The Chelyabinsk Meteorite

by Davide Nastasio
8/8/2019 – A meteorite can pass through the atmosphere burning — a fulgent light in the darkness. Igor Kurnosov, who died six years ago today, passed through the chess world like a meteorite, leaving many interesting games in his wake. DAVIDE NASTASIO reviews the book which celebrates a life cut too short. | Photos provided by the publisher, Elk and Ruby

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The Selected games of Igor Kurnosov

A review

Just opening this book one can understand this is a work of love, friendship and collaboration between a large group of people. The book was created to celebrate and remember the short life of a very promising Grandmaster: Igor Kurnosov (1985-2013).

Chelyabinsk is famous for being GM Evgeny Sveshnikov's birthplace, and of course also Karpov was living nearby — the Urals are a region which has given birth to many famous players; the chess culture in that region is strong. 

In fact in western countries we don't have a clear idea of the richness of chess books produced in Russia, a country as big as a continent.

Kurnosov

Checkmate book cover

Thanks to the entrepreneurial enterprise of a new publisher, Elk and Ruby, we have now many new books translated from Russian, which shine a light on the vast Russian chess culture. In fact another book I'm reading now is more biographical in nature, and wasn't translated before: Checkmate, the love story of Mikhail Tal and Sally Landau.

Returning to the present work: I read this book with an eye towards learning more about the life of this young GM, but what impressed me was the array of GMs commenting the games. Each one different, with a different style.

In 2008 Kurnosov and the 'Victor the Terrible' were both playing for South Urals

Being curious, I made a file via ChessBase 15, with all the games played by Kurnosov (over 1100 of them!), and perused many while also reading the book and enjoying some on a physical chessboard.

Kursonov was a sharp player, and his games are pleasant for this reason, there are many tactics, like in the following position, how should White continue?

 
How to continue with White?

Try to play against the diagram!

Here is the full game for those curious to see how it ended:

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Qc7 6.0-0 d6 7.c4 Nd7 8.Nc3 Ngf6 9.f4 g6 10.f5 exf5 11.exf5 Bg7 12.fxg6 hxg6 13.Bxg6 fxg6 14.Ne6 Qxc4 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.Nxg7+ Ke7 17.Bg5+ N5f6 18.Rc1 Qb5 19.Qg4 Qb6+ 20.Kh1 d5 21.Qg3 Rf8 22.Qh4 Qxb2 23.Rce1+ Kd6 24.Qg3+ Kc6 25.Ne6 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
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  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
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  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kurnosov,I2602Dvalishvili,P24801–02009B42Moscow op-A5

I think we should all make lists of best games played by a famous player or a role model we want to learn from. I loved the following pair. The game against Mamedyarov can be found in the book annotated from page 123 onward and the game against Onischuk is annotated from page 121:

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 b6 10.0-0 Bb7 11.d5 Bxc3 12.Bc4 Bg7 13.Bb2 Ba6 14.Qe2 Qc8 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.e5 e6 17.Rbd1 exd5 18.Rxd5 Bxc4 19.Qxc4 Nc6 20.Rd6 Rd8 21.Rfd1 Qf5 22.Qa4 Nxe5 23.Rxd8 Nxf3+ 24.Kh1 Rxd8 25.Rxd8 Nd4 26.h3 Qb1+ 27.Kh2 b5 0–1
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Alexander Onischuk2659Igor Kurnosov26020–12009D85Aeroflot Open2
Igor Kurnosov2577Marat Dzhumaev25271–02008B072nd Agzamov Memorial8
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov2724Igor Kurnosov26020–12009D70Aeroflot Open6
Igor Kurnosov2433Valery A Loginov25261–02002B074th Stage Russian Cup2
Vasily Papin2565Igor Kurnosov26330–12011D76Russian Chess Championship Higher League4

Opening ceremony of the 2010 Russian Superfinal in Moscow: Igor Kurnosov, Ilya Levitov, and future FIDE President: Arkady Dvorkovich

This book can also be an occasion to educate ourselves on the numerous Russian masters living we don't know anything about. For example on pages 22-23 we have GM Khasin (the patriarch of Siberian chess) who has trained many young GMs, and some of their names are mentioned too: Valery Filippov, Dmitry Bocharov, Pavel Maletin.

