Lisa Lane

    Marianne Elizabeth Lane Hickey (1933-2024), also known as Lisa Lane, was the U.S. Women's Champion in 1959. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the August 7, 1961 edition, making her the first chess player to appear on its cover; Bobby Fischer didn’t mke the cover until 1972. 

    Born in Philadelphia, it was there she met the local master Arnold Chertkof around 1957 or ‘58 at a coffeehouse they both frequented. Chertkof was a member of the Franklin-Mercantile Chess Club and took her to the club and eventually got the strong master Attilio Di Camillo to work with her. 

    Her father was a skilled laborer who was more interested in horse racing than in his family and disappeared before she was two. Her mother had a great deal of difficulty raising two children alone and Lisa and her sister spent much of their childhood boarding with different families and their grandmother. She was a good student, but exhibited “strange behavior” at school and dropped out of high school, a year before graduating. A few years later she became a special student at Temple University trying to complete her high school curriculum while taking some college level courses. During that time she was involved in an accident in which the car she was driving struck and killed an elderly pedestrian who stepped out in front of her. She was never charged, but shortly after she dropped out of college and started hanging around coffee shops all night playing chess. 

    Around that time she invested her savings with a partner and opened a bookstore that specialized in poetry; it soon went out of business. It was after that she met Di Camillo and worked 8 to 12 hours a day on chess. She studied with Di Camillo mornings and played at the club all afternoon and evening then the next morning Di Camillo would go over the games and he would point out her mistakes. 

    Lane, accompanied by Chertkof and Di Camillo, went to New York to visit the US Championship where she witnessed 14-year-old Bobby Fischer win the US championship. Inspired by Fischer, she won the Philadelphia women's championship a few months later and the following year in the US Amateur Championship, she captured the women’s championship. Two years later, in 1959, she won the US Women's title. 

    A few days after winning the championship she married Walter Rich, a Philadelphia designer whom she had met in a coffeehouse. They were married less than two years and during that time she abandoned chess, but after their separation, went into full-time training. 

    To support herself she started giving simuls and moved from Philadelphia to New York to prepare for the World Women's Candidates Tournament. She practically became a recluse, living in a small apartment with minimal furniture, no television or radio, two cats and a lot of chess books. 

    Lane, along with Gisela Gresser (former US women's champion), had been invited to participate in the women’s world championship to determine who would challenge Elizabeta Bykova. The tournament was in Vrnjacka Banja, Yugoslavia and her performance was disappointing. She tied for 13th-14th place (out of 18) along with Gresser. 

    At the end of 1961 she participated in the Hastings Reserve tournament and withdrew after scoring +0 -2 =1 with one adjournment. She was, it was claimed, homesick and in love with her future husband, Neil Hickey. More likely it was her poor performance. In 1962 she married Hickey, editor-at-large of the Columbia Journalism Review. 

    Her misfortune continued. In 1964 she lost the US Women's Championship to Sonja Graf-Stevenson (who died the next year ). Then she came in 12th out of 18 in the next women’s candidate tournament but finished a half point ahead of Gresser. 

    In 1964, Lane opened her own chess studio, the Queen's Pawn Chess Emporium, in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Chess lessons were given by Sonja Graf who at the time was United States women's champion. While in New York Lisa played at the Marshall Club or Rossolimo's Chess Studio. 

    Finally, in 1966, she became co-US women's champion, sharing the title with Gisela Gresser. Booby Fischer said of Lisa Lane, “Lisa, you might say, is the best of the American fish." That was Booby...Lisa and her husband were friends of Fischer and assisted him in writing some chess articles. Despite their friendship Fischer was still snide and condescending. 

     And so ended her chess career. She and her husband opened a shop in Carmel, New York, called Amber Waves of Grain that specialized in vitamins, Yoga and meditation, etc. The store was later renamed Earth Love and was located in Pawling, New York.      

    Jennifer Shahade in her book Chess Bitch, says Lane quit partly because she was annoyed with being identified as a chess player. Lane died from cancer on February 28, 2024, at her home in Carmel, New York. 

    The following game against Alexandra Nicolau,later Van der Mije, (1940-2013, 73 years old,) features a nice back rank mate. She was born in Bucharest and was awarded the WIM title in 1960 and the WGM title in 1976. She was Romanian Women's Champion in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973. She was also Dutch Women's Champion, in 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.  

 

 

A Robert Byrne Brilliancy

 

    I met Robert Byrne (1928-2013) in the mid-1970s and can best describe him as dignified, but affable. Byrne was awarded the GM title in 1964 and the 1972 US Championship in which he tied for first earned him a place in the 1973 Interzonal in Leningrad. In the Interzonal he finished one point behind Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. He lost his 1974 quarter final candidates match against Boris Spassky. 

    The following game was awarded the first brilliancy prize. In it Byrne conducted an overwhelming K-side attack featuring some spectacular sacrifices against Larry Evans (1932-2010). He was awarded the GM title in 1957 ans was known for his long association with Bobby Fischer. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Event "U.S. Championship, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1965.12.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Byrne"] [Black "Larry Evans"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B97"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1965.12.12"] { B97: Najdorf Sicilian} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 {This cane as a surprise to Byrne who was expecting to see Evans' favorite Taimanov Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6). Instead, he transposes into another favorite, the Najdorf Sicilian.} 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 {[%mdl 32]} Qb6 {The other main choice is the less aggressive. 7...Be7. The point of ...Qb6 is to force white to choose either the tame retreat 8.Nb3 or play the following speculative P sacrifice.} 8. Qd2 Qxb2 {This move is still more popular than 8...Nc6, but at the time this game was played this P grab had heavily favored black.} 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 {Very aggressive and yielding better results than the more passive 10.f5 or 10.Bxf6.} dxe5 11. fxe5 Nfd7 12. Bc4 {This move prepares to to sacrifice on e6, but today ot is known that white should play 12.Ne4!.} (12. Ne4 h6 13. Bh4 Qxa2 14. Rd1 {The chances are equal.}) 12... Bb4 {At the time this was cutting edge theory. The move's purpose is to us this annoying pin to keep the white pieces tied up. Prior to this move, which is still considered best today, black had tried 12...Be7 with little success because white plays Bxe6! with complete equality.} (12... Nxe5 {is a serious mistake.} 13. Nxe6 { Black is threatened with mate on d8.} Qa5 14. Bd8 Nxc4 15. Bxa5 Nxd2 16. Nc7+ Kd7 17. Kxd2 {White is better.}) (12... Be7 13. Bxe6 O-O {Now white should play either 14.O-O or matbe 14.Nd5, but not} 14. Bb3 Bxg5 15. Qxg5 Qc5 { and pressure on the e-Pawn gives black the advantage.}) 13. Rb3 Qa5 14. O-O O-O {This very complicated position was reached in the then well known game Tringov-Fischer, Havana 1965 in which Fischer (with his opponent's help) scored a convincing win.} 15. Bf6 {This is Byrne's prepared analysis, but against correct play it should also come up short.} (15. Nxe6 $4 fxe6 16. Bxe6+ Kh8 17. Rxf8+ Bxf8 18. Qf4 Nc6 19. Qf7 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 Nf6 21. Bxc8 Nxe5 22. Qe6 Neg4 {0–1 Georgi Tringov-Robert Fischer Havana 1965}) (15. Qf2 $3 {This obscure move is the only way white can maintain equal chances.} Bc5 $1 16. Ne4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 Qxe5 18. Qe3 Nc6 19. Rd3 {with unclear complication.}) 15... gxf6 $2 {[%mdl 8192] This loses.} (15... Nxf6 $1 {This move maintains the upper hand after} 16. exf6 Rd8 {White's most aggressive continuation is} 17. Rxb4 Qxb4 18. Qg5 g6 19. Rf4 $1 Rxd4 20. Rxd4 Qb6 21. Qe3 {Black is a solid P up.}) 16. Qh6 $1 Qxe5 {Desperately trying to get some pieces to the defense of the K-side.} (16... fxe5 17. Rf3 {[%emt 0:00:04] mates in} f6 18. Bxe6+ Rf7 19. Rg3+ Kh8 20. Bxf7 exd4 21. Rg8#) 17. Nf5 exf5 {Of course 18...Qxe4 loses the Q to 19.Rg3+} 18. Ne4 {[%mdl 32]} Bd2 19. Nxd2 Qd4+ 20. Kh1 Ne5 {By returning a piece Evams he has forced white to retreat the N from attacking f6. This allows black's own N to reach the defense of the K-side. Even so, white is still winning.} 21. Rg3+ Ng4 22. h3 {[%mdl 96]} Qe5 23. Rf4 {[%mdl 64]} Qe1+ 24. Nf1 Qxg3 25. Rxg4+ Qxg4 26. hxg4 {Evans' clever defensive strategy has been to give up his Q for two Rs in the hope that white's attack would come to an end, that's not the case. White is now threatening to bring his N up (Ng3-h5) which leads to mate.} Nd7 27. Ng3 Kh8 28. Bd3 Rg8 29. Bxf5 Rg6 30. Bxg6 fxg6 {Byrne now finishes off his opponent in the fashion of a top level GM!} 31. Ne4 $1 b5 32. g5 {Still attacking!} Bb7 {This allows a mate in 4, so he should have defended the 7th rank with 32...Ra7} 33. Nxf6 {Now instead of a mate in 4, according to the engine it's a mate in 19.} (33. gxf6 Rg8 34. Ng5 Bxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Nxf6 36. Nf7#) 33... Nf8 34. Qh2 Bc8 35. Qe5 {Intending Ng4+ and mate.} Ne6 36. Nd7+ {Black resigned. He is facing loss of more materia; after 36.Nb6} 1-0

