to a bishop and knight. This advantage, if properly followed out, should lead to a winning superiority for Tal.
May 13 1961
The Guardian, London, Greater London, England Saturday, May 13, 1961
Tal's shortcomings exposed ruthlessly
What Botvinnik's success has shown
By Leonard Barden, our Chess Correspondent
Now that the world championship match has ended so unexpectedly and so decisively, the inquests will be more heated than usual.
During the last few years, Tal has built up a powerful mystique as a player whose demon glare and phenomenal powers of calculation were predestined to sweep aside all opposition.
When Smyslov violently criticized Tal's style in a newspaper article, announced that he would show Tal how a real grandmaster played, and was then defeated by one of the unsoundest sacrifices Tal has ever made, it seemed to the chess public like a judgment of the gods. When the press bureau at the first Botvinnik match called one of Tal's traps “gunshot at sparrows,” Botvinnik promptly fell into it. As Tal routed grandmaster after grandmaster, the swell of criticism of his style was dulled and stilled.
Hole in the hat
After the latest match, however, Botvinnik has become the man who has calmly pointed out the hole in the hat from which the conjurer was pulling rabbits. The match has seen not only the loss of Tal's world title but his transformation from the attacking genius with phenomenal imaginative reflexes to a player who more than once dithered around in the middle game without a constructive idea.
Part of the genesis of this remarkable change is certainly nothing to do with chess. Tal had a painful form of kidney trouble just before the match; he was advised by doctors to postpone it, but retorted that he and not the doctors was playing Botvinnik. The defending champion also went down with influenza after the eighth game, and it was then that he lost three games running, playing moves so clearly contrary to basic principles that one master at Bognor shook his head and said they were only possible if Tal had thought them up during a fever.
There is a reverse side to this coin: it is probable that a greater freedom from private worries also helped to account for Botvinnik's vastly improved form. During last year's match his wife was seriously ill, a fact which he generously did not put forward as an excuse and which has only recently become known to the chess world.
Decisive factor
It would be entirely wrong, however, to regard this just as the victory of a healthy man over a sick one. Given positions which suited him, as in the eighth and twelfth games of the match, Tal was as tactically sure and devastating in attack as ever. The real key to Botvinnik's success was the way he exposed, more clearly and persistently than ever before, how much Tal is vulnerable in both closed and simplified positions.
By the end of the match Botvinnik was setting up fixed pawn formations and offering the exchange of queens at almost every opportunity. He saved two endings, in the sixteenth and twentieth games, when every master spectator had given him up for lost.
Another decisive factor in the match was Botvinnik's superior theoretical preparation. This was again partly a reflection of his better psychological approach to the match. With Black, Tal seemed to be trying to show that he could play positional chess by adopting defences like the Nimzo-Indian and Slav which were foreign to his style but admirably suited to Botvinnik's; as these openings developed, Botvinnik always had a useful innovation ready to spring on his opponent. It was only when Tal switched to the King's Indian that he obtained satisfactory opening positions with Black; but by then he was under the fresh handicap of needing to play for a win in every game, so that Botvinnik could choose simplifying variations and sit back and wait for Tal to overreach himself.
What of the future? Keres and Petrosian, the other leading Russian contenders for the world title, will now be mentally measuring themselves against Botvinnik in 1963 and fancying their chances. One can also imagine Bobby Fischer's Brooklyn voice disturbing the older members of the Manhattan Chess Club from their over-the-board slumbers as he comments on the result:
The future
What will happen to Tal? As the recent careers of Bronstein and Smyslov have shown, it is only too easy to lose your ambition and slip back once you have reached the world title pinnacle and have been repulsed by Botvinnik. Tal will have the additional disadvantage hence forward that his weaknesses have been so ruthlessly and precisely exposed in this match. From now on, Tal will surely receive such a rash of Caro-Kanns and queen swaps in every tournament in which he competes that his mind will dwell sadly a la recherche du temps perdu when his opponents were wont to become ready victims to the slashing attacks against the Sicilian and French in which he specializes. Botvinnik has not only won the match, he has shown the chess world how to play against Tal.
