The Man With Too Much Chess Talent
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
Dragoljub Velimirovic loved to create confusion on the chessboard, always believing
he could find a beautiful escape from a bad situation. He had enough talent
to pull it off, perhaps "too much talent " as Bobby Fischer once put
it when we discussed the play of the Serbian grandmaster and champion.
At 68, Velimirovic doesn't seem to slow down. Still teasing and provoking,
he took part in the Czech Coal Match in the spa resort of Marianske Lazne last
month and was awarded a magnificent glass trophy for his entertaining play.
He was a member of the veteran team that lost to the young ladies, the "Snowdrops,"
14 to 18.
Velimirovic, who had opening lines named after him, always thrived on sharp
play. For almost four decades, the Serbian grandmaster countered the Alekhine
defense by charging his pawns forward as far and as quickly as they could go.
They were like soldiers coming from the trenches in a big wave, huffing and
puffing and dying one after another. He played the same way against the Lithuanian
grandmaster Viktorija Cmilyte (pictured above), one of the world's top women
players. When three from the Four Pawn Attack disappeared, Velimirovic used
the last one to entomb the black king. Cmilyte refuted his reckless play with
marvelous counterpunches and was expected to win. But in situations like that
Velimirovic is always dangerous. Here is the dramatic game:
Note that in the replay windows below you can click on the notation to
follow the game.
A Napoleon Forgery
The fighting defense 1.e4 Nf6 was named after the world champion Alexander
Alekhine in the 1920s, although it appeared in the chess literature already
at the beginning of the 19th century. Two recent books cover the opening well.
In Play the Alekhine, Valentin Bogdanov uses his experience spanning
more than three decades and concentrates on the main lines.
Tim Taylor's Alekhine alert offers a complete repertoire against 1.e4.
Although he mentions the popular trends, his recommendations include mostly
exciting offbeat lines. It is clear that he loved writing the book and could
not resist including a story about a game that was allegedly played in Paris
in 1802.
Had Taylor done his database research well, he could have found the same game with the same mate, but with reversed colors. I have added a few notes.
This time Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly played the game in 1804 at Malmaison Chateau,
where he resided with his wife Josephine. Napoleon's opponent, Madame de Remusat,
was Josephine's "dame du palais" or lady-in-waiting. There is no doubt
that the two played chess against each other. "He did not play well, and
never would observe the correct moves," de Remusat disclosed in her Memoirs.
Both games were later revealed to be the creation of a clever hoaxer who has
been fooling the chess world for some time.
Original
column here – Copyright
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