Chess Trivia

Saemisch, Friedrich (1896-1975)
Loser of more games of chess on time than any other master. In one tournament he lost all 13 games on time. He once spent 45 minutes before making his first move, got in time trouble and lost. In another event he lost a game on time in 13 moves. The time control was 45 minutes in 2 1/2 hours.

Salgado, Rob
Won the 1975 and 1983 Golden Knights correspondence chess championship with two perfect scores.

Saltsjobaden, Sweden 1948
First Interzonal tournament and won by David Bronstein who survived an assassination attempt on his life. The U.S. was not represented. The two candidates, Isaac Kashdan and Arnold Denker, declined. The USCF raised $1,000 for Kashdan to play, but he felt that would not cover his expenses. Denker would have had to finance the entire journey himself. Seven players represented the USSR in the twenty man field and five of them finished in the top six places.

Saunders, Elaine
Won the British girls' under 21 title at age 10. Won the British women's championship in 1939 at the age of 13.

Scandals and chess
In 1987 the Zone 11 (East Asia/Australia) Zonal in Jjarkata, Indonesia was cancelled after charges that the Chinese players were throwing games to insure one of their own advanced to the Interzonals. A majority of players refused to play after a Chinese player resigned a drawn game and lost on time to other Chinese players. The player was watching other games and made no attempt to make time control against the front-runner, Xu Jun. FIDE then nullified the tournament. Later, President Campomanes reversed the decision, and ruled that the results would stand.

Schlechter, Carl (1874-1918)
The most quiet of all grandmasters. Known as the "Drawing Master" as he drew half of his 700 tournament and match games. He starved to death during the war-imposed famine in Central Europe, never mentioning to any of his acquaintances that he needed money or food.

Scholar's Mate
1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 d6 4.Qxf7 mate. In France it is called the Shepherd's mate.

Schlumberger, William (1800-1838)
Strongest player in America from 1826 to 1837. Supported himself by giving chess lessons at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris, earning 4 francs a day. Taught Pierre Saint Amant. The last operator of the Turk.

Schmid, Lothar (1928- )
German grandmaster with the largest private chess library in the world, with over 20,000 chess books. He has served as chief arbiter for Fischer-Spassky 1972, Karpov-Korchnoi 1978, Kasparov-Karpov 1986, and Fischer-Spassky 1992.

Scrivener, Robert (1881-? )
In 1961 Robert Scrivener won the Mississippi State Championship at the age of 80, the oldest state champion.

Scotch Game
An opening name derived from a correspondence game between the English in London and the Scots in Edinburgh, Scotland. However, it was the English who played the Scotch opening!

Second
A player's attendent. The first seconds were for the Lasker-Tarrasch match in 1908. They were allowed to help in preparation of the openings. The first seconds that assisted during adjournments were in the Alekhine-Euwe championship match in 1935.

Seirawan, Yassar (1960- )
First American to beat a reigning world champion. He defeated Karpov in 1982. He was once featured in "Cosmopolitan" magazine as Bachelor of the Month in September 1983. In 1985 he became the first US Candidate for the World Championship cycle since Robert Byrne in 1973.

Selenius, Gustavus (1579-1666)
Author of the earliest detailed account of living chess and the earliest German book on the openings in 1616.

Semaphore
In 1868, Georg Carr played chess with a friend five miles away using a telescope and semaphores.

Sevastianov, Vitaly
President of the USSR Chess Federation and the first person to play chess in space during the Soyuz IX mission in 1970. He invented the Soyuz-Apollo cocktail (25% vodka, 25% gin, 50% brandy). It was designed to put you in orbit. In 1986 he was replaced by Alexander Chikvaidze, a career diplomat.

Shahiludo, de
A Latin poem written by a Winchester monk in 1180. It is the first British reference to chess.

Shaked, Tal (1978- )
America's youngest Grandmaster and highest rated Junior in the US. He won the World Junior Championship in 1997.

Shakmatny
The Russian word for chess. It was first used by a Serbian nomocanon translated from a Greek source in 1262.

Shannon, Claude
The first person to describe how a computer might be programmed to play chess, in 1948.

Sherwin, James (1933- )
International Master who was the American Chess Foundation (ACF) for over 10 years. He was involved in some Wall Street scandals and was replaced as President of the ACF by Fan Adams, a retired Mobil Corporation executive.

