01-01 Cover - December 2020_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:39 Page 1

02-02 NIC advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 17:50 Page 1

03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:49 Page 3

Chess
Founding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †
Contents
Executive Editor: Malcolm Pein Editorial....................................................................................................................4
Editors: Richard Palliser, Matt Read Malcolm Pein on the latest developments in the game
Associate Editor: John Saunders
Subscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington 60 Seconds with...Bruce Pandolfini ............................................................7
We discover all about the famous coach and Queen’s Gambit adviser
Twitter: @CHESS_Magazine
Twitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm Pein A Krushing Success .............................................................................................8
Website: www.chess.co.uk Irina Krush and Wesley So were victorious in the U.S. Championships
Subscription Rates: Escapism!..............................................................................................................14
United Kingdom Matthew Lunn headed for the Dolomites along with some friends
1 year (12 issues) £49.95
2 year (24 issues) £89.95 Magnusficent......................................................................................................18
3 year (36 issues) £125 Magnus Carlsen has produced the odd instructive effort of late
Europe
1 year (12 issues) £60 How Good is Your Chess?..............................................................................22
2 year (24 issues) £112.50 Daniel King looks at a wild and wonderful line of the King’s Gambit
3 year (36 issues) £165
Cryptic Chessword ...........................................................................................25
USA & Canada A chess-themed crossword from Avid Old Swan
1 year (12 issues) $90
2 year (24 issues) $170 Find the Winning Moves.................................................................................26
3 year (36 issues) $250 The latest puzzles from the 4NCL Online and U.S. Championships
Rest of World (Airmail) The Queen’s Gambit .........................................................................................30
1 year (12 issues) £72
John Henderson has been enjoying Netflix’s biggest recent hit
2 year (24 issues) £130
3 year (36 issues) £180 Christmas Stocking Fillers ............................................................................35
Distributed by: Some handy suggestions for Christmas from Sean Marsh
Post Scriptum (UK only),
Unit G, OYO Business Park, Hindmans Way, Giving Up Professional Chess ......................................................................38
Dagenham, RM9 6LN - Tel: 020 8526 7779 Jonathan Levitt reflects on retirement and his latest book
LMPI (North America) Never Mind the Grandmasters...................................................................42
8155 Larrey Street, Montreal (Quebec), Carl on the opening surprise and his encounter with Kevin Winter
H1J 2L5, Canada - Tel: 514 355-5610
Views expressed in this publication are not 5,012 Days..........................................................................................................44
necessarily those of the Editors. Contributions to Steve Firth returned to OTB chess where some things never change
the magazine will be published at the Editors’
discretion and may be shortened if space is limited. Chess... and my Bucket List! .......................................................................46
While inputting James Aitken’s games, Geoff Chandler was distracted
No parts of this publication may be reproduced
without the prior express permission of the publishers. Readers’ Letters ................................................................................................48
All rights reserved. © 2020
Studies with Stephenson...............................................................................49
Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by:
Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RT Home News ..........................................................................................................50
Tel: 020 7288 1305 Fax: 020 7486 7015 The Caplin British Online Championships begin on December 18th
Email: info@chess.co.uk, Website: www.chess.co.uk
Overseas News...................................................................................................51
FRONT COVER: Rhys Cumming impressed as he made his first IM norm in Portugal
Cover Design: Matt Read
Cover image: Charlie Gray/Netflix Solutions ...............................................................................................................52
Detailed answers to all the positions to solve this month
US & Canadian Readers – You can contact us via our
American branch – Chess4Less based in West Palm
Beach, FL. Call toll-free on 1-877 89CHESS (24377).
This Month’s New Releases ..........................................................................54
You can even order Subscriber Special Offers online Works on the 2020 Candidates, Steinitz, and puzzles are reviewed
via www.chess4less.com
Saunders on Chess............................................................................................58
John on the dangers of transcribing games into Britbase format

Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Photo credits: Phil Bray/Netflix (pp. 30, 34), Harry Gielen (p.11), Italian Chess Federation (p.16),
Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC Justin Kellar/Saint Louis Chess Club & Scholastic Center (p.9), Sean Marsh (p.42), Netflix (pp. 31-33),
suppliers www.magprint.co.uk Brendan O’Gorman (p.51), Lennart Ootes (p.18), USCF (p.8).

www.chess.co.uk
3
04-06 Editorial_Chess mag - 21_6_10 17/11/2020 20:51 Page 4
Chess Editorial
By Executive Editor, IM Malcolm Pein
Netflix and Skill
Every so often something happens to give
the game of chess a boost and not always in the
way we want. Recently, the reappearance of
Igor Rausis put the game front and centre, as
the fact that it’s possible to cheat at chess
seems to fascinate some sections of the media.
So, all the more reason to savour the
wave of chess fever that the Netflix
miniseries The Queen’s Gambit has created. I
am sure every reader has had non-chess
player friends and acquaintances enquiring
whether you have seen it. I have had
countless messages.
It’s enormously satisfying to see that one
of the few on-screen depictions that truly
respect the game produces the best result in
terms of bringing it to a wider audience. The
series has won critical acclaim everywhere
and I imagine it will win countless awards.
Anya Taylor Joy’s portrayal of the principal
character Beth Harmon, an orphan with a
huge talent for chess, helped stimulate a
debate about why more girls don’t play chess
and even though she is, of course, a fictional
character, Beth’s success in a totally male-
dominated environment has made her a kind
of role model. Her supreme confidence is part
of her appeal.
The press has been awash with favourable
reviews, but also favourable opinion pieces
and articles on how chess is booming and
even how to get into the game. The last time
this happened was when the media was
gripped by the concept of Armageddon in the
Caruana-Carlsen world title match in
November 2018, but this feels longer lasting.
It’s not just a fleeting piece of news, but more
a wider acceptance of where chess should fit
in the cultural milieu and securing it the status
it deserves.
If there is to be a legacy from the success
of The Queen’s Gambit it will be in more
parents realising that their daughters, not just
their sons, can choose chess as a hobby.
Increasing female participation has always
been one of the man objectives of the charity
Chess in Schools and Communities and why
we focussed on teaching chess in the
classroom from the outset in 2009 to ensure
more equal participation.
The Queen’s Gambit is an adaptation of a
1983 novel of the same name by Walter
Tevis. Much has been spoken of Beth Harmon
drawing from some of the characteristics of
Bobby Fischer. Her single-mindedness and
going-it-alone attitude are certainly
reminiscent of Fischer. However, I suspect
she might owe more to the relatively little-
4
known Lisa Lane who was America’s top
female player for a few years in the 1960s
and even appeared on the front cover of
Sports Illustrated. Lane had a difficult
upbringing by all accounts
The original book on which the Netflix
miniseries is based was written by Walter
Tevis, who also wrote The Color of Money.
Maybe I am wrong, but to me Lisa Lane’s
photo in Sports Illustrated looks rather like
Beth’s adoptive mother Alma Wheatley,
played quite brilliantly by Marielle Heller who
is actually better known as a director, but is
magnificent.
1959 U.S. Champion Lisa Lane used to work
8-12 hours a day on chess
@TelegraphChess
Pieces in Harmon(y)
One of the original chess consultants was
Iepe Rubinghe, the founder of Chess Boxing.
Iepe sadly died during filming and so the
Producer Scott Frank turned to Bruce
Pandolfini and Garry Kasparov. As John
Henderson explains inside, Pandolfini taught
the actors how to move the pieces. He also
makes a brief cameo appearance as Ed
Spencer, a tournament organiser in Lexington,
Kentucky, where Beth Harmon is brought up
after she is adopted.
Kasparov was tasked with finding suitable
games from master practice that conformed
to the plot lines taken from Walter Nevis’s
1983 novel. Having worked to a similar brief
for EastEnders and Casualty, I can appreciate
how hard a task this really is. Kasparov was
determined to find a suitable game in the
Queen’s Gambit itself and chose one for
Beth’s climactic game against Viktor Borgov.
He needed a game that had plenty of
pieces remaining on the board at the
adjournment and explained in an online talk
hosted by Jennifer Shahade that 1 d4 d5 2 c4
dxc4 3 e3 Ìf6 4 Ìf3 c5 didn’t really fit the
bill and instead he went for 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4
3 e4 Ìc6 4 Íe3 Ìf6 5 Ìc3 e5 6 d5 Ìe7,
which keeps more pieces on as there are
fewer opportunities to exchange.
Kasparov ‘enhanced’ two of the crucial
games portrayed. If you haven’t seen the
miniseries yet, you might want to wait to read
John’s blow-by-blow description of the
incredible lines Kasparov and his team cooked
up – with the aid of computers of course –
until after you have seen the final episode.
Adjournments, remember them?
I imagine most readers are familiar with
adjournments, but in case some are not, let
me explain. In the pre-computer era and
when I played professionally, after between
three and five hours’ play, depending on the
tournament and the time control, play would
be halted. Whoever had the move could
reflect with the clock ticking (they used to
tick), and then write the move they wanted
to play on a scoresheet, provided for the
purpose by the arbiter.
The scoresheet was placed by the player
making the move into what was known as an
adjournment envelope. This move was known
as the sealed move. On resumption, which
might be later that evening or the next
morning, or for league chess, possibly weeks
afterwards, the envelope would be opened
and the move played on the board. The clock
December 2020
04-06 Editorial_Chess mag - 21_6_10 17/11/2020 20:51 Page 5
The Queen’s Gambit impresses with its realistic portrayal of top international tournaments and the U.S. chess scene in the 1960s.
Here we see Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor Joy) about to take on her great rival Soviet World Champion, Vasily Borgov (Marcin Dorocinski).
times were also recorded on the outside of
the envelope as was the board position.
Adjournment analysis was always
thought to be a speciality of the Soviets, but
I rather think that was just because they
would have more strong players at an event
than anyone else. It was a chess skill quite
distinct from any other and there was no
feeling more sickening than sitting down
opposite your opponent, to find, as they
executed the sealed move, that you had not
even considered it as you tried to gulp down
dinner and engage the pocket chess set at
the same time.
Season 2?
It seems unlikely at the moment, but it’s
equally likely Netflix did not anticipated what
a huge hit it would be. At the very least I hope
there will be more chess-themed movies and
series.
Connect me to St. Louis
The continuing generosity of Rex
Sinquefield and the energy of the folks at the
St. Louis Chess Club ensured that the U.S.
Championships continued, albeit online. The
Juniors, Women’s and Veterans events all took
www.chess.co.uk
place, as well as the main event which had a
$150,000 prize fund and involved all of the
leading players, with the exception of Fabiano
Caruana.
Defending champion and hot favourite
Hikaru Nakamura never got going and was
humbled by the rising star Jeffrey Xiong in a
game so instructive and clean we’ve had to
ask Danny King to reveal its secrets in next
month’s How Good is Your Chess? column.
Wesley So won the Championship, but
was chased hard by Xiong. The most pleasing
result was the eighth triumph of Irina Krush
who had a terrible time battling Coronavirus
earlier this year during the terrible first wave
11...c4!?
in New York. Congratulations also to Joel
It’s contrary to the conventional wisdom
Benjamin who won the Veterans.
to release the tension in the centre as it gives
This was my favourite game across all the
White a free hand on the other wing. Nepo
events; you will never see a better illustration
did something similar in a Winawer pawn
of that key maxim in attacking chess: bring
structure against MVL in the last round of the
everyone to the party.
first half of the Candidates and was
eventually poleaxed by the f4-f5 advance.
R.Robson-E.Moradiabadi Black hopes his pawn storm will land first, but
he has missed a trick on move 14.
U.S. Ch.(online rapid) 2020 I think there is an improvement on the
French Defence stem game: 11...b4 (after 11...Íb7 12 0-0
0-0 13 dxc5 Íxc5 14 Íxc5 Ëxc5 White
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìc3 Ìf6 4 e5 Ìfd7 must be slightly better after 15 Ìe2 or
5 f4 c5 6 Ìf3 Ìc6 7 Íe3 Íe7 8 Ëd2 a6 15 Ëxc5 Ìxc5 16 b4 due to Black’s bad
9 Íd3 b5 10 a3 Ëb6 11 Ëf2 bishop on b7) 12 axb4 Ëxb4 13 Îa2 cxd4
5
04-06 Editorial_Chess mag - 21_6_10 17/11/2020 20:51 Page 6
14 Ìxd4 Ìxd4 15 Íxd4 Íc5 16 Íxc5
Ìxc5 17 0-0 0-0 18 f5 f6! and Black was
slightly better in Potkin-Zhou Jianchao,
Ningbo (rapid) 2010. Instead, 13 0-0!
improves, and if 13...Ëxb2? 14 Ìxd5 exd5
15 Îfb1 Ëc3 16 Íd2.
12 Íe2 g6 13 0-0
13 g4!? and 13 h4 h5 14 Ìg5 were also
possible.
13...a5?!
13...h5 would have been more prudent.
14 a4! b4 15 Ìb5! Ìa7
After 15...Ía6 16 Íxc4 dxc4 17 d5
Ëb7 18 dxc6 Ëxc6 19 Îfd1 Íxb5 20 Ìd4
Ëb7 21 Ìxb5 White has a clear edge.
16 Íxc4!! dxc4 17 d5 Íc5
If 17...Ëb7 18 Ìxa7 exd5 19 Ìb5.
18 Íxc5 Ìxc5
18...Ëxc5? 19 Ëxc5 Ìxc5 20 Ìc7+ wins.
19 Ìd6+ Êf8 20 Ìxc4 Ëc7 21 d6 Ëc6
22 Ìxa5 Ëb6 23 Ìc4
The game is already won. White has three
pawns and a huge pawn wedge which
prevents Black from bringing defenders
towards his king.
23...Ëc6 24 Ìd4 Ëa6 25 b3
25 Ìb5 Ìxb5 26 Ëxc5, attacking the
knight and threatening d6-d7+ was also
winning: for example, 26...Ìa7 27 d7+ Êg7
28 Ëe7 Íxd7 29 Ëf6+ Êg8 30 Ìd6 Íe8
31 Ìf5! is a cute line and if 31...exf5 32
Ëxa6 or 31...gxf5 32 Îf3.
25...Íb7 26 Ëh4 Ìc6 27 Ìb5
Or the direct 27 f5 exf5 28 Ìxf5 gxf5
29 Îxf5 Ëa7 30 Îaf1.
27...Îd8 28 Ëh6+ Êg8 29 Îae1 Ìa5
30 Ìe3 Ëc6 31 Ìd4 Ëe8
31...Ëe4 32 f5 exf5 33 Ìdxf5 crashes
through, and if 33...gxf5 34 Ëg5+ Êf8
35 Ëxd8+ Êg7 36 Ëf6+ Êg8 37 Îxf5.
6
Ray Robson (left) played one of the games of the U.S. Championship. Eventual winner Wesley So won
another (see inside) and his victim, Sam Shankland also had a very impressive win, as we’ll see next time.
32 Ìg4 Ìd7 support the incoming Directors going forward.
A reminder that if you have not renewed
your ECF membership, please do so and claim
an equivalent discount on purchases from
Chess & Bridge. We will still honour the offer
made in September. I don’t want to sound too
‘Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi’, but the ECF
could disappear – it already appears that the
English Bridge Union is in serious difficulties.
Everyone has been invited and what’s
more, they’ve all shown up. The end is nigh.
33 f5 Ìc6 34 fxe6 fxe6 35 Ìb5
Effectively trapping the queen. There
were other ways too, including 35 Ìf6+
Ìxf6 36 exf6 Îd7 37 Îxe6 Ëf7 38 Îfe1,
which is similarly crushing.
35...g5 36 Ëxg5+ Ëg6 37 Ìh6+ 1-0
If 37...Êg7 38 Îf7#.
Succession and Progression
No, not another Netflix series, but rather
One welcome addition to the ECF board is
the results of the ECF elections which have
London coaching supremo Rob Willmoth.
seen some welcome new faces and
strengthen the organisation as it confronts
the challenges of having no competitive OTB Hammersmith Bridge
chess and the consequent deleterious effect
on the finances. I’m delighted that Adam Within walking distance of the landmark, a
Ashton, a strong player and chess parent has positive development is the purchase of a
joined as Finance Director, London chess building by a consortium that includes
coaching supremo Rob Willmoth takes over as members of the Young Chelsea Bridge Club
Director of Membership, and particularly and the British Go Association through the T.
welcome was the appointment of former Mark Hall (1947-2013) bequest. All being
England international, actuary and authority well we may see the creation of a flourishing
on AlphaZero, WIM Natasha Regan, as an Mindsports Centre in West London with the
Non-Executive Director. Thanks also to Adrian participation of Hammersmith Chess Club.
Elwin and Dave Thomas for agreeing to More details in the next issue.
December 2020
07-07 60sPandolfini_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:48 Page 7

After playing it, Evans thought for an hour!

He and I became entwined in extreme time
pressure. Near the end, we each had to make
about 20 moves in one minute. At move 31, I
had four winning moves, but with no time to
think, I panicked and blundered, forgetting to
play the intended 31 Îxb6. Evans offered me
a draw and I took it (I had a perpetual
anyway). It cost me a bit of money. I won
$50, and lost it all on the Reno gambling
tables in something like five minutes.
Thereafter, I gave up serious chess.

B.Pandolfini-L.Evans
National Open, Reno 1970
26 f5! exf5 27 Îxf5 Ìh7 28 Îcf1 Ëd8
29 Ëg3 Îe7 30 h4 Îbb7 31 e6 Îbc7
32 Ëe5 Ëe8 33 a4 Ëd8 34 Î1f2 Ëe8
35 Î2f3 Ëd8 36 Íd3 Ëe8 37 Ëe4 Ìf6
38 Îxf6 gxf6 39 Îxf6 Êg8 40 Íc4
Êh8 41 Ëf4 1-0

M.Botvinnik-J.Capablanca
Rotterdam 1938

Born: September 17th, 1947, New Jersey.

Place of residence: New York City.

Occupation: Chess Teacher.

Enjoyable? Very. 21 Íd5! Îh8 22 Íe4 Êg8 23 cxd3 Îe8

And home life? Now and then.
But sometimes good to escape to: Music.
Great books. Old movies. The reasoning of
Bertrand Russell.
Sports played or followed: Many. Athletic
for a chess player.
A favourite novel? Ulysses. I’ve read it 18
times. In Search of Lost Time. I’ve read it once.
Piece of music? Dozens. Rachmaninoff’s
2nd Symphony; Ravel’s Le Tombeau de
Couperin; Beethoven’s 8th Symphony; Light
My Fire, the Doors.
Film or TV series? Vertigo. Casablanca. The
Apartment.
What’s the best thing about playing chess?
Winning.
And the worst? Winning.
Your best move? I don't know if it's my best
move, but 21 Íd5! was one I liked finding.
24 Íd2 Ìc4 25 Íb4 Îe5 26 Îc1 b5 27
axb5 axb5 28 b3 Ìb6 29 Îc6 Ëd8 30
Ëg4 Îh7 31 Ìxh6+? Îxh6 32 Îxh6 f5
33 Ëg6 fxe4 34 Ëh7+ Êf7 35 Ëg6+ ½-½
But less memorable than your worst move?
There were (and are) so many.
And a highly memorable opponent?
Marcel Duchamp and Reuben Fine.
Favourite game of all time? Botvinnik-
Capablanca, AVRO 1938. Fischer-Spassky,
Game 6, 1972.
R.Fischer-B.Spassky
6th matchgame, Reykjavik 1972
Queen’s Gambit Declined
1 c4 e6 2 Ìf3 d5 3 d4 Ìf6 4 Ìc3 Íe7
5 Íg5 0-0 6 e3 h6 7 Íh4 b6 8 cxd5
Ìxd5 9 Íxe7 Ëxe7 10 Ìxd5 exd5
11 Îc1 Íe6 12 Ëa4 c5 13 Ëa3 Îc8
14 Íb5 a6 15 dxc5 bxc5 16 0-0 Îa7
17 Íe2 Ìd7 18 Ìd4 Ëf8 19 Ìxe6 fxe6
20 e4 d4 21 f4 Ëe7 22 e5 Îb8 23 Íc4
Êh8 24 Ëh3 Ìf8 25 b3 a5
30 Ía3!! Ëxa3 31 Ìh5+! gxh5 32 Ëg5+
Êf8 33 Ëxf6+ Êg8 34 e7 Ëc1+ 35 Êf2
Ëc2+ 36 Êg3 Ëd3+ 37 Êh4 Ëe4+
38 Êxh5 Ëe2+ 39 Êh4 Ëe4+ 40 g4
Ëe1+ 41 Êh5 1-0
The best three chess books: Really tough
call. Let’s do it this way. For best: My Best
Games of Chess, Volumes 1 & 2 – Alekhine;
100 Selected Games of Chess – Botvinnik;
My 60 Memorable Games – Fischer. For
favourite: The Human Side of Chess –
Reinfeld; New Ideas in Chess – Evans;
Modern Ideas in Chess – Reti.
Can chess make one happy? As much as
music and love.
A tip please for the club player: Play as if the
future of humanity depends on your efforts.

www.chess.co.uk
7
08-12 USChamps_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:46 Page 8

A Krushing Success
The format had changed, but the big names still shone in the U.S. Championships

Irina Krush claimed her eighth U.S. Women’s

title when the decision was made not to
cancel this year’s postponed Championships,
but play them instead on Lichess in October,
with support still coming from the St. Louis
Chess Club. Purists may object to the winners
of rapid tournaments (25 minutes plus a five-
second increment), played over four days,
being considered national champions.
However, this is 2020 and many fans were
just grateful to see the best American players
in action on Lichess, as well as to enjoy the
accompanying commentary from that long-
established, popular team of Jennifer Shahade,
Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley.
Having earlier in October triumphed in the
U.S. Girls’ Championship, rising star 17-year-
old Carissa Yip began steadily in the Women’s
Championship, drawing her first three games.
Yip then went on something of a burst,
racking up 4½/5 to lead top seed Irina Krush
by half a point.

T.Abrahamyan-C.Yip
Round 6
Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf6

5 d3 d6 6 c3 g6 7 0-0 Íg7 8 Ìbd2 0-0
9 Îe1 b5 10 Íc2 Íb7 11 a4 Îe8
12 Ìf1
A fairly typical scenario for a Closed Lopez
and Black now regroups in Breyer-approved
fashion.
12...Ìb8 13 Ìg3 c5 14 h3 Ìc6!?
Of course, 14...Ìbd7 would complete the
manoeuvre patented by Gyula Breyer.
Perhaps Yip was concerned by 15 d4, but
after 15...cxd4 16 cxd4 Black has sufficient
counterplay against e4 after 16...exd4 and
might also consider 16...d5!?.
15 Íg5 h6
Having earlier in October won the U.S. Girls’ Championship (see this month’s Overseas News),
Carissa Yip went close in the U.S. Women’s Championship, the 17 year old finishing second.
16 Íe3 19...d5!
With Black’s knight having gone back to
c6, 16 Íxf6 Ëxf6 17 Ìf1 came into
consideration, but Black should be dynamic
enough to maintain a rough balance after
17...Ìe7 18 Ìe3 h5! and ...Íh6.
The bold 16 Íh4!? is actually preferred by
Stockfish, obtaining reasonable compensation
for the piece in the event of 16...g5 17 Ìxg5
hxg5 18 Íxg5 when Black is afloat after
18...Ìe7, but would clearly here much prefer
this knight to have gone to d7.
16...Ëe7 17 Íb3
The American International begins to eye
the kingside.
While 17 Ëd2!? would optically also have
done so, after 17...Êh7 a way to pose a few
problems is 18 b4!, and if 18...cxb4 19 cxb4 The classic central strike, which, as so
d5 20 Íc5 Ëd7 21 Ëe2 followed by Íb3 often, merely serves to underline that it’s
with chances for an edge. Black’s turn to expand and begin to take over.
17...Îad8 18 axb5 axb5 19 Ìh4?! 20 Ëf3?
Right square, wrong piece, although even Abrahamyan didn’t struggle with the
after 19 h4!? h5 20 Ìg5 Îf8 Black should online format to anything like the extent that
be solid enough. four-time U.S. Women’s Champion Anna

December 2020
8
08-12 USChamps_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:46 Page 9

Zatonskih did, but this move is far too slow.

With 20 exd5 Ìxd5 looking rather
comfortable for Black, and even so after 21
Ëg4 Êh7, now was probably the moment to
change the trend of the game with 20 Ìgf5!
(or 20 Ìhf5!) 20...gxf5 21 Ìxf5. The engines
are quick to display their favourite ‘0.00’.
You might well think, ‘Really?’, but after
21...Ëf8 22 exd5 Ìxd5 23 Ëg4 White does
appear to have enough play. Black can avoid a
repetition with 23...Ìxe3 24 Îxe3 Íc8 25
Ìxh6+ Êh7 26 Ìf5 Íxf5 27 Ëxf5+ Êg8,
but even here 28 Îf3 c4!? (28...Îe7 29
Ëe4 Îd6 30 Îa6 leaves White pretty
actively placed) 29 dxc4 e4 30 Îf4 Ìe7 31
Ëh5 Ìg6 32 Îf5 is likely no more than
unclear and about equal.
20...c4!
Ouch. In view of 21 Íc2 d4, White
suddenly finds her centre badly levered open
and even 21 dxc4 bxc4 22 Ía4 d4 23 Íd2
Ìd7 would have left Black clearly for choice.
21 exd5? e4!
There was nothing wrong with 21...Ìxd5, Irina Krush is four years younger than Jovanka Houska and already has eight U.S. Women’s titles
but Yip continues to play with great energy to Jovanka’s 10 British titles. Will they amass as many as 30 national titles between them?
and has spotted something even stronger.
22 Ìxe4
22 dxe4 Ìe5 23 Ëe2 cxb3 24 Ëxb5
half a point, with bottom seed Dorsa A fairly effective pin and one which causes
Derakhshani doing extremely well to finish Abrahamyan to immediately err. A game from
does give White three pawns for the piece, just a further half-point in arrears. The the Magnus Carlsen Invitational back in April
but the tactics somewhat favour Black after
24...Ìxe4! 25 Ìxe4 Íxd5, hitting both
$25,000 first prize was a fitting reward for had already shown the correct path for Black:
the Brooklyn-based Krush, coming just six 11...Ëb6 12 exd4 Ìxd4 (12...Íxd4!? 13 0-
stricken white knights. 0 Íg4 is probably the critical line) 13 Ìxd4
22...Ìe5 23 Ëg3 Ìh5
months after she was hospitalised ahead of
making a full recovery from Covid. Íxd4 14 0-0 Íd7 (and not 14...Íe6? 15
Continuing to strive for the maximum. The Ìa4 Ëb4 16 a3 when even 16...Íb3 17
game is up for Abrahamyan. axb4 Íxc2 18 Îxd4 Íxa4 19 b5 leaves
24 d6 Îxd6 25 Ìxd6!? Ìxg3 26 Ìxe8 I.Krush-T.Abrahamyan Black in some trouble) 15 Ëd2 Íxc3 16
Ëxh4 27 Ìxg7 Round 9 Ëxc3 Îac8 17 Ëa3 when White was slightly
Nimzo-Indian Defence for choice with his bishop-pair, but Black
managed to hold in Vachier-Lagrave-Ding
1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 e6 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 Ëc2 d5 Liren, Internet (rapid) 2020.
5 cxd5 exd5 6 Íf4 11...Ìd5? 12 Ìg5!
A modern twist, aiming to retain more Krush is quick to reveal the downside to
control than White has in the sharp line 6 Black’s ambitious last.
Íg5 h6 7 Íh4 c5 8 dxc5 g5 9 Íg3 Ìe4, as 12...g6
some readers will remember from the 1993 Black would soon land up losing the d-
world championship match. pawn after 12...Ìf6 13 0-0 h6 14 Ìf3.
6...c5 7 dxc5 0-0 8 e3 Ìc6 9 Ìf3 Íxc5 13 Ìxd5 Ëxd5 14 0-0
This position can also arise from the QGD Material is level, but the pin remains
line 3...d5 4 Ìf3 Íe7 5 Íf4 0-0 6 e3 c5 7 awkward for Black and White is set to seize
dxc5 Íxc5 8 Ëc2 Ìc6 and then not the the initiative.
standard 9 a3, but 9 cxd5 exd5. 14...Íe7 15 Íc4 Ëa5
10 Íe2 d4!? The only real way to unpin without
Liquidating the IQP so must be critical, but dropping the d-pawn.
White has managed to obtain two rooks
Black may still come up just shy of full equality. 16 h4!
for the queen, but unsurprisingly her kingside
is about to be blown to smithereens. 11 Îd1
27...Ìf3+! 28 gxf3 Ëxh3 29 fxg3
Ëxg3+ 30 Êf1
The king can run, but it can’t hide.
30...Ëxf3+ 31 Íf2 Ëh3+ 32 Êe2
Ëxd3# 0-1

