Right to Left

 

Source: Doar Ha'yom, 17 September 1922, p. 4

A frequent correspondent sends us a note of Doar Ha'yom's column from the early 1920s. A specific point of interest is that, as we have noted before, the chess notation was from right to left, with the first Hebrew letter (aleph) donating the h-file, not the a-file, the second Hebrew letter (bet) the g-file, etc. 

Naturally, this caused significant confusion! 

(Not) Being There

Itzhak Aloni. Full credits and details at this post.

A close family member mentioned, from the days of the old Lasker club in Tel Aviv, what must have been a common occurrence among chess players. The club had a small kitchenette / cafe, where members could buy tea and coffee. For the older, constant club members, such as Aloni, the kitchenette's owner would also offer meals - cooked by the cafe owner's wife in their apartment next door. 

The kitchenette also had the club's phone. One day the owner comes out of it and asks Aloni: "are you here? Your wife asks." Aloni said that he was not there. The owner goes back to the phone, returns and tells Aloni: "Your wife says that, when you finish not playing the game, come home." 

Wartime Chess

Source: Jabotinsky Institute in Israel

A frequent correspondent notes the following picture in the Jabotinsky Institute's archives. It is photo #6582, from 1943 Italy, showing "an international chess tourney with the participation of Jewish soldiers from England, Palestine, and Poland." Note the wartime "We shall win" (in Hebrew) poster on the wall, featuring Churchill.

Uzi Geller, 1931-2024

Credit: Almog Burstein.

The late Uzi Geller, Israeli champion (1971) and member of the Israeli chess olympiad team (1972), had passed away at the age of 93, as I was notified by the Israeli Chess Advancement Center, managed by Almog Burstein. Burstein's email added a link to a long obituary (in Hebrew) in a blog by those who knew him well.

Geller is typical of his time: he lived in a kibbutz all his life, and got his start in chess in the "glory days" of the communal settlements' chess "boom" of the 1950s and (especially) 1960s.

Schahmuseum

The Chilean museum of pre-Colombian art. Credit: wikipedia.

Mr. Halsegger notifies us of the Chess Museum in Switzerland, which is well worth a visit. It has many Jewish-ralted items, such as a Jewish-themed glass chess set and a set created in Auschwitz. 

Chess Gift

Credit: Jewish Museum, Vienna

The above chess set, a gift to captain William H. Barker, was presented in 1947 to him by those whom he took care of in a DP camp after the second world war. It is found on the Facebook site of the Jewish Museum in Vienna, as Mr. Herbert Halsegger notifies us. 

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.