2nd Round of the 2024 Action Tournament - and The Last Influential Writer of All Time

Aron Nimzowitsch 

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Life gets in the way of chess sometimes.

Like for instance, my dishwasher apparently broke. And my automatic dirty laundry basket, that cleans and folds clothes, doesn’t empty itself right now. Depressing.

Also, my wife went in for a knee replacement. (Insert laugh or groan.)

Round 2 of our unadvertised annual Action Tournament, with the player with White listed first, has these pairings:

Board 1: Luke M – Pete B

Board 2: Vince V – John O

Board 3: Jon C – Ken T

Board 4: Mike N – Thomas V

Board 5: Charlie S – Jeff S

Board 6: Jaden C – Ken L

Board 7: Paul M – Joe W

Board 8: Desmond W – George H

Now for our final instalment of the series; Writers that Change Chess History

Aron Nimzowitsch

In about 1906 or 1907 a young chess master was breaking onto the scene by the name of Aron Nimzowitsch. Born in Riga, young Aron learned chess from his father, who was a wealthy timber merchant.

Nimzowitsch and Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch were two grandmasters that had a running feud at the time over the correct way to play chess. Nimzowitsch was from the "hypermodern" style of chess - where the center could be controlled from the wings with a fianchettoed bishop, thus allowing over extension of your opponent's pawns which would then be attacked from the wings. Tarrasch was from the "classical" style of chess - control the center with pawns and take open files. It is said they did not speak to each other for decades!

Nimzowitsch had said that in his early chess career he was only interested in a 'combination' style of play. That gained him minor successes. After finding out from bitter experience that this alone was not enough against masterly opposition, Aron retired from active play and worked out his highly original ideas on the game.

He rejoined tournament play post-World War I and his results were formidable:

1st place at Copenhagen in 1923 ahead of Tartakower and Spielmann 

1st place tied with Rubinstein at Marienbad in 1925

1st place in Dresden in 1926 ahead of Alekhine

1st place in Hanover in 1926 over Rubinstein

Two 1st place tie finishes in 1927 against the best of that time.

1st place in Berlin in 1928 ahead of Bogolyubov

and a 1st place in Carlsbad in 1929 ahead of Capablanca, Spielmann, Rubinstein, Tartakower, Bogolyubov and Vidmar.

This should have earned Nimzowitsch the right to challenge for the World Championship, but he could never seem to find the financial backing to challenge. Back in those days, the challenger had to find the prize fund somehow.

So, during this period Alekhine and Bogolyubov played a couple of times.

Also, during this time, Aron put his theories on paper in a book called My System. This book is broken into two sections. The first is on the elements of chess strategy and the other is more advanced and looks at positional play. It is certainly one of the classic chess works of all time!

Aron also wrote a follow up book: Chess Praxis

LCCC Casual Chess Happening - 2024 Action Champion Crowned - and Writers Part 4

 

Richard Reti'

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

Now the winner of the 2024 LCCC Rapid Tournament was Dr. Ken Tack – going 4 – 0! Congratulations Ken!

2nd - Pete B

3rd-5th - John O, Jon C and Paul M

Thank you to all 18 players who participated.

Later, in September, we will have our 2024 Action Tournament – or game in 30 minutes per player. Look forward to that!

Now;

Writers Who Have Changed Chess History – Part IV

Richard Reti

Born in Bazin, Austria-Hungary, what is now Pezinok, Slovakia, in 1889, Richard Reti ended up leaving a great impression in Moscow. His writings are still highly regarded by Russian chess experts.

His book was called Modern Ideas in Chess, published in 1923. Another book, Masters of the Chessboard was published posthumously in 1933. 

The focus of Modern Ideas in Chess was the study of the styles of the greatest players of the past and his present. This included Morphy, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Schlechter, Capablanca, Rubinstein, Breyer, Tartakower, Alekhine and Nimzowitsch. 

Richard Reti sadly died in a Prague hospital of scarlet fever at the age of 40. This left the chess world much the poorer for it. 

Other accomplishments of Reti; 

Winning a great international tournament in Gothenburg in 1921.

He also set what was a blindfold exhibition record of 29 games at once, winning 21, losing 2 and drawing 6.

2024 Quick Tournament Starts Next Monday - Writers Who Have Changed Chess History Part III - Dr. Emanuel Lasker

 

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

We will be having our free Quick Tournament starting next week. "Quick" means a 15-minute time limit per game and two rounds a night for probably 2 consecutive Monday nights. 

