How many people can you name in this photograph?

What was the year and location of the tournament?

When I first heard of actor Heath Ledger’s recent and unfortunate death,  I was very sad as he was one of my favorite movie actors. His performances in “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Patriot” were remarkable and have lured me into watching these two movies over and over again. I was additionally happy to hear that he would be playing the role of the Joker in the Batman Dark Knight movie sequel, which I believe he finished filming prior to his passing.

News releases covering this tragedy divulged that Ledger was a big chess fan, playing the game nearly every day.  It was also reported that he would play against the regulars at a local park and although he lost frequently, he always enjoyed playing. Another interesting fact uncovered by all of this was that Ledger was set to make his directorial debut, directing a movie based on a 1983 Walter Tevis novel called “The Queen’s Gambit”. 

I scoured some of the more frequented chess newsgroups and forums on the web and saw that most heavily criticized the book.  Knowing from prior experiences that most chess enthusiasts are overly critical of most everything,  my curiosity got the better of me and I ordered a used copy of the book online at Abe Books.  I quickly read the entire novel in matter of a few days and decided to write a quick review of the book.

The story is about a young orphan by the name of Elizabeth Harmon, whose mother dies in an automobile accident when Beth (as she’s called in the book) is only eight years old. She spends approximately four years at an orphanage in Kentucky where she learns how to play chess from a quiet and mysterious custodian, who eventually gives her an old copy of Modern Chess Openings, which quickly becomes young Beth’s bible.  She learns openings from the book and plays through all of them in her mind while lying in bed every night.  Beth quickly begins to defeat her mentor on a regular basis, showing signs of being a born chess prodigy.

Beth is eventually adopted by a Lexington couple (Mr. & Mrs.Wheatley) just before turning thirteen and begins her journey onto a promising chess career.   Her trials and tribulations are told as she goes from local tournaments all the way to international events, even battling alcoholism along the way.  The regular use of chess terms and openings throughout the book keeps the chess fan in you interested and wanting to read on to the end.  The author makes reference to historical chess literature (Deutsche Schachzeitung, Eches Europe, American Chess Bulletin) and expertly blends in actual chess professionals (Tal, Petrosian, Reshevsky. etc.) with the book’s fictional chess characters (Watts, Beltik, Borgov, Luchenko).

Chess openings are discussed and elaborated (Sicilian, Caro-Kann, Ruy Lopez, etc.) just enough to make the games seem a little more real and enjoyable to follow in the reader’s mind.  Beth’s exhaustive preparation for tournaments and hours of hard work give a realistic insight to the torturous practice habits of true chess professionals.  The only real complaint that I have about the book is the lack of drawn games, as Beth seems to only win or lose.  With draws making up more than half of chess games in the real world, this was a little difficult to get used to while reading the story.

All in all, I highly recommend the book as it keeps you entertained and wanting to see what happens next.  The main character was very likable and easy to identify with in many different aspects.  As long as you are not expecting “The Grapes of Wrath” or some deep Shakespearian story, I would think that the casual chess fan should thoroughly enjoy this book.  My hope is that the movie plans for this novel will continue on despite the tragic death of Mr. Ledger.

The 1999 Dos Hermanas chess tournament took place in the first two weeks of April and as always, boasted an impressive field of players.  The event consisted of ten players with everyone playing each other once.  Through the sixth round, Michael Adams of Britain, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria were all tied for 1st place at 3 1/2 points each.

Topalov would draw his next three games to finish in a tie for third place with Miguel Illescas of Spain.  Adams would score victories over Victor Korchnoi and Judit Polgar in the next two rounds and draw with Anatoly Karpov in the final round to win the tournament at 6 out of 9 points.

Kramnik would defeat Viswanathan Anand of India in the seventh round in a marathon 70-move game, but only manage draws in the final two rounds to finish in second place by himself.  Anand had one of his more disappointing tournaments, finishing with 3 1/2 out 9 points and in a tie for last place.  The Kramnik-Anand game is shown below:

[Event "Dos Hermanas"]
[Site "Dos Hermanas"]
[Date "1999.04.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Black "Anand,Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "D27"]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 Nf6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0-0 a6 7.Bb3 cxd4 8.exd4 Nc6 9.Nc3 Be7 10.Re1 0-0 11.a3 Na5 12.Bc2 b5 13.d5 Re8 14.Bg5 h6 15.Bh4 Nxd5 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.Qd3 g6 18.Qe3 Be6 19.Qxh6 Bxh4 20.Bxg6 Qf6 21.Bh7+ Kh8 22.Bg6+ Kg8 23.Qh7+ Kf8 24.Nxh4 Qg7 25.Qxg7+ Kxg7 26.Bd3 Nc4 27.b4 Nb2 28.Bf1 d4 29.Nf3 Rad8 30.Reb1 Nc4 31.Rd1 Bg4 32.Rd3 Nb2 33.Rxd4 Bxf3 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.gxf3 Rc8 36.Ra2 Na4 37.Rd2 Rc6 38.f4 Nb6 39.Kg2 Nc4 40.Rd3 Nb2 41.Rg3+ Kh8 42.Be2 Rc2 43.Bh5 Rc7 44.f5 Kh7 45.Be2 Kh6 46.h4 Rc2 47.Bf3 Nc4 48.Bd5 Nd649.Rd3 Kg7 50.Bf3 Nxf5 51.Bb7 Nxh4+ 52.Kg1 Re2 53.Bxa6 Re5 54.Rc3 Nf5 55.Rc5 Rxc5 56.bxc5 Nd4 57.c6 Nxc6 58.Bxb5 Na5 59.Kg2 Kf6 60.Kf3 Ke5 61.Ke3 Nb7 62.Bc4 f6 63.a4 Na5 64.Bf7 Nc6 65.Kd3 Kd6 66.Ke4 Ne7 67.a5 Kc5 68.a6 Nc8 69.Bh5 Kd6 70.Bf3 1-0

Click HERE to replay the game.

