Edward Winter's Chess Explorations (34)
02.01.2010
– Lucidity is the hallmark of good chess instruction, but what happens if the
teacher has no conception of intelligibility? The Editor of Chess
Notes dips into the wordy world of the ‘grand left oblique aligned en appui
with major crochet’, where ‘designations for posting disparity are
u lead and (u) lag’. Recommended for code-breaking practice...
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Chess Explorations (34)
By Edward Winter
In any discussion of obscure chess instruction one author’s name stands
out: Franklin Knowles Young (1857-1931). Three sample pages from his books are
given below:
Above: page 264 of The Grand Tactics of Chess (Boston, 1905).
Above: page 97 of The Major Tactics of Chess (Boston, 1909).
Above: page 97 of Field Book of Chess Generalship (New York and London,
1923).
We reproduce his obituary on page 10 of the January 1932 American Chess
Bulletin:
One of Young’s few supporters was Charles W. Warburton, whose book My
Chess Adventures (Chicago, 1980) contained much material in defence of Young,
‘that most maligned of American chess writers’ (page 42). An overview
of Young’s chess books was provided in an article ‘The Evolution
of Chess Science (?)’ by John Barr on pages 325-328 of the August 1983
BCM.
A seldom-seen volume by a kind of Young the Younger is Chess Logic For Beginner
and Master by B. Koppin, a 45-page booklet which appeared in the United
States in 1949. C.N. 2613 (see page 391 of A Chess Omnibus) noted that
C.J.S. Purdy was in cracking form when discussing (i.e. demolishing) it on page
43 of Chess World, 1 February 1950. He concluded with the observation:
‘It is well printed. But why was it printed?’
To illustrate what Koppin offered beginners and masters, three pages are shown
below, without further comment or sneering:
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or suggestions on chess explorations
All ChessBase articles
by Edward Winter
 Edward
Winter is the editor of Chess
Notes, which was founded in January 1982 as "a forum for aficionados
to discuss all matters relating to the Royal Pastime". Since then, over 6,400
items have been published, and the series has resulted in four books by Winter:
Chess
Explorations (1996), Kings,
Commoners and Knaves (1999), A
Chess Omnibus (2003) and Chess
Facts and Fables (2006). He is also the author of a monograph
on Capablanca (1989).
Chess Notes is well known for its historical research, and anyone browsing
in its archives
will find a wealth of unknown games, accounts of historical mysteries, quotes
and quips, and other material of every kind imaginable. Correspondents from
around the world contribute items, and they include not only "ordinary readers"
but also some eminent historians – and, indeed, some eminent masters. Chess
Notes is located at the Chess
History Center. Signed copies of Edward Winter's publications are
currently available.
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