Match for the World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik-David Bronstein Moscow 1951 [Illustrated] 3283004595, 9783283004590

Citation preview

David Bronstein and Sergey Voronkov

Secret Notes With a Preface by Garry Kasparov

Translated by Ken Neat

2007 EDITION OLMS

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Also available: •

Botvinnik: Match for the World Chess Championship Mikhail Botvinnik - David Bronstein, Moscow

1951

ISBN

978-3-283-00459-0

Bibliographic Information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http:/Jdnb.ddb.de.

Copyright© 2007 Edition Olms AG Willikonerstr. 1 0

·

CH - 86 1 8 Oetwil a.S./Zi.irich, Switzerland

E-mail: [email protected] Internet: www.edition-olms.com All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Printed in Germany Editor and Translator: Ken Neat Typeset: Arno Nickel

·

Edition Marco, D-1 0551 Berlin

Printed by: Druckerei Friedr. Schmi.icker GmbH, D-49624 L6ningen Cover: Eva K6nig, Hamburg

ISBN 978-3-283-0464-4

lZJ

s

Contents Garry Kasparovo Teacher of the chess world David Bronstein: In free flight Second birth

00 0 00 00 000 00 00 0 0 000 00 0 00 0000 0 0 0 000000000 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 00000 0 00 00 00 0

0000000 0 0000 00000000 0 0 000000000 00 0 O o o o o o 000 0 000000000 0 00000 000 00000 0 0000 o o o o 0000000 00

0 0 000 00 00000 00 0 00 0 000 000 00 000 00 0000 000 0 0 0000000 00 00 0 0 0 000 0 00 0 00 0 0 0 000 00 00 0 0 00 00 000 000 0 00 0 00 00 000 00 0 000 0 00 0

Peter Pan of chess Tiger without claws

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00 00 000 0 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 00 000 0 000 00 000 000 000 00 0 00 00 000 00 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 000 00 00 000 00 0 0 000 00 0

Search for a place under the sun My co-author

0 0000 000 00 000 000000 0 0 000 00 0 0 0 00 000 0 0000 000 00 0 00 00 0 000 0 00 00 0 00 00 000 00 0 0 00 00

00 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 00 0 0 0 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 000 00 00 0 000 00 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 00 0000 0 0000 000 00 0 0 00 0 00 0 0 00 0 00 000 0 00 0 00 000 00 0

9

12 12 13 15 16 18

DAvto BRONSTEIN AND SERGEY VoRONKOV David in the role of Odysseus

Danish magician Beer Tasting Dinner with the g reat Bent Heart made out of beads

0 000 00 000 00 00 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 0000 000 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 000 00 000 00 0000 00 0 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 00000 000 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 00

o o o o o o oo o o o ooo o o o o o o o o O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ooooo o o o o o o ooo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O O O O O O O O O O o O O O o o o o o o

ooooooO O O o o o O o O o O o O O O O O O O O O O Oo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o oo O o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

000 0 00 000 0 000 0 00 0000 000 00 000 00 00 000 0 00 0 000 0 0 000 0 00 0 0000 0 0000 00000 00 00 00 00 0 00 000 0000 00 00

I n the land of the Trolls Norwegian character Royal kiss Reindeer skin carpet Three days in a fairy-tale A pity that I am not a Viking ! The 'Arnold Cup'

000 000000000 00000 000 o o o o o000000 000 00000 00000 O O o o O O O O 0 0 000000000 00 0000000 0000000000000000000 0000

00000000 0000000 00000000000000 00000000 000 00000000000OoO o o o o o 00000000000 o oo o o o o o o o o o o o o o ooo 000 0

00 0 000 00 0 00 00000 0 0 0 000 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0000 00000 00 0000 00 0 00 0 00 00 0 0 000 000 0 00 0 00 00 0 0000 0 00000000 00 0 00 00 000 000 0 00 0 00 00 00

0 000 0000 00 0 00 00 000 000 00 000 0 0 0 000 000 00 0000 00 0 00 000 00 000 00 0 0 0 00 00 00 000 00 0000 000 00 000 00 00 00 000 00

00 00 0 00 000 00 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 000 00 0 00 00 000 0 0 00 0 0000 00 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 000 0 0 00 0 00 0 00 0000

:

o o o o o ooooo o o o o oooooo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o oo o ooooo o o o o o o ooooo ooooo o oo o o o oo o oo o o O OOOOOOO

00000 000000 00000000 00000 0 00000 00 000000 0 00000 00000000 000000 000 0000 0000000 0000 000 0 000 0 0 000 0 0 0 0 000000 0

Country of tulips and chess

0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00000 00000 00 000 000 0000 0 0 0 00 000 00 00 0000 00 00 0000 00 00 00 00 0000000 00

Cats' home The flower-girl and the programmer Bullfight in Brussels The Jan H ei n Donner Bridge The 'Velimirovic Attack' Multi-chess of the future There is nothing new under the sun Finale

0 000 0000 00 00 00000 00 00 000 00 00 000 00 00 0 0 0 00 00 000 00 000000 000 0 0 00 0000 00 00 00 000 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 000 00 00 00 00 00 00 000 00

o o o o o o o o o o OO o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o ooo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o oo o o o o oo o o o o ooooo o o

00000000000000000000 00000 00000 000 00000000000 00000000 000000000000 00000000 0000000 0000000000000000

00000000 0000 0 00000 00 00 0 00000 00 0000 00 00 00 00 000 0 00 0000 00 0000 00 00 000000 0 0 0000 00 00 00 0

00 0 00 0 0 00 00 0 00 00 000 0000 00 000 00 0 000 00 000 000 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 00 0 0 0 00 0 00 00 0 0 00 000 00 000000 000 00 0 00 00

000000 00 0000 0000000 000 0000 00 000000 00 0000 00000000 0 000000 000000 000 000 0 0000000000000 000 0000

0 00 00 00 0 00 000000 000000 0000000000000 00000000 0 O O o o o o O O O O O O O O O O O O O O o o o o 0 0

o o o oOOoOOoOoo o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o oo o o o oooo o ooo o o o o o O o o O O o o o o oo o o o o o o o o o o oo o o o o o o o o oo o o o o o o o o o oo o ooooooo o o o o o o oooo

Bitter experience in Spain The new Pale of Settlement? Georgian dinner

00 0000 000 0000 00 00000000 000 000000 000 00 000 000 00 00 000 00 0000000 0000 00 0000 00 00 0000 00000 000 00 000 0

0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 0 0 00 00 00 00 00 00 0000 00 0000 00 00 00 00 0 0 0000 00 00 00 00 00 00 0

0 0 00 00 0 00 0 00 0000 00 0 00 00 0 00 0 0 00 000 00 0 0 0 00 0 0 00 000 0 00 0 000 0 0 00 00 0 00 0 000 0 00 00 00 000 0 0 0 0 00 0 0000 000 000 0 00 000

19 19 21 23 27 27 29 31 32 33 34 38 38 39 41 45 47 50 53 58 59 59 60

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CONTE NTS

Oviedo's Utopian promises 'Bienvenido, starischock!' The brave l ittle tailor I n a circle of friends Pablo Moran's library Banish ment from paradise

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The English gardener Echo of the War The Sir George phenomenon 'Is that Russian still hanging on?' Campomanes's joke Peter and Rose-Marie Why d o they like m y simuls? In honour of Vera Menchik British trainer Evergreen equ ivalent Dear Ken net Filipovich !

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Two romances in Paris French lessons Revenge on Keres My friend Franc;:ois Bouton's sleeping bag Bouquet for Chaude de Silans My meetings with Spassky Knight move A game for lvanchuk

61 62 67 72 73 75 76 76 78 79 80 81 84 87 89 93 96

98 98 1 01 1 02 1 04 1 06 1 08 112 113

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Alpine ballad Lesson of Japanese wisdom Postcard from Africa Oh, 'Bois-Gentil ' ! Statuette under the pillow 'Cave drawing' Chess theatre Secret of prosperity How rapid chess was born 'Thrown' games in Zurich

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Ja was kocham jak bog a! There's l ife in the old dog yet! Experimental match 'First person from there' 'Play the French! '

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116 116 117 118 1 20 1 22 1 23 1 26 1 28 1 31 1 37 1 38 1 39 1 48 1 51

CONTE NTS

Underg round second . Korchnoi's finest hour . Prophetic note . . . . .

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. . . . Shalom , Israel! . . . . . . Poems of grand dad Duvyd . ... .. . ... Fiddler on the roof . . . . . American uncle . A little camel from Jerusalem 'Freedom to live and freedom to die' . . ...... ... . .......

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Viking songs . . . . Gudmundur the magician Three bottles of Martell . . . . . . .. . . Browne Variation . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . Twenty years later . ' If God had played chess ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'

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1 70 1 70 1 72 1 74 1 77 1 79 1 83

TATYANA BoLESLAVSKAYA Thro u g h the Eyes of a Trave l Compa n i o n

Parisian dreams . . 'Shepherdess of the clouds' Dances in Montmartre . . ..

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. Scandinavian triptych Danish Idyll Fur hat from I celand . Country of Peer Gynt .. ...

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. Inside an English novel . Jottings in an old notebook . . 'Tea with Mrs Hudson'

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Spanish romancero Autumn in Oviedo . . Unforgettable cider Alhambra Gardens

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8

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CONTENTS

Dinner at 'Simpsons-in-the-Strand' . . . .. . . 205 Piano duet 206 Bob Wade's cat . . . . 208 Charlton fanatic . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Caravanserai . . . 21 0 Even ing gatherings . . . . 21 1 David's secret dream .. . . 21 3 Miracle of holog raphy . . . . . . 214 Car boot sales . . . . . 21 5 'Live chess' . . . . .. . . 217 . . . ..

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David Bronstein: 'Reaching 75 i s n o reason to d rink champagne!'

I ndex of opponents I ndex of openings

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CLJ

g

G ARRY KASPAROV

Teacher of the chess world

I bitterly let slip: if he had won against n one of his recent i nterviews Bronstein

Botvinnik, everyone would have fawned upon him. And he is right. I think that, had David lonovich won that match (and on the play he deserved to win , in my opinion) , his ideas would indeed have been listened to more, and chess itself could have taken a rather different cou rse. I don't know what he lacked , but he did not become world champion. Which is a pity. Because as regards his depth of chess understanding - depth , and not only originality (Larsen was also original, but he was a long way behind 'David the great' ) , Bronstein undoubted ly ran ks alongside the champions.

of what he has done in chess. And , u nfortunately, a large part of this rich heritage has not yet been comprehended by us.

His games have enriched chess with numerous original and fresh decisions. I n the 1 970s and even the 1 980s I followed Bronstein's games with interest, and in each of them there could appear a bright, surprising idea, which had not occu rred to anyone. He posseses his own , unique vision of the chess board , which with the years has possibly been transformed into eccentricity. But sometimes behind this eccentricity are concealed brilliant ideas, which enable Bronstein to be ahead of the time.

Tal king about Bronstein's contribution to chess, I should like to begin with the fact that after Tarrasch and N imzowitsch he is one of the most brilliant popularisers of the game. In former times every leadi ng player aimed to write a book, and even better - a primer, and the standard of chess l iterary mastery was very high. U nfortunately, with the years this fashion has al most died out. The great chess books of the post-war era can be counted on the fi ngers of one hand! In fact there is a whole mass of books, and there are some incredibly prol ific authors, but all these are in the natu re of transitory booklets; whereas epoch-maki ng books, influencing whole generations of chess players, are very few in number. And , I th ink, this is primarily because the very art of popularising chess, explaining it and trying to reach a very wide audience, is disappearing - in short , making a book a genuine instructional manual , which is precisely what d istinguished Tarrasch and N imzowitsch , despite their very d ifferent views.

I am sure that his d iverse activity has yet to be properly appreciated , since among the post-war generation of g randmasters he stands apart precisely by the amount

Of course, a mark in chess l iterature has been left by all the great masters. Lasker and Capablanca were the authors of high­ class manuals. Alekhine wrote some

10

�

TEAC H E R OF T H E C H E S S WORLD

brill iant tou rnament books and beautifully an notated his own games . . . But th is was pre-war culture, when modern chess was only j ust taking shape. But in the post-war era there are few who, as Tarrasch once was, could be called a teacher of the chess world . And here, of course, Bronstein is in a class of his own. Yes , there is Fischer's excellent book, and the books of Larsen , Botvinnik and Korchnoi, but no one has devoted so much attention to the popularisation of chess as Bronstei n . His book Zurich International Chess Tourna­ ment 1 953 is remembered by absolutely all chess players, irrespective of what lang uage they speak. lt is a genuine classic! By analysing the games of one super-tou rnament Bronstein managed to create a classic textbook on the m iddle­ game, enabling even a very moderate player to understand many subtleties , and

to penetrate i nto the depths of chess th inking . This wonderful book is one of my favourites. But my very fi rst book was 200 Open Games. I was still very young when it was pu bl ished , and so fi rst my father read it to me, and then I read it myself. An a mazi ng book! Written in very lively, descriptive, rich language, it i m med iately appealed to me. This free , a mazingly democratic man­ ner of associating with the reader is also what d isti ngu ishes the other books of David l onovich . . . Bronstein is also a genuine innovator. Not only in opening theory, but i n his very approach to chess . His idea of a m utual simultaneous display on eight boards, as he played with Tal , is on its own priceless! Or com menting on moves directly d u ring a game? Or creati ng a chess theatre , on the stage of which masterpieces from the

TEAC H E R OF T H E CH ESS WORLD

past would be performed? I n general, Bronstein did not allow boredom to set i n . H e thought about how to make the process of the game more dynamic and interesting for the publ ic, how to disclose more fu lly the creative potential of chess. Alas, of all his numerous in novations, for the moment only rapid chess has taken root. And whereas for David lonovich it was primarily a way of making the game more attractive to spectators, the present­ day 'accelerators' use his idea more for emasculati ng the very essence of the game of chess . I ncidental ly, it was Bronstein who first suggested changing the initial arrange­ ment of the pieces - and he played so-

�

11

cal led Fischer Random Chess long be­ fore Fischer himself. Also , the add ition of a n umber of seconds after each move is also his idea . Generally speaking, that which are called ' F ischer Chess' and the ' Fischer clock' were all Bronstein's inven­ tion! But he did not become world cham­ pion , he did not, so to speak, become one of the chosen few . . . Otherwise everyone would surely talk about 'Bronstein Chess' and the 'Bronstein clock' . This is also a question of h istoric j ustice. I am pleased that with the years his creative, rebellious spirit has not died . Bronstein is stil l cap­ able of surprising us, and I am sure that this book will be of great interest to innumerable chess enthusiasts .

12

� DAVI D BRONSTE IN

In free flight

W cancer operation, I was finally re­ hen in August 1 990, after a serious

leased from hospita l , I felt depressed . J udge for yourself. The borders had just been opened , I had at last gained the opportunity to travel the worl d , without humiliating formal ities and testimonials and suddenly such a turn of fate! The surgeons said that they had saved my l ife , but their recommendations did not inspire any optimism: the need to stick to a strict regime, a mass of restrictions in food and d rink, and so on. To be honest, mentally I had already said farewel l to my l ife , and I even began dictating my d raft memoirs to my wife Tanya . . . Second birt h

However, there was a ray of hope . Hardly had I begun walking again, when my old friend , Academician Alexander Sergeevich Pavlov, gave me a ful l check-up in his institute, and - to his joy, and to my rel ief ­ he concluded that the operation had been performed bri l l iantly, so there was no need to let my head d rop. Nevertheless he instructed that I should have regular check-ups, to exclude a possible re­ lapse . . . After re-reading for the umpteenth time the recommendations of the doctors , I realised that all this was not for me. To transform yourself into a stay-at-home, because no one knew how long you were to remain on this earth , was simply stupid.

And as soon as I felt better (thanks to Tanya who, fortunately, is 22 years younger than me, and she had the strength to look after me for forty days in hospita l , and then for a further two months in our Moscow flat), I began th inking about new jou rneys. During my brief wanderings in 1 989-90 I had managed to notice that chess life in the West had changed unrecognisably, and it was interesting for me to plunge into this new world. Unfortunately, my contacts with western organisers were only just being estab­ l ished . Also, was I capable of enduring a long tournament? I n any case I had to remind people about myself. First I sent a postcard to London, to reassu re my old friends Peter and Rose-Marie that I was alive and hoping to visit them soon, and also one to The Hague - I informed Cock de Gorter, the organiser of the Aegon Tou rnament, that I was feeling better and ready to take part in a new battle with computers. A reply arrived instantly. Not from The Hague, but from Brussels - from the chess enthusiast Tom Furstenberg , whom I had met in the spring at the Aegon Tou rnament. He wrote that he had ob­ tained my address and telephone from Cock de Gorter, that he had tried to phone me, but d u ring the day the line was solidly engaged , and at night he was afraid to distu rb me, and that he and his wife Ann would be happy to see me again in their

IN F R E E F L I G H T

house. He also informed me that my admirers in Belgium and Holland were distressed by the news of my sudden i l l ness and had sighed with relief, on learn ing about my imminent return to the ranks of chess gladiators. As is well known , it is easier to take a decision than to carry it out. My reckless urge to dive straight away into tournament play was very soberly halted by Tanya . ·Look at yourself, are you in a fit state to play? You'd do better to travel to Minsk, rest, restore your strength , and then fly to wherever it takes your fancy. At the same time we can see in the New Year. Remember how together we survived Chernobyl there ... No, in such a cond ition I won't allow you to go abroad ! ' And I gave i n . Tanya was right. Wives are always right, but who wants to submit to them? I n a n y case s h e was unable to perform any longer the duties of a sick-nu rse, but had to return to her work at Minsk U n iversity . . . Peter Pan of chess

Do you know what was the most vexing? When i n June 1 990 after endless flights, sailings and car journeys I retu rned to Moscow, I brought with me an invitation for Mrs Tatyana Boleslavskaya to come for a month as an honoured guest to the Open Championship of Holland , in which I was due to play. I was already anticipating the joy of travelling together, when sud­ den ly, l ike a bolt from the blue - an urgent operation! Had I concealed from my wife the fact that in recent times I had been feeling unwell , perhaps then I would h ave managed to avoid the hospital bed . But I travelled to Minsk. Tanya promptly dragged me to the cl i n ic, asked a friend of hers, an experi­ enced rad iologist, to take some pictures,

ctJ

13

and on learning the anticipated d iagnosis, i mmediately phoned the Moscow acad­ emician Pavlov, to whom I had introduced her during the first Karpov-Kasparov match . Alexander Sergeevich asked me to go and see him, made a detailed examination of me in his institute, and without delay sent me to the 29th city hospita l , after handing me a sealed enve­ lope with the d iagnosis. On seeing the decaying walls of the hospita l , I felt rather depressed , and it was only later that I realised how fortunate I had been . The operation was performed by professor l saak Moiseevich l noyatov, one of the best surgeons in the cou ntry. I am very grateful to h i m , although in the depths of my soul a malicious thought sometimes pesters me: suppose I could have managed without the operation? After all, I am stil l al ive . Tanya does not l ike such conversations and she immedi­ ately cuts them short: 'That's why you are alive . ' I n short, t h e invitation t o Holland was lost. I still regret this. For the first time in my life I was able to choose a tournament for myself, not by a directive from a bove , and then this had to happen . Foreign friends often complained to me that even per­ sonal invitations did not reach me or other people were sent in my place. I remember that even Hort once said : ' David lonovich , you must be terribly i l l ! I n all the world they know that you are either very occupied with i nternal tournaments, or you are very i l l . ' I bel ieve them, because when in 1 988 I received a personal pension of 1 00 roubles, I saw with my own eyes the application of the USSR Sports Commit­ tee, where it was written : in recent years grandmaster B ronstein has not appeared in competitions on account of illness. Very touch ing: they were saying that the

14

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IN F R E E FLIGHT

person was no longer required by them, but they requested a pension for him. lt is possible that I myself was partly to blame: not once did I appeal to the Chess Federation or the Sports Committee with a request to send me to a foreign tour­ nament. There they d istributed these trips either in the form of prizes to champions, or as sops to the rest. I remember how in 1 979, after returning from a tournament in Yugoslavia to which I had miraculously been sent, I angrily said to lvoni n , the all­ powerful deputy head of the Sports Com­ mittee: 'I wi l l never come to you for a tournament, because you always give the appearance that you are g iving away a thousand dollars for free! ' Baturinsky, the head of the chess ad min­ istration, once i nformed me (soon after the defection of Korchnoi, whom I had the audacity not to condemn ) that, for a player of my class , one tournament a year was qu ite sufficient, and that personal invita­ tions which arrived for me were of no sign ificance to them. Then he pointed his finger u pwards and pompously stated: 'Up there they are unhappy with you ! ' The most amusing th ing is that he also did not give me even this one tournament. My absence at Western tournaments did not go unnoticed . Congratulating me on the new year, 1 978, Tibor Florian , my good friend and long-stand i ng leader of the H ungarian chess u n ion, attached a recent cutting from the English newspa­ per The Times' - apparently, wishing to warn me about possible repercussions. After reading the article by Harry Golombek entitled 'Battl ing Bronstei n ' , I d id indeed feel uncomfortable. On the whole the text looked quite innocent, but two paragraphs could have seriously d ispleased our 'pow­ ers that be' :

'Bronstein is the Peter Pan o f Soviet and world chess. lt is amazing how, in the dark official labyrinths, through which Soviet players are forced to make their way, by some miracle he each time remains invulnerable. Perhaps the KGB officials are subject to the charms of good fairies. 'A t any event, it should be mentioned that, although Bronstein is strongly attached to his native Russia, his mind is independ­ ent, and he himself lives in constant conflict with the ruling bureaucracy in the USSR. ' For thi rteen years , effectively, I was banned from travelling abroad - an abso­ l ute record ! Once an idea occurred to me, one what was absolutely reckless for those times: to ask that I be g iven an official certificate, confirming that the Sports Committee d id not send me abroad. I was sure that they would refuse. But no! The secretary prepared a certificate, lvonin signed it, and I received a priceless document, which is worth quoting in ful l . lt is dated 9 September 1 983: '0. /. Bronstein, honoured USSR master of sport and international grandmaster, was sent on the directive of the USSR Sports Committee to the Socialist Federal Re­ public of Yugoslavia from �27 Septem­ ber 1 9 79, where he participated in an international chess tournament. On the directive of the Sports Committeee, since January 1 9 76 up to the present time comrade O. I. Bronstein has not been sent on any other foreign visits. ' The amusing point of the certificate is that, apart from the Sports Committee, no one could have sent me to a foreign tournament! I ncidentally, throughout nearly all the years when I was banned from travelling, the world champion was Karpov, and it was within his powers to at least

ttJ

IN FREE FLIGHT

help me i n some way. But he preferred not to interfere, apparently in revenge for the help I had given Korch noi at the finish of their Moscow match . His conscience does not trouble h i m . I remember that in 1 990 , at my first Aegon Tou rnament, Karpov unexpectedly appeared in. the hal l . On seeing me, he came up and cheerfully asked : ' I s everything wel l?' 'No, every­ thing is not well , ' I replied defiantly. Today I no longer bear a grudge against Karpov: 1 real ise that to some extent he was also a victim of that system. Recently Ann Fi.irstenberg , the treasurer of the Belgian 'Semya' Society, came to Mos­ cow. She was due to be awarded a medal of the I nternational Peace Fund (of which , as is wel l known , Karpov is the President) for help given to Russian children's homes, and she invited me to the awards cer­ emony. Later there was an i nformal d i n ner in her honour, during which Karpov and I were sitti ng opposite each other, and I l istened with i nterest as Anatoly Evgene­ vich talked enth usiastically about his visit to Yakutiya , from where he had returned only that morning. Karpov had not expected to meet me i n Moscow, a n d s o the first thing he asked was: 'Are you here on business?' So as not to have to go i nto details, I replied: ·No, I'm on holiday. ' Karpov u nderstand­ ingly nodded his head . And then he said : 'I have read your book. Almost the same as Zurich , but this time about you rself. ' I realised that he was talking about 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice', and I thanked him. i t seemed to me that Karpov was pleased that we had met. I have to admit that I was too.

15

Tiger without c laws

When at the height of perestroika managed to escape beyond the frontier posts of my homeland , I quite quickly real ised that freedom in itself did not provide means for existence, and that I would have to work hard and not harbour any illusions on my own account. I had grown older, I was weaker, and I could no longer compete as I had previously. I n short, I was like a fierce tiger which , before being released back into the wild , had had all its teeth and claws filed down . All that remained was my rather thread­ bare grandmaster tai l , which , without any embarrassment, I proudly began wag­ ging, trying to convince everyone around that I was stil l ful l of energy and ready to delight chess lovers with my ski l l . My na'ive cu nning proved wonderfully successfu l . lt transpired that i n Europe my name had not been forgotten , they were reading my books and, amazed that I was still al ive, chess clubs began showering me with i nvitations. lt was merely a matter of choosing. I began the year 1 990 very busily: Italy, Denmark, Sweden , Iceland, England, Norway, Holland . . . lt appeared that the wheel had beg un to unwind. I felt like a real 'gentleman of fortu ne'! But it was here that misfortune arrived . Fortunately, it all turned out more or less alright, and my prospects no longer appeared so gloomy. In addition , after a new examination Pavlov delighted me with the news that the main fears were now over, I was practically healthy, and if I wished I could travel. For the rapid restoration of my strength he recom­ mended i ncluding in my diet black caviar, fresh beef steaks, good cheese , fruit and even - a pleasant surprise - one glass of

16

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I N FREE FLIGHT

red a wine a day! Good advice, only where was I to obtain all these delicacies in the semi-hungry wi nter of 1 991 , when the shelves of even the Moscow shops were almost empty? To say nothing of the fact that on a pension of a hundred roubles you can't especially go on a spree, and my work for the 'lzvestiya' newspaper, which had fed me for nearly twenty years, I had myself g iven up as a sign of protest, after my frank article about the Kasparov-Karpov match in Seville was removed from the already prepared page (this article was publ ished only six years later in the Spanish magazine 'Ajed rez'). I needed to travel abroad urgently, in order to earn foreign currency, but how to obtain a visa? The only tournament i nvitation that I had was from Cock de Garter, and I had to wait until April 1 991 before I was able to fly to Holland .

realising that I was not ready for a serious battle, but that I was still qu ite capable of brilliant play. I endeavoured not to tel l anyone, apart from people w h o were very close to me, about the operation I had u ndergone, I did not demand any allow­ ances for either my age, or my state of health , and in my creative intoxication I myself sometimes forgot that I had not yet recovered from my ill ness. The illusion was created that life was in full swing and stil l promised many tempting adventures. However, I knew the statistics and I did not always sleep easily. lt was only five years later that Or John Henningham, who examined me in London , said to me : 'Now you don't need to worry: you have passed the trial period . ' And recently, when I met him in Moscow, Pavlov, now an academician , let slip almost by chance: ' David , you have l ived now for ten years . '

And agai n , as in 1 990, the carousel began revolving with incredible speed . I nvita­ tions were showered on me from every­ where: Belgium , England , Holland, Den­ mark, Sweden . . . Incidentally, at first they pestered me with the question as to which country I was playing for. I grew sick of replying, and the next time I went to M insk I asked N ina Gavrilovna , Tanya's mother, to sew two Russian tricolours. And for three years, while everyone was becom­ ing accustomed to the fact that Bronstein played for Russia, before a game I would perform an unusual ritual : I would pin a small flag to the lapel of my jacket and a large one, for which my English cabinet­ maker friend Steve had created an el­ egant flagstaff, I would fetch out of my pocket and place alongside the board .

Search for a p lace

I was mainly asked to various small tournaments , but I was even glad of this,

u nder the s u n

Like a madman I travelled from country to country and, when I now look at my notes , I am amazed at how I withstood such a tempo. Here is just one page, as an example: 'Brief diary of the week 1 5-25 October 1 993: 15 obtained visa. 16 - flew to Brussels, again stay with Tom. 1 7 - rest, unwell with a cold. 1 8-22 - still unwell, slightly better. Capitulated: I drink aspirin and wine. 23-24 - I play a difficult tournament. Badly. Even so I won. 25 - I fly Brussels-Madrid-Oviedo. If is now 1 9. 45. I am waiting in Madrid airport. Who could have thought? Only at the age of 69 am I free to move about . . . ' And without a break: '30 - team game for Oviedo University. 3 1 relax, excursion to the coast. 1 November - I fly back to Madrid -

-

IN F REE F L I G H T

and Brussels. 2 - by morning train to Paris. 2-5 I am staying again with my friend Bouton. 6 in the morning I return to Brussels. 7 - I play for Anderlecht. 8 travelling to Tilburg. Slow train, stopping at every station. For the moment - misty and cloudy. ' -

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During those eight years I probably visited more western countries that in a l l o f my previous life. Denmark, N orway, Sweden, G reat B ritain, U SA, I reland , Iceland , Holland , Belgi u m , F rance , Swit­ zerland , I srae l , Spain, Italy, Portugal . . . I remember obtaining a Russian passport for travelling a board at our E mbassy in Brussels . The friendly vice-cons u l , after looking through my old passport, bulging with pasted-in sheets, did not keep it, as he should h ave done accord ing to the reg ulations, but handed it back to me with the words: 'What a lot of visas you have ! I think that they will come in useful when you write your memoirs . ' There was only one 'but'. Throughout a l l these journeys I could not g e t away from the proble m : what was I to do on the concl usion of the visa? I had to resort to various tricks , and with the years I became an expert in these matters. What links I set up! For example, when in 1991 I visited Korchnoi, I managed to stock up with both a once-only F rench visa, and a m ulti-entry D utch visa , which al lowed me to complete the journey Geneva-Paris­ Amsterdam. lt sounds attractive, but should know how tiring it is at my age to be constantly on the road. You have to find someone to meet you , somewhere to stay, somewhere to eat. What could be done: I had begun seeking a new place under the sun, and such searches always contain an element of bluff . . . I was g reatly helped by the fact that, with

CL�

17

my new passport, I could state that it had been issued by the Russian E mbassy in Belgi u m . This apparent trifle emphasised the country's trust in the holder of the passport - and made it easier to obtain visas. In addition, in 1 993-96 I had a docu ment resembl ing a passport, testify­ ing that I was a professor of chess at Oviedo University, and this allowed me, beg inning on 26 M a rch 1995, to move freely around the countries of the Shengen g roup (Holland , Belg i u m , Luxemburg , Germany, F rance, Spain and Portugal). Alas, I did not manage to obtain a genuine Spanish passport. I envied Peter H annan, who once said to me: ' D avi d , it must be tiring all the time asking for a visa? Rose­ Marie and I have visited many countries, but the passport alone has always been sufficient without any visas. ' Unfortunately, such free movement around the world is something that, for the moment, Russian citizens can only d ream about. But occasionally I was l ucky. A pleasant official in the B ritish Consulate in Amsterdam used to be especially kind to me . He always arranged a once-only visa (which in practice signified for not more than six months) the same day, and twice , after consultations with London, he de­ lighted me with a one-yea r m u lti-entry visa . Completely for free, moreover. I once said to h i m that I liked the English l ifestyle . H e smiled : Then move to our country!' ' I should like to, but it's d ifficult,' I repl ied . 'Yes, it's not easy, ' the official confirmed , now with a serious face. Later he was moved to another country, but following h i s example they always helped me without th inking . And recently the B ritish E mbassy in Moscow presented me with a two-year visa , elevating me to the status of an

18

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IN F R E E F L IG H T

absolutely free person . lt cost me a g reat deal - half a year's pensio n , but I don't reg ret it. Having i n my passport a window allowi ng me at any moment to flutter out of the cage, I ceased to depend on the previously all-powerful Russian officials. The E mbassy staff probably thought that I would promptly begi n flyi ng from Moscow to London and back. But I was delighted by the very fact of obta i n ing such a visa. I have a right, and when I will use it is someth ing that I can decide! Now there is one concern : how to extend the visa for another two years? My co-a utho r

T h e nomad ic way o f l ife exhausted m e , and in December 1 997 I decided t o m iss the trad itional tournament in Hastings and retu rn home, to see i n the New Yea r i n my family circle for the first time i n seven years . Not only for th is: the doctors had said that it was time for me to receive treatment. Earlier too from time to time I had flown to Russia , but not for long. And now I have been stuck here for fou r years (only i n December 200 1 did I fly for a month to England). From May to Decem­ ber I usually l ive in Moscow, and I travel to M i nsk for the winter. I n itially I m issed the contact with chess fans, to which I had become very accus­ tomed d u ring my years of trave l l i n g . I n Moscow I l ive a s a recluse; I receive n o invitations not o n l y t o major events , but even to rapid-play tou rnaments ( I played

my last official game here twenty years ago, i n the 1 983 Moscow Championsh i p ) . I especially m issed t h e Aegon Tourna­ ment with its creative and i n some ways even homely atmosphere . B u t work on t h i s book did not a llow me to pine for computer battles for long. And now is the time to i ntroduce to the readers my co-author, in my view one of the best Russian chess journal ists, Sergey Voron­ kov. For no less than fifteen years he ed ited chess books for the publ isher Fizkultura i sport. We were often in contact i n those years. lt tu rned out that, despite the d ifference in age, our attitude to chess in many ways coi n cided. And after read ing the book David Janowski, created by h i m i n col laboration with D mitry P l isetsky, I i nvol u ntarily reg retted that Voronkov had spent so much time and effort editi ng other authors' books, instead of writin g h i s own . Therefore , when Sergey suggested writ­ ing a book a bout my travels, after weigh­ i n g everything u p I ag reed . O u r collabora­ tion proved to be fru itfu l . Although my co­ author did not play in tou rnaments , he has a good understanding of chess subtleties, and so with him it was easy to analyse . Probably what told was both his experi­ ence of ed itorial work, and the fact that he is the son of a chess player: his father Boris G rigorievich Voronkov was an Hon­ oured Russian Trainer, an I nternational Master in correspondence play, and for many years he conducted the Chess School on televisio n .

lLJ

19

DAVID BRONSTEIN AND SERGEY VORONKOV

David in the Role of Odysseus Danish magician

I Bank

Beer tasting

Ole took time off from work and we spent the first half of the days in friendly conversations. In the morning Maibritt would go off to work, and so it was left to Ole to look after their guest. After lunch we would walk to the tournament. I played, and for the full five hours Ole would sit drinking beer. And he remained as sober as a judge! On beholding this miracle, I grew bolder. There are a hundred sorts of Danish beer, and Ole imperceptibly drew me into a tasting of the weakest, almost alcohol-free... On returning from work Maibritt immedi­ ately joined in the life of her children. I saw how enthusiastically they put together some fancy-dress costumes: the younger wanted to dress up as a Viking, and the elder as an Indian chief. Later they presented me with a photograph of these heroes, adopting a threatening pose.

The 'Unibank' Tournament took place not in Copenhagen itself, but in one of its suburbs- Tostrup. The participants, mainly Danish and Swedish International Mas­ ters, were accommodated in private homes. I was lucky: I ended up in the amazingly hospitable family of the compu­ ter programmer and, of course, chess player Ole Pedersen. His wife Maibritt accepted me like one of the family, and their two boys Bj0rn and Stig were a delight. The house was wooden, spacious and very nicely furnished.

I only slept in my room, and in the evening the whole family spent the time together in the lounge .... with the television switched off. Saint-Exupery was right: the greatest luxury on earth is the luxury of human contact! And on one occasion Ole and Maibritt took me to the famous Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, named after the great fairy-tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, where I saw Lermontov's Mas­ querade performed in Danish. Now in a folder, where I keep theatre programs, restaurant menus and other memorabilia,

n the summer of 1989, at the Lloyds tournament in London, I was approached by a youth with a rucksack on his back, who, after introducing himself as the Danish student and chess player S0ren Bech Hansen, invited me to Co­ penhagen. At that moment I could not even imagine that this trip would be the start of an eight-year tournament Odys­ sey. After a lengthy period of inactivity in serious play, when the most western tournaments for me were in Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia, and my main occupation was writing a chess column for the lzvestiya newspaper, I initially found it hard to adapt to this alien world, especially since much had changed there. But gradually I settled down and even gained a taste for this new life.

20

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

No. 1

•

F rench Defence C 1 8

B RONSTEIN - FARAGO Tostru p, 4 . 03 . 1 990 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 lL'lc3 i.b4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 i.xc3+ 6 bxc3 lL'le7 7 Wt'g4 ! 0-0 (7 . . . lL'lf5 - cf. Game 7) 8 .i.d3 f5 9 exf6 .l:!xf6

My young D a n i s h friends Bjern a n d Stig i n their fancy d ress costume s .

there is also a ticket to th is perform­ a n ce . . . Before the last round there was a curious i ncident. Ole and I were d ri nking coffee, when the telephone suddenly rang . lt was the arbiter, asking whether Oavid was i ntend ing to play. 'What's the matter?' ' H i s clock h a s a l ready been g o i n g for half an hour! ' lt turned that our clock i n the lounge was slow . . . While I was d ressing, Ole ra n to his neighbour and when I leaped out of the house the 'carriage' was already waiti n g . I rushed i nto the hall ten m i n utes before the hour on my clock expi red . We had prepared a serious opening against Farago - a grandmaster, after all. But while we were i n the car I said : 'Oie, there's no time for a serious game. I'll play e2-e4 ! '

Judging by the speed with which Farago had played the open ing, I real ised that it was time to deviate from the main l i n e . If only I knew, how to get to it? Most prob­ ably via 1 0 i.g5. 1 0 'Wh5 h6 11 g4

My idea is clear: this pawn should open the g-file for the rook at h 1 . 1 1 . . . c4 1 2 g5! g6 !

T h i s is t h e move which , b y Black's reckoning, should have parried the attack: 1 3 'it'xh6 lif7 1 4 i.xg6 l:!. g7 1 5 i.h5 .l:.h7 1 6 'iVf6 .l:.xh5 - the bishop is lost, and the g-file remains closed . 1 3 'iVd 1

A cunning mo\le·. White wants to persuade h i s opponent that the attack has not succeeded . 1 3 . J1f7 1 4 i.xg6! ltJxg6 1 5 'ii h 5 .

DAN I S H MAG I C IAN

The effect of this manoeuvre exceeded all expectations: Farago thought for an hour and did not fi nd anything better than to play his knight into the corner! 1 5 . . . t2Jh8?! 1 6 ltJh3

I did not want to place my knight en prise to the rook, but it is possible that 1 6 t2Jf3 would have led more quickly to the goa l . For example, 1 6 . . . l:txf3 1 7 'ii'xf3 , b u t not the 'spectacu lar' 1 7 �g 1 on account of 1 7 . . . .l:f. f5! , and the king slips out of the danger zone. 16 ... e5 1 7 :g1 .Yi.xh3 18 g xh6+! 'it>ts

In the event of 1 8 . . . �h7 1 9 �g7+ l:Ixg7 20 hxg7+ �xg7 21 .Yi. h6+ g8 22 �d2 there is no defence against 23 llg 1 + .

1 9 h7

What a situation! Nominally Black is two pieces u p , but they are absol utely no use to him. 19 . . . 'ii'c 8 20 .l:.g8+ �e7 2 1 .l:r.xc8 .Yi.xc8 22 "ii'x e5+ .Yi.e6 23 �xh8 Black resigns.