Geza Fuster

    Geza Fuster (1910 in Budapest, Hungary – 1990 in Toronto, Canada) was a Hungarian-Canadian IM. He won his first of many Budapest Championships in 1936 and during World War II he played in several strong tournaments with modest results. In 1941, although he only finished 11th out of 16 at Munich, he managed to hold World Champion Alekhine to a draw. 

    He defected after the war. Along with Pal Pal Benko, he crossed the border in East Berlin. Fuster made it, but Benko was apprehended and sent to prison for nearly three years. Fuster made his way to Canada in 1953, settling in Toronto. He won the Toronto City Championship in 1954,1955, 1956, 1962, 1969, and shared it in 1971.

    Fuster played in many Canadian championships and in 1955 he was Canadian Speed Champion. In 1957, he won the U.S. Speed Championship. He represented Canada in two Chess Olympiads, in 1958 at Munich and in 1970 at Siegen.He was awarded the IM title in 1969, following his strong performance in the Closed Canadian Championship. A fixture at the YMCA Chess Club and later the Toronto Chess Club, he loved to play speed chess and was known for his willingness of offer advice and encouragement to young players. 

    In the following game he demonstrates the power fo a fianchettoed B and control of the c-file with some strong tactical play against an opponent who, at the time, was one of the top 10 players in the world. 

 

[Event "Hungarian Champ, Budapest"] [Site ""] [Date "1947.09.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Geza Fuster"] [Black "Laszlo Szabo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1947.09.11"] {E01: Catalan} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 {Black has two main options. He can play ...dxc4 and either try to hold on to the Paw with ...b5 or return it for time to free his position. In the Closed Catalan black doesn’t capture on c4 which leaves his position somewhat cramped, but solid.} d5 4. Bg2 {Here black usually plays either 4...Be7 or 4...dxc4, or sometimes 4...Bb4.} c5 {This is a seldom used sideline that is not particularly effective.} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Be7 (6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8. O-O O-O 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nd7 11. Rb1 Nb6 12. Nb3 Be7 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Na5 {Dlugy,M (2485)-Taylor,T (2480) New York 1985. White used his slight advantage to squeeze out a win.}) 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O O-O 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. a3 Qc7 11. e4 Bb6 12. Qe2 Ne7 13. Nc3 a6 14. Bd2 {White has a clear lead in development and black is a bit cramped. Here or on the next move black should remove his Q from the c-file with ...Qb8 even though that helps neither his development nor his cramp.} Nc6 15. Rac1 {Planting the seed of victory.} Nde5 16. Nxe5 $1 {A brilliant tactical shot.} Qxe5 (16... Nxe5 { is not rea;lly better, but it is probably his best practical chance.} 17. Na4 Nc6 18. Bb4 Rd8 {At first glance black seems to have defended himself, but white steps up the pressure with} 19. e5 Ba7 20. Bd6 Qd7 21. Qg4 {Black is at a loss for a decent continuation.} f6 (21... Ne7 22. Rc7) 22. exf6 Qf7 23. Rfd1 {with a decisive advantage. For example} Qxf6 24. Bc5 Bxc5 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxc5 {White's positional advantage should prove decisive.}) 17. Bf4 $1 { An important followup to his last move.} Qa5 18. Bd6 $1 {Another strong followup.} Rd8 19. e5 $1 {Unleashing the power of the B on g2. Black underestimates the strength of the threat of 20.Bxc6 or else he would have played 19...Nd4 which was his best practical chance.} f5 $2 (19... Nd4 20. Qe4 f6 21. Be7 Qxe5 22. Qxe5 fxe5 23. Bxd8 Bxd8 24. Rfe1 Bd7 25. Rxe5 {This is Stockfish's top line and white is the exchange up.}) 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Bb4 { The Q is trapped and there is only one way to save it.} Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Qc7 23. Bd6 Qa5 24. Qc4 {Black resigned. There is no forced win for white, but further play os a waste of time.} (24. Qc4 {and now the top engine line is} Kh8 25. Ne2 Qb5 26. Nd4 Qxc4 27. Rxc4 {White has won a piece and black is completely tied yp.}) 1-0

Boris Kostic

 

    Borislav Kostic (1887-1963) was a Serbian player who was named one of the original Gms in 1959. He is little known today, but in the early part of the 20th century he was one of the best players in the world. Chessmetrocs estimates his highest rating to have been 2706 in May of 1921. That paced him #6 on the list behind Capablanca (2877), Lasker, Alekhine, Rubinstein and Tartakower. 

    Kostic, the son of a merchant, was born in Vrsac, Kingdom of Hungary, at the time part of Austria-Hungary. He learned chess around the age of ten and made rapid progress while studying where he honed his chess skills by playing against the many strong players there.    

    In 1910 he moved to Cologne and traveled extensively throughout the Americas playing matches against local champions and giving simultaneous blindfold exhibitions. Kostic also defeated Frank Marshall, Jackson Showalter and Paul Leonhardt in matches. At Havana in 1919, his winning streak ended with a 5–0 loss to Capablanca. Capablanca wrote that his own career peaked with this match. In 1916-18, while in the United States he also played in a few tournaments.

    Kostic is famous for his 1923 to 1926 tour of Australasia, the Far East, Africa, India and Siberia (!), places which, at the time, were chess deserts.