Yip was on the sacrificial trail again in

round 9, but her offer of a rook then bishop
came up somewhat short against Ashritha
Eswaran, which allowed Krush to overtake her
by defeating Tatev Abrahamyan. That set up a
tense final day, but Krush scarcely blinked.
She held her nerve to finish with two wins
and so claim her eighth U.S. title with 8½/11,
holding off Yu, who also finished with 2/2, by Krush continues to play with verve and

www.chess.co.uk
9
08-12 USChamps_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:46 Page 10

now even 16...Íf5 17 Ëb3 would have left
Black under heavy pressure.
16...dxe3?! 17 Íxe3?!
Simple chess, but 17 Ìxf7! was on, and if
17...Íf5 (or 17...Îxf7 18 fxe3 when
18...Íf5 doesn’t plug the f-file on account of
19 e4 and 18...Ëf5 19 Íxf7+ Ëxf7 is
butchered by 20 Íg5 Ëxa2 21 Íxe7 Ìxe7
22 Îd8+) 18 Ëb3 e2 19 Ìg5+ Êg7 20
Íxe2 with an extra pawn and ongoing
initiative.
17...Ìe5 18 Íb3 Íf5
Finally completing development, but even
here White is very much the side calling the
shots.
19 Ëe2 h6?
Black’s position was difficult, but she
might have fought on with 19...Ìg4 20 Íf4
Îae8 21 Ëf3 Íc5.
20 Îd5! Ëc7 21 Îc1 Ìc6
22 Îxf5!
A lovely blow. White also could have
crashed through with 22 Ìxf7! Îxf7 23
Îxf5 gxf5 24 Ëh5.
22...hxg5
22...gxf5? 23 Ëh5! cleans Black up in
view of 23...hxg5 24 Ëg6+ Êh8 25 Íd4+
Ìxd4 26 Îxc7.
23 hxg5 gxf5?
Accelerating the end. It would but have
been a slightly slower death after 23...Ëd7
24 Îd5 Ëe6 25 Ëf3 or 23...Îad8 24 Îf3
Ëe5 25 Îh3.
24 Ëh5
Black is a rook ahead, but quite powerless
against the threat of g6 and mate on h7.
24...Ëe5 25 g6 Ëg7
Even after 25...Ëh8 26 Íh6 Ëf6 the
attack is too strong, with the most aesthetic
way to win, 27 Îxc6 bxc6 28 Íf4 Ëg7 (or
28...Ëh4 29 gxf7+ Êg7 30 Íe5+) 29 Íe5.
26 Íh6 Ëf6 27 Íd2
Or just 27 Îxc6! bxc6 28 Íf4, as above.
27...Ëg7
This time 27...Ëh4 would have failed to
28 Íxf7+ Îxf7 29 gxf7+ Êg7 30 Íh6+
Êh7 31 Ëxh4 Íxh4 32 f8Ë Îxf8 33 Íxf8
with an extra exchange in the endgame.
28 Íc3 1-0
In the subsequent U.S. Championship, a
prize fund of $150,000 and top prize of
$40,000 wasn’t sufficient to tempt Fabiano
Caruana, who might be an improved speed
player, but may not enjoy such formats of the
game as much as the likes of Hikaru Nakamura
and Wesley So. The former, the top seed,
defending champion and pre-tournament
favourite, found himself under pressure on
3/5, as second seed So quite simply burst
from the gates. So won five on the bounce,
albeit initially not without some fortune,
requiring a major blunder in a drawn endgame
from Aleks Lenderman and after finding himself
a pawn down against Awonder Liang. On the
second day, however, he was quite dominant,
his best effort the following brilliancy.
S.Shankland-W.So
Round 4
Nimzo-Indian Defence
1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 e6 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 f3 d5
Play quickly enters arguably the main line
of the 4 f3 variation. A decent alternative for
Black is 4...c5 5 d5 b5!?, after which 6 e4 d6
7 Íd2 Íxc3 8 Íxc3 b4 9 Íd2 0-0 10 Ìe2
Ìh5 11 Íe3 f5 was typically murky and
appeared to supply enough counterplay in
Caruana-Aronian, Stavanger 2020.
5 a3 Íxc3+ 6 bxc3 c5 7 cxd5 Ìxd5 8
dxc5 Ëa5 9 e4 Ìe7 10 Íe3 0-0
The aforementioned main line. Instead,
10...Ëxc3+?! 11 Êf2 0-0 12 Ìe2 would
merely accelerate White’s development.
11 Ëb3 Ëc7 12 Íb5
White’s most popular choice (12 a4 and 12
Ìh3 are alternatives), aimed aganst 12...Ìd7.
12...e5
12...Ìec6 13 Ìe2 Ìa5 is another way of
playing when in Smirnov-Abdusattorov, Wijk
aan Zee 2020, White showcased a typical idea
for the line: 14 Ëb4 e5 15 Ìd4!? (15...exd4
16 cxd4 would leave White with a mobile and
powerful centre).
13 Ìe2 Íe6 14 c4!?
An ambitious new try, angling for Ìc3-d5.
Previously, 14 Ëb2 Ìd7 15 Íxd7 Ëxd7 16 0-0
Îfd8 had seemed fine for Black in Soffer-Bar,
Israeli League 2011, with White’s extra pawn
not all that useful and ...Ìc6-a5 on the way.
14...Ìbc6 15 Ìc3?!
Consistent, but White might do better
with 15 Íxc6 Ìxc6 16 Ìc3!, returning the
pawn for a fairly harmonious set-up with
16...Ìa5 17 Ëb4 Ìxc4 18 Íf2.
15...Ìa5 16 Ëb4 Ìec6 17 Ëa4?
Shankland had not seen what was coming
or he would have tried to grovel with 17 Ëb2

2020 US Women's Chess Championship, held on lichess.org, 21-24 October

Player Title Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts TPR
1 Irina Krush GM 2429 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 8½ 2524
2 Carissa Yip IM 2421 ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 8 2489
3 Dorsa Derakhshani IM 2270 ½ ½ * 1 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7½ 2460
4 Jennifer Yu FM 2315 0 ½ 0 * 1 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 6 2359
5 Ashritha Eswaran WIM 2244 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 5½ 2330
6 Tatev Abrahamyan WGM 2358 0 0 0 1 0 * 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 5½ 2319
7 Emily Nguyen WIM 2280 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 * 0 0 1 0 ½ 5 2290
8 Martha Samadashvili WFM 2215 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 0 1 * 1 0 ½ ½ 4½ 2267
9 Annie Wang IM 2384 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 * 1 0 ½ 4 2215
10 Thalia Cervantes Landeiro FM 2311 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 0 * ½ ½ 4 2222
11 Sabina-Francesca Foisor WGM 2228 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ * 1 4 2229
12 Anna Zatonskih IM 2420 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 3½ 2181

December 2020
10
08-12 USChamps_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:46 Page 11

(17 Íxc6? bxc6! favours Black even after

18 Ìd5!? cxd5 19 cxd5 Îab8 20 Ëc3 Îb3
21 Ëc1 Íc8 ) 17...Ìd4 18 Ìd5 Ëxc5 19 Îd1.
17...a6! 18 Íxc6

18...Ìxc4!!
A bolt from the blue. White had no doubt
been busy analysing 18...bxc6 19 Ìd5! cxd5
20 cxd5 Íd7 21 c6, which should fizzle out
to equality after 21...Ìxc6 22 dxc6 Ëxc6.
19 Íxb7?
Critical, but flawed. After 19 Íf2 bxc6 20
Ëc2 Îfd8 21 0-0 Îd2 22 Ëc1 or 19 Ìd1
bxc6 20 0-0 White would have been
somewhat worse, but fighting.
19...Ìxe3! 20 Íxa8 Ëxc5
So continues to spurn pieces. He is now a
whole rook down, but White’s coordination is
shot and he can’t castle.
21 Ìd5!
The best try. 21 Îc1 Ìxg2+ 22 Êd1 Ëf2
Wesley So had plenty to smile about too during the U.S. Championship on Lichess, not least
when playing a lovely rook sacrifice en route to crushing Sam Shankland as he reached 5/5.
would just be curtains, as would 21 Ìe2 Badly underestimating the danger. After
Ìxg2+ 22 Êf1 Ìh4. 24 Ìxf4 exf4 25 Îc1 Ëd2 (25...Íh3+ 26
21...Ìxg2+? Êe2 Ëxa3 27 Ëc3 keeps the king guarded)
This might have thrown it all away. It was 26 h4! Black wouldn’t have had anything
high time to recoup some material, beginning better than the repetition with 26...Ëd3+ 27
with 21...Ìc2+ 22 Êd2 (22 Êe2? Íxd5 23 Êg1 Ëe3+ 28 Êg2 Ëe2+ 29 Êg1 Ëe3+,
Íxd5 Ëe3+ 24 Êd1 Ëd3+ 25 Êc1 Ìxa1 and the engines’ impressively calm 24 Îa2!
26 Êb2 Îb8+! wins) 22...Ìxa1 23 Îxa1 (or would actually have called Black’s last move
23 Íb7 Íxd5 24 Íxd5 Îc8 followed by into question, White emerging with the upper
extricating the knight with an ongoing, hand after 24...Îd8 25 Îc2 Ëxa3 26 Êf2
crushing initiative) 23...Ëf2+ 24 Êd3 Îxa8 Ëd3 27 Îe1 Ìxd5 28 exd5 Íxd5 29 Ëc3
when White surely wouldn’t have survived. Ëxc3 30 Îxc3 Îxa8 31 Îxe5.
22 Êf1 Ìf4 23 Ëc6! 24...Íxd5! 25 exd5 Ëxa3
A shock for So who had clearly only
reckoned on 23 Ìxf4? exf4 when the arrival
of the black queen on c3 or e3 is remarkably
hard for White to meet, as we can see from
24 Íd5 Íh3+ 25 Êe2 Ëe3+ 26 Êd1
Ëxf3+ 27 Êc2 Îc8+, and if 28 Êb2 Ëg2+
29 Êb3 Ëc2+ 30 Êb4 Ëc3#.
23...Ëa5!?
Clearly Black can’t exchange queens and
White would surely have been OK after
23...Ëd4 24 Ëc3 Ëxc3 (24...Íh3+ 25 Êe1
Ìg2+ 26 Êe2 Ìf4+ would repeat moves)
25 Ìxc3 Îxa8, sufficient though Black’s
compensation for the exchange likely is.
24 Îd1?

2020 US Chess Championship, held on lichess.org, 26-29 October

Player Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts TPR
1 Wesley So 2770 * 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 9 2918
2 Jeffery Xiong 2709 0 * 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 8½ 2873
3 Ray Robson 2673 ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 7½ 2798
4 Leinier Dominguez Perez 2758 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 6 2693
5 Sam Shankland 2691 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 5½ 2663
6 Awonder Liang 2592 0 0 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 5½ 2672
7 Sam Sevian 2660 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 5 2630
8 Hikaru Nakamura 2736 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ 5 2623
9 Aleksandr Lenderman 2634 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 4½ 2604
10 Dariusz Swiercz 2649 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ ½ 3½ 2534
11 Alejandro Ramirez 2567 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ * ½ 3 2500
12 Elshan Moradiabadi 2555 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * 3 2501

www.chess.co.uk
11
08-12 USChamps_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:46 Page 12
Threatening mate via f3. White can easily
parry that, but not also neutralise the famed
attacking duo of queen and knight.
26 d6 Ëb2
Threatening mate on e2 or g2 and leaving
White with nothing better than to return a rook.
27 Ëe4 Ëg2+ 28 Êe1 Ëxh1+ 29 Êd2
Ëxh2+ 30 Êc3 Ìe2+! 31 Êc4 Ìd4
The knight continues to prove far too
much for White to cope with.
32 d7
Even 32 Îxd4 exd4 33 d7 doesn’t come
close to saving the day as the pawn will fall
after 33...Ëa2+ 34 Êd3 Ëb3+.
32...Ëa2+ 33 Êc5 Ëa3+ 34 Êb6 Ëb3+
0-1
Black is actually mating, not picking up the
loose rook on d1 for free: 35 Êc5 (or 35
Êa7 Ëb8+, etc) 35...Ìe6+ 36 Êd6 Ëb8+
37 Êe7 Ëd8+ 38 Êd6 Ëc7+ 39 Êe7
Îe8+! 40 Êxe8 Ëd8#.
Nakamura really needed to defeat Liang in
the sixth round, but his decision to go all in
merely allowed the 17-year-old to defend
coolly, take his chances and pull off a major
upset. Things didn’t get any better for the
chess king of Twitch, who is normally deadly
at rapid, but possibly he failed to fully readjust
to the 25+5 time control, in contrast to the
Carlsen Tour which preferred a brisker
15+10. In contrast, both Jeffery Xiong and
Ray Robson had tournaments to remember,
chasing home So, who commented that “this
title is really prestigious”, while defeating
Nakamura en route.
Xiong is now 20 and if he can translate the
progress he has made online in recent months
into over-the-board success next year, he
must have every chance of becoming
America’s fourth member of the chess elite.
Indeed, Xiong might even have claimed the
title had he not missed a trick in an endgame
just when his ninth round encounter with So
looked set to be drawn, when they were both
on an astonishing ‘+6’.
W.So-J.Xiong
Round 9
Clearly 43...Êxb6 44 d6 Íg4 45 d7
Íxd7 46 Îxd7 Îxf2 should be a draw, but
perhaps White might press if he can
somehow win Black’s remaining pawns.
Instead, the silicon likes 43...Íe4, and if 44
12
Îd2 Íf5 45 d6 Íd7, ahead of picking off
the b-pawn, but what about chasing that
pawn down with the black rook?
43...Îb4+ 44 Êc3 Îxb6?
Falling into a trap. Once again, a better
move was 44...Íe4 when after 45 Îd2
Îc4+ 46 Êb3 Îb4+ 47 Êa3 Black can go
47...Îxb6! as White’s king finds itself too far
away to prevent the liquidation of his final
pawn after 48 d6 Îxd6 49 Îxd6 Êxd6 50
Íxe4 Êe5.
45 d6! Îxb7
Ouch. Suddenly Black must lose material in
view of 45...Íxb7? 46 d7.
46 d7 Îxd7 47 Îxd7
47...f5?
The decisive mistake. Of course, it’s not
easy with the king cut off, but 47...Íd5
48 Êd3 Íe6 would have retained definite
drawing chances, as shown by 49 Îd8 Íf5+
50 Êe3 Íe6 51 Êe4 Êc4 52 Êe5 g4
53 Êf6 Êc3 when White isn’t quite in time to
arrange a decisive return of the exchange on
f7 or g5.
48 Êd3 Íe4+ 49 Êe3 g4
Sub-optimal, but even after 49...Êc4 50
Îg7 Êd5!? 51 Îxg5 Êe5 52 f4+ White
should be winning.
50 Êf4 Êc6?
Making it easy, but even after 50...Êc4
51 Êe3! (and not 51 Îf7? Êd3 52 Îxf5
Íxf5 53 Êxf5 Êe2) 51...Êc5 (51...Êc3 52
Îc7+ drives the king further away) 52 Îd8
Êc4 53 Îf8 Êd5 54 Îe8! White would have
been winning after Êf4, Îe5(+) and Îxf5.
51 Îf7 Êd6 52 Îxf5! 1-0
The opposition is White’s after 52...Íxf5
53 Êxf5 Êe7 54 Êxg4 Êf6 55 Êf4!.
A little bird
just told me
A round-up of what the top
players and chess personalities
have been saying on Twitter
Stephen King - @StephenKing
I’ve watched a lot of TV during this cursed
year - I know I’m not alone - and the best
of the best is The Queen’s Gambit, on Netflix.
Utterly thrilling. I thought nothing would beat
The Trial of the Chicago Seven, but this does.
Chess news - @chessnews
The Queen’s Gambit receives worldwide
praise as it hits no. 1 in 27 countries.
Jennifer Shahade - @JenShahade
#TheQueensGambit is so brilliant but using
some women’s games would have been
awesome. Many viewers google Beth
Harmon and are disappointed to find she is
totally fictional. Imagine the consolatory
wink in redirection to Polgar or Menchik or
Rudenko stories/games. #Playlikeagirl
Leon Watson - @LeonWatson
I thought The Queen’s Gambit was OK.
Solid 6.5/10. That the chess was accurate
is nice (and unusual), but doesn’t in itself
make it a great show. Think there’s more
than a bit of confirmation bias going on in
the chess community that is fuelling some
of its wild response.
International Chess Federation -
@FIDE_chess
The lack of rated events due to the pandemic
could have led, under the existing regulations,
to many players being considered as
‘inactive’. The Qualification Commission
has recommended extending (temporarily)
the period required to be considered
“inactive” from 12 to 24 months.
Saulé - @sankuperis
Lithuanian politics is female. The new Prime
Minister Ingrida Šimonyte. Chairwoman of
Liberal Movement, also chess grandmaster,
Viktorija Cmilyte Nielsen. Chairwoman of
Freedom Party Aušrine Armonaite. These
three women led their lists and will now be
forming a coalition.
CoChess - @CoChessOfficial
Did you see our newest creation - Last Chess
Week Tonight - an entertaining show on the
most important chess events of the chess
week? It’s hosted by @fionchetta and she
has some guests to come - stay tuned and
be the first to know this week’s guests.
December 2020
13-13 Thinkers Advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 17:45 Page 1
14-17 DolomitiOpen_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:42 Page 14
Escapism!
Whilst he still could, Matthew Lunn headed for the Dolomites with some friends
In these uncertain times, competitive
chess has been vital for so many of us. This
has been able to continue thanks to dedicated
organisers who, unsung in the old world and
new, have quietly and tirelessly kept our
game going in spite of unforeseen challenges.
For much of lockdown, the prospect of
playing over the board felt like a pipe dream. As
the first restrictions lifted, a smattering of
European tournaments resumed, and the
Dolomiti Open caught the eye. Not only had
Italy handled the second wave extremely well,
but the beauty of the Italian mountainscape and
the exceptional field were too much to resist.
As the second wave worsened, the dynamics
of the tournament changed. The venue moved
from a hotel to the local sports centre, and travel
restrictions forced many competitors to
withdraw, including the big beasts of Ivanchuk,
Shirov and Dreev. As it turns out, had the
tournament started a couple of weeks later, the
four English participants (disproportionately
featured in this article) would have joined them,
a victim of quarantine requirements.
By the time the pairings for round 1 were
confirmed, just 26 people remained in the
Open, with a daunting 2263 rating average.
‘No easy games’ is a cliché, but when there
are only two players rated under 2000, it
carries a certain weight.
The opening rounds produced few surprises,
but the third was a corker. 2600-rated Pier
Luigi Basso lost with White to IM Blohberger,
whilst GM Valsecchi produced the first of
three consecutive wins against higher seeds.
A.Valsecchi-B.Heberla
Round 3
White looks a little better here due to the
weak g6-pawn, and Black’s slightly draughty
kingside.
14
29 Íc4 Ëh4?
Now Valsecchi exploits this advantage
with devastating effect.
30 Îxe5! dxe5 31 Ëxg6 Îf8 32 Íxe5
Îxf1+ 33 Êxf1!
The correct capture, keeping the bishop
on the influential a2-g8 diagonal. After 33
Íxf1 Ëe7 White’s initiative has fizzled out.
33...Ëh7
33...Ëh1+ 34 Êe2 quickly brings an end
to Black’s counterplay.
34 d6+ Îxc4 35 Ëe6+ 1-0
Black resigned, as 35...Êf8 allows White
to force everything off with 36 Íxg7+ Ëxg7
37 Ëc8+ Êf7 38 Ëd7+ Êg8 39 Ëxg7+
Êxg7 40 bxc4, while after 35...Êh8 the
simplest win is 36 Ëe8+ Ëg8 37 Íxg7+
Êxg7 38 Ëxg8+ Êxg8 39 bxc4.
Lower down the field, Angelo Bourdignon
and Maria Andolfatto were making waves.
Bourdignon, the 22nd seed, dispatched WIM
Guechi and FM Fischer in quick succession, whilst
Andolfatto, seeded 24th, caught the eye with an
unusual sacrifice against Andrea Simonetto.
A.Simonetto-M.Andolfatto
Round 4
Reti Opening
1 Ìf3 d5 2 e3 Ìf6 3 c4
Going for a structure advocated by GM
Axel Smith in e3 Poison.
3...e6 4 b3 b6 5 cxd5
An uncommon approach, which could
transpose into normal lines. However,
Simonetto has something else in mind.
5...exd5 6 Íb5+ Ìbd7 7 Íc6
7 Ìe5 Íb7 8 Íb2 Íd6 looks fine for Black.
7...Îb8
White can be pretty happy with the
opening stages, achieving a pleasant Nimzo-
Larsen structure. The light-squared bishop
will be exchanged at his leisure, with the
potential to shift Black’s pieces on to slightly
awkward squares.
8 Ìd4
This feels overambitious. Instead, 8 Íb2
with Ìc3 to follow should give White a bit of
an edge. The computer identifies another
interesting plan, which is to counter 8...Íe7
with 9 Íxf6! Íxf6 10 d4, and d5 is under
threat. White will meet 10...Íb7 with 11 Ëc2,
and enjoy better coordination than his opponent.
8...Íc5 9 Íb2 Ía6 10 Ìf5 Êf8!?
I’m uncertain why this move was chosen
over 10...0-0, where Black’s king is safe enough.
Its position on f8 is integral to what follows.
11 b4!?
Spotting a tactic, based on the config-
uration of Black’s bishops and the possibility
of a pin on the a3-f8 diagonal. However,
White misses an extraordinary resource.
11...Íxb4 12 Ëa4 Ìc5
Defending the a6-bishop and preparing
...Ìd3+.
13 Ëxb4
Black is a piece for a pawn down, but
...Ìd3 is a huge threat. If only the knight
weren’t pinned against the black king...
13...Ëd6!
Undoing the pin in spectacular fashion.
Now ....Ìd3+ and ...Ëxc6 are threatened,
and White collapses under the shock.
14 Ëa3
Judging by White’s next move, I imagine he
thought this won the knight on c5 by force.
Clarifying the position with 14 Ìxd6 is
the right idea, and after 14...Ìd3+ 15 Êe2
Ìxb4+ White has 16 Íb5 which holds his
position together. Following 16...cxd6 17 Íxa6
Ìxa6 18 Íxf6 gxf6 19 Ìc3 White is a pawn
down, but the weak sets of doubled pawns
December 2020
14-17 DolomitiOpen_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:42 Page 15

provide more than enough compensation,
with Black’s knight doomed to a passive role if
he wishes to hold on to d5.
14...Ëxc6 15 d4
This looks like the right plan, but the
tactics favour Black.
15...Ëb5!
Threatening ...Ëe2# and ...Ëxb2 followed
by ...Ìd3+, winning a piece.
16 Ìc3
16 Êd1 (or the transpositional 16 Êd2) is
the only try, hoping Black falls apart in the
complications after 16...Ëe2+ 17 Êc1 Íd3
18 Ìd2. There is no immediate win, but Black
can be confident of converting the position
after the forcing 18...Ìfe4 19 Íc3 Ìxc3 20
Ëxc3 Íxf5 21 dxc5 h5, due to her extra
pawn and White’s light-squared weaknesses.
16...Ëxb2 17 Ëxb2 Ìd3+ 0-1
Neither Andolfatto or Bourdignon could
sustain their form over nine rounds, both
performing well in round five before accruing
a run of losses against strong opposition.
Indeed, Bourdignon was somewhat fortunate
to hold his round five game against bottom
seed Morgan Blake, a phenomenally under-
rated English player whose fine tournament
included the following comedic finish.
Notes by Morgan Blake
M.Blake-M.Bonade
Round 4
to play 34 Ëh8?? before noticing the issue.
My opponent smirked when he understood my
error and I sheepishly repeated the position.
34 Ëd5 Êg7 35 Ëd4+ Êg8 36 Ìh6# 1-0
Finding the mate in one on the second
attempt.
My own tournament was somewhat
disappointing, finishing with zero wins, and six
draws which ranged from the gutsy to the
insipid. It was a testament to the field that this
modest score had me performing above my
rating, though in truth I rarely looked like
pulling off an upset. Still, the opportunity to
play and learn from much higher-rated players
is the big appeal of these Opens, and the
reason I found joy in the following disaster.
N.Fecker-M.Lunn
Round 6
Sicilian Classical
1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4
Ìf6 5 Ìc3 d6 6 Íg5 Íd7 7 Ëd2 Îc8
8 f4 Ìxd4 9 Ëxd4 Ëa5 10 e5 dxe5
11 fxe5 e6 12 0-0-0 Íc6
An ultra-sharp variation of the Richter-
this was the right move, but had no idea why.
17...Íb4 18 Ëg3 0-0 19 h5 looks
challenging for Black, and trying to nab a
pawn with 19...Íxg2 loses after 20 hxg6
Îxc4 (or 20...hxg6? 21 Ëh4 and mate is
unstoppable) 21 Îxh7.
18 Ëd6 Íc5 19 Ëg3
I had no idea if it was safe to castle here,
without the black pawn on h5. After much
thought, I convinced myself that it was too
risky, as White would play h5 himself, and
mate me on the h-file.
19...Ëb4??
Provoking a winning tactic, which I had
seen, but didn’t believe.
In fact 19...0-0 is the only move, meeting
20 h5 with 20...Íf2! – a resource that isn’t
possible with the bishop on b4. After 21 Ëf4
(21 Ëg4 Ëf5 22 Ëxf5 gxf5 looks fine for
Black, whose king is surprisingly safe)
21...Îfd8 Black must be careful, but his
control over key squares will give him time to
generate activity, and not simply be mated.
20 Íxe6!
Played after some thought, although my
opponent confirmed afterwards that he knew
this was a winning move.
20...fxe6 21 f7+ Êxf7 22 Îhf1+ Êg8
22...Êe8 loses to the picturesque 23 Ëc7!.

29 Ìh6
I have been putting Black under pressure
for some time, and here he cracks.
29...Îf8
29...Ëb2 is the only move, but it’s tough
to find. Black has the advantage after
30 Ìxg8 Êxg8 31 bxa4 Íe7 32 Îdd1
Îxa4 33 Ìf5 Íf8.
30 Îxg6! Ìxg6 31 Ìxf7+ Êg8
After 31...Îxf7 32 Îxf7 Ëa1+ 33 Ìf1
Black must give up his queen to prevent mate.
32 Ëd5 Êg7
32...Íf6 is the only move to prevent mate,
but White wins after 33 Ìg4 Îxf7 34 Ìxf6+
(not 34 Ìh6+ Êg7 and Black escapes,
retaining a decisive material advantage after
35 Ìf5+ Êh8 36 Ëxa8+ Îf8 or 35 Ëxf7+
Êxh6) 34...Êg7 35 Ìh5+ Êh6 36 Ëxf7.
33 Ëd4+ Êg8
Here, I triumphantly picked up my queen
23 Ëe5
Rauzer, a Classical Sicilian in which Black met
6 Íg5 with 6...Íd7, an idea popularised by
Dreev. I had studied this line prior to the I thought this would be double-edged,
tournament, but in prepping for this game, given I have an extra bishop and the potential
failed to review one crucial line. for a queenside attack. Unfortunately my king
13 Ìb5 is much weaker than his, and the extra bishop
13 Íb5 is the common alternative, does not compensate for the rook on h8.
leading to a semi-ending where Black has two 23...Ëc4 24 Íh6 Íe3+
fewer pawns, but an active position after
13...Ìd5 (the natural 13...Íxb5? loses –
after the standard sequence 14 exf6 Íc6
15 h4 g6 16 Îhe1 Black has no good way to
meet the threat of Îxe6+ with f7+ to follow:
for instance, 16...Íc5 17 Îxe6+ fxe6 18 f7+
Êxf7 19 Ëf6+ Êg8 20 Ëxe6+ Êg7 21 h5)
14 Ìxd5 Íxb5 15 Ëxa7 Íb4 16 Ëxb7
0-0 17 Ìxb4 Ëxb4.
13...Íxb5 14 exf6 Íc6
Preparing to meet 15 fxg7 with 15...Ëxg5+.
15 h4 g6 16 Íc4 Íc5 17 Ëe5
And I realised with horror that I had
forgotten to go over this key line.
17 Ëg4 h5 18 Ëg3 is similar to the game,
with the added move ...h5. I was aware that I A neat idea which doesn’t work at all, although
could castle in this position. after 24...Íd4 once again 25 Ëc7 wins.
17...Íb6 25 Ëxe3 Íf3!?
I remembered from previous study that Winning material, but allowing a pretty win.

www.chess.co.uk
15
14-17 DolomitiOpen_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:42 Page 16

26 Îd8+! Îxd8 27 Ëxf3 1-0

And mate on f7 or f8 is unstoppable.
27...Ëc7 28 Ëf8+ Îxf8 29 Îxf8# 1-0
The rook on h8 paints a sorry picture.

Elsewhere the Valsecchi train was continuing

apace, and from rounds five to seven he
remained a full point clear of the field. The final
obstacle to tournament victory was FM Rhys
Cumming, whose excellent preparation always
makes him a dangerous opponent.

Notes by Rhys Cumming

R.Cumming-A.Valsecchi
Round 8
French Defence
Italian GM Alessio Valsecchi proved too strong in the Dolomites, racking up 8/9, including
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìd2 h6!? defeating Rhys Cumming, who in October made an IM norm in Portugal (see Overseas News).
An interesting line, and an intelligent
waiting move. Black aims for an improved
24...a6 25 Ía3 Ëe6 26 Ìe3?!
version of 3...c5 if White continues with 4
Íd3 and if 4 Ìgf3, as in the game, Black
knight to the action, he would be able to take
control of the all-important e4-square and Missing 26 Íxd6! (getting rid of the bad
forces White into a ‘Universal system’ with
then force a trade of my good bishop on d3 bishop while White still has a chance)
26...Íxd3 27 Ëxd3 Ëxd6 28 Ìe3 with a
knights on f3 and d2 that is not to
for his bad bishop on e6, leaving me with a
everybody’s taste.
4 Ìgf3
knight versus bad bishop that ultimately position very close to equality. If anyone is
4 Íd3 c5 5 exd5 Ëxd5 6 Ìgf3 cxd4 7
decided this game. pretending to have an advantage, it is
13...Íxg3 14 hxg3 Îe8 15 Ëc2 Ìe4 16
0-0 Ìf6 8 Ìb3 Ìc6 9 Ìbxd4 Ìxd4 10
probably White since he has the safer king.
Íe3 g5 17 Ìf3 Íf5 18 Îe1 f6 26...Íxd3 27 Ëxd3 Ìdf5 28 Ìxf5+
Ìxd4 a6 11 c3 b5 12 Ëf3 Ëxf3 13 Ìxf3
28 Íxe7! was White’s last chance to get
Íd7 14 a4 b4 15 a5 ½-½ was my option in
Having traded off his dark-squared bishop,
Valsecchi shows good chess culture by rid of this bishop and although not a losing
Cumming-Harakis, 4NCL 2019 – an
placing his pawns on dark squares and move, the task ahead is now made far more
unambitious approach that suited the dead
completely stopping any hope of my knight difficult.
28...Ìxf5 29 Êf1 h5 30 Ëe2 Ëe4 31
rubber fixture.
landing on e5.
19 Íc1 Êg7 20 Îe3!? Ëxe4 dxe4
4...Ìf6 5 exd5
20 Ìd2 Ìc5 highlights the need to put
A practical decision to avoid prep. I had not
been expecting 3...h6 and concluded that my
the rook on a square that is protected.
20...Îe7 21 Ìd2 Ìd6 22 Ìf1 b5?!
opponent had probably spend the morning
looking at the complex lines after 5 e5.
5...exd5 6 Íd3 Ìc6 7 c3 Íd6 8 0-0 0-0
9 Îe1 Îe8 10 Îxe8+ Ëxe8 11 Ìf1 Íe6
12 Ìg3 Ëd7 13 Ìh4?!

