ADDICTS’ CORNER

Mike Fox and Richard James vote against saving the red squirrel
 
Castles, Mate!

Why do you castle? To get your king into safety? To get your rook into play? Fine, but next time why not try castling with mate? That's what these guys did.

A Lindenthal - G Pfefferle
Donaueschingen A2 (9) 1985
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 e6 5.Be3 Bb4 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 Nh5 9.Be5 f6 10.fxe4 Nf4 11.Bxf4 gxf4 12.Qh5+ Ke7 13.a3 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Nd7 15.Qf3 Qf8 16.Qxf4 e5 17.Qh4 Rg8 18.Nf3 Kd6 19.Rd1 c6 20.dxe5+ Kc7 21.exf6 Nxf6 22.Qf4+ Kb6 23.Rb1+ Ka5 24.Qe5+ c5 25.Rb5+ Ka4 26.Rxc5 b6 27.Qd4+ Kxa3 28.Qb4+ Ka2 29.Bc4+ Ka1 30.0-0#

J Rauschenberger - Josef Eckl
Bundeswehr-ch Stetten 1988
Ruy Lopez Schliemann Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.Nc3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nxe5 dxe4 7.Qh5+ Ke7 8.Qf7+ Kd6 9.Nc4+ Kc5 10.b4+ Nxb4 11.a4 Nh6 12.d4+ exd3 13.Be3+ Qd4 14.Bxd4+ Kxd4 15.Qf4+ Kc3 16.Ra3+ Kxc2 17.Qd2+ Kb1 18.0-0#

Lodewijk Prins - Lawrence Day
Lugano Olympiad 1968
Sicilian Defence
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 a6 4.Be2 Nc6 5.0-0 Nf6 6.Nc3 Qc7 7.a3 b6 8.d4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bb7 10.Be3 Bd6 11.h3 Be5 12.Qd3 h5 13.Rfc1 Bh2+ 14.Kf1 Ne5 15.Qd1 Nxe4 16.Na4 Nc5 17.Nxb6 Qxb6 18.Nf3 Qc6 19.Bxc5 Bf4 20.Be3 Bxe3 21.fxe3 Ng4 22.hxg4 hxg4 23.Ne1 Rh1+ 24.Kf2 g3+ 25.Kxg3 Rxe1 26.Qxe1 Qxg2+ 27.Kf4 g5+ 28.Ke5 Qe4+ 29.Kf6 Qf5+ 30.Kg7 Qg6+ 31.Kh8 0-0-0#

Graefe - Moench
cr DDR 1980
Dutch Defence
1.d4 f5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.e4 fxe4 8.Nxe4 Bb7 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.Ne5 0-0 11.Qh5 Qe7 12.Qxh7+ Kxh7 13.Nxf6+ Kh6 14.Neg4+ Kg5 15.h4+ Kf4 16.g3+ Kf3 17.Be2+ Kg2 18.Rh2+ Kg1 19.0-0-0# 1-0

(This one probably looks familiar. It's almost identical to our old friend Ed Lasker - Sir G Thomas, but with the extra moves c4 for White and Nc6 for Black. Note that, like Lasker, Graefe could also have played 15. f4+ with mate in 3. He also spurned a mate in one (17. Be4) which was not available to Lasker. However, unlike Lasker, he mated by castling. Lasker preferred Kd2.
Incidentally, we have at least six different versions of the Lasker-Thomas game on our database, with three different years (1910, 1912, 1921), four different move orders for the first 4 moves and three different conclusions - one resignation at move 15, two 0-0-0#s and three Kd2#s. Lasker himself gave two different versions and two different years. Pity the poor historian.)

Kasparov Blitz - S Jirotka
1991
Budapest Gambit
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Nd2 Bb4 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.a3 Nxf2 7.Kxf2 Bc5+ 8.e3 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Bxe3+ 10.Kxe3 Qg5+ 11.Kd4 c5+ 12.Ke4 d5+ 13.Kxd5 Qe3 14.Nc6 Be6+ 15.Kd6 Rd8+ 16.Nxd8 Qd4+ 17.Kc7 Qxd8+ 18.Kxb7 Qb6+ 19.Ka8 0-0# 0-1

(A computer v human game, not, we suspect, under tournament conditions.)

