MARK RUBERY CHESS

The uniquely talented Slovenian GM, Albin Planinc (1944-2008) passed away aged 64 and like Fischer his years in this world spanned the squares of a chessboard. Planinc first shot to stardom when he surprisingly won a strong tournament in his hometown, Ljubljana in 1969 whilst working at a lowly job in a bicycle factory. As if to underline the inconsistency that would blight his career a few weeks later he finished 15th out of 16 in a tournament held in Zagreb. His style was compared to that of Morphy and Tal and he never compromised over the board-eschewing draws and always-launching wave after wave of attacks. Alas this chess genius began to suffer from a sort of nervous disorder towards the end of the 70s and as a consequence his doctors forbade him to play chess. Although he continued to play his illness became relentless and he had to spend the next 30 years in a sanatorium, a tragic fate shared by both Rubinstein and Torre.

Vaganian,Rafael A - Planinc,Albin [A32]

Hastings (5), 1974 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Ndb5 0–0 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.cxd5 exd5 12.Qxd5 Rd8 13.Qf3 Qb6 14.Rd1 Rxd1+ 15.Nxd1 Nc6 16.Qe3 (Sounder seems16 e3 although after 16… Be6 17 Be2 Rd8 18 0-0 Rd2 Black has good play for the pawn)…Nd4 17.Qe8+ Kh7 18.e3 Nc2+ 19.Kd2 Bf5!! (It is clear that Black had foreseen this move well in advance, and the depth of Planinc’s calculation is, of course, staggering-Mikhalchishin) 20.Qxa8 Qd6+ 21.Kc1 Na1! 22.Qxb7?

(This error loses to a spectacular shot. However, after 22 Bc4 Qc5 23 Nc3 Qxc4 24 Qd8 Nb3+ 25 Kd1 Qg4+ Planinc would be clearly on top)

… Qc7+!! 0–1 (The pleasing point is revealed after 23 Qxc7 Nb3#)

‘It was late in 2008 that we got the news about his death, two weeks after he had died! Nobody from the Slovenian chess world was present at Ljubljana’s Zale Cemetery, where he was buried, like Mozart, in a mass grave…But his games remain and chess fans all over the world will continue to enjoy them.’

-GM Mohr