This should make for some exciting chess and a fun time. Be sure to be at the Club for this event probably starting around 6:30 pm.

Casual chess and early entry into the tournament is the plan for tonight.

Now, Writers Who Have Changed Chess History - Part III

Dr. Emanuel Lasker was perhaps the most remarkable man ever to achieve eminence in the chess world. 

That statement in itself tells you all you need to know as we go thru this list of chess writers that have changed history.

He was chess world champion for 27 years! The longest reign of any champion in chess history. From 1894 when he beat Steinitz, until 1921 when he lost to Capablanca.

And he maintained his chess skills for almost all of his life. 

In 1935, in the Moscow Championship, at the age of 67, he finished 3rd behind Botvinnik and Flohr by a half-point, finishing ahead of Capablanca by a half point!

Dr. Lasker was also a mathematician of caliber sufficient to earn praise from Albert Einstein - whoever he is.

Meanwhile, I am still working on my "gozintas". You know, like 3 gozinta 9, 3 times? I think

Dr. Lasker also was a first-class bridge, Go and dominos player and even invented a game called "Lasca", a variant of checkers.

The famous chess book he wrote was called "Common Sense in Chess" was a small work of only 141 pages, but it was published all over the world!

Lasker's 4 rules for development are:

> Do not move any pawns in the opening except the D and E pawns.

> Do not move any piece twice in the opening

> Bring knights out before bishops

> Do not pin your opponent's knights before your opponent castles

Dr. Lasker had a brother Frank who also was a chess player, but no where near Emanuel in strength, but very few were.

Edward Lasker, a grandmaster that came along later, claimed to be distantly related to Emanuel but that could not be substantiated beyond all doubt. Possible, but not proven historians say.

Emanuel and Edward did play against each other in a 1924 tournament in New York with Emanuel winning the tournament and beating his much less famous namesake 1-0-1 in their meetings in that tournament.

LCCC Crowns 2024 960 Champ - and Writers Who Have Changed Chess History – Part II

 Howard Staunton

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

Now the winner of the 2024 LCCC 960 Freestyle Tournament was Vince Valente – going 4 – 0! 

Congratulations Vince!  And thank you to all 16 players who participated.

Writers Who Have Changed Chess History – Part II

Howard Staunton

He achieved fame by winning a match against the French chess champion Pierre de Saint-Amant. He became notorious (I say nefarious) for avoiding a match with American Champion Paul Morphy. He designed a chess set style that is still very much in use today, as each piece except the pawn give a "hint" as to how they move. 

He brought the first international chess tournament to London, England. He edited the first British chess magazine. And Howard Staunton was all those things and the first and only English world champion.

 

Staunton was born in 1810. In a twist of fate, his death came in 1874 on June 22, the same date that Paul Morphy was born. 

 

He was a rare bird for great chess players as he was 19 years old when he learned to play. But by 1840 he established himself as England's best player. In 1843, he won that match against Saint-Amant by a resounding score of 11 wins, 6 loses and 4 draws. And three years after that, he defeated both Bernhard Horowitz and Daniel Harrwitz to be given the reckoned position of the world's best player.

 

But it was in 1847, when he wrote his first and greatest chess work, The Chess Player's Handbook. It was so successful for such a long time it was re-printed 21 times between 1847 and 1935! 

In 1849, he wrote The Chess Player's Companion, and also designed the chess set that is still very much in use today.

 

Staunton claimed to be so busy with his simultaneous exhibition schedule and his writing of a third book, that he said he had no time, and it made no financial sense to hold a match against Paul Morphy. And as Paul was crossing the Atlantic by ship to meet with Staunton, Staunton set sail for South America for a simultaneous exhibition and book selling tour. 

 

So Paul was left to play all of Staunton's vanquished foes. The feeling of every master chess player at that time is that Paul Morphy would have won the match against Staunton easily. There is a bit of a stain on Staunton's legacy for not playing the match, but you cannot discount his contributions to chess in any event.

In 1860, he published The Player's Handbook, which had improvements to openings, and at least paid homage to Morphy's greatness with published games and analysis. 

In Handbook, Staunton's treatment of endgames was more systematic than Philidor's treatment, but you could tell his heart was not in it. Staunton relished in opening theory. 

