How much weight these massive horses can pull?
Pulling strength is determined by the distance a loaded sled (or a dynamometer is moved) and a pair of Clydesdale can pull approximately 18,000-pounds. Actually, most large draft breeds pull similar weight. Just thought you'd like to know.
A few years ago I posted about how much I still liked an old book titled The Golden Treasury of Chess by Al Horowitz that he first published in 1943. It's printed in descriptive notation, most games have no or very light notes and only a few have diagrams.
As I mentioned in the post the collection was originally published by Francis J. Wellmuth in 1943 and it was revised and printed many times by Horowitz and the latest 2009 edition has been further revised and printed by Sam Sloan.
The size of the book and the games appearing in it have changed over the years. The book's history has been covered by Edward Winter in an article titled The Horowitz-Wellmuth Affair.
Once again I found myself browsing through the book's Modern Chess section...that section begins with a game played by Joseph H. Blackburne in 1980 and ends with a miniature played by two unknowns in Chicago in "about 1905."
According to the book, Modern Chess "is the age of the great Lasker and Tarrasch, of Schlechter and Maroczy, of the attacking geniuses Pillsbury and Marshall and Janowski.
Horowitz (or maybe it was Wellmuth, I'm not sure) observed that as the number of GMs increased, it became more difficult to score tactical wins and so positional play became preeminent. The author also lamented the fact that the immortal and beautiful games of Pillsbury were not appreciated in the "Modern Era."
One of the games that caught my attention was the following "sparkling gem" that's been called "Schlechter's Immortal." It was played in Vienna in 1893 against Bernhard Fleissig (1853, Hungary - March 7, 1931, Vienna) who was a minor master and the younger brother of Max Fleissig, another minor master of that era. The game was apparently just an offhand game, but it's still entertaining.
Carl Schlechter (March 2, 1874 - December 27, 1918) was a leading Austro-Hungarian master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. Few realize it, but in 1910 Schlechter came within a hair's breadth of becoming the world champion when he drew a match with Emanuel Lasker.
Schlechter was leading by one point going into the tenth and final game of the match. In the tenth game he achieved a won game, but blundered into a clearly drawn position and then blundered again and lost. Schlechter died of pneumonia and starvation and was buried in Budapest.
As for the game, I don't have to tell you that Stockfish picked it apart like a buzzard on roadkill and it's not really an "Immortal" or a "sparkling gem." It's like a flawed diamond.
Diamond flaws are common and few natural diamonds are perfect; most of them have inclusions or imperfections, but some people actually prefer imperfect diamonds which can be raw, speckled with shades of gray or colored with hues like brown or pink, etc. So it is with chess games.
Bernhard Fleissig–Carl Schlechter0–1A00Offhand game, ViennaVienna AUH1893Stockfish 15
Polish Opening 1.b4 Also known as the Sokolsky and the Orangutan. White
gains Q-side space and plays Bb2 in hopes of launching a long-range attack.
While it flies in the face of theory which says white must strive for control
of the center, it's never been refuted. In my database the results are evenly
divided between wins, losses and draws. e6 Black has several replies, with 1.
..d5 and 1...e5 being the most natural and popular as they grab control of the
center and allow for easy development. 2.b2 f6 3.a3 c5 4.b5 4.c3 d5 5.e3 d6 6.f4 Correct was 6.bxc5 c4 7.f3 b5 8.a4 bxa4 9.xa4 is
vavorable to black. Cebolla Moll,R (2040)-Cantero,A (2262) Benidorm ESP 2013 4...d5 Wuensche,P (2140)-Gross,D (2360) Berlin 1996 black played 4...b6
which is just OK. 5.d4 After this white's position is in a shambles. 5.c4 as in Valenta,V (2183)-Mandak,M (2069) Tatranske Zruby 2005 is correct. e7 6.f3 0-0 7.e3 bd7 8.d3 e8 9.c3 f6 10.c2 c7 11.e2 e7 12.0-0
with equal chances. 5...a5+ 6.c3 e4 7.d3 His only chance was 7.e7.
Now white loses time with his Q and weakens f2. 7.e3 was the only chance. 7...cxd4 8.xd4 c5 9.xg7 xf2+ Very natural, but in a sequence only and
engine would see 9...Rf8 was even more potent. 9...f8 10.e3 10.f3 f2 11.h3 xh1 is also winning. 10...e7 11.d4 f6 12.b4 xb4 13.axb4 xc3+ 14.xc3 xc3 10.d1 d4 11.xh8+ e7 Enticing white to
grab more material. 11...d7 is unacceptable. 12.e3 xc3+ 12...dxc3 13.c1 Black is the exchange down and white's position is much better. 13.xc3 xc3 14.xd4+ xd4+ 15.exd4 xd4 White is better. 12.xc8 A
fatal error. 12.h3 This move would have left white with reasonable
chances of defending himself. xc3+ 13.xc3 xc3 14.xf2 xa1+ 15.d2 c3+ 16.d1 Here it's unlikely that black would be satisfied with taking a draw
with 16...Qa1+, etc., so... d7 17.xh7 and white can put up a serious
fight. 12...dxc3 13.c1 d7 Flashy, but nearly as good as the
prosaic 13...Qxb5 13...xb5 14.g5+ xg5 15.xb7+ d7 16.f3 16.xa8 d2# 16...e3 17.xa8 g5 mates in 6 18.b7 xf3 19.b4+ c5 20.xc5+ xc5 21.c1 e3+ 22.b1 b5+ 23.a2 b2# 13...d7 14.xa8 xb5 15.f3 d5+ 16.d2 e3 White cannot avoid mate... 17.a4 cxd2 18.c4 f2+ 19.c2 xc4+ 20.b2 d1+ 21.xd1 xd1+ 22.a1 c1+ 23.a2 b2# 14.xa8
Suicide. Black has a mate in 22...but only if he finds the right move. 14.xb7 This hardly saves the game, but it does not result in instant defeat. d8 15.xe4 f6+ 16.d3 xd3+ 17.exd3 White has more than enough material
for his Q, but black must find the only road to victory and it's a narrow one! xg1 18.xg1 b6 19.h1 g4 the only move that avoids turning the advantage
over to white. 20.b1 20.a4 f2+ 21.e2 xh1 22.g5+ f6 23.e3 and
black should be able to win. 20...c5 A clever plan...shifting the Q to a2
thereby winning the R. 20...f2+ 21.e2 xh1 and black should win. 21.d4 d5 22.e1 a2 etc. 14...xb5 14...b6 intending ...Bxg1 would be
awful. 15.e3 xe3 16.c8 xg1 17.d3 f2+ 18.e2 xh1 19.a4 f2+ 20.d1 Materially there is a crazy material imbalance where white has a R+B vs 2Ns+P
and the chances are evaluated at 0.00 (NOT a draw, but it's anybody's game). 15.f4 d5+ Black has a mate. 16.c1 e3+ 17.xe3 f2
18.xf2 d2+ White resigned. 0–1
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