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  • Tuesday, March 14, 2023

    The Year 1984

         Looking back on 1984, much of the world was involved in a perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance had developed, we were experiencing a revision of history in order to omit some things that actually happened and there was constant propaganda to persecute individuality and independent thinking. No, wait! I'm confusing all that with George Orwell's book 1984 that was published in 1949. 
         By the way, Big Brother IS watching you! The government uses facial recognition tools for activities like streamlining entry at security checkpoints and identifying suspects during criminal investigations. 
         It's not all bad though. When rioting thugs who supported Donald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol building in 2021 many were tracked down and charged when the government used such technology. 
         Even Ford Motor Company has a GPS tracking system that allows them to know where your car is located, how many miles are on it and even when and where drivers speed. 
         In 1984, a Hollywood actor turned politician named Ronald Reagan was the President. He seemed like a pretty nice fellow. At one point his approval rating was 73% and it remained above 50% until the U.S. experienced a recession and high unemployment in 1982 and his rating plummeted to 35% in early 1983.
         What we were really doing in 1984 was watching movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Karate Kid, Ghostbusters and Terminator. And, we were watching television shows like Dukes of Hazzard, Magnum, P.I., Hill Street Blues and A-Team. 
         It was the year Apple Computer launched the Macintosh computer line and Sony and Philips introduce the first CD players. Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik to win his first World Wrestling Federation championship. 
         It was also the year of what was probably the greatest show business sensation of all time...Michael Jackson’s hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial. Read more ...
         In 1984, many players were lost. Jacobo Bolbochan (1906-1984) the champion of Argentina in 1932 and 1933. 1933 died. The very strong American Master Albert Pinkus (1903-1984) died in New York. Reginald Bonham (1906-1984) the 1958 World Blind Champion died in Worcester, England. 
         Comins Mansfield (1896-1984) GM of Chess Composition died in England. Albert Becker (1896-1984), the Austrian champion in 1925 and 1937 died in Argentina. Chess book author William Cozens (1911-1984) died in Taunton, England. 
         Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian (1929-1984) died of stomach cancer in Moscow. Czech composer Jindrich Fritz (1912-1984) died in Prague. Many time Swiss champion Max Blau (1918-1984) died in Bern, Switzerland. Palestine champion (1936) and Israeli champion (1955) Moshe Czerniak (1910-1984) died in Tel Aviv. 
         The former USSR champion (1927) and long time Canadian stalwart Fedor Bohatirchuk (1892-1984) died in Ottawa. Yugoslav GM Mijo Udovcic (1920-1984) died in Zagreb. 
         Sporting a rating of 2710, Garry Kasparov became the No. 1 ranked player in the world, surpassing world champion Anatoly Karpov. Walter Browne (1949-2015), rated 2582, was the only American on the list of 20 highest-rated players in the world. 
         The most boring World Championship match ever played, the Karpov-Kasparov match, began in Moscow on September 10, 1984. Mercifully, it was halted in February, 1985 after 48 games with Karpov leading +5 -3 with 40 games drawn.
         ICD was selling a lot of different models of chess computers. The Sci Sys Explorer was under $80 and for under $100 you could get Fidelity Elite that played at over 1800 strength. For a little under $1,200 (equal to a whopping $3,529.31 in 2023) you could get the Prestige-B, that was touted as the world's strongest microcomputer. It had 2" squares with a 3-3/4" King, 14K of Ram, clock and voice, 15 levels of play and it played at over 1900. 
         For $130 you could also get a printer for the computers that would print out the moves and even diagrams! And, if you bought that Prestige-B, you could also buy a lightweight scientifically designed carrying case with an egg-crate foam interior to carry it in. It cost "only" $34.95 ($102.79 today). 
         A plain old human operated set of pieces, the Drueke Players Choice set, sold for $24 (almost $71 in today's dollars!!) and a roll up plastic board cost $6 ($17.65 today). 
         In 1984, GM Lev Alburt (born August 21, 1945), who defected from the Soviet Union in 1978 and arrived in the U.S. broke, had managed to make use of his talents and became the U.S. Champion.
     
