"You must take your opponent into a deep forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one" - Mikhail Tal
As Tarrasch said, Chess has the power to make men happy like music and love....
.....and when it is played in poker style, it is loveliest and makes us happiest!
Walter Browne, the co-author of the game, which I am dealing in this article, was also an accomplished Poker master......and he perceived chess no different from.....!
Walter Browne - Anthony Miles: Tilburg, 1978
1.c4 b6
The Brit had an infatuation with the corner pawns and had the audacity to reply Karpov's 1.e4 with 1.....a6??!!! and 2.d4 with 2......b5!?!! and....... win!
2.d4 e6; 3.e4 Bb7; 4.Bd3 f5; 5.ef5!!?
And this position, introduced by Browne, survived the test of time and stayed in master class chess even in engine era!
"I had not planned to sacrifice a Rook before the game!" said Browne; which makes it all the more beautiful........ and I know, to most of the players of today, who are accustomed to engine preparation, this may not make any sense! For, the engine would have already spat on the face of "his follower" with a "-1.66" and made him shiver!
"Fear is not even an option" said Alex Honnold - the free rock climber who has the habit of climbing solo, without straps and rope, on the steep 90 degrees (at times 45 degrees defying gravity!) rocky mountains which are as high as a kilometer and more! A slip would mean death in mid air, much even before the body hits the ground far below!
If that is so, then parting a mere Rook in a corner is as cozy as living in mother's womb! That is how great masters like Morphy, Alekhine, Keres, Tal, Bronstein, Spassky.....perceive giving material!
It will not be out of place to quote this fine anecdote!
Bronstein was playing White against Tal in USSR Championship, Riga in 1968.....and he played KingsGambit to reach the following position:
........when he suddenly played 15.g3! parting the Rook for Knight. Keres commenting on the game wrote: "This move is typical of Bronstein! Few players would have considered a move like this here. When I asked Bronstein after the game why he did not play simply 15.Re1 check first, he looked at me as if I could not understand anything about the position and then said: 'I could not miss the opportunity to play a move like 15.g3 against Tal, which I may never get in my whole life'!
5....Bg2; 6.Qh5 g6; 7.fg6 Bg7; 8.gh7 Kf8; 9.Ne2!!
In such positions, you don't count material, but care about activity of your pieces and count on the inactivity of your opponent's! And.... of-course, an incarcerated or naked opponent's King makes one bolder and the choice easier!
What about the much hyped calculations.....I have seen Robert Hubner gobbling pages and pages of informant.... that too for the type of game that he plays (in non computer and engine era!) and if he had seen 99 % of those what he gave, he should have landed in mental asylum long back!
Of course, he would not have spent an hour of his limited time on what would happen in the US Presidential election or planning his vacation!
Browne wrote; "I spent around an hour weighing all the options. First off, capturing the Knight didn't work, but if I didn't take it I'd be a whole Rook down for two measly pawns! OK, the pawn on 'h7' has value and if I could develop quickly and use the g-file!? It all finally sunk in that it was all or nothing so I felt compelled to go for it!"
Very sensible comment and probably he would have seen a few options to a depth of 3 to 5 moves and weighed the end positions: for eg.,he considered:
9.hg8=Q Kg8; 10.Qg6 Bh1; 11.Bg5 Qf8; leading to Position- A &
9.Nf3 Nf6; 10.Qh4 Bh1; 11.Ne5 d6; 12.Ng6 Kf7; 13.Nh8 Qh8; 14.Nc6 leading to Position -B
&
9.Ne2! (the game continuation)
Position - A Position - B
.....and both the above positions doesn't look optically pleasing enough to letgo a Rook!
The time spent would be more towards imagining where you want your pieces to be so that they look threatening and effective and how to go about bringing them to such squares! Probably, you might even put yourself in the shoes of your opponent and see how you feel!
You need to imagine where your pieces will be optimally placed so that they become worrisome for your opponent and would appear uncomfortable in his mind's eye!
Purely a mind game and what you need is great vision and imagination! Chess problems are conceived and solved imaginatively and not through raw calculations.....calculations are mere tools to execute strategic plan and check the tactical viability and generally they extend only to a few moves deep.
Calculating myriad of variations and which branch out like a tree 'a la Kotov' should not be taken too seriously!
9.Ne2!!
The Knight gets the additional option of going 'h5' by taking this route, where it would reinforce the pin on f6!
9.....Bh1; 10.Bg5
What does Browne consider here!? "A very important point, setting up a lethal pin. Two clearly inferior alternatives were 10.hg8=Q? Kg8 and Black can offer a trade of Queens, which I abhorred. And 10.Nf4? would be an error since 10.....Ne7 covers g6 and my Bishop is blocked from g5."
10......Nf6
......and what else could Black consider here? How can he adequately defend 'g6' square whilst thwarting White's pieces from attacking his King? Two principle options fail miserably:
More than the moves, visualising the position with prospective placement of pieces is what a player strives.
11.Qh4 Nc6; 12.Nf4 Kf7?
