Open Lopez : 'Long Variation'

In Unbalanced Material, I questioned Kasparov's comment that 'I have the feeling that this variation is avoided by both sides nowadays'. He wrote this in a note on the position that I diagrammed in that post, so I'll repeat the same diagram here.

To find the current state of theory on this position, I consulted Chessbase.com's database at Chesslive.de. The advantage of this database is that it includes many correspondence games, and I suspected that the diagrammed position has been well explored by correspondence players. The best of them like to play sharp, unbalanced opening variations which OTB players often categorize as 'unclear' (Informant symbol '∞').

Radio Match 1945
Reshevsky, Samuel

Smyslov, Vasily
(After 22...Qd4-e5(xP))
[FEN "r5k1/2p3pp/p7/1p1pq3/8/5PpB/PP4P1/R1B2R1K w - - 0 23"]

I found 57 games on Chesslive that reached the diagrammed position. Of those games, 56 continued 23.Bd2, and of those, 36 continued 23...Qxb2 24.Bf4 d4. This is the variation recommended by both Smyslov and Kasparov as the alternative to Reshevsky's 24...c5. Of those 36 games, 26 were correspondence games, the most recent an IECG email game from 2002. Of these 26 games, the 12 played since 1985 have resulted in seven wins for Black and five draws. Several of the games were played in national correspondence championships, meaning the players were expert or master strength.

The most recent OTB game between GM-level players was Tiviakov - I.Sokolov, Groningen 1994, which also finished as a win for Black. I conclude that White has gone wrong somewhere in the moves leading to the diagrammed position. But where? Kasparov wrote that 15.Qxd4, instead of 15.cxd4, is the move played nowadays. Is 15.cxd4 a weak move?

A Milestone in Computer Chess History

On top of being Video Friday today, it's also ten years to the day since Kasparov lost his match against Deep Blue. The trailer for Vikram Jayanti's documentary about the match -- Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine -- shows some of the highlights from the film.

Game Over Trailer (1:44) • Kasparov vs Deep Blue

I reviewed the movie two years ago...

Movie Review : Game Over - Kasparov and the Machine
http://chess.about.com/od/artliterature/gr/jay_gokm.htm

...and found it seriously biased. Am I alone in this opinion?

Unbalanced Material

From time to time, I still like to play over games on a real chess board. Analysis is easier using software, but there is something more satisfying about touching real pieces and moving them on a real board. One of my habits is to pair the Black and White pieces as they come off the board; i.e. I keep the Queens together, or a pair of Rooks together, or whatever. The pieces that can't be paired I keep in a separate group. I often count the unpaired pieces and the number gives me an idea of the degree of material imbalance on the board. Of course, the same thing can be done by counting the pieces remaining on the board, but my method is a little faster.

The next game in Smyslov's Sparklers is a good example. In the diagrammed position, White has an extra Rook and two Bishops (three pieces), while Black has an extra Queen and three Pawns (four pieces). This makes a total of seven unpaired pieces, which is about as high as the number ever gets in a real game.

Smyslov played 23.Bd2, leaving the b-Pawn en prise and letting the material imbalance increase to nine pieces.

Radio Match 1945
Reshevsky, Samuel

Smyslov, Vasily
(After 22...Qd4-e5(xP))
[FEN "r5k1/2p3pp/p7/1p1pq3/8/5PpB/PP4P1/R1B2R1K w - - 0 23"]

Reshevsky played 23...Qxb2. Both Smyslov (SMY) and Kasparov (KAS) had a comment on the position, which arises from what is called the 'Long Variation' of the Open Lopez.

SMY: 'A very interesting position has arisen: in exchange for the Bishops and Rook, Black has a Queen and will quickly get an avalanche of Pawns on the Queenside.Who has the better chances in the sharp struggle about to commence? This question awaits a conclusive answer in further analysis. In [Boleslavsky - Botvinnik, Sverdlovsk 1943], Botvinnik continued 23...c5 24.Rae1 Qxb2 25.Bf4 d4 26.Bxg3 d3 with a complicated game. Evidently White's attacking possibilities are more real than the dangerous threat of the advance of Black's passed Pawns. However, Reshevsky chooses another continuation.'

KAS: 'Alas, I have the feeling that this variation is avoided by both sides nowadays. Instinctively it seems to me that White should be better, although the computer confers a gigantic advantage on Black. In general, the situation is unclear, but playing White is more interesting: there is the possibility of attacking! The source game Boleslavsky - Ragozin (Moscow 1942) went [I'm omitting side variations- MW] 23...c5 24.Rae1 Qxb2 25.Bf4, and after 25...Qf6? 26.Bxg3 d4 27.Re6 Qg5 28.Kh2 c4 29.f4!, the f-Pawn broke through Black's defenses. It is better to play 25...d4 26.Bxg3 d3 27.Be5 Qxa2 28.Bd6 Qb2 29.Be6+ Kh8 30.Be5 (Boleslavsky - Botvinnik, Sverdlovsk 1943) and here 30...Qc2! 31.Rc1 Qe2 32.Rce1 Qc2 would have equalized. Instead of this Botvinnik played 30...Qd2 and came under a terrible attack.' Kasparov analyzed this to move 61!

