He is at the top but he isn't unbeatable WHY DOES CARLSEN LOSE?

Sergey Karjakin for BCM:

CARLSEN IS ALREADY PLAYING CHESS "IN SPACE"

Volume 140

JULY
2020

BORIS GELFAND:
MY WAY OF SEEING CHESS AND LIFE
GELFAND TALKS ABOUT HIS CAREER, HOW HE DEALT WITH DISCRIMINATION,
THE MATCH AGAINST ANAND, THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGES OF A
CHESS PLAYER, THE FUTURE OF THE GAME AND WHAT WOULD KILL IT!
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 IMPRESSUM
Contents
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
Founded 1881

www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk

Chairman Shaun Taulbut

Director Stephen Lowe

Editors
Milan Dinic and Shaun Taulbut

Photo editor Sergey Karjakin for BCM:

David Llada

Prepress Specialist
Milica Mitic
414 Magnus Carlsen
would make a
good astronaut

Photography 396 Analysing the recent defeats of the

David Llada, FIDE Official, World Champion
Wikipedia Why does Carlsen lose?
By GM Aleksandar Colovic
Advertising
Stephen Lowe
409 Clutch Chess
Enquiries
By GM Aleksandar Colovic
[email protected]
417 Chess and Mathematics
ISSN 0007-0440 Tour of Knight
© The British Chess Magazine Limited By Awani Kumar
Company Limited by Shares 423 Recurring Themes
Registered in England No 00334968 By GM Ray Keene OBE
Postal correspondence:
Albany House, 14 Shute End
427 The surrealist and the
Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 1BJ diamond cutter and the
fusion of art and chess
Subscription By Peter O'Brien
[email protected]
12 monthly issues 433 Openings for Amateurs
UK: £55 | RoW: £85 The Theory of the Fork Trick (Part I)
By Pete Tamburro
Printed in the UK: by Lavenham Press Ltd

Cover photography:
436 Quotes and Queries
David Llada International Chess in 1970
By Alan Smith

388| BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Grandmaster Boris Gelfand talks about his

career, the match against Anand, the psychological
challenges of a chess player and the future of the game

My way I met Boris Gelfand at the 2019 FIDE

Grand Swiss at the Isle of Man. Until then
of seeing I knew only some of his games and had
seen pictures and videos from events. A

chess very decent and friendly person, Gelfand is

very down to earth and approachable for
someone who played a match for the title of

AND life and world champion. Despite being in his 50s,

he is still successfully rubbing shoulders
with the top chess elite of the day. He is

what also a respected author and his books on

position and dynamic play are highly rated
and respected.

would In the biographical movie ‘Album 61’,

which is about Gelfand’s life and the

kill chess 2012 match against Vishy Anand for the

world crown, it is said that Boris’ father
was completely devoted to his son’s chess
By Milan Dinic improvement and that from early on he was
Photo: David Llada set on a path of strict discipline and routine

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 389

07/140

towards becoming a world champion. Instead of meeting in person, the interview

However, it was not quite like that, argues was done over Skype. Gelfand took the call
Boris Gelfand: ‘On the contrary, both of from his home in Rishon LeZion, which
my parents were against me becoming a is just next to Tel Aviv, in Israel. where he
professional chessplayer but they respected lives with his wife and two children. Gelfand
and supported my decision. What they did emigrated to Israel in 1998 having previously
achieve is to instil in me a work ethic and lived in Minsk, in his native Belarus.
discipline. And I teach that to my children –
how to plan ahead. To pack their backpack The chess world’s reaction
the day before and not just five minutes to coronavirus
before school. Discipline is an important
quality for each profession.’ The interview started with the currently
prevailing topic – coronavirus. He says
In the above-mentioned movie, a piece of that Israel introduced firm restrictions
paper is shown where Boris’ progression when the virus broke out – moving around
and his mood are analysed and tracked daily. was limited and people had to stay home
His daily life was planned and programmed most of the time. At the time of the
to the minute, from when he woke up to the interview, 25th June, Israel had just over
moment when he went to bed. And sticking 24,600 cases and ranked 49th in the world.
to a routine and plan is what Boris Gelfand ‘Now the majority of the restrictions have
does to this very day. been lifted and there is a dramatic rise in
new cases’. But, for Gelfand, being locked
Getting back to the 2019 Isle of Man event, at home was not a problem. ‘You have to
one of the questions many who we present adjust to the situation. That is what I learnt
there were asking was: how many kilometres/ from chess. Anything can happen so we
miles has Boris Gelfand walked in the game need to adjust. I had no tournaments, but
room? Like the philosopher Aristotle, who I had other chess things to do: working on
conducted his teaching while walking with my books (‘Technical Decision Making
his students, the chess-world heavyweight in Chess’ and ‘Decision Making in Major
is always on the move: he seldom sits at his Piece Endings’, written together with
board apart from when he is about to make a Jacob Aagaard; we have completed the
move, and constantly strolls up and down the books and they will be out in September)
hall, respectfully acknowledging others with a and giving online lectures. As a chess
smile and a nod, and checking out other games. player, I’m used to working from home.
But, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, even I was analysing games, positions and
Boris Gelfand had to give up his long walks. worked on chess.’
Gelfand on racism and discrimination: Being
discriminated against made me stronger

- When I see some of the recently publicised stories and claims about discrimination, I can
say that every Jew in the USSR (such as my parents, for example) has been discriminated
at least a 100 times more. However, being discriminated made me stronger. When I
was 13 my coach was told that I will never be allowed to take part in the World Junior
Tournament even if I qualified. The first time I was allowed to go abroad was when I was
19. Mikhail Gurevich, for example, was denied his right to play the Interzonal tournament
in 1985 which was the most important tournament that time. 
I do not wish to sound insensitive in any way, but I just think that the whole idea that
some groups or populations are guilty is leading us nowhere, and previously led to gulags
and the Holocaust in the 20th century. There is no group discrimination and there is no
group guilt, that is my view. Currently, in chess I don’t see there is discrimination.

390 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

There was no Soviet

Chess School, there were
regional schools

− I was born in Minsk and Isaac

Boleslavsky was a coach there for a
number of strong masters. His views on
chess had an impact on all the players he
worked with, including Albert Kapengut,
my first coach. You had this all across the
USSR - every chess professional had his
own style and they influenced others with
it in the region where they were living and
teaching. There was no such thing as the
‘Soviet School’.
The young Boris Gelfand organise person−to−person tournaments, but
not sure about others. But there are also other
factors such as managing to find a way to get
When it comes to the way the chess world somewhere and having specific rules in each
has responded to coronavirus, Gelfand thinks country’. Despite all of this, Boris Gelfand
it has done well and ‘found a substitute says he would be ‘comfortable’ playing a
for live events’, but also notes that ‘this person−to−person game with someone. ‘The
issue has turned out into one of the biggest circumstances would have to be reasonable.
misunderstandings I faced recently’. His focus When you play a game - you meet with just
is on criticism about the lack of tournaments one person and there is a distance over the
for non−elite players: ‘People are trying to board which is more than a meter. Also, tests
compare this to an ideal situation, which could be run before and after. It’s important
never existed. It’s good we adjusted. Most of not to go in extremes - either by not taking any
the top tournaments are held for the elite and measures or by being overzealous about it.’
the blitz tournaments are very amateurish. I
understand that, but what’s the alternative? Chess online is not the
The alternative is having no tournaments same atmosphere as
whatsoever. I appreciate everyone’s effort to person to person
contribute and keep chess going.’
He is, however, strictly against the idea of
Gelfand points out that this situation has chess moving fully online: ‘It’s a different
shown that ‘there is a big demand for online feeling. The atmosphere when playing live
chess lessons and online chess in general’. is totally different. Although nowadays
As he says - ‘the circumstances are these and there is not so much interaction among the
we have to adapt. There is no other way.’ players or the audience, I remember when
I was playing in Belgrade, Serbia, three to
The Israeli GM says he has no information as four thousand people were coming to watch
to when live, person−to−person, tournaments the games. Nowadays that is less with chess
will continue. ‘I think that no one can have events but still - in St Louis, Moscow, the
a clue now. There are so many factors which London Classic. The crowds are big.’
are still unknown even to the doctors and
epidemiologists and not mortals like us. What Gelfand gave an example of how his own
is certain is that this will impact all spheres of path in life was influenced exactly by chess
life, chess included. We will just see to what events where people got to meet one another,
degree… In some places it will be possible to and visitors can see and talk to chess stars:

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 391

07/140

‘When I was 11, the Soviet Championship and puzzles online, play or watch lessons and
was in Minsk, my native city (1979, won by presentations on YouTube.’
Efim Geller - note, BCM]. This event had the
greatest influence on my decision to devote When it comes to computers, they brought
myself to chess. I could see the top masters about good things and bad things, says
playing and they gave me their autographs. Gelfand: ‘One needs to love chess to respect
There are many wonderful stories about these chess players. However, some people have
things - Peter Leko told me that when he was at very limited knowledge about chess but are
the Interzonal in Subotica (1987), Tal got out of very fast with using a computer and pointing
his seat - although the game had started - and out that ‘Magnus missed the best move’, as if
gave him an autograph. Also, you interact with finding that best move was their achievement
other chess players and the chess community. and not the achievement of the computer.’
You don’t have that in online chess.’
Furthermore, Gelfand thinks that computers
Internet, computers and can’t bring an unquestionable resolution to any
chess chess position, as it is often suggested. ‘Some
25 years ago some GM in the British Chess
Like most chess professionals, Gelfand Magazine wrote that he doesn’t understand
spends his days by a computer, analysing why a Grandmaster needs a second when they
games and positions. But it wasn’t always have Fritz or whatever. However, even today,
like that. ‘I grew up in an age where there one programme can suggest one move, another
was no internet. I remember making circles can suggest a totally different move. I now
around my local newsagent where they were analyse my games from 2010 and just ten years
selling Chess Informants, just to make sure I ago the engines of that time said one thing and
was there when they delivered them because now new engines say another. Very often my
only 10 copies were distributed for the whole intuition turns out to be right according to the
area. Today, people just switch on their phone new computers, but 10 years ago those engines
and they can see everything instantly. The said I was wrong. I think that’s an internal
Internet has enabled people to have lessons issue. People should focus on abilities engines
from anyone anywhere in the world, and it’s have and get knowledge rather than just seeing
not that expensive to get a qualified trainer to numbers and assessments which creates an
help you. Also, now you can do chess training illusion they know everything.’

On Victor Korchnoi − Korchnoi didn’t care about the opinions

of others and he didn’t control himself
much. When he was losing, he would be
cursing their opponent but usually people
didn’t take that to their heart. When he
was playing against Vladimir Kramnik in
Vienna in 1996, there were no time bonuses
and both got into serious time trouble.
Korchnoi lost and he started cursing after
the game and circled the table continuing
to curse. Kramnik was calm. Afterwards,
when everyone else had finished you
had the two of them sitting together and
passionately analysing the game for one
or two hours. Korchnoi would often make
comments which - if taken at face value
- would not be funny or nice, but nobody
took it seriously, it was just his personality.

392 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Computers and the internet to one side, Chess psychology: playing

books still have a purpose, Gelfand argues: against the pieces or the
‘Many people would be lost without them. person
It’s always useful to read books from great
masters of the past because they show
different dimensions and ideas.’

Balancing your chess with

your personality

Boris Gelfand achieved great success in his

chess career and now, at the age of 52, he is
the oldest among the top 100 chess players
in the world. He argues that, for a person to
fully develop into a great player, they need
to find their own style and form their own
view on chess.

‘Players need to understand ideas opposite

to their style. For example, the person who
The Boris Gelfand stare
prefers dynamic play should look more
into positional play, and vice versa. No
one can become a great player without The great chess master Svetozar Gligoric
developing their own views on chess and argued that he was ‘playing against the
their own style. Sure, they can be good pieces’, while others - such as Viktor
without that, but they won’t achieve Korchnoi, for example, played ‘against the
anything substantial.’ person’. Gelfand says that he ‘mostly’ plays
against the pieces ‘but I take my opponents’
And for this, an individual’s personality personalities into account’. However, as
plays a big role, says Gelfand: ‘Everyone he explains, it is less often than people
has to balance their style with their imagine that one has a choice between
personality. Korchnoi gave me an example the two. ‘Almost always you have to play
of one grandmaster whose main weakness strong moves, but when there is a junction
was that he wanted to play ambitiously but then psychology and your opponent’s
was not a self−confident person. So, when personality come into account.’
that grandmaster had to make an important
decision, he would hesitate. I started paying ‘When I played my match against Anand I
attention to that and noticed that Korchnoi realised that he is a more flexible player than
was right. Those who manage to form a me so I realised that I had to play my chess
balance between their style and personality rather than try and catch him at his weak spots.’
achieve great results.’
One thing which has been noted about
When asked about his own biggest Boris Gelfand is his piercing look, cutting
challenges and struggles, he stops to think. down his opponents during the game. Is this
After about a minute, Gelfand says: ‘Often some kind of psychological pressure or an
I was playing either too cautiously or attempt to intimidate the opponent? The
too ambitiously. Time and again I didn’t reason is, actually, very trivial as Gelfand
dare complicate matters or take a risk. explains: ‘This is probably this is because
Sometimes, when my tournament didn’t of the glasses. One or two times somebody
start well, I played too passively. So, I had complained but I don’t notice myself doing
to learn to be more balanced.’ that. I don’t do it on purpose so I could get

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 393

07/140

some psychological advantage or something breakthrough moment. Anand made an

like that. I have ideas in my head and, when I insane move but if you analyse deeper,
start playing, I immerse myself in the game. you will see he made the move out of
I also play with the pieces in my hands, and desperation because he thought the position
when someone complained once I stopped was bad and he couldn’t find the right way
that. When the game starts, I try and go as around it. In Game 12, he caught me in the
deep in the position as possible, so I don’t opening preparation. I thought for about 40
notice other things. Chess demands deep minutes but later on, I managed to take the
concentration. This often means that we initiative and improve my position. Alas, in
players cannot control or are not aware of the end, I lost the match.’
what is happening on the sides.’
‘For me, that event was a big moment. That
The highlights of the 2012 was a very emotional and very potent event
match against Anand which I will remember for my whole life.’

The 2012 match between the then world Gelfand says he is in constant touch with
champion Viswanathan Anand and Boris Anand and that ‘maybe one day, we will go
Gelfand took place in Moscow. It was the over the match together.’
pivotal point of Gelfand’s career. After
defeating Mamedyarov and Kamsky, he Dealing with defeats
beat Alexander Grischuk in the finals of
the Candidates and qualified for the match Managing anger and frustration over a
against Anand. The first six games of the defeat is a big issue for all top people in
match ended in a draw. In Round Seven, sports, and chess is not an exception. This is
after a terrible blunder by Anand, Grischuk what Boris Gelfand does to soothe himself:
took the lead. However, he gave it back the ‘Each loss is a big blow. Each time one has
very next round just after 17 moves in what to find a way to get it all out - the anger,
still is the shortest decisive game in World the disappointment - and to play tomorrow.
Championship history. I try not to analyse the game or go deeper.
Instead, I try to go for a long walk.’ But, he
Looking back at the event, this is what comes clean in the end: ‘It’s not easy and I
Gelfand had to say: ‘Game seven was a don’t think I manage it that well.’

Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand

Chess in Israel

− Chess in Israel is destroyed because

it was hijacked by people who know
nothing about the game and despise it.
I have cut all my ties with the chess
federation, and not only me - other
top players. Over the years Israel has
progressed a lot in chess - the game has
become more popular, in one project we
taught 100,000 kids from the area around
Tel Aviv how to play chess, we have a
great number of capable teachers and
organisers. A tremendous momentum
for chess has been created but then we
reached a point where professionals are
bad but the amateurs are good.

394 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Why some chess players are About chessplayers

frustrated in politics
Chess is trying to get more attention from BCM: What do you think about
the media. Since the new FIDE team of chessplayers who involve themselves in
Arkady Dvorkovich was elected, the world politics – such as Kasparov?
chess body has made efforts to partner with
other organisations and to promote chess B.G: If they’re happy it’s fine. Personally,
more in the media landscape. An essential I don’t like the rules of political games.
part of that effort is the role of players. My view is that politics in the world has
However - and this is an impression among become less competent and more dirty. If
some journalists and people in the chess Kasparov thinks he can find his role and
community - not all chessplayers are very place, that is his decision.
media−friendly or savvy. On the contrary,
they can often be unpleasant and abrupt
which makes it difficult to make chess more ‘There are people in the chess world for
appealing to the wider community, ie those whom I have great respect but some of
not made up of chess pros or chess fanatics. them think we need to bring chess to the
attention of the readers of the Sun or the
Gelfand argues that among the very top Daily Mail so it would be popular. I think
players there are very few cases of people that would actually kill us! We should
being closed or incoherent. ‘However, keep an image of chess as being something
among players who are close to the top but intellectual because, if we try to portray
not at the top, there is a lot of frustration. chess as a showbiz activity we will be
You need to put a lot of effort and it’s an losers in show business. By positioning
amazing success to be among the top 200 ourselves as intellectuals it gives us more
in anything, not to mention chess which is possibilities. Fortunately, there are a lot of
extremely hard. Still, in chess, even if you players at the top who can speak well for
among the top 200 it’s difficult to make a chess and promote it popularly.’
living if you’re not at the very top. And that
creates anger and leads to frustration and To be a champion or to win
people become more closed.’ a match

Chess as show business I asked Gelfand what he thought about

the following thing said by his first coach
When it comes to finding ways to get Albert Kapengut in the biographical
chess more into the general media, Gelfand movie ‘Album 61’: ‘The world champion
strongly refutes attempts to make chess must be tough, ruthless, a killer. In that
look more like show business. respect, Boris may be at a disadvantage’.

‘Maybe he is right. Most of the time

The next world champion people who were world champions had
an obsession about becoming world
− It’s difficult to tell who the next world champions. I never had this obsession.
champion would be. Every one of the My goal always has been to improve, play
players playing in the Candidates has a my chess better and stay ahead. My focus
chance against Carlsen. Secondly, there is was not to become the world champion
now so much talent in chess from places but to win a match. That is my way of
like China, India, the States… Before seeing chess.’
the end of the Cold War, it was mostly
Eastern Europe.

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07/140

Analysing the recent defeats

of the World Champion

Why does
Carlsen
lose?

By GM Aleksandar Colovic
www.alexcolovic.com
When the World Champion loses, the reasons are not very different
from the ones connected to why Fischer lost his games
When I was reading the book “How to Beat as he has won all the tournaments he played
Bobby Fischer” by Edmar Mednis, I quite in, bar one. He doesn’t lose many games,
liked the fact that there was a classification but when he does, the reasons are not very
of the reasons why Bobby Fischer lost different from the ones Mednis defined
his games. There were several reasons for when analysing Fischer’s games.
Fischer’s losses, but the most frequent one
was that he was outplayed.
Sometimes it appears that
Carlsen is overtaken by a
There were also blunders and over− strong desire to do something
optimism, but mostly when he was losing,
the great Bobby was simply outplayed by
outrageous, as if tired of
his opponents. the constant need to play
“correct” chess. Whether this
(To those having the book in English, is intentional towards his
please don’t object to my use of the above
names of the categories as I don’t know the opponents, to show them that
exact terms Mednis used because I read the he can play literally anything
book in Russian.) against them, is difficult to
The World Champion continues to say, though sometimes it
demonstrate his superiority in online chess appears it is
396 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 July 2020

Blunders

This is by far the most common reason

for Carlsen’s losses. When playing
online the level of concentration is not
the same and coupled with the faster
time controls it’s not surprising that
everybody blunders more.

There are all sorts of blunders, from

1-move game-deciders to positional
blunders or deeper calculational mistakes.
They are easy to understand and common,
so Carlsen’s blunders are no different from
those of other players.
Anish Giri, Source: FIDE

Maganus Carlsen - Hikaru Nakamura Magnus Carlsen – Anish Giri

Lindores Abbey Final 8 chess24.com INT (2.35) Carlsen Inv Prelim chess24.com INT (5.2)

Carlsen was winning for most of the game, White is under pressure here as Black has
but he failed to convert and now blunders excellent compensation for the exchange.
a full rook. Carlsen completely misses Black’s threat
XIIIIIIIIY in the position and plays:
9-+-+-+-mk0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+-+-+rzpp0 9r+l+-vlk+0
9-+p+-zp-+0 9zpp+-+-+-0
9+-+-wq-+-0 9-+p+-+-+0
9nsnR+-+-zP0 9+-+pzP-wqp0
9+N+-+QzP-0 9-+-zP-snp+0
9-zP-+-zP-+0 9+-zPL+-+-0
9+-+-+-mK-0 9PtR-+-zP-+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+-+QmKNtR-0
40.¦xb4?? xiiiiiiiiy
25.f3??
It was possible to stay in the game with
40.¦e4 £b8 41.£f4. It was necessary to remove the bishop from
d3 25.¥b1, with an unclear position.
40...£e1+ Picking up the rook on b4.
25...¤xd3+ 26.£xd3 £c1+ Winning the
41.¢h2 £xb4 42.£xc6 ¦f8 rook on b2.

0–1 27.¢f2 £xb2+ 28.¤d2 ¥f5 29.£xf5

£xd2+ 30.¢g3 £xc3 31.¢h4 £xd4
32.¦g3 ¥g7 33.f4 ¦f8
0–1

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07/140

Hikaru Nakamura - Magnus Carlsen Hikaru Nakamura – Magnus Carlsen

Lindores Abbey Final 8 chess24.com INT (2.32) Lindores Abbey Final 8 chess24.com INT (2.21)

Carlsen was out-prepared in the Open Ruy Carlsen made a very strong sacrifice in the
Lopez, but somehow managed to play all opening and had been winning ever since.
the correct moves. Now he’s still under Here however he misplays the attack:
some pressure, but the draw shouldn’t be XIIIIIIIIY
far away. Alas, he moves the rook one
square short: 9r+-+k+r+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9zppzp-+-+-0
9-+-+r+k+0 9-+p+-+-+0
9+-sN-+-zpp0 9+-+-sN-+p0
9R+-+P+-+0 9-+-wQPzpp+0
9+-+-tr-+-0 9+-vLP+-+q0
9-+n+-+-+0 9PzPP+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+RmK-0
9-+-+-+PzP0 xiiiiiiiiy
26...g3??
9+R+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy This allows White to establish a knight on
29...¦d8?? f3 that covers the king.

29...¦c8 would have allowed Black to 26...¦d8! defends against mate on d7

draw, for example 30.¦c6 (or 30.¦b5 and allows for the more desirable push
¦e1+ 31.¢f2 ¦e4 32.¤d5 ¦f8+ 33.¢g3 ...f3. But this wasn’t easy as Black had
¤e3 with a likely draw.) 30...¤d2 31.¦d1 to see that after 27.£c4 the only winning
¦d8 and the knight on c7 is short of good move is 27...¦d5!! and things continue
squares while the active rook on e5 keeps to be complex after 28.exd5 f3 29.¦f2 g3
an eye on the passed e6–pawn. 30.¤xf3 gxf2+ 31.¢xf2 ¦g4! (the only
move) 32.d4 £g3+ 33.¢e3 ¦f4 34.£f1
30.¦c6! Now the black knight is short of ¦f7! and Black should win, but the game
good squares. It is forced to move, thus goes on.
allowing White to improve the position of
his rook. 27.¤f3 Now there is no attack and White
is winning.
30...¤e3 31.¦d6 This is the point - the
rook cannot be taken due to mate on the 27...g2 28.¦e1 £xf3? Now it is White who
back rank and after gets the mating attack.

31...¦c8 32.¦d7 the pawn simply promotes. 28...b6! still allowed Black to stay in the
game; the point is to have the move ...c5
32...h6 33.e7 ¢h7 34.¦e1 White will at his disposal to block the a3–f8 diagonal.
promote next and then will win the 29.£e5+ ¢d7 30.£f5+ £xf5 31.exf5
pinned knight. should still be winning for White, but Black
can continue the game.
1–0
29.£e5+ ¢d8 30.£f6+ ¢e8

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XIIIIIIIIY Being Outplayed

9r+-+k+r+0 This is a more interesting category as
9zppzp-+-+-0 outplaying the World Champion, in
9-+p+-wQ-+0 classical, rapid or blitz, is a monumental
task. Still, some players manage it, from
9+-+-+-+p0 time to time. Here’s an example where
9-+-+Pzp-+0 Jeffery Xiong outplays Carlsen in a
nice fashion.
9+-vLP+q+-0
9PzPP+-+p+0 Jeffery Xiong – Magnus Carlsen
9+-+-tR-mK-0 Clutch Chess Showdown Int lichess.org INT (1.7)
xiiiiiiiiy
31.¥b4! Here is why the move ...b6 was 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4
needed. Now... ¥c5 5.¥e3 £f6 6.c3 ¤ge7 7.¥b5
There are many moves in this position,
31...c5 ...is simply taken. but theoretically speaking Black is fine
everywhere. Xiong tries a somewhat less−
32.¥xc5 And there is no defence against frequent option.
mate.
7...0–0 8.0–0 ¥b6 The alternative is 8...d6.
32...¢d7 33.£f7+ With mate to follow
shortly. 9.a4 £g6 The move 9...d6 was again an
option.
1–0
10.¥d3 ¥xd4?!

Playing from the safety of his own home – Magnus Carlsen

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XIIIIIIIIY 17.¤e2 Threatening ¤f4.

9r+l+-trk+0 17.e5 f6 18.¤e2 would have been a
9zppzppsnpzpp0 transposition.
9-+n+-+q+0 17...f6 18.e5 Going after the bishop
9+-+-+-+-0 with 18.¤f4 £f7 19.¤xe6 £xe6 only
9P+-vlP+-+0 makes Black’s task easier as the knight
will find a good square on g6 from
9+-zPLvL-+-0 where it will control the advance of
9-zP-+-zPPzP0 White’s pawns.
9tRN+Q+RmK-0 18...fxe5?!
xiiiiiiiiy XIIIIIIIIY
This has been played by other Grandmasters
as well, but it gives White a better game as 9-+-+rtrk+0
he can maintain the pawn centre. 9zpp+-sn-zpp0
10...d6 looks risky after 11.e5 but Black can 9-+p+l+q+0
play 11...¤f5 threatening ...¤e3 and White 9+-+pzp-+-0
has nothing better than 12.¤xc6 bxc6
13.¥xb6 axb6 14.exd6 £xd6 with equality.
9P+-zP-+-+0
9+-+-vLP+-0
11.cxd4 ¤b4 Black won’t allow White 9-zP-wQN+PzP0
to keep the bishop pair, but it’s the pawn
centre that gives White an advantage. 9+-+-tRRmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
12.¤c3 ¤xd3 13.£xd3 d5 14.f3 A risky decision as this exchange gives
XIIIIIIIIY both sides strong pawn majorities. With
this decision Carlsen shows that he
9r+l+-trk+0 wanted to create his own counterplay
9zppzp-snpzpp0 by pushing ...b6 and ...c5, but White can
control those advances.
9-+-+-+q+0
9+-+p+-+-0 18...£f7 was an alternative, liberating the
9P+-zPP+-+0 g6–square for the knight.
9+-sNQvLP+-0 19.dxe5 b6 20.b4 Naturally, White won’t
9-zP-+-+PzP0 allow ...c5.
9tR-+-+RmK-0 20...¦c8 21.¦c1 ¦fd8 22.¤d4
xiiiiiiiiy Xiong’s play is very direct and strong.
This is the point. White has good He prevents Carlsen’s counterplay and
centralisation and keeps his centre under intends to take over the initiative on
control while Black doesn’t have enough the queenside.
activity to put it under pressure.
22...h6 23.a5 Attacking Black’s queenside.
14...c6 15.£d2 ¥e6 16.¦ae1 ¦ae8 Black It was also possible to simply double on
anticipates that White will play e5 so he the c-file.
keeps his f8–rook behind the f-pawn so he
can undermine the centre by ...f6. 23...¦d7!

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XIIIIIIIIY time to liberate his position and initiates

more concrete play, but it will be he who
9-+r+-+k+0 will falter there!
9zp-+rsn-zp-0
27...¥h3 28.¥g3 28.£f1 is better
9-zpp+l+qzp0 according to the engine, but the game move
9zP-+pzP-+-0 is much more natural.
9-zP-sN-+-+0 28...c5 Black should be fine after this, but
9+-+-vLP+-0 now the game sharpens as there is more
9-+-wQ-+PzP0 tension in the position.
9+-tR-+RmK-0 29.¤b5 The knight is headed for d6.
xiiiiiiiiy
A nice manoeuvre, showing Carlsen’s 29...¥e6 30.¤d6 ¦c6 31.£b5 A typical
ability to always find the best arrangement move for faster time controls. The idea
for his pieces, to put them on squares from is to latch onto the opponent’s pieces.
where they can have maximum impact on Such moves are always annoying for the
the position. The idea is to put the passive opponent and even Carlsen fails to deal
(since the d-file won’t open any time soon) with this one.
rook on b7, from where it can be activated
by opening the b-file after ...bxa5. 31...¦a8?

24.¦fe1 ¦b7 25.axb6 Xiong prevents the

XIIIIIIIIY
opening of the b-file. 9r+-+-+k+0
9+-+-sn-zp-0
25...axb6 26.£e2 Xiong plays very
patiently. He keeps Carlsen at bay and 9-zprsNl+qzp0
operates with small threats like £a6, 9+QzppzP-+-0
seeking a moment to go forward.
9-zP-+-+-+0
26...¦bb8 Getting away from the possible 9+-+-+PvL-0
attack after £a6. 9-+-+-+PzP0
27.¥f2 9+-tR-tR-mK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
Premature. Ultimately it is always some
9-trr+-+k+0 sort of blunder that decides the game and
9+-+-sn-zp-0 here it’s the same - most likely Carlsen
missed White’s 35th move. Still, the way
9-zpp+l+qzp0 Xiong obtained an advantage from the
9+-+pzP-+-0 opening kept the tension in the position
9-zP-sN-+-+0 and made Carlsen make a mistake is a
feat that very few players in the world
9+-+-+P+-0 are capable of.
9-+-+QvLPzP0
It was essential to close the c-file first with
9+-tR-tR-mK-0 31...c4 and this was the only move to keep
xiiiiiiiiy the balance. Now Black wants to take the
Continuing in the same style. Now a a-file, so after 32.£a4 ¦c7 preventing
curious thing happens. Carlsen decides it’s £a7 33.£a1 preventing ...d4, the position

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is unclear with chances for both sides XIIIIIIIIY

(which translates as 0.00). 9rsnlwqk+-tr0
32.bxc5 ¦a5 33.£b4 A small imprecision,
9zppzp-vlpzpp0
but both players had Black’s idea in mind, 9-+-zp-sn-+0
which was to take on c5 with the rook. 9+-+-+-+-0
33...¦axc5 This was Carlsen’s idea, 9-+-sNP+-+0
but he missed that after 33...¦a2 was 9+-sN-+-zP-0
the way to keep the game going (hence 9PzPP+-zP-zP0
White should have put the queen on
b2 on his last move). However, that’s 9tR-vLQmKL+R0
not the idea Carlsen had in mind when xiiiiiiiiy
playing 31...¦a8. The fianchetto is considered one of the most
promising tries against the Philidor Defence.
34.¦xc5 bxc5 35.£b7! The knight on e7 White’s bishop on g2 strengthens the centre
that defends the rook on c6 is under attack and exerts pressure along the long diagonal,
and it cannot be defended conveniently. thus discouraging the liberating move ...d5.

35...c4 35...¢f8 36.¥h4 ends the game 6...0–0 If Black wants to play ...d5 now was
immediately as Black loses material. the chance to do so. Still, theory claims that
White keeps an advantage after 6...d5 7 e5.
36.£xe7 c3 This loses more material, but it
didn’t really matter. 7.¥g2 ¦e8 8.0–0 c6 9.a4 Preventing an
expansion by ...b5.
37.£b7 ¦c5 38.£b6 Trapping the rook.
9...a5 Fixing the structure on the queenside
1–0 and securing either the b4 or c5–square for
the knight from b8.

Xiong also outplayed Carlsen in the 10.h3 A useful move, covering the g4–square
hedgehog with Black, taking over the so that the bishop can be developed on e3 and
initiative with a timely …b5 and then also to help a future expansion by g4, f4 etc.
demonstrating good technique to convert a
favourable endgame. 10...¤a6 11.¦e1 ¥f8 12.¥f4 Carlsen
decides to develop the bishop on f4, eyeing
The following game is very instructive the pawn on d6.
because of the tweet Carlsen posted
after losing it. He wrote that Dubov 12...¤c5 The knight exerts pressure on e4.
knows in which positions Carlsen feels
uncomfortable and he got him into one. 13.£d2 h6 Threatening ...g5, when thanks
to the pressure on e4 Black would win a
Magnus Carlsen - Daniil Dubov pawn after ¥e3.
Lindores Abbey Prelim chess24.com INT (10.2) 14.g4 Now the bishop can drop back to g3.
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 d6 The Philidor Defence was 14...£b6 15.¦ad1 ¥d7 15...£xb2? would
Dubov’s “secret weapon” in the Lindores lose material after the typical trap: 16.¦b1
Abbey tournament that he eventually won. £a3 17.¦a1 £b4 18.¦eb1
3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 ¥e7 6.g3 16.b3 ¦ad8 17.¥g3 ¥c8

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XIIIIIIIIY 21.¥h4 ¦d7 getting away from the pin and

perhaps threatening to double on the e-file.
9-+ltrrvlk+0
9+p+-+pzp-0 19...¥g7 20.£f2?!
9-wqpzp-sn-zp0 XIIIIIIIIY
9zp-sn-+-+-0 9-+ltrr+k+0
9P+-sNP+P+0 9+p+-+pvl-0
9+PsN-+-vLP0 9-wqpzp-snpzp0
9-+PwQ-zPL+0 9zp-sn-+-+-0
9+-+RtR-mK-0 9P+-sNP+P+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+PsN-+PvLP0
We now have a typical position for the 9-+P+-wQLmK0
fianchetto Pirc Defence. The bishop from f8
will soon come to g7 and both sides would 9+-+RtR-+-0
be fully ready for the complex middlegame xiiiiiiiiy
ahead. So what did Carlsen mean when he Carlsen manoeuvres, but this is the type of
said that Dubov got him in an uncomfortable move that invites fierce counterplay - the
position? White has a space advantage here queen and the king are not very happy
with a safe position, but in order to move with the geometrical placement and Black
forward he needs to allow some counterplay. immediately takes advantage of it.
The character of the game is very similar to the
...¤bd7 fianchetto lines of the King’s Indian - 20.¥f2 keeps the game not very concrete,
White has space, but Black’s position is very for example 20...£c7 21.¥h4 £b6 22.¢h1
resilient and tactics abound if White loses ¦d7 and so on.
control (which is very easy!). We can conclude
then that Carlsen doesn’t like it when he needs 20...h5! Threatening to take twice on g4.
to constantly keep an eye on his opponent’s
tactical threats and counter-chances, while at 21.g5 h4! A typical tactical motif from the
the same time lacking concrete ways to move King’s Indian. The pawn is sacrificed to
forward. In other words, vague manoeuvring liberate the h5–square for the knight.
while avoiding tactical counterplay is not
Carlsen’s forte. (As a complete opposite, take 22.¥xh4 ¤h5 Now the bishop on g7 is opened
a look at the game Karpov-Timman from and Black starts play on the dark squares.
Montreal 1979 where Karpov masterfully
strangulated Timman from a similar position). 23.¤ce2?!
XIIIIIIIIY
18.¢h2 Now the manoeuvring starts. 9-+ltrr+k+0
Generally speaking White should move 9+p+-+pvl-0
forward on the kingside, but that is far
from easy. 9-wqpzp-+p+0
9zp-sn-+-zPn0
18...g6 19.f3 Solid, but White cannot make
progress without f4. 9P+-sNP+-vL0
9+P+-+P+P0
19.f4 would eventually be necessary, so it was 9-+P+NwQLmK0
possible to play it immediately, though after
19...¥g7 how to progress with White? The 9+-+RtR-+-0
direct 20.f5 doesn’t bring much after 20...£b4 xiiiiiiiiy
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Allowing another strike, this time in the 28...¤e4 29.£e3 ¥f5 Black’s pieces are
centre. swarming in.

23.¢h1 was safer, removing the king from 30.¥f3 ¦e7 31.£c1 £b6 32.¥xh5 gxh5
the exposed diagonal. 33.¦f1 ¦e6 34.¤f3 £c5

23...d5! 24.exd5 ¦xd5 Black’s pieces are

XIIIIIIIIY
much better placed for this opening of the 9-+-+-+k+0
position. 9+p+-+pvl-0
25.f4 Closing the h2–b8 diagonal and safely 9-+p+r+-+0
defending the pawn on g5, at the same time 9zp-wq-+lzPp0
liberating the f3–square for the knight on 9P+-+nzP-vL0
d4, but now the f4–pawn is under attack
from the knight on h5. 9+P+-+N+P0
9-+P+N+-mK0
25...¦dd8 26.¤f3 ¦xd1 27.¦xd1 £c7
9+-wQ-+R+-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9-+l+r+k+0 White’s position is awful and Black simply
9+pwq-+pvl-0 improves the position of his pieces until the
moment when a decisive breakthrough is
9-+p+-+p+0 possible.
9zp-sn-+-zPn0
9P+-+-zP-vL0 35.¦e1 ¤c3 36.¤eg1 ¤a2 Winning the
pawn on c2 and with it the whole white
9+P+-+N+P0 queenside will fall
9-+P+NwQLmK0
37.£d2 £xc2 38.¦xe6 £xd2+ 39.¤xd2
9+-+R+-+-0 ¥xe6 40.¤e2 ¤c3 40...¥f8! was better,
xiiiiiiiiy with the idea of ...¥b4, attacking the knight
Putting more pressure on f4, but this is not on d2 that defends White’s queenside.
the most precise. Nevertheless, up to here
Dubov convincingly outplayed Carlsen 41.¥f2 Leaving the knight on e2 en prise,
and the accumulated pressure started to tell but it’s not really surprising, after having
as Carlsen failed to make the best out of suffered tremendous pressure the whole
Dubov’s imprecisions. game White finally succumbs.

27...¥f5 was stronger. The pawn on c2 41.¤g3 would have allowed White to play
hangs and in case of 28.¤fd4 ¥e4 the on.
exchange of the light-squared bishops
favours Black as the white king will now 41...¤xe2
be eternally weak.
0–1
28.¤fg1? This is very passive.

28.¤g3! was the best move, hitting both Normally we are used to seeing Carlsen
knights at the same time. After 28...¤e4 show great technique and win from dry
29.¤xe4 ¦xe4 30.£d2 ¢h7! Black keeps positions, so seeing it the other way round
the initiative though White can fight on. is somewhat uncommon.

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Hikaru Nakamura,Hi – Magnus Carlsen The exchanges haven’t made Black’s life
easier. In fact he exchanged his active rooks
Carlsen Inv Final 4 chess24.com INT (2.2) for White’s passive ones. The knight now is
coming to d3, from where it can go either
Black is fine in this position, as he controls to b4 or e5.
the only open file that gives him enough
counterplay because it distracts White 27...¤d7 28.¤d3 £b5 29.£c3 h5 30.£a3
from building up play on the kingside. But ¢g7 31.¤de5 Forcing a favourable
Carlsen’s next move is wrong. transformation of the pawn structure.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+-+k+0 31...¥xe5
9+q+n+p+p0 XIIIIIIIIY
9-zpp+pvlp+0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-zPp+-+-0 9+-+n+pmk-0
9-zP-zP-zP-+0 9-+p+p+p+0
9+-+-+NzP-0 9+qzPpvl-+p0
9r+-+NzPKzP0 9-+-zP-zP-+0
9+RtRQ+-+-0 9wQ-+-+NzP-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+-+-zPKzP0
22...bxc5?!
9+-+-+-+-0
This eliminates the possible threat of b5, but xiiiiiiiiy
by opening the b-file the white rook on b1 Keeping the bishop with 31...¤xe5 32.fxe5
becomes active. This will lead to exchanges ¥d8 is worse as after 33.£a8 ¥e7 34.£e8
of the heavy pieces and then White can £b7 35.h4 Black is completely tied down
use the greater mobility of his knights to and White will manoeuvre with his knight
get closer to the weak pawn on c6 - one to b4 or a5 to win the c6–pawn. Here’s a
of the knights can use the b4–square, made sample line: 35...£c7 36.¤g1 £b7 37.¤h3
available to White by Black’s last move. £c7 38.¤f4 £b7 39.¢h2! (39.¤d3?
£b1! allows Black to become active and
22...b5 keeping the b-file closed was draw) 39...£c7 40.£a8 ¥d8 41.¢g2 ¥e7
preferable.; 22...¦2a4 was also better, as 42.¤d3 ¥d8 43.¤b4 and the pawn on c6
now 23.b5 can be met by 23...¦c4. falls.

23.bxc5 £a6 24.¦c2 ¦xc2 25.£xc2 ¦b8 32.fxe5 £e2 Active defence. The idea of
26.¦xb8+ ¤xb8 27.¤c1 the move is to get the queen to g4 to keep
XIIIIIIIIY an eye on the d4–pawn.
9-sn-+-+k+0
33.¤g5 £g4 34.h4 ¤f8 Black’s knight is
9+-+-+p+p0 awfully short of squares.
9q+p+pvlp+0
As great as he may be, Carlsen
9+-zPp+-+-0
is also human so he loses
9-+-zP-zP-+0 games of chess from time
9+-+-+NzP-0 to time. That happens less
9-+Q+-zPKzP0 frequently than with the rest
9+-sN-+-+-0 of us, but it still happens
xiiiiiiiiy
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Hikaru Nakamura

35.£d3 With the idea of £a6. goes for it. The engine prefers to keep the
queens on board.
35...£f5
XIIIIIIIIY 36...exf5 36...gxf5 was also possible, the
9-+-+-sn-+0 point being that after 37.¤h3 Black has
9+-+-+pmk-0 37...¤g6 preventing ¤f4.
9-+p+p+p+0 37.¢f3 f6 The only move to liberate the
9+-zPpzPqsNp0 knight from f8, otherwise White would
9-+-zP-+-zP0 have pushed e6 and won as in the note
to Black’s 37th move to the comment on
9+-+Q+-zP-0 Black’s 35th move.
9-+-+-zPK+0
38.exf6+ ¢xf6 39.¢e3 ¤d7?
9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy XIIIIIIIIY
35...¤d7? 36.£a6 illustrates White’s idea; the 9-+-+-+-+0
point is that after 36...£xd4 37.£a7 Black 9+-+n+-+-0
cannot save both the knight and the f7–pawn.;
35...¤h7? isn’t any better: 36.f3 £f5 37.£xf5 9-+p+-mkp+0
gxf5 (37...exf5 38.e6! fxe6 39.¤xe6+ ¢f6 9+-zPp+psNp0
40.¤d8 wins the pawn on c6.) 38.¤h3 with 9-+-zP-+-zP0
the idea of ¤f4, tying down Black to the
defence of the h5–pawn and then the white 9+-+-mK-zP-0
king will go to the queenside. 9-+-+-zP-+0
36.£xf5 The knight endgame looks very 9+-+-+-+-0
promising, so no surprise that Nakamura xiiiiiiiiy
406 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
 July 2020

Fabiano Caruana

Strangely enough, the decisive mistake. Ever since their match in London in 2018,
It’s difficult to understand the endgame, Caruana is Carlsen’s key opponent. In the
especially with little time in a rapid game. next game Carlsen is outplayed straight
out of the opening.
39...¢e7 was the only move - Black is waiting
for White to move the knight so his own knight Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen
can come to e6. 40.¤f3 ¤e6 41.¤e5 f4+! the
tactical justification. This is very unlikely to Clutch Chess Showdown Int lichess.org INT (3.9)
be seen and played and the fact that this was
Black’s only path to draw indicates how difficult 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 e5
the endgame was for Black from the very start. XIIIIIIIIY
42.gxf4 ¤g7 43.¤xc6+ ¢e6 Black is two 9r+lwqkvlntr0
pawns down now, but after ...¤f5–h4 he will
have counterplay based on the passed h-pawn. 9zpp+p+pzpp0
9-+n+-+-+0
40.¤f3 Now the white knight lands on e5
(supported by f4) and White is winning. 9+Lzp-zp-+-0
9-+-+P+-+0
40...¢e6 41.¤e1 ¤b8 42.¤d3 ¢f6 43.f4 9+-+-+N+-0
¤d7 44.¤e5 ¤f8 44...¤b8 45.¢d3 and
the king marches to b7. 9PzPPzP-zPPzP0
9tRNvLQmK-+R0
45.¤xc6 ¢e6 46.¤e5 White is a pawn up and
is still dominating. The rest is straightforward. xiiiiiiiiy
A rare line Carlsen switched to after losing
46...¢e7 47.¢d3 ¢d8 48.¢c3 ¢c7 with the more usual 3...e6.
49.¤d3 ¤d7 50.¤b4 ¤f6 51.¢b3 ¢b7
52.¢a4 ¤e4 53.¤xd5 ¤xg3 54.¢b5 ¤e4 4.0–0 ¥d6 5.c3 a6 6.¥a4 b5 7.¥c2 ¤ge7
55.c6+ ¢c8 56.¢b6 ¤d6 57.¤e7+ 8.d3

1–0

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XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lwqk+-tr0 Overconfidence
9+-+psnpzpp0 I am not sure whether to call this reason
9p+nvl-+-+0 overconfidence or disrespect; perhaps it’s
9+pzp-zp-+-0 a mixture of both. Sometimes it appears
that Carlsen is overtaken by a strong desire
9-+-+P+-+0 to do something outrageous, as if tired of
9+-zPP+N+-0 the constant need to play “correct” chess.
Whether this is intentional towards his
9PzPL+-zPPzP0 opponents, to show them that he can play
9tRNvLQ+RmK-0 literally anything against them is difficult
xiiiiiiiiy to say, though sometimes it appears it is.
The move 8.d4 is a more direct approach,
but since Carlsen entered here voluntarily The examples range from the use of the
and repeated the line, we can safely King’s Gambit against Ding Liren (which
conclude that Black is fine there. is quite a respectable attempt compared
to the rest!) to the move 3...h5 after 1.e4
8...0–0 In the next game Carlsen deviated c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5. Both these games
with 8...¤g6, immediately shutting off and the one against Svidler, that saw
White’s plan of ¤h4 from this game. He Carlsen with White play 1.c3 e5 2.c4 ¤f6
lost that game too. 3. ¤c3 ¥b4 4.h4, were mentioned in
the previous issue of the BCM. Another
9.¥e3 ¥b7 The move 9...¤g6 was again example, mentioned in the May issue of
preferable. BCM, was his incorrect pawn sacrifice on
move 5 in the Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3
10.¤h4! Now White develops strong d6 3.d4 cd 4.¤d4 ¤f6 5.¥c4. Still, when
initiative on the kingside. things get serious, whether the situation
or the opponent, Carlsen goes back to his
10...¦e8 11.¤d2 ¤g6 12.¤f5 ¥f8 13.£g4 professional self and plays openings in line
d6 14.h4 ¢h8 15.¥b3 with the requirements of the match.
XIIIIIIIIY As great as he may be, Carlsen is also
9r+-wqrvl-mk0 human so he loses games of chess from
9+l+-+pzpp0 time to time. That happens less frequently
than with the rest of us, but it still happens.
9p+nzp-+n+0 It happens more often with faster time
9+pzp-zpN+-0 controls, but even with those losses Carlsen
9-+-+P+QzP0 is still the best in the world, which he
doesn’t tire of demonstrating.
9+LzPPvL-+-0
9PzP-sN-zPP+0
9tR-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
White is practically winning here - all his
pieces are active and he is dominating
on the kingside. Neither player was very
precise in the remainder of the game, but
eventually Caruana won in 57 moves.

1–0

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 July 2020

By GM Aleksandar Colovic, www.alexcolovic.com

Ideas are in no short supply in the time issue) 11.5−6.5 and Aronian 12−6. Caruana
of corona. The latest one on how to make beat Dominguez 10.5−7.5 and So 9.5−8.5.
online chess even more exciting came
from the USA and their Grandmaster The last game of the match with So
Maurice Ashley, supported by the Saint came as a shock. It is supposed that in
Louis Chess Club. these online matches the players will
feel free to risk more, play unconfined
They called it “Clutch Chess”, the essence chess and give it all. Therefore in a last
of which is to give more weight in points game of the match where a win leads
to games 5 and 6 (at the end of the first to qualification to the final the world
day, worth 2 points each) and 11 and 12 (at expects a fight right down to bare kings.
the end of the match, worth 3 points each) This is usually how it happens, but not
in a 12−game match. A knock−out event at with Wesley So.
time control of 10 minutes + 5 seconds per
move was a modified version of Carlsen’s Fabiano Caruana - Wesley So
Invitationals.
Clutch Chess Showdown Int lichess.org INT (2.12)
There have been two Clutch tournaments XIIIIIIIIY
so far. The first one was an all−American
affair with Caruana, Nakamura, So and 9-+r+-+k+0
Dominguez playing it out for a hefty prize 9zp-trn+pzp-0
fund of $100,000. The second one was
an International, with Carlsen, Aronian,
9-zp-+psn-zp0
Grischuk, Vachier joining the locals 9+-+-+-+-0
Caruana, So, Dominguez and Xiong, for an 9q+PzP-+-+0
even heftier prize fund of $265,000.
9+R+-+N+P0
The Clutch USA was won by Wesley So, 9PvL-+QzPP+0
who, thanks to his wins in the clutch games
6 and 11, won the match against Caruana
9+-tR-+-mK-0
even though he actually lost 6.5−5.5. xiiiiiiiiy
Black has very good play against White’s
The International saw a dream final, a repeat hanging pawns. The position is comfortable
of the last World Championship match. On for him and gives him ground for optimism
his way to the final Carlsen beat Xiong (see in this must−win situation. What happens
one of the games he lost elsewhere in this next was difficult to predict.

