MARK RUBERY CHESS
The following letter was printed in what is undoubtedly the world’s best chess magazine ‘New in Chess’, and highlights the treacherous route the game is following in order to make it more ‘consumer friendly’. ‘After the last games in the Bilbao Grand Slam had been finished, I leaned back in my chair in front of the computer and wondered: Which of the games from this super tournament are we going to remember in five years time? My own answer is: none. Not even Topalov’s impressive ending against Ivanchuk will endure for long in the memory. So we had a tournament with six of the world’s top ten players, so much money, so much organisational effort and skill, and no great and memorable games. How is that possible? The answer is obvious-there is not enough time. 1,5 hours for 40 moves and 1 hour for the rest of the game is simply not enough time to create a great game. Once players had 2,5 hours for 40 moves. The time control in Bilbao favours extreme opening preparation, it favours workmanlike chess, it favours fast and good chess, but it does not favour great games and it certainly does not favour long games. If chess is also supposed to be a form of art, should we not give the artists time to create art? And should the artists themselves demand the time necessary?-Dan Andersen, Copenhagen Denmark The following complex game would unlikely have been produced had the faster time controls mentioned above been implemented. Ljubojevic,Ljubomir (2620) - Andersson,Ulf (2585) [B85] Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (3), 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 a6 7.0–0 Nf6 8.Be3 Be7 9.f4 d6 10.Qe1 0–0 11.Qg3 Bd7 12.e5!? (‘My first reaction when I played over this game was that if this is good Black can’t play the Sicilian anymore. Fortunately the game of chess has not reached that point.’-Timman) dxe5 13.fxe5 Nxe5 14.Bf4 Bd6 15.Rad1 Qb8 16.Rd3 Ne8 17.Ne4 Bc7 18.Rc3 Nc6! (‘Andersson, like no other player, knows which pieces to retreat’-Timman) 19.Bxc7 Nxd4 20.Bd3 Qa7 21.Nc5 Bb5 22.Be5
Nc6 23.Bxh7+! (‘I do not see Ljubojevic as a deep strategist but what makes his play so successful and difficult to counter is that it consists of a series of very deep tricks, sometimes 20 move long!-Keene)… Kxh7 “In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” – Charles Buxton
24.Rf4?! (A brave but flawed continuation. White declined a spectacular draw that was on offer after 24 Bxg7 Nxg7 25 Qxg7+ Kxg7 26 Rg3 + with a perpetual check)… f6? (Our silicon friends show the attack can be refuted via 24...f5! 25.Rh4+ Kg8 26.Qg6 Nxe5 27.Qxe6+ Rf7 28.Qxe5 Rd8 29.Rch3 Re7!! 30.Qxe7 Rd1+ 31.Kf2 Rf1+ 32 Kg3 Qb8+. A continuation that eluded the many analysts of the time) 25.Rh4+ Kg8 26.Qh3 Nd8 27.Bd4 b6 28.Nxe6 Nxe6 29.Qxe6+ Qf7 30.Qe4 g5? (30…Qxa2) 31.Rh6 Ra7 32.Rch3 Qg7 33.Rg6 Rff7 34.c4 1–0