With ilustrations y B Tidy
CADOGAN C OOK
Sf Pw
CADOGAN C OOK
Sf Pw
E EE ChiefAdviser: ChiefAdviser: Garry asparov Eitor: Andrew nsman Russian Sris Eitor en Neat Other ttles fr the enthusast nclude: ELE ELE AGUR AGUR Bobby Fscher Hs Approach to Chess LEV ALBURT Test and Improve Your Chess YURI YURI AVEBAH Chess Endngs: Essental nowledge JOS CAPABLANCA Chess Fundmentas WILLIAM HARTSTON How to Cheat at Chess ULIAN ODGSON Chess Travellers Quz ok DANEL ING How Good is Your Chess? STEWART REUBEN Chess Openings Openings - Your Choice Choice LADMIR VUOVIC The of Attack n Chess SMON WEBB Chess fr Tgers
For a catalogue of CADOGAN CHESS books (whch ncudes the Pergamon Che! and Mawel Macmllan Chess lsts) please wrte to Cadogan Books pc, London House Parkgate Road, London SW 4NQ Te (071) 738 1961 a: (071) 924 5491
Soft Pawn
William Htston Iur by B Tdy
C \D; \ HE
L W Y
DOGN OOK DTRUTON UK/UROPE/AUSTRALASIA/ASIA/AFRICA Grantham Book Services Ltd, Isaac Newton Way, Alma Park Industrial Estate, Grantham, Lins NG l 9SD. Tel: (047) 7421; Fax: (047) 590223. USA/CANADA/LATIN AMERICA/JAPAN Paramount Distribution Center, Front & Brown Streets, Riverside, New Jersey 08075, USA Tel (09) 41 500; Fax: (09) 74 9122
Published 1995 by Cadogan Books plc, ondon House, Parkgate Road, London SW l 4NQ ©William Hartston 1980, 1995 Illustrations© Hutchinson & Co (Pubishers)Ltd 1980 1995 First published 1980 by Hutchinson & Co (Publishers) Ltd
A Rights Reser No part of this publication may be reprouce, store in a retrieval system or transmitte in any fo or by any means: electronic electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical photocopying, recoring or otheise, without peission in writingom the publishers. The right of Wiliam Hartston to be identifed as author of tis work has been asserted him in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988
A CIP catalogue record fr this book is available om the British Library ISBN 1 85744 145 1 Covr design by Bran Robins (illustration by Bill Tidy) Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter
For lizabeth and the bears
Coes
1 2 3.
. 5 6 7 8 9 1 11 12 13.
cnowlgmn Prac In the ennn A Fable An Atrolocal Gude A he luer Manual I The ae of the Mental Detectve A Gloary of Uel Term tquette r heplayer A he luer Manual II he lub Drer Vctor the Second Part One The he apablty Inventory A he uer Manua III Somewhat ompromed Nothn toLoe but Your Pawn In
v 1 5 17 2 32
38 7 53
6 6 7 72
76 82 91
AKNOWLDGMNTS A project of th mantude could hardly have been attempted wthout cornn the advce of too many people to menton here Profeor A J. Ayer lnt atwood Anatoly Karpov and Tottenham Hotpur Football lub were but a few ofthoe om whom word of udance wre not even ouht I ould howeve lke to oer thank to my wfe who would have typed the manucrpt had I not done o myelf and to Phllpa Walker who had the temerty to telephone Alan oren on a matter concernn vulture and la eye
Pefce
I wi o pro mo rongly abo rying Letter om Henry Root to the Ening Sanar
It ha one on r too lon and the tme ha come to take a mot erou tand on th ue More and more hard che book are becom ncreanly eay to obtan n our bookhop and on tall at tournament. Ther explct daram and lurd cover beckon the youn player nto ther world of analy and promed delht. Wth the provocatve appeal of a ralway tmetable thee ocalled theoretcal manual are nuencn the youth of our country. And tll the tran run late. I do not ay that che hould only be played between conentn adut n prvate but let u brn back ome dnty nto che lterature. To that end I have produced th wholeome mly che boo Let no one clam that hard che lterature a neceary part of our noble ocety bere they have ampled S Pawn WR Cambrig 98
I e Begiig -A Fabe
o a o kiss a lo frogs bor yo n a princ Anonymou Wallcrbe
Many year ao n a raway atern land there ruled a power l kn who wa o rch and o tron that he wa ued to havn everythn he ever wanted. He wa n ct the rchet tronet and mot unutterably pompou and poled kn there ha ever been ut that wa nothn compared to he arroance and pompoty of h dauhter the beautl prn ce whoe eye hone wth the brllance of a Ta acrce whoe har wa a nely pun a a Petroan tratey and whoe kn wa a mooth a a Karpov ntervew The prnce wa a beautl a her ther wa rch Some ad he wa more beautl Other treed the nherent ncomparablty of beauty and rche emphazn the eental derence between valuejudement of an aethetc nature and prece meaurement nvolvn the weht of quantte ofold . The matter wa never lly reolved depte the oranzaton of phloophcal ympoa and debate on the ubject but I am ure you et the meae the prnce wa ndeed ry bal She had however one aw n her character whch ave the kn reat caue r concern Actually he had two aw but nobody wa allowed to peak of the econd llown her convncton and upended entence r mappropraton of property to wt one bowl of porrde breakn and entern malcou hoolanm and carnal knowlede of a bear. The caue of the kn ref wa not th mnor ndcreton n the
2
SO PAW
pat but a r more worryn feature dplayed by h dauhter the prnce never lauhed. The wet and nnet men n the kndom had tred to amue the prnce but all had led. Not o much a a chuckle could they rae om the ombre rl. On her twentyrt brthday (t hould really have been her xteenth but the prnce wa a late devloper the kn announced a rand competton. Whoever could make the prnce lauh would be rewarded wth whatever he dered. The ntry rm owed n om r and wde. ontetant arred by the coach load wth ther joke ame and vdeotape of old comedy how. ut none could ucceed n makn the prnce lauh and they all rfeted ther entry fee. Then late one dark nht there arrved at the palace a wzened old man carryn a cardboard box and wavn a crumpled lateentry rm 'I hae nvented he announced to the kn the mot wondrouly nny ame whch the only thn n the world that can amue the prnce What t called aked the kn It called che repled the wzened old man Doent ound very nny mued the kn. Go on then how u how t oe h majety added renedly Fetch a drauht board ntructed the w.o.m. And the kn ummoned th earer of th Royal Drauht oard who brouht t rth om out of the royal ame cupboard Rht ad th w. o. m. rubbn h hand n le a wzened old men are bound to do n tore uch a th. Pay attenton. And he explaned the rule n h wzened old voce pontn to the pce nd quare wth h wzened old ner ut the kn hardly ltened. He had heard o many dea to amue h dauhter and th one looked a loer om the tart Pan da he thouht t Not nny at all Havn at lat come to the end of the rule the old man paued and et the pece on ther tartn quare Now we mut play he commanded The kn wa reluctant r he had only really been ltenn
H A A
3
a r a the pawn move He dd not know how the other pece movd at a ut th prnc had heard a and wa ntrued a moroe way by the compcated rue of th new ame She beed the kn to take h eat at the board Go n dad he mplored t ood r a lauh The kn areed but on the one condton that he coud have whte He houht what eemed not very lon at all and h hand alhted on the thrd pawn om the rht autouly he nuded t one quare rward The wzened old man moved h own kn pawn two quare up the board Now the kn felt that he wa bennn to et the han oft o he moved the pawn econd om the rht boldly rt one then another quare. The black queen hot mmedately n reply to the end of her daonal heckmate announced the wom. Father exclamed the prnce you are a twt. A nnny. A prze buoon a rtrate ncompetent And he wa mln Then the mle became a ttter the ttter a lauh and the lauh a llthroated uaw The outraed kn ht her and he burt nto tear ut the kn wa an honourable monarch and told the wzened old man that the prze wa h Anythn he dered whch t wa n the kn power to betow e wa ee to requet. our Hhne ad the od man n a modet tone am but a mpe peaant wth few need. I dere only the clothe n whch tand and om o to utan me. uet therere that you reward me at no reat nconvenence to yourelf by akn your arculture mnter to n th document thereby uaranteen me one ran o rc r the rt uare on the cheboard, two r the econd uare ur r the thrd . . . . Yeah yeah ad the kn and doul all the me untl you reach the xtyurth uare. Well hard luck Ive heard that one bere. And Im tll payn o the uy who nvented drauht. Worth tryn ad the wzened old man Okay Ill ettle
S PAW
r a beefcurry one poppadum and a weekend r two n Par wth the prnc It a deal ad the kn and they hook hand. But om that day on nobdy wa ever allowed to mle whle che wa ben played. All who dd o ere ofcally condered mad and were hunned n polte ocety. Tme paed and people rot that che wa the nnet ame ever nvented Only the prnce remembered and he would alway have a ecret chuckle to herelf when he aw men playn. The wzened old man ncdentally had the mrtune to turn nto a handome o when the prnce ked hm. He whled away the ret of h day hotn a televon how. Some you wn ome you loe.
2 An Aroogi Gide
Narly all profional arologr ar ignoran ofir own bjc a of a ors Aleter rowley agc in Tory an racic
ere he ave up che to become rtan reatet authorty on the lack Art Aleter rowley wa Predent of ambrde Unverty he lub o he clearly knew a thn or two Nonethel there n h wrtn no drect reference o he pround nuence of aroloy on che Th chapter rmede that mportant omon n our terature I hope modern day atroloer and other noramue wll take due note of th mportant contrbuton to cence We and the reat comc cheboard are one The anet are but pece movn about on the urce ofthe como nuencn our character and detne The moment at whch we are taken out of the box to jon n the ame oflfe allmportant How the other pece tand at that moment determne our te Now read on res
ar r)
Are one of the re n ruled by Mar the planet of vou ctvty an enryn teeoot ponted out n the thrteenth century people born under the n of Are tend to look lke ram wth a hary body crooked ame oblque ce heavy eye hort ear and a lon neck Later wellmarked eyebrow were perceved a charactertc of th n Th make the Aren a rmdable opponent h
6
SOF PAW
hrute ce peern obquey at the poton upported on an extended neck om a perverely bent ame the deal vae r ntmdatn the oppoton The charactertc Are peronalty that of a hter areve optmtc and bellerent No urpre therere that th hould be one of the mot proptou n r cheplayer takn thrd place (behnd Scorpo and Pce qv f ntereted n the leaue table of randmater per un n Smylov the only world champon produced by Are; h eyebrow are ucently marked but he would probaby have held the ttle loner had h ear been horter Maxim h onh on counrgambi bor i hachd. Taurus
r y)
Travl Fate wll oon take you on a journey to an unmlar place You wll there encounter a traner eated at a board of many quare ur and xty n number coloured alternately oflht and darkh hue eware of th man; depte the apparent end ne of h proered handhake h ntenton toward your ood elfare nouht but hotle Follow the advce of the tar and treat hm wth crcumpecton however and the n are aupcou that you wll beat the hell out of hm Mony Saturday and Sunday auur ll r dealn nvolvn nancal tranacton The prono better r Monday when the bank may well be open eware of tournament to the at here there a curta oned ofron beyond whch prze are of a ubtance known a rouble whch none can turn to old Romanc Twll be a oodly year r romance amon cheplayn
A A S RO L O G I C A L G U I
7
urns Much bttr thn lst yr st yr ws rlly rottn wsnt t? So ws th yr br tht You urns dsrv good yr r romnc r ll youv bn through Evrything coms to him who wts though incipint snility my prclud his njoyng it to th ll urns should b most grtl to th uthor r prdicting such n romntic prospct I could hv rtold vn grtr disstr thn n th prvous coupl of yrs But tht would hv bn too dprssng And nywy I only soothsy wht I rd in th crds Sorry tht should rd strs Plmistry or tlvs tr Spcl cutpric or on tbg rdings this month only Moo h Monh Nr cas a clou ill youv go your knighs ou Gem
(21 y
-
21 J)
Invntvnss nd intlignc r th chrctrstcs of ths sign but you must control your jumpy tndncis to kp consstncy in your rsults Modl yourslf on th two Gmini world chmpions Krpov nd Ptrosin nd you will not go r wrong k spcil cr in dlings involving rooks our lucky digonl is g17 your vourt colour is whit your propitious l is th Bl ou nd to work hrdr t th ndgm which you stll d not ply wth sufcint ccurcy our lucky opning is th Muzo Gmbit which is rlly unrtunt pic ofluck to hv bcus it hs hrdly occurrd n tournmnts snc th tun of th cntury rovidnial rovrb a ng n g a pr p; Rooks in h morning vryon yawning
(Th orgin nd intrprttion of this old rming sw r burid in obscurty. h scond lin is blvd to rfr to th undsirbl prctic of dournmnt sssionsbing plyd too soon r rkst
T Caca (sdog sac)
Cacer
(22 J - 22 Jly)
hs s on of th worst sgns r chssplyr to b sddld wth t brth Cncr hs not producd rlly rt plyr snc Morphy hs s hrdly surprsng whn on tks nto ccount th tmdty nd shynss chrctrstc of ths sgn Also w must rmmbr tht crbs mov sdwys whrs chsspcs r gnrlly bttr dvsd to hd rwrds ooks born undr th sgn of Cncr r svrly rstrctd by ths hndcp nd cn only k horontl movs long th bck rnks Chckng th brth dts of th rooks s n ssntl prcuton br buyng ny chss st h bst dvc to gv to chssplyng Cncr subcts s n ll honsty to gv p nd look r som othr drcton n whch to turn your sdwys tlnts If howvr you nsst on
A ASROLOGICAL G UI
9
prsvrng t chss thr r just two chncs to ovrcom th problms of your brth sgn rst th study of opnng thory cn hlp compnst lttl; Cncrs hv good mmors combnd wth n undrstndng of currnt trnds bstowd upon thm by th moon Cncrs rulr h scond nd I thnk mor mbtous rmdy s to rott ons chr through 9° br strtng th gm h rsultng sdlong vw of th bord cn b nough to turn ons crbbsh qults to dvntg nd nsur tht th pcs mov rwrds (h Swdsh grndmstr Ulf Andrsson usd to dopt rltd Cncrn pnc by sttng on hs ft so tht hs body would not know whch wy ws sdwys hs ws not totlly succssl howvr oftn ldng to complt lck of orntton mnfstng tslf n horzontl shufng styl whch only mphszd hs Crustcn brth sgn Crabs Crd knigh on h dg bas ma & vg
(Whthr rrsch knw ths old provrb whn mkng hs own mous uttrnc bout th vlu of knghts t th dg of th bord s mttr of som dsput Snc rrsch ws Pscs t sms unlkly tht h ws mlr wth th Crbs Crd though som uthorts dr on ths pont Leo
(23 Jl - 22 Agt)
h sgn o th on s wthout th slghtst doubt th bst sgn of ll You r mstr dnd courgous gnrous honst powrl nd ntlgnt ou hv wt chrm nd prsonlt nd your only ossbl wknsss r nturl lznss whch s rsultd om your s succss nd utd lfcndnc whch th (call wd Vrons q v nrtd bu s hr worh othrng my msntrprt s rrognc h uthor of ths book ncdntlly s o Hs brthdy s 12 August nd s prsnts h lks to rcv nythng so nd cuddly ncludng bnknots nd sh grous Why thn you my b wondrng r not ll th grtst
10
SO PAW
chssplyrs huddld togth undr ths xcptonl sgn Dspt our wondr quts o ony pprs nont sxth plc n th lgu tbl of Zodc sgns r chssplyrs. hr r two smpl rsons whch lly xpln ths pprnt prdox rstly t s qut nturl tht mny os should dcd to b xtrordnrly succssl n som othr ld rthr thn wst thr tm btng up th rprsnttvs ofnfror sgns ovr th chssbord Scondly nd mor srously r our prospcts th chssplyng o s phnomnlly unlucky Hs ccdnt pronnss s du to wd slcton of prtculrly unucky squrs ovr whch h nds to kp wtch durng th gm Dngr cn strk wthout wrnng on ny squr of th. hl s wll s g d b (or b2 om Sptmbr to My nd vrous octons on th dpndn on moon phs A o ntrng chss gm nds th tmrty of Bggls wlkng cross mnld Rlly t s mrvllous tht w os cn b s succssl s w r consdrng th l rtun wth whch w r constnly plgu Los Law Many a swindl maks a nickl Vro
(23 Agt - 22 tr)
If you thought Cncr ws bd sgn r chssplyrs you shoul s th rcord of Vrgons h lst Vrgo of World Chmponshp clss ws Phldor round two cnturs go (nd vn tht s lttl unclr wht wth clndr chngs obscurng hs tru brth dt h bst procdur to llow on dscovrng th sgn of Vrgo bov your brth plc s to unscrw t nd mk vry ttmpt to dspos of tn prt xchng r nothr brth sgn At currnt rts nywhr n Estrn Europ you should b bl to trd n on Vrgo r slghtly usd Cprcorn on pymnt of prwshd pr of ns pck of gum nd Clnt Estwood lpl bdg Any dfcults ncountrd n pssng oth unwntd Vrgo sgn should b countrd by mntonng som of th wondrl obs whch Vrgons do rlly wll lk chrtrd ccountncy
