Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City. At his peak, from about 1868 to 1870, according to Chess metrics, Loyd’s best rating was 2474 in 1870 and in 1868-1869 he ranked number 15 in the world.
He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament with little success, placing 10th out of 13 with a +6 -17 =1 score.
Loyd was infamous for being a fibber, a self-promoter and a hustler. Mel Stover, a contemporary Canadian problemist, called Loyd. "puzzledom's greatest celebrity...popularizer, genius. He also called Loyd a huckster and fast-talking snake oil salesman.
For a short period of time Loyd collaborated with another puzzle composer, a guy named Henry Dudeney. Then Dudeney broke off his correspondence with Loyd and accused him of stealing his puzzles and publishing them under his own name. Dudeney despised Loyd so intensely that he equated him with the devil.
After Loyd's death, his son Samuel Loyd Jr. continued his father’s deceptive ways. He dropped the Junior and published reprints of his daddy’s puzzles.
The 1867 Paris event that Loyd participated in was his largest and strongest. The city was host to a World Fair that summer summer of 1867anf the master chess tournament was part of it.
It was a double round affair with an unusual time limit: 6 minutes per move and draws did not count. The US representatives were Loyd and Wilhelm Steinitz who had defeated Adolf Anderssen in a World Championship match the previous year.
The event was also organized somewhat haphazardly in that the players met each other, not in scheduled rounds, but according to availability and inclination.
Loyd’s opponent in the following game was Polish master Samuel Rosenthal (1838-1903) who, following a Polish revolution in 1854m fled to Paris where he devoted himself to a study of chess and became so rapidly proficient that after a year he won the first prize in a tournament held at the Cafe de la Regence. Chess metrics estimated his highest ever rating to have been 2655 in 1885 and from 1873 to 1876 they rank him number 4 in the world.
Sam Loyd–Samuel Rosenthal1–0C50ParisParis FRA10.06.1867Stockfish 16
C50: Giuoco Pianissimo 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.c4 c5 That great teacher
and author Australian C.J.S. Purdy recommended that amateurs play the
Hungarian Defense here (3...Be7) because it is a quiet response with little
danger and it is eadier to play. 4.d3 Giuoco Pianissimo f6 5.e3 b6 6.c3 d6 7.h3 a5 8.b3 xb3 9.axb3 e6 9...xe3= is somewhat better. 10.fxe3 c6 11.e2 e7 12.0-0 0-0 The position could not be more equal.
Belsak,Z-Spelec,D (2055) Ptuj 2007 10.b5 A pointless sortie, but it cause
no damage to white's position. xe3 11.fxe3 c6 12.c3 c7 13.g4 a6 14.d4 0-0-0 15.d5 d7 16.g5 e8 17.d2 c5 18.c4 h6 19.h5 Are you bored yet?
The action is about to pick up. f8 This is a slight inaccuracy that allows
white to gainst a small edge. 19...b8 stays ahead. 20.xf7 is too
gangerous as after hxg5 21.e7 21.0-0-0 xh3 with the advantage. 21...g4 21...xh3 22.xg5 Black is slightly better. 22.h4 c8 23.xc7+ xc7 Black is better. 20.gxh6 h8 Bets 20...gxh6 21.xh6 Black's weak P
on f7 and white's paseed a-Pawn gives white a clear advantage. 21.hxg7! xh5 22.g8 xh3 23.xh3 xh3 Here white has a slim advantage mostly due
to the weak f-Pawn. 24.b5 Loyd likes this move, but here, too, it does not
really accomplish anything because Rosenthal is not going to fall for taling
the N. Better was the immediate 24.Qh7. That said, keep an eye on this N; we
will be hearing from it later! e7 24...axb5 25.a8+ b8 25...d7 26.xf7# 26.xb8+ xb8 27.xd6 with an easy win. 25.h7 g4 Loyd's time
wasting 24.Nb5 has resulted in Rosenthal's being able to get his pieces into
action and so now after the correct 26.Nc3 Qf6 black has gorren slightly the
better of it owing to white's exposed K. 26.a7+ A losing idea. 26.c3 f6 27.h2 f3 28.e2 f6 29.xf3 xf3 30.d2 h8 White's P on e4 needs
defending plaus black has gotten a lot of play with his pieces whereas white's
are quite passively positioned. 26...b8 27.xa6 c7 27...bxa6
Rosenthal was far too good a player to fall for this! 28.c6+ 27...f6
Packs a winning punch. 28.a1 Thus guards against ...Qf6-f3-d1+ f3 29.h2 f6 30.d2 xe3+ 31.f1 g8 mates in 7 moves at most... 32.f3 h3+ 33.xh3 xe4 34.c6+ c7 35.d7+ xd7 36.fxe5+ c7 37.g4 xg4 38.c3 g1# 28.a5 28.c6+ bxc6 29.b6+ a7 30.xc6 is no better for white. 28...f6 White must deal with the threat od ...Qf3 29.h1 h8 30.f1 f3
This looks really good...the threat is ...Rh1, but white has a clever way of
meeting it. 30...g6 This odd looking move has hidden dangers for white.
It's hard to blame Rosenthal for missing it. 31.g2 31.c6+ as in the
game fails... bxc6 32.g2 cxd5 33.d2 g5 34.f1 h3 35.g1 d4 White has
no defense. 31...h4 32.d2 Seeking a safe havem but there isn't one. h7 33.d3 f5 White can delay defeat by meeting a succession of threats, but in
the end he must lose. 34.b6 fxe4+ 35.c3 h6 36.d2 h3 37.b4 xe3+ 38.xe3 xe3+ 39.d2 h3 40.bxc5 e3+ 41.d3 e2+ 42.d2 xd5 43.a1 f6 44.g1 xa7 45.c4 dxc5 46.xe5 e4+ 47.e1 h5 48.g4 xg4 49.xg4 g3 50.f2 h1 51.a4+ b6 abd wins 31.b6 This riposte gets white out of
almost all of his trouble. h4+ 32.d2 Now Nd7+ would be a killer. g4
Black needs to guard against Nd7+, but he does it with the wrong
piece! 32...xe4 leads to a clever mate. 33.d7+ a8 34.c6+ a6 35.b6# 32...g4 This defends d7, but now white weasels out of his
difficulties with 33.d3 g3 34.b5 h3 35.c4 f3 36.bxd6 h2 37.xe5 xe5 38.xf3 xd6 39.xf7 with equal chances. In a Shootout white scored +1
- 0 =4 33.xf3 Even more clever than the previous move!. White
now has a mate no matter what black plays. xf3 33...h2+ Black gets in a
few spite checks with thsi move. 34.d3 c4+ 35.bxc4 xe4+ 36.xe4 a6 37.g4 e4+ 38.c3 xa7 39.c8 h8 40.c7 f6 41.xa6+ xa6 42.d7 f5 43.b6# 34.d7+ a8 35.c6+ a6 36.b6# IIt's mate next move so Rosenthal resigned.
An imperfect, but very clever game by Loyd! 1–0
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