exd5!

01.09.2009 – The Rising Stars made one last attempt to catch the Experience team. But their 3-2 victory in the penultimate round was not enough. In the final round Experience struck back with a 3½-1½ win. Best player overall, with 6.5/10 and a 2752 performance: Peter Heine Nielsen. Jan Smeets of the Rising Stars won an invitation to next year's Amber tournament. Report with pictures by John Nunn.

Andrew Martin: The Scandinavian - The easy way 2nd edition It’s easy-to-learn and easy-to-play. Here is an opening for Black which will furnish good results in the shortest possible time. Which other opening could we be referring to apart from the Scandinavian or Centre-Counter Defence; 1 e4 d5 ! International Master Andrew Martin has written extensively on the Centre-Counter and here he turns his attention to 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qd6!? Playing flat out for the win against 1 e4 is never easy, but here we encounter a variation where Black can do just that! All relevant second and third move alternatives for White are covered too! More information...

The 4th NH Chess Tournament runs from Thursday, August 20, and runs through
August 31 in the five-star NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky smack in the centre of
Amsterdam. It is a double round robin team event, with five Rising Stars facing
five Experienced players.

Round nine: In the penultimate round the Rising Stars posted
a 3-2 win over the Experience team. There were three decisive games. Fabiano
Caruana defeated none other than Peter Svidler with the black pieces to close
in on his colleague Rising Star Jan Smeets in the race for the Amber ticket.
In the final round a draw will suffice for Smeets in his game against Van Wely,
as he has one full point more than Caruana, who will face Ljubomir Ljubojevic.
The second win for the Rising Stars was scored by Daniel Stellwagen, who inflicted
Loek van Wely’s first loss. Alexander Beliavsky contributed the only win
for the Experience team by beating Hou Yifan.

Round 10 saw the Experience team secured overall victory with
a 3½-1½ defeat of the Rising Stars. The final standings are 27½-22½.
The wins on the final day were scored by Peter Svidler, who defeated Hikaru
Nakamura in a flashy attack, and the top-scorer of the Experience team, Peter
Heine Nielsen, who outplayed Hou Yifan.

Round nine – Aug. 30   Svidler – Caruana 0-1 Nielsen – Nakamura ½-½ Beliavsky – Hou Yifan 1-0 van Wely – Stellwagen 0-1 Ljubojevic – Smeets ½-½

Round ten – Aug. 31   Nakamura – Svidler 0-1 Hou Yifan – Nielsen 0-1 Stellwagen – Beliavsky ½-½ Smeets – van Wely ½-½ Caruana - Ljubojevic ½-½

Nakamura,Hi (2710) - Svidler,P (2739) [E60]
3rd NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam NED (10), 31.08.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Nc6 4.d5 Ne5 5.e4 d6 6.Ne2 Bg7 7.Nec3 0-0 8.Be2
e6 9.f4 Ned7 10.0-0 exd5 11.cxd5 Re8 12.Bf3 Nc5 13.Re1 h5 14.h3 b5 15.e5 dxe5
16.fxe5 Nfd7 17.e6 Ne5 18.Nxb5 Ncd3 19.exf7+ Kxf7 20.Rf1 Kg8 21.Be4 Nxc1 22.Qxc1
c6 23.N5c3 Ba6 24.Re1? Nakamura probably should have moved the rook
to d1.

24...Ng4 25.Qd2 Qb6+ 26.Kh1 Nf2+ (nice, but 26...Bh6 was simpler
and quicker) 27.Kh2 Nxe4 28.Nxe4 Rxe4 29.Rxe4 Qxb2 30.d6 Rd8 31.d7 Be5+
32.g3 Rxd7 0-1.

