MARK RUBERY CHESS

The name Basman will forever be associated with the more eccentric side of chess openings. He is the only player of master strength to persist with moves such as 1 g4 and as Black 1...g5 and it was a measure of his talent that he was able to nevertheless become a strong international master. A case in point was during the Hastings tournament of 1966, when he had Mikhail Botvinnik on the ropes for 76 moves before the former World Champion was able to escape with a draw. For many years now Basman has moved away from the British chess circuit to devote his energies to promoting schools chess yet his enduring legacy was to pioneer a type of chess that has been referred to as ‘Basmaniac’ on occasion.

Here is what Nigel Short described as the ‘Immortal Waiting Game’…

Andersson,Ulf - Basman,Michael J [E18]

Hastings 1974 Hastings (11), 1974

1.Nf3 b6 2.g3 Bb7 3.Bg2 e6 4.0–0 d5 5.c4 Nf6 6.d4 Be7 7.Nc3 0–0 8.Ne5 h6 9.Bf4 a6 10.Rc1 Ra7 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Qb3 Ba8 13.Rfd1 Kh7!?

(The beginning of a most unique plan where Basman presents his esteemed opponent with twelve moves to improve his position while he is content to mark time!) 14.h3 Kg8 15.Kh2 Kh7 16.g4 Kg8 17.Bg3 Bb7 18.e3 Ba8 19.a3 Bb7 20.f4 Ba8 21.Rd2 Qd6 22.f5 Qd8 23.Bf4 Bb7 24.Rg1 c6 25.Bf3 Nh7 26.Rc1 Bd6 27.Na4 Bc7 28.Kg3 Nf6 29.h4 (Andersson has been lured into loosening his position)…Nfd7 30.Nxd7 Nxd7 31.Re2 Re8 32.Kh3 Bxf4 33.exf4 Rxe2 34.Bxe2 Qe7 35.Bf3 b5 36.Nc5 Bc8 37.Qd3 h5! (Neatly exposing the flaws in White’s structure) 38.gxh5 (38 g5 g6 seems a lesser evil)…Qf6 39.Kg3 Nxc5 40.Rxc5 Bxf5 41.Qc3 Bd7 42.Qd3 Ra8 43.Rc1 Re8 44.Qc3 c5 45.Qxc5? (45 dxc5! d4 46 Qd2 is balanced) …Qf5! (Far more effective than 45…Rc8 46 Qxd5) 46.Qxd5 Qh3+ 47.Kf2 Qh2+ 48.Bg2 Qxf4+ 49.Bf3 Bg4 50.Rc3 Qh2+ 51.Bg2 Qxh4+ 52.Kg1 Re1+ 53.Bf1 Bh3 0–1

A recorded game of chess is a story in symbols, relating in cipher the struggle of two intellects; a story with a real plot, a beginning, a middle, and an end, in which the harmonies of time and place are scrupulously observed; the fickleness of fortune is illustrated; the smiles of the prosperous, the struggles of adversity, the change that comes over the two; the plans suggested by one, spoiled by the tactics of the other - the lures, the wiles, the fierce onset, the final victory. An hour’s history of two minds is well told in a game of chess. – Jose R. Capablanca