British Chess Magazine, April 2024-TLS - 240416 - 082236

Volume 144
APRIL
2024
INTERVIEW:
STEV BONHAGE
A COMET IN THE
CHESS WORLD
CHANGING THE
PERCEPTION OF CHESS
FROM A TOOL TO
FIGHT DISTRACTION,
TO WACKY EVENTS AND
TAKING LESSONS FROM OTHER SPORTS
TOURNAMENT REPORTS: THE AMERICAN CUP 2024 ∙ PRAGUE MASTERS
IMPRESSUM
Contents
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE
Founded 1881
www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk
Chairman Shaun Taulbut

Director Stephen Lowe
Editors
204
Milan Dinic and Shaun Taulbut
BCM Interview:
Photo editor Stev Bonhage, photographer
David Llada A comet in the chess world
Prepress Specialist
Milica Mitic 196 The American Cup 2024
The return of Levon Aronian
Photography
By GM Aleksandar Colovic
Stev Bonhage, U.S. Chess Champs Official,
Prague International Chess Festival Official,
biografiasyvidas.com, Shutterstock, 214 Prague Masters
Wikipedia It’s all about the new generation!
Advertising
Stephen Lowe 225 Chess, Physics and me
Enquiries By Grandmaster Raymond Keene OBE
editor@britishchessmagazine.co.uk
ISSN 0007-0440
234 4NCL Division One - Report
© The British Chess Magazine Limited
By IM Shaun Taulbut
Company Limited by Shares 238 Openings for Amateurs

Registered in England No 00334968 Attacking patterns out of
your Openings (Part I)
Postal correspondence: By Pete Tamburro
Albany House, 14 Shute End
Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 1BJ
242 Grandmasters’ Misevaluations
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UK: £55 | RoW: £85 Verlinsky and Rauzer
By Peter O’Brien
Printed in the UK: by Lavenham Press Ltd
250 Quotes add Queries
Cover photography: The century-old mastery of
Stev Bonhage Carlos Torre
By Alan Smith
194 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

April 2024
Chess as an antidote to distraction

Arguments used in promotion of chess often emphasize that the game helps train
concentration and stimulates problem solving. In the era of information overflow, where
the fear of missing out (FOMO) is a key driver in the social life among many people,
particularly the young, could this present an opportunity for chess to be positioned as a
tool for combating distraction?
At the beginning of April I was in the Swiss capital – Bern – for the celebration of 100
years of FIDE. The Swiss, together with FIDE, put on a great show which included the
procession of the FIDE’s torch relay in the centre of Bern, “something which we have
never had in our city,” as the mayor said later.
A well thought out, well organised and well executed event (would you expect anything
different from the Swiss?!), also included the celebration of 50 years since the formation
of the Swiss Youth Chess Federation. The head of the organisation, Michael Hochstrasser
gave a speech in which he highlighted what to me seems as the most obvious benefit of
chess today for young people:
"Young people are exposed to too many distractions. Multitasking is a key word of our
time. At the same time, young people are doing their homework, discussing the latest
events at school while listening to music and writing social media posts. But what young
people also have is more and more difficulties concentrating… By learning chess, children
learn how to concentrate and fight distractions…".
While this seems like a very obvious point, it struck me that it’s not something which
is put forward by chess professionals and promoters when talking about the game nor
– to my knowledge – is it something that has been properly researched. Yes, it’s often
said that chess helps concentration, but chess as a tool against distraction is something
slightly different.
It is no secret that children are easily more distracted. Whether a child plays videogames,
spends time on TikTok or plays chess – what’s the difference? Chess can also be a
distraction. But, various research has shown that chess does help build skills which are
helpful in life – such as concentration, analysis, problem solving, order, to name a few. (In
fairness, there are studies which have also shown the benefits of video games, but not to
the extent as chess). What if chess – as an education tool – could be used to supplement all
those distractions into one?
This argument of chess being a tool to fight distraction can be useful, especially as
technology – despite its many benefits – is showing to have a detrimental effect on
children’s focus. Potentially, this may be a path to further promote chess and grant it more
recognition in society.
Finally, when it comes to other ideas how to promote chess and change its public
perception, we invite you to read the interview with photographer Stev Bonhage whose
distinctive approach to life and work could bring in some new ideas on how to present the
game to the wider world.
BCM Editor
BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 195

04/144
THE AMERICAN CUP 2024
THE RETURN OF LEVON ARONIAN

By GM Aleksandar Colovic; www.alexcolovic.com; Photo: U.S. Chess Champs Official
As if chess wasn’t already complicated but the consolation bracket has only rapid
enough, the Americans decided to suspend games? Why have only rapid games in the
their customary pragmatism and introduced a grand final?
convoluted format that few could understand.
Perhaps somebody knew the answers to these
The format: questions, but to this author’s knowledge
they were never shared with the public.
▪ Double Elimination Bracket
▪ Classical time control: 90 minutes + 30 One explanation that was promoted by the
seconds Americans, perhaps under the influence of
▪ Rapid time control: 15 minutes + 10 the most dominant chess company in the
seconds world, is the idea of a second chance. In
▪ Blitz time control: 3 minutes + 2 seconds other words, a loss in one match shouldn’t
▪ Championship Bracket matches: two send the player home – he gets another
classical and two rapid games, followed chance in the consolation bracket and if
by blitz tie-break if necessary he wins his matches there, he still has a
▪ Consolation Bracket matches: four rapid shot at the title, meeting the winner of the
games, followed by blitz tie-break if championship bracket in the grand finale.
necessary
▪ Grand Final Reset: four rapid games This is certainly gracious, though it
followed by a blitz tie-break if necessary could theoretically lead to a rematch
for first place. Imagine the winner of the
Looking at it, the main question is: why? championship losing to the winner of the
Why play a classical game followed by consolation bracket: he must also get his
a rapid game on the same day? Why the second chance, leading to a rematch. I think
championship bracket has classical games, Karpov, with his fondness for rematches,
followed by rapid games in case of a tie, would have liked this.

April 2024
After this lengthy introduction, it’s time to Samuel Sevian - Levon Aronian
move on to the games.
Open Saint Louis, US (1.6), 14.03.2024
The tournament saw an unexpected return XIIIIIIIIY
of Levon Aronian.
9-+r+-+-mk0
After dropping out of the top 10, after 9+-+-vl-zpp0
more than a decade in it, Aronian seemed
unlikely to come back. While always jovial, 9p+-+N+n+0
he hasn’t shown much ambition in the past 9+-+-+Q+-0
period and his results were average at best. 9-+r+L+-+0
Garry Kasparov famously said that the 9zP-+-+-+-0
chess world is a better place with a happy 9-wqp+-zPP+0
Aronian in it, but Aronian is always happy.
Financially secure, with a young daughter, 9+-tR-tR-mK-0
he enjoys life and at the age of 41 perhaps xiiiiiiiiy
nobody expects him to repeat his great feats. In a must-win situation, Sevian burnt
bridges, which often means ending up in a
Except that, like all great players, Aronian losing position. Objectively, White is lost
is ambitious. He may not always show it, here, but with little time and a lot of pieces,
or the opposition won’t allow him to show anything can happen.
it, but there is no reason to doubt it’s there.
43...¥f6? From winning to losing in one
The winner’s luck in Aronian’s case let move. It was the queen that should have
itself be known in the first round. Facing come to that square, not the bishop!
Sevian, after a series of draws Aronian
took the lead by winning the first blitz 43...¥xa3 44.¤g5 £f6 parries all threats
game. In the second, the following position and Black wins as he remains with two extra
was reached. pawns after 45.£h3 £xg5 46.£xa3 h6;

04/144
43...£f6 was perhaps even simpler, though In this match, Aronian unleashed the
it doesn’t win for Black after 44.¦e2 £xf5 Grunfeld Defence.
45.¥xf5 ¥xa3 46.¦cxc2 ¦xc2 47.¥xc2
a5 when White should draw, but Black also The Grunfeld is an excellent opening,
needed that result to win the match. theoretically impeccable and rich in counter-
attacking chances. White suffers greatly
44.¤f4! Now White is winning. It’s very when facing it as even posing problems is
likely that Aronian planned not an easy task, forget about an advantage!
Therefore, White’s approach to the Grunfeld
44...¤f8 And missed the very beautiful has been to use one-game ideas, which aim
combination that Sevian also missed! to surprise the opponent. This is possible
because the choice of good lines White has
45.¤d5?? Missing a once-in-a-lifetime in the Grunfeld is big and the amount of
opportunity. theory in them is considerable, which puts
tremendous pressure on the memory of the
45.£xh7+! ¤xh7 46.¤g6+ ¢g8 Black player. This hit-and-run approach for
47.¥d5# is a combination that one rarely White, plus the whims of fashion, have led to
gets to see at grandmaster level! a decrease in the popularity of this opening.
45...¦4c5 Now Black is safe again. Aronian never played the Grunfeld
45...¦e8 was even better, but it doesn’t seriously and this must have been a big
matter as long as White doesn’t win. surprise for his opponents. Combine this
with the innovative ideas he introduced in
46.£h3 ¥g5 47.f4 ¥h6 48.£f5 ¤g6 48... the opening, and the result was a significant
g6 49.£f7 £d4+ 50.¢h2 £f2 is the way practical advantage for him.
the engine wants to win, but needing a draw
Aronian’s move more than suffices. Sam Sevian - Levon Aronian
Saint Louis, USA, 2024
49.¢h1 Insisting on keeping pieces on the
board, but now Black wraps it up. 1.c4 g6 2.d4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 4.¤f3
¥g7 5.h4 was what Caruana tried in
49.¦xc2 ¦xc2 50.¥xc2 £d4+ 51.¢h1 his second attempt against the Grunfeld.
¦f8 wins the f4–pawn and ensures Black The advance of the h-pawn is common
against trouble. nowadays, so Aronian wasn’t too surprised.
5...0–0 not fearing ghosts on the kingside.
49...¦f8 50.£d7 ¤xf4 51.¤xf4 ¥xf4 Black allows the opening of the h-file and
52.¥f3 ¥xc1 the exchange of his dark-squared bishop,
but finishes development in the meantime.
0–1 6.cxd5 (6.h5 is another try, after 6...¤xh5
7.cxd5 c6 Black obtains good counterplay.)
6...¤xd5 7.h5 c5 8.hxg6 hxg6 9.¥h6 ¤xc3
ARONIAN'S GRUNFELD 10.bxc3 ¥xh6 11.¦xh6 ¢g7 12.£d2 cxd4
13.cxd4 ¤d7 the alternative is 13...¤c6.
A lucky break is all Aronian needed. 14.e4 ¤f6 15.¦h4 ¦h8 and Black equalised
successfully. After 16.¦xh8 £xh8 17.£f4
In the next round, he faced the main £d8 with ...£a5 and ...¥g4 Black didn’t
favourite, Fabiano Caruana. These players have problems and the game was drawn in 31
know each other well, they have worked moves. ½– ½ Caruana,F (2804)-Aronian,L
together, so in similar cases, the players (2722) Saint Louis USA 2024
usually play openings that they haven’t
looked at together. 4...¤xd5 5.e4 ¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 7.¥e3

April 2024
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
9rsnlwqk+-tr0 9r+l+k+-tr0
9zppzp-zppvlp0 9zpp+-zppvlp0
9-+-+-+p+0 9-+n+-+p+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9wq-zp-+-+-0
9-+-zPP+-+0 9-+-zPP+-+0
9+-zP-vL-+-0 9+-zP-vLN+-0
9P+-+-zPPzP0 9P+-wQ-zPPzP0
9tR-+QmKLsNR0 9+R+-mKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
This classical approach, popular A subtlety to provoke ...a6 (in view of
since Karpov’s use in the 1990 World the threat ¦b5) with the idea to later take
Championship match against Kasparov, advantage of the weakened b6–square on
was Sevian’s choice. the queenside.
Both Robson and Caruana tried the sharpest 10...a6 11.¦c1 cxd4 12.cxd4 £xd2+
7.¥c4 0–0 (7...a6!? was the most original 13.¢xd2 e6 Necessary to stop d5, as
of Aronian’s innovations. It worked allowing it would give White access to the
wonders in his game against Robson after weakened b6–square with ¥b6.
8.h4 c5 9.¤e2 h5 10.0–0 0–0 11.¥e3 ¤d7
(Here 11...¤c6 may be an improvement, as 14.¥d3 0–0 15.¦c4 ¦d8 The immediate
the knight on d7 exerts too little pressure 15...¥d7 is an alternative. Generally Black
on the centre.) 12.£d2 (White could have doesn’t have problems in this endgame as
stopped Black’s expansion with 12.a4.)12... he’s prepared for a break in the centre with
b5 13.¥d5 ¦b8 14.dxc5 £c7 with d5, while otherwise White cannot make
unclear play where eventually Aronian progress.
emerged victorious. 0–1 (62) Robson,R
(2696)-Aronian,L (2722) Saint Louis USA 16.¥g5 f6 17.¥e3 ¥d7 18.h4 ¥e8
2024) 8.¤e2 ¤c6 another rare line by Controlling the d-file in case of d5.
Aronian. (Nowadays Black’s plays nothing
but 8...c5, yet there are other moves like 19.¦b1 b5 20.¦c3 ¥f8 21.¦cb3 ¤a5
this one, or 8...b6 (played sometimes Black is perfectly fine and decides to repeat
before castling) or 8...£d7.) 9.0–0 ¤a5 moves.
10.¥d3 e5!? the idea to attack White’s
centre with ...e5 is not new in the Grunfeld, 21...f5!? was an attempt to play for more.
though rarely played here. (More common Black wants to provoke e5 when he will
alternatives are 10...c5 and 10...b6.) 11.¦b1 have an excellent square on d5 for the
(11.dxe5 is the engine’s suggestion, but after knight or bishop.
11...¥xe5 12.f4 ¥g7 13.¥a3 ¦e8 14.£c2
¥d7 Black is not without counterchances.) 22.¦c3 ¤c6 23.¦cb3 ¤a5 24.¦c3 ¤c6
11...b6 12.¥e3 ¥e6 provoking d5. 13.d5
¥d7 14.c4 ¤b7 15.£d2 £e7 16.¥c2 c5 the ½–½
immediate 16...f5 was also possible. 17.dxc6
¥xc6 18.¤c3 f5 with unclear play. ½– ½
(54) Caruana,F (2804)-Aronian,L (2722) The scenario from the match with Sevian
Saint Louis USA 2024. was repeated in the match against Caruana.
The classical and rapid games were drawn,
7...c5 8.¤f3 £a5 9.£d2 ¤c6 10.¦b1 with Aronian winning both blitz games.