This move was admonished and 12.....Nd4!? or 12.....e5 were suggested as better try. But as you can see both these moves and its responses does not give relief to Black King and his Knight on f6. White will bring out the Queen side Knight, Castle long and make his Rook participate in the attack and in the meanwhile Black will barely be able to keep the play going and his chief problem, besides attack on his bare King is the inactivity of his Queen and the Queen Rook. Also, the lethal pawn on h7 will bring in unexpected twists in the tale!
But the move played and the follow up precipitates the issue by reducing all his three major pieces to puppets.
13.Bg6 Ke7
This is an attempt to take the King away to Queenside, but in the process Black loses material which decides the issue. 13....Kf8; 14.Nd2 Nd4; 15.OOO Nf5 (16.Nh5 was threatened!) 16.Bf5 ef5; 17.Ng6 Kf7; 18.Nh8 Qh8; 19.Bf6 Bf6; 20.Qh5 and 21.Rh1 wins is a linear variation given by both the player and the analysts. But a mere look at the position after 13......Kf8 (below) indicates how precarious Black's position is and the very discomfort of Black and the active pieces of White would ensure that the moves flow! Of course, the players might engage themselves in working out a few moves and stop to weigh the resulting positions and...... yet will play the move which their mind throws at that particular moment driven by the desire and pressure and what not.....!
Never think that a master will always play 'the correct' move.....'correct' or 'wrong' are very subjective terms! Korchnoi said, "all obvious moves look dubious in analysis after the game'!
14.Nh5 Qf8; 15.Nd2 e5;
If 15.....d5, then 16.OOO Be4; 17.Ne4 de4; 18.Be4 is not rosier for Black. The move played was an attempt to eliminate that Bishop on g5 and hoping for lessening the pressure on f6 Knight.
16.OOO Nd4; 17.Rh1 Ne6; 18.f4! d6; 19.Ne4 Ng5; 20.Qg5 Bh6; 21.Qh4! Bg7
If 21.....Bf4; 22.Nf4 ef4; 23.Re1 crushes Black!
22.fe5 de5; 23.Rf1
The last nail on the coffin!
23.....Kd7; 24.Nef6 Bf6; 25.Nf6 Kc8; 26.Be4 c6; 27.Qh3 Kb7; 28.Bc6!
The acceptance of this gift mates the King in three moves and abstention delays it a little further!
Hence Miles Resigned!
A fine game by Walter Browne where he remained a Rook down from move 9 to 17.....but ensured that Black remained two Rooks down!!
As Tarrasch said, Chess has the power to make men happy like music and love....
.....and when it is played in poker style, it is loveliest and makes us happiest!
Walter Browne, the co-author of the game, which I am dealing in this article, was also an accomplished Poker master......and he perceived chess no different from.....!
Walter Browne - Anthony Miles: Tilburg, 1978
1.c4 b6
The Brit had an infatuation with the corner pawns and had the audacity to reply Karpov's 1.e4 with 1.....a6??!!! and 2.d4 with 2......b5!?!! and....... win!
2.d4 e6; 3.e4 Bb7; 4.Bd3 f5; 5.ef5!!?
And this position, introduced by Browne, survived the test of time and stayed in master class chess even in engine era!
"I had not planned to sacrifice a Rook before the game!" said Browne; which makes it all the more beautiful........ and I know, to most of the players of today, who are accustomed to engine preparation, this may not make any sense! For, the engine would have already spat on the face of "his follower" with a "-1.66" and made him shiver!
"Fear is not even an option" said Alex Honnold - the free rock climber who has the habit of climbing solo, without straps and rope, on the steep 90 degrees (at times 45 degrees defying gravity!) rocky mountains which are as high as a kilometer and more! A slip would mean death in mid air, much even before the body hits the ground far below!
If that is so, then parting a mere Rook in a corner is as cozy as living in mother's womb! That is how great masters like Morphy, Alekhine, Keres, Tal, Bronstein, Spassky.....perceive giving material!
It will not be out of place to quote this fine anecdote!
Bronstein was playing White against Tal in USSR Championship, Riga in 1968.....and he played KingsGambit to reach the following position:
........when he suddenly played 15.g3! parting the Rook for Knight. Keres commenting on the game wrote: "This move is typical of Bronstein! Few players would have considered a move like this here. When I asked Bronstein after the game why he did not play simply 15.Re1 check first, he looked at me as if I could not understand anything about the position and then said: 'I could not miss the opportunity to play a move like 15.g3 against Tal, which I may never get in my whole life'!
5....Bg2; 6.Qh5 g6; 7.fg6 Bg7; 8.gh7 Kf8; 9.Ne2!!
In such positions, you don't count material, but care about activity of your pieces and count on the inactivity of your opponent's! And.... of-course, an incarcerated or naked opponent's King makes one bolder and the choice easier!
What about the much hyped calculations.....I have seen Robert Hubner gobbling pages and pages of informant.... that too for the type of game that he plays (in non computer and engine era!) and if he had seen 99 % of those what he gave, he should have landed in mental asylum long back!
Of course, he would not have spent an hour of his limited time on what would happen in the US Presidential election or planning his vacation!
