The best of the best

Hi Pilgrim,

In my opinion there are nine chess champions who are the greatest of all time, superior even to other world champions or players who could have been champions.

The criteria I use are that the player must be recognised as the champion or be accepted as the best player whether or not the title of ‘champion’ was in use at the time; and the player must be clearly superior to his contemporaries for a substantial period of time, not just a flash in the dark and later just a first among equals.

The nine players are, in alphabetical, not strength, order:

Alekhine, Botvinnik, Capablanca, Fischer, Lasker, Karpov, Kasparov, Morphy, and Steinitz.

I think any fair assessment would agree that these players meet the criteria I have set. You may argue others like a Philidor or Tal should be in the list. However, I think the players above have the edge in reputation over all other champions to date. In the future there will be others to add to the list. Carlsen is likely to be the tenth player but only time will tell whether he will meet the criteria.

Nine players over a time span of about 165 years works out as one every 18 years or approximately two per generation (a generation is 30 years). Very interesting – we get two new superb players every generation.

Below is a little known game of Capablanca, which won a brilliancy prize against one of the Corzo brothers, famous in Cuba at the time it was played, and keen rivals of the young genius. It was played 102 years ago, at a tournament in Havana, Cuba, February 15, 1913.

What I find fascinating about this game is the brilliant tactical ideas of Capablanca (see moves 7, 10, 15, and 23) in a game that has the look and feel of a ‘boots and all’ club game between bitter rivals. It looks to me as though the Corzo brothers must have thought they could knock over Capablanca with aggressive tactics but they misunderstood the essence of his strength: Superb positional judgment allied to tactical awareness second to none. Alekhine knew this from bitter experience and only managed to defeat the great Cuban with positional play and substantial preparation (something Capablanca never did – seriously prepare).

Because a player chooses a positional or initially conservative approach, does not mean he or she cannot handle sophisticated tactical play as well. Beware the apparent mouse that roars!

Juan Corzo Versus Jose Raul Capablanca (1913)

Old Indian Defence

1. d4 Nf6 (Capablanca occasionally tried ‘Indian style’ defences, as known in his day) 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. f4 (Needlessly aggressive; better is g3 or Nf3) exd4 6. Qxd4 Nc5 7. Be3 Qe7! 8. Nd5 (If 8. Bd3? Ne3 or if 8. e5 Ng4)  Nxd5 9. exd5 Bf5 10. Nf3 (Perhaps he should have Castled long) g6! (If now 11. Qxh8 Qxe3+ 12. Kd1 Ne4) 11. Kf2 (Castling long was still worth a try) Rg8 12. Re1 Bg7 13. Qd1 Ne4+ 14. Kg1 (The King’s Rook remains blocked and missing in action the whole game) Kf8 (Safer than Castling long) 15. Bd4 g5!! (Capablanca gave the following variations: 16. Nxg5 Bxd4+ 17. Qxd4 Nxg5  18. Rxe7 Nh3++; 16. fxg5 Nxg5 17. Rxe7 Nh3+ 18. gxh3  Bxd4++; 16. fxg5 Nxg5 17. Nxg5 Bxd4+ 18. Qxd4 Qxe1; and best is 16. fxg5 Nxg5 17. Bxg7+ Rxg7 18. Nxg5 Qxg5 with the better position) 16. Bxg7+ Rxg717. Nd4 Bd7 18. f5 (More careful is 18. Bd3 f5 19. Bxe4 fxe4 20. f5)  Qe5 19. Qd3 Re8 20. Ne6+?! fxe6 21. fxe6 Rxe6!! (Prepared much earlier by Capablanca) 22. dxe6 Bc6 23. Qf3+ Qf4! (A Queen exchange strongly favours Black: 24. Qxf4 gxf4 25 h4 (if 25. Bd3 Nc5 26. Bf1 f3 and if 27. g3 f2) 25...f3 26. Rd1 f7+ 27. Kh2 Ng3 28. Rd2 Nxh1 29. Rxg2!) 24. Qe3 Ke7 25. b4 b6 26. b5 Bb7 27. g3 Nd2! (Bad is 28. gxf5 gxf5+ 29. 30. Qg3 fxg3 wins; His only chance was: 28. Bg2 Qxe3+ 29. Rxe3 Bxg2 30. Kxg2 Nxc4 31. Rc3 d5 with still good chances for Black – a player of his class and two safe Pawns up) 28. Qc3? Nf3+ 29. Kf2 Qf8! (Decisive; now comes a last desperate flurry from White) 30. c5 Ne5+ 31. Kg1 Nf3+32. Kf2 bxc5 33. Qa5 Ne5+ 34. Kg1 Qf3 35. Qxc7+ Kf6 36. Qxd6 Qxh1+ 37. Kf2 Qxh2+ 0-1

