Walter Penn Shipley - Philadelphia's Friend of Chess

 

BOOK REVIEW by CARL PORTMAN

Walter Penn Shipley

by John S. Hilbert

JOHN S. HILBERT

Walter Penn Shipley – Philadelphia’s Friend of Chess

1st edition (softcover, 442 Pages)

2003

McFarland Publishing

 

What is the book about?

It tells the story of Walter Penn Shipley, a man who was deeply passionate about chess throughout his life, who played a significant role in the activities and development of chess in the Philadelphia area, serving (among many roles) as President of the Franklin Chess Club. He could count among his friends the likes of Steinitz, Lasker, Pillsbury and Capablanca, at one point even facilitating business matters between Lasker and Capablanca as they tried to agree terms for a World Championship match. The book profiles the life of an extraordinary individual who spread the gospel of chess to players in America and beyond at all levels across two Centuries. He was a fine chess player, writer, columnist and an outstanding organiser, Walter Penn Shipley stood alone as a trusted and indefatigable man of his time. His services to chess were known throughout the world.

 

Contents

There are nine chapters in the book. They chronologically map the life of Shipley, explaining his background, chess club activities, the good and golden years going through the decades right up to and including his death.

 

What does the official Blurb say?

Walter Penn Shipley was crucial to the development of chess in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He organized correspondence chess in the United States in the 1890s, was a talented player and was a friend of world champions and contenders. He served as the president of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia at the height of its power and prestige.

This work is a complete biography and games collection of Walter Penn Shipley. It draws from original documents—correspondence with Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Pillsbury and others, detailed Shipley family records—and extensive research conducted in contemporary newspapers, journals and magazines. The book contains approximately 250 games (most of them annotated), with 246 positional diagrams.

 

Does the book achieve its aim?

And then some! The purpose of the book is to bring this individual and his role in chess to the attention of the reader. It is evident to observe the care and dedication that has gone into doing this. I came to ‘know’ WPS throughout the book through his deeds and his chess games. It was particularly pleasing to learn that he was an exponent of the French Defence, for many years my own favourite opening with the Black pieces. I even learned some new lines. Talk about being taught by ghosts of the past.

 

From his birth (June 1860) to his death (February 1942) and despite many other distractions, WPS was destined to play the leading role on chess matters in the Philadelphia area and of course at the Franklin Chess Club. What lucky members they all were to have him at the helm. There are some funny anecdotes including those around his friend Emil Kemeny and lots of historical information not only about Shipley but other players of the day. There is even a consultation game from a train ride to New York involving Pillsbury, Shipley and others which I have seen nowhere else.

 

Towards the end, Shipley and Lasker ‘fell out’ but in a very touching story, as Lasker was dying, we learn that Shipley was actually the one that he kept close.  

 

I believe that if Shipley were alive today and he read this book, he would congratulate the author and the Publishers for this fine work. I think he would be delighted. There can be no better compliment than that. 

 

 

Walter Penn Shipley, Circa 1891

Courtesy Jeff Kramer

Concluding notes

I consider myself lucky to have read this and learned about such an incredible man. He deserves to be remembered for being a man of his time in a chess history. Shipley was a mover, a shaker - and a Quaker which seemed to give him the character to look at matters with supportive eyes and he was respected and trusted by just about everybody. As a lawyer, family man and committee member he had much on his plate but always found time for his beloved chess.

This book for me was about two aspects to enjoy. First and foremost, Shipley the man. Secondly the chess games. There are lots of correspondence games and one can imagine how long it took these games to conclude. America and the UK played cable games too and these are included here. The annotations are often light and easy to follow – just enough text to diagrams, all set out in the usual top-quality format by McFarland publishing. It’s a joy to read.

 

I felt as I was reading the book that I was actually there, accompanying Shipley as his chess life developed. I felt that I could have taken a seat in one of the Simultaneous exhibitions he gave or organised. I had no idea that he was friends with the luminaries of the day and entrusted with information from them all when it came to organising visits and games. What a great and true friend he must have been. He played the top players of the day and beat Lasker and Steinitz in a simul as well as Pillsbury in just seven (!) moves. True, Pillsbury erred, dropping a piece in a well-known but tricky line in the QGD, but that’s chess. He also drew with Capablanca in a simul, twice.

