Archive: UNCUT! 50

The Sean Marsh
Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 50*

Clock Simul!

In a brand-new chess venture, Mike Closs and I offered our services for a simultaneous display, using clocks, under strict match conditions.

The majority of simuls are much more casual affairs but clock simuls offer other advantages (and, for the players, other disadvantages!).

We were very grateful to Billingham Synthonia for taking up the offer and there was enough interest to hold two clock simuls, featuring four players in each one.

Mike lined up against Messrs Rattue, Skillcorn, Greenwood and Edwards and I was up against Mike Creaney, Brian Whitaker, Joe Richardson and Frank Brown.

Just as in a regular simul, the initial moves come quickly from both sides of the board. Then the differences start to become apparent. The simul-giver has to keep a careful eye on the clocks, just as in a regular tournament game. The simul-taker can have extended thinks at key moments of the game and doesn’t have to move as soon as desired.

The concentration levels of all concerned are required to be greater than for a regular simul too. Playing games against raw juniors is one thing but one conspicuous error against hardened club players, with plenty of time on the clock to perfect a refutation, can be disastrous.

Mike’s sharp opening repertoire makes him an ideal choice for a simultaneous event and he quickly built up impressive attacks with his two Whites.

Against Keith Rattue, Mike smashed his way through to victory with a couple of rampant Knights and a Rook-lift:

24 Nxh6 Qe8 25 Nxg8 Qxg8 26 Ng5+ Kh6 27 Nf7+ Kh7 28 Rf5 1-0

Mike was on his best tactical form against Walter Greenwood.

13 Rxe6! Rxe6 14 Nxd5 cxd5 15 Bxd5 and White gets the material back with interest. He concluded the game with another tactical shot.

30 Rxf6! 1-0

With Black he had to work a little harder.

Edwards v Closs

White is not doing badly at all here, and should either exchange Rooks on d5 or play 16 Nh4!? However, the chosen move was a mistake.

16 Nd2? Qd6! and the pin on the Knight won material (and eventually the game).

Vince Skillcorn provided the Mighty Mish was the toughest challenge.

Here, Vince has a choice of recaptures. Possibly the least obvious, 19 hxg4!? was the best try, aimed at holding back Black’s natural …f5 pawn break. He played 19 Nxg4 instead whereupon Mike broke out with 19 …f5 20 exf5 gxf5 and the pawns were ready to roll forward.
The game concluded with a typical thrust by one of the marching pawns…

33 …f3+! and seeing that the White Rook is lost (34 Kd3 c4+) Vince resigned.
Mike’s games all finished while I had two left going on. I was keen to match his 4-0 score! I was half way there…

Tactical strokes decide the majority of simultaneous games. Against Frank Brown, the Black pieces had taken up menacing posts and the position was ripe for the denouement…

30 …Rxg2+! was the start of a mate in five combination.

Mate was also the theme at the conclusion of my game with Joe Richardson.

22 Nf4 has just been played with the idea of cutting off the retreat squares from the Rook. The Rook still found a way to retreat though…
22 …Rxf4! 23 gxf4 Ne3+ 0-1

My game with Mike Creaney had developed along one of the typical lines of the Tarrasch Defence to the Queen’s Gambit. White has been aiming as many of his pieces as possible at the isolated Queen’s pawn and Black has been enjoying the scope granted to his active pieces in return.
In this position, White is a shade worse but things fell apart completely after 24 a4?? when 24…Bb4 wins substantial material. So….0-1

The final game to finish was the best - and closest - of the evening.

There were lots of key moments in my battle with Brian Whitaker.
Alekhine’s Defence did its duty; tempting the White centre forward and then exploiting a weakness to win a pawn…

10 …Na5 11 Qc2 Bf5 12 Qc1 Nbxc4 and the pressure against b2 by the Bg7 ensures a clear pawn advantage.

I missed a chance to substantially increase the advantage in the next position.

I played 19 …Nxd5!? Better was 19 …Rxc3! 20 Qxc3 Nxd5 21 Qd2 Bxd3 22 Qxd3 Nb4 and the Knights run roughshod over the White position.

Things became tricky after that, as Brian took the opportunity to centralise his Queen and two Knights, granting him serious play against the weakened Black King. After some very interesting complications, the Queens were exchanged and we reached an ending with Rook and five pawns against two Knights and three pawns. For one move, White had the chance to round up the passed pawn…

45 Nb3! (instead of 45 f3, the move played in the game) when 45 …Ra3 46 Ncxa5 g5!? would have given a very tough endgame to win. The passed pawn has gone but the Knights are difficult to unravel.

