Robbers and Thiefs
In 1622, Gioacchino Greco (1600-1634), an Italian chess player and writer, was robbed of all his money. While n Paris, Greco won 5,000 crowns (some sources say it was 5,000 scudi, the monetary coin of Italy and Sicily; another source says it was 50,000 ducats) at the Court of Charles IV (1604-1675), the Duke of Lorraine. He had won his money playing chess and selling chess manuscripts. While traveling from Paris to London in 1622 (or already in England), he was robbed of his 5,000 crowns and nearly murdered. Crowns were the most commonly used coins, made either of silver or gold. A crown was 60 pennies or pence. 240 pennies made a pound. Greco was robbed of 21 pounds, or about $2,000 in today’s money. [source British Chess Magazine, March 1895, p. 109]
On July 1, 1896, U.S.
chess champion Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906) resigned from the Manhattan
Chess Club because someone stole his umbrella and the Club refused to discipline the member who had taken his umbrella. [source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 3, 1896] Pillsbury then moved to Philadelphia. Pillsbury did not return to the Manhattan CC until the summer of 1904 when he played for the Franklin CC team of Philadelphia against the Manhattan CC team at the Manhattan Chess Club. Pillsbury defeated Frank Marshall on Board 1.
On August 16, 1897, William C. Wilson (1842-1897), a prominent member of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia, was robbed in his bookstore and killed. He had been beaten with a hammer and strangled with a towel. [source: "Local Chess Player Robbed and Murdered," tartajubow.blogspot.com, Feb 7, 2018]
In the 1940s, a
tournament director of the U.S. Championship had his car stolen during a chess
tournament in New York. The car was recovered a day later.
In 1970, a chess
book was stolen from the Copper Lift Library in Sudbury, Ontario. It was
returned 49 years later. The chess book was Great Moments in Chess by
Fred Reinfeld (1910-1964).
In 1971, a hand-carved chess set with large gold-plated chess pieces was stolen from F. Christiansen in Salt Lake City. The set was valued at $650. [source: The Salt Lake Tribune, Nov 8, 1971]
In 1974, an onyx chess set was stolen from the home of Madelein Latimer in Salt Lake City. The imported chess set was valued at $110. [source: The Salt Lake Tribune, April 9, 1974, p. 22]
In January 1975,
the Cleveland Public Library had 5 antique chess sets stolen from their White
Collection. It included two 18th century Chinese chess sets, an 18th century
Japanese chess set, a 20th century Japanese chess set, and a contemporary
American Pyrex chess set.
In 1975, on his
first trip to Germany, Walter Browne (1949-2015) had a large amount of money stolen from
his hotel room in Mannheim. The robber was later caught, and Browne's money was
returned to him. Browne later won the German International tournament at
Mannheim.
On September 30, 1976, a gold and silver chess set valued at $25,000 was stolen from the home of Nelson Garner in Statesville, NC while a dancing class was being conducted. The chess set was recovered in November 1976, and an arrest was made. [sources: Statesville Record and Landmark, Oct 1, 1976, p. 16 and Nov 13, 1976, p. 14]
In 1978, a
Waterloo chess set depicting Napoleon and Wellington troops was stolen from a
British museum.
In 1978,
grandmaster William Lombardy (1937-2017) was attacked and robbed in New York City by a
mugger who had a knife. Tendons in two fingers were severed and he
underwent a long operation to repair the severed tendons.
In 1985, the Staunton chess set used in the Karpov-Kasparov world championship chess match was sent to a museum in Moscow. It was quickly stolen.
In 1990,
grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov (1959- ) and his wife had their luggage stolen from the
trunk of a car while he was having dinner at a restaurant in New York
City. The next day, he was attacked by a gang and robbed of his money,
airline tickets, and 10 years of chess analysis. [source: “GM Gregory Kaidanov,” Chess
Life Online, 2015]
In 1990, Bogdan
Szetela had his car stolen. 11 days later he thought he had seen his car, but
this car had a taxi light on top and "Crescent Cab Co." painted on
the side. Spotting a police officer, he told the cop that the cab was his
stolen car. Police weren't convinced until he told them that he left a chess
set in the trunk before it was stolen. The police popped the trunk and found
the chess set. [source: Deseret News, Oct
14, 1990]
In 1992,
Grandmaster Artur Yusupov (1960- ) returned to his Moscow apartment from a chess tournament to
discover several burglars robbing his apartment. A struggle broke out and
Yusupov was shot in the stomach. He was rushed to the hospital
and was in critical condition, but survived.
