1948 was the year Mill Ends Park was dedicated in Portland, Oregon. The park, consisting of one tree is located in a median strip in downtown Portland, Oregon and is a small circle 2 feet across.
Here's another fun fact; in 1948, Highway Gothic, a standard set of fonts specifically designed to maximize legibility at a distance and high speed, was put into use.
Highway Gothic is a sans-serif typeface developed by the United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and used for road signage in the Americas, including the US, Canada and Latin American countries, as well as many Asian, South American and European countries.
It was the year Cheetos were first created. Some people find them addicting and there is a scientific reason for it. According an Oxford study, the brain associates the crunching sound with freshness, so it convinces eaters that they're eating something that is more appetizing than it really is.
The bar codes we see everyday were invented by Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland; they are based on the Morse code.
Not surprisingly, conspiracy theorists considered bar codes to be an intrusive surveillance technology and from fanatical Christians, pioneered by a 1982 book The New Money System 666 by Mary Stewart Relfe, thought the codes hid the number 666, representing the Number of the Beast mentioned in Revelation and they are the stamp of the Antichrist. Television host Phil Donahue described bar codes as a "corporate plot against consumers." More on the conspiracy HERE
Call it what you will, 1.f3, the Barnes Opening, the Fried Fox Attack, the Wandering King Opening, the Hammerschlag, the Tumbleweed, the Bongcloud, the Pork Chop Opening or the Half Bird, it's still, according to the late GM Edmar Mednis, the worst opening move possible, and GM Ben Finegold lists it on his "Never Play" list.
The opening is named after Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825–1874), an English player who had eight wins over Paul Morphy, including one game where Barnes answered 1.e4 with 1...f6, known as the Barnes Defense.
The opening 1.f3 is sometimes followed up with the nonsensical 2.Kf2, the Hammerschlag.
Here's a fun Hammerschlag that was played in the Northwestern Intercollegiate Championship that was held in Austin, Texas.
J. Gilbert–G. Dickie1–0A00SW Intercollegiate Chp, Austin1948Stockfish 15.1
Hammerschlag 1.f3 Obviously there is no clear refutation of this move so
all black can do is follow general opening principles. Engines give black's
advantage at less than a Pawn. d5 2.f2 the "book" line, if there is such a
thing and the recommended engine move is 2.f4 2.f4 c5 3.e3 with a Bird
Opening where white has forfeited his opening mvoe advantage and handed it
over to black. 2...e5 2...c5 3.e3 e5 4.b5+ c6 5.e2 f5 6.e1 f6 7.g1 d6 8.d3 0-0 Black is better. Sochacki,W (2264)-Krouzel,J (2159)
Pardubice CZE 2013 3.c3 f6 4.c2 c5+ 5.e3 e4 6.d4 d6 7.e2 exf3
Black would have been somewhat better off avoiding this and playing 7...c5 8.gxf3 Black is clearly better. h5 9.e4 Better was 9.Ng3 h4+ After this
white finds himself in a very difficult situation. the best move, 10.kg1,
leaves his R hemmed in and useless. 10.e3 This leaves his K far too
exposed and black can already be considered to have a winning position. 0-0 11.d2 e8 12.g2 dxe4 13.fxe4 c6 13...g5+ would be weaker because all
it does is drive white's K to a somewhat safer position. 14.f2 c6 15.c4 h4+ 16.g3 f5 with a strong attack. 14.f3 f4+ At first glance this is
a logical developing move, but, in fact, it loses all of black's advantage. 14...g4 15.f2 xe4 16.g5 White's "attack" is destined to fizzle out. e8 17.xh7+ f8 18.f3 h4+ 19.f1 h3+ 20.xh3 g3+ is decisive. 15.xf4 xf4+ 16.f2 Now white's K is quite safe and it's an entirely new game! xe4 It would have been more promising to keep the Qs on with, say. 16...Qg4 17.xe4 xe4 18.e5 Trapping the R. xe5 18...h4 19.g5 xe5 20.xh4 d3+ 21.e3 xb2 22.f3 f6 23.xf6 gxf6 favors white. 19.dxe5 xe5 20.d1 Black is in trouble. g4 21.xb7 b8 22.d5 f6 23.a6 e6 24.c5 c6 25.b3 g5 26.e2 g7 27.xg5 Winning a P. Being the
exchange down, materially black is not so badly off, but his position will
prove untenable because white's pieces are more active and his K is better
positioned. d7 28.f4 xc5 29.xb8 e4+ 30.e3 xc3 31.xa7 b5 32.xb5 cxb5 White's engame play is impeccable. 33.c1 f5+ 34.f4 e7 35.c5 d7 36.b8 f7 37.d6 g6+ 38.e4 e6 39.g3 e7 40.h5 f5+ 41.d3 d5 42.h6+ f7 43.xh7+ e6 44.h6+ e7 45.d4 f4 46.h4+ e8 47.xd5 f3 48.d6 f5 49.f6 e4 50.e6 b4 51.h6 f8 52.f6 d5+ 53.xd5 f2 54.e6 f1 55.h8# What's interesting about this game is that the
auto-analysis using Fritz and Stockfish was that white's Weighted Error Value
is given as 0.18 while black's was 0.50. As near as I can tell the Weighted
Eroor Value is a pretty useless number, but 0.18 is defined as "very precise."
Based on that, 0.50 does not seem too bad. 1–0
I stumbled upon your blog today, I think searching for information on the '46 or '48 US Open. Really good stuff. The kind of of thing that is right up my alley. Always have loved chess history, and the people who are all a part of it, the great players, yes, but also the lesser known names whose life stories are so often accomplished and interesting both inside and outside of chess.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to post this drive by to tell you I appreciate your writing, and I plan to read more when I have more time.
Best, Mike