March - Chess Journalists of America

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Qxe6. 27. Qxh8+! Foreseeing 27. ... Bxh8 28. Rxh8+ Kg7 (or 28. ... Ng8 29. Nxe6+ Ke7 30. Rh7+) 29. Rh7+ Kf8 30. Bxf6, leaving Black helpless. 27. ... Ng8 28 Nxe6+, Black Resigns. Denker – MacMurray New York, 1932 A31 ENGLISH OPENING, Symmetrical Variation 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 A common position in the English Opening. 5. ... d5!? Usual is 5. ... e6. 6. Qa4 Qd7? Wasting time. Black gets fair compensation from the pawn sacrifice 6. ... e6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Qxc6+ Bd7. 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5 9. Nb5! XIIIIIIIIY 9r+l+kvl-tr0 9zpp+-zppzpp0 9-+n+-+-+0 9+N+q+-+-0 9Q+-+-+-+0 9+-+-+-+-0 9PzP-+PzPPzP0 9tR-vL-mKL+R0 xiiiiiiiiy 9. ... Qd7 The more natural 9. ... Qd8 lets White win material by 10. Bf4 e5 11. Bxe5! Nxe5 12. Nc7+ Ke7 13. Nxa8. 10. Bd2 e5 11. 0-0-0 Bc5? Black keeps some hope with 11. ... a6 12. Bg5 axb5 13. Qxa8 Qc7. 12. Bg5 Even stronger than 12. Ba5. 12. ... Qf5 13. Nc7+ Kf8 14. Rd8+! Nxd8 15. Qe8 mate. Denker – Amateur Simultaneous exhibition, USA 1934 A82 DUTCH DEFNSE, Staunton Gambit 1. d4 f5 2. e4 The Staunton Gambit against the Dutch Defense. fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f3 exf3?! Much safer is 4. ... d5 or 4. ... Nc6. 5. Nxf3 e6 6. Bd3 Bb4?! The Bishop belongs at e7. 7. 0-0 Bxc3 8. bxc3 b6 9. Bg5 Bb7 10. Ne5 Winning. 10. ... 0-0 11. Ng4! Eyeing f6 and h7. Arnold Denker’s last game, against Don Schultz and Tim Redman in consultation. Photo by Randi Denker. 11. ... d6 After 11. ... Qe7 12. Qe1!, Black cannot stand 13. Qh4. 12. Nxf6+ gxf6 XIIIIIIIIY 9rsn-wq-trk+0 9zplzp-+-+p0 9-zp-zppzp-+0 9+-+-+-vL-0 9-+-zP-+-+0 9+-zPL+-+-0 9P+P+-+PzP0 9tR-+Q+RmK-0 xiiiiiiiiy 13. Bxh7+! Anticipating 13. ... Kxh7 14. Qh5+ Kg7 15. Qh6+ Kg8 16. Qg6+ Kh8 17. Rxf6. 13. ... Kg7 14. Qh5 fxg5 15. Qg6+ Kh8 16. Bg8!, Black Resigns. The Andrew I Knew By Don Schultz The Andrew I knew went by the name of Arnold. His real name was Andrew, but an Uncle kept calling him Arnold and it stuck. Family, the chess world and everyone always called him Arnold and few knew that was not his name. “Hello Don, this is Arnold” - Over the last quarter century, Arnold would call me at every few days and these were the words I first heard. I’ll never hear them again and, each time my telephone rings, I will think of Arnold. Yes, I will miss him, but I will also look back with pleasure at the fun time of the past, how fortunate I was to have as my friend: “The Man Chess Loved” When I think of Arnold, I think of the press rooms of the great world championships of the eighties. Typically you would see, surrounded by journalists, Arnold and a few of his friends such as Tal and Najdorf holding court. There were no computers to help the press, only the candid discussion among these giants of the chess world.. At chess meetings, Arnold had a little trick that few ever realized. It was always pre-planned and always worked though used sparingly for just the right debates. Here is how it worked. During the debate, Arnold would remain quiet. Then suddenly he would jump up, rush to the mike, pay no addition to those waiting to be recognized and bypassed 14 THE CHESS JOURNALIST MARCH 2005
them in line. He would shout in the microphone: “This is a disgrace, I can’t believe you are even thinking of doing this; I’m getting out of here.” He would then turn and head for the door. Always, before he reached the door someone from the opposition would say” “Wait Arnold, don’t leave, we will work this out, how about …” When I think of Arnold, I think of Gabriel Schwartzman whom we both met at the chess Olympiad in Thessalonika, Greece in 1988. Gabriel, then 12 years old, came to us and said: “Hello, my name is Gabriel Schwartzman and I am a chessplayer, Would you like to see some of my games.” “Sure,” we said. Well we were so impressed that we arranged for a match between Gabriel and Arnold in Florida. Gabriel and his family later became lifelong friends of ours. Gabriel also became the youngest grandmaster in the world, He went to the U of Florida, studied business administration and has achieved great success as an American businessman. He and his parents are now enjoying a life in Florida they would never have realized had they stayed