A ASROLOGICAL GUI
11
or trfc wrdnshp Btr sll nlst h hp of ndy o to do th slsmnshp r you os r slck tlkrs who cn sll nythng to nybody If you do not hv o nd whch s hghly probb snc os gnrlly hv nothng but contmpt r Vrgons thn you couldust nd yourslfstuck wth your Vrgohood or such unrtunts ll I cn sy s tht th rthcomng yr wll b vry vrg rchng pk of cr ar h Jl h wll r svrl gms om slghtly dvntgous postons Do not push your luck or you mght vn los thm Your vourt dy s tomorrow your lucky rsult s wn your bst opponnt s nothr Vrgo your lucky otbll club s Nottnghm orst
lpful omily passd pawn you push is worh wo in h bush Lra
(23 tr - 23 tr)
A fcult sgn r chss plyrs h prcson nd hrmony of brns r good qults but thr prfctonsm nd dsr to wgh vrythng up br rchng dcsons mks thm prtculrly pron to tm troubl h strs rtll troubld yr Spsskop n th hous of Antoly Cntur brngs nught but hvoc tords th nd ofnury but Olfssons blt s on th scndnt nd should kp mttrs n chck h Auror ofKorchno my b sn n th Wstrn sky but only om th ont v rows whch hv bn bnnd to spcttors nywy. h mrgnc of th Wht Dwr Ksprov n th hvnly cnopy s prdctd to ld to totl clps of th brghtst str Krpols wthn th nt h nun bns u b nthn hot ngg So much r th longrng rcst h chrt mdnght tomorrow shows th Proxysm of Ptrosn n conuncton wth th Appndctomy of Hort brngng dp dprsson sprdng stwrds om Hndon By brkst tm thr wll b much wlng nd gnshng of tth n NW6. ss
B L C ?
WHT!
S a pawn and pick it up; dop it in is co cup
whlng howv, s xpctd o Rykvk, llowng th ctvts of th Intntonl Whlng Commsson nd Gnpc You lucky pc s gn You lucky motowy s th M, whch bngs us hom gn to Wls wh wcom n th hllsd cn b condntly pdctd ft th pubs clos Libran Lollipop Happinss is a passd quns pawn. Scorpo
(24 b 2 Nb)
h chctstcs of th Scopo nvncbl wllpow, shp mnds nd pssont sctv ntnsty Smll wond thn tht ths sgn poducs mo gndmsts thn ny of th oths h only toubl wth ths sgn s th poblm whch
A AROOGCA GU
13
ss f you ply chss but hv not ttnd th gndmst ttl You dt of bth cnnot possbly b to bm, so you wll hv to look th ld xcuss h llowng pstologcl xplntons my b dvncd n ply to ny ccustons tht you lckng n nl blty 1 I ws bon on cusp 2 I ws bon on bus (No gndmst hs v bn bon und th sgn of ondon nspot concvd n tx phps, but nv bon on bus 3 I ws bon n th Y of th Monky (Chns stology s lwys woth ty f th convntonl stu ls to poduc th goods h ot bd t 5 I hv toothch Scoion Skuldu S a pawn and pick i up Drop i in his c cup. An ncin pic of dvic, sid o b xrmly civ boh in dsroying an opponns concnrion and in ruining his c. Sagttarus
22 Nb 2 Db)
h usl ftus of ths sgn mbton, clvnss nd mgnton, but nconsstncy nd lck of concntton cn b gt dwbck th Sgttn chssply hs sg hs not bn polc n poducng gndmsts nd cn bost no wold chmpon, but th gt plys bon und S gttus, though fw n numb nclud svl cnddts th wold ttl Sttns lk hoss , so f you plyng gnst on ( Sgttn, not hos you should lwys tk ohs knghts t th lst oppotunty hs wll mk hm most dsconso lt nd h wll ply th wos t Ifyou Sgttn nd hv hd you knghts tkn, you my nd tht mmb of th oppost sx cn comt you Mmbs of th oppost sx cn b most comtng t
4
OF A W
momnts ofdsconsolton Apt om cup ofhot chocolt nd mld tntum, th s lttl btt whn sung om such vxton Bw, howv, ofSgttn womn, who tnd to b loud nd domnng I cn sy ths wthout pudc, snc som of my bst nds Sgttn womn Sagiarian Saying nzip a Bnoni. prcor
c )
h sgn of th got You sold, pctcl pson wth long c nd sly pontd bd You und mmb of th cudchwng dvson of th vntod ungults Not gt pdg chsspl y, though sk nd Ks w both gots h gt dvntg o bng Cpcon s th gotlk blty to lp ov obstcls Whl th As hs to ly on buttng wy n blockd postons th Cpcon cn th butt o lp s h chooss h lws of chss, howv, w not dwn up wth gots n mnd, so much of th Cpcon's ntul nthussm boundng ound hs to b kpt fusttd th nnoyng son tht th uls nsst on most pcs stupdly pushng th wy long th bod suc bumpng nto thngs Cpcons pobbly mk btt dughts plys thn chss plys, though gus not vlbl on ths scntng pont In Mongol thy cook got by splttng opn ts bck nd plcng hot cols n th vty Vodk n plnty s poud n nd th sultng gsy mss of blood lcohol nd t s thn ldld out nd dunk b t congls If you got, you do wll to vod Mongol t o n mltms Gasronomic Tip of h Monh as sauc for h goos is a hick vlout nrichd wih yolks, cram and garlic. I hop ths tks wy th nsty tst lft by th Mongoln got
A AROGCA GU
quarus
15
)
You lucky nk s th sxth nk you lucky l s th bl you lucky dgonl s th long wht on pontng upwds om b But bw You luck us out t g6 Nv push you luck s s h7 o gt lls wll suly bll you poston Aquns w odd cloths nd unusully pon to b stuck by lghtnng Whn plyng chss out of doos dung thundstom, th Aqun s th dvsd to kp hs Wllngtons on, nd on no ccount to sk shlt und lghtnng conducto Aquns plsnt popl wth stong nkls who lk ftchng t th oppnnts Do not ccpt th os unlss you ptculy nd ofwty t k spcl c t mov twnty ght nd husdys Alwys tk you own oll of tolt pp f you ply n th Sovt Unon Nv tust mn wth th Chn nms Alwys kp you socks on dung gm Wis sayings Th pin is mighir han h fork Procrasinaion is h mohr of imroubl Psc u y
On of th most ntstng zodc sgns chssplys Pscns tdtonlly motonl nvous nd lmost ncpbl of tkng dcsons Yt sch (of cous, Bonstn nd sn, th of th most dcsv nd thght plys of modn tms , w ll bon und th sgn of th shs swmmng to nd o hs my m odd, but th xplnton ls n th vy ntu of chss tslf Pscns ntutv popl, wth good undstndng of th mystous nd ntngbl ust wht you lly nd chss, whch s too dfcult gm m popl nywy h Pscn chssply s wll dvsd to ly totlly on nstnct Do not ty to clcult ong vtons, whch you wll
16
S A W
pob pob bly gt wong n ny cs study stu dy th bod s ft w w stunt mnu nd pck th mov tht tsts bst Ply wth you hnds, not wth you hd As Dvd Bonstn onc sd, n ply to quston concnng how much of p tcutcully complctd vton h hd nlyst th tm of th gm You don't nlys dung gm you ust ply th movs ,
Touamn Tacic Mar in Hasings rn a lisur
A Chess Bluer's Manual I
I nvr rad a book bor rviwing i i prudics a man so. Rvnd Sydny Smth
h only two wys to scu hgh putton n th wold of chss h dstnctly mo onous onous of ths nvolvs th consstnt plyng of good movs As mdum dmonsttng dmon sttng ons msty of th gm, th bod nd pcs n ct, ct , most mos t unl un lbl bl o tht so sonn , th d d s stongly dvsd to tk th ltntv cous nd ly solly on th spokn nd wttn wod Wth lttl study h wll nd hmslf bl to gn th stm usully svd only th gtst of hs both pcttons o mpss oths, th pn cn b mght thn th pwn hs chpt bgns th lssons Lctur : Th Grat Mastrs
hs s th st of th lctus whch togth comps complt cous cous n chss blufn blufng g I hv dstlld ll th th nmton ssnt ssnt ll to gv pctu of complt chss udton udton W bgn wth th bogphs f th b bdd m ch, ch , tnd u u t w bov th st to b vd vd wth unstntng unstntng dmton No wod of ctcsm my on ny ccount b lvlld gnst ny of th dmgods to whom ths chpt s dvotd On vn lss ccount sho s houl uldd th th nms nm s v v b utt ut t dd n th s m bth b th s thos tho s of lss l ss motl mo tlss W shll shll dl wth thm n chonologcl od
1
SO AW
PHILIDOR, Andre Danican (17295) Adoton of ths gt mn s cuntl unshonbl, thby ddng to hs vlu s s convston pc By modn tndds h ws not ptcully good ply, but oths ound oun d t th th sm sm tm t m w gn g nlly lly so bys b ysmlly mlly poo po o t th gm tht tht Phldo lookd lookd suphumn Actully hs nm ws not Phldo t ll ll ous XIII clld hm tht tht whn h ws gong though nny phs of nmng muscns n obost clld clld ldo If you bd t mmbng nms, nm s, t us l tck to cll vybody vybod y Phldo Phld o but you nd to b s s usl Kng to gt wy wth t Whn not plyng th th obo t t Vslls o plyng chss to supplmnt hs muscn's ncom, Phldo spnt hs sp tm composng ops, on of whch ws vn vvd cntly pmnc n Englnd Whn tlkng bout Phldo, Phldo , hs musc my sfly sfly b psd snc hdly nybody hs v hd ny of t If you hv th mstun to nd youslfn t comp comp ny of on who s nountd Pldo Pldo mott o two, cst doubt on hs hs cdntls by by suggstng tht hs Phldo ws n ct th th of ou Phldo Phldo h w svl mmbs of th DncnPhldo stbl who composd ound tht tm so on cn sfly mnton th bgtlls tlls of C P E Dncn DncnPhldo Phldo, , o th pnbll pnbll mchn mchn of Wolfgng Amdus DncnPhldo Pwns th soul of chss s Phldos mostquotd mk But h too l th sds of doubt snc n old nch th wod wod pons could mn th pwns o psnts On could thus mk sonbl cs Phldo s n ly nch nch volutony, voluton y, dvoctng dvoctng pow th woks nd psnt psnt contol of th mns of chss poducton p oducton f cond on Phldos chss mnton hs blndld wn gnst gns t Cpt Cp tnn S mth n whc wh chh tn of Phld Ph ldo o's's st st sxt sx tn n movs w wth pwns MORPHY, Paul (1837-84) Hs mddl mddl nm ws Chls, Chl s, whch not not mny popl lz Mophy ws md hs ombntonl bll bll nc though t
A C H ES S U E R S M A U A
19
ws lly th soundnss of hs ttckng py whch ws so unusul ts tm Mophy shot to th top o th chss t n th Untd Stts thn took tp to Euop wh h bt up ll th wold's bst plys wth som s All ws gong wll untl Mophy sud motl blow to hs pd whn n Amcn gl sd hs poposl of mg bcus h ws only chssply Rth thn do th snsbl thg nd ttson th young ldy n vou of on wth btt vlus h took th cton to ht gv up chss nd td to gn ccptnc nd m n hs pofsson s lwy Gt succss n tht sph ludd hm h dvlopd pnod tttud towds chss nd dd of poplxy n ys gvng up th gm good ollows of th udn School of psychonlyss ct
W A S
G.WNER
PYS 1E M O F TE P R/
2
S WN
Mophy as a casebook example of the Oedipus complex in chessplayes Pactitiones of this vile game ae tying to kill the thegue (the king , which they unconsciously loathe and fea, with the aid of the powel mothegue (the queen whose love they want themselves alone The chess game is the sublimation of the unconscious desie to commit paticide, latent in all men, so they say But they have it wong, of couse The queen, as anyone can see om its stident mode of gallivanting about the boad, is quite denitely male The king, on the othe hand, is too mincing in his movements to be a thegue t best a distant uncle o pehaps an eeminate cousin The most mous Mophy game was played in a box at the Pais Opea Mophy had the white pieces against Count souad and the Duke of Bunswick, consulting about thei moves The opea was not he Marrag of Fgaro. When efeing to ths game, suggest a hint of doubt about the numbe of Mophy's opponents It has neve been denitively stated that these wee eally two dieent men athe than a single playe who held both titles Histoians could easily have been misled by iling to conside the latte possibility LSKER, Emanul (18681941) The st point to note is the spelling of Laske's st name Once you have masteed that, you ae well on the way towads becoming an authoity on the man Hs geatness as a playe may be judged by the ct that he was the st to e accused of witchca at the chessboad He was also accused of using psychological ticks such as delibeate bad play to unneve the opponent Just imagine how well you have to play people to think that the bad moves must be delibeate Since Laske, of couse, witchcaft has beco quite common in tounament play, though the ecent FID ban on the slaughte of sacicial beasts at the boad has bought some decease in activity The othe impotant innovation which we must thank Laske is money Bee he applied his geat bain to the topic, it had not occued to chessmastes that they ought to use thei
A C H ES S U E R S M A U A
21
talents nancial ewad ven some time afte Laske it was consideed athe bad m a chessplaye not to die staving and penniless Despite his good sense on this matte, Laske an into touble with the hypeination of the 1920s He was aleady an ageing exwold champion, but etuned to chess to make some amazingly good esults His pemance in nishing thid at Moscow 193 at the age of sixtyseven is pehaps the geatesteve feat of chess longevity When not playing chess, Laske sudied philosophy and mathematics Mention some of his contibutions to the theoy of Vecto Spaces if you feel like a digession in the convesation Remembe to toast his bithday evey Chistmas ve ALEKHINE, Alxandr (18921946 lekhine was eveything a chessplaye ought to be an aogant, selsh, alcoholic womanize, with a talent making enemies and a liking cats When sobe he had a complete stategic mastey of the game and an unsupased ability to keep contol of complex positions This mastey became exaggeated when he published notes to his own games He liked to include long vaiations, oen discoveed in analysis days ae the game was played, claiming that he had seen them and calculated them coectly at the time Sometimes too he would substitute a petty nish which might have occued he moe mundane ending which eally happened Some tounaments he played with a highe than ecommended level of alcohol in his blood This led to epots of stange behaviou such as uinating i the cone of the stage duing one event e D uwe had depived lekhine of the Wold Championship, the geat man gave up dink, subsisting only on milk two yeas until he had taken his title back lekhine intoduced hated into the acceptable epetoie of match playes ainst aalanca in thei mah, h wee peiods when lekhine esed to sit at the same boad as his opponent Kapov and Kochnoi adopted simila policies moe than fty yeas late, but nobody has eve eally ivalled lekhine shee pesonal venom To become a tue lekhine authoity it is best to concentate
on his losses Firstly this is easier, since there are r fewer of them than his numerous wins, but also they are generally less well known Some of his worst games, usually dismissed as aberratios of inebriation, nevertheless contain some remarkable original ideas. Had he but been sober enough to llow them up correctly, the whole of chess theory might have developed more quickly. TL, Mikhail born 936 Ta was the youngest world champion ever and one of the very few real chess geniuses. He only held the title r a year, but the brieess ofhis tenure was due mainly to ill health For this reason it is important to know his medical background correctly. Firstly, and completely irrelevantly, Ta has only three ngers on his right hand. This congenital dermity might almost have been designed to li chess pieces. Fve ngers only get in each others' way Tal's problems have always been
A H BUFF NU
caused by a troublesome kidney Once this was removed his esults over the chessboad began to improve again, but he had suered a decade of rather inconsistent play Talking about Ta poses certain diculties owing to the strong temptation to use the word genius Ta himself always correctly points out that that particular term shoud be reserved r Bronstein Had Bronstein not made the unrtunate mistake of iling to win the world championship, he would probably have taken Tal's place in this list and we would not have this trouble Never refer to Ta as a Russian He is the Latvian World Champion (Latvia is rst right when you get to stonia FISCHER, Robr Jams (born 193) There is no dubt whatsoever that Bobby Fischer is the greatest of all Anyone pretending to hold opposite views shold be treated with extreme condescension. On no account should one indulge in argument with such illiterates r they will always be impervious to reason When talking of Fischer, one should also steer clear of the elicate question of his sanity. uh prblms s h my hve e clarly subdna hs enomous creative achievements, and should be correspondingly ignored Any comments on his play should be limited to the words, Aah, Fischer', llowed by a wistl, slightly demented look into the r distance Owing to his special position, Fischers games should not be treated in the same manner as those of other players As wit the works of Mozart, the only human with whom Fischer may sensibly be compared, a catalogue has been prepared o the games of the great American Just a Kchel did the job r Wolfgang Amadeus, Wade and O'Connell collected all Bobby's creative masterpieces Thus one does not need t o to the length of descibing a game as, r example, Fische passky, sixth match game, Reykjavik 1 972 One simply says O'C 7 and everybody knows that you are referring o the game of that number in the Wade and O'Con ell cataloue A typical conversation between two Fischerophiles ought to run something along the llowing lines
