NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/games/chess/12290

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From: [e-mail] (Hanon W. Russell)
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Subject: Gleanings '92 Part 3
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 00:32:48 GMT
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Quips and quotes from the major chess publications have been
posted throughout the year on the USA Today Sports Center. About
six months ago, we put together a collection of these items from
the first half of 1992. We have collected the items from the
second half of 1992 into two articles and present...

                          GLEANINGS '92
                              Part 3

                             Rotten?
"Botvinnik held the title for 13 years, which is testament to
the  iniquity of a rotten system." -British GM and Candidates
Cycle semi-finalist Nigel Short criticizing the former world
title match qualification systems

                     So Much For Preparation
"Vasily Ivanchuk, whose eyebrows appear to have been painted
onto his head by a child drawing the stretched v-shape of a
bird, really raised them in surprise when he arrived for his
game against Gelfand and discovered that he was due to play with
the white pieces. His second and analyst had prepared him to
play with Black! Ivanchuk sat down at the board, brandished a
fist  (I presume at his second), cast aside his several hours of
ChessBase preparation and annihilated Gelfand with a variation
on the previous day's game against Kasparov." -Kevin O'Connell &
Bernard Cafferty in their report on the Linares tournament in
the May, 1992 issue of "British Chess Magazine"

                        We Shall See....
"I'm told that Jan Timman was recently quoted as saying that
'the  English don't understand anything about chess, but they
are good practical players.'" -GM Murray Chandler reported on
the Cannes Team Tournament in the April, 1992, issue of "British
Chess Magazine"

                          Chicken Shiva
"Their style of chess is, to a certain extent, an expression of
this attitude. They play without fear or angst: what will be,
will be. Draw offers - in Western chess so often a sign that a
player is chickening out, rather than that the position is level
- occur about as often as Shiva is reincarnated." -British GM
Daniel King reporting on the Goodricke Open, Calcutta, in the
March, 1992 issue of the "British Chess Magazine"

                       What's In A Rule!?
"Few positions resembled the one you thought you had left when
you arrived back at each child's board for the next move. The
logical Dr. Nunn was shocked to learn that a position with a
black pawn on g6 and white bishop on h6 did not stop kingside
castling, but merely won an exchange. Later the kiddies refined
their technique and would castle putting the rook on e8." -GM
Murray Chandler reporting in the April, 1992, issue of "British
Chess Magazine" on the simul given by the participating
grandmasters at Cannes with over 1,000 French schoolchildren.

                         A Real Monster
"I don't care what Oscar Panno's score was, he will always be a
strategical genius to me. Back in Lone Pine circa 1980, Panno
impressed wild-eyed teens Benjamin and Wilder with his deep
understanding. He showed me a thing or two in our post-mortem.
If you could mix Panno's strategy with Polgar's tactics, you
would have a real monster." -GM Joel Benjamin reporting on the
Najdorf's Birthday Tournament in Buenos Aires in the April/May
issue of "Chess Chow"

                       Linguistic Linguini
"The post-mortem of the game between the two Spanish players was
conducted in English, but then one of them is a Catalan, and he
has a second who is Russian! While the one who now lives in
Linares (Valery Salov) scores his games in English Algebraic
notation." -Kevin O'Connell & Bernard Cafferty in the report on the
Linares tournament in the May, 1992 issue of "British Chess
Magazine"

                            Four-Zip!
"An interesting feature of the tournament was the participation
of the four Candidates' semi-finalists. Comparing such a
tournament to a match is of course a hazardous affair, but at
least some statistical conclusions could be drawn. For example,
Kasparov's score against the Candidates was a clean 4-0!" -Dirk
Jan ten Geuzendam reporting on the Linares tournament in "New In
Chess" Issue 3, 1992

                       Gata's Big Problem
"Does Kamsky have more a chance of becoming world champion than
I? I think not. Let's look at the facts: Kamsky knows Russian;
I'm learning Russian. Kamsky probably knows very little
Hungarian; I know it damn well! Kamsky's USCF rating is very
high; so is mine! Kamsky plays in big-time European tournaments;
I just played in Goichberg's Chicago thing! To sum up: Gata has
a big problem before he reaches the top, and that problem is
me." -IM Alex Sherzer in the April/May issue of "Chess Chow"