For a further selection we refer you to Robert Timmer's book Startling Castling.

Monochromy

Brad Dassat Oldham is another sad anorak with nothing better to do than look for improbable games in his database. In reply to AC872 he's come up with four games in which one player had 15 pieces on the same colour squares. Interestingly, in each case
this player went on to win the game. Perhaps, remarks Brad, there's a strategic lesson to be learnt here.

Molli - D Pasqua
Correspondence Italy 1963
French Defence
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Nf3 Qa5 8.Bd2 c4 9.Ng5 h6 10.Nh3 Ng6 11.Be2 Nc6 12.0–0 Bd7 13.Qe1 Nge7 14.Nf4 g6 15.f3 0–0–0 16.Qc1 Rh7 17.Rb1 a6 18.Be1 b5 19.Ra1 Qa4 20.Nh3 Rg8 21.f4 Nf5 22.Nf2 h5

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23.Nh3 Rf8 24.Ng5 Rg7 25.Ra2 Kc7 26.h3 Rc8 27.g4 hxg4 28.hxg4 Nfe7 29.Qd2 Rb8 30.Bd1 a5 31.Qh2 b4 32.Bd2 Rb6 33.Ra1 bxa3 34.Bc1 a2 35.Bf3 Rg8 36.Qh7 Rb1 37.Bb2 Rxb2 38.Qxf7 Qxc2 0–1

 
J Rodriguez - M Williams
E Lansing 1992
French Defence
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Nd7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Bg5 c5 8.Nf3 Qa5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.a4 c4 11.Be2 Nb6 12.0–0 h6 13.Bh4 g5 14.Bg3 Nxa4 15.Ra3 b5 16.Rfa1 Qd8 17.Ne1 h5 18.f4 g4 19.Qd1 Nb6 20.Bf1 Kd7 21.Qb1 a6 22.Bf2 Qg8 23.Bh4 Bb7 24.g3 Nc8 25.Ng2 N8e7 26.Ne3 Ng6 27.Bf6 Rh7
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28.f5 Nge7 29.Bxe7 Kxe7 30.f6+ Kd7 31.Qd1 Qg5 32.Qe2 b4 33.cxb4 Nxd4 34.Qd2 0–1

 
H Erhart - H Baesler
Baden-Baden 1989
King's Indian Attack
1.Nf3 c5 2.g3 Nc6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0–0 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Nbd2 e6 7.e4 Nge7 8.Re1 Rb8 9.a4 0–0 10.Nc4 e5 11.c3 h6 12.Bd2 Kh7 13.b4 Be6 14.a5 f5 15.b5 Bxc4 16.dxc4 Nxa5 17.Qa4 b6 18.Rad1 Qc7 19.Nh4 Rf6 20.Re2 Rbf8 21.Be1 Qd8 22.Red2 Qb8 23.Qa2 Kh8 24.Re2 f4 25.Rd3 g5
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26.Nf5 Nxf5 27.exf5 Rxf5 28.Be4 R5f6 29.g4 f3 30.Ree3 Rf4 31.h3 Qc8 32.Bf5 R8xf5 33.gxf5 Qxf5 34.Kh2 Nxc4 35.Rxf3 Rxf3 36.Rxf3 Qxf3 37.Qxc4 e4 38.Qe6 Qf4+ 39.Kg2 Qe5 40.Qc8+ Kh7 41.Qb7 e3 42.f3 c4 43.Bg3 Qf5 44.h4 gxh4 45.Bxh4 Qg6+ 46.Bg3 e2 47.Qe7 e1Q 48.Qxe1 Be5 49.f4 Qc2+ 50.Kh3 Bxc3 51.Qe7+ Bg7 52.Qxd6 Qf5+ 53.Kg2 c3 54.Be1 c2 55.Qc7 Qc5 0–1