    During World War II, Kostić was imprisoned in a concentration camp by a Nazi SS because he declined to participate in Nazi sponsored “Free Europe” tournaments that were intended to glorify the Nazi regime. After the war his chess was contined to minor tournaments. His final appearance was at a veteran’s tournament in Zurich in 1962 which he won. He died in Belgrade in 1963 at the age of 76. 

    The following game is an instructive example of a Rook invading the seventh rank via the c-file. Ladislav Prokes (1884-1866, 81 years old) was a Czech player and problem composer who was born in Prague. He was joint Czechoslovak champion with Karel Hromadka in 1921.

 

[Event "Bardejov"] [Site ""] [Date "1926.07.24"] [Round "?"] [White "Borislav Kostic"] [Black "Ladislav Prokes"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A34"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1926.??.??"] { A34: Symmetrical English} 1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 {The Symmetrical English is a flexible system thay can lead to complex, strategic middlegame positions.} d5 {Black's main option is to continue the symmetry with 3...c5, Either way the results are not much different.} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 g6 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. O-O Nb6 {A poor retreat. Either 7...Nc6 or 7...O-O were better.} 8. d3 Nc6 9. Be3 Nd4 10. Rc1 {It can't be forseen at this point, but this is the key to white's win. Another good plan is 10.Qd2 and 11.Bh6} (10. Qd2 O-O 11. Bh6 Bd7 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Rfc1 { white stands well.}) 10... f5 {This elementary error, surprising from a player of Proles strength, fataly weakens black's position. Castling was correct.} 11. Nd2 {White still has the advantage after this,but the tactical shot 11.Bxf4 was even better.} (11. Bxd4 cxd4 12. Nb5 {Threatening Nc7+} O-O 13. Nc7 Rb8 14. Ng5 {The N invasion has left white with a decisive advantage.}) 11... e5 { Black's position looks impressive, but it's flawed because of his exposed K as Kostic ex[ertly demonstrates.} 12. Nb3 Qe7 13. Bxd4 cxd4 {Watch how deftly Kostic infiltrates black's position!} 14. Nd5 Nxd5 15. Bxd5 {Black's K is caught in the center and he cannot complete his development.} Qd6 16. Rc5 { [%mdl 32]} Rb8 17. Qc2 Bd7 {White's next move frees up the R.} 18. Bg2 O-O { Black has finally castled, but his position is too open to save the game.} 19. Rd5 {[%mdl 2048] White is on the roll.} Qe7 {Somewhat better would have been 19...Qc6 preventing white's next move.} 20. Qc7 $18 Rfd8 21. Na5 Qe8 {This results in an abrupt end.} (21... Rbc8 {Holds out longer, but whit's position is still decisive.} 22. Qxb7 Bf6 (22... e4 23. Qxa7 {is hopeless for black.})) 22. Nxb7 {There is no saving the game and black plays a few more moves on momentum.} Rdc8 23. Qxd7 Qxd7 24. Rxd7 Rc2 25. Bd5+ Kh8 26. Nd6 h5 27. Nf7+ Kh7 28. Nxe5 Rbxb2 {The two Rs on the 2nd rank look nice, but they don't accomplish anything.} 29. Bb3 Rxe2 30. Nc4 {Black resigned.} 1-0

A Champion's Waning Years

    Before 1961, the great Soviet patriarch Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995) accepted only a handful of invitations to play in non–Communist Europe. But, that was still more tournaments than most of his compatriots because in those days players generally were not allowed to play outside the Warsaw Pact countries.      

    Poor, naive Andre Lilienthal (1911-2010) thought he had limited opportunities because of national security concerns; he had an uncle who was an atomic scientist who was head of the atomic committee in the United States.       

    David E. Lilienthal (1899-1981) was an American-born attorney and public administrator, who was the oldest son of Jewish immigrants from Austria-Hungary. His mother came from Szomolany (now Smolenice) in Slovakia, emigrating to America at age 17. His father had served several years in the Hungarian army before emigrating to the United States in 1893. David is best known for his Presidential appointment to head Tennessee Valley Authority and later the Atomic Energy Commission from 1946 to early in 1950.       

    It was because of him that Andre claimed that the Soviet Union stopped letting him out of the USSR to go to tournaments. Despite Andre's claims, the actual family connection, if any, is not known.       

    Jan Timman felt that Botvinnik suffered from the “paralyzing realization of having achieved everything” when he became world champion in 1948 and after he lost the title, “a load had been taken off his shoulders” and he developed “an energetic style which was even better than the way he played just after the war.”      

    Botvinnik admitted that in his match with Petrosian that he "played under unusually great pressure and tension.” After losing to Petrosian he had no rematch for which to prepare and so the tension was gone.       

    Although his playing career was winding down after the match with Petrosian, as late as February 1965 he hoped for another shot at the title. He harbored the hope that FIDE might order a rematch before Petrosian played his 1966 challenger. When that didn't happen Botvinnik tried to reach the top through his students and through developing a winning computer chess program.       

    In 1963 the Botvinnik School of Chess had students spread across the country. It wasn't much of a school. Botvinnik met with the kids three or four times a year and gave classes and simultaneous exhibitions with clocks. The school failed after 18 months for lack of support.      

    In 1969 it was revived with face-to- face sessions with students twice a year and in between Botvinnik assigned homework such as analyzing an endgame or opening which was done by correspondence. His star pupil was 10-year-old Garry Kasparov.       Kramnik recalled how the school worked. Students would show four of their games, two wins, a draw and a loss and Botvinnik and Kasparov would add their comments. The next two days would be devoted to Kasparov simuls followed by two training games at a slow control.       

    Not everybody was impressed with the school. Alexey Shirov thought Botvinnik was too stubborn and Lev Psakis left in disgrace after a day devoted to training games. The reason? After scoring an easy win with black against "some girl," as white he played a highly speculative piece sacrifice on move 4. Apparently it wasn't appreciated and they stopped inviting him to training sessions.       

    After winning the 1973 World Junior Championship Alexander Beliavsky was invited to Botvinnik’s apartment in Moscow. He described how Botvinnik was using a badly chipped vintage chess set from the 1930s and after dinner they'd go through Beliavsky's games which Botvinnik would soundly criticize. The result was Beliavsky always left in tears believing he didn't understand anything about the game and never would.       

    Botvinnik’s last hurrah final was supposed to be a match with Bobby Fischer in the spring of 1970. The two negotiated through the Dutch organizers. Botvinnik wanted a best of 16 game match, but as usual, Fischer wanted no limit on the number of games; the winner would be the first to score six wins.       

    Of course, that was way too much for an ageing Botvinnik, but at some point he came to believe that he and Fischer had reached a compromise on a best of 18 games. It was then that Botvinnik began training with Boris Spassky.       

    However, Fischer was having none of it and insisted on the first to six wins. As a result the match collapsed because of what Botvinnik called Fischer's maniacal fear of returning to actually play.       

    The Dutch organizers replaced the match with a four-player tournament where they met each other four times. Spassky was first, Donner second and Botvinnik and Larsen tied for third and fourth. Botvinnik only scored +1 -2 =0.       

    After that tournament Botvinnik was through with competition because according to his daughter Olga, “He couldn’t create beautiful games anymore.”      

    During his final days Botvinnik stated that he would die at home...all he needed was two to three good months to finish his scientific work. He spent them dictating ideas about his computer chess program.       

    When Botvinnik died he didn’t want any VIPs at his funeral and no chessplayers! He wanted to leave quietly, he said.       

