Dennis
Monokroussos writes:
Isaac Boleslavsky (1919-1977) was a Ukrainian grandmaster
long on talent but short on ambition. His career-defining moment came in the
Candidates tournament in 1950, when he led by a game with just two rounds to
go (that shows the talent); unfortunately, a pair of quick draws allowed his
friend (and later son-in-law!) David Bronstein to catch him for first (that
illustrates the lack of ambition). The subsequent playoff match was tied after
the allotted 12 games, and only after two more games did Bronstein succeed
in gaining the right to play world champion Mikhail Botvinnik – who,
ironically, kept his title by drawing the match with Bronstein.
Boleslavsky’s appearance in the 1953 Candidates was in a way similar,
as he would outplay his opponents on a regular basis, but slip up time after
time. He could easily have contended for first; instead, he finished at –1,
and never again made it even to the Interzonal stage of the world championship
cycle. Nevertheless, despite his lack of ambition, he maintained his great
strength for years. In a 1966 training tournament in the USSR, for instance,
he exchanged a pair of wins with the world champion, Tigran Petrosian, while
defeating Viktor Korchnoi 2-0 in their games!
In addition to his achievements as a player, he was a fine analyst (Bobby
Fischer praised his book of best games for its quality and objectivity), theoretician
(his contributions to the King’s Indian and especially the Sicilian Defense
was of great significance), and he proved very helpful as a second during Petrosian’s
matches for the world title.
Enough background; on to the game for the show. We'll take a look at his first
game with Alexander Kotov from the 1953 Zurich Candidates tournament. Boleslavsky
achieves an advantageous isolated queen pawn position on the White side of
a Queen's Gambit Accepted, and the way he makes use of this advantage with
a well-timed d4-d5 break is instructive to anyone who plays either side of
a typical isolani position. Kotov labors his way to a pawn-down ending, but
Boleslavsky's accurate and instructive technique left his opponent without
a chance.
It's an excellent game, and we may even have some bonus coverage. Either way,
it's worth tuning in, and I hope to see you this Monday night at 9 p.m. ET!
Dennis Monokroussos'
Radio ChessBase
lectures begin on Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 02:00h GMT,
03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Tuesday). Other time zones can
be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible
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Dennis
Monokroussos is 38, lives in South Bend, IN, and is an adjunct professor
of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame.
He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his non-philosophy
time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time he was one of the strongest
juniors in the U.S., but quit for about eight years starting in his early 20s.
His highest rating was 2434 USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s
– "too much blitz, too little tournament chess", he says.
Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven years now, giving lessons
to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number
of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was
one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and
was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.
When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas
of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame
(or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present
some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database),
which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his
chess software.
Here are the exact times for different locations in the world