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Chess Reviews: 25

Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov
By IM John Cox

The Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence used to enjoy no more than a cult following during the 1980s. I remember watching the games of fellow Guisborough player Tristram Brelstaff and thinking, ‘I could never play that way!’

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5

The backward d6 pawn and the extensive analysis required to keep up with those strange lines, in which sacrifices something on b5, were rather off-putting qualities. No, not for me! I stuck with the Poisoned Pawn Variation in those days (but of course, that was hardly the choice of the masses in the early 80s, falling into the Karpovian crack in time between Najdorf devotees Fischer and Kasparov).

So essentially I have never really got to grips with this funny-looking opening, making me an ideal candidate for the book in question. Interestingly enough, the author owns up to never having played the Sveshnikov in a serious game and claims that such an open-minded approach has helped him ask such questions as anyone else ‘Starting Out’ would do. This can be a bit like a chef offering instruction to you on a dish he has never actually himself - a real recipe for disaster - but let us see…

Things have moved on dramatically in the development and growing popularity of this opening, particularly via the games of Kramnik and Leko with Topalov and Kasparov joining the fun too.
Instead of jumping in at the deep end with a long theoretical variation, the book starts with White’s sixth move alternatives and then gradually builds up the reader’s knowledge and understanding of who is what and why.

Eventually the main line is reached...
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3

This is real heavyweight stuff and it’s easy to see why IM Cox wanted to ease the reader into it rather than just dump him there from the start.

The explanations are lucid and the standard ‘Starting Out’ ‘warnings‘, ‘tips’ and ‘notes’ work overtime to keep the reader from running aground on the choppy theoretical waters.
Anyone taking up the Black side would definitely need to know how to navigate the storm after the famous Bishop sacrifice, 11 Bxb5 (11 Nxb5 is also possible but not as terrifying).

Things get really weird after 11 …axb5 12 Nxb5 Ra4 13 Nbc7+ Kd7

An acquired taste, methinks! Nevertheless, the coverage is very good here and the diligent reader should emerge with a decent understanding of the intricacies involved.

The final chapter rounds up a few oddities which could prove annoying to Sveshnikov addicts, such as tricky move orders with an early Nc3. For example: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 and if Black really wants to keep the hope of a Sveshnikov appearing after 4 d4 he has to try 3 …Nf6, but White can continue to frustrate the intention with 4 Bb5 or even 4 e5. Consequently this book recommends that Black should be more forceful and plump for 3 …e5

VERDICT:
There’s no doubt it: you will really have to work hard to incorporate the Sveshnikov Sicilian into your opening repertoire. It certainly can’t be patched together over a weekend. However, if such lines and positions as those given above appeal to you, then this book is the ideal place to start your preparations.

Starting Out: The Colle
By IM Richard Palliser

Now here is an opening I do know something about. When I returned to active chess duty following a 10 year period of near total inactivity, I needed to cobble together an opening repertoire that required minimum preparation and low maintenance. Cue the Colle System! Easy to learn and somewhat underrated, it brought me some significant successes when it served on my front line and provided an ever-reliable first reserve at times when one could smell an over-the-board rat or just fancied a night off battling with the Nimzo-Indian.

Regular readers will know that I have the greatest regard for IM Palliser and his books, so I opened this book with high expectations. I was not to be disappointed.

The Colle often ends up in a King-pawn style middle game wrapped up in a sugar-coated Queen-pawn opening. The number of times White lands a crushing Bxh7+ Greek Gift sacrifice has to be seen to be believed!

As usual with a book by IM Palliser, the writing covers a far wider ground of chess wisdom than merely the opening in question. Thus the introduction not only welcomes the readers with the standard ideas and history but also discusses why The Colle isn’t more popular and why the top players don’t have many kind words to say about it.

Then it’s straight into the meat of the book, with detailed coverage of the main line.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.0–0 0–0

Now 8 dxc5 might look odd to the untrained eye, but after the subsequent 8 …Bxc5 9 e4 it is suddenly apparent that White’s game is on the verge of opening up advantageously, and the germ of all the famous Bxh7+ sacrifices is suddenly growing.

Approximately half of the book (124 of the 251 pages) is devoted to the key position after move eight.

