MARK RUBERY CHESS
Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872-1906) was one of the most spectacular talents to grace the game. As player he was blessed with a memory of prodigious proportions and in his early years he would play both chess and draughts blindfold whilst taking a hand of whist at the same time. He made a stunning debut in his first international tournament when he won the Hastings tournament of 1895. There at the age of 22 he left the likes of Lasker, Tarrasch, Chigorin and Steinitz in his wake with a total of 16.5/21. A number of triumphs and high placings in tournaments followed this but it was in the arena of blindfold chess that he shone particularly brightly. Many players have played greater numbers (against at times fairly weak opposition) yet Pillsbury’s blindfold exhibition in Hanover 1902 where he won 3 drew 11 lost 7 against a field that was virtually master strength is regarded as the pinnacle of this discipline. Alas the American master was to contract pareisis (described as a slow, relentless and treacherous opponent no one outplayed), which was to blight the final years of a career that came to a tragically premature end (it might be added that blindfold chess was misguidedly banned in the Soviet Union as a result of his demise). It was widely thought that had he not died so young he might well have rivaled Lasker’s supremacy.
Pillsbury,Harry Nelson - Gunsberg,Isidor [D94]
Hastings (21), 1895
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 0–0 7.Ne5 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Nd5 9.f4 Be6 10.Qb3 b5 11.Bxd5 Bxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Qxd5 cxd5 14.Nd3 Nd7 15.Bd2 Rfc8 16.Ke2 e6 17.Rhc1 Bf8 18.Rxc8 Rxc8 19.Rc1 Rxc1 20.Bxc1 Bd6 21.Bd2 Kf8 22.Bb4 Ke7 23.Bc5 a6 24.b4 f6 25.g4 Bxc5 26.bxc5 Nb8 27.f5! (Undermining Black’s central pawns)… g5 28.Nb4 a5 (This might seem to put White in difficulties but Pillsbury dramatically shows a forced win via a an accurately calculated pawn ending) 29.c6!! Kd6 (29…axb4 30 c7 promotes the pawn) 30.fxe6 Nxc6 31.Nxc6 Kxc6 32.e4! dxe4 33.d5+ Kd6 34.Ke3 b4 35.Kxe4 a4 36.Kd4 h5 (The great endgame analyst Mark Dvoretsky shows how Black could have tested Pillsbury’s technique with 36...Ke7! 37.Kc4 b3 38.axb3 a3 39.Kc3 f5 40.gxf5 h5 41.b4 a2 42.Kb2 g4 43.b5 h4 44.b6 g3 45.d6+ Kxd6 46.b7 Kc7 47.e7 g2 48.b8Q+ Kxb8 49.e8Q+ when White wins by a single tempo) 37.gxh5 a3 38.Kc4 f5 39.h6 f4 40.h7 1–0
Of my 57 years, I’ve applied at least 30 to forgetting most of what I learned or read, and since I succeeded in this I have acquired a certain ease and cheer which I should never again like to be without. If need be, I can increase my skill in chess, if need be I can do that of which I have no idea present. I have stored little in my memory, but I can apply that little, and it is of good use in many and varied emergencies. I keep it in order, but resist every attempt to increase its dead weight. – Emanuel Lasker