Chess in the Attic: Tilburg 1989

Starting at the age of 16 with a victory by 2 clear points in Banja Luka from a field that included Petrosian, Andersson, Adorjan and Browne, Garry Kasparov's chess career delivered a never ending string of spectacular tournament performances.

When I was in the attic last week, flicking through some old copies of the German magazine Schach Report, I came across the tournament report for his victory at Tilburg 1989:


The statistics are incredible, in this 8 player double round event Garry Kasparov only conceded 4 draws, winning the event by 3.5 points from Viktor Korchnoi. The field wasn't weak either, along with the two leaders there was Vassily Ivanchuk, Lubomir Ljubojevic, Candidates Gyula Sax, Johann Hjartarson, and Simen Agdestein, and the dangerous local Grandmaster Jeroen Piket.

The event is memorable not just for the margin of victory, nor for the destructive power of Garry Kasparov (many of the games were won in 30 moves or less), but also for the fact that this is the event that propelled Garry Kasparov past Bobby Fischer's ELO rating record of 2780.

We've already covered his superb King's Indian victory over Jeroen Piket at Tilburg, so instead let's look at his quick dismissal of Norwegian Grandmaster and sometime international footballer Simen Agdestein.

Simen Agdestein - Garry Kasparov, Tilburg 1989
1 c4 g6; 2 Nc3 c5; 3 g3 Bg7; 4 Bg2 Nc6; 5 e3 d6; 6 Nge2 Nf6; 7 0-0 0-0; 8 d3 Bd7; 9 h3 a6; 10 b3 Rb8; 11 Bb2 b5; 12 Qd2 Nb4!?; 13 Rfd1 Re8; 14 e4?! Nc6; 15 Nd5 e5; 16 Kh2 h5; 17 f4 bc; 18 dc Nd5; 19 Qd5? Nd4!; 20 Nd4 cd; 21 Qd6 h4!; 22 g4 Bf8; 23 Qa6 Re6; 24 Qa7 Ra8 0-1

Chess in Zaragoza

Last week we were privileged to have Paul Dargan talk about chess in Amsterdam. Today, another team mate of mine, Antonio Moneva Jordan, contributes an inspiring piece about chess in his home city, Zaragoza in the Aragon region of Spain. I know where I want to play this summer.

Chess in Zaragoza is as popular as ever. Just 2 weekends ago the great Anatoly Karpov visited the city to promote a city tournament and play some exhibition chess. The highlight of the weekend events was a large outdoor simultaneous display at the city centre comprising 250 boards. Karpov started the opening move in all of them and then concentrated in 14 selected boards while other masters continued the rest of the games. Over 400 participants of all ages enjoyed the event and loved getting their photograph with the former World Champion.

In the end Karpov won 13 out the 14 games and only conceded a draw against an old friend and FIDE master Cristobal Ramo. Interestingly, Cristobal beat Garry Kasparov 21 years ago in another outdoor simul in the city, soon after Garry became World Champion. When we were young kids Cristobal and I played for the same club (Helios) and even represented our school team (Maristas) where he was a great top board and I was a very distant second.

Ever since I was a kid, playing chess outdoors in late spring and summer has been very popular in Zaragoza, often simultaneous displays to attract youngsters to the game. In Spain chess is generally more popular than in the UK and is almost considered a sport. I once took part in a gruelling 24 hour chess marathon in Galicia consisting of 6 one hour games, followed by 6 30 minute games, to finish off with 6 five minute games, all pretty much in succession. It certainly felt like the hardest sport I had ever played...

A number of top GMs reside in Spain including Anand, Shirov and Topalov to name only a few. Before his ascendency to glory Topalov used to tour the country winning open tournament after tournament. Chess in Spain has prospered since Lucena's writings in the XV century to the very famous 1985 World championship in Sevilla between Kasparov and Karpov. Zaragoza is holding the International Exposition (Expo) in 2008. Hopefully it will serve to further promote chess in this great city.

