City of the two Seas

Pierre Berlacki – Roberto Cosulich
8th International Festival; Catanzaro, April 1977
Pirc Defence B07

Comments in quotation marks by Grandmaster Enrico Paoli, Scacco!, No. 6, June 1972, p. 171.

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nbd2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 0-0 6. 0-0 Nc6 7. c3 e5. 7. ... Re8!? 8. Re1 (8. e5!) 8. ... e5! 9. dxe5?! Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Rxe5 gave Black comfortable equality in Cosulich – P. C. Benkö, 13th New Year's International Tournament, Reggio Emilia 1970/71.
8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Nxe5 dxe5 10. Qc2 c6. Dubious is 10. ... Be6?! 11. Nf3 Nd7 12. Ng5 Qe7 13. Rd1 Rfd8 14. Be3 Nf8 15. Nxe6 Nxe6 16. Qb3 b6 17. Bc4⩲ B. Larsen – Quinteros, 3rd Gran Torneo Internacional de Ajedrez “Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria”, Las Palmas 1974. Instead, both 10. ... b6 and 10. ... Bh6! (a recommendation by Slovene-Yugoslav Grandmaster Bruno Parma) merit consideration.
11. a4 Qc7 12. Nc4 Be6 13. Bg5. “A provocative move whose purpose is quite unclear”.
13. ... h6 14. Be3 b5?! 15. Nd2 a6 16. Rfd1. “To be considered is 16. Ra3, with the idea of doubling Rooks on the a-file to take advantage of the dubious advance of Black Pawns on the Queenside. If now 16. ... Rfd8 17. Re1 Bf8 18. b4 with complications favourable to White”.
16. ... Rfb8 17. b3 Bf8 18. c4 Ng4 19. Bxg4 Bxg4 20. f3 Be6 21. cxb5 axb5 22. axb5 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 Rxb5 24. Ra6 c5 25. Ra8 Kg7. “Now someone might speculatively argue that there was justification for the move 13. Bc1-g5. However, Black could have avoided the loss of the Pawn with 25. ... g5 (26. h4 f6). If he loses it, it is because he thinks he can tactically profit from it. The g1-b6 diagonal will be weakened”.
26. Bxh6+ Kxh6 27. Rxf8 c4?! “With the dual threat of gaining the Rook (... Qc7-c5+) or taking possession of the b-file (... Qc7-b6+). White avoids the first, but not the second”.
28. bxc4. “If 28. Ra8 c3!∓”.
Indeed, after 28. Ra8, Black has a much more convincing rejoinder in 28. ... Qb6+ 29. Kh1 cxb3−+.
28. ... Qb6+

29. Kf1? “After 29. Kh1! (but it took courage — and the ability to concretely calculate all variations), no clear finish line for Black is visible. For example: 29. ... Rb2 30. Qc1 Qe3 (30. ... Kg7? 31. c5! Qb4 32. Rd8) 31. Rd8 Bxc4 32. h3 etc. If 30. ... Qf2 31. Rd8 Kg7 32. h3 etc.
29. ... Rb2 30. Qc1. “If 30. Qc3 (or 30. Qd3), Black wins at once by 30. ... Bxc4 31. Qxc4 Rxd2 32. Rh8+ Kg5! (32. ... Kg7? 33. Rh7+! Kxh7 34. Qxf7+ Kh6 35. Qf8+ Kg5 36. h4+! and wins. So Black must content himself with perpetual: 35. ... Kh7 etc.) 33. h4+ Kf4 34. Qxf7+ Kg3”.
30. ... Kg7 31. Rd8. “Even 31. Ra8 does not change the result either: 31. ... Bxc4+ 32. Qxc4 Rxd2”.
31. ... Bxc4+ 32. Qxc4 Qxd8 0–1.

Live and Let Live

Once Upon a Time in the Sixties

Hermann Emden – Roberto Cosulich
10th International Festival; Imperia, September 1968
Neo-King’s Indian Defence A48

Comments in quotation marks by Grandmaster Enrico Paoli, L’Italia Scacchistica, No. 10, October 1968, p. 244.

