Bobby Fischer; a Personal Piligrimage - Part 1, Introduction

Interviewer: What is Fischer?
Bobby Fischer: It is my name.
Interviewer: Could you describe that name?
Bobby Fischer: Just a name with seven letters.
(Sarajevo, 1970, quoted in "Chess Meets of the Century" by Dimitrije Bjelica)

But surely the most magical and profound seven letters in the history of chess. For those of us who came to serious chess in the late 1960s or early 1970s, there could only ever be one chess hero. Robert James Fischer; born Chicago, March 9th, 1943; US Champion eight times (every time he played), starting at the age of 14 and finishing at just 23, and including the 1963-64 event when he scored 11/11. Along a rocky road lasting just over a decade he took on, virtually single handedly, the might of the Soviet chess machine, finally becoming World Champion in Iceland in 1972 in the Match of the Century against Boris Spassky. Chess was never so important; never so popular; never so sexy.

But it wasn't easy being a Bobby fan. The frustrations at all the false starts and turns along the road to the world title were as nothing compared to the disappointment that was to follow. Because Bobby virtually disappeared. He grew more and more reclusive; more and more demanding; and less and less the stuff of hero worship.  He played again just once, a sanction busting, sensational, but ultimately irrelevant rematch against Spassky in Yugoslavia. He won easily, but I have to confess, I can't recall a single game from the match. He was now a peripheral figure. In still later years the decline continued, and he became a virtual global pariah due to his virulent anti-semitism, and anti-US sentiments. In 2005 he was rescued from a Japanese jail (on the verge of extradition to the US) by the country of Iceland, the very place where he had bestrode the world like a Colossus in 1972, and died there on January 17th, 2008. He was (how could it be anything else?) 64 years old.

But the chess, the chess! I can't find it in myself to excuse what he did and said after 1972, but his games up till then were just so awesome, and his journey so astounding and thrilling, that he will forever be my greatest chess hero. And while I wouldn't have wanted to invite him to dinner, I will forever be a fan. With games like this (only the third most famous against either of the Byrne brothers!) who wouldn't be?





So what is a an ageing and ambivalent Fischer fanboy to do? How to bring together the extremely varied emotions and memories that those seven letters evoke, and - hopefully - achieve some kind of personal clarity? Well, sitting on my backside in Kenilworth was certainly not going to deliver this kind of result, so I decided to go on a journey; a search; a pilgrimage to try and somehow connect with Fischer's life - and his death. Now to my knowledge (highly imperfect, so don't quote me!) Bobby Fischer only came to Britain once in his life, when he took part in a consultation game for BBC Radio in 1961. (He partnered Leonard Barden against Jonathan Penrose and Phil's late brother in law, Peter Clarke.) So any pilgrimage has to look further afield. The US would be possible, but besides the apartment in Brooklyn where he grew up (Apartment Q, 560 Lincoln Place), Bobby's life was either peripatetic or secretive, so there isn't really anywhere else that might help in my quest. And besides, it's all too long ago and too humdrum. What we need is somewhere visceral; somewhere dramatic; somewhere with more recent associations. There is, in fact, only one place on earth to go if you want to get close to Bobby.

And so - to Iceland!

It doesn't get much more visceral and dramatic than this!

Where the pilgrimage will shortly land in Part Two.

Good, but not Great!

The A team climbed to its highest league position of the season (a none too exciting third place) after a 3-1 away win at Leamington last night. We fielded a strong team, thanks to a rare sighting of Andy B, and duly annexed the two points but, as usual, the final result didn't necessarily tell the whole story.

Mike continued his excellent run of form (goodness knows how strong he'll be if he ever returns to full fitness!) by demolishing Rob Gill's patent 1 b3 on Board 4. He built up a clear advantage from the opening and into the middle game, and then jumped into the White position with a crushing Nxf2 sacrifice which led to a speedy conclusion. A nice clean and correct game.

