MARK RUBERY CHESS

Johannes Zukertort (1842-1848), was a remarkable man. Born in Riga and educated in Germany, he was, if all the facts are to be believed, the ultimate Renaissance man of chess. A linguist, he spoke 11 languages fluently and had a working knowledge of Arabic, Turkish and Sanskrit. He served as a physician through several campaigns with the Prussian army, was a swordsman and a marksman with a pistol, and was decorated for gallantry. Aside from being an accomplished pianist and music critic, he was a pioneer social scientist who wrote for Bismarck’s magazine. He learned chess at the extraordinarily late age of 18 and within 10 years he had defeated the redoubtable Aldolph Anderssen in a match as well as playing 16 players blindfolded-then a world record. His brilliancy against Joseph Blackburne (incidentally the holder of the South African blindfold record of 10 boards-along with Wesley So!) features a spectacular combination. Zukertort,J - Blackburne,J [A13] London, 1883 1.c4 e6 2.e3 Nf6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Be2 Bb7 5.0-0 d5 6.d4 Bd6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.b3 Nbd7 9.Bb2 Qe7 10.Nb5 Ne4 11.Nxd6 cxd6 12.Nd2 Ndf6 13.f3 Nxd2 14.Qxd2 dxc4 15.Bxc4 d5 16.Bd3 Rfc8 17.Rae1 Rc7 18.e4 Rac8 19.e5 Ne8 20.f4 g6 21.Re3 f5 22.exf6 Nxf6 23.f5! Ne4 24.Bxe4 dxe4 25.fxg6 Rc2 26.gxh7+ Kh8 27.d5+ e5 SEE DIAGRAM

28.Qb4!! R8c5 (Acceptance of the queen leads to a forced mate after 28... Qxb4 29 Bxe5+ Kxh7 30 Rh3+ Kg6 31 Rf6+ Kg5 32 Rg3+ Kh5 33 Rf5+ Kh6 34 Bf4+ Kh7 35 Rh5#) 29.Rf8+ Kxh7 30.Qxe4+ Kg7 31.Bxe5+ Kxf8 32.Bg7+! Kg8 33.Qxe7 1-0 A recent Facebook post by Stuart Conquest, shows the English GM paying a visit Zukertort’s grave in Brompton Cemetery, London. Capa’s popularity with the “fans” was as immense as it was genuine. At some tournament, I forget which, I was chatting to Sir George Thomas when a small boy handed up his autograph book, which Sir George promptly signed. Then the boy handed the book to me and when I told him that surely there could be no point in getting my autograph he disagreed. “Oh yes, sir”, he said, “I must have your autograph too.” “But why on earth? It’s no good in your collection.” – “Oh yes, sir”, said the boy, his face beaming, “I saw you talk to Capablanca!”’(Heinrich Fraenkel)