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. Nbd2 0-0 5. e4 d6 6. Bd3. “It is not clear what future this Bishop can have on the b1-h7 diagonal, especially after the blockade of the e5-square”.
6. ... Nbd7 7. Nb3. Another way is 7. 0-0 e5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Nc4 Qe7 10. b4 b6 11. Qc2 Bb7 12. a4⩲ Ree – Planinc, 14th IBM International Chess Tournament, Amsterdam 1974.
7. ... e5 8. 0-0 Re8 9. Qc2 Nf8 10. Be3 Bg4 11. Nfd2. “White continues in his rather passive conduct and deprives his forces of opportunities of favourable future developments”.
11. ... Nh5 12. f3 Bd7 13. g3 Bh3 14. Rfe1 c6 15. Nc1 Ne6 16. Ne2

16. ... Nhf4! “And here is the first result: Black is already able to start with the brilliant coups!”.
17. Nxf4. “If 17. gxf4 exf4 18. Bf2 (18. Nxf4 Qg5+) 18. ... Qg5+ 19. Ng3 h5 continuing the attack. However, the text’s solution doesn’t seem satisfactory either”.
17. ... exf4 18. gxf4 Bh6 19. Bf1 Bxf4 20. Bxh3 Bxe3+ 21. Kh1. 21. Rxe3! Qg5+ 22. Kf2 Qh4+ 23. Kg1 Qxh3 leaves Black with somewhat the better game, but not so easy to play as the actual one.
21. ... Bf4 22. Nf1 Ng5 23. Bg2 h5 24. Qf2 Qf6 25. Rad1 d5 26. a3 Kg7 27. e5 Qf5 28. Ne3 Bxe3 29. Rxe3 Qf4 30. h4? (30. Qd2 Ne6∓)
30. ... Ne4 31. Qe1 Ng3+ 32. Kg1 Nf5. “Of course also 32. ... Qxh4 would have been possible, but the taking with the Knight is more promising”.
Indeed, after 32. ... Qxh4 33. f4! Nf5 34. Qxh4 Nxh4 35. Bf1 Nf5 Black is a sound Pawn up, but Cosulich aims at more than it.
33.Re2 Nxh4 34.Qd2 Qxd2 35.Rdxd2 g5 36.Kf2 Ng6 37.Re1 Nf4 38.Kg3 Re7 39.Bh3 Rae8 40.Bf5 f6 41. exf6+ Kxf6 42.Rxe7 Rxe7 43.Bc8 Rc7 44.Bh3 Nxh3 45.Kxh3 Re7 46.Kg3 Kf5 47. Kf2 Kf4 48.Rd3 h4 49.b3 h3 50. c4

50. ... Re1! 0–1. “A final brilliance based on an interference which is often found in endgames and even in studies. A fine strategic-tactical performance by the good and promising young Master”.

Multicultural Fables and Fairy Tales

Tout ou rien

Jean Fricker – Roberto Cosulich
17th International Festival; La Spezia, March 1970
Dutch Defence A89

1. Nf3 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. 0-0 d6 6. d4 0-0 7. Nc3 Nc6. The Matulović Variation of the Leningrad Dutch.
8. d5 Na5 9. Qd3 c5. If 9. ... e5 then 10. dxe6 Bxe6 11. b3⩲ (an assessment by none other than Botvinnik).
10. Rb1!? (10. b3)
10. ... Ne4! 11. Nb5?! If 11. Nxe4 fxe4 12. Qxe4 then 12. ... Bf5 skewers Queen and Rook. Best is probably 11. Ng5 Nxc3 (11. ... Nxg5 12. Bxg5⩲) 12. bxc3 Qe8! (Δ ... Qe8-a4) 13. Rb5 b6 (Fauland – M. S. Tseitlin, 15th “Dezső Elekes Memorial” International Tournament, Budapest 1990) and now, according to Tseitlin himself, 14. Ne6 should give White the advantage.
11. ... a6 12. Na3

12. ... b5! 13. Nd2 13. cxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Ba6 gives Black at least enough compensation for the Pawn, pretty similarly to the way it goes in the Benkö Counter-Gambit.
13. ... Rb8! 14. Nxe4 fxe4 15. Bxe4 Nxc4 16. Nxc4 bxc4 17. Qc2. Obviously not 17. Qxc4 because of 17. ... Rb4−+ 18. Qc2 Rxe4 19. Qxe4 Bf5 skewering Queen and Rook.
17. ... Qa5 18. h4? Here White, labouring under the false impression that he has a mating attack, burned all bridges behind him. He should have played 18. Bg5 Rb7 19. a3 with a still tenable position.
18. ... Qxa2 19. h5 Bf5 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. g4!? The point of White’s play, but he overlooked something important.
21. ... Bxg4 22. Bxg6. With the winning threat of Qc2-e4.

22. ... Qb3! 23. Qe4 Qh3! That’s all! And now it is Black who threatens a mate by ... Rb8-b3-g3+.
24. Bg5 Bf5! Cosulich plays it simply.
25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Qh4. Losing a second Pawn, but no better is 26. Bxe7 Re5 27. Qh4 Qf5!, for if 28. Bxd6 then 28. ... Qg6+ winning the Bishop.
26. ... Qxh4 27. Bxh4 Rxd5 28. e3 Bxb2 29. Bxe7 Kf7 30. Bh4 c3 31. e4 Rh5 0–1.

