01-01 October Cover_Layout 1 18/09/2016 19:59 Page 1

Play the King’s Fianchetto – with both colours!

paperback | 272 pages | £ 16.99 | available at the London Chess Centre - www.chess.co.uk/shop

NEW!

Neiman and Shoker present a practi cal and complete opening repertoire that does not require a lot of maintenance.

No matt er what side you are, you use the same basic ideas: as White you are targeti ng the light squares and as Black the dark squares, while applying roughly the same strategies, plans and tacti cal moti fs. In many lines the authors not only

present a solid approach but also a sharp and aggressive alternati ve.

Will you get a large advantage if you play Neiman and Shoker’s system? Probably not always, but you will get a sound and fl exible middlegame positi on

you will feel at home in and which off ers very interesti ng opportuniti es.

www.chess.co.uk 3

ContentsEditorial.................................................................................................................4Malcom Pein on the latest developments in the game

60 Seconds with... Boris Avrukh ...............................................................7The famous Quality Chess author is enjoying life in Illinois

So Special .............................................................................................................8Wesley So is on course for Tour glory after the Sinquefield Cup

Best of British .................................................................................................18Instructive annotations from Gawain Jones and David Eggleston

Colourful Chess ..............................................................................................22Yochanan Afek reports on an impressive chess festival in Jerusalem

How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................26Daniel King features rising Russian star Daniil Dubov

Hull-timate Chess..........................................................................................30Stephen Greep explains why chess in Hull is on the rise again

Why You Should Study Steinitz...............................................................32Leading Steinitz expert Craig Pritchett on the 19th century great

Shock Absorption ..........................................................................................36Steve Giddins on handling those moments of horror at the board

Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................38A detailed listing of all the major UK events this October

Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................40Can you do as well as the grandmasters this month?

Studies ................................................................................................................43Brian Stephenson presents three problems from Belgrade

Never Mind the Grandmasters................................................................44Carl Portman pays tribute to narrowboatman Arthur Hibbitt

The Scarborough Chess Congress - 40 Years On............................46Neil Pennock has always enjoyed this long-standing, popular event

Home News.......................................................................................................48Joseph McPhillips has enjoyed a very successful summer

Overseas News ...............................................................................................51British players have been busy in Austria, France and the UAE

Solutions............................................................................................................54

New Books and Software...........................................................................55Works from Sokolov & Yusupov come under Sean Marsh’s microscope

Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58John once again enjoyed following the recent Olympiad

Photo credits: Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (pp.1, 8-15), Chess Magazine Archive(pp.36, 38), Maria Emelianova (pp.5-6), Calle Erlandsson (pp.47, 49), Eteri Kublashvili (p.52), DavidLlada (p.58), Arnold Lutton (p.49), Ray Morris-Hill (p.7), Carl Portman (pp. 44-45, 50), Dorit & GadyRitvo (pp.22-25), Fiona Steil-Antoni (p.19), Norman Stephenson (p.20), Wikimedia (pp.27, 51).

ChessFounding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †Executive Editor: Malcolm PeinEditors: Richard Palliser, Matt ReadAssociate Editor: John SaundersSubscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington

Twitter: @CHESS_MagazineTwitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm PeinWebsite: www.chess.co.uk

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Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by:Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RTTel: 020 7288 1305 Fax: 020 7486 7015Email: info@chess.co.uk, Website: www.chess.co.uk FRONT COVER:Cover Design: Matt ReadCover Photography: Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis

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03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 18/09/2016 19:33 Page 3

www.chess.co.uk15

2016 Sinquefield Cup, St.Louis, USA, 5-14 August (Category XXII, 2779 average Elo)

Player Country Rating 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Score TPR

1 Wesley So USA 2771 X ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 5½ 2857

2 Viswanathan Anand IND 2770 ½ X ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 2818

3 Levon Aronian ARM 2792 ½ ½ X ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 5 2815

4 Fabiano Caruana USA 2807 ½ ½ ½ X ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 2814

5 Veselin Topalov BUL 2761 0 ½ ½ ½ X ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 5 2819

6 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2819 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ X ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½ 2775

7 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2791 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ X 1 ½ 1 4½ 2778

8 Ding Liren CHN 2755 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 X 1 ½ 4 2743

9 Peter Svidler RUS 2751 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 X 1 3½ 2704

10 Anish Giri NED 2769 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 X 3 2660

The Sinquefield Cup, as has become traditional, finished with the ‘Ultimate Moves’ challenge between two teams, headed up by RexSinquefield and his son Randy. All the players took turns to make moves for their respective teams, as did a certain Garry Kasparov.