The key set-up for Black is currently 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 e4 Qc7 10 Qe2 h6 This high-class move is certainly not as innocuous as it looks. As IM Palliser expertly explains, Black’s battle for the e5 square can now be safely augmented by means of a timely …Ng4, when Bxh7+ and Ng5+, normally winning back the minor piece on g4, simply doesn’t work. I found out about 10 …h6 the hard way a few years ago in a Rapidplay game with the great Jimmy Simpson. Responding with the erroneous, ’good-for-the-goose’ 11 h3 I found myself in positional trouble after 11 ..Nh5!

White suddenly has problems with an impending 12 …Ng3 or 12 …Nf4 on the cards. I lost that game; my worst game with the Colle by some considerable margin.

Had I been able to read this book before that game, I would have known a lot better, especially as 11 h3 ?! is accompanied by the familiar sight of a skull and crossbones bearing the legend ‘Warning!’

Chapter three covers the lines in which Black plays an early …Nbd7 rather than …Nc6. Now if White stereotypically plays dxc5 the problem is that the option of …Nxc5 is a good one for Black, who will chase the Bishop from d3 with serious gain of time. White has other plans though, and here there is a good discussion on when it is better to switch to a Stonewall Attack with Ne5 and f2-f4. The Stonewall theme carries over into the next chapter and is recommended against Black’s Queenside fianchetto defensive tries.

Black’s Anti-Colle plans are analysed in chapter six, such as the tricky tries with an early …Bf5 or …Bg4. The author makes it quite clear that White must vary from the standard Colle patterns under such circumstances and opt instead for something more main line, with an early c4. Slipping the Queen to b3 is often a good way to exploit the early development of the Bc8, as the light squares on the Queenside can be vulnerable.

The final chapter is a welcome addition to the standard Colle material, as it looks at Black alternatives at an earlier stage, such as 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Bf5 and other oddities. ‘…variations which are technically outside the world of the Colle. However, as the Colle player must be prepared to meet them, it would have been a little criminal not to include some coverage of these alternatives to 2 … Nf6’ . Now there speaks an author who has presumably been frustrated by so many other opening books shrugging off the responsibility of offering coverage of important deviations! IM Palliser is far too good and responsible a writer to leave readers in the dark or short change them.

One feature I always enjoy about this author’s books is the way he brings direct references to other books into the mix. His bibliography is typically impressive and he genuinely gives the impression that he has left no stone unturned in his quest to present all of the available material.
The style and layout are excellent too; after the first chapter (up to page 67) the reader will have already been treated to no less than 92 diagrams!

VERDICT:
I’ve seen a lot of books on the Colle over the years and some fall into the lazy trap of showing how easy the first few moves are to play but offer very little else in the way of explanations regarding the different Black set-ups. IM Palliser doesn’t know how to ‘do’ lazy, so the reader is given a full and proper guide to an opening all too often labelled - incorrectly - as boring. This fine book - and the Colle itself - will serve you well if you study it carefully. (Ah yes - and two of my own games make it into the notes so no wonder I like this book!)

Gambiteer 1
A Hard-Hitting Chess Opening Repertoire For White
By GM Nigel Davies

GM Davies opines that the standard club player would have more chances of success if he forgot about mimicking the top players and instead developed a gambit-based repertoire, with the emphasis on active piece development (at a cost of pawns) and practical over-the-board chances.

Volume one of this new two-part series provides a plethora of swashbuckling options for White (volume two will naturally provide ammunition for Black).

I always enjoy the presentation skills of GM Davies; whether it is in the form of video, DVD or book, his no-nonsense style and excellent club-player style advice always inspires me to take his recommendations seriously. Possibly only IM Andrew Martin can claim to have conquered all of the above chess teaching mediums with such élan.

His choices are based on the following observations of club chess (which is, frankly, the level of the vast majority of us)…

‘1) The player with the more active pieces tends to win
2) A pawn or even several pawns is rarely a decisive advantage
3) Nobody knows much theory
4) When faced with aggressive play, the usual reaction is to cower’

The thought occurs that the above points could come straight form a book of how to play if one was ever written by one of our finest attacking 1 e4 players, Mike Closs, should he ever write one. The parallels take on greater significance when one takes a look at what the book suggests.
For instance, the Wing Gambit is advocated against the Sicilian Defence.

The author starts off by explaining that giving up a wing pawn to weaken the opponent’s central presence is more logical than doing the opposite (I.e.: The Morra Gambit, 1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4).
If 1 e4 c5 2 b4 ...

