Echesspedia

CABLE CHESS

Long distance games or matches played between two or more players. The first chess cable match (moves transmitted by telegraph) occurred between Dublin and Liverpool in 1861. The most famous were the thirteen Anglo-American matches which were organized between 1896 and 1911. Each country won six matches and the final score was 39 victories, 39 losses and 50 draws. Britain, having won three matches in succession, took permanent possession of the trophy.

There were also two series of Anglo-American University matches between teams from Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia. The first series took place between 1899 and 1903 and was ended by the Russo-Japanese war, which made arrangements for the cabling too difficult. A second series of University matches was held from 1906 to 1910.

Cable machine used for the match London-Chicago of 1926

CAISSA The alleged Goddess of Chess. The Muse of Chess, the creation of Sir William Jones (1746-1794). He wrote a poem entitled Caissa in 1763, and published in 1772. The poem starts by describing the pieces and their moves and goes on to tell of the origin of the game.

CAMEL A fairy chesspiece, a Leaper, it moves like a Knight but with one and three steps, i.e., from c1 the camel can go to f2, d4, b4, never changing color of square.

CANDIDATE A player who succeeded to qualify at the Interzonal and makes it to the Candidates tournament or Candidates matches. More recently a player who succeeds to qualify at the World Cup and at the Grand Prix.

The Candidates in 1959: Robert Fischer, Mikhail Tal and Tigran Petrosian

CANDIDATES TOURNAMENT Created by FIDE in 1950 to determinate the challenger to the World Champion. The tournaments were organized in 1950 at Budapest, 1953 at Neuhausen & Zurich, 1956 at Amsterdam, 1959 at Bled, Zagreb & Belgrade, 1962 at Curaçao. After this last one Robert Fischer published complaints criticized the system and the obvious collaboration between the Soviet players. In 1965 FIDE replaced the Candidates Tournament by Candidates Matches. The Candidates Tournament came back in 1985 in Montpellier and should be organized once more in 2010 (see details in World Championship).

CAPABLANCA CHESS MAGAZINE

Spanish magazine published bi-weekly by Jose Raul Capablanca in Havana, 3 volumes within 1912-1914. The magazine consists from games, articles and problems. The 3 yearly volumes were reprinted by Moravian Chess Publishing in 2000.
















CAPTURE A seizure of a piece or pawn to a square occupied by an opponent’s piece or pawn and a removal of the latter off the board. The only piece that cannot be captured is king. Capture is optional unless it is the only possible move. Capture of pawns moved 2 squares ahead and hence positioned in the same rank next to opponent’s pawn is called en passant. In the notation the ‘x’ or ‘:’ are used to indicate a capture like Nxd4 or N:d4. Black played 4…e5. Now White may play 5.cxd5 or 5. dxe6 ep.

CASTLING A combined move involving king and one of the rooks, where king is moved two squares to the rook, the latter is then moved over the king and placed on the adjacent square. Castling may be performed by each side, but only one time during the game. Castling is prohibited if 1) king or the rook have already been moved in the course of the game, 2) there are other pieces between king and the rook, 3) king is checked, 4) king’s destination square or any squares between it and king’s initial square are attacked by any of the opponent’s pieces. Castling on the king’s side is called short castling and shown by O-O. Queen’s side castling is called long castling and shown by O-O-O. According to the laws of chess and, more generally, the etiquette of play, it is king that should be moved first or both pieces should be touches simultaneously. Otherwise, it may be claimed that rook’s move was intended. In chess composition, castling is legal at any moment if its impossibility can not be proven. The history of castling dates back to the Renaissance when the so-called king’s free leaps, where king is moved more than one square, came to play. Perhaps it was in the later periods, that a rook’s leap was added and the whole maneuver acquired a universal acceptance. In Italy, however, king’s free leaps were played until the late 19^th century. There is hardly a player who underestimates the importance of castling in the strategy of the game.

The right diagram shows the position after 7. 0-0 0-0-0.




















The following game shows that castling can also be a deadly move:

CAT of Kilkenny Name given by Sam Loyd c.a. 1888 to a famous twin problems. The title comes from an old Irish song.
(a) diagram
(b) all pieces one column left Mate in 4 moves
Solution: (a) 1. Sf4+! Kxf2 2. Sxh3+ Kxg3 (2…Ke2 3. c8=Q gxh1=Q 4. Qa6#) 3. Sf5+ Kxh3 4. Bg4#
(b) 1. b8=S! Rxg1 (1…d5 2. Sc6 dxc4 3. Se4+ Kxe2 4. Sd4#) 2. Sxd7 f1=Q 3. S7c5 Rh1 4. Sb3#.










CENTRALIZE To develop pieces and pawns towards the centre where they can control the maximum number of squares.


CENTER The four squares d4, e4, d5 and e5 in the middle of the board. Strategically the most important squares of the board. In the opening, the player who controls the centre has the advantage. The control is generally regarded as an essential feature if a complete and sound development. Siegbert Tarrasch advocated that the early occupation of e4 and d4 with Pawns constitutes ‘the alpha and omega of all opening strategy’. Aron Nimzowitch pointed out that this control of the centre was an advantage only as long it could be maintained.