Chess Moves in the Movies

Transcription

1 Chess Moves in the Movies Have you ever seen a film in which a game of chess was played? Was the board laid out correctly, with the white square on the right corner? Did it look like a real game of chess was being played? Some of the movies with chess games are indeed realistic, while others are not. In Casablanca it was realistic, for Humphrey Bogart was a good chess player and surely would not have allowed any glaring mistake in the setup of the board; quite likely he set up the position himself. The Movie Casablanca What a classic in film history! Many thematic and artistic elements came together perfectly in this black-and-white movie, which was set in the present time (early 1940 s) in northwest Africa, during what would later be called World War II. Near the beginning of the movie, a club owner sits at a table, gazing at an opening position on a chess set. How does that relate to the rest of the movie? Consider the following: Rick is mostly alone, at the chess board and in his life Tactics and strategy abound, at the board and in everybody s life Tough decisions are ahead for Rick: Where will his life be going? At the end, Rick has a new friend and a new purpose in life, and future tactics and strategy are sure to come up, yet more in his life than on a chess board.

2 Humphrey Bogart ponders a chess position in the film Casablanca A Little Game (family film in 2014) Don t confuse this with a 1971 television movie of the same name; there s no relationship except for the same title. The 2014 film takes us into the life of a ten-year-old girl named Max, who learns how to play chess from a cranky old man in a city park. Although A Little Game is given only a 6.3 average rating (out of ten) by IMDb, anyone who likes family-value movies in general and chess themes in particular will probably enjoy this movie and possibly be delighted with it. A city girl is frustrated, thrust into a new school where she has no friends, and then confronted by the shame of not knowing how to play chess. But Max overcomes that handicap and proves herself, in the movie A Little Game.

3 Max is embarrassed to admit she does not know the game of chess Chess Fever A 1925 Russian silent-film comedy, Chess Fever featurs an actual international chess tournament which was taking place in Moscow at the time. It shows grandmasters playing in the tournament, including American Frank J. Marshall and Cuban Jose R. Capablanca. In fact, Capablanca played a brief part in the dramatic content of the movie, indirectly (or inadvertently) helping a young lady become reconciled with her chess-crazed fiancée. ###. Jose Raul Capablanca in a silent film in 1925

4 Chess in films Movies include Casablanca, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Geri s Game, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone. An Endgame Puzzle Notice that for the white king to move towards the kingside is worthless in trying for a win, for the black king simply moves towards the queen side. Here is the correct way to win... Queen vs Rook Derek Grimmell calls this the trapezoid, a key position in the queen-versus-rook endgame. Although it may look innocent enough, black has no move that does not quickly lose Chess helps Kids According to research, Test scores improved by 17.3% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.6% for children participating in other forms of enriched activities.. Endgame Study by Grigoriev (1932) Reviewed The Russian chess master Nikolay Grigoriev ( ) won clear first place in the following Moscow City Championships:

5 He drew five of the seven games of the match he played against Alexander Alekhine in 1921 (A. A. won two). It was labeled a training match. But Grigoriev is better known as a composer of endgame studies, especially pawn end games. The following is taken from one of his studies, as recorded in the book Practical Chess Endings (by Chernev) and reviewed on the Fireside Chess site page End Games. Black to move and possibly avoid losing

6 Those are surely not words used by Grigoriev, possibly avoid losing. With best play, white apparently wins this endgame. But it is not a cook or an invalidation discovery that I found in this study or chess puzzle. It s a trap that can be set up by the defender. Grigoriev gives Kd1 for black, the obvious move. But white wins after the following: 2. Kd4 c1(q) 3. Kd3... (black has no escape from the mating net) A Chess Trap Set by the Defender Look again at the position above. Consider the less obvious move by black: Kd2. Now look at an obvious sequence a careless attacker might pursue as white: 2. Kd4 Kd1 How similar this looks to the main line, except Kd3 (?)... White could have won with Kc3! c1(n)+ This knight fork draws the game for black. ###. End Game Draw With the move, can black draw?.

7 Akiba Rubinstein in 1912 Akiba Rubinstein What a year for the Polish chess grandmaster Akiba Rubinstein! I herein undertake a brief study to determine if he deserves the title of Honorary World Chess Champion of Take this in context: Setting aside tournaments, Rubinstein played seven matches in his life, each of them against recognized chess masters. His first match was a draw. All six of the remaining matches he won. What other grandmaster of chess has that distinction? (Not one match lost in a lifetime.) In 1912, only two grandmasters could be considered equal or superior to Akiba Rubinstein: Jose Capablanca and Emanuel Lasker. What about Alexander Alekhine? He played in the Seventh Russian Championship tournament in 1912, alongside Rubinstein, but A.A. lost more games than he won, while A.R. won the tournament. In that year, Alexander was not yet in his prime; he was not, at that time, equal to Akiba.

