MARK RUBERY CHESS

Recently the former chess columnist, Darryl Accone, suggested I should publish one of his favourite games played by his favourite player of all time-Boris Spassky. Spassky was World Champion from 1969-1972 and was blessed with a universal style that enabled him to play all types of positions with great skill.

It was 52 years ago the Soviet Union defeated narrowly the ‘Rest of the World’ in an historic match in Yugoslavia. By virtue of his greater activity Denmark’s Bent Larsen insisted on occupying the top board ahead of Bobby Fischer, which the American genius surprisingly deemed as acceptable. The encounter that ensued between Larsen and the then World Champion, Boris Spassky, was violent and astonishingly brief.

Larsen,B - Spassky, B

USSR V Rest of the World, Belgrade 1970

1.b3 (At the time only Larsen would employ such an exotic opening at this level)... e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 0–0–0 10.f4 Ng4! 11.g3 (11 0-0 allows 11... Rxd2! 12 Nxd2 Nxe3 13 Qc1 Nxf1 14 Kxf1 Qh4! 15 g3 Qxh2 16 Ke1 e3 winning)... h5 12.h3 h4! (The beginning of a lethal combination) 13.hxg4 hxg3 14.Rg1 Rh1!! (Spassky gives up a whole to gain a decisive tempo with his g pawn) 15 Rxh1 g2 16 Rf1( 16 Rg1 Qh4+ 17 Kd1 Qh1 18 Qc3 Qxg1+ 19 Kc2 Qf2 20 gxf5 g1=Q etc)...Qh4+ 17 Kd1 gxf1=Q+ 0-1

At the time the Yugoslav press waxed lyrical with the following release…’A thousand years may pass, and the world champion’s brilliant sacrifice will forever be verdant in his laurel wreath.’

In Thessalonika, Greece during the 1984 Chess Olympiad ,a number of South African chess players including myself, Darryl, Mark Levitt and the late Eddie Price, met the great man while he on his way to play a game of tennis-I suspect he does not remember the encounter!

‘You need to find a balance – sometimes you need be very precise, especially when a long line starts in your game, and try to foresee how the position will look in 5-7 moves. But sometimes the moves are natural, so you simply check if there is no move that is clearly better. Each position is different, so it’s hard to specify a rule here. In cases where there is a choice between two possibilities you have to hesitate and decide between them. During my opponents moves I tend to check the line I chose and try to verify that I didn’t miss anything. Nowadays I try more to work on my opponent’s time – in the past I was wasting this time…’ (Boris Gelfand)