 

Some of the games may not be perfect (who plays perfect chess?) but they are great fun. I enjoyed an attacking game against a club mate, Joseph Palmer in November 1891, where Shipley was White and eagerly stormed the fortress.

 

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Ng5 Ne5 6. Qxd4 Nxc4 7. Qxc4 d5 8. exd5 Qxd5 9. Qe2+ Be7 10. O-O h6 11. Re1 Qd6 12. Bf4 Qd8 13. Nc3?! (optimistic. It may have been more prudent just to bring the knight back to f3. However, it is just possible that Shipley knew this full well but left a little worm dangling to see if the fish would take the bait – Carl) hxg5?? The bait was taken. 14. Rad1 Bd7 15. Bxc7 1-0 Sweet. Shipley’s style was actually more conservative but he had his moments, for sure. Final position

 

After 15.Bxc7

 

I could sense the sheer enjoyment that the man had for chess, so wonderfully has it been described by Hilbert. When Shipley’s colours began to fade as he aged, I  became saddened, even morose and I wanted it all to begin again. He was the yeast to the chess loaf of the day and when he passed away so did many possibilities and dreams for chess in that area.

 

I have read elsewhere that this book might be of limited interest to those outside the United States. I beg to differ. The motto for chess is gens una sumus – we are one family. Anyone interested in chess history and those who made it will find this book a fascinating read and I believe an inspiration. There are those that talk the talk – but Shipley walked the walk – so let’s pay him his dues and at least read about the man.

 

Who is the author?

John S. Hilbert is (or was at the time of writing - Carl) the senior attorney for the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Social Security Administration. He is the author of over a dozen books and more than 100 articles on chess history.

 

BOOK REVIEW by CARL PORTMAN

THE CHESS ENDGAME EXERCISE BOOK

by JOHN NUNN

John Nunn

The Chess Endgame Exercise Book

1st edition (softcover, 192 Pages)

Also available as an e-book ($9.95) and an app-book ($12.99)

2020

GAMBIT PUBLICATIONS

http://www.gambitbooks.com/index.html

 

What is this book about?

That would be…chess endgames! Okay let’s peel back the skin and look deeper into the belly of the book.

 

Contents

There are ten chapters, after an illuminating introduction from the author.

 

1.   Pawn Endings

2.   Knight Endings

3.   Bishop Endings

4.   Bishop vs Knight Endings

5.   Rook Endings

6.   Rook and Minor Piece Endings

7.   Queen Endings

8.   Endings with Queens and Other Pieces

9.   Endgame Tactics

10.Test Papers

 

Score table

Index of Players and Composers

 

What does (some of) the official Blurb say?

Everyone knows they should work on their endgame play. So many hard-earned advantages are squandered in ‘simple’ endings... But it’s tough finding a way to study endings that doesn’t send you to sleep and that helps you actually remember and apply what you have learnt.

“While endgame theory books are helpful, active participation by the reader is a great aid to learning. I have spent several months selecting the 444 exercises in this book from what was initially a much larger collection.” – John Nunn

All major types of endgame are covered, together with a wide-ranging chapter on endgame tactics. Examples are drawn from recent practice or from little-known studies. The emphasis is on understanding and applying endgame principles and rules of thumb.

Does the book achieve its aim?

Dr. Nunn says that he wants to encourage the reader to put their brains in high gear, both to test themselves and to learn more about the endgame. The fact that he has included exercises covering the range of chess players from beginner to master means that everyone can do this. Yes, they can learn an awful lot.

Let me just give you an example of the fun that one can have studying any position of the 444 at random.

 

Have a look at this position. What do you think you would play if you were Black?

Remember that these days we are all playing faster time controls so you might not have long at all to think about it in a game. If you can remember principles it can help you to make good moves. Well the move that draws for Black according to Nunn is 1…Kh1!

 

Now then. It is not enough just to know the move. One has to get to grips with the why. That’s how we learn. Nunn goes on to say “It is important to be aware of the general principles. Black to play would draw here by 1…Kh1! since in the case of a knight’s pawn, the best square for the defender’s king is in the corner diagonally opposite the pawn”.

 

Who knew that? It’s a fascinating principle and leads the reader (hopefully) into investigating this concept further with or without the chess engine.

