„ If I don’t kill myself tonight, I’m gonna live a thousand years!“

These immortal words were uttered on 13.01.2013. during the 2nd round of Tata Steel 2013 chess tournament by a famous grandmaster and chess author, Ivan Sokolov.

Sokolov was born in Jajce in former Yugoslavia (today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina). He quickly rose to prominence, becoming an FM in 1985 at the age of 17, IM in 1986 at the age of 18 and GM in 1987 at the age of 19. Even though these figures don’t seem impressive from today’s perspective, at a time he was the fifth-youngest grandmaster in history, behind Fischer, Tal, Kasparov and Spassky.

Although he was studying law at a time, he decided to give it up and pursue a career of professional. He would become a part of the World Elite for the next 20 years, playing against the top players in the world and winning several international tournaments.

At his peak – in 1992 – Sokolov was the 12th ranked player in the world (rated 2630 – a sign of times). In the 2000s, he also managed to cross the 2700 barrier.

He particularly distinguished himself during the Hoogovens 1999 tournament. In a strong line-up including Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik, Shirov, Timman, Ivanchuk, Svidler and Topalov, Sokolov finished 4th. He managed to beat the great Garry Kasparov by out preparing him in a variation of the Nimzo-Indian. Even though Gazza managed to win the tournament, he never forgot that defeat, since he mentioned it several times in his On Garry Kasparov book series.

Later in life, he became a renowned book author, publishing 5 chess books in the 2008-2015 period.

It is a pity that, due to the war in Bosnia, he emigrated in 1992 and became a Dutch citizen. But unfortunately, failing to prevent the talented from leaving the country has become a trademark of Balkan ever since…

To find out more about Ivan, read this fantastic Chessbase Interview

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I thought he was just another „less important“ player from the history of chess, say, like Milan Vidmar, Marmaduke Wyvill, Louis Paulsen or Lajos Portisch.

But today I read his Wikipedia page and realized how superficial and ignorant it is to underestimate „less important“ players. Because sir George Alan Thomas was not only much stronger chess player than I anticipated, but also one of the most remarkable human beings in history.

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„It will be Short and the match will be short!“

When asked about the potential challenger during the Candidates matches before the 1993 matches, Kasparov rattled this remark.

The World Champion showed great insight, especially with the first part of the statement. Because 8 years after becoming the first-ever British candidate for the World Chess Championship, former British prodigy and grandmaster Nigel Short also managed to become the first-ever British Challenger,  after beating Speelman, Karpov and Timman in Candidates matches.

His match against Karpov was of particular significance – for the first time since 1984, after five consecutive Karpov – Kasparov matches – the streak was broken and Karpov had to face an early exit. Not without reason was the result of Short – Karpov match described as „the end of an era“.

Alas, the second part of Kasparov’s statement also turned out to be correct. After 4 games, he was already leading 3-0 and after 10 games 5-0. Even though Short managed to score a consolation goal in game 16, it didn’t alter the outcome. Kasparov defended his title after 20 games – 4 games ahead of the schedule.

Even so, the final result wasn’t the true reflections of the events happening on the board. In the very first game, Short flagged in a better position. In the first part of the match, he obtained several „close-to-winning positions“ against Garry’s Najdorf, but always failed to deliver the knock-out punch. Had he won just one game, the match could have taken a completely alternative direction.

But as they say, a good player is always lucky.

Despite this ‘whitewash’, the genius of Nigel Short should be appreciated. Even though today’s generations connect him with controversies, such as breaking away from FIDE, controversial comments about women and his last-minute withdrawal from the race for FIDE presidency, they rarely appreciate how successful he was in his prime.

Apart from reaching the Candidate matches, he was a four-time British Champion and a winner of many International tournaments, out of which I’d like to single out his victories in Wijk aan Zee in 1986 and 1987, in Hastings in 1987/1988 and 1988/1989 and VSB Amsterdam in 1991 (with Salov, ahead of both Karpov and Kasparov).

And even though probably none of us studied his games in great detail, we all know at least one – the famous Kh2-Kg3-Kf4-Kg5-Kh6 king walk against Timman.

There are probably other gems in his biography, which will I believe will be brought in the limelight in future – hopefully in the format of autobiography, annotated by Nigel himself.

I understand that many people aren’t particularly fond of him. I personally disagreed with a lot of things he wrote in his „Short stories“ column for New In Chess Magazine.