This is a photograph from a 1953 tournament in Europe.  Can you name the 5 chess players in this photo, as well as the tournament location?

HINT: All five players are Russian.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

The 1998 Hoogoven International Chess Tournament from Wijk aan Zee took place from January 16th to February 1st.  This prestigious tournament annually supplies the majority of top chess talent in the world.  However, similar to the afore mentioned Dortmund tournament of 1997, world champion Garry Kasparov was again absent from this particular field.

When Kasparov is not in attendance, history over the last decade has dictated that Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik will more than likely battle it out for top prize.  This tournament was no different, as the two rivals ended in a tie for first place at 8 1/2 out of 13 points each.

Their head-to-head encounter from this tournament is shown below:

[Event "Hoogovens"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "1998.01.16"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand,Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "B33"]

Click HERE to replay the game.

Fischer Wins Again; Match Is Half Over

NEW YORK TIMES

By ROBERT BYRNE

Published: September 21, 1992

In a battle of brilliant offense countered by brilliant defense, Boris Spassky finally erred yesterday and Bobby Fischer won Game 11 of their exhibition match in Sveti Stevan, Yugoslavia. Fischer now leads 5-2, with 10 victories required to collect the $3.35 million winner’s prize.Thus, after two and a half weeks of play, the match has reached the halfway point. For the last half, it is to move on to a new site in Belgrade, as yet unannounced. Match organizers said a date for resuming play would be announced today, The Associated Press reported, with a week-to-10-day layoff likely.

In yesterday’s game, Fischer launched a terrific attack against Spassky and it looked certain to succeed. Even the I.B.M. super computer, Deep Thought II, which tends to prefer solid material advantages to slashing sacrificial attacks, gave rave reviews to White’s intriguing gambit play. But up to the time Spassky erred, no clear way through his position could be detected for Fischer. The game was surely one of the most exciting and demanding in recent years.

If the seven-and-a-half-hour, 68-move Game 10 on Saturday was grim trench warfare, in which Spassky indomitably held off the enemy infantry and got a draw, this encounter was a clash between an all-out air attack and an almost ceaseless anti-aircraft defense. A Gambit Strategy

Fischer had played the Rossolimo Variation with 3 Bb5 against the Sicilian Defense only once before in his career, when facing Milan Matulovic in Palma de Mallorca in 1970; he had played cautiously, gotten into trouble and had to struggle for a draw. This time he replaced 4 c3 Nf6 5 Qe2 with 4 Bc6 bc 5 O-O……

(FISCHER leads 5-2)

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Click HERE to replay the game.

Black to Move. Checkmate in 4 moves.

The Dortmund International Tournament of 1997 boasted a strong field, with the only notable absence being world champion Garry Kasaprov.  Vladimir Kramnik was ranked number two in the world at the time of this prestigious event in Germany.

Kramnik would go on to win the tournament by a full point over second place finisher Viswanthan Anand.  Third place would be shared by Veselin Topalov and Vassily Ivanchuk, just a half point behind Anand.  Rounding out the standings were Judit Polgar, Boris Gelfand, Anatoly Karpov, Nigel Short, Robert Huebner, and Artur Yusupov.

Anand played White in his second round matchup with Kramnik and agreed to a relatively quick and uneventful draw against his opponent’s Sicilian defence.  In hindsight, Anand could have sahared first place had he pressed on and achieved a victory in this particular game:

[Event "Dortmund"]
[Site "Dortmund"]
[Date "1997.07.04"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand,Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik,Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "B33"]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 0-0 12.Nc2 Bg5 13.Be2 Ne7 14.Ncb4 a5 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Nd5 Qb7 17.Qd3 b4 18.cxb4 axb4 19.Qb3 Be6 20.Bc4 Rac8 21.0-0 Qc6 22.Rac1 Bxd5 23.exd5 Qc5 24.Rc2 g6 1/2-1/2

Click HERE to replay the game.

THE CHESSMAN

It is hard to say exactly when I first heard the name Bobby Fischer, but it was quite early in my life. When he was battling Boris Spassky for the world title in 1972, I was a 9-year-old club player in my native Baku in the Soviet Union. I followed the games avidly. The newspapers had extensive daily coverage of the match, although that waned as it became clear the Soviet champion was headed for defeat. Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games was one of my first chess books. (It had been translated into Russian and sold in the U.S.S.R. with no respect for copyright or royalties, infuriating its author.)

As I improved during the 1970s, my coach, Alexander Nikitin, made charts to track my progress and to set goals for me. A rating above 2500 was grand master; 2600 meant membership in the Top 10; 2700 was world-champion territory. And even above that was Bobby Fischer, at the very top with 2785. I became world champion in 1985, but true to Nikitin’s vision, I had an even loftier goal; it took me four full years to surpass Fischer’s rating record.

It was Fischer’s attitude on and off the board that infused his play with unrivaled power. Before Fischer, no one was ready to fight to the death in every game. No one was willing to work around the clock to push chess to a new level. But Fischer was, and he became the detonator of an avalanche of new chess ideas, a revolutionary whose revolution is still in progress…….

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(FISCHER leads 4-2)

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