I blog today while watching the Super Bowl, an American football competition, in the background. It is, to my eyes, not very interesting. But perhaps that is because I blog about chess. Chess is not an American tradition, wherein insane numbers of people tune in. It doesn’t even have its own TV broadcast, which I do hope will change. But the sheer rawness of the physical combat, in my humble opinion, are easily paralleled with what can be seen on the chessboard: not only the brutality, but the inventiveness can be matched. And anyone can play!
The internet makes chess accessible to all who have connections, as evidenced by the popularity of chess sites such as this one: Red Hot Pawn.
procyk–DeepThought RHP 2006
1. d4 f5 2. c4 Ng8f6 3. Nb1c3 e6 4. Ng1f3 Bf8e7 5. g3 O-O 6. Bf1g2 d6 {Black aspires to eventually push the pawn to e5.} 7. Bc1g5 Nf6e4 {Black then trades to open up the f-file.} 8. Nc3xe4 fxe4 9. Bg5xe7 Qd8xe7 10. Nf3d2 d5 {Black reinforces the center. His doubled e-pawns are compensated by his development.} 11. e3 a5 {This is a useful waiting move. Black stops White from expanding on the queenside.} 12. O-O c6 13. f4 exf3 14. Nd2xf3 Nb8d7 {Black has liquidated his doubled e-pawn in exchange for freeing White slightly.} 15. Nf3d2 Nd7f6 16. b3 e5 {Black re-establishes central presence.} 17. Qd1c2 e4 18. c5 {White closes down the queenside, then plans to push with b4 as a counterattack.} Bc8g4 19. h3 {This is a bad move, prompting Black forward and weakening the queenside unnecessarily.} Bg4e2 {Black seizes the opportunity to infiltrate the White position.} 20. Rf1f2 Be2d3 21. Qc2c3 Nf6h5 {Black now goes after the weakened pawns.} 22. g4 Nh5g3 23. Rf2xf8 {White makes the misguided decision to remove his only defender, not realizing his king is exposed.} Qe7xf8 24. Qc3b2 Ng3e2 25. Kg1h1 Qf8f2 {Black gets the queen in White’s face, preparing for the final assault.} 26. b4 Ne2g3 {Black ignores White’s futile queenside thrust.} 27. Kh1h2 Ng3f1 {Knights rarely land on the eighth rank, making this otherwise prosaic, piece-winning move special.} 28. Kh2h1 Qf2xd2 {0-1.}
And all of chess is connected by similar threads and ingenious plays, like a knight move to the eighth rank of the f-file. These unusual moves showcase the spirit of creativity which imbues chess with its fun and whimsical ability, which itself allows unrestrained king hunts and chases to occur.
Alicia Abigail Gutierrez Mancillas–Klaudia Kulon World Junior Championship 2007
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 {Black plays a reasonable continuation, trying to hold on to the pawn.} 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 {Because of the large numbers of trades, this opening is sometimes regarded as drawish. However, White proves otherwise.} 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 {White defers taking the g-pawn in order to shake up even more trouble.} Qd5 {Black protects the bishop.} 10. Nc3 {White harasses the queen, able to do this because of the e-file pin.} Qf5 11. Nce4 {White indirectly protects the f-pawn by attacking the Black bishop.} O-O-O 12. g4 Qe5 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. fxg7 {White finally takes the pawn, securing it as compensation for his shattered kingside.} Rhg8 15. Bh6 d3 {Black retaliates with a pawn push of his own.} 16. c3 d2 17. Re2 {However, as of yet, both are blockaded.} Bb6 18. Qf1 Rd3 19. Rd1 {White maintains the blockade of the d2-pawn, overattacking it so as to minimize its danger.} Ne7 20. Ng5 Qd5 21. Rxe6 {White rolls up the e6 pawn, then uses the cleared e-file as a byway for threats in e7 and e8.} Qd7 22. Qe2 Nd5 23. Nxh7 Ne3 24. Nf8 {White finds a clever, beautiful move to hold all her pieces together.} Nxd1 25. Re8+ {The queen is sacrificed for the two rooks.