They came in laughing and joking. At least it seemed like joking, for he understood nothing of their language. Indeed, they had reason for being in such a festive mood; no other team had the advantage they did; as the old master had said, "I am the favorite because I am the only one that does not have to play me!"
Jose was indifferent toward the Soviets. His small country was mostly considered neutral and invisible by the big powers in the Cold War, and Jose shared a similar view toward them. So although he had no personal grudge against his opponents, he viewed the coming match with mixed emotions.
On one hand, it was part of the thrill of the Olympiad that in the your team might play one of the great powers and you might be play a legend. In fact, his opponent on third board was a former contender for the World Championship - of course that hardly distinguished him from his teammates. On the other hand, being on the wrong end of an Informant miniature or as a fun game in an anthology was not a thrilling prospect.
The Soviet team had swept through the first couple of rounds without much of a problem. In the previous round though, they had been rather easy on a contender, ceding two "Grandmaster draws" with Black before finally winning 2.5-1.5. Now they were paired with Jose's team, which would soon be knocked down among the middle teams for the remainder of the tournament. Their Latin country could hardly expect any Grandmaster draws; anything less than a 4-0 sweep would be considered a failure for their opponents.
Therein lay the problem. Jose's team had been shutout the last three times they played the Soviets. They were losing face, and that was much more difficult to accept than losing a game. No respect. Respect meant a lot to Jose's countrymen, and if they got shut out again, chess would suffer. Not a lot, but just enough to matter: "You can't even give the big guys a little to worry about..." A little harder to get money or to get the government to support a tournament. Even one draw would go a long way.
Before the Soviet team approached their tables, Jose made his last minute mental preparations. As a national master, he had qualified for his country's championship, and his third place finish had landed him on the corresponding board for the Olympiad. However, his strength was still below what was known as "IM" level; the ELO system placed him about 2300, and if he played enough games he should earn the lowest "FM" title. He was about 100 points below his country's first board, who had two IM norms, but his chances against his 2700 opponent were not very bright.
In this game Jose had the Black pieces, but color mattered little to him this particular day. He pushed out of his mind that loss was inevitable, but it was hard to surpress the deadly feeling, and he knew that any thoughts of impending doom would only make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It was time!
His famous opponent came over and muttered a few kindly phrases in Spanish, with a Russian accent, of course. It was good propaganda, but Jose was impressed nonetheless. He only knew enough in Russian to say "I resign" and "Where is the bathroom?" The Soviet's use of Spanish did make a strong contrast to the team from the United States (to make the obvious comparison), whose players didn't seem to think learning Spanish was very worthwhile. The one exception was the American first reserve, who seemed to be fluent in many languages, and was thus well respected. No matter.
Jose shook hands and shortly thereafter the FIDE Arbiter announced for the players to start the clocks.
The Soviet player, who was known for closed systems, surprised Jose a little with 1.e4. No respect! He was looking for a fast, flashy win and sticking by his usual stodgy repertoire was not needed against Jose. Jose feigned indifference and played 1...c5, the Sicilian. May as well go down in a fight. Manly. However, the nagging thought would not go away: "He will out-book me no matter what I play."
However, to Jose's surprise, his opponent played 2.d4. The Smith-Morra Gambit? No Grandmaster plays that. More disrespect. Of course it did not help that Jose was not on the firmest ground in any theoretical battle. Many minutes passed. Jose discarded all book acceptance and declined lines and played 2...e6, hoping to get some sort of rare-book Benoni if his opponent played the "normal" 3.d5.
The former World Champion contender thought for a comparable time and offered the transposition 3.Nf3. If now 3...cxd4, it would be a regular Open Sicilian. Kan, Taimanov, Scheveningen, or Paulsen - it didn't matter; these were not part of Jose's repertoire and his chances would be more than slim. What to do? More time ran off the clock before Jose offered the admittedly rare 3...d5. There quickly followed 4.exd5 exd5 5.dxc5. Now the main book move was 5...d4 6.Bb5+ with advantage to White, which is why this line was not played very often. So Jose accepted a slight disadvantage of the isolated d-pawn with 5...Bxc5. He might be worse, but at least the fear of book disaster was avoided.