                     Grandmaster Kibbitzing
"Najdorf has one interesting habit. To get a better look at the
games, he would occasionally sit in the chair of a player who
had gotten up for a stroll. Normally this might be a bit
off-putting, but everyone took it in stride. This practice did,
however, lead to a comedic moment during the Panno-Granda game.
Panno returned to the board to find Najdorf in his chair. Seeing
that his chair was already occupied, Panno sat down in Granda's
chair! The two old friends laughed heartily." -GM Joel Benjamin
reporting on Najdorf's Birthday Tournament in Buenos Aires in
the April/May issue of "Chess Chow"

                       Sicilian Breakfast
"[The final round games at Dortmund] started at ten o'clock in
the morning, five hours earlier than on the other days. Perhaps
some players were jet-lagged by this difference, which at least
would account for some of the errors that determined the course
of the round. In view of the early hour Kasparov played 3 Bb5
against Salov's Sicilian ('I would have preferred to play 3
d4, but this move is not playable at 10 a.m.') and soon reached
an overwhelming position." -Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in his report
on Dortmund in "New In Chess" No. 4, 1992

                          Spanish Snack
"Illescas' invitation to Linares was rather a strange story. The
organizers declared that they were willing to invite Illescas on
condition that the Spanish Chess Federation paid an entrance fee
for him of one million pesetas, i.e., ten thousand dollars. At a
general meeting of the federation the request was honored and
Illescas received his invitation. Of course, the Spanish
grandmaster felt a bit embarrassed by this procedure. 'Yes, it
is a bit embarrassing, especially as I don't think that Linares
needs this money, whereas the  federation could easily have put
it to some other use.'" -Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam reporting on the
Linares tournament in "New In Chess" Issue 3, 1992

             Hollywood Chess Films We'd Like to See
INVASION OF THE PAWN SNATCHERS Gripping 50's sci-fi adventure
concerning a group of overaggressive outsiders causing havoc at
all the local tournaments. -Robert W. Basalla in the May, 1992
issue of the "Cleveland Chess Bulletin"

                          Flying Pieces
"There is a world of difference between playing next to players
like Kasparov and Beliavsky and next to a ladies' team in which
the pieces are sent flying around the board." -Judit Polgar,
interviewed in the May 11, 1992 issue of "Inside Chess" on her
insistence on playing on the Hungarian Men's Team in the
upcoming Olympiad.

                        A Woman's Lament
"Being a woman chess player has its advantages. Tournament
organizers recognize you the moment you walk in the door,
because you're one of only a handful of women entered. The
occasional misogynistic opponent is lulled into a false sense of
security and gives you an easy point. Getting your opponent to
go over a game with you is rarely a problem, though getting rid
of him afterward sometimes is. "But, as any other women reading
this column know, there are disadvantages as well. Other players
assume you're someone's wife or girlfriend and ignore you. You
can't travel to tournaments because you can't find someone to
share a room and you can't afford to pay the cost alone. Lunch
between rounds takes on the aura of last call at a singles
bar...[and] if you blunder...you confirm Kasparov's comment that
'women can't maintain their attention.'" -Katherine Williams in
the July/August, 1992 issue of "Chess Horizons"

                       The Longest Career
"It may be said that [Reshevsky] played competitive chess longer
than any man who ever lived, for he understood the game from
about the age of four, before he could read or write, and never
retired." -Bernard Cafferty in the June, 1992 issue of the
"British Chess Magazine"  Blackburne, Mieses & Reshevsky
Blackburne and Mieses certainly had long careers, but all the evidence points
to Reshevsky's career being longer. The English Grandmaster
Joseph Blackburne's career, in terms of longevity versus
Reshevsky, can be dealt with most easily. Blackburne (1841-1924)
did not even learn the moves until he was 18.

The German (and later English) Grandmaster Jacques Mieses
(1865-1954) certainly did have an long and illustrious career.
It appears, however, that Reshevsky did have a longer
professional career than he, although probably not by much.

