BOOK REVIEW by Carl Portman
LOUIS PAULSEN – A
chess biography with 719 games
by Hans Renette
Hans Renette
Foreword by Michael Negele
Pages: 448
Bibliographic Info: 108 photos, 719 games, appendices,
notes, bibliography, indexes
McFarland & Company, Inc, Publishers
2018 - 1st edition (Hardcover, 448 pages)
What is this book about?
The
official promotional material states:
Louis Paulsen (1833–1891) was one of the 19th century’s
strongest chess players and a world record holder in blindfold chess. He
maintained an unbeaten record in matches, created several opening systems and
was an originator of the positional approach to the game. This extensive
biography—the first in English—explores Paulsen’s life and career and includes
719 of his games, presented here with both contemporary and modern comments.
Contents
·
Foreword
·
37
Chapters
·
Appendices
·
Bibliography
·
Opponents
Index
·
Annotators
Index
·
Index
of Openings (ECO Codes)
·
Index
of Openings (Traditional names)
·
General
Index
My thoughts and comments
The
look and feel of the book is precisely what I would expect from a McFarland
chess publication. It has substantial case binding and the chess material is
well set out in terms of text to diagrams. All this on durable quality paper
which won’t deteriorate in the way it does with lesser products.
The
reader will learn a great deal about Louis Paulsen. To begin with I am not
alone in thinking at one point that he was actually American. This view was no
doubt influenced by his games against Morphy, and the fact that he did actually
live in America. Yet he was German, born and bred. Son of Carl Paulsen, his
family grew potatoes, some of the best in Germany, but the world should be
pleased that Paulsen chose chess. So few chess players really know about the
man, but this definitive work will answer all the questions. It’s been
painstakingly researched and I can only doff my cap to Hans Renette for
producing not just a chess book but a hugely important historical work.
I
wanted to get to know Louis Paulsen as the man and through his games. In
addition, I wanted to learn more about his opponents, the tournaments he played
in and all the other characters around him at the time.
Paulsen
was one of the world’s best players in the 1860’s and the 1870’s, and if Morphy
had not been around at the time, perhaps he would even have occupied top spot,
at least for a while. The book provides many of his blindfold games, for which
he was famous. Indeed, he was the first player to take on 10 people
simultaneously without sight of the boards, and he did so over many hours with
only a glass of water or lemonade for sustenance. Later there are more over the
board (OTB) games to enjoy. His legacy regarding openings continues to this day
– I am thinking of the Paulsen-Kan variation of the Sicilian for one.
He
had matches with Anderssen and Kolisch (to name but two) and of course his
encounters with Paul Morphy (see below). Later he tried to arrange another
match with Morphy but to no avail. He came to England and won the Bristol
tournament of 1861 and had many more excellent results in Germany particularly.
I
also love the annotations of various players from the day. There is no computer
analysis here – just thoughts from the masters. That is truly educational even
if (or maybe because) their thinking was not always ‘accurate’ in terms of ‘correct’
moves. Then there are the anecdotes and character profiles about players. For
example, who on earth knew that Amos Burn once walked 100 miles (yes folks,
that is one hundred miles) from Cologne to Frankfurt to play in the Frankfurt
am Main tournament of 1887. I wonder if that was with a suitcase? Can the top
players of today please stop moaning about playing conditions now?
Then
of course, there are the games. It is true that these were the heady times of
‘romantic openings’ and a sort of winner takes all attitude. The King’s Gambit
and the Evans Gambit were the order of the day. It was swashbuckling chess that
must have made the ladies swoon!
Paulsen
was primarily a 1.e4 player and he studied openings intensively at one
point, to keep up with the Morphy’s of this world. He would often move pieces
backwards not necessarily to defend but to attack from another perspective, and
he saw defending as an art form. Those King’s Gambits used to throw up some
splendid opportunities for attacking chess though, and the reader will enjoy
playing through them in the many games in the book.
I
particularly enjoyed this offhand game, where Paulsen was Black against G.H. Mackenzie,
played in London in 1861. It had been a King’s Gambit (of course) and White
just played 14.Kh3. Apparently, Löwenthal said the next move was ‘ingeniously
conceived’ but I reckon the attack minded player even at club level might
find the move.
Black played 14…Rxh4+ of course. Now it is one thing to see this move but another to try to calculate through to see if it actually ‘works’. Paulsen could do this, especially being such a magician at blindfold chess.
14...Rh8xh4+! 15.Kh3xh4 Nf6–e4+ No
other square will produce checkmate in five moves. 16.Kh4–g4 16.Kh4–h3?
Ne4–f2+ 17.Kh3–h2 Qe7–h4+ 18.Kh2–g1 Qh4xh1# 16...Ne4–f2+ 17.Kg4–h5 17.Kg4xf4
Qe7–f6+ 18.Kf4–g3 Bd4–e5# Beautiful. 17...Qe7–e5+ 18.Kh5–h4 18.Kh5–h6
Nf2–e4 and queen mates on h8.
18...Qe5–f6+ 19.Kh4–h5 Qf6–g6+ 20.Kh5–h4 Bd4–f6# 0–1
This is but one game amongst over 700 so there is plenty to enjoy. Of course, Paulsen played
Paul Morphy several times at the first American Chess Congress in New York
1857, but lost the final (of 8 games) by 6-2. They did play twice before this –
at Blindfold chess. The first at the same American congress on 19th
October 1857 where Morphy won and the second on 20th October when
again Morphy won. It is said that the two played lots of offhand games, of
which there are sadly no records.
Paulsen’s
brother was of Master strength and one of his sisters Amalie played too.
He
suffered with illness occasionally - including life threatening jaundice and
was a very quiet man who declined social events. He was not though disliked by
anyone and he is fondly remembered. It is understood that diabetes caused his
death. Sadly. He never wrote any books. Morphy didn’t either for that matter.
Does the book achieve its aim?
Yes!
It really is a superb biography of a man who so many chess players of heard of,
yet so few can speak about. It is a truly remarkable work. One just has to
browse through the bibliography to see the breadth of sources that the author
has drawn his information from. It must have taken many years.
Concluding notes
I
want to make a separate and special mention about the images in the
book. The line drawings are magnificent and truly take the reader back in time
to places such as Dubuque main street in Iowa. I studied these images at length
and felt as if I could walk right in to them. Then there are the photographs of
various players. These must have been tremendously difficult to obtain. There
is an astonishing picture of Joseph Henry Blackburne, (known as The Black
Death) on page 346. It’s the best I have ever seen of him. The Cleveland Public
Library was one of the main sources of the images in the book and I feel
privileged that these have been shared. They should be – chess is a history
that belongs to us all and Hans Renette has produced something quite magical in
that regard.
I
can but echo the words of Michael Negele in the foreword where he states that
‘It is exceptionally meritorious of Hans Renette to have finally ensured an
ample recognition of Paulsen’s eminent importance for the theoretical development
of chess’. Of course, such work does not come cheap and chess players can
be notoriously ‘frugal’ with their pennies. That said, for the price of a meal
which will be quickly forgotten one can procure this work and keep it forever,
dipping in and out of it for sheer enjoyment, especially on those cold winter
evenings.
Who is the author?
Historian Hans Renette is FIDE
master in chess (with 2 IM norms). He lives in Bierbeek, Belgium.