Here I'd like to offer a sample of games played against these strong Russian players, to better understand their play, and know more of the Chelyabinsk Meteorite:

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.0-0 Bf5 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd4 Bd7 10.Qd3 c5 11.Nc2 a6 12.Rb1 Rb8 13.Bd2 b5 14.b3 e6 15.dxe6 Bxe6 16.Ne3 Nd7 17.Ncd5 Nc6 18.Bc3 Nd4 19.Qd2 Ne5 20.Kh1 Nec6 21.Nf4 Bd7 22.Ned5 Bf5 23.Rbc1 bxc4 24.bxc4 Ne5 25.e3 Ndc6 26.Ba1 Re8 27.Rfd1 Bg4 28.Ne2 Qa5 29.Qc2 Bf5 30.e4 Bg4 31.f4 Nd7 32.Bxg7 Kxg7 33.Rf1 Qa3 34.f5 Nce5 35.f6+ Kh8 36.Rb1 Qd3 37.Qxd3 Nxd3 38.Nef4 Nxf4 39.gxf4 Be2 40.Rxb8 Rxb8 41.Rc1 Bxc4 42.Rxc4 Rb1+ 43.Bf1 Rxf1+ 44.Kg2 Rb1 45.Ra4 Nb8 46.Kf3 Kg8 47.Nc7 Rb6 48.Ra3 Kf8 49.Rd3 Nc6 50.Ke3 Nd4 51.Rd2 Rb7 52.Nxa6 Ra7 53.Nb8 Rb7 54.Na6 Ra7 55.Nb8 Rb7 56.Na6 Ra7 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Filippov,V2617Kurnosov,I2361½–½2001E62RUS Cup final 5th7
Kurnosov,I2526Filippov,V25611–02006D38RUS-chT 13th5
Kurnosov,I2606Bocharov,D25970–12008B48Khanty-Mansiysk Governor Cup5
Bocharov,D2647Kurnosov,I26021–02009A45EU-ch 10th7
Maletin,P2429Kurnosov,I25241–02004D76Moscow Aeroflot op-A3
Kurnosov,I2592Maletin,P25561–02007B76RUS Cup tt4
Kurnosov,I2606Maletin,P25631–02008B48RUS Cup Regions9
Maletin,P2617Kurnosov,I26620–12010D76RUS-ch Higher League 63rd7
Maletin,P2575Kurnosov,I26330–12011A26Khanty-Mansiysk Governor Cup 7th6
Kurnosov,I2648Maletin,P25681–02011B12RUS GP rap final2.3

There is also another pleasant experience reading games annotated by so many different commentators. One finds truths about chess which are not frequently told. On page 22 for instance: "Positions like these prove to be untenable for humans" and previously the same commentator a page earlier 21 wrote how for humans is difficult to sit and do nothing, while being attacked. By contrast, engines are masters at playing moves which don't worse the position, when under attack. One IM (with GM norms) in an interview mentioned how he studied engine games to learn this idea: play waiting moves when there was nothing to do, and thus avoid worsening the position.

The book comprises eight chapters, with a total of 50 annotated games. There are diagrams at critical moments in all games. Many pictures in black and white cover important moments of Kurnosov's life.

Pros and Cons

At least half of these games are not available in any database — reason enough to buy the book! I love my Megabase 2019, but the research of authors of books still has its use. The huge number of games one finds on Megabase 2019 are more than enough for a lifetime, but for certain some undiscovered gems, books are still an asset! Sometimes one can find an Opening Index, and while I honestly don't know if it's important, I couldn't find one in this book. In place of an index of the opponents, here there is list in the beginning as a table of contents.  

There is another advantage for publishers who work with printing on demand. When a mistake is found it can be corrected, and it will not appear in the next book. For example on page 21 there is a comment which says: "White has full compensation for the pawn because his bishops are..." but there is only a lone bishop, so it should be changed to: "his bishop is...". If the publisher were locked into a thousand copy print run this mistake would live on until the next edition. But now, as soon as the publisher reads this review, he can correct the mistake, et voila we have a new and improved book.

Final Thoughts

Chess is a unique sport in which we can relive the events of the past through a players' games. Each games is immortalized in chess history. Often we also organize tournaments in memory of great players like Capablanca, Alekhine, Tal, etc. In 2016 there was the first Kurnosov Memorial — a rapid tournament with many high-level Russian players, which was reprised in 2017 and 2018. This book also keeps his memory alive, and through the annotated games we can glimpse the past. I hope more people will enjoy the games of this strong player as well as this book.

Links


Davide is a chess aficionado who regularly reviews books and DVDs.

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