MARK RUBERY CHESS
Paradox in chess is not an easy concept to grasp. We spend such a lot of time following sound principles such as avoiding pins, castling early, and not moving the king in the opening etc. that they become second nature to us and we deviate from them at our peril. What distinguishes the very strong players from their peers is the ability to recognise situations when these sound laws no longer apply. Former World Champion, Anatoly Karpov, possessed positional judgement second to none, and would only depart from the dictates of sound play if the position demanded such paradoxical treatment. A striking example of such rule breaking is the following game:
Kamsky,G (2655) - Karpov,A (2725) [B17]
Dortmund (1), 1993
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 Bd6 8.Qe2 h6
9.Ne4 Nxe4 10.Qxe4 Nf6 11.Qh4 (White’s Queen appears quite threatening with a bishop sac on h6 should Black deign to castle. After Karpov’s next move one can only imagine Kamsky’s initial reaction) …Ke7!! (Trashing all the rules mentioned earlier in one move. The soundness of this concept hinges on the threat…g5, which was not playable earlier due to Bxg5 taking advantage of the unprotected rook. While today the king move is now the most popular choice, our silicon friends are slightly more partial to …Rg8) 12.Ne5 (White gives up a pawn for counterplay which never materialises)… Bxe5 13.dxe5 Qa5+ 14.c3 Qxe5+ 15.Be3 b6 16.0–0–0 g5 17.Qa4 c5 18.Rhe1 Bd7 19.Qa3 Rhd8 20.g3 Qc7 21.Bd4 Be8 22.Kb1 Rd5 23.f4 Rad8 24.Bc2 R5d6 25.Bxf6+ Kxf6 26.fxg5+ hxg5 27.Rxd6 Rxd6 28.c4 Ke7 29.Qe3 f6 30.h4 gxh4 31.gxh4 Qd7 32.Qh6 e5 33.h5 Qg4 34.Qh7+ Kd8 35.h6 Rd2 36.Qf5 Qxf5 37.Bxf5 Bd7 38.Bg6 Rh2 39.h7 Ke7 40.Bd3 Be6 41.Rg1 f5 42.Rg7+ Kf6 43.Rxa7 e4 44.Be2 f4 45.b3 f3 46.Bd1 Bf5 47.Kc1 Bxh7 48.Rb7 Ke5 49.Rxb6 Rxa2 0–1
The British master, Gerald Abrahams, on a visit to Moscow in 1950 said he had never seen so many frightened high military personnel as when he posed the question: did Stalin play chess? The generals realised that whatever answer they gave might give cause for concern so they compromised with the following: Comrade Stalin is a very busy man, but if he were ever to find the time to play he would surely reveal strategic judgement of the highest order.