chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

64 CHICAGO GAMBTT
and othe6 of similar
Parterns werepopula!fronrhe 18thcentury, butin
thc sccond hall ol lhe 191h cenrury srAUNroN
.HlssMEN becamc the slardard dsign. (See lko
Ha.s and Siegfried Wichnann. Chds, the S1o/J ol
Aesspiercs lra Antiquitt to Modem Tih6
(199) n an English translation oI S.nd.i!.
U$ptuns und wandlun! de. Spie$eur (196u).
CHICACO GAMDIT, 529, th
cEcco (pron. (ey{o).
^DRiANo (1907- ).
Iiatian chess historian a.d problem conposer,
Intemarionnl Judge for Cbess Codposnions
(1956), International Masrer ol Che$ Con'posidons
(1967), state lawyer. Hc sas the problem
editor ot L halid S.d..hiJrrd for 16 years and
qrcre Il Ptobtemo dn scacchi (i943). The author ot
many careiul p.pers on chess hislory, he discolered
, numbcr of chcss manuscriprs oI wbich
the most imporiant is a.rvrs BoNoNhE MS of 1454
fron Modena. Wnh the lhlian player Gorgjo
Pofteca(r927- )hcvrnl Libto com?Lta degli
scacchi (,1959) and Dizionotio Enciclopedico deqli
CIIGORIN, MIKHAIL IVr\NOVICH 0850
1908), Iron aboul 1883 to 1898 one ol the best
four or live playe$ in the world. Bom near St
Pclcrburg. he senled there alter @Bplering his
education. Hisschooltea.her. onc of (rFs.RrrTojs
boyhood inends, laueht him the moves ol chess ai
the age of16. Nor at lirsr auracled ro the g ne. be
inisned his studies and took a golernnent posr.
Around 1874. how€re., he developcd apdsion lor
chess and not lo.g afteBards eave up hh job for
the inpecunious lile ot a chess prolessional Alter
playins matches aAainst scErFERs in 18?8 (+7 3
a.d +6=1-7). in 1879 (+r=2 ,1)_ and in 1880
(+7=3 1). and asainsr ^LAflN
in 1880 (+?-l)-
Chigorin was regarded as the besi player in the cily
il nDi in Russia. In his 66t inlernqtional 1ouma
ment (Berlin l88l) he shared thnd ph.c th
wNAwFR 'Iter
nr a.nnnM ind 7r r(FRr6Rr "nd
3i
thc grcat London roumanent oI1883 took fourth
place alter Zukc.tort. sr.rNrrz, and Blackburne
ahead of GsoN. MA.rNzrr, and Winawcr
In 1889 Chigonn u ucesslully chaUenged
Sreinitz ror lhe wodd championship (+6-1 10).
At New Yo.k a montn or !o laler he shared Iirsr
PnE *irh wrss i. America's li6t intcrnational
tournament, and in 1890 he dre* a natch with lhe
third prize winncr CUNSBERG (+9=5 9). rn two
famous ransallantic telegraph games, 1890 1,
Chigorin deleared steinitz (+2). ol the many
opening variatjons thar Steinnz had adlo.aled in
his Nritings Chigo.in was permittcd 10 choose 1wo
lbr these ganes, a circumstance that gready
favoured him. ln 1892 Chigorin again challenged
Steitrirz and again losl (+8:5-10). In 1893 be
dretr with rAruscH (+9=4 9), a 6nc scries of
games noted bolh for thcirightine quality a.d the
clasb of ideasi and in 1895 he deleaied Schilfe6
(+7=3 3).
Chigonn h.d nos reached the highest point ol
his carccr, martcd by his b
achi€venenls: Haslings 1895. second (+1,1=4 3)
after TGEURy abead oi usreR, Tarasch. and
SreinitztandBudapesll896,nst(+7=3 2)equal
wiih cnAnousE( whom he defeated in a play-ofi
(+3-1). Tte best olhis subsequent achievements
were: Cllogne 1898, se.ond equalsilhChareusek
andw. cosN alternuRNi Montc carlo 1901, third
equal with scHEvEalteri^rowsKands.uEcsrERi
and L6di i906, a.onEst ot lour nasters, second
(+5=1 l)alterRUu'NsrnN. Chisorin affrned his
position as Russia\ leadinS player by wiming the
first three All-Russia loufranents (1899. 1900 1,
1903), md aiter sALwE bad won the fou(h in 1906
Chigonn challenged him to a malch and son
(+7=l 5).In 19m he lailed badly in ioumanent
play and while taki.g rhe cure al Carlsbad in the
atrtumn the docrors iold hin he had only a IeN
nonths to li!e; ar the very cnd of his lifc he
returned to his estranged wife and his daughter,
then living ai Lublin. and there he died oldiabetes
in the louowing January.
Chigorin\ style Nas narlred byfne tacticalskill
and an imaginatirc approach to the problcms of the
opening phase. Al Vienna 1903, when everyo.e
nad to plal the uniashionable KNcs GAMBTT
Aeepted he came liret scll anead ol MARsnAl.r,
Pillsbnry, and MAR6.Z!. Chigo.in lejeded the
doclinal approach of both Sleinitz and Tirasch,
bur be accepted some ofSteinitz\ ideas, notablya
belicfin thc soundness ofthe delensive centre. in
which resped hn investigalions oI tbe closE
DEENCE ro tbe sPANrss oPEMNc hale Pioled ol
lasringvalue. He ahopioneeredsomevariationsol
lhc $.av DrF.Nc.. His original lalenl produced
many liely games and Russia.s both lhen a.d
iince have regarded hin as lhe Iounder of their
so caled school oi chess.
A large bearded man, Cnigorin sas decidedly
handsomc' although 'in diiiolt pDsitions he Cets
ve.y exciled and al times seens quite fiere.'He
was a bundle ot n€aei, Mnes Marshall. on
sta.tlyswinging his oosed leg back and lbrth'. He
was fond oldrint and ia hk world litlc malcheswas
supplied with lree brandy, the bottle slanding by
the chess board. (Meanwhile Sleinitzdrankchan
pasie Ior his nenes on dodoas ordes.)
Chigorin.ontriburedsigniicantlyroihecauseol
chess in Ru$ia, Ioundi.g a chess club in St
Pete6burg, lecturing in nany citics. and wriline
for several magdines a.d chess columns. Ru$iat
second chess ma8.zine ,sn,/.nmuht Lnbk \]a76
8l). wilh a circulation ol lcss than 200, was
subsidi2ed by him and he was lhe mainsupporl oI
twoolhernaSuitres:S/d/.imat,v6,nr.(1889)
and Shdfuftar, (r891). Thc founding ofa national
.hcss as$ciation. a causc hc cspouscd fo nany
yean, took place six yea( alter hh dealh. (See