What Happened In 1999?

     Well, let’s get off the bleak subject of chess being played during war and flu pandemics and move on to a happier time, the year 1999. 
     Come to think of it, maybe 1999 wasn’t such a happy year in chess either. History of sorts was made with a big cheating scandal. Also, the world lost a number of players. 

February 24th: Catharina Roodzant, 3-time winner of the women's Dutch championship. March 22nd: Fan Adams, chess patron and organizer. April 13th: Ortvin Sarapu, 20-time New Zealand champion. May 17th: GM Lembit Oll ) committed suicide by jumping out of a 5th floor window of his apartment in Tallinn at the age of 33. He suffered from severe depression after his wife divorced him. September 11th: Francisco Perez, Spanish/Cuban master. September 17th: Gary Koshnitsky an Australian master. November 11th: Lodewijk Prins of The Netherlands at the age of 86. 

     The big scare that year was the Y2K Bug, also called Year 2000 Bug or Millennium Bug. It’s funny now, but things were panicky at the time. It was supposed to be a problem in the coding of computerized systems of every kind that was going to create havoc in computers and computer networks around the world at the beginning of the year 2000. 
     Nothing was going to work, cars wouldn’t start and even garage door openers wouldn’t work. Elevators, temperature control systems, medical equipment...everything was going to shut down. 
    The engineering vice president of the company I worked for asked me to prepare a list of all the computerized equipment we had in the machine shop so he could make a report to the company president. When I asked the machine shop foreman what digital equipment we had he snorted, “Are you kidding? All this (expletive deleted) is ancient.” 
    Supposedly, the problem was that many computer programs abbreviated four-digit years as two digits in order to save memory space. These computers could recognize “98” as “1998” but would be unable to recognize “00” as “2000.” Thus on midnight January 1, 2000, computers would be using an incorrect date and so fail to operate properly unless the software was repaired or replaced before that date. 
     Programs that projected budgets or debts into the future could begin malfunctioning in 1999 when they made projections into 2000. In addition, some computer software did not take into account that the year 2000 was a leap year. 
     Even before that it had been feared that some computers might fail on September 9, 1999 (9/9/99), because early programmers often used a series of 9s to indicate the end of a program. Widespread chaos on and following January 1, 2000 was predicted. 
     In October of 1998, President Bill Clinton signed the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act. The law was designed to encourage American companies to share Y2K data by offering them limited liability protection for sharing information about Y2K products, methods, and best practices. In England the British government announced that its armed forces would be prepared in time and would provide assistance to local police if utilities, transportation systems, etc. Worldwide an estimated $300 billion was spent to upgrade computers and application programs to be Y2K-compliant. 
     Come January 1, 2000 everybody woke up and found everything working just fine. There followed accusations that the whole thing had been greatly exaggerated from the beginning. Naturally, those who had worked in Y2K-compliance efforts insisted that the threat had been real. 
     In other computer/chess related news, at the 1999 Boblingen Open, an unknown German player named Clemens Allwermann went undefeated scoring 7.5-1.5 and finished first ahead of several IMs and GMs. His performance was 2630. Not bad for a 55 year old with a 1900 rating. 
     People became skeptical when it was discovered his moves matched Fritz 5.32. Allwermann’s nefarious scheme was exposed by Hartmut Metz when he showed examples where Fritz played brilliant tactics, but also made bad, anti-positional moves. 
     When Allwermann’s last round opponent, GM Sergey Kalinitschev resigned, Allwermann informed him that the final position was mate in eight, but Kalinitschev didn’t think so. Allwermann told him to check it out which is what some players did and they discovered Allwermann was right. 
     The question became how did he get the moves from a computer? The Boblingen TD recalled that although the temperature in the playing hall was usually near 90 degrees, Allwermann always played wearing a tie and a blazer. It was speculated that a miniature camera might have been hidden in his tie and his long hair and glasses could easily have hidden a receiver. It was also reported that Allwermann used to run a store selling electronic equipment. 
     Not long after the tournament Allwermann published a letter on the Internet saying that his result had been due to careful preparation, especially in the Sicilian Sveshnikov. He also threatened to sue anyone who accused him of cheating. It was a hollow threat because he didn’t follow up on the threat when the Metz story was published. 
     Several months after Boblingen, the District Attorney’s office began investigating him for embezzlement of the prize money which amounted to about $850. It was shown that almost all of his moves were reproduced by Fritz5.32 and the Fritz Powerbook 99. Even a transposition error in Powerbooks was reproduced. 
     Super-sleuthing by Hartmut Metz enabled him to locate an electronics supplier who had sold Allwermann some equipment. The store owner stated that Allwermann had insisted on modifications that would allow him to enter a four-digit code in a hand-held radio transmitter. He had also purchased a small receiver that would fit in his ear and could be hidden under his long hair. 
     After several months the District Attorney’s office dropped the case for lack of evidence. Their reasoning was that a strong player's moves sometimes matched Fritz and nobody actually saw him using any electronic devices. None of that mattered to the Bavarian Chess Federation which banned him from tournaments. 
     Before the ban Allwermann had played in another tournament where he was under scrutiny by everybody. In that event his play matched his 1900 rating. 
     In other 1999 developments, Judit Polgar was the first and only woman to be a FIDE World Champion quarter finalist. That same year Susan Polgar, who was the woman’s world champion, refused to accept the match conditions between her and Xie Jun and forfeited her title. She didn’t want to play the match in China.
     The top rated players were Kasparov (2812), Anand (2751), Kramnik (2751) and Shirov (2726). Boris Gulko was the US Champion. 
     There was some good news though. In March, Maurice Ashley became the first black GM and youth had their day. David Howell, age 8, became the youngest player to beat a GM when he defeated John Nunn in London and Bu Xiangzhi became the world's youngest GM at the age of 13 years, 10 months, and 13 days.

Archived Chess Life and Chess Review

   Did you know there is a digital archive of Chess Life and Chess Review magazines that is available to the general public at no charge as part of the USCF’s non-profit educational mission to empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess? 
     It does not contain the most current 12 months of Chess Life; those are only available to US Chess members. 
     Each month, a new PDF will be rotated in to keep the archive current. These PDFs are fully text searchable; you can search for names, old TLAs, and even for every mention of specific moves such as 1. P-K4 or Bb4. If you have Adobe Acrobat PRO, you can text search your entire archive without the files being opened. Chess Life is available from 1946 and Chess Review from 1933. VISIT
     It's not often we get to say this, but kudos to the USCF!

