Official Portraits and Unofficial People

• Oleg Bogatov, Дворкович: Карлсен будет фаворитом и в чемпионате мира по шахматам Фишера | Dvorkovich: Carlsen will be the favourite in the World Fischerandom Chess Championship, RIA Novosti, April 21, 2019

Moscow, April 21. Oleg Bogatov, RIA Novosti. President of the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE), Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich, told RIA Novosti that the decision to hold the first Word Fischerandom Chess Championship is due to the growing popularity of Fischer’s chess, and that Magnus Carlsen from Norway, the current World Champion of classical chess, will be one of the main favourites in the new Championship. Fischerandom is a variant of chess advocated by 11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer from United States, in which the starting position of the pieces on the home rank is randomised (so as to feature 960 unique possible starting positions). The “Regulations for the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship” have been published on the FIDE website last Saturday. The Championship will begin on April 28, the Semifinals and Finals will be held from October 27 to November 2 in Bærum, Norway. The winner of the World Championship will receive $125,000 USD. “FIDE decided to hold the World Fischerandom Chess Championship, given the growing popularity of Fischer’s chess”, Dvorkovich said. “It is called with various names, including chess960 (deriving from the number of starting arrays). Magnus Carlsen is obviously the favourite. He’s already World Champion of classical, rapid, and blitz chess, and he also won the unofficial World Fischerandom Chess Championship last year. No doubt he will be the favourite. But, nevertheless, it won’t be an easy race, as Pyotr Veniaminovich Svidler and Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi from Russia and Hikaru Nakamura from United States are all very strong, great contenders”. “For now it’s a pilot project”, FIDE President said. “It’s official, but also experimental. On one hand, there is an online process of selection, open to everyone, regardless of rating and titles, and we’ll have to carefully monitor how servers, software and anti-cheating software will work — which may make our task technically quite difficult. Then, and only then, we will make a decision for the future. On the other hand, there are professionals playing for the title of World Champion, who are spasmodically followed by crowds of chess fans all over the world”.

(Very free translation by Nobody’s Perfect)

Given the Chance

Today Saturday April 20 2019 can be remembered as a historic day and an important milestone in chess history, as the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) finally recognised that Fischerandom chess (idem to say Fischer Random chess and chess960) is chess. In announcing the inauguration of the first ever “official” World Fischerandom Chess Championship cycle, 8th FIDE President Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich also made some declarations about the historical opening-process: “It is an unprecedented move that the International Chess Federation recognizes a new variety of chess, so this was a decision that required to be carefully thought out”, he said. “But we believe that Fischer Random is a positive innovation: it injects new energies and enthusiasm into our game, but at the same time it doesn’t mean a rupture with our classical chess and its tradition. It is probably for this reason that Fischer Random chess has won the favor of the chess community, including the top players and the world champion himself. FIDE couldn’t be oblivious to that: it was time to embrace and incorporate this modality of chess”.

Normandy landings

Magnus Carlsen’s Twitterman Tarjei J. Svensen announced today that “There are serious plans to organize a Fischerandom/Chess960 World Championship in Norway next year!”. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if it were true? I hope they will have the strength to organise it independently, and maybe it would be a good idea, on the occasion, to found a new, worldwide organization which may worthily represent both classical and Fischerandom chess.

分形

Péter Lékó – Michael Adams
1st Fischerandom Chess World Championship; match game 5; Mainz, June 27, 2001
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1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 b6 3. b3 Nf6 4. e3 Bxf3. Black unnecessarily gives up the Bishop-pair, just to inflict a little damage on White’s Pawn structure. A normal course as 4. ... e6 5. Be2 Be7 looks more reasonable. 5. gxf3 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Nd5 d6 8. Nxf6+ Bxf6 9. Bxf6 exf6 10. Qc3 Qf5. “Commentators called this a ‘typical Fischerandom move’. Not a naturaò move, but 10. ... Nd7 would fail to 11. Bh3”, Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić wrote in his book “Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?”, London, Batsford, 2002, page 117. 11. f4 0-0 12. Bg2 Na6. Nobody could tell it is a game of Fischerandom Chess! 13. 0-0 Nc7 14. d4. “White is first to make the Pawn break in the centre, and it offers him a lasting initiative”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., p. 118). 14. ... Ne6 15. dxc5 dxc5 16. Rd5 Rxd5 17. cxd5 Nc7 18. Qc4 Ne8. “The absence of Black’s Queen on the sensitive a-side is felt. So Black should have tried 18. ... Qd7!, despite the possibility of the unpleasant break b3-b4”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., p. 118). 19. Qa4. Now one of the Black’s Pawn on the a-side immediately falls, since 19. ... a5 would fail to 20. Qc6. 19. ... Qc8 20. Qxa7 Qd8 21. a4 f5 22. a5 bxa5 23. Qxc5 Nd6 24. Ra1 Qb8 25. Qxa5. There is no choice because 25. Rxa5 Nb7 would cost the Exchange. 25. ... Qxb3 26. Qc5 Qb8 27. Bf3 Rc8 28. Qd4 Qc7 29. Ra6 Qd8 30. Qb4. “30. Qe5 Nc4 would be ineffective in breaking the blockade. An attractive but unclear alternative was 30. Rc6”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., p. 119). 30. ... Ne8