The broadcasts from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of SaintLouis are always first class, as can be seen here when Garry Kasparovdropped in for a chat with Jennifer Shahade and Yasser Seirawan.

Another key component of the CCSCSL’s coverage is Maurice Ashley,pictured on the right here, as he does his best to help the sponsor ofthe whole event get a word in edgeways with Kasparov in full flow.

08-15 Sinquefield_Chess mag - 21_6_10 18/09/2016 19:55 Page 15

FIDE OpenFriday 9 - Friday 16 December (with a guaranteed £23,125 prize fund)

Weekend Tournaments4 sections: Open, U2050, U1825, U1600 (all FIDE Rated)Friday 9 - Sunday 11 December

Weekday Tournaments2 sections: U2050, U1750 (both FIDE Rated)Monday 12 - Friday 16 December

Super Rapidplay Open in memory of Michael Uriely

Saturday 17 - Sunday 18 December(with a guaranteed £19,000 prize fund)

All events held at Olympia Conference Centre, Hammersmith Rd, Kensington, London W14 8UX

FINISH THE YEAR I N S T Y L E

MAKE YOUR MARK ON THE UK’S LARGEST CHESS FESTIVAL

For more information and to enter online: www.londonchessclassic.comFor tickets and tournament related queries, call: 020 7935 3445

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17-17 LCC Ticket Details_Layout 1 18/09/2016 19:53 Page 1

www.chess.co.uk21

It was time to get on with it: 45 a4! h5 (or45...Îa8 46 Íd5) 46 Îb6! h4 47 Íxe6 fxe648 a5 Îa8 49 a6 h3 50 Ëc3! Ëh6 51 Ëc6!Îf8 52 Ëc4! Ëh5 (if 52...h2 53 Îxe6) 53Ëxe6+ Ëf7 54 Ëxf7+ Êxf7 55 Îh6 and wins.45...h5! 46 Ëb3? Starting to drift. 46 a4! h4 47 a5 h3 48Ëb3 Ìg5! 49 Îb6! Ëf4 50 Îg6+! Êh7 51Îxg5 Ëxg5 52 Ëxh3+ Êg8 53 a6 wouldstill have been very strong.46...Îe8? We continue to trade mistakes. Blackshould have preferred 46...h4! and nextmove again there was 47 a4.47 Ëg3+? Êh7 48 Ëh3 Êh6 48...h4 was also possible when 49 a4 Îe750 Îxe7 Ëxe7 51 Ëf5+ Êg7 52 Ëxe5+Ëf6 53 Ëh2 leaves White only a slightfavourite.49 Îb6 Ëf2! 50 Îb3! Ìg5! 51 Ëd7!Îh8! 52 Ëd6+ Avoiding the crazy line 52 a4 h4 53 a5Êg7 54 Ëc7! Ëf4 55 a6 h3 56 Îb8! Îxb857 Ëxb8 h2 58 a7 h1Ë 59 a8Ë Ëh7!,which is an only move. However, even hereBlack’s king is in the bigger danger.52...f6

53 Îb6? The computer points out 53 Ëe7! h4 54Íc6! h3 55 Íd7! h2 56 Íf5! (thismanoeuvre would have been very hard tospot) 56...Îg8 (and not 56...h1Ë?? 57Ëxf6+ Êh5 58 Ëxh8+ Ìh7 59 Ëxh7+Êg5 60 Ëg6+ Êh4 61 Ëg4#) 57 Ëxf6+Êh5 58 Íg4+! Êxg4 59 Ëxf2 h1Ë 60Îg3+ Êh5 61 Îg2 Êg6 62 Ëf5+ Êh6 (if62...Êh5?? 63 Îxg5+ Îxg5 64 Ëh7+ Êg465 Ëxh1) 63 Îxg5! Îxg5 64 Ëf6+ Êh7 65Ëxg5 Ëxe4 with some chances for White inthe pawn-up queen ending.53...h4! 54 Îc6 Êh5 55 Ëe7 Îh6?? Throwing away all the fruits of his defensivelabours. Keith could have drawn with 55...Îb8!56 Íb3 Îxb3 57 Êxb3 Ëe3+ 58 Îc3 Ëxe4.56 Ëe8+! Êg4 Running the king to avoid 56...Îg6 57Îc7 h3 58 Îg7.57 Ëc8+ Êg3 The game is also up after both 57...Êh558 Íb3! Ëd4 59 Ëe8+ Êg4 60 Ëf8 and57...Êf4 58 Ëf8 Îg6 59 Îxf6+ Îxf6 60Ëxf6+ Êg3 61 Ëxg5+.58 Îc3+ Ìf3 59 Ëg8+! Êh2 60 Ëg7!

