Part 2:
BEATING A GRANDMASTER
by David Moody
|
| Well, to tell the truth, if you’re expecting
to
learn how to beat a grandmaster you’ve come to the wrong place.
That title
is just Sweeps Month Hyperbole. |
| Hey, I’ve never even beaten an IM (unless
you count
beating Ben Finegold back when he was an eleven-year-old Class A
Player).
I have actually beaten an FM or two, but, well, accidents do
happen. |
| So I can’t add much to the vast literature
concerning
Secrets Of Beating The Good Players. Nothing like Edmar Mednis once did,
in the conclusion of his book How to Beat the Russians, where he
offered this incredibly sage advice: |
|
“The best way to beat the Russians is to play
better.”
|
| Hmmm. Don’t think I needed to pay $11.95 to
figure
that out. |
| In fact, I have played only two living, breathing
grandmasters (if that’s not an oxymoron). Back in 1976, I took a
board
against Arthur Bisguier in a simul. Things were putzing along just fine
when all of a sudden my position dissolved before my very eyes. I had
never
fully understood the parable of The House Built on the Sand before
that. |
| One thing this did instill in me was the
knowledge
of how little I actually knew about chess. Till then, I thought I was
still
pretty hot stuff. But after Bisguier boog-a-looed all over my pieces, I
began to realize how great the gap really was between myself and
grandmasters. |
| Ten years and 400 rating points later, I got my
second chance--but first, I have to show you another game. |
| At the U.S. Open, where only one game a day is
played,
daily “side” events are normally provided for those of hearty
chess appetite.
In the 30-30 quad that preceded round 1 of the Open I started off well
with two wins, then produced the following: |
|
LaHoz,J
(2015)
|
—
|
Moody,D
(1955) |
(3)
|
| A25/04 (2nd ed.) |
English: Closed Sicilian
|
|
| 1986 |
30-30 Quad
|
USA Somerset, NY (US Open
side-event)
|
|
|
|
Annotations by David
Moody
|
|
| 1.c4 e5 2.g3 f5 3.Nc3 d6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nge2
Be7 7.0–0 0–0 8.d3 Be6 9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.cxd5 Nb4 |
|
| No, nothing unusual
happens
at this point, but you’ll soon see why the diagram is
here. |
| 11.a3 Na6 12.b4 |
| I didn’t trust the
pin
after 11...Nbxd5 12.Qb3, and let White strand the knight west of
nowhere.
As usual, when I have a poor position, I try to attack. |
| 11...Qe8 13.Bb2 Qh5 14.d4 Ng4 15.h3
Rf6?! |
| The beginning of a
string
of wildly unsound sacrifices, based on three factors: a) The time
control
is 30-30; b) I’m feeling my oats after pulling two upsets in
earlier rounds;
c) Black hasn’t got a whole lot of other stuff to do. The only
reason the
punctuation is as favorable as “?!” is because the dang things
wind up
working! |
| 16.hxg4 fxg4 17.b5 Rh6 18.Re1 Rf8?! |
| Hey, what’s the
difference
between one piece down and two pieces down anyway? |
| 19.bxa6 Qh2+ 20.Kf1 Bh4 |
| Punctuation unnecessary,
since it probably shouldn’t make a difference what Black
does. |
| 21.gxh4? |
| Too much of a good
thing;
now Black actually gets some chances, and winds up forcing mate
quickly. |
| 21...Rhf6 22.Nf4 exf4 23.f3? gxf3 24.Bxf3 Rg6
0-1. |
|
| Good stuff, huh! I prepared to top off the day
with
an easy game in the Open, but, alas, that particular tournament was a
tad
top-heavy and I missed the cut: |
|
Christiansen,L
(2685)
|
—
|
Moody,D
(1955) |
(1)
|
| A25/04 (2nd ed.) |
English: Closed Sicilian
|
|
| 1986 |
|
USA Somerset, NJ (US Open)
|
|
|
|
Annotations by David
Moody
|
|
| 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e3 d6 6.Nge2
Be7 |
| Ohmigosh--the exact same
position as the LaHoz game! I’m going to sacrifice three pieces and
checkmate
a grandmaster!! Hey, even if he finds a refutation, it’ll be
fun. |
| 7.0–0 0–0 8.d3 Be6 9.Nd5 Bxd5 10.cxd5
Nb4 |
| Yes, it’s the same
position
as in the diagram! I was spending a lot of time trying to remember what
I had played a couple of hours ago, while Christiansen was doing his
celebrated
imitation of a jack-in-the-box. From the smell of his breath, it was
obvious
that he was sneaking a smoke out in the hallway. As I found out later,
he was also performing a simul, giving an interview to an attractive
female
reporter between moves. |
| Meanwhile, I’m
getting
more and more excited. Christiansen came back to the table, did me the
honor of sitting down, and immediately flicked out: |
| 11.Qb3! |
| Which simply wins a pawn
for nothing (11...a5 12.a3). However, I was not yet daunted. After all,
if I can sac three pieces against an Expert, surely I can sac a mere
pawn
to a grandmaster! |
| 11...Na6 12.Qxb7 Nc5 13.Qb5 Rb8 14.Qc4 a5 15.d4 Rb4
16.Qc2 Nce4 17.f3 Ng5 18.Bd2 Rb5 19.a4 1–0. |
|
| Since Black can’t play 19...Rxd5 due to
20.Nc3,
it seemed futile to waste any more of his time; I was only going to
embarrass
myself further. I got an handshake and an autograph out of the deal.
Christiansen
got to go back to the interview, where he apparently supplied lines of
more than just journalistic interest. |
| Of course, there’s is another way of beating
a grandmaster:
the Six Degrees of Separation Method. Let’s see: I once beat Erich
Marchand,
who beat Frank Marshall, who beat Harry Pillsbury, who beat Henry Bird,
who beat Samuel Boden, who beat Paul Morphy. Hey, the conclusion is
obvious! |
| Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way in
real
life. At least, not often. After all, up till the time I played Bisguier
I had defeated the highest rated player I had ever played, and that was
a bit of a Six Degrees situation.... |
| ...but then, that’s another story. |