Chessplayers have always used technology. Before the Internet, laptops, chess programs, cell phones and the old landline telephones there was the telegraph
You couldn't use telegraphs to cheat, but I am sure that in telegraph matches of the day that occasionally there was some consultation going on.
The telegraph's primary use was for commercial purposes. My father was a section foreman on the old Baltimore & Ohio railroad and I remember the time I was with him when he visited a railroad signal tower and the tower operator demonstrated the use of the telegraph to me. It was fascinating stuff for a kid!
Way back in the early days the telegraph companies used chess in advertising because matches played by telegraph showed a practical application and the speed and accuracy of the telegraph over a long distance.
In 1923, Los Angeles and San Francisco met in their annual match that was palyed by telegraph on George Wasjington;s birthday (February 22nd). The winner of the following nrevity was Stach Mlotkowski (1881-1943). He was born in born in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. His play in this game was about as straightforward and incisive as you can get.
[Event "Telegraph, Los Angeles-San Francisco"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1923.02.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Stash Mlotkowski (LA)"]
[Black "W. Metzke (SF)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A34"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "1923.??.??"]
{A34: Symmetrical English} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. Nc3 Nc6 {Although
this move has been played before, it results in black either losing time or
misplacing his N so either 5...c5 or 5...d5 would seem to be a better choice.}
5. d5 (5. e3 {Apparently white is satisfied with a draw.} d5 6. a3 cxd4 7. exd4
Be7 8. c5 O-O 9. Bb5 Ne4 10. Qc2 Bf6 11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. O-O Nxc3 13. Qxc3 a5 14.
b3 Be7 15. Re1 f6 {1/2-1/2 Ivkov,B (2540)-Velimirovic,D (2480) Borovo 1981})
5... Na5 {The N appears to be out of place here.} (5... exd5 6. cxd5 Nb8 7. e4
d6 8. Bb5+ Bd7 9. Be2 g6 {Skvortsov,A (2298)-Sherman,R (2126) chess.com INT
2023 was drawn in 109 moves. The engines have me flummoxed here. Stockfish,
for example, favors white by nearly 3 Pawns. In Shootouts Stockfish 17, Dragon
by Komodo and Fritz 19 all scored 5-0 for white!}) 6. e4 d6 7. Bd3 e5 8. h3 {
Severly limiting the scope of black;s B.} b6 9. Be3 Bd7 10. O-O Be7 (10... g6
11. b3 Bg7 12. Qd2 {is not a lot better for black as his dark squared B is
going to disappear.}) 11. Nh2 Qc7 12. Rc1 a6 13. f4 Nb7 14. Qf3 O-O-O {
Obviously castling K-side would be way too risky, but black's pieces are so
lacking in scope that even castling Q-sude is not without risks.} 15. Rb1 Rdg8
16. f5 g5 17. g4 h5 {Black is barking n the Kside, but he has no bite.} 18. Rf2
{This R is going to the b-file and it will decide the game.} Qd8 19. b4 Qf8 20.
bxc5 Nxc5 21. Bxc5 bxc5 {Opening the b-file is the quickest way to lose, but
his position is already beyond hope.} 22. Rfb2 Kd8 23. Rb8+ Bc8 24. Qd1 {
The Q is joining the attack.} Nd7 25. Rxc8+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} Kxc8 26. Qa4 Kd8
27. Rb7 {Black resigned. The tactical analysis assigned Mlotkowski an Accuracy
rating of 80%.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment