Going to the game’s wild side
One of the wild men of chess is Iranian- born International Master Kamran Shirazi. After moving to the U. S. in the 1970s, he quickly gained a reputation for combining strange play with success. Despite violating many of the commonly accepted principals of proper play, he won event after event. For instance, he placed first in both the World Open and the National Open. In the 1980s, he took ( or tied for) first in the Southern California Open State Championship six times without losing even once in the 36 games he contested.
One of Shirazi’s greatest individual victories was over SuperGrandmaster Bent Larsen of Norway, a true Candidate for the World title. The game, included with this column, displays his complete disregard of his famous foe’s reputation. As early as move two (... h5), he starts a pure “coffee- house” attack, one usually played only by nonserious players in nonserious games. On move 3 (... d5) he jettisons a pawn. On move five (... Ng4), he moves his only developed piece for a second time. Psychologically, such moves can be viewed as offensive, which is a kind of emotional attack. About to teach his opponent a lesson by aiming for a quick kingside breakthrough, Larsen played a tactical blunder ( 19. Rdh1?). Alert to the opportunity, Shirazi combined ( 19... Nxf2! Take the knight; lose the queen) leading to a series of captures and pins [ moves 20- 30]. Transposing to an opposite- colored bishop’s endgame, he combined again to create two sets of passed pawns to force resignation (... 30- 45).
Just last year, the world of chess suffered the loss of Chicago International Master Emory Tate. Like Shirazi, he had his own highly unique and somewhat suspect ways of doing things. Impassioned with attacking, he routinely threw caution to the winds to take after the enemy. Also, like Shirazi, he had many noteworthy successes, defeating dozens of Grandmasters and winning the U. S. Armed Forces Chess Championship five times.
It would not be a big surprise to see Tate’s queen out early in a game. Take a look at this quick victory from the 1998 Washington Eastern Open: [ Tate, Emory-Kriventsov, Stanislav] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. f4 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 7. Qf3 Qc7 8. Qg3 Qxc2 9. Be2 [ 9. Qxg7?? Bf2 mate] 9... Bd4 10. Na3 [ 10. Nxd4 Qxc1+ 11. Kf2 Qxh1 12. Qxg7 Qxh2 13. Qxh8 Qxf4+ 14. Nf3=] 10... Qxe4? 11. Nc4 [ Knight fork on d6 is threatened.] 11... Ke7 12. Nxd4 Qxd4 13. Be3 Qf6 14. Bc5+ d6 [ 14... Kd8 15. Nd6 Nc6 16. Qa3 Qh4+ 17. g3 Qh3 18. Bb6+ Ke7 19. Nf5+ Kf6 20. Bd8+ Kxf5 21. Qd3 mate] 15. Nxd6 Kd8 16.0– 0– 0 Nd7 17. Bd4 e5 18. Bxe5 Nxe5 19. Ne4+ Nd7 20. Nxf6 Ngxf6 21. Qxg7 Re8 22. Qxf6+. Black resigned.
While our own U. S. Champion Hikaru Nakamura has mellowed a bit on his way to the top, his games can still be mind- bendingly original when the spirit moves him. Many may recall that his audacity as a youth was almost unbounded. He is well remembered particularly for playing his queen out on move two against a GM. That is usually done as part of the four- move checkmate, a seeming insult.
Game of the week Bent Larsen- Kamran Shirazi New York Open New York, 1986
1. c4 e5 2. g3 h5 3. h4 d5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nf3 Ng4 6. Nc3 Bc5 7. e3 0– 0 8. Bg2 c6 9. Ng5 Be7 10. d4 Bxg5 11. hxg5 Qxg5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Qd4 Qf5 14. e4 Re8 15. Bf4 Nd7 16.0– 0– 0 Qg6 17. Rh4 c5 18. Qd2 Nde5 19. Rdh1 Nxf2 20. Bxe5 Nxh1 21. Bc7 Nxg3 22. Kc2 Nxe4 23. Nxe4 Bf5 24. Qe2 Rxe4 25. Bxe4 Re8 26. Qxh5 Bxe4+ 27. Kb3 Qxh5 28. Rxh5 g6 29. Rg5 f6 30. d6 fxg5 31. d7 Bd5+ 32. Kc3 Rf8 33. a3 g4 34. d8Q Rxd8 35. Bxd8 g3 36. Bh4 g2 37. Bf2 b6 38. Kd3 Kf7 39. Bg1 a5 40. Bh2 Ke6 41. Ke3 a4 42. Kf2 b5 43. Ke3 b4 44. Bg1 c4 45. Kd2 c3+ 0– 1
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