But love him or hate him, you can’t deny he is one of the great players in the history of our game.

And today he celebrates his 54th birthday! We think it is worthy of this „SHORT“ congratulatory post!

Happy birthday, Mr. FIDE Vice President!

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1924.

The reigning World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca who hasn’t lost a game in 8 years appears.

Richard Reti uses 1 Nf3.

It is super effective.

Richard Reti was a born in a Jewish family in Bazin, Austria-Hungary (today Pezinok, Slovakia). He was the third son of the physician Samuel Reti and his wife Anna, but his older brother Otto died in infancy.

He learned how to play chess when he was 6 – by watching his father and mother play. When he dared to ask permission to play against his dad, he immediately beat him in the first two games.

When he was 12, he secretly corresponded with Gottschall, the editor of the chess column in a popular weekly magazine Über Land und Meer. He submitted a chess puzzle which got published. When he was 13, his brother Rudolph arranged a meeting with none other but future World Championship Candidate Karl Schlechter, who played a couple of games against Richard, praised him and directed him to go to a more serious chess club.

Even so, Richard focused on his studies for a while and considered chess merely as a hobby. When the First World War broke, he was called to serve as a clerk and got the opportunity to play in some chess tournaments, winning the tournament in Kassa 1918, ahead of Vidmar, Breyer and Mieses.

Even so, he still decided to stick to mathematics afterward, until one extraordinary event changed his fate forever. He was on the verge of his thesis when he lost his booklet which contained all his formulas. At the same time, he got an invitation to Holland. After his unexpected victory in Göteborg 1920 tournament (in which Tarrasch complained to his participation), he decided to become a chess professional.

For the next ten years, he would become a member of the world elite. His afore-mentioned victory against Capablanca was not the only win against a World Champion, as he also beat Alekhine in the same tournament. Alas, he never actually got the opportunity to play for the title.

But his chess playing career is not the reason „every Russian schoolboy“ knows his name. Even though he started as a combinative player and played the King’s Gambit early in his career, in the 1920s he decided to make a radical switch. Together with Nimzowitsch and Breyer, he became a pioneer of the so-called hypermodernism in chess. In his own words:

„In probing deeper into the mystery of the 64 squares it gradually occurred to me that certain moves and systems of development which did not open more terrain for one’s game or rescue one from the opponent’s attack could nevertheless, if properly handled, finally lead to a superior position.“

His most notable invention is the afore-mentioned Reti Opening starting with 1 Nf3, which together with 1 c4 and 1 d4 plays 2 Bf4 completes the holy trinity of club player’s nightmare openings to face with the Black pieces.

Apart from that, he was also a famous study composer. Is there anyone who doesn’t know what Kg7-Kf6-Ke5!!-Kd6-(or Kf4) refers to?

Today is the Jubilee 130th anniversary of his birth!

It is a terrible pity he died in 1929 of scarlet fever. He was only 40 years old!

 (Main source for this post: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/reti.html)

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In the last 20 years, the most notable examples are Zdenko Kožul (European Champion in 2006) and Ivan Šarić (European Champion in 2018 and the first Croatian player to reach 2700). But if we dig even deeper in the past, we will stumble on names that deserve to be mentioned.

We already wrote about legendary Vlado Kovačević, who shocked the chess world with his win over Fischer in 1970. Today is a perfect opportunity to congratulate a birthday to another Croatian chess legend.

Late grandmaster Krunoslav „Kruno“ Hulak.

Hulak, born in 1951 in the east of Croatia in Osijek, was – just like Vlado – another „slow starter“. He learned his first steps in the club „Graničar“ in his hometown, but was nowhere near the definition of prodigy (a sign of times!).

However, it all changed in 1971, when he moved to Zagreb and joined the club „Mladost“, whose colors he would defend until the end of his life. In just three years, in 1974, he became an international master, and two years later, in 1976, a grandmaster.

Form that point onward, he would become the strongest Croatian grandmaster in the late 70s and 80s, playing successfully on the international level, winning several strong tournaments and battling successfully against the World top players. Just a quick scan throughout his games in the database reveals draws against Torre, Sosonko, Reshevsky, Timman, Miles, Panno, Polugaevsky, Seirawan and victories over Adorjan, Velimirovic, Romanishin and Balashov, among others.