31. d6. The sharpest continuation! 31. ... Qd7 32. Be2. This seems to be a careless move which dissipates a skillfully earned superiority. The correct route is 32. Bd1! Rd8 33. Ba4 Qc8 34. Rb6! with Black being squeezed out of the game. 32. ... Rd8 33. Bb5 Qb7. This is the saving clause. 34. Qc5. On 34. Qa5 Rxd6 35. Ra8? (both 35. Rxd6 Nxd6 and 35. Qa4 Qd5 would lead to a draw) 35. ... Rd1+ 36. Bf1 Qf3! 37. Rxe8+ Kg7 38. Qa6 Rd2 39. Qa1+ Kh6 40. Qe1 Qg4+ 41. Kh1 Rd1 42. Qxd1 Qxd1 43. Kg2 Qg4+ 44. Kh1 Qf3+ 45. Kg1 Kg7 Black gets a significantly better position. Another try is 34. d7 Rxd7 35. Qa4 Rd6 36. Ra7 Qf3 37. Be2 Qc6 38. Qxc6 Rxc6 39. Ra8 Kf8 40. Bb5 Re6 and Black’s fortress looks secure. 34. ... Rxd6 35. Rxd6 Nxd6 36. Qxd6 ½ : ½.

国际象棋幻想

Michael Adams – Péter Lékó
1st Fischerandom Chess World Championship; match game 6; Mainz, June 28, 2001
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1. e4. Far from match game 2, when, after 1. c4!? g6! 2. d3 f5 3. Bc3 e5! Black obtained a satisfactory position. 1. ... g6 2. f4 d6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d3 f5. Black’s strategy is very similar to that of match game 2. 5. exf5 gxf5 6. Bh4 e6 7. Qd2 Nge7 8. Nc3 Ng6 9. Bf2 Qd7 10. d4 d5 11. g3 0-0-0 12. 0-0-0 Kb8 13. Rde1 Bf7 14. b3 Nge7 15. Na4 b6. In such a position the tendency is towards a mutual blockade. 16. Nb2 Nc8 17. Ne5 Qe8. On 17. ... Nxe5 18. fxe5 is in White’s favour. 18. Qc3 Kb7 19. Qe3 Bg8 20. Nxc6 Qxc6 21. Nc4 Nd6 22. Nxd6+ Qxd6 23. Kb1 Bf6 24. c4 c6 25. Rc1 Bf7 26. Rfe1 h5 27. h4 Rc8 28. c5 Qd7 29. a4 Rb8 30. Re2 Kc7. “White has some initiative, but only 3 minutes left on the clock, whereas Black had more than 6 minutes to the time control on move 40”, Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić wrote in his book “Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?”, London, Batsford, 2002, page 122. 31. cxb6+. Otherwise Black could keep the a-side closed by the reply ... b6-b5. 31. ... Rxb6 32. Ka2 Rfb8 33. Rc3 Rb4 34. Qc1 R8b6. After 34. ... Bxd4 35. Bxd4 Rxd4 36. Qe3 the a7-Pawn is hanging. 35. Rec2 Qd6. If 35. ... Bxd4 then 36. Bxd4 Rxd4 37. Qe3 Rdb4 38. a5 Ra6 39. Rc5 “and the Rook on a6 could be trapped after Bh1-f3-e2”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., p. 122). Better was, however, 35. ... Be8 in order to answer 36. Qd1 by 36. ... Kb8 with roughly even chances. 36. Qd1. The straightforward 36. a5 Ra6 37. Rc5 looks much more promising. 36. .. Kd7 37. Bf3 Qb8 38. Rd2 Qh8 39. Rdd3 a5. 39. ... Kc7 seems a safer course – as Steinitz says: “My King likes to go for a walk”. 40. Rc5 Ra6 41. Be2 Be7 42. Rc1 Bf6 43. Be1 Rb7 44. Bc3 Be8 45. Bb2 Ra8 46. Qe1 Ke7 47. Bd1 Qg8 48. Rc5 Rba7 49. Bc3 Qh8 50. Bb2 Kf7 51. Qe2. “Black has a greater number of weak spots than White, i.e. a5, c6, e6, h5”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., p. 122). 51. ... Ke7 52. Re3 Qg8 53. Qc2 Kd8 54. Qe2 Kd7. “Finally, Lékó has to make a ‘wrong move’, giving White the chance for a decisive break. Anyway it was impossible to find a good defence with four weak Pawns on a5, c6, e6 and h5. After 54. ... Re7 White could continue 55. Qe1 and the a5-Pawn is under irresistible pressure too”, Gligorić wrote (op. cit., pp. 122-123).

55. Rxc6! A delightfully elegant Rook sacrifice! 55. ... Kxc6 56. Rxe6+ Kd7 57. Rxf6 Rc8 58. Qe5 Rc6 59. Qxf5+ Kc7 60. Qe5+ Kb7 61. Rxc6 Bxc6 62. f5 Qh7 63. f6 Ra8 64. Bxh5 Rh8 65. Bf3 Re8 66. Qg5 Qc2 67. f7 1 : 0.