ADDICTS’ CORNER
Mike Fox, Richard James, a threat from Woody and a reply from Claude
Woodpushing
This has to be Game of the Month. It's Woody Harrelson (who you first saw playing the dorky barman in Cheers, and who subsequently became a cinema superstar - eg White Men Can't Jump, Natural Born Killers) against the highest rated player of all time:
Woody Harrelson - Garry Kasparov
Prague 11.07.1999
Danvers Opening
1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 (Cunning stuff by the movie actor. Wisely he takes the champ out of his awesome opening repertoire) 2...Nc6 3. Bc4 (With a terrible threat) 3...Qe7 (The world number one is alert) 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qh4 d6 6. d3 h6 7. h3 Be6 8. Nc3 Bxc4 9. dxc4 Nd4 10.Nxd4 (W.H. first tried 10. Nd5 but a volley of boos from the spectators - amongst whom Yasser Seirawan - persuaded him of the unwisdom of this) 10... exd4 11. Ne2 c5 12. f3 (After first trying f4 - but the crowd's reaction reminded him to not to give away the e-pawn) 12...d5 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Qxe7+ Nxe7 15. Bd2 0-0-0 16. 0-0-0 g6 17. Nf4 Bg7 18. c4 (After first trying Nd5) ...dxc3 19.Bxc3 Bxc3 20.bxc3 b6 21. c4 Nc6 22. Kb2 Rhe8 23. Rxd8+ (Around here, Woody asked the crowd to please stop
helping Garry) 23...Rxd8 24. Nd5 h5 25.a4 Kd7 26. Kc3 Ke6 27. f4 Nd4 28.Rd1 Ne2+ 29. Kc2 Nd4+ 30. Kc3 Ne2+ and they agreed to a draw. A rating performance of 2851 for Woody, and something to tell his grandchildren about.
We are indebted to Yvette Nagel Seirawan for this memorable game. The notes are based on the commentary by Yasser Seirawan.
A letter from Claude
We are indebted to John Walker Burntwood, Staffs for passing on to us a copy of an open letter from Claude Bloodgood.
Bloodgood's letter, which is too long to publish in full, covers two points, the Guardian's description of him (23/3/99) as a 'Grandmaster' and the confusion surrounding his date of birth.
On the first point he writes: "If anyone wishes to use (the) Grandmaster title personally or in reference to anyone else, they have an absolute legal right to do so. While I would have preferred Julian Borger not (to) refer to me as a grandmaster, he had every tight to do so in his article or elsewhere."
On the subject of his date of birth: "... I have never written a letter in which I stated my date of birth was 1937, and to the best of my knowledge, I've never written a letter to Jeremy Gaige. ... There are records available to 'prove' Claude Bloodgood was born at various times from 1924-1937. ... dates of significance include Lapaz, Mexico, 1924-1931, USA & ultimately Norfolk VA 1931-1938, NSDAP pre-1938, Kiel, Germany 1938-1942."
Bloodgood concludes: "As for the other points in (the) Borger article, the readers can draw their own conclusions, each believing or nor believing any or all of what they read."
Thanks for the letter, Claude. We remain, nonetheless, totally confused.
Roundabout
Congratulations to our old friend Francis Bowers on winning the World Circular Chess Championship for the third time in a row (May, Lincoln, 4½ out of 5, 31 competitors). The fact that Francis had also to organise the round by round pairings makes his win even more impressive.
Chess variant of the decade?
When someone as eminent as David Pritchard writes about a game as 'chess variant of the decade', it is very likely worth playing. Here, briefly, are the rules for Hostage Chess (courtesy of Variant Chess number 32).
You need a chess set and four beer mats (two for each player: one on your left - an airfield; and one on your right - a prison). Normal set-up and rules, except:
1) Once you capture a man you stick him in prison. He's a hostage.
2) Before each move, you may offer a hostage held by you in exchange for one held by the enemy. The hostage offered must be at least equal in value to the man you ask for (normal values of pieces, with B=N). The opponent can't refuse the swap.
3) The man you have claimed must immediately be placed on any vacant square (except pawns can't be put on 1st or 8th rank). This ends your turn.
4) The hostage you released is placed on the enemy airfield. It may be 'dropped' by the opponent on any vacant square at any time in the game, instead of a move.
5) A pawn can't be promoted unless there is a piece (N,B,R,Q) for which it can be exchanged. And if there isn't a piece available, it follows that a p on the seventh is not attacking (or giving check) to any piece diagonally ahead of it. Where a promotion is possible, the pawn changes places with the hostage of the player's choice. The released hostage becomes the promoted piece, and the pawn is removed to the enemy prison.
6) A pawn dropped on the second rank regains its two move option; and a rook dropped on a home corner square is deemed to be unmoved for castling purposes.
This fascinating game was invented by Professor John Leslie of Guelph, Canada. We pinched much of the wording of the above rules from David Pritchard's article in V.C..
Nunn's Puzzles
Well worth a look is John Nunn's new Chess Puzzle Book (Gambit, 1999) If (like two much loved chess columnists we could name) you have the calculating powers of the average cocker spaniel, this is the book to help you. Not only that, but you will be cheered up enormously by the section on greats of the past who missed stuff for which (if you'd been the guilty party) you would have been chucked off the fourth team.
Here's one of the 'greatest player never to win the world title' brigade in action.
Kostic - Rubinstein Karlsbad 1911
XABCDEFGHY
8-tr-+-+-+(
7+-+-+-+p'
6-+-+k+p+&
5tR-+pzP-+-%
4-+-+-+-+$
3+-+-+PzP-#
2-+l+NmK-zP"
1+-+-+-+-!
xabcdefghy
Akiba (then at the height of his powers) has just blundered with Ke7-e6. Boris replies Nd4+; R plays Kxe5; and now Nxc2?? and Rubinstein staggered to a draw, instead of Nc6+ winning a whole rook.
There's much more like this; Nunn concludes, after an examination of Karlsbad 1911 that 'the old players were much worse than I expected' and concludes that the general level of chess has much improved since pre-First World War days. After reading this excellent book, we're inclined to agree.
Horror Story
The Horror Story of the Month Award goes to this game from the finals of the Birmingham Primary Schools Championship in July. It was played by two of the Midlands' best Under 11s, both members of Checkmate Junior Club.
Andrew Moxley - Keiran Koasha
Birmingham Primary Schools Championship 1999
Vienna Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 Bb4 6.dxe4 (up to here it's book; now Black forgets his opening preparation in the excitement of the final) 6...d4(?) (Correct, of course, is 6...Qh4+ 7. Ke2 Bg4+ 8. Nf3 dxe4 with complications) 7.a3 Qh4+ 8.Ke2 Bg4+ 9.Nf3 dxc3 10.axb4 Nc6 11.h3(?) Rd8 (According to FRITZ, Black can win the Queen by exchanging on f3 first: 11...Bxf3+ 12.gxf3 Rd8 13.Qe1 Nd4+) 12.Qe1 (Correct was 12.hxg4 Qxh1 13.Qe1 cxb2 14.Bxb2) 12...Nd4+ (Now Black, scenting blood, is bashing out the moves like an express train.) 13.Ke3 Nxc2+ 14.Kf4 (And now the jubilant Black crashes down one check too many, too fast, instead of - well you tell us...) 14...Bxf3+ 15.Qxh4 1-0 Oh dear, oh dear. Black, instead of going a queen up, has gone a queen down, and resigned shortly afterwards. It's stuff like this that brings premature old age to so many junior coaches. Most reasonable moves win on Black's 14th, but the crusher is .... g5+, picking up the White Queen. Keiran found it easily - after the game.
Commandments
Spookily, the London-based Addict received two letters one morning recently, both from Kenilworth. One, concerning gradings, was from Bruce Holland, the other, from Ewart Shaw, we quote in full.
"Here are my suggested most publishable and least actionable Ten Commandments.
1. Thou shalt not slurp thy Slush Puppie while demolishing thine elders and betters.
2. Thou shalt not spike thy opponent's Slush Puppie. Especially not with phenolphthalein.
3. Thou shalt not innocently suggest moving the clock to the other side of the board halfway through the game.
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it wholly free of trying to memorise opening variations.
5. Thou shalt not snigger when thy lowly-rated opponent plays the King's Gambit.
6. Thou shalt not kill. Except when thine opponent has j'adoubed both thy knights to face backwards.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery while thine own clock ticketh.
8. Thou shalt not groan and clap thy hands to thy head immediately after trying a desperate cheapo.
9. Thou shalt not write books in a weekend.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's rook, nor attempt to castle therewith.
"No room unfortunately for proscribing limp clammy handshakes, Bermuda shorts, implausibly announcing mate in eight. or eating a whole pen during the course of the game. The Fifth Commandment relates particularly to the behaviour of a certain former British Champion. I hope the police catch him."
Several also from Mabel; of the ones publishable in a family magazine, here are two:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's position (nor his/her ass).
Thou shalt worship no other BCF but me (attributed to a most distinguished former tournament organiser).
Mabel also offers a beatitude: 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the half point' and offers an intriguing quiz question: which sport's governing body is chaired by a diminutive, bearded, bespectacled, balding man in his mid 50's?
Answer on p.xxx (Football: Geoff Thompson, chairperson of the F.A.).
Chess on the Net
Imagine, if you will, a chess club. At any time of day, there will be at least 500 players there, often more than 1000. But although it's crowded you have as much room as you want. You can even sit in your favourite chair with a glass of your favourite tipple by your side while you play. Whatever the weather, it's easy to get there. No problem with buses or trains, traffic jams or parking spaces. Perhaps you'd like a one-minute game, a five minute game, or even a good old-fashioned slowplay. You might even prefer a game of suicide or exchange chess. There'll always be someone there to give you a game. You want rated games? The club operates its own rating system to enable you to find someone at your chosen level. You want tournaments, simuls or lessons? There are plenty to choose from. And if you tire of playing, there are usually a few GMs or IMs there who will be only too pleased for you to watch, and allow you, if you choose, to comment on their games.
Sounds good? That's chess on the Internet for you. RJ has just signed up with the Internet Chess Club (www.chessclub.com) which offers all these facilities and much more. It's a really impressive product. Everyone we've shown it to so far has rushed home to sign up for themselves. There is a small annual membership fee, but be careful to watch your phone bill - it's pretty addictive. FICS (freechess.org), which is free, offers similar facilities. You could also try BT Wireplay (www.wireplay.co.uk) which offers a wide choice of games apart from chess. For an extensive listing of chess-playing Internet sites look at http://www.gtryfon.demon.co.uk/bcc/Uk_clubs/playingservers/playing.htm, part of Tryfon Gavriel's fantastically useful site.
Wonderful though it all is, we'll still be turning out for our local league matches this season. Internet chess, for all its advantages, is not quite the same as sitting opposite your opponent.
Sergio's Stalemate
Roberto Sorgo Italian Cyberspace e-mailed us to confirm that the stalemate game Sibilio-Mariotti (AC 836) was indeed played by GM Sergio, who was reportedly very upset about the occurrence. Thanks for that, Roberto.
Birthday Honours
RJ decided it was time to pension off his antique BBC Micro, but before doing so printed off the AC index which had been kept on that machine and put it somewhere safe. Typically, he has forgotten where. So, until he can find it, no birthday honours.
If, however, you are not a FIDE GM and your name has appeared in our column three times, write and tell us and we'll send you a FARCE GM certificate (and thanks, Claude, for reminding us we can call anyone a Grandmaster if we feel like it).
As she is Written
Following on from AC860 last month, two extracts from our recent fiction reading.
"My excitement at the prospect of playing the legendary Capablanca more than compensated for all the sacrifices I'd made. I earned a stalemate by forced repetition at the twenty-ninth move."
"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go next to him instead of that castle."
The first one comes from Paolo Maurensig's wonderful novel The Lüneburg Variation (Phoenix), which deserves to be right up there with Nabokov and Zweig as a classic of chess fiction. Maurensig is clearly very knowledgable about chess; his translator, alas, less so.
We've also been catching up on Harry Potter, as all the kids we teach are reading the books, and, often, telling their parents to do the same. We enjoyed the first two books very much, and it was lovely to find a chess scene near the climax of the first one (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury). Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione have to win a game of chess in order to move through to the next room and discover the P.S.. Sorry, though, Joanne, but real chess players such as Ron call the pieces in the corner Rooks, and they certainly don't start next to the Bishops.
And while we're on the subject, why does the boy in the BT/ET chess ad use descriptive notation? The kids in our clubs don't understand, let alone use, descriptive. It's great that children's chess is being used positively in such a high profile campaign, but we do wish they'd get the details right.
Monochromy
The Bard draws our attention to the following game. Do you notice anything unusual?
Boris Gelfand - Joel Lautier
Malmo 1999
Queen's Gambit Semi-Slav
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 h6 9.b3 b6 10.Bb2 Bb7 11.Rac1 dxc4 12.bxc4 c5 13.d5 exd5 14.Nxd5 Nxd5 15.cxd5 Bxd5 16.Rfd1 Bxf3 17.gxf3 Qc7 18.Bc4 Rad8 19.f4 Kh8 20.Qf5 f6 21.Kh1 Rfe8 22.Rg1 Re7 23.Rg6 Nf8
XABCDEFGHY
8-+-tr-sn-mk(
7zp-wq-tr-zp-'
6-zp-vl-zpRzp&
5+-zp-+Q+-%
4-+L+-zP-+$
3+-+-zP-+-#
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1+-tR-+-+K!
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24.Rxh6+ gxh6 25.Bxf6+ Rg7 26.Bxg7+ Qxg7 27.Rg1 1-0
After Lautier's 23rd move, all his remaining 12 pieces occupy dark squares. Is this a record? The theoretical maximum, or course, is 15.
Lords and Ladies
We were delighted to see that Baroness Hilton played for the House of Lords in their recent match against the Commons, scoring 1/2 against Nigel Griffiths MP. Is she the first Lady to represent the Lords? Was her opponent aware that Jenny Hilton has been honing her skills over the last few years by competing in the Richmond Rapidplays?
Our next one's on September 12 at the White House, The Avenue, Hampton. We look forward to seeing you there. Phone Richard James on 020 8898 1190 or 020 8898 0362, e-mail rjcc@globalnet.co.uk or visit our web site www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rjcc for further information.
Tribute to Tigran
In June a tournament was held in Moscow to honour the memory of the late World Champion Tigran Petrosian. In view of Petrosian's pacific tendencies what happened seemed entirely appropriate. 42 of the 45 games were drawn, more than half in under 20 moves. Here's the cross-table of our nomination for the Most Boring Tournament Of All Time.
Petrosian Memorial 1999
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 Ivkov,B 2444 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 5
2 Portisch,L 2555 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5
3 Smyslov,V 2485 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½
4 Taimanov,M 2424 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½
5 Spassky,B 2549 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½
6 Hort,V 2526 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½
7 Balashov,Y 2578 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 4½
8 Tseshkovsky,V 2556 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 4½
9 Gligoric,S 2476 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ 4
10 Larsen,B 2532 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 4
Short & Sweet, PA
Thanks to Neil Brennan, the Secretary and Newsletter Editor of the North Penn Chess Club, Lansdale, PA, for a pile of (mostly) short and sweet games. Here's a selection.
Michael Glick (1500) - William Surlow (2150)
PA High School Championship 1999
French Advance
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Be2 cxd4 7.cxd4 Nh6 8.Bxh6 Qxb2 9.Be3 Qxa1 10.Qb3 Na5 11.Bb5+ Kd8 12.Qc2 Ba3 13.Bg5+ Be7 14.Bxe7+ Kxe7 15.Qc5+ 1-0
David Hurchalla - Edgar Dyck
King of Prussia Quad 1986
Evans Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Nf6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Rd1 Qe7 11.Ba3 1-0
Ray Leight - Paul Schaffer
Liberty Bell Open 1971
English
1.c4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.Nd5 Qd6 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.e4 Bg7 9.c5 1-0
Joe Weber - Brian Atkins
King of Prussia Chess Club 1971
Alekhine's Defence
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Ng5+ Kg8 7.Qf3 Qe8 8.e6 h6 9.Qf7+ 1-0
Joe Weber - Roy Eikerenkoetter
North Penn Chess Club 1998
King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Qe2+ Qe7 6.Nc3 a6 7.Bc4 Nf6 8.d3 g5 9.h4 Nh5 10.Ne4 g4 11.d6 Qe5 12.Nf6+ 1-0
From Ken Norman Wokingham:
Kieran Smallbone - Ken Norman
Basingstoke 10.07.1999
King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 Qh4+ 5.Ke2 d5 6.Nxd5 Bg4+ 7.Nf3 0-0-0 8.c3 Nf6 9.Nxf6 Qxf6 10.h3 Nxd4+ 11.cxd4 Rxd4 12.Qc2 Bh5 13.Kf2 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Qh4+ 15.Kg1 Bc5 0-1