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

86 DAWSON
nelds fom rhe Sreater part oI hh output (aboui
6,5tr0 composirio., and are belter renenbered
than his srudies andorthodox problens. For tairy
Problens he i.vented new pieces: ctussHoppEr
(1912). Eo (ie12), NEUmL eN (1e12), N,G!F
RI.ER (1925), and vAo (1912): he@diliednewrules
such as thc MAXTMUMMEn (1913) and larious rjnds
olsE{rs-MovER: and he Ned Dno hodox boards.
tn 1915 he Mote ne,/oalade ,,ualrrn, the 66t
boot on the subjecr, completine the projed besun
sveial yea$ earlier by lhe Geman @6poser
wollsans Hundsdo cr0879-1951). F om1919to
1930 Dason conducted a column devoted 10 lairy
problens in the Cliesr /4zat !.. In 1926 be was a
s'founder of tne P/,rlz,rn. which nc edited for
its 6rst six yeas, and he lounded and edited Ih.
Prcbtenist Fairy Supplenent (1931{), continued
rs The Fab ches R.v,?, (193G51). Besides
conducdns colunns in scvcral ncsspapcis and
periodicals. onc olthemdailyandorcinthead,r.
Ches Maeozine, DaNson edited the probtem
se.tion oI fte Anrr, Clic,r MaSaziz? from 1931 to
195ij he devised and published in its pages
(1947-50) a stslcmaiic terminology for problcm
thenes in ihe hope that it would supplant the
extensile jargon then and now in !se. D.wson
wrote nvc books on fairy problems: Cdirsdl, Wild
nd€r (1935)j C. M. Fox, Hi\ Probt N (1936)1
Cailsa\ will Roses in cl$ten 11931\ an ok
mehes \19313)t and Caissa s Fonr Tales (t941).
charles Ma$on Fox (1866-193s) N6 a patron
whose gene.osity nade possi ble the publicatio n ol
lour oI these books and the two fairy problem
macdines fo!.ded by Dawson. ulinote Thenes
deals with rAsxs. another of Dasson\ lavouritc
subjeds. In 1973 all frve boots were republished in
one volme, aiv? c'la$d o/rany al.sr.
Daqon found it diificuli lo undersland the
probleoistt idea of beauly because it is not
suseptible 10 precise definilion. 'Tbe arrist ralks ol
''quief moves, oblivious thal they aie whire's
mosi pulvcri2ing attacksi anis aesthetic folly,
reverenej .esponse, ihrill, to vain-glorious hombst
ru6 throughou t .he$ . ' (See Bo!€Mrd for a
prohlcm shosing 16 model mates, a task Dawson
claimed 6 a re@rd b a setting Bohemian
odposes would rejed.) His se.ins did nol set
hin apart tron his lellows: he could 6nd time lo.
casual visitors. and would explain his ideas to a lyro
with palie.ce. modesty, and kind.css. Allhough
he won mey toumey prizes much ofhis work was
designed 10 encourage olhers, to enldge the small
band offairy problem devotees He compoed le$
Ior fame than lo amuse himself, confcssing to
anolher cooposer 'We do rhese lhings for
A chemistry graduate, Dason took a post in tnc
tubber industry in 1922 and rose to be head ol the
Inrellige.ce Division offte British Rubber Manu
fadtrreE, for which he fou.ded, calalogued, and
naintaiaed a tecbnical library. Unwel lor the lasr
year or his lile, he died iron a stroke. (See ErcHr
OFFCERS PUZZLE| PARIAL XENOCMDE
^NALVSA,)
K. Fabel andC. E. Kemp. S.nlch ohne cren2en ot
chess wti ited (1969) h a surycy, wriuen in
Geman and Endnb, olDaMon\ co.tribution to
thc art oI fairy problens.
DECENTRALIZE, ro nove a piece that axacks,
guards, or @cupies cenlral sqDares so lhal n no
lonserdoes so. lhh issenerallyundesirableunless
rh...nrreilvellso,red ornnlesdecisive..tion
can be laken etse{here on the board.
DFicISIvE ERROR. a. error tbat would alter |he
result ofthe game if.oftecr play Nere to folloN.
Thus a playermight tosc a drasn position or lail lo
DECOY, lo enlice an encmy ma. from ns
deledsiverolei the ma. usedlo.thatpurpose. The
use of a flank pawn to decoy an ene6y king
commonly happens in lhe endgamc. For an
example *e oursrDE PASSED PAWN.
DE!-ENCE, (l) a move or noves played wnh fte
objed of counte.ing the oppone.t\ threats. Dcfence
nay be pasive (for a
rornB, or activc, whc. lhleals a.e answered by
threats. More often lhan.ol nasters preier actile
def€trce, perhaps naking sone concesion ro gain
counter playi examples fron the opcning phase
are the uor.EslAvsw vARrAloN oI the srcrrhN
DETENCE (Black concedes a HoLE at d5) a.d the
(Black sacnn@s a
pawn). A su@e$tul atlacking game receives
popular acclain, bul, as sErNrz nBt obsened, a
wetl played delensive gane is no less neritorious.
compo*s 6e the vord defence in a special
seme: in a direct 6are threal problcm any mole by
Blacl that foreslalls whirc's threat (using rhhNo.d
in its problem sens) is a defene.
DEFENCE, (2) a desnption oI an opcnins or an
opening varialion inilialed by Black. The name
does not nccessarily imply passive play: sone
defences offer aggressive counterchances.
DEFENSMI CENTRE! a centre consisting of a
well defended cent.e pawn on iis fourth rank, one
oI several kinds ot p^wN CENTRE a player nignr
choose in rhe opening phase. The best known
examplc is the popular cbstr vaRrAr'oN of ihe
spAN,su oPEN,x6 in which Black delends a P.*n on
e5. A player who sets up such a centre eers a
sligh{y (anped game. but hc nay nave s.ope lor
fla,k manaulres or, on omasion, the opdon ol
changing rhe cenlral pAwN roRMAroN. w. wrNrrz
believed in the soundne$ ofthe defensive cenlre
and sometimes used it when he had the white
pieces, a new idea in his tine.
Lasker S@init 3th 6alch Sane world Chafrpionship
1396 Spannh Opening, steinitz Delele
1c4e5 2NANC6 3 Bh5 d6 4d1Bd7 5Nc3 NseT 6
Bg516 7Be3N.3 3Ne2Be? 9c30-0 10Bd3Nb6 ll
Ng3KhB 120.0Qc3 l3R.1Nd3 l4Rcl.5 15Nd2Na4