On Thursday night Edinburgh Chess Club was treated to a wonderfully engaging talk by Scottish International Master Craig Pritchett. The lecture was about the life and games of Captain George H. MacKenzie. “Who’s that?” you might ask but, even if the name is not familiar to you, you may well have seen one of his great brilliancies as it has appeared in nearly every collection of combinations over the past century…what’s white’s best move here? [solution at end of blog]
Craig’s talk was an entertaining mix of Captain MacKenzie’s games and his astonishing life story…born in the north of Scotland, emigrates to America for opaque reasons, lands in the middle of the American Civil War, becomes a captain, dishonourable discharge…it’s just a surprise he had any time to play chess!
The talk was based around the recently published book by John S. Hilbert:
While chatting to Craig before the talk I had the chance to browse through this masterpiece. The book is huge – both physically and in its ambition – with nearly 1300 games and copious amounts of biographical detail. This book is a must for anyone with an interest in chess history, or, simply, if you want to be awe-inspired by a work of art which is such a detailed labour of love.
Despite moving to America, Captain MacKenzie did return to Scotland to visit the Edinburgh Chess Club in 1888 where he played a number of consultation games and simultaneous displays…even losing a game to the then vice-president of the club, George P. Galloway!
At his peak, George MacKenzie was one of the greatest players in the world and deserves more recognition as, arguably, Scotland’s greatest ever player. Craig’s talk has certainly helped in that aim.
Thanks for a great talk, Craig!!
[The problem is from the game MacKenzie-Mason 1878 and the solution is the spectacular Qh6+!! with a forced mate thereafter…you can work out the details for yourself as there is more than one way to finish black off after the brilliant queen sac!]