chess game #4 - calling my shot
In the late 70's and early 80's I played at a local chess club known as the Wachusett Chess Club. In the Fall of 1978, they started their annual Fall Swiss tournament. For reasons I can't remember, I was unable to show up for the first round, and was forfeited. I argued vigorously with the tournament director George Mirijanian that I should have been allowed a postponement or perhaps a bye. I have forgotten the exact circumstances - something beyond my control made it impossible for me to contact him ahead of time that I would not be able to make it, and my opponent waited for an hour with my clock ticking its way to my forfeiture.
In a fit of rage borne from my self-centered 16-year-old logic, I told him I was withdrawing from the tournament. I reasoned that since it was not my fault that I was not able to give proper notice, that I should not be punished. At that tender age it had not yet occurred to me that one sometimes has to accept loss when the "unfairness" comes from random chance. If a $20 bill falls out of your pocket, you can't go around demanding $20 from anyone you meet simply because it was not fair that you were so unlucky.
George is one the finest individuals I have had the honor of knowing in my life. He was very, very generous with his time, particularly when it came to promoting chess for us young players in the area. He would mentor us in the game itself, drive us to tournaments, work tirelessly to organize events, and so on. It seemed like there was nothing he wouldn't do for us. So I was actually quite surprised when he didn't waiver in the slightest at my request to withdraw. A calm, "Okay, I'll remove you from the tournament." was his response. Now, at this point in time, I ate, breathed, and slept chess. I would have gone nuts if I had to wait another 6 weeks for this club tournament to end. So I quickly realized that withdrawing was only punishing myself, and withdrew my request to leave the tournament, saying, "But I'm gonna win this thing!" as if I were threatening George somehow. George responded simply with, "Good luck, I hope you do," and I'm quite certain that he meant it. I learned a great deal from George over the years, and this lesson was one of the best.
Fast-forward 5 rounds and 5 wins (against some tough opposition - I was by no means the highest-rated player in the event, making "calling my shot" pretty bold), and now I'm in the final round, one win away from making my threat good. Playing the black pieces against one of the tougher players at the club, I played probably the best game I had played to that point in my life, and probably beyond anything I had put out for the next couple years. That's saying a lot, considering the steepness of my learning curve in those days.
White: Putika,G
Black: Weideman,T
Event: Wachusett CC Fall Swiss (7)
Date: 1978-11-22
(B50 Sicilian)
1 e4 c5
At some point I abandoned the Sicilian for Alekhine's Defense, but at this stage I was still playing it.
2 Nf3 d6
3 Bc4 Nf6
4 d3 e6
5 Bg5 Nbd7
6 Nc3 a6
7 a3 b5
8 Ba2 Bb7
9 O-O h6
10 Bh4 Be7
11 Re1 g5
12 Bg3 Nh5
13 Ne2 Qb6
14 h3 Nxg3
15 Nxg3 O-O-O
A lot of maneuvering and no obvious mistakes on either side so far. If you have been reading the chess games up to this point, you know that I had a very powerful drive to attack the king, even at the expense of material or weakening my position. So the kingside pawn storm is on its way.
16 c3 h5
17 b4 Rdg8
18 bxc5 Nxc5
19 Nd4 g4
20 hxg4 Rxg4
Here I give up a pawn for open lines at the white king, but even in retrospect I can't bring myself to regret that decision.
21 Nxh5 Rh4
22 Ng3 Bf6
My computer at this point rates this as a slight (but very unclear, judging from how the evaluation bounces around with time) edge for black.
23 Rc1 Be5
24 Nde2 Bxe4!
This agrees with my computer's move choice, and is clearly crushing. Taking the bishop is of course out of the question, as white would have to give up his queen immediately with 25... Nxe4, 26 Qd4 just to avoid getting checkmated (taking the knight gets mated on h1, and moving the rook to cover f2 loses as in the actual game).
25 d4 Nd3
26 Qd2 Rh2
I remember really feeling jazzed about the time I reached this position. There's something about committing yourself so fully to the attack that if it doesn't work, your pieces are all en prise and overextended, and your game comes crashing down. Sort of like building a tall house of cards and trying to put one more story on it before a slip brings it all down.
27 f3 Qd8!!
Now with both bishops attacked (well, one was attacked by a pinned pawn, but it isn't anymore) I came up with a patient queen redeployment that finishes-off the game in short order. I would be proud of finding this move now, never mind finding it when I was 16 years old and rated in the 1500's. It of course agrees with my computer's choice in this position.
28 fxe4 Qf6!?
I had a specific mating theme in mind (it was so pretty that I was obsessed with making it happen), so I overlooked the forcing sequence that featured an equally-beautiful double rook sacrifice: 28... Rh1+!, 29 Nxh1, Rxh1+, 30 Kxh1, Qh4+, 31 Kg1, Bh2+, and mate to follow on the f2 square with either the Q or the N, depending upon which way the white king moves. The text move allows white to escape mate for a bit longer by giving up absurd amounts of material. My opponent doesn't do this, of course - if he had seen the forced mates he likely would have just resigned. So I got to play the "pretty" finish I had envisioned several moves earlier.
29 Rf1 Rh1+
30 Nxh1 Bh2# 0-1
I left out one other way in which George boosted chess among young players in the area. He was the chess columnist for the local paper, and wrote an article every week about the local chess scene. It seemed to me that he went out of his way to especially promote the young players. I remember back then kids always got excited when they got their names in the paper, even if it was just a listing of a few dozen names of boy scouts that cleaned trash off the side of the highway. Just imagine how much my chess-playing friends and I liked it when an entire article (with our name in big bold letters in the title) was written about us! I'm pretty sure that thanks to George, all of the star high school chess players in our hometown got a lot more press than the star football players did.