The passed pawn eventually inched forward and we reached the final key position.

Black has just played 51 …Ke6, having worked out that after 52 (either)Nd4+ exd4 53 Nd4+ Kf6 54 Nxb3 axb3 the King and pawn ending is a definite win. White tried 52 Na1 but then 52 …f5 was checkmate.

It was a memorable evening and one, which Mike and I are both hoping to repeat in the near future. Thank you Billingham Synthonia, you were great hosts!

Full concentration as the Mighty Mish starts his games

Would you accept a Knight sacrifice from this man?

The simuls in full swing

Snapped at the very moment ...Bb4 arrived on the board

Material is lost!

Full power needed for this tricky game

Sean Marsh

14/7/2006

Chess Reviews: 14

Winning Chess: Combinations
By GM Yasser Seirawan
(Everyman)

The seventh volume in Grandmaster Seirawan’s extremely successful ‘Winning Chess’ series takes a look at the wonderful world of chess combinations.

After a short introduction, telling how this particular book came about, it’s straight down to business with the first of the eight entertaining chapters: ’Three Combination Types’.

The material gets harder as the book progresses through its 254 pages. With strong emphasis on pattern recognition, Seirawan goes on to give extensive coverage to the classic combinations, such as ‘The Classical Bishop Sacrifice’.

I like the way he builds up the standard patterns from basic positions to their use in real games. For example, he follows up this basic pattern:

‘1 …Qxf1+! 2 Kxf1 Bh3+ 3 Kg1 Re1 checkmate. A nifty motif to know!’

…with the game Vorotnikov v Ivanov (Vilnius 1977).

The conclusion? You guessed it! 16 …Qxf1+!! 0-1 It’s a great feeling to play such moves over the board. As Seirawan succinctly puts it: ‘Boof! Bang! Pow!’

I think we’ve all been on both sides of the famous Bxh7+ combination at some time or other and it’s comforting to know that even top Grandmasters can occasionally find themselves slipping into the standard patterns.

Quinteros - Seirawan
Biel IZ 1985

White managed to bring about a standard sacrifice after: 10 c5! dxc5 11 e5 Nd5 12 Bxh7+! Kxh7 and White whipped up a very strong attack (but later went astray and Black eventually won).
Chapter 5, ‘Blunders and Boomerangs’, serves to remind us that combinations must be properly analysed to avoid unpleasant rebounds. The recent game Adams v Kramnik (Sofia 2005) is given excellent coverage and shows that even a World Champion can run aground with faulty play.

The final two chapters take a look at several examples from the World Championship Tournament of last year. The positions are presented as tests, followed by extensive and highly instructive solutions. The tests are tough enough for any club or county player - as game positions taken from a World Championship should be - and the reader’s efforts will be rewarded.

Here’s a sample for the curious.

Anand - Morozevich
San Luis 2005

Three candidate moves are suggested for White‘s 19th move, namely f5, Qh5 and Bxh7+. Which is best? The detailed solution covers nearly eight pages!

Seirawan’s writing style is very user-friendly and he is eminently capable of teaching without talking down to his target audience. He is not afraid to share his own blunders; indeed, the annotations to his own up and down encounters are possibly the best in the book.

VERDICT:
When I first opened this book I thought it was going to be more of a primer from beginners, with well-known examples. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty of material - most of it extremely recent - for more advanced players. The author’s optimistic and lively tone makes this an excellent and highly instructive volume. Recommended!

For details of Everyman chess books, please visit:
http://www.everymanchess.com/

Happy reading!
June 2006

Archive: UNCUT! 49

The Sean Marsh Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 49*


The Human Touch
Part Two

Dear Readers,

Time now to take a look at some more high-level blunders and perhaps discover the cause of each one.

Petrosian - Spassky
Game 8
World Championship Match 1969

‘Iron’ Tigran, who at his best could be almost unbeatable thanks to his highly developed and uncanny sense of danger, has just played the awful move 14 Be2-d3?? Spassky pounced with 14 …d4! 15 Bxd4 Nxd3 16 Qxd3 Bc4 winning the exchange (and later on, the game).

Perhaps Petrosian had settled down to besiege the isolated Queen’s pawn over a long positional struggle and assumed that it would not be able to take any active part in subsidiary tactics.

