Wednesday, January 9, 2008

"A Genius Meets a Genius"



This is the title given (by Shaul Hon) to the photograph of the Akiba Rubinstein playing in a simultaneous exhibition with Haim Nachman Biyalik (head in hand), the famous poet, in Tel Aviv, on 24/5/1931. Correction: the game took place on 16/4/31, in Ohel Shem, Tel Aviv, as seen for example in Davar, 19/4/1931, p. 4. 

The photograph belonged to Menachem Mendel Marmorosh, who was the most active chess master and organizer in in Palestine at the time. It was made available to me by the kind permission of his children, Ruth Doral and Mordechai Marom.

Biyalik was well-known as a chess fan; among other things, he--with Marmorosh and others--was on a committee which chose Hebrew words for chess terms. To this day most of their terms are in use.

1 comment:

  1. Shalom Avital!

    Thank you very much for the two articles about Akiva Rubinstein!
    I think it was you who posted the picture on Winter's chess history website and this made curious to find more about Rubinstein's visit in Palestine. Now I have found your blog, and it's fantastic! Tomorrow I'll go through the other articles.
    If you are interested in my Rubinstein research and writing project (with two recently found games!!) please visit: http://rubina.yfw24.de/
    My e-mail is given on the above website. Would be great to hear from you and discuss chess history with you!

    Best regards,
    Anita

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