Although it would not be surprising if Tal's career enters a trough for a few years, he is still exceptionally young for a world master and his talents are so great that he will surely make a new bid for the title. He may never eliminate his weaknesses in blocked and simplified positions, but there will be few of his opponents with the strategic depth of a Botvinnik.
The lessons of this match, if Tal cares to learn them, are that not every opening leads to the kind of middle game he likes, and that there are other, subtler weapons besides the dazzling pyrotechnics of an open position.
Yesterday Botvinnik again opened with the Samisch Attack against the King's Indian, but the game developed on more orthodox lines than in the previous games with this opening.
Botvinnik conducted the middle game in a fine enterprising style, sacrificing two pawns for a fierce attack against the king. Even the exchange of queens failed to stem the onslaught, and Tal resigned when faced with decisive material loss. This was one of Botvinnik's best wins of the entire match, and particularly commendable when he only needed a draw. ★
Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Tal
"King Crimson" (game of the day Aug-04-2024)
Tal - Botvinnik World Championship Rematch (1961), Moscow URS, rd 21, May-12
King's Indian Defense: Saemisch Variation (E80) 1-0
May 22 1961
Evening Standard, London, Greater London, England, Monday, May 22, 1961
For the Top Masters: £4000 A Year Plus A Pension
WHY RUSSIA RULES THE CHESSBOARD
A 49-year-old greying, bespectacled electrical engineer named Mikhail Botvinnik has just given 40 million Russian sports fans their biggest shock for many years.
Sports fans? Yes. Botvinnik has won the world chess title, and chess, which most people here consider a gentle pastime for old men, is in Russia a close second to soccer as the national game.
Top Soviet chess masters have seconds to help them plan their tournaments plans and tactics. They go in for physical training before their contests.
In preparation for his two-month-long match for the world championship, Botvinnik took special paid leave from his scientific bench to get ready.
Their prestige
Ten million Russians are registered members of chess clubs; 2,000,000 participate each year in the national championships. The Russians would certainly win a chess-team contest against the rest of the world.
Why are they so good? One reason is the social and financial prestige. When the two contenders in the title match, Botvinnik and the 24-year-old Latvian defending champion, Mikhail Tal, appeared in the streets of Moscow, they were mobbed by excited fans.
When Tal captured the title from Botvinnik last year, a special train took him home to Riga, with crowds lining the route; a film was made of the match, and he was elected a member of the Riga Soviet.
Chess in Russia has always been a national game, even before the revolution. It boomed when it became known that Lenin was a keen player and when card clubs were eliminated by the Communists.
Top Russian masters earn the equivalent of around £4000 a year (that is, $4964.90USD in 1960, adjusted inflation for 2023 is $49,283.19) by playing and writing, and the best players—some 30 of them—have a state pension of £25 a month.
His pension
When Tal first won the Soviet championship at the age of 21, he became entitled to this pension for life. Although few Russians are full-time professionals (even Botvinnik spends most of his time helping to design power stations) they can always get leave for preparing for and competing in tournaments.
Botvinnik's easy win over Tal will disappoint most of the ordinary Russian chess fans. Tal's defeat was totally unexpected; pre-match betting quoted him as a 4-1 on favourite. With his non-stop attacks, brilliant sacrifices and quick checkmates, he had swept aside all the world's top players, including Botvinnik, in last year's match.
Tal's gifts include a fantastic memory. When he was a child of five, his father, a surgeon, took him along to a medical lecture he was giving. When they returned home, Tal's mother asked him what his father had said. Unconcernedly the boy repeated the entire lecture word for word. Now Tal can quote the moves of hundreds of chess games.
Tal has also built up a reputation as the fastest mover in master chess. On his way to the title he often defeated his opponents after only 20 minutes' thought.
In all important chess events there is a limit of 40 moves in 2½ hours for each side, making a five-hour session in all. Special clocks with two faces enable each master's time to be individually checked.
Before chess clocks were invented, around 1860, one leading British player specialized in very dull positions, over which he would ponder for hours. More than once his opponents fell asleep. Now, failure to make your moves in time involves automatic loss of the game.
Big change
Tal's normal custom is to move quickly, glare briefly at his opponent, and then pace the room like a caged tiger.