Taking his eye off the ball gifted his opponent an easy chance that any club player would be capable of spotting quickly.

This was not the first time that 9th World Champion had missed a little something when he thought he had the position under complete control.

Liberzon - Petrosian
Moscow 1964

One can easily see that Black has real grounds for optimism. White’s pawns are split and weak, Black’s position is very sound and ultimately the classic French centre will outlast any sort of structure White tries to cling to. Why not turn the positional screw a little further and get rid of White’s better Bishop?

14 …Bb5?? A typical Petrosian manoeuvre and a potent positional weapon in many a French Defence player’s arsenal. Unfortunately it is very badly timed and White has a shot. It seems that Petrosian has relaxed and turned off his blunder-checker.

14 Be3! A short move but a very effective one. Did Petrosian, on a subconscious level, assume that the bad Bishop would automatically be of no use? Here, faced with the awful truth of 14 …Qc6 15 Nd4!, winning a piece, Petrosian resigned. 1-0 He could have struggled on for a while with 15 …d4!? 16 cxd4 Qd5 but was probably more eager to try and forget all about it.

Losing the sense of danger must be put down as one of the main reasons for blundering. It is easy to relax once a player believes the position to be an easy win or a comfortable draw.

Nunn - Plaskett
London 1986

Black must have been pleased with the way the Petroff Defence had virtually neutralised the great attacking Nunn. But it only takes one careless move….

20 …Nb4?? 21 Qf5!! A beautiful rejoinder! Suddenly White has three tactical devices all working for him. There is a threat to the Black Queen, trouble on the back rank and major trouble after the sensible looking 21 … Qd8 when 22 Re7! mates in three more moves. Black struggled on with 21 …Re6 but after 22 d5 he faced ruinous material loss and resigned on move 26.

T. Middleton - E. Lazenby
Whitby v Middlesbrough Wasps
League Match, 2006

The same principle applied in a recent local league game. Ernie, who gamely submitted this snippet, had been entertaining the hope of a Kingside attack for some time.

Perhaps feeling that it was unlikely to happen in view of White’s consistently solid and careful play, Black lost his way and chopped off the Knight. 1 …Bxe5. Not such a bad move in itself, but part of the same sort of woolly thinking that led to the blunders above. Black feels that the initiative is not going to come his way after all and decides the game should be drawn. Exchanging on e5 is a symbolic gesture towards the sharing of the point, as was Ernie’s draw offer after the unfortunate - and quickly played - 2 dxe5 Rh6?? whereupon the shocking 3 Qxa7 ended the game. Ernie’s only loss of an otherwise great season.

Another type of ‘blunder potential’ occurs not when a player relaxes too soon but when the tension is considerably more palpable. The ‘big match’, the ‘difficult opponent’, the ‘last round’ and other such momentous occasions can all help to screw up the tension to fever pitch inside a player’s mind. Despite the greater concentration, blunders can still easily occur.
Here’s one of my own which sticks in my mind.

M. Closs v S. Marsh
Redcar v Guisborough
League Match, 1985

Mike and I have enjoyed a long and varied chess rivalry. (It’s not out of the question that a future UNCUT! will provide the definitive version.) There is usually a good deal of nervous tension when we play and this a good example of a double-blunder resulting from such pressure.
In this position, White is clearly much better and Black is trying to hold everything together. To that end, I played 19 …Qc8?? and realised, as soon as my hand had left the piece, that the Queen is terribly overloaded; 20 Bxb7 would win a clear piece. I tried the ‘straight face defence’ but also tried to make sure my hand was free from sweat to tender and immediate resignation after his next move. Sure enough, after a little thought, Mike picked up the Bishop…but put it down on c6! 20 Bc6?? Re7 and Black is still under excruciating pressure but managed to hold a draw on the 36th move.

Chigorin - Steinitz
World Championship Match 1892

The tension of playing a great friend and rival in a local league match can be serious enough, but blunders can decide a lot more than a mid-table pecking order.

In this famous example, the dangerous looking Black Rooks should not prevent White from converting a fine effort into a very important victory. Chigorin could have levelled the match and sent it into extra time if nervous tension hadn’t led him to produce the terrible 32 Bb4?? allowing the obvious 32 …Rxh2+ 0-1

Can you imagine the pressure the two players must have been under? Amazingly, taking advantage of the fact that the day this game was played was a holiday in Cuba, no less that 1,900 spectators followed the cut and thrust battle as it twisted its way to the tragic conclusion after four hours of play.