} Qxe8 26. Qxe8+ Rd8 27. Qe6+ {Only Black has miscalculated. White has, by way of this fork, a queen for a rook, which is a huge advantage.} Kb8 28. Qxg8 Bxf2+ 29. Kh1 Ne3 30. Nd7+ {This is the move Black overlooked when threatening to push and promote the d2-pawn.} Kc8 {Black saves the rook…} 31. Qxd8+ Kxd8 32. g8=Q+ {But White doesn’t need it. He gets back in time to stop the d2-pawn with his newly promoted queen.} Kxd7 33. Qg7+ {? Technically, Black has a draw by perpetual check here, but she fails to take it, allowing White to finally close out her brilliant game.} Kc6 34. Qg6+ Kd5 35. Qh5+ Ke4 36. g5 {And now White wins by pushing the g-pawn which first moved back on move twelve.} d1=Q+ 37. Qxd1 Nxd1 38. g6 {Perfectly calculated. White ends up a piece down, but will soon promote the pawn.} Bd4 {A last, futile attempt. Of course, 39. g7?? fails to Bxg7, wherein perhaps Black is winning, even.} 39. cxd4 Nf2+ 40. Kg2 Ng4 41. Bg5 Kf5 42. g7 {The knight cannor catch the pawn.} Nf6 {One last try.} 43. Bxf6 {1-0.}
Even people with disabilities can play chess. It is unrestricted, and the only classification is pure, trained, talent and work put in. He, admittedly loses in this game, but Reginald Walter Bonham was born visually impaired, and later was World Blind, World Blind Correspondence, and British Correspondence Champions (not all at the same time, though, to my knowledge.) Mardle, victorious here, was also a great chess player while living with polio, who once beat GM Gligoric and associated with C. H. O'D Alexander, whom I have previously blogged about, and a biography of him can be found here: http://www.poliosurvivorsnetwork.org.uk/lincpin3-1.pdf
Denis Victor Mardle–Reginald Walter Bonham Hastings 1953
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 {White takes advantage of this open, development-heavy game to make a thrust into the center.} a6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 {Black has centralized his pawns into the center, making up for his isolated a-pawn.} 8. Bc4 Qa5 {Black pins the knight, attacking the e-pawn.} 9. Qd3 d5 {Black strikes back, taking advantage of White’s inharmonious pieces.} 10. exd5 Bb7 11. dxc6 Bxc6 {Black has sacrificed a pawn to attempt to trap White’s king in the center.} 12. O-O e6 13. Qe2 Bc5+ {This highlights the fact that the f-pawn push by White has made his king further unsafe.} 14. Kh1 h5 15. f5 h4 {Both White and Black make extra pawn pushes, quickly trying to attack each other’s kings.} 16. fxe6 Nh5 {Black bravely ignores the attack, but can’t defend against the oncoming tempest.} 17. exf7+ Kf8 18. Rf5 g6 19. Qe5 {1-0. White forks the bishop and the rook, winning.}
However, the Super Bowl, as, to some fans, as opposite from a quiet, intellectual board game as possible, did have two slight, unintentional, acknowledgements to chess.
Devin Funchess, a player for one of the teams with an interesting last name, was on-camera several times, in effect helping football fans realize that chess is fun (probably not, actually, but it’s fun to speculate.) Additionally, one advertisement (for the company who controls Pokémon) even showcased chess as an area of supreme individual achievement next to running, American football (this is the Super Bowl, after all), and, of course, Pokémon (it was their commercial.) In summary, chess was one of two non-obligatory sports of individual achievement. That’s good, right? Here’s the commercial.
One day, perhaps, chess will be followed by as many fans as American football, perhaps even Americans. (There are rumors that they’ll get the World Championship staged in St. Louis.) Until then, we chess players will carry the torch forward, and spread its flame as far as we can.
Discussion thread:
Thread 167443
–HikaruShindo