His greatest tournament successes are as follows:

• 2nd place in the European Championship in 1983 and 1989
• Shared 1st place in Banja Luka 1983 (with Adorjan and Speelman with 8.5/13)
• 2nd place in Reggio Emilia 1983 (ahead of Rogers, Spassky, John Nunn)
• Shared 1st place in Belgrade GMA open tournament 1988 (with Gurevich, Polugaevsky, Psakhis, Pigusov, Timoschenko and Naumkin with 7/9, ahead of almost 100 other grandmasters)

He continued playing successfully throughout the 90s and then reduced his activity a bit (but not completely) in order to devote himself to coaching and compiling training material. Everyone who has visited the chess playing venue in Masarykova is familiar with Hulak sitting behind his laptop and smoking one cigarette after another. storing new material in his Chessbase.

Unfortunately, the habit of smoking is arguably what ultimately cost him – in 2015, at the age of only 64, he died of a short and severe pulmonary disease. It was a great loss for Croatian chess. Kruno left us way too soon…

If he were still alive, he would celebrate his 68th birthday today. And it is a perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of his legacy.

(Fellow Croatians who had the privilege to know him more deeply, I would urge you to share your stories and memories of late Kruno, as I am sure he amassed quite a few of them during his career)

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“The boy has no clue about chess, and there’s no future at all for him in this profession”

Once upon a time, back in 1963, a talented 12-year-old boy was accepted in the prestigious Botvinnik school. He had learned how to play chess when he was 4 and had become a Candidate master already at the age of 11. Even though Botvinnik was dismissive of his capabilities (not uncustomary for the patriarch), he started working with him and the boy made rapid progress under his tutelage, becoming the Soviet National Master in history in 1966 at the age of fifteen (and tying Spassky’s record).

The name of the boy was Anatoly Karpov.

Despite patriarch’s prediction, the boy did indeed have a bright future in chess and went on to become one of the greatest players that ever lived.

 Already at the end of 70s, he announced the storm, by winning World Junior Championship in 1969 (with 10/11!) and then tying for 4^th place in the 1970 Interzonal and winning his grandmaster norm.

But he didn’t stop there. Even though he remarked that the 1972-1972 is “not his World Championship cycle”, he beat Polugaevsky, Spassky and Korchnoi in Candidate matches ¹, qualifying for the World Championship match against Fischer in 1975.

A match that never took place – which probably harmed Karpov more than it benefited him. Not only would such a match have a tremendous impact on his development as a player. But the broad chess public would not think his title was not deserved. ²

Those acquainted with chess history know that this was far from true. As if he wanted to prove anybody he is a worthy champion, over the course of next 10 years, Karpov would play in almost every elite chess tournament, winning the majority of them and setting a record for consecutive tournament victories. ³. For 10 long years, Karpov was the most dominant player on the planet.

But then Kasparov appeared and subsequently dethroned him.

Yet, people tend to forget it wasn’t a whitewash. The matches were extremely hard fought. Two times it all came down to the final game (in 1985 and 1987 matches). For 5 years, Karpov was an eternal challenger (not without FIDE’s help) and a constant threat to Kasparov’s legacy. Throughout the second half of the 1980s, a battle of two equals was fought in which one player was “slightly more equal” than the other.

But even after the last match in 1990, Karpov continued playing successfully. After Kasparov’s schism in 1993, he became FIDE World Champion and held the title until 1998. This is also a period when he won Linares 1994 in arguably the best tournament performance of all time.

In any case, Karpov was a fantastic player, yet he is often underestimated. I think it partly has something to do with his positional style with which he would strangle his opponents like a boa constrictor – it was much less attractive then Kasparov’s dynamism.

But I think it also had something to do with non-chess related factors. Western public is influenced by the fact he was a “true Soviet” to the core, favored by authorities, which reported directly to Brezhnev. Who even in his advanced age supported the annexation of Crimea and lamented about the demonization of Putin in Western media.

I am pretty sure he would have been much more acknowledged if he were born, say in the United States, like Robert James Fischer.

But all politics aside, Anatoly Karpov remains one of the greatest chess players that ever lived.

And today he celebrates his 68^th birthday.

Happy birthday to Anatoly the twelfth.

Cover photo from Douglas Griffin https://twitter.com/dgriffinchess/status/830024155663839233

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