Final standings (after ten rounds)
Experience individual score Nielsen 6½Svidler 6Ljubojevic 5½Beliavsky 5Van Wely 4½		Rising Stars individual score Smeets 6Caruana 5Stellwagen 4½Hou Yifan 3½Nakamura 3½
Total: 27.5		Total: 22.5

Jan Smeets secured the coveted ticket to the Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament
with a quick draw against his countryman Loek van Wely. The Dutch Champion scored
six points from ten games, finishing ahead of Fabiano Caruana (five points)
and Daniel Stellwagen (4½ points). Next year, in March, Smeets will make
his Amber debut in Nice. Previous qualifiers from the NH Tournament to the Amber
Tournament were Magnus Carlsen (2006), Sergey Karjakin (2007) and Wang Yue (2008).

Rank, points and performance

Pictorial impressions from the NH tournament

By GM Dr John Nunn

Fabiano Caruana gives "the look"...

...but it does't help against Alexander Beliavsky, who scored a convincing
win

Hou Yifan's "look" is different

Yifan with her mother in the lobby of the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky

Dutch GM Loek van Wely in a good mood

So is Daniel Stellwagen, who normally looks quite serious

Happy with his result? More likely Peter Svidler his delighted with England's
success at cricket

Jan Smeets after his last-round draw which secured him a place in the 2010
Amber tournament

Not satisfied?? You finshed as best 'experienced' player and best overall
player,
with 6.5/10 points and a 2752 performance, Peter Heine!

The tournament in Amsterdam attracted many GM visitors, especially those from
the more 'experienced' end of the spectrum, eager to meet their old colleagues.

GM Nick de Firmian stopped over on his way to Denmark

GM Vlastimil Hort is a reglar visitor to the NH Hotels tournament

Predrag Nikolic isn't so active these days, but is still a strong GM

GM Gennadi Sosonko provided commentary during the event

GM Yasser Seirawan lives in Amsterdam and plays only in the Dutch league
these days

Links Official tournament site – during the tournament they will have live games, live radio commentary, videos, photos and daily reports. All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Chessbase.com

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31.08.2009 – Sometimes it is soothing to see even top players err in
calculation. But that is cold comfort when you are faced with
your own failures over the board. We mortals can only try to minimize them. Steve Goldberg from
chesscafe.com has
reviewed Danny King's new DVD "Calculation" and found it a very well suited tool for
this purpose.
Buy
Powerplay 10 now or read more.

Andrew Martin: The Budapest Gambit Most chess players are naturally talented, but do not have the time to devote to chess theory, such is the pace of modern life. Yet it is human nature to want to do things well and to achieve good results. To make the right choice of opening system is therefore of crucial importance for these players if they want to make the most of what they have. Below master level and especially with Black, the most crucial thing is to strive for the initiative. It is absolutely no good trying to gradually equalize. Leave that to Karpov, Kramnik and the world championship matches, where we can admire the defensive technique from afar. More information...

Process of Elimination

Steve Goldberg

reviews "Power Play 10: Calculation" by GM Daniel King

This DVD is the tenth volume in the excellent Power Play series by GM Daniel King.
"Power Play 10: Calculation" differs from earlier offerings in that there are forty-nine short video clips, rather than fewer, longer segments.

Three major portions comprise the bulk of this DVD:

1. King presents five problems posed in a German chess magazine. For each problem, a position is presented, and several alternative moves are offered, one of which must be selected as the proper choice. King states that he has not worked out the solutions beforehand, and proceeds to analyze each problem in order, sharing his thought process with the viewer. It’s quite an instructive technique.
2. King meticulously works through six game segments (some from actual games, some from studies), in each case beginning at a critical point in which several reasonable alternative variations are possible. He steps through, one move at a time, providing insightful advice to the viewer regarding how to make the task of calculating less daunting and more successful.
3. The final portion consists of seventeen test positions, most of which might be described as late middlegame and early endgame positions. All have just enough action going on to require careful analysis. After presenting all of the test problems, King proceeds to analyze the solutions of each one.

