President’s Corner - Pittsburgh Chess Club · President’s Corner Hello everyone – I want to...

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President’s Corner

Hello everyone – I want to start by underlining our solid

membership growth over the last four months. We’re

approaching 100 members again, which is great news for

us! As a club, we rely very heavily on membership

revenue to fulfill our mission. Every member is

appreciated, and we thank all of you for being part of the

PCC! If you’ve been away for a while, come check us

out!

Our tournament program is getting a boost as well. Our

last weekend event, the Golden Triangle Open, was run

with a “Plus-Score” format. I had hoped we would draw

30-32 players. We actually drew 40, and most everyone

who showed up was very happy with the event. Thanks

to everyone who competed! Also, as of this writing, the

Abrams Memorial is underway, with a solid field of 20

players, including four over 2000.

I encourage all of you to come out for the Thompson

Memorial in June! We have some very nice plaques

from Weldon Acres Trophy in McKeesport. Come win

one, and add some variety to your trophy collection!

One more piece of encouragement – and this one is

crucial. We need more volunteers, especially as TDs!

Currently, I’m directing all Club tournaments. This

means 35 Tuesday nights a year, plus eight full weekend

days a year. Add in 12 Wednesday nights a year for

Board meetings, and that’s just not sustainable.

We should never be in a position where the loss of a

single volunteer cripples the Pittsburgh Chess Club. I

would be happy to train anyone who wants to learn how

to direct or organize an event – and if you’re looking for

advanced credit to move up the TD food chain, I can

help there as well. If time permits, sometime over the

summer I’ll probably hold a one-day TD clinic at the

PCC. Details to come!

If you’d like to volunteer, have questions, have

comments, or just want to talk about the Club, please

don’t hesitate to contact me by email at

[email protected]. Thanks for reading!

mailto:[email protected]

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NATIONAL MASTER FRANKLIN CHEN Exclusive interview

EP Editor: becoming a Chess Master is a special moment in life. I conducted this interview with Franklin Chen and

asked him to tell us in detail all about chess in his life till the moment. Franklin courteously and graciously wrote us an

honest and touching biography detailed in answers to ten of my questions. I am very thankful for Franklin’s time,

patience, and influence he is having on chess in the Pittsburgh area.

1. When did you learn chess? How old were you? Who taught you? What

did you think or feel during that first experience?

I don't actually remember a moment in my life when I didn't know the basic rules of chess!

Here's what I mean: my first life memories are from shortly before I was 3 years old (I remember celebrating my 3rd

birthday), when I was already playing chess with my father. The story is that when I was 2 years old, the 1972 Fischer-

Spassky match was happening and the result was that during the summer of 1972, my father and his grad school

classmates decided to teach themselves chess. According to him, at some point I watched and deduced some of the

movements, and he noticed my interest. I don't remember any of that, but I remember that at some point he bought

"Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" (he may still have this in his library) and he led me through it after he had finished it

himself. So that was my first chess book, and we did it before I was 4 years old, because life changed for me after my

sister was born before I turned 4, and my father no longer had much attention for me for a while.

What I remember is simply the joy of seeing the geometry of the different piece movements fitting together. I was also

extremely particular about setting up the board: I always wanted my Knights to face each other, and I still am, and at the

beginning of every game, you will note that I always adjust my Knights accordingly.

1a. What was the next big step in your chess life as a child?

After my father finished graduate school, he was very busy finding jobs, etc., and chess was put aside for a while, but

finding chess sets lying around in school led me to find in the libraries some chess books written for children, and I

enjoyed them very much. When I was 7, he found his first stable job in Morristown, New Jersey, so we moved yet again.

We discovered that the Morris County Free Library had a huge chess book collection, and we started reading through it

together. In the process, we finally realized that we had gotten some of the rules wrong when playing with each other at

home!

I must have read through 30 or 40 chess books from that library between age 7 and 9 before we moved again. During that

time, I had nobody to play with, because the one time in school recess I tried to play with a classmate who claimed he

knew how to play, he captured my

King after I overlooked a pin, and claimed victory, and would not listen to me when I said I could not make an illegal

make and Kings cannot be captured! I did have one interesting experience with a chess computer:

http://franklinchen.com/blog/2012/05/30/life-lessons-i-learned-from-a-lunch-recess-chess-game-at-age-seven/

I also started teaching my younger sister chess during this time period (at around age 4), because I had no one else to play

with other than my father. And I lost every single game I played with my father, because he would not let me win; he

would give me chances when I was

losing, but never let me actually win!

http://franklinchen.com/blog/2012/06/03/why-i-am-grateful-that-my-father-never-let-me-win-a-chess-game-against-him/

1b. How did you get into playing in chess tournaments?

First, my father had to learn that there was such a thing as chess tournaments for amateurs. This happened when he

accidentally discovered a chess club. Shortly before I turned 10, my parents and my sister and I were at the local

community center (for a new job, my father had moved the family again, to Madison Heights, Michigan) when my father

heard strange noises in the basement and wondered what was going on. He went down and came back up all excited. My

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sister and I went back down with him, and I still remember the thick cigar smoke and the men loudly banging on ticking

chess clocks while swearing and trash-talking during blitz. My father and I joined the club and began playing in casual

blitz as well as in unrated club tournaments.

Everyone said we should also join the Michigan Chess Association and the US Chess Federation and play in official rated

tournaments. My father said "wait, we just paid for one membership and you want us to pay for two others already?", but

signed us up for MCA membership, so that we could get the newsletter and stay informed.

2. When was your first tournament? Do you remember what you felt when

you won your first official game?

By summer, everyone was excited about the upcoming annual

Michigan Open over Labor Day weekend, so we went, signed up

with USCF, and played in our first USCF rated tournament, the

under-1800 Reserve Section of the 1980 Michigan Open. I lost

my first round game, but in the second round, I won a very long,

88-move game as White (I still have the original scoresheet and

just looked over the game again) against a 1400-rated opponent.

