MARK RUBERY CHESS

The chess world lost prematurely one of its greatest, if somewhat less heralded talents, when Leonid Stein (1934-73) passed away at the age of 39. A slow starter, he was initially a factory worker who attended evening classes to improve his education, all of which left little time for chess; but he nevertheless continued to improve and became a grandmaster in 1962. A three-time champion of the USSR, he was constantly on the brink of becoming a contender for the world championship, yet was always drawing the short straw when FIDE restricted the number of Russians who could compete at the Candidates stage. Stein’s style has been described as romantic and he had an intuitive approach to combinative play. He died of a heart attack just before the Rio de Janeiro Interzonal, which the author Raymond Keene refers to as “The chessplayer’s occupational hazard”, such are the tensions of competing at the highest level. Here we see him destroy three strong grandmasters. Stein,L - Uhlmann,W [C07]

Moscow, 1967 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Be7 11.b3 a6 12.Bb2 0–0 13.Qf3 Qc7 14.Rfe1 b5!? 15.Bd3 Bb7 16.Qh3 g6 17.a4 bxa4 18.Rxa4 Nh5 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6+ Rf7 21.Bc4 Qf4? (21… Bc5 was significantly better as the text allows a

appealing finish) 22.Qxf7+! Qxf7 23.Rxe7 1–0 Gheorghiu,Florin - Stein,Leonid [E20]

Mar del Plata (13), 1965

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bd6 6.e4 c5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.e5?! (Allowing a series

of deft tactics)…cxd4 9.Qxd4 Qe7 10.Bf4 Nc6 11.Bb5 0–0 12.Bxc6 Bc5! 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.Qxd5 Rd8 15.Qe4 bxc6 16.Ne2 Ba6 17.Be3 Rd5 18.f4 Rad8 19.Bxc5 Qxc5 20.b4 Qb6 21.Rf1 Rd2 0–1! (22 Rf2 Rxe2+! 23 Rxe2

Qg1#)

Stein,L - Portisch,L [B42]

Stockholm Interzonal (12) 1962 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0–0 Qc7 7.Nd2 Nc6 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.f4 Bc5+ 10.Kh1 d6 11.Nf3 e5 12.fxe5 dxe5 13.Nh4 0–0 14.Nf5 Be6 15.Qe2 a5 16.Bc4 Kh8 17.Bg5 Nd7 18.Rad1 Nb6 19.Nxg7! Bxc4

“Personally, I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world chess championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility.” – Richard Dawkins