Ballads & Sonnets

La Bête noire

Roberto Cosulich – Stuart Wagman
6th International Festival; Marina Romea, August 1977
Spanish Game C67

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6. If Wagman had hoped to disarm Cosulich with his Berlin Wall, he failed.
4. 0-0 Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8. A critical tabiya position, with pros and cons for both colours. White’s Kingside Pawn majority should be compensated by Black’s Bishop pair, while the loss of the right to castle is of hardly any importance to Black, as the position after the exchange of Queens can be regarded already as an endgame.
9. Bf4!? Be6. It may be worth noting that here 9. ... h6 10. Rd1+ Ke8 11. Nc3 Be6 was preferred by the “king of draws” in L. Horwitz – Schlechter, Vienna Chess Society Winter 1895/96 Tournament, Vienna 1896.
10. Nbd2 Ke8 11. g4 Ne7 12. h3 Nd5 13. Bg3 Rd8 14. Ne4 Nb4 15. c3 Nd3. Not 15. ... Nxa2? on account of 16. Neg5 Bd5 17. e6! fxe6 18. Rfe1 overloading Black’s defences.
16. b3 h6 17. Rad1 Bd5? 17. ... Nc5! would have simplified the position with fairly even prospects. The text is a tactical error as White will unleash an overwhelming attack against the Black King stuck in the centre.

18. Nf6+! gxf6 19. Rxd3 Bxf3.
This only worsens Black’s situation.
20. Rxf3 Rd2 21. Re1 Rg8 22. exf6+ Kd7 23. Bf4! Rd5. The Pawn is still taboo: 23. ... Rxa2 24. Rd3+ Bd6 25. Re7+ Kc8 26. Bxd6 cxd6 27. Rxf7 winning very easily.
24. c4 Rd4 25. Be5 Rd2 26. Bc3 Rd6 27. Bb4. By an elegant manœuvre of his Bishop, White succeeded in chasing away from the d-file the Black Rook.
27. ... Re6 28. Rd3+ Kc8. After 28. ... Ke8 29. Red1 Black can avoid mate only at the cost of huge material loss.
29. Rxe6 fxe6 30. f7 Rh8 31. Bc3 Rh7

32. Bf6! 1–0. For if 32. ... Bd6 then 33. f8=Q+! Bxf8 34.Rd8#.

Joanne Goes to the Library

Lost & Not Found

For the sake of completeness, it is important to add that the ghost of Roberto Cosulich was still haunting Genoa in 1978. Indeed, according to Scaccomatto (No. 6/1997) — the monthly newsletter of the Circolo Scacchistico Genovese Luigi Centurini — he would come back from India and leave days later to Latin America “one autumn evening in 1978, after dropping by the Club to say hello to his friends”. The tale continues thus:

“The valuable account provided by Mario Quaglia here comes to our aid. On the way back from India, Cosulich calls in at Genoa, now clean-shaven, well dressed, with short haircut (!). He tells about his wanderings through India, where he would earn his living by playing blitz chess (he was very good even in this specialty, with several Italian Championsip titles under his belt). He stayed here for some days, then he left again. His restless, unhappy mind pushes him towards another destination: he goes back to South America. Roberto Cosulich never came back from this trip. A few years ago we learned from a French chess magazine that the passport of someone called Cosulich, a chess Master, would have been discovered in Peru among the victims of a natural disaster. His body, however, was never found”.

The name of Mario Quaglia is not new since it was mentioned by Paolo Silvestri in a biographical article which appeared on the SoloScacchi website on January 4, 2014: “Halfway between 1973 and 1974 Roberto used to hang out with a group of — let’s call them thus — Genoese creatives: Mario Quaglia, Popi Frizziero, Umberto Melli... I remember them in a small flat at Boccadasse... discussions... chatter... laughter... focaccia and white wine until three in the morning”.
And so, a friend of Cosulich put another period to what everyone knew or guessed. In Quaglia’s account, however, there is a detail that sounds implausibly novelistic. I’ve been in India many years ago, and would doubt seriously that, at the time (1978), anyone could in any way earn a living by playing blitz chess. Why? Simple. There weren’t any opponents as chess was not popular at all in India, however incredible it may seem nowadays! Secondly, more importantly and surely Cosulich hadn’t gone to India to play chess. He was escaping a life he abhorred, where chess was mere routine work. And now, would he have played chess for a handful of rupees? No, never again. Most likely he hid in an ashram, where studied meditation and Eastern philosophy, and learned all secrets of reincarnation. It is not given to know whether, in his self-deconstruction, he changed his name, too. But of course it’s not impossible.
In the meantime, life went on.
There were birthdays and funerals he missed. Conversations and encounters he wasn’t part of.
His ancient mentor, Hermann Pilnik, died on November 12, 1981, at Caracas, Venezuela.
Giambattista Lazagna was acquitted and discharged from any prosecutions, indictments and imprisonments commenced against him.
The late Roberto Cosulich no longer needed his passport.

