Emanuel Schiffers (Emmanuel Shiffers)

Continuing with my post on Chigorin and Schiffers, Kotov & Yudovich covered Emanuel Schiffers at the end of their first chapter ('Early History'), after Petrov and Jaenisch (with mention of Shumov, Urusov, and Mikhailov), in Soviet School of Chess. Chigorin was the subject of the entire second chapter ('Founder of the Russian School').

Emmanuel Shiffers (1850-1904), 'Russia's chess teacher', as enthusiasts of the game called him, did a great deal to popularize chess in Russia.

A prominent international master with substantial tournament achievements to his credit, Shiffers realized the social and cultural significance of chess and worked untiringly to unite the country's lovers of chess and to elaborate problems of theory and instruction. He wrote many articles on chess and also a textbook.

Shiffers was the first in Russia to deliver a course of public lectures on chess theory. The lectures, given in the hall of the St.Petersburg Chess Association in 1889, aroused great interest. 'The public lectures on chess theory delivered last year by our noted player, E.S. Shiffers, were an outstanding event', the magazine Shakmaty (Chess) declared in 1890. 'They were attended by almost 100 persons, who listened to the lecturer with pleasure. ... These lectures, the first experiment of the kind in Russia, enjoyed a big and deserved success.'

Due credit must be given Shiffers as a teacher who trained a number of gifted players, chief among them Mikhail Chigorin. (p.15)

Note the two variations in spelling the name. 'Schiffers' appears to be the preferred spelling, but according to Google, it's a close call between 'Emanuel' and 'Emmanuel'.

Schiffers made several other brief appearances in Soviet School. Here is an excerpt from a section titled 'The Middle Game : Systematization of Typical Positions':

Soviet players are studying various typical positions in openings of all kinds. This work cannot, of course, be considered finished; on the contrary, it is still in the initial stage, for only an insignificant percentage of the infinite number of middle game positions has been studied so far. Soviet masters are on the right track, and they are continuing their daily systematization and study of various positions.

There have been comments in chess publications abroad to the effect that this reduces interest in chess, by substituting 'drill' for creative thought.

That view is fundamentally incorrect, as Shiffers pointed out many years ago in his Chess Self-Taught. He said, 'As to the opinion that the study of theory is detrimental to originality in play, it is sufficient to recall that although in any field of knowledge the duplicated discovery of truths that are already known may be highly interesting and instructive, it is capable of consuming too much time.' (p.104)

The passage is a good example of chess as science, as opposed to chess as sport or chess as art. Schiffers also figured in the chapter on 'Chess Literature', where it mentions that he edited a journal known as Shakmaty Zhurnal (p.116). Later, we learn that

The life of a chess master in tsarist Russia was no bed of roses. Even the best Russian players of that time, Chigorin and Shiffers, had a hard time making ends meet; they were dependent on the whims of rich patrons and were unable to develop their gifts to the full. (p.284)

More information on Schiffers can be found in the the stalwarts of web information Wikipedia.org (Emanuel Schiffers) and Chessgames.com (Emmanuel Schiffers).

October 2008 Chess Events

I removed a number of events from the sidebar list of 'Events on the Agenda'. The last few months have been extraordinarily rich in top class chess events. For the record, here's what I removed:-

• 2008-09-28/-10-05 • 16th World Computer Chess Championship, Beijing
  
• 2008-09-28/-10-06 • Commonwealth Championship, Nagpur, India
  
• 2008-10-03/-10-15 • Russian Superfinal, Moscow
  
• 2008-10-03/-10-18 • 1st World Mind Sports Games (WMSG), Beijing
  
• 2008-10-14/-11-02 • World Championship Match, Anand - Kramnik, Bonn
  
• 2008-10-16/-10-24 • European Club Cup, Halkidiki, Greece
  
• 2008-10-19/-10-31 • World Youth Championship, Vung Tau, Vietnam

These were all events that I was interested in following. I checked for events to add, but came up empty handed. As for events still on the agenda, it's unlikely that the Topalov - Kamsky challengers match will start on 2008-11-26 as originally scheduled.