Players Surrounded By Death

     In October 1918, the United States was still fighting in World War I and at the same time, on the home front cities were gripped with fear: schools were closed; theaters, churches and places of public amusement had been shuttered. 
     In October alone 195,000 people died, making it the deadliest month in American history. The killer was none other than influenza. In stark contrast with most seasonal flu outbreaks, this one was more deadly to the young and healthy than to the elderly or sick. The pandemic lasted 15 months and worldwide 500 million people got sick and between 3-5 percent of the world’s population died. 
     In 1918 the flu was not a disease that was even reported, but in January 1918, a doctor in Haskell County, Kansas reported unusual flu activity to the Public Health Service. By March, it had spread to the nearby Army base at Fort Riley. On the morning of March 11, one soldier reported being sick and by lunch that day, more than 100 soldiers on the base had fallen ill. From Fort Riley, soldiers carried the disease to other military bases and, eventually, the battlefront in Europe. 
     Initially, this new influenza strain was rarely fatal and set off few alarms. Across the battlefields of Europe, it was referred to as the “three-day fever.” However, it continued to spread and by the summer it was all over the world. In Fiji fourteen percent of the population died in just 16 days. 
     Most seasonal flu viruses affect only to the upper respiratory tract, but this flu also affected the lower respiratory tract which made it both easily spread and potentially far more deadly as patients drowned in their own fluid. 
     By July the medical community, especially those along the war front, had decided the threat was over...but it wasn’t. 
     In September, a soldier at Camp Devens, Massachusetts was sent to the hospital and misdiagnosed with meningitis. The next day, more than a dozen more were sent to the hospital. At its worst point, 1,543 soldiers at Devens alone were diagnosed with the flu in a single day. From there it spread into cities such as Boston which was only 35 miles away. 
     A physician at Camp Devens’ hospital reported that mere hours after a patient’s admittance, they began to turn blue from a loss of oxygen and it was only a matter of a few hours until they died. The numbers were staggering. In a single day in Philadelphia, 759 people died from flu-related illnesses. Death spread so quickly that many were buried in mass graves. 

     During this wave symptoms were not typical. Many reported coughing up blood or bleeding from the ears, nose, and even eyes. Streets were deserted and cities looked like ghost towns. 
     Eventually, the spread slowed down and with it came a false sense of security. Mass celebrations following Armistice Day in November 1918, led to a third wave beginning in January 1919, which, while gruesome, was not quite so deadly as the second. 
     In an attempt at maintaining wartime morale, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Sedition Act in 1918. Under threat of 20 years’ imprisonment, the law made it illegal to "utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States." 
     Does the following sound familiar? Arthur Bullard, a former student of President Wilson’s wrote at the time, "Truth and falsehood are arbitrary terms...The force of an idea lies in its inspirational value...It matters very little whether it is true or false." 
     While Americans were dying by the thousands, public health officials continually lied about the scope and severity of what was going on and media, whether unknowingly or by deception, printed misinformation. 
     An October 15, 1918 headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer read "Scientific Nursing Halting Epidemic." At the same time, in that week alone, 4,597 people in Philadelphia died of flu-related illnesses. On September 20, the Arkansas Gazette wrote: "Spanish influenza is plain la grippe – same old fever and chills." The next month, Arkansas confirmed it had 1,800 cases and issued a statewide quarantine. 

Pottsville PA  October 15, 1918

     In spite of the War and the flu, chess activity continued. Though many were small (e.g. Quad events) there were tournaments in Vienna, The Hague, London, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Moscow, Copenhagen, Berlin, Nijmegen, Scheveningen, Breslau, Rye Beach, Kaschau, Gothenburg, Chicago, New York and Budapest. 
     A major tournament was played in New York City in October in spite of the fact that it was the month the pandemic struck with full force. On October 4th, 999 new cases were reported during the previous 24 hours. And, by October 19th there were 4,875 new cases. The daily death count fluctuated between 400 to 500 from October 16th to the 26th. 
     It was so bad that on October 30th Mayor John Hylan dispatched 75 men to the Calvary Cemetery to help bury bodies that had overflowed the facility’s receiving vault. 
     The first line of defense was isolation of the ill. Those that got sick in private houses or apartments were supposed to voluntarily keep themselves in strict quarantine there. Those that got sick in boardinghouses or tenements would be moved to city hospitals and held under strict observation. At Bellevue Hospital patients were laid out on cots jammed together in every nook and cranny and children were packed three to a bed. 
     It’s amazing that none of the tournament’s participants got sick! It was originally planned as an 8-player double round robin tournament, Norman T. Whitaker began a game a day before Round 1, became ill and withdrew, leaving it as a 7-player tournament. 
     Capablanca wouldn’t become world champion until 1921, but he was so good that at St. Petersburg 1914, he was giving all the St. Petersburg masters time odds of 5–1 in speed games and winning. He was undefeated in this tournament and yielded only three draws, two to Kostic and one to Black. 
     Borislav Kostic lost a match against Capablanca 5-0 the next year. He was awarded the GM title in its inaugural list in 1950. Kostic was living in Indiana at the time of this tournament, presumably to avoid the war in Europe. He was undefeated in this tournament. 
     Marshall was the strongest US player and was very active in both domestic and international events, with inconsistent results. In this tournament he lost both of his games to Capa, had a draw and a loss to Kostic and a win and a loss against Chajes. It was in this tournament in the first round that Marshall sprung his prepared variation (the Marshall Gambit, or Marshall Counterattack) against Capablanca who found his way through the complications and won. In round two Marshall lost Chajes and was never able to overcome the bad 0-2 start. 
 

Chajes vs Capablanca

   Oscar Chajes had handed Capablanca one of his rare losses in 1916, lost a match to Janowski in Havana 1913 (+0 - 2 =1) and defeated him in New York 1918 (+7 -5 =10). 
     Janowski, a talented tactician, was relatively weak in endgame play, but he was one of the top 10 players in the world during the late 1890s and early 1900s. In round one Janowski lost to the eventual tailender, Morrison and this was the beginning of his lackluster result. 
     A strong local master, Roy T. Black finished third at New York 1911, winning a rare game against Capablanca. 
     John S. Morrison was Canadian champion for a number of years. 



Final standings: 
1) Capablanca 10.5 
2) Kostic 9.0 
3) Marshall 7.0 
4) Chajes 6.0 
5) Janowsky 4.0 
6) Black 3.5 
7) Morrison 2.0 

     In the following game Chajes plays the opening quite well in modern fashion, but then instead of going for Q-side counterplay, he opts for counterplay in the center. Normally that would be a good idea, but not here because in doing so he opened himself up to a swift central breakthrough by his opponent. The result was disaster.