    He was cremated and buried next to his mother and wife at Novodevichy Cemetery, not too far from the graves of Anton Chekhov ( a Russian playwright and short-story writer) and Mikhail Bulgakov (a Russian writer, medical doctor and playwright).        

    Here is one of his last games from a clock simul played in London in 1981. 

 

Decisions

    Not chess ones, but the past few days have been spent setting up a new laptop that has twice the power and storage as the old one. It had to be cleaned up because Windows 11 features highly annoying built-in ads that promote Microsoft services. 

    Also, I switched to the Firefox browser because Miscrosoft Edge is equally annoying. Unfortunately, Edge cannot be removed because it is tied to the Windows OS shell making it difficult to fully remove. However, Best Buy can disable Edge. The Geek Squad at Best Buy will set a different browser as your default and stop Edge from opening automatically. 

    Then there is the issue of Microsoft Office, or as I think it’s called these days, Microsoft 365. It costs, I think the salesman said, $100 a year. For years I have been using LibreOffice, a free open-source office productivity suite that is much like Microsoft365. 

    There was also the question as to which chess programs I wanted to keep because I do not need all of them: Fritz 12, Fritz 17, Fritz 19, Fritz 20, ChessBase 16 and ChessBase 18. I decided on Fritz 17 only because it uses a whole lot less space and I am not interested in the “fun stuff” and all the training feature on the other Fritz programs. The only real use I have for ChessBase 18 is for those times when I want to manipulate databases. 

    Thankfully, the time consuming correspondence game are over except for one opponent who won’t resign a lost position. It has been a successful event (first place with a projected +3 -0 =5) thanks to a combination of the Stockfish, Swordfish and Reckless engines and a lot of patience.

    Hopefully, things will return to normal next week. 

Julius Perlis

    Julius Perlis (1880 – 1913) was born in Białystok which today is the largest city in northeastern Poland, but at the time it was in the Russian Empire. He spent most of his life in Austrian and was very active in tournament play in the early to mid-1900s. A lawyer by profession, he was known for his tactical style and competitive play. 

    An amateur mountaineer, one morning in September, 1913, Perlis commenced a day's excursion on the Hochtor; at 7,772 feet (2,369 meters) it is the highest mountain in the Alps in Styria, Austria. 

    He traversing the mountain without a companion or guide and apparently lost his way. In the evening his cries for help were heard by two tourists who were unable to reach him owing to approaching darkness and the onset of a snowstorm. Perlis' body was found by a rescue team two days later and the absence of visible injuries lead to a verdict of death by exposure. 

    Perlis’ opponent in the following game was Georg Salwe (1862-1920, 58 years old) who was born in Warsaw which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. He did not learn to play chess until about the age of 20 and his first major tournament was in Kiev 1903 when he was 40. He gave up competitive chess at the age of 54. 

 

[Event "St. Petersburg"] [Site ""] [Date "1909.02.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Julius Perlis"] [Black "Georg Salwe"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C49"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1909.02.15"] {C49: Four Knights Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 {The Four Knights was popular in the 19th century and it usually leads to a quiet positional game. By the time of World War One its popularity had waned and it had been supplanted by the Ruy Lopez/} 4. Bb5 Bb4 {Rubinstein later introduced 4...Nd5 in an attempt to unbalance the position.} 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 {The Symmetrical Variation.} 7. Bg5 Ne7 {Black should avoid mirroring white with 7...Bg4} (7... Bg4 8. Bxf6 {Also acceptable is the more common 8,Nd5} Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Qxf6 10. Qxf6 gxf6 11. Nd5 {and it's clear that white is better.}) 8. Nh4 {This is just one of several possibilities available to white, but none acquire any advantage.} (8. Bxf6 {This looks plausible, but after} gxf6 {White has no way of taking advantage of the doubled Ps. Most common in the continuation} 9. Nh4 c6 10. Bc4 d5 {with complete equality.}) 8... c6 9. Bxf6 {More precise was 9.Bc4} gxf6 (9... Bxc3 $15 10. bxc3 cxb5 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Nf5 Bxf5 13. exf5 Rfc8 {and black stands just a bit better.}) 10. Ba4 f5 {Aggressive and not at all bad.} 11. Qh5 Bxc3 12. bxc3 fxe4 (12... f4 13. g4 Kh8 14. Kh1 Ng6 15. Nf5 d5 {is equal. Plater,K-O'Kelly de Galway,A Hilversum 1947}) 13. dxe4 f5 {While the first time ...f5 could not be faulted, this time it fatally weakens the K-side. The solid 13...Ng6 was correct.} 14. Bb3+ (14. f4 {at once opening up the K-side has better winning chances.} exf4 15. Rxf4 Qe8 16. Bb3+ d5 17. Qxe8 Rxe8 18. exf5 {followed by g4 leaves white with a highly favorable position.}) 14... d5 15. f4 fxe4 16. f5 {Even stronger was 16.fxe5} (16. fxe5 Be6 17. Qh6 Bf7 18. Rf6 {with a strong attack.}) 16... Rf6 {While the play of both sides has not been exact white has a promising position that is worth the P miminus.} 17. Rae1 {But this routine move is a bit too passive.} (17. Qg5+ Kf7 18. c4 {undermining black's imposing looking center was the better course.} Qd6 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. c4 {with an active position.}) 17... Kh8 18. g4 {White is barkinh up the wrong tree. Chances of a successful K-side attack are slim, so as previously mentioned, counterattacking black's center with 18.c4! was stronger.} Bd7 {Better would have been 18...Qg8 preventing white's next move.} 19. Ng6+ {Well played! While ot does not force the win it forces black to play exactly to avoid defeat.} Nxg6 {Which he does not...} (19... Kg7 {keeps black in the game.} 20. Nxe5 Be8 {and black can hold his own.}) 20. fxg6 Rxg6 21. Rf7 Qb6+ 22. Kh1 Rg7 23. Qxe5 Rag8 {There is a trap waiting for white in this position!} 24. Ref1 {White threatens Rxg7 and mate witj Re8} (24. Rxd7 {This falls into the trap because now black can force the draw.} Qf2 25. Rg1 (25. Rxg7 Qxe1+ 26. Kg2 Qe2+ {draws. If} 27. Kh3 Qe3+ {White cannot escape the checks because if} 28. Kh4 Qh6+ 29. Kg3 Qxg7 {and black wins.}) 25... Qf3+ 26. Rg2 Qf1+ {draws}) 24... Qb5 25. R1f2 Qc5 26. Rxg7 {Black resigned, It's mate in 3.} (26. Rxg7 Rxg7 27. Rf7 Qg1+ 28. Kxg1 Bxg4 29. Qxg7#) (26. Rxg7 Qxf2 27. Rxd7+ Qf6 28. Qxf6+ Rg7 29. Qxg7#) 1-0

Abbazia 1912

    Abbazia is the old name for Opatija, a Croatian coastal town on the Adriatic Sea that is a fashionable resort. In 1912, the Austrian player Georg Marco conceived the idea for a tournament there in which the King’s Gambit was mandatory. As could be expected, the play was lively and the great tactical genius Rudolf Spielmann won it by a healthy margin. 

    Unfortunately, at the time the tournament was played only Spielmann, Oldrich Duras, Erich Cohn and Paul Leonhardt were regarded as masters so no tournament book was published and many of the games were lost to history. 

    Here is just one of the many exciting games played in the tournament. It’s riddled with errors, but it’s complicated so the players are not to be criticized. 

