Correspondence Fragments

From the correspondence of chuckmoulton:

"In the early days of bughouse -- pre- Internet bughouse -- in every major city there were a few players who were unbeatable and thought they were the best in the world. WhoAmI in the LA area thought he was the best in the world. Bob Dodge and Wes Ward in the Philadelphia area played since the late 80's and thought they were the best in the world.  etc.

A few people who believed they were the best in the world wrote books on bughouse, which turned out to be awful books because they were actually not very good.  I think there have been around 6 bughouse books written.  I have at least 4 of them... maybe 5."
 

Parsing my last year’s collection of links, I came across an interesting fact - «In 1929, then-world champion José Raúl Capablanca gave a demonstration of ‘Double Chess’ – this chess variant is now often referred to as ‘bughouse’.»

Maybe this is the answer?

I also recalled how I accidentally stumbled upon a discussion of one of Alekhine’s games. I can not find the link. In the discussion, participants discuss that Alekhine’s game is similar to Bug. He plays in opening as if waiting for a piece.This is a game of the 30s after a trip to Japan. They also discuss whether it is possible to find Japanese newspapers of this period. 

We know that Alekhine loved chess variants, Alekhine played Marseillais chess. 

The Archive of David Pritchard is in the Musée Suisse du Jeu and maybe you can find something in it. 





From the correspondence of Chucklemagne:

"I wouldn't say they are counter-culture, I would call both bughouse and crazyhouse a heavily-overlapping subculture... Never liked the idea of imitating another player's style. I always figured it would lead to unremarkable play. If you pave your own way, you learn more about the game than mimicking someone else. It's like researching someone else's research. It is a limiting factor in thought.... Not much money means no professional players or scholarly study, yet. In time, I believe it will become more of a scholarly game if interest in it increases to the point of reaching critical mass for sponsorship and serious play."







In the history of Bug, there is a significant question of how game spread. In the 50-60th years he was known in Argentina and Canada, Europe and Australia.Tournaments in the Netherlands have been held since at least 1974.

All this looks like puzzles of an unknown story. In the discussion Reddit they informed me that the game was played in the USSR. But finding even photos seems impossible.

"Bughouse chess in Cuba - 024v01" (Watch on YouTube)

From the correspondence of Chucklemagne:

"Going to be hard to be comprehensive on that kind of request...

Sac-sitter: player whose only skill is in sacrificing pieces and depending upon their partner for material to sustain an attack. 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Bxf7, then white stops moving and asks for a couple of knights, a bishop, and preferably a queen.

The HATE: frustration that builds between partners due to unexpected incompetence by at least one member.

Mutual Mate: two players playing the same color are simultaneously mated.

Winquit: Insisting on stopping a series following a win, usually following string of losses.

HATEquit: a partnership that terminates due to the HATE.

Heavy: Queen or Rook.

Diag/diagonal: bishop or pawn

Dupe: Second account

Simul: one player plays both boards at once.

Blinders: only looking at your own board, instead of both boards. A form of tunnel vision.

Finger Focking: dominating an opponent (named after the command "Finger Fock", which means retrieving information for bughouse player "Fock")

Stonewall: Dropping pieces near the king to avoid being mated.

Feed: Capturing pieces to improve partner's position.

Pardopp: Partner's opponent

Sit: Stop moving

Go: Start moving

I tell you go: Stop moving until I tell you to move.

Hard: response to a piece request indicating that compliance is difficult or impossible ("rook mates me." "Hard" means that an opponent can either immediately or soon capture a rook. "rook mates him." "Hard" means that there is no rook that is available for capture).

Easy: a weak opponent

Contact check: a non-knight check that cannot be blocked because the attacking piece is adjacent to the king.

Kingwalk: making many king moves in a few moves.

Touchdown: king reaching eighth rank, often done either following a kingwalk or as a method for humiliation

Safe: unable to be mated.

Outcheck: getting the king to a position where an opponent may not check again. Often followed by a counterattack.

Gathering: a meeting of bughouse players.

Up time: you have more time left than your partner's opponent.

Grand Prix: Bughouse tournament format based on individual performance, not partnership performance.

High/low: stronger partner plays weaker partner (in a case where there are two teams with 2500/1800 ratings, the 2500 players play the 1800 players)

High/high: stronger partner plays stronger partner."

 

Asking these questions in correspondence, I certainly knew that Anders Ebenfelt created his glossary in the 1990s.

"Bughouse is the evolutionary product of chess analogous to that the alphabet is developed from simple drawing. / Ebenfelt - note"





It is interesting that in different countries the name seems to indicate the country of origin. As if Bug brought to Portugal from Australia, and to Russia from Sweden.

And one day I will have to leave only a list of links to an attempt at this story.