Sam Loyd, Sr.

for E. Loyd Enochs (1897-1968), see Loyd.

Born	Samuel Loyd January 30, 1841 Philadelphia
Died	April 10, 1911 (age 70) Brooklyn

Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician.

Biography

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 U.S., and was ranked 15th in the world, according to chessmetrics.com. His playing style was flawed, as he tried to create fantastic combinations over the board, rather than simplifying and going for the win.

He played in the strong Paris 1867 chess tournament (won by Ignatz von Kolisch) with little success, placing near the bottom of the field.

Loyd was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

Following his death, his book Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son. His son, born Walter, changed his name to Sam and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles.

Books and Magazines

• "Our Puzzle Magazine", running from 1907 to 1910

References

This page incorporated content from Sam Loyd, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• SOURCES IN RECREATIONAL MATHEMATICS, AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY by DAVID SINGMASTER, Sam LOYD (1841-1911) and Sam LOYD JR. (1873-1934), Sources pages 6-7
• Wittus Wits magischewelt, Vol. 57, No. 6, November/Dezember 2008, Der Stift am Faden by Tony Fatseas, page 326
• Genii, Vol. 71, No. 10, October 2008, The "Puzzle King" Sam Loyd, by Tony Fatseas, pages 40-46
• http://www.samuelloyd.com/, SAM LOYD TIMELINE, ABOUT SAM LOYD