...really doesn’t appeal to you at all then this is not the book for you! Or as the author says, ‘Put it down and get that nice book on the London System. You’ll like it, really you will’.

A quick run through of the book’s main recommendations will reinforce the point…

1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 c3
1 e4 e6 2 Nf3 d5 3 e5 c5 4 b4
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 f3
1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qa5 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 b4

This gambit hasn’t enjoyed a particularly good press but GM Davies shows the way to breathe new life into it after 5 …Qxb4 6 a4 when the additional twist of Ba3 at some point should give White a decent chance of having fun.

At least two of the above are favourites of the aforementioned Mighty Mish (but you will have to guess which otherwise he will get cross with me for revealing his secrets). Incidentally, another local attacking great, Richard Hall, gets a mention on page 56 with a reference to one of his crushing correspondence games.

It not always easy to pick a suitable gambit though; Alekhine’s Defence is met by 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 Nc3 (‘…in the Gambiteer spirit by aiming for free and fast development’) and the Pirc by the cunning 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 f4 Bg7 5 a3

The basic idea is to meet Black’s standard liberating plan of 5 … c5 6 dxc5 Qa5 with 7 b4
The odds and ends are dealt with in the last couple of chapters; against the majority of them one doesn’t need to gambit to obtain good attacking chances so sensible, solid play is more to the fore. For example, The Borg (or Black Grob) is dealt with thus: 1 e4 h6 2 d4 g5 3 Bd3 d6 4 Ne2 with the Knight already looking to probe the weakened f5 and h5 squares.

VERDICT:
Great fun! You should perhaps chose your games carefully before you give these lines their debut but you are guaranteed to get exciting games if you adopt the given variations. This book will act as a great deodorant for your old stuffy repertoire!

‘Are you worried that these openings might not be sound? Get over it! We can deal with St. Peter when we go to collect the harp, but until that time comes our chess sins can mean wins!’
Might as well be your wins, dear reader!

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

Happy reading!
June 2007

Archive: UNCUT! 60

The Sean Marsh
Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 60*
**June 2007* *

The return of the Candidates matches (elimination bouts on the road to the World Championship, for those who have forgotten) marks a very welcome step forward in the world of chess. FIDE, inspired by the success of the SME Match Championships inaugurated last season, clearly know a good idea when they see one.

The matches this time around have been exciting and bloodthirsty. Michael Adams came within a drawn game of defeating Shirov and progressing to the next stage, thus ending hopes - for now - of an English World Champion. Maybe Gawain Jones will do it for us one day; we should all have gone long-past the stage of being surprised by his exploits and achievements.

The Candidates will produce so many new blunders and brilliances to grace - or disgrace - the annals. Here’s a few ‘blasts from the past’ to remind us all of how the tension of such high level encounters can lead to horrible errors…

Korchnoi - Spassky, 1968

Apparently Spassky saw the (fairly obvious) possibility of the forthcoming Queen sacrifice but still managed to help make it work… 25... Nb6?? 26
26.Qxg6+! hxg6 27.Rh8+ Kf7 28.R1h7+ Ke8 29.Rxf8+ Kxf8 30.Rxc7 1-0 (42)





Hubner - Korchnoi, 1980

Hubner had been pushing a tiny edge throughout the game but Korchnoi had defended admirably to reach this (probably drawn) position. Was it the lack of a sense of a danger, brought on by playing a long game and never being anything less than slightly better, that prompted Hubner to take his eye off the ball?

65 Kd5?? Ne3+ 0-1 Did White think he could play 66 Ke5 and 67 Kxf4? Hubner was a point up at this stage in the match but after losing this, and the next, game he resigned the match early.
Naturally, ‘Viktor the Terrible’ didn’t have it all his own way when it came to howlers.


Korchnoi - Spassky, 1977

32 Bxf5?? Rxf5 33 Qxf5?? Bxf5 0-1 It’s possible that he missed that the Rc8 is defended and that all of a sudden 34 Rh8+ and 35 Rxc8 doesn’t harvest anything like enough material for the investment made.

Some top-level blunders go unpunished, of course.