24
OF AWN
Just came back om a playthrough ofO'C The Ruy Lopez, do you know it?' Ah, yes Typically early Fischer you recognized, of course, the quotation of thematic material om 0 'C 72 ' How true And doesn't he give us tantalizing retaste of O'C 702, the rst great Ruy Lopez om his late period?' Poor old Stein never stood a chance.' Aah, Fischer' Aah, Fischr' And both end the conversation staring blisslly through each other in trances of Fischerian ecstay
4. The Case of te Mental Detective Th human bran s a dv o kp h ars from grang on on anohr. Peter de Vries
Ah, Watson Good of you to come. ' Sherlock Holmes opened the great oak door ofhis Baker Street chambers to admit his old iend. I've just received an invitation to present the prizes at the Slough Grandmaster Tournament. Knowing of your interest in chess I naturally decided to take the opportunity to invite you to accompany me and meet some of the players.' Jolly thoughtl of you, Holmes, ' said D r Watson eagerly I'm not at all busy at the moment and would be delighted at the possibility to renew y acquaintance with the old game and its protagonists. When do we leave?' Straight away, ' said Holmes decisively. Anticipating your enthusiasm, I took the liberty of booking seats on the 1848 om Paddington I can inrm you of the tournament results on the journe and perhaps we might look over some of the better games om the bulletins' In the course of the short train ride, Watson learned more details behind Holmes's unusual alacrity in acquiescing to ofcate at the zegvng. The tounament had eded wth a most remarkable result: in the rst place was the American grandmaster Pescatory, who had won all eleven games to nish with a 1 per cent scoe. The other eleven grandmasters had all nished level on ve points to share the remainder of the prize nd ven r the great Pescatory this was an outstanding perrmance Already, results such as these, combned
26
OF WN
with Pescatory's extravert, highly condent nature, had made him one of the most universally despised gures in the chss word Holmes had, however, aways maintained excellent relations with the great American and was delighted with the opportunity to present him with the large cheque and the med Golden Rook of Slough' trophy During the journey Holmes had demonstrated to Watson the eleven crushing victories which had earned Pescatory his rst place Watson was not especially enamoured of the winner's own contemptuously dismissive notes to his opponents' moves. Reeshingly objective observations' was how Holmes had described them Watson's opinion was that the man was a despicably arrogant example of a transatlantic culture, but this he le unspoken. On arrival at Slough, the pair took a cab to their hotel, where the games of the tournament had also taken place and the players were still accommodated As soon as they had reached their room. Holmes admiisteed himselfa quick shot of cocaine, then too out his violin ad started playing some wild Hgaian music Watson picked up the telephone, demanded room service and ordered some Italian od Within minutes, the waiter had arrived bearing an almost uidentiable pasta dish. Is that meant to be Spaghetti Bolognese' queried Watson with a hint of incredulity. Brute hilistine,' replied Holmes, by now ying high as a kite. I thought that even you should be able to ecognize the sound of a Szigeti Polonaise .' But bere Watson could work his way back into the conversation, the telephone rang. Sherlock Holmes's suite,' announced Watson into the mothpiece A choked voice issued om the phone. For God's sake, come quick. I need help.' I think it's r you,' said Watson, handing the receiver to Holmes . The great detective carelly put down his violin and spoke loudly into the telephone Sherlock Holmes, the great detective, at your service'. Thank God you're there ou're my only hope, ' continued the voice Come at once or it could be too . . . ' The voice stopped abruptly and the line went dead
H A OF H N A D
27
That was Pecatory,' said Holmes ' I believe that he may be in some danger We must hurry ' He swept out of the room with Watson managing to keep but a short distance behind The waiter stood bemused in the doorway, still holding the spaghetti Aer a brief pause he shrugged his shouders and settled down to eat it The door to Pescatory's room was ajar when Holmes and Waso reached . hey shed , as c, were already too late The body of the American grandmaster lay ce down in the middle of the oor From his back emerged the handles of eleven knives, each of distinct pattern om the rest, and all embedded to their hilts in the corpse of the unrtunate grandmaster A dastardly crime,' said Holms gravely, but we must not let our emotions interfere with our capacities r making logical deduction. Our task must now be to nd the killer and bring him or her to justice' Or them, ' interpolated Watson Don't be pedantic, ' admonished Holmes Well anyway,' continued Watson, this one doesn't look too difult ven I can make a pretty ir guess what happened here ' ven as he spoke the sund came drifting intly om rther down the corridor of n elevenvoie male hoir singing eAddio, we won the cup' Holmes, immersed deeply in his own thoughts, did not notice the noise We are not in the business of making guesses, Watson, ' he said critically Criminal detection is a precise science First we must nd the murder weapon ' Watson blinked in disbelief at the body lying porcupinelike on the carpet Those knives ' ou don't eat spaghetti with a knife, Watson If you must tll thnk about od, ma I recommend a vst to the ktchens r the purpose of acquiring a r and spoon As I was saying, there are no spent cartridge cases on the oor I noticed that as s oon as I entered the room. o he was not shot No by the ange at which the body ies we may safely educe that he was bludgeoned to death by a blow or blows to the head with a blunt object .' His trained eyes scanned the room in a search r
2
SFT P A
the lkely weapon Watson, whose legs were beginning to feel weak, sat on the edge of the bed dumbstruck, still starng at the pincushion of a body I have it' exclaimed Holmes suddenly The typewriter He was battered to death with the typewriter. Nothing else is possible. Find the owner of that typewriter and we have our murderer, Watson' But my dear Holmes, ' interpolated the doctor, unable any longer to hold his peace, that is Pescatory's own typewriter He was, aer all, a chess journalist as well as a player. And it's got his name on it in big capital letters on the top. ' The great detective, however, was not listening He was absorbed in a minute inspection of the supposed murder weapon From the keys o this machine, I see under close inspection that some are worn considerably more than would be expected om the normal distribution ofletter equencies. We should normally expect the most used letter to be the lowercase letter e, which indeed it is also on this xampe, but here I ncy it is used still more than one would expect And several other letters also admit to a similar description Take down the llowing as I say them, atson' Reluctantly the doctor extracted a pencil om his breast pocket and he wrote as the detective dictated Capitals ,Q,R ,N , and B and lowercase e,a, d,f,g, h,c and nally b ' Now consider,' went on Holmes with everincreasing enthusiasm. What does that tell us of the owner of the typewriter and his occupation' As I said,' replied Watson emphatically, he was a chess journalist' A ludicrous guess, Watson, based upon not the slightest evidence. I am astonished that you can venture such an illthought opinion when it is perfectly obvious that the man we seek is a sailor' Watson spluttered a few inconsequential monosyllables. Let me explain, ' continued Holmes, though I should hardly have thought it necessary in view of the clarity of the evidence bere us. Consider, good doctor, what are the letters used most equently by the owner of a typewriter'
HE C A E HE M E A D EECE
29
Well, in this case,' replied Watson, I should have thought . . ' ou should indeed,' conrmed his mentor The letters most equently called into employment any typewriter are those which are to be und in the very name of its owne. Those very letters which he utilizes perrce evey time he lls in a rm or writes a letter. In these capitals ,Q ,R,N,B and lowercase e,a,d,f,g,h,c, b, we have, in enigmatic rm adittedly, the very autograph of our killer' The wellknown sailor' added Watson with a touch of cycsm At last you have seen it I congratulate you,' cheered Holmes grasping and shaking the hand of the bemused doctor. As you must have by now spotted, the ve capitals are too many to be merely initials Two or more of them must be in some way an appurtenance to the name, a title, degree or omesuch And the only possible such sux om the available etters is RN. Our man is a member of the Royal Navy, a sailor, Watson.' But that is not all the clues the typewriter can tell us', continued Holmes, warming to the task Since there is no letter u, the Q must be a middle initial, and rthermore the proliferation of letters near the beginning of the alphabet, particularly f,g,h,e and a, tell us that he is an Irishman Only a Gaelic name can have such a rare combination ofletters Possbly ome such name a eeagh, which is, as you will know, my good doctor, an old Gaelic precursor of the presentda nglish names eith and evin Without doubt, he is an Irish sailor' Suddenly Holmes stopped and stared at the carpet where Watson's ot had been idly and dispiritedly swinging to and o, creating an everdeepening rrow in the pile between the body and the bed How could I have missed that?' asked the great detectie, rhetorically. Oh, sorry', apologized Watso Didn't realize I was spoiling the carpet' Only one instrument can be responsible r making such a singletrack groove in Axminster pile,' carried on Holmes,
3
OF PA
oblivious to the doctor's interection Our man must have been ridng a unicycle at the time of the crime And to bring down a typewriter wth sufcient rce to kill Pescatory, while riding a unicycle, would demand that our killer be at least six feet eiht inches tall' Holmes paused, apparently unable r the moment to pursue his logic any rther What puzzles me, ' Watson, ' he continued slowly, are these remaining letters We know his name is eeagh Q , somethingbeginningwithB and the surname contains rther c,d and b, perhaps multiply, a well as possible rther representatives om a, e,f,g, and h Perhaps something like eeagh Q. Badbacache, but I would surly have remembered such a name were there one in the Royal Navy' Watsonjust stared at the eleven knives still embedded in the late grandmaster He was wondering how to draw Holmes's attention to them bere the great detective made a complete ass of himself Any plans he may have had, however, were shattered by anothe sudde Holmesia outburst. I have it, Watson How could I have been so blind. eeagh Q Bacdabb' Bacdabb' echoed the doctor What sort ofa name is Bacdabb meant to be Not another of your Gaelic specialities Or do we have here a trace of Pictish with perhaps a FinnoUgric maternal grandmother ou'll never convince me that Bacdabb ' No, Watson Not Bacdabb Macnabb Our man is named Macnabb, but e has a cold, so it just sounds like Bacdabb' As the great detective uttered the nal part ofhis explanation a great sneeze broke out om behind the curtain The drapes spread apart, revealing a six ot nine inch man, dressed in ll naval unirm, who pedalled slowly towards the detective on a unicycle eeagh Q Bacdabb ad your zervice, Bister Hobes Gongradulations, me boyo, on a in piece o' dedegdiv worg I'll gome guiedly; id's a vair gob'
5 A Gloary of Ueful rm I canno didacic o lucid u I can qui oscu and pacic ally mazipan Mervyn Peake Backward Pawn A pawn which, through defect in educa-
tion or inherent lack of ability, makes a stupid move Intelligence tests do not conrm the popular belief that black pawns are more dumb than white pawns. Persistent crass stupidiy can lose a pawn all his iends. He is then known as an isolated pawn Bad Bishop One who consorts with actresses or those of a
theatrical persuasion. In the early days of the Rermation any bishop seen participating in the Stonewall variation of the Dutch defence on Black's QB1 was liable to immediate excommunication. Only centuries later, aer discovery of the Finchley Central qv) , was this variation expunged om the Vatican's list of rbidden openings. Blockade A paramilitary manoeuvre to prevent the oppo-
nent om obtaining supplies or reeshment between moves This is simplest accomplished by an allied detachment strategically placed to rm a long instant queue at the tea counter as soon as they see hi coming Capablan It is not generally known that this Cuban
World Champion was born in ngland under the name of Whitehead Aer an unsuccessl attempt to interest Bertrand
A GOARY OF U FU R
33
Russell injoint authorship ofa work entitled Pincipia cacchis ica he emigrated to Havana and Latinized his name There he wrote the book on his own and called it Chss Fundamnals Aer defeating Lasker r the World title, he acknowledged the helpl advice given by his Irsh neighbour Al O'eane ou'll never get anywhere with a name like Whitehead' ounterpoint A musical device to help chessplayers add up
their wins Originally invented by J S Bach as a personal vour to Philidor to enable the latter o total his points between wrting operas Philidor later earned enough o buy a pocket calculator, which accounts r the relative lack o contrapuntal writing in his later works His gratitude, however, is clearly shown in the mating combination known as Philidor's Legacy', which he bequeathed to Bach in his will Unrtunately Bach was already some rty years dead by the time the will was read We can but speculate on what a ne chessplayer he might have become had he lived long enough to inherit Deciduous A term ofabuse originally applied only to pawn
rmations If a pawn structure is riddled with so many weak and isolated pawns that something is bound to drop o pretty soon, then the whole structure is termed deciduous Later the expression was loosely applied to any bad position By an etymologically interesting back rmation the term evergreen' was applied to the game AnderssenDuesne 1 852 The ninth game of the 1951 BotvinnikBronstein match is known as The Deciduous Game' Diagonalizaion The roces of wnnn a ae b ean
o a mating combination along one of the long diagonals A bishop in Finchley Central qv) is an essential prerequisite to diagonalization The originator ofthis term is reputed to be the nglish mathematician and grandmaster Dr J Nunn If he takes my pawn, I'll diagonalize him ' BBC tape 3 10 78 wiped later the same day)
Draon Variation The name of this Sicilian defence varia-
tion has oen been mistakenly attributed to a ncil resemblance between the black pawn rmation and the prole of a mythical beast. This is all too whimsical to be tue A moe convincing derivation is om the tendency theoretical arguments and analyses of this wretched opening to drag on and on and on. The Benoni, however, is indeed so called because the black pawns look like a bunch of bananas. A single Benoni pawn is correctly termed a benonus Finchley entral To develop a bishop on the long diagonal. The long diagonal was rst discovered, and named ar, the Irish musician and explorer Lonnie Donegal, on a visit to North London while searching r a short route om a to h8 The term Finchley Central was later taken to urope where it
A GOARY OF UFU R
3