Keith must have missed this on move 55.His rook is trapped and...

60...Îh5 ...runs into...61 Ëg4! ...winning a piece (61 Ëxf6 also wins).61...Îg5 62 Ëxf3 Ëxf3 63 Îxf3 Îg664 Íe6 Êg2 65 Îh3 Îh6 66 a4 Îh5 67Îc3 h3 68 Íxh3+ Îxh3 69 Îxh3 Êxh370 a5 f5 71 a6 1-0

This was a very hard fight, where I wasmuch better for most of the time, butneeded to be very accurate. I was pushing inthe ending, but missed how strong a4 wasseveral times. It turned out, though, that thiswin got me my second GM norm with tworounds to spare, so it was undoubtedly animportant and highly memorable game.

As we prepared to go topress, City triumphed overUnited in the Manchesterderby. And the latestconnection between chessand football? NewManchester City managerPep Guardiola is a keenchess player. With goodreason does MartíPerarnau begin and end hisbiography of Guardiola,Pep Confidential, withGuardiola meeting GarryKasparov during his 2012-13 sabbatical from footballin New York. In Pep ConfidentialGuardiola reveals a deepknowledge of whatMagnus Carlsen gets up to,commenting: “You didn’tread the interview Leontxo García did with Magnus Carlsen in El Pais by any chance? There wasone thing Carlsen said that I loved. He said that it doesn’t matter if he has to make somesacrifices at the start of the game, because he knows that he is at his strongest in the latterstages. It really got me thinking and I must learn how I can apply it to football.” As far as we know, José Mourinho doesn’t play chess, but one eagle-eyed reader did find amention of one of England’s leading players in the Racing Post of all places. While summing upthe life of a gambler, Sunday columnist Steve Palmer displayed some knowledge of ourfavourite game: “You never know which way life is going to turn. I went from what a weekend to what aw***** as quick as a flash, while a friend’s fortunes were heading the other way. He was downon his luck, his career ended, unemployed and fearing the future. Then he got what I havealways considered the second-best job (behind pro sportsman) available on Earth. Postman. “He is loving every minute of the role and texted the other day to say he delivers to a MrNigel Short. He was thrilled with the idea that he might be posting to the greatest British chessplayer in history. “Sadly, I did some internet research and have found out that Short lives in Athens, but I willkeep that information under my hat. Ups and downs, eh? Up and down, up and down, theneventually down forever.” Nigel has, indeed, lived in Athens not London for a couple of decades now, but in the capitalone might yet spot a Tal registration plate, as Athenaeum player Martin Leanse did: “I thought that you might be interested to know that earlier in the week, I saw a carregistration number: ‘A6 Tal’! The registration number amused me since I could never imagineTal playing 1...a6 and reminded me of the famous Karpov-Miles game.

“Maybe the owner of the car is a chess player, and trying to emulate Tal’s style of play?”

It’s a Funny Old Game...

Pep Guardiola is arguably the most in-demand manager in worldfootball - perhaps not a surprise considering his love of chess.

18-21 BritishAnnotations_Chess mag - 21_6_10 18/09/2016 19:53 Page 21

October 201638

ForthcomingEvents

October 1-9 Isle of Man International, Douglaswww.iominternationalchess.com

October 1 Muswell Hill Rapidplaymuswellhillchess.blogspot.co.uk or call 07855 036537

October 1 Rainham (London) Rapidplay (glcc.org.uk)

October 7-9 Dundee & Angus Congresswww.dundee-congress.co.uk or call 07944 221925

October 9 Richmond Rapidplayrjcc.org.uk/richard/ or call 020 8756 0474

October 14-16 Crewe Congresswww.crewechessclub.co.uk

October 14-16 Hull Congresswww.hullchess.com/hull_congress2016.html or call 01482 801550