04/144
The match with Robson went the other 8.exf6 dxc3 9.b4 ¥c7 10.fxg7 ¦e8 11.¤f3
way round. Aronian won the first two XIIIIIIIIY
games and by drawing the third secured a
win in the four-game match. The second 9rsnlwqr+k+0
win featured his surprising 7…a6 in the 9zppvlp+pzPp0
Grunfeld mentioned above.
9-+-+p+-+0
The final against Wesley So was decided 9+-+-+-+-0
in the last rapid game. Aronian won it with 9-zPP+-+-+0
Black and clinched the match 2.5-1.5.
9zP-zp-+N+-0
Wesley So - Levon Aronian 9-+Q+-zPPzP0
Open Saint Louis, US (4.4), 20.03.2024 9tR-vL-mKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 In the final Aronian According to the engine Black should be
reverts to his usual openings. Perhaps he fine now.
feared So’s preparation in the Grunfeld.
11.¥d3 is the only(!) move to keep an
3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 Capablanca’s favourite advantage. After 11...f5 12.£xc3 d5
move is one of the safest against the Nimzo- 13.¤f3 d4 14.£b3 ¤c6 15.c5 ¢xg7 16.0–0
Indian. e5 again White has an only (!) move to
keep an advantage and that is 17.¥g5 £d7
4...0–0 Aronian has also played 4...c5 and again an only move 18.b5 ¤a5 19.£b4
recently, a move that wasn’t considered as there is also 19.£b2 as an alternative here,
theoretically sound as the text move and 4... at least. White should be better here, though
d5, but with good preparation it’s perfectly to a human eye, especially one that hasn’t
possible to play it. analysed this position before, it’s just a
mess and anybody’s game.
5.e4 This move used to be an aggressive
way to meet 4...0–0, but today is often a 11...d5?! Aronian probably remembered
silent draw offer. that ...d5 should be played sooner rather
than later, but here the timing isn’t right.
5...c5!? Aronian refuses the silent draw offer!
11...£f6! we enter the territory of only
5...d5 is considered the main move. moves again, this time for Black to keep the
After the forcing 6.e5 ¤e4 7.¥d3 c5 balance. The position is unclear after 12.¥e3
8.¤f3 cxd4 9.¤xd4 ¤d7 10.¥f4 £h4 ¤c6 13.¦d1 d5 with chances for both sides.
11.g3 £h5 the theory continues and
draws are agreed around move 30. So 12.£xc3?! Now Black is fine again.
has played this line making draws quite
often in the past. 12.¤g5! was the way to exploit Black’s
imprecision. After 12...f5 13.£xc3 White
6.e5 cxd4 7.a3 ¥a5!? The real surprise! threatens £h3. 13...£e7 14.¥e2 £xg7
The move hasn’t been frequently played 15.£xg7+ ¢xg7 16.¥b2+ ¢g6 17.¤f3
by human players, but does this hold White keeps the initiative in the endgame
true when considering it is one of the after 17...dxc4 18.¥xc4 e5 19.0–0 ¤c6
primary moves recommended by the 20.¦ac1 as Black’s centre is rather loose.
engine? So far the moves 7...¥xc3, 8...
dxc3 and 8...£a5 have been played with 12...e5 Black obtains good counterplay now.
regular frequency. Aronian explained his opening strategy

April 2024
AFTER DROPPING OUT OF THE

TOP 10, AFTER MORE THAN A
DECADE IN IT, ARONIAN SEEMED
UNLIKELY TO COME BACK. WHILE
ALWAYS JOVIAL, HE HASN’T MUCH
AMBITION IN THE PAST PERIOD
AND HIS RESULTS WERE
AVERAGE AT BEST
(at least in some of his games) that he the one on d5 does) and a safe position, he
voluntarily went for dubious lines which he has very good prospects.
had checked, safe in the knowledge that his
opponents hadn’t done the same. "Nobody 17...¥xd7 18.0–0 Continuing the plan.
checks dubious lines" to paraphrase his
rationale, but perhaps soon enough people 18...£h4 Natural, though there was a
will start. stronger continuation.
13.cxd5 e4 14.¤d4 ¥e5 15.¥b2 ¤d7 18...¥b5! 19.¦fd1 £f6 was very strong.
16.¥b5 a6 17.¥xd7? The pressure on the long diagonal is
XIIIIIIIIY tremendous and this limits the mobility of
White’s pieces. Black simply wants to pick
9r+lwqr+k+0 up the pawn on d5 with ...¦ad8xd5.
9+p+L+pzPp0
19.g3 £h3 20.f4 ¥f6 21.£e3?! The queen
9p+-+-+-+0 is rarely a good blockading piece.
9+-+Pvl-+-0
9-zP-sNp+-+0 21.¦ae1 ¦ad8 22.£b3 was better, when
White has good coordination and the
9zP-wQ-+-+-0 position is balanced.
9-vL-+-zPPzP0
21...¥g4 Controlling the d1–square and
9tR-+-mK-+R0 keeping the bishop close to the kingside,
xiiiiiiiiy though it was possible to do the same from
White wants to castle as soon as possible, the other side, from the a4–square.
but this gives up the bishop pair and also
has a tactical problem. 22.¦f2 ¦ad8 23.¤b3 ¦xd5 Threatening
...¦d3.
17.¥a4 was better. After 17...b5 18.¥b3
¥b7 White remains on top. With an extra 24.¦e1 White must keep the e4–pawn
pawn (the pawn on g7 doesn’t count, but under control. This prevents ...¦d3.

04/144
24.¥xf6? ¦d3! 25.£e1 ¦xb3 with ...e3 to 33...¢f8 34.£c5+? White got carried
come and Black wins. away. It may seem there is counterattack,
but Black refutes it nicely.
24...¥xb2 24...¦d3? 25.£xd3 exd3
26.¦xe8+ ¢xg7 27.¥xf6+ ¢xf6 28.f5 is 34.¢f2 was again fine for White;
excellent for White.
Even 34.£xd3 exd3 35.¦e5 should
25.¦xb2 £h6 26.¦d2 If White manages have drawn.
to keep the blockade on the dark squares he
should be fine. 34...¦d6 35.¦h5 £xd2 36.¦xh3
26...£d6 27.¦xd5 £xd5 28.¤d2 Ideally,

XIIIIIIIIY
White would like to put his knight on e3 - 9-+-+-mk-+0
the queen is still a bad blockading piece. 9+p+-+p+p0
28...¥f5 29.¤f1 ¥h3 30.¤d2 9p+-tr-+-+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9+-wQ-+-+-0
9-+-+r+k+0 9-zP-+pzP-+0
9+p+-+pzPp0 9zP-+-+-zPR0
9p+-+-+-+0 9-+-wq-+-zP0
9+-+q+-+-0 9+-+-+-mK-0
9-zP-+pzP-+0 xiiiiiiiiy
It’s hard to imagine what made So send this
9zP-+-wQ-zPl0 rook from the perfectly sensible placement
9-+-sN-+-zP0 on the first rank to the utterly ridiculous
h3–square.
9+-+-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy 36...b6 White gets mated after the pin on
Now it was possible to either exchange the rook is lifted.
queens (suitable for the side with a
weaker king, in this case White) or 0–1
to put the knight on e3 with 30.£d2
£xd2 (30...£e6?! 31.¤e3 is mission
accomplished for White.) 31.¤xd2 f5 In an interview after the event Levon
32.¦c1 ¦d8 33.¤c4 ¦d3 34.¢f2 ¢xg7 said – “It’s great to play well and to
35.¤e3 and the blockade on the dark control the flow of the game… It’s a
squares should steer the game towards really good feeling”.
a draw.
Aronian won the American Cup without
30...¦e6 Aronian avoids the repetition losing a single game. It is an impressive
of moves. feat. After such a triumph, it is natural to
ask if Aronian is capable of returning to
31.¦c1 ¢xg7 32.¦c5 £d3 33.¦g5+ This the top 10. Can he muster the same flair
is possible, but sending the rook away from that made him the fans’ favourite for many
the back rank looks a bit risky. years? I would like to think so, though
in light of the fierce competition from a
33.¢f2 was more consistent with White’s surge of young talent, it would require
blockading strategy. an extraordinary effort by the seasoned
veteran to reclaim his former glory.

April 2024

Interview:
04/144 Stev Bonhage, photographer
A comet in the chess world

By Milan Dinic
Photo: Stev Bonhage

April 2024
In the history of the 64-squared game, there have been several

“chess comets” – people who appear out of nowhere, shine a
light and move on, never to be seen again. Most of them were,
of course, chess players. But not all.
04/144
The unseen heroes of chess

The chess world seldom acknowledges and even more seldomly recognises and
remembers the people who put things together – those who help make it possible
to play chess professionally. Namely, the organisers and the fundraisers, event
managers, journalists who spread the word about the game and the players and, also
– the camera crews and photographers who caught on camera some of the most
iconic chess moments.
In the chess world in recent years several names have stood out when it comes to
taking photos – David Llada (who is also a great friend of BCM), Leonard Ootes, Niki
Riga, Maria Emelianova and, more recently – a phenomenon in the chess arena, Stev
Bonhage.
Unconventional style, iconic work

Heavily tattooed, leisurely dressed and informal – Stev looks more like a street
breakdancer or a character akin to Hunter S Thompson, with a German-Scandinavian
twist. His unconventional style is also visible in the work he has done in the chess
world so far and it is not always to everyone’s taste.
As the first exhibition of his chess photos is set to start touring Europe (as a part of
FIDE’s 100th-anniversary celebration), BCM spoke to Steve Bonhage about his work
and chess photography.
From a small place to the world stage

Stev Bonhage was born in 1985 in the former “Deutsche Demokratische Republik” -
East Germany, but the family moved to Sweden when he was young.
“I grew up in a small place, in the middle of the forest. We had to ride 40, 50 kilometres
to school. For me, the camera was the way out. Also, I'm an introvert. I know how to put
the switch when I have to, but I prefer to be for myself. The camera has always been a
way to express myself,” explains Steve.
At 17 he dropped out of school but thanks to the famous Scandinavian social support
programmes, he fell on the safety net of a government youth employment scheme
which landed him his first job and, as it would turn out, his life calling – in photography.
“I was working for a couple who were prominent photographers, doing ordinary stuff
– cleaning the studio, tidying up things, setting the lights, assisting. Then something
happened that stuck with me. I was cleaning up the digital archive and I saw these
maps and folders neatly organised – the date, the customer/client and the location
where the photos were taken. Oslo, Gothenburg, Malmo… These were all big places in
Scandinavia and I thought it would be cool if people sent me to places to take photos.
Soon, as I started to travel – all my photos were labelled this way.”

April 2024

04/144
As it turned out, the camera didn’t open just a new world for Stev, but also – a new
language.
“Whenever you have the camera in front of your face, nobody's really talking to you and
it's more a sign communication which takes place. I got to know some amazing people
just by sign language or gestures and stuff connected to photography. Once, I got to
know Madonna’s yoga teacher just by taking a photo of him in Berlin”.
From breakdancing to MMA and Formula One

Stev’s first big break was in South Korea, taking photos at the R-16 festival, an annual
international event for urban arts. A trip that was supposed to last just two weeks
turned into a decade-long spell in Southeast Asia. From a run-down hostel in Bangkok,
where backpackers, life chancers and enthusiasts on psychedelics played chess and
got drunk on the rooftop, to running a hostel in Laos, Stev comes across as a real-life
character from Alex Garland’s adventure drama, “The Beach” – travelling through life
in search of adventure.
“Laos is another crazy story. I was just going there for a visa run and the next day, I had
my own hostel thanks to some friends and people I got to know! We built everything
from the ground up. I invited graffiti artists that I knew living in South East Asia. They
were coming in and spraying the walls, and some other friends helped me build a
volleyball court and it was really fun!”
Just as it seemed Steve was parting ways with his camera, a friend got in touch and
invited him to take photos for a shocking story – a documentary about a secret war

April 2024
on Laos from 1964 to 1973, during the US invasion of Vietnam, where the Americans
dropped more than two million tons of bombs. This amounts to having one planeload
of bombs dropped every eight minutes! To this day, Laos remains the most heavily
bombed country in the world.
“The documentary was about the people living in these areas – who use remains of
the bombs to make jewellery or cutlery, and then end up harming themselves or even
losing their lives. You have kids playing in the fields full of these bombs, it’s crazy…”.
Steve’s curiosity took him from the bombed fields of Laos to MMA championships in
Asia, to taking photos for Red Bull (his most successful partnership), Formula One,
Heineken, Puma, Ferrari…
All of these opportunities came just by word of mouth and friendships!
“I don't have any business cards or anything - I write to people. I tell them that I would
like to get access to take some photos. I will share the content with them. I would
pay for my own flight. I would pay for my own accommodation. And, if you like the
photos then we can start to discuss if you want to work with me or not. Also, I’m not
an extrovert, so the camera is a way for me to communicate”.
The cooperation with Red Bull was particularly fruitful for Stev.
“I did a lot of work for them and for their Formula One team and driver Max Verstappen.
They work 24/7 and think out of the box. They are very open to ideas and want to go
one step further. For example, in their Formula One hangar, they organised a ‘world

04/144
competition in throwing paper aeroplanes’. It was fun and turned out to be very popular
with the crowd and great for their brand”.
“Chess could also benefit from thinking more like that,” argues Steve.
But Stev isn’t someone from the chess world and his views are seen as too radical by
some.
“I learnt chess when I was six or seven but never played it consistently. I enjoy playing the
game and it’s fun. Also, I am interested in philosophy and history, so the political backdrop
to chess has been very interesting to me. So, I started taking chess-related photos.”
Photographing the champions

Usually, chess photographers are former players/organisers or people who have in
one way or another had a longer-term connection to the game. This often means they
know the chess players and the players know them. This was not the case for Steve
whose first official chess event was the 2022 Candidates in Madrid. He was hired by
David Llada, an accomplished photographer himself, who was at the time FIDE’s Chief
Marketing Officer.
“In the photos, I take of chess players and chess events – I try to be more unconventional.
After all, rules are there to be broken”, explains Steve.
“There are documentaries about why a certain tone makes you feel a certain way. It’s
similar to photos/videos – if you have a dark picture, you will automatically always go
to the brightest spot. That's how I direct you where I want you to look. It’s a concept I
took from film. And then, you can explore the picture for yourself.
As with all good things in life – it’s in the detail. It’s the love for detail that got me so
deep into exploring why a good picture is a good picture and why certain things are
wrong or right,” Stev argues.
“As a photographer covering a chess event, you find yourself in a position that 95 per
cent of the people don’t find themselves in – you are face-to-face with the players.
You’re among them, you see things that are not shown in the broadcast and that are
not noticeable unless you are there – from the background scenery and feel of the
venue to the body language and behaviour of players away from the board.”
Speaking about his experience of taking photos of Magnus Carlsen, Stev compares it
to the experience he had of taking photos of other famous sports people, such as the
Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel or the tennis player Roger Federer.
“They just want to be treated normally. So, when I want to take a special photo of
Magnus or do a quick shoot, I don’t beat around the bush, but just put it straight to
him – level with him, and say ‘Let's just do it’. And I found it that people of that stature
prefer the straight talk and doing things quickly”.

April 2024

04/144

April 2024
Telling a joke or acting funny also helps in getting a great photo, Steve notes. “Creating
energy through smiling and laughing and making a fool out of yourself like I did with
the kids in the refugee camp in Kenya where FIDE is doing work to support them.
Because I used to do a lot of acrobatics and breakdancing, I pull that off with the kids
and they enjoy it. Why do this? It relaxes people and then when they slowly start to
forget me and why I am here. Then - I start taking photos”.
Since Madrid in 2022, Stev has photographed many chess events, including the World
Championship Match between Nepo and Ding, but has also covered FIDE’s social
initiatives, such as Chess for Freedom, where he visited convicts in prisons who play
chess, and the Chess for Protection project in Kenya.
"Capture" - a new perspective on chess

Just this year, Stev published a book – “CAPTURE – AN EXCHANGE BETWEEN
PHOTOGRAPHY AND CHESS”, where he exhibited some of his best works related to
chess. Now, he has turned the book into an exhibition due to travel to several countries,
starting from Switzerland in April.
“The exhibition is not primarily for chess players because they already know my work.
I just want people to just have a walk and get into it, and to get into their head without
them even knowing we’ve done that. Overall, I want to change the way people look at
chess. Also, I want to change the way chess photography works”.
“I think a lot of people are not interested in chess, because they have nothing to relate
to. They don't play the game, and we don't know the person and their lifestyle, and, and
world opinions might not be with us. The perception of chess needs to change,” Stev
says, pointing to Formula One as a good example.
“Look at the development of Formula One. It has always been like it is today in terms
of the sport – but the audience today is completely different than in the 1990s or
even before. Why – because they made it more accessible and explained it in a way
that everyone can relate to it. They’ve dumbed it down. And now you have the Netflix
show Drive to Survive and there you have a storyline – the historical rivalries, the
competition, the drama. I think chess needs that”.
He points to Ian Nepomniachtchi as a potential hero of that story. “You have this guy
who is desperately trying to become World Champion. He comes close and then in the
most critical moments he fails, but he is not giving up. You have the rivalry between
him and Carlsen, you have the story there”.
There is another aspect to explore, he notes: female chess versus male chess.
“If you reach people with something they can relate to, it becomes more personal. I
think these broad narratives, combined with more dynamic time controls, could truly
change the perspective of chess”.

04/144
TOURNAMENT REPORT: PRAGUE MASTERS
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NEW GENERATION!

By GM Aleksandar Colovic; www.alexcolovic.com
Photo: Prague International Chess Festival Official
The Prague Masters (27 February – 7 This victory, with the 15 rating points
March) was the last tournament before gained thanks to it, propelled the 19-year-
the Candidates for the Indian trio. As I old Uzbek to number four in the world.
mentioned in the preview published in
the March issue, the youth has infinite Abdusattorov played powerful chess in
energy and playing non-stop comes Prague. He started with a technical win
naturally for them. over Nguyen in round one, but he needed
a good deal of winner’s luck in round three.
Apart from the Indians (Gukesh,
Praggnanadhaa and Vidit), the organisers Nodirbek Abdusattorov –
assembled an exciting field featuring two David Navara
more prodigies, Keymer and Abdusattorov, 6th Prague Masters 2024 Prague CZE (3.3)
local representatives Navara and Nguyen XIIIIIIIIY
and creative players like Rapport,
Maghsoodloo and Bartel. 9-+-tr-tr-mk0
9+q+-+Lzp-0
The mix proved a successful one. The
tournament abounded in exciting games 9-+R+-+-zp0
and decisive results. 9+P+-+lsN-0
In a tight field like in Prague, it’s hard
9-zp-vl-+-+0
to expect somebody to dominate, but 9+-+-+-+-0
that is exactly what happened. Nodirbek 9-+-+QzPPzP0
Abdusattorov scored an incredible 6.5/9,
winning five games, losing one and 9+-+-tR-+K0
finishing full point and a half ahead of the xiiiiiiiiy
field. He even secured tournament victory Abdusattorov misplayed a position with a big
with a round to spare, not a common sight advantage and here Navara had a great chance
in short nine-round tournaments. to send the tournament in another direction.

