This blog is really a scratch pad, although I do try to be as careful as I possibly can. But this is even more tentative than the usual – it’s essentially my raw notes to the one page history of the Hoogovens (Blast Furnace) Tournament. Basically, I’m asking for help in spotting any mistakes. But…

For the participants, this was a very exciting tournament, with Pillsbury, Chigorin, and Lasker all tied after the 17th round (R17) with 13.5. And the final four rounds saw each of them in the lead for at least one round (R18-Lasker, R19-Chigorin, R20,21-Pillsbury). Only Pillsbury would win three of the final four games. [ed- I…

Here is an interview of Pillsbury by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle upon his departure for the famous Hastings 1895 tournament. It contains comments about his opponents, as well as reflections upon the constituency of the players. Interestingly, Albin went as one of the three US representatives selected for the tournament. I wonder if the <CG>…

Again, an important find while researching the wartime years of Hoogovens. Here is a heart-wrenching article by Hans Kmoch summarizing the devastation of the war on chess. It is an article from the Jan. 10, 1945 issue of the Dutch newspaper De waarheid (The Truth) (p3). http://kranten.delpher.nl/nl/view/index?query=kmoch+wijnans+%22van+den+hoek%22&coll=ddd&image=ddd%3A010851153%3Ampeg21%3Aa0060&page=1&maxperpage=10#image This is an important article, written within months…

The highlighter feature of Window 7’s Snipping Tool is useful when entering or playing back the moves of a game from a scanned newspaper article. The usual trouble is keeping track of what move you’re on, since you must take your eyes off the score as you enter the moves into another appliciation. That usually…

                    From the book “60 jaar Hoogovens Schaaktoernooi“ by Lex Jonsma and Alexander Muuninghoff – published in NIC Interchess BV in 1998: INLEIDING Sedert 1938 vindt te Beverwij ieder jaar een schaakcongres plaats, dat door de Hoogovenschaakclub wordt georganiseerd. Het eerste tournooi was bescheiden van inzet (de deelneming beperkte zich tot de streek Kennemerland) maar…

On the Dutch coast, is the small city/town of Beverwijk. It is famous for the blast furnaces of the Koninklijke Hoogovens steel plant: (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/44425648  – credit Frank1911) It has a long association with chess, commemorated as early as in 1969 on Dutch stamps: There is even a museum dedicated to the tournament: What does all…

Well, that depends on what kind of date… Dating a tournament can be a difficult task at times, if one wants to know the exact dates (and times!) each game is played. In the modern era this isn’t so difficult, many times you can actually see the game live. That means you not only know…

In the very beginning the “Blast Furnace Chess Tournament” was better known simply as the “New Years Chess Tournament” (Nieuwjaarstournooi  using the 1940’s Dutch spelling, or Nieuwjaarstoernooi using modern spelling). It started very simply, as a round robin between four players, with one round Saturday evening, then church Sunday morning, one round Sunday afternoon, a…