Book (Section) One; Beginners guide

Book Two does deep dives into the popular openings of those times; King's Knight Openings; Philidor Def, Petroff's Def, Guioco Piano, Evan's Gambit, and Ruy Lopez.

Book Three; King's Bishop Opening, 

Book Four; King's Gambit, 

Book Five; Queen's Gambit and 

Book Six; Endgames.

LCCC Not Meeting Memorial Day!

The Club is not meeting today! Holiday Weekend! See you next week!

Speaking of next week, here are the pairings for the last round of our 960 tournament (player with White listed first):

Board 1: Vince V - Ken T

Board 2: AJ E - Pete B

Board 3: Charlie S - Thomas V

Board 4: Mike N - Paul M

Board 5: Sam T - Todd H

Board 6: John O - Ken L

Board 7: Jim G - Andrew B

Board 8: Jon C - Desmond W

LCCC 2024 960 Tournament Rolls On - and Chess Writers That Have Changed Chess History - Part 1

 

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

Our Chess 960 tournament is in full swing with 13 participants right now. But it is never too late to join in. Here are the pairings - 1st player has White:

Charlie S - Pete B

Ken L - Ken T

Sam T - Vince V

Mike N - Tom V

Paul M - Jim G

Jon C - John O

Desmond W  - Bye

Now - Writers Who Have Changed Chess History

An autobiography. 

Just kidding.

Certain books stand out as great landmarks in the history of chess literature. There are not many. You can probably count them on both your hands, or maybe your hands and one foot.

In choosing the books for a list of the best, we could go all the way back to Alfonso the Wise, back in 1280 AD. Or we could stay fairly modern and choose the books of Damiano and Ruy Lopez in the 1560's. These books were popular in the writer's lifetimes but faded over time.

The first book that captured the public's interest and retained it for many years after the author's death was Analysis of Chess by Francois-Andre Danican Philidor in 1749. Editions of this book were still being published and read in the 1860's!

Philidor (yes, the same one the Phildor's Defence is named after) was born in 1726 and was already one of the strongest players in France at age 14. He was also a gifted musician and performed at the prestigious Chapel Royal in Versailles when he was a mere 11 years old. At that time he was equally celebrated as a musician and a chess player.

It is said by many chess book reviewers, that it is the quality of understanding that made this book so remarkable. In clear, simple language Philidor presented the reader with a complete picture of the game as it should be played by a master. 

Philidor had an intense preoccupation with pawns. He was fond of saying "Pawns are the soul of chess. They are the very life of the game. They can attack or defend." Hans Kmoch published a book called Pawn Power in Chess, which is an updated Philidor mantra.

But Analysis of Chess was more than a pawn essay or opening workbook. It was also the first scientific study of the endgame. The work Philidor did intrigues endgame experts to this day.

Charlie S. Wins 2024 Senior Title! - And Why Do We Play Chess?

 

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between

4pm and 10pm

at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop in for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'.

Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

LCCC News!

The Michigan Senior Open was held on the weekend of April 13^th and 14^th of 2024. The LCCC had three representatives in that Tournament.

Our own Charlie Shoulders won the Novice Section with a perfect 4 – 0 record! 

Congratulations to Charlie.

The LCCC seems to have a lock on that tournament division as our own Paul Mills and Jeff Solski won the same division last year. 

Next year, the Three-peat!

So Why Do We Play Chess?

In 1938, a Vienna professor of psychology finished research into 500 different games and pastimes. He wanted to discover which one was the best at taking away the stress of life.

He found it in chess!

What was the reason for this discovery? Chess is unquestionably considered to be a game requiring mental activity to a degree claimed by no other game.  Yet it is found to be the best game for recreation, for physical and mental workers alike.

Chess may very well be the finest creation of the human mind. It combines the exactness of mathematical science with the intuition of art in a perfection no other human activity has.

The love for chess by those who play it may be looked at for the following reasons:

-      We like to solve problems: The expectation of being able to show our capacity for fulfilling a certain task gives us great satisfaction.

-      We like to start something and finish it ourselves: Every chess game is like a piece of art. It is unique and will never be duplicated again.

-      We like the mental absorption: Every chess players knows the amount of concentration necessary for a game to be good. Playing chess gives no room for other thoughts and you can get lost into this new world of 64 squares and no other world exists for a while.

-      We love adventure; The thirst for adventure inherent in every human sole can be fully satisfied on the chessboard without any serious consequences.