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The Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia Archive #8 Submit your trivia to the Mad Aussie!
Famous Venue: The 2001 FIDE World Championship match in Moscow between Ruslan Ponomariov and Vassily Ivanchuk was held in the Metropol Hotel. The Metropol was also the venue of the 1925 Moscow International Tournament, won by Bogulyubov ahead of Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca. Different Venue: There was no USSR chess championship held in 1953, as all of the top players were competing in the Zurich Candidate's tournament. The next USSR championship was the 21st, held in Kiev in 1954. What's In A Name? Part One: The "Grand Prix Attack" in the Sicilian Defense (1 e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc3 3. f4) got is name because it was used in British weekend tournaments in the late 70's and the 80's. These tournaments formed a "Grand Prix" series, hence the name. What's In A Name? Part Two: The Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense was named after the 1923 tournament played in the Dutch town of the same name. Max Euwe played the variation as Black against Geza Maroczy. Sandglasses: Prior to the introduction of mechanical chess clocks in the mid to late 19th century, players would use sandglasses to work out how much time they could spend on their moves. Bare King: In early medieval times, one way for a player to win the game was to leave his opponent with a "bare king", i.e. no other pieces on the board. This rule survived in Iceland up to the middle of the 19th century. In some countries the "bare king" was considered an inferior form of victory, and if there was a prize stake for the game, the victor would only get a percentage of it. Playing Around: The 1886 and 1894 World Championship matches involved games being played in 3 different cities. The 1886 match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort was played in New York, St Louis and New Orleans. The 1894 match between Steinitz and Emanuel Lasker took place in New York, Philadelphia and Montreal. Not Playing At All: In 1906, Emanuel Lasker and Geza Maroczy signed an agreement to play a match for the World Champion title. Games were to be played in Vienna, Havana and New York, with the first player to win 8 games winning the match. The match never happened, due to political instability in Cuba, while the Vienna Chess Club wanted to host the whole match. Unfortunately for Maroczy, this was the closest that he ever got to playing in a World Championship title match. The Three Swedish Musketeers: The 3 Swedish masters of the 20th century - Erik Lundin, Gideon Stahlberg and Gosta Stoltz - were nicknamed the "Three Musketeers" by Swedish chess fans. The Swede and the Dutchman: The Swedish GM Ulf Andersson and the Dutch GM Gennadi Sosonko played each other 32 times in international chess tournaments. The results of their games were +0, -0, =32. Every one of their games was drawn. Thanks to Jan Lindstrom of Sweden for this piece of trivia! Who Am I #1? I was the best player in my country for a 15 year period after WW1, winning my national championship 6 times during this period. My best tournament performance was a first place ahead of 13 other players, including Spielmann, Grunfeld and Tartakower. My tournament results were affected by the ill-health that dogged me throughout my career. I was famous for my brilliant combinations. I have had an opening system named after me. Who am I? Who Am I #2? I was a comparatively late starter in international chess, not having any success till my early 20's. I played in 40 tournaments over a 30 year period, winning or sharing 18 first and 10 second prizes. I also finished first in 3 successive national championships. I was also one of the top 10 players in the world for nearly a decade, and competed in 3 candidates matches. I am also well known as an author, and have received praise for the care and time that I spend researching and writing the books that are published under my name. I am also a openings theorist, and introduced into tournament play a very double-edged opening variation that now bears my name. Who am I? Strong Finisher: Soviet GM Efim Geller is the only player to have lost 5 games in a USSR championship tournament and still win the title. At the 22nd championship at Moscow in 1955, Geller scored +10, -5, =4, to finish =1st with Vassily Smyslov, whom he defeated in a play-off match. Lightning Finish: After a slow start in the 40th USSR Championship tournament, held in Baku in 1972, Mikhail Tal picked up his form in the latter part of the tournament to win with a score of 15/21. He attributed his success to playing a session of friendly lightning games with local masters in the foyer of the tournament hall. Championship Beginnings: In 1920, Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky was given the responsibility of organizing the first USSR championship, which was held in Moscow. Despite trying circumstances, due to the aftereffects of both World War 1 and the Russian Revolution, he was able to run the tournament, which was won by Alexander Alekhine. At one stage, the players threatened to go on "strike", due to lack of food and meals. Ilyin-Genevsky also competed in the tournament, finishing 10th with a score of 7/16. Championship Persistence: Yefim Geller, Marc Taimonov, David Bronstein, Lev Polugaevsky and Mikhail Tal are the only players to have played in 20 or more USSR Chess championship finals tournaments. Stamped: The first stamp to feature a chess theme was issued on the 29th of September 1947 in Bulgaria. The 9-leva stamp depicted a knight and commemorated the Balkan games in Sofia, a section of which was a 4 nation chess tournament between the host country, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. Stumped - (Another Who Am I? Quiz! #3): I was the leading player in my country from the mid 1970s up to the late 1980's. After a slow start to my career, I started winning tournaments aged in my early 20's. I made my Olympiad debut at the same time, and achieved the best score on Board 3. I was severely injured in a car accident, and during my convalescence I reappraised my playing style. I am well known for my original opening play, and tactical skill. Although I continued to win tournaments, I could never translate my success to the World Championship cycle, and never qualified for the Candidates matches. In the early 1980's I was ranked the number 3 player in the world, behind only Karpov and Kasparov. Outside of chess, I am fluent in several languages. Who am I? Correspondence Records: Here are some interesting pieces of Correspondence Chess trivia, courtesy of Tim Harding's Chess Mail magazine:
Correspondence Mastery: One of the largest
individual CC tournaments of all time was the "Monde Illustre" tournament,
which was held between 1889 and 1892. It was won by the Austro-Hungarian
master Johann Berger with the extraordinary score of +45, =3, -0 #1 Edgar Colle (Belgium, 1897-1932)
Trivia Archives Return to the Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia Index
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