Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: A Tribute to Lubomir Kavalek (1943-2021)

by Robert Ris
1/21/2021 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris pays tribute to the legendary Grandmaster and writer Lubomir Kavalek, who passed away January 18, 2021, at the age of 77. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
Pattern recognition is an important tool in modern chess, as it helps you to understand better the characteristics of a position. Particularly when you have been confronted with a surprise opening system played by your opponent, it helps when you can just

Lubomir Kavalek and the Cordel Gambit

This week I pay tribute to the passing of legendary GM Lubosh Kavalek. Whenever I think of his name, his famous masterpiece against Eduard Gufeld in 1962 springs to mind, in which a massive pawn avalanche fully justified a double rook sacrifice.

In that game Kavalek employed the Cordel Gambit (Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Bc5 4.c3 f5!?) which I have played numerous times myself. Hence, we will have a closer look at that game and the current stand of this variation.

But first a warm-up: In the position below, White has just played 7.d5. Would you just retreat the knight to e7 or is there a more energetic continuation?

 
E. Gufeld - L. Kavalek, Marianske Lazne 1962
Position after 7.d5

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Solution of the exercise

 
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7...e3 8.Ne4 Qh4 9.Qf3 Nf6 10.Nxf6+ gxf6 11.dxc6 exf2+ 12.Kd1 dxc6 13.Be2 Be6 14.Qh5+ Qxh5 15.Bxh5+ Ke7 16.b3 Bd5 17.Ba3+ Ke6 18.Bg4+ f5 19.Bh3 Rhg8 20.Nd2 Bxg2 21.Bxg2 Rxg2 22.Rf1 Rd8 23.Ke2 Rxd2+ 24.Kxd2 e4 25.Bf8 f4 26.b4 Rg5 27.Bc5 Rxc5 28.bxc5 Bxc5 29.Rab1 f3 30.Rb4 Kf5 31.Rd4 Bxd4 32.cxd4 Kf4 33.Rxf2 e3+ 34.Ke1 exf2+ 35.Kxf2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gufeld,E-Kavalek,L-0–11962C64WchT Students 09th final A7.2

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Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.

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