Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

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  • Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

    In his excellent and entertaining blog, Kevin Spraggett looks at the world
    championship match where Capablanca lost to Alekhine. No doubt, Spraggett's
    notes are accurate, however he posts the players as GM Capablanca and
    GM Alekhine although the two were never awarded the titles even posthumously.
    When I started playing tournament chess in 1963 the names Capablanca and Alekhine stood alone without adjectives.
    To call them grandmasters now is to raise the status of all the lukewarm
    grandmaster titles which abound in the world today.
    Capablanca was Capablanca. Alekhine was Alekhine.
    And Spraggett is Spraggett :)
    I'm sure Kevin will take this like the good sport he is. He can take as well as he can give.

    Check out Kevin's blog (Please note that some content may not be appropriate for children - Larry) >>>>http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/

  • #2
    Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

    Originally posted by Vlad Dobrich View Post
    In his excellent and entertaining blog, Kevin Spraggett looks at the world
    championship match where Capablanca lost to Alekhine. No doubt, Spraggett's
    notes are accurate, however he posts the players as GM Capablanca and
    GM Alekhine although the two were never awarded the titles even posthumously.
    When I started playing tournament chess in 1963 the names Capablanca and Alekhine stood alone without adjectives.
    To call them grandmasters now is to raise the status of all the lukewarm
    grandmaster titles which abound in the world today.
    Capablanca was Capablanca. Alekhine was Alekhine.
    And Spraggett is Spraggett :)
    I'm sure Kevin will take this like the good sport he is. He can take as well as he can give.
    Check out Kevin's blog >>>>http://kevinspraggett.blogspot.com/
    Alekhine and Capablanca were two of the five original grandmasters. The titles were awarded by Tzar Nicholas II in 1914.
    Gary Ruben
    CC - IA and SIM

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    • #3
      Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

      Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
      Alekhine and Capablanca were two of the five original grandmasters. The titles were awarded by Tzar Nicholas II in 1914.
      The Tzar? Who made him king and told him he could appoint grandmasters?
      :):)

      It's questionable whether the title awarded by the Tzar could be considered valid today or valid after the ouster of the Tzar or as ever having been valid outside of Russia. The original title was Grandmaster of Russia. Nor should it be confused with the GM title of today. Per this Wikipedia article complete with refereces http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma...ge_before_1950 FIDE made the deliberate choice not to post-humously award the GM title to any deceased players in 1950. It does not appear that FIDE validated the Tzar's awarding of the title.
      Last edited by Zeljko Kitich; Tuesday, 26th July, 2011, 10:22 AM.

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      • #4
        Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

        I don't understand the problem you're having with the concept or why you regale me with articles from Wikipedia.

        Fide was formed in 1924. The first Grandmaster titles were awarded in 1914 to 5 players. Of the five players only Frank Marshall did not win the World Championship title.

        Will you also be making the argument that prior to FIDE the World Championship title was not legitimate?
        Gary Ruben
        CC - IA and SIM

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

          Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
          I don't understand the problem you're having with the concept or why you regale me with articles from Wikipedia.

          Fide was formed in 1924. The first Grandmaster titles were awarded in 1914 to 5 players. Of the five players only Frank Marshall did not win the World Championship title.

          Will you also be making the argument that prior to FIDE the World Championship title was not legitimate?
          I don't believe anyone recognizes the right of the Tzar of Russia to have awarded any worldwide chess titles or those titles as being equivalent to a FIDE awarded title. Nor do I believe are those titles considered as being valid today.

          The World Championship title was not legitimate in some cases because the champion used the title in some cases to avoid having to play certain challengers; that's partly why FIDE was created.

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          • #6
            Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

            The world according to Zeljko.
            Gary Ruben
            CC - IA and SIM

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

              Originally posted by Gary Ruben View Post
              The world according to Zeljko.
              That's Tzar Zeljko to you or I won't pass a royal decree making you a grandmaster.