The Soviet chose 6.Bb5+ anyway, and soon Jose realized that 6...Nc6 was pretty much forced. The game continued 7.O-O Ne7. Now a normal continuation might be 8.Nd2 or even 8.h3, but instead the more aggressive 8.Nc3 was chosen. This allowed the return move 8...Bg4, and after 9.Re1 White was already threatening the isolani. There followed 9...O-O, at which point the Soviet had used 24 minutes, Jose 34. The clock was an important part of all chess games. Jose was accustomed to the international rate of 40 moves in 2 hours, so he rarely got into severe time trouble. Occasionally, however, strong opponents would build up a large time advantage, which accentuated their superiority all the more.
The tenth move was a BIG suprise, 10.Bd3. While Grandmasters break the principle, "Move every piece once in the opening before you move any piece twice" all the time, this repositioning seemed rather too smug. The threat of 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.Ng5+ K moves 13.Qxg4 was easy enough to see, but the more Jose looked, the more it seemed that every defense created a weakness.
Nerves.
What to do?
Tick tock.
Jose decided to burn his bridges and play 10...f5. The pawn thrust was a sharp reply: it weakened any number of squares, but gave him some space.
At this point an unusual thing happened for which Jose was eternally greatful: a great player made one miscalculation. This is not news, but in high level chess one miscalculation can absolutely ruin the game if it comes at the wrong time. This came at the wrong time for the GM. Perhaps he was trying to win too flashily, or perhaps one too many vodkas the night before - Jose never found out, but it didn't matter. Further, the other Soviet GM's had pleasant positions on all the other boards, so there was no extra pressure. It just happened. Yes, Petrosian had put his Queen en prise to Stein, who had not taken it, never considering that his illustrious opponent could have made such a mistake. And at San Sebastian 1912, in the decisive game, Nimzovitch had accidentally overlooked that his move allowed a mate in two, and his reknowned opponent, Akiba Rubinstein, had responded by failing to execute the winning beginner's combination. Even the immortal Alekhine, in a game against Buerger, allowed a simple Knight fork of his King and Queen and his opponent responded by moving the wrong Knight!
This miscalculation was not on the order of these famous mistakes, but a miscalculation nonetheless. The GM had calculated 11.h3 Bh5 12. g4?! fxg4 13.hxg4 Bxg4 14.Bh7+ Kxh7 15.Ng5+ K moves 16.Qxg4 with a winning attack. If that were to happen, White would be exposed, but up a pawn and on the attack. But it was not to be...
11.h3 Bh5 was played and now hesitation. 12.g4 is one of those moves which must work or must not be played. But the GM, trusting his earlier visualization, only re-checked the variation once (in good Kotov-approved fashion) and played 12.g4? The crowd noticed and a low mumble was heard, followed by a clear "Shush." Some teammates from both sides wandered over with a strange look on their faces.
After the forced 12...fxg4 13.hxg4 Bxg4 the Grandmaster stopped and not so slowly turned very, very red. Foreign invitations and a good apartment were at stake for him. But the grim reality that if 14.Bxh7+ Kh8! was winning now all too apparent. In this rare case, Black's declining the Bishop sacrifice meant that the White Knight could not be saved. White was lost, but the game was not over. The GM put on his best poker face, but made the face-losing retreat 14.Be2.
Jose tried to contain his excitement. Yes, his opponent could probably give him pawn and move odds, but this was even better than that! It seemed a quiet consolidation was in order. But the adrenalin was now running high in Jose and he eyed White's barren kingside with unneeded aggression. Maybe it would be his game in the Informant! Shunning quieter lines like 14...Qd6, Jose sacrificed a piece with 14...Bxf2+!?, planning on regaining his piece after a further ...Ne5.