Which is more than can be said about the Board 3 encounter. I eventually brought home another full point by beating Tom Darling's rare (for a good reason) Elephant Gambit. (Seeing an opening like this, it was almost like having Joshua back in the room!) I was comfortably better with an extra pawn when I saw a flashy brilliancy which, while indeed flashy was not at all brilliant. In fact with best play it should have left me a piece down for three pawns. But best play was a bit beyond both players, and instead it just became a completely winning position for me, with two extra pawns, one of which was a monster passed e pawn. Black's king was also rather unsafe, and on move 36, Tom kindly walked into mate in one which speeded things up no end.

Andrew P then drew on Board 2 against Ben Egid, after a rip-roaring encounter. Andrew was two exchanges up, but White's bishops were rampant and he had to give one back. It got very complicated, with Andrew's king going on a voluntary yomp up the kingside straight into White's waiting army of pawns and a queen. Eventually a truce was declared for reasons I failed to notice. Andrew still had an exchange, but White had a passed c pawn. It may just have been too difficult for both players to carry on!

And then proceedings were brought to a close when the top board encounter between Andy B and Andy Collins ended in another draw. Our man had not exactly ever got up any head of steam, and after regular exchanges it came down to a bishop v knight ending (we had the bishop), where the pawn structure favoured the knight. But our Andy's king got to a very strong square and with the number of pawns rapidly dwindling there was no way for either Andy to make progress.

So, almost April and two matches still to play, but with no Europa League place on offer, we only have pride left to motivate us. Let's make that third position ours!

Long evening in the snow and the rain

Once the snow had finished with Kenilworth, the rain took over. When we got to Whythall we found that they still had both.

Ben's game with white was a long and complex sicilian agisnt Gordon Christie. Eventually this simplified and petered out to a draw.

Mike's game against John Freeman was a two score sheet affair. Black got to the ending with an extra pawn but even by playing 70 or more moves, he wasn't able to win the minor piece ending. Game drawn.


Phil played Frank Jimenez with the white pieces. White's opening advantage left him with an extra pawn in rook and minor piece ending which he eventually won.

Dave was playing Kim Gilbert with black. Both players chose irregular variations of the English e4 opening line. Unfortunaltey whilst paying attention to the longer term white missed the cheaper tatics on offer and reached an ending an exchange down. Black managed to establish a rook on the seventh with ultimately allowed him to win.

A long return trip in the rain was enjoyed by all especially the closure of amount three miles of the A46.

Beware of teams facing relegation

We had been hoping to repeat our score against Solihull C. Unfortunately the spectre of relegation had galvanised Solihull into sheer tenacity.

Ben was an exchange up in his ending but his opponent Paul Smith and managed to lock down the position so tightly that anything that black might try would have probably led to a loss. Game drawn.

Mike was playing John Green who came out fighting. Unfortunately some inaccurate oppening play led black to get himself tied up without hope of developing his light squared bishop. White not only won this piece but also emerged into the ending with extra material.

Phil was playing black against Rob Anderton. Well I think it was Rob, but the style of play wasn't Rob at all. Sacrificing a knight on g6 to open up black's king side was probably unsound but it did provide a number of tactical oppertunities. White converted one of these into a win.

Dave had white against Dennis Horsley. Black opted to push his pawns on both flanks but eventually had to castle king side. White managed to infiltrate the king side with queen and knight and win whites's e pawn. Once the queens were exchanged, the ending should have been straight forward. Unfortunately, some carless play by white and excellent defending by black meant that the point was shared.

So that was it, match drawn. So only a single point for Kenilworth and worse still (for Kenilworth C) a point for Solihull.

We have won the Cup!

For the first time in Kenilworth’s history, we are the proud winners of the Coventry KO cup, following Tuesday night’s heroics against Rugby. We add this to our third place position in the Coventry League and inaugural victory in the Coventry Divisional Cup a few weeks ago. It can truly be said that we are Coventry’s number one team, when students who only get out of bed in time for Countdown, are excluded from the reckoning!