While the determination of Blackburne's career was fairly easy
to make in view of when he learned the moves, sorting the matter
out as far as Mieses is concerned is a bit more sticky, since
his playing days began well before the turn of the century. We
have used Jeremy Gaige's excellently researched "Chess
Tournament Crosstables" as our source; we feel it is very
accurate, though will gladly give way to anyone who can
demonstrate additional reliable information from any other
source.

The first tournament of record for Mieses in CTC, v. I, is
Hauptturnier C, Hamburg 1885. This was a tournament where the
players were divided into four preliminary divisions and the top
two finishers in each moved into a final section. Mieses, at age
20, finished sixth; Harmonist and Zimmerman won the section.
Harmonist won the finals (Siegergruppe) ahead of Bauer and
Neustadtl.

The first record in CTC of Reshevsky (1911-1992) playing
appears in Volume IV, New York 1922. This was the tournament in
which he defeated Janowski. It was held about six weeks before
Sammy's 11th birthday. In the six-man round robin, Edward Lasker
finished first ahead of Jaffe, while, Reshevsky tied with the
other three (Bernstein, Bigelow and Janowski) for 3rd-6th places
(+1 -2 =2).

Of course, Reshevsky was already known internationally for his
simuls and chess prowess in general as a boy prodigy. Using
Gaige's works as the standard, Reshevsky's official career
exceeded Mieses' by 12 to 24 months. However, Reshevsky was
clearly at master strength several years before his New York
debut; his simultaneous exhibitions fairly well demonstrated
that. There is no reason that this time should not also be
counted as part of his career (although we do admit that this
may be somewhat more subjective).

At any rate, one way or another, the great American Grandmaster
seems to have had the longest known chess career.

                        Alex's Dedication
"Some readers have accused 'Chow' contributors of being flippant
or worse yet, immature. In my monologue I'll try something
different: sharing with the readers my hopes and dreams. First
off, I'm getting tired of reading about Kamsky's ambition to
become World Champion. Listen here: I have *just as much
ambition* toward *the same goal.* To prove my insane dedication,
I will drop out of college soon." -IM Alex Sherzer in the
April/May issue of "Chess Chow"

                          Fun, Fun, Fun
"Suddenly I saw that maybe I could make some great sacrifice.
Just to have some fun. Yes, I had some fun. For three moves."
-World Champion Gary Kasparov as reported in "New In Chess"
No.4, 1992, about his unsound sacrifice in his game against
Kamsky at Dortmund.

                          Short Shorts
"'20 Short things about chess's king of castle' as a typically
high-energy piece of 'Sun' journalism, April 30, and was very
revealing:

* Nigel never plays chess for fun and is hooked on winning.
Before tournaments he goes through shattering concentration
sessions with his travelling 'mind guru.'

* His amazing chess career nearly ended as an eighteen year old
when he was attacked by a gang of muggers. He was kicked
unconscious and left bleeding in a Manchester street.

*Unlike many young geniuses, Nigel was an ordinary child,
popular with pals, he loved soccer and constantly came bottom of
the class in maths.

*Nigel now lives in a 250,000 pound flat in West Hampstead. His
favorite restaurant in Simpsons-in-the-Strand where chess
masters meet." -Jimmy Adams in the June, 1992 issue of "Maxwell
Macmillan Chess"

                           Blitz Rules
WBCA Blitz Chess Rules Supplement - In order to standardize the
treatment of situations that are now arising with increasing
frequency in tournament play the WBCA has promulgated the
following new blitz chess rules:

(1) If one player should accidentally punch the wrong chess
clock the player whose clock has been started may immediately
then make a move but only if he does so on the board of the
player who punched the clock.

(2) If in time pressure a player should accidentally promote a
pawn to a King the opponent may win by checkmating either or
both Kings on the next move. However, capturing only of the two
Kings is not a win.

(3) A player who has a King in check may checkmate his opponent
and win the game by moving a piece or pawn that is pinned to yet
another King provided that the move is not illegal in any other
respects.

(4) If a player should punch the clock while the chessman just
moved is still airborne then the opponent may elect to capture
that piece in flight.

(5) If a chessman should land on another chessboard it may be
played where it lands.

(6) If a move piece should roll into the enemy position,
knocking down all of the opposing chessmen, the move shall be
recorded as either a strike or a spare and the game will
continue.