October 14-16 Portsmouth Congresswww.castlechess.co.uk or call 01707 659080

October 15 Golders Green Rapidplaygoldersgreenchess.blogspot.com or call 07855 036537

October 16-22 Guernsey Internationalwww.guernseychessclub.org.gg

October 16 Birmingham Rapidplaywww.birminghamchess.org.uk/rapidplay or call 07913 976768

October 21-23 Scarborough Congresswww.scarboroughchesscongress.org.uk or call 01709 889854

October 22-23 Bury St Edmunds Congresswww.bsecongress.org.uk or call 07808 876785

October 22-23 Hampstead U2200 Congress hampsteadchess.blogspot.com or call 07855 036537

October 22-23 Witney Congresswww.witneychess.co.uk or call 01993 708645

October 26-30 Gatwick Internationalwww.e2e4.org.uk/gatwick/oct2016/index.htm

October 27-31 Limerick Congress (www.icu.ie/events)

October 30 Brentwood Rapidplay (brentwoodchess.com)

Oct 30 - Nov 4 Royal Beacon Seniors, Exmouthwww.chessdevon.org.uk or call 01395 223340

And for the Online Connoisseur:September 26 - October 7 Tal Memorial, Moscowruchess.ru/en; Anand, Aronian, Gelfand, Giri, Kramnik, Svidler, etc.

October 1-9 Isle of Man International, Douglaswww.iominternationalchess.com; Adams, Caruana, Leko, Nakamura, etc.

Congress organisers – Don’t forget to email editor@chess.co.uk to ensure your event is listed!

Now Polugaevsky found an excellent retort.13...Îa5! After the further moves...14 fxg7 Íxg7 15 Ìe4 Ëe5 16 Ìbd6+Êe7 17 0-0 f5 18 Îad1 Îd5!

...he had avoided all the traps and dangers.The resulting position offers White about

enough for the piece, but no more than that.Eventually, possibly dispirited by the failure of

his long-prepared novelty to yield more, Talerred and lost a long endgame.

Mikhail Tal pictured inthe early 1980s,

trademark cigarette tothe fore. He was thefavourite against LevPolugaevsky in their1980 Candidatesmatch, but lost 5½-2½, having failed todestroy the Najdorf.

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This will be a strange studies column as itwon’t contain any studies. As I showed two ofthe endgame studies from Belgrade in thelast issue, I thought it would be a good idea toshow some of the chess problems that thosecompeting in the World Chess SolvingChampionship (WCSC) were faced with. This year was the first WCSC that I haddirected for several years and I hadn’t fullyappreciated just how much the standard ofthe elite solvers had improved in that time.The top two solvers finished on equal points(83.8 points out of 90), separated by just aminute, though nobody else got above 80.This makes a good story, but isn’t verysatisfactory for the solvers and I must admitthat overall the event was too easy. Iunderestimated the talents of the top solversin the first five rounds, but overestimatedthem in the last round, of which more later. Having said that, I knew that the firstround (three two-movers in just 20 minutes)would be easier than normal. Normally, themost difficult type of two-mover to solve isthat which contains several ‘tries’, eachrefuted by just one, hopefully subtle, blackmove and it has become normal at theseevents to use at least two such problems inthis round. However, there is a WCSC rulethat states: ‘The selected problems shouldshow a clear theme and a good level ofquality and difficulty. It is recommended thatin every round, the three problems shouldrepresent different styles.’ Of course, this is a very difficult rule tofollow and the second sentence hastraditionally been given lower priority thanthe first, particularly in this first round. Idecided, for the first time, to put priority intothat second sentence and so chose oneproblem with tries, one problem with no triesbut lots of post-key play, and the followingproblem showing changed mates.

Kiril StoyanovHet Belgisch Schaakbord (L’Echiquier Belge), 1999

White to play and mate in 2

If we pretend for the moment that it isBlack to play, we see that there are four black

moves that lead to immediate mate: 1...Íd62 Íb7#, 1...d6 2 Îxe7#, 1...Ìf4+ 2 Îxf4#and 1...Ëxd4 2 Ëxd4#. In the first two ofthese ’set’ variations we see a black bishopinterfering with a black pawn and then thatblack pawn interfering with that black bishop. However, it is White to play and eventuallywe conclude that there is just no way tomaintain those mates. The solution turns outto be 1 Ëc7! (threat 2 Ëe5#) with the sameblack moves defending, but now leading todifferent mates: 1...Íd6 2 Ëb7#, 1...d6 2 Ëxe7#, 1...Ìf4+ 2 Ëxf4# and 1...Ëxd4 2 Ìxg3#. Those who wish to can analyse thisproblem and find out just how the change isbrought about. If you enjoy such things andare not already a chess problem enthusiast,then perhaps you ought to be!

