MARK RUBERY CHESS
Some time ago the Romanian player, Alexandru Crisan, was stripped of both his grandmaster and international master titles . After an investigation FIDE was satisfied that there was compelling evidence that his rating and titles were fraudulently obtained. Crisan catapulted into the top 40 players in the world in 2001 while having played no known games outside his country and only a few inside Romania. FIDE went on to state that the tournaments and matches in question were not conducted in a lawful way. They concluded that Crisan has fixed matches for his own benefit and had falsified tournament reports. It is almost impossible that he had become his country’s highest rated player along achieving a place among the World’s highest rated players, when he had played only a few chess games the last decade against the top players in the country. He had not participated in the top group of the National Championship nor had he has not represented his federation in any Chess Olympiad. It was somewhat suspicious that the results submitted for rating came from private tournaments and matches organized by Mr. Crisan himself. FIDE brought in GM Azmaiparashvili to analyse the games and give his assessment of Crisan’s play:- “It is clear that he does not deserve the rating of 2600, or 2500, or even 2400. For me, if I am asked how Mr. Crisan reached his rating of 2600, it is clear to me that it was done in an illegal way.” Crisan’s baptism of fire came at the Vidmar Memorial soon after where he scored 0,5/9. Crisan was later arrested and imprisoned on fraud charges relating to his management of the company Urex Rovinari and disappeared from chess. FIDE did not fully update its online information until August 2015, when all his titles were removed and his rating adjusted downwards to 2132.
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN SEE DIAGRAM
1 Bb1!! 1-0 as Black cannot avoid the loss of his queen after 2 Bb2 (NezhmetdinovKonstantinov, 1936) The en passant rule dates from the 15th century, although it has been universally accepted only since 1880. Its purpose was to prevent players using the relatively recent law (of allowing a pawn move two squares initially) in order to evade capture by a pawn. The expression, en passant, when used in a general sense, appears to derive from normal French usage, although it may be surmised that familiarity with its chess connotation may have induced writers to choose it when English alternatives would be equally apt. (Oxford Companion)