12/20/2020 – “I couldn’t easily decide on what to do for the last column of this very difficult year and eventually fell back on some cheerful ultra-violence”, writes Jon Speelman. Our star columnist analyses the two most famous games by Rashid Nezhmetdinov and presents a couple of studies by French composer Henri Rinck. | Speelman’s photo: David Llada
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Nezhmetdinov and Rinck
[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]
I couldn’t easily decide on what to do for the last column of this very difficult year and eventually fell back on some cheerful ultra-violence. It’s the sort of chess which is wonderful to watch from a distance and would be delightful to dish out but deeply unpleasant to be on the end of. And who better to follow than the wonderful Rashid Nezhmetdinov with his two most famous games?
I’ve recently played through a few studies by Henri Rinck[pictured] and have added these as well. The first I took longer to solve than I should, and indeed a very strong student I was working with beat me to the punch. The second was sufficiently “study-like” that I saw the key move pretty quickly (without really bothering to check the side variations).
The next column will be on January 3rd 2021, and I thought that we might look back at some of the best games and/or game extracts from 2020 which I’ll give my take on. Perhaps readers would like to suggest what they’d like to see in the comments section, or you can email me directly at jonathan@jspeelman.co.uk.
A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everybody. Let’s hope that 2021 is less dire than 2020.
Rashid Nezhmetdinov’s masterpieces
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1.d4
For some reason, when I lifted this from Megabase, there were a couple of
rather general annotatons in French together with a reasonable quantitity of
variations. I've rewritten the general stuff myself, and added a few lines too.
Nf62.c4d63.Nc3e54.e44.Nf3is more common. Black can trye45.Ng5butBf56.g4Bxg47.Bg2is a bit better for White. I played this once
as Black against Kasparov and it went a lot better than most of my games
against him.Be78.Ngxe4Nxe49.Bxe4c610.Qd3Bh511.Qh3Bg612.Bxg6fxg613.Bf40-014.e3Na615.0-0-0Nc716.Kb1a617.Ne4g518.Bg3Qe819.Ka1Qg620.Qg2Ne821.Rdg1b522.c5dxc523.Nxc5Bxc524.dxc5Rd825.h4gxh426.Rxh4Rd227.Rd4!Re228.Qh1Qc229.Rb1Qxc530.Qe4Nf631.Qe6+Kh832.Be5h633.Rh1Rxf234.a3Qc235.Rdh4Qg636.Qxc6Qf537.Rf4Rxf438.exf4Kh739.Rg1Rf740.Qxa6b441.Qc4Nd71/2-1/2 (41) Kasparov,G
(2750)-Speelman,J (2625) Belfort 19884...exd45.Qxd4Nc66.Qd2g67.b3Bg78.Bb20-09.Bd3Ng410.Nge2Megabase recommended Nf310.Nf3Nge511.Be2Nxf3+12.Bxf3Nd413.h4!?Nxf3+?!but there's no need for
this at all.13...h514.0-0-0a5is fine for Black15.Nd515.Ne2Nxe2+16.Bxe2a415...c514.gxf3Qf615.0-0-0Be616.f4±10...Qh410...Nce511.Bc2?!Bh611...Qh411.Ng3Nge512.0-0f5
13.f3
This allows f4, after which Nezhmetdinov quickly develops a very dangerous
