Ⅷ-The Story of the Match and the Pipe.

Hello!

  “  Lead your opponents into a dark forest where two plus two equals five, and only one can find the way out.  ” – Mikhail Tal

Mikhail Tal's philosophy lit an existential fire on a chessboard destined for cold eternity; gratuitous sacrifices and unnecessarily complex positions, their buzzing dispels the silence that must always exist here.

Although described as artistic and humorous at heart, Tal led a free and unrestrained life, drinking heavily and smoking heavily, both on and off the court.

He often smoked while playing. Cigarettes became very important to Mikhail Tal. It could help Mikhail Tal concentrate better when playing chess with a cigarette in hand.

Mikhail Tal is no exception, that is: Amos Burn and the story of the game of cigarettes and matches that I will introduce to you.

Amos Burn (31 December 1848 – 25 November 1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players of the late 19th century and a chess writer, known as a master of the defense, and like Mikhail Tal, he enjoyed smoking while playing chess.

During his chess career, there was a game known as: ''The Pipe Game''. It was a game between Frank Marshall and Amos Burn, which took place in Paris in 1900, 124 years ago. As mentioned above, Amos Burn was a smoker when playing chess and the story behind this game made it known as ''The Pipe Game''. Amos Burns' opponent was Frank James Marshall, the US chess champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the strongest chess players in the world in the early 20th century with the famous game ''The Gold Coin Game''.

A normal game of chess with Frank James Marshall's sacrifices and checkmate of his opponent, but the following story is interesting and is the reason why the game is named: ''The Pipe Game''

Before he could smoke, he was checkmated. 

''On the second move of the opening, Mr. Amos Burns began to search his pocket for his pipe. He was ready to smoke, and the game continued.

''On the fourth move, he took his pipe out of his pocket and cleaned it.''

''On the eighth move, he began to stuff tobacco into his pipe. He was ready to smoke. And the game continued.''

''By the twelfth water, he was looking for matches to prepare to smoke.''

''On the thirteenth move he struck the first match and it went out.''

''On the fourteenth water, he struck a second match.''

''On the seventeenth move, he finally got a cigarette, but it was too late, he was checkmated.''

The game later became known as "The Pipe Game". According to Frank Marshall's memoirs, when he wrote about the game:

“ The game would have been different if Amos Burns had smoked his pipe, his mind would have been different and he would not have been checkmated. And the game would not have ended so quickly.  -Frank Marshall-

Thank you for reading. An interesting story that I would like to introduce to you. See you again!