A few weeks ago, we marked in this space the 100th anniversary of the storied New York tournament of 1924, one of the greatest events ever staged in this country. But there was another, less-heralded event on Feb. 19 that same year in the small central Ukrainian town of Bila Tserkva that would forever enrich the game in ways great and small.
That was the day David Ionovich Bronstein came into the world. The great Soviet grandmaster was among the world’s very best players from the 1940s to the 1970s and just missed in his bid to become world champion, playing an epic drawn match with titleholder Mikhail Botvinnik in 1951 when Bronstein was up a full point with just two games to go.
Bronstein, who died in 2006, contributed deeply to modern opening theory — particularly in his beloved King’s Indian Defense — and wrote several classics of chess literature, including “200 Open Games” and the indispensable “Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953.”
It’s a melancholy thought to consider Bronstein’s unquenchable search for beauty and originality at the board might not hold up so well in this age of remorseless, hyper-accurate computer analysis (though Bronstein himself wrote perceptively of the coming revolution in the game that the silicon monsters would fashion). Fellow grandmasters would marvel in post-game analysis sessions that Bronstein had spent so much time during the game on fantastical ideas and crazy sidelines that his opponent never even suspected were there.
That unquenchable thirst for art and imagination showed in his love of the King’s Gambit: “No other opening offers such wide possibilities for a creative initiative,” he rhapsodized in his brilliant 1995 chess biography, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” “In no other opening are so many difficult problems created in the very first moves; no other opening moves allow the players to confront each other straight away in an open fight and to unfold the battle over the whole of the board.”
That passage served as an introduction to Bronstein’s game from the 1945 Soviet championship tournament against the fine Soviet master Ilya Kan. It’s a bare-knuckle brawl from the get-go, and on 7. Ng5 d5!, Bronstein notes after White’s 8. exd6!? (Be2, he writes, was better; e.g. 8…Ng3 [h6 9. Nxf7 Kxf7 10. Bxg4 Ng3 11. Rh3] 9. Bxg4 Nxh1 10. Bh5! with sharp play) 9. Bc4 Ng3 10. Bxf7+ Kf8 11.Be6?! Qe7?! (both the author and the engines think 11…h6! now is close to winning) 12. Bxf7+ Kf8 11. Be6 Qe7 12. d5 Nxh1 13. Qxg4 h6, White has a draw in hand with 14. Qf5+ Ke8 15. Qg6+ Kf8 16. Qf5+, Ke8 (Kg7? runs into 14. b4! Bxb4+ 16. Kd1 Nf2+ 17. Ke2 Qf6 18. Bb2! and wins), but “it would have been a pity to finish the game so early.”
Instead the fight goes on, and after Kan misses another subtle shot (16….h5!, instead of the game’s 16…Qg7, would have created a valuable escape square for the Black king), the queens leave the board and the fight shifts to which side can more quickly deploy their queenside pieces. Bronstein amusingly noted that 19…0-0-0!?!? would be winning for Black — had not Kan’s king already taken a tour around the kingside earlier in the game.
By 22. 0-0-0 Nf2 23. Nxd6+ Ke7 24. Rxd4, White, who has been down a full rook for most of the game, has won back three pawns for the exchange and both players were (understandably) in serious time trouble, with 18 moves to make in about two minutes.
It is Kan who cracks in the confusing welter of rooks and knights: 25. Nb5 a6? (Kxe6 26. Rb4 Ke5 keeps the balance) 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Nc7 Rd4 28. N3d5+ Kd6 29. c3! (avoiding any back-rank mate tricks) Re4 30. e7, and the White passed pawn has transformed into a monster.
The pawn quickly costs Kan his rook and White emerges from a game of turbulence with a two-pawn edge in a knight ending. Kan soon resigned.
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Legendary Tatar GM Rashid Nezhmetdinov, uniquely both a chess and checkers champion in his day, may have been the only Soviet player to match Bronstein in creative energy and tactical flights of fancy. Fittingly, their head-to-head record was a win apiece and one draw, including a wild Bronstein win from the USSR championship tournament of 1957.
It would take three columns to break down all the tactical subtleties in this Ruy Lopez Steinitz Deferred, but suffice it to say that neither player backs away from a clash at the soonest possible moment. Nezhmetdinov sees a chance for a brilliancy, but White sees just a move farther.
Thus: 16. Qe2 f5 17. f4! (immediately challenging Black’s central build-up) exf4? (“According to his style of play,” Bronstein wrote, “as Nezhmetdinov always felt at home in long combinations, but he failed to see White’s strong 23rd move;” better was 16…fxe4 18. Nxe4 Nd5 19. Bc5 exf4) 18. Bxf4 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Nd5 20. Bg5! (see diagram) Nd4!? (both brilliant and flawed, as Black’s swarming attack falls just short) 21. cxd4 Bxd4+ 22. Kh1 Ne3 23. Bc2!! (and not 23. Bxe3?? Qxe4+ and mate in a few short moves) Ng4 24. Nf3.
Black’s pieces still circle the White king menacingly, but Bronstein has prepared an ingenious simplifying line: 26. Qxf3 Nf2+ 27. Qxf2! (Kg1? Nxe4+ 28. Re3 Bxe3 29. Qxe3 Qxc2, with a likely draw) