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Sam Loyd
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Sam Loyd
Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911) was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City.
As a chess composer, he authored a number of chess problems, often with interesting themes. At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US, and he was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com.
He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament (won by Ignatz von Kolisch) with little success, placing near the bottom of the field.
Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son, Samuel Loyd Jr. His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles. Loyd (senior) was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 1987.
Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle writers and popularizers, often mentioned as the greatest. Martin Gardner featured Loyd in his August 1957 Mathematical Games column in Scientific American and called him "America's greatest puzzler". In 1898, The Strand dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour.
He is also known for lies and self-promotion, however, and he has been criticized on these grounds—Martin Gardner's assessment continues "but also obviously a hustler". Canadian puzzler Mel Stover called Loyd "an old reprobate", and Matthew Costello called him "puzzledom's greatest celebrity... popularizer, genius", but also a "huckster" and "fast-talking snake oil salesman".
He collaborated with puzzler Henry Dudeney for a while, but Dudeney broke off the correspondence and accused Loyd of stealing his puzzles and publishing them under his own name. Dudeney despised Loyd so intensely that he equated him with the devil.
Loyd claimed that he invented the fifteen tiles in the box and one space puzzle. The actual inventor was Noyes Chapman, who applied for a patent in March 1880.
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Sam Loyd
Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911) was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City.
As a chess composer, he authored a number of chess problems, often with interesting themes. At his peak, Loyd was one of the best chess players in the US, and he was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com.
He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament (won by Ignatz von Kolisch) with little success, placing near the bottom of the field.
Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son, Samuel Loyd Jr. His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles. Loyd (senior) was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame in 1987.
Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle writers and popularizers, often mentioned as the greatest. Martin Gardner featured Loyd in his August 1957 Mathematical Games column in Scientific American and called him "America's greatest puzzler". In 1898, The Strand dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour.
He is also known for lies and self-promotion, however, and he has been criticized on these grounds—Martin Gardner's assessment continues "but also obviously a hustler". Canadian puzzler Mel Stover called Loyd "an old reprobate", and Matthew Costello called him "puzzledom's greatest celebrity... popularizer, genius", but also a "huckster" and "fast-talking snake oil salesman".
He collaborated with puzzler Henry Dudeney for a while, but Dudeney broke off the correspondence and accused Loyd of stealing his puzzles and publishing them under his own name. Dudeney despised Loyd so intensely that he equated him with the devil.
Loyd claimed that he invented the fifteen tiles in the box and one space puzzle. The actual inventor was Noyes Chapman, who applied for a patent in March 1880.
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