Play Online Chess

[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1918.10.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "David Janowski"]
[Black "Oscar Chajes"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{London System} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bf4 Nbd7 4. h3 c6 5. Nbd2 Qc7 6. e4 e5
7. Bh2 {This is what white has to play if he wants to keep the tensions.
Multiple exchanges on e5 lead to a barren position.} 7... exd4 8. Nxd4 g6 {A
surpisingly modern reply. This move receives the approval of the engines.} 9.
Bd3 Ne5 10. Be2 Bg7 11. c3 O-O 12. O-O Re8 13. f4 Ned7 14. Bf3 {Chajes now
makes a decision to transfer his N to e6 which does not turn out well. Q-side
expansion with moves like ...a5, ...b6 and ...Nb6 was better.} 14... Nc5 15.
Qc2 { Another good option was 15.e5.} 15... Ne6 16. Rad1 d5 17. e5 Nxd4 18.
cxd4 Bf5 { Black is already facing a problem. Retreating with 19...Nd7 allows
white a dangerous buildup beginning with 20.g4. Instead Chajes opts for
simplification even if it means the e-Pawn will be lost.} 19. Qc3 Ne4 20.
Bxe4 Bxe4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. f5 Qb6 23. e6 {Here black's only hope is 23...f6.
Instead he makes a nasty tactical mistake that opens himself up to a swift,
and fatal, attack} 23... fxe6 {Most likely Chajes had miscalculated and was
expecting white to take one of the Ps.} 24. f6 Bxf6 25. Rxf6 {A clear piece
down, black now completely falls apart.} 25... e5 {White has a mate in 11.}
26. Qc4+ Kh8 27. Rf8+ {White forces mate so black resigned. 27. Rf8+ Kg7 28.
Qf7+ Kh6 29. Bf4+ exf4 30. Qxf4+ g5 31. Rf6+ Kg7 32. Rf7+ Kg8 33. Qf6 Qxd4+
34. Rxd4 b6 35. Qg7#)} 1-0

The Most Dangerous Player in the Country

     It’s called death row; it’s the place where Nevada’s worst of the worst spend 22 hours or more each day in solitary cells, waiting for the call that means they will be executed by lethal injection. 
     In reality the 80 or so death row inmates at Ely State Prison in White Pine County, Nevada are more likely to die of disease or suicide than be executed. Lengthy appeals, the lack of a suitable execution chamber, debates over the drugs used and defense attorneys who make appeals all factor into why Nevada has not executed an inmate in almost a decade. 
     Despite a reputation for being tough on crime, Nevada has executed only 12 inmates in 28 years. And 11 of the 12 executions since capital punishment was reinstated by the state in 1977 have been “volunteers,” or inmates who have voluntarily given up their appeals. 
     One of those death row prisoners, a chessplayer, has been called the "Most Dangerous Man in Nevada" and he has been on death row for almost four decades. 

He rapes. He robs. He kills. 

    He is defined by psychologists as a sociopath, meaning he is a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience. 
     It started with kidnap, rape and assault in 1964 at the age of 17, followed by a prison escape two years later. He eventually served his time and was released only to find himself back in jail a short time later on new charges. 
     That was in 1979 and Patrick Charles McKenna was a prisoner in the Las Vegas, Nevada city jail when he strangled his cellmate, Jack J. Nobles, after an argument over a chess game that McKenna lost. As a result, a murder charge was added to his list of crimes and in 1980 he was convicted and sentenced to death. 
     In 1979 while in jail and awaiting trial, McKenna was the brains behind a desperate bid freedom that stunned Las Vegas when he and two other armed prisoners held police at bay for two days using jail guards as hostages. 
     McKenna was described as morally challenged by former Clark County Sheriff Jerry Keller, who was on the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Hostage Negotiation Team at the time.  He stated McKenna took no culpability or accountability for himself. He blamed everything that happened on everybody else. 
     In August 1979, McKenna and two other inmates somehow gained access to the gun locker and each had obtained a nine-millimeter Smith and Wesson officer's weapon. They then took three corrections officers hostage and were actually holding 106 inmates hostage as well. 
     The two other inmates were 29-year-old Felix Lorenzo who was facing a 150-year prison term for robberies and kidnappings and 40-year-old Eugene Shaw who was looking at up to 60 years for robbery and use of a deadly weapon.
     Tensions had been running high between the two of them as well as with McKenna. Then forty-four hours into the crisis a member of the Hostage Negotiation Team was on the phone with McKenna when events started happening fast. While they were talking shots started being fired. 
     The tension between Lorenzo and Shaw had boiled over and they got involved in a gunfight. McKenna ran to the back of the room, put on a corrections officer’s uniform and hid under a mattress. When the smoke had cleared, Lorenzo and Shaw were both dead and McKenna was back in custody. One of the hostage corrections officers took a bullet to the hand during the shootout but was otherwise OK. 
     Fourteen years and several escape attempts later, after the Supreme Court had granted him a new penalty hearing, McKenna was returned to Las Vegas to face a new jury. The Clark County Sheriff wasn’t taking any chances. McKenna, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, was considered an escape threat and was clothed in mitts and a hood. The jury didn’t change his sentence. 
     In a 1990 interview McKenna told a reporter he got a "raw deal." Referring to the escape attempt as a “jailhouse thing” he stated he was “just trying to get out of there.” 
     As for murdering his chess opponent McKenna stated, “Any other time, any other case on the face of it, we're talking Second Degree. (Note: Second degree murder is one which is intentional, but lacks premeditation.) And I make no bones about it. I admit to that. But because of all that, so I ended up with this thing. And I end up with the death penalty. They got me on ice for a while." 
     McKenna is still on Death Row at age 72 and authorities say he is just as dangerous today as he was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago. They also add that he is no less a threat to the community and probably no less a threat to some of the inmates in the Nevada State Prison.

You can watch a one hour 15 minute Youtube documentary on McKenna HERE.

