“I got strong ideas about my house. I’m going to hire the best architect and have him build it in the shape of a rook. Yeah, that’s for me. Class. Spiral staircases, parapets, everything. I want to live the rest of my life in a house built exactly like a rook.”
Welcome to the Rook House Chess Blog. This portion of our website was designed to provide instant interaction with chess enthusiasts all over the world. We cover many topics such as chess news, chess history, and the occasional chess puzzle.
Please visit our main website at www.rookhouse.com and view our extensive collection of historical facts and games. Lastly, please remember to be civil and respectful to all users of this site.
After one loss and three draws since moving the match to Belgrade, Fischer picks up his first win in the Yugoslav capital. Spassky tried a relatively outdated opening in the Accelerated Averbakh Attack (6.Bg5) and was punished for it in a rather dominant game by Fischer.
The opening gambit was one rarely seen in this particular era of chess play. Additionally, the sacrificed pawn was quickly returned by Fischer with the intention of increasing the quickness of his own offensive. The endgame produced a queen, two rooks, and a bishop for Fischer. He expertly mobilized these pieces for an offensive on his opponent’s king. Spassky’s pieces had been forced into retreat and he was completely on the defensive.
Fischer’s 32…e5! proved to be fatal, as Spassky could not capture with 33.fxe5 due to the possibility of 33…Qxf3!, which would lose a piece. His answer of 33.dxe6 (e.p.) resulted in the continuation of 33…Bc6, 34.Kf1 Bxf3. Spassky immediately resigned after Fischer’s 34th move. This game reflected the brilliant attacking style and mentality of Fischer over the years, and gave additional hope for future matches by the legendary figure. Fischer now leads the match by a score of 6-3.
The prestigious Dortmund chess tournament will take place from June 28 to July 6, 2008 in Dortmund, Germany. The impressive field of competitors is as follows:
Kramnik, Vladimir (RUS) 2788 Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (AZE) 2752 Leko, Peter (HUN) 2741 Ivanchuk, Vassily (UKR) 2740 Van Wely, Loek (NED) 2676 Nepomniachtchi, Ian (RUS) 2634 Naiditsch, Arkadij (GER) 2623 Gustafsson, Jan (GER) 2603
This tournament dates all the way back to 1928 when Friedrich (Fritz) Samisch edged out Richard Reti for the tournament championship. Kramnik is the defending champion and has actually won this tournament a record 8 times (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007).
On a special note, today is Kramnik’s 33rd birthday. Happy birthday Vladimir and good luck in your upcoming match against Viswanathan Anand. Shown below is one of Kramnik’s brilliant games from last year’s Dortmund event.
At the halfway point of the match, Fischer leads 5 games to 2 and the players took a 10-day rest before starting the second half of the match. The rest proved to be especially beneficial for Spassky, who had been somewhat ill during the match and was having kidney problems. To refresh everyone, the match stipulations are the first player to win 10 games takes home the $3.35 million winner’s prize.
The second half of the match was moved from the coastal resort of Sveti Stefan to the Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade. The new playing venue was in the Blue Hall of the Sava Center, where the players were now placed behind a soundproof glass barrier that separated them from the viewing audience. The reasoning behind this was that the crowds at Sveti Stefan were considerably smaller (approximately 30) than the crowds that would be watching in Belgrade (approximately 1,000).
Spassky seemed invigorated in Game # 12 of the match and won a dominating victory with the White pieces. Spassky came out with a Queen’s pawn opening and Fischer defended with the King’s Indian Defense. As he did in Game 8 (which he won), Fischer played the Panno Variation with 6…Nc6 and 7…a6. Spassky changed things up a little by playing 8.h4 instead of the previous 8.Qd2 in an effort to keep the tempo on his side.
Fischer would end up losing a piece as a result of Spassky’s 31.Qh5. He was unable to move his Knight that was under attack because of the threat of 32.g6 and he eventually resigned after Spassky’s 54th move. Fischer now leads the match by a score of 5-3.