The GM looked relieved and played 15.Kxf2. Jose could not find anything better than the planned 15...Ne5 and the GM had another long think before unveiling the clever 16.Bg5. Now Jose was not as happy as he was before because the win was not as clear as he had thought. The straightforward line 16...Nxf3, which he had planned, was met by the even more straightforward 17. Bxf3 Rxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Bxf3 19.Bxe7 and if 19...Qb6+ then 20.Kxf3 and White would have more than enough for the Queen. Should he offer a draw? It might be accepted.
Jose got up and told the Arbiter he was going to confer with his non-playing captain about a possible draw offer. The captain had mixed feelings - it might be the face saving half point, but it was certainly not the most fearless alternative. And each half point was precious. He finally left it up to Jose; not wanted Jose wanted when he had asked for help.
Jose still had an hour left on his clock as he sat back down to ponder. What now? 16...Nxf3? 16...Bxf3? 16...Qb6+? Draw? Jose grew disgusted with the growing complications and found his hand moving to make the temporizing 16...Qb6+. That happens sometimes...not always with great results...especially against GMs. [Note: 20 years later Jose gave the position to a high powered chess computer and it told him that 16...Nxf3 was the right move. Damn know-it-all computers!]
Now his Knight was en prise on e7, but that was not important. White could not play 17.Kf1 due to 17...Bh3 mate. If he just moved the King, then the combination starting with 17.Bxf3 was "on" again as White would be a tempo up, and that would result in not losing a piece at the end. So after more deliberation the Soviet, never looking up, played 17.Be3.
Jose's clock read 43 minutes to make the remaining 24 moves. In such a position, it was easy to see himself getting into severe time pressure and losing everything. Yet on the other hand, he still had to be careful. Where to move the Queen? f6 was tempting because the pinned Knight was not preventing ...Qh4+. Jose looked for something better, but couldn't find it. Tick tock. 17...Qf6 it was.
The GM considered the many options, but his position was still quite dreadful. For example, if he played 18.Nxd5 Qh4+ 19.Kg1 Qg3+ 20.Kh1, then 20...Bxf3+ 21. Bxf3 Nxf3, then the threat of both 22.Qh2 mate and 22.Qh3 mate meant that there was no defense. So he had to play 18.Rh1
Jose was definitely feeling better. He could win back his piece if he wanted to! But for the first time he grew more confident and instead played the more elegant 18...Bxf3. After the forced reply of19.Bxf3 he considered but rejected winning back his piece - no credit for missing better moves. Instead he played the cute 19...Ng4+. If now 20.Kg3 Nf5+ 21.Kh3 (21.Kxg4 Nxe3+ winning the Queen) 21...Qh4+ 22. Kg2 Nxe3+ and 23...Qf2 mate. Everything was fitting into place so nicely. This was the most fun he had in a long time!
By now, of course, a fairly large group of spectators were following the game, including the whitish-looking Soviet captain, who seemed halfway between disgust and anger. All the sweeter for Jose. Even the great American champion stopped at the table and discreetly flashed a big grin at Jose.
The former World Champion candidate avoided all the above lines by "uncastling" with 20.Ke1. Finally Jose swallowed his pride and won back his piece with 20...Nxe3, double-checking everything to make sure that victory would not be snatched at the last minute. Next White played 21.Nxd5, countering the attack on the Queen with one of his own - an endgame would be a great salvation here. 21...N7xd5 22.Bxd5+ duly followed.
This was the last chance for the underdog to go wrong, so he took most of his remaining time to make sure that after 22...Kh8 that nothing shocking like 23.Rxh7+ was in store. It wasn't as 23...Kxh7 24.Qh5+ could be easily met with 24...Qh6. The rest looked pretty easy with the White King in the center of the board with no pawn cover and the Queen, Knight and both Rooks ready to attack. So after due deliberation, and with about seven minutes left on his clock, came 22...Kh8. After 23.Qd2 (nothing else to be done, as mate on f2 was threatened, as was the Queen and the Bishop), Black simply played 23...Nxd5 24.Qxd5 Qf2+ 25.Kd1 Rad8. A beginner's pin, but done in a most unusual time and place. More than enough.
The Grandmaster extended his hand and the crowd gave a muted ovation that was quickly silenced by the Arbiter. There were no gold pieces thrown on the board, but at least for that one moment, Jose couldn't have cared less.
