2017 01

AICCF Bulletin 2017 First Issue Page|1
VOLUME 24, Number 1
In memory of Viktor Korchnoi

(1931-2016)
In the 1978 World

Championship match against
Anatoly Karpov, Korchnoi
donned mirrored glasses to
reflect the hypnotic glare of
parapsychologist Dr Vladimir
Zoukhar
Photo:
http://www.gettyimages.ae
President & Bulletin Editor: Dr. A.Chatterjee, 401 Rutuvij Complex, N/r
Kabir Complex, Makarpura Road, Vadodra-390009, DrAmbar@gmail.com, +91
8141594459, +91 265 2630392
Assistant Editor: Anil Kumar Anand
Vice President: Dr. P.B.Dhanish, Bhaskar Villa, Ramanattukara P.O., Calicut-
673633, pbdhanish@gmail.com, +91 9388689963
Secretary-cum-Treasurer: Dr. Alok Saxena, C-102 Mahavir Sadhana
Plot 18-E,F,G Sector 14, n/r Palm Beach Rd, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai 400705,
aloks279@gmail.com, +91 22 27815447, +91 9819199597
Member: Sailesh Chandra, #003 Block 3. Jain Prakruti, 63 KR Road Jayanagar
7th Block, Bangalore 560081, sca@aol.in, +91 80 26932833, +91 9880612262
Member: Om Prakash, Plot- 554/1961, Gayatri Bhawan Lane – 4B, Shree Vihar,
Opp. Indian Oil State Office, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751031
ommprakasshh@gmail.com, +91 9437943954, +91 6742550273
Member: Gautam De, Flat 2a, 2nd Floor, 17a East End Park 3rd Road,
Kalikapur, Kolkata 700099, gautam.de@sbi.co.in, +91 9474306239, +91
8001194409, +91 7890234735
AICCF Champion: Gautam De
Contents
Management Matters A.Chatterjee and Alok Saxena . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

OTB News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
World Championship 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The New Glicko-2 Rating System A.Chatterjee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
AICCF Webserver A.Chattterjee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
What’s up on WhatsApp? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Viktor Korchnoi, the Last Knight Devangshu Datta . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Forgotten Heroes: Viktor Korchnoi Anil Kumar Anand . . . . . . . . . 19
AICCF Championship 1514 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
AICCF Championship 1514 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Games Section Mohan Jayaraman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Entertainers from Shams Khan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
International Section Alok Saxena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
ICCF Ratings as per list of 01-01-2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Top 25 active players of AICCF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
AICCF Champions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Management Matters
Dr. Ambar Chatterjee
President, Bulletin Editor
Dr. Alok Saxena
Secretary-cum-Treasurer
th
The AGM of AICCF was held on 13 Nov 2016 at the residence of the
President (Dr A.Chatterjee, 401 Rutuvij Complex, Makarpura Road, Near
Kabir Complex, Vadodra 390009). We receive suggestions/complaints
directly from members by email and in our forums – hence these
meetings serve only a formal purpose. Urgent matters may be conveyed
to us by telephone/SMS on the phone numbers listed on p.1.
We welcome players who have joined subsequent to the publication of
the AICCF Bulletin August 2016: Atul Desai, Alfred Jokelin, Asim Pereira,
Neelesh Bodas, Dwarikesh Goswami, Koneru Humpy, V.Saravanan, Sai
Prakash, Padmini Rout and Ganesh Hegde. Among them IM
V.Saravanan, WGM Koneru Humpy and WGM Padmini Rout are well
known FIDE players.
AICCF wishes them all the best in their games.

AICCF Congratulates the Indian contingent for their performance at
Hastings Congress, Rilton Cup, Women’s WC and QG Rapid, Kolkata.
Anil Kumar Anand volunteered to assist with bulletin publication and has
contributed substantially to the production of this issue. From the next
issue onwards he will be taking on greater responsibilities.
We will continue to publish two issues of the Bulletin every year. However
some flexibility in the publication month is required to take care of delays
in receiving the material from contributors. Accordingly it has been
decided to rename the Bulletins as First Issue and Second Issue instead
of February and August of each year.
Printed copies of the Bulletin will henceforth be limited. We expect our

members to read the bulletins online. We will try to honour requests from
some our older generation members who are not so computer savvy to
receive printed bulletins. Printed copies of the previous bulletin (August
2017) were not circulated. Members who want printed copies may please
send an email to DrAmbar@gmail.com.
AICCF Members Shine

OTB News
DEEP SENGUPTA TOPS (6.5) 6. Hariya Ravi (6.5) 7.

HASTINGS 2017 Sethuraman S.P. (6.0) 8. Fier
Alexandr (6.0) 9. Gledura
The Hastings Chess Congress is a Benjamin (6.0) 10. Karthikeyan
well-known annual chess event. Murali (6.0).
SASIKIRAN WINS RILTON CUP
The Rilton Cup tournament is

Sweden’s biggest and most
famous international chess
tournament. The name Rilton is in
honour of Dr. Tore Rilton who
initiated and sponsored the first
Rilton Cup.
Deep Sengupta at Hastings 2017
This year GM Deep Sengupta

(AICCF SrNo 531) won the
Hastings Masters which is the top
event of the festival with an
aggregate of 7.0/9.
Two other AICCF members,

Arghyadip Das (SrNo 535) and
Sethuraman S.P. (SrNo 532), did
th nd
very well, finishing 5 (joint 2
th
place) and 7 respectively This year’s event was won by GM
Krishnan Sasikiran (AICCF SrNo
The top ten: 1. Sengupta Deep (7) 523) with 7.5/9.
2. Galyas Miklos (6.5) 3.
Praggnanandhaa R. (6.5) 4. Lalic The top ten: 1. Sasikiran, Krishnan
Bogdan (6.5) 5. Das Arghyadip (7.5) 2. Volkov, Sergey (7.0) 3.
Kamsky, Gata (6.5) 4. Urkedal, He scored 8.0/9 and won the

Frode (6.5) 5. Swapnil S. Dhopade championship trophy ahead of IM
(6.5) 6. Pavlovic, Milos (6.5) 7. Suvrajit Saha as his tie-Break
Kulaots, Kaido (6.5) 8. Sokolov, score was better.
Ivan (6.5) 9. Antipov, Mikhail Al.
(6.5) 10 Shyam, Sundar M. (6.5) He made quick work of reigning
State Junior and State Amateur
ST
IM ARGHYADIP DAS WINS 1 Champion of West Bengal Kaustuv
QUEEN’S GAMBIT RAPID Kundu in the last round to secure
CHESS, KOLKATA the championship.
IM Arghyadip Das (AICCF SrNo Arghyadip’s success in this

535) of Railways won the 1st tournament is all the more
Queen’s Gambit Rapid Chess remarkable considering his busy
Tournament 2017 held at St. schedule. He had barely returned
Lawrence High School in Kolkata from the Hastings Congress (29th
th th
on 14 and 15 of January 2017. December to 5th January 2017)
when this tournament was held in
his home town of Kolkata during
14-15 January 2017.
The top ten:

1. Das Arghyadip (8.0) 2. Suvrajit
Saha (8.0) 3. Mitrabha Guha (7.5)
4. Kaustuv Kundu (7.0) 5. Arpan
Das (7.0) 6. Debasish Mukherjee
(7.0) 7. Souhardo Basak (7.0) 8.
Bodhisatya Pal (7.0) 9. Chattarjee
Laltu (7.0) 10. Satya Sekhar Mitra
(7.0).
WOMEN’S WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP 2017
A 64-player knock-out tournament

to decide the Women’s World
Champion was held in Tehran from
th th
10 February to 5 March 2017.
IM Arghyadip Das receives his Some top female players, including
Championship trophy and ₹15,000 Koneru Humpy (AICCF SrNo 568)
from GM Dibyendu Barua did not participate. Padmini Rout
(AICCF SrNo 571) performed well
in this tournament. Padmini was
FIDE ranked 40 in the field of 64. FIDE ranked 8 where she again
In the first round games, she excelled with an emphatic 2.5-1.5
overcame Elina Danielian of victory. Only, in the third round
Armenia (FIDE rank 25) by a games, she went down 2.5-3.5
margin of 1.5-0.5. In the second against eventual champion Tan
round games she faced the Zhongyi of China in a close match.
challenge of Zhao Xue of China,
AICCF congratulates Deep Sengupta, Arghyadip Das, Sethuraman,

Sasikiran and Padmini Rout for their OTB successes.
Photo: http://www.chessentials.com
In the World Chess Championship, New York, 11-30 November 2016,

Carlsen retained the title against Challenger Karjakin. The 12 game
match was tied 6-6 with Karjakin winning Game 8 and Carlsen winning
Game 10. In the rapid chess tie break, after two draws, Carlsen won the
remaining 2 games. Carlsen overdid his own playing style/tactics in Game
8 trying to complicate a placid game, eventually losing. In Game 10,
Karjakin’s defensive play crumbled when he played the inaccurate
56...Rhh7? and Carlsen won by simplifying into the endgame which is his
forte. In Game 15 (rapid) Karjakin blundered on move 38 in a somewhat
minus position. In Game 16 Karjakin was forced to take risks and Carlsen
finished with a Q sacrifice leading to mate.
AICCF Webserver
The new Glicko-2 Rating
System Adopted by AICCF
By Ambar Chatterjee
<DrAmbar@gmail.com>
ometimes you may hear Glicko ratings. In 2015 ICCF
S members say that they play

CC for the sake of enjoying
the game without worrying about
formed a committee which in
consultation with Prof. Mark E.
Glickman of Havard University
the result and the rating points recommended a switch from Elo to
gained or lost. But in fact, ratings the new Glicko system proposed
are as important as the game itself. by Prof. Glickman. The original
In order to enjoy the game you Glicko system of 1995 underwent
need to know the playing strength revisions and Glicko-2 is currently
of your opponent. Ratings are also the best known rating system not
important to track your progress. only for chess but for other games
too. In 2017, ICCF modified the Elo
Since inception (with post-card probability curve to a more realistic
play), AICCF employed a rating one, but continued with the existing
difference table method of Elo system. During the ICCF
calculating ratings. When the Congress 2016, Bremen, it was
AICCF Server started in 2009, we announced that ICCF will change
continued with this rating system. to the Glicko system from 2018.
The system is too primitive to be of They are in consultation with Prof.
value in this day and age and the Glickman to consider if the rating
numbers are not on a scale system for CC should be different
comparable with the Elo scheme from OTB chess, taking into
used by FIDE for OTB chess and account the greater difficulty in
ICCF for international CC. Since winning games with stronger
long, members have been asking competition in the computer era.
us to modernise our rating system See p.64 for ICCF’s latest decision
and bring it in line with ICCF. about this.
In the meantime ICCF itself has In our opinion, the Glicko-2 system
been reviewing its Elo rating is sufficiently adaptive. It is already
system and has been considering in wide use for server chess in
an upgrade to the more recent sites such as chess.com.
Accordingly, we decided to adopt strength. The great contribution of

the Glicko-2 system for AICCF Prof. Arpad Elo in the eraly 1960s
ratings without waiting for ICCFs was to make available the
final decision on this matter. probability curve in tabular form so
that calculations could be made
RATING SYSTEM IN SIMPLE manually in the pre-computer era.
TERMS Even in the early computer era it
seemed to be an advantage to
For those unfamiliar with the have a system that did not involve
mathematical language of complicated mathematical
statistics, we provide below a formulas. Points gained or lost
simple introduction to rating could be verified or predicted by
systems. players by consulting the Elo
probability table. Elo ratings were a
When Player-A meets Player-B, great success and were used
the outcome cannot be predicted widely.
with certainty. Even if A’s rating is
much higher than that of B, it is not It was already known that the Elo
necessary that A will always win. system was a simplification, and
Likewise a greater statistical
drawn result significance could be
does not achieved by using
mean that A more complex
and B have formulas. As
equal computers were in
ratings. widespread use by
Statisticians 1990 and these
assign a “complex”
probability calculations are in
for the fact rather easy for
result based modern computers, it
on the seemed better to
ratings of A drop the requirement
and B. The that ratings could be
result of the checked manually.
game is then used to revise the Better and accurate ratings could
ratings of the two players. After be made available, but calculations
taking into account a large number would be possible only with the
of games, the ratings of a player help of a computer program.
start to reflect his playing strength, Accordingly Prof. Mark Glickman’s
and any changes subsequently are formulation, Glicko Ratings (1995)
a result of improvement or became popular. In this
deterioration of his playing formulation, each player is
assigned not only a rating, but also rated player losing to a beginner
another figure called the Rating level player go to increase the
Deviation (RD). Those familiar with Volatility. If a player has widely
statistical methods will immediately varying performance against
recognise the need to introduce opponents, then his Rating
this new parameter. The Rating Volatility will be increased. A
Deviation of a player represents consistent player will have a lower
the uncertainty of his Rating. If a figure for his Rating Volatility.
player is rated 1850 and his Rating
Deviation is 50, we should Elo is a 1-parameter system,
understand that the rating could be Glicko is a 2-parameter system
100 points lower and Glicko-2 is a 3-
or higher (twice The start rating of new parameter system.
the RD), that is, players is 1500. FIDE The volatility measure
in the range of rated IM and GM is high when a player
1750 to 1950 players start with their has erratic
(technically, this FIDE rating. Ratings of performances (e.g.,
is at 95% postal era players when the player has
confidence level). had exceptionally
When there are
were converted to the strong results after a
more games, the new system. period of stability),
RD tends to and it is low when the
decrease – the players rating starts player performs at a consistent
to become more certain. On the level.
other hand, if a player is inactive
(plays less games), the RD would The Glicko system also stressed
increase even if the rating the need for more frequent rating
remained the same. This two calculations. A six-monthly rating
parameter system, with Rating and schedule would mean that ratings
Rating Deviation, made a very big were frozen for 6-months and the
difference to the system, allowing ratings calculated were inaccurate.
the calculation of much more
accurate ratings. GLICKO-2 ADOPTED BY AICCF
In 2000, based on new research, Since Glicko-2 is widely accepted

Prof. Glickman, introduced the to be the best rating system as of
Glicko-2 system. In this scheme, a today, we decided to switch to this
third parameter called the Rating system with ratings computed on
st
Volatility was introduced. This the 1 of each month. A further
parameter takes into consideration decision was to start the
results that are much different from computation in retrospective effect
that expected. A low rated player from October 2009, using the
winning against a GM or a high result of all games played on the
server. In 2009, there were just a check writing the rating calculation
few games still being played by software in another language and
post. We decided to include only checked that the same results
server results as these were were obtained.
recorded and available in the
server database. The next issue AFRO-ASIAN SERVER
was to decide the start rating of
players. Glicko-2 requires the start I am also the maintainer and
rating for new players to be set to developer of the Afro-Asian Server:
1500 and we followed this. www.aa-webchess.com
However for FIDE rated IM and In this server too we have
GM players we had already made incorporated the Glicko-2 rating
an exception, so we adopted a rule system.
to use the FIDE rating in such
cases. AICCF has a long history of TOP RATED PLAYERS
postal chess starting from 1993.
For members who played in the Previously, when we listed Top
postal era, it would be unfair to Rated Active Players in the
wipe out the rating progress of the Bulletin, we had to arbitrarily
postal era. Therefore we applied a consider which players were
formula to convert their old rating inactive. Now we have a definite
as on September 2009 to the new measure for this. The Rating
system. The conversion formula is: deviation (RD) is an indicator of
inactivity. Once the RD reaches
g=1.514a+288.8 250 the player is considered
inactive. Currently Top Rated,
Where a is the rating in the old P.B.Dhanish has an RD of 208. If
AICCF system and g is rating in he does not become active, his RD
the new Glicko-2 system. will cross 250 and he will no longer
be shown as the Top Rated player
After we published the new Glicko- of AICCF.
2 ratings on AICCF Server we
received a message from Anil FURTHER READING
Anand that his Glicko-2 ratings
appear to be low and there could http://www.glicko.net/
be a mistake in the calculations. At
that point Umesh Nair made an http://senseis.xmp.net/?GlickoR
independent computation of the ating
Glicko-2 ratings, writing his own
program. We are glad to report that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glicko
there was no error in the AICCF _rating_system
calculations and this was verified
by Umesh Nair. I also did a double
AICCF Webserver
By Ambar Chatterjee
<DrAmbar@gmail.com>
We had a smooth operation of the CEO of OpeningMaster.com with

AICCF server during this period. an offer of cooperation which we
There were one or two instances of accepted. We now have the
file corruption errors which were Opening Master logo
rectified quickly. There were very
th
few outages. On 6 April 2017 at
7am the site was down, but on
contacting Qualispace the site was
restored by about 10am, without
any data loss.
BACKUPS
Since over a year, an unattended
daily backup is being taken on a
dedicated laptop. The backup
program starts by itself at 1 am located at the top right of
every day and copies all the server www.aiccf-chess.com/server
files. The backup files are On clicking this link, members can
automatically over-written after see a discount code. After
th
every 4 day. This ensures that at connecting to
any point of time we have at least http://www.openingmaster.com/
3 complete backups available. In and adding items to the shopping
the event of a server crash we can cart, they should mention the
restore from the most recent discount code to get 50% discount
backup. on the published price.
OPENINGS MASTER Please see:

http://www.openingmaster.com/blo
In November 2016, we were g/76-opening-master-cooperation-
contacted by Alexander Horvath, with-aiccf-india
for details. In AICCF server, zero days left,

means less than 24 hours. When
On 25 Jan 2017, Devangshu Datta those hours go by, if the opponent
wrote: does not move, he loses. The
There seems to be a glitch in my confusion was the zero days
leave balance for T. No 1515. I shown. In correspondence chess if
took 5-6 days leave in late a player replies within 24 hours it
December 2016/ early Jan 2017 counts as zero days.
but it says I have a leave balance
of just 1 day. On 10 Mar 2017, Amit Dutta wrote:
Is there a way to watch other
The problem was that Devangshu player's ongoing games?
was thinking of 30 days leave
st
being credited on 1 January of In AICCF server blocks other games
every year. This is because ICCF from view until they are finished.
st
credits leave on 1 Jan every year.
Otherwise you could help a friend
Unlike ICCF, AICCF has a more to decide on the best move.
logical leave scheduling. The However in ICCF we can watch
calendar year (January to other games with a delay of some
December) has nothing to do with moves. This delay is to ensure that
the leave schedule. We allow 30 you cannot provide analysis help
days per year from the date of
starting of the tournament. This to a friend. On the Africa-Asia
takes care of anomalies in the server you can view other games
ICCF leave system. In ICCF, if a after a time delay of 4 half-moves.
tournament starts in November you
can immediately avail of the full The following items have been
leave allowed that year and then
discussed in the AICCF Forum:
again in January thereby avoiding
making any moves at the start of
the tournament for 3 months! Hidden conditional moves
When we designed AICCF server Rakesh Agrawal wrote that he did
we formulated the rules more not like conditional moves to be
rationally. visible as in AICCF server, but they
could be hidden as in ICCF Server.
On 9 March 2017, Amit Dutta This view was supported by OM
wrote: Prakash who wrote that conditional
I have just noticed that my moves if visible lose their surprise
opponent has exhausted his time value. I explained that the idea of
limit and the clock is showing zero. conditional moves is carried from
I was wondering why the server is the post-card era where there was
not awarding me the game. no possibility of hiding. Moreover
conditional moves are usually
given in circumstances of a forced Forum messages in Hindi

sequence, routine re-capture or It is now possible to type forum
standard openings. In each of posts in Hindi. Start the post by
these cases surprise element is typing Hindi (using English
not important. Still, both Rakesh alphabet) then start typing in Hindi
Agrawal and OM Prakash stuck to from the next line. To type in Hindi
their point of view. However, without Devanagiri keyboard, use:
changing the software at this stage http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard
would be a lot of work and we /devanagari.htm
would lose the advantages of the and then paste into the forum
AICCF interface which allows message.
multiple conditional moves/
branches. With hidden conditional
moves a player could be Jovan Petronic
suggesting moves which are https://jovanpetronic.wordpre
already suggested by the ss.com/2013/05/09/lomonosov-
opponent, which is not possible on endgame-tablebases/
AICCF server. Hence it is decided writes that the complete
to continue with visible conditional game of chess will be solved
moves. in the year 2263 by
Time left in email notifications extrapolating from the dates
Rakesh Agrawal wrote that he of 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 men
would like to see the time left upto table-base releases. Using the
the next time control in Email same idea of backwards
notifications. This was exhaustive analysis and
implemented and from 7 Feb
th applying Moore’s law to
2017 Email notifications indicate predict computer advance, he
the time left for both players, as in calculates that 2263 will be
ICCF server. year by which 32-men table-
bases will be complete,
Option to read past Messages provided the unnamed Arab
Ankur Singh and Anil Anand sheikh sponsors continue
wanted to see the past messages their support. Of course he
exchanged with opponents. This
anticipates that quantum
was always possible in ICCF
computers will be prevalent
server, bit not possible in AICCF
server. From 17 Oct 2016, this before that. (Did he realize
facility was introduced. A new button that oil wells and Arab
"View all messages" is inside the sheikhs will have run dry
opponents Message box. Clicking this long before then? -Ed)
opens a pop-up window showing all
the messages exchanged in the game.
What’s up on WhatsApp?
atyajit Das took the initiative What is hatred?
S to start a WhatsApp Group

for AICCF in April 2016.
Here members share pleasantries,
Something unlikely in AICCF!
An Oxymoron is a phrase where

information, puzzles etc. To join, two words of opposite meaning are
send a request to brought together.
satyajitdas20@gmail.com or SMS Chess oxymorons:
to 9690907807.  Strong isolated-pawn
 Defensive attack
Here are some recent posts to
enjoy!  Attack with uncastled king
 Strong doubled-pawns
 Paul Morphy quit chess and  Non-standard book-opening
became a patient of melancholy  Human-generated machine-
when a woman he loved rejected move
his marriage offer because he  Petrosian attacks
was “just a chess player”  Morphy defends
 Om Prakash loses
 17 Feb 2017 will be a mirror
th
 Vibhor Gupta plays fast
date (17022017). On 17-02-  Shams Khan has no games
2017 play only symmetrical
openings! What is the best move for Black in
this position?
What is poison?
It is a variation in the Sicilian
Najdorf. Experience shows that
poison may not always be
poisoned.
What is Fear?
Fear of a prepared opening.
Fear of making a blunder.
Fear of making a clerical error.
What is envy?
Envy of another’s high rating.
Envy of another player’s game
getting published in the Bulletin.
Envy of another player’s ICCF title.
What is Anger?
Anger because Xfcc was not Is it true that Engines (without
enabled and had to send my move table-base) can’t find the solution?
manually.
Cover Story Part 1

Viktor Korchnoi, the Last
Knight from Leningrad
Devangshu Datta
Reprinted by kind permission of the
author and The Wire, New Delhi.
Original publication:
https://thewire.in/41475/viktor-
korchnoi-the-last-knight-from-
leningrad/
T
he Siege of Leningrad Korchnoi, who died on June 6,
began on September 8, 2016 in Zurich, will be remembered
1941 when invading for his extraordinary chess skills
German forces cut off the and for being the first Grandmaster
city from the rest of the Soviet to defect from the Soviet Union. He
Union. It was one of the most had a very long and successful
horrendous sieges in history. At its career, winning everything except
worst, daily rations were reduced the world championship and he
to 150 grams of bread (baked with came within an ace of taking that
sawdust) with wallpaper used as as well.
seasoning. Over 2,000 persons
were convicted of cannibalism The orphan started playing chess
(classified as “Special Category regularly some months after the
Banditry” in Soviet law). More than siege was lifted, at the Pioneer
1,500,000 Leningraders died Palace. It was soon obvious that
before the siege was lifted in he was very gifted. Indeed, he
January 1944. would win the Soviet Junior
(Under-20) Championship in 1947,
The casualty list did not include a which was great going for a 16-
Polish-Jewish resident, who was year old.
10 years old when the siege
started, and not quite 13 when it Korchnoi would win the very strong
ended. That boy lost every USSR Chess Championship four
member of his family. He was later times before he quit the Soviet
adopted by his father’s ex-wife. Union. He would be a contender
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi used the for the world title in every cycle
ration cards of his dead relatives to between 1962 and 1992. He would
supplement his diet. win over a hundred tournaments.
Sadly, he often failed to switch it

off when the game was over.
He loved chess, he loved winning

and he wanted to be world
champion. To further those ends,
Korchnoi worked at an insane
tempo, spending long hours in
analysis, trying to glean more
insights. He taught himself to
calculate to incredible depth. He
would routinely end up in time
pressure, as he kept calculating.
But he was also a great blitz
player. With only seconds left, he
would find the best moves.
He was brave, almost foolhardy.

