Tiger's-eye Opera
A Mystery Quest: a Magic-carpet Ride is a short book by Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Merridonia
© SAE Nicholls 2019-2020
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Forward
From A Chess Set
‘Western chess is often called International chess and this reflects the status this game has been accorded.....and Western chess is sometimes called the Royal Game and indeed many such as Kings and Queens have played and been enthusiasts of this game and its precursors for centuries, and still are.’
From The Oxford Companion to Chess by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld, 1984/87
‘No game has surpassed Chess to the extent that it has commanded a following in all countries of the known world for many centuries.’
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Mystery Quest: a Magic-carpet Ride
By SAE Nicholls
Contents
Iraq 847: The Arabian chess World Championship Match
and
Momentous Times I
Brooklyn 1876: The English draughts World Championship Match
and
St Petersburg 1914: The Western chess Grandmaster Tournament
and
Momentous Times II, also A Mystery Opening
Return to Reykjavík 1972: The Western chess World Championship Match
and
Back to Slovenia I, also A Simulation
New York 1997: A Different chess World Championship Match
and
Back to Slovenia II
Note
At the moment this is very much ‘bits and pieces’ in process of being put together and some – indeed all, may not be included.
Iraq 847: The Arabian chess World Championship Match
Extract from: www.arabamerica.com/Arab Contributions To The Game Of Chess
Posted on: May 15, 2019
By Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer:
‘The Arabs were also responsible for dividing the game into the three parts we know today: opening, middle and end games. According to C. Alexander in his A Book of Chess, the Arabs not only invented the World Chess Championship but also the Grandmasters. He states that in 820 A.D. there were four ‘aliyat’ or ‘players of the highest class’, and in 847 the Persian ar-Razi defeated al-‘Adli in the presence of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil – an international contest that seems to carry a hint of the classic Fisher/Spassky clashes.’*
*The 1974 book Alexander on Chess (a fine Western chess primer) by C. H. O’D Alexander indeed states: ‘In 847 there was what sounded like the equivalent to the Boris Spassky v Bobby Fischer world championship match – a great master, the Persian ar-Razi, appeared and in the presence of the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, defeated the champion al-‘Adli’…..and Bobby Fischer defeated the champion Boris Spassky in Reykjavík in a match that many say is the most famous Chess match ever played (it made headline news all over the world for weeks) after losing the first game following an apparent beginner’s mistake – a move sometimes called the biggest blunder ever made in Chess…..or was it, I’m not so sure – there is footage of him actually making this move and other footage on the match in the 2011 DVD Bobby Fischer against the World - the move was 29… Bxh2 and Boris replied 30. g3 trapping the Bishop, but Bobby at first seems to think he can save it with 30... h5 (30… Ke7! threating the b5 pawn – a tiny initiative that may have given Bobby practical chances to hold the game, if not so in theory.....or does it hold regardless, see A Simulation), and I wonder if he simply overlooked 31. Ke2 (a backwards move of the King, though 31. Ke4 followed by Kf3 – another backwards move of the King, may have been as good), then again see Return to Reykjavík…..anyway, there is much information available about this match that took place in 1972 - over a thousand years after the al-‘Adli v ar-Razi match.
But unfortunately there is, of course, nothing like as much information about the match as the Boris Spassky v Bobby Fischer clash…..
A Horseman’s Journey by al’Adli
Momentous Times I
From Grandmasters of Chess by Harold C. Schonberg, 1972, 1973:
‘But chess in AD 847 was altogether different from chess today.’
From Alexander on Chess by C. H. O’D Alexander, 1974:
‘Towards the end of the fifteenth century, however, a change took place that revolutionized the game: the modern moves of the Queen and Bishop were introduced.’
Brooklyn 1876: The English draughts World Championship Match
Not so Bonnie over the Ocean
From a Traditional Scottish folk song:
‘Bring back my Bonnie to me’
St Petersburg 1914: The Western chess Grandmaster Tournament
Extracts from Grandmasters of Chess:
‘In 1914, Nicholas II, Czar of all the Russians, was host to a great chess tournament instigated by the St Petersburg Chess Society*…..The world’s most important players took part…..At the banquet concluding the match, the Czar named the first five players the Grandmasters of Chess: Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall.’
*Spectator receipts were a record at the time.
And the tournament seems to have had everything you could ask for…..
Momentous Times II
Return to Reykjavík 1972: The Western chess World Championship Match
From Bobby Fischer: A Study of his approach to Chess by Elie Agur, 1992:
‘Quick as a flash came Bobby’s move. (24. C6!)’ - Tigran Petrosian reflecting on a Slovenia, 1961 game
From Grandmasters of Chess:
‘Then, without thinking very long over it, Bobby made his notorious twenty-ninth move (29… Bxh2?)…..’
!?.....But are things what they seem…..
From Grandmasters of Chess:
‘There was a growing feeling that Bobby Fischer was not only the greatest player of his time; he probably was the greatest player of all time.’
‘Was it a blunder or a deep conception that mis-fired?'
Back to Slovenia I
A Simulation
New York 1997: A Different chess World Championship Match
From Bobby Fischer: A Study of his approach to Chess:
‘I still remember the days of the world championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky in 1972.’ – Garry Kasparov in the forward
Back to Slovenia II
To be continued (possibly)
A Mystery Quest finishes but
A Chess Set continues
E&OE
Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Rhun, Merridonia
Friday, 13th November 2020
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Web page created: 2015-11-16. Web page last updated: 2015-11-16