Persitz Making an Impression

 

Source: Chess Review, December 1954, p. 356 and 370, respectively.

Mr. Halsegger also notes that in the same issue, the rising star of Israeli chess - Raafi Persitz - was making an impression in England. In particular, the article by Bruce Hayden reports, he managed to play two tournament games in one day... 75 miles apart. First he played in the Oxford University vs. Cambridge University match in London. Then he was in time to catch the train to Swindon in order to play in the Oxfordshire vs. Gloucestershire county match (playing against no other than C. H. O'D. Alexander.)

Aloni Making an Impression

 

Source: Chess Review, December 1954, p. 360

The game between Aloni and Kotov in the 1954 olympiad made quite an impression, since Aloni won, leading the Israeli team to a 2:2 draw with the all-powerful USSR. One example, given to us by Herbert Halsegger, is crowning the game as "game of the month" by Chess Review in December 1954, with annotation by no other than Dr. Max Euwe. 

Baron, Banker, Chess Master - and Grandson of a Rabbi

 

Credit: Herbert Halsegger

Mr. Halsegger sends us these two close-ups of Ignaz von Kolisch's grave. He was a baron, a financier, and a chess master, and his coat of arms also shows two chess pieces. But the Hebrew part of his grave notes little of that. It says that he was a "famous wise man," and the name mentions that he is "Baron von Kolisch," but his most important achievement noted is the fact that he was... the grandson of the rabbi "the late just man Kaufman Kolisch," the rabbi and "head of the rabbinical court of the holy community of Stampen" (ph. spelling). 

By the way, "head of the rabbinical court of the holy community of" takes five letters only on the tombstone, using the acronym אבדקק - אב בית דין קהילה קדושה. 

"The Flower of Youth"

Source: Chess Review, June 1949, p. 181

Many old stories about past masters are fables, as Edward Winter and other reliable chess historians often note. Indeed, as Winter points out, the need for sources is crucial. 

But, just occasionally, the old stories about past masters are true - as reliable contemporary sources tell us. One example is given to us by Herbert Halsegger. The old story about Mieses (then 84) commenting that "youth had been victorious" when he beat an even older player, van Foreest (then 86), is actually true - as witnessed by Mieses himself. 

Another example is the story of a Jewish master telling himself that his opponent, a ganef ("thief" in Yiddish) had "stolen" the game, and the opponent asking whether a "ganef" can be a gentleman, to the Jewish master's assent. Surprisingly, this story is possibly true after all: see the other side of the story. 

Mosheh Oved

 

Source: Chess Review, November 1948, cover.

Mr. Herbert Halsegger sends us the following interesting photo of a Jewish collector of antiques - including chess. According to page 2 of the same issue, the person in question is:

Mosheh Oved was quite an interesting person. He wrote an autobiography, Visions and Jewels (London: Ernest Benn, 1925), and three items in his collection - not the chess set in the picture, alas - eventually found their way to the British Museum. It is remarkable that in his autobiography he spells his name based on the Yiddish pronounciation of his name, that is, "Moysheh Oyved." 

Samuel Schweber

Source: Chess Review, July 1955, p. 198

The above note was brought to our attention by Herbert Halsegger. It should be noted that Samuel Schweber had also played in the 1964 Olympiad in Tel Aviv, and in a first-day postcard signed his name in Hebrew, as noted previously in this blog. He also signed his name in Hebrew in Eliezer Pe'er's notebook in the 1960 Olympiad. Mr. Halsegger also notifies us of a game between Petrosian and Schweber with notes by Najdorf, found (in Spanish) on this web page, with nice photographs of both.

 

"What Time's the Next Swan?"

 

Source: Chess Review, June 1955, p. 165

Herbert Halsegger notes another example of actors playing chess, in this case Walter Slezak. The title of this post is that of Slezak's autobiography. According to the entry on Wikipedia, this refers to the story of Slezak's father - also an actor - who, playing Lohengrin, missed entering the swan-shaped boat on which he was supposed to leave the stage. He reacted by asking, "what time's the next swan?" Mr. Halsegger notes that Slezak also featured on the cover of the July 1953 issue of the same magazine:

Chess and Sex

 

The British Foreign Office. Credit: Wikipedia. 

In foreign office document FO 371/168255 from 5 June 1963, sent from the Havana embassy, Sir Herbert Marchant, then the British ambassador in Cuba, sent his superiors in the foreign office a review of the state of culture in Cuba after the revolution. He noted that "Havana has very few book-shops" but nevertheless there is a "plentiful supply of paper-back text books on Chess and Sex, both popular with Cubans."

The popularity of chess is understandable, due to Capablanca, of course, but why on earth would the other activity be popular in Cuba? 

Dobkin vs. Czerniak in the Foreign Press

 

Source: Chess Review, September 1956, p. 283

Mr. Halsegger, in his deep dive through old American chess magazines, also notes the following rare (for the time) report of an Israeli game - from the Israeli championship of 1956 - in the foreign press. The game Dobkin - Czerniak (0:1). 

 

Source: see below

The same issue Mr. Halsegger pointed out to us in the previous post also has, in other news, a report from the Moscow, 1956, Olympiad - with a photo of Zhgder (left) of Mongolia playing Czerniak in the Olympiad. It is on p. 356 of the issue. 

Bobby and Friends

 

Source: Chess Review, December 1956, p. 375

Herbert Halsegger notifies us of the "Game of the Century" issue of Chess Review, featuring Bobby Fischer (then 13) at play, with other famous chess friends, of which one was no other than Edward Lasker. Reshevsky is also mentioned. 

It was in this issue that Fischer's famous "game of the century" against Donald Byrne was published, with the cover amazingly showing Fischer just before he played the famous 17...Be6!! that won the game. Apparently, this is not a re-enactment, as noted in the following chessbase article: The game that shook the world | ChessBase.  

Chess Booms

 

Source: Nu, March 2012, p. 28

Our frequent correspondent Herbert Halsegger notes an article from a Jewish magazine for politics and culture about the chess boom in Israel in 2012 when Boris Gelfand played for the world championship with Viswanathan Anand. 

This made us think about previous chess "booms." The recent one due to The Queen's Gambit is well known (and still ongoing) and so was the Fischer boom in the USA after Fischer won the world championship in 1972. 

Are there any other examples of such "booms" in history? Did chess, for example, become noticeably more popular after the first international chess tournament, London, 1851?