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Heh, heh - the Oppenheimer. I went to wikipedia to find out how many Oppenheimers are famous:) there's a long list of them - but if you mean Robert - the physicist - he would have been 16 yrs old in January 1921 and on a visit to Czechoslovakia during the school year (chances are very slim) - could be a relative though.
Richard Reti - one of the deepest thinkers in chess history, one of the fathers of Hypermodern Chess, developer of the Reti Opening (1.Nf3), author of several famous chess books was also one of the strongest blindfold players in the world. In 1919 he set the world blindfold record by playing 24 opponents in Haarlem, Holland. During the 1920's he competed with Alekhine for the world blindfold record and a few days after Alekhines 28 board blindfold simul in Paris, France in February of 1925, Reti completed a 29 board blindfold simul in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Perhaps the greatest legacy that Reti left blindfold chess was an article published in 1928, a year before his death in Holland, where he explained in detail how he trained himself to play blindfold chess as a youth and transformed his play from that of a 16 year old amateur to a very strong player. After studying about 2 hours a day for three months he felt he had gained more than from playing or studying regular games for years. His training method involved writing down his moves during blindfold play so that he could check the accuracy of his play by later checking his moves on a regular chess board. He also felt that it was best to learn blindfold chess at the beginning development of chess skill. Reti - Ferreira, Sao Paulo, Brazil 1925 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Be2 Qc7 6.0-0 b5 7.Nc3 Bb7 8.Bf3 d6 9.Qe2 Nf6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.Rfd1 Be7 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Ndxb5 axb5 14.Nxb5 Qb8 15.Nxd6+ Ke7 16.Nxb7 Qxb7 17.e5 1-0
Now we come to the long awaited (for me) account of Alexander Alekhine. He was, no question, the strongest blindfold player in the world (ever). Pillsbury, unknowingly, had done the chess world a great favour, when he did his world record setting 22 board blindfold display in Moscow in 1902. One of the spectators was a 10 yr old Alexander Alekhine. This was the perfect model of inspiration for the young boy and blindfold chess became a passion for him for the rest of his life. Another great aspect of Alekhine was his incredibly interesting background and interesting personality and endless driving ambition, and also his writing abilities which encouraged him to write endless accounts on chess and this played a gigantic role in the promotion of chess and chess analysis to the chess world. His background is fascinating. Born and raised in Czarist Russia he claimed that at age 16 (when he got the Master title) he could already do 5 games simultaneously blindfolded easily. With that kind of heritage and his determination he combined that with hard work (thousands of hours of analysis) to eventually win the World Championship from Capablanca in a marathon match in 1927.
His first serious games of blindfold chess occurred during internment at Rastatt Prison in Germany. After the Mannheim International tournament of 1914 together with the other participants (Bogolyubov, Romanovsky, Bohatirchuk, Rabinovitch are the most famous) they whiled away the hours playing blindfold chess. After many interesting experiences in World War I (one story was that he lay wounded in bed in a hospital for months and blindfold chess was a real salvation) he returned to Russia but decided to leave Soviet Russia in 1921. He had never done more than 8 boards blindfold at that time but decided to do 12 in Paris. Apparently it was so easy that he decided to go after the world record. One of his earliest blindfold gems: Gonssiorovsky - Alekhine 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Qe2 Be7 5.f4 d5 6.exd5 exf4 7.Bxf4 0-0 8.Nd2 cxd5 9.Bb3 a5! 10.c3 a4 11.Bc2 a3 12.b3 Re8 13.0-0-0 Bb4 14.Qf2 Bxc3 15.Bg5 Nc6 16.Ngf3 d4 17.Rhe1 Bb2+ 18.Kb1 Nd5 19.Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.Ne4 Qxe4 21.Bd2 Qe3 22.Re1 Bf5 23.Rxe3 dxe3 24.Qf1 Alekhine announced checkmate in 3 moves here with 24...exd2 25.Bd1 Ncb4 26. any Nc3 # 0-1
From Rastatt prison a fantastic game: Alekhine - Bogoljubov (les deux sans voir) 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.Nd5 Nxd5 6.exd5 d6 7.Ne2 0-0 8.0-0 Nd7 9.c3 Bc5 10.d4 Bb6 11.f4 exd4 12.Nxd4 Ne5 13.fxe5 dxe5 14.Ba3 Re8 15.Qf3 exd4 16.Qxf7+ Kh8 17.Bf8 dxc3+ 18.Kh1 Bd4 19.d6 Be6 20.Bxe6 Rxf8 21.dxc7 1-0 From the beginning it seems obvious that Alekhine was trying to provoke Bogoljubov's replies. 4.b4 adding spice already to the opening, 11.f4 against the center opening his king before the anticipated ...f5, the remarkable 17.Bf8 starting a combination for checkmate where Bogo apparently finds a successful defence only to run into 21.dxc7 - the hallmark stinger (and pawn tickler) on the tail of Alekhine's combinations. Alekhine made a lifetime success of stinger endings to his combinations, but to do this in a blindfold game - fantastic!!. To see such deliberate wittiness in a blindfold game is almost unbelievable!