April 2024
28...¦xf7?? Oftentimes it is a single move Mateusz Bartel -

that separates winning from losing. Navara Nodirbek Abdusattorov
makes the losing one.
6th Prague Masters 2024 Prague CZE (5.3)
28...¥h7! was winning for Black. White’s
knight on g5 and the bishop on f7 are 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 g6 Without
hanging, but so is the pawn on f2. 29.£h5 the possibility of a Maroczy bind after
(29.¤xh7 ¦xf7 and the knight won’t make it c4, Black happily invites his opponent to
out of h7 alive; 29.¤e6 £xf7 30.¤xf8 ¦xf8 discuss the sharp lines of the Dragon.
is winning for Black, the two bishops will
easily deal with the white rook.) 29...¥xf2! 4.d4 cxd4 5.¤xd4 ¥g7 6.¥e3 ¤f6 7.¥c4
Not touching anything on the kingside and This is White’s most principled move, but
letting White’s pieces to hang there for a soon enough he admits that he isn’t ready
while. 30.¦f1 ¥e3 Now the knight has to for a fully-fledged Dragon fight.
move. 31.¤e6 ¦xf7! and in view of the
threat of a back-rank mate, Black emerges 7...0–0 8.¥b3 d6 9.h3 Here it is. If White
with an extra piece after 32.¦e1 ¦g8. is to achieve anything he must castle long
in the Dragon. This can be done starting
29.¦d6! Black would be winning, if it had with the move 9.f3, leading to the Yugoslav
not been for this refutation. The undefended Attack. With this timid move White gives up
rook attacks both the rook on d8 and the any hope of achieving something out of the
bishop on d4. It’s likely this move that opening. The only advantage of the move is
Navara missed. that it takes the game to calmer waters.
29...¦c8 29...¦ff8 30.¦xd8 ¦xd8 31.£e8+ 9...¥d7 Abdusattorov will employ

¦xe8 32.¦xe8# is a back-rank mate; Kasparov’s plan, but only a move later and
with a bishop on d7 rather than on b7.
29...¦xd6 30.£e8+ is another version of
the back-rank mate. 9...¤a5 10.0–0 b6 has been known to be
very good for Black since the game Anand-
30.¤xf7+ £xf7 31.¦xd4 White won Kasparov from Linares 2003. After 11.¦e1
the exchange and has an easily winning ¥b7 12.¥g5 ¤xb3 13.axb3 h6 14.¥h4 £d7
position. 15.£d2 ¤h5 16.f3 e5 17.¤de2 f5 it was Black
who took over the initiative, though eventually
31...b3 32.b6 ¦c2 33.£f3 b2 34.b7 £f8 the game was drawn. ½–½ (32) Anand,V
35.¦dd1 ¦c5 36.£b3 (2753)-Kasparov,G (2847) Linares 2003.
1–0 10.0–0 ¤a5 11.£d3 a6 12.¦fe1 ¦c8

Black’s play is simple on the queenside:
play ...b5, ...¤c4 or ...¤xb3, use the c-file
It is pretty certain that had Navara found to create activity. White, on the other hand,
the win Abdusattorov would not have has only one constructive idea and that is
continued in the confident and impressive the ¤d5 jump.
style. A lucky win always gives the player
that extra boost of confidence, thanks to the 13.¦ad1 b5 14.¥g5 White prepares the
knowledge that luck is on his side. ¤d5 jump by placing the bishop on g5
because he anticipates an exchange on d5,
After a draw against Gukesh in the next which after exd5, will see the bishop on g5
round, Abdusattorov played, in his own and the rook on e1 attack the pawn on e7.
words, a “very, very clean game” against With the same anticipation in mind, Black
Bartel. plays his next move.

04/144
14...¦e8 Abdusattorov was quite content 19.£c1! was best. The idea is to remove
with this prophylactic move, defending the the queen from the e-file (so there is no
pawn on e7 in advance. pin there when White takes on e7) and
defend the b2–pawn at the same time.
15.¤d5 White is fully mobilised, so he 19...¦c5 is likely best. (19...£xd5?!
executes his main idea, but Black is well 20.¤e6! puts Black in danger, who now
prepared to meet it. should sacrifice the queen, as 20...£a5?
21.¤xg7 ¢xg7 22.¥xe7 leaves him
15...¤xd5 16.exd5 ¤c4 Black obtains the fatally exposed on the dark-squares;
bishop pair now as the knight on c4 cannot 19...£xa2 20.¥xe7 is fine for White.)
be tolerated. 20.¦xe7 ¦xe7 21.¥xe7 ¦xd5 22.¤f3
when White should be able to hold the
17.¥xc4 bxc4 Gaining tempo for attack on balance; Abdusattorov thought that
the queenside. 19.¥xe7?! ¥e5! is what his opponent
missed. Indeed, Black is much better here
17...¦xc4 was a possible alternative. After after 20.f4 ¦xe7 21.fxe5 ¦xe5.
18.¥e3 (18.c3 ¥xd4!? 19.cxd4 f6 wrecks
White’s pawns, though the position is still 19...£xa2 This is what the queen came for.
unclear, with the opposite-coloured bishops
still on the board.) 18...£c7 19.c3 £b7 20.£h4? Third dubious move in a row, this
with chances for both sides - White is solid time giving Black a decisive advantage.
in the centre and Black has no problems.
20.¥xe7 £xb2 21.£f4 was the most
18.£e3?! resilient. 21...¥a4! 22.¤c6! ¥xc6 23.dxc6
XIIIIIIIIY ¦xc6 24.¥xd6 and even though he’s a
pawn down, White should have enough
9-+rwqr+k+0 activity to hold the balance.
9+-+lzppvlp0
20...£xb2 Black keeps on taking pawns
9p+-zp-+p+0 and White has nothing to show for it.
9+-+P+-vL-0
9-+psN-+-+0 21.¥xe7
9+-+-wQ-+P0 XIIIIIIIIY
9PzPP+-zPP+0 9-+r+r+k+0
9+-+RtR-mK-0 9+-+lvLpvlp0
xiiiiiiiiy 9p+-zp-+p+0
White eyes the h6–square for ¥h6, but 9+-+P+-+-0
Black is faster on the queenside. 9-+psN-+-wQ0
18.£e4! was more precise, as it prevents 9+-+-+-+P0
Black’s counterplay. The idea is that after 9-wqP+-zPP+0
18...£a5 White has 19.¥d2! and the pawn
on a2 is taboo in view of 19...£xa2?? 9+-+RtR-mK-0
20.¥c3 and the queen is trapped and lost xiiiiiiiiy
after ¦a1 next. 21...h6! Threatening ...g5.
18...£a5 Now the threat of ...£xa2 is real. 22.£f4 ¥a4 Another good move, forcing
White’s next, which leads to simplifications
19.£e4? Wasting time like this is too much. that are favourable for Black.

April 2024
23.¤c6 ¥xc6 24.dxc6 ¦xc6 25.¥xd6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov -

Please take a moment to compare this Parham Maghsoodloo
position to the one arising after White’s
24.¥xd6 in the comment to White’s 20th 6th Prague Masters 2024 Prague CZE (8.5)
move. There is only one difference - in this XIIIIIIIIY
position the black pawn is on h6, while
there it is on h7. Here Black is winning 9-+-wq-+-+0
(no problems with the back rank) while 9+-+-+pmk-0
there White should draw. Chess is indeed a
tragedy of a single tempo! 9LzpPzp-+p+0
9zp-+-zp-sn-0
25...¦xe1+ 26.¦xe1 £xc2 27.g4 27.¦e8+ 9P+-+P+P+0
¢h7 makes all the difference. 28.£xf7
£d1+ 29.¢h2 £xd6+ is a check and Black 9+-tR-+P+-0
wins 30.g3 h5 with a clean extra piece. 9-zP-+-+-sN0
27...¦c8 Two extra pawns should suffice. 9+K+-+-+-0
xiiiiiiiiy
28.£f3 £b3 Just after the time-control White
XIIIIIIIIY sacrificed his queen for a strong passed
pawn, rook and bishop. This puts Black
9-+r+-+k+0 under severe pressure as White’s position
9+-+-+pvl-0 is easy to play - he just seeks ways to
promote that pawn.
9p+-vL-+pzp0
9+-+-+-+-0 41...¤e6 The knight must control the
9-+p+-+P+0 c7–square.
9+q+-+Q+P0 42.¥c4 ¤c7 43.¤f1 The knight on c7
9-+-+-zP-+0 is a good blockading piece, but it can
be exchanged, which is what White sets
9+-+-tR-mK-0 out to do: ¤e3–d5 will exchange the
xiiiiiiiiy blockader.
0–1
43...£e8 Black disrupts White’s
coordination by attacking the pawn on c6
After this win, Abdusattorov played three and forcing the bishop to occupy the d5 or
more decisive games in a row! First, he b5 square.
lost to Praggnanandhaa in a game that
had its ups and downs, with Abdusattorov 44.¥d5 White prefers the keep the pawn
blundering at the end (see below). He control of the d5–square and allow a break
bounced back immediately with a win over with ...b5.
Keymer with the black pieces in a game
where he went after his opponent’s king 44.¥b5 allows a break from the other side
in the centre – not something one would with 44...d5! 45.exd5 ¤xd5 46.¦c1 ¤c7
expect in the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, and without a pawn support White can no
but modern chess can make the most solid longer use the d5–square to exchange the
openings full of fireworks. blockading knight.
Still, that was nothing compared to his game 44...b5 45.¤e3?! Ambitious play, but
with Maghsoodloo in the penultimate round. crossing the line a bit.

04/144
45.axb5 ¤xb5 gives Black sufficient 49...¤d4? Letting the pawn advance.
counterplay, but was still better than the
game move. 49...£a7! would have activated the
queen immediately, with devastating
45...bxa4 46.¦c2 White defends the b2– effect. 50.¤c3 ¤d4 51.¤b5 may
pawn in advance and plans ¥a3 and (d5, look like a mission accomplished for
but Black obtains strong counterplay now. White, who manages to exchange the
opponent’s knight, but after 51...£b6!
The immediate 46.¥a2 is met by 46... 52.¤xd4 exd4 53.¥d5 d3! Black’s
a3! with the threat of ...£b8, while after counterplay is faster than the c6–pawn
47.bxa3 ¤b5 White cannot defends both and Black wins.
pawns on a3 and c6.
50.c7 £h8 51.¦d2 £h1+ 52.¢a2 £c1
46...£b8 It seems like Black should have enough to
XIIIIIIIIY hold the balance with the white pawn on
the verge of promotion.
9-wq-+-+-+0
9+-sn-+pmk-0 53.¦h2 a4 54.g5 Suddenly White creates
mating threats with ¤f6.
9-+Pzp-+p+0
9zp-+Lzp-+-0 54.c8£? axb3+ wins for Black as White
9p+-+P+P+0 must give up the newly promoted queen
immediately.
9+-+-sNP+-0
9-zPR+-+-+0 54...¤xf3 Harassing the rook and
preventing the mating threats after ¤f6
9+K+-+-+-0 and ¦h7.
xiiiiiiiiy
Not bad, but not the best either. 55.¦f2 axb3+ 56.¥xb3 ¤d2
46...a3! was very strong again. After 47.¢a2

XIIIIIIIIY
(47.bxa3 £b8+ 48.¢a2 £b5 activates 9-+-+-+-+0
the queen and threatens ...a4.) 47...£b8! 9+-zP-+pmk-0
48.¢xa3 (48.bxa3 £b5 transposes to the line
47.bxa3.) 48...£b4+ 49.¢a2 £a4+ 50.¢b1 9-+-zp-+p+0
£d4 and the queen starts to show its full 9+-+Nzp-zP-0
strength, though the game is far from over. 9-+-+P+-+0
47.¥c4 White continues with his plan, 9zpL+-+-+-0
threatening ¤d5. 9K+-sn-tR-+0
47...a3 48.¤d5 ¤e6 Black must keep the 9+-wq-+-+-0
knight alive, in a worst case scenario it can xiiiiiiiiy
be sacrificed for the passed c6–pawn. Black threatens mate, too, forcing White to
sacrifice an exchange.
49.b3? Leaving the pawn on a3 is
dangerous, though at first sight it doesn’t 57.¦xd2 £xd2+ 58.¢xa3 An
look like Black can use it. incredible position. White is playing for
a win with only a bishop and knight for
49.¢a2 axb2 50.¦xb2 £a7 51.¦c2 is a queen and pawn, all thanks to the far-
unclear, in an objectively equal position. advanced c7–pawn.

April 2024
The future of chess
58...£a5+? Black cannot possibly win, so king to b4 and proceed all the way to b6.
a perpetual was the best he could hope for. 62...£a6 63.¥d7 £a1+ 64.¢b4 £d4+
This was achieved with 58...£c1+ 59.¢b4 65.¢b5 £xe4 66.¥c6! and White will
£c5+ 60.¢a4 £a7+ 61.¢b5 £b7+ promote while keeping both his pieces.
62.¢c4 £c6+ and now if White wants to
avoid the perpetual with 63.¢d3 then with 61...¢h7? The king had to move, only not
the king far away from the c7–pawn White in that direction! This is an unfortunate
cannot make progress after 63...£c5 square that allows White a small trick two
moves later.
59.¥a4 White is winning now. Either the
king will approach the c7–pawn or the bishop 61...¢f8! was the correct move. The king
will aid its promotion with ¥d7 or ¥c6. cannot approach the pawn on c7, but this
means that the knight and bishop must stay
59...£a6 60.¢b4 £b7+ 61.¥b5? on d5 and the a4–e8 diagonal respectively to
XIIIIIIIIY keep it at bay, thus limiting their mobility.
White cannot make progress now. 62.¢c4
9-+-+-+-+0 £c8 and there is no ¥d7 trick now.
9+qzP-+pmk-0 62.¢c4 Now ¥d7 comes.
9-+-zp-+p+0 62...¢g7 62...£c8 63.¥d7! is the trick
9+L+Nzp-zP-0 thanks to the fork ¤f6 is Black takes the
9-mK-+P+-+0 bishop.
9+-+-+-+-0 63.¥d7 Black has only a couple of checks.
9-+-+-+-+0
63...£a6+ 64.¢b3 £b7+ 64...£d3+
9+-+-+-+-0 65.¤c3
xiiiiiiiiy
This allows Black to save the game, though 65.¢c2 £a6 66.c8£ £e2+ 67.¢b3 £xe4
that chance is by no means obvious. 68.£g8+! Again the knight fork is decisive.
61.¢c3! threatening ¥d7. 61...£c8 1–0

62.¥c6 with the idea to return with the

04/144
Truly an appropriate game to wrap up a

tournament. This win gave Abdusattorov
the tournament victory with a round to
spare. He drew with Rapport in the last
round and kept his point-and-a-half gap.
Even though he didn’t qualify for the Candidates

(he wasn’t really close) this victory and the
break into the top 5 cements Abdusattorov’s
status as one of the main players who will fight
for the title in the next cycle.
THE INDIANS
The Indian players had their minds set on
the Candidates and playing with one’s mind
set on another tournament never bodes well Praggnanadhaa – the best performing
for the tournament at hand. This happened Indian in Prague
to all three of them, though with different
outcomes and to different extent.
26...e5 27.¦h8+ ¢xg7 28.¦xe8 £f4 And
Praggnanadhaa had a run of 47 classical hopes that in the endgame the two connected
games without a loss before coming to passed pawns will give him counterchances.
Prague. In Prague, he lost two.
29.¦h1? Choosing from the several winning
Those two losses were in a row. After continuations Praggnanandhaa chooses a non-
starting with a win over Keymer, winning one! This tells us one thing - if a
Praggnanandhaa lost to Maghsoodloo and superb calculator like Praggnanandhaa couldn’t
Rapport. The second loss was particularly calculate a clear win, then the win wasn’t trivial.
painful as it was from a winning position.
29.£xf4 exf4 30.¦dd8 is the most forcing
R Praggnanandhaa - Richard Rapport way. 30...¥b7 (30...g2 31.¦g8+ ¢f6
32.¤e4+ ¢e5 33.¦xg2 is pretty simple,
6th Prague Masters 2024 Prague CZE (3.1) winning one of the pawns.) 31.¦g8+ ¢f6
XIIIIIIIIY 32.¤e4+ ¢e5 33.¦ge8+ ¢f5 34.¦xa8
¥xa8 35.¦xa8 and White manages to control
9r+l+n+k+0 both pawns as 35...g2 36.¦g8 f3 37.¢d2 ¢f4
9zp-+-+rzPp0 38.¤f2 stops both pawns;
9-+p+pwq-+0 29.¥e4! was probably the most "automatic"
9+p+-+-+-0 way to win. White centralises the bishop and
9-+-+-+-+0 controls both pawns. This move didn’t really
need any calculation so it was the safest bet. It
9+-sN-+-zp-0 seems that Praggnanandhaa wanted to calculate
9PzPLwQ-+-+0 the win until the end and miscalculated, an
impractical decision when he had this simple
9+-mKR+-+R0 move at his disposal.
xiiiiiiiiy
26.¦xh7 White’s attack is irresistible. The 29...£xd2+ 30.¢xd2 ¦f2+ 31.¢e3 ¦xc2
threats are ¦h8 or ¦dh1. Rapport gives 32.¦hh8?? The game should have ended in
up a piece. a draw before this blunder.