King has a pleasant demeanor and a soothing British accent, but most importantly, he is a talented player and instructor. To demonstrate that even the top players aren’t immune to calculation errors, at the beginning of the DVD King presents a position from Game Five of the 2008 World Championship match between Vladimir Kramnik and Vishy Anand.

Kramnik-Anand, after 28…Rc3

In this position, Kramnik quickly played 29.Nxd4 and play continued 29…Qxd4 30.Rd1 Nf6 31.Rxd4 Nxg4
32.Rd7+

From here, the play went  32...Kf6 33.Rxb7 Rc1+ 34.Bf1

King states, “Kramnik had seen this far and assumed that after the check, the bishop comes back [to f1] and everything is fine. He’d obviously finished his calculations here.” But Kramnik was shocked to see Anand’s next move:
34…Ne3. After 35.fxe3, Anand responded with 35…fxe3, to which there is no defense to the threat of
36…e2, and Kramnik resigned.

Click
here for replay the start of the intro with Kramnik-Anand.

Perhaps King starts with this Kramnik miscalculation to provide a little cushion to the self-esteem of viewers who may have little confidence in their own calculating abilities. But King breaks down the sometimes vast tree of variations into individual branches, exploring just a little bit at a time.

He doesn’t expect the viewer to get from the starting point of a position to the endpoint several moves later, all at one time. He repeatedly stresses looking at short variations, and quotes Artur Yusupov, from his book Build Up Your Chess: Beyond the Basics, “The precise short calculation of the initial moves in a position is more important than the ability to calculate long lines.”

A similar thought is expressed by Charles Hertan in Forcing Chess Moves. He stresses the importance of simply being able to calculate two moves ahead, but with absolute precision. Hertan claims that a player who can do this can perform at about the candidate master level tactically. In this DVD, King even quotes the great Bent Larsen as saying, “Long variation, wrong variation!”

Instead, King utilizes a practical and easy-to-understand process of elimination in determining which variation(s) to explore further. For example, here is one of the seventeen test positions King offers at the end of the DVD:

Black to move

Here Black clearly needs to protect his pawn, and there are three options: 1…Kf4, 1…Kf5, or 1…Kf6. King doesn’t attempt any deep assessment of the position, rather he simply looks at what works and what doesn’t.

First he looks at 1…Kf6; this loses, however, to 2.h3 Kf5 (forced) 3.Kg7 Kf4 4.Kg6 Kxf3 5.Kxg5 and White wins. King notes that there are a couple of other possibilities within this variation, but they all lead to this result.

Next, King looks at 1…Kf4, but finds that this also loses to 2.h3 in the same manner: 2…Kf5 3.Kg7, with the rest as above.

That leaves only 1…Kf5. This time, if White tries 2.h3, Black now has 2…Kf6, and White makes no progress; for example, 3.Kh7 Kf7 4.Kh8 Kf8. Or, if instead, White moves 2.Kg7, Black follows with 2…g4 3.fxg4+ Kxg4, which also draws.

So 1…Kf5 is the correct move from the starting position, and it was reached with the simple process of elimination as outlined here. While this position is relatively simple (and simpler than all of the other test positions King discusses), nevertheless the same process is followed in each example. King says to eliminate what doesn’t work and what remains is the answer (of course, this assumes that there is indeed a workable move, which in our own games may not always be the case).

Not all positions require intense calculation. Sometimes it’s just a matter of chess judgment. King identifies four cases in which the player should take the time to calculate carefully:

• when there is plenty of piece interaction.
• when a king is under attack (you are attacking or defending).
• when you’re simplifying into an ending.
• when you’re finishing off an endgame.

But again, King stresses the importance of accurate, short calculations. He also advises viewers to practice by working on study positions, which typically “give tactics in a very pure form.” He also suggests blindfold chess to improve one’s visualization abilities.

An interesting moment occurs in the penultimate video segment, titled “Postscript.” King had recorded a number of the earlier segments the previous day, but one position was gnawing at him – one that King felt he failed to analyze properly. Instead of re-recording that segment, he left it as is and gives the corrected analysis in this postscript.

