MARK RUBERY CHESS
Computer databases storing many hundreds of thousands of games enable one to see if specific a position has ever occurred before. The following position, for example, has appeared numerous times and has on more than one occasion been misplayed. Such doubles can also be a useful indicator of chess strength at a time when no rating system existed.
In this very position Black has feared entering a king and pawn ending, only to be ground down it was is objectively still a drawn position. The correct procedure was shown over a century ago at one of the most famous tournaments of all time. Von Bardeleben is mostly known for being on the wrong side of a dazzling combination by Steinitz. Here, however, he shows that he possesses acute positional judgement.
Albin,A - Von Bardeleben,C Hastings, 1895
73... Rxd3! (With careful play White’s extra pawn is shown to have no real value) 74.Kxd3 Kf7 75.Kd4 Ke6 76.e5 fxe5+ 77.Ke4 Kf6 78.Kd5 Kf7 79.Kxe5 Ke7 80.Kd5 Kd7 0,5-0,5
Two strong juniors who were soon to become grandmasters gave the position a more thorough examination before reaching the same result.
Gavrikov,V (2485) - Vyzmanavin,A (2460)
URS-chYM Jurmala, 1983
47 .... Rxd3 48.Kxd3 Kf7 49.Kd4 Ke6 50.e5 fxe5+ 51.Ke4 Kf6 52.Kd5 Kf7 53.Kxe5 Ke7 54.Kd5 Kd7 55.Kc4 Ke6 56.Kd4 Kd6 57.f4 gxf4 58.g5 Ke6 59.g6 Kf6 60.Ke4 f3 61.Kxf3 Kg7 62.Ke4 Kf6 63.Kd5 Kg7 64.Ke6 Kg8 65.Kf6 Kf8 66.g7+ Kg8 67.Kg6 0,5-0,5
‘One master on whose presence at the Café Bauer I could unfailingly count any evening was Kurt von Bardeleben. He was an easy-going person in his fifties. When he had any money at all you could tell it by the bottle of Bordeaux on the table; he sipped it one glass after another in the leisurely manner of a connoisseur. He always wore a black-cut suit of dubious vintage. Apparently he could never spare enough money to buy a new suit although I learned one day that at fairly regular intervals he received comparatively large sums through the simple expedient of marrying and shortly after divorcing some lady who craved the distinction of his noble name and was willing to pay for it.’ (Edward Lasker)