The Coronavirus and Chess

     With all the precautions causing a disruption in a lot of activities, my online chess activity has increased. 
     I play at Chess Hotel. They have a free membership, but I always play as a guest. When you log in you are assigned a meaningless rating of 1200 and it is only for that session. Sign out and back in and you are at 1200 again. 
     The rating, of course, means nothing but I like the site because you can select from the following options:
Bullet (1 minute) 
Bullet (2 minutes + 1 second) 
Blitz (3 minutes) Blitz (5 minutes) 
Blitz (5 minutes + 2 seconds) 
Rapid (10 minutes) 
Rapid (15 minutes) 
Chess960 (8 minutes) 
Custom (set your own time limits) 
     You never know if you’re going to play, a rank beginner or a pretty decent player, but for the most part I have gotten opponents strong enough to make the game challenging. 
     What amazes me is that with games and ratings so absolutely meaningless there exists a class of player that you run into occasionally who, when they get into a lost position, either refuse to move and let their time run out or just leave the site. At least when they leave the site you are credited with the win without having to wait. 
     Such people must have a very delicate psyche. Nobody likes being wrong or losing, but research shows the more rigid (and less adaptive) your personality, the more difficulty you will have in dealing with those situations. 
     Chess players can be interesting. Several years ago on a forum there was a discussion on “red books.” They were a German series of hardcover books with red cloth bindings and algebraic notation (before it was popular in the United States) and had a diagram every five moves. Players included were Lasker, Petrosian, Capablanca, Chigorin, Steinitz, Anderssen,Tal etc. These were pre-database game collections which had almost all known games of the players.
     Anyway, somebody on the forum asked if anybody was familiar with the series and one person wrote yes and directed the poster to a link where they could buy the book on Spassky. The ad said something to the effect that this was the book Fischer carried around as he prepared for his match with Spassky.
     Believe it or not, one forum poster went on a diatribe claiming the ad was a lie and a scam because how could the seller prove it was THE book owned by Fischer?  When several people tried to point out to him that the seller didn’t mean it was the actual book in Fischer’s possession, the poor guy still didn’t understand. Like I said, some chess players are just weird. 
     For reasons that I can’t explain, I have developed morbid fascination with inferior openings and defenses. I suspect the reason is boredom with normal openings and the fact that losing an anonymous 10 minute game on line doesn’t mean anything, so why not experiment and/or just have some fun? 
     One favorite is the Barnes Opening (1.f3) named after Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825–1874), an English player who had an impressive eight wins over Paul Morphy, including one game with the Barnes Defense (1...f6). 
     Having long been a fan of the Grob Attack (1.g4), I have also been experimenting with that most horrible of all defenses, the Reverse Grob (1.e4 g5). Sometimes it’s also called the Borg (Grob spelled backwards) Defense or the Basman Defense. Bad as it is, I have managed to score quite well with it, including one win against a player rated 1768 on the old Instant Chess site, now known as Lichess. 
     Why do these hideous openings and defenses work? When they do, it’s always the same old story. They are met with disdain by players who think there is an immediate refutation and so they can abandon solid opening principles that would give them an advantage. 
     Of course in many cases the loss can be attributed to later tactical errors, or as in the case of a couple of the games, bad endgame play. Studying endings is the chess equivalent of eating your vegetables, but they can be fun! Besides that, serious players must master basic endgames. 
     One of the things that makes it difficult to get motivated to study endings is that there is no guarantee that knowing such things as the opposition or related square theory will ever be useful. 
     I never bothered to study how to mate with a B+N against a lone K because it never happens, right? But, did you know that in the 2009 New York State Championship a master named Alec Getz (white) outplayed GM Alex Lenderman and reached the following position?

    It’s black’s move and Lenderman knew 38...Nxc6 39.Bxc6 was hopelessly lost, so what did he do? He played 38...Nxd3 eliminating white’s P and knowing that after his own remaining Ps fell, he would put Getz’s endgame knowledge to the test by forcing him to mate with a B+N. Getz was up to the task! 
     If you don’t think studying endings can be fun, try working on either K+P or Rook endings...they can be quite challenging. 
     Here’s an interesting Reveres Grob that shows why these bad openings often work.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Online G10"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.3.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Guest"]
[Black "Tartajubow"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Reverse Grob} 1. e4 g5 2. d4 {Here I could play as if the colors were
reversed: 2...Bg7 3.Bxg5 c5 4.c3 Qb6 5.Nf5.} 2... h6 {A safe choice with
black. Michel-Richter, Bad Oeynhausen 1938 continued 3.f4 and drew. In
Hebden-Basman, Sutton Open 1998 white played 3.c3 and went on to win. In
Ginsberg-Basman, London 1979 white tried 3.c4 and black eventually won.} 3.
h3 {I have had a couple of opponents play this move, apparently prevent the N
from being chased away after Nf3, but it's a waste of time.} 3... Bg7 4. Be3
c5 5. a3 {A total waste of time!} 5... cxd4 6. Bxd4 Nf6 {Obviously I didn't
want to exchange my B. White now has an interesting possibility: 7.e5 Nd5
8.e6!} 7. Nc3 d6 8. Nf3 Nc6 {For the last couple of moves white has rightly
concerned himself with development, but now the bugaboo of we rating
challenged rears its ugly head...tactical mistakes.} 9. Nd5 {Correct was 9.Be3
with a slight advantage. Obviously the e-Pawn is immune, but black seizes the
advantage with...} 9... Nxd4 10. Qxd4 { Forced in order to defend the
e-Pawn.} 10... O-O 11. Nxf6+ {Bad. 11.Nc3 was better.} 11... Bxf6 12. Qb4 Be6
{Better was 12...Qc7} 13. O-O-O {This is a very dangerous place for the K.
Simply 13.Nd4 Bd7 was better.} 13... Rc8 14. e5 {The result of this is that
white opens up the position to a better developed opponent.} 14... Qc7 15.
Bd3 dxe5 16. Qe4 {This is the move white was relying on and it does look very
dangerous. However, black can easily escape.} 16... Rfd8 17. Qh7+ Kf8 18.
Qxh6+ {White has regained his P and black's K appears to be in a precarious
situation.} 18... Bg7 19. Qh7 e4 {Unleashing the power of the fianchettoed
B!} 20. Qxe4 {Black's most forceful continuation is now 20...Rd6 21.Nxg5 Bb3
22.Rd2 Bxb2+ with a decisive attack.} 20... Bxb2+ 21. Kxb2 Qc3+ {Now white
should retreat to c1; instead he traps his K.} 22. Kb1 Qxa3 23. Qe5 Ba2+ 24.
Ka1 {Black now has a mate in 4.} 24... Bb3+ 25. Kb1 Qa2+ 26. Kc1 {Black has a
mate in 2 with 26... Rxc2+} 26... f6 {Remember the bugaboo of the rating
challenged is tactics...hence, I didn't see the sacrifice.} 27. Qb2 {Black is
in some serious trouble now facing the loss of a second piece. What's he to
do?} 27... Rxd3 {This saves the game.} 28. Qxa2 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Bxa2 {Having
missed the mate black is at least left with a winning ending.} 30. Kb2 {He
should have availed himself of the opportunity to place a R on the 7th with
30.Rd7.} 30... Be6 {Preventing the invasion of the R.} 31. Nd4 Bd7 32. Nb3
Bc6 33. f3 Ke8 {White has two reasonable tries: 34.Ra1 or 34.h4 and 35.Rh8.
Instead he makes a tactical blunder.} 34. Nc5 { This allows black to pick up
another P with 34...Bxf3!} 34... Rd8 {Of course I missed it. The idea is to
exchange Rs and then bring the K to the center and use the power of the long
range B.} 35. Rxd8+ {His best chance was to keep Rs on.} 35... Kxd8 36. c4
Kc7 37. Kc3 Kd6 {38.Nd3 is now his best option. Instead, he makes a tactical
mistake.} 38. Kd4 e5+ {Winning the N. White resigned.} 0-1