Stockfish sees this as level, but such an

An overly ambitious plan, which benefited
my opponent’s superior understanding of the
position. I was looking to cement a knight on
f5 and take advantage of Black’s pawn on h6,
making ...g6 virtually impossible. At the
moment it seems clear that the ‘good
bishops’ in the position are the ones on d3
and d6 respectively, so I concluded that
...Íxg3 would be a sizeable concession from
my opponent. What he understood
significantly better than me, however, was
that while I was wasting time returning my
An excellent positional idea, but one which
overlooks the tactical possibility shown in the
game. Black intends to weaken White’s
queenside pawn structure by playing ...b4 and
...bxc3. If White takes back with his b-pawn
then Black will have an incredible square on
c4 in the long term, and if White takes with a
piece, the d4-pawn will be left weak and
isolated.
23 Îxe7+ Ìxe7 24 b3
Black is no longer able to meet this with
...b4 since the knight has been drawn away
from c6. He can now no longer stop the
bishop from being activated and so White
should have no issues.
evaluation does not reflect the true state of
affairs. While White should likely hold with
best play, doing so is far from easy. White
does not have any constructive ideas,
whereas Black’s knight is safe on the nice f5-
square, he can fix my kingside pawns and
then undermine them at an appropriate time
with ...e3. Black’s king is free to centralise
while White’s is tied down to the protection
of the f2-pawn.
32 Êe2
32 d5 is probably an improvement,
shutting the king out of the e6-square and
also allowing the bishop to cover f2 from the
c5-square.
32...c6 33 Íc5 Êf7 34 c4 Êe6 35 Êd2
bxc4 36 bxc4 e3+ 37 Êe2 exf2 38 Êxf2

December 2020
16
14-17 DolomitiOpen_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:42 Page 17
g4 39 a3 Êd7 40 d5 cxd5 41 cxd5
Here we reach the critical position. White
should still hold with accurate play, but
despite reaching the time control I could not
find it. Stockfish has evaluated the whole
game up to this point as very close to ‘0.00’,
but White is teetering on the edge here and
here I am not able to calculate the forcing
draw that follows.
41...Ìe7 42 Êe3?!
I spent 20 minutes analysing 42 Íxe7!!,
but couldn’t find the draw. In fact I can hold
this position if I play perfectly: 42...Êxe7 43
Êe3 a5 (or 43...Êd6 44 Êe4 Êc5 45 Êf5
Êxd5 46 Êxf6 Êc4 47 Êg5 Êb3 48 Êxh5
Êxa3 49 Êxg4 Êb4 50 Êh5 when Black will
queen first, but only just, and we get a drawn
ending; Black is, however, just one tempi
away from winning, which explains why
43...a5 scared me) 44 Êe4! (not 44 a4? and
Black has gained a tempo on the previous line,
since the pawn takes one fewer move to
queen: 44...Êd6 45 Êe4 Êc5 46 Êf5 Êxd5
47 Êxf6 Êc4 48 Êg5 Êb4 49 Êxh5 Êxa4
50 Êxg4 Êb5 wins; instead, 44 Êd4? Êd6
45 a4 f5 is the position I was trying to avoid
as White is in zugzwang, but 44 Êd3 also
works with a similar concept to 44 Êe4)
44...Êd6 (or 44...a4 45 Êd4 Êd7 46 Êd3
f5 47 Êe3 Êe7 48 Êd3) 45 Êd4 a4.
Here 46 Êe4? is the line I was analysing
since I thought the king could not afford to
head so far away from the kingside pawns,
but after 46...Êc5 Black is winning the race.
However, after 46 Êc4! f5 47 Êd4 f4 48
gxf4 h4 49 Êe4 h3 50 gxh3 gxh3 51 Êf3
Êxd5 52 Êg3 Êe4 53 Êxh3 Êxf4 54 Êg2
White will be able to get to the c1-square and
therefore can hold the resulting pawn ending.
www.chess.co.uk
42...Ìxd5+ 43 Êe4 Êe6 44 Íf2 f5+ 45
Êd4 Êd6 46 Íe1 Ìf6 47 Íb4+ Êe6 48
Êc5??
White’s a-pawn is several tempi slower
than Black’s mass of kingside pawns. Instead,
48 Íd2 Ìe4 49 Íf4 seems to hold still, but
the defence does not look pleasant.
48...Ìe4+ 49 Êb6 Ìxg3 50 Íc5 h4 51
Êxa6 Ìe2 0-1
The h-pawn will now queen.
Now a point and a half clear of second,
Valsecchi had the luxury of halving out in the
final round, finishing with a mightily
impressive 8/9. The tournament concluded at
the other end of the playing hall, where we
were treated to an endgame worthy of a
great composer.
Notes by Grant Bucher
G.Bucher-M.Montorsi
Round 9
My confidence was low after a series of
disappointing results, and after starting this
game well I made a series of mistakes which
gave my opponent excellent play. I had been
tempted to bail out with a draw offer and
hopefully call an end to the disappointment,
but managed to gut through and reach the
current position. Although White is a pawn
up, realistically Black’s active king means he
should hold the draw. However, as the game
demonstrates this is far from certain!
35 h4!
This seems right, helping fix Black’s pawns
before they can advance and more
significantly getting further up the board.
35...Êb5
Deciding to take the more direct approach.
Matt, Rhys and Morgan were more concerned
about Black’s potential kingside play, but it
turns out there are several pitfalls here:
a) 35...Êd4? 36 g4! (astonishingly it
seems White is already winning after this
move) 36...f5 (36...Êc4 looks too slow
compared to the main line: 37 Êd2 Êb5 38
f4! Êxa6 39 e5 Êb5 40 f5! gxf5 41 gxf5
Êc5 42 d6 exd6 43 e6 and wins is a sample
line) 37 d6 exd6 38 exf5 gxf5 39 g5 f4 40
Êb3 d5 41 h5 Êe5 42 Êc3 Êf5 43 g6
hxg6 44 hxg6 Êxg6 45 Êd4 and White is
winning.
b) 35...h5? 36 g4 hxg4? (36...Êb5 is
more resilient, but Black still has big problems
after 37 g5 when White wins in similar
fashion to lines seen below) 37 fxg4 Êd4 38
h5 gxh5 39 gxh5 Êe5 40 h6 Êf6 41 e5+
and White wins easily.
c) 35...f5 is surprisingly the only kingside
option which doesn’t appear to lose for Black.
This looks dangerous, but there is surprisingly
little threat to White: 36 exf5 gxf5 37 g4
fxg4 38 fxg4 Êxd5 39 Êd3 holds in
straightforward fashion, for instance.
36 Êc3 Êxa6 37 Êc4 Êb6 38 g4!
38...h5??
Black has several moves to maintain a
balance here, but this is not one of them. The
lack of support this leaves the g6-pawn turns
out to be critical. It surprised me what a big
mistake this innocuous move was.
Instead, 38...Êc7 39 Êc5 Êb7 makes it
difficult for White to make any progress.
39 g5 a5
My opponent felt 39...Êc7 was an
improvement, but 40 f4 still looks to be
winning for White (40 Êc5? e5! draws).
40 f4 Êc7
40...a4 41 f5 a3 42 Êb3 Êc5 43 e5! is a
lovely problem-like finish (43 fxg6 also wins),
and if 43...Êxd5 44 e6 fxe6 45 fxg6 and
White wins.
41 Êc5 a4 42 Êb4 Êd6 43 Êxa4 e6?!
Caving in. 43...Êc5 is more challenging,
but White still wins after 44 Êa5 Êd4 45
Êb5 Êxe4 46 Êc6 Êxf4 47 Êd7 Êe5 48
Êxe7 Êxd5 49 Êxf7.
44 dxe6 fxe6 45 Êb4 e5 46 f5 1-0
What did this ending teach me? It certainly
showed the value of confidence in your own
ability. I hadn’t calculated most of these lines,
but backed myself to outplay my lower-rated
opponent and was subsequently rewarded.
I was also reminded of Sam Shankland’s
excellent Small Steps to Giant Improvement,
where he speaks about the lack of
reversibility in pawn moves. Black’s 38...h5, a
throwaway move which I could easily have
seen myself making, was a great example of
this. It lacked clear purpose, simply
encouraging White’s g-pawn forward, and
later he would have been desperate for it to
be returned to h7. This ending was a great
reminder that every decision made with a
pawn is a critical one, particularly late in the
game, and that due care needs to be taken!
17
18-20 MoreNorway_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:28 Page 18

Magnusficent
En route to his latest success, Magnus Carlsen produced the odd instructive effort

As we reflected last month, Norway Chess

2020 really was a most welcome tonic for
chess fans in a distinctly sub-optimal world.
Admittedly the classical time control was a
little brisk and the format rather unique, but
for many, much better three top-quality
‘slow’ games a day than the endless fast rapid
we have become used to seeing the elite
playing in recent months.
As so often, the slower time control meant
that we were treated to a number of not just
entertaining battles, but highly instructive
ones too. We saw some last month; another
was the following Lopez masterclass
delivered by the world champion himself.

M.Carlsen-A.Tari
Round 8
Ruy Lopez
The Queen’s Gambit has been extremely popular of late and so has been Magnus Carlsen, who
1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf6 wasn’t too far from his best at times en route to winning in Stavanger, as we saw last month.
5 0-0 Íe7 6 d3
As is usually his wont, Carlsen avoids the 13 axb5 axb5 14 Îe1 b4
main lines, but that does not mean he is not White is yet to flick in h3, but wouldn’t be
still pretty well prepared.
6...b5 7 Íb3 d6 8 a4 Íd7 9 c3 Ìa5
at all inconvenienced by 14...Íg4?!, and if
15 h3 Íh5?! 16 g4 Íg6 17 Ìf1, and even
Chigorin-like play. An alternative is 9...b4, 14...Ìc6 15 Íxf6! (side-stepping 15 Ìf1
as in Adams-Harikrishna, Biel (rapid) 2020, Ìh5!, which is possible now that there’s no
where 10 Ìbd2 0-0 11 Ìc4 Îb8 12 h3 longer a loose knight on d5) 15...Íxf6 16 Ìf1
h6 13 Îe1 Íe6 14 a5 (14 d4!? might Ìe7 17 Ìe3 would have left White with a
be even stronger, and if 14...exd4 15 cxd4
d5 16 exd5 Íxd5 17 Ìfe5 with central
pleasant enough edge.
15 Ìc4
pressure and the black kingside to target
after Ëd3) 14...bxc3 15 bxc3 Ëc8 16 Ía2
Carlsen isn’t slow to exploit the downside

Îe8 17 Íd2 was very solid for Black, but

still a nibble for White on account of his
queenside trumps.
10 Ía2
White has more often retreated to c2, but
Carlsen is happy to exploit the move order to
maintain his bishop on the open diagonal.
10...c5 11 Íg5
Beginning to target the main weakness in
the black camp, d5. Instead, 11 Îe1 0-0
12 h3 would be routine and Black is surely
fine here after, say, 12...Ëc7 13 Ìbd2 c4!.
11...0-0
Black can’t really keep his knight on the
board in view of 11...Ìh5? 12 Ìxe5!.
12 Ìbd2!? (see diagram at top of next column)
A new move, but likely not as good as
Caruana’s 12 axb5 axb5 13 Ìa3 and after
the 13...Ëb8 14 Ìc2 h6 of Caruana-
Topalov, Saint Louis 2016, 15 Íxf6! Íxf6
16 Ìe3 would have left White with a small
but definite edge on account of hold on d5.
to Tari’s slightly hasty advance.
15...Ìxc4 16 Íxc4 bxc3 17 bxc3 Ëc7
18 Ëc2
12...Îb8?!
Holding his queenside together, but the
rook didn’t really want to stray from the a-
file. 12...Ìe8? would have been even worse,
though, in view of 13 Íxe7 Ëxe7 14 axb5
axb5 15 b4!, and if 15...Ìc6 16 Íxf7+!, but
Black might have retreated in typical Chigorin
fashion with 12...Ìc6.
Another idea discussed by the commen-
tators was 12...Îa7!?, but the critical test
simply had to be 12...bxa4! when 13 Íxf6
(13 Ìc4 Ìxc4 14 Íxc4 Îb8 15 Ëc2 Ìh5!
leaves Black with decent counterplay)
13...Íxf6 14 Íd5 Îb8 15 Îxa4!? is touted
by the engines, but can Black really be worse
after 15...Íxa4 16 Ëxa4 Ëb6 17 Îa1 Íd8, A typical Carlsen position. At club level all
no matter how much power White’s bishop the rooks might be hoovered and a draw
might radiate from d5 and undoubted agreed, but White can actually keep pieces on
compensation though he certainly has? and enjoys a pleasant pull on account of his

December 2020
18
18-20 MoreNorway_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:28 Page 19
control of d5. Black’s next, though, only
serves to increase that white advantage.
18...Íb5?
At least after 18...h6 19 Íxf6 Íxf6
20 Íd5 Îb5 Black would have retained the
two bishops to partially offset d5, and
18...Íc6 would also have been a definite
improvement on the game, and if 19 Íxf6
Íxf6 20 Ìd2 g6.
19 Íxb5 Îxb5 20 Íxf6! Íxf6 21 Ìd2
A dream Lopez position for White, with d5
to target and good knight against bad bishop.
21...Ëc6 22 Ëa4 Îfb8 23 Ìc4 Íe7 24 g3
Making luft and White might well one day
want to edge forwards on the kingside and
open a second front there.
24...Ëc8 25 Ëd1!
The immediate 25 Êg2 was also good,
and if 25...Ëg4 26 Ìe3 followed only then
by Ëd1-f3.
25...g6 26 Êg2 Íf8 27 Ëf3
Carlsen has found an ideal spot for his queen
and it would have been even if Black hadn’t
gone ...g6, which at least prevented Ìe3-f5.
27...Îb3
This is easily dealt with, but Black couldn’t
have got away with 27...f5? for various
reasons, including 28 Ìe3 fxe4 29 dxe4
Î5b7 30 Ìd5 Îf7 31 Ëe2 when White
would combine doubling on the a-file with an
h4-h5 probe.
28 Îec1 Ëe6
Letting White into the seventh, but if
28...Î8b7? 29 Ìa5 or 28...Î3b7 29 Îa6
Ëd7 30 Îca1 when h4 would follow and White
can always exchange a pair of rooks via a8.
29 Îa7 Î8b7 30 Îxb7!
White is happy to trade one set of rooks,
knowing that Black will do well to keep him
out along both the seventh and eighth ranks.
30...Îxb7 31 Îa1 h5
Carlsen had no doubt prepared to meet
31...Îb3!? with 32 Ìe3! Îxc3 33 Ìd5 Îb3
34 Îa8 when Îe8 is the threat and even
34...f5 35 g4! leaves Black in some trouble,
and if 35...f4 (or 35...c4!? 36 gxf5 Ëf7
37 Ëg4!, and if 37...cxd3 38 Ëd1 Îb2
39 Ëxd3, while here after 37...Îxd3 the
computer points out the calm 38 Êf1!, which
rather emphasises just how bad things are
positionally for Black) 36 Îe8! Ëf7 37 g5
with far too strong an attack for the pawn.
32 Îa8 Êg7 33 Ìe3 Îc7?
33...Ëd7 34 Ìd5 Íe7 would still have
left Carlsen with plenty of work to do,
www.chess.co.uk
possibly beginning with 35 h4 Îa7 36 Îxa7
Ëxa7 37 Ëd1, but one can imagine a
Caruana or a Karjakin digging deep and
eventually holding after this 37...Íd8.
34 Ìd5 Îc8
Giving up the second rank was not
optimal, but after 34...Îb7 35 h3 Black
would quickly have run out of good moves, as
we can see from 35...Ëd7? 36 Ëf6+ Êg8
37 Îxf8+! Êxf8 38 Ëh8# and 35...Íe7 36
Îe8 f6 37 g4 Ëf7 38 Îa8 h4 39 c4 with
complete control and Ëd1-a4 next up.
35 Îa7 Îb8 36 h3!
Again the prelude to a strong advance.
White simply wants to march his pawn to g5
then invade on f6.
36...Îd8 37 g4 hxg4 38 hxg4 Îd7
38...g5 would have prevented g4-g5, but
at some cost and after 39 Ìe3 Êg8 40 Îa1!
the open h-file would spell the end for Black,
as demonstrated by 40...Íg7 41 Ìf5 Îb8
42 Îh1 Îb2 43 Îh5 Ëf6 44 Ëe3.
39 Îa8 f6
39...Îb7 40 g5! Îb2 41 Ìf6 Îc2 42
Ëg3 Îxc3 43 Ëh4 reveals White’s main
concept in its simplest form.
40 g5!
Creating further weaknesses. There’s no
longer any defence.
40...f5 41 Ëh3 Îf7
White’s play thus far has been most
Karpovian and just like the 12th world
champion in his prime, Carlsen finishes things
with a little tactic.
42 Îe8! Ëxe8 43 Ëh6+ Êg8 44 Ëxg6+
Êh8
Now mate is forced, but moving either
piece to g7 would, of course, have cost Black
his queen.
45 Ìf6 1-0
Mate is threatened, not just on g8, but
down the h-file too. Never underestimate the
power of a knight on f6!
Last month we commented that former
world junior champion Aryan Tari was a
replacement for Anish Giri, but actually the
Dutch no.1 was replaced by Jan-Krzysztof
Duda, and, we have to wonder, would
Carlsen have lost his unbeaten at run at the
hands of Giri? In any case, Tari was rather
outclassed from beginning to end, as his
first encounter with his legendary compatriot
also demonstrated.
A.Tari-M.Carlsen
Round 3
Classical Sicilian
1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4
Ìf6 5 Ìc3 d6
Avoiding the potentially-drawish Svesh-
nikov, 5...e5 6 Ìdb5 d6 7 Íg5 a6 8 Ìa3 b5.
Carlsen was evidently out for blood.
6 Íg5 Íd7
Hoping to provoke an exchange on f6.
6...e6 7 Ëd2 a6 8 0-0-0 Íd7 9 f4 Íe7
would be a more normal route to the line we’ll
see debated in the game.
7 Ëd2 a6 8 0-0-0 e6 9 f4 Íe7 10 Ìf3
Preventing Black freeing his position with
an exchange of knights and possibly teeing up
e4-e5.
10...b5 11 Íxf6
White’s main move, practice having
suggested that 11 e5 b4 12 exf6 bxc3
13 Ëxc3 gxf6 14 Íh4 d5 should offer Black
enough counterplay.
11...gxf6 12 Êb1 Ëb6 13 f5
A different advance to e4-e5 from Tari, if
also a standard one. White would like to apply
sufficient pressure to e6 such that Black is
forced to surrender control over d5.
13...0-0-0 14 Íd3
Sensible development. Instead, 14 g3
Êb8 15 fxe6 fxe6 16 Íh3 does begin to
pressure e6, but Black seems to be able to
obtain enough counterplay with 16...Ìa5.
14...Êb8 15 Ìe2
Heading for f4 to exert some pressure.
15...Íc8 16 Ìf4 Ìe5
Exploiting the main downside to White’s
play, but White isn’t too inconvenienced by
19
18-20 MoreNorway_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:28 Page 20
facing a knight here and ought still to be
slightly for choice.
17 Íe2 d5?
Rather ambitious and 17...Ìc4 18 Íxc4
bxc4 19 Ëd4 Ëc7 doesn’t look too bad for
Black with his bishops.
18 exd5 exf5
Technically a novelty and it would be
interesting to know what Carlsen made of his
Irish pawns on the f-file. He did at least later
admit that “As the game happened, I realised
I had been too optimistic, and I think I was
probably more or less lost. But as long as
there are no forced lines, it’s not easy.”
19 Ìd4 Íc5 20 Îhf1 Îhe8 21 a3
A useful enough multipurpose move and
Tari must have been pretty happy at this
point. Carlsen’s ambitious play has left him
with a fairly ragged position and one which
White would appear to be in control of.
21...Êa8 22 h3 Íd7
A sign that all is not well in the champ’s
camp, but feeling that he must undertake
action, Tari now picks the wrong plan.
23 Ìh5? A knight on the rim...
Only after 23 b4 Ìc4 24 Íxc4 bxc4
25 Êa2 Íd6 do the engines want to go
26 Ìh5, while the best move might have
been the vigorous 23 d6!?, and if 23...Ëxd6
(23...Íxd6 24 Ìd5 is also rather powerful,
and here 23...Ìc4 scarcely troubles White, in
view of 24 Íxc4 bxc4 25 Ìd5 Ëxd6
26 Ìxf5 Íxf5 27 Îxf5) 24 Ëc3 when it’s
not so easy to find a good move for Black, as
we can see from 24...Ëb6 (24...Îc8
25 Ìxf5 Ëc6 might be relatively best, if far
from fun for Black after 26 Ìd5) 25 Ìd5
Ëa7 26 Ìxf6 when his position is set to
collapse, Ìb3 being but one threat.
23...Ìc4!
Carlsen seizes his chance with both hands.
In view of 24 Ëc3? Îe3 White must allow
the b-file to open.
24 Íxc4 bxc4 25 Ëc3
Likewise, after 25 Êa1 Îb8 26 c3 Íxd4
27 cxd4 the tactics favour Black with
27...Îe3!, and if 28 Ëb4 Ëc7.
25...Îb8 26 Îf3
Easy to criticise, but what else to do?
Indeed, 26 Ìxf5 Íxf5 27 Îxf5 Îe3!
28 Ëxf6 Íd6 29 Îf3 Îe5 would have cost
White a piece, and the rather desperate
26 b4 cxb3 27 Ìxb3 still leaves him facing a
most powerful assault after 27...Îec8.
26...Îe1!
20
A lovely silent sacrifice as Carlsen milks
the half-open b-file for all that it’s worth.
27 Îxe1 Íxd4 28 Ëb4 Ëc7 29 d6
Saving White’s queen for now, but not also
the game.
29...Ëc6 30 Ëa5 Íxb2
A little lax. 30...Îxb2+! 31 Êc1 Îb5 32
Ëd8+ (or 32 Ëc7 Ëd5! 33 Ëxd7 Íb2+ 34
Êb1 Íc3+ 35 Êa2 Îb2+ 36 Êa1 Îb7+)
32...Îb8 33 Ëa5 Ëxd6 34 Ëd2 Íc6 would
normally not have been too hard to calculate
for one of Carlsen’s immense talent.
31 Êa2 Íe5 32 Îb1
White is able to parry the immediate
threats, although he remains under most
heavy pressure.
32...Îxb1 33 Êxb1 Ëxd6 34 Êc1
Preventing the check on d1, but now
Carlsen strikes from a different angle.
34...Ëd4! 35 Ëxa6+ Êb8 36 c3
36 g3 would have attempted to bring the
errant knight back into play, but after
36...Ëa1+ 37 Êd2 c3+! 38 Êe2 Ëb1 39 Îd3
Íb5! Black should be winning, as shown by
40 Ëb6+ Êa8 41 Ëd8+ Êb7 42 Ëd5+
Íc6 43 Ëxf7+ Êb6 44 Ìf4 Ëxc2+ 45 Êe3
Ëb1 with a mighty passed c-pawn, not to
mention too strong an attack.
36...Ëg1+ 37 Êd2 Ëxg2+ 38 Êe3 f4+!
Forcing the pace. 38...Ëb2 would also
have done the business, and if 39 Ëa5 Íc7!
40 Ëb4+ Íb6+ 41 Êf4 Ëd2+.
39 Ìxf4 Íxf4+ 40 Îxf4 Ëg3+ 41 Îf3
Ëe1+ 42 Êd4 The only way to wander in
view of 42 Êf4 Ëe5#.
42...Ëe5+ 43 Êxc4 Ëe4+ 44 Êc5 Ëxf3
45 Êd6 Íc8 0-1
Yes, White really did make only the one
mistake, but then again 23 Ìh5 was a pretty
bad error of judgement.
I’m afraid we also nodded last month when
it came to analysis of a certain fascinating
grind by Levon Aronian.
J.K.Duda-L.Aronian
Round 7
As we saw in last month’s Editorial, White
was lost after 48 Êf1? Îh1+ 49 Êg2 Îxh4
50 Îxg6 Êe2!, but it actually wasn’t too late
to save the game and 48 Êd1! would have
drawn, wrong though it feels to move the king
away from Black’s pieces. The key point is
48...Îxa2 (White is fast enough to make a
draw after 48...Îxh4 49 Îxg6 Îh2 50 a4,
and if 50...Îh1+ 51 Êc2 Îa1 52 Êb3 Êd2
53 Êb4 e3 54 Îd6+ Êe1 55 Îe6 e2 56 a5,
and 48...Îh1+ 49 Êc2 Îxh4 50 Îxg6 is no
longer winning for Black, who lacks a great
move here; indeed, 50...Êe2 51 a4 e3 52 a5
Îa4 53 a6 Êe1 54 Îe6 would now hold the
draw: 54...e2 55 Êd3 – or just 55 Êb3 –
55...Êd1 56 Îxe2 Îa3+ 57 Êc4 Êxe2 58
Êb5 and the a-pawn is too far advanced) 49
Îxg6 Îa1+ 50 Êc2 Îh1 51 Îe6!, which is
the only move to save the draw, as Malcolm
realised after we’d gone to print and which a
couple of readers also pointed out. You see,
endgames can be fun to study!
White’s point is 51...Îxh4 52 Êd1! (52 Îe8?
Êe2 would shoulder away the white king,
and win) 52...Îh1+ 53 Êc2 when his king is
on the long side, but it’s still a draw: 53...Îa1
(53...Êf3 54 Êd2 Îh2+ 55 Êe1 Êe3 56
Êf1 escapes to the short side, and 53...Îh8
54 Êd1! avoids being cut off by 54...Îd8)
54 Îe8 Îa4 55 Êd1 Êd3 56 Îd8+ when
the pawn ending’s a draw and so is 56...Êe3
57 Îe8 Îa1+ 58 Êc2 Êf3 59 Êd2 Îa2+
60 Êd1 e3 61 Îf8+.
December 2020
21-21 Chess Improvement Advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 17:40 Page 1
 How Good is
22-25 HGIYCDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:37 Page 22
You r Chess?
by Grandmaster Daniel King
In these days of strongmen leaders
moving freely and boldly and catching Covid
along the way, there is a poetic symmetry to
the absurd chessboard strategy of thrusting
the king forward at the earliest opportunity.
The Bong Cloud variation perfectly captures
the Zeitgeist.
The what?
If you have been following online chess at
the top level over the last couple of years,
you will be aware of this strategy: 1 e4 e5
2 Êe2 (Nakamura-Xiong, St. Louis Blitz 2020;
1-0, 52 moves); and 1 f3 e5 2 Êf2 (Carlsen-
So, Banter Blitz final 2020; 1-0, 80). It isn’t
always so successful! The early king advance
has been dubbed the Bong Cloud, presumably
because one could only dream up something
so daft while under the influence of one.
What is the point of playing something
that is so obviously rubbish? To heap pressure
on your opponent: you saddle yourself with a
poor position where the only way is up, and
you have nothing to lose; your opponent, on
the other hand, must still win the game. In
short, it is a massive piss-take.
Carlsen played it in the first game of the
Chess24 Banter Blitz series against So – a
clever ruse. Even if he had lost there would
still have been plenty of time to catch up. As
it was, Carlsen turned the game around and
eventually won, and So was psychologically
finished. He was still muttering to himself a
couple of games later.
“It’s hard to forget the game when
someone plays f3 and Êf2 and just crushes
you. That’s so humiliating.” – Wesley So
When Nakamura played it against Xiong,
he was expressly winking at the gallery. He
had already promised to his fans on his hugely
popular Twitch channel that he would play the
variation, and this was the last round where
there wasn’t much at stake.
The Bong Cloud reminds me of an opening
I regularly played in my teenage years, 1 e4
e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Ìc3, and now Black should
play 3...Ëh4+ 4 Êe2.
My results were good: my opponents were
(usually) out of their theoretical comfort
zone; and in truth it’s not that bad for White.
The King’s Gambit by Viktor Korchnoi and
Vladimir Zak (Batsford, 1974) states: “A risky
move leading to great complications in which
a single inaccurate move by either side can
have fatal consequences.” A good summary.
22
M.Van der Kemp-T.Godat
Correspondence 2010
King’s Gambit
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Ìc3 Ëh4+ 4 Êe2
At this point the critical test of the
variation is 4...d5, but in my experience many
players are reluctant to enter into such wild
complications. For example, Kasparov-Karjakin,
St. Louis (blitz) 2017, continued instead
4...Ëd8 5 d4 Ìf6 6 Íxf4 and the former
world champion was probably quite happy
with the outcome of the opening. Here, Black
Not quite the Bong Cloud, but good fun also deviates from the main move.
4...g5
The first recorded game with this
Black plays the typical King’s Gambit move
variation is Mason-Rosenthal, Paris 1878,
to protect the f4-pawn, but the pawn chain
and it is indeed sometimes named after the
can be vulnerable to attack.
5 Ìf3 Ëh5 6 d4
renowned Irish player. Unfortunately, he lost
that game and doesn’t seem to have
The most sensible move, but I have to tip
repeated the experiment. Paul Keres tried
my hat to the player of the white pieces in this
game: 6 Ëe1 g4 7 Ìh4 c6 8 d4 b5 9 Êd1,
out the line in several correspondence games
in the early 1930s. He won some nice games
achieving an iconic Bong Cloud king and queen
with it (and lost a few too). That explains
switch (Pech-Marriott, correspondence
why it is sometimes dubbed the Mason-
2010). While the operation was a success,
Keres Gambit. If you’re interested in learning
unfortunately the patient later died.
more, check out my new video/download for
6...Ìe7
ChessBase, Wild and Wicked – The Mason-
Keres Gambit in 60 Minutes.
Naming openings isn’t always easy when
they are by nature a palimpsest: variations
evolve with each new generation. Recently I
have seen Carlsen go in for this line in online
blitz games; Kasparov (yes, really!) played it
in a blitz game against Karjakin (see below);
and Richard Rapport is the strongest of the
current generation to use it in a classical
game (he won). Too many names.
I’ve had a lot of fun researching the gambit
again and discovered this incredible game. I
am unaware of the exact rules of this email
competition, but I can imagine there was
some computer assistance. Whatever. Some
of the ideas are just mind-blowing. Eyes The test starts here.
down, prepare to calculate, and let your
imagination run as freely as if in a reverie... 7 Êf2
Begin after the first diagram. Whenever Three points. Often a reasonable square
Black has moved, stop and try to guess for his majesty in the King’s Gambit
White’s reply which will be on the next line. (remember the game Spassky-Seirawan from
Try to analyse as much as you would in a this column earlier in the year?). The king
game – it could earn you bonus points. The steps out of the pin and the king’s bishop can
article will test your standard of play or, if you get into the game.
prefer, just enjoy a fine game. 7 g4 (three points) is a shocker:
December 2020
22-25 HGIYCDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:37 Page 23

7...Ëxg4?! 8 Îg1 followed by taking the g-
pawn is good for White; or 7...fxg3 and now
either 8 Íxg5 or 8 Íg2, and it is very random,
but White is developing quicker than Black.
7 h4 ( three points) doesn’t actually
threaten anything except Êf2, but that is
dangerous enough for Black.
7 g3 (two points) also aims to break the
pawn chain, although 7...Íg7 or 7...Íh6 are
good answers.
7 Êd3. Certainly in the spirit of the
opening, but not terribly good as the king
hasn’t got anywhere to go afterwards. Usually
this is played when the pawn is on c3 and the
king can step back to c2.
7...d6
I don’t think this chap got the memo: it is
better to bring out your pieces in the opening
rather than pawns. For example, 9...Íg7 or
the endgame 9...g3+ 10 Êe1 Ëxd1+
11 Ìxd1, and only then 11...f5.
10 Ìge2
Two points. Pieces not pawns.
One point for 10 Íxf4 which also gives
compensation, but nothing for 10 exf5 Ëxf5
and the f4-pawn has been held.
10...fxe4
11 Ìxf4
One point. Gaining a tempo on the queen Here is Black’s idea: he is hoping to gain
and establishing the knight on a fine square. time for development by attacking the rook.