And here the most amusing thing began. Ole and I went off to have a beer, while Farago d isappeared somewhere . Half an hour later he reappeared and said that if

l2J

21

he had played 1 3 . . . .l::!.f8 , nothing would have come of my ventu re. I replied that, with the king so exposed , I would no doubt have devised someth ing. And Farago again d isappeared . Then he ar­ rived with some other move and did everyth ing to try and draw me into an analysis. But who is going to exchange a Danish beer for some futile analysis? D i n ner with the g reat Bent

After one of the rounds I suddenly learned that Bent Larsen had arrived in Copenha­ gen. After all, he had fallen i n love with an Argentine woman, d ivorced his Lizzy, and was now l iving in Buenos Ai res. And now what a stroke of fortu ne! I have always been impressed by Bent's rebell ious char­ acter, but it somehow never occurred to me that we were brothers in spirit. Our chess fate has been very similar. When we won tou rnaments , our competitive qual ities were praised , but when we lost we were reproached for our frivolity. I n Denmark Bent is a living legend , so that it did not prove d ifficult to discover in which hotel he was staying . Bent was also delighted , on hearing my voice on the telephone, and he i nvited me to visit h i m . While I was travelling on t h e local train from Tostrup to Copen hagen , I suddenly realised that we had played in the same tou rnaments far more often that I had thought. And each time we had spent a long time chatting amicably. Bent is fl uent i n virtually all the European languages, including Russian . 'When did you learn to speak Russian?', I asked him at one of our first meetings. The reply, I remember, embarrassed me: ' D u ring my army serv­ ice, when we were preparing for you r attack.'

22

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

I always closely watched Bent when he was playing. He was absolutely unpredict­ able! His moves would cause surprise, astonish ment, even, I would say, anger. Is it really possible to play so anti-posi­ tional ly? But then , when he had won , one could only admire his skill in creating freakish constructions out of his pieces and pawns. it appeared that all his adornments were about to col lapse, but no, the Danish magician would coolly convert his ideas into a win. Of cou rse, there were also failures. But with a creative chess player this is bou nd to happen. Not all sketches become pic­ tures, just as certai n games are merely d rafts for a future masterpiece. Equally important for Larsen , along with professionally playing fantastically com­ plicated chess, was literary activity. In my view, he is one of the most interesting chess writers of his generation. True , he wrote mainly in Danish. But I have seen his articles in Spanish magazines i ncred ibly interesting, l ively and wel l­ written! Bent understood the spirit of the ordinary chess enthusiast, who on a free evening wants simply to look at some pretty game, and admire the comments of the g reat Larsen . . . And it is a pity that up till now no one has collected and pub­ l ished the hundreds of pages of chess columns, produced by Bent's pen and scattered around magazines throughout the world . And what about his weekly or even daily radio broadcasts for Danish listeners! In one of them I happened to take part. This was i n 1 968 at the Olympiad in Lugano. Bent, as a true chess artist, had l ittle interest in the purely competitive side with its points and half points; therefore, when he had an hou r's transmission , he spent

some five min utes giving the results of the round, and all the remaining time he would chat with well-known grandmasters about the beauty and depth of their favou rite art . . . So, it was l i ke old friends that we met on that occasion in Copen hagen. Fi rst we sat down in his hotel room , and then Bent invited me to dinner in a restaurant. We parted closer to midnight in the hope of soon seeing each other again. Alas, our next meeting was not such a happy one. I n the summer of 1 994, Larsen, like myself, flew to Amsterdam to take part in the Donner Memorial, but on the eve of the tournament he was suddenly taken i l l . T h i s happened in Bent's room w h i l e we were actually conversing, and he was rushed to hospital. The situation was obviously alarming, since the following day his young wife was due to arrive from Buenos Aires . . . Bent knew how con­ cerned I was for him. Therefore, when a week later he came out of hospital, on seeing me at dinner he hastened to reassure me: 'I'm perfectly alright!' And only then he added : 'Laura , this is David whom I mentioned' . I smiled, spoke a couple of friendly phrases in Spanish, and, surprised by this, Bent's wife also gave me a smile . . . I n the spring of 1 997 I gained a chance to again visit Larsen: the Argentine Chess Federation invited me to a tournament in Buenos Aires. I had already appl ied for a visa, when I thought: fly for nearly 24 hours, and for what? To fray my nerves in an enormous open tou rnament? I had d reamed of playing in a small all-play-al l tou rnament, and seeing o l d friends Najdorf (at that time he was still al ive), Panno, Larsen . . . Had I been i n London, I might have flown , but from Moscow? Now

DAN I S H MAG I C IAN

lLJ

23

And rei Lil ienthal, Bent Larsen, Davld Bronstein, Bob Wade and Gedeon Barcza .

th is visa in my passport, the only one not used, causes me considerable remorse. Was I afraid? Was I too old? Probably both the one and the other. Even so I hope to see Bent again. In Copenhagen . And if not, then . . . I will grit my teeth and fly to Argentina! After all, we still have a lot to talk about.

ies. And one admission particularly warms my heart: 'One fine day I believe that chess will be primarily an art; then I will place Bronstein above all others. ' Please excuse me for my immodesty. But after all, when thinking about chess as an art, I too remember first of all about Larsen .

. . . Why do present-day chess players rarely remember Larsen? I think because his play is impossible to categorise and to feed into a computer as a half-finished product. However, this is an old truth: genuine art is impossible to copy. Even today the style of the great Bent remains inaccessible to the simple toilers on the chess board. Many of his games greatly appeal to me: he played freshly, auda­ ciously, and with a considerable degree of risk. I like his witty, accurate commentar-

H e a rt made o u t o f beads

I forgot to say. One day at the tournament there appeared an imposing, moustached man wearing a bow tie and a black, broad­ brimmed hat. lt was Arnold J . Eikrem, the president of the Jarl Chess Club, one of the leading clubs in Norway. He said that in April his club was staging two tourna­ ments in the mountain resort of G ausdal, and he invited me as a guest. I happily agreed. And on learning that Eikrem was flying to Reykjavik, I asked him to tell the

24

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSSE U S

Icelanders that I was fit and well and ready to visit them. Ei krem promised and, a rarity in our time, he kept his word . While stil l in Denmark I received an i nvitation to the Open Championsh ip of Iceland. I was g iven my visa amazingly quickly. There was still a week to go before the fl ight to Reykjavik, and I remembered that d u ring the tournament a tax had a rrived from the Malmo Chess Club, in which they invited me to visit them. For the first time in my l ife I myself went to the embassy, they gave me a visa withi n fou r days, and I travelled by boat to Sweden. The trip itself to Malmo has almost been obliter­ ated from my memory, but the journey on a small ferry across the Baltic is some­ thing that I can still pictu re. Although it was early March, it was qu ite warm . I went down into the cabin, but somehow I couldn't settle. And I remem­ bered that when the weather is stormy, it is better to be up on deck, where it does not rock so much . I stood , looking at the

waves, for a good ten minutes. Suddenly I glanced back - Copenhagen was no longer visible, only the sea, and I looked a head - Sweden was not yet visible. And since I was alone on the deck, I felt a freedom that I had never experienced in my life! For the fi rst time I was travelling not due to someone else's wil l , no one knew where I was, no one from the Soviet embassy was accompanying me, and no one would meet me. For the fi rst time in my l ife I felt absolutely free: no land either in front or behind - it was as though I was all alone in the u niverse! . . . When I was due to fly to Reykjavik, Maibritt herself d rove me to the ai rport and when we parted she amicably offered her cheek. At the time I was not yet accustomed to this European ritual, and I became confused , but, on seeing her perplexed look, I lightly touched her temple with my lips. Maibritt nodded g ratefu lly and leaped i nto her car - she was hu rrying to work . . .

DAN I S H MAG I C IAN

I have the happiest memories of Den­ mark, and when i n the summer of 1 99 1 S0ren Bech Hansen again invited m e , this time together with Tanya, I readily agreed . The program of our visit was intensive: on arrival - a rapid-play exhibition game with S0ren (cf. the d rawi ng on the left), the next day - a simul in the Ebro Club of which he was the d irector, and after the tournament - a further two-day trip to Malmo. This time the tou rnament took place in Copen hagen , and was far more interestin g , although there were many local players. Remembering my recent operatio n , I played easily, without i nten­ sity. In 1 996 in Reykjavik I met Hansen, who was now President of the Danish Federation, and he said: 'What a game you won against Vyzhmanavin!' ' Really?', I asked in embarrassment. ' I remember all of you very well , but the game . . . no, I don't remember it. ' 'But we remember it! '

When I later found this game, I was even su rprised : how could I have forgotten it? No wonder that it so appealed to my Danish friends.

25

Alexey and I had already met once - in the 1 98 1 Moscow Championship. I had Black on that occasion and i n the opening I made an imperceptible mistake, but hoped that I would get away with it. But I didn't, even outwardly my young oppo­ nent was transformed , and his entire appearance expressed extreme concen­ tration ! When I saw his reply, I realised that I was playing with an exceptionally talented player. However I tried to repair my position, all my efforts were in va i n . After stopping t h e clocks, I fi rmly shook my opponent's hand , not forgetting to praise him for his impeccable play. I think that Alexey appreciated my praise, since he was only j ust beg i n ning his career i n top-class chess . . . When we sat down to play i n Copen ha­ gen, I was now on my guard and I tried to extract the maximum from the opening. On this occasion it was Vyzhmanavin who underestimated his elderly opponent and he incorrectly wandered into a pawn thicket with his quee n . I set a bout pursu­ ing it. 30 d5!

With the obvious threat of d5-d6. But Alexey again surprised me. In a very d ifficult position he finds a stunning de­ fence . 30 . . . �c5! 31 ttJc4 'ii'b 4 32 'ii' b 1 l:tfe8! 33 b3

Had I suspected for an instant what Black's i ntention was, I would have played 33 tLla2 �xa4 34 b3 'ii'b 5 35 �f1 intending lt:id6.

Bronstein - Vyzhmanavin

(Copenhagen, 28.07. 1 99 1 )

33 ... e3 34 llia2 exf2+ 35 Wf1 ltJe4 (intending 36 tLlxb4? ltJxg3 mate ! ) 36 �h2 'ii'e 1 +1

' Deus ex machina!', Ta rrasch would have exclaimed . The position is hard to ana­ lyse, but the visual impression is that

26

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

Black has begun a win n i ng attack.

I magine my opponent's d isappointment. Material is equal, but the endgame is clearly i n Wh ite's favour. 47 . . . l2Je4 48 �e3 l2Jd6 49 g4 f5 50 l:tc6! r,t>ts 51 l2Jc3

51 l:!.xa6 r,t>e5! i ntending . . . l2Jc4+, and if 52 1itc6 , then 52 . . . f4+ 53 Wf3 l2J e4! 51 . . Jle5+ 52 Wd4 We6 53 b5! axb5 54 axb5 fxg4 55 hxg4 .l:te1 56 b6! Wd7 57 l:!.c7+ Wd8 58 l:!.g7 l:!.e6 59 Wd5

37 l:txe1 fxe1 'i!Y+ 38 l:!.xe1 .ltxd5

This qu iet move harbours the cunning th reat of . . . .ltxc4 and . . .lLld2 mate! 39 'i!Yb2+ l2Jdf6 40 b4 .ltf2 41 .!:!.c1 .ltg3

An elegant completion of the tornado of fire . 4 2 l2Jxb61

Provoking a series of exchanges, Wh ite safely escapes from a very anxious situation. 42 .. J�cd8 43 l2Jxd5 .l:!.xd5 44 �xg3 l2Jxg3+ 45 r,t>e1 l2Jxe2

The elegant move of a gentlema n . 4 6 'ifxe2 l:!.xe2+ 4 7 r,t>xe2

The combi ned attack of the wh ite pieces creates a strong impression . As you can see, there is beauty not only i n deep combinations. 59 ... .!:!.f6 60 l2Ja4 r,t>ca 61 .l:!.c7+ Wd8 62 l2Jc5 Black resigns.

Could I have thought that this would be our last meeti ng? But not so long ago I learned that Alexey Vyzhmanavin had d ied . H e was a genuinely chivalrous player. . . . U nfortunately, apart from our brief con­ tact i n that period , I never saw either Ole or Maibritt aga i n , although for several years I received Ch ristmas cards from them . Tanya also liked my Danish friends. On that occasion Maibritt met us at the ai rport and d rove us straight to Tostrup.

ctJ

DAN I S H MAG I CIAN

We spent the whole day together. Unfor­ tunately, the fol lowing morning the whole family went off on holiday, but Ole left us a key, and we spent a fu rther day in their

27

house. And as a keepsake the boys gave me a heart made out of multi-coloured beads, which , I have to admit, I have carefully preserved .

I n the land of the Trol ls

S

ince my school yea rs, when I read in the newspapers about the heroic ex­ ploits of Norwegian polar explorers, I had dreamed passionately of visiting Norway. Not simply to play in a tou rnament, but to have the possibil ity of travelling around the country, seeing with my own eyes the bleak northern forests and the tra nsparent waters of the fiords, hearing the music of Grieg pouring out across the frozen wastes, and meeting descendents of the legendary Vikings . . . And i n 1 990 my ch ildhood d ream was fi nally real ised ! N orweg ian characte r

At the ai rport in Olso I was met by a short man with a weather-beaten face. I de­ cided that he was a sailor. And I was right. Second Rank Captain Otto von l benfeldt used to be in charge of the Oslo coastal artillery, but now he had retired . A close friend of Arnold Eikrem , he became the arbiter of all the tournaments that the Jar! Club staged two or three times a year in the ski resort of Gausdal (it is good for chess players, and profitable for the hotel owners: off-seasons occur, and here these fanatics cover their expenses). The p lace to which the captain took me was amazingly beautifu l . However, prais­ i ng the Norwegian landscape is a thank­ less occupation - you have to l ive there, breath the pure tra ns-polar air, free your­ self from any evil spi rits and othe r spiritual debris that has stuck to you d u ring the

years of your l ife, and then you will no longer forget the charm of these places . lt was Apri l . And, I remember, I stood for a long time in contemplation beside a mountain stream, thinking to myself: 'Do you realise, you fool , where you are heading in the evening of your life? How many years have you wasted on you r little wooden pieces in pursuit of illusory fame. At least now you should l ive for pleasure, not thinking about anyth ing, not worrying about anything .. .'

Despite its rich traditions, the 'Arnold Cup' itself d id not arouse any particular emo­ tions. We played in a hall in a fine two­ story hote l , where Eikrem - here too he went about in his black, wide-brimmed hat - had a small room with telephone and tax. Since the players were given ful l board and lodg ing, during p l a y w e were provided only with spring water, but as much as we wanted. Later I also played in the Norwegian Open Championship. I n neither tou rnament d i d I w i n a n y laurels. Eikrem paid for my accommodation and meals and gave me a small fee, and I was content. lt is not becoming for an hon­ oured g uest to fight for the prizes. I am not saying that I could have won both tou rna­ ments , but I could have tried to . Especially since fate was kind to me: first I was paired with a 1 2-year-old girl , and then with a boy aged about nine. But in both cases, after emerging from the opening, I offered a d raw.

28

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYSSEUS

ing the move 1 g4, but G rob d isappoi nted me with the banal 1 e4. I replied with a Sicilian and i n revenge I managed to checkmate h i s king precisely on th is central square . I myself have a l i king for t h e move g2-g4 . On one occasion i n the Moscow Team Championsh i p ( 1 963) I had to play Sima­ g i n . After 1 d4 tL:lf6 I im pudently played 2 g4!? My opponent did not bat an eyeli d . After t h e rapid-fire sequence 2 . . . d5 3 g5 tL:le4 4 f3 tL:l d6 5 e4 dxe4 6 fxe4 e5 7 dxe5 tt:::Jxe4 8 Vi'xd8+ 'it>xd8 9 i.f4 il. c5 1 0 lLlf3 tL:l c6 1 1 tL:l bd2 lLlxd2 1 2 0-0-0 ..ig4 1 3 l::rxd2+ \t>e7 1 4 ..t g2 .S: ad8 1 5 �hd 1 l:!. xd2 1 6 l:!. xd2 .l:!d8 1 7 c3 .l:t.xd2 1 8 'it>xd2 W e6 1 9 b4 Simagin sig ned the scoresheet and carelessly said : 'Here White has noth i n g . I analysed this move a long time ago . ' J ust like that. You go off, knowi ng that you 've been playing an expert. 1 d5 2 ..tg2 ..txg4 3 c4 c6 4 cxd5 cxd5 5 �b3 tL:lf6 6 Vi'xb7 tL:lbd7 7 d4 ...

D e pa rt i n g from hospitable G a u s d a l . D a v i d B ronste i n , Tatyana Boles lavs kaya and Otto von lbenfeldt.

However, I also did not forget about the spectators . The followi ng attractive mini­ ature was played at the start of the Norweg ian Cham pionsh ip.

No. 2

•

Grob Open ing AOO

0LSSON - 8 RONSTE I N Gausdal, 1 6 . 04 . 1 990 1 g4 ! ? T h e i nventor o f t h i s opening was the Swiss master Henry G rob, whom I played at the Olympiad in Helsinki ( 1 952 ) . Moreo­ ver, I was Black. Of cou rse, I was expect-

Retu rning to firm grou n d . Despite the slight weakness of his pawn structu re, Wh ite's position is sti l l solid. After some thought, I found a way of i m parti ng a touch of romanticism to the play. 7 . . . :tb8 8 1ixa7 'iWc8 9 ..if4

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IN T H E LA N D OF T H E TROLLS

9 .. e5! 1 0 dxe5 ii.c5 1 1 �a4 l::t b 4 1 2 'ii'c2 lbf4 .

Black has not managed to trap the queen , but watch what his rook accomplishes. Usually this poor piece at aB does not come i nto play for a long time, or even remains completely out of the game. The instance you see here is unique in its way. 1 3 exf6 ii.xf2+ 14 'ito>d1 l::tc 4! 1 5 fxg7 :i!.g8 16 lt:\c3 .l:!.d4+1 1 7 'ili>c1 ii.e3+

A rook and a bishop a re excellent hunters, wou ldn't you agree? 18 'ito>b1 l:ld2 1 9 'ifxh7 tiJf6 20 'ifh4

20 . . . d4!

Signalling the start of the mating attack. 21 'i'xf6 .l:txb2+! 22 'ito>xb2 �xc3+ White

resigns. I was sure that after such a crushing defeat Bj0rn Olsson would altogether give up playing 1 g4. B ut I wasn't aware of the obsti nate Norwegian character. On arriv­ ing for the third round, I saw to my astonish ment how he again, as though noth ing had happened , advanced his king's knight's pawn ! Ei krem, I remember, wanted me to stay a few days longer in Gausdal. I phoned The

29

Hague, but Cock de Gorter, who as yet I knew only by correspondence, said strictly: 'You mustn't be late!' And I flew to Holland for my first tournament with computers. Royal kiss

For several months Odd bj0rn Hagen and Terje Leifson, di rectors of the Sotra Chess Club from the Norwegian town of Bergen, were looking around Europe for me. They said that they asked the F I D E headquar­ ters in Athens, the Russian em bassy in Oslo, the Russian Chess Federation, and the Norwegian embassy i n Moscow . . . In January 1 994 they tracked me down in England . They i nvited me to be their guest: to give a lecture and a simultane­ ous d isplay, and at the same time relax. I already had an invitation from E ikrem to tou rnaments in Oslo and Gausdal fol­ lowed by a tour of Norwegian clubs. I promptly sent him a fax, asking him to find a 'window' in the program for me to visit Bergen. And with in a couple of days the shrewd Ei krem i nformed me that my trip would in fact beg in with a visit to 'Sotra'. Norway is a land of sea and fis h . For this reason, apparently, straight from the air­ port I was taken to a small fish factory. Boats with salmon came right up to the quayside and were immed iately un loaded - and the sparkling silver fish ended up on a long , galvan ised table, where solid­ looking blond men in rubber aprons awaited them with knives in their hands. The salmon were cleaned, cut up, packed in enormous boxes and sent off to deep freezers . The smell of fresh fish, mixed with the sea breeze, was enough to d rive you mad ! On parting with me in the hotel that evening, Oddbj0rn Hagen, who worked, as is tu rned out, as a pi lot, told me to go to

30

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYSSEUS

Guest of the Norweg i a n Sotra C l u b . On the far left - Oddbjern Hagen.

bed early - the following morning we were to fly to an oil platform i n the North Sea . I had never before flown in a helicopter and, I have to ad m it, I was terribly afraid. But I did not let on . . . I n the morning there was a phone cal l : ' David , I ' m sorry, b u t the excu rsion has been cancelled - there is a strong wi nd, and visibility is al most zero . ' ' Does that mean we ca n have breakfast together?' I asked cheerful ly. ' U nfortunately, no. Peo­ ple are waiting for the change of sh ift. But i n such weather I don't have the right to take you . ' 'You people here are coura­ geous. Of cou rse, I know that you can even fly in the dark, but even so, be carefu l , ' I advised h i m 'wisely' . 'Thanks, there's noth ing else I can do. Okay, we' ll see each other i n the even i n g , my fam i ly is expecting you . '

We stayed u p late. I n memory o f our meeting I was given two enormous dolls of frightening appearance : an old woman resembling a witch , and an old man, who tu rned out to be a Norweg ian goblin - a troll. The following day, i n the central depart­ ment store in Bergen, I played an exh ibi­ tion match of four simultaneous (!) rapid­ play games with grandmaster Simen Agdeste i n , who had specially flown in from Oslo. I scored only half a point. Why? I thought that the match would take place in the cl ub, and we would be able to show the spectators some attractive play, but the owners of the department store wanted to use chess as an advertisement - I couldn't refuse. We played i n the middle of the store , surrou nded by gaping on­ lookers, noise and commotion . And also

IN T H E LAN D OF T H E TROLLS

Simen did not understand me, and began playing simply for a win . . . As a prize I was given a cheque for 600 krone, which I immediately had to spend. I chose th ree sweaters with reindeers and now I wear them in turn . The following morning a su rprise awaited me: a visit to the ag ricultural institute where Terje Leifson , the President of Sotra , was a lectu rer. During my l ife I have made dozens of similar excursions, but th is one left an impression on me. For the fi rst time si nce my U krainian child hood I was g iven a l ive piglet to hold and to speak to one of the ponies, which was peacefully nibbling some oats. lt was this excu rsion that revealed to me that both the piglet and the ponies belonged not to the institute , but to the students them­ selves! So you see: we go along to lessons with our text books , but here they take their pigs. The day concluded in the president's home. His pleasant artist wife Elin fi rst wined and dined us, and then gave me a present - a colourful d rawi ng with styl ised chess pieces and an inscription on the back 'With love. Elin. 2 713. 1 994', and when we parted she bestowed on me a truly royal kiss just below my left eye. I would have replied in the same way, but I did not risk doing so in the presence of her strapping husband. On seeing that the house was protected by enormous boul­ ders, I remember asking: 'Who hauled them here?' 'I did!' repl ied Terje. On noticing my unbel ieving glance, he rol led up his sleeve and flexed his right bicep. Yes, I thought, he'd be capable of carrying a baby elephant . . .

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Rei n deer s k i n ca rpet

From Bergen I flew to Oslo, to an inter­ national open tournament. I was met there by grandmaster N igel Davies, whose acquai ntance I had made back in 1 988 in Protvino, a small town not far from Moscow. At that time we tal ked a g reat deal, and I expressed plainly everything that I thought about modern chess . And it was pleasant for me when, after prod uc­ ing a small flask of Scotch, N igel said : 'David , I have been th i n king a lot about you r ideas and I see now that you were right!' We d rank to this, regretting only that it was just a small amount. . . Now I reg ret something else. Until recently Davies was the chess consultant for Batsford and I th ink that he could easily have persuaded the owners of the publishing house to publish my new book. But who now will say a word on my behalf? Back in 1 990 I was i nvited to the Oslo Chess Club. I also called i n there on this visit. The very name of the club appeals to me - solid, safe, like a merchant's ware­ house, a libra ry with a good selection of books, and cheerfu l people . . . About the tournament there is not much to say; at any rate, I did not create any master­ pieces . But it would be inexcusable to forget about my meeting with Fram, the ship used by Norweg ian explorers in polar exped itions, including the one by Amund­ sen to the South Pole. I could not even have d reamed of cl imbing up the ladder of the legendary ship, strolling about its deck and standing at the helm . . . U nforgettable moments! I was told that here everything had been made in accordance with the design of F ridtjof Nansen h imself. And alongside they had found room for an­ other Norweg ian legend - Kon-Tiki, the raft of the courageous Thor Heyerdah l . . .

32

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

F rom Oslo I again flew to the western coast, to the town of Khristiansu nd. After receiving my fee for a simul and lecture , I began wondering how best to spend it. I had to hu rry: the next day I was expected in the north, in a little town with the incred ibly pretty name of Mo i Ran a. In the morning I went to admire the ocean waves, the fish market, the boats moored by the shore . . . I saw a handful of shops, one of which had the sign 'Norwegian souvenirs'. Ah, just the thing! I went i n and spoke to the owner. As a 'Norweg ian' souvenir she offered me . . . an enormous matroshka. For just 50 dollars . A bargai n , o f course. B u t a Russian matroshka from Norway - even for me this was an extravagance . And suddenly I saw some skins piled up in a corner. At first I restrai ned myself, but then I gave way: ' How much are they?' On learn ing the price, I pul led a face - they were expensive . We tal ked a bit more, but the skins wou ldn't leave me in peace . I asked : 'Do you have any others?' 'No, they a re all that's left, it's the end of the season . ' This was my chance! I remem­ bered my g randmaster col leag ues, how they bartered in bazaars around the world, and I asked for clarification: 'So, these are the last?' 'Yes. ' 'If I take all three, will the price be any different?' The owner smiled : 'Very wel l , take all three for a hundred dollars , and then you won't forget our reindeer. ' For perhaps the fi rst time in my l ife I did not pay too much . The owner deftly packed the skins in a bag , and after many wanderings they safely landed on the floor of my flat in Moscow. Beautifu l ! One of them may have been a sheepski n , but this does not spoil the overall picture .

T h ree days i n a fa i rly-ta l e

I n Mo i Rana it was not so much very cold , a s somehow frightening . Like i n the depths of a forest. lt was a small town with single-story houses, and on the streets it was dark. However, I was g reeted cheer­ fully and I soon forgot about my fears. One of the chess players, who was a school teacher, i nvited me to his home. I looked arou nd me in astonish ment: could I be sure that I wasn't in some remote place in Russia? And here they also d rank tea with sugar l u mps in the mouth . I asked : ' I sn't it boring for you living here?' And I heard i n reply: 'But this is my homeland. Here I know everyone, and they all know me. We are Norwegians . ' I felt envious: this is genuine patriotism , for which you don't need to invent any nationalistic idea . . . The three days in Mo i Rana passed as though in a fairy-tale. My father, when he retu rned from the camp , strongly advised me to travel to the polar region, to see the environment there, and the northern lights: When he was sentenced , initially he was sent to the Kolsk Peninsula, so he knew what he was tal king about. And I asked them to take me to the Arctic Circle. We d i d n 't travel for long . On seeing a stone plinth of about my height with the i nscrip­ tion ' Polarcirke l ' , I asked them to stop the car and I got out to stretch my legs. Suddenly across the snowy wastes I saw a moving herd of reindeer. There awoke in me the excitement not so much of a hu nter, as of a primitive man , and I . . . ran alongside them ! They, apparently, d id not expect this and they increased speed . I was l ucky not be gored . And a minute later, exhausted , I felt into a snowd rift . . . . I n memory of my conquest of the Arctic Circle I gathered some scattered stones

I N T H E LAN D OF T H E TROLLS

( perhaps from the Ice Age? ), wh ich I later took with me to Holland . In his yard my friend Henk Arnoldus set up a little Japanese garden and 'planted' them there. Possibly it was the contemplation of the Norwegian stones that suggested to Henk and his lady friend Anja the idea of chang ing the route of their summer holi­ days. Now, instead of relaxing in the Austrian Tyro l , they d rive around the Norweg ian mountains. Everyth ing in l ife is inter-connected , and nothing is wasted : I gathered some stones, and Norway ac­ q u i red two new tourists . . . I d id not want to leave. I began looking around. Suddenly, i n the distance , I saw an obelisk. I went up to it. On the stone, under a five-pointed star was etched an inscription in two languages - Norwegian and Russian: ' 1 945-1 990. In memory of

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Soviet prisoners of war, who laid down their lives in penal servitude during the construction of the Nurland Highway 1 94245. ' I took off my hat and got down on my knees. I remembered the lads from my class who died at the front. . . My heart became col d . I will not lie: I did not feel sorry for the German soldiers, although today I see clearly that they too were victims one of one of the g reatest insani­ ties i n h istory. Even so, they should not have stamped on other countries with their jackboots . When I was leaving Mo i Rana, I could not resist the temptation and for 75 dollars I bought a u n ique clock: its d ial displays fi rst the moo n , and then the sun . But how otherwise, d u ring the long polar nig ht, would the local i n habitants know what time of the day their clock was showi ng?

A pity that I a m not a Viking ! The fol lowing item in my program was Trond heim. Direct from the a i rport l ngve Robertsen , a professor at the local uni­ versity, took me to his home. Excusing h imself, he said : ' I have to hurry off to a lecture. I ' l l be back by six, and we can eat then. But for the moment - here is my library, here is you r bed , for two days you are my g uest. You yourself will find where the kitchen is.' And he left. First of a l l , of course, I began looking at the books. Then I warmed the teapot, and found some butter and cheese in the fridge. I made a sandwich , poured myself a cup of tea , sat down in an armchair and suddenly felt completely at home. Quiet, comfortable, and through the win­ dow the bright spring sunshine. Oh, if only I 'd been here five or ten years earlier! J u st you see , I would have made q u ite a good

34

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS EUS

Viking . . 'But for this God's hand was needed, ' I wrote a year before this in Spain in one of my u nsent letters to Tanya . 'Throw me into the fire of battle and cast me up wounded on the Swedish shore. Have I gone mad? No. I am speaking normally, in the way that people think, at night, to themselves, in private. Or invent­ ing stories. But there is no need to invent my life. ' .

That evening in the chess club I was greeted with applause. And for the ump­ teenth time I was surprised: do they really remember? However, many were of the right age - they, of course, were my supporters si nce the time of my match with Botvi nnik. And I endeavoured not to betray their expectations. What do I usually tal k about i n my lectures? That the a rt of a chess player consists in his abil ity to ign ite a magical fire from the dull and senseless initial position . As examples I show two or th ree of my combinations, paying particular attention to the psychological aspect of the game. They always listen as though bewitched. And d u ring a simu ltaneous display I aim to encou rage everyone with a kind word or joke, to praise a bold move , and explain the point of my moves. I n genera l , I create a lively, creative atmos­ phere. And everyone, including the losers, is left with a pleasant residue in their memory . . . However, my story is about someth ing else . I was staggered by the spacious rooms of the cl ub, but especially by the abundance of splendid pictu res on the walls, as if this were not a refuge for chess players , but a n artists' salon. Where did an ordinary cl u b fi nd such money? lt turned out that the rent was paid by the owner h imself of the building , Tore L0vog ,

si nce he is the chairman of the Trondheim Chess Union. So that everything is with in the law. The pictures a re from his per­ sonal col lection, and he himself displayed them for the pleasure of his guests. And they say that there is no Chess Heave n ! On a free evening L0vog goes without fail to the club and takes part in the play. I happened to see him, and I openly expressed to him both my admiration, and my thanks. Oh , if only such an intellectual sponsor could be found in Moscow! The 'Arno l d C u p '

Carried away b y my description o f the northern beauties, I forgot to mention that during this memorable visit I again played in Gausdal, and visited Gjovik with its miracle of modern engi neering construc­ tion - an ice hockey palace, carved d irectly out of a cliff. Probably I have also forgotten much else. But I can not help mentioning one game, played at that time in the 'Arnold Cup'. I n it I managed to carry out an idea which I been nurturing for more than half a centu ry - since my school boy days! No.3

•

King's Gambit C39

8 RONSTEIN - 0STRUP Gausdal, 7.04 . 1 994 1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 lt:Jt3 g5 4 h4 g4 5 l2Je5 tbt6 6 lt:Jxg4 l2Jxe4 I remember that, when I was delving i nto the intricacies of the King's Gambit, I was attracted by the variation 7 d3 lt:Jg3 8 .bf4 lLlxh 1 9 'i!Ve2+ i.e? 1 0 lt:Jf6+ 'it>f8 1 1 i.h6 mate! Very pretty. But my delight gradually faded when I was unable to fi nd a 'hole' in the book recommendation

I N T H E LAN D OF T H E TROLLS

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35

9 . . . 1i'e7! 1 0 tZ:l f6+ 'it>d8 1 1 il. xc7+ 'i;xc7 1 2 tZ:l d5+ 'it>d8 1 3 tZ:lxe7 il.xe7 - for the queen Black has a very strong attack ( 1 4 g 3 tZ:lxg3 1 5 1i'e5 l:te8 ! ) .

A n d then o n e d a y I thought: why d rive the knight from e4 with the pawn? Wouldn't it be better to attack it with the knight? But right th rough my life I had not once been able to test this idea in practice . And suddenly such luck!

1 1 tZ:lh6+!

lt was this check that I analysed for hours during my lessons - of course, without a board , from a diagram concealed be­ tween the pages of a book. 1 1 . . .'i.tt h 8

7 tZ:lc3 ! tZ:lg3

7 . . .d5 is more circumspect. 8 tZ:ld5 il.g7?

The subtle point is revealed i n the varia­ tion 1 1 . . . il. xh6 1 2 'it'g4+ il.g7 1 3 i.h6, wh ile in the event of 12 . . . 'ot> h8 1 3 il. xh6 .l:l.g8 14 il. g5! for the rook White has a mass of attacki ng possibilities, for exam­ ple: 1 4 . . .'i!V e8+ 1 5 'it>d2 iie6 1 6 'iVf4 intending .U e 1 ( 1 6 . . . '�xd5? 1 7 SLf6+ l:tg7 1 8 'iili' h6 with mate). 12 �h5 'ife8+ 13 'ot>d2 f5

On encou ntering a novelty, Black i mmed i­ ately makes a mistake. But who at the board would want to analyse the 'ugly' move 8 . . . i.d6 ! , intending 9 'iff3 tZ:lxh 1 (9 . . . c6 1 0 'it'c3) 1 0 tZ:l gf6+ (not immedi­ ately 1 0 d4 because of 1 0 . . . 1i'xh4+) 10 .. . '�f8 11 d4, when Wh ite's threats look very dangerous? I would have been on my guard .

The exchange of queens merely hastens Black's defeat. Having mastered the com­ puter method of searching for moves , I found a hidden defence: 1 3 . . . tZ:l f2 ! 1 4 l:l e 1 tZ:le4+ 1 5 'it>d 1 ( 1 5 'it>c1 ? tZ:l f6) 1 5 . . . tZ:lf2+ 1 6 Wd2 tZ:le4+ etc. U nfortunately, the dashing 1 5 .l:.xe4 does not work: 1 5 . . . 'it'xe4 1 6 il. d 3 'ifxg2+ 1 7 �c3 i.xh6! 1 8 �xh6 'iVg7 and the attack is repelled .

d 4 0-0 9 . . tZ:lxh 1 1 0 'iili'e2+ 'ot>f8 1 1 il. xf4 1i'xh4+ 1 2 'it>d2 d6 1 3 tZ:l xc7 was dangerous for Black.

1 4 'iVxe8 :xe8 1 5 i.d3

9

.

1 0 il.xf4 tZ:lxh 1

I was too lazy to calculate the conse­ quences of 1 5 tZ:lxc7?! l:.e4.

1 5 . . . tZ:la6 1 6 l:txh 1 c6 1 7 tZ:lf7+ 'it>g8 1 8 tZ:ld6 !

36

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYS S E U S

No.4

•

King's I ndian Defence E92

H E N RIKSEN - BRONSTEIN Gausdal, 3 1 . 07 . 1 994 1 d4 l2Jf6 2 c4 g6 3 lLlc3 �g7 4 e4 d6 5 tLlf3 0-0 6 �e2 e5 7 �e3 lLlg4 8 �g5 1i'e8 ! ?

Black's queenside is paralysed, and the only question is whether White will give mate or win by tech nique.

An experimental move. bel ieve , but with all my Indian experience, no played his bishop to e3 so I had to improvise.

I find it hard to wealth of King's one had ever against me. And

18 ... lle6 19 lLle3 �h6 20 �xh6 l:txd6 21 �c4+ h 1 d 4 ? , t h e n 30 �xd4! l:tc7 ( 3 0 . . . ir'xd4 3 1 t'iJe7+ W h 8 3 2 l:txf8 mate ! ) 3 1 1!Vxg7+ l:txg7 32 t'iJh6+ Wh8 33 l:!.xf8+ .l:.g8 34 .i:txg8 mate!

28 . . . l2Jg6?!

For the h-pawn such a knight is l i ke a red rag to a bu ll. 29 Wh1 'Wd7 30 'ifg4! (threatening l2Jh6+) 30 ... Wh8 31 h4! .!:!.c4?

The immediate 31 . . . .l:!.c8 was more sensi­ ble, although even then the defence is not easy: 32 h5 l2Je5 33 �d4 l:!.e8 34 h6! , intending 34 . . . g 6 35 l2Jg7 , o r 3 4 . . . gxh6 35 l2Je3 (35 t'iJxh6 �e6 ! ) and t'iJxd5. 32 'ifg5 l:tcB 33 h 5 t'iJf8 34 t'iJe7!

Not so much attacking the rook at c8 , as opening the f-file for its own rook. 34 . . . l:t e8

34 . . . h6 35 't!Ve5 ! ; 34 . . . t'iJe6? 35 t'iJxc8 l2Jxg5 36 I!f8 mate. 35 .l::!.f7 lbe6

lt appears that Black has defended against the immediate threats, but: 36 h6!

An elegant stroke. The variation 36 . . . l2Jxg5 37 hxg7 mate is l i ke the final sword th rust in a bullfight! 36 . . . �g8 37 hxg7+ (or 37 'f!Vxg7+) 37 ... l2Jxg7 38 'fkxg7+

Black resigns. 38 l2Jg6+ hxg6 39 'ii'h 6# would have won one move more quickly, but the mate with rook and knight ap­ pealed to me more.

C O U NTRY OF T U L I PS AN D C H ESS

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After a n other d u e l . W i t h M i k h a i l G u revich (and h i s wife Lena)

The J a n H ein D o n n e r Bridge I n my time I have seen many d ifferent bridges: large and smal l , famous and not so famous, mig hty, l i ke the wal l of a fortress, and delicate, as though soaring over the waves . . . Each of them inimitable in its own way. B ut I would l i ke to sing the praises of the only bridge in the world that is named in honour of a chess player - the Jan Hein Donner Bridge! Now it is rare for any tourist to cross this l ittle bridge, touch ingly impend ing over a narrow canal in the very centre of Amsterdam. The bridge is amazi ngly beautifu l and is slightly curved , l i n king one of the main transport thoroughfares of the city with the adjacent Max E uwe Square . Thus these long-standing opponents at the chess boa rd are now inseparable friends.

