On 12/31/2021 4:26 PM, William Hyde wrote:
> On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 6:55:29 PM UTC-5, Ken Blake wrote:
>> On 12/30/2021 4:39 PM, William Hyde wrote:

>> > Two books you might like, DuMont's "Two hundred miniature games of chess" and Chernev's "1000 best short games
>> > of chess". The annotations are better in the DuMont, but who needs annotations with games like these?
>> I had the Chernev book years ago. It's long gone now, and I don't
>> remember what happened to it. It was never one of my favorites.
>
> Chernev's quality is fairly middle-of-the-road with a few exceptions. Never bad, though.

Yes, I agree. I also remember "The Fireside Book of Chess" which he
wrote with Reinfeld. I think that was the first chess book I owned
(bought around 1953), and I liked it a lot in those days.

I just checked and I see that I still have a copy of "Winning Chess"
which he also wrote with Reinfeld. I still think that's an excellent
book for a beginner or even intermediate player to study.

I'm not sure, but I think I perhaps met him once. He might have been the
tournament director at the 1956 US Junior Championship I played in; my
memory of it is hazy.

I never played against him, though.

On Friday, December 31, 2021 at 6:56:22 PM UTC-5, Ken Blake wrote:
> On 12/31/2021 4:26 PM, William Hyde wrote:
> > On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 6:55:29 PM UTC-5, Ken Blake wrote:
> >> On 12/30/2021 4:39 PM, William Hyde wrote:
>
> >> > Two books you might like, DuMont's "Two hundred miniature games of chess" and Chernev's "1000 best short games
> >> > of chess". The annotations are better in the DuMont, but who needs annotations with games like these?
> >> I had the Chernev book years ago. It's long gone now, and I don't
> >> remember what happened to it. It was never one of my favorites.
> >
> > Chernev's quality is fairly middle-of-the-road with a few exceptions. Never bad, though.
> Yes, I agree. I also remember "The Fireside Book of Chess" which he
> wrote with Reinfeld. I think that was the first chess book I owned
> (bought around 1953), and I liked it a lot in those days.

I took that one from the library many times. Fascinating book.

Is that the book in which there was an article on Elijah Willams? EW was a famously slow player, and the author hypothesized that this was due to the fact that he was "inventing" hypermodernism decades before it's time.

Of course Williams was a great player, but this article was an example of what we might call Staunton Derangement
Syndrome. These "hypermodern" systems (some still in use today) were played by, and largely invented by, Staunton, years before Williams arrived on the scene.

But as Staunton is seen as a great villain, sufferers from SDS (even so great a player as Fine) cannot imagine that he did anything worthwhile. I don't recall the actual author of this article, might be Chernev, Reinfeld, or neither.

William Hyde

On 1/1/2022 5:36 PM, William Hyde wrote:
> On Friday, December 31, 2021 at 6:56:22 PM UTC-5, Ken Blake wrote:
>> On 12/31/2021 4:26 PM, William Hyde wrote:
>> > On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 6:55:29 PM UTC-5, Ken Blake wrote:
>> >> On 12/30/2021 4:39 PM, William Hyde wrote:
>>
>> >> > Two books you might like, DuMont's "Two hundred miniature games of chess" and Chernev's "1000 best short games
>> >> > of chess". The annotations are better in the DuMont, but who needs annotations with games like these?
>> >> I had the Chernev book years ago. It's long gone now, and I don't
>> >> remember what happened to it. It was never one of my favorites.
>> >
>> > Chernev's quality is fairly middle-of-the-road with a few exceptions. Never bad, though.
>> Yes, I agree. I also remember "The Fireside Book of Chess" which he
>> wrote with Reinfeld. I think that was the first chess book I owned
>> (bought around 1953), and I liked it a lot in those days.
>
> I took that one from the library many times. Fascinating book.
>
> Is that the book in which there was an article on Elijah Willams?

Maybe, but if so, I don't remember it.

> EW was a famously slow player, and the author hypothesized that this was due to the fact that he was "inventing" hypermodernism decades before it's time.
>
> Of course Williams was a great player, but this article was an example of what we might call Staunton Derangement
> Syndrome. These "hypermodern" systems (some still in use today) were played by, and largely invented by, Staunton, years before Williams arrived on the scene.
>
> But as Staunton is seen as a great villain, sufferers from SDS (even so great a player as Fine) cannot imagine that he did anything worthwhile. I don't recall the actual author of this article, might be Chernev, Reinfeld, or neither.
>
> William Hyde
>

Bs"d

And yet another mate on move 8. The culprit was this time the Budapest gambit.
The enemy who was rated a healthy 1872 managed to avoid the main trap, so I had to fall back on another one. And that one worked like a charm, a smothered mate on move 8: https://lichess.org/iH7Pva8FHrRo

I would dare to say that this is even better than winning the queen for a bishop and a horse. Surely the shock effect must be much bigger than losing the queen for 2 pieces. One moment you're playing chess, next moment, out of the blue: WHAM!! You're mate!

https://tinyurl.com/Budapest8

Bs"d

This mate of Legal https://lichess.org/uIq3u52z8Z9J ended in a sudden death on move 8.

On move 6 I cried out: "Oh no!! My queen!!"

I was white, and moved my horse which was pinned by a black bishop on my queen. The black bishop, after long deliberation, took my queen.

Black must have been very happy with this ginormous material win. But, on move 8 black turned all white, because he was mate.

That'll teach him.

https://tinyurl.com/Legal-mate

Bs"d

The Budapest has hit hard and merciless again.

This is a very funny one, a mean trap, just now played it: https://lichess.org/2lHBpXknJ1ap 😀😀😀

https://tinyurl.com/mat8Buda

Bs"d

The Stafford gambit has hit hard and merciless again: https://lichess.org/mQSoEcy4F6d9

White had a big smile on his face when he took my queen. Unfortunately for him, 3 ply later he was mate. 😃😃😃

https://tinyurl.com/Staff-death-8