Another lowering of the guard can happen when a difficult game has been apparently saved and even turned around into a decisive advantage. It’s so easy to lose objectivity as one attempts to turn the final screw in the opponent’s coffin.

Reshevsky - Savon
Petropolis Interzonal
1973

This a classic example of ‘dizziness due to success.’ Reshevsky had been in serious trouble for most of the game but had fought back brilliantly to achieve a winning position. Indeed, he has a mate in four (which you might like to work out for yourselves) and was not even in time-trouble. Instead, he played the amazing 40 Qxg6+?? And had to resign after 40 …Bxg6! Reshevsky said, ’This was the worst blunder I have ever made. After the game, I was so upset that I has to sit somewhere alone for quite a while searching for an explanation.’

Oh, we all know that feeling only too well!

D. Smith v S. Marsh
Cleveland Invitation Tournament 1989

This game followed the same template as the Reshevsky example. White had been close to winning for a very long time but somehow the game turned and Black gained all the chances with a direct attack on the King. I thought I should win this position.

Time-trouble was no longer a factor as we’d just added more time to the clocks having reached the time-control on move 36. Yet my very next move is one of the biggest available blunders. I played 37 …Rxf3?? only to be shocked by 38 Qc8+! and 1-0 due to the inevitable 39 Qb7+ and the loss of the Black Rook.

UNCUT! Will return with more blunders and their causes in a future edition. Readers, we need your blunders! Please send me your howlers and the stories behind them.

Meanwhile, the best advice to avoid blunders of the sort we have just seen is to try and keep your concentration up at all times, no matter whether you think you are winning, drawing or losing; playing for local pride or in a World Championship final. When you do blunder, try to come to terms with it as soon as possible and move on. Take solace from the fact that every single payer in the history of chess has dropped Rooks, allowed elementary forks and missed easy checkmates, for and against.

It’s not east and we are all going to blunder horribly from time to time in games to come. In chess, that’s what the human touch is often all about!

Sean Marsh
21/06/2006

Archive: UNCUT! 48

The Sean Marsh Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 48*
* *June 2006* *

‘Mega!’

The death of local chess character Michael J. Welch shocked the local club scene last month. Aged only 42, he was knocked down by a bus and never recovered from his injuries.

I think sufficient time has now passed by to enable UNCUT! to take a look at some aspects of his life in chess.

A very long time ago, he acquired the nickname ‘Mega’, due to his habit of repeating the word in exclamation and praise of anything and everything noteworthy and/or pleasurable. A Queen sacrifice, a long, forcing theoretical line in the Sicilian Najdorf, a good joke and a ‘house special’ kebab were all ‘mega!’ and consequently the name stuck.

He was a member of various clubs over the years, from St. Peter’s through to Guisborough and Middlesbrough, with frequent appearances at Redcar. I got to know him better once he joined Guisborough in the mid-1980s. We met in the final of the 1989-90 Guisborough Championship and after 44 moves we reached this position…

S. Marsh – M. J. Welch
Guisborough Club Championship Final
1989-90

44 …f4 should hold, despite the bad Bishop but here he made his first slip of the game with 44 …fxg4? 45 Nxg4 and a pawn fell off. He had automatically expected 45 fxg4. White won after 78 moves – a tough game!

Fast-forward a decade and here’s a more famous Bishop v Knight ending he managed to turn around…

T. Kiddle – M.J. Welch
Rooks v Knights, 2002

Black has been struggling for some time but after: 40 …g5 41 Nf5+? Bxf5 42 gxf5 Kd7 43 f4 gxf4+ 44 Kxf4 Kc6 45 e4 dxe4 46 Kxe4 Kxc5

White discovered, to his horror, that not all King and pawn endings with an extra are winning. This was the key game in a great match victory for the Knights.

He enjoyed heavy theoretical lines in several openings, such as the Sicilian Najdorf, Alekhine’s Defence and various sharp gambits in the Slav and Semi-Slav.

His final club was Middlesbrough and he made an excellent job of captaining the Middlesbrough Knights at a time when it had a predominately junior line-up. Indeed, for a couple of seasons the Knights were the biggest threat to Elmwood and The Rooks; not that they were ever likely to win the league, but they were more than capable of beating any team in a single match.