Notes by the great chess writer, Fred Reinfeld.

Until next time.

To err is human, to then still win, is absolutely divine

Hi Pilgrim,

Once again, my apologies for being so late with my posts.

Since we moved into our rebuilt home in Kinglake I have been extremely busy with landscaping, gardening, and painting the outside of the house. I am still painting and estimate I shall be doing so for most of 2011. The reason is that the outside is made of Hardiplank, and painting it is like painting a sponge – it sucks up the paint and progress is very slow. I am also doing the gardening of my partner’s house in Melbourne (she does not want to live in Kinglake permanently) and also trying to resuscitate my writing.

My crime novel is finished and I have been trying to interest publishers in it. I also write a column for the CCLA website called ‘Ramblings’ at http://www.ccla.asn.au/ as well as for Kinglake’s Mountain Monthly. These are ruminations on chess from the POV of an average player with some capacity to think.

We have had the wettest year on record in Victoria and the gardens have been lush instead of dying-back in summer; hence so much gardening. At least we had no major bushfires.

My chess-playing skills have become patchy and I have been troubled mainly by my opening play. A review of all my recent games has revealed that my weakness is in the opening where I end up after a few moves in variations that either do not suit my style or which are of questionable soundness.

I recently undertook a review of all openings and defences by going through the main lines in Modern Chess Openings 15. I was trying to see what I felt comfortable playing these days. Not surprisingly, I still seem to be more comfortable with a defence that gives me counter-playing chances rather than just a passive but safe position, however, any complexity has to be manageable; sheer speculation is out of the question in this age of computer-chess, where even amateurs of modest ability are thoroughly prepared, or in correspondence chess where players have access to massive databases.

I like an opening with White where I will not be surprised by a latest innovation from some GM’s research team thrown at me by an amateur not stronger than I but just better prepared or resourced. My time is at a premium these days. It has to be sound, strategic, play with any tactics arising out of a sound position.

I have had some good fortune as ‘The Palooka’, in my second match of 24 games against ‘Tayhk’ of Singapore, playing on www.itsyourturn.com. I have gone up 5-2 with 2 Draws and it is up to him to pull back the deficit with better play. Currently I have a Nimzo as Black, and a crazy Philidor as White.

A recent win of mine against him, was as Black playing a Dutch Defence.

I should have lost the game. I made a gross blunder in the opening, losing a pawn. My opponent then became greedy and fanciful, imagining he could get more out of the position. He made a dreadful mistake in return. After that, we ended up in a Queen-less middle-game and ending, where the themes of prevention, centralisation, restriction, and blockade predominated as strategy on my part.

The pressure got to my opponent and he made a final, terrible blunder. Thus the game I expected to lose was turned into one of my most memorable wins, because of the strategic play I was able to execute. Not bad for an amateur. It shows that some of my studying over the years has been absorbed and used creatively.