Bye and fly away

In a long article entitled “Cosulich, un ‘giallo’ ancora senza soluzione” (“Cosulich, a ‘detective story’ still without a solution“), by Marco Esposito and Sergio Pagano, Scacchitalia, No. 3, October 2026, pp. 40-43, the cronistas collected the testimonies of a national chess umpire, Lorenzo De Angelis, who would have met Roberto Cosulich in Genoa, Italy, in 1985, five years after his alleged passing. They would have also played a few off-hand games — all won, of course, by the bearded fakir. But when it comes to Cosulich, any rumours of his death, as well as of his resurrection, are usually much exaggerated, and De Angelis himself jokes about it a little bit: “I played against a ghost”. Esposito and Pagano also questioned Genoa Municipality’s Registry Office, according to which in 1977 Cosulich moved from Via Stefano Prasca in Quarto dei Mille district to Vico del Cioccolatte in Carmine district, where — at least officially — he resided until February 17, 1986, when he was cancelled from the Registry.
This is all suggestive, to say the least, but where one resides is not necessarily where one lives. As a matter of fact, Cosulich was seen for the last time in his mortal flesh at the Fiumicino Airport, Saturday, 10, or Sunday, 11 June 1978, on his way to India, and, like Kowalski, disappeared through the Vanishing Point into the world.

The Aesthetics of Imperfection

“Sometimes the best move does not equal a perfect outcome. Sometimes there are no best moves, but the one that suits you the most”. 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán), four-time Women’s World Chess Champion

To See a World in a Grain of Sand

Flashbacks of a Flower Child

While watching the game between these two giants, I often met Cosulich’s gaze — a very intelligent and tense one, given the no-holds-barred nature of the game, like an obstacle race in which the palm is awarded to the “one who comes first and first delivers checkmate”. I will never forget Cosulich’s gaze, addressed at a child like me, who likely grasped only a few marginal details of the game. Matteo Bosinelli, “Un figlio dei fiori”, Il Nuovo Faro, Year XI, No. 2, July 2017, p. 22.

Marco Albano – Roberto Cosulich
23rd International Festival; La Spezia, March 1976
Sicilian Defence B78

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 d6 7. Bc4 Nf6 8. f3 Bd7 9. Qd2 0-0 10. 0-0-0 Rc8 11. Bb3 Ne5 12. h4 h5 13. Bh6. If in the mood, White can go for the jugular with 13. g4!? hxg4 14. h5 Nxh5 15. Bh6 Rxc3? (Black’s best is 15. ... e6! at once) 16. bxc3 e6 17. Rdg1→ Cosulich – Porreca, 16th International Festival, San Benedetto del Tronto 1967.
13. ... Bxh6 14. Qxh6 Rxc3 15. bxc3 Qa5 16. g4 Qxc3 17. Kb1 a5 18. gxh5 a4

It’s all theory so far.
19. Ne2? But White’s first new move is also his last one, in the sense that it costs him the game. Albano, however, seems to be oblivious to such “pedantic” details. The old book went on with 19. hxg6! axb3! 20. cxb3 fxg6 21. h5 (21. Rhg1 Kf7 22. h5 gxh5 23. Rg7+ Ke8 24. f4 Nd3!−+ Goichberg – Soltis, 3rd Eastern Team Championship, New York 1970) and now:
a ) 21. ... Nxh5 22. Rxh5! (22. f4? Nd3! 23. Qxg6+ Ng7−+ Janošević – Mestel, Zetters International Pools Grandmasters Tournament, Birmingham 1975) 22. ... gxh5 23. Rg1+ Bg4! 24.Ne6! Rf7 25.fxg4 Qd3+ with perpetual check;
b) 21. ... g5!! 22. Qxg5+ (22. Rhg1 g4!) 22. ... Kh7! with dynamic equality.
Alternatively, one can save space and time by saying with Tony Miles (It’s Only Me), “Mestel told me it is a forced draw. I don’t quite remember why, but he knows about these things”.
19. ... Qxf3 20. hxg6 axb3 21. axb3 fxg6. Clearly not 21. ... Qxe2?? because of 22. g7 turning the tables on Black.
22.h5 Nxh5 23.Rdf1 Qxf1+ 24.Rxf1 Rxf1+ 25.Kb2 Bc6. Black has too much for the Queen. White could already resign at peace with his conscience.
26. Qg5 Kf7 27. Nc3 Nf6 28. Qe3 Rf3 29.Qe2 Rf4 30.b4 Nxe4 31.Qh2 g5 32.Qh5+ Ng6 33.Nxe4 Rxe4 34.Qxg5 Rxb4+ 35.Kc3 Rf4 36.Qa5 Ne5 37.Qd8 Ba4 38.Qa8 Rc4+ 39.Kd2 Rxc2+ 40.Ke3 Bc6 41.Qh8 Rc3+ 42. Kd2 Rf3 0–1. White flagged.

