Buying Pasta And A Theoretical Debate.

My wife is one of those people who goes to the supermarket to buy a pack of pasta and comes home with a new coat!

Well, I can't say anything - I am the same with chess books. A couple of days ago I went to this wonderful book by my friend Dr. Tim Harding

to look something up, and ended up scribbling game numbers on a piece of paper so that I could go back to look at them properly later. No, I can't remember what it is I went looking for in the first place!!

Quick 'setting the scene' comment. Steinitz was - at the time - making a precarious living as a 'chess professional' - an occupation much derided by some of the chess press of the time. He played for stakes against all-comers. A chess hustler.

Apart from the obvious idea of earning a living in the short term, there was also a bigger factor involved - Impressing people with the brilliance of your play. If you got the reputation of being a 'brilliant' player people with money would back you with serious money. You could write a whole book on the subject. The times were what they were.

So lets have a quick look at a few of the games I have been looking at.

One of the games set me off looking at a theoretical debate of the time - as Harding notes, there were indeed theoretic debates around openings way back then.

At the London1862 Tournament, Steinitz introduced a theoretical novelty in a game against Dubois. The stem game - which Steinitz had prepared an improvement on - was played in the wonderful match between Louis Paulsen and Kolisch.

To break off for a second, two pictures here are comparatively recent discoveries. I love my old chess pictures and these two are just fantastic.

We have a picture from the match - I have scanned it from Harding's book as the original is a bit messy. L-R. G.W.Medley. Paulsen, Captain H.A.Kennedy, Lowenthal, Kling, Kolisch, T.I.Hampton ( Secretary of the St. Georges Chess Club where the match took place.)

The game in question.

Nice game!! So, to Steinitz's novelty, which he unleashed on Dubois in the 1862 tournament. The game is one of the most famous of Steinitz's early games, so although i was tempted to add some notes - Reti's for example - I decided to let you guys go do some research of your own!!

That theoretical debate raged on for many years. Harding gives a game in the line which almost defies my powers to analyse it - indeed, as you will see, Stockfish made me look stupid - but it was an enjoyable couple of hours nonetheless!

And It is a beautiful, and fascinating, game.