MARK RUBERY CHESS

Very late one evening some 13 years ago I logged on to the Internet Chess Club (icc.com) and typed the number 5 which puts one into a pool of players wishing to play a five minute chess game. The difference from the normal method of playing is that you do not get to choose your opponent but are instead automatically paired with somebody close (usually that is) to your rating. Thus the five minute ratings are normally lower than other ratings as you cannot select someone who is either overrated, tired, inebriated etc and continually pummel them for points. On the bright side you will get far more games against titled opponents who might otherwise deem one an unworthy opponent. Thus I was a little surprised/ stunned to be paired against the most exciting talent to emerge from America in years, GM Hikaru Nakamura, who plays under the handle Smallville and is the most feared bullet (1-minute) player on the net.

Smallville (2809) - Dogstar (2367) [B53]

ICC 5 0 Internet Chess Club 2006

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Qd7 (A lesser played alternative to 5…Bd7) 6.Qd3 a6 7.Ba4 e6 8.c4?! Nf6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Bf4 0–0 11.Rd1 Rd8 12.0–0 Qc7 13.Qe2 Ne5 14.Bb3 b6 15.Nd4 Bb7 16.Bg5 Rac8 17.f4 (Having misplayed the opening White goes for broke)… Nxc4 18.f5 e5 19.Nf3 Nxb2 (Things were starting to look rosy at this stage-ofcourse Nakamura was playing at break-neck speed and obviously had not taken his much lower rated adversary very seriously…) 20.Rc1 Nc4 21.Kh1 b5 22.a4 Qa5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Bxf6 Bxf6 25.g4 (A final roll of the dice. At this stage the game was being observed by 119 players from around the world-a chessplayer’s vanity is exposed in that I wasted valuable seconds to confirm this fact!)… b4 26.Bxc4 bxc3 27.g5 Be7 28.g6! d5! 29.gxf7+ Kxf7 30.Nxe5+ Kg8 31.f6 Bxf6 32.Rxf6 dxc4

(32…gxf6? 33 Qg4+ Kf8 34 Qe6 forces mate) 33.Rf5 Re8 34.Rf7 Qxe5 (34...Rc7! clinches matters although the move played should still suffice) 35.Rxb7 Rcd8 (Why I did not play 35…Qxe4+ escapes me) 36.Qxc4+ Kh8 37.Rb5 Qf4 38.Rf1 Qxe4+ (38…Rd1! was the last chance now the game drifts towards a draw) 39.Qxe4 Rxe4 40.Rd5 Rde8 41.Rc5 Re1 42.Rxe1 Rxe1+ 43.Kg2 Re2+ 44.Kf3 Re8 45.Rxc3 h6 (Now I offered a draw which was refused) 46.Kg3 Kh7 47.Ra3 Re7 48.Rb3 Rf7 49.Ra3 Re7 50.Rc3 Rf7 51.Rd3 Re7 52.Rf3 Rd7 53.Re3 Rf7 54.Rc3 g5 (White was still not interested in a draw so I decided to eliminate the pawns) 55.Rb3 Kg6 56.Ra3 Rf6 57.Rb3 h5 58.Ra3 Rc6 59.h3 Rf6 60.Rb3 g4 61.hxg4 hxg4 62.Kxg4 Re6 (Now with just a rook each remaining my draw offer was again declined- however, the time positions were White 2 min and Black 30 sec. Thus…) 1-0 move 88

After the game I was assailed with messages from various observers who thought Nakamura’s continuing the game for time’s sake reflected badly on him. From my perspective I understood his need not to lose a heap of rating points-and in return I had no qualms in publishing the game…

Our game is just too difficult for ordinary intelligent people. – Jan Hein Donner