T Stewart - S Konopkova
Moscow 1994
Caro-Kann Defence
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.0–0 Nc6 7.c3 Qc7 8.a3 Nge7 9.Be3 h6 10.b4 c4 11.Nbd2 Nc8 12.Nh4 Bh7 13.g3 Be7 14.Ng2 0–0 15.Bh5 Bd3 16.Re1 Kh7 17.Nf4 g6 18.Bg4 Bf5 19.Bxf5 gxf5 20.Qh5 Bd8 21.Ng2 Rh8 22.Qxh6+ Kg8 23.Qf4 N8e7 24.Nh4

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24...Ng6 25.Nxg6 fxg6 26.h4 Rh5 27.Nf3 Qh7 28.Kf1 Be7 29.Ke2 Nd8 30.Rg1 Nf7 31.g4 fxg4 32.Qxg4 g5 33.Rad1 1–0

Red squirrels in shock horror drama

Since 99.44% of the readers of Addicts' Corner belong to the nation's intellectual élite*, it is likely that most of you will not have been watching The Big Breakfast on September 23rd. Well, people, you missed a treat. In their regular feature, Support Our Campaign (in which two worthy causes compete; a poll of viewers decides which one will get supported by the prog. the following week), one of the causes was 'Chess Should be Classified as a Sport'. And the pitchman was none other than Munificent Malc. I.M. An inside source said 'We were hoping that our opposition would be something dreary, like preserving a steam railway on the Isle of Man'. But no such luck. Poor Malc was up against the formidable 'Save the Red Squirrel' lobby. Despite some highly articulate pleading by our Executive Editor, the voting was reminiscent of a Tory marginal at the last General Election.A landslide victory for sciurus vulgaris. (put the Latin in italics please Jimmy) The surprising thing about the result was that 10% of the voters (your columnists each voted twice) thought that chess was more important than squirrels.

* FARCE survey, October 1999

Short and Sweet II

Regulars will know that from time to time we try to expand your literary horizons by quoting bits of chess-related poetry. Here's a lulu. It's by Charles Simic, a reasonably well-known American poet, and it's from a collection of the World's Shortest Poems, entitled Short and Sweet (can we sue for breach of copyright?). The poem is called 'Evening Chess', and it goes:

The Black Queen raised high
In my father's angry hand.

After which Charlie either ran out of inspiration, or thought that that was sufficient.

You are probably aching to know what the world's shortest poem is, so we'll tell you. It is not the well known couplet, Fleas':

Adam
Had 'em.

Nor even the shorter, more philosophical and less well known:

Me -
We

(composed impromptu by Muhmmad Ali while addressing a crowd of Harvard students about his refusal to fight in Viet Nam).

No, the record holder is Don Paterson. His masterpiece is entitled On Going to Meet a Zen Master in the Kyushu Mountains and Not Finding Him and it goes like this:
" "

Now ask yourself: what other chess column gives you cultured stuff like this, eh?

(If you want more, the collection is by Simon Armitage, and is published by our old friends Faber & Faber.)

Do Gods Play Chess?

Fans of Terry Pratchett (there are millions, but not us), may know that in describing Discworld, he says "It would be a pretty good bet that the gods of a world like this probably do not play chess, and indeed this is the case. In fact no gods anywhere play chess. They haven't got the imagination. Gods prefer simple vicious games, where you Do Not Achieve Transcendence but Go Straight to Oblivion".

This is somewhat confuted by another Pratchett extract (from Wyrd Sisters):

"The night was as black as the inside of a cat. It was the kind of night, you could believe, on which gods moved men as though they were pawns on the chessboard of fate. In the middle of this elemental storm a fire gleamed among the dripping furze bushes like the madness in a weasel's eye. It illuminated three hunched figures. As the cauldron bubbled, an eldritch voice shrieked: 'When shall we three meet again?'

"There was a pause.

"Finally another voice said in far more ordinary tones: 'Well I can do next Tuesday'."

Thanks to Pratchett-freak Mabel for all this.