After round 1 there were many solvers onmaximum points, but the second round, thethree-movers, helped to lower that number.This was probably the easiest of the three-movers and is an early composition byveteran Romanian chess composer VirgilNestorescu, whose endgame studies havefeatured in this column.

Virgil NestorescuBulletin Ouvrier des Echecs, 1952

White to play and mate in 3

The solution: 1 Ìe6! (threat 2 d4+Íxd4 3 exd4#), leading to: 1...Ìb5 2 Ìf4and 3 Ìd3#, 1...Îd5 2 Ìg5 and 3 f4#,1...c5 2 Ìf8 and 3 Ìd7#, and 1...Ìf5 2 f4+ Êxe4 3 Ìg5#. 1...Ìb5 stops the black rook getting to d5to defend against the threatened 3 Ìd3#.1...Îd5 blocks d5, so stopping the knight one7 from going there to defend against thethreatened 3 f4. 1...c5 again stops the black

rook from getting to d5, this time to defendagainst the threatened 3 Ìd7#. The by-playvariation 1...Ìf5 blocks f5 and lets Whiteallow a capture of the guarding pawn at e4. Atypically elegant three-mover with mostlyquiet play from this composer.

The last round is the selfmates, whereWhite forces a reluctant Black to mate White.I had been offered an original, but verydifficult selfmate in six. I couldn’t solve it, sosent it to Ian Watson, one of Britain’s leadingsolvers who wouldn’t be in Belgrade andasked him to tell me how long he took tosolve it. Ian took 40 minutes, and, as the topsolvers were quite a lot better than Ian andthey had 50 minutes for the round, I decidedthat the problem would be suitable if I usedrelatively easy shorter problems to go with it.This I did, but in the event only one solver,Jorma Paavilainen from Finland, got anypoints at all for that selfmate in six. Finally, for you to solve, here is the first ofthe more-movers that the solvers in Belgradehad to tackle. It is by a successful Australiancomposer whose problems I much enjoyedsolving in my youth.

William A. WhyattComm., Probleemblad, 1970

White to play and mate in 4 To enter email matt@chess.co.uk or sendyour name and address, with the mainvariations, to Chess & Bridge Ltd., 44 BakerStreet, London, W1U 7RT, postmarked no laterthan 1st December. There is a £25 voucher forthe first correct entry drawn. There’s also stilltime to enter our November competition fromlast month, the winner of which will win both a£25 voucher and the latest Master Class DVDon Garry Kasparov courtesy of ChessBase.

www.chess.co.uk43

Studieswith Stephenson

43-43 Studies_Chess mag - 21_6_10 18/09/2016 19:49 Page 43

October 2016

As I write this, the Baku Olympiad has justcome to an end. I’m not privy to the contentsof the rest of this month’s issue or plans fornext month’s, but I’m guessing Baku willfeature heavily, especially since our ExecutiveEditor also doubles as the England captainthese days. Apologies in advance if anything Isay here gives you a feeling of déjà vu, butthe Olympiad has dominated my thoughtsthese past two weeks and I wanted to say afew things about it. First of all, many congratulations to the USAteam who deservedly won the Open team goldmedals. It was the United States’ first Olympiadwin since 1976, and will hopefully be awatershed for the game there. It can only begood for the game when a superpower doeswell. We’ve seen how chess successes in Indiaand China have boosted the game in Asiagenerally and contributed greatly to the globalreach of chess. Many commentators havedrawn attention to billionaire RexSinquefield’s funding of chess inSaint Louis and this has certainlybeen a key factor in the U.S.success story, but we also have tocite the development of universitychess programmes which havedirectly contributed to the chessstrength of the victorious squad.Wesley So, in particular, was arevelation in Baku. Commiserations to Ukraine,who were edged out by asomewhat arcane (though notunfair) tie-break system intosecond place. This was a remarkableperformance considering thatUkraine has lost one of the world’sbest players to rivals Russia, andalso missed Vassily Ivanchuk(apparently playing in a draughtstournament!). But chess cultureruns deep in Ukraine. A decade or so I invitedUkrainian GM Mikhail Golubev to be guest-editor of British Chess Magazine for one issue,and he put together a fascinating collection ofarticles outlining high-level coaching in Ukraine.Most countries can only dream of the coachingstructure that is available in places like Ukraineand Armenia, but it explains how replacementscan be found for players of the stature ofKarjakin and Ivanchuk and still very nearly takethe gold medals. Russia took bronze, and now 14 yearshave elapsed since they last took gold. It isone of the great enigmas of 21st centurychess: Russia turn up to the Olympiad with ateam bristling with talent and rating points,play pretty well, but ultimately fall short. The