The omens did not look good when we set out to the Massey Ferguson Club (neutral venue) with an injury hit team. Having beaten Nuneaton in the semi-final the previous week, fielding a line up with an average grade of 172, the absence of Mark (holiday) and Carl (work) meant that our average grade for the biggest game of our season was down to 153 (versus 171 for Rugby.) Dave and Rod came into the team, both fresh from Divisional Cup glory and ready to go. What we lacked in rating points, we made up for in hunger. Having lost a Cup final we really should have won two years ago at the same venue, we knew this was a chance to put things right, to carve our names in history.

The evening started well. I built up an extremely good position against James Kearney and Dave was also moving nicely. Rod was battling away, Mike’s position looked the trickiest but his form has been outstanding so all things started to seem possible. I came within a whisker of beating James, as I built up a crushing King side attack. However, my Rook sacrifice left a resource I had overlooked and by giving the material back James weathered the storm. It was still complex, but hard for either of us to make much progress. I was left dreaming of what might have been. Frustrating, but we still had our first half point.

Dave was next to finish, with the game of the night against Patrick Reid. It was a truly awesome sight as Dave made light of the rating differential to bring home a victory that was beautiful to watch. He seemed to rip open Patrick’s Queen side (where Patrick’s King had been seeking shelter) minor and major pieces swarmed and his Knight delivered the final blow to put us 1.5 – 0.5 up in our games with the White pieces. A superb man of the match performance as Dave signed off his campaign in style.

At which point anything still seemed possible. Rod was battling hard, but now losing, down a pawn in an opposite Bishop ending. Unfortunately, Bob Whilding had a passed pawn and a bit of a grip on Rod’s King so it looked difficult. Mike was also down a pawn to Simon Turner. All four players were in time trouble. Mike was stoically chewing his way through cough sweets. I was pacing. The Coventry members involved in their own matches were averagely vocal. A betting man would have kept his money in his pocket.

Then finally it turned. Mike, won his pawn back and went from worse to better in about the time it would have taken someone to eat one of his throat lozenges. A draw was agreed and suddenly we had two points gained on boards 1, 2 and 3 which meant we’d won on board count! Rod battled brilliantly but went down soon after. It didn’t matter though, as all had played their part in a famous night. 2 – 2 but the silverware was ours!

Another big step in our Coventry journey… Here’s to next year!

Short but not Sweet

We lost 3-1 at home to runaway leaders (and already Champions) Olton A last night. Andrew P had a good draw with Phil Holt on Board 1, though for most of the evening it looked like he was going to go a pawn down for nothing. Mike drew against Richard Smith on Board 4 in a crazily exciting game which featured a wide range of material imbalances at different moments. I thought he was winning, but it was not quite to be. Carl then played like a man who has a 7.15 plane to catch the next day, as he saw the chance of a piece sac and went for it. It looked totally unsound to me, and I think he knew it, too! Inevitably Mark Cundy reeled in the full point.

And then there was me on Board 2, needing to win against my perennial nemesis, Alan Lloyd, to save the match. I thought I was better in a R&B ending, but I just couldn't find a way to round up a passed c pawn which Alan was tied down to defending. I forced the rooks off (maybe wrongly) and then without thinking offered a bishop exchange thinking the K&P ending was won for me. But it was a massive hallucination, as in the rook exchange his king had come a square closer to the passed pawn, and instead of me winning it, the pawn won the game. Drats. So instead of a 2-1 draw, it was 3-1 and Olton moved to 12 wins from 12 matches.

Double Dutch

Not a reference to my usual communication skills, nor a crafty way to slip in another of my much cherished Double D titles, but rather acknowledgment that in our two big matches this week it was Mike's two victories against the Dutch that made the biggest contribution to our double success.

First on Monday, he won nicely against Arran Gundry to help the A team to a 3-1 victory over second placed Banbury A. Despite reaching an ending a pawn up, it looked as though Black had enough play to draw, but Mike cleverly gave up his passed a pawn to construct a mating net with rook, knight and pawn which forced the win of an exchange, and he then made no mistake in winning with his extra material. Carl weighed in with an effortless win on Board 3 against Mr D. Fault, and I also added a point, though not without some decidedly dodgy adventures, by beating Gary Jackson on Board 2. Our only reverse came for Andrew P on Board 1, where he found himself giving away 42 grading points against James Jackson. I think he sacked a pawn with a plan to get a knight into e3 forking the entire White army. But this never happened and the game seemed to finish badly with a back rank accident.

