Prince Dadian Games

• batgirl
 
• | Feb 6, 2012 at 5:03 PM

I recently came across some games of Prince Andrei Dadian of Mingrelia that I hadn't seen in any database.  I had published some of them elsewhere, but wanted to put them all into this series.

Because of their innate beauty and creativity, many games by Prince Dadian of Mingrelia are well known.  The following game is bold and clever, but relatively unknown.  I found the game in a an article published in the Krymska Svitlytsya.  Dadian is playing against a Russian master of that time, S. Kostrovitsky of St. Petersburg.

The following 2 games I found in Steinitz' International Chess Magazine, Feb. and April, 1891.  Since he only mentioned that the games were recently played and had been sent to him via Numa Preti of La Strategie, I assigned them the arbitrary, but reasonable year of 1890.

The first game is a Muzio played against an amateur in St. Petersburg, Count P. Kreutz.
 [Actually, I found later that this game has already been noted (at chessgames.com) but the opponent's name is erroneously given as Kreutzahler.  The Nuova Rivista degli Scacchi of Feb. 1900  listed the opponent's name as Gen. P. Krentz with the game being played in Odessa 1883.  However, WilhelmThe2nd, who is the closest thing I know to being an expert on Prince Dadian notes :   "Chess is at present in high favour among the aristocratic circles of Russian society in St. Petersburg, and this through the influence of the well-known amateur, Prince Dadian of Mingrelia. Every Tuesday meetings are held at the home of General Count P. Kreutz; on Tuesdays (sic; Thursdays?) at that of Colonel Boutourline, and on Saturdays the elegant salons of Count H. Kreutz, on the banks of the Neva, are at the disposal of the players. Prince Dadian, at the moment, holds the first place in point of strength at these gatherings." ('The Week', July 3rd, 1884, pg. 494)]

The next  game has Dadian playing A. de Smitten, an opponent against whom we already have2 preserved games at chessgames.com, one of which is very similar to this one.
[edit: In the process of researching for this article, I found the first game posted by the aforementioned WilhelmThe2nd but not in any database. He adds:  M.A. de Smitten was one of the strongest amateur players living in Tiflis when Prince Dadian was stationed there while serving in the Tsar's army. According to 'The Chess Monthly' (vol. 13, #154-155, June-July, 1892): "In 1888, at Tiflis, he beat M.A. de Smitten in a set match of seven games up, by 7 to 2 and 3 draws, as well as a large majority of off-hand games." ]

Another game against de Smitten from a different source and an earlier time, Nuova Rivista degli Scacchi , August, 1880:

This de Smitten game came from the BCM in 1890.

The final game here with de Smitten I found reprinted from the NY Tribune in the N. Otago TimesSept. 20, 1892.