My opponent made the final blunder in an endgame, allowing

me to trade into a King and Pawn ending I knew was a win. I

took the opposition, won the Pawn Queening race, and knew

how to win with a Queen against Knight Pawn.

It felt great to bounce back so quickly from a first round loss to

winning my first tournament game. I ended up scoring 3.5/7.0

and winning a 2nd place Unrated trophy, while my father won

the 1st place Unrated trophy. I achieved my first provisional rating

of 1591, while his was 1574, lower than mine despite his higher

score. My father was so excited by our success that we continued playing

in tournaments for a while.

2a. What happened after your first tournament?

After our first tournament, my father and I were excited to continue playing. He decided to continue playing in the

Reserve Section while I never played in the Reserve Section again after the first tournament, because unlike him, I was

not in it for the prizes but for the challenge of playing against stronger opponents and getting better myself. I did well in

the Open Section of my second tournament three months after my first, and my rating went up from 1591 to 1659, so that

was exciting. I won no prize, while my father got what he wanted and won prizes for a fine performance in the Reserve

Section. After this second tournament, everyone was taking note of my progress, and said I had talent. I didn't think so

highly of myself, because by then, I had met Ben Finegold, who was a year younger than me, but already much better than

me in the tournament scene.

In January 1981, my father applied for a chess scholarship from the American Chess Foundation in order to fund some

chess instruction for me, and we got funding for ten lessons in May from the winner of the 1980 Michigan Open, Master

David Whitehouse. Before the lessons even began, I had continued to do well in tournaments, beat my first Expert, and

gotten my rating up to 1741.

I very much enjoyed the lessons, and still remember a great deal from them in retrospect. Mr. Whitehouse showed me

some endgames, openings, and illustrative games of his, but most of all, gave me a tremendously useful book list, and I

would even today recommend the study of many of the classics that he listed.

2b. What was your first setback?

Unfortunately, despite the ten weeks of instruction, it turned out that I was stuck at a plateau for an entire year of

tournament play, not having gone higher than 1765. In fact, during my second year of tournament play (age 11), I had my

Franklin Chen, Grade 5, Edmonson Elementary School, 1980-1981.

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first loss against a lower-rated opponent, my first draw against a lower-rated opponent, and my first loss to an unrated

opponent.

Meanwhile, my father himself had topped out at a rating of around 1774, I had finally beaten him at home (after which he

never played a game of chess again for another 20 years), family life was in disarray as he looked for another job, and I

was becoming a teenager and not getting along with my parents or my teachers in school. So my father let our USCF

memberships expire, in July 1982, and my parents worried that I was too obsessed with chess (my mother never approved

of it in the first place) and took away my chess set. I didn't protest too much, because I had my own life problems at the

time, plus had no idea how to continue to improve in chess. So that's how I retired from chess at age 12. Life was in

disarray for everyone, and I almost failed my classes in the fall during the 7th grade.

2c. When did you return to chess after this setback?

Within the following year, some things had improved: my father had a new job lined up, and he renewed my lapsed USCF

membership and gave me my chess set back. It was clear, though, that chess was only to be a hobby and he would not be

supporting me in any substantial way. In 1983-1985, I concluded my chess career of my youth by playing two

tournaments each of those years (during which my father had one more job change, the final one of his career, and we had

moved a couple more times).

Through introspection, I did make a conscious effort to improve my play and broke through my 1700 plateau quickly

during my return to chess at age 13, having missed age 12. I got up to 2050 when I was 15. All the while, though, I felt

more and more that I still didn't really understand chess, and Ben Finegold had long since made Master, and would drop

out of high school to move to Europe for a professional chess career. I did still think enough about chess that I wrote my

college application on how chess is simultaneously an art, sport, and

science, and informed how I think about human endeavors. Then chess ended for me for 20 years.

3. As your rating was rising, say after it past 1200, 1500, 1800, what types of thoughts did you have? Did you think you

would one day become a Chess Master or Grandmaster? Can you share the emotions of reaching higher ratings?

In my youth, I never believed I was going to become a Master, and I never acted as though I wanted to give it a try. I liked

to play, hoped I was improving, but didn't have the internal drive or family support to do anything really serious with

chess. I didn't really play that much chess as a youth: in 1980-1985, I played 16 rated tournaments, for a total of 83 rated

games that took me from unrated to an initial rating of 1591 to a peak rating of 2050. Compare with my adult tournament

career so far from 2005-2015, which consisted of 436 rated games: the vast majority of my chess playing has occurred in

my adulthood, with rating range from 2057 up finally to 2201.

My plateau at age 11, during which I received no encouragement or support from anyone, made me pessimistic even when

I recovered from it. To be honest, during the entire time I played from 1983-1985, I was afraid to have any serious

expectations or goals. My own lack of confidence combined with my fear of family disapproval caused me to actually be

relieved when I no longer had time for chess. In fact, I considered myself rather lucky to have made it to past 2000 and

had a lingering fear that if I continued, I would just lose that.

3a. What made you return to chess after a 20 year absence?

I did play a little bit of casual chess in my freshman year in college, but then never played a game again for 17 years, nor

did I follow any chess world news during that time. Chess was dead to me during those years.

But in the early 2000s, a friend mentioned that there were strong free chess engines that were worth trying out. I was

skeptical at first, because in my youth I could beat chess computers. But I started playing with some engines to see how

much they had improved since my childhood. They were still not so strong, but were definitely much stronger!

I became very interested in whether the engines were strong enough to resolve some analytical questions I had about

complicated games in my childhood in which I didn't know if I played something correctly (in particular, some sacrifices).

So my renewed interest in chess was not as a competitor but as an analyst. I started reading chess books again, and

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rejoining USCF, although not yet playing. In particular, around 2003, my life was changed when a chess book showed up

in the public library, John Watson's "Chess Strategy in Action". I checked it out and it completely altered my perception

of and understanding of chess.

