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.
[Event "Offhand game, Vienna"]
[Site "Vienna AUH"]
[Date "1893.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bernhard Fleissig"]
[Black "Carl Schlechter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "1893.??.??"]
{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. Bb2 Nf6 3. a3 c5 4. b5 (4. c3 d5 5.
e3 Bd6 6. f4 {Correct was 6.bxc5} c4 7. Nf3 b5 8. a4 bxa4 9. Rxa4 {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.} Be7
6. Nf3 O-O 7. e3 Nbd7 8. d3 Ne8 9. Nc3 Bf6 10. Qc2 Nc7 11. Be2 Qe7 12. O-O {
with equal chances.}) 5... Qa5+ 6. Nc3 Ne4 7. Qd3 {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. Qxd4 Bc5 9. Qxg7 Bxf2+ {Very natural, but in a sequence only and
engine would see 9...Rf8 was even more potent.} (9... Rf8 10. e3 (10. f3 Nf2
11. Nh3 Nxh1 {is also winning.}) 10... Be7 11. Qd4 Bf6 12. Qb4 Qxb4 13. axb4
Bxc3+ 14. Bxc3 Nxc3) 10. Kd1 d4 {[%mdl 512]} 11. Qxh8+ Ke7 {Enticing white to
grab more material.} (11... Kd7 {is unacceptable.} 12. e3 Nxc3+ (12... dxc3 13.
Bc1 {Black is the exchange down and white's position is much better.}) 13. Bxc3
Qxc3 14. Qxd4+ Qxd4+ 15. exd4 Bxd4 {White is better.}) 12. Qxc8 {[%mdl 8192] A
fatal error.} (12. Nh3 {This move would have left white with reasonable
chances of defending himself.} Nxc3+ 13. Bxc3 Qxc3 14. Nxf2 Qxa1+ 15. Kd2 Qc3+
16. Kd1 {Here it's unlikely that black would be satisfied with taking a draw
with 16...Qa1+, etc., so...} Nd7 17. Qxh7 {and white can put up a serious
fight.}) 12... dxc3 13. Bc1 Nd7 {[%mdl 128] Flashy, but nearly as good as the
prosaic 13...Qxb5} (13... Qxb5 14. Bg5+ Qxg5 15. Qxb7+ Nd7 16. Nf3 (16. Qxa8
Qd2#) 16... Qe3 17. Qxa8 Ng5 {mates in 6} 18. Qb7 Nxf3 19. Qb4+ Nc5 20. Qxc5+
Qxc5 21. Kc1 Be3+ 22. Kb1 Qb5+ 23. Ka2 Qb2#) (13... Nd7 14. Qxa8 Qxb5 15. Nf3
Qd5+ 16. Bd2 Be3 {White cannot avoid mate...} 17. a4 cxd2 18. c4 Nf2+ 19. Kc2
Qxc4+ 20. Kb2 d1=N+ 21. Rxd1 Nxd1+ 22. Ka1 Qc1+ 23. Ka2 Qb2#) 14. Qxa8 {
Suicide. Black has a mate in 22...but only if he finds the right move.} (14.
Qxb7 {This hardly saves the game, but it does not result in instant defeat.}
Rd8 15. Qxe4 Nf6+ 16. Qd3 Rxd3+ 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!}
Bxg1 18. Rxg1 Qb6 19. Rh1 Ng4 {the only move that avoids turning the advantage
over to white.} 20. Rb1 (20. a4 Nf2+ 21. Ke2 Nxh1 22. Bg5+ f6 23. Be3 {and
black should be able to win.}) 20... Qc5 {A clever plan...shifting the Q to a2
thereby winning the R.} (20... Nf2+ 21. Ke2 Nxh1 {and black should win.}) 21.
d4 Qd5 22. Ke1 Qa2 {etc.}) 14... Qxb5 (14... Qb6 {intending ...Bxg1 would be
awful.} 15. e3 Bxe3 16. Qc8 Bxg1 17. Bd3 Nf2+ 18. Ke2 Nxh1 19. a4 Qf2+ 20. Kd1
{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. Bf4 Qd5+ {Black has a mate.} 16. Kc1 Be3+ {[%mdl 512]} 17. Bxe3 Nf2 {
[%mdl 512]} 18. Bxf2 Qd2+ {White resigned.} 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment