Bobby Fischer col suo maestro Jack Collins

Non metto in dubbio che a 17 anni non si sia ancora raggiunta la piena maturità, ma Bobby Fischer nel luglio del 1960, esattamente 50 anni fa, era un giocatore con una sfilza impressionante di buoni risultati:  tre volte campione USA davanti a Reshewsky, 5°-6° all’interzonale di Portorose del 1958,  5°-6° nel torneo dei candidati di Bled del 1959, 3°-4° nel grande torneo di Zurigo del 1959 e primo secondo con Spassky a Mar del Plata nel 1960.

Quando decise di partecipare al torneo di Buenos Aires, nel luglio del 1960.

E qui avvenne il fattaccio, unico nella sua carriera: per trovare il suo nome nella classifica finale bisogna impegnarsi molto, insomma per parafrasare il titolo di un famoso film, “Searching for Bobby Fischer” .
Ecco la fatidica classifica:

Le vittorie di Bobby furono tre, contro Guimard, Rossetto e Wade, le sconfitte ben cinque, e adesso vi presento i momenti salienti di queste cinque partite:

Eliskases – Fischer

Eliskases - Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960, mossa al nero

Bobby giocò 41…Ac5? e finì per perdere alla 59a mossa, come fece invece notare Larry Evans, il pareggio sarebbe stato assicurato da 41… Axa3! 42 Cxb6 Axb2 43 Cxc4 Ac1 44 f5 h5.

Unzicker – Fischer

Unzicker - Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960, mossa al nero

Come ci racconta lo stesso Bobby, Unzicker aveva appena giocato Dg3, e lui prese in mano il pedone h  per giocare  h7-h6 scacciando l’alfiere bianco. Accortosi con orrore che il bianco poteva tranquillamente rispondere con Axh6, l’americano fu molto corretto (non si comportò come GK contro la Judit) e mosse il pedone, naturalmente spingendolo di due, con un esito della partita funesto: 12…h5  13.e5, dxe5  14.fxe5, Cg4  15. Axe7, Dxe7  16.Ce4, Dc7  17.h3, Cxe5  18.Cf6+, Rh8  19.Dg5, Cxd3+  20.Txd3, gxf6  21.Dxh5+, Rg7  22-Dg4+ 1-0.

Fischer – Uhlmann

Fischer - Uhlmann, Buenos Aires 1960, mossa al bianco

Qualsiasi principiante, con il bianco, avrebbe giocato passivamente d’attesa, e prima o poi il nero sarebbe forse riuscito a trovare il modo per sfondare, anche se appare ardua l’impresa. Invece Bobby, desideroso di soffrire poco, ha ben pensato di semplificare il compito del tedesco, facendo l’unica cosa che non andava fatta, togliere il blocco al pedone e del nero: 29. Dc1 ?? (un punto interrogativo perche sblocca il pedone e, uno perche permette l’entrata in ottava) Th1 30. Dxh1 e3+! 31. Rg1 Txh1+ 32. Rxh1 e2 33. Tb5? (ma è possibile che per evitare Ac6 sia obbligatorio dare una qualità così?)  Axb5 34. axb5 Dxb5 35. Te1 a5 36. Txe2 a4 37. Txe6 a3 38. g6 Dd7 39. Te5 b6 40. Ah4 a2 41. Te1 Dg7 42. Ta1 Dxg6 0-1.

Wexler – Fischer

Wexler - Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960, mossa al nero

Contro il maestro internazionale argentino, la posizione di Fischer si è costantemente deteriorata fino a giungere alla situazione del diagramma, nella quale, invece di giocare la passiva 29…Cd8 e tentare di resistere, l’americano tenta un attacco “alla Tal”, che naturalmente ha un esito disastroso: 30…Ad5?  31.e6 Ce5  32.Td6! Axg2  33.Txd3 Axh3 34.Axe5 Dc6 (minacciando il matto) 35.f3 Td8 (altro sacrificio) 36.Txd8 Dxf3 37.Dd2  Axe5 38.Df2 1-0.

Benko – Fischer

Benko - Fischer, Buenos Aires 1960, mossa al nero

il nero giocò 20…Cxc4?, una delle mosse peggiori in questa posizione, era preferibile eliminare il minaccioso cavallo con 20…Axc3, 21.bxc3, Axc4 oppure la ancor più semplice 20…c6 che eguaglia il gioco grazie alla debolezza del pedone c4   21.Cd5! non si lascia scappare l’occasione 21…Df7?! era migliore 21…Tf7 anche a costo di concedere 22.Cf4! 22.Ah6! adesso siamo al dramma, il nero non dispone di mosse per salvarsi 22…c6 23.Axg7, Dxg7 24.Dxg7+, Rxg7 25.Cc7 ed il nero, disgustato, abbandonò dopo un paio di mosse 1-0

“¡Perdiste chambón!”. Esta fue la expresión del niño José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera, dando la voltereta en el suelo, cuando a los cinco años batió a uno de los amigos de su padre, que acudían regularmente a su casa a jugar al ajedrez… .

El término “chambón” se aplica a alguien que tiene una escasa habilidad en el juego. Y es muy utilizado en gran parte de América Latina. También, como no, en Venezuela, país a donde fue a parar nuestro personaje de esta crónica a mediados de los años cincuenta.

Don Salvador Palmero tiene en la actualidad 76 años y posee en su haber un record (!?) totalmente histórico. ¡Batió a Bobby Fischer! en una simultánea que el genial ajedrecista dio en Caracas en 1960.

Posiblemente él y el eminente Maestro Internacional Antonio Medina, español de nacimiento, pero nacionalizado venezolano, sean de las pocas personas de origen español que hayan conseguido batir al gran genio por autonomasia del ¡ajedrez universal!.

Salvador nació en el pueblo canario, de la Isla de la Gomera, de Vallehermoso. Miembro de una familia amplia de 11 hermanos. En 1941 un curioso hecho fue la causa que hizo que pocos años más tarde su vida cambiase por completo: su hermana mayor se casó con un ingeniero venezolano y se fue a vivir a Caracas.

Cuando meses después del acontecimiento, llegaban a su pueblo cartas desde Venezuela, con recortes de revistas y periódicos, toda la familia quedaba prendida inmediatamente por el encanto de la “Tierra de Gracia”, como Cristóbal Colón la denominó.

Vallehermoso era entonces, nos dice, un pueblo muy pequeño. “En él habían sólo un coche y dos camiones…”· Pese a que el cabeza de familia gozaba de una posición económica holgada, 7 de sus hijos (incluido Salvador) se ¡fueron para allá!.

Antes, Salvador había estudiado la carrera de Perito Agrícola en la Universidad tinerfeña de La Laguna (sede de la actual “Universiada ajedrecística” que se desarrolla felizmente con carácter anual). También había compartido sus estudios con la práctica del fútbol, siendo componente del famoso equipo lagunero del Juvenil Hespérides.

Don Salvador, mientras nos cuenta su historia, nos enseña una foto suya de la época. Caramba, ¡era todo un dandy!.

Cuando llega a Caracas, pronto se aficiona al ajedrez e ingresa en un club muy humilde, el del Barrio de Sarría.

Empieza a jugar en 3ª categoría y pronto casi por talento natural sube a 2ª y enseguida se planta en la 1ª División Nacional. Por su don de gentes (¡las novias no le faltan!) empieza a ser conocido en el Distrito Federal. En el ranking oficial ajedrecístico de 1958 ocupa el puesto décimotercero de Caracas.

Otra curiosa anécdota, ésta relacionada directamente con el ajedrez, le hará cambiar de nuevo, su vida. Resultó ser que entre torneo y torneo conoció a un recién aficionado al juego-ciencia, que tenía una empresa de topografía, el profesor Miguel Carnicero. Hizo amistad con él y éste le requirió (tras un curso realizado en 1959) para que formase parte de su propia empresa (!?). Así pasó de trabajar en una librería a desarrollar este interesante trabajo. Pero mientras sus compañeros topógrafos realizaban diariamente sus labores de medición del terreno, Palmero en el despacho principal de la empresa, ¡le daba clases de ajedrez a su jefe!. Tal fue la afición surgida que en cierta ocasión Carnicero debió enfrentarse en un torneo a un gran campeón venezolano, Napoleón Alberto Caro. La diferencia entre ambos aún era notable y Carnicero pronto fue “barrido” (¡como un chambón!) del tablero.

Pero un tiempo más tarde, en 1965, tras arduo estudio de la teoría de la Defensa Francesa, Carnicero, dispuso para su entrenador Palmero y su familia (su mujer y entonces una niña recién nacida; luego llegaría otra hija y un hijo) del mejor hotel existente en el lugar de la nueva contienda (lejos de Caracas) donde Carnicero se iba a medir de nuevo a Caro. Esta vez el resultado fue favorable para sus intereses pues Carnicero derrotaría con negras y con la ¡Defensa Francesa! a su gran rival y de este modo Palmero, siguió progresando profesionalmente en su trabajo (bien remunerado, por cierto) de ¡topógrafo!.

Cuando le requerí a Don Salvador que me contase cuál había sido su mejor partida de competición me sugirió aquella que le había enfrentado al Dr. Irving Perret, un multimillonario constructor de la gran Urbanización La Floresta, en Altamira. Palmero, sin complejos, ganó una brillante partida, que terminó con ganancia de una pieza en el medio juego.

Desde principios de los sesenta, Palmero era todo un experto del ajedrez en Caracas y era ampliamente respetado por sus rivales, donde los mejores formaban un “coto cerrado” en el que era muy difícil entrar.

Cuando se enteró de que Bobby Fischer llegaría a la capital venezolana invitado por su amigo Isidoro Cherem (empresario de productos de importación y personaje de gran educación estudiantil) para realizar varias exhibiciones, Palmero pronto se encargó de “reclutar” a los mejores ajedrecistas venezolanos para dignificar la presencia en aquel país del que ya era reconocido, con sólo 17 años, como genio del ajedrez.

Así, sólo una semana después del torneo de Buenos Aires de 1960, Fischer hizo acto de presencia en la capital venezolana. Atrás había quedado el peor torneo de la historia de Bobby, pues quedó clasificado en el puesto décimocuarto de un total de veinte ajedrecistas. Sus cinco derrotas (Unzicker, Uhlmann, Benko, Wexler y Eliskases) cosechadas en aquella competición todavía le escocían. Bobby no estaba pues en plenitud moral cuando llegó a Caracas y en general se le vió bastante cariacontecido. Falta de costumbre a esa extraña situación ¡sin lugar a dudas!.

Y por fin llegó el gran día. Fue el 2 de agosto de 1960. Lugar: El Patio Deportivo del Lar Gallego, en la Avenida Las Acacias de Sabana Grande de Caracas.

Bobby dio aquella simultánea a 47 tableros desde las 20,30 h. hasta la 1,40 h. de la madrugada. Tardó pues en terminar 5 horas y 10 minutos. Al final cosechó el siguiente puntaje: +39 =6 – 2.

Los vencedores fueron Pedro Galarraga y este ¡prodigioso jugador gomero!, Salvador Palmero.

Pedro Galarraga era también una persona inteligente. Resultó ser luego concejal de uno de los distritos más ricos de Venezuela, el de Sucre, del Estado de Miranda; una zona fundamentalmente industrial. Un personaje que empezó en la política desde la humildad. Iba de un lugar a otro con su coche de 10 años, mientras otros políticos se desplazaban en modelos como Mercedes y muchos hasta con chófer. Esa popularidad le llevó hasta lo más alto, presidente de su propio distrito, pero años más tarde (lamentablemente) y según Palmero, Galarraga se vería implicado en un tema de “corrupción” política… .

Recuerda también Palmero que Fischer tomó una actitud despectiva en aquella partida con Galarraga cuando de repente perdió su dama y tuvo que verse obligado a abandonarla, desarrollada bajo el Ataque Yugoslavo contra la Variante del Dragón de la Defensa Siciliana.

Mientras me lo contaba, enseguida le vino a la memoria a Palmero un precioso cotejo de Bobby que en aquella ocasión no es que perdiese la dama sino que la entregó, para conseguir una brillante victoria. Veámosla:

Descargar partida comentada entre Quinteros y Fischer, Buenos Aires 1970

La partida entre Fischer y Palmero de aquella sesión de simultáneas, sigue en la memoria del jugador canario. No la recuerda completa, pero sí que nos la cuenta en su fase principal, mientras aprecio un especial brillo en sus ojos. La planilla se la dejó en aquel tiempo al periodista Pedro Rosales de El periódico venezolano El Mundo. Lamentablemente nunca más la volvió a ver.

“Bobby me dejó un caballo para que me lo comiese”, nos comenta. Obviamente el presente estaba envenenado. De capturar la pieza, Palmero recibiría mate. Lo que el gran campeón no valoró, dice, fue una jugada intermedia de torre, que provocó un ataque a la descubierta sobre aquel caballo. Bobby para salvarlo tuvo que entregar dos peones por el flanco de dama. Pero aún así tenía contrajuego por posible ataque al rey por el otro flanco. En ese momento, todo el mundo estaba arremolinado ante su tablero. Cuando Bobby andaba lejos del mismo, empezaban a oirse sugerencias por doquier. Pero, nuestro personaje, ya sabía distinguir las sugerencias de los chambones (?!) de los ¡consejos de los maestros!. Y de pronto, a su espalda, oyó una voz que para él sería como un ¡rayito de luna!. Se trataba del consejo de Salvador Díaz, un experto maestro que incluso había ganado alguna vez que otra al gran Antonio Medina!.

“Antes de pasar a mover tus peones de ventaja, deberás asegurar la posición de tu rey”, le espetó. Y aquel sabio consejo, sin duda, le terminó llevando felizmente al triunfo final.

Cuando terminó la partida, Fischer reconoció públicamente el gran juego desplegado por Salvador Palmero, nuestro canario de oro!!.

Las seis tablas cedidas por Fischer en aquella simultánea fueron contra el Dr. Frank Perret Gentil, hermano del mencionado Irving Perret, Abogado Precepto del Departamento Vargas en La Guaira, considerada como la puerta de entrada a Venezuela; contra Preben Magnussen, de descendencia sueca y un gran especialista en la Defensa Caro-Kann; contra Angel Ramírez y John Fuerth (dos de los amigos ajedrecistas invitados por el propio Palmero para la ocasión); contra Joaquín Yunes y sobre todo contra el niño de 9 años, Adolfo González. Este último, era hijo de un prestigioso joyero venezolano. Cuenta Palmero que todos los días él mismo e Isidoro Cherem iban a buscar a Bobby a su hotel (!?), sito en la Avenida Casanova y siempre antes que nada se desplazaban a aquella joyería, la Joyería Universal, para charlar con aquel respetado ciudadano venezolano. Las vueltas del mundo quisieron que sus hijos terminasen montando otra joyería en San Sebastián (España) y José María González (hermano mayor de Adolfo) sería luego el editor y director de la famosa revista española ¡Jaque! que aún hoy sigue vigente. Recuerdo perfectamente varios artículos del propio Adolfo González en aquella gran revista en los años setenta y ochenta!.

Curiosamente José María González era un gran amigo de Don Miguel Najdorf, de su etapa venezolana. Y es que el GM argentino (de descendencia polaca) estuvo cerca de un año y medio viviendo en Venezuela y trabajando para una compañía de Seguros de otro amigo de Palmero, D. Luis Felipe (Pipo) Capriles del que Salvador se enamoraría de su bella hija Graciela (!?). Durante todo este tiempo, Don Miguel (“el viejo”) estuvo dando clases a varios ajedrecistas venezolanos. Entre todos ellos, también estaba nuestro protagonista, ¡Salvador Palmero! que en realidad estaba entonces más pendiente de su novia que de recibir tales enseñanzas, pues las clases se desarrollaban ni más ni menos que en casa del sr. Pipo… .

Al día siguiente de aquella gran simultánea, se celebraría un torneo de Blitz (partidas a cinco minutos) en la Peña de Ajedrez “Alexandre Bóveda” del Lar Gallego. Fue un torneo dominado de cabo a rabo por nuestro apreciado MI Antonio Medina con +9 =0 –0 que venció en su confrontación particular a Fischer después de una Apertura Española, Variante Steinitz diferida (!?). Bobby consiguió el segundo puesto en el torneo con +7 =0 -2. El tercer lugar del evento fue para Celso Sánchez (+6 =0 -3), ajedrecista de origen gallego (!?), MI postal, que sólo participaba en torneos serios y con una actitud muy profesional ante el tablero. El cuarto lugar sería para el jugador de origen húngaro Laszlo (Ladislao, en Venezuela) Tapaszto con +6 =0 -3. Este fortísimo ajedrecista también batió a Bobby en el torneo tras una apertura irregular en donde le sacrificó al gran campeón nada más y nada menos que cuatro piezas (entre ellas una torre y dos caballos). Fischer no pudo soportar tal afrenta y a punto estuvo de volcar el tablero cuando la partida se decantó a favor de su rival. Tapaszto, gran amigo de Palmero, era 6º de Hungría en 1956 y no era maestro (!?). De hecho otro rival y amigo suyo, también húngaro, estaba entonces por debajo de él (en el puesto 11º) y también emigró a América con Tapaszto, sólo que aquel decidió afincarse en los EE UU. Se trata ni más ni menos que el que luego fuera gran maestro y aspirante al título mundial, Pal Benko!. El quinto puesto de la competición de blitz fue para Manuel Belmonte, con 4 ½ puntos, también de origen español (!?) y jugador de primera categoría. Siguió en la clasificación León Schorr, de profesión ingeniero, inglés de ascendencia y el mejor en partidas de “café”. El séptimo lugar fue para el ya nombrado Salvador Díaz – 4 puntos – (el audaz “confidente” de Palmero en la partida del día anterior). El octavo puesto fue para Andrés Sadde que había sido campeón del país en 1955. Siguieron y cerraron el torneo Isidoro Cherem y Pedro Galarraga, ambos con 1 punto.

Se dio la circunstancia de que Don Miguel Najdorf participó también en aquel evento, aunque sólo disputó una sola partida, la que jugó y perdió en la primera ronda frente a Bobby Fischer. No encajó nada bien el maestro argentino aquella derrota. Todavía no imaginaba la fuerza real que poco tiempo después iba a demostrar Robert Fischer!.

Llegó de este modo el tercer día y Fischer dio otra exhibición de simultáneas en casa del mencionado Pipo Capriles a 39 tableros. En la misma Bobby obtuvo el score de +36 =2 -1, perdiendo su única partida contra el diplomático austriaco Roberik Vicenetz. Las tablas fueron para Pedro Coll y el propio Capriles (!?).

Al día siguiente, Fischer partió de Caracas a Valencia donde impartió otra sesión de simultáneas a la crema del ajedrez carabobeño, resultando en esta ocasión imbatido a 25 tableros, durando la sesión completa menos de dos horas y enfrentándose a reconocidos ajedrecistas como José Isaacs, Manuel Jácome y el presidente de la Asociación Carabobeña, José Graziani.

Acto seguido Bobby Fischer regresó al Distrito Federal y ofreció otra simultánea en el “Club Puerto Azul” a 25 tableros con el siguiente resultado final: +20 =3 -2, perdiendo contra Frank Perret Gentil y Honorio González.

De este modo Fischer había emulado a otros grandes del tablero en su paso por Venezuela, como en su día lo habían hecho Alekhine (léase Aliejin), Euwe, Reshevsky (ver última foto reproducida en 1960) o el propio Najdorf.

Antes de abandonar el país, Fischer (siempre fiel a aquellos que lo trataban bien) regaló un bonito libro dedicado de puño y letra a Don Salvador Palmero: “El arte del sacrificio en ajedrez” del maestro austriaco Rudolf Spielmann!, una obra sumamente original, como fue el juego de su autor, el ¡último mantenedor de la escuela romántica!.

Llegó el momento final de la entrevista y agradecí sumamente a Don Salvador su gesto de haberme llamado para contarme su bonita historia.

Mi madre y mis abuelos maternos nacieron también en la Isla de La Gomera, en su capital, San Sebastián. Mi segundo apellido, Arteaga – casualmente de origen vasco – así lo confirma.    Siempre se ha dicho que buena parte de las eminencias canarias han nacido en la Isla de la Gomera. Don Salvador Palmero, sin lugar a dudas, honró batiendo a Bobby Fischer está ¡máxima intelectual!.

Aquel día salí del Círculo de Amistad, lugar de la entrevista, ya avanzada la tarde. Me dirigí a la santacrucera Alameda del Duque de Santa Elena a respirar el aire fresco que en aquella zona siempre abunda. Sentí en ese momento un gran escalofrío, producto de la emoción que invadió mi cuerpo al seguir ahondando en la vida de uno de los mitos más grandes de la historia, el gran ajedrecista Robert James Fischer!!.

Viktor Kortchnoi in azione!

Sta per compiere 79 anni ma non ha nessuna intenzione di “appendere la scacchiera al chiodo”. Stiamo parlando ovviamente di Viktor L’vovic Kortchnoi, classe 1931, che guiderà la nazionale svizzera nel 12° European Senior Team Championship dall’alto dei suoi 2566 punti Elo!

Il grandissimo, "terribile Viktor"

La manifestazione inizia oggi a Dresda e registra la partecipazione di ben 78 squadre rappresentanti Federazioni nazionali o strutture regionali. Sono presenti una dozzina di GM, quattro dei quali (Tseshkovsky, Vasiukov, Pushkov e Chernikov) nella fortissima squadra russa, grande favorita per la vittoria finale.

Il GM russo Tseshkovsky, Elo 2554

E' presente anche una formazione italiana, formata dal MI Stefano Tatai, i MF Carlo Micheli e Antonio Rosino, Giuseppe Laco. Nel ranking di partenza è 14^.

Il MI Stefano Tatai, classe 1938, 12 volte Campione Italiano

Ecco le formazioni delle prime 10 squadre per Elo + l'Italia:

1 Russia 2479 RUS

1 Tseshkovsky,Vitaly GM 2554 RUS
2 Vasiukov,Evgeni GM 2469 RUS
3 Pushkov,Nikolai GM 2468 RUS
4 Petrushin,Alexander I IM 2465 RUS
5 Chernikov,Oleg L GM 2439 RUS

2 Repubblica Ceca 2370 CZE

1 Jansa,Vlastimil GM 2495 CZE
2 Lechtynsky,Jiri GM 2393 CZE
3 Pribyl,Josef IM 2344 CZE
4 Trapl,Jindrich IM 2345 CZE
5 Pacl,Vaclav FM 2275 CZE

3 Germania 2368 GER

1 Uhlmann,Wolfgang GM 2412
2 Hecht,Hans-Joachim GM 2381
3 Klundt,Klaus IM 2340
4 Clemens,Christian,Dr. FM 2314
5 Haakert,Jürgen FM 2392

4 Austria 2305 AUT

1 Danner,Georg IM 2429 AUT
2 Wittmann,Walter IM 2294 AUT
3 Roth,Peter FM 2263 AUT
4 Kwatschewsky,Leo FM 2233 AUT

5 San Pietroburgo 2302 RUS

1 Mishuchkov,Nikolai M FM 2396 RUS
2 Turikov,Viktor FM 2345 RUS
3 Karasev,Vladimir I IM 2344 RUS
4 Dommes,Vladimir M 2297 RUS
5 Vager,Boris FM 2126 RUS

6 Israele 2300 ISR

1 Tseitlin,Mark D GM 2404 ISR
2 Lederman,Leon IM 2291 ISR
3 Stepak,Yedael FM 2238 ISR
4 Peretz,Malkiel FM 2268 ISR

7 Finlandia 2281 FIN

1 Westerinen,Heikki GM 2333 FIN
2 Hurme,Harri M FM 2343 FIN
3 Havansi,Erkki E T. 2240 FIN
4 Saren,Ilkka J FM 2207 FIN

8 Svizzera 2280 SUI

1 Kortschnoi,Viktor,Dr. GM 2566 SUI
2 Vucenovic,Dragomir FM 2288 SUI
3 Bhend,Edwin IM 2208 SUI
4 Hohler,Peter,Dr. FM 2203 SUI
5 Illi,Hans-Joerg 2134 SUI

9 Berlino 2269 GER

1 Baumbach,Friedrich,Dr. FM 2261
2 Postler,Reinhard FM 2325
3 Lieb,Harald FM 2249
4 Brameyer,Hermann 2237
5 Thormann,Wolfgang FM 2273

10 Danimarca1 2268 DAN

1 Sloth,Jorn FM 2300 DEN
2 Jorgensen,Jorgen FM 2340 DEN
3 Kolbak,Jens 2344 DEN
4 Sorensen,Bent 2240 DEN
5 Nielsen,Poul Erik 2114 DEN

14 Italia 2242 ITA

1 Tatai,Stefano IM 2348 ITA
2 Micheli,Carlo FM 2293 ITA
3 Rosino,Antonio FM 2245 ITA
4 Laco,Giuseppe 2080 ITA


Sono previsti 9 turni di gioco dal 10 al 18 febbraio. Si gioca con inizio alle ore 10.00 tranne nel 1° turno (alle 14.00) e nell’ultimo (alle 9.30). Le squadre sono formate da 4 giocatori.

Tempo di riflessione: 90 minuti per 40 mosse + 30 minuti per finire + 30 secondi di incremento a mossa.

Sito ufficiale, QUI

Ottima prova di Emiliano Aranovitch al 2° torneo Master del Club Chess XV di Parigi, con un secondo posto a pari merito e la sua seconda norma di Maestro Internazionale! Il torneo rappresenta  anche un’occasione d’esperienza e di eventuali norme per alcuni Maestri Fide francesi, tra i quali spicca il sedicenne Julien Song, che ha mancato l’obiettivo di mezzo punto.

Julien Song

La gara è stata vinta da una buona conoscenza degli scacchi italiani, l’IM Okhotnik, con 6,5 su 9, nonostante una sconfitta con il francese Brih. A pari merito con Aranovitch a 6 su 9 l’IM Nguyen Chi Minh, che qualcuno ricorderà come prima scacchiera di Monza nella Finale Master del CIS 2008. Presenti due GM, il bulgaro Nikola Spiridonov e l’israeliano Jacob Murey, al quale è giusto dare un po’ di spazio.

Jacob Murey

Nato a Mosca nel 1941, Murey si mise in luce a 18 anni con un 6° posto nel campionato studentesco dell’URSS. Seppe imporsi in tante gare nell’Unione Sovietica come un ottimo maestro, anche se non tra i primissimi nella feroce concorrenza dei fortissimi scacchi russi di allora. Come tanti altri eccellenti giocatori dell’URSS avrebbe meritato i titoli internazionali ma non ebbe modo di cimentarsi all’estero finchè non riuscì ad emigrare in Israele, nel 1977.

Qui inizia una seconda carriera scacchistica: Murey fu secondo di Korchnoi nel match di Baguio (e chi si fosse perso l’articolo di Ale su quel Karpov – Korchnoi deve assolutamente rimediare! http://www.scacchierando.net/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=1562 ), diventando Maestro Internazionale nel 1982 e riuscendo ad inserirsi successivamente tra i primi 100 giocatori del mondo, con il titolo di GM raggiunto nel 1987 e il suo massimo ELO di 2560 (di allora…) nel 1989. Ha difeso i colori della squadra olimpica israeliana in tre Olimpiadi (1980-82-84). Ottime soddisfazioni da “senior”, con il titolo europeo vinto nel 2001 e conducendo Israele alla vittoria nel 1° Campionato del mondo senior a squadre, nel 2004, ottenendo anche il miglior risultato in prima scacchiera insieme a Uhlmann. Una sua bella vittoria: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1076732  

L’aria parigina giova ad Emiliano che, lo scorso luglio, aveva colto la sua prima norma nel prestigioso Campionato di Parigi, con un torneo spettacolare e una norma arrivata con due turni di anticipo!! Ne avevamo parlato in questo articolo, presentando anche una bella vittoria contro il GM azero Guliyev (2555).

Emiliano contro Sax a Bratto 2009

In questa gara Aranovitch è stato l’unico a rimanere imbattuto! Momento cruciale del torneo al settimo turno, con il bianco contro il francese Brih (che, come accennato, aveva già dato un dispiacere al n° 1 del tabellone), entrambi a 4 su 6. Negli ultimi due turni Emiliano era atteso da Okhotnik e Murey e ai fini della norma diventava molto importante ottenere una vittoria. Ecco la partita:

Aranovitch - Brih [B27]

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 e6 4.Nf3 c5 5.0–0 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nc6 7.Nxc6 Bxc6 8.Nc3 d6 9.f4 Nf6 10.Qe2 e5 11.fxe5 dxe5 12.Bg5 Be7 13.Bb5 Qd6 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Qc4 Rc8 16.Rad1 Qe6 17.Bxc6+ Qxc6 18.Qa6 Ra8 19.Nd5 Bd8 20.c4 0–0 21.Kh1 g6 22.a4 Rc8 23.b3 Kg7 24.Qb5 Qe6 25.Nc3 Be7 26.Qd7 Bb4 27.Nb5 a6 28.Nc7 Qxd7 29.Rxd7 Kg8 30.Nxa6 Bc3 31.Nc7 Bd4 32.Nd5 Rcd8 33.Rxd8 Rxd8 34.g4 Kg7 35.Kg2 Rf8 36.Rf6 Rd8 37.Rc6 f5 38.gxf5 gxf5 39.exf5 Rf8 40.f6+ Kg6 41.Kf3 Kf5 42.Ne7+ Kg5 43.Ke4 Rxf6 44.h4+ 1–0

Davvero complimenti per questa seconda norma! Emiliano ha già superato i 2400 punti Elo e quindi manca solo la terza norma per la conquista del titolo. Noi mettiamo in ghiaccio il nostro tradizionale champagne informatico e alla prima occasione… Vai che si brinda!

Rubinstein, Alekhine, Capablanca, Euwe, Fine, Keres, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Spassky, Tal e Karpov, giusto per citare qualche nome, chi non darebbe un mese di stipendio per finire in questo albo d’oro alzi la mano! Eppure scopro con somma sorpresa che il campo dei partecipanti non è certamente all’altezza della storia del torneo, forse complice un primo premio di “sole” 2.000 sterline…..

Hastings, amena località balneare nella costa meridionale dell’Inghilterra….beh, diciamo subito che a dicembre fare un bagno in quelle acque non è che sia il massimo, forse è meglio giocare a scacchi. Perchè la cartolina dice famosa dal 1066?

Semplice, perchè nel 1066 vi si tenne una importante battaglia tra le truppe di Aroldo II Re degli Anglosassoni e Guglielmo II Duca di Normandia, che aveva in neri (cioè doveva invadere l’Inghilterra)  e che vinse con una brillante combinazione: “Guglielmo convinse i suoi a fingersi spaventati e, al successivo attacco, quando i Normanni cominciarono a ritirarsi, gran parte dei Sassoni si gettò all’inseguimento. Scesi dal colle, i cavalieri si voltarono e caricarono sulla scompigliata formazione nemica.”

Dal 1066 passiamo direttamente al 1895, anno che vede il primo grande torneo di Hastings, non ancora  disputato nel periodo di Capodanno,  ma in pieno agosto, per la gioia degli accompagnatori che potevano fare il bagno. Quel memorabile torneo, al quale partecipò anche l’italiano Beniamino Vergani, si concluse con l’inatteso successo dello semi-sconosciuto americano Pillsbury davanti a tutti i più forti giocatori dell’epoca, Lasker, Steinitz, Cigorin e Tarrasch in testa.

Nel 1919 si disputa un’altra edizione estiva, vinta da Capablanca (la terza ed ultima è del 1922 e vincerà Alekhine), e finalmente giungiamo all’inverno del 1920, quando parte la prima edizione a cadenza annuale, quella 1920/21, che vedrà il successo di Frederick Dewhurst Yates (foto sopra da Chessbase). Da allora ecco i vincitori:

Avete visto che nomi? Fino agli anni ‘90 la politica era quella di fare un torneo con pochi giocatori (normalmente 10), invitando qualche asso straniero e molti giovani britannici, ma negli ultimi anni dopo una edizione ad eliminazione diretta, si è passati al sistema svizzero, e purtroppo è diventato quasi impossibile convincere qualche forte giocatore a cimentarsi in un torneo-lotteria.

Nella foto sopra (tratta dal bell’articolo “A Pilgrimage To Hastings 2003/4″ che trovate qui: hem.passagen.se/tjmisha/1066/hostings.html ) potete vedere una delle pareti del locale circolo scacchistico di Hastings, ricoperta di fotografie di campioni transitati da lì, e non sempre risultati vincitori.

Questa è la sede di gioco, io sinceramente mi aspettavo uno di quegli enormi palazzi dell’800 tutto guglie……comunque qui si tengono l’open principale e gli altri tornei minori.

Vediamo il campo dei partecipanti 2009/10, che poi non è così scarso, a cominciare da Yuri Drozdovskij, l’ukraino che vanta un punteggio Elo di 2625:

DROZDOVSKIJ Yuri, UKR, gm, 2625
HRACEK Zbrynek, CZE, gm, 2624
EDOUARD Romain, FRA, gm, 2620
ISTRATESCU Andrei, ROU, gm, 2624
HOWELL David, ENG, gm, 2597
WILLIAMS Simon, ENG, gm, 2550
HEBDEN Mark, ENG, gm, 2522
ARKELL Keith, ENG, gm 2464
SHALNEV Nikolai, GER, gm, 2450
COLLINS Sam, IRL, im, 2431
PHILIPPE Christophe, FRA, im, 2430
BREDER Dennis, GER, im, 2427
GREET Andrew, ENG, im, 2423
MARTIN Andrew, ENG, im, 2423
ZDEBSKAJA Natalia, UKR, wgm, 2408

Quest’ultima è la signora del già citato GM ukraino. Come possiamo contare, 15 giocatori con un Elo superiore a 2400 punti, e sicuramente altri si aggiungeranno.

Attenzione anche al talentuoso 19enne britannico David Howell (foto Chessbase sopra), che nel recente torneo di Londra è rimasto imbattuto con avversari del rango di Carlsen e di Kramnik, e che se non ha un calo di forma dovrebbe essere il naturale favorito.

Durante lo svolgimento del torneo cercherò di aggiornarvi sulla situazione ed eventualmente presentarvi qualche bella partita.

Rybka 3 32-bit - Jimenez,A [A90]
Blitz:25' Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 01.11.2009
[Jimenez,A por sus propios medios...]

Rodriguez Govea,Alejandro Jose (1525) - Korneev,O (2554) [B23]
Escuela CajaCanarias El Sauzal El Sauzal (1.1), 30.10.2009
[Jimenez,A sobre notas de Rybka 3 32-bit]

Games 3 and 4 both ended in a draw and so Viktor Korchnoi still has a small lead in his match against Boris Spassky. The match in Elista will consist of eight games in total, and after four games the score is 2.5-1.5 for the oldest of the two legends.

Photo © Official site

The match between 10th World Champion Boris Spassky and former World Championship contender Viktor Korchnoi is the final event in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the union between Kalmykia and Russia. The two play a total of eight games in Elista from December 17th until 27th, for a prize fund of US$ 20,000. The time control seems to be 90 minutes + 30 seconds per move.

The third game was a Nimzo/Queen’s Indian hybrid where the players left theory at an early stage. Spassky’s positional a5-a4 move was an attempt to refute White’s Qb3, but he might have regretted it later when Korchnoi had regrouped his king’s knight to c3. After Korchnoi missed an opportunity to reach a favourable rook ending, Spassky easily drew the resulting rook ending.

Yesterday in game 4 Korchnoi again employed the French Defence, just like in game 2 and in their famous match in Belgrade in 1977. Then he only went for the Winawer with 3…Bb4, but 32 years later his preferred move is 3…Nf6. At the press conference Korchnoi explained that he’s working on a book on the French Defence (great news, in our opinion – how can it be anything else than an instant classic, like Uhlmann’s Ein Leben Lang Französisch?) and therefore at the moment plays it without exception.

Spassky didn’t follow the current main line (4.e5) but chose 4.Bg5, and then seemed caught by surprise by Korchnoi’s plan which delayed the thematical …c5 pawn break. He played the new move 10.a4, which allowed the Black queen to b4. About ten moves later it was clear that White was not better, and so Spassky decided to repeat moves. Today is a rest day in Elista.

Games 3 & 4

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Our first report on the match
• Official website
• Games in PGN

Three rounds so far have been played in this year’s edition of the Czech Coal Match, and the team of “Snow Drops” (Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Kateryna Lahno and Jana Jackova) are in the lead: 7 points versus 5 for the “Old Hands” (Jan Timman, Vlastimil Hort, Robert Hübner and Viktor Kortchnoi).

The Czech Coal Chess Match 2009, a double-round Scheveningen match, takes place November 28 – December 5 at the Chrystal Palaca Hotel in Marianske Lazne (the former Marienbad), Czech Republic. The rate of play is 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes and 30 seconds increment to finish the game. The tournament is organized by the Prague Chess Society.

Last year the “Snow Drops” versus “Old Hands” tournament was very even but nevertheless it was won by the quartet of men (Anatoly Karpov, Vlastimil Hort, Fridrik Olafsson and Wolfgang Uhlmann). Of the four ladies (Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Ushenina, Jana Jackova and Katerina Nemcova) it was the Czech number one, Jana Jackova, who was the most successful. She managed to take down former world champion Anatoly Karpov already in the first round.

This year the “Snow Drops” team is a bit stronger, led by the world’s number 2 player Humpy Koneru, and after three rounds they are leading with a small margin: 7-5. And again it was Jana Jackova who started strongly; this time with the black pieces she defeated the now 78-year-old Viktor Kortchnoi in the first round. In the next round she would lose to Hübner with White, while Koneru defeated Hort. Yesterday Muzychuk also beat Kortchnoi, and by now we’ve already mentioned all decisive results so far in this friendly tournament.

Rounds start at 16:00 CET (except for the last round which starts at 13:00 CET), live here.

Games rounds 1-3

Game viewer by ChessTempo

The venue, like last year, is the Chrystal Palace Hotel in former Marienbad

Music at the opening ceremony...

...and the eight participants presenting themselves

Arbiter Pavel Votruba and guest and former FIDE President Fridrik Olafsson

Another famous guest: Mark Dvoretsky, together with organizer Pavel Matocha..

...and perhaps the most famous guest: 10th World Champion Boris Spassky

Round 1: Viktor Kortchnoi vs Jana Jackova...

...a win for the Czech lady

These organizers know how to set up a commentary room. There's the live boards, there's Chessbase and there's GM Marek Vokac, sometimes aided by Boris Spassky

Anna Muzychuk vs Jan Timman

Robert Hübner versus Kateryna Lahno

Timman and Lahno analyzing, Spassky kibitzing

Pavel Matocha with Bessel Kok

A unique experience for Humpy Koneru: advice from Olafsson, Dvoretsky, Timman and Spassky!

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN

Auszug aus der Teilnehmerliste:
1. Uhlmann, Wolfgang GM 2418 GER 2. Rotstein, Jefim FM 2245 GER 3. Schippan, Bernhard FM 2233 GER 4. Clemens, Christian, Dr. FM 2232 GER 5. Postler, Reinhard FM 2217 GER 6. Haubt, Georg FM 2213 GER 7. Ljubarskij, Juri FM 2198 GER 8. Neukirch, Detlef FM 2183 GER 9. Braun, Gottfried, Dr. FM 2167 GER 10. Lieb, Harald FM 2167 GER 11. Böhm, Erwin 2165 GER 12. Rahls, Peter FM 2163 GER 13. Villing, Dieter 2160 GER 14. Fronczek, Heinrich FM 2157 GER 15. Bachmann, Karlheinz FM 2156 GER 16. Schmidt, Gerhard 2154 GER 17. Rosen, Willy FM 2142 GER 18. Goldberg, Valerij, Dr. 2140 GER 19. Müller, Rudolf 2130 GER 20. Kreutzkamp, Hans-Rudolf 2118 GER …

In round seven of the Nalchik Grand Prix, Karjakin and Eljanov won their games, while Aronian maintained his lead. The round was also notable for the players‘ opening choices – some were unusual, some instructive and some rather strange. Update: video added!

By Michael Schwerteck

Games round 7

The greatest revelation, as far as openings are concerned, was made by Gata Kamsky. In his match with Topalov he greatly surprised his opponent by playing the French Defence for the first time in his life. Topalov decided to avoid the sharpest lines and chose 3.Nd2. The big question was: what had Kamsky prepared against the most principled move 3.Nc3? Now, after the game against Sergey Karjakin, we probably know the answer – the pawn sac line in the Winawer with the slightly unusual twist 11…dxc3 and 12…d4 instead of the well-known 11…Bd7 and 12…dxc3.

Karjakin and Kamsky at the press conference

Karjakin chose 13.Ng3 [at the press conference he admitted that Nxd4 was the critical choice, but he decided to avoid Kamsky's preparation - PD], but the opening was a success for Black who obtained dangerous compensation for a pawn. We will probably see this line more often now! The final phase of the game was weird: Kamsky had a winning attack, but somehow completely lost his head, ruined his position and finally lost on time. What happened to his nerves of steel? The French doesn’t bring him luck – he keeps getting decent positions, but his score his 0/4!

Another theoretically important game was Grischuk-Akopian, which started with 22 moves of sharp theory in the Slav 6.Ne5 line. It’s not easy to understand what attracted Akopian to play the black side, however. The position isn’t very pleasant for Black and after theory was left, he was soon much worse. Grischuk won a pawn, but then probably chose the wrong plan and misplaced his rook. Akopian managed to activate his forces and got enough counterplay for a draw.

In the clash of two Marshall Gambit experts, Bacrot-Aronian, another long theoretical line was played. As usual, the Armenian parried his opponent’s ideas pretty easily and made a comfortable draw. We have already seen a lot of games like this, where Black’s bishop pair and/or light-square blockade controls White’s queenside majority and we will probably see many similar games in the future. Yawn.

What’s even more annoying for the 1.e4 player than the Marshall Gambit? The Petroff, of course. According to Mig Greengard, every time this defence is beaten, an angel gets its wings (this is how it looks). The poor angels have to be very patient, however. This time it was Peter Svidler who couldn’t do anything to create problems for Rustam Kasimdzhanov. The Russian’s pawn sacrifice 14.b4!? was original, but as he commented himself, it was already played with the aim to make a draw. Does a devil get its horns now?

Gelfand often works together with Eljanov, and this time he lost to his young colleague

Vassily Ivanchuk is another player who has been in poor form so far. This time, after leaving theory very quickly, he got a promising position against Peter Leko, only to spoil it by missing 38…Bb3. An Ivanchuk in normal shape would never miss such a relatively simple tactical motif. A lucky draw for Leko, who had completely misplayed the early middlegame.

Evgeny Alekseev for a long time played very well against Shakriyar Mamedyarov, but he too only got a disappointing draw in the end. From a deceptively harmless Fianchetto Pirc with an early queen trade, the Russian had slowly outplayed his opponent, only to stumble shortly before the time-control (39.Kd2?). Well, „chess is brutal“ (Shipov). Sometimes.

Videos

Links

• Tournament website
• Games in PGN

Everybody has a favourite chess move. Many just love 23…Qg3. Tim Krabbé’s favourite is 16…Nc6. According to British Chess Magazine, it’s 47…Bh3. And a member of my local chess club is obsessed by the move 7.Ke3! in the Traxler Counter-Attack. These are all highly spectacular moves. My own favourite is the very modest queen-shuffle 2.Qe2.

I’m talking about the little-known Chigorin Variation of the French Defence, which arises after 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2.

I still remember the moment when I first encountered this move. I stumbled upon it in an old volume on chess strategy by Euwe and Kramer and, incomprehensibly, the authors didn’t comment on the move at all! I couldn’t understand what was going on, and was very frustrated about it. The quoted game was Chigorin-Tarrasch, 1893 and this frustrated me even more: how could such an outstanding player like Mikhail Chigorin play this absurd move?

Baffled at first, I started hypothesizing that White must have some idea with it, and I supposed (correctly, as it turned out) that it was to prevent d7-d5. But this didn’t make much sense either. First of all, Black could still play 2…d5 and after 3.exd5 Qxd5 he would have a position from the Scandinavian Defence with a rather strange Queen on e2, would he not? Secondly, even if Black couldn’t play d7-d5, it hardly seemed worth misplacing the queen just for that.

As always, things turned out to be not so easy. I started stuyding the line and discovered many things; mostly that, of course, the white king’s bishop could simply go to g2 and wasn’t so blocked after all. The game would then look much like a reversed King’s Indian. Also, if Black played Nc6-d4 at some point, chasing the queen even further over the board, the knight could be forced to retreat with tempo by c2-c3, making a nice ‘hole’ for the Queen on c2 in the process. It seemed there was actually some positional basis for Qe2 and this showed me in a profound way what a deep and rich game chess is.

Nowadays, it’s of course well-known that Qe2 and the idea to develop the bishop to g2 is a kind of prelude to later King’s Indian positions. Being a French player myself, I too sometimes face the move 2.Qe2 and in my experience, white players indeed usually strive for a quiet KID-like setup, apparently in an attempt to deviate from better known lines such as after 2.d3. Alexei Suetin, in his classic 1982 mongraph on the French, writes of the move:

It may be looked upon as the forerunner of the modern openings strategy which in semi-open systems aims at achieving a King’s Indian position with opposite colours, e.g. in the variation 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 etc.

Similarly, Gligoric, Uhlmann and Botvinnik (The French Defence, 1975) note:

Tchigorin’s [sic] move, 2.Qe2, can transpose to the King’s Indian Attack (in which White’s queen usually plays to e2) but by playing his moves in a different order Black can bypass the K.I.A. setup and take a more aggresive stance.

And the great Kasparov, in the first part of My Great Predecessors, says the following of the line (as played in the game Chigorin-Teichmann, Hastings 1895):

Chigorin demonstrated all the basic ideas of the set-up with the X-ray bishop at g2 and symmetrical pawns on e4 and e5: restriction of the knight at c6 by c2-c3, manoeuvre of the knight to c4 (…) This was the style of the future! Many decades later the King’s Indian Attack became fashionable.

Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934)

Now, I must make a personal confession. Although I really love the move Qe2 for all its initial weirdness, I don’t like the stereotyped moves that usually follow after it! White often automatically plays g3, Bg2, Nf3 and 0-0, then goes for d3 and/or c3 and he reaches ‘normal’ King’s Indian structures. Played this way, the system loses all its charm, at least for me. It’s just another boring KID with reversed colours! Therefore, in this article I will take a different point of view than the (however highly esteemed) opinions quoted above. In an attempt to stop this cliché treatment of the move Qe2, I will show that Mikhail Chigorin played it with many different ideas in mind as well, and that it’s not such a boring setup at all. In fact, Chigorin played the move to deviate from stereotyped chess to force the opponent and himself to think right from the start of the game.

In 1893, the Russian Mikhail Chigorin and the German Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch, two of the strongest players of those days, played a 22-game match in St. Petersburg (Chigorin’s home town) against each other. It was not an official title match, but the stakes were high. It was a clash not just of chess giants, but of chess schools. As Raymond Keene describes the situation in The Evolution of Chess Opening Theory:

Steinitz’s games had taught the chess world much but certain eccentricities persisted in the old master’s conception of opening play, which could not satisfy an idealogue and purist such as Tarrasch. For the first time, we now see the multiplicity of Steinitzian options narrowed down and pruned. Variations and moves are ‘incorrect’ for general and logical reasons and Chigorin’s objections (in his games with Tarrasch) that his incorrect or ugly moves are actually quite viable were more or less ignored. That was until Nimzowitsch came along to renew the challenge to Tarrasch, and until (much later) Soviet writers rediscovered Chigorin as the ideological father of Russian chess, finding that his ‘ugly’ moves, too, had a scientific basis.

The final score of the match was +9 -9 =4. The games were famously analysed by Tarrasch in his masterpiece Dreihundert Schachpartien (300 chess games). In all-but-one of Chigorin’s white games, the ‘ugly’ Qe2 line was played, making this historic match the ‘creation story’ of this particular variation. But according to Tarrasch himself, Chigorin wasn’t the first to have played the move. In his comments to the first game, Tarrasch writes:

This move was no surprise for me, I had seen it already in a game by Pollock, but given it no attention. It has no other value than to prevent the usual methods of play, and to lead to a difficult, closed game for both. Such experiments are usually allowed to white without huge risks.

Tarrasch's first comment on Qe2 in his book 'Dreihundert Schachpartien'

So far, I have not been able to dig up this game by Pollock, but it must exist, as it is also mentioned in the official match book by Albert Heyde (Der Schachwettkampf zwischen Dr. S. Tarrasch und M. Tschigorin, Ende 1893).  Can a reader locate it? (Interestingly, Kasparov quotes Chigorin mentioning how he got the idea for 2.Qe2 from a game he played - as Black - against Steinitz in their 1892 match in which Steinitz also played Qd1-e2 to prevent d7-d5: ‘It was this that gave rise to my initial plan with g2-g3, Bg2 and d2-d3, which was later varied’. Didn’t Chigorin know the Pollock game while Tarrasch did? An why, if he already had the idea, didn’t Chigorin play this setup on the first opportunity he got - the second match game - in the match against Tarrasch?)

In any case, Heyde makes a very important observation about these games, which is also important for our pursuit:

The games with this opening which were played in this match are the most interesting. In these, Chigorin tries a move tried in America - by Pollock if I’m not mistaken - 2.Qe2, which is well underestimated by most players.  Admittedly, Chigorin himself did not immediately find the right continuation, since in the defence with 2…Be7, the queen move gains in strength only by means of 3.b3 and 4.Bb2.

Here’s the thing. I’ve played the logical move 2…Be7 (preparing d7-d5) myself a number of times against 2.Qe2, and on none of those occasions did my opponent go for b3 and Bb2. In all cases, White automatically went g3, Bg2 and d3, without even thinking. I find this very strange. If you play such an interesting move as Qe2, why follow up with such boring schemes?

But let’s not overhaste things. After all, Tarrasch himself didn’t play 2…Be7 until the 10th match game. In the first four games, he played 2…c5. And as already briefly mentioned, Chigorin didn’t play the g3, Bg2 and d3 setup until the second time he got the line on the board. Chigorin’s first attempt went as follows (comments are by Tarrasch):

Chigorin - Tarrasch
St. Petersburg (m/2), 1893

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 ‘With this, Black switches to a Sicilian game, in which the position of the white queen on e2 in any case can’t help the attack.’

3.Nc3 ‘This is, on account of the however insignificant threat Nb8-c6-d4, not good and lays the foundation of later problems. White should play g2-g3, as in the 4th and 6th games of the match, and not rob himself of the possibility to chase away the enemy knight with c2-c3.’

3…Nc6 4.Nf3 a6 5.g3 ‘The wing development of this bishop was of course already intended with Qe2.’

5…Nd4 6.Qd3

At this point, we get a marvellous example of Tarrasch’s famous sarcasm: ‘One sees, Chigorin has learned a lot from Steinitz, perhaps too much. In any case it was more natural to withdraw the queen to d1 and continue the game with d3, Be3, Bg2 etc.’ In the end, Tarrasch got a beautiful position indeed, but unfortunately, he got mated.

Well, never mind that Black got a good position out of the opening - what’s important for us is to note is that White wasn’t playing the typical KIA moves here. It shows that the move can also be used to achieve interesting, different kind of positions. Tarrasch himself understood this point well when he wrote, in that other famous book of his, Die Moderne Schachpartie (1916): ‘The one idea of this unusual move is that it complicates the game and makes it more difficult.’

Although Tarrasch obviously was no fan of Qe2, I think it does show that Tarrasch values the move not as a way for White to reach a certain kind of standard setup, but to make play interesting. And this can be done in many more ways than just one! In a way, Tarrasch acknowledged this also by varying his own setup as Black during the match. For instance, even though he reached a perfectly fine position (and a classic victory) in game 6 after 2…c5 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nd4 5.Qd3 Be7, he played differently with 4…Be7 in the 8th game, ‘to take a new course as soon as possible’.

Let’s now turn our attention to the line described above by Albert Heyde.

Chigorin-Tarrasch
St. Petersburg (m/12), 1893

1. e4 e6 2.Qe2 Be7

While searching for contemporary sources in the Max Euwe Centre in Amsterdam, I discovered that at the time, opinions about how to play this line varied considerably. In the november 1893 issue of the Deutsches Wochenschach magazine, the text move is regarded as the ’simplest and securest’ reply to White’s concept. On the other hand, in the same issue of the Deutsche Schachzeitung, 2…c5 is considered ‘clearly the best answer to this untheoretical move’. 

In the end, it seems history has proven the Schachzeitung right. For instance, The Handbuch des Schachspiels by P.R. von Bilguer (1922) mentions that Steinitz considered best a setup with …c5, Nc6, d6, Nf6, Be7 and 0-0, later followed by d6-d5. Euwe (Theorie der Schaakopeningen, 1953) does likewise. Suetin (1982) and Psakhis (The Complete French, 1992) also prefer 2..c5, and so does Uhlmann (Französisch - richtig gespielt, 2004). It has also been the choice of players such as Morozevich, Bareev, Jussupow and Kortchnoi., but I wonder if it was just an ‘autoreply’ or if they actually considered 2…Be7, which I personally find more esthetic.

In the end, it seems history has proven the Schachzeitung right

3.b3 ‘A creative reply, directed against d7-d5′ - Tarrasch.

3…d5 4.Bb2 Bf6 Tarrasch’s notes are worth quoting in full:

The normal development would have been 4…Nf6, after which Black must ruin his king’s side by means of 5.exd5 exd5 (5…Qxd5 is not good for Black) 6.Bxf6 gxf6. Because of this, I chose the bishop’s move in all games with this opening. This further provokes the advance of the e-pawn, which is almost always more unpleasant for Black on e4 than on e5. In general, central pawns are best advanced only two squares, and because of this 4…d4 isn’t good; White would attack the pawn several times with c2-c3, Nf3 etc, and the end force the exchange.

An interesting discourse, but it’s interesting that Chigorin appears not to have intended 5.exd5 at all! In three later games, he chose 5.Nc3 or 5.e5. The latter move, by the way, was also played against Grandmaster Rafael Vaganian in 1998. It seems these positions have not lost all relevance after all…

5.e5 Later in the match, Chigorin deviated with 5.Bxf6. But according to Kasparov, who analyses some of these games in his already mentioned My Great Predecessors vol. 1, taking the bishop is inferior to the text.

5…Be7 This position also occurred in the 14th match game. On both occasions, Chigorin played

6.Qg4 after which Tarrasch played the amazing 6…Bf8

A unique position: on move 6, Black has ‘completed’ his bishop manoeuvre with Bf8-e7-f6-e7-f8! According to Tarrasch,  this is better than weakening the king’s side with g7-g6. He writes: ’One can’t blame the bishop now for making four moves; of course, taken together these are wasted. But because of the move e4-e5 Black has the opportunity to develop play on the queen’s side well, and start an attack there, while not much can happen to him on the king’s side.’

In my opinion, this manoeuvre also shows that Siegbert Tarrasch wasn’t only the dogmatist he has often been called , but also, like Chigorin, an empiricist who liked to experiment. Recall the Keene quote, or what Robert Wade (in his well-known book Soviet Chess) had to say about it:

Dogmatic as benefits a teacher and a methodist, Tarrasch tried to explain chess in an uncomplicated mechanical fashion rather similar to the way in the same period that the universe was explained. Just as small exceptions upset the rules to which the universe supposedly conformed, small exceptions required the rules propounded by Tarrasch to be modified. Chigorin was a non-confirmist, just as Nimzowitsch became in the days of the twentieth century preceding World War I.

Well, that may be so, but I fail to see what’s so ‘conformist’ about making four bishop moves in your first six moves, ending up on f8 anyway! (By the way, in an internet game from 2004, Alexander Repritsev played 6.h4!? against the well-known grandmaster Sergey Shipov, so we’ll never know if the grandmaster analyst also intended Tarrasch’s non-comformist move Bf8…)

But this wasn’t the end of it. The idea of attacking g7 by means of Qg4 inspired Chigorin in 1899 to play (against Showalter) the even more radical 3.Qg4!?! after 2…Be7. The game continued in ‘Winawer style’: 3…Nf6!? 4.Qxg7 Rg8 5.Qh6 and White won - all of which goes, I hope, to show the potential versatility of the move Qe2.

And even if Black doesn’t play 2…Be7 but the more popular 2…c5, White can still play differently than a standard King’s Indian Attack setup with Nf3 and g3. This time, it was Géza Maróczy who found out how. In early 1904, after 2…c5 he played the move 3.f4 against Swiderski, postponing the development of the white squared bishop to a more suitable moment.

Two months later, during the famous Cambridge Springs 1904 tournament, Chigorin himself caught Maróczy’s idea and tried it two times (against Showalter and Marco). He lost both games, though, and generally was in poor shape in those days. (He did win $67,50 for his final result, according to the tournament site.)

Still, despite this bad experience with 3.f4, the move was regularly seen in tournament pratice. It was employed by Paul Keres in the 1930s, and after that occasionally used by strong players. Admittedly, most white players later went for a KIA setup anyway (but now with the standard move f4 included already), but not always. Canadian IM Lawrence Day, for instance, has played the position with considerably more gusto, trying, after 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 g6 the move 5.Na3!? and after 4…Nge7 our good old plan 5.b3!? And as a perfect example of how the system can be played in a creative fashion, consider the beginning of the following game:

Day - Stonkus
Toronto open 1995

1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 c5 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.c3 b5 6.g4!? Nxg4 7.Qxb5 Be7 8.Rg1 Bh4+ 9.Ke2

and White won.

Now, according to my database, 3.f4 is still only White’s third most popular move behind 3.Nf3 and 3.g3, but not too long ago, it has also caught the attention of the creative British top grandmasters Nigel Short and Luke McShane. Short employed the move twice in his 1997 FIDE knockout match against Viktor Kortchnoi, while McShane, too, has played it against Kortchnoi. (Short told me that he had played the move mainly because he ‘must have been desperate’. Well, even better, for apparently he hoped that  Chigorin’s move would somehow bring back his usual creativity!)

Nigel Short, who admitted playing 2.Qe2 only because he was desperate...

The strong Belarus grandmaster Alexei Fedorov has also played 3.f4, and guess what - he played b2-b3 two moves later. I consider all of this sufficient proof that Chigorin’s Qe2 is not just ’some move’ to enter a King’s Indian Attack in a less theoretical way, but has independent value as a system. However, to my knowledge, no monograph or theoretical survey has ever been written about the variation in over 100 years! Why is this?

Is it because White’s move still just looks too silly to take seriously, as Tarrasch used to think? Or is it because people think it’s just another boring (when you’re playing black) or easy (as white) way to arrange your pieces without actually having to think the first few moves? I hope I have convinced you that this was not the fate Chigorin intended his variation. He played it as a way to start a chess game in an interesting, creative way. When I first saw the move Qe2, I thought it was a great big mystery.

Now I know it still is.

Comenzamos ahora lo que va a ser una larga serie de crónicas históricas para “revivir” el VI Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria que se disputaría desde el 8 al 28 de Mayo de 1977.

La gran estrella invitada al mismo fue el entonces campeón mundial Anatoli Kárpov, que obviamente prestigió al ajedrez canario con su presencia. Tolia dictaría cátedra en aquel torneo actuando en plan Bobby Fischer!.

Pero no adelantemos acontecimientos y vayamos viendo en plan “diario”, lo que pude entonces recopilar en las crónicas deportivas de los principales periódicos canarios (!?).

Necesitaríamos antes que nada reubicar aquí el momento ajedrecístico de aquella época, para realzar la importancia de aquel nuestro “añorado” Gran Torneo:

Después de su no celebrado match ante Bobby Fischer, Anatoli Evgenievich Kárpov había prometido a todos una activa participación en los principales eventos ajedrecísticos del mundo.

Así en Junio de 1975 vencería en su primer torneo internacional tras haber sido proclamado campeón mundial “sin mover un peón”, el torneo de Ljubljana/Portoroz, con victorias ante Portisch, Velimirovic, Barle, Silvino García, Mariotti, Musil y Osterman.

A mediados de Julio de aquel año, Kárpov participaría en la Spartakiada de la URSS con victorias ante Spassky, Grigorian, Kupreichik  y Gurgenidze.

Continuó su racha triunfal venciendo en septiembre de 1975 en el Torneo de Milán (victorias en la fase previa ante Browne, Gligoric, Larsen y Mariotti) donde cosecharía su primera derrota como campeón mundial, ante el GM sueco Ulf Andersson (Ver libro de Kaspárov, titulado “Revolución en los setenta”). En matches individuales posteriores a aquel torneo de liga, empató con Petrosian en semifinales (pasando a la final por mejor coeficiente) y ganó el torneo venciendo a Lajos Portisch.

Llegó seguidamente al Torneo de Skopje de Marzo de 1976, venciendo en el mismo a Uhlmann, Kurajica, Tarjan, Velimirovic, Vaganian, Nicevsky, Sofrevsky, Ivanovic, Georgievsky y Jancev.

En Abril de aquel año, disputaría la Copa de la URSS, venciendo a Anikaev y a Romanishin; para celebrar después un torneo cuadrangular a doble vuelta en Mayo de 1976 en Amsterdam, en donde vencería a Browne y a  Friedrik Olafsson.

En Julio tocaría otro torneo similar, pero esta vez en la “exótica” ciudad de Manila, donde por primera vez quedó relegado al segundo lugar (1º: Eugene Torre, el amigo íntimo de Fischer) que derrotaría a Kárpov en su match particular (!?). Por el contrario, Tolia le ganó a Ljubojevic.

Llegó el mes de Agosto de 1976 y la celebración del llamado “Torneo del Vino”, que se celebró en la localidad española y cordobesa de Montilla Moriles. De nuevo Tolia, retomó el camino del triunfo, venciendo casi sin despeinarse y obteniendo victorias ante Pfleger, Bellón, Díez del Corral, Pomar y ante el canario Fraguela.

A finales de aquel año, obtuvo su primer triunfo en un Campeonato de la URSS que se celebraría en Moscú. Victorias ante Balashov, Dorfman, Gulko, Vaganian, Grigorian, Tseskovsky, Zakharov y Kupreichik y tercera derrota como campeón mundial, ante Efim Geller (!?) - el matagigantes del tablero -.

En Marzo de 1977, Kárpov vencería jugando en gran estilo en Alemania, en Bad Lauterberg, donde finalizó imbatido venciendo a Timman, Sosonko, Liberzon, Csom, Miles, Torre (¡el placer de la venganza!), Hermann, Gerusel y Wockenfuss.

Terminó el torneo y poco antes de viajar a Las Palmas, Kárpov participaría en el Campeonato de Europa de Selecciones Nacionales, donde la URSS sacaría diez puntos y medio de ventaja al segundo clasificado (!!), Hungría y un punto más a Yugoslavia (3º). Allí Tolia jugó en cinco ocasiones y obtuvo el pleno: Victorias ante Smejkal, Ljubojevic, Gheorghiu, Portisch y Keene (!!).

Y por fin bajo esta “estela triunfal” llegaría la disputa de este VI Torneo Internacional de Las Palmas, un categoría X en donde Kárpov sin duda “dictaría cátedra”.

Quienes lo vieron en directo, me contaron sin cesar lo que más les impresionó entonces del gran Anatoli Kárpov: Su gran virtuosismo para jugar rápido y bien, secando a todos sus rivales.

Viajemos ahora pues a través del tiempo, para conocer los entresijos de este gran ¡evento ajedrecístico! que tanto nos ha llenado de orgullo a todos los aficionados canarios.

El tiempo pasa. Pero los grandes eventos culturales permanecerán en la memoria de los “entendidos” para siempre.

Y ahí es donde radica la verdadera fuerza de la cultura(!!).

Con Tatai, Micheli, Rosino, Magrini e Laco

Dal 5 al 13 aprile si svolge l’undicesimo campionato europeo seniores a squadre, riservato a giocatori nati entro il 1948. Si gioca a Velden, in Austria, dopo le tante edizioni  disputate a Dresda. Si può partecipare con più squadre nazionali, che assumono spesso la denominazione della regione o città di provenienza.

L’Italia è al sesto posto del tabellone di 54 squadre, presentando quest’anno una formazione di tutto rispetto. A Antonio Rosino (capitano) e Giuseppe Laco (Campione Italiano 2008 dopo le tre edizioni vinte da Rosino), si sono aggiunti Stefano Tatai, Carlo Micheli e Riccardo Magrini! Quest’anno l’attività seniores vedrà in Italia anche il Campionato del Mondo, previsto a Condino (Trento) dal 27 ottobre al 8 novembre. E’ imminente il Campionato Italiano, che si disputerà ad Arvier dal 24 aprile al 2 maggio, mentre il Campionato Europeo si giocherà in Slovenia, a Rogaska Slatina, dal 22 al 31 luglio.

Stefano Tatai

Lo scorso anno si impose la formazione della Repubblica Ceca, Tschechien, precedendo la squadra russa di Stiller Don Rostov, squadra campione nel 2007. Una sola formazione russa quest’anno, Russia appunto, che all’ossatura della formazione di Stiller Don Rostov (Tseshkovsky, Pushkov e Zakharov) ha aggiunto i GM Vasiukov e Chernikov (che nel 2008 aveva guidato la squadra di Mosca, giunta terza), aumentando il divario con le avversarie e proponendosi come assoluta favorita.

Vitaly Tseshkovsky si è reso protagonista di recente di una impresa straordinaria vincendo il Memorial Agzamov (notizia già riportata su Surfing on the net), con una performance di 2756 (!!) e precedendo molti GM over 2600 (il n° 1 del tabellone era Kasimdzhanov)! E’ un piacere trovare così competitivo un over 60! Tseshkovsky, GM dal 1975, a 29 anni, ha vinto il Campionato Sovietico nel 1978 (a pari merito con Tal) e nel 1986! Nel 1986 ha anche vinto con l’URSS la medaglia d’oro alle Olimpiadi di Dubai.

Vitaly Tseshkovsky (foto Chessbase)

Evgeny Vasiukov alla bella età di 76 anni mantiene un notevole livello e solo nell’ultima lista di aprile è sceso sotto quota 2500. E’ diventato Grande Maestro nel 1961, a 28 anni. E’ stato Campione di Mosca per ben 6 volte e vanta in carriera vittorie contro Smyslov, Bronstein, Petrosian, Tal, Keres, Taimanov, Geller, Polugaevsky!

Evgeny Vasiukov (foto Chessbase)

Alla guida di Tschechien c’è, come gli scorsi anni, il 66enne Vlastimil Jansa. GM dal 1974, Jansa è stato campione cecoslovacco nel 1964, 1974 e 1984 e ha vinto con la Cecoslovacchia la medaglia d’argento alle Olimpiadi del 1982 a Lucerna. E’ anche un eccellente allenatore e vanta tra i suoi allievi David Navara.

Vlastimil Jansa

Competitiva come sempre la Germania (quarta nel 2008), al terzo posto del tabellone anche se priva quest’anno del grande Wolfgang Uhlmann. Al quarto posto del ranking i padroni di casa dell’Austria, guidati dagli IM Hoelzl e Danner. Il giocatore n° 1 resta Viktor Korchnoi, prima scacchiera della Svizzera (al quinto posto del tabellone), anche se il mitico Viktor ha lasciato nell’ultimo anno quota 2600 (2552 nella lista di aprile).

Il tempo di gioco è di 100 minuti per 40 mosse + 40 minuti per finire + 30 secondi per mossa a partire dalla prima. Nove turni, il primo oggi pomeriggio mentre nei turni successivi si gioca alle 09,30. Il punteggio è quello dei punti squadra con i punti individuali come primo criterio di spareggio. Sul sito di riferimento non sembra sia prevista la trasmissione online delle partite. Risultati anche su Chessresults.

The last two rounds of the Schachbundesliga take place 28th and 29th March 2009. OSG Baden-Baden is top of the table and faces Solingen and Wattenscheid at home. The team from the Southwest of Germany needs only two points to celebrate his fourth title in a row.

The teams of Solingen, Tegernsee, Eppingen and Bremen are fighting for two qualification places for the European Club Cup. Tegernsee and Bremen seem to have the best chances thanks to their easier schedule. After Tegernsee withdrew his team for the next season and Dresden is far behind at the bottom of the league most likely Trier and Munich will be the two further relegated teams.

All games of the last two rounds – as all games throughout the whole season – will be covered live in the internet. You can follow the games - just click at one of the four venues - at the website of the Schachbundesliga: http://www.schachbundesliga.de.

Playing venue Baden-Baden:
Saturday, 28th of March, 2 pm (14th round)
OSG Baden-Baden – Aljechin Solingen
SC Eppingen – SV Wattenscheid
Sunday, 29th of March, 10 am (15th round)
Aljechin Solingen – SC Eppingen
SV Wattenscheid – OSG Baden-Baden

Playing venue Bremen:
Saturday, 28th of March, 2 pm (14th round)
Werder Bremen – SF Berlin
SK Turm Emsdetten – Hamburger SK
Sunday, 29th of March, 10 am (15th round)
SF Berlin – SK Turm Emsdetten
Hamburger SK – Werder Bremen

Playing venue Remagen:
Saturday, 28th of March, 2 pm (14th round)
SC Remagen – TV Tegernsee
SG Trier – Bayern München
Sunday, 29th of March, 10 am (15th round)
TV Tegernsee – SG Trier
Bayern München – SC Remagen

Playing venue Mülheim:
Saturday, 28th of March, 2 pm (14th round)
SV Mülheim Nord – SC Kreuzberg
SF Katernberg – USV TU Dresden
Sunday, 29th of March, 10 am (15th round)
SC Kreuzberg – SF Katernberg
USV TU Dresden – SV Mülheim Nord

Below you’ll find the current standings with one more weekend to go, and this season’s team lists.