April 2024
The game had ups and downs and the

position here is approximately balanced.
Abdusattorov misses a tactic with his
next move.
36.¦e2?? White defends the pawn on b2,

but loses more material now!
36.¥e2! with the idea of ¥c4 was very

good. After 36...£xb2 37.¥c4 £xf2+
38.¢xf2 White will regain the pawn with
an equal position;
36.¥h5 would have repeated the position

as this was the position on the board
two moves earlier, when Black played
34...£d5. Possibly White was worried
about 36...¥xb2 but White has 37.¤xf7!
32.¦xe5 ¦h2 33.¦g1 and after eliminating and after the forcing 37...£xf7 38.£xb2
the pawn on g3 the position will be a draw. £f5 39.£a2+! a precise check to be able
to take on g6 with check, too. 39...¢h7
32...¥e6 Stopping ¦g8. White cannot stop (39...¢h8 40.£a5! attacks the rook on d8.
the g-pawn now. 40...¦d2 41.¥f3 and White managed to
bring the bishop back to the defence of the
33.¦xa8 g2 kingside.) 40.¥xg6+ £xg6 41.£b1 White
0–1 manages to exchange queens and even
though his kingside is weak on the light
squares, White should draw this after 41...
To his credit, Praggnanandhaa pulled b3!? 42.£xb3 £c6 43.£c2+ ¢h8 44.£f2.
himself together and after the draw in the
next round he won two games in a row, 36...¦xd6! The problem is that the rook
defeating his compatriot Vidit and the on e2 blocks the bishop’s control of the
leader Abdusattorov. d1–square.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov - 37.¦e8+ Perhaps White was hoping

R Praggnanandhaa on this zwischenschach, but Black had
seen deeper.
XIIIIIIIIY 37.¥xd6 £d1+ is elementary.
9-+-tr-+k+0 37...¢h7 38.¥xd6 ¥d4! This is the
9+-+-+pzp-0 refutation of White’s defence.
9-+-sN-vlnzp0 39.£xd4 £xf3 40.£f2 £d1+ Black
9+-vL-+-+-0 eliminated the bishop that covered the
9-zp-+-zP-+0 d1–square and returns there to pick up the
bishop on d6.
9+q+-+LzPl0
9-zP-+-wQ-zP0 41.¦e1 £xd6 The two pieces easily deal
with White’s lone rook.
9+-+-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
04/144
42.£e3 ¥e6 43.¦e2 ¤e7 44.£e5 £b6+

45.£e3 £xe3+ 46.¦xe3 b3! Eventually
Black will get to the b2–pawn.
47.¢f2 g6 48.g4 ¢g7 49.h3 ¢f6

50.¦e4 h5 51.¢g3 ¤d5 52.¢h4 hxg4
53.hxg4 ¢g7 54.g5 ¥f5 55.¦c4 ¥c2
56.¢g3 ¤e3
0–1
He should have also won a third one,

but misplayed his winning advantage
against Gukesh.
Eventually the tournament was a decent

one for Praggnanandhaa, sharing second
place with Nguyen and Maghsoodloo Not the best performance by Gukesh
with 5/9. In retrospect, he is probably
glad he lost those games in Prague and
not in Toronto. Still, his play was not as Parham Maghsoodloo – Gukesh D
stable as we got used to, something that
won’t be the case in Toronto. 6th Prague Masters 2024 Prague CZE (9.2)
XIIIIIIIIY
Gukesh was similarly wobbly.
9-+-+-+k+0
He started with a win with the black 9+-+-+pzp-0
pieces against Nguyen, but then he also 9R+-+p+-zp0
lost two games in a row, both of them
with the white pieces to Navara and 9wQ-+-+-+-0
Bartel. The problem for Gukesh was 9-zp-+-+-+0
that in both games he had an advantage,
with Navara even a winning one, but he
9+P+qzPLzPK0
didn’t play well. 9P+r+-+-zP0
9+-+-+-+-0
Even more so, Gukesh should have lost a
third game in a row, but managed to save xiiiiiiiiy
a lost endgame against Praggnanandhaa, White is winning and had time to
thus stopping the bleeding. In the next think after the time-control. Yet, in
round he beat Keymer convincingly, spite of being an incredible calculator,
coming back to 50%. Maghsoodloo missed the following
combination.
His unstable play continued in the
last round, when he was outplayed by 41.¦a7? Throwing away the win.
Maghsoodloo and should have lost again.
41.¦a8+! ¢h7 42.¦h8+!! ¢xh8
(42...¢g6 43.£h5+ ¢f6 44.£h4+
would soon lead to mate or an exchange
of queens.) 43.£a8+ ¢h7 44.¥e4+
winning the queen and the game.

April 2024
Vidit S - Vincent Keymer

XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+-snk+0
9zp-zp-tr-+-0
9-zpP+-+-+0
9+-+P+p+-0
9-+-+-+p+0
9+-+P+lzP-0
9P+-vL-+-+0
9+-+-+QmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
White is winning. It’s hard to imagine
Black winning in two moves now, but that
is exactly what happened.
41...£f1+ 42.¢g4 ¦f2 And Black managed
to draw. 33.¥b4?? Unbelievable.
½–½ 33.£a1 with the idea to activate the queen

with £f6 would have been decisive;
Not a tournament to be proud of for 33.£c1 ¥xd5 34.¥c3 with £h6 or £g5
Gukesh, but like Praggnanandhaa, he is to come was another way to win.
likely happy the blunders and the losses
came before Toronto. These shocks will 33...¦h7 All of a sudden the threat of ...¦h1
compose him and at the Candidates traps the queen and wins the game for Black.
we will likely see a focused and sharp
Gukesh as in his best tournaments. 34.¢f2 ¦h1
Worst of all the three Indians was Vidit. 0–1

He ended up last, with three losses and
no wins. Starting with four solid draws
he suddenly lost three games in a row, Instead of reaching 50% with a win, Vidit sank
a feat both his compatriots managed to to -2 and in the next round lost to Maghsoodloo
avoid by the skin of their teeth. for a third loss in a row. Ironically, in that game,
while having an advantage, he again allowed
The heartbreak happened in round six. his queen to be trapped!
After outplaying Keymer, Vidit obtained a
winning position. Vidit finished last, which cannot be
encouraging before the greatest test in
Toronto. Doubts will creep in, but he’s
capable of rising to the challenge.
Prague Masters was all about the new

generation. It is a state of affairs we all
must get used to.

04/144
PRAGUE INTERNATIONAL CHESS FESTIVAL 2024

RESULTS - MASTERS
Rk Name Rating Pts. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 GM Abdusattorov Nodirbek 2744 6.5 1 1 0 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½
2 GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van 2630 5 0 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ ½
3 GM Maghsoodloo Parham 2715 5 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1
4 GM Praggnanandhaa R 2747 5 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1
5 GM Navara David 2667 4.5 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½
6 GM Rapport Richard 2717 4.5 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½
7 GM Gukesh D 2743 4.5 ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½
8 GM Bartel Mateusz 2660 3.5 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½
9 GM Keymer Vincent 2738 3.5 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1
10 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2747 3 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0

April 2024
Albert Einstein; Source: wikipedia.org
CHESS,
PHYSICS
AND ME
By Grandmaster
Raymond Keene OBE

04/144
Two of the greatest Jewish intellectuals, only losing the title to Capablanca in 1921.
Lasker (1868-1941) and Einstein (1879- In addition, he was a first-class contract
1955) were contemporaries and friends. bridge player, writing about this and other
Emanuel Lasker, son of a Jewish cantor, games, including Draughts, Go and his own
and world chess champion from 1894 to invention, the equally homonymic Lasca.
1921, shared many concerns with that
genius of Relativity, Albert Einstein. At the age of eleven Lasker was sent to
Berlin to study mathematics, where he
Not least was his preoccupation with the lived with his brother Berthold, eight
future of European Jews. Towards the years his senior, who, around 1879, the
end of his career, Lasker published The year of Einstein’s birth, taught him how
Community of the Future. This was a to play chess. To supplement their income
political tract, in which he demonstrated Emanuel Lasker played chess and card
many of his ideas to create an ideal society. games for modest stakes, principally at the
Two problems were especially prominent in Cafe Kaiserhof. His rise was rapid and by
his lucubrations: the fate of European Jews, 1893 Lasker was beginning to look like a
highlighted of course by the irresistible rise convincing aspirant to world honours.
of the Nazis in Germany, and the spectre of
widespread unemployment. The incumbent champion, Wilhelm Steinitz,
had already twice despatched the Russian
To resolve the first problem, Lasker even Titan, Mikhail Tchigorin, and with the next
proposed the near geographical homonym, natural challenger, Dr Siegbert Tarrasch,
Alaska, as a possible refuge for Jewish puzzlingly reluctant to enter the lists,
immigration, a proposal that at that time Lasker travelled to the new world, where
of intractable emergency did not sound as his challenge to Steinitz was played out in
outlandish as it might today. Lasker also 1894, at venues in New York, Philadelphia,
pondered deeply on the origins of anti- and Montreal. Steinitz had previously
Semitism and identified unemployment as a announced that he would win easily against
major cause of resentment against the Jews. his relatively inexperienced opponent, so
His remedy to cure the evil of unemployment it came as a something of a shock to the
was to establish communities modelled on chess world, when it was Lasker who won
the Kibbutz system, then popular in Israel, the first game. Thus, on the transatlantic
in order to prepare and train people for field of honour, two German-speaking Jews
the job market. Lasker comprehended that battled it out for the supreme chess title,
work did set free and empower populations, while a third, Tarrasch, watched helplessly
a stance in complete opposition to the from the sidelines, as his dream of chess
Satanic Nazi parody, erected over the gates imperium vanished before his eyes.
of Dachau, Theresienstadt and Auschwitz:
Arbeit macht frei. Lasker won convincingly with ten wins,
five losses and four draws, thus becoming
While winning and holding the World the second universally recognised World
Chess Championship for 27 years, Lasker Chess Champion, and confirmed his title
had earned a PhD in Mathematics, with by beating Steinitz even more convincingly
his 100-page 1905 thesis Zur Theorie der in their re-match in 1896-1897 (ten wins,
Moduln und Ideale. This work is regarded five draws, and a mere two losses).
as one of the foundations of modern algebra.
A confirmed polymath, he published Einstein was, of course, a serious candidate
several philosophical works, wrote one for the supreme genius of all time. Yet, like
verse drama and regularly commented Lasker, he was deeply concerned by the
upon political events. In his prime Lasker plight of European Jewry, and at one point, as
was one of the most dominant champions, we shall see, he even declined the presidency

April 2024
of the newly formed state of Israel. In just the physical world. He was inspired by a
a few years, his brilliant insights entirely book of Euclid’s geometry and he made a
changed the way the universe is perceived, particular point of studying Michelangelo’s
while his mighty equation, E=MC2, was pictures. By the age of 16, Einstein had
to make available both for creative and already written a scientific paper on the
destructive purposes, an energy source of relationship between electricity, magnetism
hitherto unimagined intensity — atomic and the ether. He reported at the time that he
power. Indeed, Einstein’s investigations came up with his theories by encouraging
ushered in the atomic age. For the very first himself to play mind games, in which he
time, human beings were actually placed allowed his imagination to run riot.
in the position of understanding how the
universe works, while simultaneously being Einstein also reported that in one
given the terrifying capacity to annihilate daydreaming session, he had imagined
their own world. riding on a sunbeam to the end of the
universe. To his amazement, when he got to
Einstein has the reputation of having been “the end of the universe”, he found he was
a relative dunce at his school in Munich, back where he had started his “journey”,
but this is a misapprehension. Although and thus concluded that the universe must be
precocious, he did not excel in those both finite and curved. In his paper, Einstein
subjects taught by the Luitpold Gymnasium, explored the question “what would happen
where he was a pupil. Einstein was later to if one could follow a beam of light at the
denounce their lessons as “lies”, and he speed of light?” As a result, he discovered
was in fact expelled from the school on the a paradox which, in scientific jargon, is “a
grounds that he was a “disruptive influence” spatially oscillating electromagnetic field at
on his fellow students. He had an enquiring rest”. In other words, in spite of moving at
mind and often used to daydream. When he a vast speed, one would appear to have not
applied himself to something that he really moved at all.
enjoyed doing, he would excel.
In 1895, Einstein joined the Swiss Federal
Two games of chess won by Einstein do Polytechnic School at Zurich, at an age two
survive. My heart likes to believe that years below the standard age of enrolment.
these are as genuine, like well attested There Einstein studied under Professor
games by Tolstoy, Randolph Churchill and Hermann Minkowski, the Russo-German
Prokofiev, though my head warns that they mathematician, whose special interests
might belong in the apocryphal category, were the theory of numbers, space and time.
inhabited by games attributed to Napoleon Einstein could not have found a teacher
and Pope John Paul II. more in tune with his own predilections.
Einstein took Swiss nationality in 1901, and
Einstein studied music as a boy and in 1902 he was appointed Examiner at the
eventually became an accomplished Swiss Patent Office. From this point on, his
violinist, playing for relaxation. While achievements begin to take on the aspect of
playing a duet with a professional violinist, an intellectual roller coaster.
Einstein missed a few notes and beats. This
prompted his exasperated companion to Einstein published a steady stream of
ask “What’s the matter with you, Einstein? scientific papers on a number of problems
Can’t you count?” in the field of physics. One concerned the
quantum theory of Germany’s greatest
It is clear, though, that early in his life physicist, Max Planck (1858-1947), which
(he was fascinated by a compass at the held that energy changes or emissions occur
age of five), Einstein was determined to in violent, abrupt instalments, packages or
probe the secrets and solve the riddle of quanta. Planck himself was to become a

04/144
Nobel Prize winner, President of the Berlin of personality with so eager an interest in
Science Academy and a member of the all the great problems of mankind.” One of
Royal Society. these, of course, was Einstein’s Theory of
Relativity, which Lasker hated.
In 1905, Einstein applied Planck’s quantum
theory to light and published his revolutionary Einstein again: “Lasker’s keen analytical
paper on Special Relativity. From 1909 brain had immediately and clearly
onwards, the scientific world realised that recognised that the entire problem hinged
a new Galileo or Newton was upon them, on the constancy of the velocity of light in
and showered Einstein with Professorships empty space. He clearly saw that, once such
– for example, in Zurich, Prague and Berlin. constancy was admitted, the relativisation
In 1916, Einstein published his theory of of space was unanswerable, whether one
General Relativity. Three years later, two liked it or not, and he did not like it at all…
British expeditions confirmed, through I rather liked Lasker’s stubborn intellectual
their observation of eclipses, that Einstein’s independence, a most rare quality in a
theories were correct. generation whose intellectuals are almost
invariably mere camp followers. And so
The world of science was now in ferment, I let the matter rest.” “Stubborn” here is
but excitement also gripped the world at Einsteinspeak for “wrong”. Nevertheless,
large. As the Times of London wrote: “The one wonders how Einstein and Lasker
scientific conception of the fabric of the would have fared within the groupthink
universe must be changed. It is confidently corral of our modern woking classes.
believed by the greatest experts that enough
has been done to overthrow the certainty of Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s, and
ages, and to require a new philosophy of the particularly pernicious version of
the universe. A philosophy that will sweep Nazi-inspired groupthink which infected
away nearly all that has hitherto been Germany in the 1930s, led to Einstein
accepted as the axiomatic basis of physical leaving Europe and establishing himself
thought. The ideals of Aristotle and Euclid at Princeton in the United States, where he
and Newton, which are the basis of all our lived for 20 years. In September 1939 he
present conceptions, prove in fact not to wrote to President Roosevelt, advising him
correspond with what can be observed in to start work on an atomic bomb project
the fabric of the universe. Space is merely and warning of the dangers of a possible
a relation between two sets of data and an German initiative in this field. This was
infinite number of times may coexist. Here to lead directly to the Manhattan Project,
and there, past and present, are relative so brilliantly depicted in the recent Oscar
not absolute and change according to dominating film Oppenheimer.
the ordinates and coordinates selected.
Observational science has in fact led back The equation, E=MC2, where energy
to the purest subjective idealism.” equals mass multiplied by the speed of
light, squared, demonstrates that a very
Lasker disagreed with Einstein’s theories and small amount of mass is the equivalent of
wrote forcefully in opposition to them. This, a vast amount of energy. By utilising this
however, did not deter the great physicist theory, two German scientists, Otto Hahn
from contributing a magnificently insightful and Fritz Strassman, were already engaged
foreword to Dr J Hannak’s standard in 1938 in splitting the uranium atom.
biography of the great chess master. Einstein They were thus on the brink of unleashing
wrote: “Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedly untold energy for Germany. Fortunately,
one of the most interesting people I came though, Werner Heisenberg, Germany’s
to know in my later life. Few indeed can top physicist during the 1940s, succeeded
have combined such a unique independence in leading the Nazi authorities down a

