MARK RUBERY CHESS
The following extract is from a remarkable story found in Tim Krabbe’s article, “Migrating to the south” and features an astonishing game between one of South Africa’s finest players, Wolfgang Heidenfeld, and the enigmatic Dutch player, C Roele. ‘Roele was born around 1918 and from the latest pre-war years until 1955, he was one of the prominent players in Amsterdam. Misbehaving in the war, he played under a pseudonym for some years afterwards to evade purging. In that period he gave up his job as an office clerk to pursue his real calling which was that of a tramp. During the day, he played for stakes in the Amsterdam chess café, and when his acquaintances arrived home late in the evening, they sometimes found Roele waiting on their doorstep, dying with hunger, and hoping for a place on a mat where he might sleep. Around 1960, he disappeared without a trace. A rumour has it that he befriended a band of gypsies, and followed them to southern France to partake in their election for a new king, and that he stayed with them. But most of his old chess friends I was able to contact believe he went to Paris to live the life of a down-and-out under the bridges, and that he froze to death there one winter. The following game was played in a small training match in Utrecht.’
Heidenfeld, Wolfgang - Roele,CH [C29]
Match Heidenfeld - Roele Utrecht (4) 1954
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.d3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Be7 7.Nf3 0–0 8.Be2 c5 9.d4 Nc6 10.0–0 f6 11.Bf4 g5 12.exf6 gxf4 13.fxe7 Qxe7 14.Bd3 c4 15.Re1 Qa3 16.Bxh7+ (The beginning of an amazing king-hunt)…Kxh7 17.Ng5+ Kg6 18.Ne6 Bxe6 (18 …f3! 19 Nxf8+ Qxf8 is equal if unbalanced) 19.Rxe6+ Kf5 20.Rh6 Qxc3 21.Qh5+ Ke4 22.Rd1 Rae8 23.Qg6+ Ke3 24.Rh3+ (Missing the ‘studylike’ 24 Kf1 when Rh3+ would be immediately decisive. Instead White is seduced by the winning of the queen)… f3 25.Rxf3+ Ke2 (25… Rxf3 26 Qxe8+) 26.Rxc3 Kxd1 27.h4 Nxd4 28.Kh2 Ne2 29.Rf3 d4! (Now the position of the Black king is secure and only he has winning chances) 30.h5 Rxf3 31.gxf3 Re3 32.Qf5? (32 h6 Rxf3 33 Qh5 {not 33 h7? Rh3+! winning}holds the draw)…d3 33.cxd3 c3!
An interesting communication by Christoff Mans, adds some details to this game. It was the fourth and last game of a match won by Roele with 2½ - 1½. In the April 1954 issue of ‘The South African Chessplayer’, Heidenfeld described it as “a hair-raising game in which I had won the hostile queen by a very long combination in the course of which my opponent’s king had to travel all over the board - and then could not reconcile myself to the fact that it was he and not I who had winning chances. I do not begrudge my opponent his win: the fun alone was worth the money.”
Chess doesn’t drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane-William Harston