When I am i n Amsterdam, I always hasten to a meeting with Donner. I remove my beret, rest against the railing, slowly read the i n scription on the bronze plaque and become engrossed i n my memories. While we are fu l l of youthfu l energy and we believe i n immortal ity, we are l ittle trou bled by monuments to the past, but as we g row older we suddenly beg in to sense the connection of the times, and real ise that every mon u ment contains an enormous amou nt of information . How­ ever, monu ments themselves do not speak, and it is up to us to u n ravel thei r mysteries. The Donner Bridge does not constitute any mystery for me: the city erected a monument to one of its most devoted inhabitants . Donner's love of Amsterdam

46

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

always sensed his independent charac­ ter, his particular view on events occur­ ring in the chess world . With his pictur­ esque, i ronic style he very much re­ minded me of Tartakower.

l+-�� -·-· G randmaster J a n Hein Donner. D rawing

In chess Donner also achieved a great deal. Th ree-times champion of Holland, and the winner of many tournaments; the strength of his play was experienced by Euwe, and Spassky, and Fischer. But for Donner the career of a flourishing chess professional was never an end in itself. Living in the centre of Europe, he valued l ife itself in all its diverse forms and only then came various attendant trifles such as competitive resu lts. Any other grand­ master, after finishing ahead of the cur­ rent world champion in a tou rnament, would then have made a g reat fuss about this ach ievement. But Donner, after taking first prize at Ven ice ( 1 967) and fi nishing a point ahead of Petrosian, did not put on any airs and to the end of his life he remained hi mself.

bordered on eccentricity. When the Dutch Championship was held in Leuwarden (which is about two hours by train from Amsterdam), in contrast to all the other participants Donner retu rned each evening to his native city, declaring: ' I l ive in Amsterdam and I will sleep in Amster­ dam!' And this was the dictate of his heart, not some stunt for the public.

In some ways we were, apparently, close in spirit. At any event, when on one occasion the Soviet-Dutch Friendship So­ ciety suggested to Donner that he should spend a month in Moscow as a guest of any chess player, his choice fell on me. Jan Hein did not even suspect what a small flat I had. They, in the West, are still convinced that all Soviet grandmasters l ived in regal conditions, surrou nded by the warmth and concern of their native state.

U nfortunately, I did not have much contact with Donner and I was unable to judge the full extent of his d iverse talent. I don't even know what was Jan Hein's true calling: was it chess or journalism? In his reports and essays, which from time to time were translated into English, one

I was phoned by Botvi nnik himself, who for many years was head of the Friend­ ship Society with Holland. 'Could you have Jan Hein Donner with his wife and child stay with you for one month?' 'I would be glad to, ' I replied, 'but we don't have any room.' Botvi nnik didn't hear me.

from the H u ngarian book on the Mar6czy Memorial Tournament i n Budapest (1 961 )

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C O U NTRY OF T U L I PS A N D C H ESS

Then next year you and your wife will be able to go and stay with Don ner. ' ' But we only have twenty-five sq uare metres ! ' He again didn't hear me. 'Why don't you want to? After all, then you will be able .. . ' Botvinnik simply couldn't understand that in our two rooms there was in fact nowhere to accommodate th ree people. I had no dacha, and the only solution would have been for me myself to move out for a time to a hote l .

47

were fi ne horses' . Age has its effect, and none of us had a particular desire to fight with one a nother - there weren't the grounds for this. Nevertheless, in one game I managed to create something, which I would not have been ashamed to show to Jan Hein Donner hi mself. No.6

•

Sicilian Defence B80

VELIMIROVIC - 8RONSTE I N

S o w e weren't able t o arrange this. I remember that I asked why couldn't someone else put the g uests up? And here the reason for Botvi n n ik's insistence was revealed : 'Donner expressed the desire to stay with you . ' Of cou rse, I was flattered . But now I think: if this visit was so i mportant to them, they could have helped to extend the flat - then I would have happily received the Donner fam ily. And then I myself and my wife would have gone to Holland as a tourist. As it was , I had to wait for perestroika . . .

Over the cou rse of many years the strongest continuation was considered to be 6 il.g5, wh ile Fischer successfully played 6 i.c4 . The idea of 6 i.e3 is clear: to play 'ilfd2 and 0-0-0 (in the event of 6 ii..g 5 e6 7 'i:Vd2?! Black succeeds in exchanging the powerful bishop: 7 . . . h6 8 i.h4 g5 9 i.g3 l2Jh5 etc.).

The 'Ve l i m i rovic Attack'

I remember that i n my game with Opo­ censky (Prague 1 946) I played i n classi­

Donner d ied two years before I agai n , after a long interval, arrived in Amster­ dam. And a fu rther fou r years passed before I was able to pay my respects to Jan Hein, by taking part in his memorial tou rnament. lt assembled many of those who had been friendly with Donner and had met him at the chess board : Smyslov, Gligoric, Pachman, Hort, U nzicker, Velimi­ rovic . . . U nfortunately, just before the start Larsen suddenly fell i l l , and the tourna­ ment was deprived of one of its main matadors. Of cou rse , on glancing at the tournament table of the memorial , full of depressing half points, the following expression comes to mind: 'there was a time when we too

Amsterdam, 27.08 . 1 994 1 e4 c5 2 lbf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 t:bxd4 t:Llf6 5 l2Jc3 a6 6 il.e3

cal style - 6 i.e2, but after 6 . . . e5 7 t:Llb3 i.e6 8 0-0 i.e7 9 i.g5 l2Jbd7 1 0 'ife 1 b5 11 J.. d 3 t:bc5 I ended up in an inferior position and gained a d raw only with difficulty. This experience convinced me that Opocensky's idea was viable and that I should take it up. The only thing I want to ask is: why does the variation bear Najdorfs name? Opocensky regularly played this and many times he proudly said to me that he had devised this variation . . . To avoid the variation 6 i.e2 e5, at the tou rnament in Vi n kovci ( 1 970) Vel imirovic chose the old-fash ioned move against me - 6 i.g5. I played over-ambitiously and ended up i n a lost position. But I fought

48

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

with all my might, seeking the slig htest chances. Anticipating victory, Dragoljub played carelessly and m issed a mate in th ree moves, for which he was terribly vexed with me. But why? After all, it's a game, and in a game anyth ing can happen . Or did he really consider that he was a better player than me? 6 ... e6

In our day the following energetic varia­ tion has come into fashion: 6 . . . lLlg4! ? 7 .ig5 h6 8 .ih4 g5 9 ..ltg3 ..ltg7 intending 10 .ie2 h5 or 10 h3 lLle5, which does indeed g ive Black more possibilities. 7 �d2 b5 8 f3 tt:lbd7 9 g4 h6 10 0-0-0

mass of time, and came to an unexpected conclusion : his mother was right! 10 . . . .ib7 11 h4 b4 12 tt:lce2 d5 13 .ih3 dxe4 14 g5 hxg5 1 5 hxg5 exf3

At the cost of two pawns White has succeeded in detaining the black king in the centre . Now it only remains to open the centre and develop a winning attack ­ exactly as Velimirovic did in our game from the distant past. Why then , you may ask, did I go i n for this variation? Didn't I know this? Of cou rse I knew: that year all the magazines were full of games where the battle began precisely from the given position . Wh ite played 1 6 tLlf4 lLle4 1 7 �e 1 and usually won . I was curious: what if Black takes a risk and captures 1 6 .. Jl:xh3 ? Alas, su bse­ quent tournament practice showed that this does l ittle to help h i m . But I myself was not able to play this. After thinking for half an hour, Dragoljub chose a d ifferent method of attack - seemingly even more promising . 1 6 tt:lg3 ! ?

A cu nning move. Wh ite does not al low the knight to go to e4 and th reatens to break up B lack's defences by g5-g6. On seeing this move, cou ldn't help smiling : I remembered an amusing story, told to me by Vel imirovic. it turns out that his mother also played chess; she was a master and even, if my memory does not betray me, once won the Yugoslav cham­ pionsh i p . And on one occasion they had a heated discussion . I n the variation which theory now calls the 'Velimirovic Attack' the son usually castled on the kingside, whereas the mother preferred the queen­ side. In order to demonstrate that he was right, D ragoljub began analysing the consequences of q ueenside castling, spent a

it was my turn to th ink. What to do? Follow

COUNTRY OF T U L I PS A N D C H ESS

the path selected by my opponent, or try and forestal l h i m? The more I thought, the more obvious it became to me that I would have to g ive up my knight at f6 : here the integ rity of the pawns is more important than anyth ing!

1 6 . . . tLle5 ! ! I n a blitz game I would have played this immediately, whereas here I thought for a whole 50 minutes. But I was sure that Velimirovic would have thoroughly ana­ lysed his novelty and could not have fai led to take into acc9unt the reply 1 6 . . . tLl e5. True, what then did he think about for half an hour? A mystery.

lLJ

49

Not 20 . . . 0-0-0? 21 .i.xe6+! I real ised that I was balancing on the brink, but White's last two moves inspired me with some hope: perhaps I may succeed in castling?

21 .i.g2 :xh 1 22 .i.xh 1 0-0-0 (hurra h ! ) 2 3 tLlxf3? Wh ite goes in for a forcing variation , but, as often happens, he miscalculates as early as the third move. 23 b3 suggested itself, but then Black had the good reply 23 . . . .i. c5, and if 24 c3 tLl g4!

23 ... .i.xa2+ 24 'lt>c1 .i1xd 1 + 25 'it>xd 1

1 7 g xf6 I was more afraid of 1 7 .i.f4! ? tLl g6 1 8 gxf6 gxf6 1 9 'iie3 i ntending tLl xe6. For example, in the event of 1 9 . . . e5 20 tLlxf3 a catastrophe awaits Black on the e5-point: 20 . . . 'ii'c7 21 .i. d7+! ifxd7 (2 1 . . . 'i!td8 22 .:!.xh8 tLlxh8 23 tLlxe5! ) 22 l:f.xd7 l:.xh 1 + 23 tLl x h 1 'i!txd7 24 .i. g3, or 20 . . . tLlxf4 2 1 �d8+ l:1xd8 22 tLlxe5! In analysis it transpired that the i mmed i­ ate 1 9 . . . tLl xf4! is stronger, not fearing the sacrifice on e6: 20 tbxe6 tbxe6 (20 .. .'ii' e7? 21 tLl c7 mate ! ) 21 .i.xe6 (with the threat of 21 . . . :x h 1 22 .i.d7 mate ! ) 2 1 .. .' ii'xd 1 + ! 22 �xd 1 (22 .!:.xd 1 ? .t h6) 22 .. J 1xh 1 + 23 tt.'lxh 1 fxe6 24 1Wxe6+ .i. e7 and Black is at least equal . Moreover, it would appear that 20 .. .fxe6! 21 .:.Xd8+ l:txd8 creates irresistible threats: 22 'i!Vxf4? .t h 6 ! ; 22 i.xe6? l:rxh 1 + 23 tLlxh 1 tLle2+! ; 22 .i. g2? .S.xh 1 + 23 .t xh 1 .i. h6! White would seem to be saved by 22 b3, but then the simple 22 .. .f2 ! puts everything i n its place.

17 . . . gxf6 1 8 'lt>b1 Defending against 18 . . tLlc4 with the threat of . . . t2Jxe3 and . . . i. h6. .

18 . . .'ifc7 19 .tf4 .td5! 20 'i!Ve3 .i.e7!

25 . . .tLlc41 From afar it is easy to miss such a move.

26 'i!lc1 e5 A change of scene! The black pawns have as though awoken, and the white pieces are clearly not capable of halting the m . Especially i n time-trouble, which had imperceptibly crept u p on both of us.

27 i.h6 f5 28 b3 f4! 1 (dispell i ng the last illusions) 29 tLlf1 'i!ld6+ 30 'lt>e2 'ifxh 6 Here White could have stopped the clocks (he is simply three pawns down ), but Velimirovic was in a state of shock.

3 1 tLl3d2 'i!Vxh 1 32 bxc4 e4 33 'i!Va1 'i!lh5+ 34 'it>f2 .i.c5+ 35 'lt>g2 f3+ 36 'it>g3 i.d6+ 37 'iii>f2 'ifh4+ 38 'lt>e3 .i.c5+ Wh ite resigns.

50

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYS S EU S

But not Dragoljub! At first he behaved like a gentleman - he held out his hand and signed the scoresheets, but then he could not restrain himself and he blurted out: 'The same story as i n Vin kovci! I lost a won game ! ' Accustomed to such 'Velimi­ rovic attacks', I kept silent. Although I was very u pset. Very wel l , that time he did indeed overlook a mate, but here he could also have praised me for my virtuoso defence . . . Balm on my soul was poured by Tanya , who came up and told me what Smyslov had said : 'This was the former, young, brill iant Devik!'

M u lti-chess of the fut u re

All my life they have been pestering me with the question, what do I think about before the fi rst move, and why I do I waste precious minutes? For a long time 1 myself did not understand the reason for this. Although the answer was obvious: possessing a broad opening repertoire, I was unable to chose a variation which corresponded best of all with my mood at the given moment. Because I knew: if you don't g uess the opening correctly, you can lose interest in the game and be unable to play at fu ll strength . Do you know how hard it is to endure some tedious and uni nteresti ng position for a ful l five hours? You feel like a bird in a cage. But what can you do: in an evening only one game is played ! You have to be patient and hope that the next time you will be more fortunate. This is why I like simultaneous displays with clocks on 8-1 0 boards, where there is the possibil ity of showing your true worth , playing different open ing variations and creating the most d iverse positions. Neither you , nor the spectators are bored : since there a re many boards, during a single evening hundreds of vivid

images flash through you r brain, as in a kaleidoscope . But even such 'serious' d isplays are, nevertheless, games with weaker oppo­ nents. Whereas I wanted an equally­ matched competition . And one day a mad idea occu rred to me: why not play several games simultaneously with a grandmas­ ter? ! To my d isappointment, there were few willing to take part i n such an u n usual event. Over a period of six years I played only three matches: with Vaganian ( 1 978; 2-2), Tal ( 1 982; 3-5) and Suetin ( 1 983; 32). And yet each such mutual simultane­ ous display attracted g reat interest and halls full of spectators. And what halls! In Yerevan we played in the Chess Club, in Tbilisi - i n the Palace of Chess, and in Moscow - in the Polytech nic Museum . . . I thought that the idea had d ied away. But years later it unexpectedly sprouted on Dutch soil: in May 1 990 the Volmac Club organ ised i n Rotterdam an entire tou rna­ ment using 'my' system! I happily joined it, although I realised what a test I was condemning myself to. At the start of the experimental knock-out tournament there were 32 participants - all the best Dutch players, with the exception of Jan Timman and Genna Sosonko, who obligingly gave me his place. In each of the five rounds the players simu ltaneously contested six games! Although we were given two hours for a game, you had to play very qu ickly, since all the clocks were running simultaneously, and you cou ld press you r clock o n l y after making a move. I tried very hard , but I was unable to prog ress beyond the third round, where I lost to Jeroen Piket (2%-3%). The p revi­ ous day I beat Manuel Bosboom by the same score . But in the first rou nd, in order to overcome Hans Bi:ihm , I needed eight

C O U N TRY OF T U L I PS A N D C H E S S

games! By the tournament regulations, with a 3-3 score we simu ltaneously played two 1 5-min ute games, which I won . Here is one of them. No.?

•

French Defence C 1 8

BRONSTEIN

-

86HM

Rotterdam, 27.05 . 1 990 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 lLlc3 �b4 4 e5 ltJe7 5 a3

�xc3+ 6 bxc3 c5 7 'i!Vg4! lbt5

7 . . . 0-0 - cf. Game 1 . 8 �d3 h5 9 'ii'f4

9 'i!Vh3 was played against me by ' H itech' i n the 1 993 Aegon Tournament.

ttJ

51

favourable opening of the centre by Wh ite . Better was 1 2 . . . lbd7 !?, i ntending . . . t"iJb6-a4 ( 1 3 dxc5 lbxc5, or 13 a4 c4 1 4 i.e2 a 5 intending . . . b7-b6 and . . . i.b7-c6). 13 dxc5 bxc5 14 c41 �b7

14 . . . i.a6? 1 5 i.xf5 exf5 1 6 cxd5, winning a pawn . 1 5 .l:tb1

Missing a n opportunity to win the central pawn: 1 5 i.xf5 ! exf5 1 6 .l:.b1 i.c6 1 7 cxd5!, and if 1 7 . . . i.xd5 1 8 .l:.d 1 f6 ( 1 8 . . . i.e6? 1 9 l:td8 mate) 1 9 exf6 gxf6 20 �xf6 0-0 21 .!:!.xd5 :!.xf6 22 .l:!.xc5 etc. 15 ... i.c6 16 0-0 t"iJd7

9 . . . 'i!Vh4 1 0 'i!Vxh4 liJxh4 1 1 �g51

17 .l:.fe1 ! 11 . . . t"iJf5

A favou rite move of mine, which , despite its unpretentious nature , often has a decisive influence on the development of the attack.

I succeeded in confusing my opponent! Better was 11 . . . ltJxg2+!? 1 2 'it>t1 f6 1 3 exf6 gxf6 1 4 �xf6, and now not 1 4 . . . :!.g8 1 5 �h7! lLle3+ 1 6 fxe3 .:f8 1 7 �g6+ 'it>d7 18 �xh5 :!.xf6+ 1 9 'it>e2 , but 14 . . . .l::l.f8 ! 1 5 l.g6+ 'it>d7 1 6 'it>xg2 :l.g8! and . . . ,l;!.xg6, retaining the h5-pawn .

1 8 t"iJd2 lLlg6 1 9 cxd5 i.xd5 20 �b5! .l:c8 21 .l:!.bd 1 !

1 2 t"iJf3 b6?

A pretty ambush, i ntending lLlc4-d6+.

Black wants to play . . . i.a6, i n order to exchange the bishops, but this allows a

2 1 . . .i.c6 22 ltJc4!

1 7 . . . ltJ e7

Avoiding the threat of 1 8 i.xf5 exf5 1 9 e6! t"iJf6 20 exf7+ \t>xf7 2 1 ltJe5+ and lLlxc6.

Complete domi nation ; in principle, here

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52

DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYS S E U S

the curta i n could already have been lowered . 22 0-0 23 �xc6 ctJdxe5 24 ctJxe5 lZJxe5 25 .l:!.xe5 l:txc6 26 �e3 Black resigns ...

A month later a parcel arrived at my Moscow address with a book conta i n i n g all t h e games o f t h e tournament. lt opened with the words: 'Dedicated to Mr. Joop van Oosterom, who took the initia­ tive and sponsored the Volmac Tourna­ ment, and to Grandmaster David Bran­ stein. ' And th is is what I read i n the introduction, written by the d i rector of the tournament, Corrie Vreeken , who i n her time was one of the strongest lady players i n Holland : 'This tournament bulletin was made in memory of a unique tournament, which was the world's first in the present form. Since the seventies grandmaster Da vid

Bronstein propagated this kind of match as the most fair trial of strength. He brought the idea in practice himself by playing such matches against Tal at eight boards, against Suetin at five, and against Vaganian at four boards. Immediately when he heard about the tournament during his stay in the Netherlands he showed great enthusiasm, an enthusiasm which was very apparent during his three rounds presence. Many times he could be found in the playing hall to ask the audience about their opinion of the tour­ nament, rather than behind his six boards. ' I was not su rprised that the Vol mac tou rnament did not become a trad ition . Evidently Van Oosterom himself realised that such a system was su itable only for matches . In Rotterdam the spectators were unable to follow what was happen­ ing on the chess boards, however much

T h e tournament d i rector Corrie Vreeken, t h e sponsor Joop Van Oosterom and David Bronstein

COU NTRY OF TULIPS AND CHESS

!hey wanted . Therefore after the match with Piket I hinted transparently at the fact !hat it would be better to stage not tournaments, but matches: ·1n my vision I see two grandmasters of world class, sitting in comfortable chairs in the first row in a theatre for instance, which of course is full of spectators. The six, or even better, eight games are projected on large screens and the grand­ masters can quietly give their moves to somebody who serves the computers. If would be also very interesting for the public. '

From my own experience I can say that, as regards competitive intensity and en­ tertainment value, such matches are unrivalled. Therefore I would not excl ude the possibil ity that in the 2 1 st century they might well supplant normal tou rnaments with one game at a time! I n conclusion, I should like to offer my sincere thanks to Joop Van Oosterom for supporting the following experimental forms of chess competition: the 'rapid� blindfold' tournaments i n Monaco and the ·Ladies v. Seniors' tournaments, not for­ getting also the 'Sicilian' tou rnament in Buenos Aires ( 1 994) . . . 1 have a n old idea , which I would like to

draw to the attention of the patron: 'Astrological Cup o f t h e Year'! lt should consist of 12 qualifying open tou rna­ ments, from the number of months in the year, with a final all-play-al l super-tou rna­ ment just before the n ew year. The essential point is that in each of the qualifying tou rnaments only those players who were born in the g iven month will play. I think that the winners of such a Cup would be no less worthy heroes of the year, than the present FIDE knock-out champions.

CZJ

53

There is n oth i n g new u n der the s u n

I n J u n e 1 996 a visit b y Fischer to Argentina caused great i nterest. Leaving his Budapest paradise, the American recl use set off to promote the new form of chess he had devised . News of this also reached Belg ium. Precisely at that time I was staying with Tom FOrstenberg and I was intend ing for a day to join in active chess l ife: to play in a friendly match on 30 boards between Anderlecht and Eindhoven (as a member of the Anderlecht commit­ tee , Tom had asked me back in 1 992 to play for this club). The route to Eindhoven was long even by Russian standards, and by local sta nd­ ards was an entire jou rney: i n a comfort­ able coach we crossed half of Belgium and a good part of Holland . Before the match , FOrstenberg , a great admirer of Fischer, suddenly said to me: 'Why don't we try Fischer's idea today?' 'What, on all the boards?' 'No,' he laughed , 'only on board one . ' How could I object? . . I found a p retext: but did my opponent want to? That's my concern , ' said Tom . 'Your job is to propose it.' .

But nothing came of it: the Eind hoven leader flatly refused ! But we were lucky: the former Dutch champion Rudi Douven, who was on board two for the home team , said that he would be happy t o play ' Fischer chess'. We changed partners, but then came a new snag: from which position should we begin? Fortunately, among the players there was a program­ mer. After a bit of magic with his computer, soon he ceremoniously annou nced : 'Th is is the position you're been assigned . ' And we bega n .

(see next diagram)

54

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

creating a strong centre) White cou ld have repl ied 'Pillsbury-style'- 5 b3 ..tb5 6 l2Je5! or even 'a la Morphy' : 5 e4! dxe4 6 ..txe4 l2Jxd4 7 b3, activating the q ueen and opening the e-file. I s it better to have an extra pawn or an open file? - it is this eternal struggle of mind and matter that constitutes the secret of chess! 5 ..txd6!

Knowing my liking for bishops, Douven was shocked by this capture . 5 . . . cxd6 6 a4 Bronstein - Douven

(Eind hoven, 30 .06 . 1 996) First of all the position had to be evalu­ ated . Of course, for the moment the pie­ ces are covered by pawns, but they are already aiming at someth ing. I decided that my main task was to hinder Black's strongest moves, known to me from classical chess: . . . e7-e5 and . . . c7-c5. 1 d4! d5 2 tLld3

Continuing the pressu re on the central squares - this already resembles some­ thing human. 2 ... lt:id6 3 g31 I use my experience. I am the first to pose

him a problem: how to defend the d5pawn? 3 . . . e6

This was just what I was hoping for! The bishop at e1 was the only piece whose position d id not satisfy me.

And this is the accu mulation of small advantages 'Steinitz-style' . To an experi­ enced eye this move immed iately says that not all is well in Black's position. H i s queenside is effectively immobilised , and with the rook on b 1 a plan of putting pressure on the centre suggests itself b3 and c4 . 6 . . . 1!i'a 6 7 l2Jd2 lt:id7 8 b3 lt:if6 9 c4

We have reached someth ing l i ke a Queen's Gambit, in a version favourable for Wh ite . By d rawi ng the opponent into viscous play on the queenside, I have not allowed him to activate his bishop at h8. 9 ... i.d7 (9 ... i.c6?! 10 1!i'a3) 1 0 e3!

After exchanging my dark-sq uare bishop, I have cal mly erected a pawn barrier on the dark squares. 1 0 ... 0-0

I would have played 4 . . . g5!? (intending

Castling by my opponent had never set me such problems as it did here . I knew that the rules permitted about a dozen types of castl ing, but precisely which ? ! Black would appear t o have castled in the normal way: placed his king on g8 and his rook on f8 . But suppose he had violated some ru le? However, my opponent's face was impervious . . .

. . . lt:ig6), in turn attacking the d4-pawn . After 4 . . . lt:if5 (4 . . . lt:ie4?! 5 f3 lLlf6 6 e4 ,

And here my self-esteem showed itself. I was very proud that out of the chaotic

4 ..tb4!

A symmetrical position is dangerous, in that the right of the first move is very unpleasant for Black. 4 . . . a5?!

COU NTRY OF T U L I P S A N D C H E S S

initial position with in ten moves I had managed to obtain a q uite classical one, and I was in no doubt that I would be able to win it. Therefore, afraid of spoiling the pictu re with the 'wrong' castl ing, for safe­ ty's sake I made a well-tested move . 1 1 'it>e2! g6 1 2 l:tgc1 .l:!.fe8

The start of a fine attack. Of course, had the king been at g 1 , there would have been no attack, but I deliberately d rew the enemy fire: in chess I like danger! 13 'il'a3

Withdrawing in advance from the 'X-ray' of the bishop at h8. 1 3 . . . e51?

Signalling the start of a battle for the centre.

C2J

55

Black hi mself has decided to attack! 1 6 lLlc5 .ig4+ 1 7 'it>e1 1 'i!Vd6 1 8 cxd5 'it'xd5 1 9 bxa5

Forward without fea r and doubt! With this captu re Wh ite increases his advantage on the queenside, but abandons his king to the mercy of fate. 1 9 . . . 'ii h 5 20 h4 .if5

Apparently Rudi appreciated my calculat­ ing abil ity: after the tempti ng 20 . . . g5?! there would have followed 2 1 lLlcxe4 lLlxe4 (2 1 . . . gxh4 22 .l:!.b5 l:e5 23 I!.xe5 'iVxe5 24 .l:!.c5, or 22 . . . 'it'h6 23 .l:!.g5+ .ig7 24 lLlxf6+ 't!Vxf6 25 �xg4) 22 lLlxe4 gxh4 23 .l:!.c5! and if 23 . . . l:te5 24 a6! 2 1 lLlxb7 't!Vg4 22 .ig2 lLlh5!

Black intensifies the pressure; a sacrifice on g3 is now threatened . 23 lLlf1

There is noth ing shamefu l about alternat­ ing attack and defence. Besides, now there is the incidental th reat of lLlh2, when the queen is trapped . 23 . . . .ie6 24 a6 .ie5!

I ntending . . . lLlxg3 ; White needs to hu rry with his attack. 25 lLlh2

1 4 dxe5 dxe5 1 5 b4!

lt would seem that Wh ite could have gone on revelling in his fine pawn cha i n , but you can't play chess that way. White has everything ready for an attack on the queenside and, as Fischer said, every move must be made at the right time.

We are accustomed to talking about the coord ination of two bishops in an attack, whereas we regard knig hts as individ uals. Here we have a rather rare example of the harmonious work of two knights on oppo­ site sides of the board . 25 . . . �f5 26 lLld6! .ixd6 27 'ii'x d6 'ii'a 5+1

My minor pieces seem to be out of play, and for an instant Black seizes the in itiative.

1 5 ... e4!

28 'it>f1 l!xb1 29 .l:.xb1 l:d8 30 .l:!.b8

1 5 . . . axb4 1 6 lLlxb4 'il'xa4 1 7 'iVxa4 .ixa4 1 8 lLlxd 5 ! , or 1 5 . . . dxc4 1 6 lLlxc4 axb4 1 7 �xb4 i ntending lLlc5 with a n attack, but

30 'ii'c6 was more methodical, of course, but in my fi rst game with the new rules I didn't wa nt to play ted iously.

56

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DAVID IN THE ROLE OF ODYSSEUS

30 . . . ..tc8 3 1 .l:txc8 !

Such sacrifices were Fischer's forte. 31 . . Jbc8 32 i.xe4 'i'xa4 33 i.b7 l:!.c2 1 ?

Black h a s nevertheless discovered a weak point in White's position - the f2square. If 33 . . . l:!.f8?! , then 34 �d4 th reat­ ening lt:lg4-h6 mate would have been decisive, whereas now a race com­ mences! 34 'ii' b 8+!

This simple check demanded precise calculation . Usually I play more by intui­ tion : firstly, I like this, and secondly, in this way I save a mass of energy for the calculation of the sometimes very compli­ cated variations at critical moments. I n my opinion, a human is not capable of efficiently calculating variations at every step - this is the prerogative of the computer. After the game we can only talk about our fears during the play, present­ ing them as long, complicated variations. But whether to believe them or not is up to you , the reader. 34 . . . �g7 35 a71

This game appealed to me, and that same day I sent it to Buenos Aires - in the hope that it would also appeal to Fischer. . . But not without reason do they say: there is noth ing new under the sun. Forty years ago in an English magazine I read a letter from a reader, criticising some point in the British chess code. In the heat of the discussion he put forward an original argument: one can , of cou rse, place only the pawns on the board , and then bring the pieces into play in turn - but this will no longer be chess! But I remember thinking: why not, precisely this would be very interesting! The standard arrange­ ment of the pieces forces one to play standardly - all the best plans have been long been known . But if you you rself can arrange the pieces , at the same time taking account of your opponent's ac­ tions, already at the arrangement stage you can ach ieve a sign ificant superiority in position. lt is probable that I shared this idea with one of my foreign acquai ntances. And then in 1 979 Jan Timman sent me the most rece nt issue of his magazine 'Schaakbul letin' (No . 1 35 ), and I saw that my idea had been put into effect: 'Many players have been complaining for a long time that opening theory has acquired too great importance. Some­ times more than 20 book moves are made, and the moment when a player begins to display his own creative quali­ ties begins at an increasingly later stage of the game.

35 ... lt:lxg3+ (too late ! ) 36 �g2 lLlf5 37 aS� lt:lxe3+ 38 �f3 �xf2+ 39 �xf2 lt:ld 1 + 40 �g3 'ir'b3+ 41 i.f3 Black

resigns.

'Does this threaten chess with a death by drawing, or, at the least, a lowering of interest? Some are afraid of this, but it is appropriate to say that these fears are relative and the grumbles have already been heard for several decades. Capa-

C O U NTRY OF T U L I P S A N D C H ES S

blanca, who was strong enough to play for a draw, was afraid that chess would oerish from the drawing death. However, this fear still remains unfounded. Even so, there are players who try to introduce fresh ideas into chess, to "breath life into it". The most indefatigable of these is Bronstein. Last year two Ameri­ can grandmasters, Benko and Bisguier, decided to apply one of his inventions. The idea is simple: to avoid opening theory. The pawns occupy their usual positions. On the first eight moves the white and black pieces are placed on the board in turn, occupying squares with one restriction: the bishops must be of oppo­ site colour. From the resulting position the game itself begins. ·As the match showed, in this variation of the game a crisis arrives earlier than usual. Bisguier won 3Yz-Yz, which is altogether startling, since his opponent began studying this new idea earlier. ' Bisguier-Benko (m/3, 1 978): 1 i.a1 �a8 2 :e1 l2Jc8 3 l2'lb1 l:td8 4 'ifc1 .l:!.e8 5 .!::!. d 1 lt:\t8 6 ..tt1 'ir'g8 1 lt:\9 1 i.h8 8 ;t>h1 Wb8

9 d4 f5 1 0 c4 lt:\d6 11 l2'ld2 g 5 12 b3 b6

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1 3 c5 l2Je4 14 lt:\xe4 fxe4 1 5 e3 l2'lg6 1 6 'it'c2 'iff7 1 7 l:tc1 i.b7 1 8 i.c4 e6 1 9 b4 lt:\e7 20 a4 "ii'f5 21 aS bxa5 22 bxa5 a6 23 i.c3 Wa7 24 l:!.ed1 .l:!:b8 25 .ll b 1 i.d5 26 i.f1 i.c6 27 i.e1 'ii'g 6

28 l:tb6 i.b5 (28 ... cxb6? 29 axb6+ Wb7 30 i.xa6+) 29 i.xb5 axb5 30 llxb8 .l:!.xb8 31 l2'le2 lt:\d5 32 c6 d6 33 lt:\g3 �a6 34 l2Jxe4 g4 35 �d3 'ii'f5 36 Wg1 h5 37 Wf1 h4 38 We2 h3 39 gxh3 'ir'f3+ 40 Wd2 gxh3 41 lt:\g3 'ir'g4 42 'ir'h7 b4 43 l2'le2 lt:\c3 44 'ir'd3+ lt:\b5 45 Wc2 �g2 46 .l:tb1 'ir'xh2 47 .l:!.xb4 'i'g2 48 e4 h2? (48 . . . 'ii'f 1 ! ) 49 l2'lc3 h 1 'ir' 5 0 .!:bb5 �xe4? (50 . Wa7) 51 .l:!:b6+ Wxa5 52 .l:ta6+ Black resigns. .

.

lt stands to reason that it was pleasant for me to read this. Even today I think that the future l ies with this type of chess. Here there is greater freedom compa red not only with classical chess, but also ' Fischer chess', where, firstly, the initial arrange­ ment of the pieces is strictly symmetrical (which immed iately places the opponents in unequal conditions), and secondly, the computer may prod uce such an absurd arrangement, that even the most inven­ tive mind will be unable to make a game similar to normal chess.

58

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DAV I D

IN

T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

Finale

Even in such a chess country as Holland , from time to time fresh tournament ideas arise. In the autumn of 1 997 I was fortunate enough to ta ke part in one such new festival . The mayor of the town of Hoogeveen promised to make it tradi­ tional . If I have the strength , I wi ll defi nitely play once more. I retain pleas­ ant memories of the very friendly atmos­ phere of the tournament, which became the last of those played by me in the west in the period 1 990-1 997. The point I scored in the eighth rou nd proved to be a rich one: I was awarded a splendid crystal vase as the prize for the most brilliant game. Would you like to see how I so staggered the Dutch men? Very well . Only don't call me crafty.

No.8

•

l:ifd 1 i. e 7 1 5 �b3 l:tc8?

I benefit from m y age. M y opponent decided, apparently, that the old man did not understand the point of the move . . . i.c5-e7 and had simply blundered the pawn at c4. We regarded veterans differ­ ently: we considered ou rselves to be pupils and we carefu lly watched for latent ideas.

Queen's I ndian Defence E 1 6

8 RONSTEIN - WEDDER Hoogeveen, 1 2 . 1 0 . 1 997 1 d4 ll:lf6 2 c4 e6 3 tt'lf3 b6 4 g3 .ib7 5 .ig2 i.b4+ 6 .id2 c5 7 dxc5 i.xc5 8 0-0 0-0

The peaceful opening gives no hint of what is to follow. 9 ll:lc3 ll:le4 1 0 'ii'c 2 f5

Beginning a fight for the e4-square. Black could hardly have imagined that moving the pawn from f7 would fatally weaken the e6-pawn. 11 .l:!.ad1 ll:lxd2 1 2 .:xd2 a6 1 3 a3 'ii'c 7 1 4

16 c5! ! i.c6 ( 1 6 . . . i.xc5 1 7 �xd7! ll:lxd7 1 8 �xe6+ �h8 1 9 l:!.xd7) 17 cxb6 �b7 1 8 tt'le5 1 1 (one thing on top of a nother) 1 8 ... i.xg2 19 �xd7 i.d5 20 l:t 1 xd5! �xc3 21 �d8+!

Already here Black could have resig ned , but to the delight of the spectators he decided to play on to the bitter end. 21 ... i.f8 22 l:txf8+1 �xf8 23 �b4+ �e8 24 .l:!.d8+ 1 ! �xd8 25 'Wf8 mate!

A pretty fi nish , wouldn't you agree? I often remember a comment by Steinitz, pub­ l ished i n some book: ' I am old, of course, but I don't recommend putting you r finger in my mouth . '

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59

Bitter experience i n Spa i n

W

hom i s it usual to class as a genius? I would never have thought about this question, had I not once, to my horror, been l i sted as one. Why 'to my horror'? Because I was proclai med a genius in Spain d u ring the time of Franco! In 1 957 a book by Roman Toran was published there : Bronstein: el Genio del Ajedrez Moderno. I remember, when I first saw Toran at the Olympiad in Mun ich ( 1 958), I asked : ' H ow did you manage to publish such a book?' ' I said that for a long time you had been l iving in Paris . ' From our conversation I learned that my style was very popu lar in Spa i n , that it is in ful l accord with the national character and even resembles the corrida.

I l iste n : 'Is that really B ronstein? We have been looki ng for you for a long time in a l l t h e c l u b s in E u rope. From where are we speaking? From Spa i n . More precisely, from Oviedo, this is to the north of the country, in Asturias . ' 'Pleased to speak to you . Muchas g razias for the cal l . '

R O &I A N

T O R A N

M A ESTRO I N TERNACIO N A L DE A.JEDREZ

BHONSTEIN EL 6ENIO DEL AJEDREZ MODE RNO

Later, through generosity of spirit, I pre­ sented this book with its author's signa­ ture to a fervent ad mirer in Costa Rica. And had it not been for Pablo Mora n , who not long before his death sacrificed me a copy of this rare book from his own l i brary, I would have altogether remained without evidence of my own genius. The new P a l e of Settlement? The spring of 1 992, Holland . The three of us - Henk, Anja and I - are sitting in our comfortable lounge in Voorschoten, relax­ ing after a light d i n ner and getting ready to go off to a volleybal l match , where Anja wil l be one of the players, and Henk a trainer. Suddenly the telephone rings. We thought that it would be Cock de Garter inviting us to supper. But it turns out to be an international cal l . They are aski n g , ' says H e n k , 'whether i t is possible to speak to the g rand master from Russia, David Bronstein?' I take the receiver, and

Here the voice which had been speaking in Engl ish disappeared , and I hea rd a Spanish tongue. ' H ablo castellano?' 'Si, senor, but it is nevertheless better if we speak in Engl ish . ' Again I hear the first voice : 'We are i nviting you to work as a professor of chess in Oviedo U niversity. ' I was confused and I again m u rm u red :

60

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

'Grazias . ' Then I asked : 'When?' ' Begin­ ning in the autu m n . ' 'And for how long?' ' For ever. ' I felt a slight buzzing i n my head . ' For ever? ! ' 'Yes, please . ' ' I 'll th i n k about i t . ' 'Very wel l , b u t you must defi­ n itely come to us in the autum n to get acquainted . To what address should your invitation be sent?' I told them . . . On hearing the content of the conversa­ tion , my friends were delighted : ' David , you must defin itely agree! You will have a permanent place of residence, and th ings will be easier. You've had enough of th is wandering around Europe and all the time requesting visas. Anja and I rea l ise how degrading this is for you . ' We travel led to the match . Anja's team won and Henk was happy. But all the way there I was thinking: what zigzags can happen in one's l ife ! F ive hundred years ago, on the decision of the Inquisition , Jews were d riven out of Spa i n . Not long ago, it was said, the Catholic Church had officially condemned this cruel decision and requested forgiveness. Was I to become the first Jew to return to my native land? That it was my native land, I had no doubt, si nce I had always been sure that my ancestors were from there. After passing through the whole of Europe, they finally settled in the Ukraine, after receiving permission from the Tsarina Catherine to settle withi n strictly defi ned borders - the eo-cal led Pale of Settle­ ment. . . Would Oviedo become for me a new Pale of Settlement? Georg i a n d i n ne r

I flew to Oviedo via Madri d . lt was the middle of October. At the a irport of the capital I was met by the ed itor of the magazine 'Ajed rez' , senor Antonio Gude. He said that from Oviedo they had sent an

air ticket for me, but for the fol lowing day, so he booked a hotel room for me and for the time being asked me to be his guest. I remembered that I had once received a pleasant letter from Gude, i n which he expressed his admiration for my chess imagination . Therefore I immed iately be­ lieved i n the sincerity of his words and expressed my thanks. In short, wh ile stil l a t the airport we became friends. Antonio took my case to the left luggage office , hailed a taxi, and we made a small excursion around the city. I mostly looked around while Gude talked . Or more pre­ cisely, asked questions. I repl ied absent­ mindedly. My cond ition was easy to understand: I had not been ih Madrid since 1 972 - twenty years . . . Could I have thought then that this transitory conversation of ours would be remembered by Antonio and published in the next issue of his magazine? And that on the occasion of my 70th birthday he would devote al most half of an issue to me, putting a photog raph of me on the cover and cal l i ng his article 'A glance at the Bronstei n Galaxy'? I was embar­ rassed by such publicity, and when we met I said to Gude that he had spoiled his magazine by devoting so much space to me. 'No, no,' he ani matedly objected . 'On the contrary, I reg ret that I was unable to devote the entire issue to you !' After driving i nto the city, Antonio took me to the editorial office of the magazine. lt turned out that he worked alone, but he had a boss, who published a large sports magazine, and 'Ajed rez' was only part of the business. After work Gude and his boss took me to a restaurant, where I was treated to a royal din ner. Then Antonio i nvited me to his home and i ntrod uced me to his fami ly. We again d rank some

B I TTER EX PER I ENCE I N S PA I N

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more. I could have learned it during the yea r that I spent in Tbil isi. But then , at the height of the war, when every day I was expecting to receive my call-up papers, there was no time for languages. I had known El izbar for a long time. He was a student of Pave! Khizan ishvil i , a loyal friend of mine from the war era . I remember that the young U b ilava was at some competition i n Moscow, and i n a simulta neous display with clocks he man­ aged to win agai nst none another than Euwe! The following day with d ifficulty I persuaded h i m to come to my place for d i n ner. He was very shy, but I explained to h i m that in 1 942 in Tbilisi my teacher Pave! Manaevich had helped me as much as he cou l d . El izbar understood me and did not put on any airs. After d i n ner, adopti ng a proud pose, he said in an i m portant tone that I would always be a welcome guest i n Georgia.