You know, Edna, as Herbert Marcuse says, “Domination has its own aesthetics, and democratic domination has its democratic aesthetics”

Artwork © Jose-Ramiro

Odds and Sods

General elections or opinion polls?

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, November 2, 2026

The fact that what we continue to call democracy has lost its significace is proven by the indiscriminate use of opinion polls, which lay bare the now obvious conclusion that elections are mere opinion surveys and not the expression of a political will. By showing the numerical weight of parties on a daily basis — through the changing views of survey respondents — such polls produce a sort of perpetual election, which no one controls and can therefore be manipulated — as indeed it is — so as to influence, on its part, the very opinion that it should reflect. We call democracy a government by public opinion, i.e., something without any political substance, which has no other reality than that of polls that, at the very moment they seem to record it, incessantly create it, alter it, and manipulate it. The process by which Rousseau’s “general will” — which cannot be numbered — got transformed into public opinion — which is only a matter of numbers — defines the fate of Western democracies.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Rolf Amstrong, Nehi, 1937. Courtesy of WikiArt.

High Season in Nice

Roberto Cosulich – Unto Eevert Venäläinen
21st Chess Olympiad Qualifying Group 3; Nice, June 14, 1974
Spanish Game C73

Comments in quotation marks by International Master Giorgio Porreca, L’espresso, No. 39, September 29, 1974, p. 135.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. Bxc6+. “The simplest continuation. After 5. d4 b5 and 5. c3 f5 major complications can arise”.
5. ... bxc6 6. d4 f6. A move attributed to Semyon Zinovyevich Alapin. Less sound is 6. ... Bg4 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8+ Rxd8 9. Be3! Bd6 10. Nbd2 Ne7 11. Nc4 f6 12. Nfd2! Kf7 13. c3 Rb8? 14. b4 Rhd8 15. Nb3 Nc8 16. Nba5± Cosulich – Unzicker, 2nd International Tournament, Bari 1970.
7. Be3 g6. Intending ... Ng8-h6-f7 (Capablanca’s manœuvre).
“It is worth recalling a trap into which even some strong players fell: 7. ... Rb8 8. Nc3 Rxb2 9. dxe5 fxe5 10. Nxe5! dxe5 11. Qxd8+ followed by castling with check!”.
8. Qd2! (8. Nc3 Nh6 9. h3 Nf7=)
8. ... Bg7 9. Nc3 Ne7 10. 0-0-0 0-0

11. Rdg1!? In this position a new move, if in line with the strategic policy of the variation. Only two months earlier at the tournament in celebration of 600th anniversary of Solingen city, 10th World Chess Champion Boris Vasilievich Spassky continued 11. Bh6 Qe8 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Ne1 Be6 14. f4 exf4 15. Qxf4 Rb8 16. Nf3 Qc8 17. Rhe1 Qb7 18. b3 Qb4 19. Qe3 a5 20. d5 Bf7 21. Kb2 Rfe8 22. a3 Qb7 23. Qd3 with the upper hand, Spassky – Westerinen, International Tournament, Solingen 1974.
11. ... d5? “The decisive strategic mistake”.
11. ... exd4 12. Nxd4 c5 is the way Black should play.
12. dxe5 fxe5 13. Bh6. “White immediately singled out the e5-Pawn as the critical point of his opponent’s position”.
13. ... Qd6 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qg5 Qf6. “Hoping to ease up the position through the exchange of Queens”.
16. Qxe5 Qxe5 17. Nxe5 Rxf2 18. Rf1 Rxf1+? “Thus he loses a Pawn by force. The lesser evil for Black would have been now 18. ... Rf6 with an unpleasant ending for Black after 19. Nd3 or 19. Rd1”.
19. Rxf1 Be6

