The bad and the good
In the Nov. 17, 2017 issue of The Wall
Street Journal there is this thing about a chess novice challenging Magnus Carlsen. The novice is speed learner Max Deutsch who had one month to train.
To quote: “The unlikely series of events that brought him to this stage began last year, when Max challenged himself to a series of monthly tasks that were ambitious bordering on absurd. He memorized the order of a shuffled deck of cards. He sketched an eerily accurate self-portrait. He solved a Rubik’s Cube in 17 seconds. He developed perfect musical pitch and landed a standing back-flip. He studied enough Hebrew to discuss the future of technology for a half-hour.”
The article highlighted Max’s ability to learn quickly and how he decided to test himself by coming up with a list of goals he believed he could achieve within a month.
November 2016: Memorize the order of a deck of cards in less than two minutes
December 2016: Draw a realistic selfportrait
January 2017: Solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 20 seconds February 2017: Land a standing backflip March 2017: Play a 5-minute improvisational blues guitar solo
April 2017: Hold a 30-minute conversation in Hebrew on the future of tech May 2017: Build a self-driving car June 2017: Develop perfect pitch — identify 20 random musical notes in a row
July 2017: Finish a Saturday NYT crossword puzzle in one sitting
August 2017: Complete one continuous set of 40 pull-ups
September 2017: Continuously freestyle rap for 3 minutes
October 2017: Defeat world champion Magnus Carlsen at a game of chess
Solving the Rubik’s Cube? Learning Hebrew? Freestyle rap for three minutes? How can you compare that with beating the world chess champion? People spend years trying to get good, and Max intends to do it in 30 days?
When the got wind of this they invited Magnus to take up the challenge, and he did. Last Nov. 9 Magnus made a trip to Hamburg to play Max, and here is their game.
Deutsch, Max — Carlsen, Magnus [C60] Exhibition Game Hamburg (18), 09.11.2017 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nge7 4.0–0 g6 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Be3 0–0 8.Nc3
According to the Wall Street Journal, “After 8 moves, using his own limited chess ability, the unthinkable was occurring. Max was winning.” Do I have to tell BW readers what I think about this comment?
The article also says that at this point Magnus’ head of communications Arne Horvei commented that “It’s lasting much longer than I expected.” We are on the 8th move — lasting longer than expected is not a compliment. 8... d6 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Ne5 11.Re1 Ng4
A tricky move. White should play 12. c3 now or risk losing the pawn on b2, for example: 12.h3 Nxe3 13.Rxe3 c6 14.Bf1 (14.dxc6 is even worse, as it loses a piece to 14...Qb6) 14... c5 15.Nb5 Bxb2. 12.Qf3?
White is completely oblivious to the threat. 12...Qh4 13.h3?
[13.Qg3] 13...Nxe3 14.Qxe3? Blunders a piece.
14...Bxd4 15.Qd2 Bxb2 16.Rab1 Be5 17.Rb4 Qf6 18.Bd3?
Blunders some more material. From this point on I will stop commenting, as blunder follows blunder.
18...Bc3 19.Qf4 Qxf4 20.Rxf4 Bxe1 21. c4 Bb4 22. g4 Bd7 23. Kg2 Rfe8 24.h4 Bd2 25.Rd4 c5 26.Re4 Rxe4 27.Bxe4 Bxg4 28.Kg3 Be2 29.f3 Bxc4 30.Kg4 f5+ 31.Bxf5 h5+ 32.Kg3 gxf5 33.Kf2 Bf4 34.Ke1 Re8+ 35.Kf2 Re2+ 36.Kf1 Rxa2+ 37.Ke1 Be3 38.Kd1 Bd3 39.Ke1 Ra1# 0–1
Well, there goes another guy who thinks that chess is a simple game where 30 days’ concentrated study will be enough to become a strong player. I estimate his current strength at 1200 — exactly what we expected.
You know, we chessplayers have had to endure a lot of abuse from our classmates/ officemates. In school when they say “this guy is in the chess team” they mean “this guy is a nerd/geek.” In the office when they say “back in high school/college this guy was in the chess team” they would all snicker, because most people interpret that to mean that back then no girl would go out with you.
Being known as a chessplayer also has its good sides. It means that you use your brains a lot and oftentimes people assume that you are intelligent. There are exceptions like Manny Pacquiao, who pound-for-pound the best boxer notwithstanding is also a strong chessplayer. As a general rule though a lot of theser physical-type athletes like to make it known that they play chess because that would imply they have both brawns and brains at the same time.