Spanish red wine a n d as a dessert Gude showed me a large album, in which for many yea rs he had entered my tourna­ ment results and best games . . . Around midnight he ordered a taxi, paid the d river I did not have any pesetas - and we parted u ntil the morn i n g . T h e fol lowing morn ing G u d e called for me, and I asked h i m to take me to the Prado M useu m . I knew that there was l ittle time before the fl ig ht, but I wanted to stand, even for only a short time, by my favou rite picture - Velazquez's 'Las Meninas'. At the ed itorial office a su rprise awaited me - grandmaster El izbar Ubilava , who had recently moved to Spain and was now helping Gude to prod uce the maga­ zine. We shook hands warmly and ex­ cha nged a cou ple of words in Georgian . I ' m ashamed to say that I don't know any -

He kept his word , when I was already i n Spa i n . Phoning from Madrid , he ordered his wife , who with two children was also l iving i n Oviedo, to feed me a gen uine Georgian d i n ner. I also did not put on any airs, and for the enti re even ing I talked with her about Georgia, remem­ bered mutual acquaintances and, as is the Caucasian custo m , exchanged fi ne toasts . . . Oviedo's Uto p i a n p rom ises

And now here I was i n Oviedo. At the a irport two people met me - I would guess it was they I had spoken to on the telephone in the spri n g . They introd uced themselves. Antonio Arias Rod riguez, the financial d i rector of the university and a passionate chess enthusiast. H is inter­ preter was Kean David Hai nes, an Eng­ lishman, althoug h he had already been

62

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSSEUS

l iving in Oviedo for eight years . We warmly greeted one another and , if the reader will excuse me my Rabelaisian tastes, we promptly headed for one of the best, so they told me, restau rants i n the town. lt was day time and there were no other d iners. We studied the menu and chose a wine - with the abundance of names it was an ultra-d ifficult task, but I ful ly trusted my hosts . After taking a sip we began the discus­ sion . The conditions for the wandering pilgrim seemed fantastic. The work com­ m itment was to read lectu res to student chess players and regularly play on top board for the un iversity in team competi­ tions in Astu rias and Spain. The salary $ 1 0 , 000 a year: $5,000 would be paid by the Oviedo mun icipal ity, and $5, 000 by the u n iversity. I n addition , if I wanted to play in a tournament outside of Spa i n , not only would I be allowed free time, without a lowering of my salary, but my air flights would also be paid . After all, I would be defending the honour of the un iversity! -

I felt drunk, without even resorting to a second glass of wine. I seemed to have ended up in parad ise. The only matter of concern was that, in the years when I had been unable to travel, I had half-forgotten conversational Spanish, which I had once known qu ite well . I n the 1 950s I twice played in Argentina (on the second occa­ sion spending about two months there), and at the Candidates Tou rnament i n Amsterdam I taught g randmaster Oscar Panno to speak Russian, wh ile he taught me Spanish. I n 1 972 I played i n Las Palmas, to say nothing of a tou r of Costa Rica ( 1 97 4 ), where over a period of three weeks Spanish was the main language of

*

Sta rischock - l iterally ' little old m a n ' .

communication . And in Moscow I have a whole shelf of Spa n ish dictionaries and books. And also one ful l of records that I brought back from Argenti na: I have a secret passion - I wil l die to the sounds of a Spanish gu itar. However, conversational language is one thing, whereas here it was a serious cou rse on chess. But the temptation was very g reat. . . And we shook hands on it! The u n iversity would buy a grand master, and I wou ld sell my free time. There was one other im portant factor. Arias said that my wife too cou ld move to Oviedo, and the u n iversity wou ld fi nd her work in her profession. This trum p out­ weighed all the other arguments . I promptly phoned M i nsk. Fine arts Candidate Tatya­ na Boleslavskaya , who no less than me had suffered from the break-up of the USSR, where we had nevertheless man­ aged to l ive while u nderstanding all its pluses and min uses, was at fi rst con­ fused . But then she began learn ing Spanish and was even intending to tell them at her own un iversity that this was possibly the last year that she would be giving lectu res . Fortu nately, just in time I managed to halt her fit of enth usiasm. Otherwise our m utual euphoria could have cost her dearly. ' B ienven i d o , Starischock! '

*

The u n iversity i n Oviedo is one of the oldest in Europe, having been founded back in 1 580. At the present time it is a whole network of teaching blocks, scat­ tered th roughout the city. One featu re of the un iversity is that here the most varied types of sport are g iven an honou rable

•

B I TT E R EXP E R I E N C E I N S PA I N

place. lt even has its own stad i u m , as wel l a s a splendidly equipped medical centre . There was one disappoi ntment: they were not in a hurry to sign an official contract with me. Later I learned that here i n general i t is not usual to employ foreign­ ers. But why then did Arias so insistently summon me to Oviedo? I wouldn't like to bel ieve that he was bl uffi n g . Now Antonio is working i n a famous un iversity i n Salamanca, where he also promotes chess, and recently via Ubilava he sent me an invitation to visit h i m . I wonder. . . I n addition, I did not manage to have any contact with the other professors. Every­ one was very nice to me, and they asked about l ife in Russia, but they regarded chess as an amusing game, nothing more. But for me chess is a language of international contact, and I d reamed of instil l i ng this virus i n the Spanish students. U nfortunately, in this respect I was u nsuc­ cessful . Already i n March 1 993 I wrote to Tanya: 'What am I doing here in Spain ? Nothing. One week I have classes, the next week I am free. The students are busy with their studies, chess for them is a relaxation, they listen with only half an ear, and they don't ask any questions - in short, I'm like a Punch and Judy show. I was told that there is a university team for which I have to play and to teach them. But in fact they are all novices and we have nothing in common. ' I n G ij 6n, where there was a branch of the university and to where I occasionally travelled to give lectures, the players were rather more serious, on a level with our candidate masters . With them it was interesting to work. But in Oviedo, follow­ ing the cu rrent fashion , the students wanted to learn only the best winning

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moves; noth ing else i nterested them . And my Spanish, which was possibly poor by academic standards, was nothing to do with it. Besides , I was helped by Haines, and he was completely fl uent i n the language. But, as I real ised , the lessons were merely a pretext to obtain me for advertis­ ing purposes . When , immediately on my arrival in December 1 992 , the un iversity arranged a grand iose open tou rnament 'Heir of Asturias', I featured in it as a 'famous player of Oviedo U n iversity' . I have kept a Span ish newspaper with a photog raph : at the side Smyslov and Spassky, and in the centre a beaming Arias is paternally embracing my shoul­ der. That tournament i n Oviedo attracted a star-studded l i ne-up: Korch noi , Poluga­ yevsky, Kramnik, Shirov, Bareev, Salov, Topalov, Adams, Khalifman, the three Polgars and . . . a cou ple of computers, fam i l iar to me from the Aegon tournament! They even invited Fischer - as an hon­ ou red guest, l i ke Spassky. On my advice they wrote on the fax: To Mr. R. J. Fischer, Chess Champion of the World. ' But even this did not help . . . The sports complex arena, where we played , resembled an ant h i l l . Hundreds of people scurrying about, the noise of chai rs being moved , a hubbub in various languages . Only at the start of the round, and then not for long, was everyth ing qu iet. I had never before played in such 'stad ium' tou rnaments and, to be honest, I felt like a participant i n a cinema crowd scene. One th ing pleased me: the organ­ isers put i nto effect a long-standing idea of mine - we played three games a day, with a time control of 45 minutes for each player. I have to admit that my thoughts were a long way from the tou rnament. At that

64

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

moment I was preoccu pied with obtaining a Spanish passport, moving Tanya to Oviedo, and our futu re in genera l . I n add itio n , I had not managed t o rest after the very difficult match with ' Deep Thought' - it had ended less than th ree weeks earl ier. There were also simultaneous displays i n Californ ia, then the flight Los Angeles - London - Madrid . . . Despite this, I began in l ively fashion - 4 Y2 out of 6 , losing only (and deservedly) t o Judit Polgar. But then I became tired and began missing opportunities. The loss to S h i rov was especially vexing. No.9

•

French Defence COO

B RONSTE I N - 5 H I ROV Oviedo , 8 . 1 2 . 1 992 1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 e6 3 d3 lLlc6 4 g3 d5 5 �e2 lLlge7

An audacious move. I n his position Black calmly creates both a wea k e6-pawn , and a good strong point for his opponent's pieces. In my time grandmasters were afraid to play l i ke th is. How chess has changed ! 1 3 exf6 'i!Vxf6 1 4 lLle5 g5 ! ?

I n t h e same aggressive style. Black wants at any price to open l ines for an attack. But even now I do not see how he can exploit the f- and h-files. The h 1 -sq uare is covered by the b ishop , and the f2-point is reinforced even better. What is the expla­ nation? I th ink that the moves . . . f6 and . . . g5 are part of a psychological plan : to confuse the opponent and crush his wil l . lt is not surprising that Shirov wins so many sharp games - the method of i ntim idation justifies itself. 1 5 hxg5 hxg5 1 6 lLlg4 �g6 1 7 �c1 .id7 18 lLld2 b4 19 lLlf3 bxc3

5 . . . lLlf6 - cf. Game 1 2 . 6 .ig2 g6 7 0-0 �g7 8 e5! 0-0?!

Played without any prejud ices. 8 . . . h6 was played against me by the prog ram XXXX 1 1 in the 1 997 Aegon Tou rnament. 9 .l:.e1 b5 1 0 .if4 lLlf5 11 c3 h6 12 h4

20 lLlfe5!

1 2 . . . f6? !

Tu rgenev would have been happy. If my memory does not betray me, the famous writer was vice-president of the tourna­ ment i n Baden-Baden ( 1 870). What does this have to do with me? Ah , well . This game would prove a good illustration for his novel ' Fathers and Sons' . Black wants to win a pawn, while Wh ite wants to

B I TTE R EX P E R I E N C E I N S PA I N

sacrifice the pawn . Who is right? As usua l , there is no d i rect answer. 20 . . . tbxe5 21 tbxe5 .i.xe5 22 'i!Vxe5 tbd4 23 bxc3 tbc2 !

Black has achieved his aim; moreover, he has won the exchange. But White too has carried out his opening plan : he has two excellent bishops and the prospect of an attack along the d4-h8 diagonal . 24 i.. e 3! .l::t a c8 25 'it'd6 tbxa1 26 .l::t x a1 .S.f7 27 ..txc5 (27 ..txd5? �xd3) 27 ... 'it'xd3 28 .i.d4 �f5 29 lle1 .!:tcf8

30 .S.e5?

An over-hasty move . I should have fi rst played 30 i.. f 1 ! , when there is no defence against 3 1 .l::te 5 and .ie3. For example: 30 . . . 'iWc2 (30 . . . .l:!.h7? 3 1 .S.e5 'iVg6 32 ..td3! �xd3 33 .l:!.xg5+, or 30 . . . Wh7? 31 .l:!.e5 'iVc2 32 .l::t x g5 .l:!.xf2 33 'ii'x d7+ .l::t 8f7 34 .l::t g 7+ ! ) 3 1 .l::t e 5 .l:!.g7 32 .l:.e2 'iWg6 33 i..xg7 , or 3 1 . . . 'i!Vg6 32 i.. e 3 .l::tg 7 33 .S.xg5 'ii'f7 34 !Ixg7+ and i.xa7. 30 ... 'it'b1 + 31 .i.f1

I n time-trouble it looked terribly danger­ ous to go in for the variation 3 1 �h2 �h7+ 32 .i.h3 .l:!.f5 (noth ing is given by 32 . . . 11xh3+ 3 3 Wxh3 1li'h 1 + 34 Wg4 �f3+ 35 �h3). Black is th reatening . . . g5-g4, and Wh ite does not have a single check.

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3 1 . . J:ig7 ! I had n't seen t h i s move and therefore I became rattled . Instead of simply taking on e6 with my rook, which would have led at least to a draw (32 .l:.xe6! .i.xe6 33 'i¥xe6+ .l::tff7 34 �c8+ �h7 35 'ii' h 3+, or 32 . . . .Jib5 33 Ite2 ! i.. x e2 34 'iVe6+ .l::t gf7 35 'iVxe2 , and the wh ite bishops are no weaker than the black rooks), I played 32 a4?

I remember that we made a few more moves before I stopped the clocks , but they aren't given in the database. So let's call a halt here. And now an amusing touch on the theme of 'fathers and sons'. Someone asked how the game had ended . Alexey shrug­ ged his shoulders and said : ' I won ' . Then , leaning towards me, he casually added : ' I played badly, because this opening set-up was unfamiliar to me.' I was astounded . lt turns out that one of the best players in the world plays wel l only in familiar positions! Of cou rse , I was upset that my first experience on Spanish soil was a failure. But henceforth also I honestly fulfilled all my obl igations to the u n iversity, even if they taxed my strength . Thus immed iately after the tournament in Oviedo at the req uest of Arias I travelled to Cordoba and played there in a similar three-day tou rna­ ment: three games a day, but this time with an hour per game. I performed qu ite successfu l ly (7 out of 9), once again showi ng that it is easier to play several games a day than just one. The shortest game was the one from the first rou nd.

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The ' new Spaniard ' with the Polgar fam i ly : Judit, Sofia and Klara

No. 1 0

•

Pirc-Ufimtsev Defence B06

MARIN - B RONSTEI N Cordoba , 1 1 . 1 2. 1 992

1 e4 d6 2 d4 g6 3 lbc3 i.g7 4 lbt3 c6 5 i.d3? lt was immediately obvious that the senor had not read Tarrasch . Otherwise he would have known that against pawns at f7-g6-h 7 the bishop is not wel l placed at d3.

5 . . . i.g4 6 i.e3 lbd7 7 h3 i.xf3 1 8 'iixf3 e5 9 d5 ltJgf6 1 0 i.c4 0-0 1 1 g4 1 1 0-0 ! , but White was probably u nable to decide on which side to castle.

11 ... lbb6 1 2 i.xb6? Didn't he begrudge g iving up this bishop?

1 2 . . . axb6 1 3 a4 b5! 14 i.b3 b4 1 5 lbe2 cxd5 1 6 i.xd5 lbxd5 1 7 exd5

1 7 . . . e4! 1 8 �xe4 .l:te8 ! ! 1 9 'it'xb4 'it'e7 White resig ned . As analysis shows, this was a ti mely decision: 20 'ii b5 .l:t a5 2 1 'it'c4 .l:t c5 2 2 'iid3 l:txd5! And i f 2 0 �c4 immed iately? Then Black wins by 20 . . . i.xb2 ! 2 1 l:t b 1 (2 1 .l:t a2 b5!) 2 1 . . J:txa4 22 'it'd3 .l::t a 3 23 �d 1 i.f6 - material is equal, and Wh ite's position is hopeless. But the

B I TTER EXPERIENCE I N S PA I N

•

fol lowi ng variation is especially pretty: 20 �d2 �xb2 21 l:td 1 �c3! On one occasion I was asked to take part in the Spanish Lig htn ing Team Cham pion­ ship. On top board , of cou rse. Beh ind me were four players from Gij6n , including one reserve. The task, as in Soviet times, was: win at all costs! I did n't know who I wou ld be playing, but in bl itz in particular it is important to know, otherwise it is not clear how fancifully you can play the open ing. If you play correctly, the game will follow familiar l i nes, the battle wil l be lengthy and ted ious, and at my age it is hard to endure such stress. But I had to agree. The most d ifficult th ing was the start: a five-hour d rive in the heat in a small car. I have to say thank you to my team col leagues: half way between Oviedo and Bergara (a small town not far from Bilbao) they tu rned off the main road and took me to an enormous national park, where - in contrast to a town zoo - behind high wire netti ng, practically i n the open air, wild animals were walking about: elephants, giraffes , rh inos . . . The rest of the d rive was easier. I remember the tou rnament as being a nightmare with a happy ending. Fearing that after such a journey I would find it hard to play without a break, I said to our captain that at any moment he had the right to replace me, if he considered I was playi ng insufficiently well . But this ruse did not succeed , and I had to play all 1 5 games. By some miracle I won nearly all of them, making only three draws. As a result we became champions of the northern zone of Spa i n , and the rector of the un iversity was , I think, content. After a l l , Arias had passed on his personal request that I should play in this champi­ onship.

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Now, looki ng through my 'Span ish' ar­ ch ives, I am surprised to d iscover how much the newspapers wrote about me. They talked about my chess career, delig hted in the brill iance of my play, and even included diagrams with my most famous combinations. The head ings of the articles were pretty much the same: mainly they were variations on the theme 'great maestro'. But on one occasion I was qu ite overwhel med . Greeting me in 1 994 in Le6 n , a local journalist called his article 'Bienven ido, Starischock!'. Where he found th is affectionate word remained a mystery to me. Perhaps he was a descendent of those (Spanish} children, who d u ring the Span ish Civil War found refuge in the USSR? All the same, it was a strange head ing. I doubt whether any of the newspaper readers could have under­ stood the meaning of the mysterious Russian word 'Starischock' . The b rave l ittl e tai lor

But I have ru n ahead of myself. Let us return to December 1 993, when a new hurricane by the name of 'Heir of Astu rias' swept into Oviedo. However, in strength it was weaker than the fi rst, and one sensed that the tournament was petering out. The young stars weren't there - Kramnik, S h i rov, Topalov, Bareev, Adams and Khal ifman , and the 'old guard' was de­ pleted : Korch noi, Smyslov, Spassky and Polugayevsky were all absent. . . But Vi shy Anand arrived ! I immediately remem­ bered that I had met him three years earlier at the junior tournament in Oakham. We were already, probably, acquainted , because he immediately asked : 'What are you doing here?' Was he afraid of competition , perhaps? I said that I had been invited to g ive some lectu res to local

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS EUS

school children . Then , knowi ng Anand's liking for rapid play, I myself asked : 'What do you th i n k about playing a game in 30 m i nutes - 1 5 m i n utes each?' ' it's qu ite sufficient, ' he repl ied and nodded approv­ ingly . . . U nfortunately, just before the tou rnament I caught a bad cold - Astu rias is not Andalucia, and here the sunshine is rationed by God . And I had no strength . On wil l-power and experience alone I su rvived for three days (6 out of 8), but then I collapsed and at the finish I lost fou r games o u t o f five. T h e m a i n th ing was that I would begin wel l , but with in half a hour (the time control was the same as before - 45 m i nutes each ) my head would become woolly, and on account of this I suffered a couple of vexing zeros . However, in the fi rst half of the tou rna­ ment I played several h igh-class games.

No. 1 1

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French Defence C 1 6

D E FIRMIAN - B RONSTEIN Oviedo, 4 . 1 2 . 1 993 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 lLlc3 i.b4 4 e5 b6 5 a3 i.f8 6 i.b5+ ! ?

A fashionable check When i t was fi rst played against me, I na ively repl ied 6 . . . c6? , but after 7 ii.a4 I lost the thread of the game. I n the famous Herceg Novi bl itz tou rna­ ment of 1 970, immed iately after the 'Match of the Century' , Fischer played 6 f4 against me. 6 . . . i.d7! 7 i.d3 c5 8 lLlf3 lLlc6 l2Jge7 1 0 lLlb5! (see next diagram)

9

0-0

B I TTER EXPER I ENCE I N S PA I N

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must have seen my games? He could have known that I wou ld not miss an opportu n ity to sacrifice a piece . for the in itiative .

A cu nning idea . Mate in one move is threatened . Suppose Black were to be frightened by this and 'a la N i mzowitsch' were to overprotect his d6-point by 1 O . tt:Jc8 ? The variations resulting after 1 1 i..g 5! are advantageous to White: 1 1 . . . i.. e 7 1 2 ..ixe 7 'it>xe 7 1 3 dxc5 bxc5 1 4 c4! , o r 1 1 . . .f6 1 2 exf6 gxf6 1 3 i.f4 ! , th reatening tt:Jc7+ ( 1 3 . . . e 5 1 4 dxe5 tt:Jxe5 1 5 tt:Jxe5 ..ixb5 1 6 'ifh5+, or 1 3 . . . c4 1 4 i.xc4! dxc4 1 5 d5! tLle5 1 6 tLlxe5). .

.

10 ... tt:Jg6 11 c3 c4! 1 1 . . . a6? ! plays into White's hands: 1 2 tt:ld6+ i..x d6 1 3 exd6 �b8 1 4 i.xg6 hxg6 1 5 ..if4 and the thorn at d6 is h ighly unpleasant. 12 ..ixg6 ( 1 2 i.c2? tt:Jcxe5 ! ) 12 ... hxg6 1 3 i..g 5 f6 1 4 exf6 gxf6 1 5 ..if4 �c8 1 6 tt:Jd6+

White is in a hu rry ( 1 6 h 3 ! ? ) . 1 6 ... i.xd6 1 7 i.xd6 � f7 1 8 l1 e 1 g5 1 9 h3 tt:Je7

1 9 . . . �e8 20 il.g3 tt:Je7 was more accu­ rate . Now Wh ite could have h indered Black's counterplay by 20 i.xe7 filxe7 2 1 lae3 , but for some reason h e begrudged giving up h is bishop . . . 20 i.h2?! tLlf5 2 1 g4?

But this is madness! Surely de Firmian

2 1 . . .�xh 3 ! ! 22 gxf5 exf5 23 fi/e2 f4 Transform ing the bishop at h2 into a pawn . 24 tLld2 �f5 25 f3 'ii' h 8! 26 W/e7+ Wg6 !

W h o is t h i s , i f not t h e brave little tailor from the fai ry-tale by the Brothers Grimm? You can al most imagine the king exclaiming at this moment: 'With one swat I 'll kill seven of them ! ' 2 7 .li!.e2 filh4 28 l:tg2 l:.h8!

Languishing u noccupied in a cramped wooden box, the pieces can have all sorts of dreams. But to line u p like this i n an actual game is a ra re piece of good fortune. 29 'ii'e 2 .lag3 !

With such a spatial advantage i t is easy to d isplay one's combinative talent. 30 tLlf1 ..id3 31 tt:Jxg3 ! ?

T h e attempt b y 3 1 'ii'f2 t o go i nto a drawn ending with opposite-colour bishops would not have succeeded : 3 1 . . . .laxg2+! (weaker is 31 . . . i.. xf1 32 l1xg3! fxg3 33 'ii'xg3 fi/xg3+ 34 ..ixg3 i.d3 35 l1e1 etc . ) 32

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�xg2 l:!.e8 ! , and if 33 tZ:lg3, trying to free himself by giving up the knight, then 33 . . .l:!.e3! 34 �f2 g4 with a powerfu l attack. 31 ... i.. xe2 32 tt:Jxe2 �f7! (34 tt:Jxf4+ was th reatened ) 33 l:!.f1 .l:.e8 34 �h1 l:!.e3 35 tZ:l g 1 'ii' h 7!

47 . . . a5! 48 .tg1 �h1 49 'it>c2 g4 ! (at last) 50 fxg4 �e4+ 51 �c1 f3! 52 l:i.f1 fxe2 53 l!e1 f4 54 i.f2 f3 55 .l:.g 1 i¥f4+ 56 'iif c2 �h2 ! Wh ite resigns.

No. 1 2 I n Wh ite's position there is a yawn ing weakness at f3 , but this bastion cannot be taken by a d i rect attack. Therefore Black fi rst incl udes his queen in the play (an invasion at d3 is th reatened ) , and then also his king: suppose it might be able to reach b3 and tie down one of the rooks to the defence of the b2-pawn?

•

French Defence

COO

8RONSTE I N - P LASKETT Oviedo, 6 . 1 2 . 1 993 1 e4 c5 2 tZ:lf3 e6 3 d3 tZ:lc6 4 g3 d5 5 �e2 tZ:lf6 6 .i.g2 .1J.. e7 7 0-0 0-0 8 e5 tZ:ld7 9 c4 ne8

9 . . . d4 - cf. Game 23. 10 l:!.e1 tZ:lf8 11 h4 b6 12 tt:Jc3 .1i.b7 1 3 b3 1 ?

36 .l:.d2 �e6 37 �g2 'it>d7 38 ntt2 f5 39 .l::i. d e2 'ii'h 4 40 'iiff1 'i!Vh5 41 �e1 b5 (a pilot balloon) 42 'it>d2 .l::i. d 3+ 43 'it>c2 i¥h4 44 l:!.g2 l:!.e3 45 �d2 l:i.xe2+ 46 tt:Jxe2 �h3 47 l:tf2

A new idea; usually the bishop is devel­ oped at f4.

(see next diagram)

The confrontation of the e5- and e6pawns is clearly in Wh ite's favou r - this means that it is appropriate to open the centre.

Wh ite's pieces are cra mped , and he is u nable to carry out the desired regrouping. By shuttle manoeuvres Black succeeds in breaking u p the opponent's defences.

1 3 . . . i¥d7 14 i.b2 l:!.ad8 1 5 l:Iad1 a6 1 6 d4!

1 6 . . . tt:Ja5 1 7 dxc5 bxc5 1 8 tZ:lg5 d4

Black, understandably, tries to keep the centre closed . 1 9 tt:Jce4 h6 20 �h5!

•

B I TT E R EX P E R I E N C E I N S PA I N

A far-sig hted knight sacrifice . I was in­ tending to switch my rook to h1 and simply give mate , but things turned out to be not so simple. A bitter fig ht ensued , from which both sides emerged rather battered . 20 . . . hxg5? Fear sees danger everywhere. 20 . . ..�jg6 offered a good defence, not feari ng 2 1 lbxf7 'iii>xf7 2 2 Ii:d3 , when Black has 22 . . . lLlc6 ! , and if 23 l:if3+ 'iii> g 8 24 "iYxg6 tt:Jxe5, lau nching a counterattack. 21 hxg5 g6 22 'ili'h4 �xe4 23 tt:Jf6+ was th reatened . 23 �xe4 ctJh7 24 f4 �f8 25 'iii> g 2 � g 7 26 l::t h 1 ctJf8 27 'il!Yg4 tt:Jc6 28 :h4 lLle7 29 .tc1 ctJf5 30 .i:th3 'W/c7 31 .l:.dh1

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Wh ite has carried out his idea, but it would be ridiculous to talk about any advantage. B lack is a knight up, and if he were able to storm forward with . . . a6-a5a4 , he would win easily. Therefore Wh ite must play extremely accurately. The most promising plan seems to be as follows: the retreat of the queen, then g3-g4 and a decisive streng­ thening by the queen of the battery on the h-file. Of course , an experienced oppo­ nent wil l prevent th is. Then one has to think aga i n . That is why we play chess. First a hot shower, and then a cold one. 31 . . . d3! 32 SLd2 l:td4 33 'ii'f3 .i:ted8 34 g4 lbe7 35 l:th4 .Uxe4! An elegant solution! The exchange of queens im med iately red uces the intensity of the attack. Play goes into a compli­ cated endgame. 36 "iYxe4 'W/c6 37 'iii>f3 'i¥xe4+ 38 Wxe4 �d4+ 39 '>t>e3 ctJc6 40 .tc3 ftd7 41 .Ud 1 a5 42 .l:i.xd3 l:txd3+ 43 '>t>xd3

With material equal, Wh ite's g reat po­ sitional advantage should quickly tell . Black's only hope i s time-trouble. But I was accu rate to the end . 43 . . . ctJd7 44 'iii> e4 'iio>f8 45 .la h 1 'iii> e 8 46 �d2 .ll f8 47 a3 il.e7 48 .tc3 i.f8 49 f5! Black's days are numbered .

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49 . . . exf5+ 50 gxf5 gxf5+ 51 �xf5 l2Je7+ 52 �e4 l2Jc6 53 g6! fxg6 54 e6! lbb6 55 ..tt6!

The bishop has nevertheless broken through to f6 ! 55 . . . a4 56 bxa4 l2Jxc4 57 �d5 l2J4a5 58 .l:th8 c4 59 ..tg7 l2Je7+ 60 �e4 l2Jd5 61 ..txf8

Black resigns. The duel of the bishops has concluded i n Wh ite's favour! While we were playi n g , this game seemed very easy to me. But now I see that it was ful l of nuances. lt is probable that at the board you chose many moves i ntu itively. But when you come to annotate the game, you see that it was very hard work. Enormous tension and responsibility for the result.

three years earl ier . . . David loved chess, but he was u n happy about the need to sit for five hours at the board . Therefore he was delig hted to take up the idea of speed ing up the play. After my departu re he organ ised a tou rnament i n Oviedo on the 'Bronstein formula': a knock-out, with matches of several 1 5m i n ute games, so that neither the players, nor the spectators were bored. And i n J u ly 1 997 Hai nes wrote an article supporting rapid chess , which appeared in the maga­ zine 'Jaque' with the garish title 'Chess of the 2 1 st century' . Fuel was poured on the fire by Leonxo Garcia, the magazine ed itor, who placed it under the head ing 'The revol ution of David B ronste i n ' ! As you ca n see, my ideas took root i n Span ish s o i l and I hope that they w i l l bear

I n a c i rc l e of friends

The u n iversity also did not forget its prom ises. They paid my air tickets to London and Brussels (and back), gave me a large room in a teachers' hall of residence, and three ti mes a day fed me in a dining room , which had two sections: one for fast food , and another where you could order from a restaurant men u . O n the whole I was happy: I h a d somewhere to sleep, I had work, and I wasn't hu ngry ­ what else do you d ream about, when for a long time you are separated from home? I also acquired new friends. I n the morn­ ing Kea n David Hai nes would cal l for me, and we would stroll arou nd Oviedo, the steep streets of which remi nded me of my native Kiev. On one occasion we had a five-hour wal k i n the mountains. I deliber­ ately arranged this, i n order to test myself. And although I was tired , I was happy that my orga nism had not let me down , which meant that for the moment I could forget about the operation I had undergone

G u est of Anto n i o Ariasa

B I TI E R E X P E R I E N C E I N S PA I N

good fru it. Especially since David , to­ gether with a frien d , translated my book 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' into Spanish , and the Barcelona publ isher Paidotribo has already brought out three editions. I also became friendly with Hai nes' wife Olga Alvares, a professor at the un iver­ sity, as wel l as her friend Blanca . We often met and chatted (soon I began speaking Spanish fl uently), and twice a week we drove to our favou rite restaurant on the outskirts of the town , where we di ned . . . without ordering anything: the waiters knew our order by heart and , of course, they did not forget to bring two or th ree bottles of red wine. Blanca owned a stationery shop and from time to time she would give me something useful for my work. An attractive note­ book, or a pocket calculator with a penci l , s o that i t should always b e to hand . I kept the notebook for my futu re memoirs , but I gave the calculator to Ta nya , and now it resides on her work desk in M insk - a memory of the move to Oviedo which never happened . . . Arias also d id not forget me. Occasionally he would i nvite me to din ner, and each time his wife surprised me with a new Spanish dish. Antonio became fascinated by the internet and once, sitting me in front of the computer, he began showi ng me how much of interest could be learned by travelling around the screen . I d id not object, but I thought how much more pleasant it is to journey by books , than by this virtual world. P a b l o Mori m 's l i bra ry

And there are a great many books in Spain! But I remembered : although the goods themselves may be cheap, there is also the cost of transporting them . There-

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fore I bought only one Spanish encyclo­ paed ia. In genera l , I love reference books. I n 1 972, when I visited the Prado Museum for the first time, i n add ition to a set of Japanese postcards I acquired a cata­ logue of the museum. Now on wi nter evenings I am warmed by read ing l i nes such as: ' E l G reco . St Francis of Assis i ' , 'Goya . Sacred family' , 'Velazq uez. Las Meninas or Family of Philip IV' . . . Your imagination begins to be aroused , and g radually it extracts from the depths of you r memory the subject, the colours, the half-ti nts - as if you are seeing a set of colour slides . . . I n cidental ly, i n 1 973 at the l nterzonal Tournament in Leningrad , where I was present as correspondent of ' lzvestiya' , I made the acquaintance of the Spanish writer Jose Maria Gironel la, the second of the Argentinian Quinteros (nowadays this would not occu r to anyone: to have a writer as the second of a grand master! ). I was helped by a chance occurrence. Sitti ng in the aud itori um I saw a midd le­ aged gentleman , all on his own , and I decided to brighten up his lonely exist­ ence. My new acquai nta nce was pleased to find someone with whom he could speak in his native language. I helped Gironella to understand the point of what was happening on the boards and, I remember, I fervently tried to convi nce h i m of the need to speed up the game, in order to make tou rnaments more of a spectacle. Jose Maria, in tu rn , described to me his journeys around the world. Several times we went together to the theatre , where, l i ke it or not, I had to perform the role of interpreter. During our contact my Spanish improved marked ly. And how many new things I learned about Spain! Gironella had taken pa rt in the Civil War on the side of Franco.

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developed over the years I limited myself to some general ph rases and wishes of good health (I was not afraid of contact with foreigners, but I avoided leaving written evidence). So that our correspond­ ence quickly petered out. Re-read ing now the letters of my Spanish friend , I can only reg ret that our contact was so fleeting:

'My dear friend D. Bronstein, saludos! I have returned home. In Spain there is much sunshine and much love of chess. With this letter I want to express my gratitude for your kindness to me, for the presents, for the books, for the badges, for "Rigoletto", for "Don Quixote ". . . Many thanks!

Len i n g rad 1 973. With the Spa n i s h writer J ose Maria G i ronella

But not for long. 'I quickly real ised , ' he said, 'that one side was no better than the other, and I retired from the game . ' I was astonished by this evaluatio n : after a l l , in the days of my youth the entire worl d , apart from H itler a n d M ussol i n i , was supporting the republicans. ' But what do you think about Hemmingway's novel "For whom the bel l tolls"? ' , I asked . The reply su rprised me even more: 'Hemmi ngway did not understand the character of the Spanish people . ' Apparently it is not without reason that they say: there are as many opin ions as there are writers. Later Jose Maria sent me several letters to Moscow. I also sent a couple of postcards to Barcelona, but by a habit

'I am enclosing a photograph, so that you should not forget what / look like . . . lt was pleasant for me to receive the postcard from you, although there were few words on it. Nevertheless I am once again convinced that our friendship arose, pos­ sibly, thanks to the fact that there is much in this world that we identically per­ ceive . . . ' I n his next letter Gironella informed me that he was i ntending to travel to Moscow for two weeks. He wrote that, as soon as he knew the number of the flight, he would send a telegra m , so that I could meet him at the airport, since he might have problems with the language. And he added : '/ very much want to see you. I will

bring you several of my books. Goodbye, I hope that we will soon see each other and . . . attend another ballet. ' U nfortunate­ ly, he never in fact made it to Moscow . . . We had a chance to see each other i n 1 994, when a t t h e expense o f Oviedo U niversity Tanya and I spent nearly two weeks touring around Spain. At my re­ quest Antonio Arias included i n the pro­ g ram a visit to the writer's villa near

B I TT E R EXPE R I E N C E I N S PA I N

Barcelona. But d u ring the trip he sud­ denly sent a fax, sayi ng that on the plan ned day the writer would not be at home. So my 'Len ingrad' friend and I never agai n met. But I nevertheless have one of his best novels, 'Condenados a Vivir', in my l i brary. This novel was presented to me by the wel l-known chess bibl iophile Pablo Mora n , whom I got t o know i n Oviedo. We became friends and often met. He came to me at the u n iversity hoste l , and I often visited him at home. it was at one of our meetings that he presented me with Gironella's two-volume work and also his own famous book 'A.Aiekh ine. Agony of a Chess Genius' with the fol lowi ng i nscrip­ tion : 'Para el Gran Maestro David Bran­ stein, con toda la admiracion y el carino del autor. Pablo Moran. Oviedo, 1 1 febrero 1 993. ' I remember that he told me about his conversations with Alekhine d u ring the war years. And I boasted that i n my arch ives there is a photocopy of a radio­ gram which Alekh ine sent in 1 944 from San Sebastian to his Argentine friend Luis Piazzin i : 'SANS RESSOURCES ARTI­ CLES FALSIFIES VOUDRAIS VENIR ARGENTINE PRIE INDUIRE URGENCE EDITEUR CABLER MON DU ZINZA SAN SEBASTIAN PRIE REPONDRE AMITIES ALEKHINE'. Pablo g reatly loved chess. I am speaking in the past tense , since a few years after our first meeting he passed away. Moran knew that the end was close , and he hastened to do someth ing useful for Spanish chess. He h i mself told me that he offered his chess library to Oviedo Univer­ sity for free, but it was not accepted . Arias denies that such an offer was made, but I am more inclined to believe Mora n . Because now I too am concerned about

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the problem of to whom I shou ld leave my books and my arch ives. I saw Pablo Moran's library - it was very extensive. I have someth i ng with which to compare it. I n 1 949 in Kecskemet the H u ngarian publisher Laszlo Toth showed me his col lection - four thousand chess books! And , of cou rse, in Moscow there was I . L. Maizel is's impressive l ibrary. De­ spite the d ifference in age, I was on friendly terms with l lya Lvovich . In con­ trast to the majority of col lectors, he kept his splend id library i n public view and allowed it to be ad mired . Whereas Keres, whom I also visited many times, would never i nvite you i nto his study. And if I asked about some book, he would say: ' I 'll bring you it right away' - a nd he would d isappear i nto his study. Perhaps, know­ ing my love for old chess books, he simply did not want to upset me with the wealth of his library? B a n i s h ment from pa radise

I n itially my life i n Oviedo seemed very cheerfu l . I n April 1 993 I was even paid a salary $2000 . Alas, this was also an advance for the futu re: d u ring the next three years I d i d not receive a cent! But it would be wrong to be offended , since the u n iversity did more for me: it appealed to the main Spa n ish police department, and that summer they sent from Madrid a document in the natu re of a passport, testifying that I was a professor of chess at Oviedo U n iversity, I had a residence permit and the right to work - true, only i n the sphere o f culture. The passport was for one year. But then they issued me with a passport for two years, although by law it shou ld have been for one year, or for five . Arias sa i d : 'You have an u n known friend in Mad ri d . ' -

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But in 1 996 the U n iversity lost interest in chess, and although they sent an appl ica­ tion for a passport to Madrid , problems unexpectedly arose. The pol ice req uested medical insurance. I was ready to present it, when they informed me from the U niversity that it was insufficient. U nfortu­ nately, at that moment I was not in Oviedo, and to this day I do not know what was the real reason for the refusa l . Possibly, because a law h a d been passed reducing the period that foreigners , apply­ ing for a Spanish passport, had to l ive in the cou ntry - from eight years to five. And I had already l ived there for four years. Another two, and I could obtain citizen­ ship. But then the U n iversity would have had to concern itself with my pensio n , and this - I understand perfectly wel l - had not been part of the estimate.

