MARK RUBERY CHESS
Over tournaments a hundred were years held ago where numerous all the games theme began from the same starting position. The more romantic openings such as the King’s Gambit were popular choices, and one wealthy Austrian Baron sponsored an event where all the games played featured the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 Ne4?! –the Dory Defence.
Perhaps the most infamous example of that era is the Rice Gambit, which has been described as ‘a grotesque monument to a rich man’s vanity’. Professor Isaac Rice (1850-1915), a wealthy industrialist, financed numerous tournaments where his gambit was the only opening played.
In 1895 he discovered a sacrifice on the eighth move in a sharp line of the Kings Gambit-1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 h4 g4 5 Ne5 Nf6 6 Bc4 d5 7 exd5 Bd6 8 0-0?! Today this line is discarded
for being unsound, yet in 1910 Rice found an illustrious defender of his cause in Emanual Lasker. The world champion edited and published the fifth (!) edition of a book devoted to this gambit. A no doubt cash-strapped Lasker, claimed in his best salesman’s pitch “White is not lost if he plays this gambit!”
In 1905 the Johannesburg Chess Club held a Rice Gambit tournament in which the professor donated 15 pounds (a handsome sum for the time) towards the prizes. 1st L.J. Williams 7/10 2nd M Blieden 6,5 3rd B Siegheim 6...
Siegheim - Schumer [C39] Rice Gambit Tournament, 1905
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6 8.0-0 (The Rice Gambit.) 8...Bxe5 9.Re1 Qe7 10.c3 Nh5 (The Jasnogrodsky Defence.) 11.d4 Nd7 12.dxe5 Nxe5. 13.b3 0-0 14.Ba3 Nf3+ 15.gxf3 Qxh4 16.Bf1 gxf3 17.Qd2 (Better was 17 Qxf3.) ...Qg5+ (Black checks on this square so as to leave g3 and g4 open for his knight and bishop respectively.) 18.Bg2 (Forced.) ...Bh3 19.Be7 Qg6 20.Re5 f5 21.Bxf8 Rxf8 22.c4 Bxg2 23.Nc3 Bh3+ 24.Kh1 Ng3+ 25.Kh2 Bf1 26.Nd1 Ne2 0-1
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN SEE DIAGRAM
‘With ever more powerful processors, silicon chess players developed the ability to calculate so far ahead that the distinction between short-term tactical calculations and long-term strategic planning became blurred. At the same time, computer programs began to exploit huge databases of games between grandmaster using results from the human games to extrapolate what moves have the highest chances of success. Soon, it became clear that even the best human chess players would have little chance to do better than an occasional draw.’ Ken Rogoff (leading economist and grandmaster)