Prince Dadian - Real Player, Fake Games

     The chess world has occasionally been victimized with tales of fake and doctored games, fake tournaments and even fake Grandmaster titles, but probably none of those are more enigmatic than the games played by the Prince. 
     Andrey Davidovich Dadian-Mingrelsky (1850-1910), known as Prince Diadian to the chess world, was a Georgian nobleman, chess player, sponsor and organizer. An article appearing in an 1808 issue of the American Chess Magazine made the claim that “some of the most ingenious endings that have ever occurred in over the board play have been evolved by him and his success in matches with strong amateurs and in tournaments in clubs have placed him among the leading amateurs of Europe.” 
     Dadian was a member of a Mingrelian (Western Georgia) princely family of Svan descent. The Savans are an ethnic subgroup of Georgians living mostly in a region in northwest Georgia. They speak the Svan language and are mostly bilingual in Georgian. 
     Dadian was born in Zugdidi in West Georgia and graduated from Heidelberg University Faculty of Law in 1873. Later, he served in the Russian army. 
     He learned to play chess from his parents who spent summers in Paris. At the age of 14 in 1864 he met Thomas Wilson Barnes while vacationing in Homberg, Germany, a small town in the northern part of Hesse, a state in central Germany. 
     Barnes befriended Dadian and they played many games against each other which left Barnes impressed with Dadian's play and he predicted a great future for him. In 1867 Dadian met Ignatz Kolisch who had just won the Paris tournament. The two supposedly played some offhand games with Dadian winning a few. 
     Due to his position, Dadiani participated in very few tournaments. He is said to have won an amateur tournament Homberg in 1864. In 1873 he completed his studies at Heidelberg where he showed great brilliance, mastering six languages. 
     After graduation Dadian again took up chess and is supposed to have successfully played against several French amateurs. In 1874, he began his career as an officer in the Russian Hussars of the Guard and it was claimed that he met and vanquished many of the best amateur players in St. Petersburg. 
     Supposedly Dadian also had considerable talent as a blindfold player even though he was opposed to that sort of play because it was a “tax upon the brain.” He occasionally played three or four blindfold games simultaneously while reciting the moves of several master games. 
     A lot of his games were published in La Strategie and by William Steinitz in his International Chess Magazine and the British Chess Magazine dedicated its June–July 1892 issue to Dadian. 
     Many of the games were brilliant and after his death some people accused him composing many of them. Though nothing has ever been proven, most modern historians regard his games with skepticism. 
     It's been noted that he only published his most stunning victories, though the same can be said of most players. Although none of these claims have even been substantiated, it is known that he paid Steinitz and Preti for publishing his games and he was later accused by the Russian player Fedor Duz-Chotimirski of sending in his own wins while ignoring his opponents wins. Nothing new or unusual there! In fact, it's the exception when a player publishes his losses. 
     In 1903, Emmanuel Schiffers published a book of Prince Dadian's end-games titled Fins de Partie de S.A.S. le Prince Dadian de Mingrelie. In 1972, Ygraet A. Dadiani (Play A. Dadiani) was published in Georgia. 
     These are just highlights of Dadian's career and more complete details concerning this cryptic character can be read in the excellent 7-part article on him by Batgirl HERE. Particularly interesting is his influence which lead to the exclusion of Chigorin from the Monte Carlo tournament of 1903. Batgirl's article also includes many of Dadian's games.