He would take material and face
down attacks. And, he would hit
back.
Viktor Korchnoi in 1976, the Others prided themselves on their
year he defected to the West. ability to defend, or attack.
Korchnoi counter-attacked. He
Photo: Verhoeff, Bert/Anefo
provoked his opponents, absorbed
material and hit back when they
His attitude to chess and to life over-extended. His endgame
(which he considered a mundane technique was near-flawless. He
extension of chess) was shaped by literally wrote the book on rook
“The 900 Days” as the siege is endgames – as Viswanathan
known. To the boy who survived Anand once said, “Every time I
Leningrad, the equation was stark reach a rook endgame, I wonder
and simple: You won, or you what Viktor would say “.
starved. Or, you were eaten. There
was no point getting attached to Off the board too, Korchnoi took
people, or letting relationships huge risks to maximise returns
distract you. from his talent. In 1974, it became
apparent that his national
That absolute, even absolutely federation did not want him to be
monstrous focus made him a world champion. He did not fit the
terrifying opponent. On principle, template of the ideal Soviet
he hated whoever he faced. He champion. He was 43, foul-
could switch on the hate at will. mouthed and Jewish.
The 23-year-old Anatoly Karpov, “parapsychologist” and hypnosis

whom he disparagingly called “that expert, Dr Vladimir Zoukhar. He
little boy” was much more would glare at Korchnoi from the
acceptable and clearly favoured by audience. Korchnoi retaliated with
the Soviet establishment. They an Anand Margi Gambit, hiring two
played what turned into a de facto Australians Margis (who were
world championship match in embroiled in a murder case). The
1974. (Bobby Fischer did not Aussie sadhus glared at Zoukhar!
defend his title). Karpov won 3-2
with 19 draws to become world When Karpov wanted to drink
champion by default. To add insult yoghurt during play, Korchnoi
to injury, Korchnoi’s stipend was demanded that he choose the
cut because of his outspoken flavour (to prevent Karpov’s team
comments. passing flavour-coded messages!).
So, he just upped and left. in 1976, Korchnoi was down 5-1 and came
he walked into a police station in back to tie the match 5-5 before
Holland and asked for asylum Karpov finally pulled out a deciding
while playing in a tournament there win.
(he won). That meant abandoning
his first wife, Bela, and his son, In 1981, Karpov won another title
Igor behind the Iron Curtain. Chess match in Merano, Italy. The
was more important. Soviets arrested Igor, perhaps in
the hopes that this would
Korchnoi bulldozed through the psychologically destabilise
1977-78 Candidates cycle, beating Korchnoi. Maybe it did since
three Soviets, Lev Polugaevsky, Karpov won with some ease. After
and the two former champions, the match, Korchnoi’s wife and son
Tigran Petrosian and Boris were finally allowed to leave the
Spassky. These were all ill- Soviet Union. By then, he was a
tempered matches with protests Swiss citizen. He divorced Bela in
and counter-protests galore. Most 1983 and married Petra Leeuwerik,
amusingly, the chess-mad Soviet who survives him.
public had to read between the
lines because Korchnoi’s name That Merano match was the zenith
was not mentioned in news of Korchnoi’s career. He lost a
reports. Two revered former world hard fought Candidates match to
champions lost to an unnamed Garry Kasparov in 1983 and he
opponent! was superseded as a credible
challenger. But he continued to
The title match in Baguio City, perform at extremely high levels
Philippines transcended the until 2009 when he finally dropped
Candidates in terms of lunacy. out of the top 100 at the ripe old
Karpov’s team included a age of 78.
Viktor the Terrible, as he was He suffered a stroke in 2012 and

named, was not an urbane, made only a partial recovery. But
charming personality. He he sat in a wheelchair and played
castigated little children and a last match against the East
ruthlessly beat them when giving German great, Wolfgang Uhlmann
simultaneous displays. He scolded (born 1935) in 2015. They drew 2-
people when they beat him. He 2 and Korchnoi characteristically
scolded people when he beat castigated himself for playing “very
them. Anatoly Karpov complained badly”.
that he was repeatedly verbally
abused during play in their That search for perfection has
matches. finally ended.
In fact, Korchnoi’s putdowns were “Sometimes I even say that I
epic. It was considered a rite of have surpassed Lasker in
passage to get the rough end of
his tongue. Viswanathan Anand
using psychology. How?
laughs, “I have a plus score Well, sometimes I use
against Viktor but he’s always psychology with a portion
called me a coffee-house player”. of risk. That is something
When he was pushing 80, Viktor else, something that Lasker
the Terrible beat 19-year-old GM
wouldn't allow.
Fabiano Caruana in 2011 (now
world #3). He promptly rubbed salt Viktor Korchnoi
into the wound saying, “You are
very weak!” The aim was simple: to
His saving grace was his merciless deprive Karpov of his
self-criticism. In 1982, the favourite occupation -
teenaged Dibyendu Barua beat standing at the board,
Korchnnoi (then World #2) at the
Lloyd’s Bank Open in London.
staring straight at his
Barua (who was officially 15, by his opponent. While I was
birth certificate) pulled off a lovely wearing these glasses, all he
endgame combination in a wild could admire was his own
struggle. The Indian GM says, ” reflection.
We did a post-mortem of that
Viktor Korchnoi
game for about 30 minutes. He just
kept pointing out his errors. He
was so angry with himself. He
Quotes sourced from:
could not accept anything less than
http://www.azquotes.com/author/2
perfection.”
1371-Viktor_Korchnoi
Cover Story Part 2

Forgotten Heroes: Viktor
Korchnoi
Anil Kumar Anand
ho can forget “Viktor the
W
become World Chess Champion.
Terrible”? Outspoken, He is the only player to have won
disrespectful, anti- or drawn against every World
establishment and fearless, he was Chess Champion since World War
the ultimate Challenger who came II, from Botvinnik to Carlsen.
within a game of being Champion! Probably Paul Keres was the only
Korchnoi ensured that the chess other player to have such an
world would never forget him! We exalted honour. Korchnoi was a
have known great chess masters candidate for the World
who died rather young: Rudolf Championship on ten occasions
Charousek (26), Harry Nelson (1962, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977,
Pillsbury (33), Klaus Junge (21), 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988 and 1991).
Edgar Colle (35), Richard Reti He was also a four-time USSR
(40), Ms. Vera Menchik (38), chess champion, a five-time
Leonid Stein (38), Georgy member of Soviet teams that won
Agzamov (32), Vugar Gashimov the European championship, and a
(27), Ivan Bukavshin (20), to name six-time member of Soviet teams
just a few. Others such as Paul that won the Chess Olympiad. In
Morphy, Oldrich Duras, Ignaz September 2006, aged 75, he won
Kolish, Carlos Torre, Reuben Fine, the World Senior Chess
Bobby Fischer, etc. quit chess Championship.
when still at their peak. Then there
are others who lived long and Born in Leningrad, Korchnoi
remained ageless wonders such defected to the Netherlands in
as Reshevsky, Najdorf, Smyslov, 1976, and later resided in
Lasker, Geller and last but not the Switzerland from 1978, after
least, Viktor Korchnoi. becoming a Swiss citizen.
Korchnoi played three well-
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (23 March publicized matches against GM
1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet Anatoly Karpov. In 1974, he lost
(later Swiss) chess grandmaster. the Candidates final to Karpov,
He is considered one of the who was declared World
strongest players never to have Champion in 1975 by default when
Bobby Fischer refused to defend Grandmaster title in 1956. He rose

his title. He then won two to prominence within the Soviet
consecutive Candidates cycles to chess school system, where he
qualify for World Championship competed against his
matches with Karpov in 1978 and contemporaries Tigran Petrosian,
1981, though he lost both. Mikhail Tal, and Boris Spassky,
following in the path laid out by
He learned to play chess from his Mikhail Botvinnik. Korchnoi won
father at the age of six. His the USSR Chess Championship
childhood was shaped by World four times during his career in
War II, during which his father and 1960, 62, 64-65 and 70.
grandmother died and he was
hospitalized with malnutrition. In the 1975 World Championship
These privations meant that his cycle Korchnoi and Karpov, the
chess career developed more newest star of Soviet chess, tied
slowly than several of his rivals. He for first in the 1973 Leningrad
first qualified for the USSR Interzonal. In the 1974 Candidates'
championship in 1952 but for the matches, Korchnoi first defeated
World Championship Candidates a the young Brazilian superstar, GM
decade later. The problem was Henrique Mecking (who had won
that he was competing against top the other Interzonal in Petrópolis),
Soviet GMs and future World by (+3−1=9) at Augusta, Georgia,
Champions, Tigran Petrosian, in what he later described in his
Mikhail Tal and Spassky, who were autobiography as a tough match.
all at their peak in the late 1950s Much later, Mecking reached his
and early 60s. peak rating of World #3 in January
1978 behind Karpov and Korchnoi.
In 1943, he joined the chess club Korchnoi next played Petrosian
of the Leningrad Pioneer Palace, again, at Odessa. The two were
and was trained by Abram Model not on friendly terms, and it was
and Zak. Model had earlier played even rumoured that the two
a major role in the development of resorted to kicking each other
future World Champion Mikhail under the table during this match!
Botvinnik, while Zak, who later co- Although the match was supposed
authored a book with Korchnoi, to go to the first player to win four
had helped train future World games, Petrosian resigned the
Champion Boris Spassky. match after just five games, with
Korchnoi enjoying a lead of 3–1,
In 1951, he earned the Soviet with one draw.
Master title, following his second-
place finish in the 1950 Leningrad With his victory over Petrosian,
Championship, with 9/13. He rose Korchnoi advanced to face Karpov
rapidly and was awarded the in the Candidates' Final, the match
to determine who would challenge federation, wishing to develop

reigning World Champion Bobby younger players, taking the stance
Fischer in 1975. The 1974 Karpov that their generation (including
vs Korchnoi Candidates final was Korchnoi) which had been
effectively a World title contest, defeated by Fischer could no
since it was already clear that longer hope to compete
Fischer, who had not played a successfully against him. At the
single game since Reykjavik, was closing ceremony of the
unlikely to defend his crown. Candidates' Final, Korchnoi had
made his mind up that he had to
In the run-up to the match, leave the Soviet Union. The
Korchnoi was constantly subjected authorities prevented Korchnoi
to threats and harassment, and from playing any International
was virtually unable to find any tournaments outside the USSR.
Grandmasters to assist him. Even when Korchnoi was invited
Bronstein apparently assisted by GM Paul Keres and IM Iivo Nei
Korchnoi, for which he was to participate in a 1975
punished. Bronstein, in his last International Tournament in the
book, Secret Notes, published in Estonian SSR, Korchnoi was not
2007, wrote that he advised allowed to play, and both Keres
Korchnoi before the match began, and Nei were reprimanded.
but then had to leave to play an
event himself. When he returned, Keres did play a short, apparently
Korchnoi was down by three secret, training match at Tallinn
games. Bronstein then assisted 1975 with Korchnoi, who won
Korchnoi in the final stages. (+1=1). Korchnoi was then allowed
Korchnoi also received some to play the Soviet Team
assistance later in the match from Championship and an international
two British masters, GM Raymond tournament in Moscow later in
Keene and IM William Hartston. 1975. The ban against Korchnoi
Korchnoi trailed 0–3 late in the competing outside the USSR was
match, but won games 19 and 21 lifted when he accompanied fellow
to make it very close right to the veteran GMs Mark Taimanov and
end. Karpov eventually won this Bronstein to London to play
battle, played in late 1974 in against three talented young
Moscow, by a 12½–11½ score. British masters: Jonathan Mestel,
Michael Stean and David S.
In the lead-up to the Candidates' Goodman. Korchnoi then played
Final in 1974, as part of a the international tournament at
campaign to promote Karpov over Hastings, 1975-76.
Korchnoi, Tigran Petrosian made a
public statement in the press Korchnoi, in a 2006 lecture in
against Korchnoi, with the Soviet London, mentioned that the
breakthrough that allowed him to qualified as the losing finalist,

resume International appearances Korchnoi first had to overcome
came when Anatoly Karpov Soviet demands that he be
inherited the World Championship forfeited due to his defection.
title (forfeited by Bobby Fischer). However, FIDE President and
Questions arose about how Karpov former World Champion GM Max
had qualified to be a World Euwe defended Korchnoi's right to
Champion, when he had never participate. Korchnoi began actual
played Fischer. Since Korchnoi play by again vanquishing
was not publicly visible, it was Petrosian, by (+2−1=9) in the
largely believed that he and quarter-final round at Italy, taking a
Karpov could not be very strong. clinching draw in a clearly
Korchnoi was then allowed to play favourable position in the final
the 1976 Amsterdam tournament, game. In the semifinal, held at
as a means to prove Karpov was a France, Korchnoi won against GM
worthy incumbent World Lev Polugaevsky, with a score of
Champion. Korchnoi was joint (+5−1=7). The final, in which he
winner of the tournament, along faced Spassky at Belgrade, began
with GM Tony Miles. At the end of with five wins and five draws for
the tournament, he became the Korchnoi, after which he lost four
first strong Soviet grandmaster to consecutive games. Ultimately,
defect from the Soviet Union. Korchnoi steeled himself and
Korchnoi had to leave his wife and finally secured victory in the match
son behind. The defection resulted by (+7−4=7) to emerge as the
in a turbulent period of excellent challenger to Karpov, having
tournament results, all defeated three world-class Soviet
overshadowed by the oppressive contenders.
political climate of the Cold War.
The World Championship match of
Korchnoi resided in the 1978 was held in Baguio,
Netherlands for some time, giving Philippines. There was enormous
simultaneous exhibitions. He controversy off the board, ranging
played a short match against GM from X-raying of chairs, protests
Jan Timman – the strongest active about the flags used on the board,
non-Soviet player at that time – hypnotism complaints and the
and comprehensively defeated mirror glasses used by Korchnoi.
him. He moved to West Germany When Karpov's team sent him a
for a short period, and then bilberry yogurt during a game
eventually settled in Switzerland by without any request for one by
1978, becoming a Swiss citizen. Karpov, the Korchnoi team
protested, claiming it could be
In the next World championship some kind of code.
cycle (1976–78), for which he
In quality of play, the match itself 1980 at Austria, by 5.5 to 3.5. This
never measured up to the press victory earned him a re-match with
headlines that it generated, Polugaevsky, whom he had
although as a sporting contest it defeated in the previous cycle. At
had its share of thrills and Buenos Aires during July/August
excitement. The match would go to 1980, Korchnoi again triumphed by
the first player to win six games, 7.5 to 6.5. In the final match, at
discounting draws. The Merano, Italy, Korchnoi was
Championship began with four leading West German GM Robert
draws. In Game 5, they created a Hubner by 4.5 to 3.5, when Hubner
world record of the longest world withdrew from the match. This
championship game of 124 moves. forfeit advanced Korchnoi to a re-
Korchnoi missed a mate in 7 on match for the title against Karpov.
move 55 in extreme time trouble.
Though Korchnoi remained a This final match was also held in
Bishop up till the end, the game Merano, Italy. The headline of the
finally ended in a stalemate. tournament again largely centered
Curiously, the second-longest on the political issues. Korchnoi's
game on record is Game 7 of wife and son were still in the Soviet
Carlsen-Anand World Union. His son had been promised
championship in 2014 in which release to join his father in exile if
Carlsen was a Knight up, but it too he gave up his passport. When he
finally ended in a draw! did so, he was promptly drafted
into the Soviet army. In spite of
After 17 games, Karpov had an protests, Korchnoi's son was
imposing 4–1 lead. Korchnoi won arrested for evading army service,
game 21, but Karpov followed with sentenced to two and a half years
a win in game 27, putting him on in labour camp, and served the full
the brink of victory with a 5–2 lead. sentence. After the release, he
Korchnoi bravely fought back, was again refused permission to
scoring three wins and one draw in leave the USSR. In 1982, six years
the next four games, to equalize after Korchnoi's defection, his son
the match at 5–5 after 31 games. finally succeeded in leaving the
However, unluckily for Korchnoi, country. His managed to get his
Karpov won the very next game, wife Bela out of the USSR, but
and the closely-contested match, Korchnoi soon divorced her and
6–5 with 21 draws. continued to live with his second
wife Petra Leeuwerik- who
As the losing World title match survives him. In what was dubbed
finalist, Korchnoi was seeded into the "Massacre in Merano", Karpov
the next cycle's final eight players. defeated Korchnoi
In his first match, Korchnoi once comprehensively by six wins to
more defeated Petrosian in March two, with ten draws.
Korchnoi, however, still had a vital GM Jan Timman of the

part to play in the next (1984) Netherlands by 4.5 to 2.5 in the
Candidates' cycle, although he quarterfinals, finally ending his run
never reached his pinnacle again. at the Candidates', which stretched
In the first match, he defeated GM from 1962 to 1991.
Lajos Portisch by 6-3 at Bad
Kissingen 1983. In the second He was fortunate to play on both
round, he was to play the young sides of the USSR vs Rest of the
Soviet GM Garry Kasparov, who at World matches: in 1970 he lost
the time was battling against a narrowly to Lajos Portisch (1.5-2.5)
Soviet Chess Federation that was playing on the Soviet team; in 1984
clearly in favour of Anatoly Karpov. he was with the Rest of the World
The match was to be held in team and beat Polugaevsky (2-1)
Pasadena, California, but the and drew with Tukmakov(0.5-0.5).
Soviet Chess Federation protested
and Kasparov was not allowed to He continued to play in Europe and
fly there to play the match. This around the world to an advanced
defaulted the match to Korchnoi. age, living in his adopted country
Another Soviet contender, former of Switzerland. He frequently
Champion GM Vassily Smyslov, represented their Olympiad team
was also at first forfeited to on top board, beginning in 1978.
Hungarian GM Zoltan Ribli,. Unlike his Soviet contemporaries,
However, upon intervention by Korchnoi avoided the World Senior
prominent British chess organizer Chess Championship, where the
GM Raymond Keene to save the minimum age limit was 60. In
troubled matches, Korchnoi agreed September 2006 he finally relented
to play Kasparov in London, which and won the 16th World Senior
at the same time also hosted the Chess Championship, held in
Smyslov vs. Ribli match. This was Arvier, Italy at age 75. He scored
a gracious gesture by Korchnoi, 7.5 in his first eight games, then
since technically he had already drew his last three games to clinch
won by default. After a good start, the ‘belated’ title with a 9/11 score.
winning the first game, Korchnoi
was beaten by a score of 7-4, by On the January 2007 FIDE rating
young Kasparov, who was 32 list, Korchnoi was ranked number
years younger. 85 in the world at age 75, by far
the oldest player ever to be ranked
After the 1983 Kasparov match, in the FIDE top 100. The second-
Korchnoi continued playing at a top oldest player on the January 2007
level but without seriously list was Alexander Beliavsky, age
threatening the World 53, who was 22 years younger
Championship again. At Brussels than Korchnoi. In 2011, Korchnoi
in 1991, at the age of 60, he lost to was still active in the chess world
with a notable win (in Gibraltar) than himself. The combined age of
with black against the 18-year-old the players was a staggering 174!
Fabiano Caruana, the future World Korchnoi won the match 2-1 with
#2, who was rated above 2700 and one draw. Taimanov passed away
61 years Korchnoi's junior. He had a few months later following
also beaten future World Korchnoi’s death, on 28 November
Champion, Magnus Carlsen, in a 2016.
game in SmartFish Chess Masters
in Norway in 2004. From 2001 onwards, Korchnoi
became a prolific author of books
Korchnoi became the oldest player on his career, publishing five new
ever to win a National volumes, including two books of
championship, when he won the annotated games, an updated
2009 Swiss Chess championship autobiography and an overview of
at age 78.He won the National title Soviet politics applying to chess.
again a few months after his 80th He also authored a book on Rook
birthday in July 2011 after a playoff endings.
game with Joseph Gallagher.
Incredible! Korchnoi's playing style initially
was an aggressive counterattack.
In late December 2012, it was He excelled in difficult defensive
reported that Korchnoi was positions. Korchnoi was
recovering from a stroke and was comfortable playing with or without
unlikely to play competitive chess the initiative. He could attack,
again. However, in 2014 he counterattack, play positionaly and
returned to the board to play a two- was a master of the endgame, esp.
game match against GM Wolfgang Rook endings. He became known
Uhlmann (b.1935), winning both as the Master of counterattack,
games; the combined age of the and he was the most difficult
two players was 162 years, which opponent of Mikhail Tal, an out-
is a record for a standard play and-out attacker. He had a large
match between Grandmasters. In lifetime plus score against Tal and
2015 the two played a four-game also had plus scores against World
rapid play match which was drawn champions Petrosian and Spassky.
2-2. Korchnoi's final match against He had equal records against
another contemporary Botvinnik and Fischer. He defeated
Grandmaster was a similar four- nine undisputed World champions
game rapid play match in from Botvinnik to Magnus Carlsen.
November 2015 against Mark However, he had huge negative
Taimanov (b. 1926) – the first time scores against ex-World
since 1980 that Korchnoi had champions Vishwanathan Anand
played in an official or friendly and Vladimir Kramnik.
match against an opponent older
At times Korchnoi displayed his was easy to hope that he might

