MARK RUBERY CHESS

Birchbeer remains the most enigmatic strong player to have played on ICC ( Internet chess club). He was a very early member ( in their database there are games from 1994 by him), and in the early years, he was continually among the best 10 or 20. He played a very imaginative, often brilliant chess. His preferred time control was 2 14, only varying to 2 19 and 4 15 and the like. In his notes, he complained about his bad connection, and the fact that at one time he even said he was unable to use an interface and had to make his moves on a real board.

He no longer plays; his last games are from August 1998. The last time he logged on was in April 1999. But the account still exists. Nobody, outside ICC, knows who he is. In the last line of his notes, which are still there, he says: Sorry, I prefer to be anonymous.

Birchbeer - ADOLF, ICC 2 14, 1995

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bb5 Bc5 5. O- O Nge7 6. Ng5 Bb6 7. Qh5 Ne5 8. Ne6 1- 0 An entirely different sort of crosspin and certainly a most picturesque position.

The writer under the handle of ‘ Dogstar’ had numerous duels with him during the mid 90’ s- the score weighing heavily in Birchbeer’s favour. I recall demonstrating to some pupils a complex king and pawn ending that I arrived at in one game which seemed clearly in my favour. However, a series of powerful and counter- intuitive moves soon changed my assessment from winning to losing. This was all uncovered after much analysis and left me with an awe of his abilities tinged by the doubt of possible computer assistance.

It has been revealed from one source that Birchbeer was not an IM but rather someone with an early version of Fritz. I am not entirely convinced ( in one game I missed a forced mate- would Fritz have allowed such a circumstance?) but then he did beat GM Loek Van Wely five times in a row…