The game is instructive for a number of reasons: it shows how you can frustrate your opponent by continuing to create problems in an inferior position; it demonstrates the value of the Nimzovich stratagems of prevention, restriction and blockade to immobilise an enemies position; it proves the claim that the one who makes the next to last mistake, wins the game; and it is an example of chess-optimism as exemplified in the statement ‘Nobody ever won a game by resigning.’

I hope you will enjoy this flawed but instructive game.

Tayhk versus The Palooka
Dutch Defence

1. d4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd2 Be7 5. h3 b6 6. Nf3
Bb7 7. a3 O-O 8. Bc4 d5 9. Ba2 Nbd7 10. Ng5 Re8 11. Nxe6
Qc8 12. Nb5 c6 13. Nbc7 Rb8 14. Qf3 g6 15. O-O-O Nf8
16. Nxe8 Qxe8 17. Nc7 Qd7 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. g4 fxg4
20. hxg4 Qxg4 21. Qxg4 Nxg4 22. Rdf1 Kg7 23. f3 Nf6
24. c3 N8d7 25. Rh3 Re8 26. Rg1 Bd8 27. f4 Ne4 28. Be1
b5 29. Rh5 Ndf6 30. Re5 Bc7 31. Rxe8 Nxe8 32. Kc2 N8f6
33. Bb3 Bc8 34. Kd3 Bf5 35. Ke2 Nd6 36. Bh4 Nc4 37. a4
bxa4 38. Bxa4 Nxb2 39. Bb5 Nc4 40. Ra1 Bb6 41. Ra4
Ne4 42. Bxc4 Nxc3+ 43. Kf2 Nxa4 44. Bxd5 Nc3 45. Bc6
Be4 46. Bd7 Kf7 47. Ke1 Ba5 48. Kd2 Nd5+ 49. Ke2 Bb4
50. Bg4 a5 51. Bf3 Nc3+ 52. Kf2 a4 0-1

Until next time, may your games be full of genius on your part and blunders for your opponents.

Grab a Grob

Hi Pilgrims.

A long time between postings – humblest apologies but I have been exceedingly busy getting replacement goods and rebuilding a house in Kinglake to replace the one we lost in the fires of 2009 (see previous postings). Finally it is built and we moved furniture in on July 12, 2010. There is a lot still to do, such as painting the outside of the house, oiling the timber decks, building fences and establishing a garden, as well as moving the small things, such as books, and so on. Ironically, we have had one of the coldest and wettest winters of recent memory and we cannot complete the fences because the ground is too soft from the rains. No fences means, we cannot take up our dogs, so we have to wait.

Re-establishing myself in Kinglake will also take time. Vivien does not wish to live there permanently, so she is keeping her home in Preston (a sophisticated, inner suburb of Melbourne, where countless stylish people – like us - live). So we will be alternating between her place in Preston and mine in Kinglake. They are only about 60 kilometres apart (1 hour) so it is quite manageable. I will probably spend more time in Kinglake to write and just be.

In June this year, I also left my regular job (librarianship, records management, and copyright law compliance for a large educational institution) in order to devote my time fully to writing. That means a lot of creative satisfaction but no income. I will be relying on the interest payments from my superannuation to see me through. I feel I have to give the writing a serious shot while I still have my youthful energy (I am a young 57). I figure when I get to 70-75 I will want to take things easy and enjoy life. Vivien and I are ‘freelance writers’ so we will be looking for writing or editing jobs as a team, as well as pursuing our own individual projects.

Back to Chess.

Sometimes it is worth playing something unusual, even unsound, so as to give your self a chance to win on your own mettle. It can also be fun. So much of modern chess is based on computer-assisted preparation. Even ordinary players prepare and play like Grandmasters, thanks to the databases and analysis engines that are available. Not much original thinking is needed unless the opponent deviates into an inferior line; someone like me is liable to do that because I do not have a chess database or powerful chess engine.