Meanwhile, at this point in my life in my mid-30s, I was noticing small but clear signs of physical and mental decline (I

had peaked in my 5K race speed) and thought to myself that I had unfinished business in my life, dreams I gave up or did

not allow myself in childhood, that I should return to soon if I wanted to accomplish them at all before it was too late. One

of those dreams was to actually see how well I can play chess if I committed to improvement, since I believed deep in my

heart that I had stopped before reaching my full potential.

I discovered the existence of the Pittsburgh Chess Club in 2004, played a game of chess with my father while visiting him

for Christmas, our first game in over 20 years, and in 2005, started

playing in tournaments again.

4. What did you do to move your rating up? Did you study a lot? play a lot? What types of exercises did you do? Did you

have chess boards set up at places in the house? Was there anything unique you could share?

In my youth, there were no chess engines or computers really worth using, so progress was much harder for someone like

me who was on his own and did not have access to strong coaches (other than the ten free lessons I received at age 11).

So, I initially just learned from playing blitz often at the club, playing in tournaments and reading books and magazines.

To break my 1700 plateau, I studied specific opening systems that had clear strategic goals for the middlegame. That

made a huge difference moving forward because I was no longer playing just randomly, but with purpose. That worked to

get me up to 2000+, but it was at that point when I realized that I was holding myself back by playing only these weird

offbeat openings that I had studied. I had to go back to the classics in order to rebuild myself to go beyond 2000.

I had another plateau during my entire first year back to chess in adulthood I was stuck at a plateau of the low 2000s and

despaired of ever improving beyond my childhood level. I realized that I had to rebuild my chess understanding from

scratch. I had never studied chess systematically before, had a really spotty understanding of every aspect of the game,

from openings to middlegames to endgames. So in my second year back, in 2006, I started rebuilding myself, gradually

transforming how I play. That paid off as I finally cracked 2100 and then 2150, during 2006 and 2007. It was not until I

passed 2100 that for the first time in my life, I decided to set myself a goal of making Master!

The single most helpful tool to me in recent years has been analyzing my own games in detail with use of strong chess

engines. I would say this is more important than anything else. Being confronted with reliable evidence of ideas or tactics

that you missed (or your opponent missed) must be the single most useful tool for improvement available today that

wasn't available in the pre-computer era. In particular, computers make it easy to try "what if" by experimenting

with different continuations, setups, and see how they measure up.

5. Were there times you were disappointed with yourself and thought about quitting? Were there other factors like friend,

family, girlfriend who led you or tried to dissuade you to continue playing chess? Is there any story you would like to

share on this topic?

I have often been disappointed in my chess play, but interestingly, never seriously thought about quitting except in one

situation: I only thought about quitting once I came close to reaching Master and kept failing, which coincided

chronologically with my meeting a young woman.

Every loss or draw that set me back as I approached 2200 had a tendency of making me feel like I didn't have what it

takes. And starting to date again in 2007 definitely began to take a toll on my chess, both because Abby actively opposed

my chess activities at the time and because of my whole schedule and routine was disrupted, making tournament play

difficult logistically. By the time we got married in 2009, I had basically quit chess, and I thought for good, and not

willingly but as a concession. I periodically tried to come back and play, but always less well than I was capable, because

of being rusty, unsupported, and tired. It wasn't until the second half of 2015 that I was ready to try again to play the best I

could, this time finally with complete emotional support from Abby, who had finally come to understand how much chess

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meant to me. I also canceled a lot of my usual activities in the second half of 2015 in order to focus my energy outside of

work on chess, and all this paid off.

6. What is the single, most important factor a chess player must

consider to move up his/her rating?

We all hit a plateau at some point, at which we are apparently making the same kinds of errors that stronger players are

not making, so somehow we have to change the kinds of errors that we make. I think the most powerful tool available is

analysis of your own games. Each game you play has the fingerprints of your personal weaknesses all over it. Using a

chess engine, and ideally a strong human guide who can explain concepts and variations that lie behind the engine's

numerical evaluations, you can learn to gradually remove errors. For example, if you lost an otherwise good game only

because of one misconception during an endgame, avoiding that single error in the future could pay off in any number of

similar situations. Or if you misplayed an opening, rebuilding your thought process that led to a strategic

misunderstanding can help in all future games using that opening.

7. Have you been close to 2200 several times and then fell? (therefore postponing the Master level)?

Can you give details of how you felt?

Yes, I have been close several times! In fact, a couple of times I had 2200 locked up, in the sense that if I had withdrawn

from a tournament in progress, I would have guaranteed going over 2200 based on the wins I had already racked up in the

tournament. The first time was in the 2007 PA State Action Championship. I went in at 2171 and had won the first three

rounds. In the fourth round, I had a totally won game against a Master and nerves got to me and I fell apart and lost. In the

final round, I had a totally won game against an 1800 and fell apart and lost. This was my first experience of completely

choking under the pressure of knowing I was very close to 2200.

Then in January 2008, I had a rating of 2197 from a Pittsburgh Chess League round. The thing you have to understand is

that in January-February, I was simultaneously playing in the PCC Championship held on Tuesday nights, and had won

my first three rounds by February, which meant that if I had withdrawn, I would have secured far more than the 3 rating

points necessary to go over 2200. But I had never withdrawn from a tournament in my life, and didn't want to achieve

Master through calculated cowardice. So I played on. But I choked, and proceeded to draw the fourth game and lose the

fifth. I continued to play worse as I got engaged to be married, and quit chess the year of my marriage in 2009.

I periodically came back in 2010-2012 but just played worse and worse, unforced errors. In 2013, I started recovering, and

in 2014, I again almost made Master. At 2195, I choked, losing a won game against a much lower-rated player while a

Rook up! All I needed was to win that game to make Master. And I kept on choking in tournaments after that.

In fall of 2015, I more or less stopped choking. I still played badly sometimes, but I distinguish between poor quality of

play and just plain choking. How did I stop choking? I stopped paying attention to my rating. In fact, in my final

tournament games of 2015 that led me to go over 2200, I did not do any calculations to determine whether I would or

would not go over. I knew it could be close, but did not want to calculate. I tried to focus on my games and nothing else.