World Championship 1886

     The year 1886 was important for me personally. Not that I was around then, but on November 25, 1886 in Wayne, West Virginia my paternal grandfather was born. To put things in perspective, just a couple of months earlier, on September 4th, the great Apache warrior Geronimo finally surrendered.  
     Between January 6th and 11th in 1886, there was a blizzard which initially dropped southeast across Texas before strengthening while it moved through the South and then headed up the Eastern Seaboard through New England, reaching its peak strength as it moved through New Jersey. 
     Over several days this system brought significant snow to the southern Rockies. Elsewhere it brought high winds and snowfall that resulted in blizzard conditions across portions of the Plains and the East. 
     With it came a significant cold spell across portions of the southern and eastern United States. Fort Macon, North Carolina, registered winds up to 62 miles per hour on January 8 and Wilkes County, North Carolina recorded 8 inches of snow. Near Staunton, Virginia, 14 inches of snow fell. 
     Up in New Jersey, high water and waves severely damaged railroad tracks in Sandy Hook. The gale in New York City blew away the anemometer cups at the local weather observing site. 
     Along with the cold, although a minimal amount of new snow fell, there were blizzard conditions in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska on January 6. Telegraph wires were downed and rails were covered with snow, suspending travel. Across the Texas Panhandle, at least five died due to exposure and the largest loss of life from a blizzard in Iowa's history occurred with 20 people perishing. 
     Even the deep South was affected. In Jasper, Alabama, a mix of rain, sleet and snow fell on January 8 and 9. Savannah, Georgia, reported a light snowfall for the first time in six years. Up to 24 inches of snow fell in parts of Long Island, New York. As the system moved through New England, some areas received over 15 inches. 
     How all this affected the World Championship match between Steinitz and Zukertort that commenced on January 11, 1886 at 2:00 PM in the Cartiers Academy Hall on Fifth Avenue in New York City I am not sure. 
     The first five games were to be played in New York, then the venue switched to St. Louis for four games and from there to New Orleans. Most chess historians accept this match as the first match for the title of World Champion.
     In 1886 Steinitz was considered the best player in the world and Zukertort was considered the second best and some historians consider this match to have been the first World Championship match. 
     In 1872, the two had met in a match which Steinitz won by the score of +7-1=4. Some historians consider that one to be the first World Championship match. Steinitz considered himself to be World Champion after his +8-6=0 win against Anderssen in 1866. 
     There was hostility between the two and negotiations lasted almost three years. Disagreement over the choice of venue was resolved when Steinitz finally persuaded Zukertort to accept the United States. Zukertort was paid $750 to make the trip from London and the winner of the match was promised a quarter of the proceeds from the betting syndication. The winner was the first player to score ten wins. The match used the same chess clock as three years earlier and the time limit was 30 moves in 2 hours, followed by another 15 moves in each subsequent hour. For the first time a demonstration board measuring approximately 3 feet square was erected above the players so that the spectators could follow the game. 
     After Zukertort lost the first game he complained of a lack of practice. He was asked, “Why didn’t you practice in London?” “I couldn’t,” he fired back, “Blackburne is always sick and Mason drunk.” 
     By the time play reached New Orleans, the match was still in the balance (4–4, with one draw), but by that time Zukertort was said to be physically exhausted and approaching mental breakdown. Steinitz, on the other hand, appeared to be playing robustly and demonstrated great mental stamina. Steinitz quickly took control of the match and wrapped things up with a further six wins, four draws and just one defeat. 
     The final game ended on March 29, 1886 when Zukertort tendered his resignation and congratulated the new World Champion. It’s also possible that Zukertort's play was affected by his heart problems and he died two years later.
     This brilliant game by Steinitz demonstrates his positional chess. Zukertort, a representative of the Old Guard, did not really appreciate the power of the mobile center, but Steinitz knew how to wield it with great effectiveness.

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[Event "World Championship Match"]
[Site "New Orleans"]
[Date "1886.3.24"]
[Round "19"]
[White "Johannes Zukertort"]
[Black "Wilhelm Steinitz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O
6. c5 {A positional mistake which white should always avoid; he should play
6.e3. Infrequently seen are 6.Qc2 and 6.Rc1} 6... b6 7. b4 bxc5 8. dxc5 {After
this black has a significant advantsge. Much safer would have been 8.bxc5}
8... a5 9. a3 {It looks like black is prepared to play 9...axb4 leaving white
with a very weak b-Pawn, but Steinitz has something very clever in mind.}
9... d4 {Fischer called this the winning move. The P can't be taken because
if: a) 10.Nxd4 axb4 and if 11.axb4?? Rxa1 and the N on d4 is left hanging.
Likewise: 10.Qxd4 Qxd4 11. Nxd4 axb4 and the R on a1 would be undefended so
the recapture of the P on b4 isn't possible. Moving the N to b5 is no help
because after 10.Bb5 Nc6 the N is in danger and white would be forced to
weaken his Ps with 11.bxa4} 10. Bxf6 gxf6 {Taking with the B was also
possible.} 11. Na4 {Here it appears that Steinitz makes a slight inaccuracy by
not playing 11...axb4 first.} 11... e5 {This K-side weakness is
meaningless...it's only a weakness if it can be exploited and here that isn't
possible. However, with his next move Zukertort manages to pretty much
equalize.} 12. b5 Be6 13. g3 {But not this. With 13.c6 he could have
prevented white's counterattack against his Q-side Ps.} 13... c6 {White avoids
14.c6 Na6!} 14. bxc6 Nxc6 15. Bg2 Rb8 {Threatening ...Bb3.} 16. Qc1 d3 17. e3
e4 18. Nd2 f5 {White is obviously smothering.} 19. O-O Re8 {This quiet
positional move is very modern...the R is doing nothing now, but later it
plays an important role.} 20. f3 {Fischer says this move breaking up the
center is his only chance. Engines don't like it, but can't suggest anything
more practical.} 20... Nd4 {A tactical shot designed to get his center Ps
rolling.} 21. exd4 {He might as well take it because doing nothing is equally
bad.} 21... Qxd4+ 22. Kh1 e3 23. Nc3 Bf6 24. Ndb1 d2 25. Qc2 Bb3 26. Qxf5
d1=Q {Black prepares e2 } 27. Nxd1 Bxd1 28. Nc3 e2 {Note how this P is
supported by the R thanks to black's 19th move.} 29. Raxd1 Qxc3 {In this
hopeless positon Zukertort resigned.} 0-1

Never Resign?

     It’s not unusual to see raging forum debates among lower rated players about when, or even if, you should resign. 
     One common argument is that you should never resign because you can always try to create a stalemate. In 60+ years I’ve had exactly zero serious tournament games end in stalemate. If memory serves there have been a couple of offhand or blitz games but the stalemates weren’t the result of a cleverly “created” trap, but rather the result of a gross blunder. 
     The truth is “never resign" is beginner thinking and it should be! Beginners are prone to making horrific blunders. Once I saw a player offer a draw in an ending where he had a R+K vs. K. He commented, “There must be a way to win, but I don’t know how to do it.” HIS opponents should NEVER resign! 
     On the other hand, knowing when to resign is a sign of chess maturity. You should play until you are out of ideas...then it's OK to resign. Bobby Fischer once said he knew he was lost, but instead of resigning he played on a few more moves to make sure it was really true! Perhaps that’s not a bad idea because it may prevent things from happening like what happened to the great Miguel Najdorf in his game against Raul Sanquineti at Mar del Plata in 1956; he resigned in what has been claimed was a won position. 
     I think the claim that Najdorf resigned in won position came in the days before engines. Najdorf was not winning at all...not even close. In fact it was Sanguineti who was winning until he blundered and allowed a drawn position in which Najdorf resigned. 
     I ran Shootouts with Stockfish 11 and the games were all drawn. Usually they came down to white having a Q vs. R+B+2Ps and white got a perpetual check. 
     Najdorf resigned because he thought there was no defense against 59.Qe7 mate and didn't see that 58...Rxg4 gave his K an escape square on f5...an incredible oversight from a player of his stature and it cost him a clear first. It's also obvious that Sanguineti, a strong player himself, missed it in what was a double oversight. It's possible time may have been a factor.
     Tim Krabbe has 35 examples of players resigning in won positions HERE.