Albert Beauregard Hodges (1861-1944) was one of the greatest American chess players in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. He lost a title match for the U.S. Championship early in 1894 to Jackson W. Showalter, but won their re-match later in that same year. Hodges would then temporarily retire from competitive chess to pursue other ventures.
Some other notables were his first place victory at New York in 1893, his participation in seven of the famous USA-Great Britain cable matches between 1902 and 1911, and a brief stint as the player behind the Ajeeb chess automation.
One of the very last recorded games by Hodges was at the 9th American Chess Congress in New York in 1923. His opponent was the great Polish player, David Janowski. This game shows the brilliance of Hodges, even at the ripe age of 62 years old.
Levon Aronian came from behind to capture the Karen Asrian Memorical chess tournament in Yerevan, Armenia. With only two rounds remaining, Aronian trailed Peter Leko by a half point. Leko would lose his round 13 game with Alexander Morozevich, while Aronian defeteated Michael Adams to jump into first place. Both players settled for draws in the fourteenth and final round.
Aronian’s final round victory is shown below, as well as the final standings:
Final Standings: 1. Aronian, Levon (ARM) 2763 8½, 2. Leko, Peter (HUN) 2741 8.0, 3. Morozevich, Alexander (RUS) 2774 7½, 4. Gelfand, Boris (ISR) 2723 7½, 5. Bu Xiangzhi (CHN) 2708 7.0, 6. Sargissian, Gabriel (ARM) 2643 6½, 7. Adams, Michael (ENG) 2729 6.0, 8. Akopian, Vladimir (ARM) 2673 5.0
George Henry Mackenzie was one of the strongest chess players in American history. He won 1st prize in every American tournament he entered (13 tournaments and 7 matches) and had several strong showings in international tournaments. Some of his more famous victories came at the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th American Chess Congresses.
Mackenzie is also well known for ending Wilhelm Steinitz’s legendary 25-game winning streak by holding him to a draw at the strong Vienna tournament of 1882. That same tournament was eventually won by Steinitz, with Mackenzie finishing in fifth place. Below is the third round game between these two great players.
Today we bring you a game from the infamous St. Petersburg International Chess Tournament of 1914. Then world champion, Emanuel Lasker plays the young up and coming Russian player, Alexander Alekhine.
Lasker was 45 years old at the time of this match and Alekhine was only 22. The veteran Lasker would win the game and also go on to win the tournament. Alekhine would place third behind Lasker and Jose Raul Capablanca, but ahead of the impressive group of Bernstein, Blackburne, Gunsberg, Janowsky, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Rubinstein and Tarrasch.
Also shown is the annotated game as presented in David Mitchell’s 1917 chess publication titled “Chess”. We are not sure who provided the actual analysis shown below.
The National Open Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada (USA) concluded over the weekend and there was a 6-way tie for first place between Gata Kamsky, Laurent Fressinet, Tigran Petrosian, Atanas Kolev, Ben Finegold, and Josh Friedel. The event was a 6-round Swiss System tournament consisting of 100 players from around the world. The winners all finished with five out of a possible six points.
Popular U.S. chess player Hikaru Nakamura finished in a disappointing tie for 10th place with thirteen other players. Nakamura, with a USCF rating of 2747, lost to IM David Pruess (2471) in the fifth round and settled for draws against IM Josh Friedel (2504) and GM Darwin Laylo (2452) in the third and fourth rounds.
Samuel Reshevsky was the top vote getter in the most recent Rook House chess poll. The question being: “After Fischer and Morphy, Who Is The Next Best American Chess Player of All Time?“.
The results (out of exactly 100 voters) were as follows: Reshevsky 37%, Pillsbury 20%, Marshall 18%, Fine 11%, Kamsky 9%, Showalter 2%, Mackenzie 1%, Browne 1%, Other 1%.