temper after losing games by trick Death himself in a rook
swiping all the pieces off the board. endgame and live forever! Instead,
He spoke disparagingly about we have our memories of “Viktor
Caruana after the latter’s loss to the Terrible” and his unmatched
him in 2011. More often, however, lifetime of games that will indeed
he displayed genial manners. In live forever.”
the 1983 U.S. Open Chess
Championship in Pasadena, 19 of Korchnoi’s Best games
California, Korchnoi was paired (annotations are by Anil Anand,
against GM Larry Christiansen, except as mentioned)
and Christiansen was late showing
up to the game when his "old (W) Viktor Korchnoi
jalopy" car ran out of gas on the (B) Mikhail Botvinnik
way to the event. Rather than Moscow 1960
starting Christiansen's clock, E44 Nimzo-Indian
Korchnoi waited until Christiansen
arrived-a very kind gesture indeed! Nimzo-Indian Defense, Fischer
Variation Interesting problem-like
In Dangerous Moves, a film from ending with opposite coloured
1984, it is said that the match and bishops: It is hard to believe that
the characters are reminiscent of these two players only ever played
the real-life 1981 acrimonious each other four times, especially
match between Viktor Korchnoi when you consider the number of
and Anatoly Karpov. games that Botvinnik has played
against Bronstein, Keres, Smyslov
In his final years, despite being and Tal! Also considering the
debilitated by a series of strokes number of times Korchnoi played
and bound to a wheelchair, he against Petrosian and Spassky: it
attended the Zurich Chess is probably so because when
Challenge each year, in fact Botvinnik became World Champion
playing a match himself in 2015. he did not play in tournaments, but
To honor the unforgettable chess only in World title matches and
legend there will be a special Korchnoi was not a contender for a
memorial tournament from April title match until early 70's by which
th th
13 to 17 , 2017 in Zurich. time Botvinnik had already retired!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3
Garry Kasparov has the final word b6 5.Nge2 Ne4 6.Qc2 Bb7 7.a3
on Korchnoi: “The great Viktor Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 f5 9.b3 O-O 10.Bb2
Lvovich Korchnoi died Tuesday in d6 11.d5 Nxc3 12.Qxc3 e5 13.f4
Switzerland at the age of 85. His Nd7 14.Bd3 Qh4+ 15.g3 Qh6
longevity as a top-level player and 16.O-O c6 17.dxc6 Bxc6 18.Qc2
his fighting spirit were such that it Rae8 19.Bxf5 Nc5 20.b4 Ba4!?
20...exf4 21.Rxf4 Ne6 22.Bxe6+ (W) Vasily Smyslov

Qxe6 23.Qc3 Qxe3+ 24.Qxe3 (B) Viktor Korchnoi
Rxe3 25.Rxf8+ Kxf8 26.Rd1 Ke7 USSR Championship 1952
27.Bxg7 Rxa3 = English Opening, A31
21.Bxh7+ Qxh7 22.Qxh7+ Kxh7
23.bxc5 exf4 24.cxb6 axb6 Korchnoi was 21 years old here.
25.exf4 Re4 26.Rae1 Rfe8 27.Kf2 He says that this was his first win
Rxc4 28.Rxe8 Bxe8 29.Rc1 Rxc1 against a Grandmaster.Smyslov
30.Bxc1 g6 31.g4! Kg7 32.Kg3 became the 7th World Champion 5
Bc6 33.Kh4 Bg2 34.Kg5 Bh3 years later in 1957.
35.Bb2+ Kf7 36.a4 Bg2 37.h4 Bc6 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4
38.h5 gxh5 39.Kxh5 Bxa4 40.f5 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bg5 dxc4
Bd1 41.Kg5 b5 42.Bc3 7.e3 Bg7 8.Bxc4 O-O 9.O-O a6
10.Qb3 Nbd7
Korchnoi points that out that
10.Qb3 allowed him to complete
his development at Smyslov's
expense. Smyslov said that
10.Qe2 was the correct move,
followed by e4 and e5.Vladimir
Simagin played 10.Qe2 against
Korchnoi in 1956 and got a winning
advantage but lost finally.
11.a4 Qa5 12.Bh4 Nb6 13.Be2 e5
14.Nc2 Be6 15.Qb4
Korchnoi initially feared Qxe6
f7xe6 b4 trapping the Queen. But
after Nd5 bxa5 Nxc3 black has a
decent game.
In 'My Best Games - Vol - Games 15…Qxb4 16.Nxb4 Rac8
with White' Korchnoi says "The At Rac8 Korchnoi offered a draw to
further advance of the white pawns Smyslov which was declined.
cannot be prevented. If, for Korchnoi said this altered the
example, Black places his king at dynamic of the game and that
h7 and his bishop on the h5-e8 Smyslov felt psychologically
diagonal, White takes his king to f6 compelled to play for a win at this
and by g5-g6 he wins the game". point. Korchnoi felt that 17.Bf3 Rc4
42…d5 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Nbd6 Nxd5
42...Kg8 43.Kf4 Kh7 44.g5 Bh5 20.Nxd5 was drawing but Smyslov
45.Bb4 d5 46.Ke5 Bg4 47.g6+ Kg7 wanted more.
48.Kf4 Bh3 49.Kg5 +- 17.Rfc1 a5 18.Nd3 Nfd5 19.Nxd5
43.Be1 1-0 Bxd5 20.Be7 Rxc1+ 21.Rxc1 Re8
22.Ba3 Nxa4 23.Bd1 Nb6 24.Rc5
Rd8 25.f3 Bf8 26.Rc1 Bxa3 49.Rh7+ Kd6! 50.Rh8 e2! 51.Re8
27.bxa3 Bxf3 28.Bxf3 Rxd3 Kc6! 0-1
29.Rb1 Nc4 30.Rxb7 Nxe3 31.a4 White resigns. Black's King stops
Rd4 32.Bc6 Ng4 33.Rb1 e4 34.h3 the a-pawn while his rook ensures
Ne5 35.Bb5 f5 36.Rc1 f4 37.Rc5 the promotion of his passed pawns
Rd1+ 38.Kf2 Nd3+ 39.Bxd3 Rxd3 Both players had time trouble, but
40.Rxa5 Rd2+ 41.Kf1 Kf7 Smyslov suffered the most and
42.Ra7+ Kf6 43.Rxh7 e3 44.Rh8 even went down a second pawn.
Rd1+ 45.Ke2 Rg1 46.a5 Rxg2+ Korchnoi never felt sure of the win
47.Kf3 Rf2+ 48.Kg4 due to Smyslov's excellent
endgame reputation. "My Life for
Chess" - by Victor Korchnoi -
Chessbase DVD Lecture Series
If 52.Re6+ Kb7 53.a6+ Ka7
(W) Mikhail Tal

(B) Viktor Korchnoi
Moscow 1968
Ruy Lopez Chigorin, C98
Korchnoi does seem to have been

a regular bete noire of Tal.
Perhaps Tal brought the best out
of Korchnoi. Playing over their
games, one gets the impression
that Korchnoi was completely un-
48…Ke7!! intimidated by Tal's tactical ability.
Black's rook cannot help its pawns In official games, Korchnoi had a
advance and also stop White's a- dominating lifetime score versus
pawn Black needs to keep his rook Tal: 11-7, with 5 draws!! The
there and use his King to stop the semifinal match, held in Moscow
a-pawn. But the King is too far 1968 was close, but Korchnoi won
away for this. However there is a (+2-1=7). He moved on to face GM
tempo gaining King route with Boris Spassky in the Candidates'
Ke7!! By taking the e8 square final. Spassky prevailed at Kiev
away from White's rook, Black now 1968, winning (+4-1=5). Korchnoi
threatens to win at once with e2.To in a magazine after the semifinal
re-establish access to e8, White is match with Tal remarked: My
forced to send Black's King exactly impressions about Grandmaster
where it wants to go! Mikhail Tal were always clear
e.g. 48...e2 49.Re8 f3 50.a6 Rf1 enough, but only after our match I
51.a7 Ra1 52.Kxf3 and White have finally witnessed his true
draws. chess make-up. First and foremost
(it may even sound paradoxical for 30.Kxg3 Rxa1 31.Qxf6 c1=Q
those with little knowledge of the denies White's Queen access to
game), Tal is a very patterned the squares g5 and h6. Korchnoi
player. His strategic plans aren't had probably calculated this
too new or original. But, combining sequence amongst others before
his patterns with enormous tactical playing 25...cxb3.
talent, inexhaustible optimism and 26...Kh7
outstanding sportsman's qualities,
Tal had much success in
tournaments. In tournaments, but
not in matches. Because in
matches between two equal
players, the arsenal of original
strategic ideas provides decisive
advantage. This doesn't mean that
it's easy to defeat Tal in a match.
The Riga player's style is so
dynamic and active, his
determination is so strong, that his
partners constantly remain under
very high nervous pressure. In
other words, Tal spares neither
himself nor his opponent. I knew
that our match is going to be tough No doubt, any chess player would
and exhausting, but I couldn't play 27.Bxf7 Qxf7 28.Qxc3 with a
imagine exactly how much. I had to small advantage for White. Of
work very hard to win. I even think course, Tal saw that too. But he
that it's easier to play a dozen was against simplifications, he
matches with other grandmasters wanted to create tactical
than to play one match with Tal. complications, whatever the price,
and so he played 27.Rec1.His plan
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 was along these lines: if Black
Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 replies with Rc8, then the position
8.c3 O-O 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 after 28.Bxf7 Qxf7 29.Rxc3 Rxc3
11.d4 Qc7 12.Nbd2 Nc6 13.dxc5 30.Qxc3 is much better for him,
dxc5 14.Nf1 Be6 15.Ne3 Rad8 because after the exchange of one
16.Qe2 c4 17.Nf5 Bxf5 18.exf5 Rook pair, it's easier for his pieces
Rfe8 19.Bg5 h6 20.Bxf6 Bxf6 to invade the Black's camp. And
21.Nd2 Ne7 22.Ne4 Nd5 23.b3 what if Black replied b4? Tal
Nxc3! 24.Nxf6+ gxf6 25.Qe3 cxb3 prepared a devious trap: 28.a3 a5
26.Bxb3 29.axb4 axb4 30.Ra7 Ne2+ 31.Kh2
26.Qxh6 bxc2 27.Re3 Rd1+ Qxc1 32.Qxe2 Qf4+ 33.g3 Rd2
28.Kh2 e4+ 29.Rg3+ Qxg3+! (this seems to be the end for
White, but...) 34.gxf4 Rxe2
35.Bxf7!, and White wins one of 31.Qxh5 Rg6 32.Nf5 Qe5 33.Rf3
the two black Rooks. Of course, Rxf6 34.Rh3 h6 35.Qg5 Re8
not all Black's moves in this variant According to Robert Byrne, after
were forced. But other 35...Rg6 36 Rxh6+ Rxh6 37 Qxh6+
continuations also gave Tal the Kg8 38 Rf1, 39 Rf3 and 40 Rg3+
game he wanted. Nevertheless, "would have been impossible to
there are still spots on the sun! cope with."
And Tal, this combinational wizard, 36.Qg7# 1-0
sometimes makes tactical
mistakes. (W) Viktor Korchnoi
27.Rec1?! (B) Boris Spassky
27.Bxf7 Qxf7 28.Qxc3 = Candidates Final 1977
27...b4 28.a3 QGD Tartakower, D58
After b4 28.a3, he overlooked a
simple refutation of his plan: Korchnoi's second place in the
e4!! Candidates matches of 1974 left
28...a5 29.axb4 axb4 30.Ra7 Ne2+ him seeded into the 1977 matches.
31.Kh2 Qxc1 32.Qxe2 Qf4+ 33.g3 His first match was against
Rd2? (33...Qd2! wins easily.) Petrosian, the former World
34.gxf4 Rxe2 35.Bxf7 +- Champion. In 1971, Korchnoi was
29.axb4 Rd3 30.Qe1 e3 forced to lose his match to
and White remained defenseless. Petrosian (who later faced Bobbby
31.Bc2 Rd2 32.fxe3 Ne2+ 33.Kh1 Fischer and lost). Now, free of
Ng3+ 34.Kg1 Re2 35.Qd1 Qb7 Soviet bosses, Korchnoi defeated
36.e4 R8xe4! 0-1 Petrosian 6.5-5.5.Korchnoi then
defeated another Soviet teammate,
(W) Viktor Korchnoi Polugaevsky, 8.5-4.5.The next
(B) Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian step was a match with Boris
Candidates 1974 Spassky, the former World
English Opening, A17 Champion. Spassky was now living
in France and playing under the
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.e4 Soviet flag. Korchnoi had lost the
Bb7 5.d3 d6 6.g3 Be7 7.Bg2 O-O 1968 Candidates match Final to
8.O-O c5 9.b3 Na6 10.Re1 e5 Spassky 6.5-3.5 so this time he
11.Bh3 Nc7 12.Nh4 g6 13.Ng2 had a chance to take his revenge.
Ne6 14.f4 exf4 15.gxf4 Nh5 The Korchnoi-Spassky of 1977
16.Nd5 Bf6 17.Rb1 Bd4+ 18.Kh1 consisted of 18 games. Korchnoi
Nc7 19.Nde3 Ng7 20.f5 Nce8 won five out of the first ten games.
21.Rf1 Nf6 22.Nc2 Be5 23.Bg5 Spassky won the next four games.
Qe8 24.Nce3 Kh8 25.Qe1 Nfh5 Two draws followed. Korchnoi won
26.Bg4 Rg8 27.f6 Ne6 28.Qh4 the next two. The final score was
Nxg5 29.Qxg5 Bd4 30.Bxh5 gxh5 10.5-7.5 in Korchnoi's favour. The
Winawer Variation of the French
Defense was a major part of the stated that Black's activity on the c-
match. It was used by Korchnoi (as file is temporary while Black's
Black) six times. He won three, lost weakened kingside is permanent.
one, and drew two games with that The position is equal, but the
line. Selected from the match is mistakes are more likely with
game seven. Spassky was already Black. Black was behind two points
behind by two points and that was and needed a win.)
to play a role in the players’ 20…Bxc6 21.bxc6 Bxc3?!
strategies. 21...Qxc6 22.Ne4 Qb7 23.Nxf6+
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.Nf3 gxf6 24.Qg4+ Kf7 25.Qf4 e5
Nf6 5.Bg5 O-O 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 b6 22.Rxc3 Rac8 23.Qc2 e5 24.c7
The Tartakower Variation Rd7 25.Rc1 d4 26.Rc6 Qd5
8.Rc1 27.Qb1 d3 28.Qxb6 d2?! 29.Rd1
8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Nxd5 Qxa2
exd5 11.Rc1 was the main line
when Spassky faced Petrosian in
1966 and Fischer in 1972.
8...Bb7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5
11.b4 c6 12.Be2
was used in game 11, which
Spassky won.
12…Nd7
12...Qd6 13.Qb3 Nd7 14.O-O a5
15.a3 Rfe8 16.Rfd1 axb4 17.axb4
b5 with the idea of Nb6.(Kasparov)
13.O-O a5 14.b5 c5 15.dxc5 Nxc5
15...Bxc3 16.c6 Bb4 17.cxb7 Rb8
18.Qxd5 Nc5 19.Qc6 Nxb7 20.Ne5
Nc5 21.Bc4 wins (Kasparov).
16.Nd4
with the idea of Nf3 reaching c5 30.h3!
(Korchnoi). 30.Qb7 Qa4!! 31.Qxc8+ Kh7 32.h3
16…Qd6 17.Bg4!? Rfd8 18.Re1 Qxc6 33.Rxd2 Qc1+ 34.Kh2 Qxd2
Ne6 35.Qb8 Rxc7 36.Qxc7 draws
18...g6 is equal (Kasparov); (Donev)
18...Ne4 is equal, but Spassky's 30...Qa4 31.Rxd2 Rxd2 32.Qb7!
move is more active because it Rdd8 33.cxd8=Q+ Rxd8 34.Rc7!
challenges d4 (Korchnoi). Qa1+ 35.Kh2 e4 36.Qxe4 Qf6
19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Nc6! 37.f4 Qf8 38.Ra7 Qc5 39.Qb7
(20...Rd7 21.Na4 Korchnoi Rc7! Qc3 40.Qe7 Rf8 41.e4! Qd4
22.Nxb6 Bxc6 23.bxc6 Ra6 24.Nd7 41...Rxf4 42.e5! wins (Kasparov).
Raxc6 25.Nxf6+ gxf6 26.Rb1!White 42.f5 h5 43.Rxa5 Qd2 44.Qe5
has a slight advantage. Kasparov Qg5 45.Ra6 Rf7 46.Rg6 Qd8
47.f6 h4 48.fxg7 1-0
(W) Robert James Fischer 27.Rg1+ Kh8 28.Bg5 fxe4 29.Bxh6

