Site review - Schach-Zettel

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Some of the chess history sites that I look at are, in all fairness,
not particularly interesting. The compensation is that once in a
while I get to review a first-class site that reminds me why I became
interested in the subject -- its internationality and its unexpected
connections with the more important activities of the human race. One
such first-class site is...

Schach-Zettel by Harald E. Balló
http://www.ballo.de/

...which is primarily a German language site. Although the greeting --
'Willkommen auf der Webseite von Harald E. Balló!' -- is easy enough
to understand ('Welcome to the web page by Harald E. Balló!') I once
again had to rely on...

Google Language Tools
http://www.google.be/language_tools?hl=en

...to decipher the bulk of the content. Balló continues, 'These and
the pages following my home page are an attempt to represent chess in
its historical and bibliophile aspect.'

The home page presents five buttons & eight links opening on a wide
variety of topics. Two of the buttons are titled Schach-Zettel
('Chess Note'), which is the site's official name according to other
pages which link to it. [Schach-Zettel 1-167] and [Schach-Zettel 168-
] are intermediate pages serving as a high-level index to the various
notes. The notes, numbered sequentially in the order they are
published, each treat a single, specific topic in chess history. They
often refer to previous notes as new material is discovered or when
readers offer advice on a topic. Notes 1-144 were written in the
years 1994 to 1996, notes 145-167 in 1997, and notes 168-176 are more
recent.

Balló acknowledges a similarity to the structures used for 'Chess
Notes' by Edward Winter and 'Quotes and Queries' by Ken Whyld. He
remarks that, for German speakers, the work of his two famous
colleagues is obscured by an English language barrier compounded
by 'occasional British insular isolationism'. He also complains that
Winter's work is often of 'marginal historical relevance'. This, of
course, may be due to the huge scope of 'Chess Notes', where Winter
has just published C.N.s 2730-2735 on the ChessCafe site.

The button [Schach-Bibliographie], 'eine ausgewählte Literatur des
Schachspiels' ('[Chess bibliography], a selected literature of the
game of chess'), segments chess literature into three periods -- 1497-
1843 (1 list), 1844-1945 (4 lists), and 1945-1998 (8 lists). I
started to analyze this topic almost two years ago in Chess History
on the Web (2000 no.18)...

Chess Bibliography (before 1800)
http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw00i15/chw00i15.htm

...and, armed with the Schach-Zettel material, will return to it in a
future article. [Antiquariat], 'ausgewählte antiquarische
Schachbücher' ('[Second-hand bookshop], selected antiquarian chess
books') is a list of titles for sale via the site.

Along with the notes and the bibliographies, the site offers a half-
dozen essays related to chess history. These are listed under [Schach-
Geschichte] ('Chess history'), which links to the same essays found
on the home page plus 'Wunderkinder' & 'Schachbund'.
Schachwunderkinder ('Chess prodigies') discusses the prodigy
phenomenon ('for me [Balló] there are no prodigies'!); builds a
candidate list of prodigies -- Philidor, Morphy, Capablanca,
Reshevsky, Pomar, Tal, Spassky, Fischer, Gheorghiu, Karpov, Mecking,
Nunn, Jutta Hempel, Chiburdanidze, Zsuzsa & Judith Polgar, Kamsky,
and Short -- containing a few surprises (whatever happened to Jutta
Hempel?); and discusses Philidor, Morphy, Capablanca, and Reshevsky
in more detail. Westdeutschen Schachbund ('West German chess
federation') discusses the foundation in 1862 of that organization as
the forerunner of the Deutsche Schachbund, which celebrates its 125th
anniversary this year.

For English (and Polish) speakers, the highlight of the site must be
the essay 'Siegbert Tarrasch: Chessplayer, Doctor, German, Jew',
which is carried on the site in English and Polish as well as in
German. 'In the life of the chess grandmaster and physician, Siegbert
Tarrasch, the whole tragedy of the attempt of Jewish assimilation in
Germany becomes clear'.

For French speakers, the highlight must be 'The Manuscript of
Chapais' by Dr. Jean Mennerat, which is available in French and
German versions. Google translates:-
- the French version 'manuscrit méconnu' as 'an ignored manuscript',
and
- the German version 'verkanntes manuskript' as 'a misjudged
manuscript',
which probably means that it should be 'a misunderstood manuscript'.
The essay is about an endgame manuscript written around 1780 by
Monsieur Chapais, whose given name is unknown. Although the work was
frequently quoted by 19th century writers, it has never been
published, largely because of an obscure notation.

