Annoyed at thread drift

Status
Not open for further replies.
Thats a wrap for me as well,,,Goodnight all!

d6a948ba0307bfd4109c3bd0da68fa3d.jpg
 
The most dangerous game....

Chess. The most dangerous game?

Good question. Cut me some slack if this list ain't perfect....uh, isn't perfect. It's a pretty lengthy mass to edit.

This is a list of top flight chess masters who died young or under unusual circumstances. I threw in a few prizes for longevity, proving that chess will kill you sooner or later.

Note the stress and tension of tournament play over hours and days. It's no wonder that heart attacks are an occupational disease, especially for grandmasters.
Those who died of a heart attack include Adolf Anderssen (age 60), Vladimir Bagirov (64), Joseph Blackburne (82), Efim Bogoljubov (63), Gyula Breyer (28), Jose Capablanca (53), Max Euwe (80), Paul Keres (59), Emanuel Lasker (72), Paul Leonhardt (57), Frank Marshall (67), Miguel Najdorf (87), Cecil Purdy of Australia (73), Sammy Reshevsky (80), Gideon Stahlberg (59), Howard Staunton (64), Leonid Stein ( 38), Herman Steiner (50), and Alexei Suetin (74), Vladimir Simagin (49), Alexey Vyzmanavin (40).
Thirteen of these died while playing or just having finished a game.

Another leading cause of death is cancer. Rosendo Balinas rdo Barbero (age 40), Mikhail Botvinnik (83), Ricardo Calvo (59), Efim Geller (73), Tigran Petrosian (55), Karl Robatsch ( 71), Daniel Yanofsky (74), Claude Bloodgood (64)

Some masters died of accidental death. Grandmaster Georgy Agzamov of Russia died in 1986 at the age of 32 after he fell between some rocks while swimming in the Black Sea while taking a break from a tourney.

Alexander Alekhine died at the age of 53 from a piece of choked meat. (disputed, murder and heart attack are suspected. The former World champion was shunned after WWII and had just been invited to a tournament)

Janos Flesch died in a car wreck at the age of 50. So did Cuban Grandmaster Guillermo Garcia. He was 36.

Julius Perlis, a strong master, died in 1913 at the age of 33 from a fall on a mountain in the Alps.

Frederick Yates died from a gas leak in his house. So did Hungarian International Master Arpad Vajda.

International Master Nicholas Rossolimo fell down a flight of stairs in New York and died at 65.

There were some who committed suicide.
Curt von Bardeleben jumped to his death from his boarding home. Karen Grigorian also jumped to his death at age 42. Lemit Oll also jumped to his death from his 4th story apartment at age 35. Alvis Vitolins also jumped to his death at age 59. (These gave rise to a book by Vladamir Nabokov called "The Defense" that was made into a movie called "The Luhzin Defense" starring John Turruro and Emily Watson.

The most unusual death is a chess player named "Nikolai Titov" whose head exploded during the Moscow Candidate Masters' Chess Championships due to the condition 'Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis'. (This is a myth, his head did NOT literally explode.)

Diabetes killed Mikhail Chigorin 58 and Louis Paulsen 68.

The most famous player, Bobby Fischer 64 died of kidney failure while exiled in Iceland for breaking the Yugoslavia trade embargo for playing his old nemesis, Boris Spassky. Bobby won. The same cause of death of another world champion Mikhael Tal (1936-1992) (Fischer was the only player to visit Tal in the hospital)

Another unusual cause of death were Bright's Disease, Alexander McDonnell 37; Syphillis, Harry Pillsbury 34; Scarlet Fever, Richard Reti 40;
Abram Rabinovich 52 starvation.

During the war, the Germans arrested all the chess players that were meeting at the Warsaw Chess Club , which was banned earlier . The Jews were all taken to a concentration camp and were later killed in a mass execution. This included Polish masters Dawid Przepiorka, Achilles Frydmann, Stanislaw Kohn, and Moishe Lowtzky.