appeared in eary manuscripts in the corrupt rm Finchentro' and later Fianchetto' Bishops developed on long diagonals are said to be in Finchley Central' or Finchley Centralled' Bishops on slightly shorter diagonals are said t o be in Mus well Hill, Hendon or Golders Green according to the desrability of the diagonal. That the inuence and power of Finchley Centralled bishops was known even bere the Russian Revolution is clear om arl Marxs expressed last wish to be buried in Finchley Central'. He spoke metaphorically, of course, but the pallbearers took him at his word. Unrtunately they were short of the correct re on the Northern line and und themselves having to alght at Hghgate. Grnfeld,s Defence Colourblindness. Grnfeld had ter-
rible problems with his eyes and invented his eponymous defence by pure accident. Trying, one day, to play the ing's Indian, he mistakenly pushed the black QP one square too r on his third move. H blamed this error on a combination of his own shortsightedness and the brownandyellow squared board on which the game was played. All the squares looked green to him, and he could not tell the derence between Q3 and Q. Nevertheless, the game turned out very well, and Grnfeld realized that he had created a ne new opening . Since he had invented it by pure accident, he felt that the opening ought not to bear his name, so he coined the descriptive term Green square or, in German, Gnfd) Defence The smilarity to his own name he staunchly maintained to be total coincidence. When accused of Narcissistic nomenclature, Grnfeld's Defence was always colourblindness Half-passed Pawn Thirty minutes aer Pawn o'clock. j'adoube An exprssion denoing unwilingnss o mov
the piece touched. The derivation comes om an old nglish phase, Shut up', rmerly th conventional respons to: ou've touched that piece, you've got to move it. ' Later the intoductory sentence was omitted by the aggrieved player, and the pice toucher would automatically say Shut up'
36
OF PAN
without the need r prompting. This was taken into middle High Flemish where it appeared as chodop and later came into old Northern French ]'odup ]'adou. Nichya Russian r draw The word was an attempt by
Stalin to pronounce the name of the German philosopher Fredrich Nietzsche, whose advocacy of conict seemed very peacel by the great Leader's own standards. Hence the name came to signify any conict which ended amicably. Following his invention of Umnsch incidentally, Nietzsche attempted to market a game called Uschach r Umnschn to play in their spare Zi. The game took place on a vast board with huge pieces which nobody could lift. Commercial success eluded him and Nietzsche sank into a deep depression during which he wrote Also chach Zaahusa '. He cheered up when Richard Strauss bought the musical rights, and Umnsch comics became popular. Pasadoble 1 . npassan capture made by a doubled pawn
2 Two connected passed pawns. Petrodollar Prize money earned by Petrosian, said to hve
a major inuence on the Soviet Union's balance of payments . Rook Endin A cryptic crossword clue reference to the
letters OO. Thus Start of Botvinnik's rook ending volume ) ' clues the word book'. Beware, however, if the number of letters in the answer is 7,3, 9)', when it is r more likely to be Smyslov and Levnsh' who actually did write a book on rook endings. Orthodox rook ending players prefer unleavened sh. Troubled Pawn When three pawns of the same colour nd
themselves standing on the same le, the one with trouble is the original resident who started life alone in his block, only to be joined later in the game by two unwelc me lodgers. His living space must now be shared between the doubled pawn and the trebled pawn. Hence the name.
A O S S A R Of U S U R S
37
Viola Gamba Any opening variation in which either
player sacrices a mediumsized stringed instrument Zuzwan An ugly German word which on no account
should be pronounced or even attempted in correct Teutonic shion. There are only two acceptable ways to say this word in nglish wugzang' or Volkswagen'. The latter is recommended as a good descriptive term r a state best avoided and om which i is difcult to extricate oneself having made he mistake of getting into it in the rst place. Far better than being in Volkswagen is to be in Bentley or Daimler But remember that whereas in olkswagen any move is liable to be tal, moving when in Bentley or Daimler can carry prohibitive el costs
6 Etiquete for Ceplayer
Cusy whil you hinking wha o say I savs im Lewis Carroll, Alc in Wondrland
Sadly behind us are the days when admission to a chessboard was only to be gained by gentlemen and those of ne and cultured habits. Since the regrettable extension t the hoi polloi of rights of entry, standards of behaviour have not merely lppd, bu pumed o rphnsibe deph. h ime has come to reassert the equity by which those of natural grace and elegance may demand at the very least a modicum of decorum in dress and act of the Socially and Culturally Underprivileged Majority hereinaer referred to as SCUM) who infest the tournament scene. To that end, we have pleasure in providing a usel guide to right and proper manners r the chessplayer in the most commonly encountered circumstances. Those to whom gentle birth has given natural polish, may regard the rearks which llow as a reesher course. Others, less rtunate, to whom te has provided lower natal credentials, should study tese notes with diligenc, that they too miht some day aspire to standards of dignity to be expected of a gentleman and chessplayer. Upo Itouc slf to 's ppot
Good breeding demands at the very minimum a brief but cordial exchange of salutations bere the commencement of a chess game. If at all possible, a mutual acquaintance of the
QU OR CHPAR
9
contestants should be prevailed upon to make the necessary introduction Chivalry demands that the lowerrated player be presented to the higherrated. Never introduce an international maser to a grandmaser wthout r akng he grandmaster's permission A augh uaion can aie no nrary ay convenently be procur to conuct th cremony o ntoucon. ne uch contion i is pemissibe to make one's own introductive promotion. Should the opponent be seated at the board, one attracts his attentin by drawing back one's own chair with the le hand, making just the hint of a squeak on the oorboards, while extending the right arm in greeting. The handshake pressure should be rm but gentle. A slight bow is acceptable, but smartly clicking the heels is considered the epitome of uncouth Teutonic oashness. In the event of this beig the rst encounter between the players conceed, he with the higher rating has the priviege of requesting that the other divulge his name, with the polite inquiry: Who are you, then' A genuine interst in the identity of his inferior should be demonstrated by cupping a hand round the right ear as he replies and saying What' llowed by impelling the scoresheet in is direction with intructions to inscribe his name in legible capitals. Movg Th Pcs
rasp h pec to b movd rmly betw rer an thumb or, in the case ofthe knight, between midde nger and thumb with the rengr resting lightly between the ears*), li the piece clearly above the level of the other men on the board but never more than half an inch higher than the king) , and move it directly and briskly to the intended destination. To push, ic or nudge a piece rward is considered most unseemly. When making a pawn move, the little nger should be extended. To eect a capture, th enemy man should be removed om the board with the left hand little nger extended, of course, *Th knight nt yu
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should a pawn be captured), prior to occupying the vacated square with one's own piece in the right hand. Onehanded captures, with whatevr juggler's viruosity they may b perrmed, are to be avoided as ostentatious and vulgar. The Chinese Pingpong opening, involving the launch of the ing's pawn some twenty feet into the air bere stroking it down onto , may be tolerated as a harmlss oriental eccentricity Wt th Movs
On transcribing a knight move to the scoresheet, one must take pains to ascerain whether the knight involved is an hereditary baronet. In such cases, the appellation Sir' must be inscribed bere the move, and Bart' added aer the square to which said piece has journeyed
Q O CHA
1
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When the opponent has perpetrated a crass error thereby redering his gam immediatey beyond the slightest hope of redemption one may look at him but never stare in amazement Should he not resign immediately only the illbred will be seen to yawn or consult their watches One is permitted however to extend an invitation to others to share the mirth one harbours at the opponents poor play and to express their intense amusement by gathering round the board and pointing in ridicule at the unrtunate wretch On conclusion o the game the winner should compliment the loser on his high standard o play as exemplied by some if not the majority of his moves The vctor ught also to proer helpl advice to aid the rther study of his defeated adversary thereby leadng o an eventual mprovement in his game Magnanimity in victory should always extend to drawing the attention of the vanquished to his every error however trivial that he might better extirpat tm om his tur xcursions into the chess arena Los
Throwing oneself prostrate onto the oor and beating the ground with ones sts is a shabby demonstration of petulance in which no gentleman should indulge certain restrained amount o igni rancour is, howv, pmissibl an indeed expected under these strained circumstances good walow in pity is h pivige o vry losr Rsing to shake hands with ones vanquisher is on the other hand clear vidnc of a wan of good bding nowihsanding the extreme rtune without which his victory could never have been registed Rsignation should be accompanied by a pertinent congratuatory messag I hope that makes you happy you smug bastard theres certainly not much else in your accid philistine eistence to be cheerl abou On retiring to your room to throw objects at the wall always remmbr to bwae of ricochets
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Upo thrs Los
Ones iends and colleagues should be treated with the utmost sympathy aer losses Black orning coats tall hats black gloves and tie should be worn f a message of condolence seems appropriate verbosity should at all costs be avoided A brief commiseration such as Hard cheese old uit will be lly adequate This particular phrase is especially suitable owing to its easy translation into outlandish tongues r the benet of reign lk Consoling lady chessplayers afer defeat is one of the peripheral occupational duties of the gentleman chessmaster When pressed into giving succour and helping bolster the moral rtitude of such a distressed damsel one must ensure always that the lady in question is allowed a few minutes to herself llowing the defeat These important moments will give her the opportunty to meditate upon her misery to reect on the deeper and more meaningl aspects of existence to experience the pure suering caused by a great grief and to thow an almghty tantum with much kicking stamping and screamg th r of th raw To a randaster: a draw may only b oered by an
untitled player to a grandmaster om a position of tangible superiority. The correct phrasing to adopt on such an occasion is: our grandmastership might be so bold at this juncture of the contest to beg to suggest in all humility the halving of the point Should the grandmaster himselfpropose a draw a summary resal s the height of impropriety. Declining is permissible only with due deference to the grandmasters superior status Thus Though lly content to earn half a point against such a powerl adversary would be willing to invest that and more in the continuation of this contest that might exploit to the ll the opportunities to learn more of this wondrous game uch as are aorded to me by the privilege of sharing a board with you good and illustrious sel
EQEE C HEA E
3
To the Queen or Prne of the Blood Royal should the
vagaries of the pairing system during a weekend tournament lace one aganst the Quee o a Pic or Picess of the Blood Royal) the correct rm of a draw oer is as llows May it lease your Majesty Royal Highness) with the roundest veneraton greatest resect} our Majestys Royal Highnesss) mst ithl humble) and dutil obedient) subje sva) cav lav a da. royal oe of a daw must not be resed except in case of death Such an oe should immediately be acceted n writing rmally in the third erson Upo B sk to Spy for th Russas
The Cambridge chesslayer astute educated rened and drunk on the heady wine of Shakhmatny Bulletin and Soviet oening theory may equently be aroached by seedy astern uroean tyes and asked to spy r the Russians Unde such cicustances one should not let ones olitical views overcome roer notions of resectability The oer should be olitely declined in such a manner as not to have deleterious eects on ones tue Soviet tournament invitations Sir I regret that my proclivities are exclusively heterosexual thereby disqualifying me om the ost you suggest on grounds of occuational unsuitability is a convenient resonse to extricate oneself without any risk of causing oence This simle mode of disentanglement is less efcacious on being visited in ones room during a tournament by a scantily dressed alluring female reresentative of a cmmunist state exuding unashamed sexuality her luscious body straining temptingl aganst the connes of her remaining garments Such a calliygean temtress can er to the young and suscetible Cambridge chessmaster an oortunity to behave with indiscretion Whatever the rovocation during such social visits however the true gentleman will never overste the bounds of decorum socks are not removed bere luncheon
Th ru gnlman wll nvr vrp h bund f dcrum
Cocr Sacrcs
There s an art and proprety n the oerng of sacrces to the opponent whh requres a natural delcacy of dsposton to comprehend. Be t correct or totaly unsound the amount of materal sacrced must be nether gaudly too valuable nor mserably nsgncant. An ostentatous sacrce of queen or two rooks whle doubtless aordng a crude pleasure to those of ow brth among the spectators wll mark one as a vulgar fellow to be shunned by the hgher echelons of socety. Always accept the oer of a pece or pawn by the opponent However humble the gver your apprecaton of hs goodwll can only properly be sgned by akng what he s wllng to sacrce. No matter how blatantly erroneous the oer never demean the dgnty of the poor chap by utterng a deprecatory
EQUEE CHEPAE
45
expression such as I fear I rob you'. The receipt of the gi should however be acknowledged by a brief note o gratitude otts
Having become a mous player one will equently be appached by nonentiti who will attempt to engage one in conversation saying: ou dont remember me but . . Their presumption should be rewarded by immediate interruption with es I do I beat you in a simultaneous display but ve years past a NimzoIndian Defence if my memory ils me not ou should have played the rook to d8. A most egregious error ' Then walk briskly away leaving the bystanders lost in admiration
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sust Hats
Cerain players, nt of good homes or mily, indulge in certain vile ad unmentionable rms of behaviour while seated at the board These shabby and unseemly displays should not be tolerated Should the perpetrator ignore your own ad perist in hi upeakabe way, addre him rmly ths Sir, ifyou d not desist om you ungentlemanly ways, which I nd inurious to both my concentration and my ner feelings, I shall have no alternative but to sumon the tournament director and have you expelled This threat is the merest blu since the tournament director is in all probability at the very least a nosepicker, unsympathetic to the higher values of an aesthete Should the opponent therere respond unvourably with Sod yo, mate', or similar phase, the threat should not be invoked, but this very utterance will have conveyed upon the inured party the right to a hey kick to the akle of hi aderary Never eat bean bere a game Cloth slf th Propr Mar