I'm still proud that I made Master without the trick of withdrawing from any tournaments.

8. Can you discuss which is more important for chess improvement:

studying the opening, middlegame, or endgame? Explain why.

The short answer is that everything is actually interconnected, and I wish I had known this earlier. A quality game will

have a story behind it that connects all phases of chess. Because of this, I think the study of complete, annotated games

(including annotating your own games) is the single most useful technique for improvement.

For example, opening study is popular, but studying the opening in isolation, apart from understanding fundamental

principles and knowing not to fall into tricky traps, is almost irrelevant at under-2000 level, where games will mostly be

decided not by opening subtleties, but by later parts of the game.

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My main improvements have come from understanding the middlegame better, learning how to assess positions and

create plans based on features of the positions, especially through considering Pawn structure. If you think of an opening

as a way to try to get to a certain kind of middlegame, and think of the middlegame as a way to get to a certain kind of

endgame, then everything starts to fit together. The middlegame is the core.

Improving in the endgame is important at all levels. When I look at my first tournament games at a 1500-1600 level, I see

that the vast majority of them went into endgames where anything could happen because none of us really knew what we

were doing, but I managed draws and wins because I was a bit better there than opponents who otherwise matched me in

the opening and middlegame.

With my young students, I go over the opening phase with them only enough for them to survive it (by playing classically

and avoiding needlessly complex and subtle variations), but focus my instruction primarily on how to get to a desired

middlegame by means of opening choice. I also add endgame instruction incrementally as it becomes a bottleneck in

overall performance: when they get good enough to get a dominating middlegame and then fail to win in the endgame,

that's when we work on the endgame. But I feel like spending a lot of time on the endgame up front is not realistic if one

is not even surviving the middlegame.

9. Were there any special, small or large celebration

when you became a Master?

No, there was no celebration. I have to confess I'm not really a celebration kind of person.

10. What are your plans now?

I will continue what I've already been doing in chess since 2012: writing and teaching.

I started writing about chess on my personal blog around 2012. I really enjoy sharing my analysis and thoughts with

others, and this eventually led to my writing for GM Nigel Davies' "The Chess Improver" site and giving private chess

lessons since 2013. I am still teaching now and very much enjoy helping others improve their chess. So teaching has been

my main focus in chess for a while now.

I will continue to play in local tournaments as time permits. I am not done improving yet! Also, I enjoy being a role model

for my students, to walk the walk as I give them advice about how to study, improve, and compete. I have even been

inspired to try to play model games to illustrate specific themes I teach. For example, last year when the subject was

isolated Pawns, I played a game in which I chose an opening aimed specifically against an isolated Pawn structure.

Art by Gabriele Gerbino

Young artist and club member

Gabriele Gerbino draws Franklin Chen

in celebration of his Chess Master’s achievement.

Gabriele is a very young artist and a chess player.

He is the son of artist Fabrizio Gerbino. For more

information visit www.fabriziogerbino.com

Contact the Artist: 412-771-0931 or 412-353-5416

[email protected]

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BOOK ‘EM MIKHAIL TAL

By Steve O’Connor

Mikhail Nekhemievich Tal was born November 9, 1936

in Riga, Latvia. At the age of 6, he learned chess while

watching his father, a medical doctor, play. He was from

the very beginning of his life blessed with much talent

and cursed with ill-health. Tal learned to read at the age

of three, and was allowed to start university studies

while only fifteen.

Steve O’Connor, PCC

Vice-President

He was arguably the

most creative and

greatest attacking

chessplayer that ever

lived. In 1957, he

became the youngest-

ever Soviet Champion.

In 1960, he became the

youngest World Chess

Champion with a match

victory over Mikhail Botvinnik. This record was broken

by Garry Kasparov in 1985. Suffering from poor health,

he lost the rematch the next year. He never qualified for

a title match again. He holds the records for both

the first and second longest unbeaten streaks in

competitive chess history. On May 28, 1992, dying from

kidney failure, he left hospital to play at the Moscow

blitz tournament, where he defeated Garry Kasparov. He

died one month later. The Mikhail Tal Memorial is held

in Moscow each year since 2006 to honor his memory.

Tal first qualified for the USSR Chess Championship

final in 1956, finishing joint fifth, and became the

youngest player to win it the following year, at the age

of 20. He had not played in enough international

tournaments to qualify for the title of Grandmaster, but

FIDE decided at its 1957 Congress to waive the normal

restrictions and award him the title because of his

achievement in winning the Soviet Championship.

Tal made three appearances for the USSR at Student

Olympiads, from 1956–1958, winning three team gold

medals and three board gold medals. He won nineteen

games, drew eight, and lost none, for 85.2 percent.

He retained the Soviet Championship title in 1958 at

Riga, and competed in the World Chess Championship

for the first time. He won the 1958 Interzonal

tournament at Potoroz, then helped the Soviet Union win

their fourth consecutive Chess Olympiad at Munich.

Tal won a very strong tournament at Zurich, 1959.

Following the Interzonal, the top players carried on to

the Candidates’ Tournament, Yugoslavia 1959. Tal

showed superior form by winning with 20/28 points,

ahead of Paul Keres with 18½, followed by Tigran

Petrosian, Vassily Smyslov, Robert Fischer, Svetozar

Gligoric, Fridrik Olafssen, and Pal Benko.

In 1960, at the age of 23, Tal thoroughly defeated the

relatively staid and strategic Mikhail Botvinnik in a

World Championship match, held in Moscow, by 12½–

8½ (six wins, two losses, and thirteen draws), making

him the youngest-ever world champion at that time.

Botvinnik, who had never faced Tal before the title

match began, won the return match against Tal in 1961,

also held in Moscow, by 13–8 (ten wins to five, with six

draws). Tal's chronic kidney problems contributed to his

defeat, and his doctors in Riga advised that he should

postpone the match for health reasons. Yuri Averbakh

claimed that Botvinnik would agree to a postponement

only if Tal was certified unfit by Moscow doctors, and

that Tal then decided to play. His short reign atop the

chess world made him one of the two so-called "winter

kings" who interrupted Botvinnik's long reign from 1948

to 1963.

