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1994-01-05
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EVANS ON CHESS. September 10, 1993. Copyright by GM Larry Evans.
(A revised past column while GM Evans is in London covering the
Kasparov-Short world championship match.)
SEARCHING FOR ERROR
"The winner of a game is the player who makes the next-to-the-last mistake,"
quipped Dr. Savielly Tartakower.
I was reminded of this aphorism when a reader asked about my favorite example
of a decisive game which seems to lack a definite mistake by the loser. In an
effort to spur a search for nearly perfect non-draws, he wanted me to cite a
game where expert analysis might fail to yield the decisive error.
One example which leaps to mind is Fischer-Keres at the Curacao Candidates
Tournament in 1962 -- from Bobby Fischer's classic MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES. In
the preface to #38, dubbed Detective Story, I wrote:
Occasionally one comes across a miraculous victory in which,
despite intensive post-mortems, there seems to be no blunder on
the part of the vanquished. But how can that be possible? A loser
must make a mistake somewhere, however infinitesimal. Is it
Keres' opening novelty which leads him to disaster? Could his
defense have been improved afterward? If so, where? Whatever
the answer, the reader is invited to share the magnifying glass
with Fischer and hunt for that elusive error.
Incidentally, this qualifying event in Curacao soured Fischer on competing
for the title again for many years. In a famous article for Sports
Illustrated he charged: "The Russians have fixed world chess!"
Viktor Korchnoi, one of the participants who later defected from the USSR,
confirmed this accusation in his memoirs:
As we all now know, everything was arranged by Petrosian. He
agreed with his friend Geller to play draws in all their games
together. They also persuaded Keres to join their coalition. In a
two-month long tournament, held in tropical conditions, it was
important to shorten the distance by 8 rounds: it gave them a big
advantage over the remaining competitors.
Later, in his defense, Keres argued that a draw among the leaders can only
benefit someone who comes from behind, thus gaining a half point by winning.
The Soviets attributed Fischer's poor showing here to sour grapes. But the
system was changed to a series of one-on-one matches to prevent this kind of
collusion from ever happening again.
Paul Keres never held the title of world champion -- but he beat nine past,
present and future world champions in the course of his illustrious career!
Here is a list of his victims followed by the date of victory: 1. Alekhine
(1937); 2. Capablanca (1938); 3. Smyslov (1939); 4. Euwe (1940); 5. Petrosian
(1949); 6. Tal (1954); 7. Botvinnik (1948); 8. Spassky (1955); 9. Fischer
(1959).
Fischer's lifetime score against Keres in ten games was 5.5 - 4.5.
White: BOBBY FISCHER Black: PAUL KERES Ruy Lopez 1962 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5
a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 c5 11 d4
Nd7 12 dxc5 dxc5 13 Nbd2 Qc7 14 Nf1 Nb6 15 Ne3 Rd8 16 Qe2 Be6 17 Nd5 Nxd5 18
exd5 Bxd5 19 Nxe5 Ra7 20 Bf4 Qb6 21 Rad1 g6 22 Ng4 Nc4 23 Bh6 Be6 24 Bb3 Qb8
25 Rxd8 Bxd8 26 Bxc4 bxc4 27 Qxc4 Qd6 28 Qa4 Qe7 29 Nf6 Kh8 30 Nd5 Qd7 31 Qe4
Qd6 32 Nf4 Re7 33 Bg5 Re8 34 Bxd8 Rxd8 35 Nxe6 Qxe6 36 Qxe6 fxe6 37 Rxe6 Rd1
38 Kh2 Rd2 39 Rb6 Rxf2 40 Rb7 Rf6 41 Kg3 Black Resigns