 

 

    Not much information is available on the Hungarian player Jeno Szekely (1886-1946, 60 years old, but in 1915 the German chess magazine Wiener Schachzeitung reported that he was severely wounded, being shot in both legs and remained for hours in the cold before he was found. As a result, one leg had to be amputated below the knee as well as one foot. Although not well known Szekely was a strong player. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2646 in 1913, ranking him #14 in the world. 

    Gusraf Nyholm (1880-1957, 77 years old) was born in Stockholm. He was the Nordic Champion in 1917 and Swedish Champion in 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1923. Chess metrics assigns him a highest ever rating of 2510 in 1920, eanking him #20 in the world. 

 

[Event "Abbazia"] [Site ""] [Date "1912.01.15"] [Round "1"] [White "Jeno Szekely"] [Black "Gustaf Nyholm"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C33"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "1"] [EventDate "1912.01.15"] {C33: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. d4 (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 {This is the main alternative to 3.Nf3} (3. Nf3 d5 {This is the Modern Defense, but it was originally known as the known as the Abbazia Defense. It is flexible and mat transpose into the Falkbeer Countergambit. Black's idea is to obtain piece play and fight for the initiative rather than keeping the extra Pawn.} 4. exd5 {This is the most common.} Nf6 5. Bc4 Nxd5 {etc.}) 3... d5 4. Bxd5 {Capturing with the e-Pawn has proven much less effective.} Qh4+ {The other option is 4...Nf6 which is more popular, but statiscticallt no better.} 5. Kf1 Bd6 6. d4 Ne7 7. Nc3 {White would be better advised to retreat the B to b3 or play 7.Nf3 first.} f6 {Evidently black wants to discourage white from playing e5, but securing the twi Bs was more thematic.} 8. Nf3 Qh5 9. Bc4 c6 {This inhibits Nb5.} (9... Nbc6 10. Nb5 g5 11. c3 Ng6 12. Qb3 g4 13. Nxd6+ cxd6 {A tense position with equal chances. Maahs,E (2360)-Nogly,C (2250) Hamburg 1991}) 10. Ne2 g5 {[%mdl 32] Black is building up a dangerous K-side attack and white's best option is now the counterintuitive 11.h4} 11. e5 (11. h4 Rf8 (11... g4 {Oddly. this logocal looking move is not nearly as good as it looks.} 12. Ne1 f3 13. gxf3 gxf3 14. Nf4 Bxf4 15. Bxf4 {and black has no attack. The f-Pawns are weak and white controls the center.}) 12. Qd3 Ng6 13. Qb3 {A complicated position in which the chances are equal.}) 11... fxe5 12. dxe5 Bc7 13. e6 {This P appears to have a severe cramping effect on black's position, but it is black who can claim a clear advantage because white's pieces are poorly posted and lack mobility.} g4 14. Nfd4 Rf8 15. Qd3 f3 16. Nc3 Bg3 {[%mdl 8192] After this white could have gotten the advantage. Stockfish discovered sa clrever line that is even stronger because it gets the other R into play. It's not a line that a human is likely to consider though.} (16... Nd7 17. exd7+ Bxd7 18. Ne4 O-O-O 19. Bg5 Ng6 {Anazing! The R cannot be taken.} 20. g3 (20. Bxd8 fxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Nf4+) 20... Rde8 {and black is winning.}) 17. Be3 (17. Ne4 {Centralizes his pieces and after} fxg2+ 18. Kxg2 Be5 19. Bg5 {White's huge kead in development and the fact that black's K is precariously placed in the center translates to a winning position for white.}) 17... Nd5 {[%mdl 8192] This is a serious error. Driving white's pieces back with either 17...b5 or 17...f5 or even 17...fxg6+ followed by ...Be5 keeps things even.} 18. Nxd5 cxd5 19. Bb5+ Ke7 {Marginally better was interposing the N, either on c6 or d7.} (19... Nc6 {is a better chance.} 20. Nxc6 Bxe6 21. Ne5+ Ke7 22. Bc5+ Kd8 23. Bxf8 Bxe5) 20. Rd1 (20. Bg5+ {wraps up the game.} Kd6 (20... Qxg5 21. hxg3 h5 22. Qa3+ Kd8 23. Qd6+ {wins}) 21. Qa3+ Kc7 22. Qxf8 {and wins}) 20... a6 {Black is out of good moves.} 21. Ba4 (21. Bg5+ {was even stronger.} Qxg5 22. hxg3 axb5 23. Rxh7+ Kf6 24. Qc3 Kg6 25. e7 Re8 26. Nxf3 gxf3 27. Qg7+ Kf5 28. Rxd5+ {maye next move.}) 21... b5 22. Bb3 Bb7 23. Kg1 {There was no time for this...white must keep up the pressure on black's K.} (23. h4 {Threatening Bg5+} gxh3 24. Rxh3 fxg2+ 25. Kxg2 {Black has only one good way to meet the attack on h7 and that is by} Bh4 26. Kh1 {opening the file fot Rg1 and white is winning.}) 23... Bf4 {Prevents Bg5+.} (23... fxg2 {was even better.} 24. Kxg2 Be5 {Both Ks are exposed and so the chances are equal.}) 24. Bxf4 (24. g3 Be5 25. Qc3 {and white has a strong initiative.}) 24... Rxf4 25. Qd2 Qe5 {[%mdl 128]} 26. Qb4+ {[%mdl 8192] Another weak move.} (26. Qc3 Kf6 {Defending the Q and keeping the chances equal.}) 26... Ke8 {Black's K is safe here and now it is white's K that is in grave danger.} 27. Qc3 {Now all black has to do is defend his Q with 27...Nc6 and he should be able to win.} Ke7 {[%mdl 8192] This can only be described as awful! That said, the winning line for white is deeply hidden.} 28. a4 {This fails to take advantage of black's last move, but the winning line is almost impossible to visualize!} (28. Kf2 fxg2+ 29. Kxg2 Qe4+ 30. Kg3 Qe5 31. Rhe1 Re4+ 32. Kg2 {and Stockfish informs us that white is winning after} Ke8 33. Qg3 Nc6 34. Qxe5 Nxe5 35. Nf5 Bc6 36. Nd6+ Ke7 37. Nxe4 dxe4 38. Bd5 Bxd5 39. Rxd5 Kxe6 {and white should win, but don't count on it!}) 28... Bc6 {[%mdl 8192] This generates another question mark from the engine. The chances are about equal after 28...Nc6} 29. Qc5+ Kf6 {White to play and win.} 30. Nxc6 {[%mdl 8192] This rates two question marks.} (30. g3 Re4 31. Kf2 Re2+ 32. Kf1 {Black has no good move.} (32. Nxe2 Qxe2+ {mate next move.}) 32... Kg6 33. Qe7 Qf6 34. Qxf6+ Kxf6 35. Nxe2 fxe2+ 36. Kxe2 Kxe6 37. axb5 axb5 38. h3 {White has a won ending.}) 30... Nxc6 31. Bxd5 Nd4 {Black has a mating attack.} 32. gxf3 Qe3+ 33. Kg2 gxf3+ 34. Kh3 f2+ {Black resigned. It's mate in two.}) 0-1

I’m back

    ...sort of. Returning home was nice, but the dreary drizzling rain and cool temperatures are not. I also returned home to a dead laptop. The old thing was held together with clamps and duct tape, so it’s understandable, I guess. 

