Grünfeld in Cologne

I had not post much in the last days, as I've been in holidays. I enjoyed a nice trip visiting several German cities, Köln - Cologne, among them.

I came accross a beer garden whose name must be familiar to chess fans. Grünfeld is German for "green field" (or even the more appropiate "green square"), but for the chess player it evokes the Grünfeld Defence, a sequence 1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5, a favourite of Kasparov in the beginning of the 1990s.

Indeed Grünfeld or Gruenfeld is quite a normal-sounding German name and I would not have taken the picture if a nice Black Knight had not been there. By the way, you can see me in the reflection

Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz, 1836 Praha - 1900 New York. Prvni Mistr Sveta v Sachu

I took this picture in Prague, the city where the first world champion of chess was born. Prague belonged then to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Steinitz's first language was German.

I have learnt a few interesting things about Steinitz reading the article about him in Wikipedia, and also came accoss a picture which is quite the same picture.

So the only thing left to try to improve this post, after the photograph I took is not original at all is to put a map, to help any chess fan who visits Prague to find the plaque in the Jewish district of Josefov. It is in Široká, on the wall of the Faculty of Philosophy, Univerzita Karlovka V Praze.

Chess set in a museum (Malmö, Sweden)

I took this pictures in August 2006 in the museum of the city of Malmö, Sweden. The museum is in a nice castle called Malmöhus. I had a very enjoyable holiday there but, you know, the chess player is always looking for any excuse to occupy his mind in its favourite hobby.

This chess set must be valuable. As you can see, it is protected under a glass cover. I tried to make sense out of the possition but two facts prevented me from doing so: the pieces are carved on a way that makes them all look as if they were the same piece, and even taking that into account and forcing the imagination, it does not seem the position makes any sense at all.