Botvinnik usually sits at the board for the full five hours, occasionally sipping cranberry juice. But in this match the Russian spectators were astonished to see the roles reversed. Botvinnik's deep strategy baffled Tal time after time. While Tal sat, head buried in hands, Botvinnik confidently walked up and down.
Now the grand masters look forward to the next challenge match in 1963 when, after eliminating contests arranged by the International Chess Federation, Botvinnik must defend his title.
Who will be his next opponent? It might be Tal again, but two other Russians are fancied: Paul Keres, a handsome, 45-year-old Estonian who is a tennis player of national standing as well as a chess expert, and Tigran Petrosian, a 32-year-old Armenian.
Contemptuous
It might also be the new 17-year-old American star, Bobby Fischer. Bobby has been United States senior champion four years running and is the greatest player of his age in the history of chess.
Bobby is contemptuous of the Russians. Tal, he says, is a weak defensive player and Botvinnik is an old man. He has announced that he intends to be world champion in 1963 and might do it.
What about Britain's part in world chess? Our champion is Jonathan Penrose, a 26-year-old psychology research student at London University. He defeated Tal brilliantly in last year's world team contest but was eliminated in the West Europe zonal stage of the individual championship.
Opportunities
The nearest Englishman to the world title is 49-year-old Harry Golombek, who was one of the two judges of the match in Moscow.
England's main hopes for the future rest on the efforts now being made by the British Chess Federation to give opportunities to talented juniors. Already two youngsters have appeared who may hit the international headlines in a few years: Andrew Whitely, the 13-year-old son of an Oxford college chaplain, and Jimmy Adams, also 13, of Holloway, who performed brilliantly against older opponents at the London Junior congress at Christmas.
But despite big efforts by other countries, experts reckon that Russia will stay the top chess nation until at least 1970.
Leonard Barden
October 05 1961
The Miami Herald, Miami, Florida, Thursday, October 05, 1961
Tal Chess Master
Bled, Yugoslavia — (AP) — Mikhail Tal Soviet chess grand master and former world champion captured first place Wednesday in an international tournament played here. Bobby Fisher of Brooklyn finished second.
December 11 1961
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'til the world understands why Robert J. Fischer criticised the U.S./British and Russian military industry imperial alliance and their own Israeli Apartheid. Sarah Wilkinson explains: Tweets by swilkinsonbc |
 “What a sad story Fischer was,” typed a racist, pro-imperialist colonial troll who supports mega-corporation entities over human rights, police state policies & white supremacy. |
To which I replied: “Really? I think he [Bob Fischer] stood up to the broken system of corruption and raised awareness! Whether on the Palestinian/Israel-British-U.S. Imperial Apartheid scam, the Bush wars of ‘7 countries in 5 years,’ illegally, unconstitutionally which constituted mass xenocide or his run in with police brutality in Pasadena, California-- right here in the U.S., police run rampant over the Constitution of the U.S., on oath they swore to uphold, but when Americans don't know the law, and the cops either don't know or worse, “don't care” -- then I think that's pretty darn “sad”. I think Mr. Fischer held out and fought the good fight, steadfast til the day he died, and may he Rest In Peace. Educate yourself about U.S./State Laws -- https://www.youtube.com/@AuditTheAudit/videos After which the troll posted a string of profanities, confirming there was never any genuine sentiment of “compassion” for Mr. Fischer, rather an intent to inflict further defamatory remarks. |
This ongoing work is a tribute to the life and accomplishments of Robert “Bobby” Fischer who passionately loved and studied chess history. May his life continue to inspire many other future generations of chess enthusiasts and kibitzers, alike.
March 9, 1943 - January 17, 2008The photograph of Bobby Fischer (above) from the March 02, 1956 The Tampa Times was discovered by Sharon Mooney (Bobby Fischer Newspaper Archive editor) on February 01, 2018 while gathering research materials for this ongoing newspaper archive project. Along with lost games now being translated into Algebraic notation and extractions from over two centuries of newspapers, it is but one of the many lost treasures to be found in the pages of old newspapers since our social media presence was first established November 11, 2017.
