Chess E-Magazine Interactive E-Magazine Volume 3 • Issue 2 March/April 2012 Chess Gambits C Seraphim Press Commander in Chess-Presidents Who Played Chess White Knight Review Chess E-Magazine March/April - 2012 Table of Contents Editorial~ “My Move” 4 contents Feature~ Understanding the Chess Rating System 5 ARTICLE~ Bill Wall’s Top 20 Chess Books 9 INTERACTIVE CONTENT Biography~ The Remarkable Reshevsky 10 Portrait of a Prodigy Feature~ Chess Puzzles 16 Article~ Chess Clubs and Organizations 17 Feature~ Themed Chess Pieces 22 In Retrospect~ Spassky Vs. Lorinci 24 Annotated Game ARTICLE~ News Around the World 25 BOOK REVIEW~ Grandmaster Versus Amateur 26 edited by Jacob Aagaard and John Shaw Feature~Death and Chess Players 27 COMMENTARY~ “Ask Bill” 31 White Knight Review March/April 2012 White Knight Review March/April 2012 My Move Editorial - Jerry Wall [email protected] This publication has been somewhat of an experiment. When we started this e-magazine over a year ago we had no idea whether it would have any interest or not. It would be hard to gauge any success White Knight apart from offering a free subscription and gathering an email list and seeing if that Review would grow to any great length. I must say I was pleasantly Chess E-Magazine surprised to see how much that email list has grown in a year. Checking stats on our website has also helped to Executive Editor/Writer By Bill measure hits and visits and again we were delighted to see a slow but steady growth each month. Bill Wall [email protected] Wall Printing this magazine at this time would certainly be cost prohibited but by making it an e-magazine we could offer it as a free download costing us only the labor and Feature website cost. The surge of electronic devises such as Publisher /Editor/ Creative iPhones, iPads, tablet PC’s and e-book readers have also Director Gerald Wall Chess rating systems have been by the Correspondence Chess system to classify players. helped to make this a viable media for today’s market. Also used for pairing purposes in League of America (CCLA). The the advantages of adding interactivity to the magazine [email protected] chess tournaments as well as CCLA was founded in 1909. In In 1948, the Ingo rating system such as hyperlinks in the Table of Contents, page scrolling, estimating playing strength. 1940, it was using a point sys- was created. It was designed email links and even video inserts are helping to drive this A tournament director wants tem designed by Kenneth Wil- by Anton Hoesslinger (1875- digital format. to avoid pairing the strongest liams. 1959) and named after his home Production/ Marketing town, Ingolstadt in Bavaria. It Still unfortunately, the time and effort that Bill and I put Steve Wall players against each other in the early rounds of was used by the West Ger- into this pub have not been offset by the support of [email protected] man Chess Federation from advertising as we had hoped. We want to continue to try to a tournament. Rat- ings are also used for The introduction of chess rating systems 1948 until 1992. It was then offer this as a free publication and continue to put out what tournament section- replaced by the Elo system, I think is one of the best Chess pubs out there. So we are For Subscription ing and prize eligibili- may have done more to popularize tour- named after its creator Dr. asking you to help by either advertising or donating what [email protected] ty. Sections or Class- nament chess than any other single factor. Arpad Elo (1903-1992), a ever you can to help us out. Thanks for all your support. es in tournaments are Hungarian-born American popular and many physics teacher and chess Jerry Wall For Advertising Rates players play other players with master. This was a system Editor [email protected] close to the same rating. In 1942, Chess Review magazine where a player’s new rating was began using the Harkness rating the average rating of his com- The introduction of chess rating system, designed by Kenneth petition minus one point for systems may have done more Harkness (1896-1972). The rat- each percentage point above 50 to popularize tournament chess ings were first used for cor- obtained in the tournament. than any other single factor. respondence chess players. At © Copyright 2012 the time, there were only three In 1949, Kenneth Harkness sub- All Rights Reserved. In 1928, the first work to give classes: Class A – above 1050; mitted his rating system to the Unauthorized reproduction, serious attention to modeling Class B – 950 to 1050, and Class United States Chess Federation in any manner is prohibited chess ability was a paper by C – below 950. (USCF) for use as