Chess Improvement

On this simul game I have even less info than Paul’s
methodical dismemberment of Bent Larsen.

I will take some guesses here -
since John Watson hosted Larsen in 1974, Denver visit,
and since 1 b3 became Larsen’s opening in 1971-2
and since Paul quickly became too strong to play in simuls
I will make a rough guess of 1974, Paul being an 18 year old
1800 again.

[Event "simul"]
[Site "Denver, Colo"]
[Date "1973.07.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Future IM John Watson"]
[Black "Young punk Paul Nikitovich"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "1809"]
[Opening "Nimzovich-Larsen attack: modern variation"]
[ECO "A01"]
[NIC "VO.08"]
[Time "04:30:04"]
[TimeControl "none"]

Denver simul
1974?
White – John Watson 2400
Black – Paul Nikitovich 1809

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. e3 Nf6 6. Ne2 O-O 7. O-O TN Watson

Theoretical Novelty by John Watson and the best move -
later John followed this up with 30,000 more TNs.

7 … c6! 8. d4 e4! 9. Nf4 Qe8

It’s hard to explain but Paul attacks from “weird angles” -
he sneaks up on you.

10. c4! g5 11. Nh3 Ng4

11 … h6! is best but Paul is eager to start a Fishing Pole
attack before LM Jack Young identified Fishing Pole attacks.

12. Nc3! Qg6

Once again Paul goes his own way instead of 12 … h6! – Fritz 8

13. d5 Nd7
Fritz prefers an immediate 13 … Ne5 but naturally
Paul wants to utilize his dead Queenside pieces.

14. Ne2 c5!!!
Eliminating any Watson counterplay,
good tactical and positional understanding
by the angelic looking boy with long, brown hair.

15. Qd2 Qh5
15 … Nge5!! or … Nde5!! are good but Paul wants to prepare a knockout punch.

16. a3?
Wildly optimistic

16 … Nde5!!!
Watson’s in big trouble.

17. Bxe5 Nxe5!! 18. Kh1 Nf3
Paul had an exclam here in his kiddie scoresheet but 18 … f4!! 19 pawn takes pawn Nf3!! just wins a piece.

19. Bxf3?
19 Qc2 was better but bad.

19 … exf3
19 … Q:f3+!!! 20 Kg1 f4!!! is a killer

20. Neg1 f4!! 21. gxf4 Qg4!!!!!
Way to butch the hook, Paul. Mate in 3.

John Watson resigns. 0-1
——————————————————————

Watson-Nikitovich.pgn

[Event "simul"]
[Site "Denver, Colo"]
[Date "1973.07.18"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Future IM John Watson"]
[Black "Young punk Paul Nikitovich"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White resigns"]
[WhiteElo "2400"]
[BlackElo "1809"]
[Opening "Nimzovich-Larsen attack: modern variation"]
[ECO "A01"]
[NIC "VO.08"]
[Time "04:30:04"]
[TimeControl "none"]

1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 d6 3. g3 f5 4. Bg2 Be7 5. e3 Nf6 6. Ne2 O-O 7. O-O c6 8. d4
e4 9. Nf4 Qe8 10. c4 g5 11. Nh3 Ng4 12. Nc3 Qg6 13. d5 Nd7 14. Ne2 c5 15.
Qd2 Qh5 16. a3 Nde5 17. Bxe5 Nxe5 18. Kh1 Nf3 19. Bxf3 exf3 20. Neg1 f4 21.
gxf4 Qg4

0-1

——————————————————————-

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Having gone through that the recent humiliation of rapid chess defeat, I have some empathy for Facebook buddy Magnus Carlsen who got destroyed by Kramnik (I am a Facebook fan of his) at Melody Amber Rapid Blitz. I had about 15 minutes to complete my game, the Grandmasters had 25 minutes plus a 20 second increment.

[Event "ICC 25 20 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "GM_Carlsen(B)"]
[Black "GM_Kramnik(B)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: classical variation, Fishing Pole"]
[ECO "E32"]
[NIC "NI.24"]
[Time "09:17:24"]
[TimeControl "1500+20"]

1. d4 Nf6! 2. c4 e6! 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O
5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6! 7. Ne2 Ba5!! TN Kramnik

Theoretical Novelty by Vladimir Kramnik

Something old,
something new,
something borrowed,
something blue

A dozen people have played 7 … e5 here,
inclusing fellow Melody Amber star Wang Yu in 2004.
Way back in 1934 Van Den Bosch played 7 … e5
followed by 8 … Ba5 against the Art of Sacrifice
author Rudolph Spielmann but nobody played
7 … Ba5! first like Kramnik here.

8. O-O! Bb6!

The pressure on d4 is already a micro-advantage since
9 Be3 is met by Fishing Pole action … Ng4!!
The dark bishop is already placed on the Peekaboo diagonal.

9. d5 Nb4!

Forking Queen and bad bishop

10. Qd2!

If 10 Qd1 or Qb1
Fishing Pole action
with 10 … Ng4!!
is even stronger.

10 … exd5!

Kramink is playing perfect computer moves so far.

11. cxd5? Ng4!!!

It’s never too late to start a Fishing Pole attack -
we have … Bb6, pressuring the a7-g1 diagonal and
we have a bishop on c8, helping guard the Fishing
Pole Knight. All we need now is a pawn on h5 and
a Queen on h4 and we are good to go.

12. Bb1 Qh4!!

Fishing Pole operation 90% complete.

13. Qf4!

Forced. On 13 h3? Kramink does not have the usual … Qg3
because of the White Knight on e2 so he would be forced to
settle for taking on f2.

13 … f5!!

Incredible -
even at blindfold rapid Kramnik manages to play perfect computer
Chess against the World #3 rated player on the Live list.

14. exf5?

Trading Queens always sucks against Kramnik
and here 14 Qg3! Q:g3 15 hg fe or … f4
gives Vlad the Impaler a clear endgame advantage.

14 … Bxf5!! 15. h3! Bxf2+!!!!!

Three exclams for best move among many wins
and two extra exclams for blindfold rapid.
Other candidates -
15 … B:b1!!!!, … Bd7!!!, … Bc8!!, … Be6! and
honorable mention to … g5!

16. Kh1 Bd7!!

11 perfect computer moves in a row at Blindfold Rapid,
how long can Kramnik keep this up? Is this Fishing
Pole attack all pregame prep intended for Anand?

17. Qg5 Bc5

17 … Bd4!!!!! wins an extra piece due to the option of
… Be5+ later. Of course letting the bishop just float on
d4 under attack from the e2-knight would be difficult at
best in blindfold. Aronian has already hung two Queens.
The line would go
17 … Bd4!!!!! 18 Bf4 Q:g5
19 B:h7+! ( to connect the rooks ) K:h7
20 B:g5 Nf2+ 21 Kh2 Be5+!! 22 Kg1 Nfd3!!
with an extra piece plus enormous pressure.

No one believes me when I scream that the biggest trouble
in the Fishing Pole is choosing from so many winning lines.
Even a Kramink can have trouble choosing from the multitude.

18. Rxf8+

Taking the free Queen leads to mate in 2
so Mighty Magnus trades rooks.

18 … Rxf8! 19. Ng1!

Look what the Fishing Pole has reduced the
#3 player in the world to in 19 moves!!

19 … Rf1!!! 20. Bxh7+!

This Greek sacrifice is hopeless but best.
Magnus has the sweet revenge of preventing
… h5 with the Full Monty.
Now 20 B:h7+ K:h7?? 21 Q:h4+
is a free Queen.

20 … Kh8 +10

{Black wins} 0-1
Magnus abdicates.
———————————————————-
[Event "ICC 25 20 u"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2009.03.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "GM_Carlsen(B)"]
[Black "GM_Kramnik(B)"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: classical variation, Fishing Pole"]
[ECO "E32"]
[NIC "NI.24"]
[Time "09:17:24"]
[TimeControl "1500+20"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. Ne2 Ba5
8. O-O Bb6 9. d5 Nb4 10. Qd2 exd5 11. cxd5 Ng4 12. Bb1 Qh4 13. Qf4 f5
14. exf5 Bxf5 15. h3 Bxf2+ 16. Kh1 Bd7 17. Qg5 Bc5 18. Rxf8+ Rxf8
19. Ng1 Rf1 20. Bxh7+ Kh8

{Black wins} 0-1
———————————————————-
[Event "Amsterdam m2"]
[Site "Amsterdam"]
[Date "1934.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Spielmann,Rudolf"]
[Black "Van den Bosch,Johannes"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Eco "E32"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d6 5.e4 0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Nge2 e5
8.0-0 Ba5 9.Nd5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Nb4 11.Bxh7+ Kh8 12.Qa4 Kxh7 13.Qxa5 Nc2
14.Rb1 Nxd4 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Bf4 Bf5 17.Rbc1 Re8 18.Rfe1 b6 19.Qd2 d3
20.Rxe8 Qxe8 21.Re1 Qd7 22.h3

1/2
———————————————————-
[Event "Internet Section 11B g/8'+2""]
[Site "Dos Hermanas"]
[Date "2004.03.11"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Xu Yuanyuan"]
[Black "Wang Yu"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "E32"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.Bd3 e5 7.Nge2 Nc6
8.d5 Nd4 9.Qd1 Nxe2 10.Qxe2 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Nd7 12.Be3 a5 13.0-0 a4
14.Rab1 b6 15.Kh1 Qe7 16.a3 Ba6 17.Rb4 Bb7 18.Bc2 Ra5 19.Rxa4 Rfa8
20.Rxa5 Rxa5 21.a4 Ba6 22.Rb1 Qe8 23.Rb4 Nb8 24.Qd1 Bc8 25.Rb5 Ra8
26.Rb1 Bd7 27.Ra1 Ra5 28.h3 Na6 29.Kh2 f6 30.Bb3 Qa8 31.Bc2 Qe8
32.Ra2 Qa8 33.Qa1 Qe8 34.Qd1 Qa8 35.Bb3 Qe8 36.Bc2 Qg6 37.Rb2 Qe8
38.Ra2 Nb8 39.Ra1 Na6 40.Ra2 Qa8 41.Bd3 g6 42.Bc2 Kg7 43.Qf1 Qe8
44.f4 Bxa4 45.Bxa4 Rxa4 46.Rxa4 Qxa4 47.fxe5 fxe5 48.Bg5 Qe8
49.Qf6+ Kg8 50.Bh6 Nc5 51.Qg7+

1-0

Props to Curtis Carlsen for pointing out this game.

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