MARK RUBERY CHESS

The Ukrainian GM, Andrei Volokitin wrote an excellent book aimed at the serious player titled (rather prosaically) ‘Perfect your Chess’ (Gambit 2007). The book is divided into three parts:

1. Make a move (positions where one must find the best move). This section is concerned with developing intuition and imagination in chess. 2.Find the win (positions in which one must find a forcing variation, leading to a win). The examples are designed to test combinative vision and calculation of variations.

3.Answer a question (the reader’s task here is to find the answer to a concrete problem). Solving these examples will develop one’s positional understanding and logic.

Each section has 100 positions (opening with 23 taken from Volokitin’s games) and are given in the order of increasing difficulty. The first 40 are aimed at FM level, the next 40 at IM level and the final 20 at GM level.

It might be added that the Dutch GM Dimitri Reinderman, who was once the coach of the SA squad at the Olympiad, used this book as part preparation before competing at the super tournament in Wijkaan-Zee.

Here is an example of a GM level problem: Should White go after the a7 pawn, or settle for a repetition of moves after 59 Rb8 Bd6 60 Rd8 Bb4 etc? Ljubojevic, Ljubomir (2620) - Tal,Mihail (2615) [B33] Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee (11), 1976

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.a4 h6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Bc4 Bxc4 10.Nxc4 Nxe4 11.Nxe4 d5 12.Nxe5 Nxe5 13.Ng3 Bc5 14.0–0 0–0 15.Qh5 Re8 16.Bd2 Qb6 17.b3 Re6 18.Rad1 Rc8 19.Nf5 d4 20.Qh3 Rce8 21.a5 Qd8 22.b4 Bf8 23.Bc3 Nc6 24.b5 Qc7 25.bxc6 dxc3 26.Nd4 Rg6 27.Qd7 Re7 28.Qxc7 Rxc7 29.Rb1 bxc6 30.Rb8 Rd6 31.Nf3 g6 32.g3 Kg7 33.Re1 Be7 34.Kg2 Rd5 35.a6 Rb5 36.Rb1 Rxb1 37.Rxb1 Kf6 38.Rb3 c5 39.Rxc3 Rc6 40.Ra3 Rb6 41.Ra2 Ke6 42.Nd2 Kd5 43.Kf3 Kd4 44.Ra1 c4 45.Ra2 f5 46.Nf1 Rb1 47.Ke2 Bb4 48.Ne3 Re1+ 49.Kf3 Bd2 50.c3+ Bxc3 51.Nc2+ Kd3 52.Nxe1+ Bxe1 53.Re2 Bb4 54.Re3+ Kd2 55.Re8 c3 56.Rd8+ Kc1 57.Rb8 Bd6 58.Rd8 Bb4 (“Here Ljubojevic thought for half an hour. This was understandable as a draw would only bring him partial success, whereas the weakness of the a7 pawn gives grounds to hope for more. I don’t deny I was also nervous”-Tal ) 59.Rb8 0,5-0,5

(“This shows his excellent tactical feel as many thought he would be winning after 59.Rd7 c2 60.Rxa7 Ba5! 61.Rb7 Kd2 62.Rd7+ Kc3

63 Rd6 Kb3 64 Rc6 Bc3 however, now the assessment of the position would change completely”-Tal).

Then with appropriate reverence for these great players, Volokitin points out the surprising win that could be had for Ljubojevic after 63.a7! c1=Q 64

Kg2!! (As opposed to 64 a8=Q? Qh1+ skewering the queen) and White will promote next move with a decisive advantage.

In 1937, chess problemist Mikhail Platov was arrested in Russia after making a derogatory remark about Stalin. He was shipped off to the Gulag in Siberia and died within a year.