Final standings: 
1) Julio Bolbochan and Najdorf 11.5 
3) Sanguineti 10.5 
4) Eliskases 10.0 
5-6) Jacobo Bolbochan and Redolfi 9.5 
7) Shocron 9.0 
8-9) Behrensen and Idigoras 8.5 
10) Pelikan 8.0 
11) Maderna 7.5 
12) Wexler 6.5 
13) Toth 6.0 
14-15) Rossetto and Reinhardt  4.5 
15) Olivera 2.5 
16) Gondim 0.0

Play Online Chess

[Event "Mar del Plata"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.3.26"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Raul Sanguineti"]
[Black "Miguel Najdorf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{English Opening vs King's Indian} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 {The English is a flexible
opening that even Fischer who considered 1.e4 to be the best used it towards
the end of his career. It can lead to dull, boring positions or those that are
extremely dynamic.} 2... g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 e5 7. d3 {
Statistically white does better with this move than with 7.d5} 7... h6 8. Bd2
Nc6 { An interesting alternative is 8...Nh5 followed by ...f5} 9. Rb1 a5 10.
a3 Be6 11. b4 axb4 12. axb4 e4 13. Ne1 exd3 14. exd3 d5 15. c5 Re8 {In
Mendoza,R (2198)-Oswaldo Valentin,R (2302)/Lima 2013 black tried 15...d4, but
got nothing. In this games things are pretty boring so just skip ahead to
34.cxb6. } 16. b5 Nd4 17. Nc2 Bg4 18. f3 Nxc2 19. Qxc2 Be6 20. Ne2 Nd7 21.
Bc3 Bxc3 22. Qxc3 Qf6 23. Rfc1 Ra2 24. Qxf6 Nxf6 25. Bf1 Rea8 26. Nc3 R2a3
27. d4 Bf5 28. Rb2 g5 29. h3 Kf8 30. Kf2 b6 31. g4 Bg6 32. Rd2 Rb3 33. Be2
Raa3 34. cxb6 {He could have retreated to d1 but Sanguineti is staking
everything on his b-Pawn. Even so, it's not quite enough to win.} 34... Rxc3
35. Rxc3 Rxc3 36. b7 Nd7 37. Ra2 { Up to this point the game has been quite
even, but now black should play 37... Ke7 and if 38.Ra8 Bd3 which keeps things
in balance.} 37... Rc2 {After this move black is lost.} 38. Ra8+ {Of course if
he exchanges Rs white is just a piece down.} 38... Ke7 39. Ke3 Rc3+ 40. Kd2
Rc2+ 41. Kd1 c6 42. b6 Rb2 43. b8=Q Nxb8 44. Rxb8 {Material is equal but
white's b-Pawn gives him excellent winning chances. } 44... Rb1+ 45. Kd2 Rb2+
46. Kc3 Rxe2 {With his next move white gets a little too fancy. Better was
47.b7! Rc2+ 48.Kb3 Rc1 and now 49.Re8+ maintaining a slight advantage.} 47.
Re8+ {After this Stockfish is predicting a draw.} 47... Kxe8 48. b7 Re3+ 49.
Kb4 Rxf3 50. b8=Q+ Kd7 51. Qb7+ Kd6 52. Qc8 Rxh3 53. Qd8+ Ke6 54. Kc5 {Now
after 54...f6!! 55.Qd6+ Kf7 56.Kxc5 Be4 there is no way for white to win and
the game would be drawn.} 54... Rc3+ {This tempting check actually gives white
winning chances.} 55. Kb6 f6 56. Qf8 {White could have kept his winning
chances alive with 56.Qg8+! Bf7 57.Qf8+ picking off a K-side P.} 56... Re3 {A
fatal blunder. Either 56...Rc4 or 56...Rd3 going after the d-Pawn was
correct.} 57. Kc7 {White's K supporting the Q plus black's lack of flight
squares for his K give white the victory.} 57... Re4 {Engine analysis reveals
that Sanguineti has a mate in 20 moves after 58.Qg8+ and 59.Qxg6} 58. Kd8
{Threatening mate with 59. Qe7 mate. Incredibly both players overlooked
58...Rxg4 making f5 available for the K and white has nothing more than a
draw. Not seeing 58...Rxg4 Najdorf resigned!} 1-0

C.H.O’D. Alexander

   When Alexander died, Botvinnik described him as “a great chess player; he will never be forgotten.” Botvinnik appears to have been proved wrong.
     Everybody has heard of Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, but few appreciate how good he was. Outside of chess, he received two awards from the British government. The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, a British order of chivalry founded in 1818. The Order was originally awarded to those holding commands or high position in the Mediterranean territories acquired in the Napoleonic Wars, and was subsequently extended to holders of similar office or position in other territories of the British Empire. It is also awarded to those who hold high office or who render extraordinary or important non-military service in a foreign country and can also be conferred for important or loyal service in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs. 
     He also received the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire which is awarded for chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established in 1917 and comprises five classes across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or dame if female. 
     Alexander (April 19, 1909 – February 15, 1974) is known for his work on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, and was later the head of the cryptanalysis division at GCHQ for 25 years. 
     Alexander was born in Cork, Ireland, the eldest child of an engineering professor at University College, Cork. His father died in 1920 during the Irish War of Independence and the family moved to Birmingham, England, where he attended King Edward's School. He won a scholarship to study mathematics at King's College, Cambridge, in 1928, graduating in 1931. 
     From 1932, Alexander taught mathematics at Winchester, and married Enid Constance Crichton Neate (1900–1982) on December 22, 1934. Their eldest son was Sir Michael O'Donel Bjarne Alexander (1936–2002), a diplomat. Their other son was Patrick Macgillicuddy Alexander (March 20, 1940 - September 21, 2005), a poet who settled in Australia in 1960. 
     In 1938, Alexander left teaching and became head of research at the John Lewis Partnership. In February 1940, Alexander arrived at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking center during the World War 2. 
     He joined the section tasked with breaking German Army and Air Force Enigma messages. In 1941, Alexander transferred to the hut working on Naval Enigma where he became deputy head of the hut under Alan Turing. Alexander was more involved with the day-to-day operations of the hut than Turing and while Turing was visiting the United States, Alexander formally became the head of the hut around November 1942. In October 1944, Alexander was transferred to work on the Japanese code. 
     In mid-1946, Alexander joined the post-war successor organization to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. By 1949, he had been promoted to the head of Section H (cryptanalysis), a post he retained until his retirement in 1971. 
     Alexander won the British championship in 1938 and 1956 and represented England in the Olympiad six times: 1933, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1954 and 1958. 
     At the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Alexander had to leave part-way through the event, along with the rest of the English team, because of the declaration of World War II, since he was required at home for code breaking duties. Alexander was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the correspondence IM title in 1970. 
     He won Hastings 1946/47 a point ahead of Savielly Tartakower. His best tournament result was equal first with David Bronstein at Hastings 1953/54, where he went undefeated and beat Bronstein (in 120 moves) and Soviet GM Alexander Tolush. He also authored several chess books, mostly for beginners.
     His opportunities to appear abroad were limited as he was not allowed to play chess in the Soviet bloc because of his secret work in cryptography, but he was probably of GM strength. Alexander made important theoretical contributions to the Dutch Defense and Petrov Defense. 
     When the England met the USSR team in a radio match in 1946 they hoped to avoid an “American Tragedy” where the Soviet team had defeated the Americans by a score of 15.5-4.5. For their part, the British players had a good knowledge of the strength of the Soviet team and they were well prepared, but a defeat could not be avoided: 14 to 6 on the men's boards and 4 to 0 on the women's boards. It must be said that even though the men's team lost they performed better than the American team had managed to do.

