|
Somebody
suggested that I might have played Steinitz. No. I was born a bit late for
that. But I knew somebody who had. It happened like this.
An uncle of mine, when he was a young man, went on a visit to London from his
native Yorkshire . He found himself in a coffee house where chess was
played and was challenged by an old gentleman with a large black beard to
have a game for the stake of a shilling. My uncle accepted the challenge
and the game began.
The old man seemed to be playing very casually and spent most of his
time chatting to friends round about. He was playing quickly with not much
thought.
The young man, being keen as mustard and well primed as young men sometimes are,
got a very good game which, before the old man had started to think properly, had become even better.
But the old man was equal to the occasion and, no doubt deciding that had spent his shillings worth of time,
announced in a firm voice. "You will now resign." My Uncle
rather diffidently said he would like to play on if he didn't mind. To
which his opponent repeated in an even louder tone "YOU WILL NOW
RESIGN". And that was that.
It wasn't until afterwards that my uncle learned that he had been playing
Mr Steinitz, the Steinitz who was shortly to become the world champion.
|