Abe Turner 38 Stabbed nine times in the back by a fellow employee at the Chess Review (the American chess organ, now called Chess Life) office

Alexandre Deschapelles 67 Hydropsy

Aivars Gipslis 53 Stroke while playing Chess in Berlin

Alexander Ilyin-Genevsky 58 1Died in the siege of Leningrad while on a barge (mass evacuation)

Alexander McDonnell 37 Died of Bright's disease

Alexander Zaitsev 36 Died of thrombosis as a consequence of a leg operation

Alexi Troitzky 77 Died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad

Andor A. Lilienthal 99!!! Died after a long illness

Aron Nimzovich 49 Died of pneumonia

Arthur Dake 90 Died in his sleep

Bent Larsen 55 Died from a cerebral hemorrhage

Boris Kostic 76 Blood poisoning from a scratch

Carl Schlechter 44 Died from pneumonia and starvation.

Curt Von Bardelebeen 62 Jumped out of a window

Cecil de Vere 30 Tuberculosis

Claude Bloodgood 75 Lung cancer while in prison for life

Daniel Yanovsky 75 Cancer

David Bronstein 82 Died of a stroke in Minsk,Belarus

David Przepiorka 60 Died in a mass execution outside Warsaw

Dawid Janowsky 59 Tuberculosis

Ed Edmundson 72 Died of a heart attack while playingChess on a beach in Hawaii

Edgar Colle 35 Died after an operation for a gastric ulcer

Edmar Mednis 65 Pneumonia and cardiac arrest

Eduard Gufeld 66 Stroke

Efim Bogoljubov 61 Suffered a heart attack after a simultaneous display

Efim Geller 73 Cancer

Erik Andersen 33 Unknown

Frederick Yates 38 Died in his sleep from a leak in a faulty gas pipe connection

George Koltanowski 97!!! Heart failure

George Mackenzie 54 Suicide: took an overdose of morphine.

Guillermo Garcia 37 Car wreck

Gyula Breyer 28 Died from heart disease

Harry Pillsbury 34 Died of syphilis

Henry Buckle 42 Typhoid fever

Herman Steiner 50 Died after a California StateChampionship game

Ignatz von Kolisch 52 Kidney failure

Janos Flesch 50 Died in a car wreck in England

Johann Allgaie 50 Dropsy

Johann Zukertort 46 Died of a stroke while playing Chess
at a London coffee-house

Johannes Minckwitz 52 Suicide: threw himself under a train

Josef Cukierman 41 Committed suicide during world war II

Julius Perlis 33 Died in a mountain climb in the Alps

Karel Treybal 66 Died a victim of the Nazis

Karen Grigorian 42 Suicide by jumping

Karl Robatsch 72 Stomach and throat cancer

Klaus Junge 21 German army officer killed in action (Member of the Nazi Youth Movement, There are pictures of him in tournaments with his swastika arm band)

Larry Melvyn Evans 68 Died from complications following a gallbladder operation

Leonid Kubbel 53 Died in the siege of Leningrad

Leonid Stein 39 Stroke

Lionel Kieseritzky 47 Died in a mental asylum, so did Akiba Rubinstein.

Louis Bourdonnais 45 Died of diabetes

Louis Paulsen 58 Died of diabetes

Mikhail Botvinnik 84 Died of cancer

Mikhail Chigorin 58 Died of diabetes

Nicholas Rossolimo 65 Fell from flight of stairs and died of head injuries

Nikolai Grigoriev 43 Died from appendicitis

Nikolai Krylenko 53 Executed in Stalin's purges

Paolo Boi 60 Poisoned (murdered) in Naples

Paul Morphy 47 Died of a stroke while taking a cold bath. A true early American chess genius.