20. Nxc6! ”Typical of Cosulich’s play is the switch from positional to material advantage through simple and elegant moves”.
20. ... Nxc6 21. exd5 Bd7 22. dxc6 Bxc6 23. g3 Re8 24. Rf2 Re1+. “Black wants to defend actively and ends up worsening the situation”.
25. Kd2 Rh1 26. Ke3 g5 27. Kd4 h5 28. Kc5. “White sent the King itself to the front line and it is well known as in endgame such an intervention is decisive”.
28. ... Bb7 29. Nd5 h4 30. gxh4 gxh4 31. Nxc7 h3

32. Nd5! a5 33. c4. “The technical solution is not of exceptional difficulty, however White’s moves are exemplary for calm and precision. A trivial blunder would have been 33. Nf4 Bg2 34. Nxg2 Rxh2”.
33. ... a4 34. b3 a3 35. Kb4 1–0,

Time Reborn

Neolithic conservative

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, October 30, 2026

Paul Goodman, one of the most radical anarchist thinkers of the twentieth century, once defined himself as a “neolithic conservative”. And Ivan Illich — who thought of himself as one who was standing with one foot in the Catholic tradition and the other in the mire of his own time — used to say that his orthodoxy was so ancient and complete as to be revolutionary. This means that to comprehend, and perhaps even dismantle, the historical time in which we live, one must keep a foot in prehistory. This situation on the threshold or boundary between two incommensurable epochs is precisely what our time proves unable to satisfy. Not only does our time think in one dimension only, but has lost any relation with its own past — a relation without which no access to the present is possible. For this reason it can only look to a future which is in reality nothing else than the consequence of a past to which it is entirely oblivious — and which moves it with its strings like a puppet. Only those who stand firmly on both legs between past and present can reckon with both of them without being unconsciously moved by them. Only a neolithic conservative can be revolutionary enough to open up a new space for thought and action.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Joseph Beuys, Hearts of the Revolutionaries: Passage of the Planets of the Future, 1955. Courtesy of WikiArt.

Future Self

Sea and Shore

Sergio Mariotti – Roberto Cosulich
16th International Festival; San Benedetto del Tronto, July 1967
Sicilian Defence B39

Comments in quotation marks by L’Italia Scacchistica, No. 8, August 1967, pp. 184-185. The commentary is unsigned but is probably the work of the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Giovanni Ferrantes.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 Ng4. Gyula Breyer’s brand.
8. Qxg4 Nxd4 9. Qd1 Ne6. Aron Nimzowitsch’s trademark.
10. Qd2 d6 11. h4!? At the time a novelty, which was probably inspired to Mariotti by his early mentor, the exiled Russian Prince Nikolay Alekseyevich Obolensky, who, long before the coming of AlphaZero, did not fear to use the h-Pawn as an attacking weapon — with both White and Black.
11. ... h5 12. Be2 Bd7 13. f4 Bc6. L’Italia Scacchistica attaches a question mark to it, but maybe it is not so bad as they think. Nevertheless, 13. ... Qa5! 14. Rc1 Nc5⇄ was certainly best now.
14. f5 Nc5 15. Bd4. “Now Black finds himself in a very critical situation”.
15. ... Bh6 16. Qc2

16. ... Rg8? So far, this is Black’s only mistake, and alas for him — is an almost definitive one. Much better was 16. ... e5! 17. Bxc5 (17. fxe6 0-0! leads nowhere for White) 17. ... dxc5 18. Rd1 Qf6 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5⩲ leaving White with little or nothing of advantage.
17. b4. “Wins a piece. Now Black must seek for the most counterplay possible in the attempt to save the game”.
17. ... Nxe4!? 18. Nxe4 gxf5 19. Ng5 e5 20. Be3. Not 20. Nxf7? Kxf7 21. Qxf5+ on account of 21. ... Kg7! 22. Bf2 Rf8 with the upper hand for Black.
20. ... Bxg2. “If now 20. ... f4? 21. Qh7!”.
21. Qxf5 Bxg5 22. Bxg5 Rxg5 23. hxg5 Bxh1. At the end of the skirmish, Black is two Pawns up — but only temporarily.