8 h4
Three points. White strives to undermine
the support for the pawn on f4.
Instead, Flamberg-Rabinovich, Triberg
1915, attacked the f4-pawn directly: 8 g3
(two points) 8...g4 (and not 8...fxg3+?
9 hxg3 Ëxh1? 10 Íb5+) 9 Ìh4 Íh6
10 Ìg2 f3 11 Ìf4 Íxf4 12 Íxf4, and
although Black eventually won, White has
decent chances here.
Elburg-Simmelink, correspondence 1998,
continued 8 Íe2 g4 and at this point, instead
of retreating with 9 Ìe1, I feel that the piece
sacrifice is more in the spirit of the King’s
Gambit: 9 Íxf4 gxf3 10 Íxf3 Ëg6 11 Îe1.
White’s lead in development and control of
the centre supplies compensation – so long
as you aren’t playing a computer.
11...Ëf5
Remarkably, there is a precedent: 11...g3+
12 Êxg3 Ëxd1 13 Ìxd1 Ìf5+ 14 Êh2
15 Êg1
Five points. Very cool.
The same score for 15 Îxe7+ Ëxe7 16 Êg3.
That’s an important move, protecting the h-
pawn and keeping the king safe. White has
excellent compensation. If 16...Ìc6 17 Ìfd5
Ëd7 18 Íg5, preventing castling.
15 Íe3 would be fine if the rook were
taken, but instead 15...Ìbc6 followed by
castling queenside is fine for Black.
15 Ìh5 gets no credit: 15...Ëxh4+ 16 Ìg3
Íxe4 is good for Black.
15..Íxe4

8...g4 Ìxd4 15 c3 and White has a lead in

development and therefore sufficient
compensation for the pawn, Van der Kemp-
Szabo, correspondence 2009.

9 Ìg1
Three points. Would you believe, this is the
best move! We see the same idea in Fischer’s
Defence of the King’s Gambit where it is
worth retreating considering that White is
going to capture on f4.
9 Ìe1 (two points) has a similar idea.
9 Ìg5 loses a piece: 9...h6 10 Ìh3 (or
10 Íxf4 hxg5 11 Íxg5 – White does not
have enough compensation in this case as
Black can organise to castle queenside)
10...Ëxh4+ 11 Êg1 gxh3 wins.
The same applies to 9 Íxf4 gxf3 10 gxf3.
White has insufficient compensation after
10...Ìbc6 11 Íc4 Íd7 12 Ëd2 0-0-0.
12 Íc4
Three points. Developing and preventing
Black from castling (in a couple of moves).
12 g3 (two points) is reasonable
considering that the f4-knight needs
bolstering and then Íg2 comes into
consideration, depending on how Black plays.
12...Íg7
If 12...c6, I like the piece sacrifice: 13 Îf1
d5 14 Êg1. A long route to castling!
13 Îe1
Two points. White has the better
development and has only invested a pawn.
The same score and the same story for 13
Îf1.
13...Ëf6
The position is already difficult for Black,
but this pushes it on to the critical list.
Bringing some pieces into play was still in
order: 13...Ìbc6.
14 Îxe4
Three points. The best, but White could
also try 14 Íe3 or 14 Ìb5 (a point each).
16 Ìe6
Eight points. Wow. A whole rook has gone
into the bag just to get the knight into that big
square. Behold: the legendary Octopus Knight.
Instead, 16 Ìxe4? Ëxd4+ throws
everything away.
16...d5
There are lots of options for Black. Before
you consider your response to this admittedly
critical move, let me test you. How would you
respond to 16...Íf5 and 16...Ìbc6? Two
answers please!
16...Íf5 17 Íg5! traps the queen: 17...Ëg6
18 Ìf4. Two bonus points if you found this.
16...Ìbc6 17 Ìxe4 (one point) gives
White an overwhelming initiative: 17...Ëg6
18 Ì4g5! threatens Ìxc7+, as well as h5,
hassling the queen; and don’t forget Ëxg4 at
some point.

9...f5 14...Íf5 17 Ëxg4

www.chess.co.uk
23
22-25 HGIYCDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:37 Page 24
Three points. The only move. White protects
the knight, the major asset in the position.
Instead, 17 Ìxe4 Ëxe6 or 17 Ìxc7+
Êd7 both give Black a winning position.
17...Îg8
18 Ìxd5
Five points. Another extraordinary move.
At this point, you can forget any thoughts of
strategy; this is all about spotting tactics and
precise calculation.
Instead, 18 Ìxc7+ (three points) comes
close, but Black can survive by treading a
narrow path: 18...Êd8 19 Ìe6+ Ëxe6
20 Ëxe6 Íxd4+ 21 Êh1 Îg6... I’ll leave you
to explore this on your own.
18 Ìxe4? is met by a brilliant refutation:
18...Ëxd4+ 19 Ìxd4 Íxd4+ and ...Îxg4. Or
19 Êh1 Ëxc4.
18 Íg5? is refuted by 18...Íf5.
The players are wrestling on a cliff edge.
18...Ëxd4+
19 Íe3
Five points. Another only move! To
determine that, let’s look at the alternatives.
19 Ìxd4 Íxd4+ 20 Êh2 Îxg4 with a
decisive material advantage.
Likewise, 19 Êh1 Íxg2+ 20 Ëxg2 Ëxh4+
21 Ëh2 Ëe1+ 22 Ëg1 Ëxg1+ 23 Êxg1 Íxb2+.
Or 19 Êh2 Íe5+ followed by ...Îxg4.
19...Ëxc4
20 Ìexc7+
Five points. The first punch lands on the
king’s head.
20 Ìdxc7+ (three points) is also highly
dangerous: 20...Êd7 21 Îd1+ Êc6 22
24
Ìxa8 Ìf5. Black has to tread gingerly, but
my machine believes he can survive.
Nevertheless, I would still pick White after 20
Ìdc7+ as Black’s defence is so difficult.
Instead, 20 Ìxg7+? Îxg7 21 Ëxg7
Íxd5 wins.
20...Êd8
If 20...Êf8 21 b3, followed by Îf1+.
21 Ìe6+
Two points.
Instead, 21 b3? Ëxd5 22 Ìxd5 Íxd5
gives Black too many pieces for the queen.
21...Êe8
Black has to step back. 21...Êd7 22 Ìc5+
leads to success for White.
22 Ìxe7
Three points. One of the black king’s key
defenders is eliminated.
22...Êxe7
23 Ìxg7
Two points. Another defender disappears.
23...h5
Yet another pawn move. This is a death wish.
Black had to bring the queenside pieces into
play: 23...Ìd7 24 Íg5+ Ìf6 25 Îe1, and the
odds are in White’s favour, but it’s a fight.
24 Íg5+
Three points. The best way to continue the
attack.
24 Ìf5+ (two points) is also very
dangerous: for example, 24...Êf6 25 Íg5+
Êg6 26 Ìe7+ Êg7 27 Ëxh5, though here
Black has a counterattack: 27...Ëd4+ 28
Êh1 Íxg2+ 29 Êxg2 Ëe4+ 30 Êh3 Ëe6+
31 Ëg4 Ëxg4+ 32 Êxg4. White is still
better, but Black has drawing chances.
Nothing for 24 Ëg5+ Êd7 25 Îd1+ Êc8
and Black’s king has been chased to a safer
position.
24...Êd6
25 Ëf4+
Two points. A winning move, although to
my eyes it feels more natural to bring the last
piece into play with 25 Îd1+ (two points).
25...Êc5
26 Îe1
Two points. Admittedly, it didn’t take too
long for the rook to join the attack anyway.
26...Ëd4+
Before you look at this move, how would
you deal with 26...Íd5? Precision required!
Answer on the next line.
27 Ëf2+ (three points) is the best move.
Black’s king does not have a good square: for
example, 27...Êc6 28 Ëf6+! Êb5 29 a4+. A
standard idea: the king is dragged to its doom
with this pawn push. Moving to b4 or c5
allows a fatal check with the bishop, and
29...Ëxa4 30 b3! Ëb4 31 c4+ Íxc4 32
bxc4+ leaves the king exposed to checks
from the queen and rook.
Or 27...Êb5 28 b3 Ëc3 29 Íf6 and once
the queen moves, c4+ follows.
Take another two points if you spotted the
idea 28 b3 and c4 in this last variation.
27 Êh2
One point. Halve your score if you chose
27 Êh1, allowing 27...Íxg2+ 28 Êxg2
Ëxf4. Luckily 29 Ìe6+ picks up the queen
and it should still be a draw.
27...Ëd6
Instead, 27...Ëxg7 28 Îxe4 Ìc6, and
now the best way to get through to the king
is? Answer on the next line.
29 b4+ (one point) 29...Êb6 30 Ëe3+
Êc7 31 b5 wins the knight and leaves the
king defenceless to White’s attack.
28 b4+
One point. That move again, luring the
king to a poor square.
28...Êc6
The king must keep hold of the queen.
29 b5+ 1-0
Two points. The net is closing around the
king and Black resigned. In an over-the-board
game that would be premature, but as this
was an email (correspondence) game, I
suspect that forcing variations were offered,
persuading Black to fall on his own sword. Let
me show a few of the main lines:
a) 29...Êc5 30 Ìe6+ Ëxe6 31 Îxe4 and
the king won’t survive the onslaught.
b) 29...Êc7 30 Ìe6+ Êd7 31 Îd1 Ëxd1
December 2020
22-25 HGIYCDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:38 Page 25

32 Ëf7+ Êd6 33 Ëe7+ Êd5 34 Ìc7+ Êc4
35 Ëxe4+ Ëd4 36 Ëe6+ Êb4 37 c3+
Ëxc3 38 Ìd5+ wins the queen.
c) 29...Êd7 30 Îd1 Ëxd1 31 Ëf7+ Êd6
32 Íe7+ Êd7 33 Íd8+Êd6 34 Ëc7+ Êd5
35 c4+ Êd4 36 Ëd6+ also wins the queen.
Black’s best defence comes in this last
variation. After 30 Îd1 Íd5, White ‘only’ gets
a winning endgame: 31 Ìxh5 Îf8 32 Ëxd6+
Êxd6 33 c4. Once the bishop is captured,
White has three pawns for the exchange and
the kingside pawns roll forward.
Phew. That was detailed and difficult – but Now add up your points:
spectacular. The game turned into an old- 0-19 Unlucky
fashioned king hunt and, in such cases where
20-39 Average Club Player
material has been sacrificed, there is no
40-49 Strong Club Player
substitute for calculation. You just have to
throw everything into attacking. Although 50-55 FIDE Master
many of these variations were long, they 56-64 International Master
were forcing – mainly checks – making it 65-78 Grandmaster
much easier to follow in your mind. If you
struggle with this kind of game, a course of Ed. – If you have any questions regarding
visualisation exercises should be undertaken this article, please contact Daniel directly
at the earliest opportunity! through his website www.danielking.biz.

Cryptic Chessword
As the days draw in, if you fancy
a change from online blitz,
solving chess puzzles or
watching The Queen’s Gambit,
but you love staring at black and
white squares, why not have a
go at this chess-themed
crossword kindly compiled by
Avid Old Swan.

Solution on page 49.

Across Down
7 Arranges anti-demos and rules over (9) 1 Able to roam around in mob I lead (6)
8 Deposits in exchange for lowly actors (5) 2 Realign aid along slope (8)
10 Possibly give monk change of royal location (4,4) 3 Dad refuses five for master Vasily (5)
11 Take aggressive action in great tackle (6) 4 Sad feet suffer losses (7)
12 Ray is enthusisatic - or so I hear (5) 5 Choose role for the French and tuck the king away (6)
13 Relating to planning strict age arrangement (9) 6 Anti-vice organisation is inoperative (8)
15 Use plan cunningly to find Louis (7) 9 Scan aluminium article to get opening system (7)
17 Contrive to be any sharp-pronged attack (7) 14 Reject offer to analyse part of speech (7)
20 Replot map angles to provide strategies for 16 Unpaid enthusiasts possibly use a tram (8)
success (4,5) 18 Put excessive pressure on a lover badly taken in by
22 Not permanent and no second element of time (5) overdose (8)
25 Mark bend he negotiated (6) 19 Ill-founded united nations making noise (7)
26 Fell lone pine to create pawnless file (4,4) 21 Concluding with loud racket in broken English (6)
27 Wear down relentlessly with a smile and depart (5) 23 Temporarily fixed - ready to be stitched up ! (6)
28 Made changes; voted in an original way (9) 24 Elude coyote capturing lure (5)

www.chess.co.uk
25
26-28 FTWM_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:34 Page 26

Find the Winning Moves

24 puzzles to test your tactical ability, with, as ever, the positions grouped in rough
order of difficulty. The games mainly come from various recent online events,
including the 4NCL Online and the various leading tournaments staged by the
Saint Louis Chess Club. Don’t forget that whilst sometimes the key move will force
mate or the win of material, other
times it will just win a pawn.
Solutions on pages 52.

Warm-up Puzzles

(1) L.Dominguez Perez-I.Nepomniachtchi (2) M.Crowther-J.Garnett (3) M.Harris-N.Keene

Saint Louis (rapid) 2020 4NCL Online Congress 2020 4NCL Online League 2020
White to Play White to Play Black to Play and Draw

(4) D.Lindner-D.Shafi (5) V.Plat-M.Matuszewski (6) K.Arjun-D.Paravyan

4NCL Online League 2020 Slovakian League 2020 Internet (blitz) 2020
White to Play White to Play Black to Play

26 December 2020
26-28 FTWM_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:34 Page 27

Intermediate Puzzles for the Club Player - Solutions on page 52

(7) M.Carlsen-J.Xiong (8) J.Benjamin-P.Wolff (9) C.O’Donnell-S.Loeffler

Saint Louis (rapid) 2020 U.S. Senior Championship (rapid) 2020 4NCL Online League 2020
White to Play White to Play White to Play

(10) P.Golubka-P.Walek (11) A.Korobov-J.Van Foreest (12) A.Ledger-J.Blackburn

Pardubice Spanish Team Championship 2020 4NCL Online League 2020
White to Play White to Play White to Play

(13) J.Adair-M.De Verdier (14) O.Howell-J.Haynes (15) J.Sarkar-P.Prohaszka

4NCL Online League 2020 4NCL Online League 2020 Chesterfield, MO 2020
White to Play Black to Play White to Play

www.chess.co.uk 27
26-28 FTWM_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:34 Page 28

Harder Puzzles for the Club Player – Solutions on page 52

(16) J.Xiong-P.Harikrishna (17) S.Getz-J.Benjamin (18) D.Belenkaya-E.Kovalevskaya

Saint Louis (blitz) 2020 U.S. Senior Championship (rapid) 2020 Saint Petersburg 2020
Black to Play Black to Play Black to Play

(19) A.Korobov-L.Ftacnik (20) B.Ochsner-N.Brondt (21) J.Thybo-A.Rasmussen

Online Olympiad (rapid) 2020 Danish Championship, Svendborg 2020 Danish Championship, Svendborg 2020
White to Play White to Play White to Play

(22) W.So-L.Dominguez Perez (23) T.Abrahamyan-M.Samadashvili (24) Ding Liren-P.Svidler

Saint Louis (rapid) 2020 U.S. Women’s Championship (rapid) 2020 Legends of Chess (rapid) 2020
White to Play White to Play White to Play

28 December 2020
29-29 Chessable advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:39 Page 1
 The Queen’s Gambit
30-34 The Queen's Gambit_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:23 Page 30

Netflix’s mini-series has been a huge success and has John Henderson’s seal of approval

Many sporting and cultural activities may

well have suffered through the pandemic
lockdown, but chess received a double
whammy boost with two big back to back
‘digital moments’. First was the online
renaissance with the Magnus Carlsen Chess
Tour, and hard on its heels now comes the
addictive and stylish new Netflix original mini-
series The Queen’s Gambit, which is proving to
be the unlikely big runaway global smash hit of
the year for the streaming behemoth.
All of which is bad news for big cat
extraordinaire Joe Exotic, as The Queen’s Gambit
toppled Tiger King as the most-watched show
on Netflix, becoming their new global no.1 as
of November 14th – and it’s a glamorously
gripping, and absolutely captivating, yet
harrowing series....all about chess!
It’s proved to be the most-talked about
and recommended Netflix show on social
media, the most reviewed Netflix production
in the media, and boasts a perfect 100% on
Rotten Tomatoes, with perhaps even more
impressively, a 97% audience score. It also
has an 8.9/10 on IMDB, enough to put it in
the top 50 rated TV shows ever there,
probably top 30 for scripted programs.
Some in the chess world have even
claimed that the series has done more to
popularise chess than any other single event
since the 1972 Spassky-Fischer match at
Reykjavik. Even Stephen King, the best-
selling horror author, who should know a
thing or two about big hits when he sees one,
tweeted: “I’ve watched a lot of TV during this
cursed year – I know I’m not alone – and the
best is The Queen’s Gambit, on Netflix.
Utterly thrilling. I thought nothing would beat
The Trial of the Chicago Seven, but this does.”
Yes, it really is that good – and equally yes,
I binge-watched all seven episodes over
seven hours of it, and loved every minute.
The standout series has given the game its
golden pop cultural moment as the
remarkable young actress Anya Taylor-Joy
(the breakout star of Emma and The Witch)
puts chess firmly in the spotlight as she turns
in what has to be a Golden Globe-winning
tour-de-force performance as the self-
destructive Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Harmon, the
troubled Kentucky savant orphan, who not
only has to battle life tragedies and her own
personal demons fuelled by a heady cocktail
of narcotics, alcohol and obsession, but also
equality by aiming to be the best in a very
male-dominated sport.
And credit should also go to the younger
Beth in the early episodes, the terrific Isla
Young Beth learns to play chess in the basement of the Methuen Home for Girls with Mr. Shaibel.
Johnston, as the casting of this equally gifted
young English actress with her sublime
mannerisms and introvert sensitivities made
the transition to the older Beth all the more
believable for standout star Taylor-Joy.
The telling first scene that sets the table
for the series is when the younger Beth first
takes an interest in chess after spotting the
janitor in the orphanage basement playing
over a game. “Chess is not for girls” comes
the gruff reply from the cantankerous, but-
you-end-up loving him Mr. Shaibel (played by
the always watchable character actor Bill
Camp), only to discover later that he has a
raw chess genius on his hands – and this is an
early telling sexist moment for nine-year-old
Beth, who realises from a young age that the
system is going to be stacked against her.
Created by director Scott Frank and
screenwriter Allan Scott, The Queen’s Gambit is
drawn on a groundbreaking 1983 coming-of-
age novel of the same name by Walter Tevis.
Other successful Tevis film adaptations include
The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Man
Who Fell to Earth, and a similar Tinseltown
treatment was also expected for The Queen’s
Gambit, but from the outset it was beset by
cinematography mishaps and tragedy.
In 1983, The New York Times journalist
Jesse Kornbluth acquired rights for a
screenplay and said there were several actors
and directors interested, but eventually the
rights were sold to another studio and the
project called off. In the early 1990s,
screenwriter Allan Scott (Don’t Look Now)
had acquired the rights and wrote the film
script, Molly Ringwald in the mix as Beth, and
with Academy Award nominee directors
Michael Apted and Bernardo Bertolucci
involved before pulling out.
There were also hopes for a film version in
2008 with Heath Ledger as director, in what
would have been his directorial debut – with
Ellen Page signed on to play Beth – but
following the Australian actor’s tragic death
plans for the film were shelved just weeks
before it was due to go into production. But
at long last, The Queen’s Gambit has finally
made it on to the screen, albeit the small one
– but in a very, very big way!
Viewing The Queen’s Gambit also brought
with it a lush period piece with a kaleidoscope
of sartorial tropes. There was an undeniable
‘60s Mad Men vibe about it, but there was
also something else going on with Beth’s
wardrobe that I couldn’t quite put my finger
on at first – and then came the big reveal from
the production company that explained it.
Beth’s mid-60s costumes, designed by
Gabrielle Binder (The Lives of Others and The
Land of Blood and Honey) were inspired by
Christian Dior and Cardin; fluted sleeve tops
and short skirts by Pucci and Biba; and a go-
to jersey T-shirt based on one by Andre
Courrèges. They were all gloriously faithful to
the period – but inexorably they all seemed
to be conveying to me a subliminal message.
“We wanted interesting necklines.

