Codgerly self-indulgence

by Jonathan Speelman
10/2/2022 – Today is Jonathan Speelman’s sixty-sixth birthday, so he allowed himself a certain amount of self-indulgence, as he decided to present a selection of his favourite games and studies. His criterion: “A preference for either the breathtakingly simple or the mind-bogglingly complex”. Happy birthday, Jon! | Pictured: Julian Hodgson and Jonathan Speelman

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A personal selection

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

Today is my sixty-sixth birthday, so I’m officially a pensioner: a far from joyful moment but inevitable in the absence of a handy time machine.

Since this column transmogrified from a straight agony column to freestyle, I’ve allowed myself a certain amount of self-indulgence (more in the titles and introductions than the actual chess content) and I’m definitely going to continue today with a selection of my favourites.

This isn’t something which I’ve been carefully preparing for, so the selection is fairly random. When I realized a fortnight ago that the next column would be on my birthday, I decided that this was appropriate. But I didn’t do anything about it until I was lying on a sofa on Wednesday evening, unenthusiastic about anything to flobber to on television — yes, I’m so ancient that I still watch terrestrial television and have a landline! — and began to wonder what precisely to include. 

My chess taste is somewhat polarized with a preference for either the breathtakingly simple or the mind-bogglingly complex. I’ve started with three games, the third of them one of my own favourite hacks, followed by three studies: and finally a couple of proof games.

The games appear as .pgns, but I will say something about them here. I was going to start with Karpov v Spassky from Leningrad 1974 (game 9) — the glorious game in which Karpov made lots of deadly ‘little moves’ including Nc3-b1, but then I realized that I’d had it here just a couple of months ago, in column 174, “Asking the right questions”. So instead I’ve gone with another Karpov game, his famous win agaisnt Viktor Korchnoi in the Yugoslav Attack.

Anatoly Karpov, Viktor Korchnoi

Anatoly Karpov playing black against Viktor Korchnoi | Photo: V. Velikhanzhin

Next, Tigran Petriosian’s victory in game 5 of his world championship match against Mikhail Botvinnik: Petrosian’s first-ever victory against ‘The Patriarch’. I love it for its searing simplicity and especially the iconic adjourned position with the White king in the top right-hand corner of the board. (I can never remember exactly where the king was at the exact moment of the adjournment, but in fact it was g7). Bob Wade’s book of the match was my first ever grown up chess book which my mum bought me when I was seven, and while I can’t really have appreciated this game at the time, it is a wonder. 

Thirdly, one of my favourite ever attacking games in which — somewhat unfairly, given that I've just given Karpov v Korchnoi — my victim was Viktor Korchnoi. He used to do bad things to me if he got the queens off the board early enough, but if they remained I had decent chances of creating pyrotechnic chaos as in this one. 

Garry Kasparov, Jon Speelman

Garry Kasparov, Jon Speelman and Viktor Korchnoi in Reykjavík, 1988

I’ve just got the starting positions of the studies in the text. The first two are by the great Nikolai Grigoriev (1895-1938) and feature breathtakingly stark simplicity, and they’re followed by a pawn ending of my own — and a supplementary example explaining why triangulation works.  

 
Grigoriev, N. (1934)
White to play and draw

I was first shown this barely half a century ago at the Glorney Cup, a junior team competition between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland by Jonathan Mestel. With lots of us trying to solve it and clashing hands, it took ages, but a single clear head might do better.

 
Grigoriev, N. (1932)
White to play and win

After some preliminary manoeuvring, this leads to an endgame of queen v pawn in which White has to be extremely accurate at the outset to avoid a draw. 

 
Speelman, J. (1979)
White to play and win

The obvious Ke5 leads to a race in which Black is able to draw, so White has to do better...

 
White to play and win by triangulation

In this additional example, I wanted to point out why triangulation works. The reason that the black king can’t match his white counterpart’s manoeuvre is because e7 (and g7) are unavailable to him

In this proof game, you must reach this position after Black’s fourth move. 

