It’s difficult for members of the Lib Chess Circle to pass the time these days. Stuck at home, the fingers itch for the feel of the weighted pieces in one hand, a glass of club red in the another, and a reassuring yellow and blue half-windsor at one’s throat.
But we must amuse ourselves in other ways. Some will use the time to perform a detailed study of Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual. Others will conduct forensic analysis of games of their Hamilton-Russell opponents, searching for weaknesses to be exploited in the coming season. Still others will embark on deep exploration of sub-variations of the 5.Ng5 Caro-Kann (well, actually only Doctor Kirby, but still).
So here’s a chess-related parlour game that is sure to get you through at least 30 minutes of the lock-down. One for the statoes of the Circle perhaps, but diverting for the rest of us all the same.
It’s time to play: What is your Trenchard number?
‘What is a Trenchard number?’ I hear you say. Well, a Trenchard number is like a Morphy number. But it is far superior, being Liberal.
A Morphy number is a figure that specifies the number of games that link a player to Paul Morphy, who some hold to be the finest of all chess players. Morphy is ‘0’ and you count from there.
Our Lightning Champion, for instance, has a Morphy number of six:
| 0 | Morphy | ||
| 1 | played Bird | London, 1858 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1027920 |
| 2 | who played Lasker | Liverpool, 1890 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028136 |
| 3 | who played Botvinnik | Moscow, 1935 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031869 |
| 4 | who played Spassky | Moscow, 1955 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032379 |
| 5 | who played Lee | Hastings, 1966 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128681 |
| 6 | who played Kirby | London, 2019 | https://nlcchess.net/2019/12/07/blunders-galore-at-the-end-of-pall-mall/ |
But, it so turns out, he can be bettered by our learned friend Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon), who boasts a Morphy Number of 5, thus:
| 0 | Morphy | ||
| 1 | played Mortimer | Paris, early 1860s | Multiple friendly games: http://chicagochess.blogspot.com/2010/09/fun-with-morphy-numbers_21.html |
| 2 | who played Tartakower | Ostend, 1907 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1455250 |
| 3 | who played Busguier | Southsea, 1950 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1156227 |
| 4 | who played Nunn | Hastings, 1975 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1028600 |
| 5 | who played Giffin QC MA (Oxon) | Simul | Perhaps giving the game away on Mister Giffin QC MA (Oxon)’s last post comment |
Impressive. Others with a Morphy Number of 5 include Messers Carlsen and Kramnik.
But perhaps not too impressive. After all, the NLC team has two with Morphy Numbers of 5, as Captain Chamberlain could also make the claim with the following sequence: Morphy (0) – Mortimer (1) – Bernstein (2) – Pomar Snr (3) – Pomar Jnr (4) – Captain Chamberlain (5), assuming, fairly safely, that Pomar Snr and Jnr once played a game.
Forget Morphy. Give me a Lib.
You get the idea behind this Morphy Number business. But the question must be asked, ‘Why Morphy?’ Some say he was the finest chess player ever, having played outstanding chess in a time when he could not have relied upon opening books and archives of grandmaster games: a true chess savant.
But he never was able to achieve that very highest pinnacle of chess achievement: playing for the NLC. That honour was to slip his grasp, and there is some speculation that the realisation he’d never win the Kennedy Cup is what sent him to his despair and an untimely death.
We shall never know. But where Morphy failed, Herbert William Trenchard prevailed. As the greatest ever NLC player, it stands to reason that the warmth of the rays from this Liberal chess sun outshines all others. It is Trenchard that Lib Chess players hanker to reach back to; it is a Lib chess player’s Trenchard Number that matters most.
Here’s Mister Widdicombe’s Trenchard Number of 6. Disappointingly long, but there is some comfort to be taken in finding a route through both the outstanding Liberal Board 1s of yesteryear:
| 0 | Trenchard | ||
| 1 | played Schlecter | Vienna, 1898 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1120995 |
| 2 | who played Mieses | Berlin, 1918 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1096565 |
| 3 | Who played Aitken | Hastings, 1946 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1155594 |
| 4 | Who played Keene | Oxford, 1976 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1369712 |
| 5 | Who played Hodgson | Manchester, 1981 | https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1554977 |
| 6 | who played Widdicombe | Simul, 2016 |
Who can do better? (Indeed, who is yet bored enough to try?). Answers in the comments.
Good luck.