Jose was indifferent toward the Soviets. His small country was mostly considered neutral and invisible by the big powers in the Cold War, and Jose shared a similar view toward them. So although he had no personal grudge against his opponents, he viewed the coming match with mixed emotions.
On one hand, it was part of the thrill of the Olympiad that in the your team might play one of the great powers and you might be play a legend. In fact, his opponent on third board was a former contender for the World Championship - of course that hardly distinguished him from his teammates. On the other hand, being on the wrong end of an Informant miniature or as a fun game in an anthology was not a thrilling prospect.
The Soviet team had swept through the first couple of rounds without much of a problem. In the previous round though, they had been rather easy on a contender, ceding two "Grandmaster draws" with Black before finally winning 2.5-1.5. Now they were paired with Jose's team, which would soon be knocked down among the middle teams for the remainder of the tournament. Their Latin country could hardly expect any Grandmaster draws; anything less than a 4-0 sweep would be considered a failure for their opponents.
Therein lay the problem. Jose's team had been shutout the last three times they played the Soviets. They were losing face, and that was much more difficult to accept than losing a game. No respect. Respect meant a lot to Jose's countrymen, and if they got shut out again, chess would suffer. Not a lot, but just enough to matter: "You can't even give the big guys a little to worry about..." A little harder to get money or to get the government to support a tournament. Even one draw would go a long way.
Before the Soviet team approached their tables, Jose made his last minute mental preparations. As a national master, he had qualified for his country's championship, and his third place finish had landed him on the corresponding board for the Olympiad. However, his strength was still below what was known as "IM" level; the ELO system placed him about 2300, and if he played enough games he should earn the lowest "FM" title. He was about 100 points below his country's first board, who had two IM norms, but his chances against his 2700 opponent were not very bright.
In this game Jose had the Black pieces, but color mattered little to him this particular day. He pushed out of his mind that loss was inevitable, but it was hard to surpress the deadly feeling, and he knew that any thoughts of impending doom would only make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It was time!
His famous opponent came over and muttered a few kindly phrases in Spanish, with a Russian accent, of course. It was good propaganda, but Jose was impressed nonetheless. He only knew enough in Russian to say "I resign" and "Where is the bathroom?" The Soviet's use of Spanish did make a strong contrast to the team from the United States (to make the obvious comparison), whose players didn't seem to think learning Spanish was very worthwhile. The one exception was the American first reserve, who seemed to be fluent in many languages, and was thus well respected. No matter.
Jose shook hands and shortly thereafter the FIDE Arbiter announced for the players to start the clocks.
The Soviet player, who was known for closed systems, surprised Jose a little with 1.e4. No respect! He was looking for a fast, flashy win and sticking by his usual stodgy repertoire was not needed against Jose. Jose feigned indifference and played 1...c5, the Sicilian. May as well go down in a fight. Manly. However, the nagging thought would not go away: "He will out-book me no matter what I play."
However, to Jose's surprise, his opponent played 2.d4. The Smith-Morra Gambit? No Grandmaster plays that. More disrespect. Of course it did not help that Jose was not on the firmest ground in any theoretical battle. Many minutes passed. Jose discarded all book acceptance and declined lines and played 2...e6, hoping to get some sort of rare-book Benoni if his opponent played the "normal" 3.d5.
The former World Champion contender thought for a comparable time and offered the transposition 3.Nf3. If now 3...cxd4, it would be a regular Open Sicilian. Kan, Taimanov, Scheveningen, or Paulsen - it didn't matter; these were not part of Jose's repertoire and his chances would be more than slim. What to do? More time ran off the clock before Jose offered the admittedly rare 3...d5. There quickly followed 4.exd5 exd5 5.dxc5. Now the main book move was 5...d4 6.Bb5+ with advantage to White, which is why this line was not played very often. So Jose accepted a slight disadvantage of the isolated d-pawn with 5...Bxc5. He might be worse, but at least the fear of book disaster was avoided.
