Talk:Napoleon Marache

Mini-bio extract reproduced on Edward Winter's pages
This may be worth a look, as it gives another image, a precise date of birth of June 15, and maybe a few other details of interest. Regards Brittle heaven (talk) 18:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the tip. I have now used that source in four places, I think. I also realized that Winter in his books has a little more about Marache, and cited them, too. Krakatoa (talk) 20:41, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Assessment to B-class
I have raised the quality assessment of this article to B-class because it meets the six B-class criteria: SyG (talk) 19:11, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) It is suitably referenced: no problem on that side.
 * 2) It reasonably covers the topic: I do not see an "Influence" section; that may be problematic for GA-class but not for B-class. Also nothing is said for the period after 1866, but probably he did not do anything of encyclopedic interest ?!
 * 3) It has a defined structure: sections are clearly defined.
 * 4) It is reasonably well written: no problem on this side.
 * 5) It contains supporting material: diagrams and photo, how could I ask for more ?
 * 6) It is appropriately accessible: the Lead is sufficiently accessible to be read by anyone; the rest of the article is mostly for chess players, but given the subject of the article that is not problematic.
 * Thanks. The article contains almost everything I could find about the guy. I haven't seen anything about what he did after 1866. He is significant in that he was one of the first chess journalists/writers in the U.S., and one of the first prominent players. I don't think he was strong enough, however, to have a significant influence on other players. I would think that the only players among his contemporaries in the U.S. who did have a significant influence are Paul Morphy (of course) and Louis Paulsen. Then there's Steinitz, but he didn't emigrate to the U.S. until late in life. (Weird fact: the first three world champions all died in the United States, even though none was from here; Lasker and Capablanca even died in the same hospital a year apart.) Krakatoa (talk) 21:26, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Problem problem?
At left is a chess problem composed by Marache, which he called, "One of the most difficult two-move compositions extant." Edward Winter calls it, "An interesting problem with a Zugzwang theme." The key move is 1.Bf7! (see diagram at right).


 * So 1. Bf7! f5 How does white mate next move? SunCreator (talk) 14:47, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Same issue with 1...Be4+ SunCreator (talk) 14:50, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Seems like 2. Qh8 mate (and in case of 1...Be4+ simply Qxe4). --DaQuirin (talk) 16:42, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
 * O good grief, Queen on h1, was blind to the queen being there. Thanks DaQuirin. SunCreator (talk) 19:36, 6 November 2009 (UTC)