24. 0-0-0! Here is the point. If now 24. ... Bc6 there would follow 25. g6! winning at once. Therefore Black’s reply is forced.
24. ... Be4! 25. Qxe4 Qxg5+ 26. Kb2 0-0-0. Black has three Pawns for the Bishop and his King is castled, but only straight into the enemy’s attack!
27. Bf3 Rd7 28. Qh7? Mariotti complicates life uselessly. More straightforward was 28. c5! f5 29. Qc4 e4 30. cxd6+ Kb8 (30. ... Kd8 31. Bxh5!+−) 31. Qe6+− with an easy win.
28. ... h4 29. Be4 Kc7 30. Bf5. Probably White had to think about exchanging Queens on f5, but who can blame him for not doing so?
30. ... Re7 31. Bh3. “Threatens 32. Qh8 f5 33. Qf8 and wins”.

31. ... e4! “The only move”.
The way in which Cosulich saves the ending is remarkable, and remarkably technical. The punctuation of the following moves is that of the original text from L’Italia Scacchistica.
32. Qh8 Qe5+ 33. Qxe5 Rxe5 34. Re1. “If 34. Rf1 Black intended to reply with 34. ... b5! exchanging as many Pawns as possible”.
34. ... f5 35. Kc3 f4 36. Kd4 e3 37. Bg2 Rg5 38. Bf3 b5! 39. Rh1 bxc4 40. Rxh4 Re5! 41. Rh2! “It was a draw with 41. Rh1 on account of 41. ... e2! 42. Re1 Re3! 43. Bxe2 c3 and White can no longer move anything".
41. ... a5! 42. a3 axb4 43. axb4 Rg5 44. Rh4 Re5 45. Rh2 Rg5 46. Ke4? “This move leads to a draw by force. The only try was 46. Rh7+ Kb6! 47. Kxc4 d5+! (to close the f3-Bishop) 48. Kd4 (if 48. Bxd5? Rxd5! and Black queens) 48. ... Rf5! [sic] and it is problematic for White to win”.
Oh, no! The last move of the analysis is totally wrong, as after 48. ... Rf5?? 49. Rh6+! Kb5 (49. ... Kc7 50.b5+−) 50. Kc3 the Black King is caught in a mating net.
Therefore after 46. Rh7+ Kb6 47. Kxc4 d5+! 48. Kd4 Black has to look for 48. ... Rg3! 49. Bxd5 e2 50. Rb7+ Ka6 51. Re7 Kb5!= with a draw soon (but not 51. ... f3?? because of 52. Kc5!+− with unaivodable mate).
46. ... Rb5 47. Kxf4 Rxb4 48. Kxe3 Rb3+ 49. Ke4 d5+ ½–½. “The last three moves were made by inertia”.

Short on Time

Roberto Cosulich – Daniele Della Lunga
36th Italian Chess Championship; Pesaro, June 1975
5r2/4RNbk/1p2Q1p1/8/3q4/6P1/5PKP/8 w - - 0 1

“Short on time, White won after a long skirmish; he could, however, mate in three moves”, Grandmaster honoris Caïssa Enrico Paoli writes in his book L’arte della combinazione scacchistica, U. Mursia editore, Milano, 1986, p. 136. The proffered solution (Ibid., p. 143) is 1. Qh3+ Kg8 2. Qh8+!! Bxh8 3. Nh6#. However, it should be noted that after 1. ... Bh6 2. Qxh6+ Kg8 3. Qxg6+ Qg7 4. Nh6+ Kh8 5. Qxg7# it takes five moves for White to mate.

The Incommensurable Multitudes of the Being

The unnumberable people

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, October 23, 2026

One of the fundamental political problems — if not the most urgent one — is how to think of a not-numberable multiplicity (or multitude). As a political concept, the people only makes sense on the condition that it cannot be numberable; if it can be counted, what becomes decisive is no longer the people as such, but rather a numerical quantity — the so-called majority — into which the people dissolves through the perverse device of elections or plebiscites. The people — as well as the human species — is not a whole constituted by numberable singularities: the “popular” or “generic” character — i.e., the political character — must fully belong to the individual as such. It is what Marx sought to think through the concept of Gattungswesen (“species-being”), which defines each human being and not a numberable quantity. Since every human being “relates to himself as to the present, living species”, this cannot be a numerical sum of individuals, but it is a reality which is essentially and completely present in each one. If the people, like the species-being, gets numbered, it divides not only into a majority and minority, but also into factions, among which civil war necessarily arises. In Leviathan, Hobbes attempted to unravel this aporia by hypothesising a numberable multitude — which he calls multitudo disunita (disunited mutitude) — that constitutes itself as a unity into the body of the sovereign; but this means that the people has no unity other than by abolishing itself into the artificial person of the sovereign.
How to think, then, of a not-numberable multitude? Popularity and politicality are not definable properties, which, like the racial unity for the Nazis, can be attributed to any individual. Rather, they arise from the absence of a common identity element, which determines its belonging to this or that whole, to this or that class, and thereby renders it numberable. Like the proletariat according to Marx, the people cannot coincide with itself: it is, by its own constitution, non-all. If one attempts to seize it as a non-all, it resists any definition — and this resistance, this unnumberable rest is the people; it is the genuine political element.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, The Living Torrent, 1895–1896. Courtesy of Pinacoteca di Brera.