Spassky - Hort, 1977

Spassky has just played 35 Bc5?? Hort could now have won with either 35 …Bxc5 36 Qxc5 Qg4 or even 35…Qg4 immediately. Unfortunately for him, he lost on time before he got the chance to execute either winning line. Very unfortunate; a victory would have almost certainly sealed victory in the entire 16-game match (2-1 to Spassky with 13 draws after the disaster).

Obviously, there are far more classics than clunkers in the history of Candidates’ matches.
Amid all the famous clashes, all the Fischer 6-0s, all the Korchnoi battles with virtually everyone, one of the most impressive performances has somehow fallen through a crack in history and is now virtually forgotten.

In 1983, Kasparov’s dramatic assault on the World Championship saw him win tough matches against Beliavsky and Korchnoi on his way to the Candidates’ Final. Meanwhile, former World Champion Smyslov had rather surprisingly qualified from the Las Palmas Interzonal and KO’d Hubner in the first round of the matches (on the spin of a roulette wheel - one win each and 12 draws proved they couldn’t force a decision over the board!). His second round match with Ribli ran alongside the famous Kasparov - Korchnoi clash in London, which is another reason it has been more or less forgotten.

However, there was some superb chess played in the Smyslov - Ribli match…

The players traded wins in the first two games and then there were a couple of draws. Game 5 is a neglected classic!


Smyslov - Ribli, 1983

After a fairly typical tussle from an Isolated Queen’s Pawn position, Ribli had taken the risky decision to allow the White Queen into his Kingside. In such cases, with correct handling, the Queen can become trapped out of play and the opponent’s heavy pieces can rout him in other sectors of the board. From now on Smyslov rolls back the decades and demonstrates a Tal-like display of tactical vision.

22.Bxh6!
The mate threat on f7 means the obvious capture 22 … gxh6 isn’t a serious option. However, Ribli must have anticipated the sacrifice and reckoned that his reply was sound enough.

22 … Nxe5 23.Nh5! More fat on the fire! The threat of 23 Nxf6 gives Black more to think about. First he gives back some material in order to compromise White’s structure…23 … Nf3+ 24.gxf3 …and then he manoeuvres his remaining Knight to (hopefully) mop up the rest of the defensive duties. 24 …Nf5 25.Nxf6 Nxh6



Now it looks good for Black; once the attack is repulsed White’s structure should fall apart in the endgame. But Smyslov still has plenty of gas in the tank!

26.d5!

Excellent! The extra attack on the e6 pawn keeps the initiative going and 26 …exd5 is not an option due to the fatal 27 Qh8+. There is another twist too…

26...Qxb2 27.Qh8+ Ke7

What would you play here?

28.Rxe6+! fxe6 29.Qxg7+ Nf7 30.d6+ Rxd6
…and now the final twist in a remarkable sequence: watch out for the Queen!

31.Nd5+! Rxd5 32.Qxb2

…with a winning position. Ribli tried to put up some resistance but yet another sacrifice destroyed everything a few moves later.



38.Rxe5! Rxe5 39.f4 Nf7 40.fxe5+ Ke6 41.Qc4+ 1–0

Another win in game 7 gave Smyslov a strong grip on the match he never looked like losing. With White, it was a fairly easy task for him to keep things mellow and with Black, his Slav defence proved to be an unbreakable defensive wall.

Smyslov was now just one match victory away from challenging Karpov for the crown! Extraordinary for a man in who turned 63 during the Candidates’ Final. His first crack at the title resulted in second place at the famous 1948 tournament and he had gone on to win the title in 1957 at the age of 36. Unfortunately for him, the next opponent was Kasparov. The latter won, with four wins and nine draws from 13 games, to set up the very first Karpov - Kasparov title match. But that, dear readers, is another story….


Sean Marsh
9th June 2007

Chess Reviews: 24

The Pirc In Black and White

By FM James Vigus

The last big book on the Pirc was ‘Pirc Alert!’ back in 2001 so fans of this defence will be pleased indeed to see this tome, offering ‘…detailed coverage of an enterprising chess opening’.

This is a substantial book, clocking in at 381 pages and thus offering good value for money.

Dr Vigus is a Pirc expert and the bibliography is reassuringly complete. He deliberately focuses considerable attention on lines given as critical in other books and frequently highlights improvements and omissions. As the title suggests, coverage is provided for players of both colours and this is a very worthwhile approach to eliminate bias from the recommendations.

One example comes in the system advocated by GM Dzindzichashvili.

