The primary aim of this blog is to focus on the aspect of beauty in Chess. The positions discussed here will need more of your imagination than calculation. Needless to mention that the positions would be very deep and would require a great deal of time, imagination and above all love for the game.... and those serious readers will do better to explore and enjoy the beauty of the positions considered here by .......using
.....not this .......but only this!
.
The positions discussed here have potential to be expanded to humongous proportion. For heaven sake, do not spoil the beauty by using engines....you will neither do justice to self and the creator of those beautiful positions!
If god appears in front of me and grants a boon, I would ask him to destroy all chess engines irrevocably and the ability to create such nonsense by men, in future!
Here we go!
David Bronstein - Bent Larsen, Amsterdam Interzonal, 1964
The Rook reached seventh rank as early as 17th move! Black allowed this with the hope of trapping it with....
17.....Nd7; 18.Nf4!
Bronstein took his Rook there not to retreat....but to survey and surveil those squares in front of Black King and exploit the lateral power of Rook, with the help of his Knights and then send for the Queen to mate the Black King!
Powerful pieces like Queen and Rook should not be used to do menial jobs like grabbing the pawn etc. If for some reason, they infiltrate into enemy camp, effort should be made to make them stay there and explore possibilities of creating disturbance and discordance in the enemy camp. Wherever they are, they should make their presence felt strongly, if not, they should not venture at all.
18.....Nb6!?
Larsen accepts the challenge. Of course, had he played 18......Qc8; the Rook would have come back and the game would have taken some other course!
19.Re1!
Indirectly guarding the Rook!
19.....Bc3!
Now what!? Black is threatening to take on d2 and grab c4-pawn.
20.Ne4!!
"A snick by Jack Hobbs, wrote Neville Cardus, is a sort of disturbance of cosmic orderliness." Jack Hobbs was a great English Batsman who carried the nickname "The Master"! Hobbs was never interested in mere run accumulation and stood up to sustain the beauty of the game, maintain sportsmanship, and wrote that "Cricket would be a better game if the papers didn't publish the averages."
Chess needs more of Bronstein's and Tal's who risked everything for the "act of creation"! And the most important aspect in the act of creation is 'the vision' to spot the essential and shed the rest!
Here, in the current position, 'the Rook on e1' has done its role.....providing support for this Knight to jump on to 'e4' square from where it will eye on both 'f6' and 'd6' squares. Moreover, that dark squared Bishop of Black is the chief defender of Black King and the dark squares around it and therefore, this transaction, which follows is most desirable for White.
20.....Be1
Infact, Bronstein felt that Larsen would have done better to take a draw here by repetition.... 20......Bg7; 21.Nc3 Bc3; 22.Ne4 Bg7...etc!
21.Ne6!
Preparing the field for the arrival of his Queen!
21......Bf2!
A co-creation! Black cannot afford to retain this Bishop and eat that Knight!
If 21.....fe6; 22.Qg4 Re7; 23.Qg6 Kf8; 24.Nf6!
If 21.....Qc8; 22.Nf6 Kh8; 23.Rf7!
If 21.....Re6; 22.de6 f5; 23.e7!
The presence of the White Rook on b7 is killing!
22.Kf2!?
There are four moves for White King here and this one is The effective move! Bronstein would have certainly considered this when he put that Knight on e6, for, this move opens the f-file for Black to check with his Rook and organise defence against White's onslaught.
And this is evident from his disregard for the simply beautiful (not simple!) draw with......
22.Nf2 fe6; 23.Qg4 Qg5
24.Ne4!! a second coming for this Knight!! 24.....Qg5; 25.Nf6 and it starts giving perpetual checks.
Returning back to the position, after 22.Kf2!?
22.....fe6; 23.Qg4 Rf8; 24.Kg1 Rf6;
Here, Bronstein had a relook at his initial consideration, when he embarked on Ne6: 25.de6 h5; 26.e7 Qe7; 27.Re7 hg4; 28.Nf6 Kf8; 29.Rb7 =
Then, it suddenly occurred to him that Black is not forced to play 25.....h5; instead he could as well play 25.....Qf8; 26.e7 Rf1; 27.Kh2 Qh5!....
......and to his horror saw that the important points got covered and the Black Rook too escaped from getting captured..... and however mighty that pawn on e7 may be.....a Rook is a Rook after all! (.....or is it!?)
......and played....
25.Qh3??
We shall see the reason for the double question mark shortly....
The game concluded.....
25......Qf8; 26.Ng5
26.Nf6 Qf6; 27.Qh6 Qd4! 28.Kh1 Qh8!
26.....Rf1; 27.Kh2 Rf5; 28.Ne6 Rh5; 29.Qh5 gh5; 30.Nf8 Rf8 and Bronstein Resigned.....
......but did not sleep that night and was haunted by the position and his decision on the 25th move!
POSTSCRIPT
Unable to sleep, Bronstein went for a long walk that night.....deep into night....mulling over the position, blind....