a numerical Let us know what you think of the magazine. Perhaps you have Ernest Zermelo. He addressed rating system. When a chess some suggestions for future articles or have other comments. without expressed permission from the Author or Editor. the problem of estimating the In 1946, a rating system was player completes a tournament, Let us know and drop me a line at: [email protected] strengths of chess players in proposed in the USSR by Andrey the average rating of his compe- chess tournaments. Khachatoruv (1917- ) and was tition is first calculated. Then, if Click here to Donate via Paypal www.offthewallchess.com published in Shakmaty v SSSR a player scores 50%, he receives In 1939, the first modern numeri- in 1946. The USSR Chess Fed- the average competition rating cal chess rating system was used eration used a non-numerical as his performance rating. If he 4 5 Continue White Knight Review March/April 2012 White Knight Review March/April 2012 scores more than 50%, his new In 1954, the first British Grading to every player a numerical rat- method (Bradley-Terry). It top rating is his competition rating List was published, which listed ing based on performances in peak Edo ratings were: Steinitz plus 10 points for each percent- 49 players. competitive chess. Elo assumed (2803), Morphy (2796), Lasker age point above 50. If he scores that the chess player’s strength (2752), Kolisch (2710), Tarrasch less than 50%, his new rating is In 1955, Irving J. Good (1916- distribution was a normal distri- (2699), Zukertort (2678), von der his competition rating minus 10 2009) developed a system to bution (bell curve). Lasa (2676), Anderssen (2673), points for each percentage point rank chess players and pub- Neumann (2671), and maroczy below 50. lished “On the Marking of Chess The USCF has rating categories. (2665). Players” in the Mathematical A senior master is rated 2400 ings, the FIDE rating was round- the mid-1980s, these features In January 1950, the USCF an- Gazette. and up. A national master is rat- ed out to the nearest multiple were eliminated from the rating In 2005, the Chessmetrics rating nounce that a national rating ed between 2200 and 2399. An of 5. FIDE also only computed system. system was created by statisti- system was being planned to In 1958, the British Chess Fed- expert (or candidate master) is ratings for players over 2000. A cian Jeff Sonas. It is based on cover local and national events. eration (now the English Chess rated from 2000 to 2199. Every player only acquires a rating if In the late 1980s, the concept of computer analysis of chess Federation or ECF) started using 200 point range below expert is it is calculated to be over 2000. a rating floor was established games that uses a weighted In July 1950, the USCF adopted a rating system devised by Rich- a class. For On average, initial FIDE ratings in the USCF system. This pre- average of past performance the Harkness system and invent- ard W.B. example, overestimate players’ abilities vented a player’s rating from and is intended to be more ac- ed by Kenneth Harkness. It was Clarke a rating of because players only receive rat- decreasing below the 100-point curate than the Elo system. The used by the USCF from 1950 to (1910- The flaw with the old Harkness 1900-1999 ings if their initial performances multiple 200 points less than score considers a player’s win 1960. The first published rating 1975). A sytem was that a player could lose is Class are strong. Thus, the FIDE rating one’s highest rating. More percentage against other play- list appeared in the November players every game in a tournament and A. A rat- pool gets inflated over time. recently, the rating floor has ers weighted by the ratings of 20, 1950 issue of Chess Life mag- rating or ing of 1600 been re-implemented so that the other players and the time azine, which rated 2,306 USCF grade is still gain rating points. to 1799 is In 1978, Elo published The Rating the system now uses a 100 point elapsed since the match. members from chess events calculated Class B, A of Chessplayers Past & Present. margin. Rating floors were to from 1921 to July 31, 1950. The by taking rating of A second edition appeared in discourage players from pur- highest rated players on the first the opponent’s grade and add- 1400 to 1599 is Class C, etc. 1986. posely losing games to artifi- USCF rating list were Reuben ing 50 points for a win, subtract- cially lower their ratings so that For one-year peaks, the Fine (2817), Samuel Reshevsky ing 50 points for a loss, and The average rating for established In the 1990s, the USCF rating they could play in lower-rated top rated players were: (2770), A.