I received some e-mails stating that Wilhelm Steinitz should have been on this list. I have always viewed him as more of an Austrian citizen, despite his later American citizenship. But, the argument was made that if I had Kamsky (who also defected as an adult) on the list, Steinitz should have been there as well. In hind sight, I guess I have to agree with that particular point. However, the poll would not have been as much fun, for Steinitz would have definitely ran away with the votes.
After looking at the results, I would say that they turned out very similar to what I predicted. The only minor exception would be that I considered Marshall to be number two on this list over Pillsbury, due to the greater longevity of his chess career.
I also started to think about whether or not I had ever seen a game between Reshevsky and Marshall. After some very limited searching, I only found one game between the two of them that took place in 1934 New York (shown below). If anyone has any other games played between Reshevsky and Marshall, please e-mail them to me at the address at the bottom of the page.
Thank you for all of the votes. I will be posting a new poll sometime next week.
Left: Korchnoi (seated) versus Karpov at the 1974 Candidates Final in Moscow
Top: Korchnoi-Karpov 2008 in Odessa, Ukraine
The recent 2008 Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup in Odessa, Ukraine provided us with a stroll down memory lane, as the 34-year old rivalry between Victor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov was renewed for a brief period of time.
The background on this storied rivalry goes clear back to the 1974 Candidates final in Moscow, Russia. Both Korchnoi and Karpov, who were members of the powerful Soviet chess machine, made it through to the final match to decide who would challenge the mighty Bobby Fischer for the world chess crown in 1975.
Karpov was the favored son of the Soviet government, while Korchnoi was considered part of the generation that allowed the American to take their crown away from them. Fellow Soviet chess player Tigran Petrosian had publicly spoken out against Korchnoi before their semifinal match and it was suspected by many that Korchnoi had intentions of defecting.
The match was very intense, as both players were under extreme duress. Through eighteen games of the twenty-four game match, Kaprov had won three games and Korchnoi had yet to win a single game. Korchnoi would fight back, winning the 19th and 21st games of the match to pull within one game of his adversary. Karpov would manage to draw the three remaining games to win the match by a final score of 3 wins, 2 losses, and 19 draws. He would go on to win the world chess crown in 1975 by forfeit from Fischer (a story for another time).
Korchnoi would eventually defect in 1976 while playing in a tournament in Amsterdam (Netherlands), leaving his wife and son behind in the Soviet Union. It would be several years before he could get them out of the country and the stress of the situation assuredly played a part in his future matches with Karpov.
In 1977, Korchnoi again made it to the Candidates final, where he would defeat former world champion Boris Spassky (+7 -4 =7) for the right to face Karpov. Their 1978 match in Baguio (Philippines) for the world title was surrounded by controversy and continual allegations of foul play (see “Persona Non Grata” by Korchnoi). Once again, Korchnoi would fall behind early in the match, only to storm back and tie the match at five games all. Karpov would win the final game and the match by the narrow margin of 6 wins, 5 losses, and 21 draws.
The last meaningful match between these two great champions came in 1981. Korchnoi once again fought his way through the qualifying cycle to earn the right to challenge Karpov for the world title. The match took place in Merano, Italy and was similar to the 1978 event in that frictions were very high throughout the match. However, this time Karpov would easily dispatch his foe by the score of 6 wins, 2 losses, and 10 draws.
Karpov would eventually lose the title to Garry Kasparov in 1985 and Korchnoi would never again challenge for the world title. The two rivals would play each other several more times over the years and would still have tremendous animosity towards each other. Both are mostly retired from competitive play, but coincidentally agreed to play in the recent event in the Ukraine.
Korchnoi (77 years of age) would lose to Karpov in the 7th round and never be in serious contention. Karpov (57 years of age) would start slowly, but come on strong in the second half of the tournament. A win in the final round would earn him a share of first prize. His final round opponent? You guessed it, Victor Korchnoi. Karpov had the Black pieces and played the Rubenstein version of the Nimzo-Indian defense. The game was fiercely contested, but in the end, Karpov could only achieve a 34-move draw and a fifth place finish.
One would have to think that Korchnoi had a tremendous sense of satisfaction in denying his old rival a tournament victory.