December 2020
30
30-34 The Queen's Gambit_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:23 Page 31
The 1967 U.S. Championship, staged like all the tournaments with an authentic looking backdrop.
Something that stood out, but didn’t
overwhelm,” Binder told the Golden Globes
last month. The clothes were all specifically
designed to be viewed over a chessboard,
because, as Binder explained, that is where
the camera spends most of its time – and the
costume designer had very masterfully used
plaids and checks to evoke the 64-square
chessboard motif throughout the series.
But who wants to know about the haute
couture when the litmus test for any chess fan
is always going to be the technicalities of the
chess scenes? And your mind is immediately
put at ease with the realisation that director
Scott Frank wisely brought onboard Garry
Kasparov, the legendary ex-world champion,
and Bruce Pandolfini, the celebrated chess
coach who advised Tevis on the novel, as
consulting advisors on the series, and you just
know that it is all going to be realistic.
“You can see that chess is being used
unprofessionally,” Kasparov said in The New
York Times of past screen chess projects.
“Very often, the positions are not making
much sense.” A lot of original Kasparov work
is done in collaboration with his longtime
analysts and archivist, Alexander Shakarov –
and no doubt their computers – which went
into turning real games into spectacular
fictional Beth brilliancies. “It is as close as
possible to the authentic atmosphere of
chess tournaments,” added Kasparov, who
was also instrumental in setting the Moscow
chess scene and street life for the series.
A quick Zoom call to New York with old
compadre Pandolfini – who was portrayed by
Sir Ben Kingsley in Searching for Bobby
Fischer – also proved enlightening, as he filled
me in with more of the chess background
details to what has now become a full-circle
project for him, having been brought in by
Random House publishers to work alongside
Tevis on his novel. “It’s as faithful to the ethos
of Tevis’s novel as it can be,” says the man
who coincidentally originally suggested The
Queen’s Gambit title. “The difference though,
is that the master games are more relevant
www.chess.co.uk
and more prominent than those that chess
fan Tevis had in his novel.”
Pandolfini explained that Tevis, who played
club chess and a few tournaments with a rating
of roughly 1500, more or less relied on lots of
swashbuckling Paul Morphy-like games for
the action, and there was a distinct lack of a
chess praxis feel to his tournament plot-lines.
Pandolfini was tasked with creating a bible
of games and positions for the series, but more
importantly, he also played arguably the most
important role in the project by coaching the
cast to look the part of seasoned tournament
players: the vital etiquettes of how to hold a
piece, how to move a piece, how to capture a
piece, how to press the clock, and how to write
a move on the scoresheet.
Actors had to learn move after move in
sequence, so Pandolfini developed mnemonics
and visual cues to help them. “When it came to
the actual chess sequences, my background as
a dancer really helped,” said Taylor-Joy in The
New York Times. “It’s basically just
choreography with your fingers.” Conveying
Beth’s complicated inner life while sliding a
queen’s pawn forward wasn’t a problem for her.
“Her deep passion for chess is the passion that
I have for my art,” she explained. “It felt easy to
transfer the emotion.”
Pandolfini also says that while some
purists might wince in certain tournament
scenes, first and foremost they have to
remember that this series is not made just
with them in mind, as there’s a much larger
general audience out there who will not
understand adjournments, sealed moves, and
other chess terms, so there is, to a certain
degree, an element of artistic license going
on – but on the whole, even with some
grandiose resignation gestures, it all works,
and you just have to accept why certain
things are done in the way that they are.
And timing is everything in this troubled
year, and he informed us that they struck it
lucky with The Queen’s Gambit being
completed in early December 2019, so none
of the vital production work associated with
the series got hit during the pandemic
lockdown. Pandolfini, who also made his own
brief cameo appearance in episode six,
‘Adjournment’, as Kentucky tournament
organiser Ed Spencer, was nothing but full of
praise for Taylor-Joy’s starring role in the
series, adding that she was a natural, and all
she needed before each scene was shot was
to be shown all the moves to be played in
sequence, and without fail she nailed it on
each and every occasion.
Despite all the joy, excitement and exhilaration
with The Queen’s Gambit, Pandolfini also
revealed there was also a tinge of sadness
around the set, as one of the other technical
consultants was Iepe Rubingh, a noted chess
amateur who tragically and unexpectedly died
during the production, aged just 45. Fittingly,
as Pandolfini noted, there’s a tribute paid to
him as the credits roll in the final episode.
There’s lots of wonderful chess
memorabilia, magazines and famous old
books on show throughout, along with some
300 games in total to be identified. I won’t
give you any spoilers by listing them all for
you here, but unquestionably part of the
enjoyment of viewing The Queen’s Gambit as
a chess aficionado is the unexpected and
unbridled joy of identifying one of the many
famous games from the annals.
As I said, there’s lots of games to watch in
this unlikely standout Netflix global must-
watch – so while trying not to ruin everyone’s
enjoyment of viewing it, we couldn’t really
end without showing you at least some of the
highlights from the best of the chess action.
Our first (serious) game moment comes
from Beth’s first tournament, the Kansas
State Championship, and her final round
meeting with the fawning and soon-to-be
sometime lover Harry Beltik (Harry Melling,
who many readers might well remember
starring in the Harry Potter films playing
Dudley Dursley), and taken from the famous
game Rashid Nezhmetdinov-Genrikh
Kasparian, Spartak Team Championship 1955
– a Caro-Kann Defence, Two Knights
variation that concluded with a brilliant finish.
Beth Harmon - Harry Beltik
Kansas State Championship
1 d4! Opening the game up.
1...exd4 2 cxd4 Ìxd4 3 Ìxd4 Îxd4
4 e5 f5
31
30-34 The Queen's Gambit_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:23 Page 32
Beth initially comes unstuck when taking on U.S. Champion, Benny Watts, but soon has revenge.
Of course, the engine will tell you that Black
holds with 4...Ëh8+! 5 Íh3 f5 and equality.
5 Íxf5 Ëd5 6 Íe6! Îh8+
The point is that 6...Îxf2+ 7 Ëxf2 Ëxe6
8 Ëf8+ Êxg6 9 Îf6+ wins.
7 Íh3 Ìxg6?
Instead, 7...Îd3 was good enough to hold,
both in the real game and in the series.
8 Îf7+ Êh6
9 Ëxg6+!!
The spectacular queen sacrifice leads to a
nice mate that was good enough for Super
Nezh – and Beth!
9...Êxg6 10 Î1f6+ Êg5 11 Îf5+ Êg6
12 Î7f6+ Êh7 13 Îh5+ Êg7 14 Îg5+ Êh7
And with the king now unpinning the bishop...
15 Íf5# 1-0
Beth’s next serious challenger is another
soon-to-be sometime lover Benny Watts
(another young rising English actor, Thomas
Brodie-Sangster), the boy wonder of the
chess world, the reigning U.S. Champion who
barges on to the scene in episode three, when
Beth encounters him at a Cincinnati
tournament in 1963.
Benny’s dressed like the proverbial bad-
boy maverick, wearing an Indiana Jones
fedora and a long black leather trench coat
that wouldn’t be out of place in The Matrix.
32
On his feet, he wears black Chelsea boots,
scuffed to signal he has been around the
block a time or two; on his belt, dangles a
large holstered knife, for some reason or
other, as you would do at chess tournaments.
There’s an obvious sexual chemistry
between the two, and they next meet up in
the U.S. Open in Las Vegas 1966, where they
clash in the final round, the game starting...
Beth Harmon - Benny Watts
U.S. Open, Las Vegas 1966
Sicilian Sozin
1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Ìf6
5 Ìc3 a6 6 Íc4 e6 7 0-0 b5 8 Íb3
The Sicilian Sozin – quite fitting from the
era the series is set in, and an obvious tip of
the hat from Pandolfini to Fischer.
8...Íd7
An awkward move, the correct move
being 8...Íe7.
9 Íg5 Íe7 10 Íxf6 gxf6
Beth now plays...
11 f4
...And gets into a complex struggle, but
today we know that instead of 11 f4, 11 Ëh5!
threatening Ìxe6 is very strong. I won’t go
into the details of the remainder of the game,
but when it reaches its critical moment in the
late middlegame, I’m afraid the continuity
department slips up big-time by clearly
showing on the board and on the demo-
nstration board a pawn on d2 – an obvious big
mistake if the game started as an Open Sicilian.
There were only a couple of chess mistakes in
the series, this being the main one, and Bruce
Pandolfini immediately put his hand up to this
oversight, even although he wasn’t on the set
that day of filming. He explained that when it
was finally noticed, with the tight budget, it
was going to be too expensive to re-shoot
the scene, so unfortunately they had to leave
in the mistake that had crept into the shot.
After Beth’s success on the home front,
she gets to go to Mexico City to compete in
her first international tournament, and to test
herself against stronger opposition. One of
her early opponent’s is Georgi Girev (Louis
Ashbourne Serkis), the young Eastern
European super-talent, who for some reason
seems to have a fixation with asking Beth all
about drive-in movies.
Beth Harmon- Georgi Girev
Mexico City 1966
The original game was Jakovenko-
Stellwagen, Wijk aan Zee 2007 – a long clash
that ended in a draw. But this was one of
those ‘Kasparov moments’, as the ex-world
champion found a prosaic, study-like winning
breakthrough:
1 h5!
The real game from Wijk aan Zee petered
out to a draw after 1 Îxb7 Îe2 and the
opposite-coloured bishop endings saved
Black.
1...Îe2
White’s first point is that after 1...hxg5
2 hxg6, with the bishop covering h1, there’s no
way to stop the mate on h7 without losing the
bishop: 2...Íg7 3 Îc8+ Íf8 4 Îxf8+ Êg7
5 Îf7+ Êxg6 6 Îxb7, which is easily winning.
2 a4!
Now comes the second stunner, as White
intends to ignore the ...Îxb2+ threat with the
king escaping to a3.
2...Îxb2+ 3 Êa3 hxg5 4 hxg6 Îh2
The only move, and now Beth hoovers up.
5 Îxb7 g4 6 Îxa7 g3 7 Îh7+! Îxh7
8 gxh7 Êxh7
December 2020
30-34 The Queen's Gambit_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:23 Page 33
Beth meets her toughest challenge in Mexico City in Soviet World Champion, Vasily Borgov.
9 a5
And the passed pawns march majestically
up the board.
The final game from Mexico City 1966 is a
crucial one, as it sees Beth pitted for the first
time with her central cold war foe in the series,
Vasily Borgov (Marcin Dorocinski), the Soviet
reigning world champion, and clearly the Boris
Spassky-like figure. After being strategically
outplayed in a Sicilian Rossolimo, Beth begins
to realise just how superior he is to her, and via
the interpolation here of Stein-Matanovic,
1965, this first encounter concludes:
Vasily Borgov - Beth Harmon
Mexico City 1966
www.chess.co.uk
1 Ëf3 1-0
Beth succumbs to resignation, unable to
stop the mighty threat of Ëc6+ – but from
that defeat, she learns the lesson the hard
way that more work needs to be done to her
game if she’s going to topple Borgov.
Beth clearly needs to regroup if she’s to
take on Borgov in the future. And to do so,
she heads to New York with Benny, and the
seedy confines of his counterculture
basement apartment. It’s here that she meets
up with a group of strong American players,
and immediately they set up a puzzle, White
to play and mate in three, which, of course,
with just a cursory side glance as she passes
the board, she nonchalantly solves it in a
couple of seconds.
1 Êd7!
A sublime key-move that clears the path
for Ìb7-d6-e8 mate.
1...Êg7
If 1...Íg7 2 Ìd6 followed by Ìe8 mate.
2 Ìd6 Êf8
Alternatively, if 2...Êf6 3 Ìe8# or
2...Êh6 3 Ìxf5#.
3 Ìe6#
After her training camp at Benny’s, Beth
heads to the Paris International with a clean
head and no more reliance on alcohol and
drugs, determined to take Borgov down. She’s
in the joint lead going into the final round, but
dramatically falls off the wagon with a wild
night before her crucial rematch with old foe
Borgov, and wakes up with the hangover
from hell with just minutes before the game is
due to start. Needless to say, even with the
green pills, it doesn’t go well for her. The
opening stages follow Susanto Megaranto-
Lenier Dominguez, Turin Olympiad 2006.
Beth Harmon - Vasily Borgov
Paris International 1966
Sicilian Sozin
1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Ìf6
5 Ìc3 a6 6 Íc4 e6 7 Íb3 b5 8 0-0
We reach the same Sicilian Sozin Beth
played in her first encounter with Benny – will
Borgov get the opening right?
8...Íe7 Of course he does.
9 Ëf3 Ëc7 10 Ëg3 0-0 11 Íh6 Ìe8
12 Îad1 Íd7 13 a3 Ìc6 14 Ìxc6 Íxc6
15 Îfe1 Ëb7 16 f3 a5 17 Ìe2
We now deviate from the Olympiad game,
and later Beth, while consuming vast
amounts of water in an effort to sober up,
sheepishly plays...
1 Ëd4
...Only to get a disapproving glare from the
more professional and clean-living Borgov, as
he plays 1...Îxh3 2 Ëxe4 Íxe4 3 Ìg1
Îh4 4 Íb2 Ía5+ 5 Êf2 Îxg4 to finish off
the game.
In the final episode, ‘End Game’, Beth gets
to play in the biggest tournament of her life,
and in the biggest chess metropolis of them all,
Moscow! And in an early round meeting with
the eccentric-looking ex-world champion
Dimitri Luchenko (Marcus Loges), she gets to
33
30-34 The Queen's Gambit_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:23 Page 34
learn the hard lesson that the Soviets work
together as a team during adjournments – but
fear not, because our heroine has another
‘Kasparov moment’ coming, with an unlikely
missed win scenario from Arshak Petrosian
against Vladimir Akopian, Yerevan 1988.
Dimitri Luchenko - Beth Harmon
Moscow International
King’s Indian Defence
38...h5!
The Petrosian-Akopian game continued
38...Îcf7 39 Îf1 Îxg4+ 40 fxg4 Îxf1 41 h5
Êh8 42 Îa2 Ëf4 43 Ëxf1 Ëh2+ 44 Êf3
Ëxa2 45 Ëd3 gxh5 46 gxh5 Ëh2 and fizzled
out to a draw here – but Kasparov saw just a
little deeper for the series with his
improvement of Beth’s dramatic ‘sealed
move’ of 38...h5! missed by the Soviets.
39 gxh5 Êh8!!
It’s not so obvious, but there’s a very
stunning defensive rook resource/ sacrifice
on the horizon.
40 hxg6 Îxh4 41 Îh1
Looking to trade rooks and simplify.
41...Îch7!
This comes like a bolt from the blue.
42 Îg1
The rook can’t be taken because of 42 gxh7
Ëg7+ 43 Êf2 Ëg3+ 44 Êe3 Íf4+ 45 Êe4
Ëg6+ 46 Êd4 Ëf6+ 47 Êe4 Ëe5# and if
42 Îxh4 Îxh4 the white king is in trouble
with multiple threats of ...Ëf4, ...Îh2+, etc.
42...Î7h5 43 Êf1 Êg7!
Just stopping any g7+ awkwardness.
44 Íd7 Îd4 45 Ëe3 The overworked
queen has to stand guard over f3.
45...Îd1+ 46 Îe1 Íd4 0-1
34
Beth’s confidence is by now at her peak, the tournament commentator noted would
she’s tamed all her inner demons and is now a be quite an achievement for Beth. But –
force to be reckoned with – and that can only thanks to Kasparov! – she was confident to
mean a climatic showdown with her rival decline, as she finished off her rival with more
Vasily Borgov, and fittingly, it comes via the than just a touch of flair and élan.
namesake of the series, the Queen’s Gambit. 10 Ëf5+ Êh8
The game is loosely based on another real
game, Vasily Ivanchuk against Patrick Wolff
from the Biel Interzonal in 1993 – but unlike
the Albin Counter-Gambit start, 1 d4 d5 2 c4
e5, favoured by Borgov in the climax to the
series, the real game started with a Queen’s
Gambit Accepted with a 2...dxc4 3 e4 Ìc6
4 Íe3 Ìf6 5 Ìc3 e5 route.
After a very tense struggle, we arrive at
this position:
Beth Harmon - Vasily Borgov
Moscow International
11 Ëxf6!!
Setting up the killer blow with Îxf6 and Îf8.
11...gxf6 12 Îxf6 Ëh5 13 Îf8+ Êg7
14 e8Ë Îe2+
It’s all-or-nothing now for Borgov, as
14...Ëxe8 15 Îxe8 leaves a hopelessly lost
ending.
15 Êf1 Ëxh3+ 16 Êxe2 Ëg2+ 17 Îf2
Ëe4+ 18 Êd2 1-0
1 h3
Here the game was adjourned overnight,
with the sealed move being the obvious
queen retreat. 1...Ëg6 2 Ìe6 Îa4 3 b3
Îxe4 4 Ìxd6 Íxe6
Forced, as the fork with 4...cxd6? 5 Ìf8+
is decisive.
5 dxe6 cxd6 6 e7 d5!
A move that seems to hold Borgov’s
position together, and a move that
momentarily knocks Beth off her stride, as
her team’s overnight analysis session had
missed this move – but nonplused, she
continues with...
7 Íc5 Ëe8 8 Ëf3 Ëc6 9 b4 The Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit,
....Locking the bishop on the c5-square starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon,
and close to zugzwang for Black. provides some much needed entertainment
9...Ëe8 in 2020 while retaining much of the realism
Here Borgov offered a draw, a result that of the royal game. We highly recommend it.
December 2020
35-37 StockingFillers_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:36 Page 35
Christmas
Stocking Fillers
Uncertain what you want for Christmas?
Let our star reviewer Sean Marsh be your guide!
Time now to round up the books I enjoyed,
but did not have the space to review properly
over the course of the year. Perhaps you will
find one or more of these books in your
stocking on Christmas morning? Here is a
little summary of what you can expect.
Early in 2020 I reviewed David Smerdon’s
The Chess Swindler (New in Chess), and
hinted that it had the credentials to be one of
the best books of the year. This turned out to
be very accurate, as the book not only gained
glowing reviews elsewhere, but also went on
to take the coveted ECF Book of the Year
title. It makes good sense to examine the
other three books on the shortlist here.
Coaching Kasparov –
Volume II: The Assassin (1982-1990)
Alexander Nikitin, 264 pages
Elk and Ruby
RRP £21.99 SUBSCRIBERS £19.79
I have already written about the first
volume – The Whizz-Kid (1973-1981) –
and this one, of course, follows on directly.
Kasparov was extremely active during the
period in question, with an exciting run of
Candidates matches against Beliavsky,
Korchnoi and Smyslov, and no fewer than four
of his five matches against Karpov.
There are 39 games, complete with
annotations, with 20 of those being
previously unpublished training games against
Evgeny Vladimirov and Gennady Timoshenko.
These are valuable additions to the story of
Kasparov’s rise to the top, especially as they
feature the new openings he first used, as
surprise weapons, in his Candidates matches.
The Tarrasch Defence to the Queen’s
Gambit served Kasparov very well indeed up
until his first title match against Karpov, when
two defeats from two games saw it relegated
from his top-flight arsenal, while the
www.chess.co.uk
introduction of the Catalan Opening had a
devastating effect on Viktor Korchnoi in their
match. Korchnoi, himself a Catalan expert,
reacted badly to the ‘crossover repertoires’
and found he could only draw with White
while losing with Black.
In fact some of the training games provided
painful lessons for Kasparov. He drew 3-3 with
Vladimirov, with Nikitin commentating that the
“unexpected result proved to be great medicine
for his big head before the upcoming internal
tournament.” I was intrigued by Vladimirov’s
use of the rare line 1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5
4 Íg2 dxc4 5 Ìf3 Ìbd7 6 0-0 Îb8 7 a4
b6 as Black in one of the training games. This
is because it is one of the lines tried by
Korchnoi against Kasparov, one year later.
Coincidence? Lucky strike? Something more?
What is clear is that Kasparov was still
feeling his way towards his ultimate level and
at critical moments at the board his
calculations were not always as sharp as we
would have expected.
G.Kasparov-E.Vladimirov
Training Game, USSR 1982
24 d6
This is a trademark pawn lunge by
Kasparov, cutting the board in two with a far-
flung pawn. Kasparov added ‘?!’ to his score-
sheet, but that is due to retro-continuity; the
inaccuracies came slightly later.
24...Ëf5 25 Îe7
Apparently 25 Ëb7! is the best way to
convert the advantage.
25...Îd8 26 Ëb7
And here 26 Îd5 Ëb1+ 27 Êg2 was the
best way to proceed.
26...Ìf8!
“With a series of precise moves Vladimirov
succeeds in escaping. Now the bishop on f4 is
hanging and in contrast to the variation
starting with 25 Ëb7 here white cannot take
on a7 and then regain the piece with Ëc7.”
The game ended as a draw on move 35.
The book also offers glimpses of the changes
in Kasparov’s character as he continues on his
path the top. There was even a parting with
Mikhail Botvinnik, after the 1988 USSR
Championship play-off match between
Kasparov and Karpov was shelved. Botvinnik,
as the tournament’s chief arbiter, was judged
by Kasparov as protecting Karpov. According
to Nikitin, “After that, collaboration between
the Teacher and his pupil ended. Garry was
pained at this parting of ways, but his sense
of justice, which that year still governed the
champion’s actions, left him with no choice.”
The anti-Karpov tone is consistently
maintained throughout the book, which is
only natural. Nobody could be seen to have a
foot in both camps. Eventually, Nikitin’s time
with Kasparov also came to end. “We
separated at a time that was far from the
toughest one in his chess career, and more
compliant candidates were found to replace me.”
There are times when one needs to read
between the lines, but there is more than
enough original content here to make this book
an essential purchase for anyone interested in
this key time in Kasparov’s career.
The Best I Saw in Chess
Stuart Rachels, 416 pages
New in Chess
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
This is another book I enjoyed very much,
mainly for the completely fresh approach and
35
35-37 StockingFillers_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:36 Page 36
extremely accessible writing style. It
thoroughly deserved its place on the shortlist.
The subtitle of ‘Games, Stories and Instruction
from an Alabama Prodigy Who Became U.S.
Champion’ may be a long one, but Rachels is a
figure from the past who few readers will
remember very well at all and there are enough
hints there to pique the interest.
In fact Rachels achieved a great deal
before retiring from active chess playing in
1993. He beat Fischer’s record to become
the youngest chess master in the history of
the United States (aged just 11 years and 10
months), won the 1989/90 U.S.
Championship, and played in the 1990
Interzonal. Not bad at all for a young player
who “never played professionally” and “retired
upon entering graduate school.”
This book has been a long time coming,
but it is worth the wait. Rachels says, “This is
a book about chess, illustrated with material
from my games. The book addresses so many
topics in strategy and competitive play that it
could be called ‘a complete chess course’, if
that phrase isn’t taken too expansively.”
The topics are wide-ranging and are mixed
with excellent stories, all of which I really enjoyed
reading. There are some fascinating glimpses
of Kasparov, especially from the time of his
Candidates match against Korchnoi. This all
ties in very nicely with the Nikitin work.
First in this book, there are two
simultaneous games against Kasparov; one
played in 1983 and the other in 1988.
Rachels played the Benoni in both encounters
and had his chances in both games. Kasparov
made a fuss on both occasions. In 1983 he
was under pressure, but complained loudly
enough to have the organiser give him more
time on all of the clocks, and in 1988 he took
Danny Edelman noisily to task for having the
temerity to force an early draw.
Another good chapter is ‘Impressions of
the Greats’, in which Rachels relates his
experiences with the star players. There are
anecdotes about the likes of Korchnoi, Tal and
Spassky, plus several regarding other notable
characters, such as Arnold Denker. Rachels
played him when Denker was 77, with an age
gap of 56 years. The veteran made a strong
impression on his much younger opponent.
“Denker was friendly, laid back, and
opinionated. I liked him a lot.”
There are more Kasparov stories in this
chapter too. Rachels saw him dining at London’s
Great Eastern Hotel, at a time when he was
behind in his Candidates match against Korchnoi,
with the latter seemingly dictating the course of
the match. “Kasparov was so tense that he
appeared to be at war with his meal, eating as if
he were angry and in severe time-trouble. Under
ordinary circumstances, Kasparov was
emotional and high strung; but now, with the
match going badly, he appeared unstable.”
Rachels was a strong player, but he is self-
deprecating throughout the book. The chapter
on blunders, for example, features plenty of
Rachels’ own biggest mistakes. There are not
many players willing to share so many
unfortunate moments from their own games.
Some are genuinely amusing, such as this one.
36
S.Rachels-E.Gaillard
Chicago 1989
Nimzowitsch Defence
“In the third round of the 1989 U.S. Open,
a master played a funny opening against me.”
1 e4 Ìc6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìc3 Ìf6?! 4 e5
Ìd7
Black’s play makes a strange impression,
but he played quickly and Rachels didn’t smell
the rat. He chopped off the pawn with 5
Ìxd5?!, but was shocked by the bizarre
move 5...Ìdb8!. “I wanted to hide under a
pile of coats. I’m losing back the pawn, the
queens are coming off, and it’s dead equal.”
The game was eventually drawn.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. One
of them was that the stories presented here
cannot be found elsewhere, giving a very
fresh feel to the material. Another reason is
the passion Rachel’s had – and still has – for
the game. In his own words: “The exhilaration
of competition and the joy of mental
absorption – that’s why I played chess.”
Emanuel Lasker: Volume 2
Richard Forster, Michael Negele
& Raj Tischbierek, 452 pages
Exzelsior Verlag
RRP £54.95 SUBSCRIBERS £49.45
The second of the three volumes covering
the life and selected games of the second
world champion also made it on to the
shortlist of the ECF Book of the Year contest.
This volume, as the subtitle ‘Choices and
Chances – Chess and Other Games of the
Mind’ makes clear, covers Lasker’s interest in
other games, including bridge and the board
game of Lasca, which he invented. Lasca is
similar to checkers in some ways, but with
some additional twists. The book contains
photographs of the authentic game and even
has a selection of Lasca problems to solve.
The chess content focuses mainly on
Lasker’s time in Holland and also his
participation in the famous New York
tournament of 1924. Lasker won, ahead of a
galaxy of chess stars including, of course,
reigning world champion Capablanca.
Indeed, the ghost of the desired rematch
with the Cuban haunts the book. Lasker
should have played in the New York
tournament of 1927, which was held partly
to determine Capablanca’s title challenger,
but disputes got in the way.
Reading both sides of the story reveals a
lot about Lasker’s character – and the nature
of tournament organisers, too. Would Lasker
have outscored Alekhine, Nimzowitsch,
Marshall, Spielmann and Vidmar to secure the
rematch he craved? It is a possibility that
cannot be ruled out.
There is enough excellent material in this
fine book to keep even the most avid reader
occupied for a very long time and there are
plenty of very interesting photographs, too. A
lot of love, care and attention have clearly
gone into this series. The paper is of a high
quality, the photographs are reproduced in a
very clear and crisp fashion, and the
attractive hardcover completes a very fine
presentation.
I am looking forward to seeing what
manner of Lasker treasures will be unveiled in
the concluding volume.
Rewire Your Chess Brain
Cyrus Lakdawala, 528 pages
Everyman Chess
RRP £25.99 SUBSCRIBERS £23.39
Lakdawala’s books are the Marmite in the
world of chess literature. He writes a lot of
books each year and his flowery style is not
to everyone’s liking. My reviews pass
numerous of them by, but I do enjoy some of
his output, especially when he tries
something a little different.
This is not a standard move-by-move
book, or one offering a quick-fix repertoire.
As the blurb puts it: “This is not your average
chess book. It does not deal with opening
theory or middlegame strategy. It focuses
purely on problems and studies, all of which
are the results of artificial construction rather
than scenes from real-life battles.”
That means we need to leave behind
Lasker, Capablanca and Kasparov, and step
into a different world, where we find the
rulers have names such as Loyd, Troitzky
and Shinkman. It is a chunky book, full of
checkmate puzzles and studies. Some will
appeal more to practical players than others,
such as this one, taken from the chapter titled
‘Realism’.
December 2020
35-37 StockingFillers_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:36 Page 37
Nikolai Grigoriev
Isvestia, 1931
White to play and win
Can you solve it? There are seven moves
before it is absolutely clear that White is
winning. I don’t want to give the answer here
as it will encourage you to be lazy.
This is just the sort of material you need
while you are having a break. Just put your
feet up, open some pages at random and give
your brain a good workout.
www.chess.co.uk
Lorin D’Costa, the mastermind behind
the She Plays to Win tournaments,
presents more positions to solve from
some of the UK’s leading female players
P.Aarons-A.Muzychuk
The Berlin Defence
Oropesa del Mar 1999
Andy Mack, 292 pages, Elk and Ruby
RRP £14.99 SUBSCRIBERS £13.49
Sometimes you need a break from all the
serious chess material. Surely you won’t be
sitting around preparing for your games over
the festive season, will you?
Help is at hand, from Elk and Ruby. In amongst
their historical and biographical works they
have also released their first novel. Unlike the
real Berlin Defence, this one is fairly easy to get
through as it is written in a bright and breezy
fashion. The plot concerns Lothar Hartmann’s
desire to reach the chess summit and how he
was caught up in a distracting political battle.
Chess and fiction don’t always go together
Can you see how Poppy won against her
very well, but with this new venture from Elk
famous future grandmaster opponent?
and Ruby and the rave reviews given to the
Netflix series, The Queen’s Gambit, perhaps
the trend will carry on through 2021? J.Houska-K.Rohonyan
Aviles 2000
What did Jovanka play here en route to
winning the European U-20 Championship?
Z.Varney-Lan Yao
SPTW Uni Cup 2020
Former England Junior Zoe Varney looks
to have her Chinese WIM opponent in big
trouble, but what did Lan play here to keep
her advantage?
Solutions on page 52.
37
38-40 GivingUp_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:34 Page 38
Giving Up
Professional Chess
Jonathan Levitt reflects on retirement from OTB play, as well as his latest book
So what on earth do chess grandmasters
do when they stop playing chess? Are they
actually capable of anything else worthwhile?
I hope so! This year, having hardly played
any chess for a decade, I have written a book
which, although it mentions chess, is
absolutely not a chess book. Contemplating
Comedy was published by The Conrad Press
in the United Kingdom in November 2020.
Details can be found at the publisher’s
website: theconradpress.com.
Do Chessplayers Retire?
A tricky decision awaiting chess players
(and other professional sports people), as they
get older, is when to retire. The majority of
people lose energy and motivation as they go
past 40, or maybe 50 in some cases, and their
chess starts to decline. The great Viktor
Korchnoi showed it does not have to be so, but
he really was an exception rather than a rule.
Psychologically it is unpleasant to deal
with a decline in your ability and many choose
to stop rather than accepting (or coming to
terms with) gradually declining performances.
In my case, a medical diagnosis of
scleroderma, an arthritic condition, was made
when I was about 40 (I am now 57). I decided
that a lifestyle of travelling the world playing
tournaments would be too demanding on me
physically and more or less gave up regular
competitive chess there and then. It was not
a total decision to stop, and I have played a
handful of events since then and it is possible
I might play again in the future (assuming
post-Covid opportunities are a thing), but it
did represent a sudden and complete change
of direction and focus.
The scleroderma has reduced my lung
capacity by at least 40%. I can still manage an
hour’s walk, but playing a tournament with
maximum effort over nine days is a challenge.
So if I were to play I would need to accept
that I no longer have the energy I had before
and consequently I am likely to perform at a
lower level. That plus getting rusty and out of
practice, not to mention getting older in
general, all makes it is not such an attractive
proposition.
One of the really nice things about being a
chess professional is the clarity and the sense
of purpose. Your goal is to become better at
38
chess. It is relatively clear what is on that path
and what is not. For a while in my twenties my
head was set up that way. I played as much as
I could and I worked on my game between
events. I had plans to improve every aspect of
my game. Openings to develop, players I
wanted to study, daily tactical training
exercises, endgame books on the reading list...
I moved from master level to grandmaster
level and probably squeezed into the world’s
top-100 at some point around 1990.
Long before I was 40 I had already
compromised my chess playing ambitions for
the sake of making a living by engaging in
teaching and writing about chess. Even thirty
years ago teaching chess in a school, as a
grandmaster, could command £40 an hour or
more. Writing and playing (at my level) earned
a fraction of that (that fraction being maybe a
quarter). Not many can remain out-and-out
player professionals – the majority of people
making a living from chess in the UK are doing
something else like teaching, writing,
organising, selling equipment, being an arbiter
or holding down a newspaper column.
The elite players can still do well just from
playing. Nigel Short and Mickey Adams in my
day (but still going), and now players like David
Howell and Gawain Jones. The UK also has
some very talented ‘amateurs’. Matthew
Sadler and Luke McShane have alternative
careers, but are very strong players. Nice to be
so gifted! Another very talented player was
Julian Hodgson, who settled for the steady
money of teaching and more or less stopped
playing as a result. It is difficult to switch on
and off between playing and teaching since the
mindset is so different. When you teach, you
are trying to help others and make them
stronger. When you play, you are trying to beat
others and keep them down.
With scleroderma (and even when
healthy), I found teaching was also physically
very draining. For a while I continued
commuting to central London on Tuesdays to
teach at City of London School, but
eventually I gave this up. I was lucky to
stumble into another career I could do from
home: betting on live cricket, which has been
my soul source of income the last 15 years. It
is not for everyone, but I have enjoyed it and
had good results. Like with chess, you build up
feel and instinct with experience. Pattern
recognition is definitely involved.
Psychological skills I had picked up from
chess, like making decisions under pressure,
keeping control of emotions and maintaining
a ruthless objectivity regarding my decision-
making process, help a great deal. Online
bookies no longer like me and most have long
since stopped taking my bets or restricted me
to very small bets only. Most of my friends
and family are not allowed to bet now either.
Looking back at my chess career it is
obvious to me now that I had too restricted
and limited an opening repertoire. I would
have gone further if I had done the hard work
so as to expand, deepen and widen my
options in the opening. I played a few good
games, but feel my main contribution to
chess was not as a player. My book, jointly
written with David Friedgood, Secrets of
Spectacular Chess was probably my best
work and develops an original theory about
the aesthetics of chess.
Genius in Chess was another, hopefully
interesting book that discussed the question
of talent. I composed a few problems and
studies too. I am more proud of a four-corner
series helpmate in 34, discussed in Secrets of
Spectacular, than any game I have ever
played. As a teacher I have enjoyed seeing
some of my former pupils go on to do very
well indeed, though the chain of cause and
effect is far from established. Maybe they
needed the time in between to recover.
Modern-Day Enjoyment of Chess
I still enjoy looking at chess from time to
time. I sometimes follow the top players
when there is live commentary. Not
something that was available last century and
what a treat to hear people like Peter Svidler
commenting online on games as they happen.
We used to dream that top events could be
covered on television and the internet is
providing a more or less similar experience.
I am part of a ‘chess endgames and
compositions’ group on Facebook and
sometimes try to solve a puzzle when it looks
interesting. Every now and again I actually play
chess too. Either online or when a friend visits.
Most years my old friend Erik Teichmann visits
and stays over a few days, during which we
usually play around 50 blitz games.
Here are some highlights from my chess
December 2020
38-40 GivingUp_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:34 Page 39

year. First a position I actually composed and

‘published’ by posting it in the aforementioned
Facebook group. It is White to play and mate in
nine and, as mate in nines go, I would say it is
pretty easy. Subscribers to a chess magazine
like this one will probably be able to solve it
without too much trouble.

