What grandmasters fear most – in simuls (2)

What grandmasters fear most – in simuls (2)

By WIM Alexey Root

When he was a high school senior with a US rating of 1870, and the reigning New Hampshire chess champion, Keith Hayward was one of 44 simul opponents for GM Lubomir Kavalek. This simul was in 1975, just one year after Kavalek was ranked tenth in the world. Recall from part one that grandmaster Keith Arkell mentioned that gambits and “any kind of sacrifice for initiative” can be difficult to play against in simuls. Then play through Kavalek-Hayward, which was a Latvian Gambit opening followed by sacrifices by Black for initiative.

The caption in the local 1975 newspaper reads: "Keith Hayward (left foreground) considers the options during a recent exhibition against International Grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek (right). Hayward was the only person at the match to defeat the grandmaster."

GM Kavalek provided some details: "I think I played in Boston before the NH simul. It was a hectic time in 1975. January Wijk, February Dutch simul tour, March-April US tour (first half by car, later flying), Bobby losing title, two books in the pipeline had to be finished, US championship, IBM, Teaside. The times were different in the 1970s, no Internet, no limiting the number and strength of opponents in simuls. You played simply everybody who showed up. There were not many opportunities to play grandmasters in those days, especially in mid-America. It was not unusual to have 80 opponents, including local masters. I tried to make it as entertaining as possible, sometimes going overboard. It is nice that some people preserve these simul games and articles."

Hayward fondly recalls his simul results: the win against Kavalek, a 1990 draw against grandmaster Edmar Mednis, a 1986 win against grandmaster Simen Agdestein, and a 1973 loss to IM Norman Weinstein. Hayward reports that his simul strategy is “to play my hardest, my normal stuff. I make no adjustments.” Hayward is a chess book author and maintains a web site of his old analysis.

FM William Schill, Director of Chess Curriculum at the Seattle Chess School, was a last-minute addition to a simul given by World Champion Magnus Carlsen in May of 2014. Schill messaged, “The organizers did slip me in on Magnus, but then I did not know I was playing until five minutes before hand. The other nine players were students. The students soon lost their games and it was just me and Magnus.” In part one, Grandmaster Julio Sadorra said that not knowing the strength of your opponents can be challenging. Consider the surprise Carlsen had during this simul game, as he was expecting to face only non-rated students rather than an FM.

William Schill, who held Magnus Carlsen to a draw. Bill is a FIDE Master, a national master, two-times WA State Chess Champion and 2016 Pacific Coast Open Champion. He is also a husband and father of two. Bill has been teaching chess for over 15 years. [Photo: Washington Chess Federation]

One-on-one game and analysis time with Magnus made a positive impression on Schill, who wrote:“It was just Magnus and I for at least twenty minutes. And what a nice guy! After the game he says to me 'Oh my! I thought I was going to lose for sure!' and he suggested an exchange sac which I had seen but scared off from."

WIM Alexey Wilhelmina Root (née Rudolph), is a chess player, teacher, and writer, who was the 1989 U.S. Women's Chess Champion. She holds the title of Woman International Master, and received a Ph.D. degree from UCLA. Root is Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas and has written many books on the relationship between chess and education. [Wiki]