CHESS
The opening of the game is the beginning phase. It is when you are trying to control the centre of the board and get your chess pieces out from their starting positions to more aggressive posts. In his excellent book,
The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings, Ruben Fine’s first rule to bear in mind when starting a game of chess: open with either the e or d pawn – it is these pawns that stake a claim in the centre. Now in the following game we take this sensible advice to almost absurd extremes! Only on move 32 does White finally play e4 to attain the ultimate pawn centre. However, such a rare spectacle was no more than symbolic as the exposure of White’s king decided his fate.
Osieka, Udo (2235) – Schienmann, Bruno (2245) [A28] BL2-SW 8990 Germany, 1990 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4 5.Nd5 Be7 6.d3 0–0 7.Be2 d6 8.Nxe7+ Nxe7 9.0–0 Ng6 10.b3 h6 11.Bb2 Nh7 12.d4 e4 13.Nd2 d5 14.cxd5 Nf6 15.Qc2 Bf5 16.Ba3 Re8 17.Bb5 Bd7 18.Bc4 Rc8 19.Rae1 a6 20.f3 b5 21.fxe4 bxc4 22.bxc4 Nh7 23.e5 Qg5 24.Ne4 Qh5 25.Nc5 Bg4 26.Nxa6 Ng5 27.Bc1 Nh4 28.Kh1 Ra8 29.Nxc7 Ngf3 30.Nxa8 Nxh2 31.Kg1 Rxa8 32.e4 (Novices are always instructed to the virtues of 1.e4 as, among other things, it controls the centre…)
SEE DIAGRAM …N2f3+! 33.Rxf3 Nxf3+ 34.gxf3 Bxf3 35.Qh2 Qg4+ 36.Kf1 Bxe4 37.a3 Bd3+ 38.Kf2 Qxd4+ 39.Be3 Qxc4 40.d6 Rxa3 41.Qg3 Bf5 42.Qf4 Ra2+ 43.Kg1 Qc2 44.Qf2 Qc3 45.Bd4 Qb4 46.Qe3 Rd2 47.Rf1 Bh3 48.Rf2 “We played two rapid games. It was in 1991, the year before he died. Of course, at that time, Mikhail Nekhemyevich was not the man he had once been, but such was his unique charm that I fell under his spell even in such a short acquaintance. Tal was an exceptionally well-rounded chess player. The usual picture of him, as constantly playing adventurously, always sacrificing pieces, does not do justice to the real genius of the man. A few years ago, I looked through a collection of his best games, and realised that he played a great many games in really excellent positional style. In his youth, yes, he used to create these combinational tornadoes on the board, but in his later years, he simply outplayed his opponents by virtue of his deeper understanding. It is wonderful that the Russian Chess Federation runs a tournament in his honour. Tal is probably the most colourful of all the world champions.” – Vladimir Kramnik