I have written about this in my regular ‘Ramblings’ column at: http://www.ccla.asn.au/

Below is a Grob opening, named after the iconoclastic chess master Henri Grob, who used it in many correspondence chess games. It was played on the ICCF webserver, event ‘WS/O/244’. My opponent is Jan Erik Zimmermann from Denmark. Like me, he does not use chess computers but prefers to play ‘alfresco’. Any success or failure is due to your own play and not that of a silicone substitute.

The question of the soundness or otherwise of this opening, is not settled. When the great computer in the sky analyses all possible variations issuing from 1. g4!? it may well be the case that the Grob is a win for White after all. The analysis on this opening is scant and still based largely on positional assumptions. Surely, it has to be bad, it is said; look at how it ignores the centre and weakens the King’s position. All true and beside the point. White places his Bishop on g2 to attack the centre and also grabs some space on the King-side. Black has to react quickly and perhaps aggressively or he/she will be in difficulties – remember, White has the move and gets into threatening positions quicker if Black plays passively.

Indeed, this is what happened in this game. My opponent, unfamiliar with the opening, played too passively and then after a mistake which lost the exchange, he had a hard struggle and eventually succumbed.

I present the game with light notes for your enjoyment. Consider adding the Grob to your arsenal when playing for a win. If you lose you can always blame the opening rather than your playing skill. If you win, you can take all the credit. That’s a win-win scenario.

George Eraclides (1800) V Jan Erik Zimmermann (1636)

ICCF WS/O/244

November 2008 to April 2009

Grob’s Opening

1.g4 e5 2.Bg2?! c6?! (too passive; MCO 15 advises h5 with a complicated game not unfavourable to Black) 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 d5 5.Nc3 Qf6 (he realises that White is developing his pieces very quickly and gaining useful space, hence the Queen exchange) 6.Qxf6 Nxf6 7.g5 (this impudent Pawn continues to irritate Black, showing that 2...c6 was not a good idea) Nfd7 8.Nf3 Bd6 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Bc7 (he had no real alternatives; the Grob is looking pretty good) 11.Be3 Ne5 12.Nxe5 Bxe5 13.O-O-O O-O 14.Ng3 g6 (so as to be able to place the Bishop on g7 eventually but White cooks up a little tactics) 15.Rhe1 Be6 16.Bc5 Bf4+ 17.Kb1 Re8 18.Ne4 Nd7 19.Bd6 Bxd6 20.Nxd6 Rf8 (20...Reb8 21. Nxb7 anyway) 21.Nxb7 Rac8 22.Nd6 Rc7 23.Bf3 (to stop a nuisance Bf5; White’s tactics have netted him material and positional superiority) Nc5 24.Ne4 Na4 25.b3 Nb6 26.Nf6+ Kg7 27.Rd6 h6 28.Bxc6 hxg5 29.Ne8+ Rxe8 30.Bxe8 Nd5 31.c4 Nb4 32.Red1 (White has done very well out of the tactics and now has a won position; his aim is to snuff out any counter-chances by Black and avoid errors in the coming won ending; for his part, Black tries to make life as hard as he can for White and encourage a blunder) Bf5+ 33.Kb2 Re7 34.Ba4 Re2+ 35.R6d2 Re4 36.Kc3 a5 37.a3 Na6 38.Bd7 (simplification is a key to winning for White) Bxd7 39.Rxd7 Rh4 40.R7d5 Rxh2 41.Rxa5 Nc7 42.Rxg5 Rxf2 43.Rd2 Rf3+ 44.Rd3 Rf2 45.Kb4 Ne6 46.Rgg3 g5 47.c5 Rf5 48.Rc3 Nc7 49.Ka5 Kg6 50.Kb6! Nd5+ 51.Kb7 Nxc3 52.Rxc3! (this return of the exchange leaves Black having to give up his Rook for the passed Pawn while White’s Rook can stop anything on the King-side) g4 53.b4 Rf3 54.Rc4 g3 55.c6 1-0

I was pleased to win this game and actually found the ending harder than gaining the middle-game advantage.

So grab a Grob next time you sit at the board and you will not be bored.