MARK RUBERY CHESS
England’s 2nd grandmaster and most prolific author, Raymond Keene, retired from competitive play in 1986. A year earlier he was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to chess. While at times controversial there can be no doubt that Keene has left an indelible imprint on the game through his tireless actions down the years. Soon after becoming a GM (which he of course wrote about in the engrossing ‘Becoming a Grandmaster’) Keene virtually gave up playing in serious competitions and dedicated himself to chess organisation while at the same time publishing books at a head-spinning rate. If there was a world championship event, a lavish banquet or a scandal of sorts; the chances were that Keene was involved at some level. All which make him one of the more interesting characters to grace our game in recent times. Keene visited this country on a number of occasions in the 70s, and had a series on TV called ‘Duels of the Mind’ where he discussed 12 famous games with the former South African newspaper editor and civil rights campaigner, Donald Woods.
Here is one of Keene’s most famous victories, against the first English player to attain the GM title, taken from Watu Kobese’s Chess Manual.
Keene,R - Miles,A [D42]
Hastings, 1976
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.Bd3 cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9.0–0 0–0 10.Re1 Nf6 11.Bg5 Nb4 (This is a typical manoeuvre by the defending side-intending to blockade the isolated pawn with the b-knight.) 12.Bb1 (White does not worry about temporarily boxing the a1 rook in as the bishop is too important to be exchanged.) 12...b6 13.Ne5 (13. a3 would not be a useful move, since Black wants to move the knight to d5 anyway.) 13... Bb7 14.Re3 (The rook enters the battle via the third rank. Depending on circumstances, the rook will attack from either g3 or h3. [14.f4 would not be so strong here. White’s pieces are not ideally placed to carry out the f5 advance after 14...g6) 14...g6 (14...h6 would have been suicidal after 15.Bxh6 gxh6 16.Rg3+ Kh8 17.Qd2 Ng8 18.Rxg8+ Kxg8 19.Qxh6 f5 20.Qxe6+ Kg7 21.Qg6+ Kh8 22.Bxf5 Rxf5 23.Qxf5 with a winning attack.) 15.Rg3 Rc8 16.Bh6 Re8 17.a3 Nc6 (17...Nbd5 would allow a crushing mating attack via 18.Bxg6!! hxg6 19.Qd3 Bf8 20.Rxg6+ fxg6 21.Qxg6+ Kh8 22.Nf7#)
18.Nxg6!! (This attack works because Black has practically only the knight on f6 defending the king.) 18...hxg6 19.Bxg6 fxg6 20.Qb1 Ne5 21.dxe5 Ne4 22.Nxe4 Kh7 23.Nf6+ Bxf6 24.Qxg6+ Kh8 25.Bg7+ Bxg7 26.Qxg7# A very beautiful game.
Tony Miles became Englands’s first grandmaster at the age of twenty, achieving his final norm at a tournament in Dubna, in the Soviet Union-a barrier which yielded to only a few in those times. ‘If you are successful, please send us a telegram’, the Secretary of the British Chess Federation asked him before this trip. The telegram which arrived at the federation contained only one word: ‘Telegram’ and signified the arrival of the first British grandmaster and his particular brand of humour.