MARK RUBERY CHESS
Last month South Africa lost one of its most influential players with the passing of Eddie Price (1939-2022). He represented this country in two Olympiads –Havana 1966 and Siegen 1970 and won the SA Open in 1974. Away from the board he went on to become President of the SA Chess Federation, an International Arbiter and a member of the Fide Rules Committee. In recent years I was one of a few stalwarts who would meet weekly with him at an ice cream parlour in Greenside for blitz chess which was peppered with his unique and arresting observations on a variety of subjects An intellectual, who was characterised by his easy going demeanour and willingness to interact with chess players of any strength, he made an indelible mark on the chess scene for over half a century.
Eddie’s talent for the game first came to the fore when he defeated the former Dutch World Champion, Max Euwe, in a simultaneous display.
Euwe,M - Price,E [E35]
Euwe exhibition on 40 boards Johannesburg 1954
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Nc6 7.e3 Qe7 8.0–0–0 Bxc3 9.Qxc3 Ne4!
(A neat move by Eddie which secures him an easy equality) 10.Bxe7 Nxc3 11.bxc3 Nxe7 12.Ne2 0–0 13.Nf4 Bf5 14.f3 Rab8! 15.g4 Bd7 16.h4 b5 17.Nd3 a5 18.a3 Nc6 19.Nc5 Bc8 20.Kc2 Nd8 21.Rb1 c6 22.Bd3 Ne6 23.a4?! (23 Nxe6 was the more prudent course but Euwe naturally hoped to outplay the schoolboy in the endgame)... Nxc5 24.dxc5 Bd7 25.Be2 Rfe8 26.Kd3 f5 27.g5 ... f4! (After this thrust the White position is on the verge of collapse) 28.e4 dxe4+ 29.fxe4 Rbd8 30.Kc2 Rxe4 31.Bd3 Rxa4 32.Rhd1 Ra2+ 33.Rb2 Rxb2+ 34.Kxb2 Rf8 35.Bxb5 Rb8 36.Rxd7 Rxb5+ 37.Kc2 Rxc5 38.Kd3 Rd5+ 0–1
A many-time SA Champion gives his appraisal of the ability of the young Price… ‘He is fully aware of the interplay of purely positional and combinational elements in a game of chess. But he seems to be lazy until forced to fight with his back to the wall. In many of his won games he had to fight for hours merely to equalise-but, and this is important, he then does fight.’ (Wolfgang Heidenfeld, 1955) ‘It’s surprising the number of chess players who die between 80 and 90 years of age. We have always felt this was a dangerous age.’ (D J Morgan)