If you are referring to the book: Blindfold Chess - there are 444 blindfold games of which about a quarter are extensively annotated and most of the others have an overview or general comment or some sparse annotation by the author. However alot of these games (example: the Alekhine game with Bogoljubov above) are the result of my own personal research and the commentary is more my humble opinion than good analysis.
The Rastatt Prison experience by Alekhine and associates (referred to in post #153 above) is a fascinating story. That and immediate further adventures are mentioned in "My Great Predecessors Part 1" where no less than Garry Kasparov quotes Fedor Bohatirchuk (and therein is a strange Canadian connection) . Apparently after Rastatt, Baden-Baden, and travel to Switzerland, Alekhine ended up in Genoa, the Italian port, where he intended to board a boat to Buenos Aires, Argentina (to play Capablanca) and while waiting for that boat met up again with Bohatirchuk. Alekhine ended up playing numerous games with Bohatirchuk and according to Bohatirchuk: "There was no question of being bored: I had a partner, and what a partner - Alekhine! Only someone who has played this chess genius knows what a magician he was on the 64 squares of the chessboard. In his hands the pieces were transformed into living creatures, making moves that were completely unexpected to his opponents. Moreover, these surprises would strike the enemy like a bolt from the blue in any stage of the game, even when there were very few pieces remaining. The enforced stay in Genoa undoubtedly did more for my chess development than the games in subsequent years with ordinary opponents." - and were they blindfold games? - one can only assume some of them were. Who was Bohatirchuk? - an interesting chess player with a life story almost as fascinating as Alekhine's. In 1950 FIDE awarded 27 worthy chess players the grandmaster title but not Bogoljubov and also! - Bohatirchuk! (due to Russian influence against) Bohatirchuk beat Botvinnik at least 3 times and spent the last 35 years of his life in Canada! Later on he was a mentor for Lawrence Day, travelling together to team matches. Location: in a car travelling south from Ottawa sometime in the mid - 1960's. Imagine this conversation: Young Lawrence: "Doc, what was it like to play Alekhine?" or "Doc, since you have played them all - who was strongest - Alekhine, Botvinnik, Capablanca, or Lasker?" Can you just imagine?? Boggles the mind. (Disclaimer: this pretended conversation is all a figment of my imagination) Yes chess history is fascinating.
During World War 1 Alekhine played alot of chess exhibitions and blindfold displays and had alot of adventures as he seemed to be constantly travelling. The following game is Alekhine's most published blindfold game. It is from a 5 board simultaneous blindfold exhibition in Tarnopol, Austria in 1916. Alekhine-"Feldt" 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Ne4 f5 6.Ng5 Be7 7.N5f3 c6 8.Ne5 0-0 9.Ngf3 b6 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.0-0 Re8 12.c4 Nf6 13.Bf4 Nbd7 14.Qe2 c5 15.Nf7 Kxf7 16.Qxe6+ Kg6 17.g4 Be4 18.Nh4# 1-0 A brilliant miniature where the Nf7 sacrifice is followed by the Qe6+ breakthru (untouchable because of the immediate Ng5#) The black king is trapped and white follows up with an accurate and stunning checkmate. The finish would be incredible in a tournament game or even a single blindfold game but to do that while being distracted by 4 other games blindfolded! WoW!
