London 1862
This month marks the 150th
anniversary of one of the earliest tournaments and, arguably, the most
innovative. London 1862 introduced
to international chess the round-robin
format, which soon became known
as the “American system” because of
its popularity on the other side of the
pond. The 14-player tournament also
showcased the first time limit. Even
though it was a mere 20 moves for two
hours, some players regarded it as
an infringement on their right to take
as long as they wanted to think. Adolf
Anderssen’s first place finish, two
points ahead of the field, reaffirmed his
position as unofficial world champion, once Paul Morphy was safely
back in Louisiana. In each of the following six positions from London 1862
you are asked to find the fastest winning line of play. This may mean the
forced win of a decisive amount of
material—or a checkmate. For solutions, see page 71.
There were no scripts, but one guest
had an agenda: A master panelist used a
lull one day to denounce President Nixon
and Henry Kissinger. There was a quick
station break and another panelist, Ken
Regan, 12, used the time to call home.
“My parents gave me instructions that
when the show came back on, ‘Talk about
chess ... lots of chess.’ Which I did—a fiveminute blue streak until Shelby put his
hand out for ‘Enough!’” said Regan, who
later became an international master and
computer science professor.
From the first game on Lyman filled
time with phone calls to Edmar Mednis at
the Marshall Chess Club and to various
amateurs to seek opinions of the latest
position. One day he dialed the United
Nations Chess Club and spent several
minutes trying to interview a member
who didn’t seem to speak a word of English. No matter. It was live TV. Keep going.
On another occasion he called the chess
club at a New York state jail. The dialogue
went something like:
Lyman: And who am I speaking to?
Prisoner: This is Mungo.
Lyman: Well, uh, Mungo, what do you
think of the position?
Prisoner: White has the good bishop. I
like the white pawns. The white queen is
very strong.
Lyman: So you’re conclusion is ... ?
Prisoner: Black is better!
Part of the show’s appeal was that no one
uschess.org
Problem I
Serafino Dubois
Augustus Mongredien
-+-+-+ktr
zpp+-tr-+p
n+p+PvL-wQ
+-wq-+-+-+L+-+-zP
+-sN-+-zpPzPP+-+P+
+-+-+-+K
Problem II
Problem III
Frederic Deacon
James Robey
Joseph Blackburne
James Robey
-+-trr+-mk
+-+-+pzpp
-+p+-tR-+
+-+-zp-vLp+-+P+-wQ
+-zPP+-+q+LmK-+PzP
+-+-+-+-
-tr-+-+k+
+-+-+r+p
-wqPvl-zPp+
zp-sNp+-zPn
P+-+p+-zP
mKP+-wQ-+N
-+-vL-zP-+
+-tR-+-+-
White to play
Black to play
Black to play
George MacDonnell
Frederic Deacon
Thomas Barnes
Serafino Dubois
Joseph Blackburne
Valentine Green
Problem IV
-+-+rtrk+
+l+p+-+p
pwqp+p+p+
+-+-+n+P+-+-zPN+
+-+L+-+Q
-zPP+-+PzP
+-+-tRR+K
White to play
Problem VI
Problem V
-+-+-trk+
+l+-+pzpp
p+-+-+-+
+-zp-+-+N+-+-wq-tr
+P+Q+NvlP+-tR-+-zP
+-+-+R+K
Black to play
took the chess too seriously. After the
third game began 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3
c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5, Chris Chase, hearing the name of the opening for the first
time, kept talking about “a slice of Benoni.”
On August 8 it appeared the show
would be preempted by history. The Democratic vice presidential nominee had
resigned and all the TV networks were
planning to cover the acceptance speech
of his replacement at a special party conclave. “There was a big debate at 13. They
decided I was to do updates every hour,”
Lyman said, and leave the rest of the
afternoon to political coverage.
Preempting politics
GM Bobby Fischer
GM Boris Spassky
World Championship 1972, 12th game
(see diagram top of next column)
But about the time that this position
occurred—as Lyman was to go on camera
with the brief 2 p.m. update—“They
grabbed me and said we’re staying with
chess. Channel 13 got a thousands calls.
People were threatening to blow up the
station!” he said.
The station stuck with the game and a
draw was agreed at move 55. “And we
knocked the Democratic convention off
the air,” Lyman said.
The show continued until Spassky
resigned the 21st game and his title on
-+-+-+-+
zpk+-+-+P
-zpl+-+-+
+-zpq+-+-+-+-+-wQ
+-+-+-zP-+-+-zP-+
+-tR-+-mK-
White to play
r+l+-trk+
+-+n+pzpp+-+psn-zp
wq-zp-+-+-vl-zP-+-vL
+-sNLzP-+-zP-sN-zPPzP
+-tRQmK-+R
After 15. ... c5
September 1. “We had a celebration and
we broke out bottles of wine,” said Lyman.
The show made him the second-bestknown chessplayer in America. He went
on to become a nationally syndicated
columnist. His guests also benefited from
exposure, including Bruce Pandolfini who
became a celebrated chess teacher.
Lyman returned to the air in November
1973 to host a match between the Marshall
and Manhattan chess clubs. More successful were the world championship
matches he hosted from 1978 into the Karpov-Kasparov era. But it’s the 1972 shows
that are etched in the memories of a generation of players, who were inspired liked
Fedorowicz. And that appears to be the
only place the shows exist, in memories:
In the pre-VCR era, the only record of
the shows was the studio tapes—and
they were destroyed long ago.
.
Chess Life — July 2012
15