For the last few years, Mega’s chess was confined to the Internet and was a Senior Representative on chess server FICS, where he enjoyed the respect of the chess playing masses.
He was remarkably good at both Scrabble and table tennis, but there was always a tendency to be somewhat accident-prone. A friend recalls…

There was the famous time at Middlesbrough Chess Club when his chair collapsed during play. His hands and arms came down on the table to try and steady himself and his board and the one next to him went flying with pieces everywhere.

Another time we were in a supermarket and getting some drink in for Christmas. He reached to the top shelf only for his body to dislodge a pack of 24 bottles of beer onto the floor shattering them all. We scarpered…!

Blurring the line between ‘unemployed’ and ‘unemployable’, he was once forced to go to a job interview and escaped the dreaded fate of being ‘considered’ with a remarkable strategy. He approached the people in question with the immortal words, ‘Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Michael J. Welch and here is my Curriculum Vitae for you to peruse at your leeeeeeeeeesure’. Like I said, he enjoyed forcing variations…

Over the board, there were times when he couldn’t contain himself. More than once he responded to a weak move from an opponent with a very audible ‘HUH!’ before bashing out the refutation.

In a match against Redcar, another opponent picked up his rook and then suddenly realised the move he wanted to play was illegal. He thought for some time and then picked up another piece. Mega uttered the immortal words ‘I'm afraid you're still going to have to move the Rook’ There was only one legal Rook move…and it cost the Rook, for no compensation whatsoever. Mega could never keep the lid on his glee on such occasions.

To conclude, here’s a game which shows him at his best, in one of his favourite variations.

M. J. Welch – J. Ramsdale
Guisborough '5 Minute' Tournament
23.07.1988

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.Bd3 b5 11.Rhe1 Bb7 12.Nd5

12 … exd5 13.Nf5 dxe4 14.Bxe4 Bxe4 15.Rxe4 Nxe4 16.Qxe4 0–0 17.Nxe7+ Mega said at the time: 'I think this is better than 17 Bxe7, given by Nunn.' 17...Kh8 18.Rd3 Nc5 Mega: 'On 18 ...f5 I planned 19 Qe6! Nf6 20 Rh3 h6 21 Rh6+ gxh6 22 Bf6+ winning.'

19.Qxh7+!! Kxh7 20.Rh3# 1–0

Michael J. Welch
‘One Of The Game’s Real Characters’
R.I.P.


Sean Marsh
6/06/2006

Chess Reviews: 13

The Art of Planning in Chess
Move by Move
by GM Neil McDonald
(Batsford)

Grandmaster McDonald takes a good look at some very recent top-level games and tries to get to grips with how a Grandmaster plans over the board. Impressively up to date, the author even manages to include games from 2006, such as this classic debacle.

Wells – Shirov
Gibraltar 2006

13 Qe3! 1-0

When a top player loses so quickly it piques the interest. The explanatory notes answer all the questions the reader may ask about how and why such a thing happened.

Over the course of six chunky chapters, the reader is given a rare glimpse into the workings of the Grandmaster mind. The chapter headings give a taster of what to expect: ‘Ferocious Files’, ‘Dangerous Diagonals’, ‘Wearing Down A Weakness’, ‘Surging Through The Centre’, ‘Pawns And Goat Pegs’ and ‘Horrible Holes’.

McDonald is a natural teacher and his writings are always full of percipient points. Three examples, plucked at random, should serve to demonstrate the point:

‘There is a saying that the hardest thing is chess is to win a ‘won’ position. That seems to be true based on the number of times a player comes up to me and says ‘I was completely winning, but…’ I also know how hard it can be to make the final push to finish off an opponent who is dead but won’t lie down. In fact, in bad positions, a player often fights extremely hard and finds a lot of resources, so much so that it makes you wonder how he could have played so badly to get into such a mess in the first place.’

‘In fact, it is not only important (and interesting) to know how strong players have handled an opening set up – it is vital. I’m not talking about opening theory: just playing through the games of Capablanca , for example, would give you a ‘feel’ for where the pieces belong. The great Cuban’s openings are de facto old fashioned, but he made every move according to sound principles, with a large does of intuitive genus thrown in as well.’

‘You must keep on playing one move after another that suits the requirements of the position. Do not make any artificial attempts to force the pace of the game. Do not fear simplification, the endgame, a strong opponent’s attack, or complications, if this is the path that are required to follow the development and flow of your game should be as natural as that of a living organism.’