8 Alexander Alekhine Other grandmasters could be mentioned, but most of them played in at least one of the five tournaments that A.R. won in 1912, and his worst performance that year was a tie for first with Oldrich Duras. What about Duras? Rubinstein played in at least two other tournaments with him, that year, and in neither one did Duras come close to first place. Neither Capablanca nor Lasker played in a tournament in 1912, in opposition to the five that Rubinstein played in. So how do we judge performance potential in 1912, for those two? Let s begin with Capablanca. Jose Capablanca That Cuban super-master played in five major tournaments around 1912, two in 1911 and three in (This was before his famous loss-less streak from 1916 to 1924, and he did not become world champion until 1921.) In two of those

9 1911/1913 competitions, the American Frank Marshall placed ahead of his Cuban friend. The point? In at least three of the European tournaments in 1912, Marshall and Rubinstein both participated, and the American did not come close to A.R. in any of the final scores of those three events. That suggests Rubinstein was a slightly better chess player than Capablanca in Frank Marshall Could Marshall have just been in worse form in Europe, in those tournaments? One of the first chess books I owned, during my early teens, was Marshall s Best Games of Chess. He was a pure master of the 19th century Romantic style, which often gave him poor results against the best grandmasters who were well-versed in the style of Steiniz: Modern style or Hypermodern, in particular in match play against Lasker and Capablanca. Marshall almost never won a game against those two in regular match play. Could it be that he did not feel his best in Europe, during at least some of those overseas tournaments. Must his lessimpressive performances in Europe have been only from one of the following?

10 Poor health Difficult hotel accommodations Change in time zone If Marshall did less well in only one or two tournaments in Europe, we could consider the above; but it was in three tournaments that he came nowhere near Rubinstein in final tallies, in Comparisons are still difficult, for most masters who played in Europe did not cross the Atlantic to play in the Americans, and few Western masters played in Europe, with Marshall a notable exception. I suggest two explanations for Marshall s more impressive victories in the Western hemisphere during these years, compared with what happened in Europe: European masters were better prepared to handle Marshall s Romantic style European masters were generally a bit stronger the best Western players I suggest both of the above played a part. The Challenge of Lasker With the World Champion Emanuel Lasker, it s a difficult matter. He played well in tournaments and matches for decades, almost always placing very well. In tournaments from 1889 to 1925, in fact, he never placed worse than third place, winning first place 16 times out of 21: What a performance! These did not include any competitions between 1909 and 1914, however, and the question is this: Who was the best chess player in the world in 1912?

11 Emanuel Lasker One key relates to the consistency of Lasker s tournament performances. From 1906 to 1924, he played in six of them, winning first place in every one. In the St. Petersburg 1911 tournament, Rubinstein and Lasker tied for first place, yet how greatly they led the other masters: 3.5 points ahead of Spielmann and Duras! This competition included many other notable names, many of the best European players: Bernstein, Teichmann, Perlis, Cohn, Schlechter, and many others. The point is this: Lasker almost always got exceptional results in tournament play during those years, yet what could lead anyone to think he was a better chess player in 1912 than in any other year? Rubinstein, however, has given us evidence that he did play better in that year than in other years: five tournaments in Europe, winning clear first-place in four, with a tie for first in the other. When has any other chess grandmaster accomplished such a record in one year? Of general interest, Lasker tied with Carl Schlechter in their 1910 title championship match, and Rubinstein defeated Schlechter by a narrow margin in their 1918 match. In at least two of the 1912 tournaments, Schlechter was far behind Rubinstein in the final points. A World Championship match with Lasker was scheduled in 1914,

12 but the outbreak of World War I shot down that possibility. I suggest the best compensation we can now give to Akiba Rubinstein: the title of 1912 Honorary World Chess Champion. Champion Akiba Rubinstein ### Free e-book on Paul Morphy From the free ebook on Amazon The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion (Kindle Edition), by Frederick Milnes Edge (an old book): The [Chess] Congress was advertised to open on the 6th of October [1857]... First of all came Judge Meek, of Alabama, a truly imposing specimen of a man. Soon after him followed Mr. Louis Paulsen, from Dubuque, Iowa, [Wikipedia says he was a German (not an American)] whose astonishing blindfold feats out West were the theme of general talk, and almost total disbelief, amongst Eastern players. From Judge Meek we first heard of Paul Morphy s wondrous strength. He

13 told the New York Club that if the youthful Louisianian entered the [chess] tournament, he would infallibly wrest the palm of victory from all competition Who that was present that evening does not remember Paul Morphy s first appearance at the New York Chess Club? The secretary, Mr. Frederick Perrin, valorously offered to be his first antagonist, and presented about the same resistance as a musquito to an avalanche. Then who should enter the room but the warrior Stanley... Loud cries were made for Stanley! Stanley! and Mr. Perrin resigned his seat to the new comer... Thus commenced a contest, or rather a succession of contests, in which Mr. Stanley was indeed astonished. Mate followed upon mate, until he arose from his chair in bewildered defeat. Chess Opening Trap Checkmate on the ninth move ************************************************************** ***************** Whitcomb Family Child Care (Daycare) Children in the Whitcomb child care home are given opportunities for social growth as they learn to get along together in play and activities. They learn how much they have in common, even with the different cultural backgrounds of these children.

14 Paul Keres Memorial Tournament From January 7-9 (2011), to celebrate the 95th year since the birth of Paul Keres, a chess festival was held in Tallinn, Estonia. It included an all-play-all rapid tournament and a round robin (with eight contestants) final tournament, won by Alexei Shirov. In the early 1930 s, Paul Keres was known for his brilliant and sharp attacking style, but he matured by 1938, winning the right to challenge the world champion by winning, through tiebreak, the AVRO Tournament, considered by some chess historians to be the strongest chess tournament in history. He played exceptionally well in grandmaster tournaments into the 1960 s and even into the early 1970 s. His first-place finishes in his later years deserve attention: 1968, Bamberg, Germany (well ahead of world champion Petrosian) 1970, Budapest, Hungary 1971, Tallinn, Estonia (tied for first place) 1975, Tallinn (only a few months before his death)