90 - Chess and alcohol
There are rare cases in which a chess talent was overshadowed by the immoderate use of wine or spirits of various kinds.
Alfred de Musset, noted writer and regular at the Regence, died about forty years because of absinthe (which he had dubbed "the green fairy") to swallow in large doses, however, that his game without it buckled too (it was definitely the strength of a Master at the time).
the mid-nineteenth century there was the pitiful case of Cecil De Vere, strong British player to practice as a journalist at a popular London daily. When the doctors diagnosed tuberculosis (fatal disease is very common in that century) began to drink, until his dismissal from the newspaper to the point that friends and acquaintances agreed to a collection that would allow him to move to a seaside resort. This transfer, however, not availed much, and he died at thirty years, consumed by evil. If
to De Vere is a special case (before the fatal verdict was not a big drinker), anything that was particularly the case with Mason, the player of Irish descent who moved to the States, proved as one of the best players in the second half of the nineteenth century.
During tournament Mason competed there was always the one who, in a low voice, colleagues defined the "Mason's Day ," the day that this very strong player could not resist the lure of the bottle and showed - that day and sometimes even the next - before the full board of whiskey to the eyes. Results and standings, of course, would be affected in a disastrous way.
Steinitz did not drink, but during his match with world title at stake Zukertort largely took advantage of the champagne that the organizers put at his disposal . "It strengthens the nerves " he said. His dementia senile, however, was not the product of alcohol abuse.
Blackburne was famous not only for his tremendous strength to play, even for his incredible ability to withstand the whiskey. At the beginning of a simultaneous at a British university, students find that they had to deal with at the beginning and end of the table, two bottles of good whiskey: played, won every game and drank both bottles until 'last straw. E 'should be noted that Blackburne's father was a preacher of the Temperance League for ...
E 'Alekhine known at the time of his match (1935) against Euwe, where the world title went to Dutch, appeared before the board a few times unsteady on his legs, which, admittedly for the dethroned champion, was also attributable to excess alcohol.
a Soviet grandmaster, Alexandr Tolush, found his own limits in abuse of vodka, and a Grand Master of Sweden, Gosta Stoltz, sixty years before he died with liver destroyed by the abuse of liquor of various kinds.
But this news brings us directly to the topic of post number 91 .....
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