There is much of interest here. Even if you couldn’t be bothered to play through the game properly, the comments on the moves are still extremely instructive and should make the reader think about things differently, with beneficial effects on future playing strength.
The only criticism I have regards the number of typos that leapt off the page. Methinks a spot of tighter editing or proofreading was called for.

VERDICT:
Just under 250 packed pages of instructive and entertaining chess reading. Some people see non-opening books as a bit of a risk but this one comes highly recommended. A good one to read over the Summer break!


For details of this and all other Batsford chess books, please visit:
http://www.chrysalisbooks.co.uk/

Starting Out: Sicilian Najdorf
By IM Richard Palliser
(Everyman)

I’m sure that most chess players would love to be able to play like World Champions Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer and Veselin Topalov, but how can this ever be possible? Well, I’m afraid to say that for the vast majority of readers it isn’t going to happen. You can, however, emulate the greatest players by adopting their favourite openings. One that is common to all of the champions mentioned above is of course the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence.

Fischer and Kasparov both used it in the vast majority of their games against 1 e4 and it served them very well. Given such endorsement, it’s clear that the Najdorf would have been analysed in great depth and the body of theory attached to it is huge. So just how can one begin to learn such an opening?

The latest in the fine ‘Starting Out’ series sets out to get the reader up and running with this famous counter-attacking weapon.

International Master Richard Palliser is one of the best common-sense chess writers around so I was very interested to see how he would tackle such a difficult subject in a single book.
Right from the start, the tone is optimistic. The introduction signs off with the words, ‘Now it’s time for you to discover how with the Najdorf Black gains good winning chances, and demonstrates that after 5…a6 White hasn’t a theoretical advantage. Good luck with your Najdorf adventurers!’ Further confidence is instilled by the knowledge that the Najdorf forms a major part of Richard’s own repertoire; I always find a book much more trustworthy if the author practices what he preaches.

The book is divided into seven main sections. 6 Be2 is the first line to be covered, and then we get two chapters on the English Attack, one of Fischer favourite 6 Bc4, two on the sharp 6 Bg5 and then a round up of odds and ends.

Players of a certain age (brought up during the Karpov era) will remember a time when 6 Be2 was seen as the critical test of the Najdorf. White’s positional edge often seemed to grow to immense proportions, with Karpov’s games setting the trend for others to follow. Of course, trends come and go (usually as World Champions do) and 6 Be2 is comparatively rare now. However, it must still be prepared for and it is given very serious coverage here. One of the major developments is in recent years is seen in the following game…

Leosson – Gallagher
Black plays 13 …Nc5!? and after an exchange follows up swiftly with …c5-c4 to activate his pieces.

The last 15 years or so have seen an explosion of interest in the English Attack. White’s basic plan is to play Be3, f3, 0-0-0 and then play for a typical Sicilian attack. I stopped playing the Najdorf just before this ‘new’ system was developed, so I was especially interested to see how the author would be able to explain it.

I enjoyed reading Richard’s logical explanations of the subtleties of the 6 Be3 Ng4 lines and a certain amount of the mystique surrounding them was lifted.

For many players, 6 Bg5 remains the ultimate test of the Najdorf. Here, the theoretical lines at their longest and trying to keep up with the latest developments can be a full time job. Indeed, I’m sure that a lot of people will avoid the whole defense simply because they feel that the whole 6 Bg5 is beyond their powers. This book claims that the Poisoned Pawn is currently the best choice for Black, but admits its limitations, stating that a complete coverage is impossible given the space confines. You would certainly need to know your stuff if you wanted to enter such a chaotic position as this….

…when 18 …Ra7 is one of the recommended moves! What isn’t so well known is that the great Anatoly Karpov once played the black side of a Poisoned Pawn against Qi Jingxuan. At that time, the great champion was at the height of his ‘control chess’ powers but it seems that even he couldn’t resist plunging into the murky depths just for a change!

Indeed, several warnings are given to make it absolutely clear that some main lines of the Najdorf require very detailed theoretical knowledge. Black could try the interesting, much less known variation 6 Bg5 Nc6 if he wanted to get a repertoire up and running with a view to expanding and improving it later.

VERDICT:
The test of a Starting Out book is whether or not it leaves the readers sufficiently enthusiastic about taking up the opening in question. In this particular case, the answer is a very resounding ‘Yes’. The common sense explanations will take away a lot of the mystery of the Najdorf and enable the reader to start to build a dangerous and reliable repertoire with confidence.

