The New York Times last week gave front-page treatment to the under-the-radar machinations now being used to “persuade” top grandmasters to change the flag for which they play.
Reporter Dylan Loeb McClain, who wrote The Times’ now-discontinued chess column, looks at the subtle campaign underway to get world No. 2 GM Fabiano Caruana — born in Florida, raised in Brooklyn, but now playing for the Italian chess federation — to consider coming home to play for the U.S.
(My personal favorite part of the story is the accompanying picture of Your Humble Columnist, rocking the press pass and reporter’s notebook as I take down the moves in an exhibition game at the Capitol played recently between former world champ Garry Kasparov and St. Louis billionaire and noted chess patron Rex Sinquefield. Check it out.)
As McClain notes, American chess just got a major boost with the decision by Manila-born GM Wesley So, 21, to play for the U.S. Chess Federation. A potential Olympiad team headed by So, now ranked seventh in the world, Caruana and U.S. No. 1 Hikaru Nakamura (ranked third behind only Caruana and world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway) would instantly rate as one of the favorites for the gold.
But the article might have noted that it’s long been the case that top “American” stars were born elsewhere, an immigrant influx that enriched the U.S. chess scene even before the great diaspora of Russian and East European stars with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Louis Paulsen, the Iowa businessman who was Paul Morphy’s great rival in the 1850s, was born in Gut Nassengrund, Germany. Former U.S. champions Maximilian Judkiewicz (Max Judd) and Szmul Rzeszewski (Sammy Reshevsky) came to the U.S. from Poland. Six-time U.S. champ Walter Browne hails from Sydney, Australia.
As late as the 2004 Olympiad in Calvia, Spain, the six-man U.S. squad consisted of three players born in Ukraine and one each in Russia, Latvia and East Germany.
One of America’s greatest 19th century imports was the Scottish-born George Henry Mackenzie, who dominated the U.S. chess scene for two decades after he immigrated in 1862, winning every domestic tournament he competed in and compiling a 6-0-1 match record. His first-place finish in the 5th German Championship in 1887, over an elite field, ranks as the first victory by an American player in a major international event.
A sense of Mackenzie’s prowess can be seen in a fine miniature won against a noted Boston amateur shortly after he arrived on these shores. The bishop sacrifice on h7 was standard stuff, even in 1864, but it is White’s brilliant follow-up that really impresses.
The opening moves of this Petroff’s look as if they might have been played last week, but the very modern treatment leads to a classically open Romantic position by 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3, when Black could have kept the balance with the careful 11…Nc6 12. Re1 h6 13. Qb3. Instead, the absence of the Black knight on the kingside is keenly felt after 11…Bg4?! 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. h3 Bh5 (White’s also better after 13…Be6 14. Ng5 [Bxh7+?! Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Kg6 16. Re1 Bf4 holds] h6 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Qh5 Qf7 17. Qg4 Kh8 18. Rxb7 Qxb7 19. Qg6 Kg8 20. Qxe6+ Rf7 21. Qxd6) 14. Bxh7+, a standard idea in this position — to save the loose bishop, Black’s king must come out into the open.
When Black takes the offered bishop, Mackenzie goes for the kill: 14…Kxh7? (Black should take his medicine with 14…Kh8 15. Bd3 Nd7 16. g4 Bg6 17. Bxg6 fxg6 18. Qd3, though his prospects remain bleak) 15. Ng5+ Kg6 16. g4 Bf4 (see diagram — there are many ways to win, now, but White takes the most forceful; no better here was 16…Bxg4 17. Qxg4 f5 18. Qg2 Qe7 19. Ne6+ Kh7 20. Nxf8+ Qxf8 21. Rxb7 and wins) 17. Rxb7!!, a fine deflection that destroys Black’s last hopes of mounting a defense.
