Science Fiction and Chess - Once More

Source: here.

We often noted in this blog the relationship between chess and science fiction. We note here another blog post of many such books, from the "science fiction" side - that is, a science fiction web site that has a post about science fiction books and chess (one is reminded of Nabokov's Pnin, where there is a fight between a historian of philosophy and a philosopher of history...). 

Above, I add another book that is not in the list given by the science fiction web site: Gerard Klein's Starmasters' Gambit. Klein, I add, is a well-known French writer many of whose work, says the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, features "an imagery and even a structure influenced by chess." 

It should be noted that sometimes - although by no means always - the alleged "chess" in the science fiction book is a mere plot device, where (for example) a "genius" who learned the game a week ago somehow manages to checkmate (in five moves or so) an unbeatable computer in a game on which hangs the fate of humanity. One such example is Barry Malzberg's Tactics of Conquest, witheringly reviewed by Edward Winter in Chess Notes 5355. 

Photos of Ephraim Kishon Playing Chess

Source: Kishon's memorial web page

Despite his love of the game, there don't seem to be many photos of Ephraim Kishon playing chess, except occasionally in simultaneous displays or the like (as opposed to tournament games). In particular, two black and white photos of him doing so are found on his memorial web site (link above). The same site also has a note about his chess computer, the talking chesster. There was also a chess set in his office, as seen in, for example, the following detail from the photo of his office on the Hebrew wikipedia web page about him: 

Above the chess set, by the way, is a framed death notice lamenting the death of Stalin, which the pro-USSR Israeli party, Mapam, published at the time. Another example is on his official web page (in the Hebrew version):

Ephraim Kishon and Chess II

 

Credit: Tel Aviv Municipal Government

Ephraim Kishon was a chess player, and his life was in fact saved by chess, as we saw before in this blog. It is therefore only fitting that a memorial for 100 years for his birth was arranged last year in - the Chess House in Tel Aviv, in Tagore St., Tel Aviv, by the Tel Aviv municipal government. 

Boris Spassky, 1937-2025

 

Gligoric (l.) vs. Spassky, 1965. Source: see below.

Boris Spassky was the 10th chess world champion. He was also, simply put, a gentleman. He was always generous and gallant. In particular, his willingness to continue the match with Fischer in 1972 after Fischer lost the first game and forfeited the second was one reason the match was not aborted. Edward Winter had updated his web page about Spassky with a link to an "exceptionally fine" obituary by Leonard Barden, from which this photo is taken. Needless to say, Winter's web page is intended merely as a sampler of the great amount of material in Chess Notes about the 10th world champion. 

Almost all the obituaries note that Spassky was, even more than a chess player, a gentleman: generous to other players, including his opponents. To give only examples from Winter's page noted above, Spassky was very generous towards Fischer, pointed out Keres as a "particularly kind and gentlemanly colleague," and his evaluation of Petrosian was higher than that of some other masters, notably Botvinnik, to say nothing of the chess public which often belittled Petrosian (see also Winter's page about Petrosian for more details.) 

It is a bit odd to speak in this way of a world champion, but it seems that in the popular perception among the rank-and-file players, Tal and Fischer - due to their aggressive and perhaps more accessible style - are seen as superior to the "loser" (to Fischer) Spassky and "weak" Petrosian. As if Spassky's 1972 match was the whole of his career, or Petrosian is to be faulted, as Winter notes, for not playing in Tal's style. But in the case of one of the truly great players, like Spassky, I am certain history will remember him more kindly than the often-jingoistic press and potboilers falsely portrayed him.

Interestingly, it was claimed that Spassky is Jewish - but as the Jewish News Syndicate reports, Spassky himself denied this and was "mystified" how this rumor was circulated. It should be noted that, as the same source notes, Spassky rather foolishly signed an infamous 2005 antisemitic petition, but he distanced himself from it almost immediately.

Spassky was in Israel for the 1964 Olympiad. He was occasionally mentioned in this blog (check "Spassky" in the subject list for details). The chess world lost not just a legendary player, but a gentleman. 

"The First Jewish Chess Olympiad"

Source: here.

The above was the iformal title given to the tournament of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, given in the above book by Singfried Schoenle, which is reviewed here (in German). While this title may be slightly inaccurate, the motivation for so naming the tournament in 1946 is undestandable. The organizer of the tournament, Nathan Markowsky, was a strong player and the stepfather of the famous surrealist artist Samuel Bak, who due to him survived the Holocaust as a child. This partially explains Bak's fascination with chess in his drawings. We thank Herbert Halsegger for notifying us of this interesting book. 

Yosef Goldschmidt

 

Source: Al Ha'mishmar, 15 October 1971, p. 10

Igor Beridchevsky reminds us in a Facebook post that Yosef Goldschmidt was born on February 13th, 1897, and diced on 31 January, 1973. He was, notes Berdichevsky, one of the "founders of Israeli problemist activity" and that Eliahu Fasher published a book in his honor with over 300 of his problems. In fact, Fasher went further: he dedicated his book The Israeli Problemist to Goldschmidt, as well. 

Fasher adds in The Israeli Problemist (p. 66) that Goldschmidt was the editor of Al Ha'mishmar's chess column since 1953 (above, an example from 1971). Fasher adds some more personal details: Goldschmidt lost an eye in the German army in the First World War, was a Zionist pioneer (came to Palestine in 1920), and for years worked in the Nesher beer facory as a security guard. Fasher also notes Goldschmidt was indeed one of the most active Israeli problemists, with worldwide recognition, winning over 40 prizes for over 250 problems. 

Chess-Themed Unit Symbols

Photo: A. P.

Another rarer example of chess in the IDF is when unit symbols have a chess theme. Here, a certain unit has a "black knight" themed patch. It is, in this photo, worn by a major in the said unit on his uniform. 

Chess pieces, while not common, are not unheard of as part of a unit's insignia. Engineering units sometimes have a chess rook (or at least, an old turret that looks similar to the Staunton chess rook) as an emblem. Another example of a knight in the insignia is that of the US Army Psychological Operations.

Von Weisel and the "Graf Zeppelin"

 

Source: Neue Freie Presse, 26 March 1929

We have occasionally mentioned von Weisl in this blog. Mr. Herbert Halsegger notified us of the particular issue of the Neue Freie Presse in which he reported on the trip on many pages, with the above being the headline of the entire paper that day. 

In particular, Mr. Halsegger notes that Abul Fath (or Abu al-Fath, in the English spelling), an Egyptian journalist who was also on the flight, played in the tournament organized on the Zeppelin which was organized by Badt and won it, as the Weiner Schach-Zeitung reported (vol. 7 no. 7 [April 1929], p. 107). 

This seems to conflict with von Weisel's report in the Neue Freie Presse that the tournament ended with the victory of Dr. von Guerard, in particular after defeating "the members of the press" - i.e., von Weisl and al-Fath. 

Acoustics and Sportsmanship

Source: Shachmat, No. 3 vol. 3 (October 1964), p. 31.

The above is part of the reports by Eliahu Shahaf on the Tel Aviv Championship of 1964, given here without further comment.