"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.