(7) If a chessman should land on the table or the floor the
player will take one penalty stroke and drop a new chessman on
the board over his shoulder.

(8) If a pawn should in the course of play become lodged in the
throat of a tournament participant then the tournament direct
should immediately make efforts to clear the pawn from the
player's windpipe and only after this effort has proven not to
be immediately successful may the pawn be replaced from another
set. -Philip Dorsey in the April, 1992 issue of "The Center
Files"

                       Six Pairs of Hands
"When Nigel Short forced Anatoly Karpov to resign after 41 moves
in an almost empty hall in an out-of-the-way corner of Spain on
Tuesday, just six pairs of hands applauded him. 'It didn't
really seem an adequate response' said 'Spectator' editor
Dominic Lawson, who was one of the clappers. Especially since
Short had just become the first Briton to reach the challenger's
final of the world chess championship." -Jimmy Adams in the
June, 1992 issue of "Maxwell Macmillan Chess"

                       Hanging Two Pieces
"Only two wins in the final two rounds could help Kasparov, and
even in that case he would be dependent on the results of his
rivals. The only consolation he could think of was the news from
Linares about the impending elimination of Karpov. 'That's at
least some compensation for hanging two pieces.'" -Dirk Jan ten
Geuzendam reporting on the finish of the Dortmund tournament in
"New In Chess" No. 4, 1992

                    Kramnik Is Playing Chess
"The most talented player I have seen here is (Vladimir)
Kramnik. He is definitely the number one talent. I think he is
the only player I have ever seen who does not play worse than I
did when I was sixteen. I never said this before. I always
smiled about Judit Polgar. I didn't believe in other players. I
laughed about Kamsky. But at sixteen Kramnik is playing great
chess. He has a very good natural talent. And, you know, there
is substance. Real chess substance. He's a chess player. Many
players, they're not playing chess, they're playing moves.
Kramnik is playing chess." -World Champion Gary Kasparov as
reported by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam in "New In Chess" No. 4, 1992

                              Tal I
"For the record: Tal was Soviet Champion six times and made very
high scores in a series of olympiads. He was a very fine
journalist and broadcaster, and a well educated person with a
facility in many languages including Yiddish. He was also the
friendliest of men, making no distinction between amateur and
professional. For him every chess fan was a fellow worshipper at
the shrine of Caissa. We will not see his like again." -Bernard
Cafferty in the August, 1992 issue of "British Chess Magazine"

                             Tal II
"[Tal] was amazingly resistant to the effects of alcohol and
chain smoking and would have easily won the World Hangover
Championship. Perhaps his greatest achievement in this area was
a game against Kasparov in the 1988 World Cup Tournament at
Reykjavik. Tal had been drinking pretty heavily the night before
and was sobering up at the board - but he still made an easy
draw with Black! Later in the tournament he was hospitalized but
he discharged himself and carried on blitzing and drinking. He
had to be dragged back to his bed!" -Editor & IM Malcom Pein in the
August, 1992 issue of "Chess"

                             Tal III
"Mikhail Tal was more than a former World Champion whose genius
captivated millions of chessplayers. For, as all who knew or met
him will testify, he was a warm and gentle man, whose devotion
to chess was total. He was also, even under the oppressive
Soviet  regime, a most untypically independent citizen. It is
sadly ironic that his final illness prevented him taking up his
place in the Latvian team, playing once again as an autonomous
republic in the Manila Olympiad. Misha's legacy is a collection
of attacking masterpieces without parallel, many involving
sacrifices of unfathomable depth. Playing him required more than
dark glasses: his openings were first class and his pieces did
things that no-one else's could. If there is a heaven, Misha is
there sacrificing pawns and pieces." -Editorial in the August,
1992 issue of the "British Chess Magazine"

                        Boris and the QGA
Former World Champion Boris Spassky is, of course, no stranger
to the Queen's Gambit Accepted. We found the following game in
the March, 1951 issue of "Chess World" which was edited by the
great C.J.S. Purdy. We reproduce the bare game score with the
introduction to the game given by M.E. Goldstein...