Far too oen, the reprehensible hait of appearing illclad at the chessboard goes without being suciently decried Those not to the manner born, and of slovenly upbringing, may be seen in ans and eeshirt with decaying sandals on their sockless feet Such attire is permissible under but one single circumstance when the opponent is a young product of the Soviet ctory, in his massproduced, weironed natty suit and poncey imitation suede otgear, pretending to be a gentleman In that case, the dirtier the teeshirt the better On all other occasions, as every true gentleman will need no reminding, the correct dress is lounge suits r the middle game and evening dress r the ending Gloves should not be removed bere the end of the opening Hat and umbrella or cane hould be le at te door Hat and cane may however, be taken to the board if the game is to be a short, prearranged draw
7 A Chess Bluers Manual II: The Economic History of
and
ing is no bauu aoug i may si b aroo Woody llen
Ths second lecture n the trlogy of complete chess knowledge comprses a total gude to chess hstory om all concevable ponts of nterest The separate phases of chess hstory may be clearly delneated and we deal wth them n chronologcal order Readers who prefer the tradtonal alphabetcal order may rearrange the llowng materal wthout any loss n clarty 1
Th Goraphcal AD 55{1560
The ealest m of chess was a game called chatuanga played n northwest India Persan and Sanskrit ballads of the mdseventh century refer to ths game so hstorans assume that t was nvented about a hundred years earler What wth the tme t takes to sgn up the strollng mnstrel wrng a contract out of the publshers and correct the proofs even n those days a century could pass bere yu had a book n the shops Cess was a slower game at tat tme paye excusvey by the arstocracy The peces on each sde were a kng a counsellor two elephants two horses two charots and eght otsolders wth occasonal guest appearances by dogs and camels Snce the queen or counsellor could only move one square dagonaly and the bshops move as also restrcte
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nothing much happened n the game The problem ofths era was how to transport such a ponderously lethargic game to urope But r two rtunate accidents this geographical impasse might never have been surounted The rst accident happened during a Crusade Richard the Lonheart was feeling bored on one of the rest days so Saladin invited hm over r a drnk Durng hs vsit the good King learnt the game of chess and brought it back to England That ncident is not lly authentcated but sounds convncng enough to be taken as true. Meanwhile, the other accident was that the Moors decded to go to Span r their holdays, presumably because Morocco was lly booked They took ther chess sets with them and evidently le some behind. Thus, one way or the other, chess came to Europe .
Th Cultural Era
1561-1726
s soon as th gam ahd Italy, th Renassance trndies decided to soup it up a little. The queen and bshops were given huge increases n power pawns were allowed to mov two squares on their rst go, and castling was thrown in. The volatle Italians savoured the newly created volence of the game. Despite this obvious pandering to popular taste the upper classes mantaned their exclusve rights to the game To Phlp II of Span we owe the ntroducton of true culture nto the development of chess. He was a keen player and, when asked what he wanted r Chrstmas he demanded a chess book Hs vourte priest, Ruy Lopez, was consequently dspatched to Italy to buy one. Whle he was there, Ruy Lopez took tme o to beat the leading Italan players and came home wth a book by Damiano called Quso lbro da mparar gocar a scaci d i pari Ths had been published n 2 and had probably been remandered by the tme Ruy Lopez bought t nyway, te Spanish prest dd not lke the book at al, so on his ight home wrote hs own work, entitled Libro d la inn con libral ar dljugo dl Adrz Ths came out ust n time to put n Phlp II's stocking
CH E U E R M N U
49
They really knew how to name books n those days Why s t that when there were only two or three chess books n the whole world they had ttles a yard long, whle now, wth thousands on the market, they are all called Css or An no ducon o Css or some equally undstngushed ttle Back n sxteenthcentury Italy, however, they were seethng wth rage because good old Ruy Lopez had beaten ther b r rr r bk Ar z
tranng they sent a twoman ht squad consstng of Leonardo da Cutr and Paolo Bo to do r old Lopez They duly arrved n Madrd and both beat the Spanard n matches to retreve ther natonal honour.
Th Socolocal Rvoluto
1721850
Chess was now becomng too mportant to be le to the arstocrats The eghteenth century began to see the balance of power shng towards artsts and scentsts France had a surfet of artsts at the tme, so several of them decded to domnate world chess. The great Phldor, who was the best player n the world om the day of hs brth n 172 untl he ded sxtynne years later, was llowed by Deschapelles and La Bourdonnas Between them they regned supreme r a century. But already the chess epdemc was uncontrollable Havng nfected the artsts and scentsts nothng could stop ts spread to the mddle classes nd England, who had nvented the mddle classes, had a natural advantage over the more prmtve natons. In 183 Howard Staunton won a long match aganst Santmant to brng the unocal world champonshp across the channel It may even be tha ths sngle occurrence was he rason r Santmant's canonzaton hstory s obscure on that ssue 4
Th Poltcal Era
185 1-171
By now chess had been played r around 1300 years, but nobody had yet thought of holdng a tournament Staunton
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hmselfrmeded ths omsson b y arrangng r all the worlds best players to compete at London n 1851 . ll of Stauntons plans r the event went well except r the ct that he only nshed urth. The wnner was dolf nderssen a man of somewhat Germanc persuason. The modern era ofchess as an nternatonal sport was truly under way wth all powerl natons of the world anxous to prove they were the best Naturally the mercans were quck to muscle n on the scene. They sent Paul Morphy across to wn matches aganst all the greatest European players. Staunton by a combnaton of quck otwork and good sense avoded meetng the mercan thereby keepng hs own reputaton reasonably ntact. Morphy returned to merca and never played agan. Ths le the Europeans rather consed and suerng om a ustable feelng of nadequacy. The death of Morphy nally gave Europe back ts sense of selfrespect whch they cashed n by arrangng an ofcal word champonshp match between tentz and Zukertort. The latter s I belev some rt of sweet confectonery so t should be no surprse to hear that he ravenous Stentz won wth consummate ease That was n 188 and the ttle was t stay n central Europe r many years n the hands of Stentz and Lasker The next mportant event n chess hstory was the Sovet Revoluton Lenn was lookng r a sutable way to honour hs pledge of culture r the masses . It had to be cheap and had to be somethng he could understand. Not havng had Marxs advantage of the Brtsh Museum lbrary tcket Lenn und hs choces lmted In a moment of nspraton the Great Leader decded to gve hs people chess. They deserved t and he played t qute well Thus began mass chess educaton n the USSR. Meanwhle back n the West chess theory was developng nto a polemcal debate. The squabbles whch were takng place gave the Russans tme to catch up. Dr Tarrasch was the man to blame. He was a humourless character wth pncenez whose man ntenton was to take all the pleasure out ofplayng chess by reducng the game to a set of dogmatc prncples. He
C E U E R M N U
51
consed the issue by playing much better than he wrote but this seemed to ol his opponents and only made them angrier. He had been arguing with anyone who came his way but his most concerted opposition came om the Hypermodern school the PreRaphaelites of chess. Reti Breyer and Nimzowitsch* were the leades of the hateTarrasch club. Breyer had all the good ideas but died r to young. Reti was the most complete playe but Nimzo had the charisma and eccentricity to be Tarraschs greatest opponent in debate. mon other odd pieces obehaviur Nimzowitsch is reputed to have perrmed headstands on the stage of tournaments and would also wrap his leg tightly round the chair as an aid to concetration. Nobody knows whether it is true that he once broke his leg by standing up too abruptly when in such a pose. Such ideas were in any case r too hypermodern r old Tarrasch whose hairstyle was too imacuatey gresy t pert hestans Back in Moscow Stalin had assumed enins mantle of the Great Theorist. His ideas r word domination were more practical and his great buddy Krylenko set to the task of a veyear plan r chess. By the time Stalin had him shot Krylenko had really done quite well and the young Russians were well on the way to capturing the world championship. Just to make sure Stalin annexed Estonia so that he could claim Keres as a Soviet player. But he need not have worried Botvinnik won the title r Russia in 14. The next quarter of a century was dull. The Soviet Union went into the business of stockpiling exWorld Champions with Botvinnik losing to various people then regaining the title. By 1970 the USSR had one reigning champion and ur exchampions. But the poitical era was coing to an end. 5.
Th Ecoomc Rvoluto
172-
Until 1972 it was considered poor rm r a chessmaster to make any money om the game If he died other than in *Nmzwth helf wa unue hw t pell th dfult name but eene ha ted ut the pblem h
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penur he was hardl plang the game at all. Bobby Fscher changed all that. Wth the mpertnence ofPaul Morphy he not only beat all the best players n Europe but he demanded and receved goodl sums of mone r dong so. lmost overnght a enormous change had come over the world of chess. Other plaers quck llowed hs example and asked to be pad too Of course the dd not n general receve so much at rst, but the chess grandmaster suddenl became a pece of hot propert desred by all men of wealth. By 978 the prze and brbe nd r the World champonshp had ncreased tenld even over 1972. nd so as the twenteth centur draws to a close chess has nall caught up wth the modern era Even the Russans are begnnng to want more than roubles r playng Perhaps we ca all now aord to slow down a lttle
8 Chess Club Drifter
rs on ng abo all a ulur can sand s a glass y. Frank McKnney Hubbard
He never sad where he came om and few even dared ask. The tall man rode nto Dodge Cty wth only the clothes on hs back and a chess set n hs hand. ll eyes were on the stranger as he strode nto the saloon. Conversaton came to a sudden stop and an omnous tenson sezed the smoky ar as he pushed a dollar bll towards the barman. Gmme a drnk sad the stranger. Tea no mlk one sugar The barman stood motonless hs hands pushng down on the bar hs eyes xed menacngly on the ce of the newcomer. er a few seconds whch felt lke mnutes the stranger spoke agan. Please he added deantly. The barmans knees shook he poured the drnk steamng om ts pot ad pushed t towards the stranger He ponted at the chess set We dont hold wth n chess playn n ths bar The stranger gnored hm and threw the tea down hs parched throat. Hs ourney had been log ad the warm drk was a welcome reeshment. Wheres the chess club he asked, bangng the cup back place on ts elegant Mnton saucer re you oon r a game ased the arman. e don want no trouble here We're decent peace lovn lk here n Dodge I asked wheres the chess club repeated the stranger threatenngly ngerng the sldng ld of hs chess set. Ill take you there. voce om a corner table broke the
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slence. The old man who had spoken the words rose slowly and ponderously om hs stool and began to make hs way towards the stranger. Pleased to meetya stranger. He extended hs hand n geetng These young uns don t know no more how to treat a real chessplayer. The strangers grey eyes narrowed to slts. Hs ngers grew more taut round the box of chessmen as he gnored· the oered handshake. Used to push a pretty r paw mself when I was shorter n the tooth went on the old man unperturbed but the old eyes ant what they wuz. Where dd you say you wuz om? I ddnt repled the stranger. Lets go nd he led the way ou of the saloon You sure are mghty eager r a cess game contued the old man urgng hs lmbs to keep up wth hs new companons brsk pace Used to be eager msel Eager young Jess they used to call me. Now they ust call me old ess now that Im not so eager and me legs dont seem up to t no longer. What dd ya say ya name wuz? Ddnt say repled the stranger. They call me Grandmaster. Old Jess and the man they called Grandmaster stroe on together n slence. Old Jess led the way to the chess club wt unwaverng steps. He had made the ourney many tmes bere long ago. They came over the rdge at sundown Well we gone as r as I can accompany ya sad Jess wth a touch of sadness n hs voce. The chess clubs that shack down yonder. Hs hand gestured towards an solated cabn at the end of a long track. Id come all the way wth ya but an old man lke me ant welcome down there no more I dont stand no chance th them young uns Not snce the arthrtcs got at my movng ger Used to be the stest over Dodge bere . . Hs voce taled o as he realzed that he was talkng to the dust and the es. The man they called Grandmaster was already standng tall at the entrance to the chess club. Wth one quck movement he kcked open the door. Insde the room peces oze n mdmove as all heads turned towards the
CHE CU DRER
55
doorway. They gazed in surprise at this fearless gure silhouetted there a bshop n each hand ready r action. The tense silence was punctuated by dark unshaven man with a str proudly pinned to hs chest. If youre lookin r a game stranger youve gotta pay the membership fee he sad with thinly disgused avarice The man they called Grandmaster looked at the badge. He ou he wos lu ee h s e Dont hold with no memershp es. He ponted hs bishops menacingly. But I gotta little idea that might interest ya. Waddya say to a r game ust me aganst you? If I wn you enrol me n the club If lose you can have your member ship fee. Okay stranger said the man they called The Club Secretary as the other club members gave way to nervous talk and giggles. Just the two ofus and no nny business. nd Ive got White. He emptied a box of pieces onto a spare board. ll others present shrank to the walls of the clubroom knowng that wood was about to y and aaid that they might get hurt. They knew that the secretary was the best player n Dodge City He was never beaten except n occasional away matches or when he wasn t feeling none too good or sometimes when the lighting was bad or the pieces too small. ll eyes were on the chessboard as the game began. lmost bere the stranger had seated himself on his chair a white pawn shot out and lodged tself n the wooden square known n Dodge as e4. The stranger dd not even blnk. More pawns were spat rward n rapid succession then pieces llowed. nd suddenly t was all over The Secretary lay slumped across the board defeated. lone gure detached hmself om the crowd to come rward and conratulate the straner Hi bade bore the legend Deputy Secretary. Welcome to Dodge City Chess Club. Well need your name r the records. Just put down "Grandmaster said the stranger puttng the pieces slowly back in their box. Thats what lks call me. hushed silence regned throughout the room.