Soon after losing the rematch with Botvinnik, Tal won

the 1961 Bled supertournament by one point over

Fischer, despite losing their individual game, scoring

14½ from nineteen games (+11 −1 =7) with the world-

class players Tigran Petrosian, Keres, Gligorić, Efim

Geller, and Miguel Najdorf among the other participants.

Tal played in a total of six Candidates' Tournaments and

match cycles, though he never again earned the right to

play for the world title. In 1962 at Curacao, he had

serious health problems, having undergone a major

operation shortly before the tournament, and had to

withdraw three-quarters of the way through, scoring just

seven points (+3 −10 =8) from 21 games. He tied for

first place at the 1964 Amsterdam Interzonal to advance

to matches. Then in 1965, he lost the final match against

Boris Spassky, after defeating Lajos Portisch and Bent

Larsen in matches. Exempt from the 1967 Interzonal, he

lost a 1968 semi-final match against Viktor Korchnoi,

after defeating Gligoric.

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Poor health caused a slump in his play from late 1968 to

late 1969, but he recovered his form after having a

kidney removed. He won the 1979 Riga Interzonal with

an undefeated score of 14/17, but the next year lost a

quarter-final match to Lev Polugaevsky, one of the

players to hold a positive score against him. He also

played in the 1985 Montpellier Candidates' Tournament,

a round-robin of 16 qualifiers, finishing in a tie for

fourth and fifth places, and narrowly missing further

advancement after drawing a playoff match with Jan

Timman, who held the tiebreak advantage from the

tournament proper.

From July 1972 to April 1973, Tal played a record 86

consecutive games without a loss (47 wins and 39

draws). Between October 23, 1973 and October 16,

1974, he played 95 consecutive games without a loss (46

wins and 49 draws), shattering his previous record.

These are the two longest unbeaten streaks in modern

chess history.

Tal remained a formidable opponent as he got older, he

played reigning champion Karpov 20 times with a record

of 19 draws and one loss (at Bugojno, 1980).

One of Tal's greatest achievements during his later

career was an equal first place with Karpov (whom he

seconded in a number of tournaments and world

championships) in the 1979 Montreal "Tournament of

Stars", with an unbeaten score of (+6 −0 =12), the only

undefeated player in the field, which also included

Spassky, Portisch, Hort, Hübner, Ljubojevic, Kavalek,

Timman and Larsen.

Tal played in 21 Soviet Championships, winning it a

record six times (1957, 1958, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978), a

number only equaled by Botvinnik. He was also a five-

time winner of the International Chess Tournament in

Tallinn, Estonia, with victories in 1971, 1973, 1977,

1981, and 1983.

Tal also had successes in blitz chess; in 1970, he took

second place to Fischer, who scored 19/22, in a blitz

tournament at Herceg Novi, Yugoslavia, ahead of

Korchnoi, Petrosian and Smyslov. In 1988, at the age of

51, he won the second official World Blitz

Championship (the first was won by Kasparov the

previous year in Brussels) at Saint John, ahead of such

players as Kasparov, the reigning world champion, and

ex-champion Anatoly Karpov. In the final, he defeated

Rafael Vaganian by 3½-½.

In Olympiad play, Mikhail Tal was a member of eight

Soviet teams, each of which won team gold medals

(1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1980, and 1982),

won 65 games, drew 34, and lost only two games (81.2

percent). This percentage makes him the player with the

best score among those participating in at least four

Olympiads. Individually, Tal won seven Olympiad board

medals, including five gold (1958, 1962, 1966, 1972,

1974), and two silver (1960, 1982).

Tal played board nine for the USSR in the first match

against the Rest of the World team at Belgrade 1970,

scoring 2 out of 4. He was on board seven for the USSR

in the second match against the Rest of the World team

at London 1984, scoring 2 out of 3. The USSR won both

team matches. He was an Honoured Master of Sport.

From 1950 (when he won the Latvian junior

championship) to 1991, Tal won or tied for first in 68

tournaments . During his 41-year career he played about

2,700 tournament or match games, winning over 65% of

them.

From all of this one would expect Mikhail Tal to be

dashing and debonair. He wasn’t. In fact he would be

considered to be, in today’s parlance, a dork. He had

difficulty walking and chewing gum at the same time.

His wife, the Russian actress Sally Landau, wrote the

following:

Misha was so ill-equipped for living... When he travelled

to a tournament, he couldn't even pack his own

suitcase... He didn't even know how to turn on the gas

for cooking. If I had a headache, and there happened to

be no one home but him, he would fall into a panic:

"How do I make a hot-water bottle?" And when I got

behind the wheel of a car, he would look at me as though

I were a visitor from another planet. Of course, if he had

made some effort, he could have learned all of this. But

it was all boring to him. He just didn't need to. A lot of

people have said that if Tal had looked after his health,

if he hadn't led such a dissolute life... and so forth. But

with people like Tal, the idea of "if only" is just absurd.

He wouldn't have been Tal then.

One amusing anecdote quoted from Tal's autobiography

is a self effacing description of the thought process that

he would go through when analyzing a position:

I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a

USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated

position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The

sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of

possible variations; but when I began to study hard and

work through them, I found to my horror that nothing

would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I

12

would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which

worked in one case, to another situation where it would

naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head

became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts

of moves, and the infamous "tree of variations", from

which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the

small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable

rapidity.

And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the

classic couplet by Korney Ivanović Chukovsky: "Oh,

what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the

hippopotamus". I do not know from what associations

the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although

the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to

study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education,

was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD

you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh? I remember

how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers,

helicopters, and even a rope ladder.

After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an

engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: "Well, just let

it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared.

Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on ...

of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not

appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized

that it was not possible to calculate all the variations,

and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature,

purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting

game, I could not refrain from making it. And the

following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the

paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the

position for 40 minutes, made an accurately calculated

piece sacrifice.