It is from a 5 board simultaneous blindfold exhibition in Tarnopol, Austria in 1916. Alekhine-"Feldt"
This game is in the chessgames collection with an interesting comment about the real opponent: "the opponent was not Feldt or Von Feldt, but actually a Dr Martin Fischer". This statement is based on the Chess Life article dated 5 Oct 1951. Details at http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1011991
This is a belated Halloween posting as October 31st was Alexander Alekhine's birthday. The following is a blindfold game which turned into a horror story. Alekhine wins a pawn by move 20 with a good position and a rook posted on the seventh. He then goes up two pawns but overlooks that his king position is not safe. His position is then subjected to a horrible grind by his opponent over the next 25 moves where Alekhine successfully defends his king but gradually sheds 4 pawns (one after another) before ultimately resigning when it becomes clear he has to shed another pawn to go down two pawns in a hopeless endgame. Alekhine-Grigoriev, Moscow 1918, 1 game of 5 blindfold simultaneous. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3 Qe5+ 9.Be2 Bd6 10.Be3 b6 11.Bf3 Rb8 12.Qd3 Bc5 13.0-0 Bxe3 14.Rae1 0-0 15.Rxe3 Qf6 16.Rfe1 d6 17.Re7 Bf5 18.Qc4 c5 19.Bd5 Be6 20.Rxa7 b5 21.Qe4 Rbe8 22.Qe3 g6 23.Bxe6 Rxe6 24.Qd2 Qf4 25.Qd1 Rfe8 26.Rxe6 Rxe6 27.g3 Qc4 28.Kg2 Re2 29.Qxd6 Qe4+ 30.Kh3 Qf5+ 31.g4 Qf3+ 32.Qg3 Qd5 33.c4 bxc4 34.Ra3 Rxc2 35.Qb8+ Kg7 36.Rg3 Rxf2 37.a4 Qd2 38.Qe5+ Kh6 39.Rc3 f6 40.Qb8 Qd5 41.Rg3 Re2 42.a5 Qd4 43.Qf8+ Kg5 44.Qa8 Qd2 45.Qh1 Qxa5 46.Qd5+ Re5 47.Qxc4 Qd2 48.b3 Qf2 49.Qc1+ Qf4 50.Qd1 Kh6 51.Rf3 Re3 52.Rxe3 Qxe3+ 53.Kg2 Kg5 0-1
Ten years ago I was a teacher for Roman Pelts at his famous Chess Academy in Thornhill. Those were wonderful times and Roman was the best "boss" I ever had. One of the numerous "perks" to the job (if you can consider the joy of teaching chess in perfect conditions a job - more like a dream come true) was the many wonderful stories Roman would tell from his interesting times in the Soviet Union. He seemed to know all the greats in chess from the past in Russia. One of my favorite stories comes from his hometown in Odessa on the Black Sea. Apparently there was a famous glass pavilion down by the water where all the chessplayers would gather and you could just imagine the wonderful chess that was played. In 1916 Alekhine played an 8 board blindfold exhibition in Odessa. I wonder if the glass pavilion was there at the time. Here are 3 gems from that exhibition (the only games I could find): Alekhine-Velikanov 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.d4 d6 5.Bc4 g4 6.Bxf4 gxf3 7.Qxf3 Nf6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Nc3 c6 11.Rf2 Qa5 12.e5 dxe5 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxf7+ Kd8 15.Bxe7+ Kc7 16.b4 Qb6 17.c3 Nd6 18.Qe6 Nxc4 Qxc4 Qb5 20.Qf7 Qd5 21.dxe5 Qxf7 22.Bd6+ Kd8 23.Rxf7 Nb6 24.Rd1 Bd7 25.Bc5 Nd5 26.c4 Ke8 27.Rdf1 Be6 28.Rxb7 Nxb4 29.Re7+ Kd8 30.Rd1+ Kc8 31.Rxe6 1-0 Alekhine must have had alot of fun with this exhibition. In the game above he offers a Muzio Gambit and is relentless in focusing his pieces on the breakthru on the f-file to the f7 square. Finally he breaks through to the king but those tricky knights foil the attack. His opponent manages to trade queens but Alekhine keeps working the position and finally the black defenses shatter.
Continued from post #161 above. In the next game Alekhine offers a Danish Gambit but his opponent wisely declines. His opponent finds a way to become the aggressor but Alekhine finds a way to force him to defend his own king. Alekhine's opponents in this exhibition sparred with him actively and in this game his opponent manages to trade down to the endgame but Alekhine has all the natural advantages of the position (the bishop, safe king, more active queen) and finds a beautiful tactic to allow the A-pawn to become passed.