April 2024
Emanuel Lasker;
Source: World Chess Hall of Fame
blind alley, as befits the originator of the cent more glial cells per neurone than
Uncertainty Principle, and thus helped to usual, which would have had the effect of
deflect Nazi science from concentrating on boosting his power of association between
the creation of an atomic weapon. seemingly disparate items way beyond the
average. But whether this was the cause or
After the detonation of atomic bombs effect of his genius, it is impossible to tell.
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the
subsequent cessation of global hostilities, Einstein’s great predecessor, Sir Isaac
Einstein, who had earlier written an anti- Newton, wrote of his three inspirational
war book with Sigmund Freud (Why War?, friends, Amicus Platonis, Amicus
1933), urged international control of all Aristoteles and Amicus Veritas. Plato and
atomic devices. Then, in common with Aristotle knew nothing of chess, but in my
Charlie Chaplin, Einstein also protested heart of hearts I yearn to believe that those
against the communist witch-hunt of two quasi-apocryphal Einstein games are,
Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Un-American indeed, a true indication of the chess ability
Activities Committee. In 1952, Einstein of possibly the greatest genius humankind
was offered the presidency of the newly has ever known.
created state of Israel, but declined to
accept the honour, saying: “Equations are Now for my own experiences with physics,
more important to me, because politics are somewhat less illustrious, I fear, than those
for the present, but an equation is something of Lasker and Einstein. During my thirteen
for eternity!” years at Dulwich College and Trinity
College Cambridge (1959-1972) I observed
Examination of Einstein’s brain after his a curious phenomenon. According to the
death revealed that it contained 400 per eminent British scientist and novelist C.

04/144
P. Snow, in his Rede lecture of 1959, a von Clausewitz once remarked that cash is
major problem had gradually arisen in the to the economy, as war is to international
intellectual life of Western society. Snow politics and diplomacy, in other words,
described it as a split into “two cultures” crunch time.
with science on the one hand and the
humanities on the other. He lamented this Adopting the politics to war analogy,
development as being a major handicap to whether apocryphal or not, exams are an
solving the world’s most pressing problems. unfortunate fact of life. They are balanced
on the opposite side of the equation
As a pupil at Dulwich, I sympathised with attributed to Clausewitz by how much
his argument. Already struggling with attention you were paying in class. In my
maths, I never did manage to work out case, none, so I was fully prepared to score
what logarithmic tables were and why they zero in ‘O’ Level Physics, the Cretaceous
were useful. Accordingly, I arrived at my Period equivalent of modern GCSE’s.
first physics lesson, armed with a certain Come the exam, I sat down at my desk,
degree of scepticism. Once the class was wrote my name at the top of the paper,
seated, a gushingly enthusiastic physics waited for the obligatory thirty minutes to
master proceeded to explain why the expire and then walked out, the exam page
human eye and the camera worked in the unblemished by even the most microscopic
same way. His fervour failed to make the intervention from my part.
leap between his mind and mine. Descartes
may have said that the human body is a But then came the physics practical where,
machine, but I instinctively rebelled against to my horror, I discovered that the rules
this proposition, reasoning as follows: that were different. No one was permitted
consciousness (definitely), intelligence to leave before the full three hours had
(sometimes) and quite possibly even a soul, elapsed. Which Torquemada of the ‘O’
animated human vision, while a camera Level inquisitory board, I asked myself,
functioned purely mechanically, and then had devised that particular torture?
only according to its operator’s instructions.
There was nothing for it, but to try to
Sensing that I was never going to excel at answer the question, and here there dawned
physics, I decided to devote any time that a faint glimmer of hope. The invigilator
might have gone to physics, to studying and handed out Vernier Calipers to measure
playing chess. the distance which formed the substance
of the question. If there was one thing
Whereas my preferred field of academic I accidentally remembered from the
endeavour focused on Latin, French, generally abortive physics lessons I had
German and English literature, most of been forced to attend over the previous 3
my contemporary young chess hopefuls years, it was that Vernier Calipers measured
were mathematicians. Indeed, the head of microdistances.
the mathematics department at Dulwich
College personally tried to persuade me So, I set to work and sought to fill the
to specialise in maths. Little did he know. three tedious hours by actually answering
He had only looked at my chess results the question. After two hours and fifty-
and drawn what he thought was the nine minutes had elapsed, I came up with
appropriate conclusion. Had he examined the answer of 120 meters. This seemed
my maths papers he might have spared instinctively to be wrong. Summoning
himself the effort. my chess skills, which regularly required
thinking quickly in a crisis, and when short
Allegedly the Napoleonic-era Prussian of time, I hastily inserted a decimal point,
military theoretician Carl Philipp Gottfried shifting it as far to the left of 120 meters as

April 2024
seemed consistent with a micro distance. I the Niveous Equation, but what impressed
then submitted my answer. me, as I progressed through the groves of
Academe, was that, on the whole (with one
Needless to say, it was not correct. Combined or two exceptions) mathematicians tended
with contributing a blank sheet of paper to be far more receptive to the arts, than vice
(apart from my name at the top, of course) versa. This was the curious phenomenon
for the theory exam, my expectations of a mentioned in my opening paragraph.
high grade after the catastrophic viva were,
to put it mildly, on the low side of zero. Take, for example, my old friend Nick
Imagine, however, my indignation when the Patterson. As a junior chess player I had
overall result came out as “ungraded”! This become used to all opposition crumbling
struck me as monstrously unfair. According before me. Even if I did not necessarily
to The Inquisition’s own rules, grade one win a tournament, I experienced no
was top (budding physics genius) while sensation of having encountered a superior
grade nine was bottom (confirmed physics chess intellect, talent or understanding.
sub moron). There was no “ungraded.” That That changed when I faced Nick in the
level of disastrous non achievement simply penultimate round of the 1962/63 London
did not exist at the time. Under-16 Chess Championship. I had
been on course to win the title, but Nick
Less determined spirits might have given up demolished me in our game and I had to
at this point, but fired by an unquenchable be content with a share of second place,
hunger and thirst for academic justice, behind the precocious Bill Hartston, a two
I submitted a formal complaint to times future British champion.
Torquemada’s office and demanded the
just desserts of my well earned grade nine. Nick was a brilliant mathematician but also
To my astonishment, a few weeks later, a polymath who went on to become a code-
Inquisition HQ came back to me with an breaker at GCHQ, Irish chess champion,
apology, a correction and confirmation of alternating top / second board for Ireland
my grade nine. Justice had triumphed. in the 1970 chess Olympiad at Siegen in
Germany, a financial data analyst in New
Several years later, a doubtless vitally York and now a key member of the David
important government reform of education, Reich Institute at Harvard, analysing DNA
reversed the polarity of ‘O’ Level grades. to detect the origins of humanity. Nick
Grade one had now been recalibrated has come up with the theory that humans
as bottom, while grade nine had been diverged genetically from chimpanzees but
redefined as the new top, pinnacle and then briefly (in geological time) merged
Everest of Physics excellence. again, before we branched out decisively
on our own. From my own experience, I can
As stated earlier, Sir Isaac Newton had well believe it. The theory of a regression
once famously said, when asked who is eminently plausible. Nick’s DNA work
were his sources of scientific inspiration: also has potential in identifying and
“Amicus Platonis”, “Amicus Aristotelis” tracking historic and pre-historic patterns
and “Amicus Veritas”. Armed with my and outbreaks of disease.
splendidly revised, shiny grade nine I
felt, with Newton, that I could now claim The New York Times interviewed Nick,
Amicus Einstein, Amicus Heisenberg and on December 12, 2006, and, apropos the
in particular Amicus Blind Chance, as my two cultures divide, wrote: “Dr Patterson
new best friends. belongs to a new breed of biologist. The
shelves of his office in Cambridge Mass.
From the above it should be clear that I carry arcane maths titles, yet he can
was definitely on the humanities side of converse just as deeply about Buddhism or

04/144
Thucydides, whose writings he has studied now on, we should require all world leaders
in Ancient Greek.” to hold a degree in epidemiology before
being elected to office. More realistically,
Will The New York Times one day reach unlike my younger self, aspiring world
the astonishing conclusion that I am an leaders should follow Leonardo da Vinci’s
expert in Bayesian statistics or Conway’s exhortation: to see the science in art / the
Group Theory, or even acknowledge the art in science, and aim to acquire some
fact that I am an undoubted physics genius basic training in scientific method.
with a stratospheric grade nine at ‘O’
Level? Somehow I doubt it. As Nick Patterson wrote to me, at least I
should know the logarithm of 1. Answers
In the C. P. Snow Lecture at Christ’s on a postcard please….
College Cambridge on October 14, 2009
(reported in Issue 235 of The Christ’s This month’s game is Nick Patterson’s win
College Magazine, the following year) against me, which halted my progress in
Professor Lisa Jardine explained the chief the London Junior Chess Championship.
ongoing danger connected with C. P. My idea of sacrificing rook for knight was
Snow’s identification of the Two Cultures strategically sound, but tactically defective,
Syndrome. The problem stems from and should have been prefaced on move
the fact that politicians responsible for 19 by taking White’s pawn on h4 with my
national and international policy tend to queen, giving check.
have little or no scientific training. Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher was a rare Nicholas J Patterson (2345) -
exception, having been a research chemist Raymond Keene (2455) [C18]
at Somerville College, Oxford, while
Angela Merkel actually studied Physics at London Junior Championship England,
Karl Marx University of Leipzig. 04.01.1963
As a rule, however, in matters requiring 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.e5 c5 5.a3
scientific knowledge, Presidents and ¥xc3+ 6.bxc3 £c7 7.¤f3 f5?! A very rare
Prime Ministers have little scientific beast, indeed!
background. For example, the now
disgraced Jair Bolsonaro studied at The 8.¥e2
Brazilian Military Academy, Donald XIIIIIIIIY
Trump (Economics at Wharton School of
the University of Pennsylvania), Pedro 9rsnl+k+ntr0
Sanchez (Economics at Complutense 9zppwq-+-zpp0
University Madrid), David Cameron
(PPE, Oxford), Theresa May (Geography,
9-+-+p+-+0
Oxford), Vladimir Putin (Law, Leningrad 9+-zppzPp+-0
State University) and, of course, Boris 9-+-zP-+-+0
Johnson (Classics and Ancient History,
Oxford). Such world leaders must perforce 9zP-zP-+N+-0
surround themselves with scientific gurus, 9-+P+LzPPzP0
whose expertise they cannot verify from
personal experience.
9tR-vLQmK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
The relevance to the Coronavirus situation It would not be until 25 years later,
and the widespread debate over the that a Master game would follow in
scientific advice given to governments these footsteps, but 8. c4 fared no better
around the world is manifest. Perhaps from [Maksimovic(2400)-Rasidovic(2370),

April 2024
XIIIIIIIIY
0–1, GMA Open, Belgrade, 1988. Engines 9-sn-+-trk+0
suggest that both: 8.h4 ¤e7 9.¦h3 O-O 9+-+lwq-zp-0
10.h5, and 8.¦b1 ¤e7 9.h4 b6 10.¦h3 h6
11.¦g3; offer White a very pleasant game. 9-tRP+p+-zp0
9zp-+psnp+-0
8...¤e7 9.0–0 b6 10.a4 0–0!?
9P+-+-+-+0
11.¤g5 h6 12.¤h3 ¥d7? The text is not 9vL-zP-+-+-0
disastrous, but 12...¥a6 and ...¢h7 are 9-+PwQLzPP+0
definite if only slight, improvements.
9+-+-+-mKR0
13.¤f4 ¤bc6 14.h4 a5? Again, I could xiiiiiiiiy
have ceded less with either, 14...¢h7 or Powerfully more effective would have been,
14...¤a5. 27.c4! Black is swept away after either: 27...¥c6
28.¥b2 ¤f7 29.¦h3, or 27...¤xc4 28.¥xc4
15.£d2 ¦ac8 16.¥b2 ¤b8 17.¦fc1 dxc4 29.¦b7 c3 30.£d6 £xd6 31.cxd6.
£d8 17...¤bc6 offered a somewhat more
resistant profile. 27...£xa3 28.cxd7 £e7 29.¦b7 ¤bxd7
30.¥b5?! White jettisons yet more impetus.
18.¢h2 Over-cautious. White stood very Correct was 30.c4, when after 30...dxc4,
well after both 18. dxc5! and c4. 31.¦h3 ¦f7 32.£xa5 £d6 33.¦b1, when
White enjoys a significant advantage.
18...¤ec6 19.¦h1 £e7?
XIIIIIIIIY 30...¦b8?! Both players playing with
openly exposed nerves. Black should have
9-snr+-trk+0 played 30...£a3 in order to constrain
9+-+lwq-zp-0 White’s growing initiative.
9-zpn+p+-zp0 31.¦xb8+ ¤xb8 32.£d4? Further
9zp-zppzPp+-0 evidence of fear of flying. White should
9P+-zP-sN-zP0 have played 32.¦h3, with a healthy edge.
9+-zP-+-+-0 32...¤bc6 33.¥xc6 ¤xc6 34.£b6 £a3??
XIIIIIIIIY
9-vLPwQLzPPmK0 9-+-+-+k+0
9tR-+-+-+R0 9+-+-+-zp-0
xiiiiiiiiy 9-wQn+p+-zp0
The move is alluded to in the preamble.
Black should have played, 19...£xh4 + 9zp-+p+p+-0
immediately. 9P+-+-+-+0
20.¤g6 £f7 21.¤xf8 ¦xf8 Anything but. 9wq-zP-+-+-0
Both 21...£xf8, or ¢xf8, were preferable 9-+P+-zPP+0
to diverting the rook from the c-file. 9+-+-+-mKR0
22.¥a3 £e7 23.¦ab1 £xh4+ 24.¢g1 Thar’xiiiiiiiiy
she blows! 34...£d6 defers the
£d8 25.dxc5 £e7 26.¦xb6 Winning-post inevitable, but resistance is futile!!
nerves? 26.¦h3 bxc5 27.¦b5 £g5 28.f4
£d8 29.¥xc5 is crushing. 35.£xc6 £c1+ 36.¢h2 £f4+ 37.g3 £xf2+
38.¢h3 £e2
26...¤xe5 27.c6 1–0

04/144
4NCL DIVISION ONE - REPORT

By IM Shaun Taulbut
After six rounds in the 4NCL Division One 9...£b8 10.f4 10.¤c4 b5 11.¤d6+ ¥xd6
Wood Green are in top spot, having won 12.exd6 c4 13.¥e4 £xd6 14.a4 ¦b8 15.d3
all their matches, closely followed by The is slightly better for White.
Sharks and Manx Liberty. (See the placings
at the end of the article.) 10...gxf4 11.¤f3 ¤h6
We shall look at two games by younger XIIIIIIIIY

players, starting with a fine win on the top 9rwq-+kvl-tr0
board by William Claridge-Hansen against
Lupulescu in the match Manx Liberty
9zpp+l+p+-0
against Oxford 1. 9-+n+p+-sn0
9+-zp-zP-+p0
Constantin Lupulescu -
William Claridge-Hansen 9-+-zp-zp-+0
4NCL 2023–24 England ENG (5.1)
9sN-zPL+N+-0
9PzP-zPQ+PzP0
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.c3 White avoids the 9tR-vL-+RmK-0
Open Sicilian, potentially transposing
to a French Defence with one important xiiiiiiiiy
difference in that White has not yet played 11...h4 12.¥e4 h3 is a good alternative,
d4. weakening g2.
3...d5 4.e5 d4 Black prevents White from 12.¦e1 ¦g8 13.b3 a6 14.¥b2 dxc3
following up with d4: a good and combative 15.¥xc3 15.dxc3 ¤g4 is good for Black.
decision.
15...b5
5.¤a3 ¤c6 6.¥d3 6.¥b5 ¥d7 is also XIIIIIIIIY
playable for White but Black has equality.
9rwq-+kvlr+0
6...¥d7 7.0–0 Allowing Black a good 9+-+l+p+-0
option on the kingside.
9p+n+p+-sn0
7...g5 Black can now attack the white 9+pzp-zP-+p0
knight on f3 with …g4 and put pressure 9-+-+-zp-+0
on the white pawn on e5; Black plays
energetically to generate a kingside attack. 9sNPvLL+N+-0
9P+-zPQ+PzP0
8.£e2 h5 Black gains space and also plans
a further advance of the h-pawn against the
9tR-+-tR-mK-0
castled white king. xiiiiiiiiy
9.¤e1 If 9.¤c4 g4 10.¤e1 b5 11.¤d6+ Black expands on the queenside as well,
¥xd6 12.exd6 c4 13.¥e4 d3 slightly cramping White’s minor pieces; the threat
favours Black. of a fork forces White to retreat further.

