MARK RUBERY CHESS
Rafael Vaganian (71) is an Armenian player known for his sharp style of tactical play. He became a GM in 1971, at the then unusually young age of 19, and reached a rating peak of 2670 when in his mid-fifties.
Here he fields a few questions on the site chess24. com.
Q: Both at the board and simply in life you met all the Soviet world champions from Botvinnik to Kasparov. The world champions of the twentieth century – of your generation – and the champions of the third millennium – how do they differ? RV: It’s hard to compare, because the chess is totally different. Those champions worked in another setting, playing another kind of chess. With no computers, they worked and created on their own, and their creativity was immense. If they found something it was with their own minds, while now there are these amazing programs. Theory has “grown” to 30-35 moves, and you simply can’t compare the two types of chess. Frankly speaking, I don’t like modern chess, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen next. After all, a person isn’t capable of remembering so much, so they simply suffer because of it. They need to remember and learn it all, but then what of creativity? They barely play at the board, but at home, and that’s bad. I consider those champions to have been greats, though perhaps that’s natural, since I’m a chess player of that generation – the Soviet School – and it all means a lot to me. I find modern chess alien, so it’s possible I’m not objective.
Q: And among the champions, who would you nevertheless rank above the rest?
RV:
For me the number one was Fischer, and after him I’d put Karpov. Karpov played very subtly. In his best years he would outplay opponents in an incredible manner. It was class of the very highest level! Kasparov crushed everyone in the opening – in his best years he was head and shoulders above the rest and it was simply impossible to play him as Black. He gave chess an incredible number of ideas. He worked a lot and deserved his results, but when people began to approach him in terms of knowledge, with the help of computer programs, Garry stopped playing. I’d like to have seen how he would have played when everything levelled out and he no longer had such an advantage. Would he have won tournament after tournament? I think not. He probably realised that and quit. He says something else, but I think that’s the way it was.
Here is an energetic display of Vaganian’s attacking prowess.
Reshevsky,Samuel (2515) - Vaganian,Rafael A (2550) [C05]
Skopje (5), 1976
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ndf3 Qa5 8.Kf2 Be7 9.Bd3 Qb6 10.Ne2 f6 11.exf6 Bxf6 12.Kg3 cxd4 13.cxd4 0–0 14.Re1? (Consolidating with 14 h3 and Kh2 was more prudent)… e5! (Beginning a cascade of sacrifices to expose the White king further) 15.fxe5 Ndxe5! 16.dxe5
Bh4+!! (A tremendous shock that must have rocked the veteran Reshevsky) 17.Kxh4 (17 Nxh4 Qf2#)…
Rxf3! 18.Rf1 (18 gxf3 Qf2+ 19 Kg5 h6+ leads to a quick mate)…Qb4+ 19.Bf4 Qe7+ 20.Bg5 Qe6!
(The twin threats of mate on g4 and h3 regains the piece and effectively ends the contest) 21.Bf5 Rxf5 22.Nf4 Qxe5 23.Qg4 Rf7 24.Qh5 Ne7 25.g4 Ng6+ 26.Kg3 Bd7 27.Rae1 Qd6 28.Bh6 Raf8 0–1 ‘Be transparent as possible. Stop setting plays. Stop playing chess with life. Make decisions based on love not fear’ (Kanye West)