         The 1984 U.S. Championship was unique in that for the first time in 30 tournaments an incumbent failed to place either first or second. It was a strong event; there were six former GM titlists: six-time champions Walter Browne, the reigning co-champions Roman Dzindzichashvili and Larry Christiansen and GMs Robert Byrne, Lubomir Kavalek and Yasser Seirawan. 
         For this tournament Paul M. Albert Jr. of South Salem, New York donated $250 (735.27 today) for the most brilliant game of the event. Arthur Bisguier was the judge and there were two among the many high-quality games that he found to be of clarity and overall beaut so he decided tio split the money. They were the game Peters-Seirawan (the co-winner) and deFirmian (the co-winner)-Kudrin. 

    A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

    Nick deFirmianSergey Kudrin1–0E12US Champ, Berkeley, CA1884Stockfish 15.1
    Queens Indian Defense 1.f3 f6 2.c4 c5 3.c3 b6 4.e3 b7 5.d4 cxd4 6.exd4 e6 7.a3 d5 8.cxd5 xd5 9.b5+ c6 This position had been known since the 1950s except that in this game white has played the useful move 7.a3. 10.d3 d7 11.0-0 The position is equal. 11.e4 5f6 12.g5 e7 13.g3 h6 14.e3 c7 15.e2 a6 16.0-0 with equality. Benjamin,J (2610)-Gurevich,D (2535) US Champ, Key West 1994 11...e7 12.e1 0-0 13.e4 7f6 13...5f6 was recommended by Bisguier because it prevents white from placing a N on e5. 14.g3 14.e5 xe4 15.xe4 xe4 16.xe4 xe5 17.xe5 f6 18.e4 d5 19.d3 fd8 20.e3 ac8 and black is better. 14...a6 15.g5 a7 16.e2 is nearly equal. Lobo,R (2310)-Gurevich,D (2540) San Francisco 1998 14.e5 b7 15.g5 At some point over the next couple of moves black should have played ...h6 to drive the N back. As it is, he will eventually pay a price for not having done so. c7 16.d2 ad8 17.c1± b8 18.e2 Perhaps more precise would have been 18.Qc2 g6 and then the maneuver Qe1-f3 d6 19.b1 e7 With white's pieces menacing his K, Kudrin tries to avoid weakening his K-side P-structure, but but since this proves unavoidable he should have played 19...h6 and then simplify. 19...h6 20.e4 xe4 21.xe4 f5 22.e2 xe5 23.xe5 xe5 with a equal position. 20.g4 Perhaps black overlooked the force of this move which forces him to retract his last move, ed5 A frequently seen B+Q battery in these types of positions. 20...xg4 21.xh7+ h8 22.xg4 xh2+ 23.h1 and white has a winning attack. To give just one example... g6 24.h3 f4 25.g8+ g7 25...xg8 26.h7# 26.h7+ f6 27.h4 g7 28.xf4 and white is clearly winning. 21.d3 g6 22.h3 f4 This loses without much of a fight, but he was pretty much lost anyway, but it was possible to make white work to score the point. 22...h5 would have worked better. 23.h6+ g7 24.hxf7 xf7 25.xe6+ h8 26.xg6 dd7 26...ff8 27.xh5 is hopeless 27.xf7 xf7 28.g5 with a decisive advantage. 23.xf4 xf4 24.h6+ g7 25.hxf7 xf7 26.xe6+ g8 27.xd8 Witty play and stronger than taking the Q! 27.xf4 xf4 28.h6 4h5 28...xg2 Bisguier 29.e5 xd4 29...g4 30.g5 xd4 30...xe5 31.xd8+ 31.xg6 xe5 32.xf7+ xf7 33.xe5 30.a2 wins. 29.e5 g7 30.a2+ h8 31.ce1 e4 There is no question that with only two Ns for the Q that black is losing, but deFirmian's 27.Nxd8 is clearer.. 27...g4 28.e8+ Black resigned. Engine analysis indicates that deFirmian's play was "flawless." 28.e8+ f8 29.xf8+ xf8 30.xg4 xd8 31.a2 g7 31...e7 32.g3 g7 33.e5+ xe5 34.dxe5 with a easily won ending. 32.g3 There is no way to meet the intended Qe5 f8 33.e5 e7 34.h8+ f7 35.xh7+ etc. 1–0

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