in Romania. Both Arnold and I take great satisfaction in having had something to do with that. Another time, Rhona Petroysan, widow of former world champion Tigran Petroysan asked Arnold if he could help her move to the states. Arnold and I discussed this and decided the easiest way was to find an American chessplayer for Rhona to marry. We decided our friend Donald Stone was the perfect person. “What are you nuts?” were Stone’s immediate reply to our request. We were a bit taken back by this since Donald , who was in his late seventies, always responded to a call for help when it involved the game he loved. Nevertheless, we weren’t about to be put off so easily. Stone continued: “I’m only a B player. I’ve been married before and vowed I’d never do it again. I’m too old.” We listened to all these attempts by Stone to avoid his responsibility but remained undeterred. Finally our persistence succeeded: “Okay” he said, “Is she pretty?” We gave Rhona and Donald the information they needed in order to get in touch with each other. But, the marriage never took place as Rhona found a way to enter the U.S. through more conventional means. Arnold’s second passion was going to the race track. He and I would sit indoors watching the odds change, suddenly he would jump up and rush away to place his bet. He’d return and say in a loud voice to me: “I bet ten big ones on number five,” heads would turn to see who the big bettor was. What they didn’t realize was ten big ones meant ten bucks which is what Arnold and I generally would bet on any race. Upon leaving the track, I’d generally drop Arnold off at his apartment and head home. Arnold would call Teresa to let her know I’m on my way. When Teresa answered, she would immediately say: “Okay Arnold, how much money did you almost win today?” You see Arnold would never lose; he would win or almost win. Another time as I was about to leave my seat, Arnold said to me: “Don, I was up all night handicap- Solutions to Chess Quiz (see page 16) ping this race and number six can’t lose, take my word for it.” Now Arnold was an excellent handicapper, so I left and bet on six. I returned to my seat and looked over at Arnold still studying the race. He turned and said: “Gosh, how did I miss this look at that four horse, I’m betting big bucks on him.” Arnold jumped up, left and bet on the four horse. Of course the four horse won and the six horse came in last. In many ways, Arnold was the most impatient man I ever knew. He would never wait for a red light. Whether in Buenos Aires, New York or Paris, Arnold would rush across the street weaving left and right dodging cars like any football star rushing downfield on a hundred yard run. Arnold and I didn’t always agree. One time we had a serious argument. Finally Arnold got up, left my hotel room and slammed the door. I rushed to the door opened it up and called to Arnold; “Okay, we will do it your way.” He turned, smiled and said: “See it always works!” Safvat - Zwaig, Varna Olympiad, 1962 Black combines the motifs of overloading and back-rank mate to win at least a piece with 1. ... Qc2 2. Qd2 Re2 0–1 Thornley - Griffith, London, 1903 The unluckily-placed White Queen is suddenly lost to a mating threat after 1. ... Na4! 2. Ka2 (If the Queen moves (or 2. Kxa4), 2. … Ra1 is another back-rank mate -- but on a file!) Nxb6 3. Kxb1 Nd5 0–1 Nimzowitsch - Tarrasch, St Petersburg, 1914 The White King is run to ground after 27. ... Rxe4+ 28. fxe4 f4+ (To be fair, 28. ... Qg3+ mates more quickly—29. Kd2 Qf2+ 30. Kd1 Qe2#—but perhaps Tarrasch wanted to enjoy his great rival‘s discomfiture.) 29. Kxf4 Rf8+ 30. Ke5 (No better was 30. Qf6 g5+ 31. Kf5 Qh3+ 32. Ke5 (32. Kxg5 Qg3+ 33. Kh5 (33. Kf5 Bh3#) 33. ... Be2+ 34. Kh6 Rxf6+ 35. Bxf6 Qg6#) 32. ... Qh2+ 33. Ke6 Rxf6+ 34. Kxf6 Qf4+ 35. Ke7 Bh3 36. Bf6 Qc7+ 37. Ke8 Qd7#] 30. ... Qh2+ 31. Ke6 Re8+ 32. Kd7 Bb5# 0–1 15 THE CHESS JOURNALIST MARCH 2005
Page 1 and 2: VOLUME XXXIV, NO. 1 CONSECUTIVE NO.
Page 3 and 4: Daniel Lucas, President of the Ches
Page 5 and 6: news, features, etc., in an easy-to
Page 7 and 8: expanded on his frustration with th
Page 9 and 10: Editorial: A little knowledge How s
Page 11 and 12: CHESS EXAM AND TRAINING GUIDE, by I
Page 13: Arnold Denker, 1915- 2005 by IM Jac

March - Chess Journalists of America

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