 
Reach this position after Black’s fourth move

The final example was discovered by French-Canadian computer scientist François Labelle from the output of his program. It is to construct a game ending in 7.Rc7 mate with the black king on d7. This is extremely difficult and took me a whole week to solve! Note that it’s Rc7 mate, not Rxc7 mate. There are several very slightly different exact sequences possible, but the final position is (almost) unique.

I’m leaving the solution till next time for anybody brave enough to have a try, or if you can’t wait you can find it in column 128 of August 16th 2020.

 
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1.e4 In this famous game, Karpov introduced the novelty 16.Nde2, which was incredibly difficult to meet at the board. I can't remeber whose novelty it was, and my first thought was Igor Zaitzev, but apparently he didn't become Karpov's second until the late 1970s and at this stage it was Semyon Furman. c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 11...h5 12.0-0-0 Nc4 Later 12...h5 became the main line, to a considerable degree because of this game. 13.Bxc4 Rxc4 14.h5 Nxh5 15.g4 Nf6
16.Nde2 Precisely to prevent the exchange sacrifice on c3. 16.Bh6 Nxe4 17.Qe3 Rxc3 18.bxc3 Nf6 was considered one of the most critical lines, but Black did fairly well, notably in the well-known game Nunn v Ljubojevic. 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Rh2 Rg8 21.Ne2 Bc6 22.Ng3 Kf8 23.c4 Rg7 24.Re2 a6 25.g5 Nd7 26.f4 f5 27.gxf6 Nxf6 28.c5 d5 29.Qd4 Qa5 30.c3 Nd7 31.c4 Qa3+ 32.Kb1 Qb4+ 33.Rb2 Qxc4 34.Ne2 Nxc5 35.Rc2 Qxd4 36.Nxd4 Ba4 37.Rxc5 Bxd1 38.Ne6+ Kf7 39.Nxg7 Kxg7 40.Rxd5 Bf3 0-1 (40) Nunn,J (2625)-Ljubojevic,L (2590) Amsterdam 1988 16...Qa5 If 16...Re8 17.e5 Nxg4 18.fxg4 Bxg4 then modern engines recommend 19.e6 Bxe6 20.Bd4 f6 when White apparently has an edge. 17.Bh6 I seem to have a great mass of analysis here. In practice Korchnoi played a line which looked playable but ran into a series of ferocious blows. Bxh6 17...Bh8 18.Bxf8 Kxf8 19.Kb1 19.Qe3 Rc5 20.Nd4 Be6 21.Kb1 b5 22.Nxe6+ fxe6+- Kruppa,Y-Golubaev/USSR/1984/ 19...Rb4 19...Be6 20.Nf4 g5 21.Nxe6+ fxe6 22.Ne2 Qe5 23.c3 Bg7 24.Nc1 h6 25.Nd3 Qb5 26.Rhe1 Chudinovskih, A-Yakmimainen/URS/1977/ 19...Bg7 20.Nd5 Qa6 21.Nxf6 Bxf6 22.Rxh7 Be6 23.Nf4 Qb5 24.Nxe6+ fxe6 25.Qh6+ Ke8 26.Qxg6++- Cuijpers, F-Kaspret,G/WchJ Dortmund/1980/ 20.g5 Nh5 21.Nc1 Be6 22.Nb3 Qe5 23.Rxh5 Bxb3 24.Rxh7 Bxa2+ 25.Kc1 Bg7 26.Rdh1∞ Almrot-Gernud/corr SVE-ch/1974/ 17...Rfc8 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qh6+ Kg8 20.Rd5 20.Rd3 Be6 21.g5 Nh5 22.Ng3 Qe5 23.Nxh5 gxh5 24.Qxh5 Qg7 25.f4 d5 26.Rhd1∞ Zambon-Wagman,S/Italia/ 1974/ 20...Qd8 20...Qc7 21.e5 dxe5 22.Rd2 Qe8 23.Nd5 Be6 24.Nxf6+ exf6 25.g5 fxg5 26.Qxh7+ Prandstetter, E-Spiridonov,N/Agard/1976/ 18.Qxh6 Rfc8 19.Rd3!