wheels fell off the Russian applicant in roundfour, when they lost 1½-2½ to Ukraine. If Iwere a more fanciful commentator, I mighttry to argue that the political situation thatobtains between the two countries was afactor – Ukraine being more motivated, etc,etc – but it was probably more aboutGrischuk and Tomashevsky having an off-dayat the same time. With the two highestscoring teams only dropping two matchpoints each, Russia had little hope of catchingup after this calamity. Talking of political situations, it wasdesperately sad, but quite understandablethat Armenia felt unable to take part becauseof their relationship (not sure that is the rightword) with Azerbaijan. But fair play to thehost nation, they laid on a marvelloustournament which everyone seems to haveenjoyed. As a spectator from afar, the gamesbroadcast was near perfect.

Like Russia, England have failed to live up toexpectations in many Olympiads over the past20 years, but Baku was a very welcomeexception. In terms of their final placing – ninthon tie-break, or 4th-10th= if you prefer todisregard this – their performance was in linewith ratings, but it felt significantly better thanthat. Beating the defending champions, China,and the hosts, Azerbaijan, both teams rankedabove them, was very special indeed and hadthe country’s chess fans buzzing. The English team was particularly indebtedto its older players. Mickey Adams continuedhis imperious form from the BritishChampionship, was rock solid and led fromthe front. Nigel Short, now batting down theorder, struck two huge blows against China

and Azerbaijan. Like a big-hitting cricketer,Nigel takes risks and gives his opponents achance, but in this Olympiad he struck formjust when the team needed him to. Gawain Jones also hit optimum form,recording a TPR of 2738. But Luke McShaneand David Howell didn’t do so well. Luke’sinfrequency of play is a much-discussed subject,as is David’s seemingly pathological clockproblem. But both are class acts and will surelydeliver for England again in future competitions. Perhaps the most disturbing moment ofthe tournament from an England perspectivewas when Nigel Short was in danger offorfeiting his win against China. I’ve no doubtthe full details of the incident will be coveredelsewhere in this issue; suffice to say here thatI think Nigel was right to take a stand andrefuse an anti-cheating test during play. FIDE’sobsession with cheating has gone too far.Bothering players during play is a complete

nonsense and arguablyagainst the laws of thegame. Why are FIDE andothers so obsessed withanti-cheating anyway?The following might be a

clue, published as part of aseries of rather unlovelytweets by Silvio Danailovduring the Olympiad: “Whenfinally FIDE did the right thingintroducing ‘Kramnik anti-cheating rule’ all amateursstart crying ‘privacy’.” NoteDanailov’s gratuitouslyinsulting reference to theformer world champion,giving the game away that hesees anti-cheating measuresas a way to fuel his decade-long feud with Kramnik. Theofficials play politics, while

the players suffer the consequences. However, I don’t like to finish on adiscordant note. Perhaps the most upliftingnews story of the Baku Olympiad was theperformance of Filipino GM Eugenio Torre.Playing on board three for the Philippines,Eugenio scored 10/11 for a TPR of 2836 –not bad for a 64-year-old, now rated 2447.Eugenio first made a name for himself in1974 when he became Asia’s first GM andwon a board one silver medal at the NiceOlympiad. A year or two later he became thefirst player to finish ahead of reigning worldchampion Karpov in a tournament. Aninspiration to all those of us who are wellstricken in years, particularly those of usstarting yet another chess season.

58

Saunders on ChessFollow me on Twitter: @johnchess or email: johns@chess.co.uk

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