MARK RUBERY CHESS

Chess history is littered with bad losers, and that entertaining book ‘The Complete Chess Addict’ by Fox and James, lists what they think are the top three: The bronze medal goes to Alexander Alexhine, a notoriously temperamental loser, who indicated his resignation in a game against Gruenfeld by hurling his king across the tournament hall. The silver medal goes to Aron Nimzovich (author of the influential ‘My System’), who on losing a game of lightning chess, leapt on his chair and bellowed out loud ‘Why must I lose to this idiot?’-not too polite, but then we all know the feeling. The gold, in somewhat creepy circumstances, goes to an unnamed Danish player who as a result of dropping his queen to a finger slip, quietly resigned. He later returned to the tournament hall in dead of night and cut the heads off all the queens…

Alekhine, Alexander - Gruenfeld, Ernst [D91]

Vienna, 1922

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.cxd5 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Qxd5 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.e3 c5 9.Bb5+ Bd7 10.c4 Qe4 11.0–0 Bxb5 12.cxb5 Nd7 13.Rc1 b6 14.Qb3 h6 15.Bh4 0–0 16.Rc4 Qe6 17.Rd1 Rfe8 18.d5 Qd6 19.Bg3 e5 20.dxe6 Qxe6 21.Rd6 Qe7 22.Ra4 Nf8 23.Qd5 Rad8 24.Nd2 Rxd6 25.Bxd6 Rd8 26.Nc4? (In a somewhat difficult position Alekhine allows his bishop to be decisively pinned. Instead the ending after 26 Bxe7 Rxd5 27 Nf1 Rd7 28 Bh4 is quite playable)…Qd7 27.h3 Ne6 28.Qe4 Bf8 29.Bxf8

…Qd1+! (Missing this check that snares a rook was the reason why Alekhine felt so aggrieved. Obviously when deciding on his 26th move the great man did not include it in his calculations) 30.Kh2 Qxa4 31.Be7 Re8 32.Bf6 Ng7 33.Qd3 Qxa2 34.Bb2 Re6 35.Qc3 f6 36.Qd3 h5 37.e4 Qa4 38.Nd6 Qb4 39.Nc4 Qxb5 and soon 0–1

‘Correct intuitive appraisal of a situation helps a player to apportion his thinking time rationally; it tells him when he needs to concentrate and examine the variations thoroughly and when there is no need in pursuing detailed calculations. A careful study has revealed to me that even a player of Kasparov’s stature is not flawless in this regard.’-M Dvoretsky