    I am using a small laptop with a scant 57GB of storage and there is not enough space left on it to run any of my chess programs. Fortunately, I have everything backed up on a detached SSD that was salvaged from an old laptop. Programs won’t run off it, but it serves as a giant flash drive. 

    Actually, there is one exception. For reasons unknown to me Fritz 20 runs off the detached drive, so I do have a program that I can use. Nevertheless, I prefer to wait until I get a new laptop up and running before doing any more posts.

Vacation Time!

   Hope to return soon... 

A Real Humdinger by Spassky

    Humdinger: an informal, colloquial American slang term used to describe a person, object, action or event that is remarkably excellent, extraordinary or stands out above the rest. This game was a humdinger. 

    Bobby Fischer called this game one of the ten greatest of all time. Czech GM LudekPachman called it a modern masterpiece. GM Andy Soitis ranks it number 32 on his top 100 list. A poll of readers by the Russian chess magazine Shakmatny Bulletin ranked it as one of the very best games of the 1960s. In his book on Spassky, Bernard Cafferty called it one of the finest games he had ever had the pleasure to review or to analyze. Everybody agrees that it is one of the most amazing games ever played and one of the more famous games of the modern era.

    The game is Spassky vs. Bronstein from the 1960 USSR Championship. It's the game that was featured in the classic James Bond movie "From Russia, With Love" as being played by Kronstein against McAdams. I never saw the movie because I am not James Bond fan and rarely watch movies. The game may not be perfect, but as Soltis pointed out, chess isn't always about finding perfect moves. (That is unless you're a modern correspondence player seeking perfection by using a n engine and a powerful computer). In OTB play chess is about making pragmatic choices. In this game Bronstein was short on time and the complications as a result of Spassky's sacrifice resulted in, as Botvinnik used to put it, head whirling complications. 

    If you haven't seen this game, you'll enjoy it. If you have seen it before, enjoy it again! If you want to play over the game on your own software you can download it HERE.

 

 

Gligoric Surprises Pomar

    According to reports Torremolinos, a resort town in southern Spain known for its sandy beaches, is an excellent place to live if you crave year-round sunshine and vibrant coastal living, And they have an active chess club. 

    Today’s game is taken from the first in what was to be a long series of international tournaments and during the 1960s and 1970s, Torremolinos hosted a prestigious and long-running series of international tournaments in which players from all over participated. 

    In the first tournament Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric (1923-2012) and former child prodigy, Spanish GM, Arturo Pornar (1931-2016) tied for first and this game was the reason.

 

 

    Few players appreciate how strong Pomar was, but Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2655 in March 1962 which ranked him #34 in the world. He was known for an intuitive, natural, and highly positional style of play, and he possessed excellent endgame technique, However, in this game his intuition let him down and he committed a game-losing blunder. 

 

 

[Event "Torremolinos"] [Site ""] [Date "1961.02.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Svetozar Gligoric"] [Black "Arturo Pomar"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B88"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "1961.??.??"] {B88: Sicilian: Sozin Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 {The aggressive Sozin Attack was very popular when this game was played.} e6 {Black usually plays this in order to limi white's B, but White can eventually put pressure on the e6 Pawn by playing f4-f5.} 7. O-O Be7 8. Bb3 O-O 9. Be3 Nxd4 {This is rather drawish. 9...a6 is sharper.} 10. Bxd4 Bd7 11. Qe2 {The immediate 11.f4 is usual. Gligoric's move is safer.} (11. f4 Bc6 12. Qe2 b5 13. Nxb5 Bxb5 14. Qxb5 {This position is very sharp, but black has scored very well so it's understandable that Gligoric prefers a safer approach. }) 11... Bc6 12. Rad1 Qa5 13. f4 e5 {This is risky! 13...Rac8 was solid.} 14. fxe5 {This opens the f-file and exposed f7. White has to play aggressively otherwise black gets the initiative.} (14. Bf2 exf4 15. Nd5 Rae8 16. Be1 Qd8 17. Rxf4 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Bf6 19. Bb3 {Black is slightly better. Kots, Y-Shamkovich,L Baku 1961}) 14... dxe5 15. Rf5 Bc5 16. Bf2 Rad8 17. Rf1 Rd6 18. Kh1 {[%mdl 2048] White would like to play 19.Bh4, but this moves also sets a wily trap.} Bxf2 19. Qxf2 {Black should now play 19...Bd7 with a solid position, Insteaf he takes the bait and makes a losing tactical blunder.} Bxe4 {[%mdl 8192]} 20. Nxe4 Nxe4 {Black has won a P, but f7 is attacked four times, but only defended twice. However, white has to move the attacked Q which give black a defense.} 21. Rxf7 {[%mdl 512] This nasty surprise forced Pomar to resign.} (21. Qf3 Nf6 {Shielding f7. White should now take on b6 with a slight advantage.} 22. g4 e4 {Aggressive play is black's best option.} (22... h6 23. g5 hxg5 24. Rxg5 {White is slightly better.}) 23. Qg3 (23. Qf4 Qd2) 23... Qd8 24. g5 Nd5 25. Qf2 e3 26. Qf3 e2 27. Qxe2 g6 28. R5f3 Rd7 {and black is managing to defend f7.}) (21. Rxf7 Nxf2+ 22. R7xf2+ Rf7 23. Rxf7 h6 {Black has successfully avoided getting mated, but after} 24. R7f6+ Kh7 25. Rxd6 {The lone Q has no chance against the two Rs and B.}) 1-0

Smyslov Smashes Botvinnik

    Vasily Smyslov won the 1953 Candidates Tournament held at Zurich and became the challenger to Mikhain Botvinnik for the World Championship. Chess.com has a full account of yhos exciting match HERE. 

    Smyslov’s win in the following hame easd a turning point in the match. He had scored his first win in the 7th game, but in this game he land a solid blow in the first of three straight wins. It’s games like this that make you think Smyslov deseerved a longer reigh as World Champion.

 

 