Mike was an even bigger part of our success the following evening, when he secured the only decisive result, to give us a 2.5-1.5 Coventry KO Cup Semi-Final win against Nuneaton B. In the process we avenged ourselves for two league losses against them during the season. Mike got a very strong position out of the opening against Mike Maher and won a pawn. Black seemed to get no counterplay at all and White won in a double rook ending. Elsewhere it was all square. Ben caused an audible outburst of displeasure from Tony Green on Board 2 by playing the London System, and a draw did indeed result, though not without some interest along the way. Ben tried to set up a queen and bishop battery against hy7, and threw in an h4 push as well, but a draw it was anyway. Carl, fresh from his perfect performance the evening before, drew against Dave Kearney. He tried to make something happen with the Black pieces against a rather passive opening set-up, but White successfully defused all Carl's attempts to make the game interesting.

I could fill a book with the report on my game against Phil Briggs. He surprised me with almost every move (1 d3 was the least outrageous of his moves!), and though I tried to play classically in response, the madness in the air seemingly affected me, too. At one point White got knights on f1 and g1, while Black had knights on b8 and a8! I ended up with a totally winning position, but failed to put the boot in at the crucial moment before the time control. White equalised but then went wrong again, only for me to miss a very strong move that would have snuffed out all White's activity, and suddenly I was in trouble. Luckily though, the White king was exceedingly open and a virtual perpetual appeared on the board.  Then White went wrong again and I had a forced win, but I checked from the wrong square. White offered a draw and after realising I had no way to win, I accepted to secure the match win for us.

In the final next Tuesday we will play Rugby A, so fingers crossed for another KCC trophy win this season.

Smug: (adjective) Having an Excessive Pride in One's Achievements

So what's wrong with a little bit of self-satisfaction, anyway? Because right now, I've got a lot to be smug about. On Tuesday I beat Dimitar Daskalov of Warwick University A in our final Coventry League Division 1 fixture. He just happens to be graded 225 and, before our game, to have a Cov League record over the last two seasons of Played 22; Won 19; Drawn 3; Lost 0. Paul, twice, and myself, once, have hitherto been the only people able to avoid defeat against him.

On Tuesday against me, though, he had a real off-night, and by making an automatic recapture instead of first prodding my knight away from b5 with a6, he was quickly forced to give up his queen for a rook and bishop. Plus his pieces were hardly able to get off the back rank. Although I made hard work of realising the advantage, I got there in the end. In the process, Dimitar became the strongest player I have ever beaten. That honour previously belonged to an American called Jay Bonin who weighed in at a USCF rating of 2388 when I lowered his colours two days after my 30th birthday in 1984.  Given my subsequent steady descent into senility, I had long since abandoned hopes of ever topping that, but a quick calculation converts a 225 ECF grade to an ELO of ........ 2388! But everyone knows ELO ratings are stronger than the same USCF grade, so I am claiming a new personal best, come what may! And there's more, because I see that when Paul beat James Jackson in a Leamington League match against Banbury in 2015 he "only" gained the scalp of a mere 224 rated player! So I am also claiming a new KCC record - at least in  the modern era. (Which I define as when I joined the club! It's a bit like the way the Premier League tries to ignore the previous 100+ years of Division 1 football.)

But enough of me (is that possible?), what about the match? Well, we lost 3-1, but that was hardly a surprise (except that it wasn't 4-0), because the record breaking wasn't restricted to me on the evening. University A almost certainly set new records as both the strongest team ever fielded in the Coventry League and the strongest team ever to play against Kenilworth. They managed to get their four top players out on the same evening for the first time this season (in a meaningless match against us! - should we be flattered?) so that they averaged 215, with all four boards over 200. Now that is what you call a strong team!