 

There are many pearls of wisdom in the book and I particularly like the thorough and clear explanations to the puzzles in the solutions. These solutions incidentally appear immediately after the puzzles as opposed to being shown at the end of the book. I much prefer this method and long may it continue.

 

Concluding notes

Do we chess fans need another book on endgames? Well I can speak as a chess coach. I have used and re-used many positions from the most recent (at that particular time) to the very old – the works of Reti and Kubbel for example to show aspects of endgames, but the fact that this book contains recent games certainly up to 2019 means that I had not seen the vast majority (well, almost all) and it is so useful to have new material. Each time I flipped a page I found myself absorbed in the positions, some of which were from players that I know (and count amongst my friends) such as Trevor Brotherton and Nathaniel Paul from Shropshire who have a position from one of their games in Telford shown. There was therefore a real sense of the personal in this book.

I wonder, are YOU in it? Did the good Doctor Nunn select one of your games? Who knows? You’ll have to get the book and find out.

What this book did for me was to reinforce – as if I needed that – the fact that endgames are not boring. They are fun. They are fantastically rich in possibilities. You cannot tell me that any kind of magic in chess occurs in the opening. There’s more in the middlegame but in my humble view the witchcraft and alchemy are to be found in the endgame. John Nunn is one of our own. He is one of England’s evergreen and great chess inspirations, and we are very lucky to have him still writing, still sharing his ridiculously incisive wisdom with us. When I read his work - it inspires me to want to learn more. I want to get the chess set out and study. I want to lose myself in the depths of the possible and seemingly impossible. That's the mark of a notable and experienced chess author.

I particularly liked the idea of the test papers in chapter 10. I could visualize sitting at an old wooden school desk, fountain pen in hand, ink in the bottle and the chess test papers in front of me. Sitting at the head of the class in the finger of sunlight streaming through the window was the teacher, Dr. Nunn, peering over his round spectacles like a wise old owl – getting ready to say ‘turn over your paper and begin’. I would not have been his best pupil, that’s for sure but he would hopefully have given me a good mark for endeavour. It took him a long time to put all of these puzzles together so the least I – and other readers - can do is switch off the infernal chess engine and apply ourselves. Just try. Have a go. Teacher Nunn is on our side! He wants us to do well.

I really enjoyed and will continue to enjoy this book. The layout is excellent. The style is very supportive of easy learning and of course it has the GAMBIT stamp of approval.

You can watch a YouTube video in which author GM John Nunn presents a sample from this book. He will tell you why this book is a little different to other endgame books he has written.  

Cut and paste this address.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ5GAikuslg&feature=youtu.be

Who is the author?

As if you needed to ask! (Shame on you).

Dr. John Nunn is one of the best-respected figures in world chess. He was among the world’s leading grandmasters for nearly twenty years and won four gold medals at chess Olympiads. In 2004, 2007 and 2010, Nunn was crowned World Chess Solving Champion, ahead of many former champions. In 2011, his two-volume work Nunn’s Chess Endings won the English Chess Federation Book of the Year Award, and was highly praised by Levon Aronian (who read both books cover to cover!) when making the award presentation.

 

 

BOOK REVIEW by CARL PORTMAN

600 MODERN CHESS PUZZLES

by MARTYN KRAVTSIV

 

Martyn Kravtsiv

600 Modern Chess Puzzles

1st edition (softcover, 192 Pages)

Also available as an e-book ($9.95) and an app-book ($11.99)

2020

GAMBIT PUBLICATIONS

http://www.gambitbooks.com/index.html

 

What is this book about?

Chess puzzles. 600 of them, many or all of which the author claims have never been seen before, because they are from recent (fairly recent) play. They range from very easy to very difficult so if you work through the book in sequence and keep solving, you will be improving.

 

Contents

There are two parts to the book.

 

Part 1: With hints, Questions and tasks

1.   Warming Up

2.   Checkmate

3.   Your Choice

4.   Getting Tricky

5.   Endgame Exercises

6.   Tough Nuts

7.   Tough Choices

 

Part 2: No Clues!

1.   Not Too Hard

2.   Tricky Tasks

3.   Endgame Challenges

4.   Nightmare!

 

Index of Themes

Naturally, there is an introduction to the book, followed by short pieces on basic tactical ideas, symbols and the difficulty ranges for each chapter.