***

2008-11-19: 'FIDE is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached for organisation of the Challenger Match between Topalov and Kamsky. There has been full agreement between FIDE and the players regarding all aspects of the Match. The Match will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria, from 16th to 28th February, 2009 with a prize fund of USD 250,000 which will be shared equally by the players.'

1978 Karpov - Korchnoi

'Throughout the 1960s, the Soviet KGB made remarkable advances with their paranormal research. As the initial stages of their program focused on microwave energy, the latter included psychic mind control. Some conspiracy theorists believe the 1978 world chess match was a testing ground for this newly discovered mind manipulation.'

Mind Control and the 1978 World Chess Match (6:45) • 'Was the 1978 world Chess Match a KGB proving ground for mind control?'

From: ParanormalTV.

Disagreeing with What Is Not Said

Continuing with the game I last looked at in The 'Fischer Attack', a few moves later the players reached the position shown in the diagram. Black played 15...gxf6, and Fischer remarked,

The best chance is 15...bxc3! 16.Ne4 Qb4 17.Qg4 Bxf6 18.Nxf6+ Kh8 19.Qh4 h6 20.Ng4, threatening 21.Nxh6 with a strong attack.

Commenting on 15...gxf6, Kasparov noted,

The first, but already decisive mistake -- to lose in a sharp Sicilian, in contrast to the 'Spanish torture', Black does not have to make many mistakes. However, Fischer does not attach any mark to this move, regarding Black's position as already bad.

In Kasparov's view, this means that there is a distinct difference between '15...gxf6 (best is 15...bxc3!)' and '15...gxf6? (best is 15...bxc3!)'. The first indicates that Black was already lost, but had a variation to push off the loss; the second indicates that Black was not already lost. It's not an obvious distinction to make based on a single missing '?'.

1959 Candidates Tournament (round 10)
Benko, Pal

Fischer, Robert
(After 15.Bg5-f6(xN))
[FEN "r1b2rk1/p3bppp/4pB2/n1q1p3/1p3P2/1BN3N1/PPP3PP/R2Q1R1K b - - 0 15"]

After making this remark, Kasparov repeated Fischer's variation from 15...bxc3! through 'threatening 21.Nxh6 with a strong attack', and added

Huebner categorically disagrees with such an evaluation of the position after 20...cxb2. Here are the variations with a few refinements...

I won't give Huebner's variations. It's sufficient to say they show that Black had good play after 15...bxc3!, and it's curious that Fischer had nothing to say about 20...cxb2. On the other hand, can we 'disagree' with what is not said?

Lesson in Chess960 Opening Patterns

My second game of chess960 was even shorter than the first (see Chess960? I'm Hooked!). From the diagrammed start position, my opponent blundered a Pawn on the 5th move and then let his clock run out.

Start Position 900

Here's the game, again courtesy of SchemingMind.com:

[Event "Chess960"]
[Site "SchemingMind.com"]
[Date "2008.09.26"]
[Round "-"]
[White "honky"]
[Black "bemweeks"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rbbkqrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBBKQRNN w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.d4 d5 2.c3 Nf6 3.f3 c5 4.Qd2 Qc6 5.Nh3 Bxh2 0-1

What did I learn from this game? That the opening patterns we learn playing traditional chess -- developing the Knights to c3/f3 (c6/f6), the choice between long diagonal or fianchetto for the Bishops, the weakness of f2/f7 -- are supplanted by other patterns in chess960. Not paying attention to these new patterns can easily result in blunders like losing a Pawn on the 5th move.

Introduction to Chess History

Continuing with Links related to my About.com material, I extracted a few more articles related to chess history.

• The Origin of Chess
  
• Chess in the Middle Ages
  
• The Origin of Modern Chess
  
• The French School of Chess (18th/19th cent.)
  