So, if former world champion Vladimir Kramnik can miscalculate and grandmaster Daniel King can err, we shouldn’t feel too ill at ease if we do likewise. But here in Power Play 10: Calculation, King gives us the tools to minimize those occasions.

Click here
for the original review by Steve Goldberg.

Other titles in the Power Play series:

Powerplay 1 - Mating Patterns

Powerplay 2 - Attacking the King

Powerplay 3 - Pawn Storm

Powerplay 4 - Start Right

Powerplay 5 - Pawns

Powerplay 6 - Pawns, Pieces & Plans
Powerplay
7 - Improve your Pieces

Powerplay 8 - Knights and Bishops

Powerplay 9 - Major Pieces vs. Minor Pieces

Chessbase.com

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31.08.2009 – Whenever Sheela Raja Ram looks out of her office window in Gaborone she sees students playing chess during class breaks. This made the Botswana managing director of the Indian technology company NIIT decide to bring over the their spokesperson on a goodwill tour. Vishy Anand received a warm welcome, especially since he is the first World Champion to visit the country.

Andrew Martin: The Scandinavian - The easy way 2nd edition It’s easy-to-learn and easy-to-play. Here is an opening for Black which will furnish good results in the shortest possible time. Which other opening could we be referring to apart from the Scandinavian or Centre-Counter Defence; 1 e4 d5 ! International Master Andrew Martin has written extensively on the Centre-Counter and here he turns his attention to 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qd6!? Playing flat out for the win against 1 e4 is never easy, but here we encounter a variation where Black can do just that! All relevant second and third move alternatives for White are covered too! More information...

World Champion Viswanathan Anand lands in Botswana

Report by Kenneth Boikhutswane

The reigning World Chess Champion, Grandmaster (GM) Viswanathan Anand of India,
touched down last week in Botswana, and was afforded the welcome befitting of
a player of his status. For instance he was allowed to use the VIP lounge of
the Gaborone International Aiport. 

Vishy and Aruna Anand arriving at the VIP lounge of Gaborone International
Airport

“You are most welcome!” The president of Botswana Chess Federation Tshepo Sitale

shakes hands with the champion.

Present to welcome him at the airport where Botswana Chess Federation president
Tshepo Sitale, NIIT
Botswana Managing Director Sheela Raja Ram, Ravindra Nath who is the Acting
Indian High Commissioner in Botswana, Masego Ramakgate of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, as well as chess lovers and members of the press. This visit is a result
of the partnership between NIIT Botswana and BCF and the hope is that Botswana
will in the not so distant future have a similar version of the Mind Champions
Academy which Anand started in India.

Aruna Anand chats with the Managing Director of NIIT Botswana, Sheela
Raja Ram

GM Anand visit to Botswana represents the first time a World Chess Champion
has visited this country, and as such is a historic moment for BCF and Botswana,
as well as the African continent. I have searched, and have not found, any information
about any Champion visiting this vast continent. Therefore, this visit reaffirms
the well-known fact that the current champion is a modest gentleman, who will
do anything possible to promote the game of chess at any opportune moment. While
here Anand is set to engage in two simultaneous displays, one against students
of NIIT, private tertiary institutions, BCF primary school students, as well
as a few invited guests. The second simul, hopefully to prove a little tougher
than the first, will see him take on the cream of Botswana chess in the national
team. Amongst those set to play him are the likes of three times Botswana champion
Phemelo Khetho, the current Botswana champion Providence Oatlhotse, Woman Grandmaster
Tuduetso Sabure, Woman FIDE Master Boikhutso Mudongo, Ignatius Njobvu and Gorata
Leso, who has just come back from Norway, will also be expected to give the
champion a run for his money.