Alekhine- ? 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 Nc6 4.cxd4 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.Bg5 Qe7 7.Bxf6 Qxe4+ 8.Be2 gxf6 9.Nf3 d6 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Qg6 12.Bd3 f5 13.Re1+ Ne7 14.Qe2 Qf6 15.Rab1 b6 16.d5 Rg8 17.Nd4 Kf8 18.Qf3 Bb7 19.Bc4 a6 20.a4 Re8 21.Re2 Ng6 22.Rxe8+ Kxe8 23.Nxf5 Ne5 24.Qe4 Kd8 25.Bf1 Bxd5 26.Qxd5 Qxf5 27.Qa8+ Ke7 28.Qxg8 Qxb1 29.Qc8 c5 30.Qxa6 Qb3 31.Qb7+ Kf6 32.a5 1-0
Alekhine-Vainshtein 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Nf3 a6 7.c5 c6 8.Bd3 h6 9.Bh4 b5 10.a3 Bb7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bc2 Nh7 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.e4 e5 15.Re1 Rfe8 16.exd5 cxd5 17.Nxe5 Nxe5 18.Rxe5 Qd8 19.Qd3 Nf8 20.Rae1 Rxe5 21.Rxe5 Ra7 22.Qf3 Ne6 23.Qe3 Nc7 24.Qd3 g6 25.Qe3 Qf8 26.f4 Ra8 27.f5 g5 28.f6 Kh8 29.Rxg5 Qe8 30.Rg8+ 1-0 This game is first class entertainment. It starts with a quiet opening but Alekhine sets the tone with the positionally controlling 7.c5. However Black is not phased and counterattacks in the center (after 14...e5 we have duelling D and E pawns). This is going to far and Alekhine finds a way to win a central pawn and after 21.Rxe5 has a firm grip on the center. One would think now it is just a matter of technique for White but Alekhine does a Qf3-Qe3-Qd3-Qf3 quick step shuffle before driving the F pawn into the heart of black's king position and concluding with a rook sacrifice checkmate attack! Priceless! It makes one itch to see the other 5 games but these three are enough to get the chess juices flowing.
Another remarkable aspect of Alekhine's blindfold chess was his ability to use pawn play to his advantage. His blindfold games are full of sparkling pawn moves, often to initiate or finish a combination. Here is another blindfold adventure from WW1. From move 9 onwards Alekhine makes 12 pawn moves. His active pawns perform several tasks in this game. Velikhov-Alekhine 1916 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bd3 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Bg5 c6 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.Rad1 b5 10.Nh4 exd4 11.Nf5 Nc5 12.Nb1 Bxf5 13.exf5 Rfe8 14.Qf3 d5 15.Nd2 Nfe4 16.Bxe7 Rxe7 17.Bxe4 dxe4 18.Qg3 Qxg3 19.fxg3 f6 20.Rde1 Rae8 21. Rf4 a5 22.a3 a4 23.g4 e3 24.Nf3 d3 25.Rc1 d2 26.Rd1 e2 27.Rxd2 e1=Q+ 28.Nxe1 Rxe1+ 29.Kf2 R1e4 0-1
Alekhine was very creative in his blindfold play and he did much to enhance his creativity. For example he was known to take the black pieces in every game in some of his exhibitions just for the extra challenge. Also he often chose gambits in the opening to spice up the play and he enjoyed wild games when his opponent was willing. Here is a game that made my jaw drop when I first saw it and it has been one of my long time favorites (with Alekhine I could not limit myself to just one favorite - I had to start a collection:)) The game starts as an Evans Gambit and already in the early middle game pieces go en prise for four consecutive moves. Alekhine then leaves his queen en prise so that his rook can go on a checkmating attack. His opponent trying hard not to be left behind sacrifices a bishop and the rook dies. However Alekhine has another rook to deliver the final checkmate. Alekhine-Sorokin 1917 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 Bb6 8.Be3 Nf6 9.Re1 0-0 10.h3 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Bg5 Nf6 13.d5 e4 14.Rxe4 Bxf2+ 15.Kh1 Bg3 16.Nbd2 Na5 17.Bd3 Qxd5 18.Rd4 Qc6 19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Ne4 Qf4 21.Neg5 Qe3 22.Bxh7+ Kh8 23.Qa4 Qxc3 24.Rad1 b5 25.Rd8 Bxh3 26.Rxa8 Rxa8 27.Qe4 Rf8 28.Nxf7+ 1-0
After the Revolution in Russia living conditions deteriorated severely and Alekhine himself was in a precarious position due to his family background as Russian nobility. There are several stories from this period about Alekhine - arrested by the secret police he was hours from being shot when he was "rescued" by a high official because it "would be a shame to shoot a chess genius". Alehine won the first championship of Soviet Russia in October 1920 ahead of a strong field but the participants played in an "unheated, poorly lit room" and were always hungry and without cigarettes! Not easy to play chess under those conditions. Needless to say in 1919 and 1920 with great problems on his mind Alekhine did not give any more blindfold simuls. Towards the end of April 1921 Alekhine left Soviet Russia for good, having been given permission after marrying a Swiss citizen 13 years his senior. Alekhine's son was born in Switzerland late in 1921. Alekhine later made his home in France (between all his frequent travelling around the world) and made many visits to his son in Switzerland. He never returned to Russia and from then on chess was foremost in his mind.
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- could be a relative though.
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