Of course, I was upset. I very much wanted to l ive in Spain (to be honest, I sti l l want to). At m y a g e , t h e l o n g slushy Moscow winters are no longer something I can end u re. I n addition, a Spanish passport would have opened new borders for me. I would not have had to be eternally req uesti ng visas , explaining who I was, where I was from and why I could not stay put. After all, the prestige of chess in the world has sunk i ncreasingly lower, and embassy officials were qu ite reason­ ably puzzled as to why an elderly Russian g randmaster was rush ing to a tou rna­ ment, when he should have been putting his feet up. My knowledge of languages was a help, but with a Spanish passport things would have been much easier. All the same I am g rateful to the d i rectors of the U n iversity: although only temporarily, my home was in Spa i n .

The E n g l ish gardener

I last time - for the moment! - that I

first set foot o n Engl ish soil in 1 947. The

played there was in 1 997. However you look at it, for one human l ife a distance of half a century looks enormous. Of course, there were lengthy gaps, but they merely sharpened my memory. England gave me so many interesti ng meeti ngs, that stories about them have no end . Let's beg in and, like Scheherazade, l i n k one story to another. I n old age you forget much , and much is seen in a different l ight. But there are facts which staggered me in my youth and sti l l surprise me in my later years .

Echo of the War

When I found myself in London, I saw with my own eyes the destructive effects of the recent wa r. On many streets there were high wooden screens, concealing the terrible ruins from passers-by. The people looked exhausted , and the grey pallor of their faces told of chronic maln utrition . I saw how Londoners, as though ind iffer­ ent, walked passed stalls selling food . 'Why is nobody buying anything?', I asked in surprise. 'No ration coupons - they were used up at the start of the month . ' I

T H E E N G U S H GAR D E N E R

felt ashamed to have asked the question : in Moscow after the wa r it was just the same.

simple meal and spend a long time chatting at the empty table, after wh ich the question would inevitably arise: who? 'Very wel l , today it's my turn , ' said Archi l , a n d he went t o see the d i rector o f the d i n ing room. He would retu rn with a beaming smile: ' He's given permission ! ' We wou ld eat t h e d i n ner for t h e following day's voucher, but, of cou rse, now one day we would have to go h u n g ry. But we d idn't g rieve. The dining room was at one end of Tbil isi , and Archil's house at the other. And while we were walking along Rustaveli Prospect, on the way we descended first i nto one, and then an­ other wine cellar. We were already known and they promptly fi l led us half-litre jars there weren't any glasses. I ncidentally, all the shop windows were a rranged with pyramids of 'Soviet champag ne' bottles. No one bought them: rough wine was available on every corner and it cost j ust a few kopecks . . .

' D ressed l i ke a London dandy ... ' David's first visit to England ( 1 947)

remembered how in 1 942 in Tbilisi, having no permanent place of work, I was unable to obtain ration tickets and was obliged to buy everything at the market for the money that they paid me for simulta­ neous d isplays in military hospitals. Some­ times my daily ration consisted of bread and a handful of figs. True , while I was i n charge o f a Georgian ( ! ) library, I had coupons for bread , and then Archil Ebral idze (a master player who translated the books of Lasker, Capablanca and Euwe into Georgian) also gave me vouch­ ers for d i n ner. We would qu ickly eat the

I was generally u n l u cky with coupons. I n the autu mn o f 1 943 I was sent from Tbilisi to Stalingrad , to work on restoring the Red October factory. Once the head of our section saw me and asked : 'What's wrong with you? Are you ill or someth ing?' I said noth ing. He persisted i n fi nding out why I was so pale. Then I said qu ietly: ' I 've lost my coupons.' The boss seized me by the scruff of the neck, uttered a few strong words, and d ragged me off to the supply department for some new coupons . . . I n May 1 945, just before I set off for Moscow, I learned that, as a master of sport, I had the right to receive a food ration on the level of a section leader and to eat in the dining room for engi neers! But I don't reg ret that I learned rather late about this loop-hole: after a l l , the privi­ leges were established for real athletes,

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whereas I was only a chess player, and my work as an assistant distributor con­ sisted of ad mitting goods to the factory sections and checki ng that they gave back the empties at the right time . . . My reminiscing has taken me back a long time. But i n England ration ing was abol­ ished only seven years later - in July 1 954 . I know th is, because by a strange coincidence I was in London at that time and I saw the joy on people's faces. The Sir George phenomenon

The reason for my new visit to London was the same as the fi rst occasion: a USSR-Great Britain match. I n 1 954 , a triumphal year for Soviet chess, our team made fou r inter-continental fl ig hts : Mos­ cow - Buenos-Aires - Paris - Moscow, and then Moscow - New York - London Stockholm - Moscow. We easily won all five matches, the French and Engl ish being crushed by the identical, ice-hockey­ like score of 1 5-1 ! But this is all merely an introductio n . The real story is yet to come. Before we flew from the USA, Keres asked Postnikov, the

head of our delegation, to phone the Soviet embassy i n London and order a ticket for h i m for the men's final at Wimbledon. However, when we arrived in England it transpired that there was no ticket. Keres was terribly upset. To miss such an opportunity! He adored tennis, he attai ned professional standard in it, and once even he played in the championsh ip of his country. Wel l , there was noth ing to do about it. I remember that it was a lovely summer's day. Paul and I were alone in the hotel everyone had gone off somewhere. Even the owner had gone out, leavi ng every­ th ing to us. I ndeed , what d i d she have to worry about? lt was a small hotel, and all the rooms were occupied by the Soviet delegation . lt was approach ing midday. I see it all as though it happened only yesterday. Keres , wearing a tracksuit (had there been even a single stranger in the hotel, he would never have d ressed l i ke that!), is gl ued to the old and min ute television screen . There is a knock on the door. Paul gets there before me, and I watch in amazement as he stands to attention, l i ke a schoolboy before the

•

A s 2 1 2 7 0 4

1HI

·j::\c�

c6 30 'iYxcB+ W b5, when, although a bishop down, Black hopes for 3 1 . . .'Wi h5+. How­ ever after 3 1 c4+ � a5 32 Wi c6 White wins. 27 iih6+ "ifg6 28 i.e7+! 1 -0 28 . . 'it>f7 29 'ii'fB is checkmate. .

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Directly on my arrival in London in 1 989, Peter Hannan enlisted me in the Charlton chess club, of which he was the president, and since that I time I regularly played for them on top board . My fee for playi ng was bed and board in Peter's house, and i n the event of a good game - two pints of beer i n the local pub. There was an amusing incident in 1 997, when we played the team of Malcolm Pei n , the owner of the magazi ne 'Chess'. I felt u nwel l and moved down to board three. But Pein did not want to play me and . . . he also put h imself on board three! There was no way out - we had to join battle. I n the open ing I played riskily, and could have lost a piece , but my oppo nent did not notice my mistake and I prettily mated h i m . I was touched b y t h e fact that Pein was not an noyed by his 'undeserved' defeat; moreover, he annotated the game in the 'Telegraph', where he has a chess col­ umn. But Peter was even happier, since at the same time the author gave some good publicity to our team , by mentioning that Charlton were champions of the London League. And this is what Pein wrote about our encou nter: 'The former world chess finalist, David Bronstein, plays for Char/ton on visits to Britain. On his last visit to Britain, Heathrow immigration officers found it hard to believe that this frail-looking man could be

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a strong chess player. But he is still a force to be reckoned with 50 years after his first visit here for the USSR v Great Britain contest.

No. 1 4

•

King's I ndian Defence E81

P E I N (Wood G reen ) 8 RONSTE I N (C harlton)

89

1 8 . . .'�Vxh1 1 9 "Yiig 3 lt:Jh5 20 Wlif2 �g8 21 f4 2 1 'B. e 1 i.. h 3? 22 lt:J g3 lt:Jxg3 23 "Yiixg3 wins for White, but 2 1 . . . f5 22 ..lt g2 "Yiih2 23 f4 fxe4 24 '1:J. h 1 lLlxf4 wins for Black; 2 1 lt:J g3 Viixh4; 2 1 ..lt g2 Wlih2 2 2 f4 .i. h3 23 J:l.g 1 ..lt xg2 24 'B. xg2 Wlih3. 21 . . . ..\tg4 22 .i.g2 22 It e 1 � xe2 23 i. xe2 "Yiih3 24 ..lt xh5 gxh5.

London , 3 . 1 1 . 1 997 1 d4 lt:Jf6 2 c4 g6 3 lt:Jc3 ..ltg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 lt:Jge2 e5 7 .ig5 c6 8 'il:Vd2 lt:Jbd7 9 0-0-0 'ilfa5 1 0 i.h6 b5 1 1 i.xg7 �xg7 1 2 lt:Jg3 b4 1 3 lt:Jb1 exd4 1 4 �xd4

22 . . . lt:Jxf4 ! ! 23 'ifxf4 23 lLl xf4 Wlixd1 mate or 23 'Rxh 1 lLl d3+. 23 . . . 'i!Vxg2 24 .l:.g 1 �xe2 25 'B.xg4 .i:.ae8 26 h5 .:!.e5 0-1 1 4 . . . 'ii'g 5+ ! ?

Bronstein rejected 14 . . . 'i!Vxa2 a s 'skittles'. 1 5 lt:Jd2 lt:Je5? ! 1 6 lLle2? 16 Wlixd6! was strong: 16 . . . a5 (16 . . . .i e6 17 f4 Wixf4 1 8 lLl e2 iNg5 19 h4 wins, and 16 . . . lt:J fd7 1 7 �xb4 takes a second pawn) 1 7 f4 'Wixf4 1 8 lLl e2 '¥kg5 1 9 h4 wins. 1 6 . . . c5 1 7 h41? 17 'iWxd6 lt:Jxc4. 1 7 . . . 'iWxg2 ! 1 8 'i!Hxe5 1 8 ..\txg2 cxd4 1 9 lLlxd4 lt:J d3+ 20 cJ;; c2 lt:J f2.

'A Liverpudlian bites the dust. White rejects 1 6 'Wixd6 on the not unreasonable assumption that the black queen will be trapped after 1 7 . . . '�xg2. Black's beautiful winning combination had to be foreseen well in advance. ' B ritis h Tra i ne r

W h e n even in Europe t h e autumn nig hts began to grow cold and the year of 1 99 1 , a turning-point i n the history of Russia, was coming to an end , I decided to retu rn home to welcome in the New Year together with Tanya . But life decreed

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

otherwise. Back i n 1 989 at the Lloyds Bank Tournament I had met Dr John Hennigan , who since that time began observing me. lt turned out that John was the Chairman of the BCF J u nior Squad and i n December 1 99 1 he invited me to become the trainer of his proteges d u ring the tou rnament in Hasti ngs. I could not refuse: to pass on my experience to the you ng is vi rtually my main call i n g . Every­ one was happy with the nine days of lessons, and we decided to repeat the experience . Thus for the next few yea rs I had to welcome in the New Year not at home, but on the shores of La Manche, or, as Englishmen cal l it, the English Chan­ nel. Contact with the young players gave me pleasu re. We lived i n the same hotel and i n the mornings we would have breakfast together. At these moments it seemed to

me that I had gone back i nto Dickensian times, so stable were the trad itions. Porridge, baco n , boiled egg , toast, butter, marmalade, milk (I th i n k that the only new thing was muesli with d ried fru it). Even l u m ps of sugar for tea or coffee! And the morning papers d u ring the mea l , with each j u n ior read ing his own . But here I 'defeated' them: havi ng been starved of i nformation , at fi rst I used to buy no less than three papers. After breakfast, a walk, and then i n a library, which was em pty in the morn i ngs, a demonstration board would be set up, they wou ld all sit down as in the cinema, wh ile I stood by the board and, varying the topics, showed combinations, trying to develop in the you ngsters a feeling for beauty. At the same time I shared my vision of modern opening strategy. But I d idn't cram them with variations.

W h e n playi ng i n Hasti ngs, you have t o wea r a jacket as wel l as a scarf aro u n d y o u r neck

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One of the volu nteers would ru n to the tournament hall - his task was to report as soon as possible on the results of the pairings. And as soon as the telephone ra ng , 1 stopped my preach ing: a concrete aim came to the fore - what opening to play? Here I was no longer needed : each dived into his laptop in search of his opponent's games . . . So as not to be bored , I also decided to play. Because of my age I was no longer admitted into the main tou rnament, but a place was found for me in the Challeng­ ers. And I played like this for seven years in a row. Of cou rse, all the time I had to remember about my health , and so I d i d not devise a n y strategic innovations, a n d avoided getting into time-trouble. Even in the opening, unusually for me, I chose simple l ines and was not afraid of repeat­ ing the same variations. But in the midd legame I often found pretty combina­ tions. I was told that many players l i ked to watch my games, recog nising the fea­ tures of my former fa me.

No. 1 5

•

Ruy Lopez C82

8RONSTE I N - F L EAR Hastings, 6 . 0 1 . 1 996 1 e4 e5 2 tLlf3 tt:Jc6 3 �b5 a6 4 .i.a4 tLlf6 5 0-0 tt:Jxe4

At one time the Open Variation was very popular, but now there are few will i ng to play it. The secret is, fi rstly, that Black falls well behind in development, and sec­ ondly, the resulti ng wh ite pawn on e5 exerts far more influence on the game than Black's lone knight i n the centre. 6 d4 b5 7 �b3 d5 8 dxe5 �e6 9 c3 �c5

1 0 'i!Vd3!

This ancient move came as a su rprise to my opponent. Its aim is clear - to exchange the dark-square bishops as soon as possible. I n passing I avoid the sharp variation 1 0 tLlbd2 0-0 1 1 �c2 tt:Jxf2 ! ? 1 2 l:txf2 f6 etc. 1 0 . . . 0-0 11 �e3 'i!Vd7 1 2 tLlbd2 �xe3 1 3 'i¥xe3 tt:Jxd2 1 4 'i!Vxd2

Black's illusions have been d ispelled . He no longer has his bishop at c5 and his central striker, his knight, has d isap­ peared . But the weakness of the dark squares has remai ned , and has eve n , I wou ld say, been exposed more stri kingly - l i ke the stony bottom of a mountain stream d u ring a d rought. 14 . . . .laad8 1 5 laad1 'i'le7 16 h3

This move remi nded me of a curious incident. Before his first match with Karpov, Korch noi i nvited me to a 1 0-day training session . On one occasion he showed me a position from the Open Variation with a valuable improvement. I th ink that the nuance lay in the move .. g7-g6. When he returned, without saying anyth ing I played h2-h3. Korch noi looked at the board for a couple of seconds - and suddenly swept the pieces off. He realised that there was no defence against the manoeuvre tLlf3-

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

h2-g4-f6+ . This is a n answer to the question why I helped h i m . I n chess we understood each other i m med iately. 1 6 . . .'�:Ja5 1 7 �c2 c5

lt is obvious that Black has suffered a fiasco in the opening. But with what move should Wh ite beg i n his attack? If one remembers about the f-pawn , the answer is obvious. 1 8 lt:Jg5! g6 1 8 . . . h6? 1 9 lt:Jh7 l1fe8 20 ttlf6+! gxf6 2 1 i¥xh6 f5 2 2 .lad3 intending .l:!g3+.

The situation has clarified : the win for Wh ite is merely a question of time. Thi nking that the matter was settled , I relaxed - and was punished for my desire to win without exerting myself. 27 . . . ttle5 28 �f5 c4 29 .te4 'W/e7 30 .l:!.d1 .l:!.g8 3 1 'it>h 1

Avoiding the trap 3 1 .U d6? ttlf3+ 32 �h 1 ttlg5 33 l:i.d7 ttlxe4 ! 34 .l:r.xe7 ttlg3+. 3 1 . . . .l:!.e8

19 f4 tt:Jc4 20 'i¥f2 f6

20 . . . ttlxb2? 2 1 'iWh4 f5 22 exf6 .l:!xf6 23 .I:tde 1 !, or 21 . . . h5 22 .l:!.de 1 ! and if 22 . . . f5? 23 exf6 .laxf6 24 ttlxe6! , but meanwhile 23 f5 .tea 24 e6! is th reatened . 21 lt:Jxe6 'ir'xe6

32 .tc2?

22 f5! !

The prelude to a n elegant exchanging combination . For the spectators such moves are a surprise , but essentially they are merely a sign of good tech nique. 22

. • .

gxf5 23 i.xf5! 'ii'x e5 24 l:tfe1

There is no longer anything for the rook to do on the f-file. 24 . . .'Yi'c7 25 l:txd5 .l:!.xd5 26 i.e6+ 'it>h8 27 .txd5

Here I should have played 32 ftd6 ! , but I was concerned about the reply 32 . . . ttlg6. Flear was also relying on it, but when after the game I showed the variation 33 .l:!.d7 'W/e5 (during the play I overlooked that if 33 . . . 'iWxe4 there is a mate by 34 ii'xf6+ ) 3 4 l:txh7+! 'it>xh7 35 'ii'x g6+ he was shocked . 32 . . . ttlg6 33 l:td7 'YWe1 + 34 �h2 'it'e5+

I missed th is check. 35 �g 1 'i!Vxf5 36 .txf5 .!:i.e2 !

Now, although not without some d ifficulty, Black scrapes a draw. 37 h4 .l:!.xb2 38 h5 lt:Jf8 39 l:tf7 Wg8 40 .l:!.xf6 .l:!.xa2 41 h6 .l:!.e2

41 . . . a5 42 i.e4 .l:!.d2 43 l:tf5!

T H E E N G L I S H GAR D E N E R

42 I:.xa6 .l:te3 43 �a7 .l::!. x c3 44 l:!.g7+ �h8 45 l:tb7 �g8

45 . . . l:.b3? 46 ..lte4 and wins. 46 �f2 l:.c1 47 �e2

47 .te4 .l:td 1 intending . . . .l:.d6. 47 ... l:. h 1 ! 48 ..lth3 c3 49 �d3 .lad 1 + 50 'it>xc3 ltd6 Draw.

Of course, I d id not even dream about trying to qualify for the main tou rnament. There they are all tough professionals, whereas I, as this game shows, was not capable of withstanding prolonged ten­ sio n . Besides, for this I would have had to concentrate entirely on playing and forget about my training obligations. As it was , after making a move I wal ked round the boards of my proteges. On seeing this, they would each time assume thoug htful poses, so that I would later praise them for

BRmSH CHESS FEDERA110N

COACH

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their efforts : after a l l , on a morning we used to go through the most interesti ng of the games played the day before. In a word , there was more than sufficient work! As a reward for my labours, in December 1 994 I was awarded a coaching diploma, signed by John Littlewood , the Di rector of J u n ior Chess. I n my homeland I could only dream of receiving such a diploma. Although , as God is my witness, I have done far more for junior chess in Russia than in England . . . Everg reen equ ivalent

once remembered that I had not re­ ceived a prize for sharing first place in the Hasti ngs tou rnament of . . . 1 975! When I mentioned this to the tou rnament organis­ ers, they were su rprised , but they be­ lieved me. Later, as a check, they never­ theless looked at the accounts - it was right, I hadn't received it. Ceremonially, in the presence of the Mayor, they pre­ sented me with an envelope, having asked in passing whether I was expecting any interest. 'No, no, only the prize.' And everyone was happy. Why didn't I receive it earl ier? I was hoping at that time for an invitation from the Bois-Gentil club to be their trainer for a year and I wanted to have a l ittle foreign cu rrency for a start. Of course, at home this might not have been approved . But I took a risk, as I had already done many times. And in 1 994 I suddenly realised that I had fi rst been in Hastings 40 years earl ier, and at a meeting with the Mayor of the town I asked if they would mark this event with a commemorative diploma. And what do you think? The next day he presented me with a diploma, certifying that I had twice been winner of the Premier Tournament

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

and had played a fu rther three times in the Challengers. I was happy and I thanked h i m from the bottom of my heart. There was also a practical point to this. When i n 1 999 I appl ied to the B ritish Embassy in Moscow for a mu lti-entry visa , I attached a copy of the diploma. I think that this was an i mportant tru mp . . .

9lastings Inttmationa£ Chess Congress 'lfli.s i.s 11:> uk6nu� tfu 40IIi Ylmdwrsary oftfu first 4f111UITII ItU ill tfu :Jlasti"'JS l11�malimlal Cfuss CO"'JTUS 6y :

I

David Bronstein

1963 - 54

1975 . 7t

J

joint 1st. place in Pramiar joint 1st. place in Pramiar inviad pla)W in Qllllenaers lllll inviad

-To

)>!h 1 'Llf2+ 29 'it>h2 (the most tenacious) 29 . . . 'Llxh3! 30 Si.xh3 (30 i.g2 'Llg4+ 3 1 Wxh3 lDe3+ 32 �h2 'Llxc2 , or 31 h 1 'i¥g 1 +! 32 .l:!.xg 1 'Llhf2 mate) 30 . . . 'ii'f2+ 3 1 Ji.g2 (31 'it>h 1 Ji.xh3 3 2 flg 1 'Llg4) 3 1 . . . 'Llg4+ 3 2 � h 1 �xg3 33 Wg 1 .ll f8 ! , and there is n o defence against mate. 27 . . . �c5+ 28 h2 l:tc7 29 Si.c4 'Llxc3 30 'ii'x c3 e4! 31 'i!Yd2 e3! 32 'Yi'g2 'it'd4

The triumph of central isation ! The threat is . . . .l:!.xc4, after which all the light squares will be controlled by my pieces. 33 l:tc1 'Lle4 ( threatening . . . .te5 ! ) 34 kta2 .l::!.f8

25 . . J:lab7! !

A change of scene. White has a d ifficult choice: to allow . . . a5-a4 or captu re this pawn . My opponent th rew caution to the winds, but after the game I th i n k that he regretted his decision . Those who were happy were the several dozen spectators who formed a solid ring around our board . Later I was tol d : ' David , you become so absorbed in time-trouble that you don't see what i nterest you r play provokes. The position becomes slightly sharp - and everyone h u rries to fi nd a conven ient place. They are sure that there will be someth ing worth seeing!' I commented

From where has Black got so many p ieces?! Was their activity restrained by the single lone pawn at e4?

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35 ..tb4 i.e5 36 .te1 h5 37 �h1 l:!.f2! 38 .txf2 exf2 39 'i¥f3

I sti l l had five minutes left on the clock, and I calmly constructed a mating finish. 39 . . . i.. x h3 4 0 tt:l c 6 tt:lxg3+ 41 �h2 'i!Vh4! 42 .laxf2 tt:le2+ 43 tt:lxe5 .tt1 + White resigns.

Stewart Reuben is an excellent organiser, and he also plays wel l (at any event, in the Menchik Memorial he confidently made a d raw with me ) . But he clearly overesti­ mates my capabilities ; apparently I seem to him to be an evergreen eq uivalent. When he sent me an invitation to the J ubilee Hastings Tou rnament in 1 995, Stewart 'gladdened' me with a program that had me working overtime : after each round to give commentaries for the bul le­ ti n , to help amateurs in the analysis of games played , and in the evenings to conduct a master class in the club. As compensation he offered Tanya and me a hotel and money for meals. Wonderful conditions! Of cou rse, such lack of ceremony on the part of an old friend greatly surprised me, and I reduced the work to the m i n i m u m : I read a few lectu res to local chess enthusi­ asts - for free, but with an invariable ovation at the end! Dea r Ken n et F i l i povich !

Although I have many friends in the worl d , a n d even more simple acquaintances, there are very few people who understand me. There are even fewer to whom I allow into my sou l . There is nothing strange about this: in my homeland I d id not al low anyone there. The only exception is Tanya , who, I fear, understands me better than I do myself. Possibly for this reason we do not experience particular discom-

fort from the fact that we are forced to live in d ifferent, although friendly cou ntries: I in Russian , and she in Belarus. Our d reams of l iving together proved , alas, to a Utopia. Tanya does not want to give up her work, since Moscow is not able to offer her anyth ing equivalent. And I also do not want to move to M insk: what is there for me to do there , except drink tea while wa iting for my wife to return from work and feed me d i n ner, which the senior lectu re in the department of the history and theory of music prepared before leaving for the u n iversity, after getti ng up, as usual , at six in the morning? I n Moscow a t least I have some friends . . . I n my solitary years I was greatly sup­ ported by Rose-Marie's letters, in which between the sparse Engl ish words one could read both sympathy, and the hope of a future meeti ng. There was and is only one problem : with Rose-Marie and Peter my contact has to be in English , a lan­ guage which I love , but which is neverthe­ less foreig n . A n d then l ife itself brought me together with someone whom for many years I had known only by correspondence - from the covers of my books, publ ished i n the early 1 980s in England . I am talking about the translator Kenneth Neat, an acknowl­ edged expert in his field . lt tu rned out that we had many common interests apart from chess . I n his youth he stud ied physics, and spent two years as a post­ doctorate in Moscow U n iversity. But then he became disill usioned with science and became a pure h u manitarian. My friendship with Ken greatly helped me during my wa nderings. I had acquired a person I cou ld write to, with whom I could openly share my thoug hts i n my native language about what was going on arou nd.

THE E N G L I S H GARD E N E R

True, it would happen that my letters to Kennet Filipovich (that, in the Russian manner, is how I address him when I write) turned out to be so confessional, that th rough old Soviet habits I was afraid to send them . Tanya jokes that from my unsent letters Ken could compile a sepa­ rate book, which would be a good assist­ ance to future historians. But even that which I sent h i m would in former times have been more than enough to receive 'ten years without the right to correspond'. Well , how could I not com­ ment on the address by Yeltsin that I heard on the rad io to 'dear Russians' with the req uest not to envy the rich? I recall from memory: 'The experience of western cou ntries shows that in a state where

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there are many rich people, everyone lives well . ' With the English th is phrase provoked Homeric laughter. I n contrast to the absolute majority of E u ropeans (I won 't say anything about Americans), who have a vague and very su perficial impression about Russian l ife, Ken had an u ncommonly subtle feeling for our apocalyptic everyday existence. Which is not surprising, in view of his profession and fa miliarity with Russian culture. But Ken is also a good psychologist. When I complained to him that I was very tired from my accidentally acquired free­ dom, in reply I received the fol lowing diagnosis: 'Dear David, Many thanks for your letters. I am very concerned to hear about your health problems. 1t seems to me that your mode of life over the last few years, with its constant travelling, was not good for your body, but that perhaps your mind needed the constant stimulation of new experiences. I think it would be sad if you had to change course so drastically that you were unable to experience the latter. ' These were Ken's actual words, as he prefers to write to me in English , and speaks Russian only on the telephone.

With Ken Neat in S i d c u p d u ri n g work on the book ' B ronste i n on the K i n g 's I n d i a n '

I so liked my new friend that, on learning of his long-standing love for the King's Indian Defence, I changed my contract for the book 'Bronstein on the Ki ng's Indian', suggesting that Ken should be the co­ author. If only you knew how d ifficult it was to create this book, meeting only in fits and starts. First I would go to see h i m in Du rham , then he would come for a day or two to me in London . I would send him notes, and he would run up big bills on long telephone conversations. I am glad that after five years the book was never­ theless publ ished by Everyma n , and I

98

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

th ink that it was greeted with i nterest. I n it there is indeed much that is new and unusual. Ken has a small but comfortable house on the outskirts of Durham - a city in the north of England, known th roug hout the world for its Norman cathed ral . Not far away are the ru ins of the Roman Wal l , to where he took Tanya and me. Ken has a very friendly and talented fam i ly. His wife Diana teaches the fl ute . His younger

daughter is an excel lent si nger and piano player, while his elder daug hter is at un iversity and, fol lowi ng the example of her father, is studyi ng French and Rus­ sian. lt is a pity only that there is not a lot of room in the house. Once in the summer I even spent the n ight in their carava n . Th is appealed t o m e , a n d I told Ken about th is. In one of his recent letters I read : 'Come and stay with us. Your 'caravan ' always awaits you. ' Thank you !

Two romances in Paris

I distance fl ig hts which we have today,

n 1 954 there were not yet the long­

and so on the way to the U SA the Soviet team had to change i n the French capital from an Aeroflot plane to an Air France l iner. While the question of the tickets was being resolved , we gai ned the opportunity to stroll around summer-time Paris. Not just for one, but for two whole days . lt was a fairy-tale! When I fi nally cl imbed aboard the plane, I could hardly stand on my feet: I had not slept for two n ig hts , but had wal ked , walked , wal ked around the streets, as if drunk, unable to stop myself . . . F rench lessons

One should walk around Paris at night. By day the city creates a cold impression. Everyone is worki ng, and it is ted ious even. The French are offended when they are described as a nation of jovial people. 'Yes, ' they reply, 'we know how to relax. After work. But during the day we work hard , otherwise there would not be our riches , either cultural or ind ustrial . ' There­ fore I largely spent the daytime hou rs on

the embankments of the Seine, fasci­ nated by the sight of the bookstalls. My God , the things they had there! This is a tradition of Paris - second-hand book­ sellers on the embankment. And it seemed to me that business was not the main thing for them . These good-natu red and sociable people were identically pleased both with buyers, and with mere idlers like myself. I have to admit: I ru mmaged th rough the books , but I d idn't buy anyth ing, apart from two beautifully publ ished French lang uage textbooks for ch ildre n . Why them? There was a reaso n . I n m y school in Kiev there were two classes in year eight. We stud ied the same subjects, from the Ukrainian lan­ guage to mil ita ry matters. There was only one difference. My class was taught Engl ish , and to this day I am vexed with myself: why d idn't I approach that nice girl in the parallel class and ask her to teach me the rud iments of French? But I was a shy youth , timid eve n . I d isplayed my bold ness only in sport: in winter I went

TWO RO MANCES I N PA R I S

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Second-hand book sta l l s on the banks of the Seine - for me the most i m portant featu re of Paris

ski ing and skating , and in summer ra n races through the forest; I cou ld easily climb a rope and tu rn sum mersa u lts on a horizontal bar . . . Why am I remembering about all this? Because all my life I have had the greatest d ifficulties with the French lan­ guage. I just about learned to read it, but I have never been able to speak it. Al­ though I did have some success. As usua l , it was chance that came to my assistance .

gestures , you ca n express everything that you want to . However, not i n fact everything . I think it was the morn i n g after the banquet that I went to the book kiosk and bought those two textbooks . And i n 1 956, w h e n after t h e opening ceremony of the memorial to Alekh ine, at a d i n ner in the restaurant of the Lutetia Hotel I fou n d myself next t o Chantal C h a u d e de Si lans*, I tried i n itially to speak to her in French . But soon I had to switch to English, i n which Chantal was fluent. . .

I n 1 954 a t a banq uet i n Paris I fou n d myself sitti ng next t o o n e o f t h e daug hters of the F I D E vice-president Marcel Berman . Over a period of a few hours I was given an entire cou rse of how, with smiles and

Subseq uently I acq u i red some records with a French language cou rse, I often look th rough an explanatory d ictionary, and I l i ke to listen to Paris rad io, but all the same I find it hard to converse . I have no

· Many times French lady champion (translator's note)

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

one to talk with . But studyi ng a language without live contact is the same as playing chess with your home computer. Althoug h , occasionally fate was kind to me: in 1 969 and 1 972 together with Smyslov I twice spent a whole week in Paris! The fi rst time - on the way to the tou rnament in Monaco , and the second when retu rn ing from Las Palmas. We stayed with our mutual friend , the chess master Robert Vieillefond, and his charm­ ing, always welcoming wife Lucille. On the outski rts of Paris they had a small hotel with one lone housemaid. 'Vous avez de yeux qui rient et qui refletent votre intelligence ' (your eyes laugh , and in them your mind shi nes) - I received this u nexpected compliment dur­ ing one of the feasts which Robert generously arranged for us every day. I stil l have this sheet, written in fine hand­ writing (so that for me, a foreigner, it should be more readable), and I remem­ ber, as though it was yesterday, the glance of one of Viei llefond's lady friends, when she carelessly handed me this note . I was confused and didn't know what to say. I n my consternation I mur­ mured 'Merci ' . And we continued our lig ht-hearted conversatio n . As if noth ing had happened . I sti l l remember that stranger, and happened to meet her aga i n , I wou ld be ashamed to tel l her that I stil l keep tender note not only i n my archives, also i n a secret corner of my heart . . .

if I not her but

However, at that moment my heart was occupied elsewhere. The previous day, at the house of Fran9ois Le Lionnais (whom I will mention later), I made the acquai nt­ ance of h i s secretary, a charming dark­ eyed lady by the name of Monique. She had her own car, and Franyois asked her

to take me to my hote l . On the way I plucked up courage and asked her to show me night-time Paris. Monique hesi­ tated for a couple of seconds and then said : 'Very wel l . ' She promised to pick me up that evening. Later she called for me a few more times, and we d rove around the city in her tiny l ittle car, stopping from time to time at small cafes, to d rink a cup of coffee. My new acquaintance spoke only French, and like it or not I had to master the language as I went along . If I didn't understand something, she would pa­ tiently, l i ke a teacher, repeat the sentence aga i n . Later Monique sent me two letters to Moscow (from the retu rn address I learned her surname - Lorillard ) . I re­ member, on read ing the first, that I was g reatly surprised at how easily I under­ stood everything , u ntil I read at the end that she had tried del iberately to write simply, as in school . . . I was somewhat concerned about our age difference: I was forty-five, while she was only twenty-seven . But, when I mentioned this, Monique protestingly exclaimed : 'No, no!' Could it be that my u n i n h i bited French in fact created the illusion that I was stil l young? Lucille and Smyslov were sure that we were havi ng a passion­ ate roma nce, but they d i d n't know me at a l l . I was glad just to have the possibil ity of contact with a you ng Parisienne, and besides, there was the pressing thought that I would soon be leaving for Moscow, so how could there be any romance? I l i ke five-minute games only i n chess. We also met in 1 972, but u nfortunately Monique was busy and had no time for strolls around Paris. Soon she bought a house in Brittany, and I lost contact with her . . .

TWO ROMAN C E S I N PAR I S

Revenge on Keres

Given my interest in everything new, I of cou rse could not avoid looking in at the kitchen , where the owner of the hotel herself prepared the meals. Lucille was g lad of my culinary questions and happily showed how long and thoroughly the various spices had to be rubbed into the ch icken pieces, so that when they were roasted they would acquire the special aroma that would send all gou rmets wild . She also disclosed certain other secrets of French cu isine. Alas, i n Moscow all these secrets were of no use to me. I remember how at the Candidates Tournament in Zurich ( 1 953) I began teasing my colleagues that in a certain shop I had found some u nusual juice-squeezer, but I d idn't know whether it was worth that amount of money. And I named a completely ridiculous price . You should have seen what a hubbub began! Which is just what I wanted : for us, even if only for a time, to forget about our wives, what they had ordered , and to stop d iscussing where and what it was advan­ tageous to buy . . . The next day I annou nced after breakfast that I was going to the shop for my miracle-juicer. After finishing my coffee, with a determ ined step I headed for the door. And suddenly I heard the ironic voice of Keres: ' David , but out of what, in fact, are you intending to squeeze your ju ice?' 1 was stupefied . Keres had brought me back to earth , by reminding me that in our shops throughout the year there was hardly any fru it. Now it was my move. The strongest qual ity of a real chess player is the abil ity to admit defeat. In a dign ified fashion. I stood by the door for a few seconds, then

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qu ickly retu rned to the table and, as though noth ing had happened , requested : ' Paul Petrovich , would you please pour me another cup of coffee. ' But this was not the end o f the story. That day I asked Keres to help me find a sports shop, where for a genuinely bargain price I bought myself a Swiss chronometer, which reg istered not just tenths, but even hundredths of a second ! I n short, I gai ned tacit revenge. I n cidentally, about coffee . I n my youth I tried at foreign tournaments to compen­ sate for the lack of my home by arranging a cafe i n my hotel room . I bought flowers, fruit and ju ice and played the role of a cord ial host. This very much appealed to everyone. At one point thi ngs became rid iculous. At the Candidates Tou rnament in Amsterdam I entered my room and saw the following scene. Lying on my bed was Oscar Panno (to the question, why with­ out permissio n , he repl ied : 'If I had asked , you would have been offended ' ) , at the table, with glasses of fru it juice in their hands, the wives of Smyslov and Petrosian were playing cards, while Tig ra n , h u m­ ming to hi mself, was shaving in front of the m i rror with my new razor! lt tu rned out that he wanted to buy a similar one and had decided to try it. . . Everyone especially liked the coffee which 1 made from a recipe of Milunka Lazarevic. 'During a visit to Belgrade in 1 954 David bought a hand grinder and coffee pot, ' she writes in her memoirs . 'He took the percolator everywhere with him and made genuine Turkish coffee. And suddenly at the USSR-Yugoslavia match in Lvov he arrived without his coffee equipment. I asked him why. He replied: ''There are three reasons. The first - it is heavy to carry about. The second and third: every-

1 02

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

one drinks my black coffee, but after­ wards they say that I am a little cranky. "' Coffee was my visiting ca rd . And when as a joke I opened a guest book, I called it 'Knight and coffee' . I look through it now ­ and it is as though it was only yesterday. 'Being a specialist on knights and eco­ nomics, I deem David to be the leader of coffee matters in Russia. On my return from Turkey, I hope to compete with him. Ferzberi. 1 5. 09. 6 1 '. Who is this Ferzberi? lt is my old friend , from the time of the war, Boris Samoilovich Vainste i n . B u t my culinary talents are not restricted to coffee alone. That book is opened with a note from Keres: 'I have to admit that David is the best chef among grandmas­ ters. Congratulations on first place! Mos­ cow, 1 8. 1 2. 1 955'. I think that these words could also have been signed by Spassky, for whom in 1 960 in Buenos Aires I prepared such a d i n ner (he kept com­ plaining that he was long i ng for some Russian soup), that later, whenever we met, he wou l d say, pictu resq uely shaking his head : ' David l onovich , what a wonder­ ful soup that was! ' My frie n d Fra n �ois

Once, before the time that I worked for 'lzvestiya' , I read there a cu rious com­ ment: 'In Paris there lives a strange man: it is said that he has more than 2500 chess books, but that he himself has not played a single tournament game. ' I realised that the man in question was my friend Franc;:ois Le Lionnais. The reader may already have noticed that I rarely use the word 'friend ' , but Franc;:ois really was my friend and l i ke-m inded person. We met in 1 955 when I was setti ng a fierce pace at the l nterzonal Tou rnament in Gothenburg . One day I was approached

by a rosy-cheeked man , who in appear­ ance strikingly resembled Dickens's M r Pickwick, and , handing m e a beautifully packed parcel , he introd uced himself: 'I am Franc;:ois Le Lionnais, professor of mathematics in Paris. Th is is my new book about chess . Don't forget to read the i nscription on the title page. ' I ntrigued , I promptly removed the wrapper and opened the book: 'Pour David Bran­ stein dont j'admire le genie echiqueen '. And on a new line: 'Bronstein, you must win the next Championship of the world. Amicalement, F. Le Lionnais. '. I was touched . lt is pleasant to see such a wish , and especially i n a book entitled 'Les Prix de Beaute aux Echecs'! Later we became friends. I n the spring of 1 956 we together opened a monument to Alekh ine in Paris, and then he came to support me in Amsterdam at the Candi­ dates Tou rnament. All the time he was inviti ng me to stay with him for a couple of months in Paris (Franc;:ois simply could not understand why anyone could not allow 'the great Bronstein' to trave l ) and when in 1 969 I fi nally visited him, he even showed me 'my' two rooms with an exit into a luxurious garden , which , strangely enoug h , belonged to him - a present from the city authorities to a hero of the Resistance. I n my library there is a book by Colonel Remy, one of the leaders of the French Resistance , a sign ificant place in which is taken by the story 'A chess player' about the underground work of Franc;:ois Le Lionnais d u ring the years of the fascist occu pation. For more than two years he d i rected a large organ isation in the south of France. Seized by the Gestapo, he underwent some cruel tortu re, but did not betray anyone. On the door of Franc;:ois'

TWO ROMAN C E S I N PAR I S

Fra�ola

Le

Uonnais.

le

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cUpart dea baJnarda de Dora par routes ennelpes de l a Thurln•.

