MARK RUBERY CHESS
During the 1983 Candidates Match between Vasily Smyslov and Robert Huebner held in Velden Germany, the players were deadlocked after ten games and also a further four tie-break games. It was then that the fate of the match was to be decided, quite remarkably, through the spin of the roulette wheel at a local casino. The former world champion Smyslov, a deeply religious man, gave the following insight to what then followed:
‘My own experience shows that Devil fights God in chess as in real life, and the field of the battle is not the chessboard but in people’s hearts. I realized this after my match against Huebner that ended in a draw. Lots were cast for the winner, in a casino. It was the first time I had the feeling that I could not influence my own fate. Roulette was to decide the outcome and a golden ball was used to avoid magnetism. If the ball landed on a red number I would be the winner. A black number would give victory to Huebner. The ball was thrown and it fell on the “zero”, as in Dostoevsky. There was no winner. The ball was thrown again and this time it landed on the red number “three” (the first number of Pushkin’s famous three cards: three, seven, ace). I won the match in this way. Later it dawned on me that God had been fighting Satan in the casino and they had made a draw the first time. But, eventually, God won and sentenced Huebner to defeat. As far as I know there were good reasons: Huebner’s behaviour was incorrect during the match.’
Perhaps part of the German grandmaster’s incorrect behaviour was the lack of courtesy he showed the black queen in one of the two decisive games in the match… Huebner,Robert (2625) - Smyslov,Vassily (2595) [A25] Candidates qf3 Velden (9), 1983 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.Nc3 d6 5.e3 Bg4 6.Nge2 Qd7 7.h3 Be6 8.Nd5 Bxd5 9.cxd5 Nb4 10.Qb3 c5 11.a3 Na6 12.0–0 g6 13.d4 exd4 14.exd4 Bg7 15.Qe3+ Kf8 16.Qf3 h6 17.Be3 c4 18.Rfc1 Rc8 19.Nf4 Kg8 20.Bf1 b5 21.a4 bxa4 22.Bxc4 Nc7 23.Bd3 Rb8 24.Rc2 Kh7 25.h4 h5 26.Rac1 Rhc8 27.Nxh5 Ncxd5 28.Nxf6+ Nxf6 29.h5 Rxc2 30.hxg6+ fxg6 31.Bxc2 Qh3 32.d5 Rf8 33.Bd1 Nd7 34.Qe4 Nf6 35.Qxa4 Nxd5? (Black is going down but the text greatly speeds up the process) 36.Bg4
‘If l play badly I have the feeling that I have no right to exist, that everybody should despise me, because I am such a bungler. Of course that is a largely exaggerated feeling. Intellectually I can see that, but emotionally I cannot really stop this. It’s better now, mainly because I have grown used to it.’ (Robert Huebner)