Chess and Clocks

Back in the day a very strong Chess player, Mike Lucas, moved from Alabama to Atlanta. At the USCF website Michael Lucas is shown as a National Master, 1st Category. IM of GM strength Boris Kogan said Mike was one of the most talented, creative and inventive players he had known. Unfortunately, Mike loved time pressure. “Crazy”, was the moniker bestowed on Mike because of his  time trouble addiction. He won most of the games we played, whether classical or fifteen minute. Mike deferred to me in playing fifteen minute games because his love was speed Chess, which meant five minutes on the clock without any delay or time added. There was, though, a tournament game that found Mike in severe time pressure, and me with time to spare. All I can recall now is the opening, with Mike having the white pieces, which went 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Ng3.

It was the first time in any game an opponent had not taken the knight with 5 Nxf6+. The game ended in a flurry of moves before a draw was agreed. “That was really exciting, wasn’t it,” Mike said. Heart pounding all I could muster was, “Maybe for you…” Mike grinned.

Yet another excellent article appeared at Chessbase today which brought the memory of the Lucas game to the fore.

Grandmaster tips on how to fight time-pressure by Swapnil Dhopade

2/18/2020 – When we learn the rules of chess as a youngster we are told about the chess board, the chess pieces and how each of the pieces move. Once we master these basics, we can proudly tell everyone that we have learnt the game of chess. However, when you go to a tournament, there is one more element that is added, one which plays just as important a role as the board and the pieces: the chess clock! Time is one of the most crucial factors when playing a game, and somehow this is one of the things that chess players pay the least attention to. It doesn’t come as a surprise that many strong chess players handle the clock and time in a very poor manner, losing several games due to time pressure. How do we avoid this problem? In this article GM SWAPNIL DHOPADE tries to acquaint you with the causes and solutions of this perennial problem.

A nightmare for every chess player

Have you ever lost a winning position in time-pressure? I am sure the answer is a resounding yes! Every chess player has lost winning or equal positions in their games due to time trouble.

Imagine a situation:

You have prepared for hours before the game.
The efforts are paying dividends as your opponent falls into something that you have prepped for.
You get a slightly better position and also some extra minutes on the clock.
You invest your time on every move and slowly but steadily build up a clearly better / winning position until move 25-30.
But then you have around 3 minutes left on the clock with 30 seconds increment for the entire game. You being low on time, your opponent tries to create some mess on the board and you have to find that one single move, a deceptive one that wins on the spot!
With your time ticking away, unfortunately, you do not find it and the tables are turned against you. You either lose the game or draw a winning position.
The emotions after such a game of chess are felt by most of us at some point or the other in our careers. It further turns into agitation and you may end up cursing your luck or blaming yourself. You come out and tell your friends, coaches and parents that you played a nearly flawless game but only if you had some extra time at that exact moment, you would have found the required winning move and crushed your opponent. Doh!

Does this story sound familiar to you? If this happens once in a while, maybe it’s not that big an issue but if it happens game after game then it is high time to do something about it. Unless, of course, you enjoy playing under time pressure and find reasonably good moves without too many errors even in the most complicated of the positions. If this is the case, then, congratulations! You are the next Grischuk!

https://en.chessbase.com/post/grandmaster-tips-on-how-to-fight-time-pressure-gm-swapnil-dhopade

Or Crazy Lucas…

There is more, much more, of this excellent article. I suggest you click on over and read it, now, without getting into “time trouble.”

 

All The Right Moves

During the interval between finishing the book

and writing the review a younger fellow came to the Ironman Chess club one evening with his lady friend on his arm. As an unknown he attracted much attention especially when playing his first game with one of the regulars, a class ‘B’ player with obvious mental problems (he is the kind of human who, when he comes in contact with a dog, the dog begins to growl before baring its teeth and barking. At the House of Pain it was commonly acknowledged the fellow, “Ain’t right.”). The newcomer had the ‘B’ player on the ropes, and was actually winning. The worse his position became the more afraid were we he might EXPLODE. Fortunately, the newbie blundered and lost the game and the frown and stare of his opponent turned into a smile while he “talked shit,” happy as a clam, while his opponent continued playing out the lost cause his game had become.