Again prioritising the prevention of a single or even a double exchange sacrifice. 19.g5 Nh5 20.Rxh5 gxh5 21.Nd5 Rxc2+ 22.Kb1 Qd8 23.Nef4 23.Nf6+ exf6 24.gxf6 Qf8 25.Rg1+ Bg4 23...Qf8 24.Nxe7+ Qxe7 25.Nd5 Rxb2+ 26.Kxb2± Dobsa,S-Reinhardt,E/corr/ 1982/ 19.Rd5 R8c5 19...Qd8 20.e5 dxe5 21.Rd2 Qc7 22.Nd5 Rxc2+ 23.Kb1 Rxd2 24.Nxc7 Rxe2 25.Nd5 Re8 26.Nc3∞ Omelchenko,L-Mikhailov,A/corr-9 Wch/1977/ 19...Qc7 20.Kb1 Kh8 1-0/ Skjoldager-Dalhoff/corr/1975/ 20.Rxc5 Rxc5 21.Nd5 Rxd5 22.exd5 Qxd5 23.Rh3 Qxa2 24.b3 Qa1+ 25.Kd2 Qf1 26.Rg3∞ Ipek,Y-Eskelinen/ Groningen EU-chJ/1982/ 19...R4c5? This is a losing blunder, though it requires some beautiful play to prove it. 19...Be6 20.g5 Nh5 21.Ng3 Qe5! 21...Rxc3 22.bxc3 Rxc3 23.Nxh5 Qa3+ 24.Kd2 Rxd3+ 25.cxd3 gxh5 26.Qxh5+- 22.Nxh5 gxh5 23.Rxh5 Qg7 is apparently the best Black can do but still better for White. 20.g5! Rxg5 20...Nh5 21.Nf4 Rxc3 21...Rxg5 22.Rd5 Rxd5 23.Ncxd5 Qc5 24.c3 24.Nxe7+ Kh8 25.Nxc8 22.bxc3 21.Rd5! The preparatory g5 has forced Black to take the rook with his best defender, the knight, and this proves fatal. Rxd5 22.Nxd5 Re8 23.Nef4 Bc6
24.e5!+- This pretty line closure cuts the black queen off from the kingside. 24.Nxf6+? exf6 25.Nh5 Qg5+ 26.Qxg5 fxg5 27.Nf6+ Kg7 28.Nxe8+ Bxe8 is a decent ending for Black. 24...Bxd5 24...dxe5 25.Nxf6+ exf6 26.Nh5 gxh5 27.Rg1+ Kh8 28.Qg7# 25.exf6 exf6 26.Qxh7+ 26.Nh5?? Re1+ 26...Kf8 27.Qh8+ And Korchnoi resigned, since he loses at least a piece. A brilliant game by Karppov. 27.Qh8+ Ke7 28.Nxd5+ Qxd5 28...Kd7 29.Nxf6+ 28...Kd8 29.Qxf6+ 29.Re1+
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karpov,A2700Kortschnoj,V26701–01974B78Moscow2
Petrosian,T-Botvinnik,M-1–01963D94World Championship 25th5
Kortchnoi,V2640Speelman,J26250–11988B08Bruxelles
Grigoriev,N--½–½1934ts22
Grigoriev,N--1–01932ts23
Speelman,J--1–01979te03
Why triangulation works--1979te03
Reach diagram after Black's 4t--1979C00Tibor Orbán, Commendation, Die Schwalbe

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Chess Classics - games you must know

As the author explains in the introductory video, knowing the classic games from the past enriches your chess understanding in general, and helps to improve the level of your own games.


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Jonathan 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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