MARK RUBERY CHESS

Friedrich Saemisch (1896-1975) was an enduring if unspectacular grandmaster. He was initially a bookbinder before taking up chess as a profession in his native Germany. His greatest tournament result was 3rd in Baden-Baden 1925 behind Alekhine and Rubinstein but ahead of a number of illustrious players and in 1922 he defeated Reti in a match (5.5-2.5).

Yet it is in his contribution to opening theory that has forged Saemisch an indelible mark in chess lore: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 still remains one of the more important methods of facing the Kings Indian and 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 a3 has stood the test of time in the Nimzo-Indian. Saemisch also holds the dubious distinction of losing more games on time than any other master. A case in point was the Linkoping tournament of 1969 when the 73-year-old Saemisch lost all 13 games through over-stepping the time limit.

Saemisch,Fritz - Mieses,Jacques [C10]

Baden-Baden, 1925

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 6.Nf3 Bd7 7.Be2 Bc6 8.0–0 Rg8 9.c4 Bd6 10.Qc2 f5 11.d5 exd5 12.Qxf5 Qd7 13.Qxh7 Qg4 14.Ng5 Qxg5 15.Bxg5 Rxg5 16.Bh5 dxc4 17.Rfe1+ 1–0

Saemisch appeared on the wrong side of the ‘Immortal Zugzwang game’ where in just 25 moves he was positionally paralysed.

Saemisch,Fritz - Nimzowitsch,Aaron [E06]

Copenhagen, 1923

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 0–0 7.0–0 d5 8.Ne5 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.Bf4 a6 11.Rc1 b5 12.Qb3 Nc6 13.Nxc6 Bxc6 14.h3 Qd7 15.Kh2 Nh5 16.Bd2 f5 17.Qd1 b4 18.Nb1 Bb5 19.Rg1 Bd6 20.e4 fxe4 21.Qxh5 Rxf2 22.Qg5 Raf8 23.Kh1 R8f5 24.Qe3 Bd3 25.Rce1 h6! (This quiet move powerfully illustrates the helplessness of White’s position. Now any move would soon lead to loss of material -such as 26 Rc1 Re2! snaring the queen)

0–1

‘Many players, even of a high calibre, will assert, half-jokingly and half seriously, that a difficult labour of analysis can be replaced by intuition. ‘I played this move in a flash - it was obvious it couldn’t be bad’ is the sort of thing we often hear in a post-mortem. Criticizing such a policy is not simple - not after it has just been successful! Instead of appraising the state of struggle on the basis of precise calculation, Black makes a move, which on general considerations, is wholly in the spirit of the position - a flank attack is countered by a break in the centre. Yet in chess there are no axioms’. – Vladimir Zak (former trainer of Korchnoi)