April 2024
16.¤c2 £a7 17.¢h1 ¦d8 18.¦f1 ¤e7 XIIIIIIIIY

19.¤g1 ¥c6 20.¤e1 If 20.¥e4 ¥xe4
21.£xe4 b4 22.¥b2 ¦xd2 Black is 9-+-+k+-+0
much better. 9+q+-+p+-0
20...£b7 21.¤ef3 ¤ef5
9p+-+p+-+0
XIIIIIIIIY 9+l+-zPn+-0
9-+-trkvlr+0 9-+-sn-zp-+0
9+q+-+p+-0 9+-+-+N+N0
9p+l+p+-sn0 9P+-+-+rzP0
9+pzp-zPn+p0 9+Q+-tRR+K0
9-+-+-zp-+0 xiiiiiiiiy
32.¤xf4 If 32.¢xg2 ¤h4+ 33.¢h1 ¤dxf3
9+PvLL+N+-0 34.£e4 ¥c6 35.£xf4 ¤g5+ 36.¢g1
9P+-zPQ+PzP0 ¤xh3#.
9tR-+-+RsNK0 32...¦g4 33.¤h5 ¤xf3 34.¤f6+ ¢f8
xiiiiiiiiy XIIIIIIIIY
Black has strong pressure against g2.
9-+-+-mk-+0
22.¦ae1 ¦xd3 23.£xd3 c4 23...b4 9+q+-+p+-0
24.¥b2 ¤h4, with an attack on g2, is
decisive as the knight cannot be captured
9p+-+psN-+0
and defending g2 with a rook allows 9+l+-zPn+-0
either …¥b5 or …¤g4. 9-+-+-+r+0
24.bxc4 ¥c5 25.£e2 h4 26.d4 26.¤h3 is 9+-+-+n+-0
better for White here but now Black has a 9P+-+-+-zP0
winning attack.
9+Q+-tRR+K0
26...¥xd4 27.¥xd4 ¤xd4 28.£d3 ¤hf5 xiiiiiiiiy
White has no defence to the threatened
XIIIIIIIIY discovered checks, ie … ¤xe1+ and …
9-+-+k+r+0 ¤d2+
9+q+-+p+-0 0–1
9p+l+p+-+0
9+p+-zPn+-0
9-+Psn-zp-zp0
9+-+Q+N+-0
9P+-+-+PzP0
9+-+-tRRsNK0
xiiiiiiiiy
The black knights dominate the game.
29.cxb5 ¥xb5 30.£b1 h3 31.¤xh3

¦xg2

04/144
XIIIIIIIIY
Now an excellent win by Scottish Junior 9-+r+r+k+0
Freddy Gordon against John Emms
9zplwq-+pzp-0
Frederick Waldhausen Gordon - 9-zp-+psn-zp0
John Emms 9+-+-sN-+-0
4NCL 2023–24 England ENG (5.2) 9-+-zPPzP-+0
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5
9+L+Q+-+P0
XIIIIIIIIY 9P+-+-+P+0
9rsnlwqkvl-tr0 9+-+RtR-mK-0
9zppzp-+pzpp0 xiiiiiiiiy
White has the initiative here, with more space
9-+-+psn-+0 for his pieces, and the white knight is very
active, so Black plays to exchange this knight.
9+-+p+-+-0
9-+PzP-+-+0 19...¤d7 20.£g3 ¤xe5 21.fxe5 White
has the half open f-file to mount pressure
9+-+-+N+-0 against the black king and his bishop is
9PzP-+PzPPzP0 superior to its counterpart.
9tRNvLQmKL+R0 XIIIIIIIIY
xiiiiiiiiy 9-+r+r+k+0
4.¤c3 c5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.e4 ¤xc3 7.bxc3 9zplwq-+pzp-0
cxd4 8.cxd4 ¥b4+ 9.¥d2 ¥xd2+
10.£xd2 0–0 11.¥c4 9-zp-+p+-zp0
9+-+-zP-+-0
A standard Semi-Tarrasch position well 9-+-zPP+-+0
known to theory; White has a slight edge
with his pawn centre. 9+L+-+-wQP0
XIIIIIIIIY 9P+-+-+P+0
9rsnlwq-trk+0 9+-+RtR-mK-0
9zpp+-+pzpp0 xiiiiiiiiy
21...¦ed8 22.¢h2 ¥a6 22...a5 is also
9-+-+p+-+0 worth consideration, with the idea of … b5
9+-+-+-+-0 and … a4. White advances in the centre to
9-+LzPP+-+0 create a passed pawn.
9+-+-+N+-0 23.d5 ¥c4 24.d6 £b7 25.¦e3 b5 26.£f4
9P+-wQ-zPPzP0 £b6 27.¦g3 ¢h8 28.£xf7 28.d7 ¦b8
29.¦d6 £c7 30.£xf7.
9tR-+-mK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy 28...¦g8 29.¥xc4 bxc4 30.d7 ¦cf8
11...¤d7 12.0–0 b6 13.¦fe1 ¥b7 14.¦ad1 31.£e7 c3 If 31...¦d8 32.¦d6 £a5
¦c8 15.¥b3 ¦e8 16.h3 ¤f6 17.£d3 h6 33.£xe6 c3 34.£xh6+ gxh6 35.¦xh6#.
17...£e7 is an alternative here.
32.¦xg7 ¦xg7 33.£xf8+
18.¤e5 £c7 19.f4
The d-pawn queens.
1–0

4NCL DIVISION ONE - THE PLACINGS AFTER SIX ROUNDS
Rk Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 MP GP
1 Wood Green 4½-3½ 6-2 5½-2½ 6-2 7-1 5½-2½ 12 34½
2 The Sharks 1 3½-4½ 5-3 5½-2½ 6½-1½ 7½-½ 6½-1½ 10 34½
3 Manx Liberty 3-5 4½-3½ 5-3 6-2 6½-1½ 10 30
4 Wood Green Youth 3½-4½ 6-2 6-2 8 29½
5 Cheddleton 2-6 3-5 4-4 5½-2½ 5-3 7½-½ 7 27½
6 Alba 2½-5½ 1½-6½ 4-4 4½-3½ 5-3 4½-3½ 7 27½
7 Blackthorne 2-6 2-6 2½-5½ 4-4 4-4 4½-3½ 5-3 6 23
8 Chessable White Rose 1 2½-5½ 2-6 2½-5½ 3½-4½ 7½-½ 4½-3½ 4 22½
9 Barnet Knights A 1-7 3-5 3½-4½ 4-4 6-2 3 19½
10 Chessable White Rose 2 1½-6½ 2-6 3-5 ½-7½ 4-4 4½-3½ 3 15½
11 Celtic Tigers 1 2½-5½ ½-7½ ½-7½ 3½-4½ 2-6 4½-3½ 2 13½
12 Oxford 1 1½-6½ 1½-6½ 3-5 3½-4½ 3½-4½ 3½-4½ 0 16½

April 2024
04/144
Openings
for Amateurs By Pete Tamburro; ptamburro@aol.com
Attacking patterns out of your Openings (Part I)

I’ve often talked about the "ten-move rule," in because younger players seem to have no
where amateurs lose the thread of their idea who played before they were born!
opening somewhere between moves ten and
fifteen. However, once you get to the early Koltanowski - Defosse
middle game, do you know the attacking
patterns that emerge out of the opening you Belgium National Championship, 1937
pick? In browsing through my 1937 BCM
volume, I ran across this brilliancy prize 1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 e6 3.e3 d5 4.¥d3 c5 5.c3
game by George Koltanowski in the Belgian ¤c6 6.¤bd2 ¥e7 7.0–0 0–0 8.dxc5! Very
Championship. It’s a Colle System, which important! White wants to play e2–e4, but
Kolty made famous in his simul tours and a doesn’t want Black playing cxd4 when that
little booklet he used to sell. There’s a joke thrust happens, so white captures on c5.
among collectors that the rarest book in chess
is that Colle book that isn’t signed by him! 8...¥xc5 9.e4 £c7!
XIIIIIIIIY
The brilliancy calculation must have taken him
all of 30 seconds to figure out as there were 9r+l+-trk+0
two famous wins by Lasker and Tarrasch with 9zppwq-+pzpp0
the same two bishop sacrifice (also included 9-+n+psn-+0
in this article). His opponent apparently, and
innocently, wandered into it because he either 9+-vlp+-+-0
forgot or never played over those two games. In 9-+-+P+-+0
myriad conversations with GMs over the years,
I was always impressed by their ability to refer 9+-zPL+N+-0
to either certain games or positions going back 9PzP-sN-zPPzP0
many years. In Openings for Amateurs, I’ve 9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
always tried to bring some of these old classics
xiiiiiiiiy
April 2024
This is not easy to find, but it is easy 11.¦e1 ¤g4 "White wants to enforce
to understand. Black develops a piece e4–e5. Black wants to prevent it. It’s that
(notice how many times we say that?), simple."-Openings for Amateurs book.
prevents e4–e5, and even supports Black
doing his own thing by putting a piece or 12.h3 ¤ge5 "White chases the defender
a pawn on e5, or even f4. of the e5 square, but the defender becomes
the occupant--one way to prevent e4–e5!"
10.£e2 The Black queen move comes in – OFA.
handy after: 10.exd5 ¤xd5 11.¤e4 ¥e7
12.£e2 b6 13.c4 ¤f4 13.¤xe5 13.¥c2
10...¥d6 13...¤xe5 14.exd5 exd5!? Black should

XIIIIIIIIY always consider getting rid of that "Colle"
bishop. 14...¤xd3 15.£xd3 ¦d8 16.¤f3 h6
9r+l+-trk+0 17.¤d4 exd5 18.¤b5=.
9zppwq-+pzpp0
15.¤f3 ¤xf3+? Much better, as pointed
9-+nvlpsn-+0 out in OFA, is 15...¤xd3 16.£xd3 £c4
9+-+p+-+-0 17.£xc4 dxc4 .The flurry of exchanges
9-+-+P+-+0 is over. Where swapping queens didn’t
work before, it works now because
9+-zPL+N+-0 Black rid himself of his isolated d-pawn
9PzP-sNQzPPzP0 and created an equal balance of pawns
on both sides. Black also has the two
9tR-vL-+RmK-0 bishops. The position is equal. White
xiiiiiiiiy has a slightly freer position, an excellent
One move suggested in several sources outpost on d4 for his knight, and easy
and by Stockfish 16 is 10...h6; however, access to the open files for his rooks.
the "equal" should be "complicated!" Black has to bring his rooks and his
Just take one possibility that leads to king to the centre to encourage further
an exchange sacrifice idea that White exchanges. It can still get exciting:
should know: 11.e5 ¤g4 12.¤b3 ¥b6 18.¦e4 ¥e6 19.¤g5 ¥c5 20.¤xe6 fxe6
13.¤bd4 ¤cxe5 14.¤xe5 ¤xe5 15.¥f4 21.¥f4 ¦ad8 22.¦xc4 ¥xf2+ 23.¢xf2
f6 16.¦ae1 ¥d7 17.£h5 £c8 (17...¥c8 e5 24.¢e3 exf4+ 25.¦xf4 ¦xf4
18.¦xe5!! fxe5 19.¥xe5 £f7 20.¥g6 26.¢xf4 ¦d2 Black really has to be
£e7 21.¥c2 ¥c7 (21...£f7 22.£e2 on his toes in this line. This is a pretty
¥c7 23.¤f3 b6 24.£d3 g5 25.¥xc7 solid way to defend the Colle, although
£xc7 26.h4 gxh4 27.¤xh4 £g7 you can see how dangerous it can be.
28.f4±) ) 18.¦xe5!! fxe5 19.¥xe5 £e8 It’s good to know the ideas of both
20.£g4 £f7 21.f4²; In OFA, I looked sides. You can see that one little misstep
at 10...e5 11.exd5 ¤xd5 12.¥xh7+ and for White on move eight or Black on
was satisfied with the win of a pawn. move nine can make a difference in
Reconsidering it years later, it seems the game’s direction. Developing your
Black has play for the pawn: (12.¤e4 pieces is good. Developing them with
¥e7 13.¦e1 (13.¥c4 ¤b6 14.¥b3 ¥f5 an overall idea in mind is better. Now
15.¤g3) ) 12...¢xh7 13.£e4+ ¢g8 we come to the part where a mistake by
14.£xd5 ¥e7 That’s why it is always the defence in the early middle game
good, as I also wrote back then, to do sets up an opportunity for a decisive
your own homework and re-evaluate attack. Just as Black has to know what
positions and moves. not to do, White has to know what to do
when Black falters.

04/144
16.£xf3 ¥e6 17.¥e3 ¦ad8 18.¥c2 b5 note that Black really didn’t have a good
19.¥d4 ¥c5 20.¦ad1 b4 move. For example: 21...£b6 22.£g3 g6
XIIIIIIIIY 23.h4 bxc3 24.bxc3 ¦fe8 25.£f4 ¥d6
26.h5 ¥xe5 27.¦xe5 £c5 28.¥a4 £xc3
9-+-tr-trk+0 29.¥xe8 ¦xe8 30.h6 £a3 31.¦dxd5+–;
9zp-wq-+pzpp0 and 21...£d7 22.cxb4 ¥xb4 23.¥xg7
¢xg7 24.£d3 f5 25.£d4+ ¦f6
9-+-+l+-+0 26.£xb4.
9+-vlp+-+-0
9-zp-vL-+-+0 22.¥xh7+! When you consider that the
famous Lasker-Bauer game was played in
9+-zP-+Q+P0 1889 and Nimzovich-Tarrasch followed
9PzPL+-zPP+0 the theme in 1914, Kolty must have been
pleased to join the immortals. Defosse, on
9+-+RtR-mK-0 the other hand, had to resolve to study more
xiiiiiiiiy classic games.
P.S. Milner-Barry, in the 1937 BCM, wrote
"There does not seem to be much wrong 22...¢xh7 23.£h5+ ¢g8 24.¥xg7
with Black’s game apart from the minor ¢xg7 The double-bishop sacrifice could
inconvenience of the isolated Pawn. But, as be ignored by Black; however, the result
usual, the Colle variation is more dangerous would be the same. 24...f6 25.£h8+ ¢f7
than it looks." 26.¥xf8 ¥xf8 27.£h5+ ¢e7 28.£h7+
¢d6 29.¦xe6+ ¢xe6 30.£xc7+–.
Indeed. Too often all of us get a little lazy and
are seduced by the superficial harmlessness 25.£g5+ ¢h7 26.¦d4 Black could have
of a quiet-looking position. In this game, resigned after the rook lift.
¤xf3+ seemed to reduce the material on
the board, but after this, the very nature of 26...¥h2+ 27.¢h1 £f4 28.¦xf4
the game changed. Even after 20...¥xd4 ¥xf4 29.£xf4 ¦g8 30.¦e5 and Black
21.¦xd4 g6 22.¥b3 a5 23.a3 a4 24.¥xd5 achieves his goal of avoiding the
¥xd5 25.¦xd5±, White’s extra pawn is on miniature games books.
the queenside and his queen and rook are in
dominant positions. 1–0
21.¥e5 ¥d6?
XIIIIIIIIY That’s the first lesson. It’s important to
recognize positions that give you decisive
9-+-tr-trk+0 attacks. Now, if you do that, you’re
9zp-wq-+pzpp0 only halfway there. The second half is
recognising those patterns as they start
9-+-vll+-+0 to emerge. It’s one thing to have seen the
9+-+pvL-+-0 Lasker or Tarrasch games and another
9-zp-+-+-+0 to study how they emerged out of the
opening. That’s the flaw in many tactical
9+-zP-+Q+P0 study books today. They give you the
9PzPL+-zPP+0 position and essentially say, "OK, here’s
the mate. Find it!" Very few show you
9+-+RtR-mK-0 the whole game so you can see it form
xiiiiiiiiy as you approach it. For defenders, such
Again Milner-Barry: "Black is unaware as Defosse, they also have to be aware of
of the impending catastrophe." He did those emerging possibilities.