1 03

lea

An i l l ustration from the book 'Autour de la PI age Bonaparte'. Franc;ois Le Lionnais, and on the right - a photogra ph of the Dora concentration camp, where he was imprisoned during the war.

isolation cel l were the letters N N (Nacht und Nebel - N ight and Fog ), which signi­ fied : dangerous criminal, liable to be elimi-nated . He was saved from imminent depth by . . . chess! However, it is best to read this fantastic story in the book itself 'Autour de la Plage Bonaparte', which , I hope, will one day be published in Rus­ sian . I did not manage t o stay with Frant>e8 1 8 'i¥xg8+ 'it>d7 1 9 'i¥xd8+ i..x d8 20 .i.xb7 'Llc6 21 .i.xa8 lLlxd4 22 .i.e4. 1 8 'fVf5+ �e8 1 9 'iVg6+ 'it>f8 20 �xe6 liJh6 21 'oii> e 2 .i.f4!

This move demonstrates the fig hting spi rit of the French lady champion . Faced with the threat of 22 � f1 +, in her place many would simply have capitu lated . 22 �f1 'fVh4

I overlooked this move. 23 � c8+ 'it>e 7 24 .i.e6!

Not a l lowing the knight to go to f5, and th reatening mate in one move . 24 . . . �h5+ 25 .l::If3 �h2+ 26 'iit d 3 'iNd2+ 27 'it>c4 b5+ 28 �b3 c6

The checks had come to an end , and liJd5 mate was stil l threatened . 29 d5! (the final chord ) 29 . . . lLld7 (29 . . . .i.xe5 3 0 �f8 mate) 3 0 'i:Vxd7+ 'it>t8 3 1 'iNd6+ e8 3 2 .l:txf4 Black resigns.

When the following day I again looked in at the club, a memorable episode oc­ cu rred . A young man was head ing my way. I real ised that it was one of the previous day's students, and I slowed down , assuming (from my Moscow expe­ rience) that I would have to answer some question. But no, the young man did not stop. As he drew level with me, he slightly lowered his shaggy head and said in an

1 08

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

everyday man ner: ' Ban soir, maitre ! ' and moved o n . I sh uddered i n surprise . This is probably how they g reet lectu rers when they meet them in the un iversity. Alas, no one since has addressed me in this way . . . If that was my only reg ret! I remember that when I first stayed with Bouton, I asked h i m to take me to the Caissa Clu b ­ I wanted to see Chaude de Silans aga i n . lt was November, b u t there were fresh flowers in the kiosks . I chose a bouquet and we set off to the club. lt was now in a d ifferent, far more modest building. Chantal was pleased to see me, and she recog­ nised me at once, although we had not seen each other for nearly quarter of a century. We went into the hall and sat down at a n empty table. I noticed that s h e was n o longer burning with h e r former enthusi­ asm, and that there was a sad look i n her eyes . Glancing arou nd , I th i n k that I understood the reason for Chantal's sad­ ness. Not, it was not on account of her age; French women never g row old . The visitors - that's what distressed her! Morose, l i ke heroes i n Kuprin's 'Marab u ' , t h e players, w h o were b y no means young, monotonously exchanged moves, h u rrying to press the clock button. There was no l ively reaction to moves , only dead automatism. The room was sma l l , with some eig ht boards, and on every one there was the same depressing picture . What a decl ine from the t i m e o f m y last visit . . . There was something else that seemed strange to me. I didn't realise th is immedi­ ately, but only on ou r way back, when Ch ristophe was dashing to his place on the outskirts, h u rrying to reach our favou r­ ite cafe before it closed {of cou rse, the

centre of Paris is fu l l of cafes where one can sit at night, but i n the residential d istricts they operate at a loss) . What su rprised me was why Chantal d id n't say to the club visitors that we have a famous player visiti ng, and suggest that he should be g reeted with applause? Why didn't she say that she had known me for many years, and knew my character, and if anyone had any questions, I would be happy to answer them? Why didn't she ask whether they would l i ke to arrange a simultaneous d isplay on five or six boards? After a l l , she knew that I would not refuse . . . I know why. Because these ' Marabu' were no longer chess players! They were d rug add icts of the game. And Chantal was afraid of embarrassing me; she was not sure that any of them wou ld know about me. And I left the cl u b with a heavy heart. I was brought out of this state by Christophe, who suggested finishing the evening with a g lass of wine. I ncidentally, at the last meeting Chaude de Silans and I talked about everyth i n g , apart from chess. Pos­ sibly the presence of Bouton was a restraint, and we were afraid of seeming like old grumblers, remembering those times when chess was sti l l considered an art. My meeti ngs with S passky

The following day a su rprise awaited me. I was sitting alone at home, watch ing television, with the clock showing eight in the eve n i n g . The telephone ra ng. A confi­ dent voice asked in F rench for Monsieur Bouto n . 'He is not at home . ' Apparently my accent betrayed me. 'Is that you , David lonovich?' 'Yes. ' 'This is Spassky. I would l i ke to see you . ' 'Where are you?' 'By you r entrance . ' 'My God , what should

TWO ROMAN C E S I N PAR I S ------ .--�

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� - �.. · - · - - ��,--·-·------

OHUJTEftH B. nACCI g 2!

I remember that I was very proud of th is q uiet move . 37 . . .'it'xb2 38 li:Je6 g 5 (38 . . . 'i!Vb5 was more tenacious) 39 l:td7 �e5 40 l:txg7+ 'it>h6 41 l:!.e7 c3 42 i.. d 4 'ii'd 6 43 .i:rf7! Black resigns.

lt was only later, one evening in Moscow, when I suddenly realised that all my brilliancy had been in vai n . The problem could have been solved in one move : 3 1 iixd5+ ! ! 'i!Vxd5 3 2 dxe7, with the same idea as i n the game, only far simpler. Annoying . . . There was one consolation : none of those who were delig hted by the combination noticed this spectacular move. *

I n itially I simply wanted t o play 3 1 �g3 .l:'te8 32 d7 .l:.d8 33 'W/c7 bxc5 34 .ii. x a5, when suddenly I saw a splendid combina­ tion with a queen sacrifice .

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Although through Bouton's efforts I be­ ca me a freq uent visitor to Paris, there was l ittle time to walk around the city. And besides , what for? Three days is sufficient to see all you need to i n Paris. After that you need an etern ity . . . Besides, I remem­ bered the retort by the unforgettable Robert Vieil lefond : ' David, where are you off to? What is there that's new to see i n Paris? Take you r coat off, s i t down , a n d let's d ri n k some excellent wine!'

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

Al pi ne bal l ad I\ foreigner, I think, will never be able to /""\u nderstand the joy of a Soviet citize n ,

w h o h a s been g ranted t h e u n heard-of pleasure of travelling around Switzerland alone, without supervision. But also for young Russian players , who now mig rate in herds from one open tou rnament to another, the euphoria of complete free­ dom is something unknown . They depend on sponsors, organisers , their ratings, appearance fees and prizes . . . But i n J u ne 1 975, when I flew in to Zurich , I felt as free as a bird. Of cou rse, I had a program of appearances. But those were in the evenings. In the meantime I could go where I wanted , look at what I wanted , eat where I wanted and even drink whatever I desired ! And I delighted to my heart's content in this sudden freedom of choice, which is the main value, i n my view, of human l ife. Lesso n of J a panese wisdom

lt is said that in Japan it is not possible to occupy an i m portant government post, u nless you have a high rating in the game of Go. I have g reat respect for th is Eastern game, although I myself can't play it. Which is a p ity. In these silent l ittle stones there is someth ing mysterious, forcing the brain to th ink. But there is one rule that I have learned thoroug hly: if a g roup of your stones is th reatened with enci rcle­ ment and death , you must make two windows - players cal l them 'eyes' - and then your g roup will pulsate , reta i n i ng vital energy . . . When over a long period of time ( 1 97689) I was unable to travel abroad, I did not feel that I was shut in a cage : abroad I had

two 'eyes' - the Hannan family in London and the Bois-Gentil Club in Geneva , where I had been invited i n 1 975. lt is largely made u p of amateu r, but q u ite strong players. I ended up there i n Geneva qu ite accidentally. T h e U S S R Chess Federation decided t o respond t o a request by their col leagues from Switzer­ land - to send a g randmaster on a visit. Why the choice fel l on me is understand­ able: the Swiss warned that the fee would be purely symbolic, but all the travelling from town to town , plus payments for hotels and meals, would be at their expense. Not surprisingly, a mong our grandmasters no one was wil ling to travel on such cond itions. And then they remem­ bered about me . . . Good lord , what other payments are needed , if you are i nvited to make a cost-free journey around a fai ry­ tale Alpine country? And as for simultane­ ous displays and tal ks with chess enthusi­ asts - these are a mutual pleasure. At Zu rich ai rport I was cordially g reeted and immed iately they confidentially said : 'You have been sold to us very cheaply. ' I n reply I merely nodded - mean i n g , I already know that. For a whole month I travelled around different towns. The spi rit of freedom intoxicated me more than any wine, and the desire arose in me . . . to l ive i n Switzerland! A crazy idea for those times, but I had been d riven into a corner and I had to take a risk. In add ition , I knew that Geneva was considered a 'free city' . I ndeed , soon after my return to Moscow the telephone ran g . One of the d irectors of the Bois-Genti l Club i nformed me that they had been discussing with the M ayor of Geneva the possibility of inviting me to

AL P I N E BALLAD

do training work for a period of one year. I was frig htened by this open conversation and I muttered someth ing indistinct - as if I didn't understand what they were talking about. But, as it turned out, they were merely inform ing me, and had them­ selves already sent a n official invitation to our Federation . And now Baturi nsky sum­ moned me: 'You want to go to Geneva? That's not the way to do it at a l l . Tell us, and we ou rselves will arrange matters . ' I real ised that my invitation had already been sta m ped 'Shelved' . But all the same, thank you to my Swiss friends. Then many years later, in April 1 99 1 , an amusing episode occu rred with me i n Minsk. O n e evening I went into t h e chess cl ub, and there an international match was taking place. I looked more closely the Swiss flag. lt was very young lads who were playi ng. Here two of them stood up from the board and bega n talking in French. I approached them : 'Where are you from?' ' F rom Geneva?' 'And from which club?' They proudly replied : ' Bois­ Genti l . ' Then I took out from my breast pocket the club identity card , which I always carried with me, and showed it to them . They were d u m bfounded ! lt is probable that, had they seen someone from another planet, my new friends would have been less surprised . Friends? Of course. They promptly invited me to Geneva , and for the moment - to their hotel. And for a long time we played bl itz and chatted . They were pleased to see a ' l iving legend' and I was pleased to feel that I was among fellow club-mates . . . Postcard from Africa

Yves Kraushaar, the organiser of my 1 975 tou r (later he became famous for manag­ ing to penetrate i nto Fischer's hideaway

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and publ ish a book with a recording of their conversations), l ived in the town of Olten and he accommodated me in the neighbouring small town of Aarburg , in the house of his friend - Doctor of Medicine Kurt B roch i n . lt was a fi ne house, with an outbuilding, and in the yard was a wooden shed the size of a small hangar. lt turned out that in his youth Kurt had often been to I ndia, he was an antiques collector, and in the ' hangar' there was now a genuine museum of I n d ian a rt. 'How did you manage to bring all this out? ' , I asked , staggered by the great number of exhibits . 'There, in I n d i a , they have only now become wiser, but earl ier they didn't val ue their treasures at a l l . ' T h e doctor, o f course, was being cu n n i n g . Accord ing t o Yves , i n fact Ku rt had several times been detained at the border and questioned about where he had obta i ned the antiques. I think that on one occasion he was even arrested. But, as they say, the troubles are beh ind h i m , and the I n d ian rarities are now preserved in Aarburg . I was given a room in the outbui l d i n g . This was my base. I would go off for two or th ree days to other towns to give simuls and read lectu res, then I wou ld return to Aarburg to catch up on my sleep and regain my strength . The owners of the house went off early to work, but their son , who was a medical student, left even earlier - at six o'clock. At the age of twenty he knew that in time he wou ld have to d i rect his father's clinic. Therefore he considered h i mself obliged to start from the very bottom : i n the morn i ngs he worked in the sa natori u m of the cli n ic, and then he went to the institute . Around midday the entire family - Kurt, his wife, two daug hters and son - would gather in the spacious d i n i ng roo m .

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Through a hatch the d ishes were served by a cook. You should have seen this second breakfast! There was a lazy conversation a bout th is and that, but they hardly touched any food . For appear­ ances' sake they would eat a lettuce leaf and a slice of ch icke n . Then an apple and a small cu p of coffee. Was it worth keeping a cook just for this? B ut everyone had to appear for th is meal - the d iscipline of a rich househol d . Living i n t h e house was another young man by the name of Walther, the doctor's personal secretary. On one occasion he d rew my portra it from memory i n the guest book using I ndian ink. I praised h i m : the l i king was indeed stri king. Then h e asked i n some embarrassment: 'Would you like to see my paintings?' And he took me to the outbu ilding. The paintings were excellent, and I asked h i m why he d id n't exh ibit them . 'I d ream of travelling to Paris, and joining a group of artists , but I am afraid of losing my way. And here I have a reliable sou rce of i ncome . ' I wonder how his life turned out? On one occasion I asked Kurt to exa m i ne me - at that time everyone was afra id of tu mours . He took the matter very seri­ ously and even produced a report, ac­ cord ing to wh ich , if desired , I could have been called up into the army. But he did not look after h imself. He worked con­ sta ntly and smoked one cigarette after another. In reply to my q uestion he laughed : 'Cancer? If it happens, it hap­ pens.' lt wou ld have been better if he hadn't said that. Recently I learned from Yves that Dr Broch i n was occupying a bed i n h i s own clin ic, having undergone a serious operation . . . P. S. I n 1 980 Yves Kraushaar travel led to Moscow. When we met in the street, not

far from the Cosmos Hotel where he was staying, Yves said that he was helping an acquai ntance to move to Switzerland. I n passing he asked whether I too would l i ke to consider such a possibil ity: both of D r B roch i n 's daughters were sti ll u n married . I said that such a variation was not for me. Then Kraushaar passed on to me a req uest from Korch noi to send h i m a set of bulletins of the forthcoming USSR Champ­ ionsh ip. I promised to do this. And in January 1 98 1 , immediately after the con­ clusion of the Championship in Vilnius, I sent the bulletins to the address of Dr B roch i n . For the sake of secrecy, I covered them with some large gramo­ phone records of Russian classics . A month later I received from Kurt a post­ card from Africa: ' Dear Mr Bronste i n , T h a n k you very m u c h for t h e beautiful records . We are making a very n ice and especially inte resting Safari to Tanzania and send you our best wishes . ' I realised that the bul letins had arrived safely. O h , ' Bo i s -Genti l ' !

Although I have seen many beautiful cities, the one that made the g reatest im pression on me was Geneva . Possi bly, on account of the stri king contrast. Ge­ neva has so long been regarded as the centre of international d i plomacy, that I expected to see an enormous, b rig htly-lit city, where everywhere luxurious limou­ sines were zooming about, and strolling around on the pavements were d i plomats i n d i n ner su its or bright national cos­ tumes . . . lt tu rned out that all this was in the nature of a d ream . I n reality, Geneva is a sma l l , q uiet town. The ground floors of houses are every­ where g iven over to shops and cafes. On many streets old trams tru ndle along . But

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the main th ing is that the local inhabitants pay no attention to the earn i ngs and goings of d iplomats: they are all occupied with their own business. I was met by the president of the Bois­ Gentil Club, Willy Trepp, in the past a famous Swiss cyclist. The simultaneous display was a d ifficult one: out of 33 games I lost four and made eight d raws. I remember how surprised I was to see at one of the boards an old acquaintance of mine, the academician Alexander Ser­ geevich Pavlov. I d id n't know that he was working in Geneva as vice-president of the World Health Organisation. He was a surgeon , I was told , with a God-given talent. However, Pavlov was proud not of th is, but of his abil ity . . . to play the M uzio Gambit with White! We rejoiced over this unexpected g ift of fate, but there could be no question of an 'agreed' draw. In fact our game took a

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very sharp course. Pavlov played aggres­ sively and inventively, and it was only with d ifficulty that I managed to parry his threats. When we remained one agai nst one, contrary to my habit I even pulled up a chair and sat opposite h i m . My oppo­ nent was clearly disappointed with the d rawn outcome. In order somehow to ease my 'guilt' , I decided to g ive Alexan­ der Sergeevich a l ittle present. At my req uest the Moscow Chess Federation reg istered him as a candidate master, and when Pavlov returned from Geneva, I personally presented him with this evi­ dence of his chess strength . . . After thanking me for the simultaneous d isplay, W il ly Trepp gave me an expen­ sive (he said this with emphasis: 'Tres cher! ' ) present: an elegant jug and six g lasses made out of some silvery metal. And the following morn i ng I read in a newspaper a report on the display under

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

was easily able to u nderstand him). At one point we began talking about the then fashionable topic of emancipation. He sadly said that nowadays it is no longer we who choose our female partners , but it is the women who choose us. I was forced to agree.

Statuette u nder the p i l l ow

T o t h e vice-world chess champion from the vice-world cyc l i n g champion

the heading: The chess lesson of David Bronstein'. I was especially warmed by the fol lowing words: 'In particular we are

thinking about the lesson of modesty. This little man of devilish appearance dis­ played extraordinary courtesy and friend­ liness. There was not even a hint of that smugness from which many great players suffer - and, incidentally, the less great too!' The author of the article, the journalist Michei-A. Rochat, came into the club's office and I think that it was he who first suggested i nviting me to be tra i ner of the Bois-Gentil Club. We took a l i king to each other and chatted for a long time 'about l ife' (M ichel spoke excellent Engl ish , and I

Kraushaar so arranged the progra m , that after the simultaneous d isplay I was able to relax a little in Geneva . That was an unforgettable time. The young Bois-Gentil members looked after me very caringly, and did not leave me u nattended for even a moment. They genuinely loved chess and , apparently, did not want to miss the opportunity to learn something from me. Natu rally, they were all working or study­ i n g , a nd there was not a lot of time for contact with any of them . Therefore I was, so to speak, handed from one to another. With one I wou ld have lunch, with a nother dinner, and with someone else I wou ld stay the n ight. All the young players wore jeans and T­ shirts and i n their outward appearance they more resembled members of a rock group than chess players. But even on their colourfu l background one youth stood out by his eccentricity: Frederic Cadei, a tall lad with an enormous head of hair, whom to myself I called 'the hippy' . One day he said : This evening you will have d i nner at my house . ' I began wondering what sort of a den I wou ld see. Even so, I put on a suit with a white shirt and tie. Which was just as wel l . When I entered the flat, I was dumbfou nded . Everything was very tidy, with stylish furniture, and pictures on the walls - was this really the flat of my h ippy? Through the g lass door of the kitchen I saw a

AL P I N E BALLAD

young a n d attractive women. 'Your sis­ ter?'. 'No, it's my m u m , ' the youngster proudly repl ied . We sat down to din ner. Soon the father of the household arrived and sat down at the table. lt was immediately evident that this was the artist. I n itially he appeared not to notice me, and he ate i n silence, without joi ning i n the general conversatio n . But a l ittle later he suddenly said approvingly: This Muscovite understands someth ing . ' After d i n ner Santa Cadei showed me his pai ntings and i nformed me that i n Geneva he had the Foresto Gallery - it was under this name that he was known in the art worl d . Picking up from a table in the corner a statuette which resembled one of the famous 'Oscars', Santa said that he had received this prize at a recent exhibition . The statuette very much ap­ pealed to me, and d u ring the conversa­ tion I kept looking in the direction of it. When I was leavi ng the pai nter suddenly picked u p the statuette and ha nded it to me with the words: 'As a keepsake . ' 'What do you mea n , t h i s is you r prize ! ' , I protested . The reply so staggered me, that I remembered it all my l ife : ' Pas d'importance' ('Not important'). To refuse would have meant offending the master of the house, and I silently concealed the present in my jacket pocket. Of course, it wou ld have been wrong to take advantage of the artist's fit of pas­ sion. I went to sleep with the statuette under my pillow, but the next morn ing I gave it to Frederic, asking him to retu rn it to his father with my sincere thanks . . . Much later, when I arrived i n Geneva in 1 99 1 , I again saw Frederic. I didn't recogn ise h i m - he was now an elegant young man, and no longer resembled the former hippy. He was working as a programmer. He invited Ta nya and me to

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The well-known Swiss artist Sa nto

stay with h i m , and those were wonderful days . Frederic's wife, a Span ish beauty cal led Maria , greeted us very warmly, and their six-year-old daug hter Sandra kept us amused while her parents were at work, and her nanny, who was also Spanish, did the housework. We wanted to g ive the l ittle g i rl a present, which unexpectedly proved to be a d ifficult problem. We spent a whole hour in a department store, trying to choose a toy. In the end we bought a charming l ittle hedgehog with very i ntelli­ gent eyes. lt so appealed to Sandra , that she did not want to part with it even at night. And when a few years later I again visited Frederic, I saw that there were now two hedgehogs! lt tu rned out that little Silvia, who had been born i n the mean­ ti me, had demanded that they should buy

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

her exactly the same toy as her sister, only smaller. . . One ra rely guesses so successfully with a present. I didn't manage to see Santo Cadei h i mself: together with his wife Tereza he had moved to live in his homeland, Italy. I n memory o f that d istant d i n ner Frederic gave me a beautifu l ly publ ished album with reprod uctions of his father's paint­ ings. From it I learned that personal Foresto exh i bitions were held not only in Switzerla nd, but also i n Luxembourg , French , Italy, Canada a n d the U SA. 'Cave d rawi n g '

lt is not o n l y m e n w h o make u p t h e Bois­ Gentil Club. On one of my visits to Geneva , in the 1 990s, I was met at the railway station by an u nfamiliar middle­ aged woman. She said that she was called Ruth Brunner, and that Frederic had asked her to put me up, since he had his wife's parents staying with h i m . To­ gether with her two student daughters, Ruth l ived not far from Geneva i n a detached house with a large garden . Only one of the daug hters played chess - 1 7year-old Florence . She also played for Bois-Gentil and in 1 994 she even won the Swiss j u n ior championsh ip. True, to a question from a journal ist, what advice would she give to beg i n ners , she repl ied : ' Play for pleasure! Don't take chess too seriously. ' Ruth a n d I became friends, a n d when I travel led to Geneva I someti mes stayed with her, seeing as she had room in her house. Once she took me to the central park of the town , where rig ht by the entrance some local enthusiasts were playing on two large boards, u n h u rriedly moving the plastic pieces from one square to another. 'Let's play the m , ' Ruth sug-

gested , and then with a crafty smile she watched as 'we' won game after game. On one occasion Frederic took me there and also asked me to play. From the qu iet that descended , I realised that he had told the spectators my name. My opponent, apparently a Yugoslav, did not i ntroduce h i m self, but I had the impression that I was deal ing with a player of master strength . The game turned out to be very beautifu l , and I reg ret that I did not record it. After the game I thanked the spectators for their attention . I n reply they applauded and asked me to come to them agai n , when I am again in Geneva . O f cou rse I will come. Only first I need to fin ish this book . . . But let us return to the year of 1 975. When we said good bye at the ra i lway statio n , Willy Trepp made me give m y word that I would return there once more before I left Switzerland : the club wanted to arrange a d i n ner in my honou r. I had to promise. And , looking ahead , I should say that I kept my word . The d i nner turned out to be a normal student party. We went to an out­ of-town restaurant, each youth in his own car, which su rprises me even today. We sat down at a long wooden table in the open air, and everyone ordered what d ish he wanted . D u ring the enti re evening we only got through a few bottles of wine, but the merri ment was as if we had d ru n k a bottle each . I n the middle of the meal I was asked to write something i n the book for honoured guests . I usually try to avoid this, but the lads said that the restaurant owner was a former world boxing champion and that it would be pleasant for h i m to have my autog raph. So I picked up a pen and qu ickly sketched a boxi ng ri ng, with two chess kings in it. I wrote the date and sig ned it. The 'autograph' strongly resem-

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AL P I N E BALLAD

1 23

bled the wal l d rawing of a cave dwel ler, but I think that the owner was happy with it.

On my retu rn Yves asked : ' Did they pay for you r hotel and you r tickets?' ' N o . ' 'Very wel l , I ' l l pay them myself. '

The fol lowi ng morning Willy Trepp gave me a membership ca rd of the Bois-Genti l C l u b . And a year later I received the fol lowing letter from h i m :

C h ess th eatre

'Dear friend, I should like to inform you that in honour of your visit to our club we have organised the 'David Bronstein Cup'. This competition will take place in our club building on Sundays from mid-day to three in the afternoon. The victor will be the player who is the first to win 200 games. 'Dear David, we would be pleased if you would send us twenty copies of your book "200 Open Games", which we could present to the winners of the individual tournaments. 'We hope that you will make a new tour of Switzerland in 1 977 . . . '

From Geneva I travel led to Aarburg , from where I was due to set off for two days i n Lugano. B u t here Alois Nagler (about whom I will be talking later) phoned and informed me that Paul Keres had d ied . I was so shocked that I was unable even to conti nue the conversation . . . I began wondering what I should do. lt was clear that the visit to Lugano would have to be postponed . I said to Yves: ' I have two days o f mourning; please let it be known . But I will travel to Bern and read a lectu re in our em bassy in memory of Pau l . Al l the same I need to go there . . . ' And I travelled to Bern . I took a room in a hotel and went to the embassy. The diplomats regarded my fit of passion as a mark of respect to the m , and I didn't try to d issuade them . After all, they looked after me and as a keepsake even presented me with a musical box.

Whereas the q uiet city of Bern worthily performs the role of capita l , Zurich is rightly regarded as the financial and business centre of Switzerland . Here you th i n k least about the beauty of the sur­ rou nding mou ntains and alpine meadows . The city is seeth ing, resembling a televi­ sion picture from the New York stock exchange. I have many memories associ­ ated with Zurich . I was there in 1 965, when I spent three weeks tou ring Switzer­ land in the company of Keres and Flohr, and earlier, in 1 953, when I l ived in Zurich for a whole month . Of course, I remem­ bered the off-stage intrigues at the finish of the Candidates Tou rnament (about which - see the end of the chapter), which left a bitter taste . But I also remembered the good prize in foreign cu rrency, which allowed me to l ive comfortably for qu ite some time (fol lowi ng the example of my col leagues, I bought a dozen lengths of wool for making i nto su its, and later once a month I handed them over to a com m is­ sion shop) . . . The improvised match with the former world j u nior champion Werner Hug was the fi rst public demonstration of an idea of mine: instead of one five-hour game, over the cou rse of the evening we played as many as eight half-hour games ! The sponsor of this u n usual show was the newspaper 'ZOri Leu ' , and, thanks to the enth usiasm of the ch ief ed itor J u rg Ramspeck, with in a week everything was bri l l iantly orga nised . For the first time in the history of chess we played with electronic clocks , which recorded the time

1 24

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

for every move - a present from the Omega fi rm . Another local firm (also free of charge) prepared a projector, with the aid of which the chess position was d isplayed on a large screen , and thanks to this even on the back rows the spectators could observe what was hap­ pen ing on the board . We played on the stage of the famous Bern hard Theatre (was it this that sug­ gested to me the idea of the chess theatres of the future, expressed i n my book 'Chess in the Eighties'?). Alongside, with a microphone in his hands, was a wel l-known chess radio journalist, and with our agreement he constantly enter­ ta i ned the audience, by commenting on and even pred icting our moves . Or Peter Hohler d id this professionally, and - to judge by the laug hter in the aud itori u m also amusing ly. At the same time he managed to reproduce our moves on a special board , from where they were projected onto the screen . During five­ m i nute breaks between games Peter wil l i ngly repl ied to questions by the spec­ tators, d rawing the entire auditorium i nto a creative debate . Here is one of the games. lt is possibly not the most spectacular, but it shows how much content there can be i n a rapid game.

9 . . . ..txf3

Why th is carelessness? First the black knight lost two i mportant tempi, and now for some reason the bishop exchanges itself for a knight. These actions cannot be cal led d i rect mistakes, but they should be criticised . Just as a winning combination is made u p of a serious of strong, energetic moves, so several moves can lead of their own accord to a passive position. Those who are not too lazy to play through this game to the end wil l see that everything was in fact decided in a fig ht between bishop and knig ht! 1 0 'ii'xf3 c6 1 1 0-0 tt:'l bd7 1 2 llfe1 lieS 1 3 .i.b3 tt:'lc5 1 4 .i.c2 1

Not repeating the mistake of my col­ league. 14 . . . a5 1 5 a4 e5 1 6 dxe6 tt:Jxe6 1 7 .th2!

The second bishop too is no fool . No. 1 8

•

Queen's Pawn Opening A48

B RONSTE I N - H uG

17...d5 Black has got rid o f h i s weak pawn , but a n unfavourable endgame i s approach ing. 18 exd5 li'xd5 1 9 'ifxd5 cxd5 20 tt:'lb3 d4

Zu rich (m/3), 2 1 . 06 . 1 975 1 d4 tt:'lt6 2 tt:'lt3 g6 3 c3 .i.g7 4 .tt4 d6 5 tt:'lbd2 0-0 6 e4 tt:'lc6 7 ..tc4 .i.g4 8 d5 tt:'lb8 9 h3

(see next diagram)

AL P I N E BALLAD

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be surprised : i n many respects g rand­ masters copy one another's play, only they don't l i ke to admit this.

21 .teS!

Leaving the shelter at just the rig ht time. 21 . . . dxc3 22 .txc3 b6 23 .td3!

And now the other bishop also stirs itself.

3S lidS l:.xd5 39 .txdS liJes 40 'it>e3 !

23 . . . liJdS 24 .txg7 �xg7 25 :ac1 liJb4 26 .i.bS ftxc1 27 %:txc1 ladS 2S Wf1

The knight check is not dangerous: 40 . . . liJg4+? 41 '>t>d4 ! liJxf2 42 �c4 f5 43 'it>b5 liJe4 44 'it>xb6 liJxg3 45 b4 axb4 46 a5 and the pawn can not be stopped . A point to remember: the creation of an outside passed pawn is an effective method against a knig ht.

Outwardly the position looks harmless, but Wh ite has the prospect of increasing the activity of his bishop. 2S . . . h 5 29 h4 .l:r.d6 30 g3 'it>f6

Here it is time to remember that we were playing under rather strict regulations. This was no d rifti ng down a placid river, where you can ship you r oars and relax. Rapid chess is like a canoe slalom down a mou ntain stream , where decisions have to be taken quickly and accurately. 31 '>t>e2 .ladS 32 :c3 'it>e7 33 .tc4 liJd4+ 34 liJxd4 Itxd4 35 l:.e3+ �S 36 b3 .lad7 37 .lae5 liJc6

By exchanges Black has strengthened his position somewhat, but Wh ite plays his last tru m p : he takes play into an endgame with bishop agai nst knight. And how to play it was something that I knew from the game Fischer-Taimanov (m/4, 1 97 1 ), which became a classic example of the superiority of bishop over knight with pawn 'islands' on both wings. Yes , don't

40 . . . e7 41 Wd4 f6 42 f4 liJd7 43 c4 d6 44 i.. f7 liJfS 45 'it>bS 'it>c7 46 .teS !

The ideal position for the bishop: by taking control of the c6-sq uare , it secu res the passage of the king to g7. 46 ... b7

46 . . . f5 , attempting to block the position on the kingside, would not have saved Black: 47 Wa6! 'it> d8 48 .tf7 ri;c7 49 ri;a7 'it>c6 50 b8! and wi ns. 47 �c4 c7 4S dS 'ot>dS 49 .tc6 'it>c7 50 .i.b5 liJh7 51 e6 g5 52 'ot>f7 gxh4 53 g xh4 f5 54 Wg7 Black resigns.

What can I say? The game was compe­ tent, tech nica l , but rather ted ious. One doesn't begrudge half an hour o n it, but to spend five hours on the creation of such masterpieces? !

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DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

In our match there were games to suit all tastes. Some, l i ke this one, were rather dry, but there were also other, sharper games, with blunders and tactical bril­ liance, which thoroughly tickled the nerves of the spectators - of whom there were about three hundred . I remember that at one point Peter Hohler exclai med : 'Fan­ tastic game!' The following day the news­ papers were lavish in their praise . They even gave the opinion of the Soviet sports attache Alekseev: 'The match was ex­ tremely excitin g . ' Despite my victory (+21 =5), I decided to share the match fee half and half with H u g . How else could I express my g ratitude to h i m for his agreement to play such a match? Secret of p rosperity

However, why a m I talking only about the capitals? I also made many appearances in the provinces. The route of my tou r makes i mpressive reading : Payern Zurich - Sion - Schaffhausen - Winterthu r - Lausan ne - Geneva - Thu n - Wohlen Olten - Lugano. Everywhere I read lec­ tures, m ixed with chess enth usiasts, and in simultaneous displays I played nearly three hundred and fifty games: +24933=66! And these were only the official appearances - there were also u n planned impromptus. Back i n 1 965, i n the small town of Moutier, d u ring a simultaneous d isplay I made the acquaintance of a young architect Marcel Eschmann . He had just opened his office and he showed me the first house built i n accordance with his d rawings. W e began occasionally exchanging postcard s . And , of cou rse, on finding a wi ndow in the program of my new tou r, I myself ar­ ranged a visit to the chess clu b where Eschm a n n was the president.

David i n the role of Genevian

Over the period of nine years Marcel had been transformed into a solid gentleman, and his office had flourished . H e had moved i nto a staggeri ngly beautiful villa, which ·he himself had desig ned . I called it a palace , and he did not object. The local players had not forgotten me and g reeted me with applause, and after the simul a large g roup of us descended on the 'palace'. Ti l l late in the evening we played bl itz and chatted . The dark-haired Elian, Marcel 's wife, could hardly keep pace with supplying sandwiches and n uts to the table, while the owner of the house kept going down i nto the cellar for wine . . . Whe n , closer to m idday, I regai ned con­ sciousness and , wandering around the house, found the d i n i ng room , I did not

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see any trace of the binge. Everything was spotlessly clea n . I looked in at the kitchen. Elian was anxiously bustling about at the stove. Beside her a one-year­ old ch ild was crawl ing arou n d . ' Bonjou r Elian, are you preparing breakfast for him?' ' N o , this is for Marcel , he'll soon be home for lunch . He has a lot to th i n k about, s o I ' m d o i n g m y best.' Apparently Ma rcel was able to th i n k not only about work. He had arranged the kitchen so that from one window - a wide one, extending the whole wal l - Elian could see a forest in Switzerla n d , and from another, equally wide - a distant forest in France. I often see this fai ry-tale view in my d reams, although I realise that only wealthy people are able to live like th is. But I don't envy the Echmanns. On the contrary, I am pleased for them - and bringing u p five ch ildren is no laughing

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matter. ' David , the most i m portant thing is the fam ily, ' Marcel l i ked to repeat. On one occasion I said to Elian that in our country rich people do not feel very comfortable, if they have a conscience, of course . 'Here too it is d ifficult,' she replied . As I understood it, she and Marcel are bel ievers and they do much to help others . One evening the local priest, a s m i l i ng you ng man, called in and asked me to play a game of chess with h i m . I n the morning I had been with the Ech manns to church , wh ich was touch i ngly adorned with ch ildren's drawi ngs. A service took place and a choir sang beautifully, with Elian among the soloists . Then they all went out into the fresh air, but did not disperse: they stood and chatted . The priest and his assistants ca me out carry­ ing trays with g lasses of wine: red for the men , and wh ite for the wome n . The

Meeti ng M a rcel and E l i a n q ua rter of a century after the first acquai nta nce

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atmosphere was just l i ke that of a club. And indeed , this was a kind of Sunday club, where once a week people could meet their neighbours, learn what was new, and talk. And at the same time thi n k about their sou l . Many years passed , but I remembered about Marcel and Elian, and occasionally sent them postcards. But we were a ble to meet again only in 1 99 1 . Staying at that time with Korchnoi (cf. the next chapter), I made a small tour of the 'places of my former fame' : Zurich - Lausanne - Ge­ neva . And finally I reached Moutier. Marcel had gone g rey and his face looked tired . 'Work, David , work. And the family: you see , the child ren are g rowi ng up.' One daughter was already living separately. The oldest son had also become an architect and was working in his father's office . But Elian looked just as young. She described with delight a visit to C h i n a : 'lt would be good to fly there agai n . We did n't see everyth i ng . ' From where do these people get their strength? I feel lazy about going out to the shop for bread , but they th i n k noth ing of travelling to China . . . I n 1 996 I again visited Switzerland and, of cou rse, I did not forget to cal l in on my old friends. After a simul in the Reti Club in Zurich , I asked my friend Martin L'Achat on the way to Geneva to take me for a couple of hours to Moutier. Warned by a telephone cal l , Marcel and E l ian met us in two cars, and we set off in convoy to an out-of-town restaurant. lt was about to close , but in the town everyone is Marcel's friend . The owner himself sat down at our table. I began chatting with him and asked whether it was hard to prepare d ifferent dishes. ' N ot at all! There are three sorts of prod ucts - meat, fish and vegetables. If you remember this, everything else is

merely routine.' I listened with admiratio n . So simple! lt is probably t h e same i n chess. B u t t h e routi ne h a s t o be top class. When we were leavi ng, Marcel said that he would l i ke to show me someth ing interestin g . 'Ok, let's go.' Within ten min utes we stopped . 'Look, what a beauti­ ful house. Do you th i n k that I designed it? No, it was my Pasca l ! Oh, wait a moment. Elian, stand next to David and I'll take a photo of you in front of the house. Pascal will have a su rprise ! . . .'