Rounding out the essays are a five page piece on the Staunton - Saint-
Amant match of 1843, and another long piece on chess book collector
Harald Falk (1905-1944?), who also appears several times in the SZ
notes. Like the Tarrasch article, both essays consider the chess
history against the larger history of the specific period.

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Returning to the subject of Tarrasch, a Google search on 'chess
Siegbert Tarrasch' returns 'about 1050' pages. In the absence of a
profile by Bill Wall...

Bill Wall's Profiles of Chess Masters
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/masters.htm

...the most extensive article may be...

Siegbert Tarrasch by Terry Crandall
http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw01k01/tarrasch.htm

...an essay which I hesitatingly rescued from oblivion last year.
Complementary pieces are...

Towering Tarrasch by G.H. Diggle
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/tarrasch.txt

Near Champions, Part One: Siegbert Tarrasch by Dan Schifrin
http://www.kasparov.com/serve/templates/folders/show.asp?
p_docID=6660&p_docLang=EN

...from two of the most respected chess sites on the Web. At first
glance it may appear that...

Welcome to the web site of Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch
http://pages.infinit.net/tarrasch/

...has the most comprehensive material available, but a little
investigation proved that it is an unabashed plagiarism. The three
main buttons on the home page are titled 'Biography', 'Life of
Tarrasch', and 'Towering Tarrasch'. It turns out that 'Biography' is
an unattributed copy of Crandall's article, 'Life of Tarrasch' is an
unattributed copy of Ballo's article, and 'Towering Tarrasch' is an
unattributed copy of Diggle's article. Behind the 'Webmaster' button,
we learn that one Stephane Vaillancourt (at the top of the page are
rocks being hurled at his underwater image) is the proud mastermind
behind this grand theft of intellectual property. The Webmaster page
is a copy of Schifrin's article, unattributed of course, and
signed 'Vaillancourt', as though it were his own essay. Ugh.

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The reason I looked for 'chess Siegbert Tarrasch' instead of
simply 'chess Tarrasch' is that the less restrictive search turns up
all sorts of pages related to openings named after Tarrasch. The best
known must be the Tarrasch variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6
2.d4 d5 3.Nd2). A position search at Chesslab.com told me that in
games played since 1990, the Tarrasch has produced an overall record
of 40%-25%-34% (% W-wins, % B-wins, % draw). This gives it almost the
same expected result as 3.Nc3 against the French (42%-28%-28%), which
has the advantage of being less drawish. It also compares favorably
with other popular 3rd moves : 3.e5 (38%-35%-25%), which is almost
equal, and 3.exd5 (26%-30%-42%), which favors Black.

The Tarrasch variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4
e6 3.Nc3 c5) also fares better (39%-27%-33%) than the more popular
3... Nf6 variations (43%-22%-33%). This justifies the famous Tarrasch
dictum that, "He who fears an isolated Queen's Pawn should give up
Chess".

Tarrasch's writings are a popular source of dictums, epigrams, and
notable quotes. Some examples, all taken from various Web pages:-
'Many have become Chess Masters, no one has become the Master of
Chess.'
'It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well.'
'When you don't know what to do, wait for you opponent to get an
idea; it is sure to be bad.'
'The greatest mistake in chess is to overestimate your opponent.'
and:-
'White lost because he failed to remember the right continuation and
had to think up the moves himself.'
'Up to this point White has been following well-known analysis. But
now he makes a fatal error: he begins to use his own head.'

Those last two are so similar, that I suspect at least one of them
was written from memory. In fact, very few Tarrasch quotes are listed
with the source. On Chess-poster.com, we find both 'Chess, like
music, like love, has the power to make people happy' and 'Chess,
like love, like music, etc.'. Other sites give the less politically
correct, 'Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men
happy', which is how Tarrasch's preface to his 'Game of Chess' was
originally translated.

Another Tarrasch epigram which has acquired cliché status is 'Before
the endgame' (or, according to some sources, 'Between the opening and
endgame') 'the gods have placed the middlegame.' Of the two epigrams -
- 'gods have placed' and 'like love like music' -- which is better
known? A Google search for 'chess "has the power to make" Tarrasch'
returned 'about 85' pages. A search for 'chess "gods have placed"
Tarrasch' returned 'about 49'.