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Well Mster Grandmaster contnued the Deputy Sec retary now youre a member I d lke to nvte you to play r us next Saturday n the away match aganst Dead wood Gulch. ou could hear the hss of ndrawn breath as the other club members wnced n antcaton No one had ever returned alve om an away match at Deadwood Gulch They had Nosocks McGurk on top board the man they called The stest pawn n the West. Su �e Ill play sad the Grandmaster r my usual fee nd what mght that be? nqured the Deputy Secretary suspcously. bottle of whsky a woman and a Clnt Eastwood lapel badge. Double f I wn. Wll the same woman twce do o r does t have to be two derent women? asked the deputy thnkng st. It was hs quck mnd at tmes such as ths whch had got hm theob He had studed law Im not ssy sd he Grndmaster. Okay ts a deal agreed the eputy and he prepared a contract. News of the Secretarys downll spead lke wldre through the town. Wherever the grandmaster went they treated hm wth fear and respect He was gven the best room n the saloon courtesy of the man they called the Manager. He ook everythng he wanted: whsky women mornng papers all charged to hs room number. Some called hm progate. Others dd not know what t meant. But none dared complan. In any case they knew that aer Saturday he would be gone. They rode together nto Deadwood. The Dodge Cty team come r the bg match. The streets were deserted as they got out of the coach. It was cear they had been expeced. l the local nhabtants were ether at the chess club or cowerng behnd locked doors. The grandmaster led hs team nto the premses of the Deadwood Gulch Chess Club. Sx boards lay sprawled across the mddle of the room each one set wth ts own chessmen. t the very r end sat Nosocks McGurk glowerng ver the peces Slowly and cautously the Grandmaster advanced hs shadow sldng across the board. He
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dew back the seat opposite McGuik Neve taking taking his ees o his opponent the Gandmaste sank into the chai Aint seen ou aound bee said McGuik Aint Ai nt been hee bee bee eplied eplied the Gandmaste unin mativel Sa Nosocks! ang out a voice om the cowd Whos the nc nc dude with with the Clint Eastwood Eastwo od lapel lapel badge? Ae ou sue hes he s eligible r a Cowbos Cowb os Club Campionship Campionship match? Thats tue miste said a small gue hiding behind a badge beaing the emblem Contolle Youve gotta pla two o o moe games in seious competition Dodge Cit in the Deadwood Deadwoo d and Distict eague eague bee ouse qualie qualiedd thei Cowbos Club Championship tam Whats e name? ll go check the ecords Aint got no name The call me Gandmaste said the man the called Gandmaste Youse gotta have a name Thee aint nothing in the ules u plaes wih no naes proesd he Conolle f ain ain go no nae and thee ain aintt hin in in he rules then cain cain t be ineligible ineligible said the Gandmste Gandmste in what was to be easil easil his longest se s entence ntence in the whole whole to to ets et s get g et on with it Well ll be honswoggled if that dont il to make no sense said the Contoller nodding h head Then totall bemused b his own negativeridd negativeridden en constuction and unsue anwa what was meant b honswgled honswgled he decided to let them get on with it Oka Nosoc; daw colou At he word dra draw w Nosocks shot ward ward his his right ar in a smooth sm ooth almost almos t eex action landing landi ng o the Contolles left left wist He slowl pized open the ngs and a black pawn crashed to the oo A int sile ssed the lips of the Grandmaste Grandmas te With the the black pieces Nsocks was as good as dead The match was a egone conclusion McGuik thought long and ught had ting ting all he knew but the Gandmaster Gandmaster was too quick him As Nsock became pogesivel moe desperate his lined and dust ce gew moe steaked with rivulets rivulets of sweat The bandana bandana he used to mop his bow b ow
HE L UB DE
9
gew dampe ad ditie hen hi hi ag all ell ell Noock McGuik had in an cae un out of ammunition The nal coein coeinee ead Deadwood Deadwoo d Gulch Dodge Dodge it it 1 It wa wa the the bet eve eult Dodge againt thei bitte ivals he Gandmate coected hi fee om the citizen of Dodge Dodg e and at dawn began began hi long long ide out of town The et et of the cit la ilent and motl leeping The cable om the S Che edeation waited unopened on the dek of the eident of the Dodge Dodg e Cit Ches Club ' O L L O G P O E D E A D O O D H E L U B E G E O Y O U D O D G E V ED ED P L A Y G E L G B L E A O P D P P L A O E E H E E B P O E L E E B A A L L A V V E D O D G E H E L U B OP EUPE AD PEE OAED ALO O P O P E A D E A D O O D V E O O U O E O A P P E A L O P E G A D U .
It wa the wot eve eult Dodge against thei bitte ival No che was eve plaed in the Cit again B the time the eident opened the cable the Gandmate Gandmate was alead paing the cit limit Old Jes wa leaning on the memoial memoial tone at the tomb to mb ofthe of the unknown chesplae which which maked the bounda Sa stange I been doin some thinkin an I eckon we om eplace ce bee when I wuz wuz a oung un un and me kee met omepla wuz till bendin The man the called the Gandmate ode pat in ilence and vanished vanished into into the mi mist st His voice lteed lteed back to old Jess Jes s til waiti waitigg ad catchig catchig hi hi head head Meb Mebbe be we did od man m an Anthings possible
9 Vctor ctor t he Seco Seconnd - R One A ragedy
Dramais Prsona
}
VCO a challenger ECO ECO CO his H C O A c·OE A GUU
attendants
Scn: Somwhr in h hilippins challngr's camp camp cor sis Act Act 9ne 9ne Scene Scene A room in h challngr's alon a h chssboard
M pepaaon pepaaon ae a e at last complete this longawaited battle to begin M plot to seize seize poud Anatols cown cown i hatched The pize is well within m each M nges itch to squeeze that scawn neck and om his geas hai emove the jewel He calls himself a king although the thone wheeon he peches i tse ts elf maitained maitained b evil ces om an Easten land whee once I dwelt but neve hall etun But wait thees et a little wok to do Ill ummon th m valiant band of aides Come in m seconds we mut anale the NimoInd NimoIndan an and QGD Q GD
VCO
[nr hr sconds
t
A6PYOU L !# l KN IT WE' ·' / /
"i'
\
62
O PA
And notjut thoe weet icto we mut plan ul tategem to diconcet the e
s s CO o
I have ome ead ue to ditub the equanimit o all who dae combine thei tength ou ce to oppoe
CO CO
Delve t m liege into m bag of tic as nee in a menageie wee een I pea of oghut and eecting pec and evil ee and electonic beams Against such weapon no one can eit
H CO
That sound i pot If michief be the game Ill act upon vile Hecate advice Come th old cone
VCO
nr a cron
and tell me what the da ahead hld m ppec Thee month long the battle will be ught and man wounds sustained in the ght But ma these wods oo not upon the oghut when tis blue! x Cron
C
H CO
hat mean these wods? I fea the bode no
good CO CO
Methins the cones completel out to
lunch But so! Tis possible the oom is bugged and Russian bugges* hea ou eve wod
CO
Then we pechance ma pla a me jape with inmaon lse well pl thei eas
VCO
*In the First Folio this appears as 'rushing Bulgars, considered by some scholars to be a rerence t itinernt Bulgarian gentlemen visiting the Rssian camp.
V C O H C O D - P A O
63
ets talk of kngs pawn openngs and such defences whch have no mnd to pl And f our es oehear thereb ensure b ther own bugs the bugges buggered be Scene 2
sam wo wks lar
Sx daws and now a seventh seems at hand thought ths game was won and et erred when pressed r tme and now the vlan can escape. Whee les the cause of m poo pla?
VCO
Remembest thou the wods of Hecate? Methnks the answes n hs da ods
C
Na that s not to blame The eason les n somethng paapschologcal Hast thou not seen that wcked stang ce whch sts each da upon the seventh ow?
C C
We must potest upont and have hm
H C
thown back to the chambes rea whee he belongs ll pen a ssve to the abte Meanwhle put on these glasses whch eect thell trn hs evl magc o hmself But dont get the oghurt n ou note f complant s menu the da be sue we do complant both well and long
C
[asd These seconds do potest too much methnks See this position wherein 've adjourned. Thees tcks et to be und Come analse!
VC
C
Thats best!
C C H C
Na ths! No somethng else nstead
64
O P
VCO
Scene 3:
Wok well dea ends I m shagged and oto bed Vcor's bdroom svn ws lar Vcor ss alon
M eots have not captued much success ve battles have I lost and won but two One moe defet wll suel be m last Is m ambton to be thwated thus wthout a ght? That maste of mans te appeas to have t n me betmes Those sxtu vle squaes have o consped to dash m hopes and et one chance emans If I can but u vctoes secue bee I lose agan then all s well But how to tame that unesponsve wood wheeof the men who dwell upon m boad ae shoned? How to make them do m wll? Those kngs, queens ooks knghts bshops een the pawns wll nee do as thee bd Those bshops ul Ae ts the bshops do upset me most The pactse the ecclesastc walk upon those van dagonal of lfe Thee on c one smugl sts as f to tell me I know not whee he should move and wll not should I wack m ve ban anothe mllon eas Whch squae s best? d2? e3? f4? g? h6? O wth a caven anchetto end t b2 o not b2 that s the queston
VCO
nr a uru
Sa man whats all ths uptght mse? You know whats wong? You auas all cewed up ke tanscendental medtaton man s what ou need to cool the cuent scene
GUU
What sas ths appaton? Hs stange tongue les outsde m expeence and et
VCO
V O H O P A
65
I feel thee might be aught in what he sas Speak on good iend Ill llow our advice Good thinking man togethe we can beat this parapschic mumbojumbo cap Ill teach ou lots of mantas to ecite and how to win b standing on our head
GUU
pon m head? Can this indeed be true? Ill t it! Ae all I lag vetwo
V
[xun poing had sands Act Two Scene lar All nr
A room in h challngr's camp wo wks
Five two ve three ve ur an now ve ve ike Banquo ghot Ive come back om the gave
V
O
Weve got him now jut two moe game
methink one black one white and then the trophs ours
For once were all agreed the match seems
won; and Anatols crown ripe to be plucked Go out and draw toda with pieces black The thirtthird game will retell his doom
H
This da m irc Defence will make him work For halfapoint and then on Frida morn* with these same white men which toda he holds Ill reak down his defences Then the prize r which weve laboured oer these past long months will be t lst ensconced in m own hnds Farewell dear iends Im o to pla the irc
V
GUU
Keep cool man dont rget the headstand bit
*Friy feoo cuy u he es of scsio rsce empor accurcy
66
OF PN
hen the battles lost and won When the oghuts ovedone Tooth of gebi ee of cat leg of Yokshies opening bat makes a magic ul and hai waning that thou must be wa the teabags do etell death one we all know well
CON
[xun Scne 2 Bu v hours lar CON
Oh dea
CON CON H CON
Oh dea Oh dea
I told ou so! You heeded not th waning in the tea And now ouve pad the pice and lost the match
CON
The mat and all which we ught so had ae lost indeed M destin was not so easily oecome It seems I m doomed to ise not to th st place but must sta at second Yt I live to ght again So gloating one ou pophec was lse I am not dea Yet ma it still come tue That death o whi ou spoke could be thine own [Taks dar and sabs cron
CO
CON
Oh ped oh teache oh hell!