An interesting recommendation here is 6 …a6 7 a4 Nc6. If 6…Nc6, then 7 Bb5 is annoying, but the position after 7…Nc6 isn’t mentioned by GM Dzindzichashvili.

There are also some new twists to old positions, such as this one in the Classical Variation….



6…e6!? preparing 7…Nc6 and giving the Knight more retreating options should White push on with d4-d5.

The coverage is thorough but ample space has been given to ‘verbal’ explanations too, so there is plenty of interesting material for Pirc newcomers as well as devoted aficionados.

Move three options, such as 3 Bd3 and 3 f3, are omitted but the author does own up and points the reader in the direction of their recent coverage in ‘The Philidor Files’ book

VERDICT: I’ve said before that one test of a good opening book is the desire it induces in the reader to give the lines a try. Well, I’m certainly tempted to give some of these ideas a go and would suggest that anyone thinking of taking up a new defence for the new season should start here and study this fine book over the summer months.

Dangerous Weapons: The French

By IM John Watson

French Defence addicts will need no introduction to John Watson, and should already have three volumes of ‘Play The French’ on their bookshelves.

This new one takes a good look at lots of surprising or offbeat systems for both players. Some are risky but most will throw the opponent out of book and onto their own resources.

For White, the recommendations include: ‘Down With The King!’ 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Qg4!?

…and ‘Breaking The Chain’ 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 f4 c5 6 Ngf3 Nc6 7 Nb3!?


Black ‘Dangerous Weapons’ include ‘Swearing In Church’ 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nc6!?



…and ‘What Can You Do To Me?’ 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 h6!?



The style is a bit similar to the New in Chess ‘SOS’ series of books, only with more substantial coverage. Eye-catching symbols are used to alert the reader to danger, risk and tricky transpositions.

There is no sign of a bibliography or an index of players – both would have been useful - but these were probably squeezed out by the by the 320 page-count.

VERDICT: This should be on the top of the ‘buy’ list of fans and foes of the French Defence. A change from your normal repertoire for particular games and opponents could bring quick rewards, points-wise. IM Watson provides plenty of ammunition to help you unleash your new dangerous weapons!



Play The Caro-Kann

By IM Jovanka Houska

IM Houska has selected a very reliable-looking repertoire, based on the sturdy backbone of the ‘Capablanca (or ‘Classical’) Variation’ 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bf5



The chapter introductions set the scene very nicely for the meat of the coverage and there is good attention to the pawn structures and general themes.

I’ve always had a liking for 3…c5 against the Advance Variation and was pleased to see it given good coverage here. It’s easier to learn than the more critical 3 …Bf5 lines and I think once players get over the loss of the tempo they will see that the positions are well suited to players with a Caro-Kann style.

The trickiest part of the repertoire could well be the recommendation against the Panov-Botvinnik Attack, namely 5…Nc6


This variation will need some serious study as some of the positions arising can be very difficult to handle. It can be a risky choice and is certainly not a ‘quick fix’ so you’d need to burn a bit of midnight oil with this book as company to get the most out of Black’s potential.

VERDICT: A very impressive guide to a somewhat overlooked defensive option. The sensible explanations should help the reader develop a genuine understanding of the ideas behind the Caro-Kann and the reader should be up and running quickly.

For details of Everyman chess books and CDs, please visit:

http://www.everymanchess.com


Happy reading!

May 2007

Archive: UNCUT! 59

The Sean Marsh
Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 59*
**May 2007* *

Dear Readers,

It somehow seems quite a while since the last UNCUT! but perhaps it’s just the approach of the end of the season and the onset of the summer months.

Anyway, there’s plenty been going on and not only in the world of chess. Sports fans would have been pleased to see the annual Boat Race yet been bemused at the same two teams reaching the final yet again. The Iranian Boat Race was much more fun until the opposing team strayed a little too close and were taken hostage on grounds of territorial infringement.

Aficionados of English Literature had the opportunity to watch new televised versions of several Jane Austen classics. Unfortunately I managed to miss these modern adaptations which is a great shame; as a Dr. Who fan I was quite looking forward to seeing Billie Piper’s Fanny.

Anyway, what has all this got to do with chess? Nothing really, I’m afraid. Yet it can be surprising how often chess and ‘real life’ do cross-pollinate. For example, what has the Petroff Defence got to do with Napoleon Bonaparte?