April 2024
Both these games are the double bishop

sacrifice, but both have more to it than Nimzovich - Tarrasch
Kolty’s quickie. Two good reasons to play St. Petersburg, 1914
over classic games.
XIIIIIIIIY
Lasker-Bauer 9-+-tr-trk+0
Amsterdam, 1889 9zp-+-wqp+p0
XIIIIIIIIY 9-+lvl-+p+0
9r+-+-trk+0 9+-zpp+-+-0
9+l+-vlpzpp0 9-+-+n+-+0
9pzpq+psn-+0 9+P+-zPN+-0
9+-zppvL-+-0 9PvLQsN-zPPzP0
9-+-+-zP-+0 9+-tR-+RmK-0
9+P+LzP-sN-0 xiiiiiiiiy
9P+PzPQ+PzP0 1...¤xd2! 2.¤xd2 Nimzo walks right into
it. A bit stiffer, but still losing, resistance
9tR-+-+RmK-0 was: 2.£xd2 d4 3.£e2 ¦fe8 4.¦fd1 ¥b7
xiiiiiiiiy 5.¦d2 ¥f4 6.¦e1 ¥c7 7.£d1 ¥xf3
1.¤h5! ¤xh5 2.¥xh7+ ¢xh7 3.£xh5+ 8.£xf3 ¥a5.
¢g8 4.¥xg7 ¢xg7 5.£g4+ ¢h7 6.¦f3
e5 7. ¦h3+ £h6 8.¦xh6+ ¢xh6 9.£d7 2...d4 3. exd4 3.¦fe1 ¦fe8.
¥f6 10.£xb7 ¢g7 11.¦f1 ¦ab8 12.£d7
¦fd8 13.£g4+ ¢f8 14.fxe5 ¥g7 15.e6 3...¥xh2+ 4.¢xh2 £h4+ 5.¢g1 ¥xg2
¦b7 16.£g6 f6 17.¦xf6+ ¥xf6 18.£xf6+ 6.f3 6.¢xg2 £g4+ 7.¢h1 ¦d5.
¢e8 19.£h8+ ¢e7 20.£g7+ ¢xe6
21.£xb7 6...¦fe8 7.¤e4 £h1+ 8.¢f2 ¥xf1 9.d5
f5 10.£c3 £g2+ 11.¢e3 ¦xe4+ 12.fxe4
1–0 f4+! 13.¢xf4 ¦f8+ 14.¢e5 £h2+ 15.¢e6
¦e8+ 16.¢d7 ¥b5#.

04/144
GRANDMASTERS’
MISEVALUATIONS
I was going over Nigel Short’s games

from his book “Winning”. I always liked
Nigel and rooted for him in the 1980s
and 1990s as he was the “best from the
West” and I was curious to see how far
he could go.
The games in the book are very

interesting and revealing. One aspect that
I found surprising was how sometimes
these great players could have bad days
and how easily they could be affected by
psychological factors. In the game Short-Timman from
Reykjavik 1987, Black obtained a
The following two games are good decent position in the French. However,
examples of both of these factors. instead of slower moves that improve

April 2024
In the game Polugaevsky-Short from

Photo David Llada
the same event, Short obtained a good

position from the obscure opening
1.¤f3 d6. It resembles a Sicilian,
where Black is very comfortable.
Instead of simple play 17…a6 and b5,
Short played 17…d5, which while not
bad (though he criticises this decision
in the book) shows a desire to force
matters. In fact, Short admits to being
rattled and feeling uncomfortable after
the loss in the previous round. After
18.e5 ¤e4 19.¥xe4 dxe4 20.¥e3 he
started to see ghosts and feared losing
his position (Short proposed …¢b8-a8) his e4-pawn.
he lashed out with 14…f5??, which only
gave him a hopeless position in exchange
for a couple of tempi spent to bring the
knight to e4, from where it was duly
chased away.
So, instead of calmly doubling on

the d-file, he lashed out with 20…f5?
21.exf6 ¥xf6 22.¥f2 and what he feared
he single-handedly made happen – he
lost the pawn on e4. He managed to draw
Here’s the position after seven moves, when the game, but it was not a good pair of
Black is positionally lost. I found it really decisions. In this case, the curious part
strange that a player of Timman’s strength, is his confession of playing under the
easily a top five player at the time, could influence of his previous game.
commit such a bad positional mistake.
This example shows that when GMs
demonstrate clear misevaluations or
play bad moves, there is always an
underlying reason for that. It’s just that
we rarely get to know it, a sin Timman’s
case, as honesty is rarely the best policy
in the world of elite sport – revealing
too much about oneself can easily help
the opposition.
Not everybody will be honest even after

their career ends, which makes these
glimpses even more valuable.

04/144
WHAT HINDSIGHT CAN GIVE US
THE STORIES OF SPIELMANN,

VERLINSKY AND RAUZER
A REVIEW OF:
“A CHESS BIOGRAPHY OF RUDOLF SPIELMANN: FROM VIENNA TO MUNICH TO

STOCKHOLM” BY GRIGORY BOGDANOVICH, ELK AND RUBY, 2023
“A CHESS BIOGRAPHY OF BORIS VERLINSKY: FIRST GRANDMASTER OF THE SOVIET

UNION” BY SERGEI TKACHENKO, ELK AND RUBY 2023
“OBSESSION: A CHESS BIOGRAPHY OF VSEVOLOD RAUZER”, BY ALEXANDER

KONSTANTINOPOLSKY, ELK AND RUBY 2023
By Peter O’Brien
In the last few years, the publishing
house Elk and Ruby has been providing
an invaluable service to English-
speaking chess players who do not
read Russian by producing splendid
translations of works about players
and events mostly involving the Soviet
Union. The three books reviewed here
reinforce this service, at the same
time as adding a volume (originally
in Russian) on one of the outstanding
players of the German-speaking realm,
Rudolf Spielmann. All of these books
are labelled “Chess Biographies”. What
this term means is that, while each work
gives us something about the life and
times of the player, their biographies
are traced through their chess-related
activities. The focus on the “chess Spielmann is the best known, and the
personality” of the player almost standard picture of him is that of a hugely
inevitably invites a reassessment of the gifted combinative master who could give
contribution made to the development as good as he took with the world’s best
of chess and to the circumstances in during his lifetime. Rauzer is recognizable
which the player made that contribution. to most through his contributions to chess
Seen from this perspective of hindsight, theory, especially in a couple of openings,
the three players in question offer an the Sicilian and the French. Verlinsky is
unusually rich array of insights. maybe less well-known outside Russia. It

April 2024
little income, he in fact devoted all of

his waking hours to the search for truth
within chess. His theoretical insights
therefore went far beyond the opening
theory ideas which have traditionally
been the source of his fame. He too died in
1942, in appalling circumstances during
the siege of Leningrad. As for Verlinsky,
let us listen to that wonderful player
and incomparable authority on chess
in the USSR, namely Yuri Averbakh.
He was a good friend of Verlinsky and
said: “Chess was everything for him,
and he brought the philosophy of this
wise game to everyone who was ready to
receive it” (cited on p.10 of Tkachenko’s
book). Verlinsky died in 1950, at the age
of 62, While this may appear seem like
Verlinsky is maybe less well-known longevity compared with Spielmann and
outside Russia. It may surprise many Rauzer, the first grandmaster of the USSR
to learn that he was, in fact, the first had in fact been virtually deaf since birth,
grandmaster of the Soviet Union survived several Jewish pogroms and
suffered other brutal difficulties. Hence
may surprise many to learn that he was, for all three adversity was a constant in
in fact, the first grandmaster of the Soviet their lives.
Union. How come more has not been heard
of such a player? The trio of volumes The core of Bogdanovich’s reassessment
here seek to adjust our ways of seeing of Spielmann is contained in five chapters,
these players, both through deepening occupying over 300 pages, of which one,
our understanding of what we think we roughly 100 pages in length, examines
already knew and throughopening our his legendary attacking skills, The next
horizons on many things of which we four, however, highlight successively
were most likely unaware. Spielmann’s art as a defender, his positional
mastery, the knowledge of opening theory,
Despite the differences in the contexts in and his prowess in the endgame. It is
which the three lived, they shared some after these very important chapters that
key characteristics. All were Jewish Bogdanovich takes us into a series of issues
and had to cope with the unprecedented which would be a real bonus to find in other
horrors of those times and places. For biographies of players and their games.
them, chess effectively represented
their lives. Spielmann stated that it The first of those issues is what the author
was his profession and that at a time labels “The Costs of Style”. A risk-taker
when very few would make the same
affirmation. Unfortunately, the epoch in Despite the differences in the contexts in
which he lived offered scarce prospects which the three lived, they shared some
for sustaining such a profession and he key characteristics. All were Jewish and
died in chronic poverty in 1942. Rauzer, had to cope with the unprecedented
as the title of Konstantinopolsky’s book
indicates, became literally obsessed with horrors of those times and places. For
the game. Though his friends eventually them, chess effectively represented
found him a plausible job providing their lives

04/144
condemns himself to occasions when the

endeavour backfires, and he loses. Some
of these defeats are at the hands of the
greats, such as Botvinnik, Schlechter and
Nimzowitsch. But some also happened
with somewhat less renowned, though
still superb, players. If you play with fire,
the chances of being burned are all too
real. Think of Real Madrid waiting for
added time to score the decisive goals, of
Djokovic risking innumerable tie-breaks,
or of Goggia, Schifrin and Brignone
banking everything on split seconds.
The spectators want nail-biting tension.
A second issue relates to what John
Nunn enunciated as the DAUT principle
(‘Don’t Analyse Unnecessary Tactics”).
Simply put, Nunn gives us the very
sound advice that, if we can reinforce “…There is every reason to place V
our position (especially an attacking one) Rauzer among the founders of the Soviet
through straightforward moves involving school, which defined the development
little risk, we should do so. Spielmann of chess thought for many years”
certainly did not always follow this.
Hence Bogdanovich gives examples while Botvinnik, in a vignette published
of the extent to which an ”anti-DAUT” in 1990, states categorically that “there
approach might not be so good. A third is every reason to place V Rauzer among
issue, once more revolving around the the founders of the Soviet school,
subject of risk assessment in chess, relates which defined the development of chess
to the cases where “pragmatism” prevails. thought for many years” (p.48). These
Bogdanovich, following well-known assessments are followed by a large
remarks of Tartakower, calls this cynicism selection of games showing the depth of
and asks whether Spielmann could also Rauzer’s work. He was unquestionably
be labelled a chess cynic. The answer driven by the idea that the game
is that there are many instances where contained absolute truth and this should
the great Viennese master calculated his be sought whatever the circumstances.
options very well. His style may have had That notion was bad both for practical
its costs, but they were mostly kept well results and Rauzer’s mental and physical
under control. health. It also led to huge generalisations,
in particular his total conversion, from
The Rauzer book has the valuable feature the early 1930s onwards, to playing
of bringing together older contributions by only 1.e4. This was in direct contrast
Soviet players who knew the man and his to Breyer’s earlier statement that, after
work very well. Thus a Konstantinopolsky this opening move, White’s game was
article of 1989 describes Rauzer as its author in its last death throes. Breyer was in
knew him; Yudovich and Fogelevich, in a the hypermodern vein, while Rauzer’s
short piece probably written in the mid- enormous theoretical efforts were in
1930s, provide an early look at Rauzer’s defence of classicism in the game.
theoretical contributions: Lazarev, writing
in 1975, underlines how Rauzer went I am not sure I can do full justice to
about his theoretical work and highlights Tkachenko’s magnificent book on
also the contributions to endgame theory; Verlinsky in a short review. Partly this

The British
is because his life as a Ukrainian Jewish Chess Solving
person living in a terrible era is a
theme which is of personal interest to Championships
me, while here I must sell Tkachenko’s
detailed observations short. It is also
partly because we are talking about
a brilliant player who could beat the DAVID'S DOUBLE
world’s very best and did indeed win
the 1929 Soviet championship. That Two British Chess Solving Championships on
this master of the attack is nowhere the trot for David Hodge. He was the winner
near the first name that comes to mind last year, and he retained his title this year
when discussing “the Soviet school”
is most likely due to a mix of the way David only won narrowly, both times, because
the USSR itself officially presented the evergreen Professor Jonathan Mestel came
its players and to gaps in our research. very close to overtaking him. Mestel has
Tkachenko has gone a very long way himself won the title many times and is also a
towards correcting things. There are former World Chess Solving Champion.
130 games and game fragments where
the opponents represent more or less Third place - one of the regulars? No, a
the “Who’s Who” of Soviet chess till newcomer. Audrey Kueh, with no previous
the end of the 1940s. The material experience at solving championships,
leaves us in no doubt that Verlinsky although a strong over-the-board player,
was a superb competitor, fighting achieved a superb score. Audrey narrowly
lifelong battle against severe obstacles, edged ahead of Kamila Hryshchenko for
somehow surviving through most of the bronze medal position. Kamila did get
the Stalinist times, and never failing a major prize, however - that for the best
to produce works of art. Indeed, the solving performance over the last 12 months.
author’s opening lines are “dedicated to During 2023/24, she won multiple prizes,
Chess Heroes who produce works of art had a massive increase in solving Elo rating,
against the Odds!” The book contains a and became a regular member of the British
large selection of photos which portray solving team at international competitions.
many of Verlinsky’s chess opponents,
but also splendid historical pictures of In parallel with the British Championship
places significant in Ukrainian history. there is an Open held, at the same time and
Thus, somewhat in contrast to the with the same problems to solve. This was
books on Spielmann and Rauzer, this won by one of the world’s best solvers, Eddy
work is devoted both to the man and van Beers from Belgium, with Vidmantas
his circumstances. Satkus of Lithuania and Abdelaziz Onkoud
of France in silver and bronze positions.
In earlier BCM articles, I have argued
that excellent volumes on outstanding The competitions were held at the splendid
players of the past not only tell us much site of Harrow School, on February 17th.
about the real history of the game, but They were sponsored by Winton, the
are also major insights into historical quantitative investment management firm
periods and their consequences. With (winton.com).
this fine set of books, Elk and Ruby has
once more reiterated the message. In chess solving events, competitors try to
solve chess problems, such as White to play
and force mate in three moves, against the
clock. Points are awarded for how much of
the solution the solver finds.
See the next page |

»
04/144
Endgame Studies
by Ian Watson
ian@irwatson.uk
M. Travasoni Y. Afek
L’Italia Scacchistica 1979 EBUR 2002 (version)
win draw
S. Abramenko G. Zachodjakin
Tsjernobyl Ty 1990 Shakhmaty v SSSR 1951
win draw

April 2024
BEAT THE BEST SOLVERS
Your challenge this month is to solve the studies used in the Winton British Chess Solving
Championship. If you can, you will have beaten every competitor. No-one got a perfect
score in the study-solving round.
At this year’s finals, some of the world’s top solvers came to Britain to compete against
the British solvers. Even the overall winner, Eddy van Beers from Belgium, did not fully
solve either of the two studies in the Open event. Five competitors did succeed with the
first of those two studies, but no-one fully solved the second one. David Hodge, who won
the British Champion title, got five out of five for the first, but only one out of five for
the second.
There is also another event (the Minor) that takes place simultaneously with the main
event, but with somewhat easier problems to solve. In this event there are also two studies;
only the winner, Gautam Jain, fully solved both of them.
The first two studies, composed by Travasoni and Afek, are the ones from the Minor. The
Abramenko and Zachodjakin are the ones from the Open event. I have put the four studies
in ascending order of difficulty so that you can build up to the toughest.
The usual solving procedures apply: You’ll need to set up these positions on a board. In
solving events, you can use a chess set and you can move the pieces to try and help you
solve. You solve against the clock; for these four studies give yourself an average of 30
minutes for each one, so 120 minutes in total. Points are awarded according to how much
of the composer’s solution you find, with five points available for each study if you find
it all. In the answers, I’ll show you where the points were awarded. You need to find the
composer’s main line; you can also write down sidelines if you’re not sure what the main
line is, but only the main line moves earn points. So, look for the most artistic, elegant line.
All the problems used in the events are on the British Chess Problem Society website;
visit www.theproblemist.org and click on WBCSC. There you can also access the 2023-
24 Postal Round problems; the British Championship is an annual event with qualifying
stages, including a stage in which a set of problems are sent out by e-mail/post. So, you
can practice your solving using the 2023-24 problems to get yourself ’match-fit’ for the
2024-25 qualifying stages!
The solutions are on page 253.