Giant Killer

Just too late for inclusion last time we came across another game in which an 11-year-old beats a GM, in this case a player who was in the world's top ten at the time. We're still trying to find out more details about the game. We know it was played in New York, so presume MCC is either Marshall Chess Club or Manhattan Chess Club.

Jorge Zamora - Gata Kamsky
MCC 1991
Sicilian Defence Kan Variation

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0–0 Qc7 7.Nc3 Bc5 8.Nb3 Ba7 9.Kh1 Nc6 10.Bg5 h5 11.f4 Ng4 12.Qe2 d6 13.Rae1 f6 14.Bh4 Ne7 15.f5 e5 16.h3 Nh6 17.Qxh5+ Nf7 18.Qg4 g5 19.Bf2 Bxf2 20.Rxf2 b5 21.Nd5 Nxd5 22.exd5 Bb7 23.Qf3 Rh4 24.Be4 Ke7 25.g4 Rah8 26.Rh2 Rc8 27.c3 Qb6 28.Qe3 Qxe3 29.Rxe3 Rc4 30.Kg1 Ra4 31.a3 Rh8 32.Kf2 Kd7 33.Ke2 Kc7 34.Kd3 Kb6 35.Re1 a5 36.Ra1 Ba6 37.Nd2 b4+ 38.Kc2 bxc3 39.bxc3 Ka7 40.Kb3 Bb5 41.c4 Bd7 42.Kc3 Nh6 43.Re2 Nf7 44.Re3 Rb8 45.Bc2 1–0

The winner of the game, by the way, is now known as Jorge Sammour Hasbun.

One correction to last month's article: Nakamura's win against Hoffman made him the youngest BOY, not the youngest player, to have beaten a GM in a FIDE rated event.

LAPIM

Welcome to our new organisation LAPIM (the League Against Playing Illegal Moves).

Our first members are business lawyers Rowe & Maw, whose recent advert in the Times featured a position where White had done something extremely illegal with his dark-squared bishop:

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Our second members, the people at that much loved children's television programme Blue Peter. According to Leonard Barden (aren't you a bit too old to be watching Blue Peter, Leonard?) David Howell was playing a young female presenter, who, we were told, could not really play but had been taught some special moves before the game. The game ended after about 5 moves, when the YFP moved her rook from h8 to g6.

Ivan

One of the Christmas Gift Catalogues which seems to fall out of every Sunday supplement includes an advert for a chess computer called Ivan the Terrible:

"Prepare for battle against the ruthless Ivan, whose fearsome voice haunts and taunts you throughout each gruelling game. He responds to your every move using his 500-word vocabulary and, most alarming of all, laughs hollowly when you take an ill-advised gamble." (Hmm... now which GM does this remind us of?) "In addition, you will hear realistic, battle sound effects, like horses galloping, soldiers marching, bugles blowing and swords clashing."

Zugzwang

From the Times (17/9/99), in a feature called Opera Bluff, on Janacek's Katya Kabanova: Crush Bar gambit: "Of course, Katya's fatal confusion between the sex urge and the death urge is hardly surprising when you oconsider the hopeless zugzwang she's in, torn between the suffocating, ur-Slavic matriarchy represented by Kabanikha and the erotic freedom of the unmarried Varvara. You agree?"

We don't recall coming across any previous uses of Zugzwang in a non-chess context. Further sightings will be welcome.

Crossword

Continuing our occasional series of chess-related crossword clues, from the Times Jumbo (18/9/99): "Chess Federation puts up cool building." Answer: EDIFICE (FIDE reversed followed by ICE), assuming that Times readers are familiar with our sport's governing body.

Rubinstein's Knights

A postcard from the ever controversial James Schroeder Portland, Oregon: "You could fill two page with Rubinstein's blunders against Knights. It is absurd to think that such an idiot would have any chance in a match against Lasker". We refrain from comment, but letters to the Editor will no doubt be welcome.

Title

Thanks to regular correspondent (and Aston Villa supporter) David Youston Toronto for a clipping from the Toronto Globe and Mail (13/9/99):

"Singer-songwriter Fiona Apple has a new album due to be released in November. Its full title is: When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter 'Cuz You'll Know That You're Right.