The denouement: 17…Qxb7 18. Bxf4 (White has only two pawns for the rook, but the Black king is toast) Rh8 19. Qd3+ Kf6 (Kh6 20. Nf7 mate) 20. Re1! (cutting off any escape routes) Bg6 (allowing a nice finish, but the position was already hopeless) 21. Nh7+! Rxh7 22 g5 mate.
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For a sense of what U.S. chess has gained with the recruitment of So, here is an early game against German GM Michael Prusikin from the 2006 tournament where the young Philippine star earned his first grandmaster norm.
In a Classical French, Black gets in trouble after 13. 0-0 Ba6 14. exf6 Qxf6?! (natural and stronger was 14…Nxf6 15. Nf2 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Nc6, and White has only a slight pull) 15. Ng5! (inducing a weakening pawn move, as 15…h6? 16. Nh7 just loses the exchange) g6 16. Ne3 h5 (to prevent 17. Ng4) 17. Rae1 Bxd3 18. Qxd3, and suddenly Black is faced with weak pawns on e6 and g6 while his development lags badly.
So wastes no time exploiting the situation: 18…cxd4 19. Nxe6! Qxe6 (dxe3 20. Nxf8 Kxf8 21. Qxd5 Ra7 22. f5 g5 23. Rxe3 and White’s attack continues unabated) 20. Nxd5! Qf7 (the need for Black’s queen to guard g6 at all costs proves fatal to the defense; on 20…Qxd5, White wins in lines such as 21. Qxg6+ Kh8 22. Re7 Qxg2+ 23. Kxg2 Rg8 24. Rh7 mate, while 20…Qd6 allows 21. Nc7! Ra7 22. Re6 Qc5 23. Qxg6+ Kh8 24. Qh6+ Kg8 25. Rg6+ Kf7 26. Rg7 mate) 21. Re7 (also strong was the computer’s 21. Ne7+ Kg7 22. f5!, cracking open the position) Qf5 22. Qxd4 Nf6 23. Re5 Qd7 24. Qd3, and the White pieces are poised for the kill.
The defense cracks under the pressure and So wraps things up neatly: 24…Nxd5? (the last faint hope was 24…Kh8, but after 25. Qxg6 Qh7 26. Qxh7+ Kxh7 27. Nxb6 Ra6 28. Nc4, White has four pawns for the piece and the much better game) 25. Qxg6+ Qg7 26. Qe6+ Qf7 (Rf7 27. Qxd5, threatening both 28. Rg5 and 28. Qxa8, wins) 27. Qh6! — accurate to the last, as the threat of 28. Rg5+ proves lethal.
Prusikin has seen enough after 27…Qf6 28. Rg5+ Kf7 29. Qh7+ Ke8 30. Rxd5 (only now taking the knight), and Black resigns as the crossfire between the White queen and rooks proves withering in lines such as 30…Rf7 31. Re1+ Re7 32. Qg8+ Qf8 33. Qg6+ Qf7 34. Rxe7+ Kxe7 35. Qd6+ Ke8 36. Qd8 mate.
Mackenzie-Hammond, Boston, 1864
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 Bg4 12. Rb1 Qc7 13. h3 Bh5 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Ng5+ Kg6 16. g4 Bf4 17. Rxb7 Qxb7 18. Bxf4 Rh8 19. Qd3+ Kf6 20. Re1 Bg6 21. Nh7+ Rxh7 22. g5 mate.
So-Prusikin, Bavarian International Open, November 2006
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 a6 8. Nf3 b6 9. Qd2 c5 10. Nd1 O-O 11. c3 f6 12. Bd3 a5 13. O-O Ba6 14. exf6 Qxf6 15. Ng5 g6 16. Ne3 h5 17. Rae1 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 cxd4 19. Nxe6 Qxe6 20. Nxd5 Qf7 21. Re7 Qf5 22. Qxd4 Nf6 23. Re5 Qd7 24. Qd3 Nxd5 25. Qxg6 Qg7 26. Qe6+ Qf7 27. Qh6 Qf6 28. Rg5+ Kf7 29. Qh7+ Ke8 30. Rxd5 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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