Anand, ambassador for NIIT and the Mind Champions Academy project

A group photo with the World Chess Champion

Straight from the airport, Vishy Anand was whisked off to the Grand Palm Hotel
and International Conference Centre. He did not have much time to rest, as NIIT
had arranged a dinner for him same evening. Recalling how the trip was made
possible, the MD of NIIT Botswana, Raja Ram said it all started “with a one
line email to NIIT India!” According to Sheela evertime she looks out of her
office window she sees plenty of students playing chess during their class breaks,
and this very act by the student reinforced her conviction to bring over the
Champion. Raja Ram also mentioned that she was ”committing, in front of everyone
present, that NIIT and Botswana Chess Federation’s relationship will go a long
way.” A thunderous applause followed that statement.

Anand meeting chess fans outside the airport, with national team player Tshepiso
Lopang on his left. The building on the background is the airport being prepared
for the Football World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

Vishy and Aruna arrive at the dinner hosted for them by NIIT

The BCF team at the dinner – your writer is the man with dreadlocks!

NIIT Botswana MD Sheela Raja Ram addressing guests at the dinner

The moment that everyone one had been waiting for, a speech by the GM Anand,
finally arrived. As the champion walked to the podium, the whole hall stood
up in a massive show of respect for a man whose title is undisputed, following
his tournament and match win, thus ensuring the world has only one champion.

Respect! The whole hall stands up as the champion walks to the podium

I am speaking from the bottom of my heart, the champion seems to be saying in
his address

The hall is packed, and everyone listens attentively to the World Champion

The champion noted that he had always wanted to visit Botswana, and has been
warmly received. In his speech he mentioned that in chess one always has to
come up with a new plan for every game, as what has been played will be studied
by opponents and therefore will be of no use in future. As for his Mind Champions
Academy project, GM Anand noted that “studies showed lower levels of delinquency
in kids taking up the game of chess, and the game also improved academic performance”
and was happy that BCF was planning on a similar initiative.

The Anands with the BCF team that worked hard to make sure his stay is enjoyable

In a rare gesture, the champion went around all the tables in the hall and
shook hands with everyone, an act that left a lasting impression on all those
in attendance.

Booster Galesekegwe (left), whose camera lens brought you
all these pictures. Booster is a freelance photographer who has covered many
international events in Botswana.

Kenneth Boikhutswane, the author of this report, is Botswana Chess Federation
Secretary General, and has written extensively on chess for Mmegi newspaper.

Chessbase.com

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30.08.2009 – 29-year-old Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob spent months preparing for the record attempt, which until then stood at 360 simultaneous games, set earlier this year by Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev. Mahjoob broke it by taking on 500 opponents and scoring 397 wins, 90 draws, 13 loses (= 88.4%). The effort lasted over 18 hours and was closely followed by the Iranian TV. Big illustrated report with videos.

Adrian Mikhalchishin: Arkhangelsk The Ruy Lopez represents one of the oldest and best openings for the first player, and everyone going for the Spanish game with Black faces the question of how he wants to tackle the white ideas. One of the more aggressive fighting methods is the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 b5 6.Bb3 Bb7, which was developed in the early sixties by players from the north Russian town of Archangelsk and has carried this name ever since. More information...

Morteza Mahjoob breaks Guinness Simultaneous Chess World Record

The Guinness World Record for the largest number of simultaneous games played
in a single session was initially set in 1996 Swedish Grandmaster Ulf Anderson,
who took on 310 opponents. This record was broken in 2004 by British IM Andrew
Martin, author of many of our openings
training DVDs. Martin played against 321 opponents, scoring 294 wins, 26
draws and 1 loss for a winning percentage of 95.64%. In August 2005 GM Susan
Polgar played
against 350 players simultaneously at the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida. Finally, in February this year, Bulgarian GM Kiril Georgiev played
a simultaneous
exhibition against 360 opponents.

The latest record attempt by Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob

Recently Iranian GM Morteza Mahjoob, 29, took it on himself to break this record
– actually smash it to little pieces. He planned a simultaneous exhibition
against 500 players, which entailed walking for about 40 kilometers and staying
awake and sharp for up to 24 hours.