With that Im eed om he penicious spell Come goodl Seconds Ive still ith in ou Theell be a bette ending to Pat Two
CO
[xun
10. The Che Caly Invenory ou'v go o g up arly you wan o g ou of bd Goucho Max
The pages which llow contain some questions which ou long and laboiou studies and eearch have identied as able to detect dieences between chessplaes and the geneal population B combining items measuing intelligence with those giving indications of pesonalit ctos and attitudes thi hot invento ha been und to detect latent chess disposition Since chess is itself a pat of ou westen cultue ome of the item ma be und to have a cultual bia Thi should be bone in mind when lling in the answes The pass mak is eight coect espone 1 Which of the llowing lettes is the odd one out? AIKOU 2 Sometimes I think the whole wold is ganging up against me (a) tue (b) lse 3 Complete the llowing sentence Y e s t e d a won toda w n t o m o o w I 4 Which of the llowing numbes i the odd one out? 450 451 453 456 459 462 5 Though m iend conside me conceited I am in ct much clevee than I thnk (a) tue (b) lse (c) I have o ieds
6
F P
6 Black to move n ths poston what dd he pla?
7 A snal pushes a ook up a chessboad It takes twent mnutes to poges two squaes wad then t leeps ten mnutes dung whch tme ook and snal slde back one squae Mantanng ths schedule how long does the snal take to move the ook om the st to the eghth ank? 8 Wh s ths poston llegal?
7
SOF PN
9 Complee the llowng wellknown sang The best m of defence s 10 Whch s the odd one out? Fench efence Englsh Opng utch efence ansh Gambt Bussels Spouts Slav efence 1 1 Whose sxth vcto on what occason n 1978 ensued that he would etan hs ttle? 12 I thnk ths s a sll test and Im gong to stop afte ths queston (a) tue (b) lse
H CH CAAL V O
71
Scoe one each coect esponse unless othewise specied 1 The coect answe is U All the othes ae penultimate lettes of the names of postwar Wold chess champions 2 True The are ganging up against ou 3 Celebate educt one point shall win which shows unwaanted pesumption and a level of ovecondence bound to end in disaste 4 462 is the ight answe the othes ae all Kchel numbes ofMozat Piano Conceti The cultue chessplae ought to know that sot of thing 5 (a) scoes one point If ou answeed (c) awad ouself half a point if it makes ou feel an btter 6 The position is om the game Popiel Maco Monte Calo 1902 Black should have plaed B N8 (no points) winning at once He actuall esigned (one point thinking his bishop was lost 7 The snail neve makes it to the eighth ank it loses on time on the sixth ank 8 It is paked on a double llow line 9 The Sicilian Half a point the NimzoIndian which is quite all ight but not so inteesting 10 Slav efence The othes ae all named ae membes of the Euopean Economic Communit 11 Bjon Bog in the nal set at Wimbledon 12 Tue
A hess ler Manual III How to Succeed at Chess Without Actually Playing
How can somon who calls hms a logcal posvs b a To nham Hopur supporr? ette to A J Ae in the uardan
We all know how difcult it is to impess people b plaing chess The alwas tend to udge b ou esults athe than appeciating the qualit of ou moves This makes mattes difcult since owing to the natual pevesit of the game the esult is not within the contol of its pactitiones Chess is in ct lagel a matte ofluck and thee is no wa the congenitall untunate can gain success within its domain This is simpl demonstated in most positions nobod has the abilit to calculate ll the consequences of an single move; we ae theee all stumbling aound blndl hoping something wll tun up Thus good tune is an essential ingedient of successl chess The clait and logic of this point ae untunatel lost on most people Too easil the have been walaid b the centuies of popaganda that chess is a game of skill The ae misled b the linguistic tick of efeing to good and bad chessplaes instead of using the moe appopiate designa tions luck and unluck Hence one must as as possible avoid plaing chess ifthe desie is to impess It is too chanc Fotunatel howeve talking a good game is ust as eective ifnot moe so than plaing one The at is easil acquied with but a modicum of stud
A C H B L U A U A L l l
7
e Opening
In the last hunded eas a vast liba oaccumulated liteatue on chess openings has deveoped which the zeaots stud and evee One is geneall expected to be convesant with the latest opinions o the theoeticans i an attention is to be given to ones ponouncements Keeping up with this geat ov to i howev a lltime ob ashions change with eve tounament and what one da was consideed a mainline vaiaton will the next be elegated to a otnote hi i al ve onsing nce no m concusion ae eve eached about whethe paticula openings ae good o bad he ust meande in and out o shion at the whim o the tendsettes he onl acceptable polic when talking about openings is one o noncommittal omniscience he convesation should poceed along the llowing lines What do ou think o Kapovs opening? Reall inteesting Im so glad he plaed that I was looking at it onl last week it's theoeticall cucial ou know' What do ou think hell pa now' I can't quite emembe what I decided was the best move I have all the analsis witten down at home hee wee so man complicated possibilities' He's taken the pawn is that an innovation?' I think not I seem o emembe Bonstein laing something like that in the 0s' Alost anthing ma sael b e attibuted to Bonstein He has gone though a long chess caee with the athe depessing habit o thinking o most ideas about twent eas bee the occued to anone else I ou nc a change om invoking Bostei a euall aosite attibution would be to a old suggestion o Bondaevsk' Altenativel one ma quote obscue games om ecent events he Geek maste Z Gophulous ma alwas b e cedited without ea o contadiction Witing about openings is a moe complicated matte In geneal adding to the opening liteatue mountain is not to be
74
OF P A
rcommndd xcpt as a possbl cur r pnur or som rason books on opnng thor do sll wll Popl sm to blv that th hlp Th Middlgam
hs s a porton o th gam btwn th opnng whr vrbod s xpctd b mlart to undrstand what s happnng, and th ndgam whr so w pc rman that onc agan on ma hop to hav som da o who s wnnng h mddlgam s thus charactrzd b a umbld poston wth vast numbrs o pcs cluttrng th board rng to undrstand ths part o th gam s a hoplss xrcs h onl snsbl polc s to mantan an xprsson o pand concntrton and total snc nstantl hushng anbod who dars ask our opnon o th poston What ou ar rall dong whl watchng ths phas o th gam s composng altrnatv sts o commnts to mak mmdatl a rsult s rach accordng to who wns hus, adoptng th normal procdur that all movs o th luck wnnr ar to b prasd and all movs o th losr condmnd, ou must prpar two (or thr rall conscntous to nclud th possblt o a draw sts o commnts xtollng th vrtus and dcrng th nsucncs o ach mov plad b both sds A tpcal par o altrnatvs s spraton, but wht was lost anwa, and A n comb naton, roundng o a wllplad attack' On o ths annotatons ma b appndd to an sacrc accordng smpl to whthr t works or not I ou watch lang chss ournalsts watchng tournamnt gams , nvr b old no thnkng that h ar workng out what s happnng n th postons h ar ust knockng thr commnts nto shap to b rad whn th gams nsh Eas onc ou hav th knack Th Endgam Hr ou must b carl Blung s as n th opnng, whr mock rudton s as good as th ral thng, and not so
A CH BLU A NU AL III
75
hard, with th bnt ohindsight, in th middlgam B ut h ndgam can b a prcis scinc whr on might b xpctd not onl to know what is happning but to b abl to dmonstrat and usti on's conclusions h onl polic hr is o avoid giving an prcis opinion on th position undr discussion Rr instad to similar positions, whr on's knowldg will not b undrmind b anthing that might happn in th gam h tpical convrsation might run somthing lik this hat's a dicult rook nding Is it a win' Wll, ith whit pawn wr on th gl, thr would b no doubt, but o cours, on th l it can b dirnt ' What's th dirnc' Thr's mor room to th right o th l than th gl ' os h win i it's a gpawn' Wll, it's crtainl a win i th pwn is r nugh advancd' Oh, thy'v just agrd a draw' Ys, I thought that xtra l would mak all th dirnc ' '
That rall s all thr is to know about ndgam thor Th positions ou want to know about ar nvr in th boks anwa, so wh bothr studing thm whn ou can b just as iprssiv without th ort
2 Somewhat Compromised
do no approv o guys usng as prncs on dos c o cours hn nohng s do amon Runon
On nght I am passng th cornr o Rd Sqar n th ct o Moscow, Russa thnkng o takng a walk around to bg nn's mausolum, whn along coms a vr tastlookng oung oll n c sh s a oll wh r ar, an rsonll mantan thr s no sght mor soothng than a doll wth rd har Now I wsh to sa that I s som dolls n m tm ut ths on has a wa o movng lk I do not know what Prsonall I am vr mprssd and consdr sh s 1 pr cnt n vr rspct, and as sh passs sh grns at vr plasant To tll th truth I admt r a scond I thnk sh s mab somwhat gnnd up, thn all o a suddn sh sas to m lk ths Pardon m, ' th doll sas, onl h sas t n Russan and I translat r th bnt o th radr, do ou nc a tumbl across th chssboard' Now whn I har ths I wsh to sa I am mor than smwhat surprsd as I nvr s a doll carr n lk ths n Moscow, Russa wthout a rmal nvtaton, but sh looks th sort o Natasha who plas a good gam o chss so I sml and sa s W st o togthr down Borovtsk Hll past St Basl's wth th doll ladng th wa Wll, atr a coupl o mnuts walkng sh sas w ar thr ad w clmb two ghts o stars, ad thn sh opns a door and tlls m to com n I am vr happ, prsonall, that w
78
SOFT PA
nall gt somwhr bcaus I d o not lik this walking in th snow Thn I s somthing in th doll's s which tlls m sh is stil lig lik plaig chss and I am commning to b glad I am prsnt Sh dos not sa much not bing th sort odoll who gos a packt on convrsation, but taks m b th arm and lads m into hr bdroom, at last I suppos it is hr bdroom bcaus it has a big bd in th middl oth oor and smlls lik a prm shop I look around a bit but not so ou think I am intruding m nos whr it dos not blong and I s som vr nic its o cloths and jwllr and suchlik ling aout such as must hav cost a w bananas I gur this doll must b somthing spcial sinc sh is b no mans marrid and ou nd plnt o coconuts to kp a joint o this class a going concrn Wll sh puts th chssboard on th bd and as I am at all tims a gntlman I naturall insist that th doll has whit Sh plas pawn to king ur which I rgard as a bad sign I do not car r pawn to king ur opnings undr an circumstancs and sh bgins to hav a strang xprssion on hr kissr I dcid I hav to outpla hr on th lvl and I pla m king pawn likwis Thn sh coms out with hr knight In such a gam as this I do not rckon on a doll who is ll bookd up and I am commncing to grow nrvous Sh wants to hospitaliz m pawn but I gur that i I cannot giv a pawn to th prttist thing that r stps in sho lathr thn I am not worth th titl o mastr which th Fdration givs m Anwa it is nvr m polic to discourag an doll who wishs to strik up an acquaintanc with m, which is what I rckon this doll is tring to do, so I do not dnd m pawn and thrb incidntall avoid mting th Spanish opz with which I do not hav much truck So th doll taks m pawn and laughs and sh has a wa o laughing which can mak Rd Tola lav th part Thn sh sas sh is a bit warm at th prsnt tim and sh ls r hr buttons bhind hr back, nds sam, undos thm and pls o a woolln garmnt and tosss it asid Sh is about pr cnt in and 60 pr cnt out o a silk blous or i it is not silk it
SOMEWHAT COMPROMIED
79
crtainl cost a w potatos I agr it is warm and I rmov m ackt and ti Wll, a w movs latr I am not concntrating too wll and I ovrlook a knight Sh hangs hr cago olur ovr th board and taks it Harr th hors is droppd into th box, as dad as a ozn shrimp I ish to sa I am not t worring aout th gam but I think I must tak th businss with a touch mor iosn T oll po chn in th pssion on m pan and suggsts I ak o m shos i am not comrtabl I do not wish to caus a slight bit oonc, so I am a gntlman and I rmov m socks also Sh r hr part pops anothr utton on hr blous Two movs latr I drop a bishop At th prsnt tim m position disturbs m no littl and I udg sh is not doing bad r a doll Wll I am ust dvloping this goodlooking countrattack whn look across th oard to s t doll spping out o hr skirt Sh dos not sa a word but plants hr curvs back on th bd waring onl undrgarmnts such as ladis war Thn on o m rooks is hurt prtt bad and croaks a mov latr I am about to suggst in a polit mannr that I pla bttr i th doll covrs hr slim oung m which is stting r to m artrial sstm, whn th curtains shoot opn Two gus ar standing thr watching m and on o thm has a camra pointd in m dirction Th doll lans ovr to sur hr bst prol gts in th pictur and h snaps us togthr with th board and pics Th ar big gus and look about as homl as a pair o pu addrs I am a good udg o gus' charactrs and I gur th ar not in th holida snap usinss h on who talks introducs himsl as a ind o Rd ola's and suggsts that ma I lik to tll him Big Ton's nw mov in th ragon Wll I tr to sa that Big Ton dos not tll m what h analss ut h suggsts that it is ttr r m i rmmbr Naturall a gu such as this is dicult to argu with at th psnt tim bcaus h sas h snds th photograph to th dration It is r om th bst thing in th world r m i th Fdraton s th pictur I am a rook, knght, bishop and pawn down against a oung doll such as ought not to pla too
good but here she s carvng me up lke a tuke he do not send me to an more nternatonal tournaments f the see the pg's ear I make aganst ths doll hen I am not even scotched up. I have to thnk quck because I do not kno Bg on's move and even f I o I am stll at all tmes a gentleman and cannot tell. Well, the chances are these gus cannot tell a rook's pan om a og span beng as the seem to carr ther eght elsehere than n ther brans so I tell them that Bg on's move s kng rook to bshop one he rte t don and tell me that t better be rght or the ederaton ll ge he pcture. I am glad the do not kno that kng rook to bshop one s older than the ght beteen Bad Bors and ger gran back n '9. So I put m shoes on pronto and catch the rst plane anhere
OMEWHA COMPROMED
81
Bak home I personally am not orried. I gre that light blb is not more than 7 att. nd ith a Rssan amera at a hndredth of a seond on f. , ho is able to see hat happens in the osiion
13. Noting to Lose ut Yu Pwns olirinim in Briin could nvr work. How could i whn nohing l do? (lan Coren. Disss. Cambridge University ntrane xamination Qestion
It as a brght old day in Hastings and the hess loks tiked ith their tentative limping tin voies. ive mintes earlier the Minister of State r Indoor Sports other than Bakgammon had onlded his opening speeh to polite applase om he gathering of elderly spetators. hey had learned that the minister, thogh not a hessplayer himself, liked the oasional game of darts, so as lly in tne ith the ompetitive demands of the game. lly adeqate speeh by normal standards, bt some regretted that they had been nable to sere the servies of the Minister r Bakgammon hrsel Unrtnately she had a prior booking to appear in a harity strip sho at astborne. he onlookers settled as best they old into the nomrtable ooden hairs. Some lrhed nto onversations ith old aqaintanes hom they had not seen sine the year bere, bt these ere hshed into silene as soon as they began by the stentorian ommand of the tornament diretor. None qestioned the need r silene, thogh one or to of the yonger members of the adiene did allo the thoght to ross their minds in vie of the t that there ere no longer any players to distrb . here had been no players no at Hastings sine the general strike alled by the hessplaying nions ve years earlier. Bt traditions had to be pheld he opening and losing eremonies ontined and beteen them the spetators
l� i
' A G 1 HTNGS FR TE IKE. I
I ! I j '
' I
I .