attack. Instead13.exf5Qd414.Rad1Nxd3Not14...Qxd3?15.Qc115.Nge2Qe516.Qxd3Bxf517.Qd2looks about equal.13...Bh614.Qd1f415.Nge2g516.Nd5g417.g3Necessary.since if17.Nexf4Bxf418.Nxf4gxf319.g3Qg4Black develops a huge attack without any material investment.17.Nxc7g318.hxg318.h3Bxh3splat!18...fxg319.Nxg3Be3+17...fxg318.hxg3Qh319.f4Be6!As the French annotaitons say (approximately),
"Here the fun starts".Not19...Nf3+?20.Kf2Qh2+21.Ke3and Black
is a tempo too slow.20.Bc220.Nxc7Bxf4!20...Rxf4also works21.gxf421.Nxf4Qxg3+22.Kh1Bxf423.Rxf4Qxf424.Nxe6Qh6+21...g321.Rxf421.gxf4g3-+21.Nxf4Qxg3+21...Rxf422.Bxe5Nxe523.Nxa823.Nxe6Rf623...Rf7 Splat!23...Rf624.Nc720...Rf721.Kf2Qh2+22.Ke3Bxd523.cxd523.Qxd5Nb424.Qd1Re825.Rh1Nxc2+26.Qxc2Rxf4!27.Rxh2Rf3+28.Kd4Nc6+29.Kd5Nb4+30.Kd4c5#23...Nb424.Rh1
Apparently24.a3!holds according to engines. Houdini then givesNxc2+24...Rxf425.gxf4Qh3+26.Kd2Nf3+27.Kc1simply doesn't work25.Qxc2Qh326.Kd2Nf3+27.Kd3Qg228.Rh124...Rxf4‼This beautiful move is completely
forced, Of course Polugaevsky must have been hoping that it didn't work, but
with the king forced to d4 it's not a surprise that it does.25.Rxh225.gxf4Bxf4+26.Nxf4Nxc2+27.Qxc2Qxc228.Bxe5dxe529.Nd3Qc3-+should
win pretty easily.25...Rf3+26.Kd4In fact Black can now fairly
prosaically win with a line starting with c5+ followed by b5, but who wouldn't
play the "quiet" Bg7 eyeing up his White majesty!Bg7‼
The French annotations quote Mikhail Notvinnik, who said that
nobody saw combinations like Nezhmetdinov. In fact, Black could also win with
the much more prosaic ...c5, but who could resist the quiet move with his
White majesty so hopelessly leading the charge.26...c5+27.dxc6b528.Bd3Nexc6+29.Kc3Bg7+30.Kd2Rxd3+31.Ke131.Kc1Rxd1+32.Kxd1Bxb231...Rxd1+32.Rxd1Bxb227.a4To prevent b5, closing the mating net, but
Nezhmetdinov now found a forced sequence. In fact, Ng1 was a better chance:27.Ng1Rxg3!When the engine insisted on this , at first I couldn't
understand why it was so important for Black to capture the g3 pawn, but then
I followed the line and the penny dropped that the point is not to make f4
available but to open the diagonal from e5 to h2.27...Ned3+28.e5Bxe5+29.Kc4Nxb2+30.Kxb4Nxd131.Bxh7+Kg732.Rxd1is better for White28.Ne2Rf329.Ng1Ned3+30.e5Forced, to threaten Bxh7+. If30.Kc4Nxb2+31.Kxb4Bc3+32.Ka3b533.b4a534.Ba4axb4+35.Kb3Nxd136.Rxd136.Nxf3Ne3!36...Re3winning easily.30...Bxe5+31.Kc431.Ke431...Nxb2+32.Kxb4Nxd132...Bc3+33.Ka3b534.Bxh7+Kg735.Rxb233.Nxf3gxf334.Bxd1Bxa1with excellent winning chances.27...c5+28.dxc6bxc629.Bd3Nexd3+30.Kc4d5+31.exd5cxd5+32.Kb5Rb8+33.Ka5Nc6+
And since33...Nc6+34.Ka6Rb6#is mate, Polugaevsky resigned. A quite
magnificent example of sustained violence.34...Ndb4#Which is prettier?0–1
1.b3+Kc52.Rh52.Nf6?Qg22...e53.Ng5with a very pretty zugzwang3.Nf6?Qg23...Qg23...Qd14.Ne4+Kd55.Nc3+3...Qg84.Ne4+Kd55.Nf6+3...Qd34.Ne6+Kd55.Nf4+3...Qd24.Ne4+3...e44.Ne6#4.Ne6+1–0
In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas as the viewer is armed with tactical and positional motifs and concepts after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6.
Jonathan SpeelmanJonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.
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