(B) Viktor Korchnoi exf3 30.Bxf8 Rxf8 31.Rf1 b5
Curacao Candidates 1962 32.Rxf3 b4 Black has 4 extra
Pirc Defence: Austrian Attack, B09 pawns, two of them connected, so
an easy win.
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 27...Rxf8 28.Ne7+ Kh8 29.Nxf5
Austrian attack Qe6
Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 nicely supporting a4 next move.
6.Bd3 is normally played 30.Rg1 a4 31.Rg4 Qb3 32.Qf1
nowadays. 32.Qg2 a3 33.Nh6 threatening
c5 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.O-O Qxc5+ Rg8+ f5! Queen keeps an eye on
9.Kh1 Nc6 10.Nd2 g8!
It appears that Korchnoi's second 32...a3 33.Rg3 Qxg3!
GM Vasiukov anticipated Fischer Nothing can stop the a-passer, so
would make this move. Bobby resigned.
10…a5! 11.Nb3 Qb6 12.a4 Nb4 0-1
13.g4?! Bxg4!
Just see how Korchnoi (W) Viktor Korchnoi
systematically destroys Fischer's (B) Anatoly Karpov
pawn thrust! Candidates Final 1974
14.Bxg4 Nxg4 15.Qxg4 Nxc2 Queen’s Indian E17
16.Nb5!
16.Nd5 Qxb3 17.Rb1 f5 18.Qd1 I saw Korchnoi play against Karpov
fxe4 19.Nxe7+ Kh8 20.Rf2 e3 in 1974, during my first visit to the
21.Rxc2 Rae8 22.Bxe3 Qxe3 Hall of Columns in Moscow-where
23.Nd5 -+ I would later play a world
16...Nxa1 17.Nxa1 championship match of my own
Though White manages to against Karpov. I was visiting with
maintain material parity, White's a group of coaches and students
pieces are unco-ordinated which from the Botvinnik School. It was
Black makes good use of. game 21 of what would
17…Qc6! 18.f5 Qc4! 19.Qf3 Qxa4 retroactively become a de facto
20.Nc7 Qxa1 21.Nd5 world championship match when
21.Nxa8 Rxa8 22.fxg6 fxg6 Bobby Fischer refused to defend
23.Qf7+ Kh8 24.Qxe7 Qb1 his title against Karpov in 1975.(I
25.Qxb7 Re8 26.Re1 Qd3 27.e5 remember being shocked when
d5 -+ Karpov missed the tactical blow
21...Rae8 -+ 22.Bg5 Qxb2 13.Nxh7!, quickly spotted by my
23.Bxe7 Be5! 24.Rf2 classmates and I, and lost in just
24.Qh3 Qe2! 19 moves!) Korchnoi narrowly lost
24...Qc1+ 25.Rf1 Qh6 26.h3 that match, and then two bitter
gxf5!? 27.Bxf8 world championship matches in
1978 and 1981, a period that
earned him the bittersweet title of (W) Garry Kasparov

the strongest player never to win (B) Viktor Korchnoi
the world championship. Candidates London 1983
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bg2 Queen’s Indian, E12
Bb7 5.c4 Be7 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Qc2
c5 8.d5 exd5 9.Ng5 Nc6 10.Nxd5 Kasparov: Korchnoi had a direct
g6 11.Qd2 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 Rb8? impact on my life beyond his
13.Nxh7! Re8 14.Qh6 Ne5 15.Ng5 chess. We were scheduled to face
Bxg5 16.Bxg5 Qxg5 17.Qxg5 each other in a 1983 Candidates'
Bxd5 18.O-O! Bxc4 19.f4 1-0 match slated to take place in Los
Leonard Barden: Game 21 of the Angeles. A great deal of
1974 candidates final was controversy and provocation by the
significant because it showed that international and Soviet sports
Karpov lacked stamina in a long authorities around which site would
contest, a weakness exploited by host the match led instead to my
Korchnoi at Baguio in 1978 and being forfeited. It is impossible to
later successfully by Garry say what would have happened
Kasparov in a marathon world title had anyone but Viktor Korchnoi
series in 1984-85.Karpov’s last been my opponent, but there is no
move 12...Rb8? was a fatal error doubt he did what he could to
as Korchnoi played 13 Nxh7! when make sure our match was decided
if Kxh7 14.Qh6+ Kg8 15.Qxg6+ at the board, not the boardroom.
Kh8 16.Qh5+! Kg8 17.Be4! f5 Despite being 32 years my senior
18.Bd5+ and White soon mates. and an underdog in our match,
Karpov tried Re8 14.Qh6 Ne5 winning without playing was
15.Ng5 Bxg5 16.Bxg5 Qxg5 (if the unacceptable to Korchnoi. He was
queen retreats, Bf6 leads to mate) a man who enjoyed picking fights,
17.Qxg5 Bxd5 18.0-0! Bxc4 19.f4 not dodging them! And if he could
and Karpov resigned. The shortest antagonize the hated chess
decisive world championship game authorities of the USSR and
occurred between Viswanathan Karpov in the process, more the
Anand and Boris Gelfand in game better. (He had defected in 1976
8 of their World Chess and was non-grata in the USSR
Championship match in and blacklisted by the Soviets. The
2012.Gelfand resigned after political struggles for him and his
Anand's 17th move! Here it is: 1.d4 family are well documented.) We
Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 met to negotiate at the 1983
Bg7 6.Ne2 O-O 7.Nec3 Nh5 8.Bg5 NikÅ!iÄ(.) tournament, when
Bf6 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 organizers later held a blitz event
Bxf5 12.g4 Re8+ 13.Kd1 Bxb1 in Herceg Novi that broke the
14.Rxb1 Qf6 15.gxh5 Qxf3+ blacklist by including Korchnoi.
16.Kc2 Qxh1 17.Qf2 1-0 (The audience even applauded
when he and I shook hands at the
board.) I remember Korchnoi b5 40.Kf3 b4 41.Ke3 b3 42.Kd2

telling me that now that I was Rxd4+ 43.Kc3 b2 44.Kxb2 Rd2+
playing in the West, I had to get 45.Kc3 Rxf2 46.h4 f4 47.Rg5
better shoes, that you could always Rf3+ 48.Kd4 Rxg3 49.Rxh5 Re3
tell a Soviet man by his shoes! 50.Rh6 Ke7 51.h5 e5+ 52.Kd5 f3
After negotiations to reschedule 0-1
our match in London succeeded, I
wanted to thank Korchnoi but he (W) Viktor Korchnoi
was having none of it. This wasnâ (B) Magnus Carlsen
[]t a present to me; he was SmartFish Chess Masters 2004,
planning to beat me! He was Tarrasch Defence, D34
returning to form and also wanted
revenge for a wild loss to me two Tarrasch Defense: Prague
years earlier at the Lucerne Variation. Main Line A game
Olympiad. Indeed, he won the first across generations!
game (this one) of our match in 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 c5 3.g3 e6 4.Nf3
excellent fashion, showing as he Nc6 5.Bg2 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.d4
would for another few decades that Be7 8.Be3 c4 9.Ne5 O-O 10.O-O
he wasnâ []t strong only for a Be6 11.Nxc4 dxc4 12.d5 Nxd5
player of his age, but damned 13.Nxd5 Bf6 14.Qd2 Bd4 15.Nf4
strong period! His run at the world Bxe3 16.Qxe3 Re8 17.Rfd1 Qf6
championship was soon over, but 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Qd4 Qxd4
the great Viktor would continue to 20.Rxd4 Bd5 21.Rad1 c3 22.Nxd5
take top-level scalps well into his cxd5 23.bxc3 Rxe2 24.Rxd5 g6
sixties and seventies. Viktor 25.R5d2 Rxd2 26.Rxd2 Rc8
Korchnoi loved chess like no one 27.Rc2 Rc4 28.Kf1 Kf8 29.Ke2
else before or since, and chess Ke7 30.Kd3 Ra4 31.Rd2 Ke6
was lucky to have him for so long. 32.c4 Ra3+ 33.Ke4 h5 34.f4 f6
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Nc3 35.Re2 Ra4 36.Kd4+ Kd6 37.Rf2
Bb7 5.a3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 g6 Ra5 38.Kc3 Kc5 39.Kb3 Ra6
8.Bb5+ c6 9.Bd3 Bg7 10.e4 Nxc3 40.Rd2 1-0
11.bxc3 c5 12.Bg5 Qd6 13.e5
Qd7 14.dxc5 O-O 15.cxb6 axb6 (W) Viswanathan Anand
16.O-O Qc7 17.Bb5!? Bxe5 (B) Viktor Korchnoi
18.Bh6 Bg7 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 Corus, Wijk aan Zee, 2000
20.Qd4+ Kg8 21.Ng5 h6 22.Ne4 French Classical, C13
Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Na6 24.Qe3 Qc5
25.Qxc5 Nxc5 26.Rfb1 Rfd8 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
27.Bf1 Rd6 28.Rb4 Kf8 29.a4 Ra5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nbd7 6.Nf3 Be7
30.g3 Ke7 31.Kg2 f5 32.Bb5 Rd2 7.Nxf6+ Bxf6 8.h4 h6
33.Rd4 Rxd4 34.cxd4 Nxa4! Korchnoi had played 8..0-0 against
35.Rxa4 Rxb5 36.Ra7+ Kd6 Anand at Tilburg 1991 and drew.
37.Rh7 h5 38.Rg7 Rd5 39.Rxg6 Korchnoi:"If I had wanted to play
safe I would have played 8..0-0 Surprisingly, Korchnoi never

and not 8.. h6." 9..Nxf6 was a new managed to beat Anand.
idea but does not seem to be an 19…Bc4 20.Rxg7 Kxg7
improvement over the more [or 20...Qxe3+ 21.fxe3 Kxg7
popular 9..Qxf6. 22.Qg3+ Kh8 23.Qf3 Nd7 24.Nxd7
9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Qd2 b6 11.O-O-O Bxd3 25.Qf6+ Kh7 26.cxd3 Rg8
Bb7 12.Ne5 O-O 13.Bd3 c5 27.Qxf7+ Rg7 28.Nf8+ Kh8 29.Qf6
14.dxc5 Qc7 15.Rhe1 Bxg2?! Kg8 30.Qxe6+ Kxf8 31.Qd6+ Re7
Korchnoi: "15..Bxg2? 16 Re2! lost 32.Qf6+ Ke8 (32...Rf7 33.Qh8+)
quickly; Black would have been 33.Qc6+]
fine after 15..bxc 16 g4..c4 17 21.Rg3+ Ng4 22.Rxg4+ Kh8
Bxc4..Nxg4 18 Qd7..Rac8!." 23.Qxh6#
(15...bxc5 16.g4 c4 17.Qc3 Nxg4
18.Nxg4 Qf4+ 19.Rd2 cxd3 20.Rg1 (A) Viktor Korchnoi
Kh7 21.Qe5 Qxe5 22.Nxe5 =) (B) Samuel Reshevsky
16.Re2 Kh8 17.Rg1 Bd5 18.Qf4! Candidates 1968
Qxc5 Reti Opening, A07
This game was played in the

Quarterfinals of 1968 candidates
between the two great masters
known for their longevity at chess.
Reshevsky was 56 years old,
Korchnoi was just 37.They had
only met twice before, in 1960 and
at the preceding Interzonal, both
games being drawn. Both players
qualified in contrasting ways. The
Sousse Interzonal (1967) had
produced a tie for the last
Candidates place with Samuel
Reshevsky, Vlastimil Hort and
Leonid Stein sharing sixth place. A
19.Re3!! 1-0 playoff was held in Los Angeles,
Korchnoi resigned on seeing the which was also tied. Although he
imminent rook sacrifice on g7. had not won a single game in the
“After black's Bg2 it is over”, Anand play-off, Reshevsky, by virtue of
said after the game. “He should his superior SB score from the
take on c5 for a dynamic game Interzonal, secured the final
with chances for both sides”, Candidates place. Korchnoi
Anand said about a plan which qualified for the Candidates in a
could lift black's defensive armour. more straight-forward manner, he
This was probably the last game shared 2-4th places at Sousse with
between these two chess giants.
Svetozar Gligoric and Efim Geller. Ne8 14.Bh3 Nc7 15.Kh1 Rae8
This would be Korchnoi's first ever 16.Nh4 f6 17.exf6 Bxf6 18.Bxf6
match! Mikhail Botvinnik advised Rxf6 19.f4 Qc5 20.Ndf3 Qc3
Korchnoi not to play in the US as 21.Bg4
this gave Reshevsky an Notes from Cafferty's book on the
advantage. "Appraising the power Candidates Matches (Furman's
of the American, the former World analysis): Korchnoi knows this
Champion stated that it is opening very well. He gets a
becoming more difficult for favorable Reti, since he hasn't
Reshevsky to play because this played c4, and so black's light-
grandmaster's forte is fast and squared bishop ends up biting on
exact calculations of variations. As granite. The odd-looking 21.Bg4 is
the years pass ... this ability is designed to meet 21....Bf5 with
gradually blunted. Nevertheless, 22.Bh5 g6 23.g4.
Botvinnik considers Reshevsky a 21…d4 22.Ne5 Nxe5 23.fxe5
formidable fighter ... As for the duel Rxf1+ 24.Rxf1 Qc5 25.Qf2 Rf8
between Korchnoi and Reshevsky, 25...Qxe5? 26.Qf7+ Kh8 27.Qxe8+
Botvinnik thinks anything can Nxe8 28.Rf8+ Bg8 29.Ng6+ Kh7
happen ... Korchnoi is 30.Nxe5 +-
inconsistent". Whilst preparing for 26.Qxf8+ Qxf8 27.Rxf8+ Kxf8
this match, Korchnoi and his 28.Nf3 c5 29.Nd2 Nd5 30.Nc4
second, GM Furman, one of the Nb4?
USSR's leading theoreticians, "30....Nb4 is the decisive mistake.
decided that Reshevsky's opening Black could have held on with
repertoire was somewhat limited 30....Ke7 31.Nxa5 Ne3 32.Bf3
and it is therefore almost possible b6.Reshevsky was in terrible time
to foresee what the position will be trouble at this point." Furman
after ten or fifteen moves. "In 31.Nxa5
preparing for Reshesvky, I pinned 31.Bd1 Bg6 32.Nxa5 Be8 33.Kg2
my hopes on my better practical b6 34.Nc4 b5 35.axb5 Bxb5 was
know-how and on my superior probably even better.
knowledge of modern opening 31...Nxc2 32.Nxb7 c4 33.bxc4
theory. I realised that I was up Bxd3 34.Nc5 Bxc4 35.Bxe6 Bxe6
against a subtle strategic player, 36.Nxe6+ Ke7 37.Nc5 Nb4 38.a5
whose knowledge of the subtleties Nc6 39.a6 Kd8 40.Kg2 g6 41.e6
of the game was probably superior Ke7 42.Kf3 Kd6 43.Ke4 g5 44.g4
to mine." Reshevsky had the Korchnoi decided that the opening
support of former Candidate GM would be his main advantage and
Pal Benko. decided to play a fresh variation in
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 d5 3.Bg2 c6 4.b3 every game. He decided also that
Bf5 5.Bb2 e6 6.O-O Be7 7.d3 h6 Reshevsky was 'self-confident and
8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Qe1 Nbd7 10.e4 wasn't preparing particularly hard
Bh7 11.Qe2 a5 12.a4 Qb6 13.e5 for the encounter with me.'
Korchnoi figured that opening rule, the more mistakes there are
preparation would be particularly in the game, the more memorable
useful for getting Reshevsky into it remains, because you have
time-trouble - and then at that point suffered and worried over each
('around move 25') he would start mistake at the board. In my life as
to play natural/superficial moves. a chess player, there have been
That's pretty much exactly what many such battles; the outcome of
happened -- and Korchnoi proved them usually had a decisive
adept at giving Reshevsky forcing influence on the final result of a
continuations (30....Nb4 in Game 4 strong tournament. But even
and 31....Rd2 in Game 6) that were amongst games of this importance,
disadvantageous but hard to resist. the game with Geller is pre-
Reshevsky was very disappointed eminent and the tension of the
by the result - his last real chance battle is evident. The game was
at the World Championship - and played in the penultimate round of
declined to analyze any of the the USSR Championship in
games with Korchnoi or to attend 1960.The grandmaster from
the match's closing ceremony.An Odessa had 12.5 points out of 17
outstanding match player, this was whereas I, who was his nearest
the first and last time that rival, had 0.5 point less. Geller had
Reshevsky lost a match where he white. A draw would suit him - in
had time for extensive preparation. that case he would be assured of a
1-0 share of first place. As for me, only
one result was of any use, and that
(W) Efim Geller was a victory. But was it really
(B) Viktor Korchnoi possible to win with Black against
USSR Championship, 1960 a grandmaster of equal strength?
Alekhine’s Defence, B03 That is the sort of thing that only
happens in the last rounds of
Korchnoi: I am often asked which tournaments! For the sake of
of my games is the most objectivity, I must add that the
memorable and usually I refer to psychological situation was not to
this one - my game against E. Geller's advantage; in fact quite the
Geller in the USSR Championship reverse. Whereas I played for a
when I first became USSR win without any second thoughts,
Champion. Every grandmaster has Geller had divided thoughts: on the
played many interesting games, one hand he did not lose all hope
but the memory is not stirred by of winning this game and by
subtle opening ideas, solid winning insure himself against the
middlegame play, or intricate unexpected happening in the last
endgames. No, the games that you round!
remember are the games with the 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4
most sporting significance. As a Nb6 5.f4 Bf5 6.Nc3 dxe5 7.fxe5
e6 8.Nf3 Be7 9.Be2 O-O! 10.O-O! 17...Nxb2 18.Qd4 Rf7 19.Ne4 Nd3
f6 11.Bf4?! 20.Bh6 Qxd5 21.Nf6+ Rxf6
As Black has chosen an unusual, 22.Qxf6 Qe5 23.Qxe5 Nxe5 +-
'incorrect', move order, White does 18.Qe2
not need to play his queen's bishop 18.Qd4
to e3, and therefore Geller tries to 18...Nxf1 19.Bxf8 Nxh2 20.Bc5
improve its position compared with Ng4 21.dxe6 Qh4 22.e7 Qh2+
the normal line. Nevertheless, 23.Kf1 Qf4+ 24.Kg1
playing 'according to theory' with This does not yet lose, but the
exf6 Bxf6 Be3 decision to keep the king on the
Nc6 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.d5 Na5 shattered kingside is wrong in
14.Ne5 Bxe5 15.Bxe5 Naxc4 principle. By playing Ke1, White
16.Bxc4 Nxc4 17.Bxg7! would have forced Black to take
In 'Chess Is My Life', Korchnoi the draw by means of prepetual
comments about 17 Bxg7: " It is check: Qg3+ Kd2 Qf4+. Black
difficult to admit this to the reader, would run into trouble if he
or even to myself, but I overlooked declined the draw, for example:
this move! King safety is one of the 24.Ke1 Qg3+ 25.Kd2 Re8 26.Rf1
most important features in the +- Qe5
middle game, and therefore the 24...Re8 25.Qf3 Qh2+ 26.Kf1 Qh5
loss of the pawn at g7 is bound to 27.Qd5+?!
give White the advantage should 27.Kg1 Qh2+ 28.Kf1 Qe5 29.Qd5+
the game continue quietly". Be6 30.Qxe5 Nxe5 =
17…Ne3! 27...Kg7 28.Qd4+ Kg6 29.Ne2
Clearly after Qxg7 Qd4+ White has Qh1+ 30.Ng1?
the the advantage - but what about 30.Qg1 Qxg1+ 31.Kxg1 b6
Nxb2 ? Yes, during the game I 32.Nf4+ Kg5 33.Nh3+ Kf6 34.Bb4
seriously thought of this possibility, c5 35.Bc3+ Kxe7 -+
although it is quite clear to me now 30...b6 31.Qd8 Nf6 32.Ba3 Be4
- and every master will agree with 33.Qd2 c5 34.b4 c4 35.b5 Bd3+
me without any concrete analysis 0-1
of lines - that the weakening of
Black's king position is more than (W) Bent Larsen
sufficent compensation for the (B) Viktor Korchnoi
pawn. I played the remainder of Swift Tournament, 1987
the game on the following English Opening, A12
principle: in view of the weakening
of your own king position the g3 square is indefensible
greatest harm that you can do to 1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Nf6 4.b3
your opponent is to make a breach Qb6!? 5.Bg2 e5! 6.O-O
in the defences of the enemy king! 6.Nxe5 Qd4!
6...e4 7.Ne1
till 1990's. In 1982, he was ranked

world #2 behind Karpov. In 1993,
he defeated Robert Hubner,
Korchnoi and Yusupov but lost to
Short. Short defeated Karpov to
become the challenger to
Kasparov. However, after Short
and Kasparov played their World
Championship match outside of
the auspices of the sport's
governing body FIDE under the
newly created PCA, Timman
competed against Karpov for the
FIDE version of the world title. He
lost the match to Karpov 8.5-12.5.
7…h5! 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3
The move h5! reminds one of c5 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.d5 exd5
Larsen vs Spassky, Rest of the 8.Nh4 Ne4 9.Bxe4 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3
World vs USSR match 1970, which dxe4 11.Qd6 Qf6 12.Qxf6 gxf6
also ended after 17 moves! The 13.Nf5 Nc6 14.Nd6+ Ke7 15.Bf4
game score was as follows: 1.b3 15.Nxb7 Rab8 16.Nxc5 bxc5
e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3 e4 17.Bf4 Rb2 18.Bd6+ Kxd6
5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.e3 Bf5 (18...Ke6 19.Bxc5 Ne5 20.Bxa7
8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 O-O-O 10.f4 Ng4 Ra8 21.Bd4 Rbxa2 -/+) 19.O-O-O+
11.g3 h5 12.h3 h4 13.hxg4 hxg3 15...Na5 16.f3 Ba6 17.fxe4 Nxc4
14.Rg1 Rh1!! 15.Rxh1 g2 16.Rf1 18.Nf5+ Kd8 19.Nh6 Re8 20.Ng4
Qh4+ 17.Kd1 gxf1=Q+ 0-1 Ke7 21.O-O h5 22.Nh6 Bb7
8.Nc3 h4 9.d4 hxg3 10.fxg3 Qa5 23.Nf5+ Kd8 24.Ng7 Rxe4
11.Qc2 Bb4 12.Bb2 Be6 25.Nxh5 Rxe2 26.Rf2 Rxf2
13.cxd5? 27.Kxf2 f5 28.Rd1 d5
13.a3! Be7 14.Bc1 Nbd7 15.Bf4 28...d6! 29.Re1 Be4 30.Nf6 Ne5
unclear 31.Bxe5 dxe5 32.Nxe4 fxe4
13...Nxd5 14.Nxd5 cxd5 15.a3 33.Rxe4 f6 34.h4 Ke7 -/+
Bd2 16.Qd1? Be3+ 17.Kh1 Qc7! 29.Re1 Nb2 30.Bg5+ Kd7
0-1 31.Re7+ Kc6 32.Bf6 Nc4 33.h4
Nd6 34.Be5 Bc8 35.Kf3
(W) Jan Timman 35.Nf6! Be6 36.h5 Rh8 =
(B) Viktor Korchnoi 35...Be6 36.Nf4 Nc4 37.Rc7+ Kb5
th
Interpolis 9 , 1985 38.Bg7 Nd6 39.Re7 Ne4 40.Nxe6
Nimzo Indian, E21 fxe6 41.h5 d4 42.cxd4 c4 43.Rc7
Nc3 44.h6 Nd5 45.a4+ Kb4
Timman is a Dutch GM who was a 46.Rc6 c3 47.h7 Kxa4 48.h8=Q
leading non-Soviet player "The Rxh8 49.Bxh8 Kb3 50.Be5 a5
Best of the West" from late 1970's
51.Bc7 a4 52.Bxb6 a3 53.Rc5 (W) Vassily Ivanchuk