I I \
84
F PAWN
still attended as absorbed as ever in the histori atmosphere of the event inions diered as t the reasons whih were resonsibe r bringing abot the strike Some blamed militants within the hessplaying nions Others traed the malaise bak to the reorganization of the British Chess ederation in the late 1970s when hey had replaed heir mbersome sysem of ommittees by a management board his step was later to be desribed as provoative' in the inagral statement whih marked the rmation of the hessplayers' nions Indeed, with the hindsight we now have given to s by historial perspetive, it beomes plain that the reation of Management was the trigger whih gave impets to the nionization of hessplayers hogh there had been rmblings r many years among members of the hess labor movement there was no onerted atiity ntil that time hen apparently spontaneos mass meetings sddenly took plae throghot the ontry. hose who earned their livings or reptations at the game lodly delared solidarity with one another against the ditatorship and exploitation of Manage ment Not that the British Chess ederation had atally taken any npoplar deisions, or indeed any deisions at all, bt solidarity was learly the right thing to delare at the time Men experiened in nion matters were qik to ome rwad with advie. So, sing the models of other wellorganized working grops the hessplayers or hesspiee operatives as they were known, rmed themselves into ve distint nions to represent the varios skilled and nskilled setors of the trade. Initial omens were qite enoraging r the prospets ofthe newly nionized players. here was a small dispte early on, when the Polity r Preision Pawn Pshing Personnel were nable to reah agreement on dierentials with the more prestigios Movers Union (Maor Piees. he introdtion of legislation rbidding disrimination in pay between pieework and pawn pay led to indstrial ation by MUMPs members. We an all remember the ms Hastings that year when only pawns were moved. he hasty government ation
N H N G O L B U Y O U R P A N
85
on hat osion arosd hoslty hat he pan movers of PPPP qikly ame ot in sympathy. he joint strike led to the rmation ofstrong bonds beteen the nions In a histi annonement, they nally agreed to amalgamate in a spirit of onsenss in order to minimize relative deprivation and ontine together the strggle to optimize parameters of remneration Wth the oliton of emaato lines all restritive paties ere terminated and members of both nions ere alloed to move any piees they ished he ne rationlized strtre inrporated all piee or pan overs It alled itself the Federated Union of Chess Move xetants Natrally the members of FUCM ere very pleased to have ended their interrole onit bt their nely nd solidarity and strength led to an inreased militany and did little to smooth the strained relaionships ith the other hess nions he semiskilled members of FUCM of orse had only to move the piees he skilled labor of deiding here they shold be moved as the domain of the more highly paid Confederation of Chess Analysts hinkers and heorists the hiteollar (or more often grey teeshirt) members of the Assoiation of Chess Horologial Operatives knon ommonly as MACHOmen or more pejoratively as the lokbashers hs the CCA man old deide hat move as to be played and dly inrm the FU CM representative ofhis eisin On mpletin f the task the FU CM representative alerts his olleage om MACO ho ith de eremony bashes the lok Finally the move is transribed onto the soresheet by the man om SCRIP the Soiety of Chess Reord Insribers Printers and ablators Despite some initial hostility om Management these orin raties ntioned ell and reated a great deal of employment he Governments jobreation programme delared itself very pleased ith the ne system Chessboards did hoever tend to beome a little roded bt this seemed a small prie to pay r peae ven hen the semiskilled and nskilled nions ame to renegotiate manning levels Management oneded their demands ith good grae Aer all it
N H I N G O L O B U Y O U R P A N
87
as nreasonable n he presen clmae o expec a sngle man o opea he pecs o prss he clock or even e he mov r boh sdes n a game Havng separae non men r each player as a sensble raonalzaon concoman h prodcon capacy as ajoin non spokesman p he agreemen as nalzed a a mannng level ofegh orkers o each board he grea dspe began one year drng he Brsh Champohp h Mangeme play ommee had bee convened o hear a proes llong one of he rs rond games he loser had complaned ha no CCA member as presen on he oher sde Snce he ne mannng levels had only recenly been agreed and ransonal seang reglaons ere sll n rce a he board he had no realzed ha h so many people coming and gong ha he opposon had only conssed of hree non men Invesgaons aer he game had conrmed ha he FUCM operave had been makng moves n he absence ofnsrcons om any member of CCA he Dscplnary Commee smmoned he accsed sde ho admed h here had ndeed been no analys hnker or heors prescrbng he acons ofher FU CM man Accordngly he scplnary Commee consdered ha hey had no alernave b o expel he oenders o he ornamen Ae conslng her layers hoever and h he ll sppor of he FUCM non her man sed he Managemen r rongl dsmssal he case made legal hsory and dragged on r monhs he reason r dsmssal seemed smple enogh ha he FUCM represenave had conravened hs erms of employmen by ndlgng n a ork pracce speccally exclded o hs conracal oblgaons vz hnkng Hs defence hoever a eall olcd h h hd ld h o ho hnkn Exper nesses ere called by boh sdes o esablsh heher one cold n a chess game ho recorse o processes of hogh heory or analyss Sascans proved ha as nlkely psychologss mananed ha as nhnkable b he crcal evdence as on he sde of he dsmssed man When he jdges came o examne
exhibits demonstrating jst how horribly chess can be played when the participants do think abot the moves they nd themselves nable to exclde the possibility that one might conceivably do better withot thinking at all he dismissed man was reinstated and awarded compensation Costs were awarded against Management. he jdgement had immediate and rreaching repercs sions he skilled CC nion had been dealt a heavy blow FUCM sbmitted a claim r large wage rises claiming an immediate establishment of parity with the CC mem bers he corts had established that theirjob was more impor tant than thinking the thinkers theoreticians and analysts had lost credibility MCHO and SCRI also demanded large rises to preserve dierentials they said Management sg gested talks and were accse of complete intransigence pr sing a repressive and divisive path to social disrpton and
N O H I N G O O E B U O U P A W N
89
economc collapse and a lack of commtment nconsstent wth rghtmnded awareness . We wll not talk sad a jont spokesman r the nsklled nons ntl there s money on the chess table We demand across the board ncreases The Management Board of the ederaton reacted ca tosly sggestng that any ncreases cold only be lnked to local prodctvty schemes More money cold only be rth comng ft meant moe moves non ofcals were os We are ros they exclamed. Management seems hell bent on a collson corse. In a statement they ssed new demands r a 3move day wth overtme r adjornment sessons. CCATT men were also angered by talk ofncreased prodc tvty More moves by CM members wold necessarly demand more thnkng by ther own members Despte the earler cort rlng t was stll generally accepted as a tradtonal trade patce that peces cold not be moved wthot the consent of a CCATT member All that was nder dspte was the vale n nancal terms of the thoght analyss or theory whch he cold provde The threat to the work qota of CCATT members mmedately cased them to down peces and jon the strke call r a 3move day. ong perods of negotaton llowed bt all have been totally tless. Relatonshps between management and nons became stll more straned when an ndependent tmeandmoton stdy was pblshed clamng that streamlnng the ndstral practces cold reslt n greater move prodctv ty r less thoght The nons dd ther own calclatons and conclded that Brtsh thoght was the most prodctve n the world n real terms So the strke went on. Pckets om all the nons appeared at the doors o all major chess events n the contry attemptng to prevent the delvery of chess sets boards and clocks and to dssade nonnon labor om operatng chessmen We shall brng the ederaton to ts knees sad a spokesman Chess lfe s already at a complete standstll We are at ths moment n tme n a negatve chess staton
9
F P W N
nd so t has been r the past three years Snce the ban on mports of regn players there has been no chess played n the land atest moves ndcate a slm hope that all sdes wll agree to send the dspte r adjdcaton. There s even a chance that the rthcomng Royal Commsson report may contan the seeds r a settlement. Untl then however we rely on the O compter to brng s rondbyrond tornament reslts. By ths means ttles contne to be awarded przes won and reptatons enhanced. Some ofthe spectators even prefer the new system er all as long as the sportng nterest s mantaned and the gloros tradtons stll orsh why bother wth the troblesome necessty of taxng ones brans to try to comprehend the moves The players were at the best oftmes jst an expensve lxry were they ever really necessary? ong lve tradton
Idex
a 2 29, 30 67 70 A, 67 a , 34 a7 7 AD 47 adders pu 79 Add, Ee-I, 27 a-e 10 alchl 14, 21 Alekhne A. 21 Allen W 47 ankles, 15 applexy 19 arthrts 54 Aer, A ., 72 b, 2, 29 30 67, 70 B 2 29, 30, 70 b 15 b2 10, 64 b5, 10 Bach ]. S 33 Badbacache K. Q. 30 banana, 34, 7 bandana, 5 Bq g BB C, 2 3 bear, 1 Benn 4 34 bent a e, 6 Bent Lar n, 15 b-le 15
Bggleswrth ] 10 Brg B. 71 Btvnnk M M. 33, 36, 51 Byctt G 66 Brnsten, D. 15, 16 23 33 73 Brussels, 7 c 2 29 30, 67 C. , B. B. see B B C c, 64 callpgean, 43 Cambrdge, 5 43 2 camels, 47 Capablanca ]. R 21 32 cats , 21, 66 CCATT 9 cheese hard, 42 Chrstmas 21 4 Clnt, see Eastwd ccnuts 7 Cren, A. 2 crabs 9 d 29 30 d2 64 d4 1 d 45 Dansh Gambt 70 Dadwd Guch 56 59 decduus 33 decrum bunds f 4 mdcum f, 3
92
OF PN
dagonalzation 33 Dodge City 53 55 56 59 dogs, 47 Dutch Dence 32 70
revolution 1 Friday, 65 og, 1 4 0 FU C ME 9
e 2 29 30 E 67 e3, 64 e4 55 ear horse's 39 human, 5 6 25 39 pgs Eastwood C, 10 56 5 elephants 47 English Opening, 70 error blatant crass, 41 egregious 45 myopic 35 trivial 41 Euwe Dr M 21 eyes, all, 53, 55 brows 5 cats 66 evil, 62 glass, 53 old grey, 54 shining, 1
g 2 29 30 g 7 g4 10 g5 64 g6, 15 gerbil 66 g-le, 75 goats 14 gods, demi- 17 sake 26 goose 14 g-pawn 75 Green Golders, 35 grouse 9 Grinfeld Dence 35 Guirk, NMc, see McGurk N
f 2, 29 30 f4, 64 £.6 1 £ 10 et, 9, 29 30, 40, 46 f-le 75 FIDE 20 Fnchley Central 32, 33, 34 35 Fischer R J. 15, 23, 24, 52 otnotes, 39, 51 62 65 -pawn 75 French Dence 70 language, 1 36
h, 2 29 3 h6, 64 h7, 15 h, 34 hair, greasy 51 on body, 5 ed, 76 spun, nely 1 headstands, 51, 65 Hecate 62, 63 Hendon 11, 35 h-le, 10 Highgate 35 horn-swoggled, 5 horses, 13 47 79 Hotspur, see Tottenham I 67 K 2, 29 67 K4, 4
DX
Karpov 1, 7 21 7 Keih, 29 Kevin, 29 King's Indian Dence, 35 knees, 53, 59, 9 knowledge carnal, 1 chess, 47 chel, 23 71 Kochnoi, V, 11 21 Lasker, E, 14, 20, 21, 33, 50 later, sixty-nine years, 49 legs 2 51, 54, 66 Lenin, V. I, 5, 51, 76 Lionheart, Richard the 4 logical deducton 27 positivism 72 London, 151, 50 North 34 Transport, 13 Lopez, Ruy 24 4 49 7 unch, out to, 62
93
Nimzo-, Indian Dence, 45, 71
witsch, 51 Nottingham Forest FC 1 1 NW6 11 0 , 67
Oedipus, 20 f Spin, Philip II, 4 OO 36 opera 1, 19 20 oder, lphabetical 47 chronologcal, 17, 47 Paddington, 25 pages, half-empty, 4, 16, 24, 37 52 70 1, 90 Paris, weekend r two in, 4 pasadoble 36 pentameter, iambic, 66 Perosian T V . 1 , 7, 1 1 36 Phldor, A. Danican, 10, 1, 33 49
M4 12 MACH O, 5, Macnabb K Q 30 Marx G, 67 Marx K. 35 50 McGuirk N, 56 5, 59 MDLXI, 4 Monday, 6 monkey, 13 Mongolia, 14 Morphy, P C , 1 19, 20, 50 52 Mozart W. A. 23, 71 MUMPs, 4 Muswell Hill, 35 N, 2, 29 N, 71 Navy, Royal 29 30 Netzsch, F. , 36
Philidor, C . P E Dani can, 18 Philidor, W A. Danican, 1 pig, see ear polloi, hoi, 3 porcupine 7 potatoes, 79 PPPPP, 5 Q, 2, 29, 30 Q3, 35 Q4, 35
QB , 32 QB-le, 7 QGD 60 QP 35 qv., 6, 9, 32 33 R 2 29 rams, 4
94
OF PAN
Runyon D 12 Russell B, 323 Saturday 6 56 SCRIPT 5 6 SCUM 3 shrimp 79 Sicilan Dence, 34, 71 Slav Dence 70 71 Slough 25 26 Smyslov, V. V, 6, 36 snail 6 69, 7 socks, 15, 43 46 79 McGuirk, N spaghetti, 26, 27 Spassky, B, 23 Stalin J V 36, 51 Steintz W, 50 Strauss R 36 Snday, swoggled, horn Ta, M. N., 1, 22 23 tea bags 7 66 leaves, 7 no milk, 53 watery, 15
Teutonic, shion, 37 oashness 39 Thursday, 15 tooth, 11, 13 54, 66 Tottenham Hotpur FC, 72 turkey, 0 u, 29 U, 67 71 Volkswagen, 37 vulture 53 Wales 12 weekend clean, 43 dirty, 4 Whitehead Capablanca wtchcraft 20 XIII Louis the, 1 yoghurt, 61, 62, 63, 66 Z. Grophulous, 73 Zugzwang volkswagen Zukertort, J. H 50