Tal led a dissolute personal life of drinking and chain

smoking. This was an embarrassment to the Soviet

authorities. His already fragile health suffered as a result,

and he spent much time in hospital, including an

operation to remove a kidney in 1969. He was also

briefly addicted to morphine due to intense pain. On

June 28, 1992, Tal died in a Moscow hospital, officially

of kidney failure. But his friend and fellow Soviet

grandmaster Genna Sosonko reported that "in reality, all

his organs had stopped functioning." Tal had the

congenital deformity of ectrodactyly in his right hand.

Despite this, he was a skilled piano player.

We have many books on Tal’s games in our library. We

have game collections by Cafferty, Karklins, Hilary

Thomas, Clarke a well as Tal himself. There are also

many books on general game collections that are heavily

salted with his games.

BLITZKREIG Rachel Gologorsky’s

column

Tokarev, V - Gufeld, E [B76] Ukrainian Ch, 1954

Eduard Gufeld was a Soviet chess

Grandmaster and notably Maya Chiburdanidze's trainer.

In addition, he also was a prolific chess author and

published over 80 books. This game highlights what

Paata Gaprindishvili terms a "clear critical moment" (a

fight over the d5 square) and shows how the players'

moves are shaped by this overarching consideration. (see

diagram 1)

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6

3.Nge2 g6 4.d4 cxd4

5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 d6

7.Qd2 Nf6 8.f3 0–0

9.0–0–0 Nxd4

10.Bxd4 Qa5

11.Kb1 e5 12.Be3 Be6

13.Be2 Rfd8

Now the Sicilian struggle begins in earnest. Black's

greatest weakness is the d5 square. If White can keep

control and prevent Black from playing ...d5, he will

enjoy a stable space advantage and can look forward to

grinding down on the backward d6 pawn. On the other

hand, if Black can achieve the ...d5 breakthrough, then

he will have solved his opening problems (less space,

weak d6 pawn). (see diagram 2)

14.g4 b5

Diagram 2 Diagram 3

13

White wants to kick the Black knight out of protecting

the d5 square, and so Black returns in kind with ...b5,

with the idea of responding to 15. g5 with ...b4.

After 15.g5 b4 16.Nd5 (16.gxf6? bxc3 17.Qxc3 Qxa2+)

16...Nxd5 17.exd5 Bf5= Black's problems are solved: d5

is no longer a weak square, the ...d6 pawn is no longer a

weakness, and White's kingside initiative has dissipated.

Taking the pawn instead leads to double-edged play, but

is ultimately fine for Black. The open b-file makes

White's king open to attack. After 15.Bxb5 the response,

fittingly, is 15...d5! 16.Bc6 (16.Nxd5 loses tactically:

16...Qxb5 17.Nc7 Bxa2+ 18.Kc1

a) 18.Kxa2 Qa4+;

b) 18.Ka1 Qa4 19.Qxd8+ (19.Nxa8 Bb3+ 20.Kb1 Qa2+

21.Kc1 Qa1#) 19...Rxd8 20.Rxd8+ Bf8 21.Rg1;

18...Qc6 19.Qa5 Rdc8 and White is down a piece)

16...dxe4 17.Nd5 Qxd2 18.Nxf6+ Bxf6 19.Rxd2 exf3

20.Bxa8 Rxa8 is fine for Black, since his strong center

pawns and bishop pair compensate for any material

disadvantage of having bishop+pawn for the rook.;

15.Nxb5 Qxa2+ 16.Kc1 Qa1#

15...Qa6 [15...Qxd2 would lead to precisely the situation

Black wishes to avoid: passive defense of the backward

d6 pawn. 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Rxd2 a6 (unfortunately, the

breakthrough 17...d5 isn’t that good for Black: 18.exd5

Rxd5 19.Rxd5 Bxd5 20.Rd1 Bc4 (20...Rd8 21.Bxa7)

21.Bxc4 bxc4 22.Rd6 and Black loses the c-pawn)

18.Rhd1 Be7 and Black is stuck passively defending the

backward d6 pawn while White has all the play. Possible

plans for White include putting more pressure on d6

with Bb6–a5–b4 and getting more space by pushing f4–

f5.]

15.Nd5 16.Nb4 Qb7 17.g5 A critical point. If Black

simply moves his knight away, then he loses the battle

for the d5 square and White clearly stands better. Hence,

Black finds an amazing resource: (see diagram 3,

previous page).

17...a5! Rather than go down

quietly, Black sacrifices a

piece in return for an attack

and fighting chances.

18.gxf6 axb4 19.fxg7 Bxa2+

20.Kc1 Bc4 21.Qe1 and

finally, the long-awaited

decisive breakthrough

21...d5! (Diagram on left)

BOOK REVIEW How to Attack in Chess by Gary Lane

a book review by Paul Lucarelli

This time around I've decided to write about the "fun"

part of playing chess. In Gary Lane's ninth chess book

HOW TO ATTACK IN CHESS, first published in 1996,

we learn the basics of attack. Every chess player needs

to master the basics of attack and Gary's book provides a

short but effective primer on the topic. Paul Lucarelli, PCC Board Member.

Although the book is a mere 128 pages,

within you will discover the proper

methods and techniques of creating and

seizing opportunities to go on the

offensive and carry out your attack to it's

logical end, namely mate. Creating and

executing a successful attack, or king-

hunt leading to mate is one of the great

joys of the game of chess. Mastering the ideas presented

in Mr. Lane's book will lead to more exciting and

dynamic chessplay.

The examples of games that Mr. Lane uses to explain his

ideas don't just show the "winning" move or idea, he

provides us with examples that include the build-up and

strategy behind the culmination of moves to get to that

"winning" point in the game. Some of the principles of

HOW TO ATTACK IN CHESS include: the importance

of having a plan and sticking to it; how to seize the

initiative; increasing piece influence and harmony; the

essence of time; and how proper and consistant play

lead to the creation of "luck".

