Pawn down and winning ?

Puzzle time...


I've seen this a few times in various books, generally from Soviet sources, with the players given as Fuchter - Balogh or Fuster-Balogh, from Budapest, 1964.


I've never found the full game, so don't know which of the many Baloghs it could be, or even if this is actually a study, rather than from an real game.


Regardless, its a neat position.  I've been in similar ones, but never quite the same. For me, its a sort of position that says "There are 3 rooks and a Queen together : so much power ! I must be able to do something good here" , but obvious moves don't seem to work.


Black to move and win....what would you do ?

Fuster-Balogh, Budapest, 1964

T55 Round 2 : Missed opportunities

I missed out on Round 1 because of incompatible times, so this was my first standard game in a while.


I could give the excuse that I lost because I wasn't 100% fit ( echoing  Zsusza Polgar's remark that she "never won a game against a healthy man" according to her sister, Judit's recent interview :)  but that wouldn't be entirely true.


I have to confess that recently ( er, read last couple of months ! ) I have not put much effort into keeping up the key part of chess improvement at my level ( ie tactics ), but there again I've done quite a few other things outside of chess in "real life".


That means it's not just "work-home" balance to strive after, but "chess-others", or even more accurately chess as part of a range of things I want to do that are not work : sometimes that quite a few things !


So reasons to lose ? Plenty, and mainly around missing tactics.


Reasons to win ? Not too many, and mainly around knowing the opening and resultant positions better than my opponent.


Here's a "win reason"...

9. Qf3

Not really sure why Qf3 was played here. At the time, I assumed it was to allow prompt Queenside castling, with the added benefit of defending e4, but since he castled King-side later, I wonder !


Better would be Nf3 or even 0-0.


I didn't capitalise on this, which leads neatly to a reason to lose ( or maybe one not to win, being slightly pedantic :)

10. h3  What should Black play ?

Considering my plan with Nc5 was targeting e4, how come I didn't follow through ?


Much later in the game (move 40 ! ) I have a chance, not only to regain the pawn I am down, but also to strike a rapier-like psychological blow, just when White must feel he has me on the ropes.

40. Qd4 Black to play and at least equalise !

Its obvious in hindsight, but I missed it at the time.   I'm sure all my avid readers will spot it in under 2 seconds and embarrass me !


Never mind. Make an effort to play through the game and see what can be learned.


Next round, I will be more ready !

Judit Polgár Interview

This caught me by surprise, but I dare say its a combination of her new book and her forthcoming appearance at the London Classic that has prompted it.


An interview in the London Independent with Judit Polgár , who turns out to be a more than interesting person, as well as a great chess player.


Enjoy it, I did !

New York Chess Scene ?

More a social and travel perspective, but of interest none-the-less.

See here.

Apparently New York is the Capital of the Chess world...some might disagree !

T54, Round 1 : Centre and on target !!

T54 began last week and I had the best start possible : a win !

How did I manage this considering I have done very little, chess-wise, in the past 6 weeks ?

Simple really:
                     1) My opponent made two serious mistakes.
                     2) I spotted them and took advantage.
                     3) I thought about the positions in front of me, and played them, rather than react more automatically 

I'm pretty certain my opponent had done his homework since he knocked out his initial moves quickly. By the time we reached move 7, he was up to 50 minutes, compared to my 45, and I think he already had his initial plan in mind, which seemed to be a straightforward assault on the f2-square, intending,  after my queenside castling , a knight-fork threat to win a rook.

7...Ng4

 However, is Ng4 a good move here ?

...Continue reading...

Andrew Paulson, who's he ?

All you need to know about the next chess impresario.....well almost