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              • #8
                Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                I found some more information:

                "At St. Petersburg 1914, the Czar sponsored the tournament, which was held in two stages: an 11-man preliminary round robin event, in which all the participants were "Grandmasters" under the existing sense of the title. The top five qualified for the double-round robin final, with the prelim scores to carry over. After Lasker's remarkable comeback win in the finals, at the closing ceremony the Czar presented him and his fellow finalists Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall with a Royal Declaration recognizing them as "Grandmasters of Chess." So that was the first time the title was "officially" awarded."

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                • #9
                  Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                  Originally posted by Jean Sasseville View Post
                  I found some more information:

                  "At St. Petersburg 1914, the Czar sponsored the tournament, which was held in two stages: an 11-man preliminary round robin event, in which all the participants were "Grandmasters" under the existing sense of the title. The top five qualified for the double-round robin final, with the prelim scores to carry over. After Lasker's remarkable comeback win in the finals, at the closing ceremony the Czar presented him and his fellow finalists Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall with a Royal Declaration recognizing them as "Grandmasters of Chess." So that was the first time the title was "officially" awarded."
                  What is a source of this information? There is a big discussion on the same Wiki article about this myth.

                  Yesterday, I read a book about two famous tournaments (1907 & 1914) by Tarrasch. He did not write about it. While he mentioned a "grandmaster" term for 1907 players. :/

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                  • #10
                    Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                    Originally posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post
                    What is a source of this information? There is a big discussion on the same Wiki article about this myth.

                    Yesterday, I read a book about two famous tournaments (1907 & 1914) by Tarrasch. He did not write about it. While he mentioned a "grandmaster" term for 1907 players. :/
                    This is the reference given: Sunnucks, Anne (1970), The Encyclopaedia of Chess, St. Martins Press, ISBN 978-0-7091-4697-1. To track it down I'd have to do some real research not the lazy internet stuff. Next time I'm at Robarts I'll see if they have a copy unless someone on here has this publication.

                    My guess is that the term was in common parlance for really top players. In many langugages meister was a pretty common term to apply to anyone who was highly skilled. In Serbo-Croatian we have mejstore, German I believe is grosmeister or something like that. A throwback I think to the ancient guilds in medieval times.
                    Last edited by Zeljko Kitich; Wednesday, 27th July, 2011, 10:00 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                      Originally posted by Egidijus Zeromskis View Post
                      What is a source of this information? There is a big discussion on the same Wiki article about this myth.

                      Yesterday, I read a book about two famous tournaments (1907 & 1914) by Tarrasch. He did not write about it. While he mentioned a "grandmaster" term for 1907 players. :/
                      Egidijus,

                      before FIDE was created top players where called masters or grandmasters. Alekhine (in an interview) and Marshall (in his memoirs) talked about this "GM title" awarded by the Czar Nicholas II. This is why I described this award to the 5 finalists at the St-Petersburg 1914. I found my quote in the forum section of chess.com.

                      Chess historian Winter has questioned if this award has happenned and I leave it to him and other chess historians to debate.

                      Personally I find this GM award secondary. Alekhine and Capablanca where more than GMs.
                      Last edited by Jean Sasseville; Wednesday, 27th July, 2011, 11:13 AM.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                        Originally posted by Jean Sasseville View Post
                        Personally I find this GM award secondary. Alekhine and Capablanca where more than GMs.
                        In 1914 they were only challengers.
                        Those five grand players :)



                        Nimzowitsch wrote a book ~192x: How I became a grandmaster :)

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                        • #13
                          Re: Spragget awards Grandmaster titles

                          Originally posted by Jean Sasseville View Post
                          Egidijus,

                          before FIDE was created top players where called masters or grandmasters. Alekhine (in an interview) and Marshall (in his memoirs) talked about this "GM title" awarded by the Czar Nicholas II. This is why I described this award to the 5 finalists at the St-Petersburg 1914. I found my quote in the forum section of chess.com.

                          Chess historian Winter has questioned if this award has happenned and I leave it to him and other chess historians to debate.

                          Personally I find this GM award secondary. Alekhine and Capablanca where more than GMs.
                          You have to be careful with that Alekhine guy, apparently much like Dr Phil or Dr Seuss he didn't have real right to use the Dr title.

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