Chess picture challenge: Answer

Saturday's chess picture challenge caused some problems. Most of you spotted Boris Gelfand (on the right) without too much problem, but the youngster on the left was harder to identify. It's not Gata Kamsky, as many of you thought, nor Dolmatov or Timoschenko, but is in fact Alexei Dreev, who went on to face Anand in a candidates semi final match, and win strong tournaments such as Dos Hermanas in 2001. He peaked at 2705 in the FIDE list. Gelfand, of course, is still involved in the current candidates series.

Only two of you managed to get Dreev. Congratulations to Philippe Dornbusch who got it straightaway (including the venue!) and to Alberto Alvarez, who got it at the second attempt. Both are esteemed chess bloggers, Philippe writes Chess & Strategy, and Buenos Aires based Alberto is the lead blogger on Solo Ajedrez.

I haven't had many suggestions so far for Sunday's match the chapter with the player puzzle, answers tomorrow.

Chess picture challenge

Lest any of you should be worried that recent articles featuring Anna Matnadze and Almira Skripchenko show Chess Tales adopting a certain sexual bias, let me quickly balance the coverage by showing this photo of two fine young men:



The photo is scanned from the February 1989 edition of Schach Report, and shows them at the European Junior Chess Championships where they tied for first place. They both went on to become Super Grandmasters and compete in the candidates matches. Can you name them?

The first rule of chess club is... nobody talks about chess club

Chess photo question: answer

Sunday's photo question asked you to name the two famous players watching Viktor Korchnoi ponder his next move against Garry Kasparov:














Most of you had no problem spotting Anatoly Karpov in the turtle neck sweater. The game was played during the Soviet boycott of Korchnoi, and Karpov was 'rested' for the match with Switzerland to avoid a potentially embarrassing encounter.

The player peering over Korchnoi's shoulder proved harder to identify. It is Alexander Beliavsky. At the time Beliavsky was regarded as a potential future World Champion but, despite winning the Soviet championship twice and the World Junior title, he has only qualified once for the Candidates matches, losing to Garry Kasparov in 1983. He is currently the second oldest player in the top 100 (Korchnoi is the oldest).

Epic chess game photo question

There are a small handful of chess games that deserve the title 'epic'. Of those, some are remembered as much for their off the board significance as for the game itself. One can think of Botvinnik - Capablanca 1938, heralding a new Soviet dominated era, and of Spassky - Fischer 1970, a defiant last stand at the Olympiad from the World Champion against the relentless progress of the American.

Viktor Korchnoi vs. Garry Kasparov at the Luzern Olympiad 1983 is arguably the greatest of them all. The Soviet defector, who the Russians refused to play against in regular tournaments, vs. the rising young star of world chess.

The game, a super sharp Modern Benoni, didn't disappoint. Kasparov sacrificed a pawn, but Korchnoi fought fire with fire. Both sides exchanged great moves interspersed with mistakes, until Korchnoi, under severe time pressure, finally went down. You can play through this wonderful game online.

The photo, during the tense middlegame, captures Korchnoi in thought over his move and a concerned looking Kasparov. Our question is can you name the two famous players watching over Korchnoi's left shoulder?

Garry Kasparov vs Mikhail Tal, Spartakiade 1983

Sunday's picture poser was Garry Kasparov scowling through Mikhail Tal's cigarette smoke. Congratulations to all who got it right including Ryan Emmet, chessloser and Prashant Jambunathan. The game, a super sharp Semi-Slav Botvinnik Variation, was played at the Spartakiade in the summer of 1983.

Today's picture from the September 1983 issue of Chess Magazine shows a different view of the same encounter. Their headline: "What a game!".

The Spartakiade was held in the interval between Garry Kasparov's Candidates match win over Alexander Beliavsky and his on-off-on Candidates encounter with Viktor Korchnoi.

Click on the image to read Alex Roshal's notes to this fabulous game; you can also play through the moves online.

Name the chess players

This picture captures one of the most famous games of chess played in the 1980's. Can you name the two players?

(inspired by Philippe Dornbusch's photo challenges)