The Soviet chose 6.Bb5+ anyway, and soon Jose realized that 6...Nc6 was pretty much forced. The game continued 7.O-O Ne7. Now a normal continuation might be 8.Nd2 or even 8.h3, but instead the more aggressive 8.Nc3 was chosen. This allowed the return move 8...Bg4, and after 9.Re1 White was already threatening the isolani. There followed 9...O-O, at which point the Soviet had used 24 minutes, Jose 34. The clock was an important part of all chess games. Jose was accustomed to the international rate of 40 moves in 2 hours, so he rarely got into severe time trouble. Occasionally, however, strong opponents would build up a large time advantage, which accentuated their superiority all the more.
The tenth move was a BIG suprise, 10.Bd3. While Grandmasters break the principle, "Move every piece once in the opening before you move any piece twice" all the time, this repositioning seemed rather too smug. The threat of 11.Bxh7+ Kxh7 12.Ng5+ K moves 13.Qxg4 was easy enough to see, but the more Jose looked, the more it seemed that every defense created a weakness.
Nerves.
What to do?
Tick tock.
Jose decided to burn his bridges and play 10...f5. The pawn thrust was a sharp reply: it weakened any number of squares, but gave him some space.
At this point an unusual thing happened for which Jose was eternally greatful: a great player made one miscalculation. This is not news, but in high level chess one miscalculation can absolutely ruin the game if it comes at the wrong time. This came at the wrong time for the GM. Perhaps he was trying to win too flashily, or perhaps one too many vodkas the night before - Jose never found out, but it didn't matter. Further, the other Soviet GM's had pleasant positions on all the other boards, so there was no extra pressure. It just happened. Yes, Petrosian had put his Queen en prise to Stein, who had not taken it, never considering that his illustrious opponent could have made such a mistake. And at San Sebastian 1912, in the decisive game, Nimzovitch had accidentally overlooked that his move allowed a mate in two, and his reknowned opponent, Akiba Rubinstein, had responded by failing to execute the winning beginner's combination. Even the immortal Alekhine, in a game against Buerger, allowed a simple Knight fork of his King and Queen and his opponent responded by moving the wrong Knight!
This miscalculation was not on the order of these famous mistakes, but a miscalculation nonetheless. The GM had calculated 11.h3 Bh5 12. g4?! fxg4 13.hxg4 Bxg4 14.Bh7+ Kxh7 15.Ng5+ K moves 16.Qxg4 with a winning attack. If that were to happen, White would be exposed, but up a pawn and on the attack. But it was not to be...
11.h3 Bh5 was played and now hesitation. 12.g4 is one of those moves which must work or must not be played. But the GM, trusting his earlier visualization, only re-checked the variation once (in good Kotov-approved fashion) and played 12.g4? The crowd noticed and a low mumble was heard, followed by a clear "Shush." Some teammates from both sides wandered over with a strange look on their faces.
After the forced 12...fxg4 13.hxg4 Bxg4 the Grandmaster stopped and not so slowly turned very, very red. Foreign invitations and a good apartment were at stake for him. But the grim reality that if 14.Bxh7+ Kh8! was winning now all too apparent. In this rare case, Black's declining the Bishop sacrifice meant that the White Knight could not be saved. White was lost, but the game was not over. The GM put on his best poker face, but made the face-losing retreat 14.Be2.
Jose tried to contain his excitement. Yes, his opponent could probably give him pawn and move odds, but this was even better than that! It seemed a quiet consolidation was in order. But the adrenalin was now running high in Jose and he eyed White's barren kingside with unneeded aggression. Maybe it would be his game in the Informant! Shunning quieter lines like 14...Qd6, Jose sacrificed a piece with 14...Bxf2+!?, planning on regaining his piece after a further ...Ne5.
The GM looked relieved and played 15.Kxf2. Jose could not find anything better than the planned 15...Ne5 and the GM had another long think before unveiling the clever 16.Bg5. Now Jose was not as happy as he was before because the win was not as clear as he had thought. The straightforward line 16...Nxf3, which he had planned, was met by the even more straightforward 17. Bxf3 Rxf3+ 18.Qxf3 Bxf3 19.Bxe7 and if 19...Qb6+ then 20.Kxf3 and White would have more than enough for the Queen. Should he offer a draw? It might be accepted.