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24.¦a3 £b4 25.¦b3 £a4 OK, So wants What to say about this decision? It is
to gain some time on the clock. particularly difficult to explain it in
online chess, when “it doesn’t really
26.¦a3 £b4 27.¦b3 £a4 No, So wants matter” and especially in a must-win
to draw and go home. situation – what do you have to lose?
Wasn’t the organiser’s idea to make chess
27...£a5 was also objectively better, as more exciting, to see games played until
the end, to see fights and tension and
28.¦a3 can be met with 28...£f5 with glorious efforts?
further ideas like ...(e8–d6 with excellent
play. So’s explanation was equally perplexing,
saying that he felt Caruana was the better
28.¦a3 player on that day and he didn’t feel
he should hope for more. So pocketed
½–½ $37,000 in prize money.

The final was all what the organisers

CLUTCH CHESS - FINAL STANDINGS were hoping for, except perhaps for
Total Clutch the final result. Caruana was within
Name Winnings Bonus a whisker of beating Carlsen in a 12-
game match after winning clutch game
1 Wesley So $40,000 $10,000 11 and taking the lead. Carlsen was in
a must-win situation in the last game
2 Fabiano Caruana $38,000 $18,000 and he reverted to the opening that
brought him the first win in their World
3 Hikaru Nakamura $12,000 $2,000 Championship tie-break.
4 Leinier Dominguez $10,000 $0
Total prize fund $100,000

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 July 2020

With sitting positions

like this one (at the 2019
Isle of Man Grand Swiss)
So maybe felt uncomfortable
and decided to go for a draw
against Caruana?!

Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana

Clutch Chess Showdown Int lichess.org INT (3.12)

1.c4 e5 2.¤c3 ¤f6 3.g3 ¥b4 4.e4 This is Caruana’s attempt at an improvement.
what Carlsen played in the first game of the
tie-break in London two years ago, but also In the first game of this match Caruana
in the first game of this match. tried 6...¦e8 and this was met by 7.¢f2!?
“the first line” as tweeted by Anish Giri.
4...¥xc3 Caruana varies his choice After checking myself, this is indeed the
compared to the game in London where he first line of Lc0, while in his game against
played 4...0–0, allowing 5.¤ge2. Aronian from the same tournament Carlsen
went with the first line of Stockfish, 7.(h3.
5.bxc3 Carlsen has also tried the other
recapture. In a game where he must win he 7.d4 But Carlsen is ready. Now both players
chooses the less frequent option. follow the moves suggested by the engines,
but eventually it turns out the Carlsen’s
5...0–0 6.f3 b5!? understanding that the position is easier to
XIIIIIIIIY play with White was the correct one.
9rsnlwq-trk+0 They called it “Clutch Chess”,
9zp-zpp+pzpp0 the essence of which is to
9-+-+-sn-+0 give more weight in points
9+p+-zp-+-0 to games 5 and 6 (at the
9-+P+P+-+0 end of the first day, worth
9+-zP-+PzP-0 2 points each) and 11 and
9P+-zP-+-zP0 12 (at the end of the match,
9tR-vLQmKLsNR0 worth 3 points each) in a 12-
xiiiiiiiiy game match
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7...exd4 8.cxd4 bxc4 9.e5 ¤d5 9...¦e8 is position and sensing it would be good to
an alternative, after 10.¢f2 ¤d5 11.¥xc4 be White here.
¤b6 12.¥b3 d6 13.f4 the character of the
game is similar to the game continuation. 13...dxe5 14.dxe5 ¤7b6 15.¥b3 £e7?
XIIIIIIIIY
10.¥xc4 ¥b7 11.¤h3 d6 12.0–0 ¤d7
13.¦e1 9r+-+-trk+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9zplzp-wqpzpp0
9r+-wq-trk+0 9-sn-+-+-+0
9zplzpn+pzpp0 9+-+nzP-+-0
9-+-zp-+-+0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+nzP-+-0 9+L+-+PzPN0
9-+LzP-+-+0 9P+-+-+-zP0
9+-+-+PzPN0 9tR-vLQtR-mK-0
9P+-+-+-zP0 xiiiiiiiiy
A move made on general grounds, but there
9tR-vLQtR-mK-0 was no time for that in this situation. To make
xiiiiiiiiy it worse for Caruana, after this single mistake
Black is undermining White’s centre, but in he’s lost and Carlsen elegantly demonstrates it.
the meantime White finished development
and with his pair of bishops and the 15...c5 was better, immediately trying to
position to be opened at any moment he create counterplay with ...c4.
has far easier play. The engines opine that
Black is fine here, but the human factor is 16.e6! Creating weaknesses in Black’s
definitely in White’s favour. This means camp. By forcefully obtaining the initiative
that Carlsen’s preparation was more on the kingside White renders all Black’s
profound, not looking only at the decimals light pieces unusable as they stay stranded
the engines show, but also feeling the on the other side of the board.

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16...fxe6 17.¤g5 ¦f6 18.£c2 ¦g6 18...g6 The rest is easy. It’s not so much about
19.¥b2 wins material as the rook cannot the material advantage White has, but
move from f6 and leave the e6–pawn the strength of the bishops keep White’s
unprotected. attack going.

19.¦xe6! Crashing through in style. 21...¦ae8 22.¥d4 ¢h8 23.£f5 ¥c8

24.£h5 c5 25.¥xc5 ¦e5 26.£f7 ¥h3
19...£xe6 Taking with the rook on e6 leads 27.¥f8 ¦e1+ 28.¦xe1 ¦xe1+ 29.¢f2
to mate, while moving the queen 19...£d7 ¦f1+ 30.¢e2 ¤c3+ 31.¢d3
20.¦xg6 hxg6 21.£xg6 only postpones it.
1–0
20.¤xe6 ¦xe6 21.¥b2
XIIIIIIIIY A crushing win in a must-win situation
9r+-+-+k+0 against his last challenger must have felt
9zplzp-+-zpp0 good for Carlsen.
9-sn-+r+-+0 One more time the World Champion
9+-+n+-+-0 showed that his clutch over the chess world
9-+-+-+-+0 isn’t going to be released any time soon.
9+L+-+PzP-0
9PvLQ+-+-zP0
9tR-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

CLUTCH CHESS INTERNATIONAL - FINAL STANDINGS

Regular Total Prize
Place Name Earningss Clutch Bonus Winnings
1 Magnus Carlsen $50,000 $25,000 $75,000
2 Fabiano Caruana $35,000 $21,000 $56,000
3-4 Wesley So $25,000 $12,000 $37,000
3-4 Levon Aronian $25,000 $6,000 $31,000
5-8 Alexander Grischuk $15,000 $4,000 $19,000
5-8 Jeffery Xiong $15,000 $2,000 $17,000
5-8 Leinier Dominguez $15,000 $0 $15,000
5-8 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave $15,000 $0 $15,000

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Earth vs. Space

th
50 -anniversary chess game

Sergey Karjakin for BCM:

Magnus Carlsen would make a
good astronaut – he’s already playing chess
in space! By BCM
Russian Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin played The game was organised by the Moscow
a game of chess against cosmonauts Anatoly Museum of Cosmonautics, the Russian
Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner on Tuesday 9th space agency Roscosmos and the Russian
June to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chess Federation.
1st ever Space-Earth game.
- It was the most extraordinary game
The cosmonauts were 420km above for me, even more exciting than the
the Earth on the International Space Championship Match in New York! I
Station, which recently welcomed NASA was surprised by how well prepared the
astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley cosmonauts were! And now I know that
and their SpaceX spacecraft. On Earth, the brain works as well in space as it does
Sergey played from the Moscow Museum on earth. It was an honour for me to be the
of Cosmonautics. The event took place second chess player who participated in
exactly 50 years after the first game was such an interesting interplanetary game»,
played in 1970. says Karjakin.

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The game ended in a fast and sharp draw, S.K: Magnus Carlsen could become an
where almost all of the moves were astronaut. He is already playing chess "in
perfectly played. space" (nobody can’t beat him). Magnus is
also in excellent physical shape so I think
In a brief interview for BCM following it’s enough to be an astronaut.
the event, Karjakin shared his thoughts
about space and whether or not there is BCM: Would you like to travel to space or,
intelligent life out there. (Questions asked as a child, did you imagine of becoming
by Milan Dinic.) a cosmonaut?

British Chess Magazine: What was it like to S.K: I actually never thought about being
play against the cosmonauts? an astronaut but once my friends gave me
a wind tunnel flight where you feel like
Sergey Karyakin: The whole game was an you are in space. It was an interesting but
excitement for me! I was really nervous uncomfortable experience for me.
as it was my first experience. 400 km
away from the planet! I was playing the The world is so unpredictable
game and couldn’t believe it was real.
I admire Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan that you never know if there
Wagner. I can’t imagine how difficult any intelligent creatures in
it could be to stay in the middle of
nowhere and to play such a brilliant game! the universe. It’s huge, so I
think that Earth is not the
BCM: Becoming an astronaut requires a
strong body and mind. Which current top only live planet. The question
players do you think have the mental and is if other members of the
physical strength to become astronauts?
Do you? universe play chess or not!
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I watched the SpaceX launch, it was BCM: As the human race progresses
really impressive! The future is already technologically (including space travel), do you
here so maybe one day my flight to think chess should also transform (to include
space will be real too. I think that every new pieces or rules) or, should it remain as it is?
person in the world is interested in
exploring new entities. Especially when S. K: The traditional over-the-board version
you know that chess can exist there too! of the game has been around for more than a
thousand years and accompanied countless
BCM: Do you think there is intelligent life instances of human struggle. With progress,
somewhere in space? offline chess transformed to online.
During the pandemic online chess  has
S.K: The world is so unpredictable that exploded in popularity and provided much-
you never know if there any intelligent needed social connections for long-time
creatures in the universe. It’s huge, so players and newcomers alike. So as for now
I think that Earth is not the only live these two forms — offline and online —
planet. The question is if other members are enough. But I don’t exclude any more
of the universe play chess or not! options in future.

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Chess and Mathematics

Tour of
Knight
THE ETERNAL AND
EVERGREEN PUZZLE
By Awani Kumar, Lucknow, India
(Civil engineer, Indian Forest Service)
The knight, with its look and crooked move, has always been fascinating to chess players
as well as others. Unlike most chess pieces, its move has not changed for almost 1500 years
when chess was invented in India.
“The oldest of knight puzzles”, asserts
mathematics populariser M. Gardner, The challenge is to move a
“is the knight’s tour”. It is an old puzzle knight over an empty board
- over a millennium old − which has in such a way that it covers
attracted, enchanted, motivated, amused
and bemused innumerable people. Great all the squares in successive
mathematicians like Leonhard Euler and jumps, without visiting a
Abraham de Moivre have worked on it. It square twice
has unfathomable mysteries and continues
to throw up new results in spite of the voluminous literature produced over centuries.
No wonder British puzzlist H. E. Dudeney [1] said, “The knight is the irresponsible
low comedian of the chessboard.”
The challenge is to move a knight over an empty board in such a way that it covers all
the squares in successive jumps, without visiting a square twice. The knight’s tour is not
possible on a 4x4 board; the board being too small. There are 829740 knight tours on a
6x6 board and Figure 1 is an interesting example. Readers can check that it is a closed
(or reentrant tour), that is, starting and ending squares are connected by knight’s moves.
Moreover, it is a semi−magic tour having all the six rows (and two columns) sum up to 111.
There are 44 semi−magic - none magic − tours on 6x6 board. A magic tour has both the
rows and columns summing up to a fixed number called the ‘magic constant’.
A semi−magic tour has only rows or columns (but not both) summing up to the magic
constant. William Beverley, an English theatrical scene painter, was the first person to
construct a magic tour on a 8x8 board in 1848. It is shown in Figure 2. Here all the rows
and columns sum up to 260 but the two long diagonals add up to 210 and 282 respectively.
Using powerful computers and intelligent programming, an international team enumerated
all the 140 magic tours - none of them diagonally magic − on an 8x8 board in 2003.

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It is an old puzzle – over a millennium old, which has attracted,

enchanted, motivated, amused and bemused innumerable
people... It has unfathomable mysteries and continues
to throw up new results in spite of voluminous literature
produced over centuries
210
11 36 31 18 13 2 111 1 30 47 52 5 28 43 54 260
32 19 12 1 30 17 111 48 51 2 29 44 53 6 27 260
35 10 33 16 3 14 111 31 46 49 4 25 8 55 42 260
20 7 4 27 24 29 111 50 3 32 45 56 41 26 7 260
5 34 9 22 15 26 111 33 62 15 20 9 24 39 58 260
8 21 6 25 28 23 111 16 19 34 61 40 57 10 23 260
111 127 95 109 113 111 63 14 17 36 21 12 59 38 260
Fig.1. Semi-magic tour on a 6x6 board 18 35 64 13 60 37 22 11 260
260 260 260 260 260 260 260 260 282
Fig.2 . Magic tour on a 8x8 board (W. Beverley 1848)
The same year, the author discovered a diagonally magic tour on a 12x12 board, the
smallest board on which it is possible, and this is shown in Figure 3a. It has all the rows,
columns and two long diagonals adding up to 870. Only 4 such diagonally magic tours -
none of them closed, have been discovered on a 12x12 board up till now and readers are
requested to look for new ones. Figure 3b is its geometrical diagram obtained by joining
the consecutive knight moves.
870
1 70 107 112 5 66 103 116 9 64 99 118 870
108 111 2 69 104 115 6 65 100 117 10 63 870
71 106 109 4 113 102 67 8 61 98 119 12 870
110 3 72 105 68 7 114 101 120 11 62 97 870
73 142 35 40 77 140 17 60 93 122 13 58 870
36 39 74 141 32 41 92 121 16 59 96 123 870
143 34 37 76 139 78 51 18 129 94 57 14 870
38 75 144 33 42 31 130 91 52 15 124 95 870
81 136 29 44 79 138 19 50 89 128 21 56 870
28 45 80 137 30 43 90 131 20 53 88 125 870
135 82 47 26 133 84 49 24 127 86 55 22 870
46 27 134 83 48 25 132 85 54 23 126 87 870
870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870 870
Fig.3b. Geometrical diagram of
Fig.3a. Diagonally magic tour on a 12x12 board. Figure 3a
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A knight’s tour is possible on square boards of odd−numbered sides, that is, 5x5, 7x7 etc., but
there can’t be a magic tour or even closed tour on such boards. The reason is that the knight
jumps alternately between light and dark colour squares. So if one of the squares is even then the
next has to be odd. So, the rows (and columns) will have odd and even sum alternately. Based on
similar logic, readers can easily visualise that there cannot be a tour which starts at one corner
and finishes at the diagonally opposite corner on a board with even sides. Magic tours have been
constructed on 8x8 or 12x12 boards (and such larger boards) but they don’t exist on other even−
numbered boards, which are 6x6, 10x10, 14x14 etc. Jelliss [2], the greatest and indefatigable
compiler of knight’s tour literature, has proved that a magic tour is not possible on rectangular
boards with other even−numbered sides. The nearest the author could get on a 10x10 board has 15
magic lines (out of 20) as shown in Figure 4. Readers may like to improve upon it.

A conventional chessboard is of 8x8 size and we, the lesser mortals, find it unfathomable
even today. But J. R. Capablanca, the world chess champion from 1921 to 1927 and one of
the greatest players of all time, suggested chess on a 8x10 board. He passed away in 1942,
nearly 80 years ago. To commemorate him, the author has constructed 10 magic tours on a
8x10 board and dedicates the tours shown in Figure 5 to him. Readers can see that 8 rows
(out of 10) are identical. Such magic tours, like ‘twins’, are very rare. The author has also
discovered magic tours on 4x18, 4x20, 4x22, 6x12, 6x16, 6x20 and such rectangular boards.
2 9 94 97 52 43 46 61 64 37 505 Fig.4. Semi-magic tour on 10x10 board
95 98 1 8 45 60 53 36 47 62 505 (having 15 magic lines)
10 3 96 93 42 51 44 63 38 65 505
99 92 7 4 57 54 59 50 35 48 505
6 11 100 85 68 41 56 33 66 39 505
91 86 5 20 55 58 67 40 49 34 505
12 19 84 87 28 69 26 75 32 73 505
83 90 13 16 21 80 29 72 25 76 505
18 15 88 81 70 27 78 23 74 31 505
Fig.5. Magic tours of knight on 8x10 board
89 82 17 14 79 22 71 30 77 24 505 (Dedicated to J. R. Capablanca,
505 505 505 505 517 505 529 483 507 489 the 3rd world champion)
25 22 57 54 7 4 79 76 324 25 22 57 54 7 4 79 76 324
56 53 26 23 78 75 8 5 324 56 53 26 23 78 75 8 5 324
21 24 55 58 3 6 77 80 324 21 24 55 58 3 6 77 80 324
52 59 30 27 74 71 2 9 324 52 59 30 27 74 71 2 9 324
29 20 51 70 31 10 41 72 324 29 20 51 70 31 10 41 72 324
60 69 28 11 50 73 32 1 324 60 69 28 11 50 73 32 1 324
19 12 61 68 33 40 49 42 324 19 12 61 68 33 40 49 42 324
62 65 16 13 48 45 36 39 324 64 67 18 15 46 43 34 37 324
15 18 67 64 37 34 43 46 324 13 16 65 62 39 36 45 48 324
66 63 14 17 44 47 38 35 324 66 63 14 17 44 47 38 35 324
405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405 405

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Studies in knight’s tours were confined on two−dimensional boards till A. T.

Vandermonde, a mathematician, musician and chemist extended it, into a 4x4x4
cube in 1771. Readers can visualize it by stacking 4x4 boards as shown in Figure
6 with the possible knight moves. Figure 7 is a magic tour in a 4x4x4 cube with
all the rows, columns and pillars summing up to 130. There are 108 magic tours
in a 4x4x4 cube. It can also be extended to larger cuboids and the author has
compiled over 600 magic tours in a 4x4x6 cuboid. The author has also constructed
magic tours in 8x8x8 and 12x12x12 cube but one in 6x6x6 has remained elusive.
The best, as shown in Figure 8, has 100 magic lines (out of 108) and the readers
are requested to improve upon it. The author conjectures that magic tour in cubes
(and cuboids) with singly−even number sides is not possible in three (and higher)
dimensions. Yes, the author has further extended magic tours of knight into the 4 th
and 5 th dimensions but that will be another story!

Fig.6. Possible knight’s moves in a 4x4x4 cube

1 20 47 62 48 61 2 19 29 16 51 34 52 33 30 15
28 9 54 39 53 40 27 10 8 21 42 59 41 60 7 22
45 64 3 18 4 17 46 63 49 36 31 14 32 13 50 35
56 37 26 11 25 12 55 38 44 57 6 23 5 24 43 58

Fig.7. Magic tour of knight in a 4x4x4 cube

(all rows, columns, pillars and four space diagonals equal 130)

Another interesting field is that of ‘Figured

Tour’ of the knight, the term coined by For most enthusiasts, the
English chess problemist and ‘father of Fairy knight’s tour puzzle is a
Chess’, T. R. Dawson, in 1944. According mathematical recreation
to G. P. Jelliss, “The name ‘figured tour’ is
appropriate for any numbered tour in which having an aesthetic appeal.
certain arithmetically−related numbers are It also helps in visualization
arranged in a geometrical pattern ….” Figure and imagination
9 shows square numbers as a knight’s path,
forming polygons with the smallest and largest areas. Figure 10 shows knight tour with
square numbers in ‘antelope’ {3,4} and {2,5} leaper path. Figure 11 shows knight tour
with square numbers in ‘zebra’ {2,3} and ‘giraffe’ {1,4} path. Readers can look up new
ones on boards of various sizes and dimensions - the sky is the limit for ‘Figured tours’.

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 July 2020

65 152 123 96 101 114 651 144 73 100 119 110 105 651
70 147 134 81 92 127 651 155 62 77 138 131 88 651
143 74 93 122 115 104 651 66 151 118 97 108 111 651
156 61 84 135 126 89 651 69 148 139 80 85 130 651
43 176 157 178 47 50 651 162 53 48 51 158 179 651
174 41 60 39 170 167 651 55 164 169 166 59 38 651
651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651
Layer 1 Layer 2
153 64 133 82 91 128 651 72 145 78 137 132 87 651
68 149 124 95 102 113 651 141 76 99 120 109 106 651
71 146 83 136 125 90 651 154 63 140 79 86 129 651
142 75 94 121 116 103 651 67 150 117 98 107 112 651
175 44 177 160 49 46 651 54 161 52 45 180 159 651
42 173 40 57 168 171 651 163 56 165 172 37 58 651
651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651 651
Layer 3 Layer 4
207 194 9 22 31 188 651 10 23 208 195 186 29 651
8 21 26 189 192 215 651 209 196 191 28 25 2 651
11 16 193 216 185 30 651 206 201 24 1 32 187 651
210 197 190 15 36 3 651 7 20 27 202 181 214 651
17 12 199 204 33 14 479 200 205 18 13 184 203 823
198 211 34 5 182 213 843 19 6 183 212 35 4 459
651 651 651 651 659 663 651 651 651 651 643 639
Layer 5 Layer 6
Fig.8. Almost magic knight tour in 6x6x6 cube
(nearest approach with 100 magic lines, non-magic lines in red)

17 6 19 28 15 8 21 10 27 12 15 8
26 29 16 7 20 35 28 3 22 9 26 13
5 18 27 36 9 14 23 20 11 14 7 16
30 25 4 13 34 21 2 29 4 25 32 35
1 12 23 32 3 10 19 24 31 34 17 6
24 31 2 11 22 33 30 1 18 5 36 33
a. Area of polygon = 3 units b. Area of polygon =7 units
Fig.9. Square numbers as a knight’s path forming polygons with
(a) smallest and (b) largest areas

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47 52 23 4 45 36 21 6 43 48 45 28 41 26 23 52
24 3 46 35 22 5 10 37 46 29 42 49 22 51 40 25
53 48 51 44 11 34 7 20 1 44 47 62 27 24 53 60
50 25 2 57 32 19 38 9 30 63 16 21 50 61 8 39
1 54 49 12 43 8 33 18 17 2 31 64 35 10 59 54
26 13 56 61 58 31 42 39 32 15 20 11 56 7 38 9
55 60 15 28 63 40 17 30 3 18 13 34 5 36 55 58
14 27 62 59 16 29 64 41 14 33 4 19 12 57 6 37
a. antelope {3,4} path b. {2,5} leaper path (nearest path)

Fig.10. Knight tour with square numbers in (a) antelope {3,4} and (b) {2,5} leaper path

3 14 25 22 1 12 5 12 35 28 25 14
26 23 2 13 32 21 36 27 4 13 34 29
7 4 15 24 11 36 3 6 11 26 15 24
16 27 6 33 20 31 10 21 8 17 30 33
5 8 29 18 35 10 7 2 19 32 23 16
28 17 34 9 30 19 20 9 22 1 18 31
a. zebra {1,4} path b. giraffe {1,4} path

Fig.11. Knight tour with square numbers in (a) zebra {2,3} and (b) giraffe {1,4} path.

Conclusion: Grandmaster George Koltanowski, a Guinness Book of Records holder in

blindfold chess and four times champion of Belgium, was an avid knight’s tour enthusiast
who could solve, blindfolded, three knight’s tour puzzles simultaneously! For most
enthusiasts, the knight’s tour puzzle is a mathematical recreation having an aesthetic
appeal. It also helps in visualisation and imagination.

The author has discovered just a few gems and readers are requested to mine more from
the vast and unfathomable ocean of the knight’s tour. In 2015, computer scientists found
its application in an image encryption scheme. In a mathematics journal, G. Ricard records
that “A great deal of research has gone into the knight’s tour puzzle”. Well, a lot remains
to be researched too.

References:

1. H. E. Dudney; Amusements in Mathematics, Dover 1958, pp. 101−103.

2. G.P. Jelliss; Knight’s Tour Notes, available at www.mayhematics.com.

Awani Kumar works for the Indian Forest Service. His works on the Knight’s
tour has earned him place in the Limca Book of Records. He can be contacted at
[email protected].

422 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

You may no longer be able to read Ray Keene

in The Times and The Spectator, but you can
now follow his writing weekly in The Article
(thearticle.com) and in The BCM.

RECURRING THEMES
By GM Ray Keene OBE
Checking my past games for inclusion in this column, I came across a curious phenomenon:
I seem to have won no fewer than five games against other players who have won the
British Championship in which I reduced my opponent to paralysis. Not quite on the same
epic scale as Nimzowitsch’s win against Saemisch (The Immortal Zugzwang Game) or
Nimzowitsch’s equally spectacular loss against Alekhine from San Remo 1930. However,
paralysis formed a significant theme in all cases.

My victims included Bob Wade, Len Barden and George Botterill, all of whom simply
ran out of useful moves, but the most spectacular were two wins against ten times British
Champion Jonathan Penrose where, coincidentally, I succeeded in establishing a white
knight on e6 which led to complete strangulation of Black’s prospects.

10...¤c5 I also used to play this position as

Raymond Keene - Jonathan Penrose Black and I invariably selected ....c5 and then
Cambridgeshire - Essex match, 1970 steered for ...f5 with the centre firmly locked
down, to adopt the fashionable modern term.
Kings Indian Defence
11.¦e1 After 11 ¦e1 White has set up an
1.d4 At that time Penrose was known to ideal situation from which to put a typical
be a devotee of the King’s Indian Defence anti-King’s Indian light square strategy into
and I was most interested in testing out my operation: first of all White creates threats
favourite g3 line against him. to expand on the queenside and seize
control of the vital squares c4 and b5; then
1...¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤f3 ¥g7 4.g3 0–0 White transfers his knights to these squares
5.¥g2 d6 Dr. Penrose had suffered several to attack the weak d6 point; eventually
reversals with this defence at Palma de Black will be obliged to play ...f7–f5 in
Mallorca 1969 just a few months before order to work up some counterplay, but
this game. after that White can switch his pieces to the
kingside and begin exploiting the newly-
6.¤c3 ¤bd7 7.0–0 e5 8.e4 c6 9.h3 £b6 created weaknesses on this front.
10.d5 Closing the centre is the most solid
choice. 10 Re1 exposes White’s centre 11...¥d7 12.¦b1 cxd5 Black cannot
to some dangers and these appeared maintain the central tension indefinitely. A
dramatically in Botvinnik - Geller, Belgrade time will come when White can capture on
1969: 10 ¦e1 exd4 11 ¤xd4 ¦e8 12 ¦e2 c6. Furthermore, Black must use the open
¤g4 13 ¤c2 ¤ge5 14 ¤e3 ¤c5 and now c-file to hinder White’s intended b2–b4.
the Red Czar of the Soviet Chess Imperium
fell into the self-created trap 15 b3? when 13.cxd5 a5 14.¥f1 ¦fc8 15.¥e3 £d8 In an
15... ¥xh3! demolished White’s position. earlier game of mine in this variation : Keene

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- Perkins, Cambridge University v. London

University, 1969, the less flexible 15...Ne8
was played, and after 16 ¤d2 f5 17 exf5
gxf5 18 ¤c4 £d8 19 a4 e4 20 ¤b5 ¥xb5
21 axb5 b6 22 £h5! Black experienced the
severe consequences of White’s switch of
front and could no longer defend his f-pawn.

16.¤d2 ¤e8 It might be better to play 16...

a4 which at least retains a modicum of light
square influence.

17.a4 f5 18.¤c4 Now the crisis has been reached

and Black must take a decision; the move played
leads to disaster, but if Black temporises with Jonathan Penrose at the 
...b7–b6, ...¦ab8, ...¢h8 etc. White will capture Chess Olympiad in Leipzig, 1960
on f5, weakening Black’s king’s position,
and then follow up with ¤b5 and a felicitous
blend of b2–b4 and f2–f4, undermining Black’s the close of this manoeuvre White has
structure in all sectors of the board. a technically won position, with the
traditional ‘good’ light-squared knight
XIIIIIIIIY versus the ‘bad’ dark-squared bishop.
9r+rwqn+k+0
9+p+l+-vlp0 22...¦xd7 23.¥b5 Also tempting was 23
h4 followed by ¥h3 and ¤g5. The text is
9-+-zp-+p+0 more forcing and thematic.
9zp-snPzpp+-0
23...¦e7 24.¥xe8 ¦xe8 25.b4 axb4 After
9P+N+P+-+0 25...b6 the most accurate reply is probably
9+-sN-vL-zPP0 26 ¦c1, although both 26 b5 and 26 £d2
9-zP-+-zP-+0 come into consideration.
9+R+QtRLmK-0 26.¦xb4 Black is hopelessly lost: he has
xiiiiiiiiy too many weaknesses and his minor piece
18...fxe4 18...f4 is both desperate and is useless.
unsuccessful; after 19 gxf4 £h4 White’s XIIIIIIIIY
safest course is 20 £f3, defending on the
kingside and maintaining lethal threats 9-tr-wqr+k+0
on the opposite wing. However, after the 9+p+-+-vlp0
capture in the text White seizes absolute 9-+-zp-+p+0
domination of the light squares.
9+-+Pzp-+-0
19.¥xc5 ¦xc5 20.¤xe4 ¦c7 21.¤b6 Not 21 9PtR-+N+-+0
¤cxd6 ¤xd6 22 ¤xd6 ¥xa4! with equality.
This tactical trick was probably what the ten 9+-+-+-zPP0
times British champion had been anticipating. 9-+-+-zP-+0
21...¦b8 22.¤xd7 White now exchanges
9+-+QtR-mK-0
his active minor pieces for Black’s xiiiiiiiiy
inactive ones, which have some potential 26...¦e7 27.£b3 ¦d7 28.¦b6 £e7
to develop some future activity. At 29.¦b1 The most effective course.

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29...¦a8 White threatened a5–a6; something 2...¤c6 Timman - Adorjan, played at Wijk
had to be done about the inexorable advance aan Zee a few weeks before the present
of White’s a-pawn. encounter, took the following crazy
course: 2...¤f6 3 ¥b2 d5 4 cxd5 ¤xd5
30.¦xb7 ¦xb7 31.£xb7 £xb7 32.¦xb7 5 ¤f3 ¤c6 6 a3 f6 7 e3 e5 8 £c2 ¥e6
¦xa4 33.¦b8+ ¥f8 Or 33...¢f7 34 9 ¥d3 g6 10 h4 ¥g7 11 ¤c3 ¤xc3 12
¤xd6+ ¢e7 35 ¤b5. ¥xc3¦c8 13 h5 ¤d4 14 exd4 cxd4 15
hxg6 dxc3 16 dxc3 and White won. I was
34.¤g5 ¦a7 35.¤e6 ¦f7 quite prepared to copy that adventure, just
XIIIIIIIIY out of interest.
9-tR-+-vlk+0 3.¥b2 e5 This I do not like since it weakens
9+-+-+r+p0 d5, but it is doubtless playable.
9-+-zpN+p+0 4.¤c3 g6 5.g3 ¥g7 6.¥g2 ¤ge7 7.d3 0–0
9+-+Pzp-+-0 8.e3 d6 9.¤ge2 ¥f5
9-+-+-+-+0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+-+-+-zPP0 9r+-wq-trk+0
9-+-+-zP-+0 9zpp+-snpvlp0
9+-+-+-mK-0 9-+nzp-+p+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+-zp-zpl+-0
With White’s Knight on e6 pinning Black 9-+P+-+-+0
down , Black is absolutely paralysed.
9+PsNPzP-zP-0
36.¢f1 ¦f6 37.¢e2 ¦f7 38.¦d8 ¦f6 39.¢e3 9PvL-+NzPLzP0
¦f7 40.f3 ¦f6 41.¢e4 h5 42.h4 ¦f7 43.¢e3 !
A waiting move allowing Black to experience 9tR-+QmK-+R0
the full horror of his situation. Black took the xiiiiiiiiy
hint. White has two clear winning methods: a) 10.0–0 It is possible to defer this and try
¤xf8, ¦xd6, ¦e6, ¦xe5 with two extra pawns, for O-O-O, e.g. Larsen - Kavalek, Lugano
or b) f3–f4 followed by a king march to c6 and 1970:1 b3 c5 2 ¥b2 ¤c6 3 c4 e5 4 g3 d6
liquidation to a won king and pawn ending. 5 ¥g2 ¤ge7 6 e3 g6 7 ¤e2 ¥g7 8 ¤bc3
O-O 9 d3 ¥e6 10 ¤d5 £d7 11 h4 f5 12
1–0 £d2 ¦ae8 13 h5 b5; although Larsen
won this game, the plan of O-O-O and
h2–h4 has never struck me as particularly
Raymond Keene - Jonathan Penrose convincing. Indeed, after the further
moves 14 hxg6 hxg6 15 ¤ec3 bxc4 16
Cambridge v Essex 1974 English Opening dxc4 e4 17 0-0-0 ¤e5 18 ¤f4 ¦d8 19
¢b1, Kavalek could have won with
1.c4 19...¥xc4 20 bxc4 ¤xc4 21 £e2 ¤xb2
22 ¢xb2 £a4! when Larsen would have
Trying a different first move. been demolished.

1...c5 2.b3 10...£d7 11.¤d5 ¤xd5 Or 11...¥h3

12 ¥xh3 £xh3 13 ¤ec3 f5 14 f4
This had become briefly fashionable after with some advantage, since White has
games by Karpov and Petrosian from San established control of d5 and the light
Antonio 1972. squares in general.

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12.cxd5 ¤e7 13.e4 Naturally I wanted 24.fxg6+ fxg6 25.¥xh6 ¢xh6 26.£d2+
to encourage the exchange of light- ¢g7 27.¤g5 ¦xf1 28.¦xf1 ¤f6 Offering
squared bishops. the exchange to slow down White’s attack.
If 28...¤f8 29 ¤f7 £e7 30 £h6+ ¢g8 31
13...¥h3 14.£d2 ¦ae8 15.¦ae1 h5 £h8 mate.

16.f4 b6? 29.£f2 Much stronger than the capture of

the exchange, although that probably wins
17.¥c3 ¢h7 ? Black’s last two slow, too. Black’s moves are now forced.
consolidating moves were just the sort of
reaction for which I had hoped. Now White 29...£e7 As in the previous game against
gets a really tangible plus - in fact, Black’s Penrose, Black is now utterly paralysed.
game fell apart with an ease that quite A giant white knight established on e6 is
surprised me. a curious feature of both games! If now
29...¤xd5 30 £f7+ ¢h6 31 £h7+ ¢xg5
18.£b2 ! Putting the finger on Black’s 32 h4+ ¢g4 33 £xg6+ mates, while
weakness - his e-pawn. Perhaps he should 29...¤g4 meets the same fate.
try 18...f6 but this is clearly unattractive;
White could then even consider doubling 30.¤e6+ ¢f7 31.h3 ¦g8 32.g4 hxg4
rooks on the f-file and sacrificing the 32...g5 33 £f5 wins.
exchange after f4–f5. XIIIIIIIIY
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-+-+r+0
9-+-+rtr-+0 9zp-+-wqk+-0
9zp-+qsnpvlk0 9-zp-zpNsnp+0
9-zp-zp-+p+0 9+-zpPzp-+-0
9+-zpPzp-+p0 9-+-+P+p+0
9-+-+PzP-+0 9+P+P+-+P0
9+PvLP+-zPl0 9P+-+-wQK+0
9PwQ-+N+LzP0 9+-+-+R+-0
9+-+-tRRmK-0 xiiiiiiiiy
xiiiiiiiiy White’s attack runs like clockwork.
18...¤g8 19.f5 ¥xg2 20.¢xg2 ¥h6
21.¤g1 ¤f6 22.¥d2 There is nothing
odd about this exchange of Black’s ’bad’ 33.hxg4 g5 34.£f5 ¦g6 35.¦h1 £e8
bishop. I required g5 for my knight and 36.¦h7+ ¢g8 37.¦xa7 ¢h8.
there is no other way of achieving this.
38 ¦a8! £xa8 39 £xg6 wins on the spot.
22...£d8 I expected 22...¥xd2 23 £xd2
¢g7 when either 24 h3 (followed by g3– 1–0
g4) or 24 ¤f3 ¤h7 25 ¤h4 would be a
promising continuation. The similarity between these two games
is quite remarkable. The odds against
23.¤f3 ¤d7 Allowing a forced winning defeating the same opponent the same way
variation, but alternatives are not palatable: must be astronomical, especially given the
23...gxf5 24 ¤g5+ or 23...¤g8 24 fxg6+ different openings.
fxg6 25 £c1! and White is bound to
establish his knight on g5.

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 July 2020

FUSION: A REVIEW OF
"DUCHAMP'S PIPE: MARCEL DUCHAMP AND
GEORGE KOLTANOWSKI, A CHESS ROMANCE",
By CELIA RABINOVITCH, NORTH ATLANTIC BOOKS, 2020

THE SURREALIST AND THE DIAMOND CUTTER

AND THE FUSION OF ART AND CHESS
By Peter O'Brien, Brussels
Present day New York has been described The Canadian artist and cultural historian,
as “the last European city”, meaning the Celia Rabinovitch (not herself a chess
place which embodies the pattern that player), has now turned the spotlight onto
characterized Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and a particularly intriguing example of fusion,
London in the period from about 1850 till
the 1930s. Those were the cities where MARCEL DUCHAMP WAS NOT
the intermingling of gifted characters of
every origin and from all walks of life was ONLY ONE OF THE LEADING
the norm, and where the many fusions FIGURES IN THE ART WORLD,
were richly creative and not destructive.
They were also, along with St Petersburg BUT ALSO A CHESS PLAYER
and some other centres, the places which ("CHESS IS MY DRUG") AND
together constituted the chess equivalent
of the artists’ Grand Tour in the post-
AUTHOR OF CONSIDERABLE
Napoleonic decades. TALENT
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 427
07/140

and at multiple levels. Drawing on her

deep knowledge of the art world, she has
succeeded in giving us a splendid insight
into what the game can inspire in gifted
individuals better known in other fields.
Marcel Duchamp was not only one of the
leading figures in the art world, but also
a chess player (“Chess is my drug”) and
author of considerable talent. Born towards
the end of the nineteenth century into a well-
established family in Normandy, he rapidly
became part of the effervescent artistic
scene of Paris prior to the 1914-1918 war.
His first painting (1910) was called “The
Chess Players”, and he already developed
his ideas of the players as being joined yet
separated across a kind of “X”. Canvases
of Duchamp illustrating the chess theme
at that time bring immediate associations
with works by other great painters of that
epoch. From his formative years, Duchamp
was “fusing” art and chess. Post 1918, he
spent substantial spells in New York, where
his patrons included Peggy Guggenheim GEORGE KOLTANOWSKI.
and Walter Arensburg (who had been
captain of the chess team at Harvard – he his country. The roles of themselves and
and Duchamp played correspondence chess their teams in establishing FIDE was
for many years), as well as almost a year instrumental. They met again at the 1928
in Buenos Aires. In this period he produced Olympiad in The Hague, and in 1929
and collaborated in a number of artworks played a game in Paris, which Duchamp
using chess as leitmotiv and invented one won (to the chagrin of Koltanowski, who
of the first wallet style travelling chess sets kept the score of the game for the rest of his
(of which only a few were made). Nobody life). When Duchamp had first gone to New
could have been, at least superficially, York he had frequented Frank Marshall’s
more different than George Koltanowski. club. It was there that they met up again,
The son of an Antwerp diamond cutter, in in 1944. In the intervening years, however,
a family of Polish Jewish origin, he started chess had become an ever more significant
out following his father. But Koltanowski element in their lives. For Koltanowski, it
was determined to spend as much time was his life. He managed to survive through
on chess as possible, becoming Belgian combining his skills over the board with a
champion (against his great rival Colle) in blooming entrepreneurial talent (rarely
the early 1920s. absent in someone from the famous Flemish
seaport), later to come to full fruition in the
The surrealist and the diamond cutter USA. It was while he was on a chess tour
first met in Belgium in 1923, followed by in Guatemala en route to the Buenos Aires
the inaugural Chess Olympiad, in Paris Olympiad, that he received a telegram
in 1924, where each was representing announcing the outbreak of war and the

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 July 2020

cancellation of Belgium’s participation (the moves we did not make), the many
in that event. So he made his way to New geometries contained in the game.
York, where the initial circumstances led
to a return to diamond cutting. His whole It’s more than possible that much of this
family in Europe perished in concentration was lost on Koltanowski. In his - now
camps, so he had little reason to return. American - existence (he took citizenship,
married in 1946 and made his life there),
For Duchamp, chess inspired and chess- this showman of the board had to create
related themes appeared in a fair part ways to make money from the game. And
of his works during the 1930s. Already so he did. What he called his “phonographic
at the beginning of the 1920s he had memory”, meaning that he did not visualise
published with Halberstadt the booklet games in his mind but rather “hear them”,
on “Les Cases Conjuguees” and was led him to focus on blindfold simultaneous
fascinated by the silent symmetries of the displays. These were a tremendous
64 squares. In chess terms, this was the success. As Rabinovitch points out, such
heyday of the hypermodern movement, demonstrations of powers that seemed to
where concepts close to many present border on the occult drew large audiences
in the artistic world were of people who often
revolutionising strategic knew little about chess.
thinking. On return to Koltanowski likewise
New York, he met up gave public performances
with Koltanowski at the of “the Knight’s Tour”,
Marshall club. It was embellished with publicity
when they started playing stunts such as asking
there that Duchamp made the audience to call out
his gift. The pipe, with its numbers for each square,
echoes of the remarkable memorizing them, and
painting (“Ceci n’est pas then calling them out as the
Une Pipe”) by Magritte DUCHAMP'S PIPE horse continued prancing.
(another Belgian) was The American image of the
unusual, to say the least. Made of game was being transformed from that of
briarwood, chunky and probably not that a pursuit where Europeans from well to do
easy to inhale from, it emphasises solidity, families played inside stuffy, smoke-filled
tradition, craftsmanship of the everyday coffee houses and spent hours reflecting,
object (as pipes were at that time). It is to that of an “open access” business where
replete with associations. Surrealism the public could get involved and share
as an art movement drew heavily on some excitement. At the same time, the
ancient traditions and customs, and its redoubtable Koltanowski persuaded the
representations conveyed ideas and ideals “San Francisco Chronicle” to publish a
to be found in them. The notion of the pipe weekly column on chess (which ran for 52
and its ceremonial smoking as a symbol years), and conducted countless training
for peace is widely known. Duchamp, sessions for people to learn the game.
in talking about his performances on the Ever ready to use the media, he also made
chessboard, emphasised that, for him, radio broadcasts. He was confident that
the result was not so important (this is scientific progress would not threaten his
not war). He was instead concerned with activities. After giving a blindfold display
the symmetries, the unheard harmonies in 1960, he told an interviewer “Electronic

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DUCHAMP GLASS CHESSBOARD, ARNOLD ROSENBERG 1958

computers don’t know a damn thing about THE PRESENT CENTURY HAS
chess. I’ve played ‘em and beat ‘em.”
SEEN THE GAME GO RIGHT
The present century has seen the game DOWN THE KOLTANOWSKI
go right down the Koltanowski avenue.
From sponsorship on an important scale, AVENUE. FROM SPONSORSHIP
the great success of open tournaments, ON AN IMPORTANT SCALE,
introducing numerous formulae for speeding
up play, creation of a “Grand Tour” of elite THE GREAT SUCCESS OF OPEN
tournaments, through to Magnus’ personal TOURNAMENTS, INTRODUCING
and highly successful endeavours to leverage
NUMEROUS FORMULAE FOR
his fame and find funding for the COVID
online existence where we are right now, SPEEDING UP PLAY

430 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

entrepreneurship is where the action is. The THE ENDURING POWER OF

popularity of the game is almost certainly at
an all-time high, however measured. Indeed, CHESS REALLY COMES FROM
a Chinese American venture capitalist, with THE RANGE OF THINGS IN LIFE
an eye to revenue earning opportunities in
the COVID era, recently claimed there was WHICH IT INSPIRES
a potential market of around 600 million
players globally.
An age old question about chess has been
Yet it would be wrong to think that it’s to ask whether it is a science or an art.
only the Koltanowski side of the board that Koltanowski’s quip of six decades ago has
has had an enduring influence. Duchamp of course been buried by Alpha Zero (a
likewise has had more than a word to say. very short appendix in the book refers to
His attraction to the game stemmed from his this). The Belgian himself, though, as ever
conviction that it offered countless avenues moved with the times. Mark Crowther tells
for art to explore. Films, photos, posters, me that, soon after starting his invaluable
even sculptures, created by Duchamp TWIC a quarter century ago, Koltanowski
himself and/or with other innovators (works sent him a congratulatory note,
by Dali, Man Ray, Di Chirico, to name accompanied by a signed photo. The recent
but a few, are just some of the splendid trends might seem to indicate that science,
collection of plates and reproductions in the in its computer embodiment, has decisively
book), testify to the inspiration that chess answered the question in its own favour.
gave to the artist. But we can see his role Yet Celia Rabinovitch’s deeply researched
as an influencer in plenty of ways. World and multi-faceted book suggests something
championship matches, major tournaments, else. It is that the question itself sells the
Olympiads, all (at least prior to COVID) game short. The enduring power of chess
are unfailingly preceded by artistic displays really comes from the range of things in life
where the game is the source for the which it inspires. As Rabinovitch, who has
choreography. Outstanding portrait photos also written persuasively on Surrealism
by David Llada invite us to literally look and the Sacred, might put it, the board
more deeply into the faces of many fine appeals to the spirits and the spirit. Therein
players and speculate what we can learn lies the gift.
from their expressions in front of the camera.
(In the portrait of Koltnaowski reproduced
here, notice that his ring is a chessboard
– George never missed an opportunity).
And, if we go back a few decades, the
irrepressible Spaniard Fernando Arrabal
arrived in Italy to be present at the Korchnoi
and Karpov 1981 match in Merano, where
he ensured that surrealism was the third
player. Arrabal, who since the mid 1950s
has made his home in Paris, was indeed
closely linked with the French artists. At
one stage, he was elected by them to the
honorary role of “Transcendent Satrape”, a
post which Duchamp himself had occupied.

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Problem
World
by Christopher Jones
[email protected]
Grandmaster of Chess Composition
Solutions are given on page 446

1
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-tr0
9vl-zp-tRN+-0
9K+k+-+-+0
9+-+-tr-+-0
9-+-+P+-+0
2
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-wQ-+-+0
9zpp+p+p+-0
9-+-+L+-+0
9+-+p+-+n0
9-zP-mk-+p+0
9+-+P+-+-0
9-+-mK-+-+0
9+N+-vLL+-0 9+-+ntR-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

3 4
John Rice (Surbiton) Kabe Moen (USA)
Mate in 2 Mate in 2
Original ORIGINAL
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+K+0 9-snK+-+-+0
9+-vl-+-wQ-0 9+Rzp-+-+-0
9-+-+p+p+0 9q+p+-+pzp0
9+-+-+-+-0 9sn-zp-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0 9-+p+-+R+0
9+-+-+-wqk0 9+pzP-+ksN-0
9-+-+-+r+0 9-zP-+lzp-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
Barry Barnes (Rochester) Abdelaziz Onkoud (France)
Helpmate in 2 (b)Pg6>h4 Helpmate in 3 − 2 solutions
ORIGINAL ORIGINAL

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 July 2020

Openings
for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro, [email protected]

The Theory of the Fork Trick (Part I)

Robert Fischer - David Ames [C55]
US Junior Championship, 1955
Tamburro, Peter

The idea of this column started off as a joke, 4...¤xe4 5.¥xf7+

as for the umpteenth time somebody on the
ICC allowed the fork trick so they could
XIIIIIIIIY
play ¥xf7+. It’s blitz, so you can’t be too 9r+lwqkvl-tr0
surprised. I kept running into variations of 9zppzpp+Lzpp0
it, and used to waste valuable time trying
to remember what the best move was. As 9-+n+-+-+0
you will see, I even tried it myself back in 9+-+-zp-+-0
the day in an OTB blitz tournament. Then,
when I found the Fischer game with the
9-+-+n+-+0
12-year-old boy genius playing it, I just 9+-sN-+N+-0
had to make this the feature game! One 9PzPPzP-zPPzP0
other little curiosity: when playing over the
game, I started to wonder whether the pre- 9tR-vLQmK-+R0
teen Fischer knew all the castling rules? xiiiiiiiiy
Anyhow, on with the fun! Adventurous types can try 5.0–0 ¤xc3
6.dxc3 f6 and an entry into the highly
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.¥c4 You complicated Boden-Kieseritsky, which is
can get here by means of the Vienna and more normally reached through the Petroff
Bishop’s Opening as well. with 3.¥c4 ¤xe4 4.¤c3 ¤xc3 5.dxc3.