Browne wrote; "I spent around an hour weighing all the options. First off, capturing the Knight didn't work, but if I didn't take it I'd be a whole Rook down for two measly pawns! OK, the pawn on 'h7' has value and if I could develop quickly and use the g-file!? It all finally sunk in that it was all or nothing so I felt compelled to go for it!"
Very sensible comment and probably he would have seen a few options to a depth of 3 to 5 moves and weighed the end positions: for eg.,he considered:
9.hg8=Q Kg8; 10.Qg6 Bh1; 11.Bg5 Qf8; leading to Position- A &
9.Nf3 Nf6; 10.Qh4 Bh1; 11.Ne5 d6; 12.Ng6 Kf7; 13.Nh8 Qh8; 14.Nc6 leading to Position -B
&
9.Ne2! (the game continuation)
Position - A Position - B
(analysis diagrams)
.....and both the above positions doesn't look optically pleasing enough to letgo a Rook!
The time spent would be more towards imagining where you want your pieces to be so that they look threatening and effective and how to go about bringing them to such squares! Probably, you might even put yourself in the shoes of your opponent and see how you feel!
You need to imagine where your pieces will be optimally placed so that they become worrisome for your opponent and would appear uncomfortable in his mind's eye!
Purely a mind game and what you need is great vision and imagination! Chess problems are conceived and solved imaginatively and not through raw calculations.....calculations are mere tools to execute strategic plan and check the tactical viability and generally they extend only to a few moves deep.
Calculating myriad of variations and which branch out like a tree 'a la Kotov' should not be taken too seriously!
9.Ne2!!
The Knight gets the additional option of going 'h5' by taking this route, where it would reinforce the pin on f6!
9.....Bh1; 10.Bg5
What does Browne consider here!? "A very important point, setting up a lethal pin. Two clearly inferior alternatives were 10.hg8=Q? Kg8 and Black can offer a trade of Queens, which I abhorred. And 10.Nf4? would be an error since 10.....Ne7 covers g6 and my Bishop is blocked from g5."
10......Nf6
......and what else could Black consider here? How can he adequately defend 'g6' square whilst thwarting White's pieces from attacking his King? Two principle options fail miserably:
10.....Ne7 11.Nf4 Qe8; 12.Ng6 Ng6; 13.Bg6 Qc8; 14.Qh4! threatens Be7# as well as Qf4-f6#
(analysis diagram)
10......Bf6 so as to challenge that lethal Bishop which landed on g5 11.hg8=Q Rg8; 12.Qh6 Kf7; 13.Qh7 Rg7; 14.Bg6! Kf8; 15.Bh6 Nc6; 16.Nf4 followed by Nh5 and mate.
(analysis diagram)
More than the moves, visualising the position with prospective placement of pieces is what a player strives.
11.Qh4 Nc6; 12.Nf4 Kf7?
This move was admonished and 12.....Nd4!? or 12.....e5 were suggested as better try. But as you can see both these moves and its responses does not give relief to Black King and his Knight on f6. White will bring out the Queen side Knight, Castle long and make his Rook participate in the attack and in the meanwhile Black will barely be able to keep the play going and his chief problem, besides attack on his bare King is the inactivity of his Queen and the Queen Rook. Also, the lethal pawn on h7 will bring in unexpected twists in the tale!
But the move played and the follow up precipitates the issue by reducing all his three major pieces to puppets.
13.Bg6 Ke7
This is an attempt to take the King away to Queenside, but in the process Black loses material which decides the issue. 13....Kf8; 14.Nd2 Nd4; 15.OOO Nf5 (16.Nh5 was threatened!) 16.Bf5 ef5; 17.Ng6 Kf7; 18.Nh8 Qh8; 19.Bf6 Bf6; 20.Qh5 and 21.Rh1 wins is a linear variation given by both the player and the analysts. But a mere look at the position after 13......Kf8 (below) indicates how precarious Black's position is and the very discomfort of Black and the active pieces of White would ensure that the moves flow! Of course, the players might engage themselves in working out a few moves and stop to weigh the resulting positions and...... yet will play the move which their mind throws at that particular moment driven by the desire and pressure and what not.....!
(analysis diagram)
If 15.....d5, then 16.OOO Be4; 17.Ne4 de4; 18.Be4 is not rosier for Black. The move played was an attempt to eliminate that Bishop on g5 and hoping for lessening the pressure on f6 Knight.
16.OOO Nd4; 17.Rh1 Ne6; 18.f4! d6; 19.Ne4 Ng5; 20.Qg5 Bh6; 21.Qh4! Bg7
If 21.....Bf4; 22.Nf4 ef4; 23.Re1 crushes Black!
22.fe5 de5; 23.Rf1
The last nail on the coffin!
23.....Kd7; 24.Nef6 Bf6; 25.Nf6 Kc8; 26.Be4 c6; 27.Qh3 Kb7; 28.Bc6!
The acceptance of this gift mates the King in three moves and abstention delays it a little further!
Hence Miles Resigned!
A fine game by Walter Browne where he remained a Rook down from move 9 to 17.....but ensured that Black remained two Rooks down!!