The training phase: Morteza Mahjoob preparing for his physical ordeal

The GM had to be ready to walk 40 kilometers and stay awake and fit for 24 hours

The name of the world record attempt was Rokh-dar-rokh 500 (rook vs
rook 500). The opening ceremony began on August 13th at 9:00 a.m., with nearly
700 participants (500 players and 200 reserve players) present. In addition
there were nearly a thousand spectators at the playing venue "Yadegar-e-Emam",
a multi-purpose sport saloon in the "Engelab Sport Complex" in Tehran.

A crowd has collected at 9:00 a.m. in front of the Engelab Sport Complex
in Tehran

Dignitaries: Kiomars Hashemi, Vice President of the Iranian National Sports
Organization; FIDE Vice President Nizar Elhaj (middle), President of
the Iranian Chess Federation Dr. Mohammad Ebarahim Maddahi (right)

The President of the Iranian Chess Federation Dr. Mohammad Ebarahim Maddahi

Iranian soccer star and manager Peyrovani is interviewed at the site

Iranian Taekwondo champion Behzad Khodadad (watch him in action here)

The President of the Iranian National Olympic committee, Mohammad Ali Abadi,
who is also the Iranian vice President, some of his deputies were also at the
location: FIDE Vice President Nizar Elhaj, who came as the official observer
for FIDE, the President of the Iranian Chess Federation Dr. Mohammad Ebarahim
Maddahi and many well-known Iranian sportsmen such as Hadi Saei, three times
Olympic medal winner and recent Olympic Champion in Taekwondo, who is a member
of the Tehran Council. Finally a number of famous actors and movie stars participated
in the ceremony.

Preparing the venue for the mammoth event

Everything is in place, the simultaneous master and his opponents can start
playing

Iranian TV talks to GM Morteza Mahjoob before the start of his record attempt

The GM and Hadi Saei, Olympic medalist in Taekwondo, are interviewed

The games officially started at 10:00 o'clock. The 500 players all were present
at the time on their boards. GM Morteza Mahjoob executed his first five moves
in two hours. The first (and only) break, for lunch, was after the ninth move
at 14:30 to 15:00. After the break all players came back to their boards and
games continued.

GM Morteza Mahjoob starts his simul on board one of five hundred at 10:00
a.m.

An Iranian lady helps her grandson to prepare for his game against the grandmaster

The master moves from board to board, making his first moves in this exhibition

1.Nf3 was one of the opening moves the grandmaster used

The jacket is off for the second round of moves

Just after midnight there were 130 players left. Many of them had no chance
of winning, but they insisted on
playing on. There were some kids and semi-professional teenage players who resisted
for more than 15 hours.
Their parents helped them by massaging them. Some of the players who hung on
for 15 hours needed medical attention. One of Morteza Mahjoob's chess students,
who is six years old, won his game against his teacher. This kid was amongst
the last ten players in the simul.

A very youthful opponent, a student of the Master, won his game in the simul

At 23:30 Morteza had succeeded in achieving 88.42% over 364 boards. The remaining
games continued and finally at 04:12 on August 14, 2009 he finished the last
game.

The final result over 500 boards was: 397 wins, 90 draws, 13 loses, with total
score of 442/500 points and score percentage of 88.4%.

The long cycle time between moves was not just tiring for the master

Even the older players felt the strain

Women's chess is definitely on the rise in Iran

The main sponsor of this event was Candy,
an Italian producer of home appliances. The sponsor covered all organizing expenses
as well as cash prizes for every winner and everybody who could make draw. There
were also some prizes from their products, drawn by lottery, for spectators.