Jonathan Levitt
Mate in 9, Facebook 2019

The solution is the graphic and mechanical
1 fxg3+ Êh5 2 fxg4+ Êh6 3 fxg5+ Êh7
4 fxg6+ Êh8 5 g7+ Êh7 6 g6+ Êh6 7
g5+ Êh5 8 g4+ Êh4 9 g3#.
I quite enjoyed the following blitz game
played in my garden against one of the
stronger Suffolk players.
J.Levitt-P.Hopkins
Ipswich (blitz) 2019
Queen’s Gambit Declined
1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 e6 3 Ìc3 d5 4 Íg5 Íe7
5 e3 Ìe4 6 Íxe7 Ëxe7 7 Ëc2 f5 8 Íd3
c6 9 Ìf3 Ìd7 10 0-0-0 a6 11 h4 b5 12
c5 a5 13 Ìe2?
Whoops! Even a retired grandmaster should
not blunder the exchange quite like this, but
fortunately I obtain quite good positional
compensation and the position is such that the
black rooks are not going to be active for quite
a while. In fact throughout the rest of the game
they never get active other than as targets. Far
worse things can and do happen in blitz.
13...Ìxf2 14 Ìf4 Ìxh1 15 Îxh1 Ìf6
16 Ìe5 Íd7 17 h5 Îg8 18 g4 Ìe4 19
gxf5 exf5 20 Ëg2 Ìxc5!
Retired grandmasters find it easier to go on holiday than active ones. Here we see Jonathan
relaxing in Naples and wonder if the arrival of a seagull inspired his chess composition at all.
A strong move after which White is And now for something slightly more
completely lost. My next two moves are what refined... My Facebook friend, Charlie Storey,
made me show you this game. They posted a position (not his own) with the same
represent the only chance to get back in the basic idea as the version below. I tweaked it
game. What would you play here? by changing the position of the white rook
21 Íxb5! and the black king in such a way as to improve
A nice move to play even if it is not entirely the play and create a switchback theme. It
kosher. turns out, as we discovered later, that the
21...Ìe4? original study on which this position is based
My computer seems to like holding things was by the great composer Alexey Troitsky
together with 21...Ëd6, after which Black is dating from 1934. We will compare his
still better, but that was not at all obvious in original with my version posted this year on
blitz where it is natural to want to move a Facebook.
piece that is en prise.
22 Ìxd5!
Jonathan Levitt, 2020
based on A. Troitsky, 1934

White is actually doing OK after this fine

blow. Black should still try 22...Ëd6 in reply.
Then White would play 23 Ía4! when things
are unclear since he has 24 Íb3 if Black takes
the knight with 23...Ëxd5. Instead, he takes
the knight straight away and after that I think
White is winning.
22...cxd5? 23 Íxd7+ Êf8 24 Íxf5
Ëc7+ 25 Êb1 Îb8 26 Íxe4 dxe4 27
Îf1+ Êe8 28 Ëxe4 Ëe7 29 Ëc6+ Êd8
30 Ìf7+ 1-0
1 Îf1! Êd7
Black has nothing better since the rook is
trapped and advancing the h-pawn just
tightens the noose. The black king has to
avoid moving to a dark square since if it does
there will be a bishop check followed by rook
takes rook.
2 Îe1! Êc6 3 Îd1 Êb5 4 Îc1 Êa4 5 Îb1!
Completing the switchback in stages. First

www.chess.co.uk
39
38-40 GivingUp_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:34 Page 40
White moved his rook from b1 to f1 and over
the next four moves he has moved it back
again one square at a time. Black has now run
out of space to move his king (for example, if
5...Êa3 6 Íc5+ Êa2 7 Îxh1), so instead
advances his h-pawn.
5...h5+ 6 Êg3 h4+ 7 Êg2 1-0
I was delighted with the switchback and
the elegant, light setting with which it is
achieved. My Facebook friend, Alex King,
found the original Troitsky shortly after I
posted my version. Others have also
composed versions over the last 90 years,
but nothing significantly better than the
original in my opinion.
A. Troitsky
5th prize, Shakhmaty v SSSR 1934
White to play and win
1 Íg1!
After 1 Îb5 Îh3+ 2 Êg4 Îxh1 3 Íg1+
Êc6 4 Îb1 Êd5 5 Îe1 Êc4 6 Îd1 Êb3
7 Îc1 Êa2 White cannot win.
1...Îh3+ 2 Êg4 Îxh1 3 Îd7+!
An important check. The immediate 3 Îd1
Êc6 4 Îf1 Êd5 5 Îe1 Êc4 6 Îd1 Êb3
7 Îc1 Êa2 fails to bring home the bacon.
3...Êc6 4 Îd1 Êb5 5 Îc1 Êa4 6 Îb1
h5+ 7 Êg3 1-0
The Troitsky original has many virtues. The
clever way that the alternative attempt,
1 Îb5?, just fails, as does 3 Îd1. Crucially,
the black rook finds its way into the bottom
right corner dynamically during the play
rather than just being placed in its
predicament as it is in my adaptation. On the
other hand, the elegance, limited material and
(best of all) the switchback by stages all
count for something in favour of my version.
Readers can decide for themselves which
they think is the better presentation.
Putting Lockdown to Good Use
Having more or less given up chess well
over a decade ago and turned to betting on
cricket, I suddenly had to look for something
else to do when lockdown meant there was
no cricket anywhere in the world for several
months. I did not fancy my chances of
persuading Her Majesty’s Government about
40
my prospective loss of cricket betting
earnings, so my income dropped to zero and
returning to chess was not really a viable
option since there was not a lot of action on
the tournament front.
Besides, I was supposed to be avoiding
contact with people because I was on the ‘at
risk’ list for Coronavirus. I turned to writing.
For the first time I decided to write a book
that was not about chess. The title and
publishing details are at the start of the
article.
The book is a compilation of funny lines as
well as ideas/insights. Mostly the funny lines
and ideas are by other people, but some are
my own. A good friend of mine who was one
of the first to read the book, Erik Teichmann,
was kind enough to spot a number of errors,
typos and ill-judged commas that needed
some editing. He said to me, “It’s very you,
isn’t it?” and I think he is right. I have put a lot
of myself into this book, and the style and
content, which is a little unusual, reflects my
personality. At least I hope Erik meant
something like that and was not just referring
to my misplaced commas.
Perhaps readers would like to see a short
excerpt from the book? To give you some
context, it is from a chapter, entitled ‘The
divine comedian – how the fission chips got
inside the farcical accelerator’, looking at
various categories and mechanisms of humour,
including working with idioms and phrases,
puns and wordplay, reversal, changes of
perception, set pieces and dark humour. This is
the section on ‘reversal’, featuring a line from a
rather famous chess player.
Reversal
By ‘reversal’ I mean simply the switching
round of an idea or set of words. Often, but
not always, a change of perception is
associated with it. It is quite a common
comedy technique, though it is not so widely
used as a category.
A simple quote from Kermit the frog sets a
good example: ‘Time’s fun when you’re having
flies’. Here the reversal involves switching the
words ‘flies’ and ‘fun’ and thus moving away
from the common phrase ‘time flies when you
are having fun’. I guess frogs enjoy flies. They
are welcome to them.
Spoonerisms are often reversals, usually of
a pair of letters. But reversals also include
switching round ideas, for example: ‘Question
authority... and the authorities will question
you’. Maybe in the free and not so wild west
we do not need to be so paranoid, but under
communism such a statement would be
deeply felt. In actual fact a type of joke is
actually known as the ‘Russian reversal’ and is
based on switching ideas to illustrate key
differences between the west and Russia.
Which of these four do you like best?
1) In America, you watch Big Brother. In
Soviet Russia, Big Brother watch you.
2) In America, you can always find a party.
In Soviet Russia, the party can always find
you.
3) In communist Russia, you rob bank. In
capitalistic America, bank robs you.
4) Every country has its own mafia. In
Russia, the mafia has its own country.
Big Brother is a reality television show,
apparently quite popular for reasons I could
not begin to comprehend. It is also a term
introduced by George Orwell in his novel
1984 (itself a reversal of 1948, the year it
was written), referring to the all-controlling
state that keeps watch over everything done
by its citizens.
2) was actually used in an advert for the
beer Miller Lite on American television in
1985 with the Ukrainian-American comedian
Yakov Smirnoff. A funny quote of his from an
interview with Johnny Carson: “I enjoy being
in America: it’s fun, you know, because you
have, you have so many things we never had
in Russia – like warning shots”.
There is some truth in 3) when you
consider banking charges, overdraft charges
and typical, nasty tricks like changing interest
rates without telling you. However, it is
probably the least funny of the set.
My clear winner is 4), a line used by the
chess genius and former world champion,
Garry Kasparov (now a critic and opponent of
Vladimir Putin).
Ed. – If you’d enjoy reading more from
Jonathan, Contemplating Comedy is on sale
now from Amazon.
Play Chess From the Comfort
of Your Own Home!
National
Correspondence
Chess Club
Our philosophy: “To foster
friendship between members”
For Beginners to Grandmasters
A wide variety of tournaments
FREE web server chess
FREE bi-monthly magazine
For application form and full details
visit our website: www.natcor.org.uk
Contact: Des Green,
93 Eldmon Lane, Birmingham, B37 7DN
or email: treasurer@natcor.org.uk
December 2020
41-41 Everyman advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:12 Page 1
42-43 NMTGDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:11 Page 42
Never Mind the
Grandmasters...
Here come the amateurs - by Carl Portman (carl.portman@hotmail.co.uk)
I like to think that I am a man of my word,
so I feel guilty about sharing a particular game
with you this month. I blame lockdown and
the fact that I don’t have any new over-the-
board games of mine to write about. With
sincere and humble apologies then to Kevin
Winter (he is the Lion and I am the Tiger –
read on), I am transporting the reader to the
chilly Hastings Chess Congress of 2016. It
was round four of five, and I was on 2/3 and
I think Kevin was also.
I won, but I am not showing the game just
because of the result. The theme of this
column is about how good it feels when
opening preparation combined with a dose of
psychology pays off. Of course, one also
requires a bit of good fortune, such as a
mistake by an opponent, which happened
here. How boring it really would be if we all
played that ‘perfect chess’ that people speak
about. Life would just be full of draws.
I played Black and the battlefield
psychology began the night before. I knew
that Kevin was something of an expert on the
Black Lion opening, and I think Simon Williams
has even acknowledged this in some of his
own work. But Kevin was White in this game.
What did he play as White I wondered?
Kevin knew that I was a French Defence
player. Would he play 1 e4 and hatch some
nasty line against me? Readers of this column
will know that it is difficult to prepare for such
games – you just have to devise a plan and go
with it. Often an opponent does not come
close to playing what we expect, but we can
save our ideas for another day.
I took a gamble. I thought Kevin would play
1 e4 because he would fancy knocking down
my French game. As it happened, I was
correct. However, I decided to play
something that some readers may consider to
be outrageous and not a little insulting.
But hold on – let me just remark that
Radjabov and Sadler have played it, amongst
others. It’s a very interesting (I said interesting,
I did not say ‘good’) surprise weapon. I have
played it online and in friendlies many times,
and had some very interesting games. Of
course, I don’t know how to play this stuff
‘properly’ like the super players, but who
cares? It usually takes me to a position that I
am familiar with and I play chess from there.
Also, it was because I respected Kevin’s
prowess that I changed from my usual French
to something else – surely a compliment to him.
I was very excited about this game.
42
Playing a friend always adds spice to the
occasion. It is even better if both friends want
to win as we did. Personally, I like it all the
more if you can surprise your opponent with
the black pieces. It seems then that the
initiative has immediately been wrested from
the white army and that, at least for a move
or two, Black is setting the agenda.
Here is the game. I am using an abridged and
amended version of my notes from the time.
One of Britain’s most prolific and popular
club players, Kevin Winter from Bradford.
K.Winter-C.Portman
Hastings 2016/17
Gunderam Defence
1 e4 e5!
As I touched my e-pawn Kevin picked up
his pen ready to write 1...e6 on his
scoresheet. He was already a couple of inches
away from annotating it. When he saw me
advance the pawn an extra square he quite
literally reeled back in shock. His face was
frozen, aghast. Portman doesn’t play 1...e5
ever, he must have been thinking. I thought I
might have to call for a doctor. It was as if he
had been electrocuted. This was definitely the
first psychological blow to me.
2 Ìf3
He had played the Morra in a previous
game. The ball was in his court and I wondered
if here too he might try 2 d4 against me or did
he now consider that I might have been
analysing lines against it the previous evening?
The reader will know that this is all part of the
psychology of the game at all levels. Certainly
any or all of Kevin’s analysis for the French had
to be unceremoniously dumped in the lake for
now, and he had to ‘play chess’ from this early
stage. He had to make decisions straight away.
That’s what I wanted. In the end, he opted not
to go for the Danish.
2...Ëe7!?
The chap sitting on the board next to me
laughed aloud (in a friendly way) when I
played this. Kevin looked shocked again and
his eyebrows were furrowed deep into the
bridge of his nose. I felt happy that at least
this lion wasn’t going to have it all his own
way, regardless of the result. This 2...Ëe7, a
strong point, I first learnt from an old Michael
Basman cassette tape many years ago. Kevin
had definitely not prepared for it.
3 Ìc3 c6 4 Íc4 d6
This is surprisingly solid for Black. If White
plays d4, Black just ignores it. If White then
captures the e-pawn, Black recaptures and
the pawns on e5 and c6 do a sterling job of
keeping White’s pieces out.
5 0-0 Íg4
A tricky wee move this (5...b5 can also be
played immediately). Kevin had a long think.
He was clearly uncomfortable and recovering
from shock. Of course, Black is not winning or
anything like it, but the prep had done it’s job.
6 a4
This is a good reply from Kevin who clearly
has a good positional sense.
December 2020
42-43 NMTGDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:11 Page 43
6 Íxf7+ does not work of course:
6...Ëxf7 7 Ìxe5 dxe5 8 Ëxg4 Ìd7 and
White hasn’t enough for the piece.
6...Ëf6
Moving the queen twice in the first six
moves. Not really that clever, but I wanted to
pressure that knight on f3.
7 Íe2
It must be galling to move the bishop back
from such a good square. However, there is
also a cost to Black as his queen now prevents
the king’s knight from coming to its natural
square on f6.
7...Ìd7 8 h3 Íxf3
How about 8...h5!? for an idea, as
suggested by Komodo 13? Certainly 9 hxg4
hxg4 10 g3 gxf3 11 Íxf3 is very interesting.
9 Íxf3
I had a long think at this point. I just could
not seem to construct a decent plan. I looked
at 9...h6, 9...h5, 9...Ëe6 and 9...a5, but
decided upon something else.
9...g6
Which was not so clever, even though the
engine approves.
10 b4
The lion growls, and is not prepared to sit
and wait.
10...Ìe7
The tiger, as I now thought of myself,
ignores it.
11 b5 Íg7 12 d3 0-0 13 Íe3 Ëe6
I am going to get ...f5 in before he can go f4.
14 Íe2?!
I have absolutely no idea why Kevin played
this apart from wanting to push f2-f4. He
may have been better taking on c6. Isn’t it
funny to think that this bishop was once on
c4 in front of the pawns; now it is on e2
behind them.
14...f5 15 Íd2
www.chess.co.uk
I remember looking at this thinking how
that bishop-pair has been temporarily
whipped and had to come all the way back to
e2 and d2. Imagine for a moment those two
on a2 and a3...
15...d5
Of course. I won’t be asked twice to try to
secure space and the centre.
16 Îb1??
It is a natural-looking move, and was easy
to overlook Black’s reply. Kevin played it quickly.
He could still just have exchanged on c6.
16...d4
And the knight is doomed.
17 exf5 gxf5 18 bxc6 bxc6
The knight still has no squares, but Kevin
had a long think and made a tremendous fist
of it.
19 Ìe4! fxe4 20 Íg4
This is now open warfare. White has the
bishop-pair and an open file, while Black has
the material, but his king is semi-exposed.
20...Ëd6
I selected the best square. Black should be
careful, and not rush.
21 Îb7
After 21 dxe4 Ìf6 22 Íf3 Êh8 Black is
better, but my word, there’s a lot to play for.
21...Ìf6 22 Íg5 Îfb8?!
Probably not correct, but after 22...exd3
23 Ëxd3 Êh8 I saw loads of activity for
White. Black is still ahead here, but I wanted
exchanges, and quickly.
23 Ëb1 exd3 24 cxd3 Ìed5
24...Êh8 was my other option, but this
seemed best.
25 f4?!
This move certainly opens up the position.
I am not sure that ‘it works’ in a real sense,
but what did White have to lose?
25...Ìxg4
That’s the light squares taken care of.
26 hxg4 exf4 27 Ëb3 Îxb7!
Absolutely. Now was the exact moment to
do this.
28 Ëxb7 Îf8!
The rook is in the game and the threats are
coming from Black again. The storm has been
weathered. The lion pounced instinctively,
but fell just short of the mark.
29 Îc1 Ìc3?!
Played very quickly, missing the bishop
fork on e7.
I looked at it 29...f3!!, but did not select it,
not seeing all of 30 Ëxc6 f2+ 31 Êf1 Ëe5
32 Íd2 Ìe3+ 33 Íxe3 dxe3 and wins.
30 Îe1?
Fortunately, even 30 Íe7 Îb8 31 Íxd6
Îxb7 32 Îe1 should be lost for White.
30...f3!
Just at the right moment.
31 Îe7 f2+
31...Ìe2+ 32 Êf1 fxg2+ 33 Êxe2 Ëg6
is but one line.
32 Êf1 Ëg6 33 Îxg7+
The wounded lion won’t give up.
33...Ëxg7 34 Íe7 Ëe5 35 Íxf8 0-1
Kevin cheekily announced checkmate on
the next move, but unfortunately for him it is
my turn. As it stands, it isn’t mate on the next
move anyway as the queen covers g7. Thus
the lion goes hungry.
I was delighted. This was a rare moment
where my preparation had been spot on for
the situation. I accept that Kevin blundered
his knight, but what were the circumstances
surrounding this? He never fully recovered
from the opening shock, I don’t believe. I
could see it etched on his face throughout the
game. The Black Lion is a formidable and
much respected beast, but today it stepped
on the tail of a tiger – and tigers can be
pretty dangerous when they have to fight.
So that was that. Kevin is a friend, a great
person and a contagiously passionate chess
fan. On any given day he could beat me, but
this day was my day (Heute ist Mein Tag, as
the Germans say), and with various forms of
lockdown continuing it could be a while
before he gets his revenge, so I will have to
dine out on this a bit longer!
As it happened, I remained undefeated in
the tournament and joined the prize-winners
in equal second place. It was my first ever
Hastings tournament and very probably my
last, so I have a proud unbeaten record at one
of the world’s most historic tournaments. I’ll
settle for that one.
43
44-45 5012days_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:09 Page 44
5,012 Days
Steve Firth returned to OTB chess and discovered some things never change
2020 will always be a ‘chess year’ to me.
COVID-19, as I noted in the July and August
issues, drove me to a 64-square boot camp
where every day for months I played online
chess. I’ve spent more hours at the
chessboard (wooden or computer version) in
2020 than in any other calendar year, but it
began with nothing. A decade plus of nothing.
17th May 2006
Tipping point. I wasn’t enjoying chess any
more. Thirteen years as a member of the
world’s most dysfunctional chess club had
ground me down. I didn’t need the turmoil,
stress or aggravation. The 2005/06 season
had ended and I wanted out.
“That’s the last time I’m playing chess,” I
announced. “Never again.”
“You know you don’t mean that,” the Team
Captain said.
I meant it.
5th February 2020
Rower Steve Redgrave, after winning a
gold medal for the fourth successive
Olympics, famously said, “If I ever get back in
a boat again shoot me!” Four years later he
collected his fifth Olympic rowing gold. The
man couldn’t quit.
He isn’t the only one.
Five thousand and twelve days after my
last competitive chess game the healing
process ended: I was back.
The room’s pictureless walls matched the
desolation of the empty tables and unused
chairs. A huge wooden box in the corner
added to the sensation of being in a
storeroom. Harsh fluorescent lighting
reflected off cheap table tops. Stuffy,
claustrophobic and unloved, the room had all
the character of an abandoned 1970s
caravan. Separate from the rest of the world,
both physically and in spirit, the space had
been adapted with the minimum of effort to
fit one purpose: to be a chess club’s home. I
was in the right place.
I was the sixth, and final, person to arrive.
Other people were talking until they saw me,
then silence. It wasn’t an intimidating silence,
not like the hikers walking into The
Slaughtered Lamb pub in An American
Werewolf in London, it was recognition the
time had come for the contest to begin. No
one could have entered this room by mistake.
I was a chessplayer and everyone knew it.
“You’re playing Black on board two,” the
44
Team Captain said to me.
There was no need for formalities, we both
knew why I was here. A Leeds Chess
Association Mini League fixture between
Leeds Chess Club and one of the many Rose
Forgrove teams is not the chess equivalent of
Barcelona-Real Madrid, that’s for sure. An
absence of glamour, money and spectators is
assured and even by chess standards it’s grass
roots stuff, anonymous.
I sat opposite my opponent, the chess
board between us. The surroundings, the
board, pieces, team-mates at my side,
opponents facing us, felt the same as they’d
always done. I was comfortable, back in a
familiar habitat. I centred my pieces on their
squares, part-reflex action, part-ritual. Rooks
first, then knights (making sure they faced
each other), then bishops, queen and king
before, finally, all eight pawns. I offered my
hand and said to my opponent, “Hi, I’m Steve
Firth.”
“I’m Helmet Auer,” he said. We shook
hands and he spelt his surname name for me.
As I wrote it down on my scoresheet he filled
that awkward pre-game silence by adding,
“It’s a German name.”
I nodded and said, “Shall I start your
clock?”
“Please do.”
I pressed the chess clock. Nothing
happened.
Helmut said, “That’s the wrong button.”
He pressed the correct button and his
clock started. I’d been away from chess long
enough for analogue clocks to have become
obsolete and digital clocks the norm.
Needless to say, the new technology had
proved too much for me.
My opponent opened with 1 d4. I replied
1...d5, relaxing a touch. Then he placed his
dark-squared bishop on f4.
That wasn’t in the script. I had to start
thinking independently on move two: how
inconvenient. I tried to work out why my
opponent had played such a strange move.
Maybe this ‘Skinny Trompowsky’ was
respectable these days. I had no idea.
Whatever the move’s merits I couldn’t take it
seriously. It had to be the cousin of the
Stonewall, the kind of system where White
plays the same first ten moves irrespective of
what Black does and then expects to mow
down the second player with a primitive
kingside attack.
How rude, I thought, doesn’t he realise I’m
playing, too? With a touch of annoyance I
played 2...Ìf6, a solid enough move, and filed
2 Íf4 under ‘Rubbish’. Already my ego had
taken control.
Within a few moves White’s advantage
disappeared and I began setting the agenda.
Soon I’d castled, built a strong centre and had
the better development. I felt good. Allowing
neither mind nor body to wander, I stayed at
the board. I knew my chess muscles were
out-of-shape and tried to counter this by
utilising clock time, both mine and his, to the
maximum. The world now consisted of my
thoughts, the pieces and board. Nothing else.
Such was my lack of connection to my
immediate surroundings that for all the
difference it would have made I could have
been imprisoned in solitary confinement. In
my ‘bubble’ I was ‘The Chessman of Alcatraz’.
And I liked it.
My confidence grew. Every move I played
strengthened my position as my centralised
army bullied my opponent’s timid forces.
When he played 12 h3 and followed the
vacating of the h2-square with the
decentralising 13 Ìh2 the time had arrived
for action.
I pressed forward with 13...d4, a boxer
with control of the centre of the ring.
December 2020
44-45 5012days_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:09 Page 45

Seeking to blunt my aggression my
opponent attempted to find respite in
exchanges, first a pawn, then a bishop. After
that he tried 16 e4, anything for some air,
some freedom. My response, the simple
advance 16...d3, gave me a passed d-pawn
behind which all my pieces were positioned to
attack. I reminded myself to breathe,
focussed on keeping my heart rate normal. I
was winning and would bag the full point - if
I didn’t botch it. I then reprimanded myself for
not staying in the present.
My opponent brought my mind back to
the board and played 17 Íg4.
king, knight and both rooks all occupied the
first rank, almost ready to start the next
game. Any further back and they’d have been
in his lap. I pressed on with 25...Ìc2,
26...Îe1, 27...Î8e2. Total domination. I had
him.
I stared at the position and couldn’t see a
win. It had to be there, I told myself. I kept
looking and looking. Nothing. With my pieces
in their optimum positions, plus a pawn on
the seventh rank, I couldn’t find the knockout
punch. Reverting to childhood I thought, ‘It’s
not fair’. Then it hit me: I’d misplayed the
position.
want to reconstruct this position at home.’
All I wanted to do was to enjoy the
moment, chat to my opponent and recover
from the battle. And a player, whose own
game had long since finished, felt compelled
to continue someone else’s finished game.
Confirmation, if I needed it, that I’m only
allowed the privacy of my ‘bubble’ while the
chess clocks are running.
Nothing tells you you’re back in the chess
world more clearly than a third-party offering
you unsolicited analysis straight after your
game ends. In his tactless way the interloper
had rubber-stamped my return to the chess
community: I was once again a ‘chessplayer’.
That he’d trampled over what should have
been a special moment for me didn’t register
with him at all.
Maybe five thousand and twelve days
between chess games is not a long enough
break.

H.Auer-S.Firth
Leeds 2020
London System

1 d4 d5 2 Íf4 Ìf6 3 Ìd2 c5 4 c3 Ìc6

What? That loses a pawn, doesn’t it? Yes,
it does. A voice inside my head said, ‘Don’t be
greedy and mess this up by grabbing the first
pawn on display!’ As with most good advice, I
ignored it. I wanted material; I needed that
pawn; I succumbed to temptation.
Soon after I played 20...Îe2, hitting the
white queen plus my rook now ruled the
seventh rank. “A bone in the throat”, to quote
one of the characters in Walter Tevis’s
fantastic novel The Queen’s Gambit. Life was
good.
And yet...
When he played 21 Ëc3 I started to see
his threats. Everywhere. As overwhelming as
my position was all I could see were ghosts. I
began to imagine the damage his queen
might do and hurriedly played 21...Ëd4.
Please exchange, please, please, please. Yes,
it’s official, I panicked.
He exchanged. My sanity returned in an
instant. I answered with 22...Ìxd4, my
knight statuesque in the middle of the board.
I followed this by pushing the d-pawn,
23...d2, suffocating him. After 25 Ìf1 his
5 dxc5 e5 6 Íg5 Íe6 7 e3 Íxc5 8 Íe2
I did all I could to put this glaring truth h6 9 Íh4 0-0 10 Ìgf3 a5 11 Íg3 Íd6
out of my mind. I had to finish the game off. 12 h3 Îe8 13 Ìh2 d4!
If it took another thirty moves to win, so be
it. I wasn’t letting this one go. What could I
do? I’d spent all game directly threatening
him and he’d hung on, so I concluded I
needed a more abstract approach. I had to
try softer.
I searched for ideas. Move a piece? Well,
they all seemed as well-placed as they could
be. Bring my king ssssup? Be realistic, it’s not
Short-Timman. What about the pawns? Yes,
the pawns, maybe moving one of them would
be vaguely threatening and give my opponent
the opportunity to make an error. I moved my
f-pawn two squares, 28...f5.
All I could think was how I’d messed the
game up, how embarrassed I’d be not to win
from such a position, how bad I was at chess, 14 cxd4 exd4 15 Íxd6 Ëxd6 16 e4 d3
and how I should never have made a chess 17 Íg4 Íxg4 18 Ìxg4 Ìxe4 19 0-0
comeback. I knew the negativity wasn’t Ìxd2 20 Ëxd2 Îe2 21 Ëc3 Ëd4
helping. I decided to embrace the self-pity 22 Ëxd4 Ìxd4 23 Îfd1 d2 24 Ìe3 Îe8
and then exorcise it from my system once 25 Ìf1 Ìc2 26 Îab1 Îe1 27 g3 Î8e2
and for all. I vowed to suffer until he’d played 28 Êg2 f5 29 Ìh2??
his next move and then dive into the game
afresh.
His hand lifted the knight off f1 and placed
it on h2. I stopped myself from jumping out of
my chair. That’s a blunder, I yelled to myself,
that’s a blunder: the knight check wins at
once, I know it does. I calmed myself and
quadruple-checked. There was no doubt. I
played 29...Ìe3+.
At once my opponent understood what
had happened. He offered his hand: the game
had ended.
Before we had chance to speak another
chessplayer came over and began to move
pieces on our board, ‘What would you have
done against this? Why didn’t you play this
earlier? Let me take a picture of the board! I 29...Ìe3+ 0-1

www.chess.co.uk
45
46-46 BucketLists_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:07 Page 46
Chess...
While inputting James Aitken’s games, Geoff Chandler got a little distracted
James Macrae Aitken (1908-1983) , a ten-
time Scottish Champion, who won all but one
of his titles after the war. During it he had
been one of the Bletchley Park code breakers.
Bucket Lists. Everyone seems to have one,
and they are everywhere, as are these ‘100
Films to See Before You Die’ books, talking of
which, I’ve seen 100 Books to Read Before
You Die as well. I’ll have to presume it includes
the 100 films book. The topic has been flogged
to, err, death! 100 records to hear before you
die, 100 mountains to climb, 100 places to
visit, 100 meals to cook (the irony being you
die of food poisoning on meal 99)...
Soon you will see published 100 Games of
Chess to Play Over Before You Die (Sue
Asside and Clare Voynace can write it). Here
one can imagine internet forums being set
ablaze as punters howl in total disbelief that
such and such a game played by so and so is
not included, and demand this be rectified in
the next edition.
See any forum discussion about The
World’s Great Chess Games by Burgess, Nunn
and Emms, and you will get a flavour of what
to expect. What about Marshall’s ‘Gold Coin
Game’? Huh!
I have a bucket list. I confess I may have
set my sights a bit high, but I cannot see why
finding Lord Lucan, capturing a unicorn and
discovering Noah’s Ark should not be
46
and my
Bucket List!
unobtainable. [Ed. – Geoff, I hope this is not a
link to a game featuring the Noah’s Ark trap...]
Relax, Boss, I leave such cheap thrills to the
hacks. But it will be included when I write 100
Chess Traps To Set Before You Go Insane.
Currently I’m co-operating with John
Saunders entering all the games into PGN
format from James Aitken’s 45 chess
scorebooks, so it’s only natural and expected
I drop an Aitken game in here. Mr. Aitken adds
a wee note at the end of this 16-mover,
saying “The shortest game I have ever won”,
but he has crossed this out in pencil. It is
possible he did this correction soon after
beating Charles Stanley Hunter in 14 moves
in 1949 (I give it here so John cannot use it!).
J.Aitken-C.Hunter
British Ch., Felixstowe 1949
Ruy Lopez
1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Íb4
5 0-0 Ìge7 6 d4 exd4 7 Ìxd4 d5??
8 exd5 Ëxd5?? 9 Ìxc6 Ëxd1 10 Ìxb4+
Íd7 11 Îxd1 1-0
J.Aitken-G.Britton
County Championship, Oxford 1933
French Defence
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 Ìge2
4 e5 is the main line of the Winawer. John
Watson in his classic book on the French said
the text move was popularised by Alekhine in
the 1930’s. This game was played in 1933 so
a tip of the hat to the French guru for
background research.
4...dxe4 5 a3
Here the Watson advice is 5...Íxc3+ or
5...Íe7. Mr. Britton now has a bash at trying
to popularise...
5...Ía5 6 b4 Íb6
...with the intention of laying into the d4-
pawn. Playing ...c5, the traditional method of
nibbling at White’s centre pawns will be a
problem to overcome, but that is technicality
we shall not be discussing any further.
7 Ìxe4 Ìc6 8 Íb2 Ìge7 9 c4
Trying to Noah’s Ark the b6-bishop (I knew
I’d get it mentioned; a new addition to my
bucket list: mention the Noah’s Ark Trap every
time I write an article).
9...a6 10 d5 exd5 11 Íxg7
Often in the mainline Winawer you get to
sacrifice the g-pawn, play ...Îg8 and obtain
play down the g-file, but here if 11...Îg8? 12
Ìf6 checkmate.
11...Ìg6
Hoping to come out this shambles just the
exchange down, but White senses a quick kill.
12 Ìf6+ Êe7
The opening has been a disaster for Black.
Ordinarily you would expect resigns here, but
Mr. Britton, with amazing foresight, manages
to hang on until move 16, and 16 years later
his tenacity was rewarded. Of course, I may
happen upon an even shorter win than Mr.
Hunter losing in 11 moves in 1949. Apologies
in advance.
13 Ìxd5+ Êe8 14 Íf6
Much better than taking the harmless rook.
14...Ìce7 15 Íxe7 Ëd7 16 Ìf6+ 1-0
Forgot to mention, also on my bucket list is
to have one my games featured by Danny
King in his How Good is Your Chess? column.
It will be the first time in the column’s history
that the fewer right guesses you have, the
better the player you are.
December 2020
47-47 Jenkins Spurious Games advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:06 Page 1
48-48 ReadersLetters_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:05 Page 48

Readers Letters ’

Online Cheating 84 Glorious Years

The June CHESS Editorial discusses online
Our beloved CHESS has completed 84
chess and the topic of automatic, machine,
glorious years and let us commemorate it
cheating recognition. As Malcolm writes, the
with a knight’s tour on an 84-square board.
current methods of detecting cheating return
The knight’s tour is a classical puzzle, almost
a probability score – not a definitive yes or
as old as the game of chess itself, and the
no! I agree: policies and processes must be
knight is the only piece whose weird looking
agreed, across the world including locally and
move has not changed since its inception. In the
internationally. Restricting a player for a
knight’s tour puzzle, the challenge is to move a
period of time, from a particular platform,
knight over an empty board so that it covers all
such as six months, is, in my view, an
the squares in successive jumps, without
appropriate punishment, to an incident of a
visiting any square twice.
player using a computer for one move (not
The grid below is a semi-magic tour of a
every move in their game).
knight. Readers can see that the sum of all
The punishments should be restricted to
the rows is the same, that is 170. It has an
that platform only. This is because it is that
odd number of rows, namely 21, resulting in
platform that is making the allegation of
unequal number of light and dark cells along
cheating. That is, it their machine algorithm
the columns. Therefore, the sum of columns
that flagged the possible cheating. Using a
will be, alternately, odd and even.
chess engine to generate the probability
score does not necessarily mean any secrecy
should exist anywhere in the process. The
chess engine should be made available, if not
already so, to the arbiters of that
tournament, so that they can repeat the
algorithm’s findings and verify validity.
The online world and the physical worlds
must remain separate when it comes to arbi-
tration. They are, literally, different worlds with
different norms and modes of expression. The
millennial generation spend more time online
than in the physical world. This has to be
factored into the future arbitration processes.
Leslie Black, B.Sc(Math).,
Member of Irish Computer Society