Ships and chess
In 1902 the first chess match between players on different ships at sea was played by passengers on the American liner Philadelphia and the Cunard liner Campania 70 miles away. The moves were broadcast by wireless operators aboard the ships. The match was not concluded since the radio was required for navigational use. In 1962 the first USCF rated event ever held shipboard was won by John Mauer (USS Intrepid Open).

Short games
The shortest game in U.S. championship play was a 5 mover by Shirazi-Peters in 1984.

Short, Nigel (1965- )
The youngest player ever to qualify to play in the British Championship, age 11. He won the British speed championship at age 13 and tied for first in the British Championship at 14. He bacame an International Master at 14 after placing 2nd in the World Junior Championship and a Grandmaster at 19.

Showalter, Jackson (1860-1935)
The first official U.S. Chess Champion (1890). He is considered the inventor of the curve ball. His nickname was the Kentucky Lion.

Silans, Chaude de (1919- )
First lady to play in the Men's Olympiad (Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia) in 1950. She played first board reserve for France, winning one game, drawing one game, and losing four games.

Simultaneous play
Karl Podzielny played 575 games simultaneously in 1978. In 30 1/2 hours he won 533 , drew 27, and lost 15. Vlastimil Hort played 550 opponents, 201 simultaneously, and lost only 10 games in 1977. The best record for simultaneous play was achieved by Capablanca who played 103 opponents, drew 1 game and won all the rest in Cleveland in 1922. George Koltanowski played 56 consecutive (not simultaneous) blindfold games and won 50, drew 6 in San Francisco in 1960. Janos Flesch played 52 strong players blindfold, taking 12 hours. He won 31, drew 18 and lost 3 games. The first satellite simultaneous exhibition was between Kasparov against players in London and New York.

The best simultaneous record is Jude Acers winning all 114 games at a simultaneous exhibition at the 1966 Louisiana State Fair.

The worst performance in a simultaneous exhibition is a New Jersey player who invited 180 opponents to play him in 1977. Only 20 showed up and 18 won. Of the two losses, one was to the exhibiter's mother. In 1910 the Austrian master, Josef Krejcik, gave a simultaneous display at Linz on 25 boards and lost every single game.

In 1966 at the Havana Olympiad, 380 of Cuba's strongest players played 18 opponents each, a total of 6840 individual boards.

In 1984 Kasparov conducted the first satellite simultaneous exhibition, playing chessplayers in London and New York. In 1988 Kasparov played 10 oppenents in Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Switzerland, USA, and USSR, winning 8, drawing 1, and losing 1.

Smith, Ken (1930- )
In 1954 he won the British Blitz Championship while stationed in England. He was not given a prize because he was not British. In 1983 while playing in the National Open in Las Vegas, Ken Smith won $140,000 at a poker tournament. He has won the Texas Championship 9 times and the Southwest Championship 7 times.

Smyslov, Vassily (1921- )
Became a candidate for the world championship by taking 2nd place at the 1982 Las Palmas interzonal at the age of 61, the oldest candidate ever. In his candidates match with Huebner in Velden, Austria, the match was tied 7-7. To break the tie, both players agreed to use a roulette wheel to select the winner. Huebner's color was black and Smyslov's color was red. The wheel was spun at it came up 0. The second spin saw the ball land in "Red 3" and Smyslov won. He won the first World Seniors Championship in 1991 at the age of 70. Smyslov's father once beat Alekhine in a chess tournament in 1912.

Sneaky Pete
First computer to play in a U.S. Open (Columbus, Ohio in 1977).

South Africa
Banned from FIDE from 1977 to 1992 because of its aprtheid practices. Players participating in South African events have also been banned from FIDE events. Players banned have included Miguel Quinteros, Ledek Pachman, Karl Robatsch, and H. Kestler.

Southern Chess Association
In 1950 an Afro-American player was invited to the Southern Chess Association's Congress in Durham, NC but then barred because of his color. There was a movement to outlaw the Southern Chess Association from U.S. chess because of this incident.

Space
The first game between space and earth was played on June 9, 1970 by the Soyez-9 crew. Vatily Sevastynov (who later became President of the USSR Chess Federation) and Nikolayev played their ground crew on a specially designed chess set for the weightless environment. The game ended in a draw.

