Samuel Boden

Samuel Standidge Boden

Samuel Standidge Boden (born April 4, 1826 in Hull , † January 13, 1882 in London ) was an English chess master .

successes

Samuel Boden was one of the best chess players in England in the 1850s and 1860s, in the times of Adolf Anderssen and Howard Staunton . When the first chess tournament with international participation was held in London in 1851 , Boden played in the so-called London Provincial Tournament , a side tournament reserved for players from Great Britain and Ireland. Both tournaments were carried out in the knockout system , Boden won the final over three games against Reverend Charles Edward Ranken. In 1857 Boden took second place behind the Hungarian Johann Jacob Löwenthal in Manchester . A year later he won a competition against his compatriot John Owen with 8: 3 (+7 = 2 −2).

The American Paul Morphy , who dominated the chess scene during his stay in Europe from 1858 to 1859, met Boden twice: in 1858 in London he lost Boden in a competition over 10 games with 2.5: 7.5, with one win and three Tie . The following year he was next to TW Barnes, Löwenthal, de Rivière and Bird to a selection of five masters against whom Morphy competed in a simultaneous competition, the game between the two ended in a draw.

According to calculations of his historical Elo number , Boden reached his highest rating of 2492 in October 1860, in July of the same year he was ranked 12th in the world.

various

Samuel Boden composed some chess problems . The floor mate is named after him, a matte motif that appeared in his game against R. Schulder in 1853. Together with Lionel Kieseritzky he is also the namesake of the Boden Kieseritzky Gambit , a gambit in a variant of the Russian game (1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Ng8 – f6 3. Bf1 – c4 Nf6xe4 4. Nb1– c3 ).

In 1851 Boden published the book A Popular Introduction to the Study and Practice of Chess (Charles S. Skeet, London 1851). From 1858 to 1872 he ran the chess column in The Field newspaper . In addition to the game of chess, Boden's interests lay in art; he was an art critic and painted pictures himself. More than 100 years after his death, Bodens watercolors were offered for sale at auctions.

George Alcock MacDonnell - Samuel Boden

GA MacDonnell - Samuel Boden
London 1869

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position after 20th Ba3 – c5

Samuel Boden achieved a nice combination in 1869 in his game against the Irish Reverend George Alcock MacDonnell (1830–1899). After an unfavorable opening phase for MacDonnell (White), a kind of Evans gambit without the moves Ng1 – f3 and Nb8 – c6 (1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Bf1 – c4 Bf8 – c5 3. b2 – b4 ?! ), the diagram position shown has been reached. Boden fully developed his figures and assumed a dominant central position. MacDonnell's figures are poorly coordinated, his king stands uncertain and jams the king's tower. Boden takes advantage of the last, erroneous move 20. Ba3 – c5 with a powerful queen sacrifice , which leads to the decisive opening of the line :

20.… Qd5xf3!

If White does not want to lose a piece in a hopeless position, he must accept the sacrifice and decisively weaken his king position.

21. g2xf3 Bf5-h3 +

22. Kf1 – g1 Re8 – e6

The decisive move, there is an immediate threat of rook swing after g6 with mate .

23. Qa4-c2

The only move MacDonnell has to cover the g6-square to return the queen if necessary. Boden would now have with the elegant move 23.… Nc6 – e5! can end the game immediately: Ne5xf3 threatens to checkmate, taking the knight with d4xe5 fails because of Rd8xd1 +, which distracts the queen from g6 and after Qc2xd1 Re6 – g6 # leads to mate, 24 Qc2 – e4 follows Re6 – g6 + 25. De4xg6 Se5xf3 matt. Boden decides to make another sacrifice based on the same motives:

23.… Rd8xd4

The queen threatens to be distracted after Rd4xd1 +

24. Bc5xd4 Nc6xd4

The knight mate threatens again on f3, Rd1xd4 is followed by the basic row mate Re6 – e1 #, the protection of the pawn f3 with Qc2 – d3 can follow Nd4 – e2 + and Re6 – g6 # or vice versa. MacDonnell gave up the game.

Works

• A Popular Introduction to the Study and Practice of Chess , London 1851

literature

• David Hooper, Kenneth Whyld : The Oxford Companion to Chess . Oxford University Press, 1992 ISBN 0-19-866164-9
• Howard Staunton: The Chess Tournament . Henry G. Bohn, London 1852

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Samuel Boden on chessgames.com (English)
• Compositions by Samuel Boden on the PDB server

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Staunton (1852), p.213ff. .
2. ↑ Boden's historical rating
3. ↑ Edward Winters Chess Notes 5007 , with illustration of a watercolor
4. ↑ Boden's pictures at auctions