The Seventh Seal &

the Lowenthal
In Ingmar Bergman’s classic The Seventh
Seal (which debuted in Sweden in February
1957), a knight, Antonius Block (Max von
Sydow), plays chess not with the Devil, as How many such tours are there on 4x21
mentioned by John Taylor last month, but board? Are there semi-magic tours in which all
against Death (Bengt Ekerot) in the hope of the odd columns or all the even columns have
prolonging his existence. The knight had the same sum? Readers are requested to look
returned from a crusade to find plague is rife. into these questions and may like to compose
This is likely, though I cannot remember such tours on boards of various sizes.
whether it is specified, to refer to the Great Congratulations CHESS on the successful
Mortality (commonly, the Black Death), which completion of 84 years and we now look
reached Sweden a little later than most of forward to celebrating its centenary!
western and northern Europe in around 1350.
The Sicilian Lowenthal with 7...Ëf6 was Awani Kumar, Lucknow, India
played twice by Anatoly Lutikov at the 23rd
USSR Championship semi-finals of 1955. His
opponents Anatoly Lein (1-0, 46) and Alex-
Contact Us
ander Chistyakov (½-½, 37) both tried 8 Ëd2
to which he replied 8...Ëg6. I do not know If you’d like to contact CHESS Magazine
whether these games had been published about something in these pages then
widely, but they may have been by 1957. email - editor@chess.co.uk
Aidan Woodger, Halifax

December 2020
48
49-49 StudiesforCrosswordSolution_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:04 Page 49
This issue I am delighted to present two
prize-winning studies from just over a century
apart, each from the leading figures of their
day. Our first study demonstrates what can
transpire when a grandmaster solver – several
times world solving champion Piotr Murdzia of
Poland – joins forces with a newly-minted
grandmaster composer – Martin Minski of
Germany. It features the popular theme of the
struggle of a passed pawn.
Piotr Murdzia & Martin Minski
1st Prize, Polish Chess Federation, 2019
White to play and win
Clearly White must use his passed pawn to
Answers to Cryptic Crossword (from page 25)
www.chess.co.uk
Studies
with Stephenson
create threats, but the first move is not quite
the time – 1 c6? Îd8 2 c7 Îc8 3 Îb8 Íe6
and Black’s position is fully secure.
1 Îb8+! Êh7
1...Êg7? leaves the black king open to attack
by the bishop, leading to the following win on
material or quick mate: 2 c6 Íe6 (2...Îc7?
3 Íc3+ d4 4 Íxd4+ Êh7 5 Îxh8#) 3 cxd7.
2 c6!
Now the pawn. If 2 Íc3? Black can shore
up his defences with 2...d4 3 c6 Îd6.
2...Îc7 If 2...Îa7? then White wins with
3 Íc3 Íe8 4 Îb7+.
3 Íc3 d4!
Black sets a little stalemate trap, and not
3...Íg8? 4 Îb7.
4 Íxd4 Íg8 5 Îb7 Ìf7
6 Îb3!
This threat of mate on the h-file forces a
position where White can later threaten Îxc7
without it being stalemate. The immediate 6
Îxc7?? would be stalemate.
6...Ìxg5 7 Îb7 Ìe6 8 Íe5!
Not 8 g5? Íf7 9 Íe5 Îxc6 10 Îxf7+
Êg8 and there is no win.
8...Îf7
9 g5! Black is now completely tied up and
something must give. 9...Ìxg5 10 c7
And White’s passed pawn is victorious.
Our study for you to solve this issue is a
classic queen-hunt from the highly-prolific
Henri Rinck.
Henri Rinck
1st Prize, L’Eco degli Scacchi, 1917
White to play and win
To enter email editor@chess.co.uk or send
your name and address, with the main
variations, to Chess & Bridge, 44 Baker
Street, London W1U 7RT, postmarked no
later than 4th January. £30 of products from
Chess & Bridge are available for the first
correct entry drawn.
49
50-51 HomeOverseasNews_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:03 Page 50
Home News
4NCL – We went to press just before the
final round of the group stage of the second
season of the 4NCL Online. In the top flight
defending champions Chessable White Rose
had qualified from Pool B with a round to
spare, so had Wood Green who were also on
12/12 in Pool D. Their second team, Wood
Green Monarchs, were on 100% too in Pool A
and set to be involved in a winner-takes-all
clash with Guildford Young Guns. Meanwhile
ChessPlus Kingston topped Pool B on tiebreak
from Barbican 4NCL, with Gonzaga just a
point back in third.
Richard Bates turned in another fine attacking
display for midtable Blackthorne Russia.
R.Bates-L.Cooper
Blackthorne Russia vs Wood Green Youth
Modern Defence
1 d4 g6 2 Ìf3 Íg7 3 g3 c5 4 Íg2 cxd4
5 Ìxd4 Ìc6 6 Ìb3 d6 7 0-0 Íe6
Wood Green supremo, IM Lawrence
Cooper, wants to attack with ...Ëd7 and
...Íh3. He might also have considered an
immediate 7...h5!?.
8 Ìc3 Ëd7 9 Ìd5
Preventing ...Íh3 and fighting for the
initiative rather than transpose towards
Dragon waters with 9 e4.
9...Ìf6 10 c4 Ìe5!?
Continuing to strive for the maximum, but
Black would have enjoyed a comfortable set-
up after 10...0-0.
11 Ìd4!
Bates is happy to keep upping the ante.
11...Ìxc4?
Rather too greedy. 11...Íh3! would have
been more consistent when White should not
touch the bishop (12 Íxh3? Ëxh3 13
Ìc7+? Êd7 14 Ìxa8 Ìfg4 leads to mate),
but would likely develop with 12 Íg5.
12 Ìxe6 fxe6 13 Ìf4
White is a pawn down, but just look at that
50
bishop on g2, not to mention the target
on e6.
13...g5 14 Ìd3 h6 15 b3 Ìa5 16 Íb2
Ìc6
16...e5!? 17 Îc1 (17 f4 gxf4 18 gxf4 e4
19 Ìf2 d5 should be OK for Black) 17...0-0
would have been a safer spot for the black
king than the game continuation, although
even here White retains promising
compensation after 18 b4 Ìc6 19 b5.
17 f4!
Making fine use of both unfurled bishops
to seize the initiative, as 17...gxf4 18 Ìxf4
would leave Black rather vulnerable on g6 and e6.
17...0-0-0 18 Îc1 Êb8 19 b4!
There’s not to be any respite for the black
king.
19...Îc8 20 b5 Ìd8
21 Ëa4?
Allowing Black a chance, which 21 Îxc8+!
Ëxc8 (or 21...Êxc8 22 Ëa4 Êb8 23 Íd4)
22 Ëa4 would have avoided. The threat is
23 Íd4 and if 22...Ìe8 23 Íxg7 Ìxg7
White can crash through with 24 b6! axb6
25 Îc1 Ìc6 26 Ìb4.
21...Îxc1 22 Îxc1 a6?
Now Bates is delighted to sacrifice the b-
pawn and exploit the weaknesses Black has
just created. Instead, 22...Ìe8 (or 22...Ìh5)
23 Íxg7 Ìxg7 24 Ëd4 e5 25 fxe5 Ìge6
26 Ëb2 would have left White somewhat for
choice, but Black fighting on after 26...Îf8.
23 Ëa5! axb5
23...Ëxb5 fails to 24 Ëc7+ Êa8 25 Ëc8+
Êa7 26 Íd4+ b6 27 Ëa8#.
24 Ìe5! 1-0
By no means the only way to win, but the
prettiest and most clinical. Black resigned in view
of 24...dxe5 25 Íxe5+ or 24...Ëe8 25 Ëc7+
Êa8 26 Ëc8+ Êa7 27 Íd4+ Êa6 28 Ëa8#.
Peter Gayson is having a fine season for
Chessable White Rose II, although he required
some fortune to gradually turn around a bad
Dutch against Matthew Wadsworth.
M.Wadsworth-P.Gayson
Guildford Young Guns vs White Rose II
White has already gone astray and should
now have been happy to settle for a draw by
repetition.
30 Êc1
Naturally not 30 Êb1? Ìc6 or 30 Êd2?
Ìc6+.
30...Ìb3+ 31 Êc2 Ìd4+ 32 Êc3?
Far too ambitious. 32 Êc1 was essential.
32...Ìc6 33 Ìe3
The only way to avoid losing a piece.
33...Îd3+! 34 Êc4 Îd4+ 35 Êc5
Even here a loose piece won’t quite fall off,
but White is going to lose his kingside and
with it the game.
35...Îxb4 36 Êxc6 Îxb2 37 Íf1 Îxf2
38 Íc4+ Êg7 39 Ìf1 Êf6 40 Êd5 h5
41 Êd4 g5
The pawns are just far too strong.
42 Êe3 Îc2 43 Ía6 Êe5 44 Íe2 f4+
45 gxf4+ gxf4+ 46 Êf2 f3 47 Ìg3 h4
0-1
BATTLE – There may be no Hastings
Congress to support this year, but we were
delighted to see its sponsor Caplin Systems
transferring their support to the British
Online Championships, which will take place
between December 18th and January 3rd.
The Championship, Women, Senior and Junior
events will feature a qualifying stage ahead of
the finals and be played with various different
time controls. There will also be standard play
events for Under-2000, Under-1700 and
Under-1400 level players. For full details do
please just see www.englishchess.org.uk.
HULL – The 4NCL Online Hull Congress (30
October - 2 November) attracted some 178
players, including Mr Dodgy. There was
commentary from Danny Gormally and a
score of 4½/5 was only sufficient for second
in the Open.
December 2020
50-51 HomeOverseasNews_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:03 Page 51
Open: 1 Adam Collins (Kilkenny) 5/5, 2 Neil
Thomson (Giffnock) 4½, 3-4 James Cole
(Oxford), Christopher Tombolis (Ealing) 4.
Under-2000: 1-4 Leon Cox (Winwick),
Robert Dean (Pudsey), Steve Hodge (York),
Richard Johnson (Bristol) 4.
Under-1700: 1-2 Emils Steiners (Battersea),
Luoke Wang (Essex) 4½, 3-6 Tamal Matilal
(Cowley), Alec Grice (Beverley), Anuj Venkatesh
(Coulsdon), Dillan Duke (Hereford) 4.
Overseas News
BELARUS – Opposition to President
Alexander Lukashenko continues, as readers
will likely be aware from the news, and we
saw that one of the brave sportsmen
involved in the Belarusian Sport Solidarity
Foundation is Vladislav Kovalev. The 2600+
Belarusian Grandmaster has been actively
involved in campaigning around Europe to
reveal police and state brutality, and has
unsurprisingly been expelled from playing for
Belarus after signing an open letter
supporting other athletes who were claiming
electoral fraud back in August’s election.
Meanwhile the local police attended the
offices of the Belarus Chess Federation and
detained for questioning the Chair Anastasia
Sorokina, who is also a FIDE Vice President.
Her mobile phone was confiscated. Ms.
Sorokina failed to turn up for a FIDE meeting
in Moscow and strenuous efforts were made
to locate her after which she was released
and has now left Belarus.
CZECH REPUBLIC – Nigel Short travelled to
Prague to take on the 18-year-old Czech GM
of Vietnamese descent, Thai Dai Van Nguyen
(October 10-12). Frustrated by the Berlin
Wall in his first white game, Short turned to
the Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack and ground
out a win in Game 3, but Nguyen’s confidence
appeared to grow as the match wore on and
he eventually emerged a 5½-4½ victor,
courtesy of wins in Games 7 and 8.
DENMARK – Mads Andersen became
national champion for a third time when the
2020 Danish Championship was staged in
Svendborg (October 9-17). Andersen was
defeated by fellow GM Allan Stig Rasmussen,
but otherwise impressed in this over-the-
board tournament, finishing with 6½/9 to
edge out by half a point one of four non-GMs
in the line-up, IM Bjørn Møller Ochsner, who
shared second place with Boris Chatalbashev.
PORTUGAL – Not content with visiting the
Dolomites this autumn, Rhys Cumming also
made a number of chess-starved players
envious by fitting in a trip too to the Figueira
da Foz Open (October 24-31). This
www.chess.co.uk
Under-1400: 1-2 Tran Minh Hieu
(Vietnam), Amar Adatia (Streatham) 4½, 3-5
Kevin Wilkinson (Scotland), Steven March
(Enfield), Vasylyna Vitvitska (St Albans) 4.
LONDON – We were very saddened to hear
of the untimely passing of Nick Mitchem
(1973-2020), an active and keen junior, and
later captain of the Richmond 4NCL team.
Mitchem had been ill for over a year, with his
traditional event did not let the pandemic get
in the way, with games beginning each day at
the Sweet Atlantic Hotel at the relaxed time
of 6.30pm. Top seed Karen Grigoryan
suffered a shock second round defeat to
Alberto Garcia Dorado, despite being almost
500 points higher rated. The Armenian
Grandmaster rallied, however, landing up
sharing first place on 7½/9 with Nino
Batsiashvili. In sole third place in this 42-
player field was Cumming, who lost to both
winners, but defeated two IMs and GM
Stefan Djuric to secure a most well-deserved
IM norm.
Unlike many of us, Rhys Cumming has been on
his travels of late and did very well in Portugal.
USA – October saw the St. Louis Chess Club
not only stage the U.S. Championship and U.S.
Women’s Championship on Lichess, but also
three other championships: two full of rising
stars, and one packed with legendary names.
prognosis significantly worsening over the
summer. His good friend Richard Bates paid
tribute, noting that “His bravery was
astonishingly demonstrated by his personal
reaction to the recent death of John Naylor,
at a time when he was already aware of his
likely fate, and (from a personal perspective)
his determination to retain a presence as part
of our weekly online quiz team for as long as
possible, including from his hospital bed.”
Ahead of impressing with her second place
behind Irina Krush, Carissa Yip rather cruised
to victory with 7½/9 in the Girls’
Championship, finishing a point and a half
clear of second seed Annie Wang. In contrast,
Jeffery Xiong had things far from all his own
way in the U.S. Junior Championship, being
defeated by Nicolas Checa and having to
settle for first equal with John Burke on
6½/9.
Larry Christiansen was the top seed in the
U.S. Seniors’ Championship, which also saw a
welcome, rare appearance by Patrick Wolff.
Those two famous names finished mid-table,
if ahead of Alexander Shabalov and Alex
Yermolinsky, with former IBM chess
consultant Joel Benjamin simply proving too
strong, as he racked up 6½/9 to bag the
$12,000 first prize and finish some one and a
half points ahead of Igor Novikov, Gregory
Kaidanov and Dmitry Gurevich.
There may not have been OTB action in
Saint Louis, but elsewhere in Missouri, in
Chesterfield to be precise, the SPICE Cup was
played over the board (October 20-25). For
a third time this Susan Polgar Institute for
Chess Excellence event was won by Ilya
Nyzhnyk, who pocketed the $5,000 first
prize after finishing on 7½/9, half a point
ahead of Benjamin Gledura.
And in online news, Vladimir Kramnik
showed that he very much still has it as he
won the Yuri Razuvaev Memorial, a blitz
event staged on Chess.com on November
6th. Evgeny Tomashevsky topped an initial
eight-player all-play-all, amassing an
impressive 6/7, which was a whole point
more than Kramnik and Ian Nepomniachtchi,
who didn’t draw a single game, could muster.
Unfortunately for the Professor, the rules
dictated that the top two highest finishers
would then play off, Kramnik winning that
match 1½-½.
51
52-52 Solutions_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 18:02 Page 52
Solutions
She Plays to Win (page 37)
Aarons-Muzychuk
1 Íxh6 Ìh7 (if 1...gxh6 2 Ëxh6+) 2 Íg5!
(2 Íxg7+ Îxg7 defending h7 must have
been Black’s idea, but she has missed a killer
blow; mate is now unavoidable) 2...Íxg5
3 Ëxh7# 1-0
Houska-Rohonyan
1 Ëxf6! 1-0 Black resigned in view of
1...gxf6 2 Íxf6# or 1...Îd7 2 Îxg7 Îxg7
3 Ëxg7#.
Varney-Lan Yao
1...Íd6!! (Lan finds a brilliant defence; after
1...Îh5 2 g4 Íd6+ 3 Êg1 Black probably
has to repeat with 3...Íc5+ 4 Êh2 Íd6+)
2 Íxe5 Íxe5+ 3 Êg1 Íxb3 0-1 The two
bishops and extra pawn far outweigh the
white rook.
Find the Winning Moves
(pp. 26-28)
1) Dominguez Perez-Nepomniachtchi
1 Ëxd5! 1-0 1...exd5 2 Ìf5+ Êe6 3 Ìxh4
leaves White a piece ahead and that’s just
for starters.
2) Crowther-Garnett
1 Ìxc6! Ëxc6 (1...Íb7 2 Ìe7+ Êh8
3 Ìed5 would leave White in control and a
very useful pawn to the good) 2 Íf3 Ëxc4
3 Íxa8 bagged the exchange.
3) Harris-Keene
1...Íxf5! 2 Êxf5 Acquiescing to the
immediate stalemate (½-½), as there’s simply
no way of flushing the black king out of
the corner.
4) Lindner-Shafi
1 Ëxh7+! 1-0 White will emerge a rook
ahead, just as he would have done after
1 Ëg7+! Îxg7 2 fxg7+ Êxg7 3 Íxd7.
5) Plat-Matuszewski
1 Ìd7! (by far the strongest and most
clinical, as well as prettiest move; both
knights are immune due to the check on f6)
1...b5 2 Îxf8+ Êg7 3 Ì5f6 1-0
6) Arjun-Paravyan
1...Ëg5! 0-1 The twin threats of mate on
g2 and 2...Ìh3+ prove decisive in view of
2 Êf2 Ëxg2+ 3 Êe1 Ëxh2 followed by
...Íh3 or if 4 Îf2 Ëg1+ 5 Íf1 f5 with two
extra pawns and an ongoing initiative.
7) Carlsen-Xiong
1 Îe6? Ìxd7 2 Îd6 a3 3 Ìxd7 a2 led to a
52
draw in the game, but 1 Îe8! would have
won, and if 1...Îxd7 2 Ìg6, forcing mate
on h8.
8) Benjamin-Wolff
1 Ìxa7! (far simpler than 1 Ìe7 or 1 f4)
1...Íxa7 2 b6 f5 3 bxa7 1-0 3...fxe4 4
fxe4 g5 5 Êb6 g4 6 Êc5! is trivial, if not
here 6 hxg4?? h3.
9) O’Donnell.Loeffler
1 Íb6! 1-0 Black remains devoid of a
good move after 1...Ëe7 2 Íxd8, or if
1...Ëxb6 2 Ëxf7#.
10) Golubka-Walek
1 Ìc6! Îe8 (naturally not 1...bxc6?? 2
Ía6#) 2 Ìxa7+ Êd8 3 Ìb5 picked off a
pawn while leaving White with a powerful,
ongoing initiative.
11) Korobov-Van Foreest
1 Íh7+! Êxh7 2 Íf6 c3 3 Îxg7+ Êh8 4
Îc7+ 1-0 Mate follows: 4...Êg8 5 Îc8+
Êh7 6 Îh8#.
12) Ledger-Blackburn
1 Ìec3! (or 1 Ìdc3!) 1...dxc3 2 Ìxc3
Ëc4 3 Ìxa4 picked up the exchange.
13) Adair-De Verdier
1 g6! Îxb2 (1...fxg6? 2 Êe6 forces mate in
view of 2...Îf7 3 Îh8+ Îf8 4 d7+) 2 Îh8+
Êd7 3 gxf7 Îe2+ 4 Êf5 Îxf2+ 5 Êg6
left White queening, with an easy win.
14) Howell-Haynes
1...Ìdc5! 2 dxc5 Ëxb2 generated a
deadly discovered attack: 3 Ìxa7 Ëxf2+ 4
Êh1 Ëxe3 5 Ìxc8? Ìf2+ 6 Êg1 Ìh3+
7 Êh1 Ëg1+! 8 Ìxg1 Ìf2# 0-1
15) Sarkar-Prohaszka
1 Êg2! was the only move, forcing a winning
rook endgame after 1...Îd3 (1...Îg3+ 2
Êxg3 Îa3+ 3 Î2e3 dodges the checks) 2
Î2e7+ Îxe7 3 Îxe7+ Êh8 4 Îe5,
whereas in the game 1 Êxf3? Îf7+! saw the
desperado rook save the day for Black: 2
Êe4 (or 2 Êg2 Îf2+) 2...Îf4+ 3 Êe5 Îf5+
4 Êe6 Îe5+ 5 Êf7 Îf5+ 6 Êe7 Îe5+ 7
Êd7 Îxd5+ 8 Êc6 Îc5+ 9 Êxc5 ½-½.
16) Xiong-Harikrishna
1...Ìf2+! 0-1 1...Îd1! and 1...Íd1! also do
the trick, while after 1...Ìf2+ White gave up
in view of 2 Êg1 (or 2 Ëxf2 Ëxf2 3 Îxf2
Îe1+) 2...Ìh3+ 3 Êh1 Îd1!, and if 4 Ìa3
Íe2! 5 Îaxd1 Ëg1+! 6 Îxg1 Ìf2#.
17) Getz-Benjamin
1...Íxc3! 2 Îd1? (2 bxc3? fails to
2...Ëe3+ 3 Êb1 Îb6+ and even 2 Êb1 Îd2
should be rather hopeless, and if 3 Îd1
Îxd1+ 4 Íxd1 Ëd4) 2...Ëe3+ 3 Êb1
Îxd1+ 4 Íxd1 Ëd3+ 5 Íc2 Ëf1+ 6 Íd1
Ëxd1# 0-1
18) Belenkaya-Kovalevskaya
1...h4+! 2 Êxh4 Îg2 (completing the
mating net and now if 3 b7 Íg5+ 4 Êh5
Êg7 5 b8Ë Íg6#) 3 f4 Êh7! 4 Ìe4 dxe4
5 Îa5 Íg5+! 6 fxg5 fxg5+ 7 Êh5 Íg6#
0-1
19) Korobov-Ftacnik
1 Ëxg8+! Êxg8 2 Îxa8+ Êf7 3 Ìf4!
Íf6 (the threat is 4 e6+ and if 3...Ëxf4
4 e6+, while even 3...Ëg4 4 e6+ Êf6 fails to
save Black in view of 5 f3 Ëh4 6 g3) 4 Îf8+
Êg7 5 Ìe6+ 1-0
20) Ochsner-Brondt
1 Ìxg4! (1 d5+ Êxe5 2 Ìxg4+ Êf4 3 d6
g2 4 Ìf2! Êg3 5 Ìe4+ Êf3 6 Ìg5+ Êg4
7 d7 g1Ë 8 d8Ë would still leave White with
work to do) 1...g2 2 d5+ Êf7 3 e6+ (the
connected passed pawns prove too strong)
3...Êe7 4 d6+! Êxe6 5 d7 g1Ë 6 d8Ë
(there are no really good checks and if
6...Ëxg4? 7 Ëc8+) 6...Ëc1+ 7 Êb7 Ëb2+
8 Ëb6+ 1-0
21) Thybo-Rasmussen
1 g6! (1 Êg3 Îh1 2 g6! does the trick too)
1...fxg6 2 Îa8! was a classic tactic to force
a won endgame, White converting with some
instructive technique: 2...Êd6 (or 2...Îxh7
3 Îa7+ Êd6 4 Îxh7 Êc5 5 Êf3!) 3 h8Ë
Îxh8 4 Îxh8 Êc5 5 Îa8 Êb5 6 Êf3! a5
7 Êe3 (involving the king as quickly as
possible) 7...Êb4 8 Êd4 a4 9 Îb8+ Êa3
10 Êc3 Êa2 11 Îg8 1-0
22) So-Dominguez Perez
1 e6! (1 Ëf6 Îd4 2 Ëxg6+ Êh8 3 Ëh6+
Êg8 4 Ëd2 h4 would fight on) 1...Êh7
(1...d2 2 Ëf7+ Êh8 3 Ëf6+ Êh7 4 Ëxd8
picks up the rook whilst halting the d-pawn)
2 Ëf7+ Êh6 3 Ëf4+! Êg7 4 Ëc7+ 1-0
23) Abrahamyan-Samadashvili
1 Íxg6! hxg6 2 Îxg6 Ëe7 (and not
2...Îf6? 3 Ëh4+) 3 Îh6+ (3 Îg1 also does
the business, and if 3...Ìf5 4 Îg5 Ìh6
5 Îh5 Îf6 6 Ëg5 Ëf8 7 Ëe5 Êh7 8 Ìe4!
Íxe4 9 Ëxe4+ Êh8 10 Îg6) 3...Êg8 and
now the simplest win was 4 Ëg6, leaving
Black powerless against the slow-motion
threat of 5 Îg1 or if 4...Íd5 5 f5! when
even 5...Îae8 6 b3 doesn’t save Black, as
shown by 6...Íe4 7 Ìxe4 Ëxe4 8 Ëh7+
Êf7 9 Îg6 Îg8 10 Îfg1 Ëe5 11 f6.
24) Ding Liren-Svidler
1 f5! (1 Îc4 Íb6 2 f5! also works)
1...gxf5 (there’s nothing much better, as we
can see from 1...hxg4 2 fxg6 gxh3+ 3 Êh2
and 1...Êe8 2 fxg6 fxg6 3 Íg5 Íe7
4 Íxe7 Êxe7 5 Ëf2 Îhf8 6 Ëc5+)
2 Íg5+ Êe8 3 Íxd8! fxe4 4 Íf6 (with
tempo; now Black will be destroyed down the
d-file) 4...Îg8 5 Îd1 1-0
December 2020
53-53 Quality Chess advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:01 Page 1
54-57 Books_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:59 Page 54
This Month’s
New Releases
600 Modern Chess Puzzles
Martyn Kravtsiv, 192 pages
Gambit Publications
RRP £17.50 SUBSCRIBERS £15.75
This puzzle collection by a Ukrainian
Grandmaster offers a satisfyingly diverse range
of exercises. Almost all the positions are from
games played in the last few years, and the vast
majority feature relatively obscure players.
Readers are therefore unlikely to have seen any
of the games before. Martyn Kravtsiv must
have diligently sorted through a great deal of
dross in order to strike gold. He has also
designed the solutions very carefully, giving
concise verbal explanations and showing why
tempting false paths are incorrect.
The book is split into two parts: the first
provides a prompt or question with each position,
whereas in the second we simply seek the best
continuation. After the thematic puzzles in the
‘Warm-Up’ and ‘Checkmate’ chapters, Kravtsiv
approaches his task from various angles.
Chapter themes include choices between two
moves, tactical endgames, and ascending
grades of difficulty. In the latter respect, 600
Modern Chess Puzzles is an extremely
ambitious book. It contains approximately
five difficulty levels – though we don’t always
know which level we are confronted with.
The easiest puzzles took me just a second
or two to solve, whilst the hardest
(‘Nightmare!’) would probably stretch
grandmasters. I find it hard to imagine a
reader who has any difficulty at the start ever
being able to reach the end of the book. That
said, this sharp gradation does reflect the
reality of practical chess. There is no harm in
maintaining one’s reflexes with basic tactics,
nor with attempting calculation practice
using ‘tough nuts’. Kravtsiv’s approach also
ensures that there is something for everyone.
Here’s an elegant example, a variation from
the game Hawkins-Lalic, Hastings 2018/19.
54
“Black has a beautiful path to victory. Can
you find it?” Having calculated 28...Îd2
29 Ëxd2 Ëxf4+ 30 Êh3 Íe5 31 Ëe1 I
made no further progress. The solution can
be found below.
Not every puzzle has a spectacular
solution. Rather this is a highly practical
collection designed to do exactly what is
announces on the cover: ‘Keep you sharp and
expand your horizons’.
From personal experience I can confidently
endorse Kravtsiv’s optimistic view that
solving puzzles like these will improve the
reader’s play. My progress to FM level as a
junior owed a great deal to working through
classics like Yakov Neishtadt’s Test Your
Tactical Ability, and I then hit a plateau partly
due to losing this habit.
Perhaps Kravtsiv’s book does not provide
the warm glow that a reader of, say,
Neishtadt feels at following in the footsteps
of great players. Nevertheless, it seems to me
exactly what a puzzle book should be in
2020. It will be an excellent investment for
players of a wide range of levels who are
willing to put in some work.
James Vigus
Candidates Tournament 2020 –
Part 1: Yekaterinburg
Vladimir Tukmakov, 160 pages
Thinkers Publishing
RRP £23.99 SUBSCRIBERS £21.59
Round one of the Candidates tournament
began on March 17th 2020, bang on
schedule. Yet here we are, several months
later, and it still shows no sign of ending.
The various methods of qualification had
produced eight top players, all of whom were
ready to fight for the chance to play Magnus
Carlsen in the next title match. Caruana, the
challenger from 2018, was in the mix, of
course. He was joined by Ding Liren, Wang
Hao, Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi, Giri,
Alekseenko and Vachier-Lagrave. The latter
was brought in at short notice to replace
Radjabov, who had withdrawn from the
event. This little piece of detail prepares the
way for the rest of the story, for Radjabov
had withdrawn due to concerns over the
Covid outbreak.
It seems strange now, but even in March
there was the feeling that any emergency
would not last long and would be dealt with
fairly easily, comparatively speaking. Nothing
could have been further from the truth.
Naivety, together with the lack of experience
in having to deal with any sort of real
emergency, led to the situation becoming
much more serious than most of us would
have been able to imagine.
I am sure that for numerous chess players,
the situation only became ‘real’ when it
interfered with their chess activities. I am not
being flippant; it usually takes some sort of
personal impact to bring a message home.
For chess fans on a global scale, the
postponement of the Candidates
tournament, at the halfway point, would
have been a powerful indication that
everything had to change.
Thus we now have a tournament book,
subtitled ‘A Feast of Chess in Time of Plague’,
covering just one half of an elite event. I am
strongly reminded of Tony Hancock
discovering, towards the end of one of his
famous half-hours, that the last page had
been torn out of his library’s copy of Lady,
Don’t Fall Backwards (there’s one for the
teenagers). We don’t mind a touch of
ambiguity, but a story without an ending is
pushing things a little too far. Nevertheless,
Tukmakov is a very experienced grandmaster
and a good writer too. He brings his expert
attention to bear on each and every game,
furnishing them with fine and instructive
annotations.
Matters are brought to a halt by FIDE
President Arkady Dvorkovich, with his
message stating that “FIDE cannot continue
the tournament without guarantees for the
players’ and officials’ safe and timely return
home” and that “the FIDE President decided
to stop the tournament.” The future of the
event remains uncertain. Resuming in
September may have seemed like a sensible
target at the time, but that plan was scrapped
too and now it is mooted for ‘Spring 2021’.
There are clearly difficulties with any plan.
As Tukmakov puts it: “Even if the second half
of the tournament is eventually contested, it
would essentially be a completely different
tournament.” Indeed, it is very hard to
imagine playing the second half of a
tournament one year after the first.
It is interesting that Thinkers Publishers
decided to still publish the book, regardless of
the circumstances. Not since the first
Karpov-Kasparov match have we seen
December 2020
54-57 Books_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:59 Page 55
anything approaching a similar occurrence.
There is still plenty of instructive chess in the
book, which serves as a reminder that despite
their fears and doubts, the players were fully
committed to the chess struggle.
Anyone wanting to learn how to not only
keep an advantage, but also make it grow
could do a lot worse than study the games of
Ian Nepomniachtchi.
I.Nepomniachtchi-Wang Hao
Yekaterinburg 2020
White has been tickling the h-pawn at
various moments, but the decisive action
comes elsewhere.
38 Ëd8!
With threats of both 39 Ëxd4 and 39 Ëd6
mate. Now 38...Ìb5 39 a4 doesn’t help the
situation, so Black tries defending with his queen.
38...Ëd7
However, there is a deflection tactic
available.
39 f5+! gxf5 40 gxf5 Ìxf5
Unfortunately, the knight has to be sacrificed,
otherwise the queen will be lost. First of all,
White seizes the opportunity to exchange the
queens before capturing the knight.
41 Ëxd7+ Êxd7 42 Ìxf5 Êe6 43 Ìe3
1-0
Will this remain a story without an ending,
or can we expect to see a sequel next year?
Sean Marsh
Steinitz in London
Tim Harding, 416 pages
McFarland & Co.
RRP £64.99 SUBSCRIBERS £58.49
It has been a while since we last saw a
McFarland book. Unusually, they had nothing
in the ECF Book of the Year contest this year,
but I suspect this is because of the ongoing
global emergency and its impact on
publishers’ schedules.
www.chess.co.uk
They have certainly returned to action in book does a very good job of bringing the
style, with this long-awaited hardback tome times and characters back to life. There is also
covering the years Wilhelm Steinitz, the first a lot of great chess too and, despite the
official World Champion, spent in London. antiquity of the games, we can still learn a lot
“The book is titled Steinitz in London from these pioneering encounters.
because he lived in the English capital from
May 1862 to October 1882; it is both a
biography and game collection covering that W.Steinitz-A.Anderssen
period.” Indeed, “The primary motivation for 14th matchgame, London 1866
embarking on the research for this book was
to present a chronological account of
Steinitz’s two decades as an English resident,
covering both the development of his chess
career and significant life events.”
There is a chapter covering Steinitz’s early,
pre-London days, complete with some
rediscovered games from an earlier period
(1858-1862), and there is also coverage of
the English tournaments in which Steinitz
played in 1883, 1895 and 1899, after he
had moved to America. However, the bulk of
the work is all about his time as a London
resident.
The subtitle promises ‘A chess biography
with 623 games’ and according to Harding
this “includes more than 50 games the author In amongst the swashbuckling play more
has found from Steinitz’s British period that typical of the era, there are still some
are not in the standard collections, and 12 instructive endings to be enjoyed. Steinitz
others from his Vienna period that have played 68 Êf5?! and Harding comments:
remained in obscurity for over 150 years.” “This does win by force, but slowly. There was
Steinitz arrived in London in May, 1862. a quick kill by the surprising 68 g5!!, e.g.
Six weeks later he was playing in the London 68...hxg5 (68...Ìxh5 69 g6 Ìf4+ 70 Êf5
Congress, which was the belated follow-up to forces mate soon) 69 h6 (undermining)
the more famous international tournament of 69...Ìh5 70 hxg7 Ìxg7+ 71 Êf6, as
1851. Adolf Anderssen repeated his great tablebases show.” Steinitz eventually won on
success of 11 years prior to this event. move 85 to seal the match victory.
Steinitz finished sixth, but four years later he
Now, more than ever, we are in need of
defeated Anderssen in a forerunner to later,
escapism. Late-1880s London may not have
official title matches.
been such a nice time and place to live, but it
The match was close and very exciting.
The scores were level at 6-6 after the first
is perfect for a visit. Thank you, Mr. Harding.
Sean Marsh
12 games, but Steinitz finished with two
consecutive wins to force victory. There were
Attacking 101 Volume #005
no draws in the match. The result, which
Joel Johnson, 480 pages, paperback
surprised many people (not least, Howard
Staunton) gave Steinitz a perfect platform
RRP £39.95 SUBSCRIBERS £35.95
The American coach and author continues
from which to launch his future successes.
to examine a number of club player
That is not to say it was all plain sailing;
encounters with the aim of helping readers to
Steinitz’s life never fell into that category.
improve all aspects of their game, not least
Indeed, the period 1868-1871 is dubbed
their attacking play. Johnson tackles some of
Steinitz’s ‘Difficult Years’ in the book. There
his own games, as well as others from
were no major events, “so he had to earn his
students and readers, all the while aiming to
living playing amateurs at places like
highlight some key strategies which might
Simpson’s Divan and Purssells.”
help you to score more victories next time
It is a pity that Anderssen never sought a
you can enter a weekender.
rematch. I didn’t realise until reading this book
that he never returned to England after
1866. Yet Anderssen was still a very strong
player; he went on to record great successes
in his fifties, even finishing ahead of Steinitz
as he took first place at Baden-Baden in
1870 and beating him twice along the way.
Steinitz was a controversial character and
it is hard to find any of his contemporaries
offering a neutral observation of either him or
his standard of play. He was, of course, more Chess Tales Issue 1
than capable of giving as good as he got, as Tobias Hirneise, 72 pages, paperback
evidenced by the famous ‘ink war’ with RRP £6.99 SUBSCRIBERS £6.29
Zukertort and Hoffer This is a translation of Rochade Kids, a
I enjoyed learning so many new details German series of child-friendly chess
about the life and games of Steinitz and this workbooks, which have sold an impressive
55
54-57 Books_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:59 Page 56
25,000 copies. All that is assumed is
knowledge of how the pieces move, with this
first issue recapping some important basics
as the cartoon chess pieces set off on an
educational adventure. Fun exercises help to
reinforce the key ideas and this might well
make a good Christmas present for any young
nieces or nephews who have expressed an
interest in our favourite game.
ChessBase Magazine 198
ChessBase PC-DVD
RRP £17.99 SUBSCRIBERS £16.19
Garry Kasparov makes a return to the
cover of the latest CBM, as the German chess
giant takes a look at his career in the first half
of the 1980s. As such, you can study a classic
Beliavsky-Kasparov encounter in the company
of Simon Williams, while Dorian Rogozenko
analyses Kasparov-Gheorghiu, Moscow 1982.
Elsewhere Anish Giri contributes and there are
all the normal opening features, including
Viktor Moskalenko on Richard Rapport’s highly
aggressive interpretation of the Stonewall Dutch.
Defend Like Petrosian
Alexey Bezgodov, 272 pages, paperback
RRP £22.99 SUBSCRIBERS £20.69
Works on Petrosian are clearly topical. Just
last month Sean Marsh reviewed Petrosian
Year by Year: Volume I and now from New in
Chess we have a work aimed squarely at the
club player which attempts to tackle an often
overlooked topic: improving your defence. Of
course, Petrosian was a great defender and so
Bezgodov is able to use the ninth world
champion’s games to tackle not just direct
defence, but how to hone that ability to snuff
out danger in advance and so prophylactically
disrupt your opponent’s attacking intentions.
Fight 1.d4 with the Tarrasch!*
Vassilios Kotronias, 384 pages, paperback
RRP £27.99 SUBSCRIBERS £25.19
One tends to associate the Greek
56
Grandmaster and leading theoretician with
the King’s Indian Defence, but Kotronias has
widened his opening repertoire in recent
years and here presents a typically detailed
look at the Tarrasch Defence, 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6
3 Ìc3/Ìf3 c5. In the main line, 4 cxd5 exd5
5 Ìf3/Ìc3 Ìf6 6 g3 Ìc6 7 Íg2 Íe7 8 0-
0 0-0, it’s notable that Kotronias meets 9
Íg5 with 9...c4, while against 9 dxc5 both
9...Íxc5 and 9...d4 are covered, as, it should
be pointed out, are all White’s d-pawn system
alternatives to an early c4.
How to play the Ruy Lopez with Ëe2
Sergei Tiviakov, PC-DVD;
running time: 6 hours, 30 minutes
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
Sergei Tiviakov has been meeting 1 e4 e5
with 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf6 5 0-0
Íe7 6 Ëe2 nearly all his life. Drawing heavily
on the hundreds of games he has played with
the Worrall, Tiviakov explains all the key
strategic aims and nuances, while mapping
out a fairly detailed repertoire for White, and
one which should not be too difficult to take up.
Mega Database 2021
ChessBase PC-DVD
RRP £174.95 SUBSCRIBERS £157.45
It’s that time of year when ChessBase
release the latest versions of their best-
selling databases. ‘Megabase’ now contains
some 8.4 million games, of which 85,000 are
annotated, and also comes with an update
service, meaning a top-up of the latest
games each week.
If you’d like to upgrade to Mega Database
2021 from Mega Database 2020, do please
just return the disc or quote the existing
program key. Such an upgrade costs £64.95
(Subscribers – £58.45), and you can also
upgrade from an earlier version of the Mega
Database for £99.95 (Subscribers – £89.95).
And if annotations aren’t for you, it’s
possible to have all the 8,400,000 games
with no annotations in Big Database 2021,
which is available too from Chess & Bridge for
£64.99 or just £58.49 for Subscribers.
Mikhail Botvinnik
Isaak & Vladimir Linder,
288 pages, paperback
RRP £24.99 SUBSCRIBERS £22.49
Father and son team the Linders continue
to produce high-quality historical works for
Russell Enterprises, here tackling the sixth
world champion. They shine plenty of light on
Botvinnik’s life, as well as his scientific
approach to chess, while examining too the
many ways in which he helped to
revolutionise our understanding of the game.
There are also 150 of Botvinnik’s best games
and endings, all annotated by that ever
impressive German analyst, Karsten Müller.
Russell Enterprises have also recently
released a fifth edition of that modern-day
classic Dvoretsky’s Endgame Manual, revised
by Karsten Müller and Alex Fishbein. It now
runs to 440 pages and is available from Chess
& Bridge for £33.95 (Subscribers – £30.55).
Opening Repertoire:
Beating the Sicilian Main Lines
Jonas Hacker, 384 pages, paperback
RRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99
Ever since Beating the Sicilian appeared in
1984, repertoires against the Sicilian
Defence have proved popular and this work
from a well-named German FM may well be
no exception. As the cover makes clear,
Hacker’s focus is the Open Sicilian, although it
should be said that after 1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 d6 3
d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Ìf6 he goes not for 5 Ìc3,
but his pet line, 5 f3. 2...Ìc6 is however,
countered with 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Ìf6 5
Ìc3, while against the Taimanov, 4...e6, the
order of the day is 5 Ìb5 d6 6 c4, setting up
a Maroczy Bind.
Openings: The Queen’s Gambit
Jerzy Konikowski & Uwe Bekemann,
260 pages, paperback
RRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99
This is part of a series entitled ‘Read –
Learn – Play’ and is eminently suitable for
those fairly new to the game. The German
authors presume no real prior knowledge as
they explain the key ideas behind each line of
the Queen’s Gambit with the aim of getting
the reader up and running against 1 d4.
Also new from Joachim Beyer Verlag is
Magical Endgames by Claus Dieter Meyer and
Karsten Müller (172 pages, RRP £21.99;
Subscribers – £19.79), which takes readers
on a fascinating endgame journey into the
world of stalemate and zugzwang, presenting
a large number of truly astonishing as well as
instructive positions.
December 2020
54-57 Books_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:59 Page 57
Sicilian Dragon: The Real Deal! Part 1
Chris Ward, PC-DVD;
running time: 5 hours, 20 minutes
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
Chris Ward will be forever associated with
the Sicilian Dragon and here visits the
ChessBase studio to map out a repertoire for
Black with his pet opening. In typically lively
fashion, Ward devotes this first of two DVDs to
explaining all the key ideas which the Dragon
aficionado really should be aware of. As such
there are plenty of examples of ...Îxc3 and
other sacrifices, but more subtle nuances do
not go uncovered, be they knowing when to
devote a tempo to ...Îe8 or how best to make
good use of the black e-pawn.
Spurious Games
David Jenkins, 320 pages, paperback
RRP £9.99 SUBSCRIBERS £8.99
Subtitled ‘A Satirical Schachnovelle’, this is
much more than a simple whodunnit from
Troubador, as Jenkins touches on an number
of topics with a definite strain of satire
running throughout the novel. Will you
manage to identify the murderer of a local
chessplayer faster than Detective Inspector
John Logos of Cornwall’s St Borstal
Constabulary, who finds himself up against
‘The Turk’. Those not from Cornwall or who
don’t work in the academic field of social
programs may not recognise the name of the
author, but he did represent Fiji in the 1994
Olympiad and is clearly a keen chessplayer.
The English Opening:
Tactic and Strategy Toolbox
Mihail Marin, PC-DVD;
running time: 5 hours, 30 minutes
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
Marin follows up his earlier repertoire for
ChessBase with his favourite 1 c4 by
explaining some of the key motifs for both
sides. Coverage is decidedly interactive, so
this DVD will help you master the key points
www.chess.co.uk
of the English and will also serve as a good
refresher course for fans of Marin’s English
Love series.
The Modernized Nimzovich Defense
1.e4 Ìc6!
Christian Bauer, 264 pages, paperback
RRP £28.95 SUBSCRIBERS £26.05
French Grandmaster Christian Bauer
continues to demonstrate why avoiding the
main lines can work, not just in his books, but
also very much in his own games. Bauer
retains a very healthy 2600+ rating while
regularly deploying such openings as Tony
Miles’s old favourite 1 e4 Ìc6. Here he maps
out a repertoire with the Nimzowitsch which
may well resonate with the club player. It is
centred around meeting 2 Ìf3 with 2...d6 3
d4 Ìf6 4 Ìc3 g6, while against 2 d4 both
2...d5 and 2...e5 are covered.
The Power of Tactics Volume 3
Tadej Sakelsek & Adrian Mikhalchishin,
376 pages, paperback
RRP £23.95 SUBSCRIBERS £21.55
The subtitle ‘Calculate like Champions’
reveals much which one needs to know about
the final volume in Sakelsek and
Mikhalchishin’s trilogy. The first two examined
every nature of tactical play through the eyes
of the seventh world champion, Vassily
Smyslov, and his games also feature heavily
here. The authors begin by revealing their key
tips for calculation before building up from
setting some fairly simple positions to solve to
tackling a range of quite challenging
unexpected opportunities.
If you’d like to purchase this work along
with the earlier volumes, ‘Tactics according to
Smyslov’ and ‘Become a Tactical Wizard’, all
three works can be purchased together from
Chess & Bridge for the special price of
£65.00 (Subscribers – £58.50).
In other news from Chess Evolution,
Grivas Opening Laboratory Volume 3 has
been released, in which Efstratios Grivas
continues to present a 1 d4 and 2 c4
repertoire for White, here tackling the Bogo
and Queen’s Indians, as well as the Budapest
Gambit. It runs to 272 pages and is also
available for £23.95 (Subscribers – £21.55).
To Exchange or Not?
Eduardas Rozentalis, 192 pages, paperback
RRP £23.95 SUBSCRIBERS £21.55
How much time each evening league game
do you spend on weighing up exchanges? A
fair amount for sure, but are you always
confident you’ve picked the right pieces to
trade and the right ones to retain? Help is at
hand from a vastly experienced grandmaster
in this ‘Ultimate Workbook’ on the subject, in
which Rozentalis presents a large number of
positions, ranging from relatively easy to
pretty tough, where you have to decide on
the best exchange or the right plan.
Zlotnik’s Middlegame Manual
Boris Zlotznik, 400 pages, paperback
RRP £25.95 SUBSCRIBERS £23.25
Boris Zlotnik might not be a household
name in the sense that Mark Dvoretsky
became, but it was for his services that
Fabiano Caruana’s parents relocated from
New York to Madrid so that their highly
talented 12 year old could learn from one of
the greats of the Soviet training empire.
Zlotnik relocated to Spain in 1993 having
previously served as director of the Chess
Department of the INEF College in Moscow.
He is a firm believer in understanding a
number of key pawn structures and of having
a large memory bank of typical middlegame
motifs, the most important of which he
presents in this expanded, first English edition
of his classic Russian training manual.
Kravtsiv Solution
28...Îe2!! 29 Îae1 Îd2! (“Now that the
white rook has occupied e1, White lacks the
defence against mate that we saw in the
28...Îd2? line”) 30 Ëxd2 Ëxf4+ 31 Êh3
Íe5 and mate is forced.
* – Stock of this item may be limited, so
you are advised to contact Chess & Bridge
(020 7486 7015 or info@chess.co.uk) prior
to making an order.
57
58-58 JSDecember_Chess mag - 21_6_10 16/11/2020 17:58 Page 58
Saunders on Chess
Follow me on Twitter:
Take a look at this position from a game
played in the 1982 British Championship and,
without using a board, play through the
subsequent moves in your head.
J.Richardson-D.Johansen
British Championship, Torquay 1982
15...Ìb4 16 Ëd3 Ìc2 17 Ëxc2 Îxc4
...and the game continues.
I’m guessing that about nine out of ten
readers of you are now scratching your heads
and suspecting a misprint, with the tenth one
not doing so because he or she has misread
one of the moves or mislaid a pair of reading
glasses. Just to confirm, there is no misprint: I
really did write ‘15...Ìb4’, putting a knight en
prise to a pawn, followed by the even more
staggering 16 Ëd3, putting the queen en
prise to the knight on b4.
What’s happening here? I hasten to add
(just in case either of the titled players named
is minded to sue for damage to their
reputation) that 15...Ìb4 wasn’t actually
played in the game. It doesn’t take a genius to
figure out that the move played was 15...Ìd4.
However, 15...Ìb4 is the move that appears
on databases throughout the world. At least it
was until eagle-eyed Paul Georghiou spotted it
on Britbase.info and informed me.
When I first looked at this, I thought to
myself, “What utter cretin of a game inputter
could have entered the move 15...Ìb4 in the
first place and not spotted how ludicrous it
was either immediately or on the next
move?” Then, slowly, the awful truth crept up
on me. Could it have been... me? I examined
the evidence carefully and soon realised that
everything pointed to me as perpetrator. Let
me explain.
It quickly dawned on me that I (or indeed
anyone else) could not have keyed the moves
58
@johnchess or email: johns@chess.co.uk
in manually. To err is human, but to foul up as
spectacularly as this requires a computer. I’ve
adapted this famous Homer Simpson joke
previously in this column, but it’s never been
more apt: “Computers – the cause of, and the
solution to, all the chess world’s problems.”
What happened here was that the game
was scanned from the tournament bulletin,
passed through optical character recognition
(OCR) software, and then all the moves were
transferred from the clipboard into a
ChessBase ‘new game’ window in one go. But
there are snags and pitfalls.
OCR is dependent on the print quality of
the material scanned, only works with
algebraic notation, and is problematic when
the print includes figurines. However, chess
material published in 1982 or thereabouts
falls into a transitional period after most
English language chess material had moved to
algebraic notation, but before figurines had
become commonly used, so it becomes
feasible to use OCR.
At least, in theory: often, when you use this
input technique, any misread in the text results
in an illegality happening subsequently in the
score, so the resultant ChessBase window will
not show a complete score. You then have to
hunt through the moves on screen to discover
where the OCR software failed to interpret
correctly. Frankly, it is all a bit of a faff and
brings the whole idea of using OCR into
question in the first place, as it would be
quicker simply to key in the moves manually.
When it works first time, and you see all the
moves on the screen and the last one tallies
with what appears in print, you think it has
worked, save the game and move on to the
next one. But it is easy to see here that the
move ...Ìd4 was misread as ...Ìb4 and didn’t
lead to a subsequent illegality, with the game
continuing to a conclusion. What is at fault here
is that the checking process is inadequate:
there’s no substitute for eye-checking all the
moves to make sure they are correct (once
again, calling into question any notional
advantage of using OCR in the first place).
But was I the aforementioned cretin? The
evidence is unequivocal. BritBase users may
have noticed that I now keep an audit trail of
updates for each file posted at the bottom of
the page. There, recorded in black and white,
is my confession regarding the 1982 British
Championship file: “Uploaded all 308 games as
a zipped file in 1997, having keyed them in.”
Hoist by my own petard.
Tartakower is usually credited with the
chess quotation, “The mistakes are all there,
waiting to be made”. Some years ago Stewart
Reuben interpolated an editorial comment into
something I wrote on a similar subject for an
edition of his Chess Organiser’s Handbook:
“There are always mistakes”. Both truisms,
perhaps, but worth restating occasionally,
particularly in an age when so many people are
vocal in their judgement of others’ efforts.
My conclusion from this is that (i.) there is
no substitute for eye-checking moves input;
(ii.) OCR is an unreliable method of entering
chess games; and (iii.) I should express my
gratitude for having top-notch proof-readers
like Paul Georghiou examining my BritBase
files. And I would implore anyone else who
spots a mistake in BritBase to notify me. I
always appreciate feedback, even when it
leaves me with a red face.
With the dearth of real-life OTB chess in
the past few months, out of the blue the
world of fiction has come to our rescue in the
shape of the Netflix TV show The Queen’s
Gambit, which I feel sure will rate a mention in
this month’s editorial. It’s hard to recall chess
ever being so respectfully and accurately
portrayed on screen before, garnering
universal plaudits and creating a storm of
interest across the world.
The acid test for me was the fact that my
wife enjoyed the series every bit as much as I
did. Given that she doesn’t play herself and yet
has been married to a chess obsessive for more
than a quarter of a century, it is perhaps not
surprising that the mere mention of anything
to do with chess usually puts her into
something close to a catatonic stupor, but she
recognises top-quality drama when she sees it,
regardless of the chess content. Let’s hope the
success of the series proves to have lasting
benefits, particularly for women’s chess.
December 2020
 NEW IN CHESSBASE 16
59-59 ChessBase 16 Advert_Layout 1 16/11/2020 17:57 Page 1