In 1994, the
captain of the Macedonian chess team was robbed of $7,000 inside a bank in
Moscow during the 1994 Moscow Chess Olympiad. He was later robbed again
and beaten into unconsciousness. An American chess player was mugged
during the event and the robbers threatened his life if he did not come back
the next day with more money. Grandmasters
Alexander Shabalov and Alex Yermolinsky were robbed when they left their hotel
and went for a walk. [source: “31st Chess Olympiad: Moscow 1994,” olimpbase.org]
In 1998, GM
Larry Christiansen's (1956- ) luggage was stolen at a railway station in Albany, New
York, on his way to the Toronto Internationals Open. He decided not to play in
the event.
In September
2000, 14 large chess pieces were stolen from the rear courtyard of the Castle
at Tarrytown, a 31-room luxury hotel and restaurant in Tarrytown, New York. [source: New York Times, Oct 8, 2000]
In February
2001, four giant chess pieces were stolen from the North Carolina Botanical
Garden's outdoor chess board in Chapel Hill. Two kings and two queens, standing
3 1/2 feet tall, were stolen. The chess set was custom-made and one of a kind.
Each piece had an etching of an endangered plant. The missing chess pieces were
valued at $1,250 each. [source: “Giant Chess Pieces Become Pawns to Thieves,” wral.com,
February 20, 2001]
In 2001, Emma
Watson (1990- ), who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, stole a
chess piece of the chess set that was used on the first film. [source: Johnson, Inside the
Mind of Emma Watson, 2014]
In January 2003, grandmaster Svetozar Gligoric (1923-2012) was attacked in his sleep and
beaten up by masked burglars in his Belgrade home. The armed robbers
broke into his home at 3 am, beat and tied him up, the stole his money and
jewelry of his late wife. They also took his chess trophies. Gligoric suffered a black eye.
In 2003, Sandy
Jones, a Washington DC school administrator, stole $30,000 from a special needs
school chess club that was to be used for local and national chess tournaments.
She stole the money from the chess club's bank account between May 2003 and
November 2003. The 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students were all diagnosed with
bipolar disorder or attention-deficit order. Chess was part of their therapy.
The "special needs" team placed 33rd out of 64 of the nation's top
scholastic chess teams. [source: Washington Examiner, November 29, 2007]
In 2003,
American soldiers stole an antique chess set owned by Saddam Hussein
(1937-2006). The chess set was on display at the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad, which
had been looted of over 13,000 artifacts during the American invasion of
Baghdad. The objects were stolen by U.S. government employees and contractors
who took them as souvenirs or war trophies. In 2017, the chess set was returned
to the Government of Iraq. It had been recovered by the FBI. [source: Newsweek, Sep 4,
2017]
In July 2005,
Canadian grandmaster Pascal Charbonneau (1983- ) and his chess-playing friends
were robbed and mugged at gunpoint at the World Open in Philadelphia.
In 2006, former world chess champion Anatoly
Karpov (1951- ) was working on a manuscript for a new chess book (stamps, coins, and chess) when it was
stolen in Brussels in broad daylight. One thief distracted him while the other attacked
from behind and stole his briefcase with the 300-page manuscript. [source: "Karpov and the stolen manuscript," Chess in Translation, July 7, 2010]
In 2007, grandmaster Farhad Tahirov was kicked and punched by a gang of eight thugs during the 82nd Hastings International Chess Congress. He was robbed of a thousand British pounds in cash, plus a mobile phone and camera, as well as ending up in hospital for treatment to his injuries. [source: “Teen Chess Player Mugged in Hastings,” chessdailynews.com, January 12, 2007]
On February 18,
2007, Teimour Radjabov had all of his possessions stolen from a hotel room while
playing in the Morelia-Linares chess tournament in Mexico. The burglary
occurred in Patzcuaro, Mexico only a few days before the start of the
tournament. Radjabov and his father left for a quick dinner and returned to their
room within 30 minutes. All of their valuable items were stolen.
They reported the crime, but got neither help from the local authorities, nor
even a police investigation. [source: “Linares Impressions,” uschess.org, February 17, 2007]
In 2007, the
Rochester Chess Center was the official vendor at the World Open in
Philadelphia. They had 21 expensive chess clocks stolen during the
event. It was later discovered that some of the chess clocks were being
used to pay off gambling debts from backgammon and poker at the
tournament. [source: “Major Theft Occurred at
the World Open,” chessdailynews.com,
July 10, 2007
In December
2007, the tournament director’s laptop was stolen at the 34th Eastern Open in Washington, D.C. It had occurred
shortly after round 3, when the 6-month-old laptop was stolen from the
director’s room. Generous chess players at the event contributed $600,
which was matched by a generous donor to pay for a new laptop.