Pierre Saint-Amant 72 Died after a fall from his carriage

Ricardo Calvo 59 Esophagus cancer

Richard Reti 40 Died of scarlet fever

Rosendo Balinas 57 Liver cancer

Rudolf Rezso Charousek 27 Died of tuberculosis

Salo Landau 41 Killed by Nazis at a German concentration camp

Samuel Boden 46 Died of typhoid fever

Stefan Zweig 61 Committed suicide

Thomas Barnes 49 Complications with too much weight loss

Tigran Petrosian 55 Died of cancer

Tony Miles 46 Died in his sleep at age 46, he was diabetic and thought to be mentally disturbed

Vera Menchik 38 Died in the V1 (buzz bomb) German bombing of London (One of the first great women players)

Vladimir Petrov 38 Died in a prison camp in Russia

Vsevolod Rauzer 33 Died of tuberculosis

Vugar Gashimov 27 Brain tumor

William Henry Russ 33 Shot himself in the head

Danial Noteboom 22 Pneumonia caught at the infamous cold winter Hastings Tourney that draws many strong masters.

Louis Bordonnaise 45 Poverty and neglect

Ruldolf von Bilguer 35 Tuberculosis

Carl Walbrodt 31 Tuberculosis

Gustav Neumann 48 Mental illness led to a physical decline.

Carlos Torre 76 Mexican Grandmaster who early on experienced mental decline and dropped out of sight until he died

David Janowsky 60 Successful, but gambled himself into poverty and died from Tuberculosis.

Savielly Tartakower 68 Accomplished in many fields, Tartakower was tragically poor his entire life from gambling

Mark Stolberg 19 Disappeared on the Russian Front and no one knows where his grave is.


Notes:
The overabundance of people dying prematurely.
War caused many cases of starvation, but many were also caused by pure deprivation and poverty from not being able to make a living, much less support a family.

TB was an attrocious killer. Players often overtended themselve and failed to take care of themselves and TB was one of the biggest killers in the 1800s. Heavy smoking was rife.

Players have fared better the last half of the 1900s, partly due to Bobby Fischer putting chess on the map and raising tournament prizes. There are still many players and hustlers who are broke, that are still trying to achieve just a 'Master' Rating, much less International Master or International Grand Master.
 
Last edited:
I'm morally opposed......

Curious, have any of you bought any of that Zombie ammo?
I couldn't justify the price but i'm cheap.

I've never bought any but maybe i should have for
collector value, IE Black Talons...I have a full box
of .44 mag Black Talons.


Chuck

I'm morally (and financially) opposed to buying ammo as a 'novelty'.
 
You are dating yourself when...

I might be dating myself a little but this is for any
of you drifters who are about my age (55) and love
the Rock-N-Roll.

Neil Peart drummer for Rush is one of my all time
favorites. Here he is on "Subdivisions".

https://youtu.be/MavlwR1z6hE





Chuck


You are dating yourself when you spell it "rock n' roll"


Wow, Watch him flail on that 'Sea of Drums'.
 
Last edited:
I might be dating myself a little but this is for any
of you drifters who are about my age (55) and love
the Rock-N-Roll.

Neil Peart drummer for Rush is one of my all time
favorites. Here he is on "Subdivisions".

That was excellent! What a drummer! They were one of my favorite bands way back when. I saw them at San Diego Sports Arena in 1983. Well, I was there, anyway. My friends said they rocked. I sure wish I remembered it!
 
Zombies? I prefer the tactical toenail clippers with attached flashlight and bayonet. As we speak, I am fitting a new rail to accomodate a new laser and bipod as well. Of course, it's all black with a paracord lanyard. I don't use guns for zombies. It ain't sporting.

Bigride,
Whats your weapon of choice? After toe nail clipers?
crossbow, sword, flame thrower, frisbee ????



Chuck
 
I was watching that Pawn show out of Detroit. Cannot remember
the name of it right off hand. But these 2 guys walked in that
looked straight out of the movie Deliverence and had something
the shop owner wanted to buy. When he asked the two what
they were trying to get for said item they told him they wanted
some Zombie fighting weapons. These guys were serious as all
get out. The shop owner ended up working out a trade with them.
I remember them getting 2 used chainsaws, a sledge hammer,
and a set of golf clubs and i believe a circular saw or two.

Those two guys were happy as a Pig rolling in ****.

The shop owner (Les) was just shaking his head when they
left.


Chuck
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top