 

I very much like the explanation of tactical ideas (such as Zugzwang, square vacation, interference, line opening, deflection and destroying the guard, among others) in the introduction. That’s very useful for the reader to prepare them for what is to come. Further I applaud the author for including the Index of themes at the end of the book. Here, you can see which positions relate to certain themes such as perpetual check, endgame technique, positional play, candidate moves and attacks on the king. This is very useful, especially for chess coaches.

 

What does (some of) the official Blurb say?

The easiest, quickest and most effective way to improve your overall game is to increase your tactical vision. Many good positions are lost because a key moment is passed by and a player misses the opportunity to win by a beautiful combination. This book is designed simply to help you improve your play by seeing tactics better.” – Martyn Kravtsiv

 

Written along similar lines to Gambit’s earlier Ultimate Chess Puzzle Book, this new work presents 600 puzzles, mostly from the last two years, that are chosen for instructive value and maximum training benefit. To ensure that few will be familiar to readers, Kravtsiv has deliberately chosen positions from obscure games or from analysis. If you find the right answers, it will be because you worked them out yourself!

 

Does the book achieve its aim?

What is the aim of any chess puzzle book? Presumably to entertain (surely?) and educate. It should also be a good reference resource as far as I am concerned. In fairness, it is a chess puzzle book so yes it does, especially with fresh material.

 

By way of an example from the book I offer the following:

 

The position below is taken from the game Seo Jung - Dhulipalla, Stockholm 2018/19. It is Black to play and the instruction given by the author is to choose between 36…Rxc8 and 36…Rxa2. My own view is that I don’t see the value in just trying to find the correct move, it is going to be really important to learn the reason why it is best and what the move is in context with any theme. That’s the way to progress.

 

Have a look at the position below and I will provide the answer at the foot of this review. So – are you playing 36…Rxc8 or 36…Rxa2

 

 

Concluding notes 

I was interested to note that so many of the games are taken from India, particularly Mumbai, with plenty from Stockholm, Chennai and Hastings as well as elsewhere. That’s just an observation, not a criticism. I am simply curious as to why a Ukrainian author should choose so many games from India.

 

The fact that these are recent positions makes it more interesting and the fact that the reader won’t have seen most (any?) of the positions brings new life into the puzzle studies. Books such as this are perfect for taking with you on a trip to read in a car, on a railway platform, in an aircraft or in my case waiting to see a doctor!

 

The layout is up to the usual GAMBIT standards with clear and precise diagrams on good quality paper. There are some very memorable moments from the positions in the book. With the dark evenings just about upon us I would certainly recommend this to keep you company, and with a lockdown Christmas on the horizon, you might want to get it sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks to the miracle of technology you can visit YouTube and watch a short video in which GM John Nunn presents a sample from this book. He comments that the positions are a good selection for training purposes. They are not artificially created, they are practical. Don’t argue with the Doctor.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffv964-Wl6M&feature=youtu.be

 

Who is the author?

Martyn Kravtsiv is an experienced grandmaster from Lviv, Ukraine. His tournament results include tied first places at Cappelle in 2012 and the 2015 Ukrainian Championship, as well as being blitz champion of the 2008 World Mind Sports Games (at age 17). He represented his country at the 2017 World Team Championship and was a coach for the team that won silver medals at the 2016 Olympiad.

Note: The book has been translated by Graham Burgess who is an excellent author in his own right. That should instill confidence in the reader that a thorough job has been made of it.

 

Answer to the puzzle

 

1...Re8xc8! (1...Rd2xa2? 2.Rc8xe8+ Qe7xe8 3.Qc4xa2 Qe8–e1 (3...Bb4–d6 4.Qa2xf2 Qe8xa4 is not enough for Black to win.) 4.Qa2–e2 Bb4–d6 5.g2–g4! and White holds the position.) 2.Qc4xc8+ Rd2–d8.

 

Opposite-coloured bishops have a stronger drawing tendency the fewer pieces are on the board. Thus, to retain winning chances, Black should only allow the exchange of one pair of rooks. It’s a very good point and these fairly simple themes once inculcated could help to gain lots of game points for the hard-working chess student. Good hunting.

 

 

 

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 19^th October 1857 where Morphy won and the second on 20^th 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.