Nxb6 54.Rb5+ Kc4 55.Rxb6 a2 (B) Viktor Korchnoi
56.Ra6 c2 57.Ke2 Kb5 0-1 Interpolis, 1989
Open Catalan, E04
(W) Nigel Short
(B) Viktor Korchnoi Vassily Ivanchuk is similar to
London, 1980 Korchnoi in one aspect i. e. being
Ruy Lopez, C77 the "almost champion" for well over
three decades since he was
This was Short's first major ranked world #2 thrice in July
international tournament. The 14- 1991, July 1992 and October 2007.
year-old British wunderkind He burst on the world scene in the
finished dead last, without winning Linares tournament by creating
a single game. This failure was so history shocking both Kasparov
distasteful that it is rumoured that and Karpov in the same
his chessboard gathered dust for tournament at age 21.Ivanchuk
the next 6 months while he played came close to becoming the FIDE
video games! world champion in 2002 but he lost
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 to Ruslan Ponomariov
Nf6 5.d4 Nxd4 6.Nxd4 exd4 7.e5 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2
Ne4 8.Qxd4 Nc5 9.Nc3 Be7 dxc4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Qa4 Bb4+
10.Qg4 Kf8! 7.Bd2 Nd5 8.Bxb4 Ndxb4 9.a3 b5
10...O-O! 11.Bh6 Ne6 12.Bb3 Kh8 10.Qxb5 Nc2+ 11.Kd2 Nxa1
13.Be3 d6 14.O-O-O must have 12.Qxc6+ Bd7 13.Qxc4 c5 14.Qa2
been White's original plan. Qa5+ 15.b4!? cxb4 16.Qxa1 Rc8!
11.O-O d5 12.Qd4 c6 13.Bb3 h5! 17.Ne5 Bb5 18.Ke3 Rc2 19.Bf3
14.Ne2 Bf5 15.Be3 Nxb3 16.cxb3 O-O 20.a4 f6 21.Nd3 Bc4 22.Nd2
c5 17.Qd1 d4 18.Bf4 g5 19.Bc1 Qg5+ 23.Nf4 e5 24.Nxc4 exf4+
h4! 25.gxf4 Qf5 26.Nd6 Qe6+ 0-1
The pawn storms in the centre and
King-side give Black an irresistible (W) Fabiano Caruana
attack! (B) Viktor Korchnoi
20.Re1 Qd5 21.Nc3 Qc6 22.Nb1 Tradewise Gibralter, 2011
g4 23.Bf4 h3 24.f3 Rg8 25.g3 Closed Ruy Lopez, C84
gxf3 26.Kf2 Rg4 27.Rg1 Rxf4
28.gxf4 Bh4+ 29.Rg3 Bxg3+ Ruy Lopez, Morphy defense,
30.hxg3 Qe4 31.Qxf3 Qc2+ Anderssen variation. A nice game
32.Qe2 d3 of experience triumphing over
Qc1 33.Qe1 (33.Nd2 Qxa1) youth. Korchnoi had lost 4 games
33...Qxe1+ 34.Kxe1 h2 wins to Caruana before this game.
33.Qd2 Ke7 34.Kg1 h2+ 35.Kxh2 Korchnoi was 80 while the 18 year
Rh8+ 36.Kg1 Be4 0-1 old Caruana was one of the rising
stars who had already crossed
2700 ELO. I wonder, in which other Be4 31.Qf6+ Qxf6 32.Rxf6 gives
sport is a fair encounter likely White an outside chance.
between two players 60 years 29…Bxd3!
apart in age? There is no escape after this move
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 for White.
Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.O-O O-O 30.Kg1 e4 31.Qh3 Rxd5 32.Qd7
8.Re1 Nd7 Rg5 33.g4 Qh6 34.Rf7 R5g7
First played exactly 100 years ago 35.Rxg7 Rxg7 36.Qd8+ Rg8
at a tournament in San Sebastian 37.Qb6 Qf6 38.Qxb7 Rf8 39.Qa7
by Maroczy but the famous b4 40.Rh3 Qg7 41.Qe3 bxc3
Hungarian's plan was more 42.bxc3 Qxc3 43.Rh5 d5 44.g5
cautious. Viktor,the Terrible has Qa1+ 45.Kg2 Bf1+ 46.Kg3 Qe5+
something quite aggressive in 0-1
mind.
9.Be3 Nb6 10.Bb3 Kh8 11.Nbd2 (W) Dibyendu Barua
f5 12.Bxb6 cxb6 13.Bd5 g5! (B) Viktor Korchnoi
Gutsy play by the old Lion. "This Lloyd’s Bank London, 1982
clearly took the youngster by Giuoco, C54
surprise and his failure to respond
actively took me equally by The most sensational upset of the
surprise," said Viktor after the 1982 Lloyds Bank International
game. Tournament in London was the
14.h3 defeat of Viktor Korchnoi by Barua,
Instead 14.Nc4 would allow the f3 a 15-year-old Indian master. Not
knight to retreat to d2 when Black since Mir Sultan Khan defeated
plays g4.As played, the knight gets Jose Raoul Capablanca in the
driven out of play. 1930-31 Hastings International
14…g4 15.hxg4 fxg4 16.Nh2 Bg5 Tournament had an Indian chess
17.Nc4 b5 18.Ne3 Bxe3 19.Rxe3 player made such a splash in an
Qf6 20.Qe1 Ne7 individual game. Barua was not
Silicon monsters regard the entirely unknown, nor was the
position as almost equal but former challenger for the World
Korchnoi has all the fun. Championship and reigning World
21.f3 Nxd5 22.exd5 Rg8 #2 the first world-class opponent
23.Qg3?! he had ever faced; in the 1981
This is too provocative.Rd1 was Lloyds Bank tournament he drew
perhaps better. with former World Champion,
gxf3 24.Qxf3 Bf5 25.Rf1 Rg5 Vasily Smyslov of the Soviet
26.Kh1 Qh6 27.Rf2 Rag8 28.Re1 Union. That was when he obtained
Qg6 29.Re3 his first IM norm; this time he got
The position is already very difficult his second. Against Korchnoi,
and the d3 pawn is beyond Barua adopted the tranquil Giuoco
salvation, but 29.Nf1 Bxd3 30.Ne3 Piano, which the world champion,
Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet 48.h5 Nd4 49.h6 Ne6 50.h7 Nf4+
Union, used several times in his 51.Ke3 Ng6 52.Nxe5 Nh8 53.Nxf7
title defense in Merano a year ago. Nxf7 54.e5! 1-0
But in no time at all, tranquility was
rudely sent flying. (W) Viktor Korchnoi
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O- (B) Mijo Udovcic
O Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Bb6 7.Bg5 h6 Leningrad 1967
8.Bh4 Qe7 9.Nbd2 g5 10.Bg3 French Tarrasch, C06
Bg4 11.h3 Bd7 12.Bb3 Nh5
13.Nc4 Nf4 14.d4 O-O-O 15.a4 a6 This tournament was one of two
16.d5 Nb8 17.Nxb6+ cxb6 18.Nd2 held in the honor of the 50th
Rdg8 19.Nc4 Kc7 20.f3 h5 Anniversary of the USSR. The
21.Qd2 b5 22.Ne3 g4 23.h4 gxf3 strongest took place in Moscow
24.Rxf3 Rxg3 25.Rxg3 Qxh4 and was won by Leonid Stein. The
26.Nf1 bxa4 27.Bxa4 Bg4 28.Re1 second took place in Leningrad
Qg5 29.c4 h4 30.c5 dxc5 31.d6+ and was won by Victor Korchnoi
Kb6 32.Rb3+ Ka7 33.Qa5 Bc8 with Ratmir Kholmov in second.
34.Ne3 c4 35.d7 cxb3 36.Qc5+ Korchnoi said there was some talk
Ka8 37.dxc8=Q Rxc8 38.Qxc8 of Bobby Fischer being invited to
Qg3 39.Kf1 h3 40.gxh3 play, but that it would have been
ideologically disastrous if Fischer
or another westerner had won a
tournament to commemorate the
founding of the Soviet Union. So
he was not invited. Korchnoi said
he wanted to avoid playing the
main lines of the French, so as to
avoid playing against himself.
(Botvinnik's coaching advice)
Udovcic was a Yugoslav chess
player who became the first
Croatian GM in 1962.
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5
Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.Ngf3 Nc6 7.Bd3
Qb6 8.O-O cxd4
Korchnoi said sacrificing the pawn
40…Nd3? here was Efim Geller's idea and
40...Qf3+! 41.Kg1 Nd3 was killing. that Geller had played it previously
41.Ke2 Nxe1 42.Qg4 Qxg4+? against him in blitz games. A
42...Qh2+ 43.Kxe1 Qxb2 44.Qd1 similar game played that year was:
Qc3+ 45.Kf2 b2 46.Bc2 Nc6 was Furman vs Uhlmann,1967
equal. 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4
43.Nxg4 Nc2 44.Kd3 Na1 45.Be8 11.Nf3 Qb6 12.Qa4 Qb4 13.Qc2
Nc6 46.Bxc6 bxc6 47.h4 Nc2
h6 14.Bd2 Qb6 15.Rac1 Be7

16.Qa4 Qd8 17.Rc2 Kf8 18.Rfc1 “No Chess Grandmaster is
Nb6 19.Qg4 Bd7 20.Ba5 normal; they only differ in
Paul Keres suggested 20. h4 the extent of their
followed by h5 so as to prevent madness”
black from freely playing g6 and Viktor Korchnoi
Kg7. Korchnoi’s idea was to play
Nd4 followed Nb5 blockading the
black queenside then slowly “Chess you don't learn,
preparing the attack on the chess you understand”
kingside. 22. Bb4 Viktor Korchnoi
20…Rc8 21.Rxc8 Bxc8 22.Bb4
if 22… Bxb4 23.Qxb4 Qe7 24.
Qxb6 axb6 25. Rxc8+ Bxc8 26.
“The only positive
Rxc8+ Qe8 27. Rxe8+ contribution to chess from
and white has a won position. Fischer in the last 20
22…g6 23.Qh4! g5 24.Nxg5 Ke8? years”
24...Kg8 25.Bxe7 Qxe7 26.Nf3 Viktor Korchnoi
Qxh4 27.Nxh4 Bd7 28.f4 Kg7
unclear
“Karpov, Kasparov,
25.Bb5+ Bd7 26.Nxe6 fxe6
27.Qh5+ Kf8 28.Rc3 Rh7 29.Qg6 Korchnoi have absolutely
Rg7 30.Qxh6 Bxb5 31.Rg3 1-0 destroyed chess by their
immoral, unethical,
prearranged games. These
guys are really the lowest
dogs around, and if people
knew the truth about
them, they would be held
in more contempt than
Ben Johnson, the runner,
and they're going to know
the truth when I do this
book!”
Quotes are sourced from:

http://www.azquotes.com/autho
r/21371-Viktor_Korchnoi Bobby Fischer
Kalapi Trivedi continues to lead

AICCF Championship 1514
Cross table as on 10-04-2017:
No Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 Total %
1 Kalapi B. Trivedi ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½
1 1 1 1 9 69.2
2 Amit Dutta ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1
½ 1 1 8.5 65.4
3 R.K. Chauhan 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1
½ 1 1 1 9 64.3
4 Om Prakash ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½
1 1 1 1 9 64.3
5 Mohan Jayaraman ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½
1 ½ 1 8 61.5
6 Gautam De ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 1 7 58.3
7 Anil Anand ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½
1 ½ 1 1 8 57.1
8 Arghyadip Das ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½
½ ½ 1 1 8 57.1
9 Ramesh ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½
1 ½ 1 1 8 57.1
10 Sailesh Chandra ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 7 53.8
11 Ankur Singh ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 6.5 50.0
12 Aniruddha Dutta Gupta 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5 41.7
13 Rakesh Agrawal 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 4.5 40.9
14 T.Chandran 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1.5 10.7
15 Vibhor Gupta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
99 games out of a total of 105 have been completed as of 10-04-2017.

The status of the 6 unfinished games is:
White Black Moves

Kalapi B. Trivedi Gautam De 81
Amit Dutta Aniruddha Dutta Gupta 61
Mohan Jayaraman Aniruddha Dutta Gupta 61
Gautam De Rakesh Agrawal 47
Rakesh Agrawal Sailesh Chandra 42
Rakesh Agrawal Ankur Singh 55
Both Kalapi Trivedi and Amit Dutta have one game left, while the other
two top contenders R.K.Chauhan and Om Prakash have a final score of 9
points. Mohan Jayaraman and Gautam can also reach 9 points. If Kalapi
Trivedi wins or draws his last game he emerges clear winner, otherwise
there could be a tie of several players at the top spot. It is a very keenly
contested championship!
AICCF Championship 1515

Cross table as on 10-04-2017:
No Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Total %
1 Kalapi B. Trivedi 1 1 1 3 100.0
2 Amit Dutta 1 1 2 100.0
3 Umesh P. Nair 1 1 2 100.0
4 Pervez Mandviwala 1 1 100.0
5 Lalit Kapoor ½ 1 1 1 3.5 87.5
6 Satyajit Das ½ 1 1 2.5 83.3
7 R.K. Chauhan ½ ½ 1 1 1 4 80.0
8 Mohan Turaga ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 4.5 75.0
9 Ramesh ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 4 66.7
10 Anil Anand ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 4 66.7
11 Devangshu Datta ½ ½ ½ 1 2.5 62.5
12 Rakesh Agrawal 0 1 1 50.0
13 Shams Khan 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 4 44.4
14 Dr A.Nagaraj 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 8.3
15 Ankur Singh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Kalapi Trivedi leads here too, but there are only a few concluded games
at this stage. Ankur Singh has defaulted most of his games. Dr. Nagaraj
and Shams Khan have been outplayed by the top contenders.
In this interesting game, Anil 27.Qb5 Qc3 28.Qb6 g5 29.Kh1

Anand ends by perpetual checks Rb2 30.Rd8+ Kg7 31.Qd6 Rxd8
against Devangshu Datta: 32.Qxd8 Qxe3 33.Qf6+ ½ - ½
(W) Anand, Anil Kumar

(B) Datta, Devangshu
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4

4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.O-O d6
7.c4 b6 8.Nc3 Bb7 9.f4 Be7
10.Qe2 O-O 11.Be3 Nbd7
12.Rad1 Qc7 13.b4 b5 14.Rc1
bxc4 15.Bxc4 Rfc8 16.Bd3 Qb8
17.Nb3 d5 18.e5 Ne4 19.Bxe4
dxe4 20.a3 a5 21.Rfd1 Ba6 22.b5
Bxa3 23.Rxd7 Bxc1 24.Nxc1
Rxc3 25.bxa6 Qc8 26.Rd1 Rc2
GAMES SECTION
Games Editor, Mohan Jayaraman
mohanjaym@gmail.com
(W) De, Gautam Hellmann,O (1581)/Canberra

(B) Mohanty, Om Prakash 2001/ EXT 2002
T.No. 1514 8.O-O Bb7 9.b4 Ngf6 10.a4 c5
B06: Modern Defence 11.e5 dxe5 12.dxc5
Less advisable is 12.bxc5 b4
1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 13.Na2 e4 14.Nxb4 exf3 =+
e6 5.Be3 a6 (14...exd3?! 15.c6 Bxc6 16.Nxc6 =)
5...Ne7 6.Qd2 Nd7 7.O-O-O O-O 12...bxa4 13.Ng5
8.Kb1 c6 9.h4 b5 10.Bd3 h5 Not 13.Rxa4 e4 14.Nd4 exd3 =+;
11.Bh6 a5 12.e5 Nf5 13.Bxf5 exf5 Worse is 13.Nxa4 e4 14.Nd4 exd3
14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.d5 c5 16.e6 Nf6 -/+
17.Rhe1 Re8 18.Ng5 fxe6 19.dxe6 13...O-O 14.Rxa4 Bc6?
Ng8 20.Nxb5 Siger,C (2095)-
Bouguern,A (800)/LSS
2008/UltraCorr3a/1-0
6.Bd3
6.a4 b6 7.Qd2 h6 8.h3 Bb7 9.Be2
Nd7 10.O-O Ne7 11.Nh2 Nf6 12.f3
Nh5 13.Rfd1 g5 14.Nf1 Ng6 15.g3
O-O 16.f4 gxf4 17.gxf4 Nf6 18.Bf3
Nh4 19.Bh1 d5 20.e5 Ne4
Stepovaia Dianchenko,T (2444)-
Gaprindashvili,N (2365)/ Tallinn
1999/CBM 68 ext/1-0 (39)
6...Nd7 7.Qd2 b5 Novelty
7...Ne7 8.h4 Nf6 9.O-O-O Ng4
10.h5 Nxe3 11.Qxe3 Nc6 12.hxg6
fxg6 13.e5 Ne7 14.Rh3 Nf5
15.Bxf5 gxf5 16.Rdh1 h6 17.Nh4 14...Nd5 seems to be a better
Kf7 18.Qg3 Qg5+ 19.f4 Qxg3 option 15.Nce4 Qb8 +=
20.Rxg3 Bd7 21.Ne2 Rag8 22.Rc3 15.Rxa6 +- Rxa6 16.Bxa6 Qa8
Hunt,M (1306)-Hellmann,O 17.b5 Bxg2 18.Ra1 Bd5 19.c6 h6
(1581)/Canberra 2001/EXT 20.Nxd5
2002/1/2-1/2 Bc6 23.Ng3 Bf8 Weaker is 20.cxd7 hxg5 21.Nxd5
24.Rh3 1/2-1/2 Hunt,M (1306)- exd5 +/-
20...exd5 21.Nf3 8...e5 is a major alternative

21.cxd7 hxg5 22.Bc5 Rd8 +/- 9.O-O Re8
21...e4 22.Nd4 Nimzowitsch called such moves
22.cxd7?! exf3 23.Rd1 Qd8 = mysterious - putting a rook on a
22...Nb6 23.Bxh6 Nc4 24.Qg5 closed file.
Bxh6 25.Qxh6 10.Re1
25.Qxf6? is s blunder due to: Bg7 The same improving and waiting-
26.Qe7 Bxd4 -+ to-see strategy. At the same time,
25...Ng4 26.Qg5 Qa7 27.c3 White prepares to meet the
27.Qxd5 leads to the following breakthrough . . . e5 by advancing
attractive mate Qc7 28.Nf3 exf3 his e- and f-pawns.
29.Qxf3 Qxh2+ 30.Kf1 Nd2+ a5
31.Ke2 Nxf3 32.Kd3 Qxf2 33.Kc4 10...e6 is an idea of Cuban GM
Qd4+ 34.Kb3 Nd2+ 35.Ka3 Ne3 Dominguez Perez, a continuation
36.Rh1 Qc3+ 37.Ka4 Nxc2 of the waiting strategy. Black wants
38.Rh8+ Kxh8 39.b6 Qb4# to see b3 and only then open the
27...Nce5 28.Rf1 Qc5 29.h3 Qxc3 centre by …e5.
30.hxg4 Qxd4 31.Kg2 e3 32.fxe3 11.Qe2 Be6 12.Nd2
Qc3 33.Qf4 Nc4 The knight is heading for c5 or g5
33...Nd3 34.Qd4 Qc2+ 35.Kg1 +- via e4
34.Rf3 Nd2 35.c7 Nxf3 36.Kxf3 Nb4 13.Rd1 c6 14.a3 N4d5
Qc5 37.Qe5 Qc4 38.Qe7 Qf1+ 15.Nce4 Qc8 16.Ng5 Bg4 17.f3
39.Kg3 Qg1+? Bd7 18.f4 Nf6 19.b3 Bg4 20.Ngf3
39...d4 40.Qxf8+! Double attack: Rd8 21.Bb2 a4 22.b4 Nfd5
d4/f8 Kxf8 41.c8=Q+ Kg7 +- 23.Rac1 Qe6 24.Re1 Nc7 25.Qf2
40.Kf4 d4 41.b6 Qf2+ Qa2 26.Rc2 Nb5 27.Ra1 Qe6
No better is: 41...Qh2+ 42.Ke4 28.Ne5
Qg2+ 43.Ke5 +-
42.Kg5 Kg7 43.c8=R Rxc8
44.Bxc8 dxe3 45.Bf5 Qb2
46.Qxe3
46.Qxe3 gxf5 47.gxf5 Qf6+ 48.Kg4
+-
1-0
(W) Kumar, Pavan Tumuluri

(B) Oren, Itamar
T.No. AA/C14/Final
D76: Fianchetto Grunfeld
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2

d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nf3 Nb6 7.Nc3
Nc6 8.e3 O-O
28…Bxe5?
Nd7 or Bh3 are better than giving 1999/UltraCorr3a) 16.Nxf4 Nf6

up the dark squared Bishop though 17.Kf3 Rhg8 18.Nd2 Nf5 19.Nf1
the position is still difficult for Black Rde8 20.Rh3 Kd7 21.Nd3 Rg4
29.dxe5 Bh3 30.e4 Bxg2 31.Kxg2 22.g3 Rge4 23.Nf4 h5 24.Rd1 c6
Ra6 32.Rf1 Qa2 33.Qc5 Qe6 25.d5 c5 26.a3 b5 27.Rd3 Re1
34.Qe3 Qg4 35.f5 Qh5 36.h3 Nc7 Bennett,H-Dunwoody,M/corr 2002/
37.g4 Ncd5 38.Qg3 1-0 UltraCorr3a/0-1 (32)
(W) Umesh P. Nair

(B) Satyajit Das
T.No. T007
C39: King’s Gambit Accepted
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4

5.Ne5 Qe7 6.d4 d6 7.Nxg4 Qxe4+
8.Qe2 Qe7 9.Nf2 Nc6 10.c3 Bh6
11.Nd3
Attacks the isolani on f4
Bg4
11...Bf5 12.Qxe7+ Ncxe7 13.Nxf4
O-O-O 14.Be2 Re8 15.O-O Ng6
16.Bc4 Re4 17.Nxg6 fxg6 18.Bxh6
Nxh6 19.Nd2 Rxh4 20.Rae1 Bd7
21.Ne4 Nf5 22.Nf6 Rf8 23.Nxd7 13...Nf5 14.Bd3 Ng3 15.Rg1 f5
Kxd7 24.Rf3 Re8 25.Rxe8 Kxe8 16.Na3 Kd7 17.Nd5 Bxc1
26.Bd3 Baroin,B (2328)-Pintor,M 18.Rxc1 Re8+ 19.Kd2 c6 20.Nf4
(2213)/ICCF webserver Ne7 21.h5 Rhg8 22.Nc2 Bxh5
2007/UltraCorr3a/0-1 (64) 23.Nxh5 Nxh5 24.g4 Nf4 25.gxf5
12.Qxe7+ Ncxe7 13.Nxf4 Novelty Nxd3 26.Kxd3 Nxf5 27.Rcf1 Rxg1
13.Bxf4 O-O-O (13...Kd7 14.Kf2 28.Rxg1 d5 29.Rh1 h6 30.a4 Re4
Nd5 15.Bxh6 Nxh6 16.Nb4 Nf6 31.Kd2 Rh4 32.Rxh4
17.Nd2 Bf5 18.Bc4 c6 19.a4 Rhg8 32.Rg1 Rh2+ 33.Kc1 h5 -+
20.Rae1 Nfg4+ 21.Kf3 Rg6 22.Nd3 32...Nxh4 33.Ke3
Bxd3 23.Bxd3 Rf6+ 24.Kg3 Nf2 33.Ne1 Nf5 -+
25.Bxh7 Nxh1+ 26.Rxh1 Rh8 33...Nf5+ 34.Kf4
27.Ne4 Re6 28.Ng5 Vecek,M If 34.Kf3 -+
(1966)-Ravnik,I (2234) /ICCF 34...Nd6 35.Nb4 Nc4 36.Nd3 Kc7
webserver 2008/UltraCorr3a/0-1 37.Kf5 Kb6 38.Kg6
(42)) 14.Be2 Bxe2 15.Kxe2 Bxf4 38.Kf4 a6 39.Kg4 Ka5 -+
(15...Re8 16.Kf2 Nd5 17.Bxh6 38...Ka5 39.b3 Nd2 40.Nc1?
Nxh6 18.Nd2 Ng4+ 19.Kf3 Re3+ 40.Nc5 Kb6 41.Kf5 -+
20.Kxg4 f5+ 21.Kh5 Rg8 22.Kh6 40...b6 41.Kxh6
Re6+ 0-1 Alger,D-Ligeti,G/IECG 41.Kf5 h5 -+
41...c5 42.dxc5
42.Kg5 cxd4 43.cxd4 -+ 24.h3 Rfc8 25.Qa7 h6 26.Qe3