F o r m e , Marcel and E l i a n are a typical Swiss fam ily. They are able to work, bri ng u p five equally ind ustrious and talented childre n , they are faithful to their native town and they are benevolent to other people. Is it surprising that, in all respects , Switzerland is such a prosperous and stable country? H ow rap i d c h ess was born

Do you remember me mentioning Alois Nagler? I think that his name will be u nfamiliar to young players. And yet it is partly thanks to Nagler - or more pre­ cisely, to a happy accident which on one occasion brought Keres and me to his home in Zu rich - that they can now play rapid chess . But let's start from the beginning. Who does not know the pretty min iatu re which Spassky and I played d u ring a break at a meeti ng of the USSR Chess Federation? The game lasted all of one m i n ute , although Boris Vasil ievich would have us believe that it was two or three minutes. But that is not the point. We were able to show that, g iven the imagination, it is possible to create masterpieces even at blitz speed .

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No . 1 9

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Staunton Gambit A82

8 RONSTEIN - 5PASSKY Moscow 1 96 1

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Falling i n with my opponent's wishes. 14 . . . 'it>xe6 1 5 'Llxd5 'Llxd4!

This allows a pretty finish. In the event of the 'correct' 1 5 . . . !:f.f8 ( 1 5 . . . tt:Jxd5? 1 6 �f7 mate) or 1 5 . . �f7 the game would have lost all interest. .

1 d 4 f5 2 e4! Theory has a sceptical regard for this move. Nevertheless, I consider Staunton's idea to be very attractive: by the sacrifice of a pawn White tries to gain a lead i n development. 2 . . . fxe4 3 ctJc3 ctJf6 4 f3 ! exf3

In a normal game Spassky would prob­ ably have preferred 4 . . . d5 5 fxe4 dxe4 , reta i n ing a pawn i n the centre. 5 'Llxf3 d6 6 �f4 i.. g 4 7 �c4 e6 8 0-0 'Llc6

If 8 . . . d5 I could have replied 9 �e2 , intending 'Llg5. h3 .i.xf3 10 'ii'xf3 d5 11 i.. b 5 i.d6 1 2 .l:Iae1 �d7!

9

After 1 2 . . . 0-0 1 3 i.. xc6 bxc6 14 .l:r.xe6 'i!Vd7 and . . . .l::t a e8 , or 1 4 . . . 'Lle4 1 5 'Llxe4 i..xf4 ! ( 1 5 . . . .l:!.xf4? 1 6 l:ixd 6 ! ) 1 6 ctJf6+! the game would have become d rawish. But is that why we sat down to play? 1 3 �xd6 cxd6

14 .l:f.xe6 !

1 6 'ii'e 3+! 'it>xd5 1 7 .l:If5+

Black resigns: 1 7 . . . 'Llxf5 1 8 c4 would be a pure mate i n the style of the Czech problem school! Before playi ng his king to d7, I remember that Boris Vasil ievich smiled , as if to say: I have done everyth ing that I coul d , and now it's your tu rn . Not without reaso n , he says that he happily shows the fi nal combination to his friends. That is h ow chess should be played . So that pleasu re is gained by the players themselves, and the spectators , and those who wil l play through your game later. But few know that this min iature has a 'black' variation: also played with a great player, also in l iterally a few minutes, and also with a pure mate in the centre of the board ! When in the a utumn of 1 965 Keres and I were coming to the end of our tri p to Switzerland, we were i nvited to a farewel l d i n ner a t t h e house o f Alois Nagler, the organ iser of our tour. He was an old friend of Keres , wh ile he and I had met d u ring the Candidates Tournament in Zurich , where Nagler was the ch ief arbiter. After d i nner Alois invited us into his study. We tal ked and d rank some coffee, after which , drawi ng on his cigar, he suddenly said : ' Pa u l , would n't you like to play a game of bl itz for me?' Keres began making excuses , alluding to the amount of wine dru n k d u ring the din ner, but the owner of the house was i nsistent. The old friend had to be respected . In my o p i n i o n , it tu rned out qu ite wel l . I don't

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know whether Paul Petrovich showed the final com bination to his friends (th is is u n l i kely, it was not in his character), but I took the liberty of publishing the game in one of my articles , as an example of how players with a mutual strivi ng can create something pretty. On each move we spent about five seconds. True, later Keres reproached me for the fact that at one point I exceeded the l imit. Possibly. If you play th rough the game, I think you wil l easily find this place. No.20

•

King's Gam bit C33

KERES - B RONSTEIN Zu rich 1 965 1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 lLlc3

This rare move was one that Keres analysed a g reat deal in his youth . 3 . . .'i¥h4+ 4 �e2 d5 5 l2Jxd5 lLlf6 ! ?

This i s my novelty. T h e usual way is 5 . . . l2Jc6 6 lLlf3 .i.g4 7 l2Jxc7+ 'it>d8 8 l2Jxa8 l2Je5, but for a friendly game this would be too serious. 6 lLlxf6+ g xf6 7 lLlf3 .tg4 8 d3 .i.h6 9 'i!Ye 1 'iWh5 1 0 'ii' b 4!

Pau l Petrovich plays his part. Now it is my turn to d isplay my i magi nation. 10 . . . l2Jc6 ! 1 1 1i'xb7 i.xf3+ 12 gxf3 l2Jd4+ 1 3 'it>d2 l2Jxf3+ 1 4 �c3 Of course, Keres real ised that his ki ng was embarking on a dangerous voyage. But he wanted to tickle the nerves of our spectator. 1 4 . . ."ii'c5+ 1 5 �b3 l2Jd4+ 1 5 . . . 0-0 and . . J:tfb8 would have been too banal a fi nish for such a game. 1 6 �a4 The king has found a shelter and the checks have come to an end . But it is Black's turn to move . 1 6 . . . 0-0 ! 1 7 c3 For an instant one has the feeling that all the dangers for Wh ite are over. But in fact they are only just beg i n n i n g ! 1 7 . . .'�'b6! The black queen sets in motion an original piece mechanism, wh ich with the accu­ racy of a Swiss clock leads to mate. 1 8 'i!Yxb6 White also fails to save the game with 1 8 'i!Vd 5 I!fd8 1 9 'it'a5 (after 1 9 �c4 l:td6! 20 cxd4 laxd4 it is not worth playing on after losing the queen) 1 9 . . .'tiVc6+ 20 'it>a3 i.f8+! 21 b4 'it'xc3+ 22 'it>a4 'Wc2+ 23 �a3 l2Jb5+ 24 'iix b5 a5! 18 ... axb6+ 19 'it>b4 (see next diagram)

1 9 . . Jia4+! ! I would have l i ked to have written that after this move Alois Nagler's cigar dropped out of his mouth . But if it didn't happen, it didn't happe n . 2 0 �xa4 .laa8+ 21 'it>b4 i.f8+ 22 �c4 b5+ ! Wh ite resig ned : 22 . . . b5+ 23 'it>d5 or 23 'it>xd4 - 23 . . . l:!.d8 mate !

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themselves, and those close to them . I have often said : 'Your wives are not agai nst chess, but don't take adjourned positions home to them . '

Position after 1 9 Wb4

To thank us for the pleasure we had given h i m , Alois opened a new bottle of wine, fil led our g lasses and made a toast in our honour. After which he unexpectedly asked : 'Can I show you a game which I played yesterday i n the club?' We did not object - after a l l , 'Gens una sumus' . We l i ked the game, but the result was a surprise: i n a wi n n i ng position Nagler for some reason agreed a d raw. I asked why. ' David, in Switzerland amateu rs play without any adjou rn ments . Therefore we have a special time control: an hour and a half for 30 moves, then 1 5 min utes to the end of the game. But my opponent was superior to me in class. And whereas i n normal play I could have withstood h i m , i n bl itz I wou ldn't have had a chance. S o that I had no reason to refuse a d raw. ' This story had u nexpected conseq uences. When I retu rned to Moscow, at the next meeting of the C hess Federation I men­ tioned my Swiss experience. Some ex­ pressed a will i n gness to try the new control i n our cou ntry. After a l l , for a long time many amateurs had been oppressed by adjournments: day and night the adjou rned position revolves before you r eyes, poisoning the lives of the players

I am pleased that, following my example, chess speeded up. Now no one is trou bled by any kind of time contro l . lt transpires that everyone is capable of th inking quickly. And I was surprised to read Karpov saying i n an interview that 'if it comes down to bl itz, even Chepukaitis m ight become world champio n . ' Yes , he might, and I don't see anyth ing shamefu l about that. Genrikh Chepuka itis is an excel lent strategist and a bri l l iant tacti­ cian . His nu merous victories in bl itz tou rnaments a re explained by the fact that he is very ski lfu l at creating complicated situations, in which his opponents , accus­ tomed to 'erud ite' play, si mply lose their way. 'Th rown ' games in Zurich

My account of Switzerland would be i n complete, if I did not finally reveal the truth about the tou rnament in Zurich . Yes , t h e book about it brought me world fame. But for many years the tournament itself has sat l i ke a thorn in my heart. How long can one suffer? And I have decided to pull out this thorn . . . The 1 953 Candidates Tou rnament took place at a d ifficult time. The events of the spring (the death of Stalin) and the summer (the arrest of Beria) d isturbed the whole world - everyone was afra id of a new war and it was no time for chess. And for Soviet citizens the very idea of a trip aboard looked suspicious. Why did they need to go there at those troubled times? But nevertheless an i m posing Soviet delegation - nine g randmasters and eight seconds ( I alone did not have one) - flew

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to Switzerland . The FIDE schedule had to be respected . The tournament was nervy and exhaust­ ing: two months' play and 30 rounds! The leaders of the delegation (the deputy head of the Sports Comm ittee Postin kov, his deputy Moshi ntsev from the KG B , and g randmaster Bondarevsky, who worked for both of these organ isations) i nflamed passions, all the time reminding us that on no account must Reshevsky be al­ lowed ahead . If he had qual ified for a match with Botvin n ik, we would all have had to pay for it. Just think: n i ne Soviet participants unable to stop one America n ! B u t as bad l u c k would have i t , Reshevsky in fact took the lead together with Smyslov. This unsettled our 'tri u mvirate'. And be­ fore the 1 3th rou n d , when I was preparing for my game with Reshevsky, they came to my room (I thought they had had one too many) and stated that the fol lowi ng day, despite the black pieces, I had to win. lt was an order! There was noth ing to be done and, contrary to my habit, for five hours I did not get up from the board I displayed my zea l . I n ti me-trouble, Reshevsky as usual wanted to confuse me, but he met his match . The adjou rned position looked only slightly better for me, but, fortunately, a study-like way to win was fou n d . For t h e t i m e b e i n g our leaders calmed down . But after Smyslov lost to Kotov and Reshevsky again caught u p with him, they agai n g rew nervous. Here , after one of the regular check-ups, the tea m's doctor Vladimir Alexandrovich Rid i n reported to Postn ikov that B ronstein and Keres were i n a normal cond ition, whereas Smyslov had weakened and might not last out to the fin ish at the desired level (I was later i nformed of th is fact in Moscow by Rid in

himself) . I n add itio n , i n the second half of the tournament none of the fou r of us had yet met, and anyth ing could happen . . . I have to admit that I myself partly provoked the 'avalanche'. On the free day before the 24th round , Boleslavsky and I were i n his room , peacefu lly playing cards. Suddenly Postnikov came in: 'Why aren't you preparing?' lsaak Efremovich kept qu iet, but I went and b l u rted out: 'Why prepare? Tomorrow I have Black against Geller and I ' l l make a d raw. Then I have White against Smyslov. ' Postn i kov looked hard at me, stood for a short while, and then silently went out. And Boleslavsky immediately reproached me: 'Why did you say that to him?' Apparently he sensed better than I did the mood of the 'chief' , as we called Postnikov. At any event, the 'triumvirate' decided to act. They sum moned Keres to the shore of the Zu rich lake and over the cou rse of three hours tried to persuade h i m to make a quick d raw with White against Smyslov, so that i n the next round the latter would be able to assai l Reshevsky with all his might (I was told of th is that same evening by Tol ush, Keres's second). Keres cou rageously withstood the pres­ sure. Perhaps he promised to think about it, but he tu rned u p for play in a fig hting mood . But he was all flushed and agi­ tated , and I saw that he was not in a fit state to play. This was also noticed by Smyslov, who suddenly came up to me and asked : 'Why is Paul looki ng at me so mal iciously? Have I offended h i m , or what?' I d id n 't know what to reply, and I kept qu iet - suppose Smyslov d id n 't know what was going on? Keres lost, of cou rse . The 'tri u mvirate' decided to strike while the iron was hot. First they convinced Geller that the fol lowing day Bronstein

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O n the stage : Vas i ly Smys l ov, Samuel Reshevs ky, Paul Keres and David Bronstein

had supposedly demanded a point from h i m , so as not to allow Reshevsky to go ahead . Then they summoned me to the lake and said : 'Geller has a l ready re­ ceived the order to lose to you ! ' I tried to object, but I made a mistake, by stressing not that it was unsporting, but that Geller had already lost five games. 'What, do you want to ru in the lad completely?' 'No, no, he has agreed , he is a patriot.'

I made on that I was agreeable, but in fact I decided to be cunning and to play openly for a d raw, to exclude the possibility of Geller losing. This was my second mis­ take. I should have simply gone to see Yefim in his room and discussed it. But, I would remind you , th is was 1 953, and throughout the tournament we had no information at all about what was happen­ ing at home, and anything was possible. Vainste i n , who had not been allowed to

travel with me as my second , had prom­ ised by the start of the second half to send some innocent telegram, signifying that he was free. But it hadn't arrived . Later I asked what had happened . ' Noth i n g , ' repl ied t h e normally fearless 'grandmas­ ter Ferzberi' . 'I was afra i d . ' So please don't judge me too severely . . .

I naively thought that after Geller the conversation would end . Oh no. 'Now, ' said Postnikov, l ig hting up another ciga­ rette (beside him the 'commissar' was gloomily striding around). 'After Geller you have Smyslov. Remember that before his game with Reshevsky he must not be agitated ! He must know that you wil l later make a quick d raw with h i m . ' ' B ut I have White ! ' 'What's the d ifference? We can not risk an American wi nning the tournament.' 'But I too can win i n the event of a successful fi nish?' ' I said: a d raw and a

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qu ick one ! , ' Postnikov cut me short, and added with importance: 'We have j u st received a coded telegram from Romanov: "Play between the Soviet participants is to cease. " Do you understand?' I was stupefied by such falsehood . My look did not appeal to Moshintsev, and he decided to i ntensify the pressu re by blurting out: 'What, did you seriously think that we came here to play chess?!' There was noth ing I could say to that. 'So,' the KGB agent continued, 'before you r game with S myslov you will go to h i m i n his room and agree how to make a d raw. Is that clear?' I hung my head . And they left me alone to contemplate the lake . . . When I arrived for my game with Geller, I saw that he was very pale. Had he really ag reed to lose? However, as I learned much later, he had received a d i rective from Bondarevsky to win , to pun ish me for

my 'greed' ! And while I was manoeuvri ng around in my half of the board , 'playing openly for a d raw' , Yefim methodically strengthened his position. Even so, I should have played rather more carefully, but I simply blundered a pawn and lost. I was vexed - not because I had lost (anyone could lose with Black agai nst Geller), but because for two hours I had been defending his chess fate, whereas he had taken and handed me such a bitter pill! Whe n , after the tou rnament, we were retu rning from Bern , where a reception had been arranged at the embassy, Geller (also somewhat intoxicated) suddenly sat down beside me and with vexatio n in his voice asked why I hadn't spoken to him for ten days. Then I told h i m how they had dealt with me. He flew into a rage and began screaming so that the whole

Behind the stage: com rades Mos h i ntsev, Postn i kov and Bondarevsky

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carriage could hear: 'Ah , that swi ne Bondarevsky ! ' Here lgor Zakharovich h u r­ ried u p , seized him by the shirt-front and , shouting 'let's go, let's go,' led him away . . . After the game with Geller I d ra n k a tumbler of Armenian cognac and inten­ tionally looked in at the room where on an evening all our grou p assembled . Every­ one fell si lent. Just th ink: David was drunk! But I sat there without speaking for five minutes and then left. Simply to show that I was al ive, and was not intend ing to th row myself into the lake. Of cou rse, when I lost, Postn ikov de­ clared that th is was petty tyranny on the part of Geller, that he would not tolerate such a d isgrace, and that in Moscow Geller wou ld get it in the neck. But th is was all a d i rty game . . . On the day of my game with Smyslov, at about twelve o'clock, Moshintsev called in on me: 'Have you a l ready been to see him?' ' N o . ' Then let's go.' And he literally pushed me along to the neig h bouring room: 'Go in, Smyslov is expecting you . ' Although we were neigh bours, I h a d not once cal led in on h i m . Now, under escort, I had to knock. 'Come i n . ' I go in and see a depressing pictu re : by the window, not looking at each other, two of them are sitting - Smyslov and his second, Simagin . I say hello a n d g o up t o them . Simagin averts his eyes and demonstratively looks out of the window. I talk about the weather, and about some other trivial ity . . . S myslov nervously interrupts me: ' N o , Devi , tell me, what are w e g o i n g t o play?' I mumble someth ing . . . ' N o , what are we going to play?' And unexpectedly he says: ' Keres played for a win and he lost . . lt became clear to me that right from the start he knew all about this devilish spectacle. 'Very wel l , ' I reply, 'we'll find . ·

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someth i n g . ' And I quickly leave. By the door Mosh i ntsev is waiting for me: ' H ave you agreed?' 'Yes . ' And he went away. I go along to the game. I play e2-e4. Smyslov repl ies e7-e5. I hesitate for a couple of m i nutes, but I real ise that I am trapped . Even if I wi n , this wil l not change anyth ing: after the loss to Geller, all the same I cannot catch Smyslov. And in Moscow there will be new problems. I n add ition (or above all else?) I was sure that Vai nstein had already been arrested for his long-standing work under Beria and my obsti nacy might make thi ngs worse . If Boris Samoilovich had been free, he would surely have sent me the promised teleg ram !

I n short, I d i d not hesitate for long. I chose the Ruy Lopez, but as soon as Smyslov played a7-a6 I took his knight with my bishop. And it had to happen that at that moment Reshevsky was walking past. On seeing my move, he stopped and made an expressive ' H m m . . .' I can still hear that sou nd , because the shame has not gone away. To show that I can play for a win in the 'Spanish', a round later i n my game with Reshevsky I did not take on c6 , but engaged in a complicated struggle in the Ch igorin Va riation and won . I thought that th is was an open message: 'With Smyslov they forced me to play for a d raw! ' But I overestimated the i ntel lect of the chess society. lt would appear that Kuprin with his 'Marabu' was right. . . Recently I met the aging Smyslov and said to him: ' Don't you th ink it's time that you told me about the off-stage mach ina­ tions in Zurich?' And he replied : ' Devi , why spoil a good tournament?' Suetin in his last book revealed pa rt of this KGB i ntrig ue. I have decided to com plete his

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story. If he desires , Vasily Vasil ievich ca n add to it or correct it. lt would only please me if he were to do so, especially as personally I have no complaint about Smyslov. lt was not he, but the system itself that prevai l ed at that time in Soviet chess. I real ise perfectly wel l that any one of us could have ended up in such a situation . I n 1 954 , d u ring the USSR-USA match , the 'New York Times' pri nted a cartoon entitled 'Kremlin puppets'. At the bottom there were all of us - Smyslov, Bronste i n , Keres, Averbakh , Geller, Kotov, Petrosian and Taimanov, and above - the Kremlin hierarchy, headed by Khruschev, holding us by strings. This looked insu lt­ ing. But now I think that the caricaturist was essentially right: we really were puppets, only we did not real ise th is. . . . When I returned at that time from Zu rich to Moscow, already at the airport I experienced a g reat rel i ef: Boris Samoi­ lovich was al ive and wel l and, as usual , was the fi rst to meet me at the bottom of the ladder. Soon he conceived a strange idea: he began trying to persuade me to write a textbook on the middlegame, based on the Zurich games. Because of all these d i rty goings-on, I didn't want to remember a bout the tou rnament. But he was persuasive: ' David , soon everyone will forget about your play, but they will remember the book.' And I capitulated . But in the fi rst edition, two games - with Geller and Smyslov - were left practically without any com mentary. I thought that this would be a broad enough h i nt, but on th is occasion too it would seem that no one guessed anyth ing. Vainstein proved far-sig hted . I n chess l ife I have been cast by the wayside, but the book 'Zu rich I nternational Chess Tou rna­ ment' l ives , is republ ished , and comes out

in d ifferent lang uages. And , I think, it will outlive me by a long time . . . P.S. This section was published i n the magazi ne '64' (200 1 No. 1 0). When I i nvited Vasily Vasilievich to 'add to or correct' my story, I never thought that in his reply (published in '64', 2001 No. 1 2) only one parag raph would be devoted to the tou rnament in Zu rich , and that the main part would be taken up by various types of conjectu res and even d i rect disi nformation. By essentially not refuting any of the facts given by me, a n d , a bove all, completely avoiding the ' Keres prob­ lem'. Smyslov, in my view, merely con­ firmed the correctness of my account.

To concl ude, here are two 'testi mon ies' : Alexey Sueti n : 'On the day when he was due to meet Smyslov, Keres was sum­ moned by the leader of our delegation D. Postnikov and told that he did not have the right to play for a win. This would supposedly be to the advantage of Reshevsky. According to Keres's second, grandmaster A. Tolush, it is unlikely that Smyslov knew about this. The heated conversation continued for several hours. Keres flatly refused to betray his con­ science, but he was unsettled. When he played for win it turned into a loss. (from the book 'Shakh maty skvoz prizmu vrem­ eni' ('Chess through the prism of time'), Moscow, 1 998, p. 1 1 3). '

Boris Spassky: 'In Bucharest (in January of the same year, 1 953! - D . B . ) I achieved the international master norm. If is amus­ ing, but I was helped by the Soviet authorities! The tournament began with the Soviet players taking points off each other . . . As a result, somewhere around the 7th round the Hungarian Laszl6 Szab6 took the lead. And here a telegram arrived from Moscow: "Stop this scandal,

JA WAS KOCHAM JAK BOGA!

starl making draws among yourselves!" Of course, it was good that I had already gained a point against Smyslov, but I think that it would not ha ve been easy for me, given my youth and inexperience, to

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make draws with Boleslavsky and Petros­ ian. But as it was, we all submitted to the order from the Kremlin. ' (from an i nterview i n the newspaper 'Russkaya mysl', Febru­ ary-March 1 997).

Ja was kocham jak boga!

I Victor Korch noi , with whom I have many

play! He won against me several brilliant, strategically complete games . . .

con nections. But somehow I never found the time. And also there were no g rounds. But then he himself gave a rem i nder, by publishing an article i n the March 200 1 issue of 'Shakh matny Peterburg' with the symbolic title ' D . B ronstein's lessons'. I have to admit: I was touched that in this Russian magazine Victor Lvovich marked his 70th birthday by some words of gratitude to me:

'Bronstein was right. I am grateful to him for his practical lessons. I have not forgotten them, and with many of these lessons I have endea voured, so to speak, to make them public. And a few years later Bronstein remarked in the press, in his customary camouflaged form, that I had been a diligent pupil, and had absorbed much of what he had taught me!'

have long been wanting to write about

'I have always been on excellent terms with David Bronstein. We often worked together, and we used to meet together with our wives. At difficult times he gave me friendly supporl. When the political storm clouds were gathering over me, he, one of the few Soviet grandmasters, displayed exceptional civic courage, and did not sign the sordid document, concocted against me by the Soviet authorities. 'But as regards our individual meetings at the chess board, here he performed like a strict teacher. He liked to show and to demonstrate to me, that my understanding of chess was primitive and static, and that I underestimated the dynamics of the game. He never expressed this thought in words - he demonstrated it to me with his

I am pleased that Korchnoi regards me as his teacher. lt is a pity only that he did not inform Russian readers of how in 1 97 4 I risked my career, by helping h i m at the fi nish of his fi rst match with Karpov. And how four years before that he sent me a letter suggesti ng that we do some crea­ tive work together, add i n g : 'I think that if we were to fi nd some common free time to meet, to exchange opinions, it would be very usefu l ( defin itely for me! ) . ' How I then travel led to Len ingrad , and he and I played a training match. He also did not mention that on his last day i n his homeland i n July 1 976 he had d i n ner at my house. And how later, for many years, I was prevented from trave l l i ng abroad because I did not sign that 'sordid docu­ ment' agai nst him . . . However, with the years I have beg u n

1 38

�

DAV I D IN T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

increasingly often wondering whether I should so recklessly have bu rned my boats. All the 'signatories' have lived happily all these years , travelled around the worl d , played in p restigious tou rna­ ments, improved their rati ngs and given interviews , without their consciences both­ ering them. Moreover, in no chess maga­ zine have I ever seen any words con­ demning the m . And Korch noi himself once su rprised me with this sentence: ' I am not s o naive a s t o judge people on the basis of whether or not they signed the letter against me.' True, at that moment we were d rinking beer in a bar, and I hope that he was simply joking . . . There's l ife i n the o l d dog yet!

In May 1 990 I was playing in The Hague, in my first Aegon tournament. The regula­ tions al lowed for many free days between the rou nds. I was living in a hote l , I was bored during these enforced breaks , and so I happily accepted the invitation of Tom FOrstenberg to spend a weekend in his house outside of Brussels. To be honest, I don 't l i ke rich people, I am irritated by their ca relessly condescending attitude to all those who are poorer than them, and I have always avoided close contact with them . But FOrstenberg was i ntroduced to me by Cock de Garter as being a chess enthusiast and a good person (at that time Tom was sel l ing chess programs, and i n the hall he had a sales stand). Tom did indeed prove to be pleasant company and a hospitable host. At any event, I d id not experience any tension in his house, although I had never before l ived in such l uxurious cond itions. lt was a genuine villa, with a swimming pool on the g round floor and an enormous park around it. In the next seven years I often

stayed there, on my own or with Tanya , and at o n e t i m e I even gave F O rstenberg's address on my visiting cards . . . On the Monday Tom d rove his mustang an elite Maserati breed - back to The Hague. On the way he suddenly sug­ gested : 'Why don't we cal l in at Rotter­ dam? The traditional fou r-player Euwe Memorial Tou rnament is taking place there . ' 'Of cou rse , ' I repl ied, 'if we can manage to get to The Hague in time . ' 'We'll manage, ' said Tom with a slight smile. When I saw the tou rnament list, I real ised : Tom had decided to arrange for me to meet Korchnol! Some badge was pin ned on the lapel of my jacket, after which all the doors began to open for us, one after another. Suddenly we found ou rselves in the players' room. While I was looking rou nd for Korchnoi, Ti mman , Short and M ikhail Gurevich came up in turn and g reeted me. But where was Victor? And here Tom ind icated to me some side roo m . On enteri ng, I immed iately recognised Korch­ noi who was sitting in a chair with his back to me, studying the position on a mon itor. I qu ietly said in Russian: 'Good morning . ' Korchnoi fl inched slightly a n d i nwardly tensed in surprise, trying to imagine whose voice it was . But within a second he instantly stood up and with a joyfu l smile offered me his hand . Then he hu rriedly and slightly boastfully sai d : 'To­ day I am playing a game in your style . ' T h i s was evidently a concealed form of apology, for all the problems he had caused me with his defection . . . When I flew in at the start of July from Holland , I suddenly ended up in hospita l . When s i x weeks later I retu rned h o m e a n d looked through t h e publications that had

a

JA WAS KOCHAM JAK BOGA!

accu mulated , I learned , somewhat to my surprise , that Korchnoi had again been victorious in the lnterzonal Tournament. There's l ife in the old dog yet! The Candidates matches were to follow. In January 1 99 1 , when he won his fi rst match against Sax and went forwa rd to meet Timman, I realised that Korchnoi had a chance of again playing Karpov. And here the thought occu rred to me: perhaps we cou ld renew our creative collaboration? lt will be remembered that in 1 974 it did not work out badly for us. Experi mental match

However, my creative collaboration with Korch noi began a little earlier - i n 1 970. I n the summer of that year I suddenly received a letter from Victor Lvovich , asking me to go to Len ingrad and play a training match with h i m . I happily ag reed : I l i ke matches, although , unfortunately, I have played very few. I ncidentally, that same year I won the USSR Cup, held on the knock-out system (in each round there were matches of fou r games). Reviewing the tou rnament i n the evening Moscow newspaper, Kotov gave his report the head i n g : 'He devised it himself, and he won it. ' Althou g h , I was not in fact the author of this idea : the first international tou rnament in London ( 1 851 ) was staged in the same way. But U lyu mzh i nov, who organised his world championships using this system, has even less g rounds for regarding h i mself as the 'pioneer' . . . At Korch noi's request we played our experi mental match i n public, in a small hal l . Why 'experi mental'? I had devised an unusual time contro l , in wh ich we cou ld have been i n time-trouble . . . fou r times! Each of us had to make the fi rst 1 0 moves in half an hour, the next 20 in an hour, the

1 39

next 20 again in an hour, and then we were each allowed an additional half hour to the end of the game. The cu n n i ng point was that in the open ing one could employ a risky move , and the opponent would not be able to th ink too long over his reply. I th i n k that this was a good idea, especially for two players who i nvariably suffered from time-trouble. lt was not without reason that in the 1 990s the six-hour time control effectively became the official one, and it is only recently that they have switched to more rapid chess. The games proved tense and interesti ng, although with numerous mistakes . But they were in fact i ntended to be training games. The winner was decided only in the last game, where Korch noi clearly outplayed me, but in time-trouble he blundered and lost. As a result, instead of the 'lawfu l ' 3-3 the match concluded 4-2 in my favou r. A quarter of a century later, d u ring a pleasant d i nner in Zurich , I said to Korchnoi that it would have been fai r to regard the match as d rawn , but in his usual man ner Victor Lvovich responded : ' I don't accept presents.' lt remains for me to say that hitherto these games have never been publ ished . Ini­ tially this was at the req uest of Korch noi , who did not want to d isclose his opening repertoire, and after his defection for many yea rs they beca me 'not topical'. No.2 1

•

G rOnfeld Defence 090

B RoNsTEIN - KoRCHNOI Leningrad (m/1 ) , 1 5 .07 . 1 970 1 d4 ctJf6 2 c4 g 6 3 'Llc3 d5 4 'Llf3 ..tg7 5 cxd5 'Llxd5 6 ..td2

A fashionable move at that time. 6 0-0 7 l:tc1 'Llb6 ...

1 40

�

DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

1 7 . . . .l::. d 7 1 8 iLb6 ctJa6 1 9 i..x a6 axb6! 20 ..tc4 �xa3 2 1 bxa3 lba5

lt is i nteresting that Korch noi thought for 23 minutes over this obvious move. As a result he ended u p in fearful time-trouble, but in it he played exceptionally accu­ rately. 22 i.e2 .l:td5

I ntending . . . lbc6 and . . . �a5; if 22 .. Jlc7 23 'it>d2 i.e6, then 24 �b1 . 23 h4 'it>g7 24 hxg5 hxg5 25 e4! .l:r.c5 26 �d2 g4 27 ctJd4 e5 28 ctJf5+ ! 8 i.g5 !

A novelty, thought u p at the board , which cost me 14 minutes . Korchnoi thought for al most as long over his reply. 8 . . . h6 9 ..th4 g 5 1 0 ..tg3 c5! A strong cou nter-blow; if I had i magined that Black was preparing to give u p his g?­ bishop, I wou ld have restricted myself to 1 1 e3.

Cutting off the black bishop from the g4pawn. In the event of 28 ctJb3 Black had the good reply 28 . . . lbc4+! 29 'it>c3 .l:tc? 30 ..txc4 ..te6 31 ctJd2 b5 with an equal game. 28 ... ..txf5 29 exf5 lbc4+ 30 ..txc4 l:rxc4 31 1lb1

11 dxc5 i.xc3+ 12 llxc3 'it'xd 1 + 1 3 'it>xd 1 lba4! 1 4 l:la3 lbxc5 1 5 e 3 l:ld8+ 1 6 �e1 lbc6

Wh ite has the two bishops, but Black is better developed .

The endgame is d rawish, but Korchnoi is accustomed to fighting on to the end . 31 . . . .l:!.f4 32 �e2 �a4 33 .l::t x b6 l::t x a3 34 .lab4 �xa2+ 35 'it>e3 Wf6 36 .laxb7 lla1 37 g3 �a3+ 38 �e4?

A careless move , for which I was almost made to pay (38 'it>e2 ! ) . 1 7 ..tc7 !

A clever way of sharpening the play.

38 . . . l:.f3 3 9 l::t b 6+ �g 5 4 0 �xe5 l:txf5+ 41 �e4 .l:lxf2

JA WAS KOCHAM JAK BOGA!

CZJ

141

Three blitz h e roes : Victor Korchnoi , David B ronste i n a n d M i kh a i l Tal

Black has won a pawn , but Wh ite suc­ ceeds in creating a fortress . 42 .l:.b3 f5+ 43 �d4 .l:.a2 44 .:.c3 :e2 45 .S.a3 l:.e4+ 46 �d3 .l:.e5 47 �d4 �f6 48 :ta8 .l:.e4+ 49 �d3 .l:.e1 50 :a&+ D raw (2 .28:2.29).

No.22

•

Tarrasch Defence D33

KORC H N O I - 8RONSTEIN Leningrad ( m/2 ) , 1 6 .07. 1 970 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 liJc3 c5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 liJf3 liJc6 6 g3 c4 7 il.g2 il. b4 8 0-0 ltJge7 9 e4 0-0 1 0 exd5 liJxd5 (see next diagram)

1 1 �c2!

Strong and surprising . I was expecting the variation 1 1 liJxd5 1i'xd5 1 2 a3 il. a5 1 3

ltJe5 'ii' b 5, and Black can hold on. Here I thought for a long time, but even so I was unable to find a good reply. 1 1 . . . lLlde7 1 2 d5! .ifS 1 3 'it'd 1 ltJa5 1 4 :e 1 ! a6 14 . . . il.xc3 1 5 bxc3 liJxd5! 1 6 il. a3! lLlxc3 1 7 'ifc1 .

1 42

�

DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYS S E U S

15 tiJd4

Over our last moves we each thought for 2 1 minutes ! 1 5 . . . .td3

Black's position appears sol i d , but how is he to bring his knight at a5 back i nto play?

l2Jxd7 31 'ifxf8+ tLlxf8 32 tLlh6+ and tLlxf5, winning a rook. 30 . . . fNxg4

Overlooki ng that Wh ite can force mate ; 30 . . . 'iVxf4. 31 I!xg4

1 6 �g5 ! h6 1 7 �xe7 .txe7 1 8 i.e4 �xe4 1 9 .l:txe4 �f6 20 tLlf5

There was a mate by 3 1 l:i.xf7! .laxf7 32 l:te8+ , or 3 1 . . . \t>xf? 32 'ti'h7+ etc.

I ntending 20 . . . .:te8 2 1 l:f.xe8+ 'iix e8 22 'i\Vg4 \t>h7 23 .l:.d 1 and d5-d6.

31 . . . hxg4 32 'ii'f4

20 . . .'it>h7 2 1 d6! �xc3 22 bxc3 'ii'f6 23 'iid 5 tLlc6

23 . . . 'i\Vxc3? ! was too dangerous on ac­ cou nt of 24 l:.d 1 . 24 I!ae1 .l:.ad8

Although Black's king has avoided d isas­ ter, his position is hopeless.

25 d7! g6?

A time-trouble move ; the i m med iate 25 . . . tLlb8 was better. 26 tLle3 tLlb8 27 tLlg4! �f5

If 27 . . . 'ii'x c3 I was concerned about 28 tLle5 and l:. 1 e3 (28 .. .f6 29 tLlxg6! 'it>xg6 30 l:tg4+ \t>h 7 31 fHf5+ 'it'h8 32 l:.e 7 with mate ) , but 27 . . . 'ii'g 5 was a tougher de­ fence. 28 'iVd2 h5 29 �h6+ 'it>g8 30 .l:i.f4

I n ti me-trouble Wh ite also does not play the best way. More decisive was 30 .l:Ie8!

32 . . . tLlxd7 33 �xc4 tLlf6 34 'i¥f4 '>t>g7 35 .lae7 .l:Ife8 36 l:xe8 fl.xe8 37 c4 b6 38 'iVd4 .l:.e6 39 a4 l:l.c6 40 f3 gxf3 41 g4 'it'f8 42 h4 a5 43 f2 '>t>e7 44 'ti'e3+ l:f.e6 45 �a3+ 'it>e8 46 'iit>xf3 l:f.e5 47 'ti'b2 tiJd7 48 �h2 'it>f8 49 h5 'iit> g 7 50 'ifd2 tiJf8 51 h6+ 'it>h7 52 'ti'f4

And only here d id I stop the clocks (2.34 : 2.31 ).

No.

•

23 French Defence COO

B RONSTEIN - KoRC H N O I Leningrad (m/3) , 1 7. 07 . 1 970 1 e4 c5 2 tiJf3 e6 3 d3 d5 4 'ii'e 2 tLlf6 5 g3

JA WAS KOCHAM JAK BOGA!

l2Jc6 6 ii. g 2 i.. e 7 7 0-0 0-0 8 e5 lLld7 9 c4

l i ke this move, immed iately attacking Black's centre ; 9 c3 and d3-d4 is more often played . 1

9 . . . d4

9 . . . l!e8 - cf. Game 1 2 . 1 0 h4 l:!.b8 1 1 ii.f4 b5!

Not wasting time on . . . a7-a6. 12 cxb5 ( 1 2 b3!?) 12 . . J:txb5 1 3 ctJfd21

An interesting move , on wh ich I spent 1 7 min utes. 13 . . . ctJb4 ( 1 8 ) 1 4 ctJc4 ii.a6 1 5 ctJba3 ( 1 4 ) �b8 1 6 ii.d2 ctJb6 1 7 !Ifc1 'ii'd 7 1 8 b3 ctJ6d5 1 9 h5!

Signal l i ng the start of the attack. The stage of complicated manoeuvres has come to an end , and concrete piece play begins. 19 .. Jlfd8 20 ii.e4

4J

1 43

After th i n king for 1 3 minutes, Korch noi rejected the variation 24 . . . ctJb2 25 ctJ2e3 l2Jxc4 26 lLlxc4 'iVd4 27 �ac1 ii.g5 28 l:I1 c2 'ii'd 1 + 29 'iVxd 1 .Iixd 1 + 30 'iit> h 2, since he probably thought that the end­ game was u n p romising for h i m . T h e su bseq uent moves, up t o t h e 3 1 st, were made in time-trouble. 25 lLlxb4 cxb4 26 �c2 ii.c5 27 l::r a c1 ii.d4 28 l:i.d2! 'iiic 7 29 l:!.cd 1 ! ii.c3 30 .li!.d6!

In his haste, Black forgot that the task of his bishop was to guard the d6-point. 30 .. J!xd6 3 1 exd6 'i¥d7 32 �e3 !

An accu rate move , which consolidates Wh ite's advantage. Captu ring on c4 is totally bad , and the knight comes into play with decisive effect. 32 . . . h6 (23) 33 ctJe5

Here I also spent 1 5 minutes , wondering whether 33 l2Ja5 and lLlc6 wouldn't be better. 33 . . . i.. x e5 34 "ii'x e5 .lab6 35 .l:!.d2 �f7 36 �f4 'iit> g 8 37 "ii'd4 'iit>f8

20 . . . l2Jc3!