As popular as these are, they are not the best known chess sayings. A
search for 'chess "a gnat may drink"' returned 'about 97', while
Philidor's 'pawns "the soul of chess"' appears to be the king of
chess clichés at 'about 164'. The popularity of the gnat epigram is
partly due to the book 'A Gnat May Drink' by Jonathan Hinton. A
search on 'chess "an elephant may bathe"' only returned 'about 73'
pages.

The gnats and elephants saying is invariably identified as an Indian
proverb, without further details. That's unfortunate, because I've
never understood it; the short version 'Chess is a sea' seems
profound enough. That various forms of wildlife can profit from this
sea, adds nothing to the basic thought; it's just more poetic. I
could easily write 'Chess is a puddle in which a gnat may drink and
an elephant may bathe', or even 'Chess is a mudhole, etc.', where the
underlying idea is a favorable or unfavorable, romantic or unromantic
comparison of chess with a body of water. How about 'Chess is a
quicksand'?

But let's get back to Tarrasch. Before I close this brief look at his
legacy, I'd like to mention one more link...

Book Reviews by IM John L Watson #23 : Looking Back, Part 1
http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwatson23.html

...where Watson reviews 'Three Hundred Chess Games' and 'The Game of
Chess', both considered classics by Tarrasch.

Tarrasch's name also appears throughout Chess Notes. SZ 32, 'Lasker -
Schlechter 1910', has Tarrasch annotations to the 10th game of the
match, where Lasker saved his title in one of the most controversial
games in world championship history. SZ 46, 'Steinitz - von
Bardeleben', is about the brilliant game from Hastings 1895, where
Steinitz won by a stunning sequence of Rook sacrifices on the seventh
rank. When he realized that his position was lost, Bardeleben left
the board and allowed his clock to run, eventually losing on time.
Tarrasch, who finished 4th in the tournament, annotated the game for
the tournament book, but said nothing about the incident, although he
was elsewhere critical of his compatriot's behavior. SZ
95, 'Tarrasch', laments the lack of a biography about the grandmaster
and wonders about the location of his grave, a photo of which is
later provided in SZ 139, 'Tarraschs Grab'.

The master receiving the most attention in the notes is undoubtedly
Adolf Anderssen, whose name appears in eight different titles. In SZ
31, Balló considers that Anderssen was seriously out of form when he
played Morphy at the end of 1858, perhaps due to a long period of
inactivity. He pursues this in SZ 48, 68, & 71. Other notes deal with
Anderssen's understanding of positional chess (SZ 89), his profession
as teacher (SZ 60, 67, & 73), and his last moments (SZ 10).

The theme which receives the most attention in SZ is the crosscheck :
A checks B, B defends with a check, A replies with another check,
etc. etc. The first example is in SZ 3 with three consecutive checks.
The second, in SZ 21, is Portisch - Pinter, Hungary, 1984, voted the
best game of Chess Informant 37, and which featured four consecutive
checks. Like Balló's other examples, the game can be followed on the
web page itself. The crosscheck theme is developed in ten further
notes plus two on the topic of 'The oldest crosscheck in the world.'

Other themes appearing frequently throughout the notes are
simultaneous exhibitions, 'chess in hard times' (e.g. war), second-
hand books, bibliographic notes, Philidor, and chess in art (e.g.
Erich Wolfsfeld and Sofonisba Anguissola). It's an impressive range
of topics, which requires some patience for a non-German speaker to
understand via the automated translations.

For some reason surnames are prone to translation from German to the
target language -- Staunton becomes 'being astonished clay/tone',
Harrwitz is 'awaiting joke', and van der Linde is 'van the lime
tree'. These produce gibberish sentences until the names are
translated back to the original.

German word order is not at all the same as English. A German once
told me that babies use English word order until they learn to speak
properly, and I'm still not sure if he was teasing me. In any event,
I imagine that the translation software has to save the various
phrases, then string them together in a different order whenever it
encounters a period ('.'). This means that sentences with phrases
like 'XIII. Kongress' end up with pieces scattered randomly by this
algorithm until you remove the '.' and have it translated again.

Removing the '.' is definitely worth the trouble with the Schach-
Zettel site!

Bye for now,
Mark Weeks

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