Tournament Excellence:  The longest international tournament held between WW1 and WW2 was played at Bled, Yugoslavia in August-September 1931. The 26 round 14 player double round-robin was won by Alexander Alekhine with a score of 20.5/26 (+15, =11, -0), ahead of Bogulyobuv, Nimzowich, Flohr, Kashdan, Stoltz and Vidmar.

Tournament Futility:  The greatest losing performance in a single tournament. At the Monte Carlo tournament in 1903, a Colonel Moreau finished with the record of +0, =0, -26.  Apparently he was a member of the organizing committee, and managed to get an invite to the tournament.  Needless to say, he wasn't invited back the following year!

Too Many Queens?:  There have only been 2 "serious" games in which 5 Queens appeared on the board at one time:  Tresling-Benima, Winschoten 1896; and Vondug-Lamprecht, Corr., West Germany 1972.  The record for the most Queens to appear in the course of a single game was set by the game Konopleva-Schmidke, 1963, in which 7 different queens made an appearance at one stage or another. Black had 4 queens; to White's 3, and won the game.

Select Company:  David Janowski and Siegbert Tarrasch were the only two players who defeated Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Jose Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine in serious tournament/match play.

Correspondence "Checks":  In some late 19th century correspondence chess tournaments, players had to pay an "earnest fee" as a guarantee to make sure that they would complete all of their games.  If a player completed his games, the "earnest fee" would be refunded.  If the player abandoned the tournament before completing their games, their "earnest fee" would be added to the prize pool.

Correspondence Ratings:  Here is the most recent ICCF ratings list from October 2002:

1.   Ulf Andersson (Swe) 2741
2.   Gert Timmermann (Ned) 2733
3.   Joop van Oosterom (Ned) 2724
4.   Olita Rause (Lat) 2717
5.   Harald Tarnowiecki (Aut) 2692
6.   Hans-Marcus Elwart (Ger) 2688
7.   Joachim Neuman (Ger) 2685
8.   Kenneth Frey (Mex) 2680
9.   Volker-Michael Anton (Ger) 2670
10. Gottardo Cottardi (Switz) 2664

Van Oosterom may be better known as the organizer of the Melody Amber tournament in Monte Carlo each year.  Rause is the CC equivalent of Judit Polgar!  There are a couple of well-known OTB players whose names don't appear on the list, as they haven't played the 30 games required to get a rating. They include Curt Hansen (Den) 2653 and Johnny Hector (Swe) 2616.

Correspondence Sadness:  Being a CC player, I was saddened to read the following quotes in a Chess Mail interview with Slovakian CC GM Dr Jozef Franzen, who finished second in the 12th ICCF WCCC (1984-91):

It is not very optimistic, but I think normal correspondence chess - I have liked it for 30 or 40 years but it is destroyed, and it is finished by computers ...

CC was very interesting for me if a player must understand something about the play and must work hard with the chessboard.  But at this time, too many people are playing with a computer.  Maybe 90% of the opponent's strength is computer".

Only calculation and no chess culture. For me it is difficult to play with them. Normally they are not [serious] opponents.  But now, for example, he has three computers and I am playing so (Frantzen points to his wallet chess set). For example, draw.  It is not very interesting for me.

English Opening Origins:  The English Opening was first seen in international play as far back as 1843, when Howard Staunton used it during his match against the French player Pierre Saint-Amant.

Unorthodox Chess Opening Discussion:  In the course of his 1858 match with Paul Morphy, Adolf Anderssen as White played 1.a3 as his opening move, scoring +1, -1, =1 from the 3 games.

Editor's Note:  Richard Morris, on the Unorthodox Chess Openings list, adds this information about 1.a3:  "The idea behind 1. a3, Anderssen's Opening, is to play a Black opening with a move in hand for White.  a3 is a useful move in most of them.  The drawback is that if Black answers with a kingside fianchetto, a3 usually becomes irrelevant.  It may be best to play a3 at some point later than the first move.  For example 1. c4 e5 2. a3 and White is playing a Sicilian Defense with an extra move."

IM Eric Schiller, also on the Unorthodox Chess Openings list, responds: "If you search databases for White formations against Black's kingside fianchetto you find very, very few lines with a3, because it IS irrelevant and a waste of a move. That doesn't mean that White will lose of course. It basically throws away White's advantage of the first move. Black should not get over-confident or cocky, it isn't such a big deal. But any standard formation will benefit from White's lack of ambition."

The conversation about 1.a3 continues on the Unorthodox Chess Openings list.  Check it out!

1.  Although I became a chess professional prior to World War 1, my greatest impact on the game occurred during the 1920's.  Although I had a good tournament record, I am better remembered for my contributions to the hypermodern movement.  At one point I held the world record for the most games played simultaneously blindfold.  I started to compose studies at the latter part of my career, with one of my "simplest" studies being one of the most famous in this field.  Who Am I?