In 2008, Ukrainian
chess player Leonid Timoshenko had a precious diamond he was carrying
stolen. The diamond was part of a trophy won by the Ukrainian National
Chess Team in the 2008 Chess Olympiad. The diamond and trophy was in his
checked bag on the airplane, but when he landed, his bag was open, the trophy
was broken and the diamond was stolen. He was forced to check the cup
into baggage at Frankfurt on his flight to Kiev. On the previous flight
from Dresden, he was allowed to take the trophy onboard as a carry-on
piece. [source: “The Gaprindashvili Cup
Has Been Stolen,” chessdom.com, November 29, 2008]
In October 2008,
an antique chess set from the 17th century was stolen after thieves broke into a Brisbane
home. The 32-piece chess set was a hand carved ivory chess set made up of
eight individual sections of ivory. [source: “Antique
Chess Set Stolen,” goddesschess blog, Oct 25, 2008]
In 2009, thieves
stole bags from chess players during the World Open in Philadelphia. The
players would set their bags down in an area with computers attached to the
Internet for hotel guests to use. Thieves would then make off with the
bags.
On March 17, 2010, Anthony Beaver, age 19, was shot and killed while being robbed in Atlanta. He had been chess champion of his high school and won the 2009 Clayton County Chess Championship.
In April 2010,
five chess pieces were stolen from the Christchurch Cathedral Square in New
Zealand. The large public chess set was a popular attraction in Cathedral
Square. The pieces were stolen over the Easter weekend. They were
later returned. [source: “Chess Pieces Stolen from Cathedral Square, “ scoop.co,nz,
April 7, 2010]
In 2011, IM
Vasik Rajlich was accused of stealing computer code that he used for developing
the Rybka chess engine. His program was stripped of the last four World
Computer Chess Championships that the program won.[source: “VasikRajlich,” chessprogramming.org]
On October 4,
2011, grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk (1969- ) and his wife were robbed at gunpoint in Sao
Paulo, Brazil as they were sitting in the taxi form their hotel to the
airport. Two men with guns took two suitcases and a handbag and
ran. They missed his laptop computer by his feet and his passport in the
inside pocket of his jacket, but got his wife’s passport which was in the
handbag. Ivanchuk said that the most valuable item stolen was his chess
set, which he had for many years.[source: “Sao Paulo Masters –
Highway Robbery in Sao Paulo,” ChessBase News, October 4, 2011]
In 2013, a giant chess ceramic set (all 32 pieces), worth 700 British pounds, was stolen from the garden in Elm Crescent, Ealing Common, England. [source: "Giant chess set stolen in Ealing raid," My London News, Aug 20, 2013]
In 2015, someone
stole one of the large queens from South Bend, Indiana's large chess board on
display in the downtown district. It was later returned just in time for
Christmas, wrapped up in a big red bow. [source: “Stolen Chess Piece Returned to DTSB by Secret Santa,” abc57.com
news, Dec 16, 2015]
In July 2018, thieves stole two chessboards and the money from the Make a Chess Move fundraiser in Denver. Make a Chess Move is a small non-profit based in Northeast Denver that teaches teenagers how to make decisions in life and measure consequences through the game of chess. [source: "Northeast Denver chess club won't let one bad move block winning strategy," Denver Post, Aug 3, 2018]
In December
2018, a handmade glass tile chess set and other items was stolen from a family
garage in Portland, Oregon. Later, a woman bought the chess pieces from a
homeless man for $60. [source: “Family Devastated After
Thieves Steal Heirloom Art,” koin.com, Dec 10, 2018]
In June 2019, thieves robbed the apartment of Ukrainian grandmaster Stanislav Bogdanovich, stealing $25,000 from his chess winnings. [source: "Made 25 thousand dollars: in Odessa robbed of the famous chess player," 24-my.info, June 7, 2019]
In December 2019, a family from Wyoming visiting friends in Albuquerque had their car broken in and a valuable handmade chess set was stolen. Rose Pecos-Sunrhodes says she spent countless hours making the chess set, valued at $4,500. The chess set would have been displayed at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. [source: "Family searches for handmade chess set stolen in Albuquerque," krqe.com, Dec 30, 2019]
On September 13, 2020, a large black chess king was stolen from a giant chess set on the Corbin Tourism lot in Corbin, Kentucky (see image). [source: "Black king stolen from Corbin's giant Chess set," New Journal (Corbin), Sep 14, 2020]
Comments
Post a Comment