The French Advance
by Sam Collins
(Everyman)

The Advance Variation of the French Defence has never attained the level of popularity more readily associated with the Tarrasch or Classical lines but remains one in which Black must take great care. Former Irish Champion Sam Collins endeavours to explain all about it in just over 170 pages.

A short introduction covers some ‘Key Concepts’ and nicely sets up the rest of the book. The following chapters cover 6 a3 (with a chapter each on 6 ...c4, 6…Nh6 and 6 …’others’) , 6 Be2 (against 5 …Bd7 and 5 …Qb6) and then the final three chapters cover the range of other options, from the Milner-Barry Gambit to more obscure ideas such as 3 …b6.

The coverage of the most popular lines is thorough and bang up to date.

It is good to see a game by World Champion Topalov in which he achieves a position to warm the hearts of all French Defenders.

Van Wely – Topalov

Black won in five more moves – a great advert for the Black side.

However, club players looking for the definitive analysis on lesser-known variations will be disappointed. For example, the Milner-Barry Gambit isn’t given much detail and in the critical position...

11…Qb8 is not mentioned, despite being one of the main moves. Similarly, the obscure line 3 …Bd7 is covered in a single note yet it is one of a number of such sidelines that can prove very tricky to the inexperienced player.

VERDICT:
A reasonable guide to an important variation. I don’t think there are any major new revelations here, but the material is up to date (nearly all the illustrative games are from 2000-2005). If you already have decent books on the Advance French then you don’t really need this one but if you were thinking of taking it up then this would be a good guide.

For details of Everyman chess books, please visit:
http://www.everymanchess.com/

Happy reading!
May 2006

Chess Reviews: 12

My Great Predecessors
Volume 5: Korchnoi & Karpov
By GM Garry Kasparov
Everyman Chess

Kasparov’s series of books is already very well established and chess fans eagerly await each volume. It feels like a long time since volume 4 appeared (just over a year, in fact) but the quality of the current volume makes the wait worthwhile.

There has been criticism in some quarters regarding how much of the earlier volumes were actually written by Kasparov himself, and how much by participant Dmitry Plisetsky. I feel sure that such comments will fall by the wayside now that Kasparov is dealing with subjects he knows so well. Kasparov’s own personality shines through in this volume more than any other to date.

Volume 5 is unique in that one of the ‘cover stars’ is not a World Champion. Yet Viktor Korchnoi’s place as one of the all-time greats of chess history is so secure that he is treated as if he really did scale the dizzy heights and take the ultimate title. The section on ‘Viktor the Terrible’ takes the reader up to page 206. Everything is there; from Korchnoi’s tough childhood during the 1941 siege of Leningrad (in which his Father and other family members lost their lives), through his almost endless battles through so many -often bitter - Candidates’ cycles, culminating in his three extraordinary matches with Karpov (1974, 1978 and 1981). He ran into Kasparov himself in the next cycle and could never quite match the world’s elite from the mid-1980s onwards. His magnificent run of tournament successes never stopped though and continues to this day. How is it possible that Korchnoi could have defied all logic and the advancing years, to outlast all of his talented contemporaries?

The answer seems to lie in Korchnoi’s astounding energy and drive, his unbelievable will to win and his permanent desire for the struggle.

A special section takes a look at Korchnoi’s extraordinary successes against the King’s Indian Defence, of which he has a very low opinion and a big score against.

The second section of the book takes an in-depth look (just under 270 pages!) at ‘Anatoly the 12th’. It must, in a sense, have been a tough task for Kasparov to write objectively about the man who was his greatest rival over such a long period of time (something Korchnoi never managed to do in his own memoirs). Nevertheless, Kasparov was determined to treat his foe with the same respect as all of the other champions and he succeeds admirably, never stinting in his praise for the ex-champion.

Karpov’s rise to power was extremely swift. He dominated Polugaevsky and Spassky in two famous Candidate’s matches, both of which receive considerable attention in this book. Spassky started the match as favourite but, as Kasparov points out, their respective ELO ratings at the time were more or less equal and Karpov was clearly ascending the heights and meeting Spassky on his way down. For the big match, Karpov worked 10-12 hours a day and his opponent’s preparation was shown to be clearly inferior.