Antonio Moneva Jordan

Garry Kasparov - Cristobal Ramo Frontinan, Zaragoza Simul 1986
1.e4 c6 2.d4 g6 3.f4 d5 4.e5 h5 5.Nf3 Nh6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Nbd2 Bf5 8.h3 Nd7 9.Bf2 Nf8 10.c3 Ne6 11.g3 Rc8 12.b4 a5 13.a3 axb4 14.axb4 Ra8 15.Ng5 Rxa1 16.Qxa1 0-0 17.Be2 Qa8 18.0-0 Nc7 19.Kh2 Qc8 20.Qd1 f6 21.Ngf3 Bxh3 22.Nh4 Bxf1 23.Nxf1 Kh7 24.Ne3 f5 25.c4 Qe6 26.b5 dxc4 27.Nf3 Qd7 28.Ng5+ Kh8 29.bxc6 bxc6 30.Bxc4 Nd5 31.Qb3 e6 32.Bxd5 cxd5 33.Qb6 Re8 34.Be1 Ng4+ 35.Nxg4 hxg4 36.Bb4 Bh6 37.Qd6 Qxd6 38.exd6 Bxg5 39.fxg5 Rd8 40.Kg2 Kg7 41.Kf2 Kf7 42.Ke3 Ke8 43.Kf4 Kd7 44.Ke5 Rf8 0-1

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?

Chess in the Attic: May 1979

As Garry Kasparov struggles against Vladimir Putin's latest clampdowns on democracy, today's Chess in the Attic post remembers more carefree days back in 1979.

Garry Kasparov was just 16 years old and not even FIDE rated when he was invited to play in the Banja Luka tournament in Yugoslavia. His performance, winning by 2 clear points from a strong field that included former World Champion Tigran Petrosian and 13 other Grandmasters, was quite remarkable.
















This was Garry's first Grandmaster norm, he completed the title when he won the Baku tournament the following spring.

Interestingly, despite the tournament concluding on the 2nd May, it wasn't reported until the July issue of Chess Magazine. Nowadays, in our Internet world, even having to wait a few hours for game scores and reports is considered poor practice.

Kasparov stopped at airport

Garry Kasparov has had his passport and ticket taken by police preventing him from boarding a flight in Moscow. The Houston Chronicle has the story: Russian chess great stopped at airport

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.

Chess in the Attic: December 1981

Back in December 1981 18 year old Garry Kasparov won the Soviet Championship, tieing for first place with another youngster Lev Psakhis. For Lev it was his second successive Soviet title. Garry lost 2 games at the event, to Psakhis and to Boris Gulko.

This was the first high level event that the Soviet authorities had allowed Gulko to play for over a year. He had won the title in 1977 (ahead of a field that included such great players as Tal, Petrosian, Smyslov, Geller and Polugayevsky) and gone on to win the super grandmaster tournament in Niksic in 1978, but Gulko and his wife, Anna Akhsharumova (a WGM), had had their playing opportunities severly curtailed after asking for permission to leave the Soviet Union. They were eventually allowed to emigrate to the United States in 1986.

Gulko was to beat Kasparov again a few months later (with Black in just 24 moves) at the USSR Club Teams Championship, and once more at Linares in 1990. He retains a positive record against Kasparov, and is the only man to have won both the USSR and US Chess Championships.

Chess in the attic: December 1983 (part 2)

The lead stories in issue 2 of Chess Express back in December 1983 were Garry Kasparov finding life tough at the top against Viktor Korchnoi, and Nigel Short making history in Russia.

Kasparov was trailing Korchnoi 1-0 after 5 games of their Candidates semi final match, but the 'stop press' did reveal he had adjourned with some winning chances in game 6. As we know, Kasparov won the adjournment, went on to win the match and start his saga of duels for the World crown with Anatoly Karpov.

Short meanwhile was becoming the first Western player in modern times to win a tournament in the Soviet Union, scoring 9 out of 13 in the Baku International. Incredibly, despite the field including Mark Taimanov and a number of other grandmasters, the result was not good enough for a GM norm, and 18-year old Short remained an IM.

10 years later, Nigel Short was the man who eliminated Karpov from World Championship reckoning, and went on to play Kasparov for the title. This week, he goes back to play in Baku, birthplace of Kasparov, for the first time since 1983.

