Main
Date: 07 Oct 2008 17:03:07
From: Offramp
Subject: Dracula and chess
> He definitely existed. Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. The name
> Dracula refers to the dragon on his coat of arms. When on the wrong
> side of Dracula, you soon got the point.

A good point.
Dracula means little dragon, I thought.
Perhaps a Dracula variation could be invented in the Sicilian
somewhere. It might be a good alterbative name for the Accelerated
Dragon, which is a bit of a MOUTHFUL.
Dracula was also a Szekely. See quote below.
Peter Szekely was a GM who died very young. He was a bit of a
sandbagger; a drawnik. In fact a record-breaking drawnik.
He died very young. I have no idea how he died.

The Frankenstein-Dracula Variation was the title of a book by Mr Eric
Schiller, a book that was not received with the unanimous adulation
that the author expected. I bought it this year for a fiver!

=93We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flow the blood
of many brave races who fought as the lion fought=85 Is it a wonder that
we were a conquering face, that we were proud?=94




 
Date: 08 Oct 2008 08:42:52
From: Mike Murray
Subject: Re: Dracula and chess
On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 17:03:07 -0700 (PDT), Offramp
<[email protected] > wrote:

>> He definitely existed. Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. The name
>> Dracula refers to the dragon on his coat of arms. When on the wrong
>> side of Dracula, you soon got the point.

>A good point.
>Dracula means little dragon, I thought.
>Perhaps a Dracula variation could be invented in the Sicilian
>somewhere. It might be a good alterbative name for the Accelerated
>Dragon, which is a bit of a MOUTHFUL.

In trying to find a variation appropriate to name after old Vlad,
either a line evocative of his name/coat of arms or of his modus
operandi might be appropriate. For the former, as you have suggested,
some sideline of the Dragon Sicilian is almost a no-brainer.

For the latter, I suggest using the term "Dracula" as a general term
for the impalement of the opponent's center by a pawn, for example:

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6, 3 Bc4 Bc4 4 c3 Bb6 5 d4 Qe7, 6 d5 Nb8 (or 6 ...
Nd8), 7 d6 in the Giuoco Piano,

or

1 e4 Nc6, 2 d4 e5, 3 d5 Nce7, 4 d6 in Nimzovich's Defense.

In both examples, White "draculaed" his opponent. There are, of
course, many other examples of this technique in opening theory.



 
Date: 08 Oct 2008 08:05:39
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: Dracula and chess
On Oct 7, 7:25 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> (or did he simply say "worst
> book"?)

He did indeed.

From a quotation in that review, I learn that this variation is:

1 e4 e5
2 Nc3 Nf6
3 Bc4 Nxe4

or

1 P-K4 P-K4
2 N-QB3 N-KB3
3 B-B4 NxP

John Savard


 
Date: 07 Oct 2008 18:25:09
From:
Subject: Re: Dracula and chess
On Oct 7, 8:03=A0pm, Offramp <[email protected] > wrote:
> > He definitely existed. =A0Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. =A0The name
> > Dracula refers to the dragon on his coat of arms. =A0When on the wrong
> > side of Dracula, you soon got the point.
>
> A good point.
> Dracula means little dragon, I thought.
> Perhaps a Dracula variation could be invented in the Sicilian
> somewhere. It might be a good alterbative name for the Accelerated
> Dragon, which is a bit of a MOUTHFUL.
> Dracula was also a Szekely. See quote below.
> Peter Szekely was a GM who died very young. He was a bit of a
> sandbagger; a drawnik. In fact a record-breaking drawnik.
> He died very young. I have no idea how he died.
>
> The Frankenstein-Dracula Variation was the title of a book by Mr Eric
> Schiller, a book that was not received with the unanimous adulation
> that the author expected. I bought it this year for a fiver!

That book was reviewed by FM Carsten Hansen a few years ago. As one
can read here:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen15.txt

he thought it the worst chess book (or did he simply say "worst
book"?) he ever read!