I was next in line to play a game with the newcomer. Before beginning the game I asked the young man a few questions, learning he had only played online Chess up to this point in his life. This made me think of the recently finished book, which was to be reviewed. While listening to the man I could see he had “The Look.” If you play any type of game you know about what I am talking. I have seen “The Look” many times throughout the course of my life. It has been noticed in not only Chess, but Backgammon and Poker. I even saw in in an opponent when playing Risk. Sure enough, we were the final two players in that particular game, and yes, I won. Writing about Risk reminds me of another game of Risk played in the Great State of Alabama many decades ago when returning from a Chess tournament. Big Al Hamilton, NM Michael Lucas, and I stopped at Doug King’s house and a Risk game was started. The three fellow Chess players were all from Alabama. When the game began Big Al looked at the other Bama brothers and said, “Let’s all attack Bacon and put him outta the game.” Since all three of them would play before my turn the of my chances surviving were minuscule. After being wiped from the board I upset the board and that ended the game. I regretted it immediately because I needed a ride back to Atlanta. Fortunately, the Bama bro’s were the understanding kind of fellows and I made it back without having to ride the ‘Hound…

It was obvious the younger man could play some Chess, and had played some Chess, but, like most newbies, he “attacked” with only his Queen and Knight, eventually “winning” my Queen’s Rook. Unfortunately for him he lagged in development and his “plan” allowed me to place pawns on both d5 and e5 while infiltrating the seventh rank with a Rook, which was en prise for several moves on d7 while his Knight on f6 could not move because of a deadly pin.

After resigning they decided to leave, but we did have a chance to talk, with my learning he was twenty-nine and a programmer. I highly recommended he read the book, All The Wrong Moves, but not for the reason he thought. The email exchange will explain:

Oct 15 at 10:12 PM
Hi Michael,

Enjoyed meeting & playing you tonight!

I went to buy “all the wrong moves”, but the book description says it’s a memoir – is that correct? I was under the impression that the book you recommended was a chess tutor book.

Michael Bacon
To:
Oct 16 at 8:14 AM
Why would you have thought that? It’s about a 29 year old man who decides to enter the world of human Chess tournaments after first playing online. You NEED to read the book before taking another step into the Chess world.

AW

To:Michael Bacon
Oct 28 at 10:24 AM
Just finished the book and really enjoyed it, thanks for the recommendation. I read it as a cautionary tale to not get into chess! It does seem like for certain people (like me!) chess can have an addictive quality, so I’d like to enjoy it more casually.

I don’t think I’ll be able to make a club meet up until late november!

Make of it what you will but I prefer to think it was synchronicity that brought the man to the club of Iron. I also like to think he attained that for which he was looking at the Ironman CC. I realize there are many “true believers” reading this who will disagree with me. You know the type. To them “Chess is the BEST AND GREATEST GAME OF ALL TIME!” They will ask, “Why did you do that? Chess needs more adults because currently the vast majority of humans who play Chess are children.” You know, the “Kill the messenger” kinda people. The fact is that I only gave the young man additional information to help him decide what to do with his time in the future. Besides, does the Chess world really need another stumble bum who gave up a promising career, and life, to do whatever it takes to get to the next round on time even though he may have to sleep on the floor underneath the table upon which a Chess game will be played in only a few short hours?

