Ghulam Kassim (birth date unknown, died Madras 1844) was an Indian chess player and author of the early 19th century, best known today for a variation of the
King's Gambit that bears his name. In colonial India, several
native forms of chess were popular; Ghulam Kassim was one of the first Indian players to achieve a degree of proficiency at the western form of the game. Almost nothing is known about his life;
Howard Staunton noted in the
Illustrated London News of 26 April 1845 that he had died "within the last few months".
Madras vs Hyderabad correspondence chess match
Ghulam Kassim was a leading member of the
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
Chess Club. In 1828 and 1829, Madras played two
correspondence games against the
Hyderabad Chess Club. These are the earliest recorded games from India played according to western rules, and are among the earliest recorded correspondence games. The Hyderabad team was led by a strong player named Shah Sahib who unfortunately died soon after the match began; his replacement Row Sahib was considered much inferior.
[Howard Staunto]
''The Chess Player's Chronicle''
1841, p73 Under the leadership of Ghulam Kassim, Madras won both games.
Book, and the Ghulam Kassim Gambit
Another member of the Madras team was James Cochrane, a British civil servant (not to be confused with the strong Scottish player
John Cochrane, who was also in India at the time). With assistance from Cochrane, Ghulam Kassim published in 1829 a short book entitled ''Analysis of the Muzio Gambit, and match of two games at Chess, Played between Madras and Hyderabad, with Remarks by Ghulam Kassim, of Madras, who had the Chief Directorate of the Madras Games, and James Cochrane, Esq. of the Madras Civil Service''.
The first part of the book contained detailed analysis of the
King's Gambit variation 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.d4!?, which he advocated as superior to the more common 5.0-0 (the
Muzio Gambit
In chess, the Muzio Gambit, sometimes called the Polerio Gambit, is an opening line in the King's Gambit in which White sacrifices a knight for a large lead in and chances. It begins with the moves:
:1. e4 e5
:2. f4 exf4
:3. Nf3 g5
:4. Bc4 ...
). This opinion is not shared by modern opening theory; however, his analysis was well regarded and was cited by
Howard Staunton as well as the German ''
Handbuch des Schachspiels
''Handbuch des Schachspiels'' (''Handbook of Chess'', often simply called the ''Handbuch'') is a chess book, first published in 1843 by Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa. It was a comprehensive reference book on the game, and one of the most imp ...
''. The line is now known as the Ghulam Kassim Gambit, and is regarded as distinct from the Muzio Gambit.
The second part of the book contained analysis of the two games between the Madras and Hyderabad chess clubs; the final section contained a short analysis of the
Scotch Game
The Scotch Game, or Scotch Opening, is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
:1. e4 e5
:2. Nf3 Nc6
:3. d4
Ercole del Rio, in his 1750 treatise ''Sopra il giuoco degli Scacchi, Osservazioni pratiche d’anonimo Autore Modenese'' ("On t ...
and of the
Italian Game
The Italian Game is a family of chess openings beginning with the moves:
:1. e4 e5
:2. Nf3 Nc6
:3. Bc4
This opening is defined by the of the white bishop to c4 (the so-called ""), where it attacks Black's vulnerable f7-square. It is part ...
.
References
External links
''Analysis of the Muzio Gambit, and match of two games at Chess, Played between Madras and Hyderabad''at google books, scanned from the National Library of the Netherlands.
Madras vs Hyderabad, game 1 at chessgames.comMadras vs Hyderabad, game 2 at chessgames.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kassim, Ghulam
Indian chess players
1844 deaths
19th-century chess players
19th-century sportsmen