04/144
QUOTES AND QUERIES

THE CENTURY-OLD MASTERY OF
CARLOS TORRE By Alan Smith
6253 The breakthrough player of 1924 was Torre moved swiftly on and just a couple
that of Carlos Torre Repetto. He won the of days later he was competing at Detroit
Louisiana championship in 1923, scoring in an eighteen-player all play all. This
+12 =2, then moved to New York and was was a much tougher event, where his
not overawed by the challenge. opponents included the previous year’s
winners Norman Whitaker and Stasch
Torre entered for the championship of the Mlotkowski, draughts champion Newell
New York State Chess Association, to be held Banks plus two players of Polish origin
at Rochester. There were nine entrants, Torre who would go on to represent the USA
scored +6=2 and tied for first place with in olympiads, Sam Factor and young
1915 champion Harold Jennings. Roy Black Sammy Reshevsky.
was third a point behind. Here is Torre’s game
against the player placed fourth. A couple of early withdrawals clouded
the picture for a while. Torre had +8=1
Carlos Torre - Edward Bradford Adams at the end of round ten, a win by default
followed and +3=3 thereafter. He won
Rochester 1924 the event by a two-and-a-half-point
margin. The next game was played in the
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 g6 Steinitz and opening round.
Pillsbury both played this with success.
Carlos Torre - Bertram Jenkines
4.d4 exd4 5.¤xd4 ¥g7 6.¥e3 £e7 A
novelty which appeared a few times later. Detroit 1924
7.¤c3 ¤f6 8.0-0 ¤xd4 8...¤xe4 9.¤xe4 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 a6 4.¥xc6
£xe4 does not work 10.¥xc6 dxc6 11.¦e1 ¥g4 bxc6 This is one way to avoid the
12.¥c5! ¥xd1 13.¦xe4+ ¢d7 14.¦xd1+. stodgier positions in the Exchange
variation, 4...dxc6 5.¤c3 f6 6.d4 exd4
9.¥xd4 c6 10.e5! ¤h5 10...cxb5?? 11.exf6 7.£xd4 £xd4 8.¤xd4 was Torre -
is a disaster. Whitaker five rounds later.
11.¥c4 0-0 12.¦e1 b5 13.¥e2 ¤f4 5.d4 exd4 6.¤xd4 6.£xd4 £f6 7.0-0
14.¥f3 ¥a6 15.a4 b4 16.¤e4 ¥xe5 £xd4 8.¤xd4 ¦b8 worked well for black
17.¤c5! ¤e2+ 18.¥xe2 ¥xd4 19.£xd4 in Duras - Alekhine Mannheim 1914
¥xe2 20.¦ad1 ¦fe8 21.¦d2 £g5 22.f4
£f5 Black could have called it a day here. 6...¥c5 7.0-0 ¤e7 8.¤c3 0-0 9.¥e3
Threatening 10.¤xc6 9...¥xd4 9...¥b6
23.¦dxe2 ¦xe2 24.¦xe2 d6 25.¤e4 ¦e8?? seems more sensible.
26.¤f6+ £xf6 27.¦xe8+ ¢g7 28.¦g8+
10.£xd4 d5 11.¦ad1 f5 Trying to force
1-0 white’s hand in the centre.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 28th August 1924 12.¥g5! fxe4 13.£c5 ¦f7 13...¦fe8.

April 2024
14.¤xe4 ¥f5 15.¤g3 ¥e6 16.¦fe1 £d7 11.¤g5 f5 12.¤e6 £d7 13.¤xg7 ¢xg7
17.¥xe7 ¦xe7 18.¦e2 ¦ae8 19.¦de1 14.¥h6+ ¢g8 15.h4.
£d6 20.£xd6 cxd6 21.¤f5 A simple
tactic carries the day. 10.¥h6 ¥h8 11.h4 c5 12.¤e5 ¦f8
13.¥xf8 £xf8 14.¥xf8 £xf8 15.exf7+
21...¥xf5 21...¦f7 is refuted by 22.¤xd6. ¢g7 16.h5! 1-0 16...h6 17.hxg6 h5 is met
by 18.¦xh5! ¤xh5 19.¦h1 cxd4 20.¦xh5
22.¦xe7 ¦xe7 23.¦xe7 ¥xc2 24.¦d7 dxc3 21.£h6+.
d4 25.¦xd6 d3 26.¢f1 ¥b1 28.¦xc6
¥xa2 29.¦xa6 ¥b1 30.¢d2 ¢e7 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 25th September 1924
31.b4 ¢d7 32.¦a7+ ¢c6 33.¦xg7 ¢b5
34.¦xh7
All four match games were published in the
1-0 same column.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 28th August 1924 Torre finished in second place in a thematic
opening event at the Marshall CC. Frank
Marshall was first, but Torre was the only
When he returned to New York Torre player to defeat him.
contested a four-game tie match with
Jennings. Torre lost game one, but equalised Finally, in December, he played two
at once, demonstrating exemplary skill with exhibition games defeating Morris Schapiro
the two bishops in the endgame. and Janowski.
Game three was a French Defence where Carlos Torre - Morris Schapiro
the players castled on opposite wings.
Torre’s attack was the swifter, which Manhattan CC 1924
left Jennings having to win with black in
game four. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¥g5 h6
5.¥xf6 £xf6 6.¤c3 c6 7.e3 ¤d7 Play has
Carlos Torre - Harold Jennings transposed into a variation of the Queen’s
Gambit Slav.
Match game 4 New York 1924
8.¥d3 £d8 9.0-0 ¥e7 10.e4 dxc4
1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 g6 3.¤c3 Introduced in 11.¥xc4 0-0 12.£e2 b5 13.¥d3 £b6?
the game Tartakower - Wahltuch London 13...b4 was a subsequent improvement,
1922. 14.¤a4 £a5 15.b3 ¥b7 16.¦ac1 ¦fd8
¦ee - Sveshnikov Wijk aan Zee 1981.
3...¥g7 3...d5 4.¥f4 c6 5.e3 ¥g7 6.¥d3
0-0 7.0-0 ¤bd7 8.¦e1 c5 9.£d2 a6 10.¤e5 14.e5 ¦d8 15.£e4 ¤f8 16.¦fd1 ¥b7
Torre - Yates Baden Baden 1925. 17.£g4 c5 18.¤e4 c4 19.¤f6+! ¥xf6
20.exf6 g6 21.£h4 e5 22.dxe5 ¥xf3
4.e4 b6 4...d6 transposes into what we now 23.£h6 ¤e6 24.¥xg6 fxg6 25.£xg6+
call the Pirc Defence. ¢f8 26.gxf3 £b7 27.f4 ¤d4 28.¦xd4!
¦xd4 29.e6 ¦d7 30.¦e1 ¦e8 31.£xe8+!
5.¥d3 ¥b7 6.¥f4 0-0 Black should stake 1-0 31...¢xe8 32.exd7+ ¢d8 33.¦e8+
a claim to the centre with 6...c5 before he ¢xd7 34.¦e7+.
commits his king.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 31st December 1924
7.£d2 ¦e8?! 8.0-0-0 d5 9.e5 ¤fd7
9...¤e4 runs into trouble 10.¥xe4 dxe4

Problem
World
by Christopher Jones
cjajones1@yahoo.co.uk
Grandmaster of Chess Composition
Solutions are given on page 254
Leonid Lyubashevsky and Paul Michelet and Steven Dowd
Leonid Makaronez (Israel) (London/USA)
Mate in 3 Mate in 7
Original Original
Stanislav Hudak (Slovakia) Ljubomir Ugren (Slovenia)
Helpmate in 3 – 2 solutions Helpmate in 3 – 2 solutions
Original Original
April 2024
Solutions to Endgames (See page 248)
Travasoni
1.¥h3+ (1 point) ¦g2 2.¤g4 (+1 point =2) ¥h5 3.¤f5 (+1 = 3) ¥xg4+ 4.¥xg4 ¦g3
5.¤xg3+ (+1 = 4) ¢g2 6.¤f1 ¢xf1 7.¥h3 (+1 = 5) mate.
This was the easiest because White has to keep Black bottled-up and so has very little
choice at each move.
Afek
1.¤a4 (1 point) ¦b2 2.¤xb2 d1£ 3.¤xd1 (+1 point = 2) h2 4.¤b2 h1£ 5.¤a4 (+1
= 3) £b1 6.¤b6+ £xb6+ 7.¢xb6 a4 8.¢a7 (+1 = 4) a3 9.¢a8 a2 10.¥a7 (+1 = 5)
a1£ stalemate.
It’s obvious that White must keep threatening mate, but unless you envisage the eventual
stalemate you won’t know why the knight has to go to a4 and not take on c4.
Abramenko
1.¦c1 (1 point) ¦g1 2.¦c7+ (+1 point = 2) ¢e6 3.¤c5+ ¢f5 4.¦f7+ (+1 = 3) ¢g4
5.¤d3 (+1 = 4) f1£ 6.¤e5+ ¢h3 7.¦h7+ ¢g2 8.¦h2 (+1 = 5) mate.
Quite a lot of options in this one, as you would expect in a competition for the best solvers.
Still, 1.¦c1 followed by 2.¦c7+ seemed to me to the most plausible. What I didn’t find
was the manoeuvre 5.¤d3 and 6.¤e5+ which is only plausible if it occurs to you that you
might be able to mate the Black king on the right-hand edge of the board.
Zachodjakin
1.¦h7+ (1 point) ¢e6 2.¦h1 ¤c3+ 3.¢a6 (+1 point = 2) ¤b1 4.¦e1+ (+1 = 3)
¢f7 5.¥d6 (+1 = 4) a1£ 6.¦e7+ ¢g6 7.¦e6+ ¢f5 8.¦e5+ ¢f6 9.¦xa5 (+1 = 5)
drawing because the queen will be exchanged - the White bishop will finally get to the
long diagonal. Black’s choices of king moves were to prevent the bishop getting to the
long diagonal. The White king needs to have gone to a6 to avoid there being any Black
queen checks in the final position.
Once you notice that Black will play ...¤c3+ and ¤b1 when you play ¦h1, the rook
check on h7 feels like a good idea as it gives you the option of a check from e1 which
will protect the bishop. I got that far but didn’t know where to place the White king after
...¤c3+. I even had the idea that the solution would finish with the rook delivering a
perpetual check, but I couldn’t find the only correct way to achieve that. So, only 1 out of
5. Oh, well, I was in strong company.

04/144
Solutions to Problems
This month’s problems
As usual, we start with the shortest direct mate problem, but this time the three-
mover, typically for its composers, requires you to find a neat key move, against
which there are a number of defences, each refuted by a specific white second move,
and so may well not be the easiest to solve (you may prefer just to enjoy reading
through the solution); while our second problem, a first collaboration by another
two of our valued regular contributors, may be more tractable, especially if you
remember another recent offering by Paul Michelet in this column. Finally we have
two helpmates – in each we are looking for two collaborative bwbwbw sequences of
moves ending in Black being mated.
A neatly keyed three-mover Déjà vu?
One expects that in a good three-mover Regular readers may recognize that
the key move will not be too obviously our second problem bears a similarity
strong, but it is especially commendable to a five-mover by Paul Michelet that
when the second move that the key appeared in the January Problem World.
move threatens is itself also a quiet Steven Dowd, who had also contributed
move. Thus in our first problem 1.¥d2! an original problem to that issue, upon
threatens 2.£g5, after which Black seeing the five-mover saw a way to
would be unable to defend against the add a couple of introductory moves
impending 3.£e3#. So Black must that would (he felt, I’d feel, and, much
use his first move to prepare a second- more to the point, Paul felt) enhance the
move defence. Such a defence would problem. Now it is the case that mating
be 2…¥xd3, preparing a defence by Black does still rely upon advancing the
3…¢xc4. Black cannot prepare this white pawn, but trying to do so straight
by 1…¥c2 (2.Sxf3#), but why not away is unsuccessful. Instead White
1…¥e2? The answer is the continuation prepares the way by playing 1.¤g5!
2.¤e4!, threatening 3.£c3#. On move ¢g7 2.¤hf7!, and now after 2…¢f6 or
one this move, intercepting the h7-d3 2…¢f8 we get the previously seen and
line, would fail against 1…¢xd3, and if very appealing sequence 3.e4 ¢g7 4.e5
2.£c3+ then 2…¢e2. But after 1.¥d2 ¢f8 5.e6 ¢g7 6.e7 ¢f6 7.e8=¤#.
¥e2 the defence 2…¢e2 is impossible. Some people may deprecate such two-
In problem parlance, it turns out that move intros that serve only to set up
1…¥e2 is a remote self-block – always the main play – others (including me)
testing for a solver to visualize, and find that this sort of intro not only adds
adding to the aesthetic charm of the to solving difficulty but, by hiding the
problem. A similar requirement for beautiful idea more deeply, adds also
foresight is required in the line 1… to aesthetic appeal. (This can also be
f2 (threatening to guard e3 by means an issue when evaluating endgame
of 2…f1=¤) 2.¥c3+ and now after studies.) What do you think – which
2…¢e3 3.£e5 is mate because Black camp are you in?
has obligingly blocked f2. The other
lines are 1…e5 2.¥e4 when 3.¤f5# is Two three-move helpmates
unavoidable and 1…¥xf6 2.¢xf6 and
when Black prevents 3.£e5 by playing In Stanislav’s helpmate, the white
2…c5 there is 3.£c3#. knight is well placed to deliver mate,

April 2024
(See page 252)
but we must somehow deal with the In Ljubomir’s helpmate, we find that
black king’s potential flight squares. pawn promotion (a feature, one way or
A pleasing element of contrast is seen another, in all our problems this month)
in that although in one solution we comes centre stage in two well matched
activate the white rook to guard flight solutions – 1.¦e7+ fxe7 2.¥d8 exd8=¥
squares – 1.a4 (remember that, as per 3.c4 ¥b6# and 1.£g7 fxg7 2.¦h8+
helpmate convention, this is in fact gxh8=¦ 3.e3 ¦h4#. When I say that
Black‘s first move) ¢e2 2.¢a5 ¦b1 promotions are a feature I could be more
3.¦a6 ¤b7# - in the other solution specific and say under-promotions - in
the white rook must be sacrificed so contrast to games of chess this is the norm
that Black can block a flight square in chess composition. Note too that in
– 1.e2 ¦f1 2.exf1=¥ ¤b7 3.¥b5 this problem White promotes to the same
¤c5#. A nice blend of similarities and type of piece that Black sacrifices on
dissimilarities, albeit in a perfect world move two (Phoenix theme). And in both
one might perhaps want not to have to Stanislav’s and Ljubomir’s problems we
play …¤b7 in both solutions. have two nice model mates.
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Volume 144

Chairman Shaun Taulbut

Company Limited by Shares 238 Openings for Amateurs

194 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

Chess as an antidote to distraction

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 195

THE RETURN OF LEVON ARONIAN

196 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 197

198 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 199

200 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

AFTER DROPPING OUT OF THE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 201

26...£d6 27.¦xd5 £xd5 28.¤d2 Ideally,

202 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 203

A comet in the chess world

204 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

In the history of the 64-squared game, there have been several

The unseen heroes of chess

Unconventional style, iconic work

From a small place to the world stage

206 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 207

From breakdancing to MMA and Formula One

208 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

All of these opportunities came just by word of mouth and friendships!

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 209

Photographing the champions

210 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 211

212 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

"Capture" - a new perspective on chess

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 213

TOURNAMENT REPORT: PRAGUE MASTERS

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE NEW GENERATION!

214 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

28...¦xf7?? Oftentimes it is a single move Mateusz Bartel -

29...¦c8 29...¦ff8 30.¦xd8 ¦xd8 31.£e8+ 9...¥d7 Abdusattorov will employ

1–0 10.0–0 ¤a5 11.£d3 a6 12.¦fe1 ¦c8

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 215

216 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

23.¤c6 ¥xc6 24.dxc6 ¦xc6 25.¥xd6 Nodirbek Abdusattorov -

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 217

46...a3! was very strong again. After 47.¢a2

218 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

The future of chess

61.¢c3! threatening ¥d7. 61...£c8 1–0

BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE | 219

Truly an appropriate game to wrap up a

Even though he didn’t qualify for the Candidates

220 | BRITISH CHESS MAGAZINE

The game had ups and downs and the

36.¦e2?? White defends the pawn on b2,

36.¥e2! with the idea of ¥c4 was very

36.¥h5 would have repeated the position

Nodirbek Abdusattorov - 37.¦e8+ Perhaps White was hoping

42.£e3 ¥e6 43.¦e2 ¤e7 44.£e5 £b6+