Dominoes

Visions of Joanne

The Enough Life

Hope and desire

Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet, October 20, 2026

As for hope and desire, our condition resembles that of those who, in Dante’s Divine Comedy, dwell suspended in Limbo and, in Virgil’s words, without hope live in desire (sanza speme vivemo in disio). We too, like the inhabitants of Limbo, are suspended between desire and hope; we’ve lost hope for a better world and, nevertheless, we vainly continue to desire it — we cannot help but do so. In order to exit from this status of limbo, we must direct our hope not to a good we lack but wish to possess, but rather to the one we already possess — the good which is within us — so that it may remain alive and makes us live. And if, in the apostle’s words, faith is the substance of things hoped for, then these things are present within us and before us, and the desire for a good in which we believe is always already fulfilled. Hope in what we already possess is, therefore, a special form of memory, which does not merely recall a past good, but acts relentlessly so that it remains present and alive. And this inversion of hope into memory is the thought, the life of the mind.

(English translation by I, Robot)

Valentine Hugo, Dream of December 21, 1929 (Self Portrait). Courtesy of WikiArt.

Not Yet Goodbye

Roberto Cosulich – Roman Shlemovich Pelts
15th International Festival; La Spezia, March 1978
Sicilian Defence B82

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 Nc6 7. Be3 a6 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. Bd3 Bd7 10. Nb3. Alternatively, 10. 0-0-0 Rc8 11. h3!? b5 12. Kb1⩲ gives White slightly better chances, Sax – 叶江川 (Yè Jiāngchuān), 1st World Team Chess Championship, Lucerne 1985.
10. ... Na5? This time-wasting move is a harbinger of trouble for Black. If anything, the Knight should move to b4.
11. 0-0 Nc4 12. Bxc4 Qxc4 13. e5 Bc6 14. Qh3 Nd5 15. Na5 Qb4 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Nxd5 cxd5 (17. ... exd5 18. e6!)
18. f5! dxe5 19. fxe6 f6

20. Qh5+? White could and should take advantage of the Black King still in the centre with 20. c4!!, in order to open either the c- or the d-file. Apparently Black has no satisfactory reply, for if 20. ... Qxc4 then 21. Rac1 followed by the invasion to the seventh rank; if, instead, 20. ... dxc4 there would follow 21. Qh5+! g6 22. Qf3 with too many threats. On the other hand, the attempt to keep the files closed with 20. ... d4 fails to 21. Qh5+! Kf8 (21. ... g6 22. Qf3) 22. Bxd4! with an overwhelming initiative.
20. ... g6 21. Qf3 Be7. 21. ... Bc5 22. Rae1 0-0 23. Qxd5 Bxe3+ 24. Rxe3 Rad8 was also playable.
22. Qxd5 0-0

23. Rxf6! Cosulich tries his way by a spectacular Exchange sacrifice which, at least from a psychological perspective, is hardly separable from its practical justification.
23. ... Rfd8. Black cannot take the Rook at once, either with 23. ... Rxf6 (because of 24. Qxa8+) or 23. ... Bxf6 (on account of 24 e7+).
24. Qxe5 Bxf6 25. Qxf6 Rf8 26. Qd4 Qxd4 27. Bxd4 Rf4? This is the losing move. After 27. ... Rfe8! 28. Re1 Rac8 Black should somehow hold to the end.

28. Bc5! Of course, Cosulich didn’t miss the point, as the e6-Pawn is worth a treasure! The rest is a matter of technique.
28. ... Rc4 29. Ba3 Rxc2? Wins back a Pawn, but hastens the end. On the other hand, after 29. ... Re8 30. e7 Kf7 31. Rf1+ Ke6 32. Re1+ Kf7 33. c3 Black could not save the ending in any case.
30. Rf1 Kg7 31. e7 Rg8 32. Rf8 Re2 33. Kf1 Re6 34. b3 h5 35. h4 Kh7 36. Kf2 a5 37. Kf3 Re1 38. Bc5 Re6 39. a3 Re5 40. b4 axb4 41. axb4 Re6 42. b5 g5 43. b6 gxh4 44. Rxg8 1–0. For after 44. ... Kxg8 45. b7 the b-Pawn queens.