......and suddenly SAW what he could not see with his naked eyes, then during the game, jaundiced by illusory fears! Rushing back to the room from the walk, he woke up his second and trainer Konstantinopolsky and showed him the following....!
Position after Black's 24.....Rf6
25.de6 Qf8; 26.e7 Rf1; 27.Kh2 Qf5 (the point where he had stopped while playing) 28.Qf5 Rf5
29.Ra7!!
The flash of brilliance which appeared and enabled his restless....sleepless mind sleep....after all, his concept of 21.Ne6! started with the previous Knight sortie Ne4! was appropriate and artistic!
Artistry at its best!! Already a Rook down and White is able to offer his remaining Rook too!!
Such is the resilience of any position in chess..... Such is the artistic element hiding in each and every position in chess....
.....all that it requires is an artistic mind.....a great imagination....inspiration.....to discover them.....!
To remove the unwanted.....hindering pieces and pawns....both one's own and opponent's......like Michelangelo chiseling and removing the unwanted portion of the granite to reveal the David!
Both the Rooks exercise mutual reverence in the ensuing hide and seek that they will start playing now.....White Rook begs to be gobbled so that the e7 pawn can be promoted and Black Rook refuses....so as to prevent that pawn from promoting!
Meanwhile, the other way.....
29.....Re5 fails even to hold because of 30.Nf6! when 30.....Kh7 walks into mate and 30.....Kg7 walks into discovered check Queening the pawn!
The saga doesn't end here....!
Larsen later said, he had......
25......Nc4!
When.....
26.e7 Rf1! 27.Kf1 Ne3; 28.Ke2 Ng4; 29.ed8=Q Rd8 and Black is winning!
Of course! But......
Bronstein reckoned that he was not compelled to take the Rook in the above line!
.....and play
27.Kh2!! Qe8; 28.Qe2! Rf5; 29.g4 Qf7; 30.gf5 Re8; 31.fg6 Qe6
.....and Larsen said, he stood better in this position! But.....
Bronstein jolted him with
32.Qc4!! Qc4; 33.Nf6 Kh8; 34.g7 Kg7; 35.Ne8 Kg6; 36.Nd6 Qh4; 37.Kg1 Qe1 and Perpetual Checks follow
And thus, the great saga was laid to rest peacefully!!
Postscript for postscript!!
There may be certain moves which could be improved (in fact there are...!), and the modern engines may concur with most of the decisions made by both the players and later discussed as postscript..... and there may be occasions where it shows something better, outright, using brute force that it is capable of!
But, one needs to keep in mind that human brain is not a computer engine and it thinks and feels differently.....feel.....feeling.....is the most important aspect when it comes to approaching.... chess or even life at large.....always it is a progress towards the nearest truth.....not the ultimate......!
THE END
.....not this .......but only this!
.The positions discussed here have potential to be expanded to humongous proportion. For heaven sake, do not spoil the beauty by using engines....you will neither do justice to self and the creator of those beautiful positions!
If god appears in front of me and grants a boon, I would ask him to destroy all chess engines irrevocably and the ability to create such nonsense by men, in future!
Here we go!
David Bronstein - Bent Larsen, Amsterdam Interzonal, 1964
The Rook reached seventh rank as early as 17th move! Black allowed this with the hope of trapping it with....
17.....Nd7; 18.Nf4!
Bronstein took his Rook there not to retreat....but to survey and surveil those squares in front of Black King and exploit the lateral power of Rook, with the help of his Knights and then send for the Queen to mate the Black King!
Powerful pieces like Queen and Rook should not be used to do menial jobs like grabbing the pawn etc. If for some reason, they infiltrate into enemy camp, effort should be made to make them stay there and explore possibilities of creating disturbance and discordance in the enemy camp. Wherever they are, they should make their presence felt strongly, if not, they should not venture at all.
18.....Nb6!?
Larsen accepts the challenge. Of course, had he played 18......Qc8; the Rook would have come back and the game would have taken some other course!
19.Re1!
Indirectly guarding the Rook!
19.....Bc3!
Now what!? Black is threatening to take on d2 and grab c4-pawn.
20.Ne4!!
"A snick by Jack Hobbs, wrote Neville Cardus, is a sort of disturbance of cosmic orderliness." Jack Hobbs was a great English Batsman who carried the nickname "The Master"! Hobbs was never interested in mere run accumulation and stood up to sustain the beauty of the game, maintain sportsmanship, and wrote that "Cricket would be a better game if the papers didn't publish the averages."
Chess needs more of Bronstein's and Tal's who risked everything for the "act of creation"! And the most important aspect in the act of creation is 'the vision' to spot the essential and shed the rest!
Here, in the current position, 'the Rook on e1' has done its role.....providing support for this Knight to jump on to 'e4' square from where it will eye on both 'f6' and 'd6' squares. Moreover, that dark squared Bishop of Black is the chief defender of Black King and the dark squares around it and therefore, this transaction, which follows is most desirable for White.
20.....Be1
Infact, Bronstein felt that Larsen would have done better to take a draw here by repetition.... 20......Bg7; 21.Nc3 Bc3; 22.Ne4 Bg7...etc!