42...bxc5 43.Kg5 c4 44.bxc4 Rc6 27.Rhg1 Nf8
dxc4 45.Kf4 Kxa4 27...Qf4 28.Qe2 =
45...Kxa4 46.Ne2 a5 -+ 28.Nb2 += N8h7 29.Nc4 Re8
0-1 30.Qg3 Qxg3 31.Rxg3 Nh5
32.Re3 Nf4 33.Bf1 h5 34.a4 h4
(W) R.K. Chauhan 35.a5 Rg6
(B) Arghyadip Das 35...Ng5!? +/-
T.No. 1514 36.Nb6 +- Rg1 37.Kc1 Rg3
B90: Sicilian Najdorf 38.Rxg3 hxg3 39.Bxa6 g2 40.Bc8
Ne2+?
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 40...Re7 41.a6 Ra7 +-
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 41.Kb2 Nf8 42.a6 Rd8
7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 O-O 42...Ne6 43.a7 Nc7 +-
10.O-O-O Nbd7 11.g4 b5 12.g5 43.Re1 Ne6 44.Bxe6 fxe6 45.b4
b4 13.Na4 Nh5 14.Qxb4 g1=Q 46.Rxg1 Nxg1 47.b5 Nf3
Attacking the backward pawn on 48.Nc4 Nd4 49.b6 Nc6 50.b7 Rb8
d6 If 50...Kf8 then: 51.Nxe5! the end
d5 15.Qa5 Bxg5 16.Bxg5 Qxg5+ of the story Na5 52.Nd7+ Ke7
17.Kb1 dxe4 18.Nd4 Novelty 53.a7 Nxb7 54.Nb8 +-
18.fxe4 Ndf6 (18...Nf4 19.Bd3 Rfc8 51.Ka3 Kf8
20.Rhg1 Qe7 21.Rg3 g6 22.Bf1
Qh4 23.Rc3 Qxh2 24.Rxc8+ Rxc8
25.Nc3 Bg4 26.Rc1 Ra8 27.Nc5
Nxc5 28.Qxc5 Ne6 29.Qe7 Qf2
30.Nd5 Kg7 31.Qd6 Qd4 32.Bd3
Ra7 33.Rf1 Mnatsakanian,E
(2415)-Vaulin,A (2520)/Katowice
1992/TD/0-1 (41)) 19.Bd3 Nf4
20.Nbc5 Bg4 21.Rde1 Qh5
22.Bxa6 Bf3 23.Rhg1 Qxh2
24.Qc3 Nxe4 25.Qxe5 Nd2+
26.Ka1 f6 27.Qc7 Qh6 28.Nc3 Nd5
29.Nxd5 Bxd5 30.a3 Nf3 31.Rh1
Qg6 32.Bd3 f5 Fejzullahu,A
(2305)-Likavsky,T (2480)/Fuegen
2006/0-1 (39)
18...Qf6 19.Nxe6 Qxe6 20.fxe4 52.Nxe5!
Nhf6 21.Qc7 Rab8 22.b3 Qg4 a beautiful, forced end to the game
23.Bd3 Qh4 52.Nxe5 Nxe5 53.a7 +-
Nxe4?? capturing the pawn loses 1-0
to 24.Bxe4 Qxe4 25.Qxd7 +-
(W) Mohan Jayaraman Rb1+ 37.Kf2 Ng4+ 38.Kg3 Nf6

(B) Rakesh Agrawal 39.Kh4 Ba4
T.No. 1514 39...Be4!? += looks like a viable
D37: Queen’s Gambit Declined alternative
40.Ne6 +/- Nd5 41.Ra7 Bc6
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 41...Nxc3 leads to a mating attack
Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 42.Ra8+ Kh7 43.Ng5+ Kh6
dxc4 8.Bxc4 a6 9.a4 Nb6 44.Rxa6+ g6 45.Ra7
9...c5 10.O-O Nb6 11.Bb3 cxd4
12.Qxd4 Qxd4 13.Nxd4 Bd7 14.a5
Nbd5 15.Nf5 Bb4 16.Nxd5 Nxd5
17.Bxd5 exd5 18.Bd6 Bxf5
19.Bxb4 Rfc8 20.Rfd1 Rc4 21.Bc3
Be6 22.f3 f6 23.Kf2 h5 24.Rd4
Alekseev,E (2673)-Roiz,M
(2660)/Lublin POL 2011/CT-
3847/1/2-1/2 (31)
10.Bb3 Nbd5 11.Be5 b6 Novelty
11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 b6 13.Bc2 Bb7
14.O-O Bd6 15.Qd3 Ne4 16.Rab1
f5 17.Bb3 Qe7 18.Qc2 Qe8
19.Bxd6 cxd6 20.Ba2 b5 21.c4
Rc8 22.Qb2 Qg6 23.Ne1 f4
24.exf4 Rxf4 25.f3 Ng5 26.cxb5
Hinz,H (2178)-Schlotthauber,W 42.Bxg7+ Kg8 43.Be5 Bb7
(2136)/GER email 44.Nc5 Bc6 45.Rxa6 Ne7
2003/UltraCorr3a/0-1 (35) 45...Be8!? 46.Ne6 Rb6 47.Rxb6
12.O-O Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bb7 14.Qe2 Nxb6 +-
Ne4 15.Qc2 c5 16.Bc4 Qc8 46.g3 +- Rh1 47.Ra2 Kf7
17.Bd3 Qc6 18.c4 Ng5 19.Ne1 f6 47...Rb1 48.Kg5 +-
20.d5 exd5 21.cxd5 Qd7 48.Kg5 Ke8
21...Qe8 22.Bf4 Bxd5 23.h4 = Nc8 49.Kxf5 Rd1 50.Kg5 +-
22.Bg3 Bxd5 49.Bf6 Nd5 50.Kxf5 c3 51.Kg6
22...Qxd5?? 23.Bc4 b5 24.Bxd5+ Rd1?
Bxd5 25.Nd3 +- Rb1 52.Kg7 Nxf6 53.Kxf6 Rb6
23.f4 Nf7 24.Bxh7+ Kh8 25.Nf3 54.Re2+ Kd8 +-
Nh6 26.Rfd1 f5 27.e4 Bxe4 52.f5 Kf8 53.Ne6+ Kg8 54.g4 Re1
28.Rxd7 Bxc2 29.Rxe7 Kxh7 55.Kg5 Rb1 56.Ra6 c2
30.a5 bxa5 31.Ng5+ Kh8 32.Rxa5 56...Nxf6 doesn't improve anything
c4 33.Be1 Rae8 34.Rae5 Rxe7 57.Rxc6 Nd5 58.Rc5 +-
35.Rxe7 Rb8 36.Bc3 57.Rxc6 c1=Q+ 58.Rxc1 Rxc1
White threatens to win material: 59.h4 Ne3 60.Bd4 Nc2 61.h5 Rd1
Bc3xg7.Blocks the pawn on c4 62.Bc5 Ne1 63.h6 Nf3+ 64.Kf4
Rf1 65.Be3 Nh2+ 66.Kg5 Rd1 33.Bxd6?? the pawn contains a

67.Bf4 lethal dose of poison Rxd6
67.Bf4 Nf3+ 68.Kf6 +- 34.Nxd6 Nxb2 -+
1-0
33.Rxd6?! is a useless try Rxd6
(W) R.K. Chauhan 34.Bxd6 Bxc4 =
(B) Smt. Rashmi S. Somani 33...Bxd5 34.Rxd5 Rb5 35.Ne3
T.No. 1513 Worse is 35.Bxd6 Rxd6 36.Rxb5
B90: Sicilian Najdorf axb5 37.Nxd6 Qxd6 38.Qxb5 Qd1+
39.Ka2 Qxc2 40.Qxe5 Nc5 -/+ ;
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 35.Rxd6?! Rxb4 36.Rxd7 Qxc4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 37.Qxc4 Rxc4 38.Rxf7+ Kg8 =
7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2 Nbd7 35...Qb6 36.Qd3 Nc5 37.Qd2 Ne6
10.g4 h6 11.O-O-O b5 12.h4 Nb6 38.Rxd6 Rxd6 39.Bxd6 Qd4
13.Qf2 Nfd7 14.Kb1 Nc4 15.Bc1 40.Qxd4 Nxd4 41.c4 Rb3 42.Nd5
Qb6 16.Qe1 Rc8 17.Nd5 Qc6 Rxf3 43.Bxe5 Nb3+ 44.Ka2 Kg8
18.Bxc4 bxc4 19.Na5 Qb5 44...Na5!? 45.c5 Nc6 +/-
20.Nxe7 Kxe7 21.Bd2 Nc5 45.Nf6+ +- Kf8 46.c5!
Novelty
21...Rc5 22.Bb4 Rb8 23.a3 Qb6
24.Qc3 Qc7 25.Rh2 Nb6 26.Bxc5
dxc5 27.Nc6+ Qxc6 28.Qxe5 Qc8
29.c3 Nd7 30.Qd6+ Ke8 31.Rhd2
Rb6 32.Qg3 Qb8 33.e5 h5 34.Re1
hxg4 35.fxg4 Nf6 36.h5 Grill,H
(2503)-Wilczek,T (2570)/ICCF
server 2008/UltraCorr3a/1/2-1/2
(38)
21…Rc5 22.a3 Rb8 23.Bb4 +=
22.a3 += Rhd8 23.Bb4
23.g5 h5 +=
23...Kf8 24.Qe3 Rd7 25.Rh2 Kg8
26.g5 h5 27.Rhd2 Qb6 28.Qg1 g6
Decoy: c5
29.Ka1 Qc7 30.Qe3 Kh7 31.Qe2
46…Na5
Rb8 32.Nxc4
46...Nxc5 47.Bd6+ Double attack
Attacks the backward pawn on d6
(47.Bd6+ Decoy)
Na4 33.Rd5
47.Bd6+ Kg7 48.Ne8+ Kh7
The pressure on the backward
48...Kg8 +/-
pawn d6 grows
49.Nc7 +- Rh3 50.Nd5
33.Nxd6? fails to a5 34.Ne8 Rxe8
50.a4!? Nc6 51.Nxa6 Rxh4 +-
35.Rxd7 Bxd7 -+
50...Rxh4 +/- 51.b4 Nc6 52.a4
Nd4 53.Be5 Nc6 54.Bc3 Na7
55.Nf6+ Kg7 56.Nxh5+ Kf8 57.Nf6
Ke7 58.Kb3 Rh1 59.Nd5+ Kd7 11...b5 12.c4 Nb6 13.c5 Nd5
60.Bf6 Rb1+ 61.Kc2 Re1?? 14.Nd4 Bd7 15.Bd2 a5 16.Rad1
61...Rg1 +/- b4 17.Qh5 Qe8 18.Qf3 Bh4 19.g3
62.Nc3 +- Be7 20.Nf6+ gxf6
White intends b5 20...Bxf6 21.exf6 Qd8 22.fxg7
Kc6 63.Kd3 Ra1 Kxg7 23.Re5 +=
63...Rc1 doesn't change anything 21.exf6 +/- Nxf6 22.Bh6 Rd8
anymore 64.Kc4 +- 23.Nf5 Bxf5 24.Qxf5 Kh8 25.Bg5
64.b5+! Rxd1 26.Bxf6+ Bxf6 27.Qxf6+
the logical end Kg8 28.Qg5+ Kh8 29.Rxd1 Qe6
64…Kd7 30.a3 bxa3 31.bxa3 Re8 32.h4
64...axb5 65.axb5+ Passed pawn Qe5 33.Qh6 Qe6 34.Qxe6 Rxe6
65.Kd4 Ke6 66.Bg7 Rg1 67.Kc4
67.Kc4 Rxg5 68.bxa6 +-
1-0
(W) Chauhan, Rakesh Kumar

(B) Agrawal, Rakesh
T.No. 1514
C67: Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-

O Nxe4 5.d4 a6 6.Bxc6 dxc6
7.Re1 Nf6 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.dxe5
Nd5 10.Ne4 O-O 11.Qe2 Novelty
11.Bd2 f5 (11...h6 12.Qe2 Bf5
13.c4 Nb6 14.Rad1 Qc8 15.Ng3
34...fxe6? 35.Rd7 +-
Bc2 16.Rc1 Bg6 17.b3 Ba3
35.Rd8+ Kg7 36.Ra8 Kf6 37.Rxa5
18.Rcd1 Bc2 19.Ra1 Rd8 20.Bxh6
Ke7
Bd3 21.Qe3 gxh6 22.c5 Bb4
37...Ke5 38.Kg2 +/-
23.Red1 Bxc5 24.Qxc5 Bg6
38.a4 +- Re4
25.Qe3 Kh7 26.Rxd8 Salov,S
38...Re5 +-
(2400)-Petraitis,G (2496)/ICCF
39.Ra7 Kd7 40.Ra8 Re5 41.Rh8
Email 2001/ UltraCorr3a/1-0 (36))
h5 42.g4 Rxc5
12.exf6 Nxf6 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.Bb4
42...Re4 doesn't do any good 43.f3
Re8 15.Qxd8 Rxd8 16.Be7 Bxe7
Rxa4 44.Rxh5 +-
17.Rxe7 Bf5 18.Rxc7 Bxc2
43.Rxh5 Rc4 44.Rg5 Rxa4 45.h5
19.Rxb7 Be4 20.Ne5 Rd5 21.Nc4
c5
Rb5 22.Nd6 Rxb7 23.Nxb7 Rb8
45...Ra8 +-
24.Nc5 Bc2 25.b3 Rb5 Milos,G
46.h6 Ra8 47.Rxc5 Kd6 48.Rf5
(2465)-Garcia,G (2445)/Dubai
Ke6 49.f4 f6
1986/TD/1-0 (60)
49...Rc8 50.Kf2 f6 +-
50.Rc5
White plans g5 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4

50…Kd6 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6
50...Kf7 51.f5 Ra7 52.Kg2 +- bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.O-O Qc7 9.Re1
51.Rc3 Rg8 52.Kh2 Rh8 53.g5 Nf6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qf3 Be7 12.e5
Ke6 54.Rc6+ Kf5 55.Rxf6+ Kg4 Nd7 13.Bxe7 Kxe7 14.Qg3 c5
56.Kg2 Rh7 57.Kf2 c5 58.Ke3 15.b3 h5 16.h4 Novelty
Kh5 59.Rc6 Re7+ 16.Qg5+ Kf8 17.Rad1 h4 18.h3 g6
59...Rh8 is not much help 60.Kf3 19.f4 Qa5 20.Ne2 Rh5 21.Qg4 Kg7
c4 61.Rxc4 Ra8 62.h7 Rh8 63.Rc2 22.c3 Bc6 23.Bc2 Qxa2 24.Bxg6
Kg6 64.Kg4 Rxh7 65.f5+ Kg7 fxg6 25.Qxe6 Rc8 26.Qe7+ Kh6
66.Rc7+ Kh8 67.Rxh7+ Kxh7 68.f6 27.e6 Nb8 28.Qxc5 Qxb3 29.f5 d4
Kg6 69.Kf4 Kh7 70.Kf5 Kh8 71.g6 30.Qxd4 Rxf5 Kreutz,J (2144)-
Kg8 72.Ke6 Kh8 73.g7+ Kg8 Almarza Mato,C (2179)/ICCF
74.Ke7 Kh7 75.Kf7 Kh6 76.g8=Q server 2009/UltraCorr3a/ 1-0 (31)
Kh5 77.Qg3 Kh6 78.Qg6#
60.Kf3 Rd7 61.Rxc5 Rd3+ 16.Qxg7?? taking the pawn will
61...Ra7 doesn't improve anything bring White grief Rag8 17.Qxh8
62.Rc6 Re7 63.Rf6 Ra7 64.Re6 Rxh8 -+
Ra3+ 65.Ke4 Ra4+ 66.Ke5 Ra5+ 16...Kf8 17.Nb1 Qa5
67.Kf6 Ra7 68.h7 Rxh7 69.Kf5 Black threatens to win material:
Rf7+ 70.Rf6 Rh7 71.Rh6+ Rxh6 Qa5xe1
72.gxh6 Kxh6 73.Kf6 Kh7 74.f5 18.Re2 Kg8 19.Nd2 Rh6
Kh6 75.Ke6 Kg5 76.f6 Kh5 77.f7 19...Qc7 20.c4 d4 21.Rf1 +=
Kg4 78.f8=Q Kg3 79.Ke5 Kg2 20.Nf3 Qc7 21.c3 a5 22.Ng5 Nf8
80.Kf4 Kf2 81.Qc5+ Ke1 82.Qc2 23.Rf1 Ba6 24.c4 a4
Kf1 83.Kf3 Ke1 84.Qc1# 24...Rd8 25.Rc2 +/-
62.Ke4 25.Rb1 Rb8 26.Re3 axb3 27.axb3
62.Ke4 Rd7 63.Rc6 Rh7 64.Kf5 Rd8 28.Ra1 Bb7 29.Rf3 Rd7
Rf7+ 65.Ke5 Re7+ 66.Re6 Ra7 30.cxd5 exd5 31.Ra4 c4 32.bxc4
67.h7 Rxh7 68.Rh6+ Rxh6 69.gxh6 Bc6
Kxh6 70.Kf6 Kh7 71.f5 Kg8 72.Ke7 32...dxc4 33.Rxc4 Rc6 34.Rxc6
Kh7 73.f6 Kg6 74.f7 Kf5 75.f8=Q+ Bxc6 35.Rf5 +/-
Ke4 76.Kd6 Kd3 77.Qf3+ Kc2 33.Rb4 dxc4
78.Kd5 Kb1 79.Qe2 Ka1 80.Kd4 33...Re7 34.Re3 +-
Kb1 81.Kc3 Ka1 82.Qb2# 34.Rxc4 Qb7 35.Rff4 Bd5
1-0 36.Rcd4 Ne6
36...Rb6 37.Rxd5 Qxd5 38.Bc4
(W) Mohan Jayaraman Qd1+ 39.Kh2 +-
(B) Anil Anand 37.Nxe6 Bxe6 38.Rd6 Rxd6
T.No. 1514 39.exd6 f5
B46: Sicilian Taimanov 39...Qd5 +-
40.Rxf5!
12.Nxf1 dxc4 13.Be3 b5 (13...Bd7

14.e5 Be8 15.Rc1 b5 16.b3 Ba3
17.Rc2 Rb8 18.bxc4 bxc4 19.Qa1
Na5 20.Bd2 Bb2 21.Qe1 Qxd4+
22.e3 Qd3 23.Rxb2 Rxb2 24.Bxa5
Rc2 25.Bf3 c3 26.Qd1 Qxd1
27.Bxd1 Rc1 28.Bb3 Kojima,S
(2340)-Williams,S (2515)/London
ENG 2012/0-1 (31)) (13...a6 14.e5
Rb8 15.Rc1 Nb4 16.a3 Nd5
17.Rxc4 b5 1/2-1/2 Jones,G
(2416) -Williams,S
(2473)/Liverpool 2006) 14.a4 b4
15.e5 Bb7 16.Qc2 Nxd4 17.Qxc4
After this White is clearly winning -
Bxg2 18.Kxg2 c5 19.Bxd4 Qxd4
though this move is not the
20.Qxe6+ Kh8 21.Qxe7 Qxb2
engines first choice
22.Re1 Qd4 23.Rc1 Rc8 24.Qd6
Bxf5 41.Bxf5 Qd5 42.Bg6 Qd1+
Qe4+ 25.Kg1 Qf5 26.Rc4 Qf7
43.Kh2 Qd5 44.d7!
Cox,J (2423)-Williams,S
Mate attack
(2478)/ENG 2006/CT-2003/1-0
Rxg6
12...dxc4 13.Nf3 b5 14.Be3 Rb8
44...Qxd7 45.Qb8+ Mate attack
15.Kg1 a6 16.b3 c3 17.Qd3 b4
44...-- 45.Qb8# Mate threat
18.d5 Na5 19.Rf1 Qe8 20.Bf4
45.Qxg6 Qxd7 46.Qxh5 Qd6+
Bc5+ 21.Kh1 Bb6 22.a3 Qb5
47.Kh3 Qd7+ 48.Qg4 Qd3+
22...Nxb3 23.axb4 Nd2 24.Nxd2
49.Qf3 Qf1 50.Kh2 Qc4 51.g4
cxd2 25.Bxd2 +-
Kh8 52.h5 Qc7+ 53.Kg2 Qc5
23.Qc2 bxa3 24.Be5 Be3 25.d6
54.Qa8+ Kh7 55.Qe4+ Kh8
56.Qe8+ Kh7 57.Qg6+ Kh8 58.h6
Qd5+ 59.Kg1
59.Kg1 Qd1+ 60.Kh2 runs of out
of checks.
1-0
(W) Kalapi B. Trivedi