1) Alaexander-Botvinnink 1-1 
2) Klein-Keres 0.5-1.5 
3) Konig-Smyslov 0-2 
4) Golombek-Boleslavsky 1-1 
5) Fairhurst-Flohr 0.5-1.5 
6) List-Kotov 0-2 
7) Winter-Bronstein 1-1 
8) Aiken-Bondarevsky 0-2 
9) B.H. Wood-Lilienthal 0.5-1.5 
10) Abrahams-Ragozin 1.5-0.5 
11) Tramner-Borisenko 0.0-2.0 
12) Bruce-Rudenko 0.0-2.0

Play Online Chess

[Event "Radio Match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1946.6.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "CHO'D Alexander"]
[Black "Mikhail Botvinnik"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{French: Winawer Variation} 1. e4 {Allowing Botvinnik to play the French on
which he was the world's leading authority.} 1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4.
e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 {White has doubled Ps which form the basis for
black's counterplay. At the same time the Ps strengthen white's center and
give him a semi-open b-file. White has a spatial advantage on the K-side where
black is weaker than usual because he has traded off his dark-square B.
White's B pair give him attacking chances. The long-term features of the
P-structure favor black.} 6... Ne7 {The main alternative is 6...Qc7, but it's
likely to transpose.} 7. Qg4 {Alexander is not intimidated and plays the most
aggressive move. Today it's by far the most common, the other main choice
being 7.Nf3. After the text move black has several choices. He may sacrifice
his K-side Ps with 7...Qc7 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 which destroys white's
center. Black can also play 7... 0-0 8.Bd3 Nbc6, which avoids giving up
material, but leaves his K subject to attack. Another interesting alternative
is 7...Kf8 which is what I used to play in my "Botvinnik" days.} 7... cxd4 8.
Qxg7 Rg8 9. Qxh7 Qa5 {This move is inferior to the standard 9...Qc7.} 10. Rb1
Qxc3+ 11. Bd2 Qc7 12. f4 Nbc6 13. Nf3 Bd7 14. Ng5 {Here black can't play
14...Nxe5? because 15.h4! f6 16.exe5 leaves white with the vastly superior
position.} 14... Rxg5 {The exchange sacrifice is mandatory. Black tries to
dominate the center.} 15. fxg5 O-O-O 16. Qxf7 Qxe5+ 17. Kd1 {White's K king is
now safe and the passed Ps become very dangerous.} 17... Nf5 18. g6 Ne3+
{White dare not take the N because if 29.Bxe3 dxe3 20.g7 Qc3 and white forced
to allow draw by repitition and play 21.Kc1} 19. Kc1 {Very well played. Many
players would have been content to take the draw against Botvinnik.} 19...
Qe4 {The mate threat allows black to win a P, but white continues his
development.} 20. Bd3 Qxg2 21. Re1 {Technically a slight inaccuracy. Better
would have been 21.Bxe3 but the ensuing complication are hard to calculate
accurately. Alexander's move is more certain. Botvinnik's next move is not
the best. 21...Nc4 22.Rd1 N6e5 makes white's task more difficult.} 21... Ne5
22. Qf4 {Black has a wide variety of choices but nothing will offset white's
dangerous g-Pawn.} 22... Nf3 23. Re2 Qh3 24. Bxe3 {Even stronger was 24.Ba5
even though Botvinnik wasn't going to fall for 24...b6 25.Ba6 mate} 24... e5
25. Qf7 dxe3 26. g7 Qg4 27. h3 Qg1+ 28. Kb2 Qg3 29. Bg6 Nd4 {Black's position
is hopeless, and the rest of the game is merely a question of technique.}
30. g8=Q Rxg8 31. Qxg8+ Kc7 32. Qh7 {Looking at the position you would think
white's h-Pawn is going to be the deciding factor, but Alexander now transfers
his attention to the Q-side and an attack on black's K.} 32... Kd6 33. Bd3
{Now even is black wins the exchange by taking the R his center P mass can't
advance and white's h-Pawn will eventually decide the game.} 33... e4 {What
follows is a bewildering array of pins and counterpins.} 34. Qh6+ Kc7 35.
Rxe3 Qe5 36. Ka2 Nf5 37. Qg5 Be6 38. Be2 d4+ 39. Reb3 {This is worth two
!...It had to be accurately calculated by Alexander because it is the only
move that keeps the win in hand.} 39... b6 {If he takes the R then after
40.cxb3!! ultimately black loses the N and his K succumbs to the assault on it
by white's pices.} 40. Qd2 d3 41. Bg4 {The last several moves were played
during a time scramble and now that it's over Botvinnik resigned. He will
lose material and the ending will be an easy win for white.} 1-0

The Flu

     The past few days have been miserable because I picked up a flu bug...not the Corona virus, but another strain that has been really nasty. Mostly I have been sitting around like a big slug just waiting for it to pass. I recommend three products that we have been using for years to treat cold and flu symptoms. They won’t make you feel really great like the television ads depict, but they do work pretty good.  

     Local drug stores sell a product called Daytime non-drowsy multi-symptom cold/flu relief softgels. Delsym cough syrup. Neo-Synephrine nasal spray.