2.  I was at my peak during the 1940's and early 1950's, placing in many national and international tournaments.  Despite my success, I only played in one Olympiad.  I attended many more as a trainer for my country's national team.  I was also a "second" in several World Championship matches.  I made several important contributions to the theory of the King's Indian Defense.  My daughter later married David Bronstein.  Who Am I?

3.  I won my only national championship just prior to World War 1 at the age of 19.  I won my first international tournament in 1920, and then set a new simultaneous blindfold record.  I looked set for a brilliant career, but I died from heart disease at age 27.  A variation of the Ruy Lopez is named after me. I was also a member of the hypermodern movement. Who Am I?

Unofficial US Champion:  Until his death in 1891, George Mackenzie was regarded as the "unofficial" US  chess champion.  After his death, the title was claimed by Simon Lipschutz, as he was the highest placed US competitor at the 1889 New York international congress.  He defeated Jackson Showalter (+7, -1, =7) in a 1892 match.  From then on, the US titles was decided by matches, until the first "modern" US championship tournament in 1936.

Official US Champion:  Up to 1936, the United States chess championship was decided by a match between the champion and a challenger.  In 1936, the defending champion Frank Marshall relinquished the title.  A tournament was organized by the National Chess Federation, which was won by Sammy Reshevsky, who also won the 1938, 1940 and 1942 tournaments.  Despite these tournaments, Reshevsky also defended his title in matches against Al Horowitz in 1941, and Isaac Kashdan in 1942.

Nine Pawns for a Queen:  In the mid 1840's, French player Lionel Kieseritzky played a very unusual "odds" game.  He was Black against a General Guingret.  Guingret did not have a Queen. Instead, he had an extra 9 pawns, which were placed on the following squares: b3, c3, f3, g3, c4, d4, e4, f4, g4. The other pieces were arranged as per a normal game.  Kieseritzky won the game as follows:

1. e5 e6 2. d5 d6 3. e4 c6 4. exd6 cxd5 5. e5 b6 6. d4 f6 7. Bd3 g6 8. Be3 Nc6 9. c5 Bg7 10. b4 Bd7 11. b5 bxc5 12. bxc6 Bxc6 13. dxc5 fxe5 14. fxe5 Bxe5 15. Nd2 Rb8 16. Rb1 Qf6 17. Ne2 Qg7 18. 0-0 g5 19. Nb3 h5 20. Bd4 hxg4 21. fxg4 Kd7 22. f4 Bxd4+ 23. Nbxd4 Nf6 24. f5 e5 25. Ne6 Rxh2 26. Nxg7 Nxg4 27. f6 e4 28. f7 Rbh8 29. f8=N+ Kc8 30. d7+ Kb7 31. d8=N+ Ka8 "and Black wins"

(Taken from page 54 of Edward Winter's book "Kings, Commoners & Knaves".  The original article appeared in the November 1846 issue of "Deutsche Schachzeitung".)

"Nailed" On Move One:  The English Opening was first seen in international play as far back as 1843, when Howard Staunton used it during his match against the French player Pierre Saint-Amant.

ChessChatter Rob Kruszynski adds the following amusing story:  "I guess everyone knows the story about Staunton's colleagues attempt to persuade him to try another first move ? Well, for one team match they decided to fix the 'c' pawn on c2. Staunton arrives, sits down at board 1, extends his hand with a flourish and tries to push the 'c' pawn to the barely suppressed guffaws of the rest of the team. Anyway, it ended with the janitor being called upon and using pliers to remove the nail fixing the c pawn. Staunton of course remained cool throughout all this.  He did not give up playing 1.c4."

1.  I left my country of birth due to being orphaned during World War 1.  I commenced my international career in the 1920's. In a 10 year period I played in 50 national and international tournaments, and shared or won first prize in 24 of others, as finished lower than third on only 4 occasions. I also played in 5 Olympiads. I was a journalist by profession, and often reported on the tournaments that I played in. I became a national hero; cigarettes, pastries, slippers and other products featuring my name were made in my honour. I was selected by FIDE to challenge Alexander Alekhine for the world title, but the political situation in Europe at this time made this match an impossibility. I fled Europe at the beginning of World War 2, and ended up taking Soviet citizenship. I continued playing after World War 2, but was only a shadow of the player I was prior to World War 2. Who am I?

2.  I had a very successful junior career, including leading my country's team to victory in the Student Teams Olympiad.  I also played in 7 "senior" Olympiads. I twice won my country's "Open" championship, and finished second in the "closed" championship. The demands of my profession limited my ability to compete in international tournaments from the mid 1960's on. I was also a "second" for a World Championship match. Who am !?