Jose got up and told the Arbiter he was going to confer with his non-playing captain about a possible draw offer. The captain had mixed feelings - it might be the face saving half point, but it was certainly not the most fearless alternative. And each half point was precious. He finally left it up to Jose; not wanted Jose wanted when he had asked for help.
Jose still had an hour left on his clock as he sat back down to ponder. What now? 16...Nxf3? 16...Bxf3? 16...Qb6+? Draw? Jose grew disgusted with the growing complications and found his hand moving to make the temporizing 16...Qb6+. That happens sometimes...not always with great results...especially against GMs. [Note: 20 years later Jose gave the position to a high powered chess computer and it told him that 16...Nxf3 was the right move. Damn know-it-all computers!]
Now his Knight was en prise on e7, but that was not important. White could not play 17.Kf1 due to 17...Bh3 mate. If he just moved the King, then the combination starting with 17.Bxf3 was "on" again as White would be a tempo up, and that would result in not losing a piece at the end. So after more deliberation the Soviet, never looking up, played 17.Be3.
Jose's clock read 43 minutes to make the remaining 24 moves. In such a position, it was easy to see himself getting into severe time pressure and losing everything. Yet on the other hand, he still had to be careful. Where to move the Queen? f6 was tempting because the pinned Knight was not preventing ...Qh4+. Jose looked for something better, but couldn't find it. Tick tock. 17...Qf6 it was.
The GM considered the many options, but his position was still quite dreadful. For example, if he played 18.Nxd5 Qh4+ 19.Kg1 Qg3+ 20.Kh1, then 20...Bxf3+ 21. Bxf3 Nxf3, then the threat of both 22.Qh2 mate and 22.Qh3 mate meant that there was no defense. So he had to play 18.Rh1
Jose was definitely feeling better. He could win back his piece if he wanted to! But for the first time he grew more confident and instead played the more elegant 18...Bxf3. After the forced reply of19.Bxf3 he considered but rejected winning back his piece - no credit for missing better moves. Instead he played the cute 19...Ng4+. If now 20.Kg3 Nf5+ 21.Kh3 (21.Kxg4 Nxe3+ winning the Queen) 21...Qh4+ 22. Kg2 Nxe3+ and 23...Qf2 mate. Everything was fitting into place so nicely. This was the most fun he had in a long time!
By now, of course, a fairly large group of spectators were following the game, including the whitish-looking Soviet captain, who seemed halfway between disgust and anger. All the sweeter for Jose. Even the great American champion stopped at the table and discreetly flashed a big grin at Jose.
The former World Champion candidate avoided all the above lines by "uncastling" with 20.Ke1. Finally Jose swallowed his pride and won back his piece with 20...Nxe3, double-checking everything to make sure that victory would not be snatched at the last minute. Next White played 21.Nxd5, countering the attack on the Queen with one of his own - an endgame would be a great salvation here. 21...N7xd5 22.Bxd5+ duly followed.
This was the last chance for the underdog to go wrong, so he took most of his remaining time to make sure that after 22...Kh8 that nothing shocking like 23.Rxh7+ was in store. It wasn't as 23...Kxh7 24.Qh5+ could be easily met with 24...Qh6. The rest looked pretty easy with the White King in the center of the board with no pawn cover and the Queen, Knight and both Rooks ready to attack. So after due deliberation, and with about seven minutes left on his clock, came 22...Kh8. After 23.Qd2 (nothing else to be done, as mate on f2 was threatened, as was the Queen and the Bishop), Black simply played 23...Nxd5 24.Qxd5 Qf2+ 25.Kd1 Rad8. A beginner's pin, but done in a most unusual time and place. More than enough.
The Grandmaster extended his hand and the crowd gave a muted ovation that was quickly silenced by the Arbiter. There were no gold pieces thrown on the board, but at least for that one moment, Jose couldn't have cared less.