Remember the tennis champion Boris Becker? Winner of six major singles titles, five year-end championships, 13 Masters Series titles, and an Olympic gold medal in doubles. He claimed that he was an avid chessplayer and challenged Garry Kasparov to a game. CNN sponsored this exhibition and here is how the game went: Becker, Boris — Kasparov, Garry
[C20] New York CNN exh New York, NY
USA, 2000 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Qf3 Nd4 4.Qc3 Nf6 5.f3 g6 6.Ne2 c5 7.Nxd4 cxd4 8.Qb3 Bg7 9.Bc4 0–0 10.c3 d5! 11.Be2
What happens if Becker takes the pawn? Well:
11.exd5 e4 12.0–0 exf3 13.Rxf3 Ng4 14.h3 Ne5 15.Rf2 Bxh3! Black’s attack is winning;
11. Bxd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd5 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qh3 White is a pawn up but king safety is a big concern.
11... d3 12. Bxd3 dxe4 13. Bxe4 Nxe4 14.fxe4 Qh4+ 15.Kd1 Qxe4 16.Re1 Bg4+ 17.Re2 Qxe2+ 18.Kc2 0–1
The world has been laughing at chessplayers for a very long time now, and only once and a while do we get a chance to laugh back. We chessplayers have the consolation of reading through articles like the one I just showed you in The Wall Street Journal, or go through Boom Boom Becker’s chessboard adventures, and we can smile to ourselves and mutter “absolute nonsense! Maybe they thought they were playing checkers.”
Having shown you some awful games, let us offset that by featuring a wonderful brilliancy from the Chinese League. GM Ding Liren who will be playing in the candidates’ tournament in March 2018, won a great game against 18-year-old GM Bai Jinshi, out of China’s bright new prospects. Bai, Jinshi (2553) — Ding, Liren (2774) [E21] TCh-CHN 2017 China CHN (18.4), 04.11.2017 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0–0 5.Bg5 c5
Black’s king has already castled while its counterpart is still several moves away from it, so moves like this, trying to open up the center, are completely justified. 6.e3
David Navara, annotating a game which started out in a similar way, remarked that 6.d5 might lead to a Benonilike type of pawn structure with mutual chances and no connection to the true Benoni. 6...cxd4 7.Qxd4!?
A rare move. Usual is 7.exd4 where Black can play 7...d5, 7...h6, or even go into obscure complications with 7...Qa5. 7...Nc6 8.Qd3 h6 9.Bh4 d5 10.Rd1 g5 11.Bg3 Ne4
Very tricky, with ...Qa5 as a follow-up. White cannot take the d5–pawn because of 12.cxd5 exd5 13.Qxd5 Nxc3. 12.Nd2 Nc5 13.Qc2 d4! 14.Nf3
[14.exd4 Nxd4 15.Qb1 e5 16.Bd3 f5 White’s king position is looking dangerous] 14...e5 15.Nxe5 <D>
POSITION AFTER 14.NF3
Ding can play here 15...Qa5, but could not resist the following queen sacrifice.
15...dxc3!? 16.Rxd8 cxb2+ 17.Ke2? The best move here is 17. Rd2, but quite possibly White avoided it because he thought that 17.Rd2 Rd8 18.Nf3 g4 is losing. Actually, 19.Qxb2 gxf3 20.Qxb4! Nxb4 21.Rxd8+ wins for White.
It looks like Black’s best continuation after 17.Rd2 is 17...Rd8 18.Nf3 Bg4! when the game is equal after 19. Qxb2 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Rxd2 21.Qxd2 Bxd2+ 22.Kxd2] 17... Rxd8 18. Qxb2 Na4 19. Qc2 Nc3+ 20.Kf3
How does Black continue the attack?
20...Rd4!!
With the idea of 21... g4+ 22. Nxg4 Bxg4 mate.
21.h3 h5 22.Bh2 g4+ 23.Kg3 Rd2! 24.Qb3
[24.Qxd2 Ne4+]
24...Ne4+ 25.Kh4
[25.Kf4 Rxf2+ 26.Nf3 (26.Kxe4 Bf5+ 27.Kd5 Rd8+ and mate) 26...gxf3 27.gxf3 Nd2 attacking b3 and f3] 25...Be7+ 26.Kxh5 Kg7 27.Bf4 Bf5 28.Bh6+ Kh7 29.Qxb7 Rxf2
Intending Ng3 checkmate.
30. Bg5 Rh8! 31. Nxf7 Bg6+ 32.Kxg4 Ne5+ 0–1
The finish will be 32...Ne5+ 33.Nxe5 Bf5+ 34.Kh5 Kg7+ 35.Bh6+ Rxh6#
Many years ago, one of my accounting students in UST confessed that the reason he took up accounting was in order to be able to read through the business pages of the leading dailies. Most people he knew only read the sports section and the front page.
Well, only knowledgeable chessplayers will be able to understand and appreciate the beauty of the game I just showed you. And people like Max Deutsch or Boris Becker or too many others in the world will never see why “only a game” can give us so much enjoyment. Remember what Tarrasch said? Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.