MARK RUBERY CHESS
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN SEE DIAGRAM When Garry Kasparov gave a discussion and book signing for his book ‘My Great Predecessors- Part One’, the initial part of his grand treatise on the Royal Game, he took questions from the audience such as the following: Q: I’m a psychoanalyst. What are the most important characteristics to become a champion chessplayer? Kasparov: ‘That’s an excellent question. Psychology is an important part of the book, which isn’t only about world champions but about those others who had made massive contributions to chess, but who fell short. And when reading about those other players you can see they often fell just an inch short. In certain cases they had more impact on chess and its development than those who did become champions. To reach the title you have to be exceptional and you have to look at psychology. It’s not just about finding the best move, about moving the chess pieces, but about being able to show your best qualities at the right moment. That’s why psychology played a very important role in the history of classical chess. I would say that most of the key matches were decided by the psychological hype. One could resist the pressure and the other could not.’ The Danish GM, Bent Larsen, was a great player who did not quite reach the very top of the chess world. Here we see him demolish Petrosian, who at that time held the title of World Champion. Larsen,Bent - Petrosian,Tigran V [B39] Piatigorsky-Cup 2nd Santa Monica (7)1966 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Be3 Bg7 6.c4 Nf6 7.Nc3 Ng4 8.Qxg4 Nxd4 9.Qd1 Ne6 10.Qd2 d6 11.Be2 Bd7 12.0–0 0–0 13.Rad1 Bc6 14.Nd5 Re8 15.f4 Nc7? (15…Nc5 16 e5 Nd7 17 Nb4! Qc7 is playable for Black) 16.f5 Na6 17.Bg4 Nc5 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.Qf2 Rf8 20.e5! (No machine would play this!-Kasparov) …Bxe5 21.Qh4 Bxd5 22.Rxd5 Ne6 23.Rf3 Bf6? (23…f5 24 Rh3 Ng7! allows Black to resist. Now Larsen is able to conclude in style) 24.Qh6 Bg7 25.Qxg6!! Nf4 (25…fxg6 26 Bxe6+ Kh7 27 Rh3+ Bh6 28 Bxh6 Rf5 29 Rxf5 gxf5 30 Bf7 wins) 26.Rxf4 fxg6 27.Be6+ Rf7 28.Rxf7 Kh8 29.Rg5 b5 30.Rg3 1–0 You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas. – Stanley Kubrick (Director of ‘2001 a Space Odyssey’