After 24.Bf4 c5 (Both SMY & KAS considered 24...d4 to be better.) 25.Be6+ Kh8 26.Bxd5, Reshevsky resigned on the 41st move. If I have time I'll follow up Kasparov's comment that 'I have the feeling that this variation is avoided by both sides nowadays.' What was the latest OTB game? Correspondence game?

To play through the complete game see...

Vasily Smyslov vs Samuel Reshevsky, M:URS-USA, Moscow 1945
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1125455

...on Chessgames.com.

Pay Per Post

I ran into this idea on the blog at chess.maribelajar.com: The Thousand Dollar Experiment and Pay Per Post - wrote my 10th article. At least I think it's the same idea. The blog, which is often very good, is unavailable half the time I try to visit it, and it's unavailable as I write this. Why keep a blog on an unreliable host when there are so many reliable services available?

Assuming there is only one 'Pay Per Post', a Google search brings up this site...

Pay Per Post
http://payperpost.com/

...which explains the process better than I can. The site's own blog is at blog.payperpost.com. I'm not encouraging this service, and I'm certainly not endorsing it, but it looks like a concept worth further investigation. My own experience with schemes to earn money from your web writing is that you'd make much more by working another job for minimum wage. In other words, they don't even begin to compensate you for the time required to do them right. Who knows? Maybe this one is different.

For more information:-

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,260,000 for payperpost blogs.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=payperpost+blogs

USSR vs. USA/GBR 1945-55

The next two games from Smyslov's Sparklers were played against Reshevsky in the 1945 USSR-USA radio match. Between 1945 and 1955, four matches were played between the two countries. In the same period, three matches were played between the USSR and Great Britain. Smyslov played in all seven matches with the following results.

1945	U.S.A.	Radio	+2-0=0 vs.Reshevsky
1946	Great Britain	Radio	+2-0=0 vs.Koenig
1946	U.S.A.	Moscow	+2-0=0 vs.Denker
1947	Great Britain	London	+1-0=1 vs.Golombek (Winter/Whyld says +1-1=0)
1954	U.S.A.	New York	+0-0=4 vs.Reshevsky
1954	Great Britain	London	+1-0=1 vs.Alexander
1955	U.S.A.	Moscow	+4-0=0 vs.Bisguier

The Soviet players won all seven matches.

Missed Opportunities?

This is the first game from a new series called Smyslov's Sparklers. In the diagrammed position, Smyslov played the very pretty variation 24.Nf5! gxf5 25.gxf5 Nc7 (Smyslov: If 25...Ng5, then 26.Bxg5 fxg5 27.Nxg5+ Kg8 28.Ne6).

The attack continued logically with 26.Rg1 Ne8 27.Rg6. Now after 27...Rf7, Smyslov won with 28.Rbg1 Kg8 29.Rxh6 Kf8 30.Rh7 Ke7 31.Qh5 Kd6 (31...Rc8 32.Ng5!) 32.Bf4+. Kasparov also started his analysis from the diagrammed position, giving no more than a copy of Smyslov's notes.

Moscow 1943
Kotov, Alexander

Smyslov, Vasily
(After 23...f7-f6)
[FEN "3r1r2/pp1q2bk/2n1nppp/2p5/3pP1P1/P2P1NNQ/1PPB3P/1R3R1K w - - 0 24"]

Neither Smyslov nor Kasparov mentioned the alternative 27...Rh8, which is the computer's suggestion. After 28.Rbg1 Kg8 29.Rxh6 (another possibility is 29.Bxh6 Rh7 30.Qh4 Ne7) 29...Rxh6 30.Bxh6 Qf7, White gets perpetual check with 31.Bxg7 Nxg7 32.Qh6 Rd7 33.Nh4 Ne5 34.Ng6 Nxg6 35.fxg6 Qe6 36.Qh7+ Kf8 37.Rf1 Ne8 38.Qh8+ Qg8 39.Rxf6+ Nxf6 40.Qxf6+ Ke8 41.Qe5+ Kf8 42.Qf6+. This is a long straight-line analysis and could easily be flawed, but it gives Black better chances than the 27...Rf7 played in the game.

Smyslov could have played differently with 27.Bxh6 Bxh6 28.Rg6 Qg7 29.Rxg7+ Nxg7 30.Rg1 Ne7. Black is bottled up, but does White have enough to win?

It is surprising that Smyslov did not discuss the two variations on the 27th move. It is even more surprising that Kasparov said nothing, since he subjected his notes to computer analysis. Is there an obvious refutation that I'm overlooking?

To play through the complete game see...

Vasily Smyslov vs Alexander Kotov, Moscow 1943
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1084144

...on Chessgames.com.

M'aidez, M'aidez

Pronounced 'mayday'. It also sounds like a common phrase that means the first of May ('May Day'), a holiday in many countries, Belgium among them. According to Wikipedia (among other authorities, but Wikipedia, like Google, now owns the Web), the Mayday distress signal comes from the French m'aider, the infinitive for which m'aidez is the second person plural of the present tense, indicative mood (I hope I got that right).

Why m'aidez? It's been exactly one year to the day since I started this blog and it has become an addiction. I need help in stopping. Lots of other chess bloggers seem to be able to stop without any problem. Why can't I?

The May Day holiday is called 'Labor Day', meaning it's the equivalent of the American holiday that falls at the beginning of September. I've never understood why labor days are holidays. Shouldn't everyone be working those days? Better to call it 'Relax Day'. For the rest of today I'll be laboring over the barbecue.