Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment
Focusing on Photos
One photo is worth ... well, you know. By GM ANDY SOLTIS
SOME GREAT CHESS YEARS CAN BE characterized by a single tournament, such as New York 1924. Or they can be remembered for an historic game, like Garry Kasparov’s title-saving victory in the final game of the 1987 world champi- onship match. But recent years are best recalled in photographs. The one that instantly summed up 2013 showed a newly crowned World Champion Magnus Carlsen as he was tossed into a Chennai, India swimming pool (see February 2014 Chess Life). Photos put a face—in this case, a very
happy one—on competition that might otherwise be illustrated with just chess diagrams and crosstables. They show us what words, even a thousand of them, can never fully express. It’s one thing to say that in the previous
world title match, champion Vishy Anand was supported by a team of assistants. But when you see a photo of his eight seconds, plus Vishy and his wife and ... Well, you get the picture, literally. Thanks to the Internet, snapshots can
more easily bring chess history to life today. For example, if you navigate Google images you’ll find stunning photos by the legendary photojournalist Alfred Eisen- staedt of players and spectators during the 1954 U.S.-USSR match in New York. Or you can plug in the names Bobby
Fischer and Fidel Castro and find photos of them playing a game during a free day at the 1966 Olympiad in Havana. One version of how that came about
comes from a Cuban named Filiberto Ter- razas, who said he was playing a casual game with Castro when World Champion Tigran Petrosian showed up to kibitz, sug- gesting moves to the “Maximum Leader.” Terrazas saw Fischer standing nearby and asked him for help. So it became a bizarre consultation game, Castro and Petrosian versus Terrazas and Fischer. White won but, alas, the game seems
to be lost. Another casual game played during the tournament was preserved. Don’t expect much:
(see game next column) 18 June 2014 | Chess Life White wins a piece. On the Internet you
can find a photo of the two players around this point in the game.
12. ... Bd8 13. dxc6 b5 14. Qxb5 a6 15. Qa4 g4 16. c7+ Bd7 17. cxd8=Q+ Rxd8 18. Qd4 gxf3 19. Qxh8?? Qxe2 mate.
Fans don’t appreciate how masters use photos—as inspirational devices. For example, when David Bronstein was
about to play a world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik, one of Botvinnik’s former match opponents, Gregory Leven- fish, advised him, “Hang a portrait of Botvinnik over your bed so you’ll be used to his face.” I know a veteran U.S. grandmaster who
topped that by putting a photo of an upcoming opponent in his refrigerator. And GM Viktor Kupreichik recalled how some Soviet players threw darts at photos of their opponent before a game. Old tournament books featured an oblig-
atory posed photo of the players, awk ward ly standing in two rows for posterity. But the most famous chess photos have been can- did, such as when nine-year-old Sammy Reshevsky was playing a simultaneous exhibition against 20 West Point cadets. One of the best posed shots occurred
King’s Gambit Accepted (C34) Filiberto Terrazas Fidel Castro Olympiad, Havana, 1966
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Bd6? 4. d4 h6 5. e5 Bb4+ 6. c3 Ba5 7. Bxf4 g5 8. Bg3 Qe7 9. Be2 d6 10. exd6 cxd6 11. Qa4+! Nc6 12. d5
while members of a visiting American team were taking a rest day during a match with the best Soviets in Moscow. On the day before, the Americans scored their second—and last—victory of the lopsided, 32-game match.
Sicilian Defense, Yugoslav Attack (B76) GM Efim Geller IM Donald Byrne U.S.-USSR match, Moscow, 1955
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 0-0 9. 0-0- 0 Be6 10. Kb1 Rc8 11. g4 Qa5 12. Nxe6 fxe6 13. Bc4 Nd8 14. Be2 Nd7 15. Bd4 Ne5 16. f4 Ndc6!
Based on 17. fxe5 Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Bxe5
and a capture on c3, e.g. 19. Qa4? Bxc3 or 19. Qe3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 Rxc3.
17. Bxe5?! dxe5 18. f5 Nd4 19. fxg6 hxg6 20. Rhf1 Rf4! 21. g5 b5 22. Bd3 Rcf8 23. Qg2 b4 24. Ne2 Qc5! 25. Qh3?
Black invited 25. Nxf4 exf4 when his
bishop comes alive (26. ... Qe5!). Perhaps confused by the complications of 26. e5 Qxe5 27. Rde1 Ne2! and 28. c3 Nxc3+, White blundered.
25. ... Rf3! 26. Rxf3 Rxf3 27. Qg4 Rxd3! And the threat of ... Qxc2+ eventually
won (28. Rc1 Rd1!). The following day was July 4, so the
American Embassy invited the Kremlin leadership to celebrate our Independence Day at the U.S. ambassador’s residence. The result was a remarkable photo of the
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