Pasadena 1983: Going, going, gone

My first "Chess in the Attic" post talked about the Korchnoi - Kasparov Candidates semi final match in London in 1983; Garry's most difficult hurdle (with the exception of Karpov himself) en route to the World crown.

Originally the match had been scheduled to take place in Pasadena (California), but to the surprise of most of the chess world was cancelled at the last minute. Jack le Moine has posted an interesting article from Stephen Jones on the behind the scenes shenanigans in Pasadena, how a group of 4 chess enthusiasts nearly lost an awful lot of money, underhand organisations (not FIDE this time!), and the difficulty in getting corporate and TV interest in chess.

The Grünfeld Defence 2

I posted earlier this month about the Grünfeld Defence, but given it's high popularity in Google searches that are used to discover the Chess Tales blog, I'm happy to write more.

In this post, I'll tell you about a Grünfeld line we prepared for the European Chess Championships; Sophie didn't get the opportunity to use it, but I've played it twice myself recently with success. I'll also point you to the literature that's available and show you a couple of sample games.

The Grünfeld has featured in the repertoires of World Champions: Kasparov, Fischer, Botvinnik and Smyslov. The great Viktor Korchnoi used it regularly. In the early 50's he copied out and analysed a hundred Grünfelds as part of his preparation for the final of the 20th USSR Championships. Reportedly, when Alekhine was first confronted with the defence he resigned the game by hurling his king across the room.

The Exchange variation (1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 g6; 3 Nc3 d5; 4 cd Nxd5; 5 e4 Nxc3; 6 bc) is far and away the most common continuation, but amongst the 'sidelines', the Russian system (1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 g6; 3 Nc3 d5; 4 Nf3 Bg7; 5 Qb3) remains interesting, leads to complex positions and has featured in high level encounters between Karpov and Kasparov, and famously between Botvinnik and Fischer at Varna in 1962 (see My 60 Memorable Games(Amazon)).

Earliest games in the opening (1922) were in the Exchange variation and went 6 ... Bg7; 7 Nf3. Eventually, White players started preferring a setup with 7 Bc4 and 8 Ne2, which gave rise to some interesting games where White sacrificed the exchange (rook on a1 for bishop on g7) and attacked the Black king, or got in an early Bxf7+ (which was played by Karpov in his Seville World Championship match with Kasparov). In the 80's though, there was a return to favour of 7 Nf3 (particularly in conjunction with 8 Rb1) and this became known as the Modern Exchange Variation.

The variation we prepared for the European Chess Championships is a refinement on the Modern Exchange Variation: Instead of 7 Nf3, White first plays Be3 and then Qd2 before finally developing the Knight to f3. It was adopted by Karpov in his 1990 match with Kasparov, and has sound strategic foundations. After the usual continuation 7 Be3 0-0; 8 Qd2 c5; 9 Nf3 we reach the following position:



By playing the moves in this order, White avoids a ... Bg4 pin by Black which serves two motives: firstly it reduces the pressure that Black can apply on White's centre, and secondly White can avoid any Bg4xf3 simplifications and aim to cramp Black's position. We'll see a radical illustration of this in one of our sample games, after the continuation 9 ... Bg4; 10 Ng5!?.

Depending how Black plays, White now has some clear ideas in this position. 9 ... Nc6 is met by 10 d5 establishing a very strong central pawn phalanx, and 9 ... Qa5; 10 Rc1 e6 (preparing Nc6) can be met directly by 11 Bh6! looking to exploit the holes on the dark squares. Finally, White can meet 9 ... Qa5; 10 Rc1 cd; 11 cd Qxd2 with 12 Nxd2 and hope for a better ending.

This approach is explored in depth in Beating the Indian Defences by Burgess and Pedersen. For those looking to play the Black side, I recommend taking a look at Rowson's Understanding the Grünfeld or The Grünfeld Defence by Nigel Davies. If you are looking a clear and simple guide to the concepts and variations there is Aagard's Starting out: The Grünfeld. For an incredibly detailed investigation of some key games, you can also try Karpov's Beating the Grunfeld (Amazon).
















If you are looking to buy these books in the US you can try my Chess Online store.