The Keres Variation Versus the Caro Kann

After 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 there is an alternative for white, 5 Ng3, as NM Michael Lucas, from Alabama, played against me in a game ultimately drawn in a time scramble. “Wasn’t that exciting?” Mike asked immediately after I agreed to his draw offer. “No” I replied. “It was HARROWING!” He laughed uproariously as we signed score sheets. IM Boris Kogan said Mike was one of the most inventive players he had known. Lucas did not like to study Chess; only play. I still recall going over one of his Closed Sicilian games in which he played g3-g4, and then on the following move, g4-g5. I said something like, “Wow.” He looked up and grinned. “It thwarts everything,” he said. “Thwarts” has stuck in my memory. As I recall my response, after Mike retreated his knight, was 5…g6. Then it was that or 5…h5, but I had experimented with moves like 5…Qc7, and 5…Na6, among others, but never thought to play 5…c5, which is the move Komodo gives as best at the CBDB.

The variation 1 e4 c6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Nf3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Qe2 has become popular. Anyone who has read my blogs know of my predilection for the move Qe2 in the opening, especially against the French. I have yet to play 5 Qe2 versus the Caro Kann because I do not play 2 Nc3. I favor 3 f3, the Caro Kann Krusher, after the usual 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5. Maybe the white player hopes for 1 e4 c6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Nf3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Qe2 Nbd7:

White to move

There is a reason one should ALWAYS EXAMINE ALL CHECKS!!!

This was actually played in a game between Paul Keres and Edward Arlamowski at the Przepiorka Memorial in Poland two months and three days before I was born in 1950. Since the first game played with Qe2 iin this variation was played by Paule Keres, I declare it to be the “Keres variation.”

Here are a couple of recent games with the Keres variation from Gibralta:

Harshit Raja vs

Chanda Sandipan

Rd 4

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Qa5 7. Qf4 Qf5 8. Qe3 Qxc2 9. Bd3 Qa4 10. b3 (10. O-O f6 11. b3 Qa5 12. Bb2 Na6 13. Rfe1 Nc7 14. b4 Qh5 15. b5 Nxb5 16. Nd4 Nxd4 17. Bxd4 1/2-1/2 Giri v Riazantsev, Palma De Mallorca GP 2017) Qa5 11. Bb2 Na6 12. O-O f6 13. Bc4 Bd7 14. Rac1 Nc7 15. Bc3 Qh5 16. Nd4 e5 17. f4 O-O-O 18. fxe5 Qxe5 19. Qxe5 fxe5 20. Nf3 Be6 21. Bxe5 Bxc4 22. Rxc4 Ne6 23. Re1 Bc5+ 24. d4 Bb6 25. Re4 Rhe8 26. Rg4 Rd5 27. Kf1 g5 28. Rg3 h5 29. h3 Rf8 30. Ke2 Rf5 31. Kd3 Rfxe5 32. Nxe5 Bxd4 33. Rxd4 Rxd4+ 34. Kc3 Rd5 35. Re3 Nf4 36. g4 Ra5 37. Rf3 Rxe5 38. Kd4 0-1

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

vs Richard Rapport

Rd 10

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Na6 6. d4 Qd5 (6…Bf5 7. Ng3 Bg6 8. c3 e6 9. h4 h6 10. Ne5 Bh7 11. Nxc6 Qb6 12. Ne5 Nc7 13. a4 a6 14. a5 Qd6 15. Qd1 Nd7 16. Qa4 Nd5 17. Be2 f6 18. Bh5+ g6 19. Nxg6 Bxg6 20. Bxg6+ Ke7 21. O-O f5 22. Bxf5 1-0 Khruschiov v Karacsony, Miercurea Ciuc op 1998) 7. Nc3 Qa5 8. Qe5 Qxe5+ 9. dxe5 Nb4 10. Bd3 Nxd3+ 11. cxd3 Nd7 12. Be3 Nb6 13. Ke2 Be6 14. Nd4 Bd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. e6 g6 17. exf7+ Kxf7 18. Nf3 Bg7 19. Ng5+ Ke8 20. Rab1 a5 21. Ne4 b6 22. Rhc1 Kd7 23. Nc3 a4 24. Nxd5 cxd5 25. d4 Rhc8 26. Kd3 e6 27. Rxc8 Rxc8 28. Rc1 Rxc1 29. Bxc1 Kc6 30. b3 axb3 1/2-1/2

