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Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911),〔Harry Golombek, ''Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess'', 1977, ISBN 0-517-53146-1〕 born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician. 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 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'' ISBN 0-923891-78-1〕 was published (1914) by his son. His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles.〔''Martin Gardner's Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions'' Chapter 9 Pg 79〕 Loyd (senior) was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame. ==Reception== Loyd is widely acknowledged as one of America's great puzzle-writers and popularizers, often mentioned as ''the'' greatest—Martin Gardner called him "America's greatest puzzler", and ''The Strand'' in 1898 dubbed him "the prince of puzzlers". As a chess problemist, his composing style is distinguished by wit and humour. However, he is also known for lies and self-promotion, and 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 "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 he equated him with the Devil.〔Alex Bellos, ''Alex's Adventures in Numberland'' (2010)〕 Loyd claimed from 1891 until his death in 1911 that he invented the 15 puzzle, for example writing in the ''Cyclopedia of Puzzles'' (published 1914), (p. 235 ): "The older inhabitants of Puzzleland will remember how in the early seventies I drove the entire world crazy over a little box of movable pieces which became known as the '14–15 Puzzle'." This is false as Loyd had nothing to do with the invention or popularity of the puzzle, in addition to the fact that the craze was in the early 1880s, not the early 1870s:〔''The 15 Puzzle'' (ISBN 1-890980-15-3): by Jerry Slocum and Dic Sonneveld〕 Sam Loyd did not invent the 15 puzzle and had nothing to do with promoting or popularizing it. The puzzle craze that was created by the 15 Puzzle began in January 1880 in the US and in April in Europe. The craze ended by July 1880 and Sam Loyd's first article about the puzzle was not published until sixteen years later, January 1896. Loyd first claimed in 1891 that he invented the puzzle, and he continued until his death a 20 year campaign to falsely take credit for the puzzle. The actual inventor was Noyes Chapman, the Postmaster of Canastota, New York, and he applied for a patent in March 1880. An enthusiast of Tangram puzzles, Loyd published a book of seven hundred unique Tangram designs and a fanciful history of the origin of the Tangram, which was presented as true and has been described as "Sam Loyd's Most Successful Hoax".〔(Sam Loydʼs Most Successful Hoax )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sam Loyd」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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