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Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911Harry Golombek, Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, 1977, ) 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 , 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 Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles, Tricks and Conundrums with Answers 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.
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.Alex Bellos, Alex's Adventures in Numberland (2010)
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. The 15 Puzzle (): by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld
An enthusiast of Tangram puzzles, Loyd popularized them with The Eighth Book Of Tan, a book of seven hundred unique Tangram designs and a fanciful history of the origin of the Tangram, claiming that the puzzle was invented 4,000 years ago by a god named Tan. This was presented as true and has been described as "Sam Loyd's Most Successful Hoax".
Loyd bet a friend that he could not pick a piece that didn't give mate in the main line, and when it was published in 1861 it was with the stipulation that White mates with "the least likely piece or pawn".
"Scarcely had he uttered the words, when a (Turkish) bullet, shattering the window, dashed the White knight off of the board in fragments. Grothusen started violently, but Charles, with utmost coolness, begged him to put back the other knight and work out the mate, observing that it was pretty enough. But another glance at the board made Charles smile. We do not need the knight. I can give it to you and still mate in four!"
Who would believe it, he had scarcely spoken when another bullet flew across the room, and the pawn at h2 shared the fate of the knight. Grothusen turned pale. "You have our good friends the Turks with you," said the king unconcerned, "it can scarcely be expected that I should contend against such odds; but let me see if I can dispense with that pawn. I have it!" he shouted with a laugh, "I have great pleasure in informing you that there is undoubtedly a mate in 5."
In 1900, Friedrich Amelung pointed out that in the original position, if the first bullet had struck the rook instead of the knight, Charles would still have a mate in six.
In 2003, ChessBase posted a fifth variation, attributed to Brian Stewart. After the first bullet took out the knight, if the second had removed the g-pawn rather than the h-pawn, Charles would be able to mate in ten.
Start from that heart in the center and go three steps in a straight line in any one of the eight directions, north, south, east or west, or on the bias, as the ladies say, northeast, northwest, southeast or southwest. When you have gone three steps in a straight line, you will reach a square with a number on it, which indicates the second day's journey, as many steps as it tells, in a straight line in any of the eight directions. From this new point when reached, march on again according to the number indicated, and continue on, following the requirements of the numbers reached, until you come upon a square with a number which will carry you just one step beyond the border, when you are supposed to be out of the woods and can holler all you want, as you will have solved the puzzle.
Loyd patented rotary vanishing puzzles in 1896 and published versions named Get Off the Earth, Teddy and the Lion and The Disappearing Bicyclist (pictured). Each had a circular card connected to a cardboard backdrop with a pin, letting it rotate. In the Disappearing Bicyclist, when the disc is rotated such that the arrow points to A, 13 boys can be seen. When rotated so that the arrow points to B, only 12 boys appear.
Chess
Interactive puzzle
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