"ian burton" writes:

The website www.logicalchess.com offers quite a bit of nonsense. On one
page alone, I found:


A committee formed to support British champion William Winter's drinking
habit during the London international tournament in 1927. They raised over
$300 so he could drink and win the event. In the first three rounds he beat
Reti, Nimzovich, and Colle while intoxicated. However, he spent all the
funds on booze in the first 3 days. The Winter committee couldn't raise
anymore money. Winter arrived sober for each game after the 3rd round and
lost every game.

I've heard this story before, though never seen it in print.
The better a story is, the less likely it is to be true,
I'm afraid.

The same person told me a story about Mason, who was found
one morning lying in a field halfway between the local
bar and his hotel. Still drunk, he is supposed to have
played and beat Janowski. Janowski used to complain of
Mason's smell, and perhaps that was the day he first had
that problem. This may also be a total fabrication, of
course.


The problem with this entry is that at the London International Tournament
of 1927 William Winter lost to Reti and drew with Colle. He did indeed beat
Nimzovich.

For what it is worth, that is an above average performance
for Winter. But I seem to recall that he didn't actually
score zero in the rest of the tournament.

A somewhat more plausible story concerned Winter organizing
a simul for Blackburne. Apparently the hall wasn't rented
for quite long enough for a normal simul. Winter arranged
to have a bottle of Scotch and a small glass placed at one
end of the row of tables about the time the middlegames
began. The simul finished on time, with Blackburne allegedly
winning every game.


William Hyde
EOS Department
Duke University