Mike played a tremendous game against Guy Moss on Board 4, and seemed to have equalised from the opening and well into the middle game. But then a queen and bishop ending arrived in which White's queenside pawn majority suddenly came into play. Material was still level but White got himself a juicy passed pawn on c6 which Mike had to blockade with his queen on c7. The Black king couldn't get round to the c8 square because of a mate trick, and so White was able to march his king all the way from g1 to support the c6 pawn, while Mike was forced to remain passive. The arrival of the king broke the blockade and after a few checks had been avoided by White, the pawn was able to queen, just as Mike was losing on time. A very close run thing, and a draw would have been richly deserved.

Which is more than I can truthfully say about the games on Boards 2 and 3, where Ben and Carl did not do themselves justice against their very strong opponents, played probably their worst games of the season and lost rather disastrously. Enough said.

Nevertheless, this result, and Coventry Academy A's victory over Nuneaton B, ensured that we finished - as exclusively forecast here! -  third, for our best placing yet in the Coventry League. That alone would almost be an excuse to justify an end of season social, but as we have secured an actual trophy by winning the Coventry League Divisional Cup, we fortunately already have sufficient cause. Is that another curry I can smell, or perhaps the aroma of an alternative cuisine? The Social Secretary is doubtless already plotting a suitable celebration. I can hardly wait.

And in Third Place, Winning the Bronze Medals ........

I'm jumping the gun a bit, but as far as I can see, there is no-way in which we can now be stopped from finishing (at least) third in Division 1 of the Coventry League this season, even though there is one round of fixtures to go. This will be our best result yet, improving from the 6th place in our debut season (12 points from 14 matches), via 4th place last season (11 points from 12 matches), to 3rd in 2017-18 (15 points from 14 matches). Even if we lose our last match against University A by 0-4 (which we probably will), we can't be overtaken - even if Nuneaton B win their last match against Coventry Academy A by 4-0 (which they probably won't).

We have reached these lofty heights thanks to last night's less than convincing 2.5-1.5 win over luckless Coventry A, who were going down by the minimum margin for the fifth time this season. For us it was a fourth win by this score - on such fine margins do a season's fortunes turn!

It was a highly competitive match, as our encounters always are. Dave notched our first point, beating Bava Manickam on Board 4 after a very exciting encounter. In a typical opposite castling Sicilian, with both sides hurling themselves at the other's king, Dave faltered in a good position and seemed to have thrown away his advantage (in his opponent's time trouble!). Thankfully, though, there was a further twist to come, and Dave annexed the full point thanks to some crucial assistance.

In what has become a depressingly familiar experience this season, though, Ben was going down the gurgler against our very own Bernard C on Board 2. For some reason Ben steadfastly refused to castle on the Black side of a KIA, but in avoiding any nasty accidents to his king he managed to drop a key queenside pawn, which eventually gave Bernard two connected passed pawns (a + b) plus bishop v knight, plus active rook v passive rook. There was no escaping the inevitable.

Then we were back in front again as I managed to beat Dave Ireland for the first time ever (at the 8th attempt). Black never quite equalised from a side variation of the Sicilian, and although my play was not as precise as I would have liked, I kept an edge through the early middle game. When I threatened to put a knight into b6 with ruinous effect, Dave went wrong (in time trouble) and found himself dropping two queenside pawns for minimal compensation. Going one better than Bernard, I ended up with three passed pawns on the a and b files, and it only needed one of these to force resignation when it was about to queen on a8.

While Dave and I were going over our game, Mike was busy saving an ending a pawn down against Ed Goodwin to clinch the match, though seemingly neither player was aware that this was the case. Earlier Mike seemed to be winning the strategic battle against yet another Dutch Defence when he arranged his e4 push. Ed conjured up counterplay down the g file, though, and Mike was just not able to consolidate his advantage. In the quick play finish Ed apparently missed several (tricky) wins and Mike eventually navigated his way to a draw which sealed the match for us.

Next week we are in KO Cup Quarter Final action against Coventry F, before we conclude our league season against the all conquering University A. I am predicting one win and one loss from these two matches. No prizes for guessing which is which!