Take a look at this position and all will be explained…

White to play and…
….Find Paris and then boot Boney back!

Alexander Petroff, who gave his name to the great counter-attacking weapon (it was! - go and look at the games of Marshall and Pillsbury if you don’t believe me) now known as the Petroff Defence, composed this intriguing problem. The inspiration was Napoleon’s enforced retreat from Russia in 1812. Napoleon, currently occupying Moscow (h7) is eventually run ragged all the way back to Paris by a combination of Russian partisans (the Bishops) and the Cossack cavalry (the White Knights).

So…can you marshal the might of Moscow, force Napoleon on a long march back home and then ensure that he suffers the ignominious fate of being checkmated in 12 moves from the diagram? Of course you can! (Solution next time).

PS: For the real story of Napoleon’s defeat and retreat you really should read
1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski

***
Sean Marsh
10th May 2007

Archive: UNCUT! 58

The Sean Marsh
Chess Column
UNCUT!
*Column 58*
**March 2007* *

Tony Kiddle R.I.P.


It is with great sadness that I have to report on the death of one of the all-time local chess greats, Mr Tony Kiddle.

Tony died on the way home from a recent Middlesbrough football match. The news was shocking, unbelievable and has left the local chess community absolutely stunned.

It is impossible to give any sort of justice to his contribution to chess in our area in such a short column. For most of us, he has always been there, with his big booming voice and indomitable personality. In many ways, he WAS Middlesbrough Chess Club. He put so much time and effort into so many aspects of local chess life, including many, many years teaching and encouraging an abundance of juniors.

He was a very competitive man; the record of his beloved Middlesbrough Rooks speaks for itself. Yet when Elmwood turned into serious rivals and traded league titles with the Rooks over the last few years, he was always the first to congratulate the opposition on a job well done and there was never any doubt that he was totally sincere in giving his best wishes.

Not many of Tony’s best games survive; I believe he threw his scoresheets away shortly after each match. Therefore I can quote very few instances of play and must confine this tribute to various random vignettes that have stuck in my mind over the years.

When I first started playing the county team, in the early 1980s, Tony was graded in the 160s. There is no doubt at all that he would have easily maintained such a high grade if he had out just a fraction of his chess time into his own game instead of encouraging others all his life. Tony frequently occupied a high board for the county A team, usually around board six or seven. I remember watching the end of the top games on one occasion (I was a minnow in the B team at the time). I looked at Tony’s game and he seemed to be under pressure. The opponent had a Bishop pair right in the middle of the board in a late-middlegame. Tony leaned back, took a big draw from his massive cigar, turned to me and boomed: ‘Strongest pair of Bishops I’ve seen in my life!!’

I didn’t get the chance to play many games against him. The most memorable was this one…

T. Kiddle v S. Marsh
Middlesbrough Rooks v Guisborough, 1987

White is in trouble, but Tony thought for some time and then played 16 Qd6. Normally he would get straight up and look at the other games or start making fun of someone (in a nice way, of course). This time he remained seated. All because…he wanted to sacrifice his Queen to force mate, with 17 Qxf8+ Kxf8 18 Rd8+ and Re8 mate! I played 16 …Na6, connecting the Rooks and eliminating the danger, whereupon he broke into a thunderous and lengthy guffaw before booming out to me (and the whole of Guisborough) ‘What do you want to spoil all my little traps for, eh?’

Tony was one of the specially invited players in the 1st Cleveland Senior Chess Championship I organised two years ago this month.

It became apparent that Tony was not on his best chess form on that day. The reason? He’d been ‘…up till four o’clock at my mate’s party – hahahahaha!’
In the days before obesity became the national norm and made him look relatively slim, Tony was, frankly, the largest person any of us ever knew. With his big, booming voice and penchant for always speaking his mind, this could have given the impression of him being some sort of ogre, but he was very kind-hearted and public spirited.

Always laughing, always joking, always keeping things moving along. That’s how I – and many others – will remember the great Tony Kiddle.

***
Sean Marsh
25th March 2007

***

Chess Reviews: 23

Revolution In The 70s
By GM Garry Kasparov

Fans of the famous ‘My Great Predecessors’ series will have been waiting anxiously for the great man’s latest volume.

