Chess: Remember Bobby Fisher

Bobby Fisher (1943-2008) died last week. In his later years his crazed rants and his prosecution for not paying taxes for a 1992 chess match eclipsed his fame as a chess genius. But it is for his chess genius that he will be remembered. Fisher won the U.S. Open at the age of 14. Also at 14 he became the youngest person ever to become an international master. He quickly became one of the world's elite players. In becoming world champion fifteen years later he slew the Soviet block, like St. George slaying the dragon. He is widely considered one of the best, if the not the best, chess players of all time. At the height of his powers in 1975 he declined to defend his title, as his mental illness began to outplay his better self. Even so, he still made significant contributions to chess after his self-imposed exile, as he improved the chess clock and invented Fisher Random Chess. This week’s position is from what has been deemed “The Game of the Century.” Here, 13-year-old Fisher defeats veteran chess player Donald Byrne. Fisher, who is black, made a spectacular winning move. Please try and find the move that Fisher played. In chess notation, the board is a grid: the vertical columns are numbered “1” through “8;” the horizontal rows, “a” through “h.” Each square on the board is identified by a specific letter and number. For example, if the white knight at c3 were to move to e2, checking black, the notation would be ne2+ Fisher’s queen and knight are both under attack. He ignores these threats and re-positions his bishop at g4 to e6. Byrne then wins black’s queen. Fisher responds by having the bishop at e6 take white's bishop at c4, checking white. From here, black’s active pieces overwhelm white. The knight at c3 and the c4 bishop initiate a series of checks that soon result in a dynamic bishop pair. White’s material edge is not enough to stop black’s active pieces. Fisher mated Byrne 20 moves later. White’s rooks seize the “a” and “b” files by first moving the rook at c1 to a1, attacking the queen. The only safe square for the queen is b2 after the queen takes the white pawn at b2. White’s other rook at f1 now slides over to b1 (rfb1), again attacking the queen.

Schoolboy Blackman beats chess master
JUSTIN BLACKMAN of Queen's College yesterday turned the Silver Pieces section of the second Karl Sealy Memorial Chess Tournament upside down, when he beat top seeds FIDE master Bengt Hammar of Sweden and Shamel Howell of the University of the West Indies in the opening rounds of the tournament. Named after one of Karl Sealy's internationally acclaimed short stories, Silver Pieces is being played as a four- player, double round-robin and includes Hammer and Roberto Castillo of Cuba with top juniors Blackman and Howell. Hammer opened the tournament with a win against Castillo, while Blackman took advantage of a late arrival by Howell to post the first upset of the tournament. Round two created quite a stir as Blackman, rated 1990, defended stubbornly against the Swedish master to take a win after Hammar, rated 2360, blundered unexpectedly. The Howell-Castillo match was also an upset as Howell rated 2038 fell to the Cuban who is rated 1958. Blackman leads with two points, followed by Hammar and Castillo on one point, while Howell, yet to trouble the scorers, brings up the rear on zero. In the Chess Club section three players, Anthony Francis-Worrell and Craig Clermond of UWI, and Akeem Cox of Combermere, share the lead on two points. Francis-Worrell's wins came against fellow UWI student Kyle Walkes and Yutien Poon of St. Angela's, who at eight-years-old, is the youngest player in the tournament. Cox earned his points with wins against Matthew St. Bernard of UWI and Emmerson Hurley of Garrison Secondary, while Clermond collected his points by defeating UWI's Andre Stoute and Daryl Headley of Coleridge & Parry. Veteran Othneil Harewood shares fourth place on 1 1/2 points with Defending champion Dwayne Gilkes and UWI's Amilton Wilson. Play continues today at 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. at the Bridgetown Chess Centre in Bridge House, Cavans Lane. (AH)