Fat Fritz

     Recently I noticed that Fritz 17 is out (Price: $89.95) and in addition to the usual addition and or improvement of various bells and whistles, it comes with the Fat Fritz engine. 
     One improvement is the 3D boards based on real-time ray tracing, but they require a powerful graphics card with a NVIDIA chip or otherwise they run on a CPU only for demonstration purposes. 
     The Fat Fritz engine is an extremely strong neural net engine inspired by Alpha Zero, which produces “human-like strategic analyses of world class quality.” Fat Fritz is based on the technology that created AlphaZero and is based on the open-source project Leela Chess Zero. BTW, Leela can be difficult to install unless you are computer literate. 
     One of the key tenets of the Leela Chess Zero is that it uses nothing except what it learns of its own accord. With Fat Fritz an attempt has been to make it the strongest and most versatile neural network by including material from sources such as millions of the best games in history played by humans, games by the best engines including Stockfish, Rybka, Houdini, and more, endgame tablebases, openings and millions of self-play games, etc. 
     One reviewer found that the strongest Leela engines and development versions of Stockfish are marginally stronger than Fat Fritz. That being the case, why get excited about paying $90 for a commercial neural net engine when Leela and Stockfish are both free to download and are slightly stronger? 
     The reviewer stated that if you are only looking for blunder-checking, then Stockfish is OK, but if you want understanding and want to generate your own ideas in conjunction with the engines, “...you need to use all the tools at your disposal, and you need to understand their strengths and weaknesses.” 
     That’s because engines like Stockfish, while they excel at calculation, defense, and tablebase endgames, they lack positional understanding of things like the initiative and compensation in situations where there is a material imbalance. For this reason the reviewer observed that Fat Fritz feels more comfortable in messy positions. 
     Neural network engines like Leela and Fat Fritz have the positional understanding, but their weakness is that they can sometimes miss concrete continuations and their endgame play is not always very accurate.  Consequently, different engines must be used together if one wants to generate insights that they might not otherwise have. As the reviewer pointed out, neural net engines are valuable because they bring new ideas into the game and new notions of what’s playable. 
     He also pointed out that when you see a 0.00 evaluation by Stockfish it’s not considering factors like the initiative and who has more ways to win which is something the neural engines, like strong human players, also take into consideration. 
     All this is interesting, but my feeling is that unless you are a very strong player or are playing correspondence chess at the highest level, there’s not much reason to invest in Fritz 17 just for the engine. However, if you are interested in any of the other features, that is another matter.

Fischer, So and Short on Religion

     Back in 2013 the late James R. Schroeder, never one to mince words, called Nigel Short a “walking dung-heap” who “exceeded his reputation as being vulgar and crude by dropping his trousers.” 
     What got Schroeder’s dander up was a New In Chess article in which Nigel Short wrote about sexual activity among chess players and included the “f” word. Schroeder also added that “Short didn’t publish that putrid crap; the editor, Jan Timman did.” Schroeder also claimed Timman “(degenerated) into being depraved” and is “long known to be sleazy.” 
     I recently ran across and article in Christianity Today from a couple of years ago (2018) in which Short ridiculed Wesley So, at the time the US champion, who has made a habit of praying before every game. 
     After So had lost a game, Short mocked him saying, “So the Lord deserted Wesley So today. Apparently, he didn't pray fervently enough.” Short added, “It may well be a dearly held belief, but that does not mean it is either sensible or worthy of respect, does it?” and “The problem with praying to the Lord on Sunday is that it is his day off. Paradoxically this is the very day that he is inundated with requests. No wonder he couldn't be bothered with the scores in the Berlin Candidates.” 
     Prior to that, in an article an article also appearing in Christianity Today in 2017, So stated that he follows Jesus publicly, even though people warn that his career will suffer. 
     So stated that if anyone discovers that you’re one of those “superstitious,” “narrow-minded idiots,” you’re likely to see nasty comments accumulate on your Facebook fan page. He stated that on a regular basis he receives emails on his Facebook page lecturing him about the dangers of following Jesus. They wonder how one of the world’s best players can be so weak-minded. People have told him that spending time reading his Bible, praying, and going to church will inevitably weaken his performance. People plead with him to at least keep quiet about his beliefs because thanking God publicly makes him look ridiculous. 
     Atheist Nigel Short’s fulminating against Christianity reminded me of Bobby Fischer’s rants against Jews. In a live interview on Hungarian radio, before launching into a Holocaust-denying rant, Fischer stated, "As Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, the Jews are not the victims, they are the victimisers!" It seemed to escape Fischer that he was born a Jew and if Hitler had had anything to do with it, Bobby would have been gassed, too. 
     It’s well known that after winning the World Championship in 1972 that Fischer belonged to and donated a large percentage of his winnings to the Worldwide Church of God. But by 1975 he had abandoned the sect, believing it to be part of "a satanical secret world government.” 
     He then turned his attention to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated anti-semitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. It was shown to be plagiarized from several earlier sources, some not antisemitic at all. It was first published in Russia in 1903 and translated into many languages. 
     According to the claims, the Protocols are the minutes of a late 19th-century meeting where Jewish leaders discussed their goal of global Jewish hegemony by subverting the morals of Gentiles, and by controlling the press and the world's economies. 
     Henry Ford funded the printing of a half million copies that were distributed throughout the United States in the 1920s. Ford did a lot of admirable things, but he became convinced that bankers and the Jews were responsible for a whole range of things he didn’t like ranging from the world war to short skirts to jazz music. 

Henry Ford

     He used his newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, to carry on an active anti-Semitic campaign. Between 1920 and 1922 a series of articles denounced all things Jewish. Ford Motor Company pressured their car dealers to buy multiple subscriptions and hand out copies to customers. The newspaper was popular and circulation reached 900,000 in 1926. 
     Nigel Short wrote that in time pressure a player’s heart rate can double and when that happens you should be physically moving, but chessplayers can’t. Short thought that resulted in players “getting some sort of mental injuries that are not necessarily detected” and “you can develop neurotic ideas in chess and they're just never treated." 
     Fischer didn't believe in doctors and certainly not psychiatrists. When Fischer was about 19-years old it was suggested to him by Robert Byrne that he see a psychiatrist, to which Fischer replied that "a psychiatrist ought to pay [me] for the privilege of working on [my] brain." And, Pal Benko commented, "I am not a psychiatrist, but it was obvious he was not normal.” Benko’s suggestion that Fischer get help also fell on deaf ears. 
     In his book, Searching for Bobby Fischer, author Fred Waitzkin interviewed National Master Ronald Gross, who told him Fischer had stated to Gross that he'd had a dentist take all the fillings out of his teeth and didn't have anything put in their place because he didn’t want anything artificial in his head. Fischer had read about a guy wounded in World War II who had a metal plate in his head and was always picking up vibrations, maybe even radio transmissions and the same thing could happen from metal in your teeth. In the early 1950s National Master Dr. Harold Sussman was Fischer’s dentist. Dr. Sussman said, “He had a great set of teeth.” Like many other things about Fischer, that changed. 
     To me, the attitude of Short towards Christians and Fischer towards Jews is appalling, but as Samuel Reshevsky once said of a discussion on religion he had with Fischer, “He has his views. I have mine.” Other that that, there’s no real point to this post. Thanks for reading!

Further reading: 
Mecking's Fight for Life - HERE  
Gutmayer and Diemer-Loathsome Men - HERE