(B) Aniruddha Dutta Gupta
T.No. 1514
A96: Classical Dutch
1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2

Be7 5.c4 d6 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3
Ne4 8.Nxe4 fxe4 9.Nd2 d5 10.f3
Nc6 11.fxe4 Rxf1+ 12.Kxf1 25…Bd2?
Novelty
25...Qd7 26.Bxc3 Nc6 27.dxc7 21.N3e4 h6 22.Nxd7 Kxd7 23.f3 b6

Rb5 +/- 1/2-1/2 Wlodarczyk,O (2343)-
26.dxc7 +- Rb6 27.Bxc3 Bxc3 Gawronski,M (2249)/ Ketrzyn
28.Qxc3 Qb4 29.Qe3 e5 30.Qg5 2007) 10.Bf4 Ne7 11.Qd3 Bxf4
Rf6 31.Qxe5 Nb7 32.Rc1 Qxb3 12.Nxf4 Qxd3 13.Nxd3 Bc4
32...Rf8 hardly improves anything 14.Rfd1 b6 15.Nf4 Bf7 16.Rd2 Nc6
33.Qd5+ Kh8 34.Ne5 +- 17.Rad1 Rc8 18.f3 O-O 19.Kf2
33.Nd4 Qb2 Rfe8 20.Nfd5 Kf8 21.g4 Red8
33...Qf7 a last effort to resist the 22.Ne3 Rxd2+ 23.Rxd2 Ne7
inevitable 34.Nc6 Re6 +- Ljubojevic,L (2590)-Gligoric,S
34.Qd5+ Kf8 35.Qd8+ Kf7 36.Rd1 (2560)/ Belgrade 1979/MCD/1-0
a2 37.Nf5 (46)
37.Qxc8?! is not possible Qxd4 9...Qd7 10.b3 Novelty
38.Qd7+ Qxd7 39.Rxd7+ Kg6 += Secures c4
37...Nxd8 38.cxd8=Q Qe5
39.Qxc8 a1=Q 40.Qd7+ Kf8 10.Nbc3
41.Qxg7+ Ke8 42.Qd7+ Kf8 10...Ne7 11.Nbc3 O-O-O 12.Be3
43.Qd8+ Kf7 44.Bf3 Qxd1+ Nc6 13.Rd1 Qe8 14.Rxd8+ Qxd8
45.Qxd1 Ke8 15.Qc1 Bd6 16.Rd1 Qe8 17.Bf4
45...Rxf5 the last chance for Be5 18.Bxe5 fxe5 19.Qg5 Qe7
counterplay 46.Qd7+ Kf6 47.exf5 20.Qxe7 Nxe7 21.f3 Rd8 22.Kf2
Qxf5 48.Qd4+ Qe5 +- Nc6 23.Rxd8+ Kxd8
46.Bh5+ Rg6 47.Qd5 Qxd5 A minor pieces endgame occurs
48.exd5 Kd7 49.Bxg6 hxg6 50.h4 which is typical of this opening
a5 51.g4
51.g4 a4 (51...gxf5 52.h5 a4 53.h6
a3 54.h7 a2 55.h8=Q) 52.h5 a3
53.Ne3 a2 54.Nc2
1-0
(W) Saurabh Das

(B) Gautam De
T.No. 1513
C69: Ruy Lopez Exchange Var
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6

4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.O-O f6 6.d4 exd4
7.Nxd4 c5 8.Ne2 Be6 9.Qe1
9.Nbc3 Bd6 (9...Qxd1 10.Rxd1
24.Na4 c4 25.Ke3 b6 26.Kd2 Ke7
Bd6 11.Bf4 O-O-O 12.Bxd6 Rxd6
27.Nb2 Na5 28.Kc3 cxb3 29.cxb3
13.Nf4 Bf7 14.e5 fxe5 15.Nd3 Re6
Nc6 30.Nc4 a5 31.Ne3 g6 32.g3
16.Nxc5 Re7 17.Rd2 Nf6 18.Re1
Nb4 33.a3 Na6 34.Nc1 Nc5 35.b4
Rhe8 19.b3 a5 20.Rde2 Nd7
axb4+ 36.axb4 Na4+ 37.Kd2 Kd6 8.Nd3 f3 9.gxf3 Be7

38.h4 c5 39.bxc5+ Nxc5 9...gxf3 10.Qxf3 Bg4 11.Qf2 Qd7
Black has a new passed pawn: b6. 12.Nc3 c6 13.Bg5 +/-
40.Kc3 b5 41.Nd1 Bh3 42.Ne3 10.Be3 Bxh4+ 11.Kd2
Bd7 43.Kb4 Na6+ 44.Ka5 Nc5 This position, depite White being a
Begins the manoeuvre Na6-c5-e6- pawn down, is assessed generally
d4 as favorable to White.
45.Nd5 Ne6 46.Nf6 Nd4 47.f4 Bc6 Nc6 12.Nc3 Na5 13.Bb3 Nxb3+
48.Nd3 exf4 49.Nxf4 Nf3 14.axb3 gxf3 15.Qxf3 Ng4 16.Bf4
Seems to be a loss on time (It was Bg5 17.Rag1
a loss on time limit –Ed) As a result of the opening, White
0-1 has a better position due to the
space advantage in the Kingside.
(W) Nair, Umesh Bxf4+?
(B) Kausar, Dilshad This move caused trouble for
T.No. 4535 Black.
C39: King’s Gambit Accepted After 17...c6 Black is OK.
Notes by Nair, Umesh 18.Qxf4 c6 19.e5 dxe5 20.Nxe5
Qc7
Dilshad used an inferior line 20...Nxe5 21.Qxe5+ Kd7 22.Ne4
against my King's gambit, and that +-
caused his defeat. The weak 17th 21.Ne4 Nxe5
move also contributed to the 21...Be6 22.Rxg4! O-O-O 23.Rgh4
defeat. Rxd4+ 24.Nd3 is also hopeless.
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4
5.Ne5 h5
The Long whip variation in the
Kieseritzky Gambit. This variation
is frowned upon now because, in
an attempt to retain the gambit
pawn, Black lags behind in
development and gets into an
inferior position. In a later game in
7406, Dilshad played the
Cunningham Defence, 3.. .Be7 4
Bc4 Nf6, against me and won.
6.Bc4 Nh6
A better alternative is 6...Rh7 but
White still keeps an advantage.
22.Qf6!
7.d4 d6
22.dxe5 is also good, but the text
Slightly better was 7...Qf6 8.O-O!
is stronger.
Qxh4 9.Rxf4 Bd6 10.Nf3 Qg3
22...Nf3+
11.e5 with advantage for White.
After 22...Rf8 23.Nd6+ Kd7 We have reached the same

24.dxe5 White's position is better position mentioned in the notes of
than in the game. the 41st move.
23.Ke3! Rf8 f6+ 46.Kxf6 Kxd4 47.b4 Bb3
Black cannot play 23...Nxg1 due to 48.Rxb7
24.Qxh8+ Kd7 25.Qxh5 Black resigns. Lomonosov
threatening 26.Qxf7+ followed by tablebases assess this as a forced
27.Rh8# Ke8 26.Qh8+ Kd7 27.Qg7 checkmate by White in 21 moves.
and mate in 11. 1-0
24.Nd6+ Kd7 25.Nf5 Ke8 26.Ng7+
Kd7 27.Ne6 Qd6 28.Nxf8+ Kc7 (W) Chatterjee, Ambar
Qxf8 29.Qxf3 is also equivalent. (B) Nair, Umesh
29.Qxf3 Qxf8 30.Qf4+ Kb6 T.No. 7406
31.Rxh5 Be6 32.c4 a5 33.c5+ Ka6 B73: Sicilian Dragon Classical
34.Ra1 Notes by Nair, Umesh
Intending Qc7, threatening Comments added by A.Chatterjee
immediate mate. Black is forced to
trade Queens. A wonderful game, where Dr.
Qb8 35.b4 Qxf4+ 36.Kxf4 Kb5 Ambar Chatterjee converts a
37.Rxa5+ Rxa5 38.bxa5 Kxa5 nearly drawn game into a won
39.Rh8 Bd5 40.Rb8 Ka6 41.Ke5 ending by adopting some very
41.Ra8+ Kb5 42.Ra7 Kc4 43.Ke5 risky continuations. It shows the
would have led to the same power of correspondence chess,
position after the 45th move in this where long and deep analysis with
game. I preferred to keep the Rook the help of endgame tablebases
active in case Black plays . . . f5, provide deep insight to chess
but has to adopt that path later. positions. Due to many personal
41...Be6 42.Kd6 Bd5 43.Ra8+ reasons, I was severely out of
Kb5 44.Ra7 Kc4 45.Ke5 time, and didn't have enough time
to do deep analysis. Also, I
assumed that the game is drawn,
and all roads lead to Rome. Well,
they don't!
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be2 Bg7
7.O-O! Nc6 8.Be3 O-O! 9.Qd2
An old treatment in the classical
Dragon. 9.Nb3 Be6 10.f4 is the
most popular continuation here.
Black has a variety of options to
continue.
9…Bd7
A waiting move, preparing to put 14.Be3 Rxc3

the Bishop on c6 instead of e6
ultimately.
a) 9...Ng4 takes advantage of
White Queen's deviation from the
d1-h5 diagonal, and aims at
winning the Bishop pair. It normally
continues 10.Bxg4 Bxg4 11.f4
b) 9...Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 the
standard Dragon way of simplifying
the game. However, after 11.Rad1
White has a very comfortable
game, thanks to the strong
darksquared Bishop.
c) 9...d5 taking advantage of the
fact that White didn't play Nb3,
The logical and thematic
adding more pressure on d5.This
continuation in this position,
line often leads to dynamic play.
otherwise Black's 13th move
10.f3
cannot be justified.
10.f4 and 10.Rad1 are the
The only other viable move is
common continuations here. 10.f3
14...exf4 15.Rxf4 Be6 but after
is played rarely in the 6.Be2 line
16.Bd4 Ne8 17.Bxg7 the weak
because it restricts the light-
pawn on d6 will be a liability. Kxg7
squared Bishop. White's clever
15.Qxc3 Qxc3 16.bxc3 Nxe4
choice of moves sidestepped the
17.Bf3 Nxc3 18.Rxd6 Bb5
main lines of the opening and took
19.Bxb7 Rb8 20.Bxa7 Rxb7
the game out of book. However,
21.Rd8+ Bf8 22.Bc5
Black has an equal game as a
By an interesting combination,
result.
White regains the material, and
10…Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Qa5 12.Rad1
Black needs to be very careful to
Rfc8 13.f4
keep the balance.
By playing 10.f3 and later 13.f4,
22…Ne2+
White is a move behind from
The only way to equalize.
similar variations, but it doesn't
22...Bxf1? 23.Bxf8 f6 24.Bb4+ Kf7
matter: Black hasn't achieved
25.Bxc3 is better for White.
anything with the extra move.
23.Kf2 Nxf4 24.Rxf8+
13…e5!?
24.Bxf8? threatening checkmate
This move can be effective if Black
by 25.Bh6+ just fails to Ne6
could continue with ...d5 or ...Rxc3
24...Kg7
later but can be a positional
As a result of a series of forced
disaster because of the weak
moves, White emerges as an
backward pawn on d6.13...Bc6 is a
exchange up, but Black has
solid alternative.
sufficient compensation. White
cannot keep the material the King is too far away. Black tries
advantage. to bring all together but still finds
25.Rb1 Ne6 26.Rc8 that they cannot effectively stop
26.Ra8 Nxc5 27.a4 sacrificing a the pawn.
piece for a powerful passed pawn, 31.Rb5
is an interesting but riskier Dr. Chatterjee said till now the
continuation. Even though Dr. game followed the analysis he
Chatterjee didn't play this, he prepared when I played 14...Rxc3,
successfully used this idea later in and my next move deviated from
the game. his analysis. Such 17-move deep
26...Ba6 analysis in this type of position is
This was the position Black was possible only in correspondence
counting on. games!
27.Bb4!
Going with the idea of giving up a
piece rather than the exchange for
a powerful passed pawn.
If 27.Rxb7 Bxb7 Black wins a
piece, even though 28.Rb8 Nxc5
29.a4 still gives White a
continuation similar to the game.
After 27.Re1 Rd7 28.Rc6 Bb7
29.Rxe6 fxe6 30.Rxe5 Kf6 31.Re3
Rd2+ 32.Re2 Rxe2+ 33.Kxe2 Bxg2
the game is a dead draw.
27.Bb6 is an interesting
alternative along the same lines as
in the game Rxb6 28.Rxb6
31…f5
(28.Rg8+ Kxg8 29.Rxb6 Bc4 30.a4
Black has to give up the e-pawn.
Nd4 31.a5 Nxc2 =) 28...Bxc8 29.a4
Other continuations are better for
27...Rxb4 28.Rxb4 Bxc8 29.a4
White. However, in retrospect, the
Theory favours two minor pieces
second variation here looks better
against Rook, and Black should
than the game continuation. I
not have difficulty defending the
thought the game will follow the
position. But Dr. Chatterjee shows
same continuation with the pawn
exceptional technique and precise
on f5 instead of f6.
calculation to obtain an advantage
31...Kf6 32.Rb6 Bd7 33.a6 +/-
from this position.
31...f6 32.a6 Bxa6 33.Rb6 Nd4
29…Nd4 30.a5 Nc6
34.c3! Ne2 35.Rxa6 Nxc3 +=
Despite having material
A.Chatterjee adds:
advantage, Black feels uneasy in
31...Bf5 was the move I had
defending this position. His minor
analyzed while playing my 14th
pieces are not co-ordinated and
move and the continuation I had Knight check on d3.All these

planned was 32.c4 looked drawish to me, but the
32.Rc5! White rook penetrating the King
Unexpected! The move played side and winning by an inch was
doesn't attempt to win back the overlooked by me. The question is
piece and instead wins a pawn and whether 38.. .Ne5 is better than
breaks the co-ordination between this. Looks like giving up the f-
Black pieces. If I had seen this pawn was a mistake.
move, I would have played 31.. . f6
instead of 31.. . f5. 38...Ne5 39.a7 (39.h4 Nd3+
I was expecting only 32.a6 Bxa6 40.Kg1 Nxc5 41.a7 Bb7 42.Rf6
33.Rb6 Nd4 34.c3 Nb5 35.Rxa6 Ne4 43.Rf8 Kc6 44.a8=Q Bxa8
with a defendable position. (Or 45.Rxa8 Kd5 should be easier to
35.c4 Nd6 36.Rxa6 Nxc4) draw.) (39.g3 Nd3+ is similar)
32...Ne7 39...Bb7 40.Rb3
32...Bb7 33.a6 Ba8 34.Rb5 39.h4!
(34.Rd5!?) 34...Kf6 35.Rb6 Kg5 I found this after long analysis.
36.c4 e4 may be a better way to White's R+2P keeps Black's
continue. These continuations are B+N+K tied up on the Q-side and
so complex and it was very hard to White effectively plays K+2P
evaluate without detailed analysis. versus Black's 3P on the K-side -
33.Rxe5 Kf7 34.Rb5 Ke8 A.Chatterjee
Even though I lost a pawn, I was Ne5 40.a7 Bb7 41.Ra6!
finally happy that my pieces are 41.Re6 Nc6! and Black just
co-ordinated, but I was wrong. The manages to hang on. Here, 42.Re8
pieces have gone too much to the is not effective, as Black is able to
Queenside, and cannot return in give up his Bishop for the pawn
time to defend the Kingside pawns. and still draw the game.
35.Rb6 Kd7 36.a6 Nc6 37.c4 Kc7 41...Ba8 42.Re6 Nc6
38.c5 Loses time.
Despite having played 38 moves 42...Nd3+ 43.Kg1 Nxc5 44.Re7+
(time limit is 200 days for 40 Kb6 45.Rxh7 f3 46.gxf3 Bxf3
moves), I was in a severe time 47.Kf2 Bb7 48.Ke3 Kxa7 49.Rg7
pressure for quite a number of and White wins.
moves. (At some point, I almost 43.Re8! Kb7 44.Kf3 Kxa7
lost on silence) The next move was Another move I analysed was
played after 7 days, and it is not 44...Nb4 45.Kxf4 Kxa7 46.g4 which
clear whether it was the best in this should win -A.Chatterjee
position. 45.Kxf4 Nb4 46.g4!
38…f4?! It is amazing that Black cannot
To prevent Kg3 and g3.That pawn draw with K+B+N+2P against
will be ultimately lost, but Black will K+R+3P, even after Black wins
regain the pawn on c5 due to a one more pawn. Black pieces are
too far from the Kingside pawns confident of winning it when just 14
and that decides. The assessment moves had been played.
in the subsequent moves are
based on the 7-men Lomonosov
tablebases. Detailed analysis after
reaching the 7-men ending is not
given here.
Nd3+
46...Nd5+ 47.Kg5 h5 48.gxh5 gxh5
49.Rh8! (49.Kxh5?? Nf6+ =)
49...Bc6 50.Rxh5 +-
47.Ke3 Nxc5 48.Rh8 Be4
48...h5 49.gxh5 gxh5 (49...Be4
50.hxg6 Bxg6 51.Rg8 +-) 50.Rxh5
+-
49.Rxh7+ Kb6 50.h5
White time left: 202 days, Black
1-0
time left: 1 day!
gxh5
The only move to win. White wins
ENTERTAINERS FROM SHAMS
after 51...Bc6 52.gxh5!, or
KHAN!
52.Rxh5! after any other Black
move. Note that 51.Rxh5? only
Shams Khan continues to provide
draws, even though these lines are
us with entertaining short games in
not very clear without Lomonosov
CC. Now he has short games on
tablebases.
the AA Server in addition to AICCF
51.Rh6+!
and ICCF servers!
A.Chatterjee adds: At the time of
playing this game I had access
Khan, Shams - Kumar, K. Shiva
only to 6 men Lomanosov/ Nalimov
AICCF-4590
online tablebases. Later I was able
to get the 7 men Lomansov as a
1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nc3 e6 4.Bd3
free phone App. Although B+N is
Nf6 5.Nge2 Be7 6.e5 Nd5 7.Nxd5
generally rated better than R+P or
Bxd5 8.Nc3 Bb7 9.Qg4 g6 10.Bh6
even R+2P, I believe this
d6 11.O-O-O a6 12.d5 Bxd5
assessment changes in the
13.Nxd5 exd5 14.exd6 Qxd6
endgame where minor pieces
15.Qc8+ Qd8 16.Qb7 Nd7
(especially N) are difficult to
17.Rhe1 Qc8 18.Qxd5 c6 19.Qd6
coordinate and don’t have the
Qd8 20.Qxc6 Rc8 21.Rxe7+ 1-0
powerful reach of the R to support
passed pawns and play on both
Khan, Shams - Udin, Fajar
sides of the board. This game was
AA-4031
won by a thread, but I was
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 e6 4.Be2 7.Nf3 Nc6 8.Be2 e5 9.O-O Be7
Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 10.b3 e4 11.Ne1 O-O 12.Bc4 Qe5
7.Be3 Be7 8.g3 O-O 9.f4 a6 10.h4 13.Rb1 Rd8 14.Bb2 Qg5 15.Bc3
Bb4 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.h5 Ne7 b5 16.h4 Qxh4 17.Bxb5 Rd6
13.h6 g6 14.Qd4 Bxc3+ 15.Qxc3 18.Nc2 Rh6 19.g3 Qh1# 0-1
f6 16.O-O-O Bb7 17.f5 exf5
18.Qb3+ Rf7 19.Qxb7 Rb8 Magill, Ray - Khan, Shams
20.Qxd7 fxe4 21.Qxd8+ 1-0 AA-4032
Khan, Shams - Udin, Fajar 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 c5 4.e3

AA-4032 e6 5.Bd2 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd7 7.a4 a6
8.Ne5 axb5 9.Nxb5 Nxe5 10.dxe5
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qe5+ Ne4 11.f3 Qh4+ 12.g3 Nxg3
4.Be2 Bg4 5.d4 Bxe2 6.Ngxe2 13.Kf2 Ne4+ 14.Ke2 Qf2+ 15.Kd3
Qd6 7.Bf4 Qd7 8.Qd3 e6 9.d5 c4+ 16.Kd4 Bc5+ 0-1
exd5 10.Nxd5 Na6 11.O-O-O O-
O-O 12.Qg3 Qc6 13.Nxc7 Nxc7 Khan, Shams - Magill, Ray
14.Rxd8+ Kxd8 15.Rd1+ Kc8 AA-4031
16.Nd4 Qc4 17.b3 Ba3+ 18.Kb1
Qc5 19.Qg4+ Kb8 1.e4 e5 2.f4 f5 3.exf5 exf4 4.Qh5+
g6 5.fxg6 Qe7+ 6.Be2 Nf6 7.g7+
Nxh5 8.gxh8Q Qg7 9.Bxh5+ Kd8
10.Qxg7 Bxg7 11.Ne2 Nc6 12.O-
O Be5 13.c3 d6 14.d4 Bf6
15.Rxf4 Bg5 16.Rf8+ Kd7
17.Bxg5 Ke6 18.Nf4+ Kd7
19.Bg4+ 1-0
Srinath, T. - Khan, Shams

