The Penguin is Mightier Than the Swordfish

    Who first said, 'The pen is mightier than the sword”? The words were first written by novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839, in his historical play Cardinal Richelieu. 

    Who first said, “The penguin is mightier than the swordfish”? I always thought it was a silly pun by the player/author/publisher Al Horowitz, but he wasn't the first. 

    There are a number of children's books with the title, but it apparently is from a children’s poem by Oliver Herford. 

 

 

 

A Penguin Poem 

The Penguin sits up-on the shore 

And loves the little fish to bore; 

He has one enervating joke 

That would a very Saint provoke: 

"The Penguin's mightier than the swordfish";

He tells this daily to the bored fish, 

Until they are so weak, they float 

With-out resistance down his throat. 

 

    Oliver Herford (1860 - 1935) was an Anglo-American writer, artist, and illustrator known for his witty remarks and skewed sense of humor. He was born in Sheffield, England and his family moved to Chicago in 1876 and to Boston in 1882. His sister Beatrice Herford was also a humorist, delivering comic monologues on stage. 

    In any case, I just happened to think about the pun when I came across a game played by Boris Spassky that appeared in Czech GM Ludek Pachman’s classic book Modern Chess Tactics. 

    Pachman devoted a lot of space discussing Restricting the Effectiveness and Co-ordination of the Pieces. He wrote, “Striving to make the effectiveness of one's own pieces as great as possible naturally always involves restricting the effectiveness of the opponent's pieces.” To demonstrate the point he used a lot of examples showing tactical means which can serve to achieve the goal. 

    The following smartly played game by Spassky is an object lesson on pins. Boris Spassky (born 1937) was the tenth World Champion, holding the title from 1969 to 1972. His opponent was a Candidate Master named Sergey Avtonomov. About all that I known of him is that he was born in 1931 and he was educated as a lawyer. In his school years he was part of the youth team of Leningrad. 

 

[Event "Soviet Junior Qualifier"] [Site "Leningrad URS"] [Date "1949.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Boris Spassky"] [Black "Sergey Avtonomov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D28"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "1949.??.??"] {D28: Queen's Gambit Accepted} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 {Seldom seen, the QGA's success rate is statisticallt is about the same as declining it with either 2.. .e6 or 2...c6. The Queen's Gambit is not a true gambit, because the Pawn is either regained or can only be held in a way that is not favorable to black. By accepting the P black surrenders the center and white will try to seize space and use it to launch an attack. Forid part, black will try to weaken white's center with the hope of gaining an advantage in the ending. This usually involves moves like ..c5 and ...cxd4. White either ends up with an isolated d-Pawn or his will disappear and the position will be one of little promis.} 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 c5 5. Bxc4 e6 6. O-O a6 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Nc3 b5 9. Bb3 { The standard move.} (9. Ne5 {is wrong because after} Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 11. Bd3 Nxe5 {black has recocered his P and he has the more active position.}) (9. Bd3 c4 10. Bb1 {If (when) black plays ...O-O white can set up a Q+B battery with Qc2 attacking h7. But, even more to the point is white aims for e4.} Be7 11. Rd1 Bb7 12. e4) 9... cxd4 {Apparently black hopes to get play against the isolated d-Pawm...almost always a questionablecdecision.} (9... Bb7 10. Rd1 Qc7 11. d5 {Here black almost always takes 11...exd5, but that's not the correct move.} Nb4 12. dxe6 c4 13. a3 (13. Bc2 fxe6 {is equal.}) 13... fxe6 14. e4 cxb3 15. axb4 Qc4 16. Qe3 Bxb4 17. Qb6 Qc8 18. Nxb5 {is equal. Gowever, it should be noted that there are very few example of this line starting at move 9 and 11...Nb4 would very difficult to spot OTB!}) 10. Rd1 {This first pin has us a tactical element that will have a decisive bearing on the further course of play.} Bb7 (10... Na5 {This is black's best try.} 11. Nxd4 Qc7 12. e4 Bb7 13. Bg5 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bd6 15. Bxf6 gxf6 {with equal chances. Yakovich,Y (2570) -Savchenko,S (2595) Maikop 1998}) (10... e5 {It should be notes that lack cannot defend the d-Pawn with this.} 11. exd4 Qe7 12. dxe5 Ng4 13. h3 Ngxe5 14. Nd5 {and white has a decisive advantahe.}) 11. exd4 Nb4 {From the positional standpoint this move is correct, but at this point it comes too late to blockade the d-Pawn.} (11... Na5 {is the best that black has, but white will still have a clear advantahe after} 12. d5 Nxb3 13. dxe6 Qc8 14. exf7+ Kxf7 15. axb3) 12. d5 {Well plyed by the future Wotrld Champion!. White pins the black pieces in three ways and obtains an irresistible attack. His advantage is alresy decisive/} (12. Ne5 {This was played in Kaluga,S (2227)-Dolsonov,A (2095) Novokuznetsk 2008 and while it yields white a slear adbanatge it is not nearly as good as Spassky's move.} Bd5 13. Nxd5 Nbxd5 14. a4 b4 15. Bg5 Be7 16. Nc6 {with yje better game.}) 12... Nbxd5 13. Bg5 {Pins....1)Black's e-Pawn is pinned by the Q, 2) his N on d5 by the R and 3) his N on f6 by the B. Black's problem is that he cannot get rid of these pins without gravely weakening his Ps.} Be7 14. Bxf6 {Forcing a P weakness.} gxf6 (14... Bxf6 {loses a piece.} 15. Bxd5 Bxd5 16. Nxd5) 15. Nxd5 {Forcing an additional weakness.} Bxd5 (15... exd5 {This is actually a better choice because at least he can use the B to defend the d-Pawn. But after} 16. Nd4 Qd7 17. Rac1 {there is nothing about black's position that would cause one to want to play it.}) 16. Bxd5 exd5 17. Nd4 { Besides weak Ps, black is now unable to complete his development..} Kf8 { Black needs to get out of the pin on the B. but it's too late to repair the damage.} (17... O-O {is out of the question.} 18. Nc6 Qd7 19. Nxe7+) 18. Nf5 h5 {There is no longer an adequate defence for black.} (18... Bc5 19. Rac1 Rc8 20. b4 Bxb4 (20... Bb6 21. Rxc8 Qxc8 22. Qe7+ Kg8 23. Nh6+ Kg7 24. Qxf7+ Kxh6 25. Qxf6+ Kh5 26. Rxd5+ {mates}) 21. Qg4 Rg8 22. Qxb4+ {mates in 3}) 19. Rxd5 $3 { [%mdl 512]} Qxd5 (19... Qe8 20. Qd2 Rd8 21. Re1 {Yet another pin on the B.} Rxd5 22. Qxd5 {and the B is lost.}) (19... Kg8 {[%eval 641,22] [%wdl 1000,0,0] [%emt 0:00:00]}) 20. Qxe7+ Kg8 21. Qxf6 {Facing mate or the loss of his Q black resigned.} (21. Qxf6 Rh7 22. Ne7+) 1-0