Double Delight

Two Division One wins on successive evenings have made it a good week for Kenilworth Chess Club. After our recent Double Defeat, it's a relief to be able to report on a Double Delight. No matter what the knockers say, I'm all in favour of these double d headlines.

We started off on Monday with a convincing 3.5-0.5 win over bottom club Solihull B. At least it was convincing in the end, though at times it looked likely to be a lot closer.

The first point was notched on Board 1, where Andy played an excellent and efficient game. When some tactics blew up in the middlegame he annexed a couple of pawns, before returning one to reach a completely won ending. Andy gets a lot of stick for not playing too often, but I think it's only fair to set the record straight. He has now played 21 times for Kenilworth since 2013, and his record reads won 10, drawn 10, and lost only 1 (to James Jackson). Not too shabby. Having said that, this was his first Kenilworth win for 427 days - so it was about time he got his finger out!

Surprisingly, my game was next to finish, as I won against Neil Clarke on Board 3. I say surprisingly, since from a complicated but broadly level position, he unleashed an H-Bomb of a move which I had completely failed to see coming. My queen and king were on the same diagonal, and he suddenly threatened to switch a hitherto dormant bishop from h1 to d5 with calamitous effect. And he was also threatening my loose bishop on h3. Thankfully, I kept my nerve and found the only playable line, which involved giving up my queen for two minor pieces, but surrounding his king in the process. I was threatening perpetual/mate dependent upon his response, and he should have returned the queen immediately to reach a probably drawn rook and bishop ending where my extra doubled pawn was not much use. In big time trouble, though, he went wrong and had to give up his queen for just one piece. A further inaccuracy allowed me to re-establish a mating net with doubled rooks on the seventh. A lucky win, but I'll take it.

Shortly afterwards, Andrew P drew against Tony Sadler on Board 2, after a fairly torrid evening. For most of the evening I thought he was worse, so this was something of a success from a team perspective. All that remained was for Mike D to complete a successful demolition of Julian Summerfield's Stonewall Dutch. After easily defusing Black's heavy piece attack down the h-file with the calm move Bh1, he chose the right moment to break in the centre and used some tactics to win lots of material.

The following night we had a "home" Coventry League match away at Coventry Chess Academy A. (Yes you did read that right!) Once again the match was like a KCC social/convention.

Ben drew very quickly on Board 2 against David Phillips, in a game which was devoid of any interest whatsoever as far as I could see. I'm surprised both players managed to stay awake. Mike had a rather more interesting struggle against Alan Phillips on Board 3, but the result was the same. Alan started off with the ultra-trendy and aggressive d4/Bf4/h4 set-up, but then rather backtracked by castling kingside. Mike countered in the centre to equalise and proceedings came to a fairly early end.

Thankfully, the other two games had a bit more going for them, and the match deadlock was broken on Board 4, where club stalwart Dave Shurrock beat club stalwart Roy Watson in bizarre circumstances. Dave had a slight edge as White, but Roy seemed to be defending well, when all of a sudden he must have crossed over into "Roy-world". This is seemingly a parallel universe where time becomes suspended. With three moves to make, Roy looked at the position. Then looked at it some more. Then some more again. And he only stopped looking when Dave pointed out that he had lost on time. Yes, Roy had thought for 8 minutes and done nothing. This has improved Roy's Coventry League record for us this season to Played 0; Points 2. Maybe this should be our new strategy - export players to other clubs and get them to lose against us twice a season? Especially if, like Roy, they also provide coffee and biscuits during the match!

Almost immediately the match was over, as Paul offered me a draw just before the time control and I naturally accepted. Paul had been exerting some pressure for much of the game, but Fritz says the position had never strayed far from equality. The game was still in the balance with plenty of scope for mistakes, in a highly unclear and unbalanced position and time trouble a real issue. I was certainly in no mood to chance my arm with the match on the line, so I was happy to split the point and give us two very welcome Coventry League points, after a run of 1 point from the last 3 matches.

This week's matches have put us into fourth place in each League with near-identical records - Played 9, Points 9 in the Leamington League, and Played 12, Points 13 in the Coventry League. Are we average or what?!