This one is really the start of a new series, headed ‘Garry Kasparov On Modern Chess, Part One’, but rest assured the style remains true to the earlier volumes and readers who have read those will feel quite at home here.

The basis of the present tome is an overview of the openings revolution of the 1970s, a legacy of Fischer’s extraordinary preparation.

In Kasparov’s words:

‘Although, after becoming world champion, Fischer gave up playing, and many of his schemes soon became outdated, the tectonic shifts that he had caused generated a powerful avalanche, which over a period of ten years redrew the entire opening map of the world.’

Fischer’s world war against the Soviet chess machine sparked a permanent arms race of opening preparation.

The first 23 chapters focus on particular variations and their ideas, starting with the Hedgehog System and covering a plethora of others drawn from the whole gamut of opening lore.
Hedgehog systems are described by the author as being: ‘Virtually the greatest hit of the 1970s’.

The structure – with black pawns sitting happily on e6, d6, b6 and e6, just like little defensive spines on a hedgehog – was named thus by IM Bill Hartston many years ago and the name stuck. Ljubojevic was the great pioneer of the 1970s Hedgehog and he shared some ideas with Ulf Andersson, who honed it into a very potent system, even beating Karpov at Milan in 1975 (the latter’s first defeat as World Champion!).

Here, Black’s Hedgehog lashed out with the typical 24 …d5!?

Some chapters are longer and meatier than others. For example, the ‘French with 3 e5’ is covered in just under three pages, whereas the openings Kasparov himself was more concerned with in his playing days – such as the Classical Scheveningen and Grunfeld – enjoy much more substantial coverage. Indeed, I found the Grunfeld section to be one of the very best in the whole book (probably matched only by the Hedgehog coverage) and the evolutionary narrative of the Modern Exchange Variation is superbly handled.

The concluding chapter sees a change of pace of content. ‘The Opinion Of 28 World Experts’ is based on the replies to a questionnaire and features the thoughts and opinions of some of the strongest players from the period in question, such as Averbakh, Taimanov, Portisch and Andersson. This is all fascinating material, well worthy of a book all to itself.

A few eye-catching snippets should be sufficient to give the reader a flavour of what to expect…

The thoughts of Portisch on modern chess are not exactly flattering. He laments the fact that soon all players will have to put up with being electronically monitored to prevent cheating. ‘Thank God , at least I won’t have to take part in this!’

And: 'Why did Garry….play matches with these hellish computers?'

Ljubojevic, fully acknowledging the achievements of Fischer, highlights the input of Larsen also, and picks out the following vignette….

Larsen v Bellon
Palma de Mallorca, 1971
White has just played the remarkable 4 Be2!!

‘In my view, this move is one of the most brilliant strategic ideas ever employed at such an early stage of the opening.’

The idea is if 4 … Bxg2, then 5 Bh5+ g6 6 Bf3 Bxh1 7 Bxh1 and Black has trouble with both Rooks. The game actually continued: 4 …Nf6 5 Bxf6 exf6 6 Bf3!, which was good for White.

Dvoretsky: ‘Chess players have become slaves of opening theory!’

A lot of comments return to the use and advance of computers and their impact on modern theory.

Browne: ‘….no one wants to take a risk without thorough preparation: who knows whether the other guy has analysed it all with his computer...’

Soltis: ‘The threat of the computer is stronger than the computer’s move!’

It really is a treat reading the thoughts of such players. Some are disappointingly short, but others – including the ones quoted from above – have contributed marvellous mini-essays that are well worth reading.

The changing of the eras Sosonko, who quotes a comment a verbal exchange between Steinitz and Gunsberg, during a World Championship match game. After six moves of an Evans Gambit, Steinitz asked: ‘Do you think that I am morally bound to play exactly the same defence as I did against Chigorin?’ to which Gunsberg responded: ‘You are not exactly bound, but the public will expect you to defend your own theories!’ So Steinitz did indeed play his own (inferior) move, and went on to lose! It should be said that to have an idea of one’s own – even it is a bad one – is certainly better than having no ideas at all, but in the world of modern chess it seems that exactly the opposite attitude is the prevalent one.

VERDICT:
A fascinating read! And that’s the point…this is a book to be read and not just a whole load of database-dumped variations and symbols. A big, well-written, handsome hardback. Fans of chess will not be disappointed and this should be on everyone’s ‘to buy’ list.

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Happy reading!
18th March 2007