The book is especially strong when covering the infamous 1978 World Championship match, giving equal standing to both sides of the story. Amid the well-known highly controversial elements there was also plenty of excellent chess. By and large, in the earlier part of the match, Korchnoi played the better chess but Karpov was much more practical. This culminated in the 17th game. Korchnoi used up valuable clock time at the start of the game trying to sort out a dispute regarding Dr Zukhar (a member of Karpov’s team who was allegedly hypnotising Korchnoi). Then, having built up a winning position, the tables were turned in severe time-trouble when Karpov produced a surprise checkmate, seemingly from thin air.

Korchnoi - Karpov
World Championship 1978
Game 17

With his flag about to fall, Korchnoi defended against the obvious threat with 39 Ra1?? But was shocked by the rejoinder: 39 …Nf3!+ 0-1

Kasparov quotes the winner:

‘My two knights mated the enemy king in the endgame - such a thing had never before happened in a match for the world championship! After signing the score-sheet, Korchnoi went up to the demonstration board and stared at it for several minutes, as if trying to comprehend what exactly had happened!’

Leading 5-2, with the match all but over, Karpov then lost three games. Kasparov ‘s analysis of the Rook ending from game 31 - Korchnoi’s fifth win - stretches over eight pages and he manages to find some significant improvements over previous analysis.



Korchnoi - Karpov
World Championship 1978
Game 31

It’s impossible to present a summary of Kasparov’s remarkable analysis here; you’ll just have to buy the book to see it! It is extremely unusual for a player to put so much effort into analysing the games of other people; further evidence that this excellent series is very much a labour of love for the author.

Luminaries such as Tal, Botvinnik et al are quoted throughout the book to shed more light on the subjects. Of particular interest are the reminisces of the various members of Karpov’s teams from the 1978 and 1981 title matches. For the latter match, Razuvaev tells how he and Geller were locked in a room and ordered to devise some novelties against the Open Variation of the Lopez after Korchnoi’s sensational victory in game 6. The novelties duly appeared over the board and had a decisive effect on the match (after Karpov had marked time in his White games with two draws in the Italian Game and another with 1 c4, presumably waiting for the analytical efforts to be fine-tuned.)

Karpov - Korchnoi
World Championship Match 1981
Game 14

13 Ne4 was the novelty in question. Korchnoi spent 79 minutes on his reply (13...Be7) but couldn’t solve the problems and went on to lose.

Once Korchnoi has worked out a suitable rejoinder - and drawn with it in game 16 - another strong novelty was produced to win the 18th and final game; 13 a4! (found by Polugaevsky).

Kasparov has written a much better account of Karpov’s life and games than the latter ever managed to do for himself. Now there’s irony for you.

A couple of special sections concentrate on how Karpov was able to play the Queen’s Indian (from both sides of the board) and Grunfeld so well.

There are still plenty of unanswered questions but perhaps these celebratory tomes are not the place to investigate them.

For example, at the height of Karpov’s ‘golden boy’ era, it is clear to see that he was able to achieve key victories against his fellow Soviets just when he needed them most (as against Tal at Bugojno 1980 - the only decisive game they ever had in serious encounters - Spassky in the final round of London 1982 and several others). I’m not a subscriber to Fischer’s theory that every move of every match was fixed but I wonder if various pressures were applied from time to time.

I suspect that there is rather more to be said about the 1981 Merano match too. Korchnoy is adamant that a large amount of skulduggery took place behind the scenes. Kasparov does reveal that even he was asked to provide some analysis to help Karpov during the match; one of a number of such revelations in the book that were new to me (and I have read every relevant book on the 1978 and 1981 matches prior to this).

Naturally, there are lots of featured games that do not feature both K’s trying to wipe each other out. Fischer, Tal, Polugaevsky, Portisch, Gligoric and many other superstars also make appearances of considerable importance.

A future volume is going to cover the massive Kasparov v Karpov World Championship battles and it should be absolutely fascinating.

Meanwhile, I think that volume 5 is the best so far, even surpassing volume 4 (on Fischer).

VERDICT:

In my opinion, the best volume of the series so far. The first-hand insights into some of the biggest clashes of the 1970s make fascinating reading. The illustrative games are excellently chosen and extremely well annotated. The production values are high too; this, like the earlier volumes, is a very handsome red hardback, complete with dust jacket. One of the ‘must-buys’ of the year without any shadow of a doubt.

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Happy reading!
April 2006