Gary's examples focus mainly on the enemy king. This

is, of course, where our attention should always be

focused. This is because around the enemy king is

where "checks" and "mates" are waiting to be found and

exploited. Gary covers attacks on the casteled king

when both sides castle short, long, and on opposite sides.

He also gives examples of attacking the "stranded" king,

when the king is trapped in the center. Gary give us

examples of attacking the "fianchetto" structure and

examples of pinpointing and exploiting pawn structure

weaknesses. He even gives us examples of where things

just don't work out in the end.

But who's never been on the short side of an interesting,

but flawed attempt to break down the enemy defense or

catch the enemy king? Overall, this is a very fine book.

One that covers a great deal of essential chess

knowledge. Get your hands on a copy and enjoy.

14

THE MAULDON PUZZLE

By Steve O’Connor, PCC Vice-President

Nineteen Seventy Two was a very exciting year for chess in the conservative village of Markston. Traditionally, this

conservative village supplies the local chess champion, young Horace Spatchcock being their leading man at present. To

the surprise of all, one of Markston’s great rivals, the brash Brooklyn, not generally noted for its chess players, produced

R. J. “Loopy” Fizzer. Markston first sent over their young upstart, Marcus Tyman to play Loopy. Then after Marcus was

ingloriously dispatched by Fizzer, they sent over old “Tiger” Peters, their former champion. When Peters came back badly

mauled, there was nothing left for Spatchcock to do but to play Fizzer himself.

Fizzer’s famous victory is local history now but it did not come without its troubles. The match had to be played at

Coldbury Hamlet and it would have fallen through if Squire Thatcher hadn’t put up an extra fiver in prize money. Fizzer

had all of the 50 watt lightbulbs replaced by 100 watt bulbs and then played in dark glasses. There were other issues as

well. Anyway, they did play and the following is the positon in one of the games was reached right before they went to

lunch with Spatchcock to move.

Now even Fizzer and Spatchcock make mistakes, and as they were

going out to lunch, the following bit of conversation was heard:

Fizzer: Your move, huh?

Spatchcock: Yes. You know Loopy, I could have checkmated you on

my last move.

Fizzer: Yeah, Horace, fancy missing that. Sometimes you miss a mate

with a queen but this was not one of those.

Due to the rather stringent match conditions, no one had seen any

previous play and it was not known whether Spatchcock was white or

black. So you must work out from the lunchtime position and the

above conversation what the position must have been when

Spatchcock missed the mate. One of the difficulties was that a white

pawn somehow got shifted slightly and it is not known whether it was

supposed to be on e2 or f2, so you must consider both possibilities.

How many possibilities are there for the position when Spatchcock

missed the mate in light of the given information and what were they? SEE THE SEPTEMBER EN PASSANT!

Pittsburgh Scholastic City Championship Winners - 2000 - 2016 by Jerry Meyers - 5/30/16 www.youthchess.net

I have been running scholastic tournaments in Pittsburgh since 1994. I started a scholastic version of the City

Championship in 2000. The tournament has been running for 16 years. In the early years, the sections were divided by

grade and rating. In more recent years, there has just been one championship section for K - 12. Here are the winners of

the top sections.

Code to ratings: T- is rating at time of tournament, R- is recent rating, H- is highest official rating

2000 Pittsburgh Scholastic Chess Championship - 2/19/00

Grade 6-12 Premier - William Surlow - T-2108/R-2029/H-2207

Grades K-5 Premier - Matthew Barbara - T-1076/R-1593/H-1613


Grades 7- 12 Championship - Daniel Priore - T-1714/R-1792/H-1818

Grades K -6 Championship - Rahul Ghai - T-1201/R-1353/H-1465

15


Grade 6-12 Advanced - Mike Opaska - T-1396/R-2038/H-2154

Grades K - 5 Premier - Gabriel Petesch - T-1121/R-2364/H-2379


Grade 6-12 Championship - Ezra Jampole - T-1405/R-1693/H-1739

Grades 2 - 5 Championship - Alexander Heimann - T-1515/R-2374/H-2375

Grades K - 1 Championship - Prem Rajgopal - T-985/R-1453/H-1509


Grades 6-12 Championship - Eric Guffey - T-1302/R-1524/H-1524

Grades 4 -5 Championship - Richie Weaver - T-1039/R-1151/H-1295

Grades K - 3 Championship - Ben Stern - T-977/R-1171/H-1326


Grades 6-12 Championship - Kris Meekins - T-1434/R-2277/H-2354

Grades 4 -5 Championship - Randall Gough - T-1256/R-1526/H-1551

Grades K - 3 Championship - Andrew Linzer - T-1028/R-1390/H-1451


Grades 6-12 Championship - Luka Glinsky - T-1553/R-2032/H-2096

Grades K -5 Championship - Randall Gough - T-1432/R-1524/H-1551


Grades 6-12 Championship - Michael Hickman - T-1553/R-1638/H-1666

Grades K -5 Championship - Prem Rajgopal - T-1223/R-1453/H-1509


Grades 6-12 Championship - Grace Dorohovich - T-1510/R-1524/H-1547

Grades K -5 Championship - Ben Molin - T-1414/R-1697/H-1697


Grades 6-12 Championship - Jimmy Yuan - T-1388/R-1541/H-1541

Grades K -5 Championship - Ryan Tsai - T-1372/R-1795/H-1850


Championship - Jack Mo - T-1685/R-2122/H-2137


Championship - Ben Molin - T-1499/R-1697/H-1697


Championship - Mike Samo - T-1274/R-1425/H-1425






Championship - Allen Gao - T-1424/R-1486/H-1509


Championship - Jason Briegel - T-1491/R-1517/H-1525

Players who peaked over 2000, listed by the year(s) they won

2000 - Grade 6-12 Premier - William Surlow - T-2108/R-2029/H-2207

2001 - Grades K - 5 Premier - Gabriel Petesch - T-1121/R-2364/H-2379

2001 - Grade 6-12 Advanced - Mike Opaska - T-1396/R-2038/H-2154

2002 - Grades 2 -5 Championship - Alexander Heimann - T-1515/R-2374/H-2375

2004 - Grades 6-12 Championship - Kris Meekins - T-1434/R-2277/H-2354

2005 - Grades 6-12 Championship-Luka Glinsky - T-1553/R-2032/H-2096

2010 - Championship - Jack Mo - T-1685/R-2122/H-2137



*slight font differences needed for editing purposes. It does not

imply order, relationship, or emphasis. *En Passant Editor.

