CHESS
Morse and Lewis
Raymond Keene
THE NAME LEWIS is an important one in English chess, being that of one of our best players and writers as well as that of our most famous chess set. William Lewis (1787-1870) established a reputation for himself as a player during the second and third decades of the 19th century. Although he subscribed to the fashionable openings of his day, the Muzio and related versions of the King's Gambit, analysis of his games indicates that he was essentially a player possessed of a clear strategic and attacking cast of thought. His best games exhibit an elegance in the conduct of his offensives which was lacking in the more random efforts of his contemporaries.
In 1821 he visited Paris and defeated the French master Deschappelles in a short match. Such was Deschappelles's reputa- tion that, even though Lewis was receiving the odds of pawn and move in their games, his victory over the Frenchman instantly elevated him to the status of a star in the eyes of his own countrymen. From then on Lewis published a series of books on the game including Series of Progressive Lessons and Second Series of Lessons as well as A Treatise on the Game of Chess, based on the work of his predecessor Sarratt. From the mid-1820s onwards Lewis would only play against other Englishmen while himself giving odds, but his skill was such that he even succeeded, as odds-giver, in inflicting defeat on Alexander McDonnell, who con- tested the great series of matches with Labourdonnais in 1834.
It is fascinating that in 1838 the weekly magazine Bell's Life named him as a grand- master. It is widely believed that the use of this term first dates from the St Petersburg tournament of 1914. Frank Marshall has written that Tsar Nicholas II conferred the title on Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall himself at that time. It is now clear, though, that Lewis was regarded as a grandmaster over 75 years earlier! Here is an example of the first grandmaster's energetic play.
Lewis—Deschappelles: Paris 1821; Odds Game.
The starting position is without Black's T pawn. 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 e5 3 d5 Nce7 4 Bg5 Nf6 5 Bxf6 gxf6 6 Qh5+ Ng6 7 N13 Qe7 8 d6 An excellent move. Odds-takers frequently lost by slavishly clinging to their extra material. Here Lewis shows that he is not afraid to give back some booty in order to seize the initiative. 8 ... Qxd6 9 Nh4 Bg7 (Diagram) 10 Nxg6 White doubtless considered
Position after 9 . Bg7 10 Nf5 when 10 ...Qf8 leaves Black very passive- ly placed. However, after 10 Nf5 Black can muddy the waters with 10 ... Qb4+ 11 c3 Qxb2 or 11 Nd2 0-0 when things are not so clear. 10 hxg6 11 Qxg6+ Kf8 12 Bc4 Qe7 13 0-0 Rh6 14 Qg3 c6 15 Nc3 d6 16 Radl f5 White has a clear plan of attack with Rd3 and Rfdl, hitting Black's sensitive point at d6. The odds-giver therefore decided that it was time to confuse the issue and outplay his opponent. 17 14 d5 If now 18 exd5 Qc5+ wins a piece. 18 Bb3 dxe4 (Diagram) White now needs some drastic action to justify his previous bold play. In some ways this posi- tion reminds me (were it not for Black's pawn on
c6) of a modern Pelikan Sicilian. 19 Nxe4 fxe4 20 fxe5+ Ke8 21 Bf7+ Qxf7 22 Rxf7 Kfcf7 23 Qb3+ White's combination has netted him queen and two passed pawns against rook and two bishops. This is the crucial moment. Black must now self- pin with the seemingly clumsy 23 ...Re6 when both 24 Rd8 Bxe5 or 24 Rd6 Rb8! leave the situ- ation unclear. As played, Black allows the white queen to penetrate his position, when the game is swiftly up. 23 ...Ke7 24 Qg8 Bf8 25 Qg5+ Kf7 26 ItIl+ Ke8 27 Qg8 Black resigns.
Over the past week Nigel Short, Judith Polgar, Simen Agdestein and the Scottish grandmaster Paul Motwani have been play- ing a speed chess tournament on the Isle of Lewis. There have been open tournaments as well, with over 300 participants. On view at the same time have been the famous mediaeval Isle of Lewis chess pieces, first discovered in a cave in 1831 and subse- quently housed in the British Museum and in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The pieces are made from the ivory of the walrus, or morse (from the Lapp morsa or Finnish mursu). A recent book, The Lewis Chessmen and What Happened to Them (British Museum Press, £6.99), written by Irving Finkel and illus- trated by Clive Hodgson, tells the full tale of the world's oldest complete chess set, the pieces of which give useful archaeologi- cal insights into Scandinavian society of the early 12th century.
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