Seeking counterplay, Black goes in for a forci ng variation. 21 ii.xc3 dxc3 22 �xc3 f5 23 i.. g 2

23 exf6? i.xf6 . 23 . . . l2Jxd3 24 ctJc2

24 lld 1 ? ctJf4 ! 24 . . . ctJb4

38 g 4!

A pretty solution . G iving up his passed pawn , Wh ite pins his hopes on the 'mortal' pin on the black rook.

1 44

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYS S E U S

38 . . . fxg4 39 'i\Vxg4 .l::t x d6 40 1i'xb4 xf7 37 'ii' h 7+ 'it>e6 38 'fic7 .:l.d6

Now comes a well-calculated fi nal combi­ nation .

ltJ

1 47

b4? !

This move has now again come i nto fashion. 9 lL'le4 lLlxe4 1 0 �xe4 �b7 1 1 'ifa4! (20) 'i:Vb6 ( 1 0 ) 12 lL'ld21 (29)

A single glance at the clock times is sufficient to u nderstand why I am so in favou r of rapid chess. The reader will probably not have forgotten that we were playing with an u nusual time control: after 1 0 moves we were given an hour for the next 20 moves. Whereas before this Korch noi had played quickly, now, having acq u i red a lot of time, he i mmediately san k into thought. He wanted to win right from the open i n g , without allowi ng me any chances. This game is a stri king exam ple of modern professional chess with the so­ cal led classical time control. 1 2 . . . a5 1 3 lL'lc4 'ii'c 7 1 4 0-0 �e7 1 5 .id2 ( 1 5 ) 0-0 ( 1 0) 1 6 a3

3 9 lL'lf4+! exf4 4 0 exf4+ 'it> d 5 41 .!:f.d1 + 'iVd4 42 'it'b7+ ! ! 'it>c4

42 . . . �c6 43 'ti'b3+ c4 44 If.xd4+ 'it> xd4 45 1We3+ 'it>d5 46 'ti'e5 mate. 43 l:!.c1 + 'it>b4

43 . . . 'it>d 3 44 'ii'f3+ 'iii> d 2 45 'it'd 1 mate . 44 .ilb1 +

Black resigns (2. 1 7 : 2 . 1 5): 44 . . . 'it>c3 45 'ii'x b5 l:.b6 46 .l:.c1 + 'it>d2 4 7 'it'f1 ! 1 6 . . . c5!

Leningrad (m/6), 2 1 . 07. 1 970

I thought for 24 m i nutes over this commit­ ting move . I did not want to go into the passive variation 1 6 . . . lL'lb6 1 7 lL'lxb6 'fixb6 1 8 .l:l.fc1 .l:!.fc8 1 9 l:r.c2 and .l:l.ac1 , and I decided to rel ieve the situation.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 lL'lf3 lL'lf6 4 lLlc3 e6 5 e3 lL'lbd7 6 .id3 dxc4 7 �xc4 b5 8 �d3

17 .ixb7 'ti'xb7 18 axb4 axb4 1 9 lL'la5! 'ii'a 7 20 'i!i'c6 !

No.26

•

Slav Defence 047

KoRC H N OI - BRONSTEI N

1 48

�

DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

With g reat skill Korchnoi exploits the weak squares in Black's position . The move has only one d rawback: on it Wh ite spent almost all of his remaining time. 20 . . . .l::!. a c8

26 dxc5?

This attem pt to wi n the b4-pawn leads to complications, which Black deals with better. Wh ite should have reconciled himself to a d raw and played 26 lLlb3. But a d raw did not satisfy Korchnoi . . . 26 . . . lLlxc5 27 .l:!.c4 b3 28 i. b4?

This allows an unpleasant pin on the rook. 28 .. .'ii'b5 29 �h5 .l::!. a 8 30 i.c3?

A final blunder. 30 .l::!. a c1 would have led to a d raw, for example: 30 . . . .l:!.xa5 3 1 i.xa5 'iix a5 32 .l:i.xc5 i.xc5 33 'it'xc5 'i¥d2 . 3 0 . . . .l:!.xa5 White resigns ( 1 .28: 1 . 30).

21 �b5

In ti me-trouble Korchnoi m isses an inter­ esting tactical possibil ity: 2 1 'ii'xc8 ! .l:!.xc8 22 lLlc6, for example: 22 . . . 'i¥c7 23 lLlxe7+ �8 24 lLlxc8 'iWxc8 25 dxc5 ! , or 22 . . . 'iixa 1 23 lLlxe7+ �f8 24 l:txa 1 e6 56 'i¥e8+ .

At the start o f t h e Icelandic Open Champi­ onsh ip I carried out a fa ntastic combina­ tion , which delighted the spectators.

5 1 lle1 ! !

A rare instance of not a copy, but a n absol utely orig inal combinatio n . At any rate, I have never come across such an idea . Although when attacki ng I myself have very often used the move l:re 1 . Bronstein - Petursson ( Reykjavik, 20.03 . 1 990) 47 'iVaB!

Black was threatening 47 . . . 'Yi'f2 , and if 48 .l:td2 lZ:lxf3+. Now Wh ite himself is threat­ ening to play 48 �e 1 , intending 'ite8 + , si nce if 48 . . . lZ:lxf3+ he has t h e defence 4 9 'iVxf3 .

51 . . .'i!t'b7

lt turns out that the threat to the bishop was ill usory. If 5 1 . . . gxf4 Wh ite would have won with the stu nning 52 .l:.e7+ ! ! lZ:lxe7 53 dxe7 , whe n , despite his extra rook, Black has no defence against 54 Vi'f8+ and 55 e81V. An im portant n u ance : the f4-pawn securely covers the white king against perpetual check.

47 . . . lZ:lf5 48 'ii h 8 !

52 i.. x g5 lZ:lxd6 53 ..txf6+! Black resigns.

I ntending 4 9 'ii' h 7+ lZ:l g 7 50 �h6.

I n itially I stayed with my friend G u n nar G u n narsson : at one time he was cham­ pion of I cela n d , then President of the Chess Federation, but now togethe r with his wife Jonina he was managing a two­ storey g uest house in the centre of

48 . . . g5

48 . . . lZ:lg7 49 i.. h 6 'iie 5+ 50 f4! 49 'if'xh5+ �g7 50 Vies

Over the space of four moves the queen

1 74

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DAV I D I N THE ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

Under t h e roof of G u n na r G u n n a rsson's g uest h o u s e i n Reykjavi k

Reykjavik. But after Gata Kamsky moved in there, I asked the organisers of the tou rnament to g ive me a room i n the hotel where the other players were staying. I n the corridor I had encountered Kamsky's father, and the unceremonial way in which he began laying down the law about something flabbergasted me. That year Rustam was ferocious, and he offended everyone in turn , accusing them of in­ trigues against his son . But I very much l i ked Gata . I n that championship we did not play each other, but when on the day of the closing ceremony there was a farewell bl itz tou rnament, he confidently won both games against me. I remembered his gentle glance and his smiling, child-l ike eyes. He as though excused h imself for win n i n g . I hope that, after becoming a professor of med icine, Kamsky wil l at

least relive the good old days and play i n the odd tou rnament for t h e joy o f the spectators .

B rowne Vari ation I n Reykjavik for the first time I met Waiter Browne , U SA champion on several occa­ sions. I knew l ittle about h i m . Except that he was a n inveterate time-trouble addict and out of his love for bl itz he even began publishing a magazine devoted to five­ minute games. On the eve of our game Waiter i n cautiously presented me with a recent copy of his magazine. There I sa.,., a novelty of his, and I decided to check j ust how good it was . Waiter is a wonderful partner. lt is a pit) that l ife did not bring us together more often at the chess board . I would have happily played a bl itz match with h i m .

VIKING SONGS

No.28

•

Sicilian Defence B99

BRONSTEIN - 8 ROWN E Reykjavik, 28.03 . 1 990 1 e4 c5 2 lLlf3 d 6 3 d4 cxd4 4 lbxd4 lbf6 5 lbc3 a6 6 i.g5 e6 7 f4

This move occu rs rarely in my games. I prefer 7 �f3, since if 7 f4 there is the good reply 7 . . . 'ifb6 ! , th reatening .. .'ifxb2 , as occu rred back in the game Joppen­ B ronstein (Belgrade 1 954 ) . Later too I played 7 . . .'�'b6 several times, so that if I wished I could have disputed Fischer's copyright on this move . 7 . . . lbbd7 8 'iff3 'Wic7 9 0-0-0 iL.e7 1 0 g4 b5 1 1 .txf6 lbxf6 1 2 g5 lbd7 1 3 f5 iL.xg5+ 1 4 �b1 lbe5 1 5 'Wih5 'it'd8 1 6 �g 1 h 6

CLJ

1 75

A mistake , i n my view. Apparently B rowne agrees with this: later I saw a game of his where he played 1 9 . . . :f8 ! 20 h4 i.xh4 21 lLlf5+

This is the critical position , for which we both had aimed . Analysing it at home, I couldn't understand : how was Black in­ tending to defend h i s king after 2 1 . . . j)_xf5 22 exf5 ? 21 . . . h8 34 .:f. h 1 Black resigns.

27 . . . 'i¥f4 would have contained a cu n n ing trap: 28 �h3? f2!

And now the promised 'Black' game. My opponent was the Scottish master Neil McDonald , who, incidentally was a Charl-

An attempt to bring the rook into play: 30 . . . tL'lxe5 31 axb5 axb5 32 �xb5 intend-

0

28 a4 �h8 29 �d4+ 'i¥t6 30 e5!

t2J

VIKING SONGS

ing .l:ih 1 + . B ut I was o n the alert. 30 .. JlVf4! 31 'iYxd6 :adS 32 'ii'x d8 .l:!.xd8 33 .l:r.xd8+ �g7 34 axb5 axb5 35 Ild7+ �h6

Along the dark squares! 36 e6 �e5 37 e7 li:Jf6 38 l:!.d3 f2! 39 li:Jd1 'i!Vxe7 40 l:te3 'i¥c5 41 �d3

lt is hard to believe that for forty moves this bishop has not moved . 41 . . . 4Jg4 42 1'tg3

177

Vi kings again and throw a party. I n add ition, I d i d not like the d i sorder which had eru pted in the chess world, and on my j ubilee I wanted to h ide from everyone on an island . O n this occasion the tou rnament did not have to be i nterrupted : by 1 9th February it had fin ished . I played so-so, but one game I remember with pleasu re . What an u n usual position my opponent and I created - it will take you r breath away! No.29 Ruy Lopez C95

KVE INYS - B RONSTEIN Reykjavik, 1 0 . 02 . 1 994 1 e4 e5 2 li:Jf3 li:Jc6 3 �b5 a6 4 .i.a4

42 . . . "iVd5 ! !

'Elegant play, threatening to sacrifice the queen on d3, ' wrote N igel Davies , a nno­ tating the game i n the 'British Chess Magazi ne'. 'In Bronstein's hands the black queen performs wonders. '

In the fi rst rou n d , to the g reat vexation of lvan Sokolov, I captu red his knight - 4 �xc6! , and it was only by brilliant defence that Black managed to save the game. Apparently this move is indeed the best, but the play that resu lts is terribly ted ious! 4 ... li:Jf6 5 0-0 .i.e7 6 l:te1 b5 7 .i.b3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 li:Jb8 1 0 d4 li:Jbd7 1 1 li:Jbd2 i.b7 1 2 il.c2 �e8 1 3 li:Jf1 i.f8 1 4 li:Jg3 g6 1 5 a4 .i. g7?!

43 li:Je3

43 l:.xg4 f1 'i¥! 44 il.xf1 �xd 1 + and . . . �xg4. 43 ... 4Jxe3 44 llxe3 'it>g5 45 �c1 'it>f4! 46 .l:rh3 'i!Ve6 Wh ite resigns.

The game was judged to be the best i n the tou rnament. Twenty years l ater

In 1 994 I myself asked to take part in a tou rnament i n Reykjavik: after 20 years I thought that it would be good to visit my

Of cou rse, I knew that theory recom-

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYSS E U S

mended 1 5 . . . c5. But I also knew that after 1 6 d5 c4 1 7 .i.g5 h6 1 8 Jl.e3 tbc5 1 9 �d2 on one occasion Spassky prettily de­ feated Portisch (Geneva 1 977), and that not long ago , th is time playing Black, he had lost in this variation to J u d it Polgar. Therefore I decided not to h u rry with . . . c7-c5, hoping in the event of d4-d5 to undermine the white pawn by . . . c7-c6 . My opponent's strong reply showed that one should deviate from generally ac­ cepted norms only with g reat caution . 1 6 ..td3! c6 1 7 b4

The u npleasant manoeuvre ctJd2-b3-a5 is now threatened . I had to rol l up my sleeves and revert to something very dear to my heart - improvisation . 1 7 . . . ctJb6! 1 8 a5 tba4! 1 9 l:ta3

I ntending to win a pawn after 20 Ji.c2 . But Black is on the alert.

tt:Jxd5 26 it.. b2 ctJb4! 27 �b1 it.. x b2 28 'Yi'xb2 l:ld8 !

T h e position is hard t o evaluate , b u t the plans of the two sides are obvious. Black is relying on his passed pawns, while White is hoping to exploit the opponent's weakness on the dark squares . 29 lt:le5! f!.d4! 30 Wie2 c4 31 .i.f5 ! !

Prettily played . After 3 1 . . . gxf5 32 lt:lxf5 lie4 33 l:.g3+ 'it>f8 (33 . . . '� h8 34 tbxf7+! 'Yi'xf7 35 'it'b2+) 34 'iVd2 'i\Yxe5 35 'Yi'd8 + ! 'i\Ye8 36 ftg8+ t h e black k i n g is mated . 31 . . . ctJd5! 32 ctJ h 5?

A new sacrifice with similar motifs : 3 2 . . . gxh5 33 :g3+ 'it> h8 3 4 tbxf? + , o r 3 3 . . . 'ot> f8 3 4 ctJ d 7 + . B u t here i t would have been more sensible to admit that the attack has come to a halt and play 32 .i.c2 , and if 32 . . . b4 33 .l:!f3 b3 34 ..txb3 cxb3 35 l:!. xb3 with equal ity.

1 9 ... exd4 20 cxd4 c5 2 1 bxc5 dxc5 22 d5

32 . . . f6! 33 l:.e3 ! ? 22 ... tt:Jxd5! !

The best chance. By sacrificing his knight for two pawns , Black not only frees the d iagonal of the bishop at b7, but also creates two dangerous passed pawns. 23 exd5 tbc3 24 l:!.xe8+ 'i\Yxe8 25 'i�Yc2

T h e last flash o f l ig htning. Black's position looks dangerous, but he is saved by his knight i n the centre . 33 . . . gxf5! 34 l:!. g3+

Moves by the knight from e5 do not give anything. 34 . . . Wf8 35 ctJxf6 ctJxf6 36 �e3 f4 3 7

VIKING SONGS

'i'xd4 fxg3 38 fxg3 Wi'e7 ! 39 g4 'Lle4! Wh ite resigns.

Torarinsso n , who after an i nterval had agai n become the President, decided to celebrate my 70th birthday in the Chess C l u b - a two-story detached house, bought by the Chess Federation for half a million dollars. At the appointed hour some fifty people assembled - the is­ land's enti re chess el ite , many with thei r wives. Olafsson presented me with an elegant si lver paper knife , with the handle in the form of a Viking boat, Gudmund u r - again some rare book and . . . an envelope . On opening it, I saw a card and on it a few l i nes handwritten i n English: 'David Bran­ stein - 70. Happy birthday greetings from the Icelandic Grandmasters. Thank you for your wonderful contribution to the art of chess. ' Normal words, seeming ly, but I felt a l u m p i n my throat. lt is probably only Northerners who can offer congratula­ tions in such a simple and worthy way. I also played my part. Gudmundur brought with him the watch that I had once handed to him via Fridrik. But only the n , when I explai ned its significance , did he under­ stand what an i nvaluable present he had been keeping all those years . Then he declared : 'Th is is all that David has left from his pre-war l ife, and he is presenting the watch to our chess museum to be preserved for ever. ' I symbolically kissed the watch face and to a storm of applause presented it to the keeper of the m useu m . That i s where i t now l ies - in a small room with sloping walls, right under the roof of the Chess Club, alongside the table and two chairs on which the Fischer-Spassky match was played . . .

CtJ

' If God had p l ayed c h ess

. .

1 79

.'

The meeti ng did not last long - about an hour and a half. There were only a few speeches and all of them , fortu nately, have been preserved on my d ictaphone. When I switched it on, I said: 'As a keepsake . ' And indeed , on hearing again those addresses and my answeri ng words, I as though returned to that day. There is no space to give the speeches in ful l , so I will limit myself to some extracts . G u d m u n d u r Thorarinsson , President of the I celandic Chess Federation:

'Dear guests. We are gathered here today for a very special occasion. One of the best chess players in the world, one who has already become a living legend, grandmaster David Bronstein, is here with us today to celebrate his 70th birthday lt is really an honour for us . . . 'Today he becomes a part of the Icelandic chess history with his presence here . . . Everybody who is present here in this room today, is familiar with his activities and his extraordinary results in tourna­ ments and matches . . . . Those who have studied the games from his world champi­ onship match in 1951 say that Botvinnik just managed to escape and there was only one draw that separated Da vid Bronstein from the world chess champi­ onship title. Our grandmaster Fridrik Olafsson once said to me that, in his opinion, David Bronstein was stronger and played better than Botvinnik . . . 'During the last years there have been big changes in the life of Da vid Bronstein. He grew up in a country that has now vanished. He lived in the Soviet Union which can no longer be found on the map today He lived in a country where the concept of private property was banned but with a system that was meant to take

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF O DYSS E U S

care of people. In the prime of his sparkling genius, David Bronstein lived under that system but now, at the age of 70, he is finally enjoying total freedom . . . 'I should mention that David told me that he does not agree to putting numbers on chess players' brains and that the system of Dr. Elo's rating points has a large disadvantage because it just takes into consideration plain figures and clear re­ sults but it does not take into account the artistic aspects of chess which are of course of very; very great value . . . 'When looking at his games, I think that we can safely say that Da vid Bronstein has made a revolution in chess, finding new ways, creating new ideas and playing for the art. In the Spanish magazine of chess Ajed rez I have seen an editorial article that said "If God would play chess, he would play like Bronstein!"' Arne Arn laug hsso n , Rector of the U n i­ versity of Reykjavik and assistant a rbiter at the Fischer-Spassky Match :

'I believe that chessmasters can be fitted into two categories: those who are re­ membered for their victories and those who are remembered for their games . . . I think definitely that David Bronstein be­ longs to the second category; to those chessmasters who are remembered be­ cause of their ideas, their profound combi­ nations and their beautiful games. That is much more lasting than the first or second place in this or that tournament which is already long forgotten. 'David Bronstein has also written some books on chess and I remember very vividly one of his books; the one about the tournament in Zurich 1 953. I acquired it about 1 5 years ago and I don 't regret it for one minute because I saw this tourna­ ment in quite a different light because of

the way that David Bronstein wrote about it. You don 't see many variations and / like that. You should know that there are many chess players who do not like to play through long variations and I am one of them!' G randmaster Fridrik Olafsson , Presi­ dent of F I D E from 1 978-1 982: 'Dear Mr. Bronstein. Of course we had players before you, like Alekhine and others, who had that dynamic element but you have something new to tell the world. And what Gudmundur has said, that if God was a chessplayer he would play like you, well, that describes you exactly to me as you are my god! 'I remember very well the first time I played against you. lt was in Hastings 1 954 and somehow I even managed to get a winning position. I had a fantastic knight on d5 but I didn 't know what to do with it! (Laughter). If I would have such a knight against you today, you would not escape! Afterwards you said: "/ am sorry; I know of course that you had a winning game. " "Well, " I said, "how could I beat you, you are my god. " lt was impossible for me. 'However, from that moment on we be­ came friends. Every time we met we had a good time together and friendly discus­ sions about chess and other things and I am very grateful for those very good moments. I learned a lot from you, not only as a chess player, but also as a person and I am grateful for that too. ' Reply by David B ronste i n : 'My dear friends, you have made m e very happy. As you know, I came specially to Iceland to be with you here this day because with so many kind people around me I do not feel so old!

VIKING SONGS

LLJ

181

Mar del Plata , 1 960. The only tournament where David B ronste i n , Fridrik Olafsson, Robert Fischer a n d Boris Spassky (out of picture) played together

'Fridrik, after such a beautiful speech I feel obliged to say a few words, but it is difficult to say something about you that the people do not already know on Iceland, as you are so well-known here! 'Maybe you don't know that, when Fridrik is not in Iceland, he is smiling a little more because he considers a chess tournament like a holiday. He spent a lot of time in other countries, playing chess, having a good time and of course drinking not only tea! 'Of our numerous meetings, I especially remember the tournament in Argentina together, where we were together for more than a month. That was an interest­ ing moment in time because it was then that Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky met for the first time. That tournament, in Mar del Plata 1 960, was the only time that

all four of us played together in the same tournament. Maybe Fridrik knew then somehow that one day he would be the organiser of the match Fischer-Spassky as he tried to take good care of both of them. So if you need an expert on the characters of Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, you can always ask Fridrik; he knows perfectly everything they will say and what they are thinking. 'Fridrik, do you remember our meeting in 1 9 75 at the tournament in Tal/inn, which became traditional thanks to Paul Keres ? Keres was playing there and, amQng others, Boris Spassky, William Lombardy, Drazen Marovic, Vlastimil Hort and you and I. On a free evening I invited all of you to my room in the Viru Hotel. 1t was a little dangerous as, during that time, the walls were also listening to what you were saying.

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'I put some drinks and food on the table, and it all looked like a friendly get­ together. Especially since I had a good reason - it was my 5 1 st birthday. After everyone had drunk to my health, I took the floor and suggested to my guests that an international chess association should be set up, in order by its common efforts to change the existing tournament regula­ tions. Chess, I declared, had fallen behind life, and the time had come to speed up the game. I suggested a new time control 30 minutes for a game (15 for each of the contestants), with an addition of a number seconds per move. I expressed the opinion that, ifinstead of one five-hour game, a mini-match of six or even eight rapid games were played, and in addition tournaments were not all-play-all, but on the knock-out system, this would raise the interest in chess competitions and reduce the time needed for staging them. Such a reform will allow young players to com­ pete more often with grandmasters and more quickly gain experience. -

'My idea appealed to everyone. We promptly elected a president of this Association and if you will now look a little closer, you can see the president. He is sitting on my left: Fridrik Olafsson! 'We wanted to make a detailed agree­ ment about the new Association and Friorik said: "No, not now. I am a lawyer and I know exactly what to do. Let's not lose time on this here. lt is better if we can drink something now!" 'Unfortunately we were ahead of our time and our Association never got off the ground, but I still maintain today that we needed then and need now an independ­ ent organisation, for normal chess play­ ers, in order not to be at the mercy of this strange international organisation called FIDE with people who are just making pleasure trips and a lot of vacations for themselves without thinking about other people. 'I think that the latest events in chess are very disturbing. When a couple of young

2

Fridrik Olafsson's s i g nature against the backgro u n d of a traditional Icelandic landscape

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VIKING SONGS

1 83

players suddenly break away, saying that they are the best, wanting to play for their private "professional" World Champion­ ship title. They even managed to get the London newspaper The Times to sponsor such an event with millions of British pounds. I think they made a wrong move. 'More than 40 years ago I was "a participant in a World Championship match ". I have a certificate that says exactly that! We played for the honour, not for the money. 'Now I believe that Bobby Fischer is absolutely correct in his demands to return to him the title of World Champion because now we have no FIDE Cham­ pion. We will only have a so-called "professional" champion. 'A friend of mine in Belgium, Tom FOrstenberg, sent me a book which he made specially for my birthday and it arrived this morning. I want to show it to you because exactly twenty years ago when I was in Iceland to celebrate my 50th birthday with you, I also received as a gift a book with my games. So exactly twenty years later I have received another book; a very good tradition. ' Thorarinsson: 'There will be another book when you will be 90!' Bronstein: 'Thank you. Thank you!'

'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' On the morning of that festive day, Gun nar, with whom I now always stayed when I flew to Reykjavik, they did indeed present me with a package from B rus­ sels . On opening it, I saw a bright red volume with the title: ' David lonovich ! ' To the book was attached a letter, i n which Tom FOrstenberg explained that this was a present from him for my j ubilee. And

T H E

S O R C E R E R ' S A P P R E N T I C E D A V I D

T O M

B R O N S T E I N a

n

d

F U R S T E N B E R G CADOGAN -

The world of chess is an intimate one. Fea­ tured on the cover of the book 'The Sorcer­ er's Apprentice'

is

a

portrait

by

Sammy

Rubi nste i n , son of the g reat Akiba

that, i n essence, it was the preparation for a future book about me, and he asked me to read it carefu lly and correct any possible mistakes and inaccu racies. I was g rateful for such a pleasant surprise , although , as I looked through the book, I real ised that I had fallen i nto a trap. The 'correcting' took one and a half years . I n an effort to improve the content, I be­ came so carried away by the work that what resulted was effectively a new book. lt increased greatly i n size and i n this form it did indeed begin to approach the ' book of my l ife' , which is what FOrstenberg had i ntended . How d id we work? Tom sat at

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DAV I D I N T H E ROLE OF ODYS S E U S

the computer, and I, looking at the screen , dictated notes to the games, embellishing them with various episodes from my l ife. Possibly for this reason the comments appear rather light-weig ht, although it was precisely this that Tom h imself l i ked , since what resu lted was not a serious analysis, but a book for ordinary chess enthusiasts . Usually we worked in Furstenberg's house, where I found shelter d u ring my frequent visits to Holland and Belg i u m . After a l l , a p a rt from participati ng in t h e Aegon Tou rnaments, beg i n n ing in 1 992 I began appearing for the Anderlecht C l u b and playing i n local tou rnaments. And it tu rned out that Tom became the involu ntary controller of my movements around Eu­ rope. He h imself sought invitations to tou rnaments for me, he helped to main­ tai n contact with thei r organisers , and he corresponded with publishers on my be­ half. And this is to say noth ing of the fact that at any time of day or night he would meet and accompany me to Brussels Ai rport or the rai lway station . I n cidentally, before they constructed the tun nel u nder the English Channel, it was not so easy to travel from B russels to London : by train to Ostende, then by boat to Dover, and agai n by tra i n to Londo n . I n cal m weather the channel crossing was a delight, but windless days occur here extremely rarely, and usually the sea was roug h . On more than o n e occasion , looking at the menacingly rol l i ng waves, I remem­ bered the autumn days of 1 94 7 , when the Soviet tea m was retu rning from London to Len ingrad on the small steamsh i p 'Sestro­ retsk'. We sailed along a narrow channel that had been cleared of mi nes , but on the bow of the ship two sailors with binocu lars kept a constant watch. When we reached the Baltic, a storm began. We tried not to let o n , but we were very

alarmed . Apparently, so as to reassure us, the capta i n came i nto the team's cabi n . ' D u ri ng the war years in these waters five h u n d red thousand m i nes were laid , ' he reported , and then cheerfully added : 'Accord ing to my i nformation, a hundred and fifty thousand have a l ready been removed ! ' We weren't in the mood for jokes. lt was especially u ncomfortable at n ight. And once over breakfast Flohr and Lil ienthal admitted that they were sleeping with their clothes o n , so that if a nythi n g happened they could immed i­ ately climb u p on deck . . . lt was pleasant to hear from Tom that d uring our joint work he in a small way became my p u p i l . Hence the name of the book - 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice . ' lt has already been publ ished in English, Ger­ man, F rench and Spanish. lt won a mass of plaudits, and was named the British Chess Federations's book of the yea r for 1 996. But this success cost me dearly. As a result of the prolonged work with a com puter my blood pressure rose , and now I don't know how to lower it. . . . But let us retu rn to the Reykjavik Chess C l u b . On this occasion there were no general festivities. The occasion was celebrated sedately and soberly: I took with me a bottle of cognac, and everyone had just one g lass. But then one of the d i rectors and sponsors of the Federation. the President of I celandic VISA, E i nar Einarsson , invited me, Fridrik, Gudmundur. Johan and G u n n a r to d i n ner i n the most expensive restaurant in Reykjavik. An unforgettable evening! Outside the win­ dow snow was falling, in the distance the ocean was visible, but we, sitti ng cosily in our chairs , were d rinking, each as much as he wanted , and amicably chatting about everything in the world .

VI K I N G S O N G S

This is to

certify that

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by David Bronstein and Tom Furstenberg

was selected as the

British Chess Federation Book of the Year 1 996

Ray Edwards

Mike Fox

John Toothill

From the restau rant we all moved on to Gun nar's guest house, where through the night we played blitz, maintaining our fading strength with coffee and cognac. Close to morning , when there were just two of us left, the d ru n ken host suddenly began singing. I was staggered : in a com petition for singers Fridrik cou ld have lost to h i m ! In the perfect silence G u n nar inspiredly sang some I celandic fol k songs for me. I switched on my dictaphone, but later I d iscovered to my d i stress that in my euphoric state I had forgotten to press the right button . . . After such a warm reception I began seriously thinking about whether I shouldn't

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move to Iceland (by that time I real ised that I could hard ly count on obtaining Spanish citizenship). And I asked Gud­ mundur to help with a residence permit for myself and Tanya . He brought some papers, fil led them i n h imself, I signed , and soon I had in my hands two cher­ ished documents. True , for a period of one year. Before taking a fi nal decision , I decided to arrange for Tanya a personal visit to I celand . And at the same time to show her other cou ntries where we could have found refuge. Alas, after spending several months trav­ elling round half of Europe, we real ised that all that gl ittered was not gold . The general degradation of cu ltu re had also affected chess . No one any longer needed improvisers , th i n kers , or sorcerers . They needed well-trai ned , i nformed players, able to accu rately perform to a progra m . Tatyana Boleslavskaya real ised that her place of work was i n Minsk U niversity, and I real ised that I needed to l ive and d ie i n Russia , where althoug h they h a d forgot­ ten me today, they might possibly remem­ ber me tomorrow. . . . If only you knew, dear reader, how tired I was of these endless wanderings a round other countries, and how I wanted finally to gain the opportun ity to l ive a dignified existence in my homelan d . After a l l , what in fact do I need to live? Wel l , love and friendsh ip - i n this I am lucky. The n , a loaf of bread , a piece of cheese , a j u icy steak and a glass of red wine. Ah yes, I forgot: also a cou ple of apples. As the English say: 'An apple a day keeps the doctor away. '

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� TATYANA B oLESLAVSKAYA

Through the Eyes of a Travel Com panion* Pari s i a n D reams

I constantly strikes you : 'Good heavens,

n Paris, l ike champagne, t h e thought

is it really true - am I i n Paris?' Because for many years for us it was a d rea m , a myth . The real possibil ity of seeing it was depicted only in parentheses. We had to be satisfied with the Paris seen and described by others , and we thought that we knew if not everything, then a g reat deal about this city. And before my visit to Paris I thought that, when I reached there , simply I would calmly confi rm t h e i nforma­ tion that was already known to me. But it tu rned out d ifferently: Paris overtu rned and exceeded my expectations a thou­ sand times! And that which , in the descrip­ tions of others, at times seemed poetic exaggeration , tu rned out to be true. ' S h e p h e rdess of the c l o u d s '

Paris brought me two su rprises. The first was the E iffel Tower, probably the best known architectu ral structure in the world. So well known , that you no longer expect

•

anything from a meeting with it. But, when I came out of the metro and passed the massive building of the Trochadero Pal­ ace , and I suddenly saw the silhouette of this 'shepherdess of the clouds' (as the poet Apolliner cal led it) , it took my breath away! lt was like the material isation of someth ing that up til l then had existed only in the imagi nation . The second surprise concerned the statue of Venus de Milo in the Louvre. I went to look at it without any g reat enthusiasm , more out of a sense of duty. The repro­ ductions I had seen did nothing to explain the enthusiasm su rrounding this statue. And I had to agree with the experts , who explained that the ancient G reeks' criteria of fem inine beauty did not coi ncide with modern ideas, and therefore the idea of beauty, embodied in this rather heavy­ weight woman , should be taken by us on trust. To my sceptical comments David merely sai d : 'Wait. ' He led me up to the statue not

Ta nya came to the West with me for the first time i n 1 989 - to England . Then there were two more visits, more

lengthy, and to the English i m press ions new ones were added: Denmark, Swed e n , Belg i u m , Holla n d . Switzerland and France. B u t a special i m p ression o n her w a s made by our three-month to u r o f 1 994 which followed the route Norway - Holland - I celand - Spain - Belg i u m . Ta nya's travel notes were written specially for this book. - D . B .

PA R I S I A N D R EAMS

from in front, the trad itional way, but from beh i n d , so that the figu re of Venus stood half facing us. And - good heavens! I have never seen such captivating femi­ n i n ity. The yellowish , porous marble seemed alive and warm . The G reeks u nderstood everything correctly about fem i n i ne beauty. And the impression on the reprod uctions of the fig u re being overweight occu rred because of the fron­ tal aspect - for some reason it has become standard . And once again I real ised that everyth ing that you take it upon you rself to judge, should be seen with your own eyes, without trusting i ntermed iaries. -

Dan ces in M o ntmartre

Evening Montmartre is not at all like the dayti me. The narrow, half-lit streets are em pty, and only occasionally in a corner is

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there an oasis of light and noise from a sma l l cafe . Above Montmartre , at the top of the hill which has given its name to the whole reg ion, is the famous church of Sacre Coeur - majestic, cal m , appearing vaguely white i n the darkness. From the church 's terraces a slope descends, and at its very foot a dance floor has been set u p . A small area, a tiny stage, and on it a simple ensemble: gu itar, some sort of percussion and the ind ispensable accord ion - the symbol ic sound of Paris. Ord i nary Paris­ ians were dancing, people of second or even th i rd youth . They were dancing the waltz, the tango and the foxtrot. They moved elegantly and silently, entirely engrossed in the dancing. lt was obvious that they were enjoying it, and th is feeling was transferred to David and me, sitting some d istance away on a bench and

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T H R O U G H T H E EYES OF A TRAV E L C O M PA N I O N

watch ing the dancers. We sat there for at least an hour, as thoug h bewitched . This was not the cinema, nor the theatre - but a n u n planned , l ively and com pletely dif­ ferent l ife that was being enacted close by. When we fi nally stood up and headed for the metro, with in l itera l ly a few steps we stu m bled on another symbol of everyday Parisian l ife - a carouse l , with flash i n g lights and cheerfu l m u s i c . . . *

*

*

On one of the days David and I cl i m bed u p t o t h e roof o f the Notre D a m e Cathed ral

and there we touched either the noses , or the horns of the famous chimeras perched on a cornice . We, like all literary people, have been familiar since child hood with the Cathedral from the novel by Victor Hugo. Fol lowing his example, the Cathe­ d ral has as thoug h absorbed in its stones the d ramatic fates of the novel's heroes, and has itself become perceived as a kind of trag ic architectura l character . . . We stayed on the top floor of a smal l , modest hotel on the G rand Bou levards. You stepped out i n the morning onto a tiny balcony, and below were the G rand Boulevards of Paris. Was this really happen ing?!

S ca n d i navian tri ptych

DAnd,

avid is very fond of Scandi navians. i n my opinion, he secretly reg rets that he was not born a Viking. Or at least that he did not go there in his younger years , when he could stil l have tried becoming one. He told me that he was travelling once on a ferry between Denmark and Sweden, standing alone on deck, feeling the salty spray in his face , when he suddenly felt h imself to be an old seafarer, and he keenly regretted that he did not become a sailor . . . D a n i s h Idyl l

I n the summer of 1 99 1 David was playing i n Copenhage n . All the players in the tou rnament were d ispersed around the homes of local residents. We were ac­ commodated in the house of a journal ist who had gone off on holiday. We lived in a completely Hans Ch ristian Andersen-like attic of a two-storey house,

right under the roof, where the ceiling reprod uced its sloping form and the light­ colou red wooden beams under it created a quaint wickerwork. We were constantly bang ing our heads on these beams, if we forgot to bend down when moving from the centre of our attic to the corners . The tou rnament itself was held in a small sub-basement roo m , where its organisers - smiling and good-natu red young men themselves prepared meals for everyone. Obviously this was more profitable for them than giving the players money for food . And every day, an hou r before the start of the next rou n d , all the players gathered for l u nch , placing their bowls of food directly on the chess tables. The food was simple, but qu ite tasty: it was d ifferent va riations of thick soup made out of meat, vegetables and pasta . On d iffer­ ent d ays of the week the dishes were g iven different names, depend ing on the

SCAN D I NAVIAN T R I PTYC H

predom i n ance in them of the afore-listed ingredients. The virtuous ted i u m of Copenhagen was surprising and even staggering, espe­ cially after the frantic rebuilding atmos­ phere p revalent at that time i n Moscow. Measure and order seemed to be infused i nto the very a i r of the city. Even the ru bbish bins in the reg ion where we l ived were locked . The local residents evidently had keys for them . But I had a great deal of trouble with rubbish : for several days I carried it about with me, wrapped i n several layers o f newspaper, i n the vai n hope o f finding some b i n that h a d been carelessly left ope n , unti l , furtively looking around, I d ropped my precious burden in a bin i n the centre of town, taking up virtually all of its i nternal space. In Copen hagen one was struck by the n u m ber of contented , well-fed and con­ stantly smiling babies and the extremely well-g roomed people of more than ad­ vanced age. The old men (and especially the old women) were normally lea n , as though wizened , with i m peccably styled g rey hair, wearing lig ht-coloured , neat and old-fash ioned clothes. During the day they filled the city buses, but what was curious was th is: if they were a lot of people in the bus, the old men would cal m ly stand, and no one would offer them thei r place . This m ust have been the local trad ition , because whe n , following our trad ition , I stood u p and invited them to sit down , the old men would look at me not with g ratitude, but rather with i ncompre-hensio n . F u r h at from I ce l a n d

T h e main i mpression from Iceland was a feeling of being on the edge of the earth , on an island cut off from the worl d . All

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around was the ocean and above it a low sky. At night I woke up many times with this frightening feeling. Reykjavik is a largely wooden town . Two­ storey houses, encased in planks, and pai nted i n brig ht colours - pink, yellow or g ree n . I n this there was someth ing that touchi ngly rem inded me of the Russian provinces ( I g rew u p in post-war Sverd­ lovsk - Ekaterin b u rg ) . lt was t h e middle o f September, b u t the weather was warm and sunny - about fifteen degrees . That year, we were told by I celandic acquaintances, there had been an u n usually warm summer - plus eightee n . But a week later I found myself i n southern Spa i n , in Seville, where there was thirty degrees of heat I asked what the weather was l i ke in winter, and I heard in reply that in winter it was cold in Seville - not more than plus eig hteen deg rees . So once again I realised that everything on the earth is relative. In every district of Reykjavik there was a shop selling wool and various woollen prod ucts . Wool is the pride of I celand , and its sheep are not inferior to those in Scotland. One of the shops, close to the hotel where David usually stayed , became for h i m a place of constant attractio n . He made friends with the owner - an elderly, i ntel l igent lady with the u nusual name of Bru n h i lda. David i ntroduced me to her, and from our conversations it transpired that she had been called this in honour of the heroine of Wag ner's opera 'The Ring ' , o f which h e r parents were adm i rers. F ro m the newspapers fru B ru n h ilda learned who David was (he himself, with his usual modesty, i ntroduced himself as a person who played chess), and she was very proud of their good relations. David ,

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