MARK RUBERY CHESS

The late English GM, Tony Miles (1955-2001), always had an offbeat attitude to the opening of a game-his famous win against Karpov (1 e4 a6!?) bears testament to that. In the mid-90s Miles began to investigate the merits of developing the knight to a6. His first outing with this idea was as Black against a Russian grandmaster, and although the result was not positive (the opening was not to blame) the psychological element should not be underestimated.

Gufeld,Eduard (2445) - Miles,Anthony J (2630) [B12]

Tan Cup Beijing (4), 1996

1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6!? 3.Nf3 (3 Bxa6 Qa5+ 4 Nc3 Qxa6 5 Nge2 is now regarded as the sternest test of this line)… g6 4.c4 (4 Nc3 Nc7 5 Bf4 d6 6 Qd2 Bg4 led to a victory for Black in the fairly high profile encounter Kogan-Ipatov, Spain 2010)…d6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be2 Nc7 7.0–0 Nh6 8.d5 0–0 9.Bf4 f5 10.Qd2 Nf7 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.Rad1 e5 13.dxe6 Nxe6 14.Be3 Qe7 15.Rfe1 Rae8 16.h3 h5 17.Bd3 Qf6 (Miles’ experiment can be deemed a success as Black is no worse here) 18.Bxf5 gxf5 19.Bxa7 Kh7 20.h4 Qg6 21.Be3 Qg4 22.Ng5+ Nexg5 23.Bxg5 Qxc4?! (23…Ne5!) 24.Qc2 Kg6 25.Be7 Rh8 26.Rd3 Kh7 27.b3 Qc5 28.Rf3 Nh6 29.Re6 Bxc3 30.Rxc3 Qa5 31.Qd2 Nf7 32.b4 Qc7 33.Qe2 Nh6 34.Qxh5 Kg8 35.Rg3+ 1–0

The following that unfolded, considering the result and difference in rating, seems a tad excessive…

‘At breakfast the next morning Gufeld spent fully two hours yelling at me “I hate you, my friend”. (Honestly!!) “You are destroying chess with your stupid ideas!”

You may think that I exaggerate, but there were several witnesses!

You may also wonder at my sanity for listening, which I would understand, but frankly I was so shocked I just sat transfixed. Gufeld has not spoken a civil word to me since, and at our only subsequent encounter even the customary handshake was missing. Such a reaction is surely testament to the openings surprise value...’-Tony Miles