Spassky, Boris (1937- )
First Soviet to compete in a Swiss System tournament, the Canadian Open in 1971. His sister Irena has been the USSR women's champion at checkers several times. His ending against Bronstein in the 1960 USSR Championship was used in the opening sequence of the James Bond film "From Russia With Love".

Spielmann, Rudolf (1883-1942)
His nickname was "The Last Knight of the King's Gambit" because he played this opening so much. In a tournament a spectator carelessly flicked an ash on Spielmann's pants, which caught on fire. He was so absorbed with the game that he failed to notice he was on fire and had to be rescued by onlookers.

Sphynz
A chess problem that appears on the frontpiece of Staunton's THE CHESS PLAYERS HANDBOOK.

Sports Illustrated
It was the August 20, 1962 issue that Fischer wrote his famous article, "The Russians Have Fixed World Chess." He accused the Soviets of cheating and in collusion with each other at the Curacao Candidates tournament.

Stahlberg, Gideon (1908-1967)
In 1941 Swedish Grandmaster Gideon Stahlberg played 400 games on 20 boards (each loser being replaced by a new player) at Buenos Aires. After 36 hours his score was 364 wins, 14 draws, and 22 losses. He played on 13 Swedish olympic teams. He was the arbiter of five world championships. He died during a tournament in Leningrad.

Stalemate
The rule regarding stalemate first appeared in Europe in A. Saul's Famous Game of Chesse-Play. In England, the player who gave stalemate lost the game. In Italy and France stalemate counted as a draw. In Spain and Portugal it counted as an inferior win. Some countries didn't even allow it. Finally, in 1807, the London Chess Club laws gave stalemate as a draw and it has remained so ever since.

Stamps, Chess
Over 50 countries have issued a stamp on chess. The US has yet to do so. The first stamp with a chess theme was issued in 1947 in Bulgaria commemorating the Balkan Games. The first chess stamp which protrayed a chess master was issued by Cuba in 1951 when a portrait of Capablanca appeared on their 25 cent stamp.

Stanley, Charles (1819-1901)
Considered to be America's first chess champion until he lost a match with Paul Morphy. Started America's first chess column which contained the first chess problem published in America.

Star Trek
Kirk and Spock have played chess three times on STAR TREK. Kirk won every game.

Statham, Louis (1907-1983)
Physicist, inventor, philanthropist and American chess patron. He owned the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles before selling it to Hugh Hefner and moving to Lone Pine. His Lone Pine tournaments (1971-1981) became one of the premier events in the US. His interests also included yacht racing, opera singing, and ham radio. At 60 he took up correspondence chess, playing over 40 games at once. He had a doctorate in mathematics and pioneered the use of shock waves in oil exploration. He also contributed to the developement of the artificial heart.

Staunton chess set
The only type of chess set allowed in FIDE events. In the 1978 World Championship match in Baguio, none of the chess sets shown to Karpov and Korchnoi just before the match were of the Staunton pattern. Someone had to drive to Manila to find a Staunton chess set, which arrived just 15 minutes before the clocks were due to be started. The Staunton knight pattern was modelled after the Greek horse of the Eglin Marbles in the British Museum. The name of the standard pattern of chessmen in England before the Staunton pattern was the St. George design.

Staunton, Howard (1810-1874)
Organizer of the world's first international tournament, held in London in 1851. He founded the Chess Player's Chronicle, the first chess magazine in the English language in 1840.

Stein, Leonid (1934-1973)
Three times Soviet champion. He was heading for the European Team Championship in Bath in 1973 when he was found dead of a heart attack in the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow.

Steiner, Herman (1905-1955)
New York champion in 1929, US Open champion in 1942 and 1946, US Champion in 1948. He died while playing in the California state championship.