Here's Karpov avoiding the Bishop exchange against Kasparov:
Anatoly Karpov - Garry Kasparov, 17th Game, World Championship, Lyon 1990

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Qd2 O-O 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.Ng5

This was Karpov's new move; this game is covered in depth in his "Beating the Grünfeld". I was delighted when I got the opportunity to play it at Edinburgh last weekend, but couldn't convert an ending a pawn up.

cxd4 11.cxd4 Nc6 12.h3 Bd7 13.Rb1 Rc8 14.Nf3 Na5 15.Bd3 Be6 16.O-O Bc4 17.Rfd1 b5 18.Bg5 a6 19.Rbc1 Bxd3 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.Qxd3 Re8 22.Rc1 Qb7 23.d5 Nc4 24.Nd2 Nxd2 25.Bxd2 Rc8 26.Rc6 Be5 27.Bc3 Bb8 28.Qd4 f6 29.Ba5 Bd6 30.Qc3 Re8 31.a3 Kg7 32.g3 Be5 33.Qc5 h5 34.Bc7 Ba1 35.Bf4 Qd7 36.Rc7 Qd8 37.d6 g5 38.d7 Rf8 39.Bd2 Be5 40.Rb7 1-0 (I seem to be publishing a lot of Kasparov's losses on Chess Tales; he won quite a few games as well! I'll try to correct things in the coming weeks)


And, here's Fischer's epic encounter with Botvinnik in the Russian System:
Mikhail Botvinnik - Bobby Fischer, Varna Olympiad 1962

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 O-O 7. e4 Bg4 8. Be3 Nfd7 9. Be2 Nc6 10. Rd1 Nb6 11. Qc5 Qd6 12. h3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Rfd8 14. d5 Ne5 15. Nb5 Qf6 16. f4 Ned7 17. e5 Qxf4 18. Bxf4 Nxc5 19. Nxc7 Rac8 20. d6 exd6 21. exd6 Bxb2 22. O-O Nbd7 23. Rd5 b6 24. Bf3 Ne6 25. Nxe6 fxe6 26. Rd3 Nc5 27. Re3 e5 28. Bxe5 Bxe5 29. Rxe5 Rxd6 30. Re7 Rd7 31. Rxd7 Nxd7 32. Bg4 Rc7 33. Re1 Kf7 34. Kg2 Nc5 35. Re3 Re7 36. Rf3+ Kg7 37. Rc3 Re4 38. Bd1 Rd4 39. Bc2 Kf6 40. Kf3 Kg5 41. Kg3 Ne4+ 42. Bxe4 Rxe4 43. Ra3 Re7 44. Rf3 Rc7 45. a4 Rc5 46. Rf7 Ra5 47. Rxh7 Rxa4 48. h4+ Kf5 49. Rf7+ Ke5 50. Rg7 Ra1 51. Kf3 b5 52. h5 Ra3+ 53. Kg2 gxh5 54. Rg5+ Kd6 55. Rxb5 h4 56. f4 Kc6 57. Rb8 h3+ 58. Kh2 a5 59. f5 Kc7 60. Rb5 Kd6 61. f6 Ke6 62. Rb6+ Kf7 63. Ra6 Kg6 64. Rc6 a4 65. Ra6 Kf7 66. Rc6 Rd3 67. Ra6 a3 68. Kg1 1/2-1/2

If you want to know more about how I analyse Google (and other search engine) queries, see maps of the Chess Tales readers, and the mechanics of operating the blog, please let me know (either by comment or email to roger AT 21thoughts DOT com)and I'll give you the 'low-down'.

Garry Kasparov 'How life imitates chess'

To help Roger's excellent chess site I thought readers would be interested in a short review of Garry Kasparov's latest book. I bought it at Newcastle airport on my way to Dresden to watch the European chess championships.

The book is original, describing the qualities required to be successful playing the world's most beautiful boardgame. Whereas most chess books give loads of advice about tactics or strategies or individual openings, Garry concentrates on the thinking skills and how to approach the game and when you read the words of the world champion you feel reassured that, now retired, he tells us the secrets of playing great chess. Of course many of the things he says have been said before but I've never seen so many in the same place before. He writes with energy and purpose, trying to combine chess insights with tips for success in the world beyond chess, this makes the book also like a life improvement book. Although I am less sure of Garry's credentials in this area I felt this made the book less intense, it wasn't just chess as good thinking can make you a success everywhere. He also expressed opinions about politics and the difficulties he feels Russia currently faces.