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(Or Black can play safe by avoiding 6...f6

and going with 6...¥e7 7.£d5 0–0 8.¤xe5
¤xe5 9.£xe5 ¥f6 10.£e4); In Part II, we
will cover a line that has been played in
grandmaster chess: 5.¤xe4 d5

5...¢xf7 6.¤xe4 d5 7.¤eg5+ In a 1972

blitz tournament after the club championship
which I had won, I was in a playful mood
and decided to have some fun with one of
my closest rivals, Bob Coughlin, a college
professor. He had some fun with me: 7.¤fg5+
¢g8 (Black can also survive and win with
7...¢e8 8.0–0 (8.£h5+ g6 9.£f3 ¥f5 10.g4
dxe4) 8...¥e7 9.£f3 ¥xg5 10.¤xg5 £xg5
11.d4 £f5) 8.£f3 £e7 (8...£d7!) 9.¤d6!?
Hoping for a swindle. 9...e4 (9...cxd6
10.£xd5+ ¥e6 11.£xe6+ £xe6 12.¤xe6
¥e7 13.¤c7 ¦c8 14.¤d5²; 9...£xd6
10.£f7#; More precise was 9...¤b4 10.¤df7 1981, went 12.¥e3 £f6 13.¤xd5 ¤xf3+
¤xc2+ 11.¢d1 ¤xa1 12.¤xh8 ¢xh8–+) 14.¢f1 cxd5 15.£xd5+ ¥e6 16.£xb7
10.£f7+ £xf7 11.¤dxf7 h6 12.¤xh8 hxg5 ¥c4# Hilarious!
13.¤g6 ¥d6 14.h4 ¥f5 15.h5 ¤d4 16.0–0
¤xc2 17.¦b1 d4 18.d3 e3 19.fxe3 ¥xd3 12...¤xf3+ 13.gxf3 ¥f5
20.¦d1 ¥e2 21.¦d2 ¥xh5 22.¦xc2 ¥xg6 XIIIIIIIIY
0–1; people have been recently trying 7.¤g3.
The first time I saw this, I remember thinking, 9r+-wq-vlktr0
“Do I pin, push the pawn or get my king back 9zpp+-+-zp-0
to g8?” Valuable time because I was pretty
sure it had something to do with e4 and h5, 9-+p+-+-zp0
but the square g4 looked a little dubious. 9+-+p+l+-0
Anyhow, the answer is 7...e4! 8.¤g1 h5 9-+-+-sN-+0
9.d4 (9.h4 ¥g4 10.¤1e2 (10.f3 exf3 11.¤xf3
¥d6 12.¤e2 ¦e8 13.¤g5+ ¢g8) 10...¥e7 9+-+-+P+P0
11.d3 ¥xh4 12.dxe4 ¥xg3 13.fxg3 ¦e8 9PzPP+-zP-+0
14.0–0+ ¢g8 15.£xd5+ £xd5 16.exd5
¥xe2 17.dxc6 ¥xf1 18.¢xf1 ¦e6 19.cxb7 9tR-vLQmK-+R0
¦f8+ 20.¢g1 ¦e1+) 9...exd3 10.£xd3 ¤b4 xiiiiiiiiy
11.£d1 £e7+ 12.¤1e2 h4 13.¤f1 £e4µ. Fischer’s opponent has been giving
the 12-year-old a lesson and has a nice
7...¢g8 8.d4 h6! Anything else tends advantage with the two bishops and a better
toward equality. pawn structure. Don’t forget: Fischer was to
play The Game of the Century the next year!
9.¤h3 ¥g4 Yes, you can play the
obvious 9...¥xh3 10.gxh3 exd4 11.¤xd4 14.¥e3 ¥b4+!? This entices White’s
£f6 12.¤xc6 bxc6 but the move chosen reply. Also good is 14...£f6.
by Fischer’s opponent is best. Increase
the pressure. 15.c3 ¥a5 Better is 15...¥d6 16.¤xd5
¢h7 17.¤f4 £e7.
10.dxe5 ¤xe5 11.¤f4 c6 12.h3 A game,
Moran-L.M. Bronstein, Buenos Aires, 16.¦g1 £e8?

434 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

19.£b3! Very alert. The queen exchange

would not be good for Black.

19...¥c7 19...£xb3 20.axb3 ¥b6 21.¤g6

¥xg6 22.¦xg6 ¢h7 23.¦d6².

20.£xf7+ 20.¤h5 ¥e5 21.f4 ¥e6 22.£d1 ¥f6.

20...¢xf7 21.¤h5
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+r+-tr0
9zppvl-+kzp-0
9-+p+-+-zp0
9+-+-+l+N0
9-+-+-+-+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9+-zP-vLP+P0
9r+-+q+ktr0 9PzP-+-zP-+0
9zpp+-+-zp-0 9tR-+-mK-tR-0
9-+p+-+-zp0 xiiiiiiiiy
It was at this point that I started to wonder if
9vl-+p+l+-0 our pre-teenager knew all the castling rules.
9-+-+-sN-+0 Did Fischer think the rook couldn’t cross a
square attacked by the bishop? Don’t laugh.
9+-zP-vLP+P0 Grandmaster Averbakh against Purdy in 1960
9PzP-+-zP-+0 thought the same thing. When Purdy castled
9tR-+QmK-tR-0 queenside, he had to explain that a rook could.
Averbakh replied something like, “Only the
xiiiiiiiiy king, not the rook?” Just look at the course of the
This is how an opening advantage slips game here. Fischer practically invites the bishop
away. Once you have an advantage, you off the h7–b1 diagonal and then castles. It’s just
have to play forcefully yet keep alert for a suspicion, but when immediate castling was
tactics that can get your opponent back in a better move, you have to wonder... 21.0–0–0.
the game. This is what has happened here.
21...g6 22.¤g3 ¥xh3 23.0–0–0 ¦d8 Black
17.¤xd5!? A mate threat would have might have tried to use the h-pawn to win,
been more consistent with the R on g1 despite opposite-coloured bishops, with
and a N able to go to h5: 17.£d4 £f7 23...¥xg3 24.¦xg3 ¥f5.
18.¤h5 ¥g6 19.¤f4 and a draw can be
agreed. Fischer wants the d-pawn. Still 24.¦xd8 ¥xd8 25.¦h1 ¥g2 26.¦xh6
playing for a win? ¦xh6 27.¥xh6 ¥xf3 28.¥e3
½–½
17...£f7 Obviously not 17...cxd5 18.£xd5+±.
A curious historical piece. I hope you
18.¤f4 ¦e8?! White seems to have lost the enjoyed the deep “opening theory” of the
thread of what he was supposed to do. He bishop sac in the fork trick. Next time out,
should have got those rooks to the centre a we will look at a line in the fork trick that
lot earlier. 18...¢h7. Tartakower took rather seriously.

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07/140

QUOTES AND QUERIES

Mikha
i
Botvin l
nik
y
Anatol
Karpov

Bobby Fischer

International Chess in 1970:

The year of Fischer’s comeback,
the end of Botvinnik’s era and
Karpov’s first GM norm
By Alan Smith
This was the year of Fischer’s comeback.

The Match of the Century at Belgrade saw the meeting of the Soviet Union’s ten best
players and the ten best from the Rest of the World.

Fischer was due to play top board vs Spassky, but under pressure from Bent Larsen he
was persuaded to play board two, thus neatly sidestepping any Soviet preparation on those
boards. (A behind the scenes account of the Match was published in our June issue!)

Before Belgrade, Fischer had beaten Petrosian just once, at Bled 1961. In the first two
rounds he scored back−to−back wins.

436 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Viktor Korchnoi

Ljubom
i
Ljuboj r
evic hik
Kupreic
or
Vikt

The USSR scraped home by the margin of (It should be noted that Fischer qualified
a point, but Larsen, Fischer, Portisch and for, but did not take up his place at, the
Hort all made plus scores for the Rest of Amsterdam Interzonal in 1964.)
the World.
Fischer was not at his absolute best at the
Yugoslav chess organisers capitalised on Siegen Olympiad and lost his individual
the presence of so many stellar names game to Spassky. The opening was a
by putting on a 5− minute chess event at reprise of the Exchange Grünfeld with
Herceg Novi. Fischer won with +17=4−1. which Fischer had lost to Spassky at Santa
Monica 1966. (The Fischer of 1972 would
Three days later the chess circus resumed not be so obliging.)
in Rovinj. The second half was played in
Zagreb. Fischer outshone a strong field The Palma Interzonal ran for just over a
and scored +10=6−1 to finish two points month. The 24 players fought it out for six
ahead of Gligoric, Hort, Smyslov and places in the 1971 Candidates. Half the field
Korchnoi, with Petrosian in sixth a further had qualified for previous Candidates and
half point adrift. four others would do so in the future.

This victory was probably the best of his Tudev Uitumen of Mongolia was the
career thus far and when he also won at early leader, but Fischer was a point
the Buenos Aires (+13=4), defeating his clear of the field after a round 5 victory
two closest rivals Tukmakov and Panno, the over Hort. He hit a quiet patch, losing
USCF persuaded Benko to cede his place in to Larsen in round 8, and Geller replaced
the Palma Interzonal to Fischer. him as leader.

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The two met in round 12 and Fischer’s board. A victory at Vinkovci, where he
win in a drawn endgame gave him the defeated Gligoric and Taimanov, left him in
outright lead, which he never relinquished good form for Palma.
even when he conceded unlikely draws to
Jiminez and Uitumen. World champion Boris Spassky only lost
once during four events, and that against
After 16 rounds Fischer had a two−point Larsen in Belgrade.
cushion over the three players sharing 5th
place. He was first at Leyden (+2=10), then first
equal at the IBM, level with Polugaevsky.
After three more wins, over Rubinetti,
Uhlmann and Taimanov the destiny of the At Siegen his score of +7=5 was enough
First Prize was clear. to give the top board prize.

He continued in the same vein, finishing Other players shone brightly, if less
with +15=7−1, three and a half points clear frequently: Paul Keres at Budapest, Ljubomir
of his nearest rivals, Geller, Larsen and Kavalek at Caracas, Mark Taimanov at
Huebner. Taimanov and Uhlmann tied for Wijk aan Zee and Skopje. Korchnoi won
5th, a further point back. his Fourth Soviet Championship; the event
was held in Riga. David Bronstein won
(The original pairings entailed a last−round the USSR Cup, a knockout event held at
meeting between Smyslov and Taimanov. Dnepropetrovsk.
To avoid this, rounds 4 and 5 were switched
with rounds 22 and 23.) Mikhail Botvinnik played his last
tournament, finishing with a minus score at
In such an event even the favourites can Leyden. It was the end of an era.
struggle. Poor Hort never got going, while
Polugaevsky struggled to defeat the tail− Meanwhile other careers were blossoming.
enders. Portisch was on course for his third Ljubomir Ljubojevic was first equal
Candidates, but a penultimate round loss to at Sarajevo. Robert Huebner was a
Jimenez put paid to that. convincing winner at Sombor, and Anatoly
Karpov made his first Grandmaster norm.
Bent Larsen had an up and down start to his
year. First prize at Lugano in an 8−player Here are two interesting games from 1970.
double−round event. A plus on board One First, the battle of two Viktors and a win by
for the Rest, but then equal last at Leyden - the future World Champion.
tied with Botvinnik.

While most Grandmasters of the time

avoided Swiss System events Larsen
embraced them. That year the Canadian
and US Opens were both held on the
Eastern Seaboard, with a five−day gap
between the two.

Larsen won both, scoring +9=1 at St

John, a point ahead of Walter Browne, then
+9=3 at Boston.

Denmark just missed the top group at

Siegen. Larsen hosted +11=4−2 on top

438 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Viktor Kupreichik - Viktor Korchnoi Robert James Fischer -

Jorge Alberto Rubinetti
Grandmasters-Young Masters Sochi URS,
10.1970 Palma de Mallorca Interzonal
Palma de Mallorca ESP (17), 02.12.1970
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 b6 4.c3 £d7 5.a4 a5
6.f4 ¤e7 7.¤d2 h5 8.¤df3 ¥a6 9.¥xa6 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6
¤xa6 10.¥e3 ¤f5 11.¥f2 ¥e7 12.¤e2 5.¤c3 e6 6.¥c4 a6 7.¥b3 b5 8.0–0 ¥b7
h4 13.0–0 0–0–0 14.£d2 ¦dg8 15.¦fb1 9.¦e1 ¤bd7 10.¥g5 h6 11.¥h4 ¤c5
12.¥d5
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+k+-+rtr0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+-zpqvlpzp-0 9r+-wqkvl-tr0
9nzp-+p+-+0 9+l+-+pzp-0
9zp-+pzPn+-0 9p+-zppsn-zp0
9P+-zP-zP-zp0 9+psnL+-+-0
9+-zP-+N+-0 9-+-sNP+-vL0
9-zP-wQNvLPzP0 9+-sN-+-+-0
9tRR+-+-mK-0 9PzPP+-zPPzP0
xiiiiiiiiy 9tR-+QtR-mK-0
White has secured his king, positioned his xiiiiiiiiy
rooks and is ready to start his attack. 12...exd5 13.exd5+ ¢d7 14.b4 ¤a4
15.¤xa4 bxa4 16.c4 ¢c8 17.£xa4 £d7
15...¤b8 16.b4 ¤c6 17.¤c1 g5 18.fxg5 18.£b3 g5 19.¥g3 ¤h5 20.c5 dxc5
¦g7 19.¤b3 axb4 20.a5 ¢b8 21.axb6 21.bxc5 £xd5 22.¦e8+ ¢d7 23.£a4+
cxb6 22.¦a6 £b7 23.¦ba1 bxc3 ¥c6 24.¤xc6
24.£xc3 ¥b4 25.£d3 ¥a5 26.£b5 ¤b4 XIIIIIIIIY
27.¦1xa5
9r+-+Rvl-tr0
XIIIIIIIIY 9+-+k+p+-0
9-mk-+-+-tr0 9p+N+-+-zp0
9+q+-+ptr-0 9+-zPq+-zpn0
9Rzp-+p+-+0 9Q+-+-+-+0
9tRQ+pzPnzP-0 9+-+-+-vL-0
9-sn-zP-+-zp0 9P+-+-zPPzP0
9+N+-+N+-0 9tR-+-+-mK-0
9-+-+-vLPzP0 xiiiiiiiiy
9+-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy 1–0
In this position Black had no other decent
option but to resign.

1–0

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Five decades ago:

The strongest Blitz tournament of all times
Herceg Novi, 1970
Immediately after the ‘Match of the Century’ in Belgrade, the world
chess elite descended to the Yugoslav coast for what remains a stellar
blitz event in chess history
By Vladan Dinic
The year 1970 saw hope and drama on the world stage. As the US was intensifying its
bombing of Vietnam and had secretly invaded Cambodia, people in the West believed
that music and flower power could change the world, as 600,000 descended to the Isle of
Wight. It was also a year when the Beatles disbanded, the Soviets launched two ground−
breaking space missions (Luna 7 and Venera) and the Apollo 13 mission, which ended in
drama. However, the year 1970 was monumental in chess, having seen the greatest team
chess match ever played (the Belgrade ‘Match of the Century’), the Siegen Olympiad and
the domination of Bobby Fischer.

Yugoslavia was the second world chess power at that time. It was an era when Belgrade
was the second city in the world (after Moscow) for the greatest number of Grandmasters.
After hosting the ‘Match of the Century’ in Belgrade, instead of disbanding the chess
circus moved to the Yugoslav coastline - the beautiful city of Herceg Novi. It was the
beginning of April. Some players who took part in the Match of the Century had different
plans - the world champion Boris Spassky flew back to the USSR, while Botvinnik, Keres,
Gligoric and a few others went to prepare for other events. However, the two−day event in
Herceg Novi turned out to be one of the best blitz events in chess history, which involved
four players who were or would win the title of world champion in chess!

And the undisputed hero of the event was Bobby Fischer, scoring 19 points out of 22
games. Bobby defeated the rest of the USSR with 8.5 to 1.5. His scores were as follows:
2:0 against Tal; 2:0 against Petrosian; 1.5:0.5 against Bornstein. Only Korchnoi managed
to save his honour by staying even with the American, managing to win in one game!

The tournament was, effectively decided in the first round, when Fischer defeated ‘The
pirate from Riga’ with 2:0 who, for many years, was the undisputed blitz king! This was
also sweet revenge for the debacle against Tal in the 1959 Candidates (where Tal beat
Fischer in four games!).

440 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Robert James Fischer - Mikhail Tal

13.h3 ¤b5, or ¦e1 were probably more exact.
Herceg Novi blitz Herceg Novi YUG (1.2),
08.04.1970 13...¥e6 14.¤b5 ¤dc7 14...¤b6 gave
more counterplay.
Notes by Bobby Fischer.
15.a4 ¥b3 16.¦dc1 ¤xb5 17.axb5 ¤c7
1.g3 g6 2.¥g2 ¥g7 3.¤f3 c5 4.c3 ¤f6 5.0–0 18.¥e3 !
0–0 6.d4 I played this opening in Benko’s style.
18...¤xb5 19.¥xc5 b6??
6...d6? The ensuing endgame is clearly XIIIIIIIIY
better for White because his bishop on
g2 is more active than Black’s on g7 9r+-tr-+k+0
and Black has weaker squares. Neither is 9zp-+-zppvl-0
particularly recommendable 6... £b6!?
7 d5! as in Benko−Fischer, Curacao 1962, 9-zp-+-+pzp0
when Black’s queen on b6 was misplaced. 9+nvL-+-+-0
Correct for Black was 6...cxd 7 cxd d5! 9-+-+-+-+0
with an equal game as in Smyslov−Fischer
in this same Blitz tournament. 9+lzP-+NzPP0
9-zP-+PzPL+0
7.dxc5 dxc5 8.£xd8 ¦xd8 9.¥e3 ¤a6
10.¤a3 ¤d5 11.¦fd1 ¥g4 12.¥d2 h6 9tR-tR-+-mK-0
To keep White out of g5; if 12...¤ac7 but xiiiiiiiiy
after 13.¤c4 b6? (otherwise 14.¤a5 with It was not necessary to give away a
pressure) 14.¤ce5 ¥e6 (14...¥xe5 ¤xe5 pawn. Correct was 19...e6 still after 20 e3
¥xe2 16.¦e1 ¥a6 17.c4 ¤f6 18.¥c3 threatening ¤d4, White keeps an edge.
threatening 19.¤c6 and 19.¥a8 should
win) 15.e4 ¤f6 16.¤c6! ¦e8 17.¥f4 ¤a6 20.¥xe7 ¦e8 21.¥a3 ¦ad8 21...¦xe2
18.¥f1 c4 19.¤g5, Black is lost. 22.¥f1! wins the exchange.