AICCF-4591
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nxd5

4.Nxd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.b3 Nb4
7.Bc4 Qe4+ 8.Be2 Nxc2+ 9.Kf1
Nxa1 10.d3 Qc6 11.Nd4 Qc5
20.Nc6+ bxc6 21.Rd8+ Kb7
12.Be3 e5 13.Nc2 Qxc2 14.Qxa1
22.Qc8+ Kb6 23.Bxc7+ Kb5
Bd6 15.d4 exd4 16.Bxd4 O-O
24.Qg4 1-0
17.Bxg7 Re8 18.g3 Qxe2+ 19.Kg1
Bh3 20.Bh6 Qe1+ 21.Qxe1 Rxe1#
Udin, Fajar - Khan, Shams
0-1
AA-4032
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3

cxd5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Qxd5
International Section
Dr. Alok Saxena
<aloks279@gmail.com>
Hans-Werner von Massow has been inducted in the ICCF hall of fame in
2016 as one of the most important promoters of correspondence chess
nd
during his lifetime. On 2 December 1928 he founded the IFSB
(Internationaler Fernschachbund) at the age of 16, the predecessor of the
International Correspondence Chess Association and of ICCF. From 1928
– 1939, Massow acted as General Secretary and vice-president and was
ICCF president from 1959 – 87, retiring in 1987 due to health issues.
Massow was an outstanding official for an incredible 60 years and created
infrastructure. During his tenure, ICCF grew to have 60 member
federations at its peak.
Nuutilainen, Esko has also been inducted in ICCF hall of fame in 2016.
He was identified with the Finnish chess administration for many decades.
He was the general secretary of the Finnish Chess Federation for an
extended period from 1979 to 2008. He acquired the International Arbiter
title in 1989. He received many awards and medals during his tenure.
K. Sasikiran was awarded SIM and IM titles at ICCF congress in

Bremen.
We proposed a GDP Based Fee Structure for Developing Nations which

was accepted. The proposal was (a) Tournament fees for Member
Federations and Direct Entry be charged at 50% for developing nations
(b) Free entries in all Zonal Championship Preliminaries (not just Zone 4)
but only for developing nations.
The Glicko rating system will be set up on the ICCF webserver before the
2017/1 rating list. This will be for evaluation purposes only and will run in
parallel to the Elo system, Glicko ratings will only be available to the
Ratings Commission and will not have any official status in ICCF. The
working group will continue their work in evaluating the suitability of the
Glicko system for correspondence chess and report back to Congress in
2017.
The Bulgarian Correspondence Chess Federation offer to host the 2017

ICCF Congress in the popular holiday resort of Sunny Beach was
accepted. Sunny Beach is the largest Bulgarian seaside resort located
on the Black Sea coast approximately 35km north of Burgas. As a
popular European holiday destination, Sunny Beach has a wide choice of
all-inclusive hotels, many of which have excellent conferencing facilities.
The cost of the hotel to delegates would include all accommodation,
drinks, and meals for the entire week. Partners and children would also
be welcomed; all the hotels in Sunny Beach include full leisure facilities,
including outdoor pools and gymnasiums (Photo p.72).
ICCF Deadlines for next Congress – 2017 (Albena, Bulgaria)
Tasks (weeks
before Deadline Description
Congress)
Congress
April 27, Congress invitations, programme, and agenda
Documents (T-
2017 are distributed.
20)
All proposals to be considered for the 2017
Proposals Congress voting must be submitted to the
June 8,
Deadline General Secretary by either a National Delegate
2017
(T-14) or ICCF Official. Reminder – no changes to
playing rules accepted this year.
Delegate and All Delegates, Honorary Presidents, and
substitute Honorary Members must register as voting
August 3,
delegate members with the ICCF General Secretary. No
2017
selections due voting member will be accepted after this
(T-6) deadline.
Officials
August 3, All EB/MC Reports due to the General
Reports Due (T-
2017 Secretary for Distribution
6)
Voting Member The ICCF General Secretary will distribute to
August 17,
Distribution the Member Federation Delegates the list of
2017
(T-4) voting members attending Congress.
Member Federations wishing to assign a proxy
Proxy must send their written declaration to the ICCF
August 21,
Nominations General Secretary. No new proxy nominations
2017
Due (T-2) or change in proxy nominations will be
accepted after this deadline.
Officials responsible for collecting
Medals August 21,
medals/certificates of players/teams will be
(T-2) 2017
identified.
Proposal Voting August 28, Deadline to enter online votes for any/all
(T-1) 2017 proposals closes.
Voting Member
and Proxy August 28, The list of voting members and proxies will be
Distributions 2017 distributed by the ICCF General Secretary.
(T-1)
EB/MC September
EB/MC Meeting starts the day before Congress.
Meetings 3, 2017
Congress Starts September
Full Congress starts – September 4, 2017
(T-0) 4, 2017
Indian team with average rating of 2368 as given below is playing in

CCO21/S1, ICCF Olympiad 21 Preliminaries - Section 01, has scored 7
points and is placed 4th at the moment with Belgium team leading the
section:
Bd Title Player ID Rating FIDE Rtg

1 FIDE GM K.Sasikiran 280330 2570 2642
2 FIDE GM R.B.Ramesh 280726 2268 2464
3 FIDE IM Arghyadip Das 280664 - 2457
4 Kumar Pavan Tumuluri 280138 2353
5 Om Prakash (Captain) 280242 2352
6 Satyajit Das 280577 2196
The event is organized by Gian Maria Tani
INDIA WINS! India-Finland Friendly International match

https://www.iccf.com/event?id=50245
India has won this friendly international comfortably by 25-17 margin.
Star performers: Vibhor Gupta, Shams Khan, Aniruddha Dutta Gupta,
Rakesh Agrawal, A. Rajasekhar (2-0); Kalapi Trivedi, Dr. Chatterjee,
Sailesh, Amit Dutta (1.5-0.5)
A game from this event:

[Event "FIN-IND 2015"]
[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2015.02.01"]
[White "Akkaraju, Sailesh Chandra"]
[Black "Heilala, Tapio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2187"]
[BlackElo "2204"]
[Board "7"]
[WhiteTeam "India"]
[BlackTeam "Finland"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Qc7 4.O-O e6 5.Re1 Nge7 6.c3 a6 7.Bf1 Ng6 8.d4
Be7 9.g3 d6 10.h4 h5 11.Be3 Bd7 12.Nbd2 b5 13.e5 cxd4 14.exd6 Qxd6
15.cxd4 f5 16.Rc1 O-O 17.Ne5 Ncxe5 18.dxe5 Qxe5 19.Qxh5 Be8 20.Qf3
Rd8 21.h5 Nh8 22.Bb6 Qxb2 23.Bxd8 Bxd8 24.Qe2 Qxa2 25.Qxe6+ Qxe6
26.Rxe6 Bxh5 27.Rxa6 Bg5 28.f4 Bf6 29.Bxb5 Rd8 30.Nc4 Nf7 31.Kg2 Rd3
32.Be8 Bf3+ 33.Kf2 Bd5 34.Bxf7+ Bxf7 35.Ra8+ Kh7 36.Ne5 Bd5 37.Ra5
Rd4 38.Ke3 Re4+ 39.Kd3 Bxe5 40.Rxd5 Bf6 41.Rxf5 Ra4 42.g4 Ra3+
43.Kd2 Kg6 44.Rd5 Rf3 45.Rc6 Kh7 46.Rf5 Kg6 47.Ke2 Rg3 48.Rfxf6+ gxf6
49.g5 Ra3 50.Rxf6+ Kg7 51.Kf2 1-0
India-Ukraine Friendly International match

https://www.iccf.com/EventCrossTable.aspx?id=53896
th
This event started on 15 July, 2015 with very strong team from Ukraine.
India is trailing by 15-29 in this event with quite a few defaults from Indian
players. Star performers: Kalapi Trivedi, Amit Dutta, Ankur Singh (2-0);
Deep Sengupta, Alok Saxena (1.5-0.5)
rd
One of the games on 3 board from this event with impressive win for Mr.
Deep Sengupta is given below:
[Event "IND-UKR 2015"]

[White "Sengupta, Deep"]
[Black "Yeremenko, Andrei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Board "3"]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2
O-O 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.O-O-O Qa5 11.a3 a6 12.Bxc5 Qxc5 13.Bd3 Re8
14.Ne2 Rb8 15.Ned4 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 b5 17.c3 Qb6 18.b4 Re7 19.Bc2 a5
20.h4 Nf8 21.h5 Ra8 22.Kb2 Rea7 23.Rh3 Bd7 24.g4 Qc7 25.Re1 axb4
26.cxb4 Ra6 27.Rc3 Qa7 28.Qe3 Be8 29.f5 Qe7 30.Rg1 Qh4 31.f6 Qh2
32.Qg5 Ng6 33.hxg6 1-0
INDIA LEADING! India-Sweden Friendly International match

India is leading this friendly match with score of 27.5-24.5 with 4 games
remaining. India could have won this event comfortably but for defaults of
Vibhor Gupta, Dr. A.Nagaraj, Swetha Valtey, Rajasekhar Atteri and
Karthik Shetty..
Star performers: Anil Anand, Ankur Singh, Satyajit Das (2-0); Rakesh
Agrawal (3.5-0.5); Om Prakash (3-1); Shams Khan (2.5-1.5); Amit
Dutta(1.5-0.5).
One of the games on board 4:
[Event "IND-SWE 2015"]

[White "Prakash, Om"]
[Black "Johansson, Mats"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Board "4"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.h3
Be7 9.f4 exf4 10.Bxf4 Nc6 11.Qe2 Nd7 12.O-O-O Nce5 13.Kb1 O-O 14.g4
Rc8 15.Qe3 Re8 16.Nd4 Qa5 17.a3 Bf8 18.g5 Nc4 19.Bxc4 Rxc4 20.Nxe6
Rxe6 21.Qf3 Nc5 22.Bd2 Nd7 23.h4 Ne5 24.Qg2 Qc5 25.Rh3 Qc6 26.h5
b5 27.Nd5 Rxc2 28.Nb4 Rxd2 29.Rxd2 Qb7 30.Nd5 Nc4 31.Rc2 Qc8 32.g6
fxg6 33.Rf3 Be7 34.Qg4 1-0
A miniature entertainer by Anil Anand:
[White "Anand, Anil Kumar"]

[Black "Eklund, Johnny"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Board "12"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nbd2
Nxe4 8.d5 Na5 9.O-O Nxd2 10.Re1+ Be7 11.d6 cxd6 12.Nxd2 O-O 13.Bd5
Nc6 14.Ne4 Ne5 15.Qh5 Ng6 16.Bg5 h6 17.Bxh6 gxh6 18.Qxg6+ 1-0
India Narrowly lost! India-Australia Friendly International match

India narrowly lost this match 19-21. In fact had it not been for the 4
defaults of Vibhor Gupta in favourable positions on Boards 11-12, the
result could have been in our favour. Star performers: Kalapi Trivedi,
Satyajit Das, Ankur Singh, Mamta Bisht (2-0) ; Aniruddha Dutta Gupta
(1.5-0.5)
INDIA SHINING! India-Venezuela Friendly International match
India has a comfortable lead in this friendly match with score of 20-7 .
Star performers: Shams Khan, Aniruddha Dutta Gupta, Ankur Singh,
Mamta Bisht, Shyam Challapally, Pandava Krishna (2-0), Kalapi Trivedi,
Om Prakash (1.5-0.5)
TRAILING: India-Cuba Friendly International match
Cuba leads 11-6. The results so far on boards 1-7 are draws. But
unfortunately, Shams Khan (0-2), Shyam Challapally (0-2) and Krishna,
Pandava (0-2) and one defaulted game of Thakur, Ankur Singh. There
are 9 games left.
th
WCCC35CT01: Mr. P.B. Dhanish is playing in this event started on 20
th
sept., 2015 and has scored 5/10 and is placed 12 at this moment.
CT21/pr36, World Cup 21 preliminaries 36: Mr. Om Prakash has

st nd
scored 10/12 and is likely to finish 1 or 2 in this event. Based on this
result, he has qualified for semi-finals. Congratulations.
CT21/pr64, World Cup 21 preliminaries 64: Mr. Pervez Mandvi.wala

th
has scored 5.5/10 in this event and is placed 7 at this moment with one
game remaining for him.
WS/MN/147, WS/MN/147
Mr. Om Prakash and Mr. R.B. Ramesh are playing in this Master Norm
th th
event and have scored 2/4 and 1.5/3 with 5 and 6 place respectively at
this moment.
WS/MN/148, WS/MN/148
Mr. Kalapi Trivedi is playing in this event and is yet to complete a game.
NED/50 YEARS/B, 50 YEARS NBC TOURNAMENT/B

Mr. Om Prakash is playing in this Category 5 event and has scored 1.5/3
th
and is placed 7 at this moment. This event is organized by Joop Jansen
of Netherland.
NED/50 YEARS/A, 50 YEARS NBC TOURNAMENT/A

Mr Arghyadeep Das is playing in this Category 7 event and is yet to
complete a game.
NED/50 YEARS/C, 50 YEARS NBC TOURNAMENT/C

Pervez Mandviwala is playing in this Category 2 event and is yet to
complete a game.
th
Inter Zonal 8 team tournament:
Pervez Mandviwala, Devangshu Dutta, Om Prakash Mohanty,, Mohan
Turaga, Alok Saxena have played on Board 3,3, 4, 6, 7 respectively and
finished with scores of 4/10, 4.5/10, 6.5/10, 4.0/10, 4/10 and are placed
th th st th th
11 , 10 ,1 , 9 , 9 respectively. One of the interesting games from this
event is given below:
[Event "Interzonal TT/8"]

[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2015.03.31"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Baranowski, Tadeusz"]
[Black "Prakash, Om"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2359"]
[BlackElo "2335"]
[Board "4"]
[WhiteTeam "Europe B"]
[BlackTeam "Africa Asia A"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5
f6 9.Bh4 Nc6 10.d5 Ne7 11.h3 Nh6 12.a4 c5 13.O-O g5 14.Bg3 Ng6 15.a5
Nf4 16.Bxf4 exf4 17.Re1 Rb8 18.Bd3 Nf7 19.Ra2 g4 20.hxg4 Bxg4 21.Be2
Kh8 22.a6 f5 23.exf5 Bxc3 24.bxc3 Qf6 25.Ng5 Qxg5 26.Bxg4 Rg8 27.Bf3
Qxf5 28.Rb2 b6 29.Re7 Ne5 30.Kf1 Rbe8 31.Re6 Qg5 32.Rxe8 Rxe8
33.Re2 h5 34.Re4 Qf5 35.Ke2 h4 36.Qh1 Kg7 37.Qh3 Qxh3 38.gxh3 Rf8
39.Bg4 Kg6 40.Be6 Kg5 41.Kd2 Rb8 42.Kc2 b5 43.cxb5 Rxb5 44.Ra4 c4
45.Rb4 Ra5 46.Rb8 f3 47.Rg8+ Kf6 48.Kb1 Nd3 49.Rf8+ Ke5 50.Bg4 Rb5+
51.Ka1 Nxf2 52.Bxf3 Rb3 53.Re8+ Kf4 54.Be2 Nd3 55.Re7 Ra3+ 56.Kb1
Rxa6 57.Bxd3 cxd3 58.Re6 Ra5 0-1
AA/C14/Final, 14th Africa Asia Zonal Championship Final

Mohan Turaga, Rakesh Kumar Chauhan, T.Pavan Kumar have qualified
rd th
for this event and have scored 6/11, 3.5/9, 4/7 and are placed 3 , 10
th
and 8 respectively at this moment.
CT21/pr 38:
Anil Anand finished 2nd with a score of 6.5/10
XV AEAC/pr 19:
Anil Anand finished 5th with a score of 4/6
ICCF Ratings as per list of 01-01-2017

ICCF ID Title Name Games Rating
280319 Agrawal, Rakesh 48 1942
280187 Akkaraju, Sailesh Chandra 216 2262
280172 Anand, Anil Kumar 139 2153
280086 Chandran, T. 86 1925
280068 Chatterjee, Ambar 241 2256
280087 Chauhan, Rakesh Kumar 279 2228
280577 Das, Satyajit 34 2187
280130 Datta, Devangshu 80 2306
280088 De, Gautam 161 2273
280176 GM Dhanish, P. B. 139 2588
280209 Dutt, Bulusu Someswara 105 1526
280179 Gupta, Aniruddha Dutta 97 2061
280082 Gupta, Anuj 61 2135
280276 Gupta, Vibhor 123 1726
280169 Jayaraman, Mohan 129 2272
280180 Khan, Shams 248 2125
280143 Krishnamurthy, Prabhanandan 143 2225
280138 Kumar, Pavan Tumuluri 169 2353
280104 Mandviwala, Pervez Godrez 198 2295
280219 Mohanakrishnan, B. 108 2001

280205 Nagaraj, A. 76 1913
280171 Nair, Umesh 50 2003
280243 Prakash, Om 119 2378
280726 Ramesh, R. B. 41 2305
280330 SIM Sasikiran, Krishnan 46 2558
280168 Saxena, Alok 293 2208
280484 Sethuraman, S. P. 40 2307
280133 Shivdasani, Vijay A. 156 2146
280107 Somani, Sunil K. 185 2206
280174 Trivedi, Kalapi B. 134 2286
280224 Turaga, Mohan 78 2263
280095 Valsan, K. 72 2167
280256 Vijayan, Dhanesh 37 1705
Flamingo Grand Hotel, Albena, Bulgaria

Venue of the ICCF Congress September 03 – 08, 2017
Top 26 players in the

AICCF Rating list of April 2017
No Player Rating RD No Player Rating RD
1 P.B.Dhanish 2289 208 14 Mohan Jayaraman 2009 65
2 Sasikiran 2280 180 15 Arghyadip Das 1991 83
3 T.Pavan Kumar 2109 91 16 Ramesh 1970 87
4 Om Prakash 2085 57 17 A.Chatterjee 1963 61
5 Vaibhav Saxena 2085 93 18 Sunil K. Somani 1963 85
6 K.V.S.Sastry 2071 71 19 Rashmi Somani 1955 107
7 K.Prabhanandan 2041 91 20 Ranjeet Hegde 1937 85
8 Gautam De 2036 63 21 Sailesh Chandra 1922 63
9 R.K. Chauhan 2035 58 22 Alok Saxena 1922 48
10 Shalaka Somani 2024 93 23 Aayush Somani 1918 81
11 Amit Dutta 2023 70 24 Lalit Kapoor 1910 98
12 Deep Sengupta 2020 103 25 Mohan Turaga 1910 67
13 Kalapi B. Trivedi 2019 56 26 Anil Anand 1885 51
Rating Deviation (RD) indicates the uncertainty in Rating. Players with

RD>250 are considered inactive and not shown in the above list.
AICCF Champions
1501 A.G.Nagradjane 1508 P.B.Dhanish

1502 K.Lhouvum 1509 T.Pavan Kumar
1503 N.R. Anil Kumar 1510 T.Pavan Kumar
1504 N.R. Anil Kumar 1511 Om Prakash
1505 Sunil K. Somani 1512 K.V.S.Sastry
1506 P.B.Dhanish 1513 Gautam De
1507 P.B.Dhanish
Printed by A.Chatterjee Vadodara 39009 on behalf of AICCF

2017 01

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AICCF Bulletin 2017 First Issue Page|1

VOLUME 24, Number 1

In memory of Viktor Korchnoi

In the 1978 World

Management Matters A.Chatterjee and Alok Saxena . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

AICCF wishes them all the best in their games.

Printed copies of the Bulletin will henceforth be limited. We expect our

AICCF Members Shine

DEEP SENGUPTA TOPS (6.5) 6. Hariya Ravi (6.5) 7.

SASIKIRAN WINS RILTON CUP

The Rilton Cup tournament is

Deep Sengupta at Hastings 2017

This year GM Deep Sengupta

Two other AICCF members,

Kamsky, Gata (6.5) 4. Urkedal, He scored 8.0/9 and won the

IM Arghyadip Das (AICCF SrNo Arghyadip’s success in this

The top ten:

A 64-player knock-out tournament

AICCF congratulates Deep Sengupta, Arghyadip Das, Sethuraman,

In the World Chess Championship, New York, 11-30 November 2016,

ometimes you may hear Glicko ratings. In 2015 ICCF

S members say that they play

Accordingly, we decided to adopt strength. The great contribution of

In 2000, based on new research, Since Glicko-2 is widely accepted

We had a smooth operation of the CEO of OpeningMaster.com with

OPENINGS MASTER Please see:

for details. In AICCF server, zero days left,

given in circumstances of a forced Forum messages in Hindi

S to start a WhatsApp Group

An Oxymoron is a phrase where

Cover Story Part 1

Sadly, he often failed to switch it

He loved chess, he loved winning

He was brave, almost foolhardy.

The 23-year-old Anatoly Karpov, “parapsychologist” and hypnosis

Viktor the Terrible, as he was He suffered a stroke in 2012 and

Cover Story Part 2

ho can forget “Viktor the

Bobby Fischer refused to defend Grandmaster title in 1956. He rose

to determine who would challenge federation, wishing to develop

breakthrough that allowed him to qualified as the losing finalist,

Korchnoi, however, still had a vital GM Jan Timman of the

At times Korchnoi displayed his was easy to hope that he might

20...exf4 21.Rxf4 Ne6 22.Bxe6+ (W) Vasily Smyslov

(W) Mikhail Tal

Korchnoi does seem to have been

(W) Robert James Fischer 27.Rg1+ Kh8 28.Bg5 fxe4 29.Bxh6

earned him the bittersweet title of (W) Garry Kasparov

board.) I remember Korchnoi b5 40.Kf3 b4 41.Ke3 b3 42.Kd2

safe I would have played 8..0-0 Surprisingly, Korchnoi never

This game was played in the

till 1990's. In 1982, he was ranked

51.Bc7 a4 52.Bxb6 a3 53.Rc5 (W) Vassily Ivanchuk

h6 14.Bd2 Qb6 15.Rac1 Be7

Quotes are sourced from:

Kalapi Trivedi continues to lead

99 games out of a total of 105 have been completed as of 10-04-2017.

White Black Moves

AICCF Championship 1515

In this interesting game, Anil 27.Qb5 Qc3 28.Qb6 g5 29.Kh1

(W) Anand, Anil Kumar

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4

(W) De, Gautam Hellmann,O (1581)/Canberra