• Opening surveys for every move with a single click!

Choose your focus: main variations, fashionable lines,
side lines, attacking, gambits, endgame
• Better overview when playing through deeply analysed
games thanks to dynamic folding of the notation
• Important news about recently played innovations with
direct access to the database
• Direct database access to tournaments being played live
• Preparation for opponents with recognition of their
weaknesses taking into account your own repertoire
• Innovations and trends as annotations in Tactical Analysis
• Update-Service for Mega Database with a single click
• After an update to Mega Database, overview of important
recent innovations and theoretical trends
• Tags for easy management of games
• Search for characteristic tactical positions in an opening line
• Slimmed down search booster: required disk space halved

STARTER PACKAGE £179.95 MEGA PACKAGE £269.95 PREMIUM PACKAGE £424.95

NEW: ChessBase 16 program
NEW: Big Database 2021
Update Service through to 31.12.2021
Access to ChessBase Online Database
(over 9 million games)
Subscription to ChessBase Magazine
for half a year (3 issues)
ChessBase Premium membership
(6 months)
NEW: ChessBase 16 program
NEW: Mega Database 2021
Update Service through to31.12.2021
Access to ChessBase Online Database
(over 9 million games)
Subscription to ChessBase Magazine
for a full year (6 issues)
ChessBase Premium membership
(12 months)
NEW: 250 ChessBase Ducats
NEW: ChessBase 16 program
NEW: Mega Database 2021
Update Service through to 31.12.2021
NEW: Correspondence Database 2020
Endgame Turbo 5 USB Stick (128 GB)
Access to ChessBase Online Database
(over 9 million games)
Subscription to ChessBase Magazine
for a full year (6 issues)

ChessBase 16 UPDATE from ChessBase 15 £94.95

ChessBase Premium membership
(12 months)
Upgrade to ChessBase 16 - Existing program key required or return disk* NEW: 500 ChessBase Ducats

Train like a pro! With ChessBase 16 and Mega Database 2021 prepare for your opponents with great precision,
let grandmasters explain the best way to play your favourite variations, improve your repertoire and much more.
The ChessBase Mega Database 2021, with over 8.3 million games from between 1560 and 2020, is the exclusive
chess database which meets the highest demands. With over 85,000 annotated games, Mega 2021 contains the
world’s largest collection of top-class analysed games.
• Including Mega Update Service 2021: Bring your database up-to-date with with over 5,000 new games, every
week (requires ChessBase versions 14-16)
• New design, easier to use! Direct access to the games of the world championships and the great tournaments of
the history of chess, and much more.
• Download a player encyclopaedia with over 586,000 names of players and over 40,000 photos of players (requires
ChessBase versions 14-16)

Mega Database 2021 Update from Mega Database 2020 Update from older Mega Database
£174.95 £64.95 £109.95

Big Database 2021 The ChessBase database without annotations and analysis. 8.3 million games from
£64.95 between 1560 and 2020. Without the update service.

Complete opening theory in an all-encompassing opening book. That is the Fritz Powerbook 2021. With over
25 million positions including statistics concerning frequency, success rate, etc. The Powerbook is the most important
supplement to your chess engine! Ideal for learning and studying your own variations and for practising them.
Also supplied with a collection of 1.5 million top level games from which the Powerbook 2021 was constructed as
well as the special ‘Strongbook’, generated from the strongest grandmaster games (ELO >= 2550) of the last
hundred years (over 2 million positions). Fritz Powerbook 2021 £64.95

Subscribers to CHESS Magazine can deduct 10% from all the prices quoted above
Order online at www.chess.co.uk or order by phone: 020 7486 7015
60-60 Subscriber Specials December_Layout 1 16/11/2020 18:41 Page 1

Subscribers Only December

Order online*: www.chess.co.uk/shop - Call 020 7486 7015 - Or use the included carrier sheet
* Enter SUBSCRIBER in the ‘Coupon Code’ box to claim the subscriber discount when ordering online.

1: 600 Modern Chess Puzzles

1 2
Martyn Kravtsiv, 160 pages, paperback
RRP £17.50 SUBSCRIBERS £15.75
2: Defend Like Petrosian
Alexey Bezgodov, 272 pages, paperback
RRP £22.99 SUBSCRIBERS £20.69
3: Zlotnik's Middlegame Manual
Boris Zlotznik, 400 pages, paperback
RRP £25.95 SUBSCRIBERS £23.35
3 4
4: Arkell’s Endings
Keith Arkell, 168 pages, paperback
RRP £17.99 SUBSCRIBERS £16.19
5: Openings: The Queen´s Gambit
J.Konikowski & U.Bekemann, 260 pages, paperback
RRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99
6: To Exchange or Not? The Ultimate Workbook
Eduardas Rozentalis, 192 pages, paperback
RRP £23.95 SUBSCRIBERS £21.55
7: The Modernized Nimzovich Defense 1.e4 Nc6!

POST FREE FOR UK CUSTOMERS

Christian Bauer, 264 pages, paperback
5 6 7 8

ALL ITEMS ARE

RRP £28.95 SUBSCRIBERS £26.05
8: Fight 1.d4 with the Tarrasch!
Vassilios Kotronias, 384 pages, paperback
RRP £27.99 SUBSCRIBERS £25.19
9: Spurious Games: A satirical schachnovelle
David Jenkins, 320 pages, paperback
RRP £9.99 SUBSCRIBERS £8.99
10: Steinitz in London: A Chess Biography with
623 Games Tim Harding, 416 pages, hardback
RRP £64.99 SUBSCRIBERS £58.49
11: Opening Repertoire: Beating the Sicilian Main Lines
Jonas Hacker, 384 pages, paperback
RRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99
9 10 11 12
12: Attacking 101 - Volume #005
Joel Johnson, 480 pages, paperback
RRP £39.95 SUBSCRIBERS £35.95
13: Mikhail Botvinnik: 6th World Chess Champion
Isaak & Vladimir Linder, 288 pages, paperback
RRP £24.99 SUBSCRIBERS £22.49
14: Sicilian Dragon: The Real Deal! Part 1 (PC-DVD)
Chris Ward, running time: 5 hours, 20 minutes
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
15: The English Opening: Tactic and Strategy
13 14 15 16 Toolbox (PC-DVD) Mihail Marin, running time: 5 hours,
30 minutes RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
16: How to play the Ruy Lopez with Qe2 (PC-DVD)
Sergei Tiviakov, running time: 6 hours, 30 minutes
RRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25
17: ChessBase 16 - Starter Package (PC-DVD)
See inside back cover for full details and upgrade prices
RRP £179.95 SUBSCRIBERS £161.95
18: ChessBase 16 - Premium Package (PC-DVD)
See inside back cover for full details and upgrade prices
RRP £424.95 SUBSCRIBERS £382.45
17 18 19 20 19: Mega Database 2021 (PC-DVD)
Over 8 .3 million games, 85,000 annotated, plus weekly
ONLY subscribers to CHESS MAGAZINE may order items at the prices and conditions shown on this page. update during 2021 RRP £174.95 SUBS’ £157.45
All offers expire 31/12/2020. These offers are POST FREE in the UK only. Please add 20% 20: Big Database 2021 (PC-DVD)
(of the undiscounted price) for EU countries and 30% (of the undiscounted price) Rest of the World. Over 8 .3 million games (unannotated)
RRP £64.99 SUBSCRIBERS £58.49