[Event "World Championship Match, Moscow"] [Site ""] [Date "1954.04.03"] [Round "9"] [White "Vasily Smyslov"] [Black "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1954.03.16"] [EventType "match"] [EventRounds "24"] [EventCountry "URS"] [SourceTitle "MainBase"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceQuality "1"] {C18: French, Wimawer Variation} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 {This was a Botvinnik favorite because he liked the unbalanced position that occurs and with it excellenct opportunities for counteratack. For his part, Smyslov liked the extra space and piece activity white gets. Occasionally he also tried Alekhine's sharp 4.a3} c5 5. a3 Ba5 {Botvinnik avoids the more frequent (and probably better) 4...Bxc3+ in what was probably an attempt to surprise his opponent.} 6. b4 cxd4 {Botvinnik avoids 6...cxb4 because it's too risky.} (6... cxb4 7. Nb5 b3+ 8. c3 Nc6 9. Qxb3 {with good play on the dark squares on the Q-side as black has to either allow Ne6+ ot play ...Bc7}) 7. Qg4 {A departure from games 1 and 3 in which S,yslov plated the more usual 7.Nb5} Ne7 8. bxa5 dxc3 9. Qxg7 Rg8 10. Qxh7 Nd7 {A Botvinnik innovation, but not a very good one because looking far ahead strategically white has a potentially won ending because of the passed h-Pawn. In the meantine Botvinnik hopes to attack the e-Pawn and create tension in the centrer and, at the same time, get his Q-side developed. 10...Nbc6 was a better way of doing it though.} 11. Nf3 {A few times 11.f4 has been tried, but that restricts the activity of white's dark squared B.} Nf8 {So as to capture on a5, but it's not a very good move. Black should play 11...Qc7 to put pressure on the e-Pawn.} 12. Qd3 Qxa5 13. h4 { A Pawn with a future. Smyslov now continues to iprove his position not onlyl with this advance, but also by controlling the dark squares in the center.} Bd7 14. Bg5 {Smyslov’s plan is clear. He wants to keep Botvinnik’s King in the center. On g5 the B prevents black from castling and it can also go to f6 from where it defends the e-Pawn and controls the queening square h8.} Rc8 {Hoping to get his R into play.} (14... Nc6 {was tried a couple of years later in Tringov,G (2460)-Oren,M Moscow 1956. but after} 15. Bf6 Rg4 16. Be2 Re4 { black still ended up losing.}) 15. Nd4 Nf5 16. Rb1 {This both attacks the the b-Pawn and controls b5, thereby preventing black from exchanging Ns on d4 followed by playing ...Bb5 in order to reduce the pressure by exchanging pieces.} (16. Be2 {A pass to show black's plan at work.} Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Bb5 18. Bxb5+ Qxb5 19. Qb4 Qxb4 20. axb4 a6 {White still possess a considerable advantage, but black has eased the pressure on his position somewhat.}) 16... Rc4 {Consistent but tactically flawed. Smyslov correctly called it "a fatal idea."} (16... Nxd4 17. Qxd4 Qxa3 18. Rxb7 {with clearly the better of it.}) ( 16... b6 {is relatively best. After} 17. g4 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Qxa3 19. Bd3 { |_hite's superioroty is obvious.}) 17. Nxf5 exf5 18. Rxb7 Re4+ {Botvinnik plan is completed, but je meets with a crushing refutation.} 19. Qxe4 {Stunning!} dxe4 20. Rb8+ {Botvinnik confessed that in playing his 18th move he simply "forgot about" this check he implication is that he saw 19.Qxe4, but did he really?} Bc8 {Black's K is caught in a mating net and can only escape at the cost of a lot of material.} 21. Bb5+ ({Worse is} 21. Rxc8+ Kd7 $17) 21... Qxb5 22. Rxb5 Ne6 23. Bf6 Rxg2 24. h5 Ba6 25. h6 {Black resigned.} 1-0

Using Let’s Check in Fritz

    Recently I did something I promised myself I would never do again...I entered a correspondence tournament. It has turned out to be more labor intensive than anticipated especially since two games are against ICCF Senior IMs. 

    The main reason for entering the tournament was my desire to test the new Swordfish engine, a Stockfish derivative that is supposed to be useful for analyzing sharp positions in which Stockfish could overlook some tactics. 

    The procedure was to use Swordfish and use the highly rated Reckless engine as a kibitzer. When the two engines agreed on a move it was played. If they did not agree, which was not often, then Stockfish broke the tie. The problem was that after 15 moves or so it began to feel like my positions were almost imperceptibly slipping into inferiority and so the decision was made to switch the main engine to Stock fish with Reckless as the kibitzer. 

    Although I have been using Fritz since the days of Ftitz 12 (2009) there is a feature I never bothered with until this tournament, the Let’s Check feature and I was curious to see if it was of any practical value, or was it just a bell, or maybe a whistle. 

    Let's Check has been around a long time and it is a cloud-based community analysis feature in ChessBase's software. It functions as a massive, continuously updated database of engine analysis. Reviewer Steve Lopez does an excellent job explaining it on THIS ancient YouTube video. 

    Take a look at the following position after 7...Nc5. 

 

  

    Below are the results of previously done analysis on this position.. Note that the top line is the output by Stockfish 18 that was running in my program. While all three engines agree that white should play 9.Qc6+, Stockfish’s analysis is much deeper and its evaluation is that the position is equal rather than white having a Pawn-plus advantage. 

 

 

    This feature could actually be quite helpful because it saves a great deal of analysis time. But…and this is a BIG but, how long was the time used for the analysis? If the analysis was done at only a few seconds per move, it’s really not that valuable. 

    My preference is to use infinite and to analyze using two of the four cores on my old laptop. In some critical positions I have left the engine running while I did something else. That is likely to be safer than trusting the analysis in Let’s Check.

Ex-GM Igos Kondytlev, Igors Rausis and Isa Kasimi

    The Latvian player Igors Rausis (1961-2024, 62 years old) was a rather unusual fellow. He was born Igors Kondylev, but changed his name after getting married to Olita Rause, a Latvian Woman Grand master. In 2003, there were allegations that he provided "occasional help" to her in her correspondence tournaments. In 2020 he changed his name again to Isa Kasimi after marrying his second wife Ajgul Kasimova. 

    An FIDE Trainer, he was the Latvian champion in 1995. He had been awarded the Grandmaster title in 1992, but it was revoked in 2019 after he was caught cheating.   

    In the early 2000s, when Rausis was in his 50s, his rating increased over 200 points to near 2700 which put him among the top players in the world. Was he using? You be the judge. 

    This was about the time Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) with programs like Pocket Fritz running the engine Hiarcs were released for Windows Mobile pocket PCs. By 2008, these pocket PCs were already strong enough to win human tournaments. 

    By November 2008, Smartphones were popular and the open source engine Stockfish was released and it was soon available for mobile operating systems. Then in 2009, dedicated mobile apps, such as the Hiarcs was available.

`In July 2019, he was accused of cheating by using a mobile phone in the bathroom during a game. He admitted his guilt and in December 2019, FIDE revoked his GM title and banned him from OTB play. 

    Revoking his GM title seems unfair because he had been a GM before engines were at that level. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2003 and started taking medications and began chemotherapy in 2018. He died on March 28, 2024, at the age of 62. 

