Castling

Thanks to all those who came to Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” today. We just took a look at a game from the first Fischerandom Chess World Championship, which eloquently shows the importance – and sometimes the difficulty – of castling in Fischer’s chess.

Péter Lékó – Michael Adams
1st Fischerandom Chess World Championship; match game 4; Mainz, June 26, 2001 rkbrnbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RKBRNBQN w KQkq f1 0 1
Position 934

1. d4 d5 2. Ng3 Nf6 3. b3 Ng6 4. Bb2 h5 5. e3 h4 6. Ne2 Re8 7. Nd3 Bf5 8. f3 Bxd3 9. Rxd3 e5 10. 0-0-0 e4 11. fxe4 Nxe4 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. Bxc3 Ba3+ 14. Kb1

14. ... a5? Bad judgement. Black intends to exploit the Rook’s position along the a-file for launching an assault against the enemy castle, but it will happen exactly the opposite as he wished. Black instead ought to castle on the a-side by 14. ... 0-0-0! with a perfectly playable game. 15. Qf2 Qf8 16. g3! The most eloquent development for the Bishop. 16. ... hxg3 17. hxg3 a4. The coherence of a drama. 18. Bg2 axb3 19. axb3 c6 20. Rf1 f6 21. Qf5 Ne7 22. Qf4+ Ka7 23. e4! Decisively opening up the game. 23. ... dxe4 24. Bxe4 Nd5 25. Bxd5 cxd5 26. Qc7 Qg8. Very bad looking, but Black had no good moves to make. 27. Bd2! A killer, just threatening b3-b4 followed by Rd3xa3 mate. 27. ... Re6 28. b4 Ra6 29. Qc5+ 1 : 0.

This is how a celebrated dancer of Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” is used to place her clothing in the dressing room before entering the dance room. You will note the “double-move” castling of her jeans and sneakers.