Garry's brave and daring, he pushes back the boundaries. He tells us how he loved the hard work to make him the best. 'Everything we have considered has pointed towards the making of better decisions' page154. The decisions yours but I will definitely lending this one to my best friends.

post by Martin Seeber

Kasparov arrested

Yahoo reports that Garry Kasparov has been arrested in Moscow and charged with demonstrating illegally.

Garry Kasparov in the UK

Garry Kasparov is in the UK promoting his new book.

He's giving an extensive interview on BBC Radio 5: interesting substance, plenty on psychological factors in chess, chess in the curriculum, but some inane questions from the interviewers: "is it true you can checkmate someone in 4 moves". We'll try and get a transcript.

He's also been on BBC TV, Sky News and will be on Al Jazeera later in the week.

Final training session

We've just had our final training session prior to the European Chess Championships; reviewing strategic ideas in one of our prepared openings, and then blitzing out a few practice games. The real action starts on Tuesday afternoon.

The tournament hasn't generated a lot of noise yet in the press, but expect Internet coverage on the 'usual suspects' such as TWIC and Chessbase. In the blog world, we'll be covering the event in some depth on Chess Tales, and expect Chess Vibes and others to be reporting. Having a competitor, Sophie Seeber, and her father writing should give us an enlightening insight into the event.

The official site is fairly sparse, but hopefully will improve during the event. You'll also be able to follow the games live on Playchess and the ICC.

Top seed Vassily Ivanchuk, ranked number 5 in the world, has won the super GM tournament in Linares on 3 occasions. This game from the 91 event shows him at his best as he dispatches World Champion Garry Kasparov:

Chess in the attic, December 1983

I've been in the attic again, and this time it's December 1983; one of the most exciting months ever in the world of chess:

Earlier in the year, a 20 year old Garry Kasparov had romped through his first candidates match with Beliavsky, and seemed on an unstoppable march to the world crown.

In the semi-final matches, held that month in London, Kasparov had to face the great Viktor Korchnoi, whilst the other match remarkably brought together the hungarian Pinter Ribli and 62 year old Vassily Smyslov, some 26 years after he'd previously held the title.

With the matches in London, and Tony Miles beating World Champion Anatoly Karpov in the final of the much lamented BBC Mastergame, chess in the UK was buzzing.

To coincide with it all, a new chess newspaper was launched: Chess Express, promising news every fortnight and boasting an unbeatable array of feature columnists: Kasparov, Karpov, Nunn on endings, Speelman on the middlegame, and Keene on the openings. This was exciting and ambitious. Unfortunately too ambitious, and it folded after just 8 issues. On the bright side, it got me playing the Saemisch against the Nimzo-Indian and a few notable scalps bagged.

Kasparov versus Korchnoi was clearly the big event. They'd played once before, a monumental tussle in the Benoni at the Luzern Olympiad and, after Kasparov's victory there, it seemed that even Viktor Korchnoi would pose little trouble for Garry.

For a couple of years Kasparov had been trouncing anyone who dared to play the Queen's Indian against him; he played Petrosian's a3 system and you waited, usually not for very long, for him to tear apart your king. Only a mad-man, would dare to venture the defence, but that's just what Korchnoi did as Black in game 1:




So Korchnoi led, and for the next 4 games he held Kasparov at bay; had he held the difficult rook endgame in the 6th who knows what might have happened. After that though, Kasparov upped a gear and finished the match in style.

Chess: rating psychology and exhaustion

Chess can be mentally and physically exhausting; and this is especially true for a lower rated player facing higher rated opposition.

I've already written, in Beating Grandmaster Danny Gormally, about how a difference in reputation and ratings often leaves a player psychologically beaten even before a piece has been moved. A game I played earlier this week in the Northumberland County Championship illustrates some further factors:

My opponent, Chris Wardle, has had a good season and is improving, but nonetheless he is rated some 50 BCF points (about 400 Elo points) lower than me. So, despite the fact it was a dead game in terms of the Championship, there was no way I could allow him an easy game.