[Event "Gausdal Int"] [Site ""] [Date "1989.08.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Henrik Sorensen"] [Black "Igors Rausis"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2245"] [BlackElo "2560"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "1989.??.??"] {D06: Queen's GambitDeclined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 {Highly unusual. Rausis was a versatile player with a solid, positional style, but he was also known ti have a brilliant tactical side.. He was known to frequently employ closed or strategic openings like the Caro-Kann and the Slav Defense. In the other hand, he also had a strong penchant for eccentric play. Hence, 2...Bf5 is not really a surprise.} 3. Qb3 {White usually ignores the fact that he can pock up the b-Pawn and instead opts to spmply develop with 3.Nf3} e5 4. Qxb7 Nd7 5. Nc3 { Slightly better was 5.cxd5} exd4 (5... Rb8 {yields black a slight advantage after} 6. Qxa7 Nb6 7. Nb5 Bb4+) 6. Nxd5 Bd6 7. e4 {This looks logical, vut developing with 7.Nf3 was better.} (7. Nf3 Rb8 8. Qc6 {A horrible mistake. He had to play 8/Qxa7} Ne7 9. Nxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd4 Be4 11. Qa4 Bb4+ 12. Kd1 Qd6 13. e3 c5 {and black is winning. Horacek,M (2004)-Asparuhov,P (2125) Sunny Beach BUL 2009}) 7... Nc5 {This should have resulted in no more than equality, but black sets a trap into which white fa;;s. The P on c7 must be ignored!} (7... dxe3 $1 8. Bxe3 Rb8 9. Qxa7 Ngf6 {White has two Ps, but black has a lead in development that should prove to outweigh the material he is missing.}) 8. Nxc7+ Bxc7 9. Qc6+ Nd7 10. exf5 {White is still two Ps uo and his position looks pretty solid, but black has a strong attack with} Ba5+ 11. Kd1 { Interposing the B was no better.} Ne7 12. Qf3 O-O {[%mdl 1024] Black has strong compensation for the two Ps because white has wasted a lot of time with his Q an his K is still in the center. Tausis now whips up a strong attack.} 13. Bf4 Qb6 {He has no interest in regaining a P with 13...Nxf5} (13... d3 { is a possibility. It also sets a trap.} 14. Qxd3 (14. Bxd3 Nc5 15. Kc2 Nc6 16. Ne2 Nb4+ 17. Kb1 Nbxd3 {wins}) 14... Qb6 15. Qc2 Nc6 16. Nf3 Nc5 17. Be3 Nb4 { Black has a winning attack.}) 14. Rb1 Nc6 ({Not} 14... Nxf5 15. Qd5 $11) ({ Less strong is} 14... Qb4 15. a3 $15) 15. a3 Bc3 {This is a clever way od preventing 17.b4, but he missed an even better move.} (15... d3 16. b4 Nc5 { The N cannot be taken because of ...Qxb1+} 17. Be3 Bxb4 18. axb4 Nxb4 19. Bxd3 Rad8 {There are pins all over the place and this is what makes 15...d3 impossible to calculate in practical play. White's best is} 20. Ke2 Qa6 21. g4 Ncxd3 22. Kf1 Qa2 23. Rd1 Qxc4 {and there can be no doubt that black is winning.}) 16. Bd3 Bxb2 17. Kc2 {[%mdl 8192] This loses outright.} (17. Qe2 { would enable white to offer stout resistance.} Qb3+ 18. Qc2 Qxc2+ 19. Bxc2 Bxa3 20. Be4 Rac8 21. Nf3 {with good odds of surviving.}) 17... Rab8 18. Bxb8 Rxb8 19. Ne2 Nce5 20. Qg3 Nxd3 21. Nc1 Nxc1 22. Rhxc1 d3+ {White resigned.} (22... d3+ 23. Qxd3 Qxf2+ 24. Qd2 Qxf5+ 25. Qd3 Qf2+ 26. Qd2 Qxd2+ 27. Kxd2 Bxc1+ 28. Rxc1 f6 {with an easily won ending.}) 0-1

The Amazing Donald MacMurray

    Donald MacMurray was born on November 14, 1914. His father was an alcoholic who drowned after falling off a pier. His mother was a cleaning lady who lived in the slums of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City. Despite the odds of such a background MacMurray possessed the highest IQ ever recorded up to the early 1930s, earned a BA degree from the University of Chicago in eight and a half months, and a law degree from Columbia University in one year. He was also a strong chess master.

    “Meckele” as he was generally known in New York chess circles was also an expert in languages and learned to speak Yiddish so he could frequent the Yiddish Theater. In 1935 to 1936 MacMurray completed his degrees and returned to New York and was married to his childhood girlfriend. 

    During the mid-1930s he played in several Manhattan chess club championships, always scoring well. Among his victims were Isaac Kashdan and Arnold Denker. Before leaving for Chicago to participate in the 1932 Western Chess Association tournament Denker and MacMurray played a short warm-up match that was drawn. Other well-known master who went down in defeat against MacMurray were Weaver Adams and I.A. Horowitz. 

    In the US Open Championship of 1937 he shared third place with George Treysman and then in 1938 he scored a remarkable 10.5 out of 11 in the Consolation Master’s section of the US Open after having narrowly missed qualifying for the finals. 

    In late summer in 1938, MacMurray was playing in the New York State Championship in Cazenovia when he began experiencing a worsening of nausea and stomach pains that were especially noticeable when he was laughing. At one point MacMurray was having dinner with Arnold Denker and the pain was so bad he had to leave the table and at Denker’s request. Another tournament participant, long time master Dr. Joseph Platz, examined MacMurray and discovered a cancer in his stomach that was the size of q grapefruit. Just three months later on December 2, 1938, MacMurray died at age 24. 

    In this game MacMurray easily defeats veteran master Harold Morton of Providence, Rhode Island. Morton was born on January 19, 1906 and won the championship of New England many times. He won the Massachusetts Championship in 1933, 1934, and 1935 and played in the 1936 US Championship. On February 17, 1940, he was killed in a car accident in Iowa when he hit a truck. His passenger, I.A. Horowitz, survived. The two were giving simultaneous exhibitions throughout the country. 

 

[Event "Chicago"] [Site ""] [Date "1937.09.04"] [Round ""] [White "Donald MacMurray"] [Black "Harold Morton"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C49"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "1937.??.??"] {C49: Four Knights Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 {The Rubinstein Variation 4...Nd4 is an attempt to unbalance the position, but it also fizzles out to boring equality.} 5. O-O O-O 6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. Nxe5 Re8 8. d4 Bxc3 9. bxc3 Nxe4 10. Re1 Nd6 {This looks rather awkward, but it is best and there is no way for whi.e to take advantage of it} (10... d5 {is more common.} 11. f3 Nxc3 12. Qd2 Nb5 13. Nxc6 Rxe1+ 14. Qxe1 Qd7 {looks drawish.}) 11. Qg4 Qf6 12. Ba3 {[%mdl 2048]} Rd8 {The idea is apparently to guard the d-Pawn so the B can be developed. It does not speak well for black’s position to have to waste time using his R to guard the P.} (12... Re6 13. c4 Ba6 {and black has full equality.}) 13. Re3 {This R-lift is a handy idea worth remembering.} Nf5 {Walking into a pin can’t be good, but black wants to free his game with ...d5.} 14. Rf3 d5 {This defends the c-Pawn and exposes white's Q to a discovered attack, but now white gets a strong attack Black's best chance was to sactifice a P in order to dislodge white's N.} (14... d6 15. Nxc6 Re8 16. d5 Bd7 {and black has finally gotten developed and his position is organically sound/}) 15. Qh5 {Excellent, Black is threatened with 16.g4 and is at a loss for a decent move.} g6 {This results in a fatal weakening of the K's position ans MacMurry forcfully demonstrates.} (15... Qe6 {removes the Q fron danger and after} 16. g4 Nd6 17. Re3 Re8 18. Rae1 Qf6 19. Nxc6 Rxe3 20. Rxe3 Be6 { White is clearly better, but black ha avoided immediate disaster.}) 16. Ng4 Qh8 {It’s hard to believe this loses immediately! Other moves would not have saved the game though.} (16... Qe6 17. Qg5 Re8 18. Nf6+ {wins}) (16... gxh5 17. Nxf6+ Kg7 18. Nxh5+ Kh8 19. Re1 {White is winning.}) ({This is black's best try.} 16... Kh8 17. Nxf6 gxh5 18. Re1 h4 19. Re5 {Material is equal, but black's position is lost. He will sacrifice a R for two pieces leaving him with great piece activity while black's position remains very passive.}) 17. Qg5 Be6 18. Rxf5 {[%mdl 512] Black resigned. Why?!} (18. Rxf5 Bxf5 19. Nh6+ Kg7 20. Be7 {Technically this is not as strong as the immediate 20.Nf5+, but it is the most practical. The threat is Bf6+} (20. Nxf5+ Kg8 21. Ne7+ Kg7 22. Qe5+ f6 (22... Kh6 23. Bc1+ g5 24. Qxg5#) 23. Qxc7 {and all that remains is for white to bring his R into play with Re12 and black is helpless.}) 20... Rd6 21. Nxf5+ Kg8 22. Bxd6 cxd6 23. Re1 {White is a piece up.}) 1-0