Steinitz, Wilhelm (1836-1900)
Steinitz took 6th place in the London 1851 tournament. After the tournament, he challenged the 5th place finisher to a match. Steinitz won. It would be another 31 years and 25 matches before anyone could defeat him. He won prize money in every tournament he ever played in except his last tournament, London 1899. The first recognized world champion who won the first official world championship match against Zuckertort in 1886. Steinitz started badly, being 1-4 down, but finally won with a 12.5 - 7.5 score. His daughter sold programs and photographs to spectators during the New York phase of the world championship match to earn a few extra dollars for the family. They couldn't afford a winter coat for her as she stood shivering in the vestibule in the cold January weather. He held the world chess championship for 27 years. After he lost his title, he showed signs of mental illness. He challenged God to a match and occasionally beat Him at chess with pawn odds. He believed he could move chess pieces through mental telepathy. He imagined he could draw energy from the earth and emit electrical currents. He was once held against his will in an insane asylum in Moscow in 1897. He had the delusion that he was phoning somebody in New York. He was sent to the asylum protesting violently. However, he enjoyed the food and played chess with other inmates. He stayed a week. He died in the East River mental asylum on New York's Ward Island, penniless, in 1900. When he died he left a wife and two small children destitute. He once spit on Blackburne and Blackburne hit him.

Stevenson
Vera Menchik, world woman's champion, married and became Mrs. Stevenson. Sonja Graf, U.S. woman's champion, married and became Mrs. Stevenson.

Stolen car
A chess set was instrumental in a man retreiving his stolen car. In 1990 Bogdan Szetela noticed a car drive by that looked like his that had been stolen 11 days earlier. But this car had a taxi light on top and "Crescent Cab Co." painted on the side. Spotting a police officer, he told the cop that the cab was his stolen car. Police weren't convinced unti he told them that he left a chess set in the trunk before it was stolen. The police popped the trunk and found the chess set.

Strauss, David (1946- )
First International Master to lose to a computer. In 1986 an experimental Fidelity machine defeated Strauss at the 1986 U.S. Open.

Strazdins, Arkadijs
Won the New Britain, CT chess club championship for 23 years in a row, from 1952 to 1975.

Streisand, Barbra
Fellow student of Bobby Fischer at Erasmus High School in Brooklyn who used to swap MAD comics.

Strike
The first chess strike occured at the 1st All-Russian Chess Olympiad held in Moscow, 1920. The competitors stopped playing halfway through the event and refused to play unless they were given more rations and prize money. Their demands were finally met.

Stroebeck
Village in the Harz Mountains, near Halberstadt, Germany. Legend has it that in 1011 A.D., Henry II of Germany decreed that the Wendish Count of Gungelin be delivered to the Biship of Stroebeck, to be kept in solitay confinement. The captive spent his long hours playing chess by himself, using a chalked-out board on the dungeon floor and chessmen carved from wood. He won his freedom by teaching his guards how to play chess and the game was passed on to their friends and relatives. During World War I the city printed a bill showing Bismark as the world chess master. Every year the town of 2,000 has a chess festival with parades, banners, and a living chess game.

Sturgis, George (1891-1944)
First President of the USCF, elected in 1939. He died while in office after returning from his honeymoon.

Sukaikir
Last writer on the Muslim game of chess. In 1579 he wrote "The fragrence of the Rose: on the Superiority of Chess over Nard (backgammon)."

Sultan Khan, Mir (1905-1966)
Winner of the All-indian championship and in five years he was the winner of the Championship of the British Empire three times and played on top board for England in three Olympiads. He was illiterate and had to learn the rules of chess in Europe, which were differnet than Eastern chess (pawns could only move one square at a time, for example). He couldn't speak English and had to have an attendant write down his score. He was a servant in the household of Colonel Umar Hayat Khan Tiwano, an army officer in charge of the horses for King George V. He defeated Capablanca, Nimzovich, Rubinstein and other top players. He returned to India with his master, living the rest of his life as a farmer. He died of tuberculosis in Pakistan. In 1933 the U.S. chess team from the Olympiad was invited to the home of Sultan Khan's master in London. Sultan Khan was required to wait on everyone as a servant the entire evening. Sultan Khan was invited to play at Moscow 1936, but was too poor to attend.

Suttles, Duncan (1945- )
Canadian Grandmaster who became Canada's 1st correspondence GM in 1982.

Sutton, Willie
Famous bank robber who was arrested by the FBI in 1952. In his possession was HOW TO THINK AHEAD IN CHESS by Horowitz.

SWIFT
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. The 2nd SWIFT International in 1987 was the first time Kasparov, Karpov, and Korchnoi competed together. Karpov met Kasparov for the 100th time.

Swindle of the Century
Name given to the Larry Evans-Sammy Reshevsky game at the 1964 US Championship.