21.Ne6!
Preparing the field for the arrival of his Queen!
21......Bf2!
A co-creation! Black cannot afford to retain this Bishop and eat that Knight!
If 21.....fe6; 22.Qg4 Re7; 23.Qg6 Kf8; 24.Nf6!
If 21.....Qc8; 22.Nf6 Kh8; 23.Rf7!
If 21.....Re6; 22.de6 f5; 23.e7!
The presence of the White Rook on b7 is killing!
22.Kf2!?
There are four moves for White King here and this one is The effective move! Bronstein would have certainly considered this when he put that Knight on e6, for, this move opens the f-file for Black to check with his Rook and organise defence against White's onslaught.
And this is evident from his disregard for the simply beautiful (not simple!) draw with......
22.Nf2 fe6; 23.Qg4 Qg5
24.Ne4!! a second coming for this Knight!! 24.....Qg5; 25.Nf6 and it starts giving perpetual checks.
Returning back to the position, after 22.Kf2!?
22.....fe6; 23.Qg4 Rf8; 24.Kg1 Rf6;
Here, Bronstein had a relook at his initial consideration, when he embarked on Ne6: 25.de6 h5; 26.e7 Qe7; 27.Re7 hg4; 28.Nf6 Kf8; 29.Rb7 =
Then, it suddenly occurred to him that Black is not forced to play 25.....h5; instead he could as well play 25.....Qf8; 26.e7 Rf1; 27.Kh2 Qh5!....
......and to his horror saw that the important points got covered and the Black Rook too escaped from getting captured..... and however mighty that pawn on e7 may be.....a Rook is a Rook after all! (.....or is it!?)
......and played....
25.Qh3??
We shall see the reason for the double question mark shortly....
The game concluded.....
25......Qf8; 26.Ng5
26.Nf6 Qf6; 27.Qh6 Qd4! 28.Kh1 Qh8!
26.....Rf1; 27.Kh2 Rf5; 28.Ne6 Rh5; 29.Qh5 gh5; 30.Nf8 Rf8 and Bronstein Resigned.....
......but did not sleep that night and was haunted by the position and his decision on the 25th move!
POSTSCRIPT
Unable to sleep, Bronstein went for a long walk that night.....deep into night....mulling over the position, blind....
......and suddenly SAW what he could not see with his naked eyes, then during the game, jaundiced by illusory fears! Rushing back to the room from the walk, he woke up his second and trainer Konstantinopolsky and showed him the following....!
Position after Black's 24.....Rf6
25.de6 Qf8; 26.e7 Rf1; 27.Kh2 Qf5 (the point where he had stopped while playing) 28.Qf5 Rf5
29.Ra7!!
The flash of brilliance which appeared and enabled his restless....sleepless mind sleep....after all, his concept of 21.Ne6! started with the previous Knight sortie Ne4! was appropriate and artistic!
Artistry at its best!! Already a Rook down and White is able to offer his remaining Rook too!!
Such is the resilience of any position in chess..... Such is the artistic element hiding in each and every position in chess....
.....all that it requires is an artistic mind.....a great imagination....inspiration.....to discover them.....!
To remove the unwanted.....hindering pieces and pawns....both one's own and opponent's......like Michelangelo chiseling and removing the unwanted portion of the granite to reveal the David!
Both the Rooks exercise mutual reverence in the ensuing hide and seek that they will start playing now.....White Rook begs to be gobbled so that the e7 pawn can be promoted and Black Rook refuses....so as to prevent that pawn from promoting!
Meanwhile, the other way.....
29.....Re5 fails even to hold because of 30.Nf6! when 30.....Kh7 walks into mate and 30.....Kg7 walks into discovered check Queening the pawn!
The saga doesn't end here....!
Larsen later said, he had......
25......Nc4!
When.....
26.e7 Rf1! 27.Kf1 Ne3; 28.Ke2 Ng4; 29.ed8=Q Rd8 and Black is winning!
Of course! But......
Bronstein reckoned that he was not compelled to take the Rook in the above line!
.....and play
27.Kh2!! Qe8; 28.Qe2! Rf5; 29.g4 Qf7; 30.gf5 Re8; 31.fg6 Qe6
.....and Larsen said, he stood better in this position! But.....
Bronstein jolted him with
32.Qc4!! Qc4; 33.Nf6 Kh8; 34.g7 Kg7; 35.Ne8 Kg6; 36.Nd6 Qh4; 37.Kg1 Qe1 and Perpetual Checks follow
And thus, the great saga was laid to rest peacefully!!
Postscript for postscript!!
There may be certain moves which could be improved (in fact there are...!), and the modern engines may concur with most of the decisions made by both the players and later discussed as postscript..... and there may be occasions where it shows something better, outright, using brute force that it is capable of!
But, one needs to keep in mind that human brain is not a computer engine and it thinks and feels differently.....feel.....feeling.....is the most important aspect when it comes to approaching.... chess or even life at large.....always it is a progress towards the nearest truth.....not the ultimate......!
THE END
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