[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Chess Life and Review on DVD

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Chess Life and Review on DVD
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1205564783.shtml


   While at the North American Open this past Christmas, I came across a
   vendor - Toby Chess - which offered, in PDF format, the complete
   collection of Chess Life, Chess Review, and Chess Life & Review (they
   were independent publications that merged in 1969) from 1933-1975. The
   price for the whole thing is $39 (+$5 shipping within the U.S.), which
   is exceptionally good for 40 years' worth of chess magazines.

   The issues cover American chess (but not only American chess) from the
   end of the Marshall era through Reshevsky's and Fine's time up to
   Fischer's win in the world championship over Spassky and his
   subsequent forfeiture to Karpov. In the wake of Fischer's death, it's
   fascinating to read the early reports of Fischer's career.

   For instance, there's this, from the front page of the February 5,
   1956 issue of Chess Life:

     Lombardy Wins Greater New York Open, Mangarini [sic] Second After
     Tie-Breaking

     By Allen Kaufman New York Chess Life Editor

     USCF master William Lombardy [later a GM and World Junior Champion
     - DM] of the Bronx won the first Greater New York Open with a score
     of 6-1, nosing out Dr. Ariel Mengarini, also 6-1, by one-half a
     median point. Arthur Feuerstein of the Bronx and Edgar McCormick of
     East Orange, N.J. scored 5½-1½ each, but third prize went to the
     former on the tie-breaking points.

     The Class A Trophy, awarded to the Class A player achieving the
     highest score, was captured by McCormick, while the Class B Trophy
     went to twelve year old Bobby Fischer of Brooklyn."

   That's right, Class B. In the rating list published in the May 20,
   1956 Chess Life, his rating was all of 1726. Then in July he won the
   U.S. Junior and tied for fourth place in the U.S. Open, and went on to
   tie for eighth in the Canadian Open in September. October saw him play
   in the Rosenwald tournament. Surprisingly, Chess Life's initial
   coverage has nothing to say about the "Game of the Century." They
   note, an issue after the initial coverage, that the game won a special
   prize, but still offer no special treatment beyond the raw game score
   until the year's final issue.

   The summary of the Rosenwald says this about Fischer: "The real
   sensation of the tourney was 13-year old Bobby Fischer who clearly
   demonstrated that he is a full fledged master with a rather mature
   positional style! His win over Byrne was an inspired piece and fully
   deserved the 1st brilliancy prize. It is conceivable that Bobby will
   become one of America's strongest masters in just a few years. He is
   expert at speed chess, knows his theory quite well, and has an almost
   uncanny fervor for our royal game. Watch him!"

   At the turn of the year, he won a blitz event at the Manhattan Chess
   Club with a 10-0 score, including victims Bisguier (the U.S.
   Champion), William Lombardy, Carl Pilnick and other masters. Still, he
   wasn't superman yet, losing in the Manhattan Club Championship
   semi-finals to senior master Max Pavey. (Meanwhile, the USSR title was
   won by some "Riga Student" named Tal. Wonder what became of that guy?)
   After that, in March or early April, he lost his two-game match to
   ex-champ Max Euwe, 1½-½. Still, when the May 1957 rating list came
   out, he was 2331. And in May 1958, after winning another U.S. Junior
   Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and the U.S. Championship?
   Number two in the nation with a 2626 rating; only Reshevsky at 2713
   was ahead of him. That's quite some improvement!

   On the next page, in a related story, Kaufman has more to say about
   Fischer:

   "This is Bobby's first event of this type. He got off to a slow start,
   scoring 2-2 in the first four rounds. But there he gritted his teeth,
   polished off his last three opponents, and coasted in with a 5-2
   score. In the final round, with a cup at stake, Bobby put forth his
   greatest effort against Rhys Hays, former CHESS LIFE College
   columnist. In a particularly difficult position, Bobby thought for a
   long while. Then, deciding on a move, Bobby shifted a piece on the
   board and punched the clock on the next table!"

   And to think: by the end of 1956 he'd have played the "Game of the
   Century", and one year after that, he'd be the U.S. Champion! Anyway,
   you can see how this nostalgia thing can be addictive.

   It's fun for me to see stories and tournament results for people I've
   played, met, and read about from early in my chess life: the Byrnes,
   columnists Evans, Bisguier, and Reshevsky, Lombardy (and his win of
   the world junior championship), Erich Marchand, Sid Rubin, Anthony
   Saidy, Ron Gross, Larry Remlinger, Charles Crittenden and so on. There
   are the notorious figures Norman Whittaker, Claude Bloodgood and
   Raymond Weinstein. And this all within a year or two in Chess Life!

   There's also Chess Review, a magazine that did a much better job of
   getting on the Fischer story from the beginning. On the cover of the
   January 1956 issue, there's a big photo of 12-year old Fischer giving
   a simul to other kids. Reuben Fine was one of their columnists, and
   ex-world champ Max Euwe wrote the Game of the Month column!

   One could spend many delightful hours poring over this collection,
   which is a treasure trove for the chess history, for high-quality
   games and analyses you won't find in the databases, and also for
   forgotten opening ideas worth a second look. I do have a couple of
   minor complaints, but neither comes close to outweighing the
   collection's strengths. First, as the collections are simply large PDF
   files, there's no PGN (or other format) file allowing the reader to
   automatically replay the games; it's just like having a physical
   magazine. Second, it seems that the collection was scanned in like a
   gigantic picture; the upshot being that one can't search for any
   particular text. Hopefully one or both shortcomings will be eliminated
   in subsequent editions of this set. A third point I'll note - not a
   complaint for me, but some will be put off by this - is that American
   chess magazines used descriptive notation back then (e.g. P-K4 for
   e4). I think most people will get used to this very quickly, to the
   point where it becomes as automatic and transparent as algebraic, but
   those who don't want to try or have tried and couldn't take it should
   be forewarned.

   Despite these shortcomings, such as they are, this is a wonderful
   product I heartily recommend to my whole audience, whether American or
   not. The vendor doesn't have their own website, but you can purchase
   the collection on their eBay page, [1]here.

References

   1. http://cgi.ebay.com/Chess-Life-Review-4-Disc-Set-Amazing-Chess-Combo-4_W0QQitemZ200206857424QQihZ010QQcategoryZ80331QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262