The organizer of the event was the Iran Chess Federation. Chief organizer and
technical director was IO Hadi Karimi, Chief Arbiter was IA Hosseingholi Saloor,
first deputy of chief arbiter was IA Hamid Reza Pourshahmari. Three other Deputy
Arbiters were: IA N. Kananazar, IA F. Eskandary, IA. H. Kazemiashtiyani. Two
FIDE Aribiters and 48 National Arbiters refereed in this event. Near 30 people
helped in the organizing team.

The arbiters and organisers pose for a group photot

The oldest and youngest players were 81 and 4 years old. Many international
and national rated players participated and showed stiff competition. Also three
strong blind Iranian chess players competed all the way until the final hours.

A blind Iranian chess player amongst Mahjoob's simultaneous opponents

Many TV channels and other Media covered the event from beginning to end. The
games had live coverage by IRIB3 (Iranian National broadcasting) for near two
hours in three different segments. All daily newspapers as well as all news
agencies put the event on the front page.

Flowers for the record-breaking GM from football manager Farhad Kazemi

The simultaneous master at the end of his 18-hour ordeal

All photos provided by Mehdi Mahjoob

Videos of the record simul (in Farsi)

Part one

Part two

Part three

Links

• The website of event
• Iran 500 web site of
  Morteza Mahjoob
• Our previous
  background report – also translated into
  Farsi

Chessbase.com

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30.08.2009 – The Editor of Chess
Notes reverts to the curious subject of missed mates, focusing on instances where chess authors have overlooked a mate in one move. There is, for example, the
case of the hapless writer who blundered immediately after mentioning an identical
oversight by someone else. And what about the suggestion that even Alekhine missed a mate in one?

Andrew Martin: The Budapest Gambit Most chess players are naturally talented, but do not have the time to devote to chess theory, such is the pace of modern life. Yet it is human nature to want to do things well and to achieve good results. To make the right choice of opening system is therefore of crucial importance for these players if they want to make the most of what they have. Below master level and especially with Black, the most crucial thing is to strive for the initiative. It is absolutely no good trying to gradually equalize. Leave that to Karpov, Kramnik and the world championship matches, where we can admire the defensive technique from afar. More information...

Chess Explorations (26)

By Edward Winter

Missed mates

In C.N. 6280 Frederick S. Rhine (Park Ridge, IL, USA) drew attention to page
96 of On Top of the Chess World by L. Christiansen, J. Fedorowicz and
I. Gurevich (San Francisco, 1995), where Gurevich annotated the 14th match-game
between Kasparov and Anand:

Anand’s 17...Qc7 received this comment by Gurevich:

‘Black could not do without this move, since 17...f6 18 Nd3 Nb6? is
bad due to 19 Be1! Qb5 19 [sic] Nc5.’

Mr Rhine commented: ‘20...Qxf1 mate would be a strong rejoinder.’

Another recent item, C.N. 6276, remarked that there cannot be many books by
a master in which a move awarded an exclamation mark allows mate in one. From
page 95 of The Fireside Book of Chess by I. Chernev and F. Reinfeld (New
York, 1949):

Concerning the references to ‘the authors’ comment’ and ‘the
analysts’, it should be noted that the eighth edition of the book in question,
Kleines Lehrbuch des Schachspiels, was published in 1910, i.e. some 17
years after Dufresne’s death. The title page stated ‘Kleines
Lehrbuch des Schachspiels. Von Jean Dufresne. Achte verbesserte Auflage.
Herausgegeben von Jacques Mieses’.

Below is the relevant section of page 398, in a note to 8 e3:

In C.N. 6288 Andreas Saremba (Brieselang, Germany) noted that the seventh edition
of the book (1901) had only six pages of variations on the Queen’s Gambit
(as opposed to 13 pages in the eighth edition) and did not even mention the Tarrasch
Defence (3...c5). Moreover, the error in the eighth edition was corrected on
page 397 of the ninth edition, published in 1916, through the interposition
of ...Bb4+ before ...Ne7:

As mentioned in C.N. 6276, the following different amendment appeared on page
397 of the tenth edition, published in 1923:

Jacques Mieses

In C.N. 2117 Richard Forster (Zurich) referred to the position which arose
after White’s 25th move in Réti v Marshall, New York, 1924 (see pages
165-166 of the English-language tournament book, published in 1925):

Play went 25...Nxg3 26 Rhg1, and Alekhine wrote: ‘Or 26 hxg3 Qxg3+ 27
Ke2 Qg2+ 28 Kd3 Rxh1 29 Rxh1 Qxf3+, to be followed by 30...Qxh1, with an easy
win.’ Instead, there is 28...Qc2 mate.

