The Chess Mind

Most of the games we cover on our weekly show present chess at its finest, but it's entertaining and salutary to have an occasional look at high-level chess at its worst. So I've dug up some real lowlights of the professional chess scene for your amusement, with moves and other screw-ups you might expect from club players having a bad day.

It's not impossible that we'll learn something from these horrors, but the real point is enjoyment, and a reminder of our common humanity in all its limited glory. (Sometimes very limited.) So join me on this trip to the chessic banana peel, won't you? The show will start at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night (that's 2 a.m. CET Thursday morning), and is free to all Premium members. Hope to see you there!

This just in, by email:

Could you please add a replayable game link for the game covered in your Chessbase Show? Not the comments you make during the show, just the game itself.

I often want to play over the game as soon as you describe it, to see how your comments match up with the game play.

Thanks

The answer to this request is that I could, but I won't. Why not?

First, part of the fun of the presentation is the dramatic aspect. If people know what's coming, that disappears.

Second, I'll regularly stop at a given point in the show and ask people to guess the next move (it's usually a tactic, but not always). Again, if the game is already known to the audience, that becomes a pretty pointless exercise.

One might respond that not everyone looks at the game beforehand. That's true, but there's an unfortunate tendency of those who do know the game to share their knowledge with the audience, ruining it for those who are trying to figure it out on their own. I'd prefer not to foster that.

Third, unless it's a really obscure game (e.g. a game from a club tournament), it's easy as pie to find it using a search engine. (Generally speaking, you'll almost always be able to find a game on chessgames.com or on ChessBase's online database.)

Having explained why I am not interested in posting direct links, I do think the questioner's aim is commendable. The viewer will get the most out of my show, from a training perspective, by finding the game first, analyzing it (without a computer, obviously) as deeply as possible, and only then watching the show. (Only at that point, if mysteries remain that the viewer can't figure out for himself, would it be appropriate to switch on Frybka.)

Last week, we took a look at the famous Mikhail Botvinnik-Jose Capablanca game from AVRO 1938. That game is famous not only because of the concluding combination starting with 30.Ba3, but for Botvinnik's powerful strategy. The "pawn roller" he used to push through the center and create a kingside attack is not unique to that game, but has been used many times over the generations to steamroll helpless opponents in the Nimzo-Indian and certain Exchange Queen's Gambit lines. It is a very simple but powerful plan.

But despite this, it's not unstoppable and not an automatic win. This week, we'll have a look at a 1935 game between Andor Lilienthal (the world's oldest living grandmaster - he's 98!) and Viacheslav Ragozin (also a grandmaster, but no longer with us, having passed away in 1962). Ragozin, ironically one of Botvinnik's sometime trainers*, demonstrated Black's defensive resources in a poorly known gem. It required patience, and for quite a while all he did was prevent Lilienthal from achieving the e4 break. Finally, when it seemed as if it would finally happen, a timely exchange sacrifice reversed the initiative, and now it was White's turn to defend. He didn't manage to do so, however, and Ragozin finished the game in style.

Just like last week's game, the game was a battle between opposing strategies, and the triumphant strategy was crowned with accurate tactical play. In short, both were complete games with both instructional and aesthetic value.

To watch, go to the Playchess server at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night (= 3 a.m. CET Thursday morning), enter the Broadcast room and find Lilienthal-Ragozin in the games list. (Note: Only premium members can watch for free; other viewers will have to pay 50 ducats (about five euros). ChessBase will make further announcements about premium memberships soon [I note some details here], but at the moment the only premium members are those with an activated copy of Fritz 12.)

* Perhaps the best-known story about Ragozin and his work with Botvinnik is this. Botvinnik, as a non-smoker, had a difficult time when his opponents smoked at the board. So he set up some training games with Ragozin where the latter not only smoked, but blew the smoke in Botvinnik's face as well. (Now that's training!)

I've pushed as hard as I can for information about the shows and premium memberships; here's what I know so far.

1. Those who try to watch the shows without a premium membership now will be charged 50 ducats (= 5 Euros) per show. That's expensive compared to the old price, though not too bad when you compare it to the price of buying a typical chess DVD. However, it's clear that the point is to push people to premium memberships.

2. There are three ways now/in the very near future to get premium memberships.

2a. Buy Fritz 12. This gives you a one-year premium membership, along with the usual things you get with the purchase. (A strong engine, database functions, 12 hours of videos from mostly elite players and some other bells and whistles.)

2b. Buy a one-year standalone premium membership. This is not yet available, but is supposed to be by some time next week. (I believe that offer will show up on this page.) This will reportedly cost 50 euros, so there really isn't any reason not to get Fritz 12 instead for the same price.

2c. Trade in your previous membership for a 2-1 deal. In other words, if you have six months left on your current, basic playchess membership, they'll convert it into a three-month premium membership. This too isn't yet ready to go, but I was given a guesstimate of two weeks for this one.

3. That's it. I've heard of another difficulty or two with this new system, and have passed them along to those with the power to do something about it. Don't write me with questions about why they're doing what they're doing, when such-and-such will change, or with technical support questions. If, however, you have a problem with the new system that hasn't been addressed in the foregoing, let me know (via the contact link) and I'll forward it along to the powers that be.

It is one of the most famous games in chess history, one which used to be a part of every player's education back in the book era. Nowadays, though, there is so much information available to new players - most of it opening-related - and the old classics are often squeezed out. Overall, the increased access to information is a very good thing, but there's a downside too. There's a lot of beauty in many old games, and there's a lot of instructional value in them too. For one thing, there are plans that strong players know and take for granted that amateurs may never discover, because they never see the games that introduced them.

That's the case with the game we'll look at this week, a heavyweight battle between two all-time greats. Mikhail Botvinnik, world champion from 1948-1957, 1958-1960 and 1960-1963 had White, against Jose Capablanca, the champion from 1921-1927. Capablanca was renowned as one of the great "natural" talents of all time, someone considered to know chess like a native tongue; Botvinnik, on the other hand, was the exemplar of hard work, a man who burned the midnight oil to perfect his abilities and his opening preparation. Overall, the players broke even against each other for their careers, but on this particular occasion preparation beat over the board inspiration.

The game was a Nimzo-Indian, and while this game was not the introduction of White's pawn roller plan, Botvinnik worked it to perfection. He pushed forward in the center and kingside, while Black grabbed a queenside pawn and tried to break through over there. The race came down to a single tempo in the end, and Botvinnik won with the help of a very famous combination.

For some the game and the combo will be old hat, but for those who haven't will find both delightful and instructive. And those of you who know this game well should definitely tune in next week, as we'll cover a game that is a perfect antithesis to this one. That said, I hope you'll all come this week, too. The show starts at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday night/3 a.m. CET Thursday morning. Just log on, go to the Broadcast room and find Botvinnik-Capablanca under the Games tab. It's that simple!

[Addendum: Yes, the same show as last week, only this time it will work!]

Technical problems reared their ugly head tonight, so it looks like we'll have to wait until next week for the Botvinnik-Capablanca show to air. See you there next week!