The next game found in the Big database is from 1968:

Istvan Csom

vs German L Khodos

HUN-URS 1968

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Nd7 7. Bc4 Nf6
8. Ne5 e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. c3 c5 11. Bb5+ Bd7 12. Nxd7 Nxd7 13. O-O a6 14. Bxd7+
Qxd7 15. Rd1 Qb5 16. Qxb5+ axb5 17. d4 c4 18. Be3 Kd7 19. a3 Kc6 20. Kf1 Kd5
21. Bf4 g5 22. Be5 f6 23. Bg3 h5 24. h3 Rag8 25. Re1 h4 26. Bh2 g4 27. Re3 g3
28. Bg1 Bd6 29. Rae1 Re8 30. Rf3 f5 31. fxg3 hxg3 32. Be3 Rh4 33. Bg5 Re4 34.
Rxe4 Kxe4 35. Re3+ Kd5 36. Rf3 Rg8 37. Bf4 Bxf4 38. Rxf4 b4 39. axb4 Ra8 40.
Ke2 Ra2 41. Kf3 Rxb2 42. Kxg3 Rc2 43. Rf3 e5 44. dxe5 Kxe5 45. Re3+ Kf6 46. Kf3
Kg5 47. g4 fxg4+ 48. hxg4 Kf6 49. Kf4 Rf2+ 50. Rf3 Re2 51. Rh3 Kg6 52. Re3 Rf2+
53. Ke5 Rd2 54. Re4 b5 55. Kf4 Rc2 56. Re6+ Kf7 57. Re5 Rxc3 58. Rxb5 Rc1 59.
Ke3 Ke6 60. Rc5 Rc3+ 61. Kd4 Rg3 62. Kxc4 Rxg4+ 63. Kb5 Kd6 64. Rc1 Rg8 65. Ka6
1-0

Oleg M Romanishin,

v Ratmir D Kholmov,

Vilnius zonal 1975

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Qd5 7. Qe3 Bf5
8. c4 Qe4 9. d3 Qxe3+ 10. fxe3 Nd7 11. Be2 e5 12. e4 Bb4+ 13. Kf2 Be6 14. Be3
f6 15. d4 exd4 16. Nxd4 Bf7 17. Rhd1 g6 18. Nf3 Bc5 19. Bxc5 Nxc5 20. e5 O-O
21. exf6 Ne4+ 22. Kg1 Nxf6 23. Ng5 Rae8 24. Re1 Re5 25. Nxf7 Kxf7 26. Bf3 Rxe1+
27. Rxe1 Rd8 28. Re3 g5 29. h3 h5 30. Rb3 Rd7 31. g4 hxg4 32. hxg4 c5 33. Bxb7
Rd4 34. Bf3 Rxc4 35. Kf1 Ke6 36. Ra3 Rf4 37. Ke2 Nxg4 38. Bxg4+ Rxg4 39. b3
Re4+ 40. Kf3 Rf4+ 41. Kg3 Rf7 42. Ra6+ Kd5 43. Rg6 Rf1 44. Ra6 Rf7 1/2-1/2

Melanie Ohme

v Judith Fuchs

GER-ch U16 Girls 2005

1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qe2 Nxe4 6. Qxe4 Nd7 7. Bc4 Nf6
8. Qe2 Bf5 9. O-O e6 10. d4 Bd6 11. Bg5 O-O 12. c3 Be7 13. Ne5 Qc7 14. f4 h6
15. Bxf6 gxf6 16. Ng4 Kh7 17. Bd3 Bg6 18. f5 exf5 19. Bxf5 Kg7 20. Rf3 Rae8 21.
Qd2 Rh8 22. Raf1 Qd6 23. Rg3 h5 24. Ne3 Kh7 25. Qc2 Reg8 26. Qb3 Rg7 27. Qxb7
Rb8 28. Qxa7 Rxb2 29. Nc4 1-0