After I won this tournament, George wrote an article about me that was so glowing that it was downright embarrassing (at one point he even referred to me as the "Bernardian boy wonder" - I went to St. Bernard's high school). My classmates razzed me about it for awhile afterward, but I have to say that I loved every minute of it.
In a fit of rage borne from my self-centered 16-year-old logic, I told him I was withdrawing from the tournament. I reasoned that since it was not my fault that I was not able to give proper notice, that I should not be punished. At that tender age it had not yet occurred to me that one sometimes has to accept loss when the "unfairness" comes from random chance. If a $20 bill falls out of your pocket, you can't go around demanding $20 from anyone you meet simply because it was not fair that you were so unlucky.
George is one the finest individuals I have had the honor of knowing in my life. He was very, very generous with his time, particularly when it came to promoting chess for us young players in the area. He would mentor us in the game itself, drive us to tournaments, work tirelessly to organize events, and so on. It seemed like there was nothing he wouldn't do for us. So I was actually quite surprised when he didn't waiver in the slightest at my request to withdraw. A calm, "Okay, I'll remove you from the tournament." was his response. Now, at this point in time, I ate, breathed, and slept chess. I would have gone nuts if I had to wait another 6 weeks for this club tournament to end. So I quickly realized that withdrawing was only punishing myself, and withdrew my request to leave the tournament, saying, "But I'm gonna win this thing!" as if I were threatening George somehow. George responded simply with, "Good luck, I hope you do," and I'm quite certain that he meant it. I learned a great deal from George over the years, and this lesson was one of the best.
Fast-forward 5 rounds and 5 wins (against some tough opposition - I was by no means the highest-rated player in the event, making "calling my shot" pretty bold), and now I'm in the final round, one win away from making my threat good. Playing the black pieces against one of the tougher players at the club, I played probably the best game I had played to that point in my life, and probably beyond anything I had put out for the next couple years. That's saying a lot, considering the steepness of my learning curve in those days.
White: Putika,G
Black: Weideman,T
Event: Wachusett CC Fall Swiss (7)
Date: 1978-11-22
(B50 Sicilian)
1 e4 c5
At some point I abandoned the Sicilian for Alekhine's Defense, but at this stage I was still playing it.
2 Nf3 d6
3 Bc4 Nf6
4 d3 e6
5 Bg5 Nbd7
6 Nc3 a6
7 a3 b5
8 Ba2 Bb7
9 O-O h6
10 Bh4 Be7
11 Re1 g5
12 Bg3 Nh5
13 Ne2 Qb6
14 h3 Nxg3
15 Nxg3 O-O-O
A lot of maneuvering and no obvious mistakes on either side so far. If you have been reading the chess games up to this point, you know that I had a very powerful drive to attack the king, even at the expense of material or weakening my position. So the kingside pawn storm is on its way.
16 c3 h5
17 b4 Rdg8
18 bxc5 Nxc5
19 Nd4 g4
20 hxg4 Rxg4
Here I give up a pawn for open lines at the white king, but even in retrospect I can't bring myself to regret that decision.
21 Nxh5 Rh4
22 Ng3 Bf6
My computer at this point rates this as a slight (but very unclear, judging from how the evaluation bounces around with time) edge for black.
23 Rc1 Be5
24 Nde2 Bxe4!
This agrees with my computer's move choice, and is clearly crushing. Taking the bishop is of course out of the question, as white would have to give up his queen immediately with 25... Nxe4, 26 Qd4 just to avoid getting checkmated (taking the knight gets mated on h1, and moving the rook to cover f2 loses as in the actual game).
25 d4 Nd3
26 Qd2 Rh2
I remember really feeling jazzed about the time I reached this position. There's something about committing yourself so fully to the attack that if it doesn't work, your pieces are all en prise and overextended, and your game comes crashing down. Sort of like building a tall house of cards and trying to put one more story on it before a slip brings it all down.
27 f3 Qd8!!
Now with both bishops attacked (well, one was attacked by a pinned pawn, but it isn't anymore) I came up with a patient queen redeployment that finishes-off the game in short order. I would be proud of finding this move now, never mind finding it when I was 16 years old and rated in the 1500's. It of course agrees with my computer's choice in this position.
28 fxe4 Qf6!?
I had a specific mating theme in mind (it was so pretty that I was obsessed with making it happen), so I overlooked the forcing sequence that featured an equally-beautiful double rook sacrifice: 28... Rh1+!, 29 Nxh1, Rxh1+, 30 Kxh1, Qh4+, 31 Kg1, Bh2+, and mate to follow on the f2 square with either the Q or the N, depending upon which way the white king moves. The text move allows white to escape mate for a bit longer by giving up absurd amounts of material. My opponent doesn't do this, of course - if he had seen the forced mates he likely would have just resigned. So I got to play the "pretty" finish I had envisioned several moves earlier.
29 Rf1 Rh1+
30 Nxh1 Bh2# 0-1
I left out one other way in which George boosted chess among young players in the area. He was the chess columnist for the local paper, and wrote an article every week about the local chess scene. It seemed to me that he went out of his way to especially promote the young players. I remember back then kids always got excited when they got their names in the paper, even if it was just a listing of a few dozen names of boy scouts that cleaned trash off the side of the highway. Just imagine how much my chess-playing friends and I liked it when an entire article (with our name in big bold letters in the title) was written about us! I'm pretty sure that thanks to George, all of the star high school chess players in our hometown got a lot more press than the star football players did.
After I won this tournament, George wrote an article about me that was so glowing that it was downright embarrassing (at one point he even referred to me as the "Bernardian boy wonder" - I went to St. Bernard's high school). My classmates razzed me about it for awhile afterward, but I have to say that I loved every minute of it.