"Capablanca, when at the peak of his powers as World Champion,
gave a simultaneous display at Moscow on November 26th, 1925.
One of the four winners was a self-possessed youngster of
fourteen named Mischa Botvinnik, for whom Capa predicted a
bright future. We all know how 23 years later, Botvinnik assumed
the mantle of World Champion, held previously by Capa, Alekhine,
Euwe and once again Alekhine until his untimely death in 1946.

"Will history repeat itself and will 14-year old Boris Spassky
become World Champion round about 1975? Here is a game won by
Spassky at the ripe age of twelve.

"Spassky-Aftonomov Leningrad Boys Championship 1949 Queen's
Gambit Accepted 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dc4 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 e3 c5 5 Bc4 e6 6
O-O a6 7 Qe2 b5 8  Bb3 Nc6 9 Nc3 cd4 10 Rd1 Bb7 11 ed4 Nb4 12 d5
Nbd5 13 Bg5 Be7 14  Bf6 gf6 15 Nd5 Bd5 16 Bd5 ed5 17 Nd4 Kf8 18
Nf5 h6 19 Rd5 Qd5 20  Qe7 Kg8 21 Qf6 1-0"

                             Tal IV
"[Tal] is gone forever, but his immortality was assured long
ago. I imagine him seated at a celestial chessboard, mirthfully
regaling the heavenly host, indulging all his vices with
impunity while playing blitz with the Almighty. And winning."
-Anthony Saidy in his tribute to Mikhail Tal in the October,
1992 issue of "Chess Life"

                           Party Time
"It was a pleasant summer evening and there was a happy
expectant atmosphere. Jon Speelman, Julian Hodgson, Sheila
Jackson, and Susan Arkell were competing in the Commonwealth
chess championship in Kuala Lumpar, so were not able to attend.
Peter Wells, the ladies' captain, lost the key to Jon Mestel's
bicycle lock, so both he and Natasha Regan arrived late. Nigel
Short was in a jolly mood and tried successfully to write what
seemed to be his phone number on the forehead of Nimet Chandler
(Murray Chandler's wife.)" -Mark Huba reporting on the party
held in honor of the English Olympiad team's departure to Manila
in the August, 1992 issue of "Chess"

                              Tal V
"When Tal became World Champion they gave him a Volga, actually
the best Soviet car at the time. But he game the car to his
brother. He was completely indifferent to every form of
technology and never even considered learning to drive a car. It
was only towards the end of his life that electric shavers
started to play a role ... He did not like ties and only wore
them under duress. Needless to say that he never learned how to
knot one. Nor did he ever wear a watch." -Genna Sosonko in his
tribute to Tal in "New In Chess" No.5, 1992

                           Pawn Power
"Some said my predecessor could have survived by sacrificing his
most powerful piece, the queen. We won by not underestimating
the power of the lowly pawn. We created pawn power which you
which you know now as people power." -Philippine President
Corazon Aquino quoted in the August, 1992 issue of "Chess"
addressing the opening ceremonies audience at the Manila
Olympiad

                          Phantom Rook
One of our favorite chess books is Tim Krabbe's "Chess
Curiosities" (George Allen & Unwin, 1985). Browsing through it recently
we came upon the following anecdote: "When a player,
who had conceded QR-odds, moved his king from e1 to c1, his opponent
protested, asking what that move meant. The player said that in
giving rook odds, one did not lose the right to castle. By
playing Ke1-c1 he had castled with the phantom of his rook. "In
the next game, Black made mysterious bishop's moves: from g7 to
a1, and back to g7. When White again played Ke1-c1, Black argued
that phantom castling was out, since he had captured the rook's
phantom at a1."

                             Tal VI
"Misha played his last tournament in Barcelona. There were young
and talented players. He joked about these promising people: 'At
that age I was already ex-World Champion...' Half the tournament
he was ill and ran a temperature. In the last game, which he
assumed would be a quick draw, with him as White, he played 3
Bb5 in the Sicilian Defense and a few moves later offered a
draw, which his young opponent declined. A few hours later, in a
lost position and with his King under attack, his opponent
himself offered a draw. This was the last tournament game Misha
played, and won." -Genna Sosonko in his tribute to Tal in "New
In Chess" No.5, 1992