The top 3, by peak rating, are: Gabriel Petesch 2379, Alexander Heimann 2375, Kris Meekins 2354 Code to ratings: T- is rating at time of tournament, R- is recent rating, H- is highest official rating

SOLUTIONS TO YISRAEL ISAACSON’S TACTICS COLUMN (try them first! next page) The lines and numerical evaluations given below are based on the analysis of Houdini 4. In general the solutions yield

evaluations at least 3 – 4 points higher than Houdini’s next best move/line, which still may be sufficient to win and which

I have included.

#1 +299.98 1. Qe7+ Bc7 2. Nc7#

#2 +6.96 1. Nf5 ef5 2. Rd8+ Bd8 3. Re1+ Qe4 4. Re4+ fe4 5. Qb7 g5

+0.42 1. Bf6

#3 From the 2016 Polish Championship.

+11.79 1. Bh6 Bh6 2. Ng5+ Kg7 3. Rf7+ Rf7 4. Ne6+ Kh7 5. Nc7 cd3 6. Na8 Nf4

+1.54 1. g3

#4 An effort from the 2008 World’s U8 & 2011 World’s U12 Girls Champion.

-299.96 1….Qe5 2. Kg1 Rg2+ 3. Kg2 Qg3+ 4. Kh1 Qh2#

16

TACTICS

by Yisrael Isaacson

“Chess is 99% tactics”

The above quote is attributed to Richard Teichmann, a strong German master active at the turn of

the last century. Although most pundits would consider the quote a bit hyperbolic, to this day it

remains true that tactics constitute a large part of the game and mastering tactics is critical

towards becoming a good chess player. It is thus my pleasure to share with you some positions,

usually from master games, featuring tactical operations. Most come from published sources, so

some readers may recognize them.

Yisrael Isaacson: new En Passant columnist on the topic of Tactics.

1. White to play

Lu-Shanglei – Bitoon, Olongapo City 2015

2. White to play

Macieja – Laznicka Khanty-Mansiysk 2007

3. White to play

Swiercz – Kanarek Poznan 2016

4. Black to play

Dogan – Abdumalik Kayseri 2011

Solutions to the tactics above appear on page 13.

17

The Pittsburgh Chess Club proudly presents the

40th Pittsburgh Summer Open Saturday-Sunday, August 27-28, 2016

Location: Pittsburgh Chess Club

5604 Solway St, Suite 209 Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Time control: Rds 1-2 G/45 d5, Rd 3 G/60 d5, Rds 4-5 G/75 d5

Registration: Sat, 9-9:45am (Arrivals after 9:45 may have

to take Round 1 bye)

Round times: Sat 8/27 @ 10:00-11:45-2:00

Sun 8/28 @ 10:00-1:30

“Plus-Score Prizes”! Longer time controls in later rounds!

Format: Five-round Swiss system, in three sections Championship Section (open to all)

Prize based on final score: 5.0 = $300 4.5 = $150 4.0 = $75 3.5 = $40 3.0 = $20

Reserve Section (open to players rated under 1900) Prize based on final score:

5.0 = $250 4.5 = $125 4.0 = $65 3.5 = $30 3.0 = $15

Booster Section (open to players rated under 1500 - no unrated) Prize based on final score:

5.0 = $200 4.5 = $100 4.0 = $50 3.5 = $25 3.0 = $15

EF, all sections: $40 postmarked by 8/20, $50 after, $5 discount for PCC members US Chess Federation membership required – may be purchased at site

Maximum of two ½-point byes allowed – must be declared before Rd 2 pairings are made

Entries to: PCC, c/o Pgh Summer Open, 5604 Solway St Suite 209, Pittsburgh PA 15217 Info: (412) 421-1881, [email protected] Wheelchair accessible

www.pittsburghcc.org /PittsburghChessClub /PghChess

18

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Have chess news? stories? curiosities? Email the Editor: [email protected] (word.doc format only).

BECOME A MEMBER OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP

Please send in the loose membership form with a check or money order to the Pittsburgh Chess Club. The Club is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, where you can find chess

lovers to play, practice, and chat or borrow books from our huge chess Library!

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Questions about membership? [email protected]

SPECIAL EVENTS DIRECTOR

NEEDED

The President of the Pittsburgh Chess

Club is inviting club members who

would like to energize the club’s events,

to contact him directly. Position starts

immediately: [email protected]

HISTORY OF THE PITTSBURGH

CHESS CLUB TOURNAMENTS SINCE

1991:

http://bit.do/PCCevents

GET FREE TRAINING

TO BECOME (a paid)

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR! The Pittsburgh Chess Club President Boyd

M. Reed will train, free of charge, any Club

Member who wants to become a TD. Read

“The President’s Corner” column and

lookout for

SUMMER TD CLINIC!

Below are the deadlines for materials submission:

EDITION DEADLINE

September 2016 August 15, 2016

December 2016 November 14, 2016

March 2017 February 17, 2017

June 2017 May 15, 2017

All materials in Word.doc files ONLY. No rtf, pdf,

or other formats will be accepted. Files must have

NO formatting (specially no columns).

Materials not published in the immediate En Passant

edition will be placed in line for future, as early as

possible, publication.

All authors are requested to send a face picture and a

one line statement or bio. Authors are responsible for what they write and

responsible for the quality of grammar and English

language.

MEMBERS WITH A PICK-UP TRUCK!

We need you and your truck! for our August 14th annual picnic! Please email John Barroso at

[email protected]

http://bit.do/PCCevents

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