• Chess in the Early 19th Century : Chess Becomes Organized
  
• The Origin of International Chess Events
  
• Rise of the Soviet Chess Hegemony
  
• The Rise of Internet Chess

These are articles I wrote in 2005-7.

Chigorin and Schiffers

Two of the most striking aspects of Chigorin's career (see Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (1850-1908)) were the relatively advanced age at which he started playing international chess, and the many matches against his compatriot Emanuel Schiffers. What place does Schiffers hold in the development of the Soviet School?

Both Chigorin and Schiffers played in the great 1895 Hastings tournament. Chigorin finished 2nd, a half point behind Pillsbury, whom he defeated in their individual game. Schiffers finished 6th in the 22 player field, behind Lasker, Tarrasch, and Steinitz, placing him in the ranks of the world's top players of the time. The tournament book provided verbal portraits of the competitors.

Tchigorin, Michael I., 44 at the time of the tournament, was born on 31 October 1850. He was educated at Gatchino, near St.Petersburg, and entered the government administration.

In his younger days chess was to him an amusement only, and it was not until he was nearly 30 years of age that we find him coming to the front, when, in 1880, he beat Schiffers his teacher, who was then the acknowledged champion of Russia, as also others of Russian chess fame. He founded the St.Petersburg Chess Club, and has worthily shone as its president.

His style of play is quite of 'the old school', brilliantly attacking and ever towards the King, perhaps best described by the simple word beautiful. He is probably the greatest master of the King's side attack and rarely plays dull games. His chief energy is thrown into the middle game rather than the opening, which he sometimes conducts with too much indifference. His analytical ability is of the very highest order, and blindfold play does not come amiss.

In difficult positions Tchigorin gets very excited, and at times seems quite fierce, sitting at the board with his black hair brushedback, splendid bright eyes, and flushed face looking as if he could see right through the table. When calm, however, he is decidedly handsome, and calculated to beget confidence.

We have spelt this expert's name as he spells it himself when using English characters.

The sketch goes on to mention his chief successes: 1881 Berlin, 1883 London, 1889 New York, 1895 Hastings, plus the drawn matches with Gunsberg (1890) and Tarrasch (1893). The judgement of his play belonging to 'the old school' is at odds with his standing as forerunner of the Soviet School.

Schiffers, Emanuel G.A., 45 at the time of the tournament, was born of German parents on 4 May 1850, at St.Petersburg, where he was educated, attending there the Classical Gymnasium till 1867, and, continuing his studies in the Physical and Mathematical faculty till 1871, became [a] private tutor. In appearance he is rather formidable, tall and somewhat massive framed, with a fine crop of curly iron-grey hair surmounting a massive well-set head, an intelligent but kindly countenance, and a general appearance of stability and robust manhood. And with all this he is in manner both gentle and refined, with plenty of true wit.

Chess seems to have been taken up at about fifteen, and at twenty he played with decided success against Tschournoff and others, whilst about 1875 he made good practice with Winawer. He came to know Tchigorin in 1873 and used to play him at the odds of a Knight, but two years later the latter attained first-class strength, and in 1880 he beat Schiffers, depriving him of his proud position as the leading player of Russia, though he may justly still claim the second place.

He has won matches against Tchigorin, Mitropolsky, Wainstein, Jankowitsch, Chardin, and Alapin, two against each of the last three. Since 1880 however he has lost two or three matches against Tchigorin, but has otherwise held his own against all comers and has won many prizes in handicaps.

For sketches on all 22 competitors in the event, plus photos from the book, see Hastings 1895 - The Contestants at blog.chess.com. In the pre-inflation era of ratings, Elo assigned Chigorin a peak five year rating of 2600, while pegging Schiffers at 2490. By comparison, Elo assigned 2725 to Capablanca and 2690 to Alekhine. I'll look at more material about Schiffers in my next article in this series.