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22.e3 A pawn up and a powerful square on Mikhail Tal - Robert James Fischer
d4, the position is easily winning for White.
Herceg Novi blitz Herceg Novi YUG (1.1),
22...a5 23.¤d4 ¤xa3 24.¦xa3 ¥c4 25.¥f1 08.04.1970
¥d5 26.¥g2 ¥c4 27.¦a4 ¥d3 28.b4!
XIIIIIIIIY 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.¤c3 e5 4.¥c4 ¥e7 5.d3
¤f6 6.0–0 ¤c6 7.¤e1 0–0 8.f4 a6 9.a4 exf4
9-+-trr+k+0 10.¥xf4 ¥e6 11.¥xe6 fxe6 12.¥g3 £b6
9+-+-+pvl-0 13.£d2 ¤g4 14.¤f3 ¤d4 15.¦ab1 ¤xf3+
16.gxf3 ¤e5 17.¢g2 ¤g6 18.¤e2 ¤h4+
9-zp-+-+pzp0 19.¥xh4 ¥xh4 20.b4 £c7 21.bxc5 dxc5
9zp-+-+-+-0 22.a5 ¦f6 23.f4 ¦af8 24.¦b6 ¥g5 25.e5
9RzP-sN-+-+0 ¦f5 26.¦xe6 £f7 27.¦d6 ¥xf4 28.¦xf4
¦xf4 29.¤xf4 £xf4 30.£xf4 ¦xf4 31.¦d7
9+-zPlzP-zPP0 ¦a4 32.e6 ¢f8 33.¦f7+ ¢e8 34.¦xg7
9-+-+-zPL+0 ¦xa5 35.¦xb7 ¦a2 36.¢f3 ¦xc2 37.¦xh7
c4 38.d4 c3 39.d5 ¦d2 40.¢e4 c2 41.¦c7
9+-tR-+-mK-0 ¢d8 42.¦c4 a5 43.h4 a4 44.¢e5 a3 45.d6
xiiiiiiiiy ¦e2+ 46.¢f5 ¦f2+ 47.¢g4 a2 48.d7 ¢e7
28...axb4 29.¦xb4 ¦d6 30.¦d1 ¥c2 49.¦c8 ¦d2 50.¦e8+ ¢f6 51.e7 ¦xd7
31.¦d2 ¥f5 32.¦db2 ¦c8 32...¦b8 of
course was slightly more tenacious, but 0–1
after 33.¤xf5 gxf5, Black’s pawn structure
on the kingside is hopeless.

33.¦xb6 ¦xb6 34.¦xb6 ¦xc3 35.¤xf5 Robert James Fischer - Viktor Korchnoi
gxf5 36.¥d5 ¦b5 was more precise. Herceg Novi blitz Herceg Novi YUG (10.1),
08.04.1970
36...¦c7 37.¦b5 ¦e7 38.¥c4 ¦e5?
XIIIIIIIIY 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.e5 ¤e7 5.a3
¥xc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.a4 £a5 8.¥d2 ¤bc6
9-+-+-+k+0 9.£g4 0–0 10.¤f3 f6 11.¥d3 f5 12.£g3
9+-+-+pvl-0 c4 13.¥e2 b5 14.0–0 bxa4 15.¤g5 ¤xd4
9-+-+-+-zp0 XIIIIIIIIY
9+R+-trp+-0 9r+l+-trk+0
9-+L+-+-+0 9zp-+-sn-zpp0
9+-+-zP-zPP0 9-+-+p+-+0
9-+-+-zP-+0 9wq-+pzPpsN-0
9+-+-+-mK-0 9p+psn-+-+0
xiiiiiiiiy 9+-zP-+-wQ-0
Better to give up the pawn on f5 with 38...f4
or ¥f8. II is just a matter of time in any case.
9-+PvLLzPPzP0
9tR-+-+RmK-0
39.¦b7 ¢h7 40.¦xf7 ¢g6 41.¦c7 ¥f8 xiiiiiiiiy
42.¦c6+ ¢g7 43.¥d3 ¥e7 44.¥c2 ¦a5 16.cxd4 £xd2 17.£h4 h6 18.¤f3 ¤g6
45.¢g2 19.¤xd2 ¤xh4 20.¦xa4 ¤g6 21.¦fa1 a6
22.¤b1 ¤e7 23.¦a5 ¤c6 24.¦5a4 ¤xd4
1–0 25.¥d1 f4 26.¤c3 ¤c6 27.¤e2 ¤xe5

442 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

XIIIIIIIIY 47.¢d3 ¦a8 48.¢xc3 ¦b1 49.¦b5 ¦xb5

50.¤xb5 a3 51.¤xa3 ¦xa3+ 52.¢d4 ¦a2
9r+l+-trk+0 53.¢d3 ¢f7 54.g3 fxg3 55.fxg3
9+-+-+-zp-0 XIIIIIIIIY
9p+-+p+-zp0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+psn-+-0 9+-+-+kzp-0
9R+p+-zp-+0 9-+-+-+-zp0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+P0
9-+P+NzPPzP0 9-+-+-+-+0
9tR-+L+-mK-0 9+-+K+-zP-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9r+P+-+-+0
28.¤d4 ¦b8 29.h4 ¦b6 30.h5 ¤c6
31.¤e2 e5 32.¤c3 ¦d8 33.¥f3 e4 34.¥e2 9+-+-+-+-0
¤d4 35.¥f1 ¥b7 36.¦d1 ¤b5 37.¤xe4 xiiiiiiiiy
¦c8 38.¤d2 ¤c3 39.¦da1 ¤xa4 40.¦xa4
¥c6 41.¦a5 ¥b5 42.¤f3 c3 43.¤d4 ¥xf1 0–1
44.¢xf1 ¦b4 45.¦xd5 a5 46.¢e2 a4

*Vladan Dinic is a Serbian journalist who started by writing on chess in the late 1960s and
afterwards moved into political journalism. He was the editor of several leading Yugoslav/
later Serbian papers. He currently edits a political magazine in Serbia called “Svedok”. He
has authored several books, including, “Fischer – the king of chess”, about the 1992 rematch
between Fischer and Spassky and the time he spent with them in Belgrade and Sveti Stefan.
The book was published in Serbia in 2008.

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Endgame Studies
by Ian Watson
[email protected]

1 XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+p+-0
9-+-+-zP-+0
9+p+-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0
9+K+-+-+-0
2
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0
9-+p+-+-+0
9zp-zP-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+p0
9-+-+-+-+0 9PzP-+-+-zP0
9+-+-+-+k0 9+-+K+k+-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
M Zinar M Zinar
Cirtdan 2018 Dvoretsky 70 MT 2017

3 4
draw win
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-mK-+-+0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-zpP+p0 9+P+PzPPzPP0
9pzp-+p+-zP0 9-+kzp-zP-zp0
9mkp+-zP-+-0 9+-zpp+P+-0
9-zp-+-zp-+0 9-+-+-+-+0
9+P+-+-zP-0 9+-+-+pzp-0
9-+-+P+P+0 9-+p+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+-+K0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
M Zinar M Zinar
Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsia 2017 Sosiura−120 MT 2018
Win Win

444 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

Back to Basics
Our world is returning to normal, after the greatest upheaval of our lifetimes. It won’t,
however, return to just how it was, so the second half of 2020 feels like a new beginning.
Let’s enter this new era by looking at the basics: here are four studies with pawns only. They
are all composed by the modern maestro of pawn endings, Mikhail Zinar. He has achieved
the same dominance over the field of pawn endings that Nikolai Grigoriev attained nearly
a hundred years ago. In 1935, in a tournament for composing pawn endgame studies,
Grigoriev won ten of the twelve awards; if there were such a tournament today, Zinar
could do the same.

Zinar will celebrate his seventieth birthday in November. In the anthologies, it says he was
born in 1951. That’s because his parents adjusted his recorded date of birth by six months,
hoping to postpone his eventual drafting into the army, and later on he didn’t try to correct
it, not wanting to get them in trouble for forgery. His first pawn endgame was published
in 1974, so maybe I’ll do a fiftieth−anniversary column in 2024.

These four are much more recent compositions of his. The first is indeed basic - simple
and easy? Well, it’s easier than the other three… The second will clearly involve Black
taking the h−pawn and getting boxed in and put in zugzwang, but the preceding play has
both sides trying to arrange that they aren’t the one in that eventual zugzwang. In the
third, the Black pawn cage around his king tells you there will be stalemate−avoidance
play. The fourth obviously begins with a knight promotion, so maybe you can guess
the theme.

The solutions are given on page 447.

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Solutions to Problems
This month’s originals

We start with two very approachable 2-movers. In Kabe’s one, there are three threatening
queen moves to consider, but only one forces mate next move. In John’s opener, by contrast,
there is only one candidate move, but a wealth of play to enjoy when you examine its
consequences. Even newcomers to helpmates may find the BWBW# collaborative sequences
in the two parts of Barry’s example. The 3-move helpmate by Abdelaziz represents more of
a solving challenge, but in any event there is the option of reading on and enjoying the two
well-matched solutions!

A 2-mover with no bystanders has the refutation 1…d6!. Eventually

we arrive at 1.£a5!, threatening the
Every piece on the board is significant mates at c5 and d5. Now we have a third
in John’s 2-mover: in this excellent different reply to 1…¤e3 – 2.£a1, and
construction there are no ‘technical pieces’ we can scotch Black’s other defence,
(ones added only to ensure the uniqueness 1…b5, with 2.£xa7.
of the intended solution), The key is 1.¥c3,
threatening 2.¤xe3. This also intersects Another caged white queen
the lines e3-a3 and a5-d2, which means
that, although 2.¤a3 and 2.¤d2 are not If you’ve solved helpmates before, you
threatened, they would be the mating may have found the two mates in Barry’s
responses respectively to 1…¥xc3 and 2-mover quite quickly: (a) 1.£g4 £a1
1…¦xc3. The nub of the problem is the 2.¦g3 £h1 and (b) 1.£h2 £g6 2.¥g3
play that arises when the e3 rook makes any £xe6. Note the attractive strategic feature
of its other moves; we have 1…¦xe5 2.e4; that when the black rook / black bishop
1…¦e4 2.e3; 1…¦f3 2.exf3; and 1…¦d3 occupy g3 they mutually obstruct the
2.exd3 – the four possible Pawn moves other’s guard of a square on the mating
constituting an Albino. Note also the clever line. This sort of mutual interference is
way in which a further purpose is found for extremely well-known in helpmates (as in
the f5 knight: 1…¦hh3 2.¤d6. other types of chess problem), but the task
Barry set himself was to show this feature
An attractive 2-mover in the most economical setting possible.
As he puts it, he has “…dabbled with an
It’s fairly clear in Kabe’s 2-mover that the anticipated basic scheme in a quest for
key move will be made by the queen, which what might be a first-time setting of two
can threaten mate at any 2 of the 3 squares model mates from minimal white force”.
c5, d5 and e5. If you follow the solution I leave it to experts to say whether this
through the two tries and the solution you has ever been shown with comparable
will see that there is a cyclic pattern. White economy; and indeed to you, dear BCM
starts off by threatening mates at d5 and e5; reader, to see if there’s any way in which
then at e5 and c5; and finally, successfully, it can be shown with one unit (i.e., black
at c5 and d5. So we begin with 1.£g5?. The pawn) fewer!
threats at d5 and e5 are met by 1…¤e3, but
White then has 2.£xe3#. However, 1… Getting to like helpmates?
f5! refutes. So we try 1.£c7?, threatening
the mates at e5 and c5. Again, Black has In Abdelaziz’s diagram the solver’s eye
the unsuccessful defence 1…¤e3, met is immediately drawn to the white rook
this time by 2.£c3; but this time Black imprisoned by a fortress of black pawns. You

446 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

 July 2020

(See page 432)

can rely upon the fact that that rook will not as a way to make a chink in the wall (rather
have been left in its captivity in either of the than where White blasts a way through by
two final mating pictures. But it turns out that capturing one of them). That’s what happens
its role is not to be part of that mating picture here - 1.£a8 ¦b5 2.cxb5 ¤h5 3.£e4 ¦g3
itself but rather to facilitate the participation and 1.£a7 ¦b4 2.cxb4 ¤f1 3.£e3 ¤h2.
of the black queen. In helpmates, it is ever The black queen occupies two different
the way that something has to happen to potential flight squares while the g4 rook
columns of black pawns, and I think that and g3 knight arrange themselves so as to
it’s always more attractive when that is that take complementary roles in two pleasant
composer’s using their capacity to capture model mates.

Solutions to Endgames (See page 444)

Zinar Zinar
Cirtdan - 2018 Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsia - 2017

1.¢b4 ¢g2 2.¢c5 b4 3.¢xb4 ¢f3 4.¢c3 1.f8£ fxg3 2.£f6 exf6 3.exf6 e5 4.f7 e4 5.f8¤
¢e4 5.¢d2 ¢f5 6.¢e3 ¢xf6 7.¢f4 e3 6.¤g6 hxg6 7.h7 g5 8.h8£ g4 9.£a1 mate.
draws. Not 2.¢xb5? ¢f3 3.¢c4 ¢e4
4.¢c3 ¢e5 5.¢d3 ¢xf6 6.¢e4 ¢g5 wins. Or 1…f3 2.£f4 fxg2 3.£d2 g1£ 4.£a2
I agree with the judge of the tourney, who mate.
said “2.¢c5 is marvellous.”
There is try−play: 1.f8¤? fxg3 2.¤g6 hxg6
Zinar 3.h7 g5 4.h8£ g4 5.£f6 exf6 6.exf6 e5
Dvoretsky 70 MT - 2017 7.f7 e4 8.f8£ e3 draws.

1.¢d2 ¢f2 2.¢d3 ¢f3 3.¢d4 ¢f2 4.¢e4 Zinar

¢g2 5.¢e3 ¢h1 6.¢f3 ¢xh2 7.¢f2 ¢h1 Sosiura-120 MT - 2018
8.b3 h2 9.¢f1 a4 10.b4 a3 11.b5 wins.
1.d8¤+ ¢c7 2.e8¤+ ¢d7 3.f8¤+ ¢xe8
There is a try: 1.b3? ¢g2 2.¢e2 ¢xh2 4.f7+ ¢e7 5.g8¤+ ¢xf8 6.¤e6+ ¢xf7
3.¢f2 ¢h1 (zugzwang) 4.¢f1 ¢h2 5.¢f2 7.h8¤+ ¢xg8 8.b8£+ wins.
¢h1 6.a3 h2 7.¢f1 a4 8.bxa4 stalemate.
2…¢b8 3.¤c6+ ¢xb7 4.¤a5+ ¢b6 5.¤b3
Deviations from the main line include: wins.
2.a4? ¢g2 3.b4 axb4 4.a5 ¢xh2 draws;
3…¢f4 4.a4 ¢f3 5.b4 axb4 6.a5 wins; 5.f6+? ¢xf6 6.¤d7+ ¢g5 7.g8£+ ¢h4,
4…¢e2 5.b3 ¢f2 6.a3 wins; 6.¢f2? or 5.¤c6+? ¢f6 6.¤d7+ ¢g5 7.g8£+
¢xh2 7.b3 ¢h1 zugzwang, or 6.¢e2? ¢f4. 5.¤g6+? ¢d7 6.¤f8+ ¢e7 repeats.
¢g2 7.¢e3 ¢h1 draw. In the try, there are
4.¢g3 ¢g1 5.¢xh3 ¢f2 6.a3 ¢e3 draws, 7.¤xh6+? ¢e7 8.¤g8+ ¢d7 9.¤f6+
and 5.a3 ¢g3 6.¢g1 ¢f4 and Black wins. ¢c6 10.¤d8+ ¢c7 11.¤xd5+ ¢d7 draws.

Not sure I agree with the judge’s comment

on this one, but I see his point: “a curious
manoeuvre of the White king as if it is
conquering Mount Everest.”

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