Another Dip Into The Chess Lucky Bag.

Afternoon everyone. Day off today, so something quick while I have a couple of hours.

Some of you may remember this offering - https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/morphy-lasker-alekhine-and-moriau-a-chess-lucky-bag  Well, the latest volume - number 23 - of Vlastimil Fialla's 'Quarterly For Chess History' was waiting for me when I got home a few  days ago.

So let's put my battered ex-boxer fingers in there and see what I pulled out first!

Some Lasker - some of you will know that I am regarded as knowledgeable when it comes to that legendary figure, but there is still a mass of material that I have to discover. always a joy for me to find something new.

So, Fialla's latest discoveries on him. Firstly he gives a nice article from the 'St. James's Budget, Sept 21, 1894. Something for those who have the theory that Lasker ran away from his rivals.

And moving on 30 years to a simultaneous exhibition he gave in Boston, on May 17th, 1924, he quotes the Boston Evening Transcript of May 20th - a wonderful piece of research!!

( Apologies for the formatting issue here. Can't get it to work.)

The game given is against the champion of the Boston club - I have known it for over 40 years, but White's 23rd move still makes me jump!!

One of Fialla's feature articles  ( the others are on Early Fred Yates and 'Bogoljubov: Denazification') is about something that i have been interested in for many, many years - the curious match/matches between Staunton and Daniel Harrwitz in 1846. I first saw the games back when i was 18 years old, and had saved up what I could earn for weeks to buy the Oxford Encyclopedia Of Chessgames. It was rather confusing not knowing the details!! 

Basically, the two played a match in three parts, up to seven decisive games in each. One at evens, one with Staunton giving pawn and move odds, and one at pawn and two move odds. ( At the end, Fialla says that next time he will present a project that I have always intended to get round to writing on - the Staunton - Harrwitz match that didn't happen, which he describes as the first 'chess ink war'. I may come back to that one!)

So, a quick look.

First a wonderful picture. Anderssen, Dubois and Harrwitz taken at the London 1862 tournament.

A few bits and pieces, and a couple of game from the match.

Staunton was a great expert in the odds of 'Pawn and Two'. In relation to the match in hand he says this, in Chess Players Chronicle, page 346.

He did lose at those odds - this one has a curious 'double blunder' near the end.

And a fascinating game from the encounters without odds.

That's it for today - thanks for coming along for the ride. Take care everyone.