Analysis by Alekhine (position after 28 Kd3)

On page 33 of his 1929 book Schachmethodik Tartakower also ignored the
mate, as did Soltis on page 270 of Frank Marshall, United States Chess Champion
(Jefferson, 1994).

C.N. 2131 remarked that in the original 1925 edition of Alekhine’s tournament
book W.H. Watts gave a nine-page errata supplement which mentioned (on page
vi) 28...Qc2 mate, and when discussing the matter further on pages 283-284 of
Kings, Commoners and Knaves we drew attention to some complications.
Here is the complete game-score as it appeared in the tournament book (English
and German editions):

Richard Réti – Frank James Marshall
New York, 6 April 1924
Queen’s Gambit Declined

1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 d5 3 cxd5 Nxd5 4 d4 Bf5 5 Nc3 e6 6 Qb3 Nc6 7 e4 Nxc3 8 exf5
Nd5 9 Bb5 Bb4+ 10 Bd2 Bxd2+ 11 Nxd2 exf5 12 Bxc6+ bxc6 13 O-O O-O 14 Qa4 Rb8
15 Nb3 Rb6 16 Qxa7 Qg5 17 Qa5 c5

18 Qxc5 Nf4 19 g3 Rh6 20 Qxc7 Ne2+ 21 Kg2 Qg4 22 Rh1 f4 23 f3 Qh3+ 24 Kf2 Rc8
25 Qa5 Nxg3 26 Rhg1 Qxh2+ 27 Rg2 Qh4 28 Rc1 Re8 29 Qb5 Ne4+ 30 Kf1 Qh1+ 31 White resigns.

However, we observed, when Réti annotated the game on pages 259-260 of the
September 1924 Wiener Schachzeitung he gave White’s 18th move as
18 dxc5. If that were correct, Alekhine would have missed no mate later in the
game. Hanon Russell (Milford, CT, USA), who possessed the original score-sheets
of both Réti and Marshall, informed us that they respectively gave White’s
18th move as ‘Dxc5’ and ‘QxP’. A later transcription
error in the German notation would have been easily made (i.e. ‘Dxc5’
becoming ‘dxc5’).

On page 126 of Das New Yorker Schachturnier 1927 (Berlin, 1928) Alekhine
wrote regarding the communication of game-scores by telegraph:

‘But in general more accurate wire information for the foreign press
should be provided during American tournaments. In 1924, for example, a similar
error resulted in a wholly incorrect judgment of Marshall’s win against
Réti.’

Here, a further point in this complex affair may be added. In 1924 Alekhine also annotated the game
in Le Pion (Montreal); see pages 116-117 of the May 1924 issue of La
Stratégie. He gave White’s 18th move as Qxc5, and at move 26 merely
wrote, ‘If 26 hxg3 Qxg3+ 27 Ke2 Qg2+, winning easily’.

Alexander Alekhine

Our final example was pointed out by Frederick S. Rhine in C.N. 6281. It comes
from page 197 of Complete Defense to King Pawn Openings by Eric
Schiller (New York, 1998), in the game Ghinda v W. Watson, Thessaloniki,
1988:

The position after 22 Rxe6:

Schiller observes that Watson’s suggestion 22...Qc5 allows 23 Re8 mate.
So, instead, Schiller recommends 22...Qc7, overlooking that it allows 23 Re8
mate.

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