The lack of easy games, i.e. games missing a competitive edge or games that may be agreed drawn early (after a level opening or middle game) between players of similar ratings, is one of the factors that makes it more difficult for the lower rated player. Not only do they have to raise their game and match you through the opening and the middlegame, but invariably they will have to maintain their concentration and competitiveness through long endings; Simply, they need to play more moves to earn their result.

In our game this week, Chris (as Black) battled hard, at least matched me through both the opening and middlegame, and reached the following ending where with the opposite coloured bishops a draw seemed the obvious result. I even have to be a little careful as Black's king is well centralised and his d-pawn quite advanced.





















My thought process on reaching this position was:

Quick check that I wasn't actually in any danger of losing. OK, 2 solutions: I can bring my king across to stop the d-pawn on the light squares, or I can exchange off Black's g-pawn, sacrifice my bishop for the d-pawn, and I'm fine because Black's bishop is the wrong colour to queen the h-pawn.

The bigger problem was how on earth could I drum up any winning tries. An idea came to mind based around enticing Black's king out of play, i.e. by giving up my bishop for Black's d pawn when it queens, in which case, Black's king on d1 wouldn't be able to assist his bishop in stopping my pawns. I would then be winning if I had captured both Black's king side pawns and had my g and h pawns vs. Black's bishop, or if I had outside passed pawns on the a and h file vs. Black's bishop.

This is the second factor, the stronger rated player will avoid the lines that lead to simple equality and instead be continually examining the weaker player with testing plans.

Of course, in this position, Black can defend in a number of way and none of these tries should be sufficient. In the game though, Chris failed this final examination, he didn't spot any danger and instead played into White's hands by following the 'logical plan' and forcing his d-pawn through to queen:

Play went:

1. Ba4 Kc5 2. Kg2 Kd4 3. Kf3 Kc3 4. Kg4 d4 5. Kh5 Bc1 6 Kxh6 Be3 7 Bd1 d3 8 Kg6 Kd2 9 Bg4 Kel??

Even now, Black could have held the game by retreating 9. ... Kc3, winning White's a pawn in exchange for his d pawn with a simple draw by giving up his Bishop for White's final pawn on the king side.

10. h4 gh 11. gh d2 12. h5 d1=R 13. Bxd1 Kxd1 14. h6 reaching the position below:




















Only at this stage did Black realise that his position was lost, and after 14. ... Kc2 15. h7 he resigned.

As I thought about this post, I was reminded of a couple of quotes (probably mis-quotes):

On the subject of reputations, Kasparov (I think) during his first world championship match with Karpov said:

"before I'm able to win against him, I first have to prove that I'm able to draw against him"

And Karpov himself, when asked in the early 70's what English players could do to improve, had asked what we do now. When he received the reply: "I don't know, I guess we play a lot and study the openings a lot", he said

"do the opposite, study the endings"

Chess in the Attic: top chess players 1982 style

Yesterday I decided to discover a vast collection of lost chess manuscripts; either that, or I was tidying the attic.

Flicking through some copies of "Chess" magazine from 1982, the headlines were hardly memorable: "Miles wins British Championship at last" seemed to be the highlight. Actually, in my chess house, 1982 will always be remembered as the year before my first appearance at the Britsh (U16 in Southport) and an unusual opening gambit from Cathy Forbes.

The July rating list caught my eye though: the top 3 were predictable enough, but Robert Hübner, a German best known for walking out of tournaments, was a surprise at number 4. The actual rating points is the most interesting though, Karpov's 2700 was good enough for 1st place in 1982, but would only get him 21st place in 2007, and Hübner's 2630 would wedge him in between Azmaiparashvili and Sutovsky in 84th spot.

Korchnoi, the elder stateman of the top 4 in 1982, but still active 25 years on, remains within 6 rating points of his 1982 figure.

Rating inflation has been talked about many times before: Rob from Tennessee uses it to argue that Paul Morphy is the greatest player of all time, although according to Wikipedia he doesn't come close.

Here's Morphy turning on the style at the Opera: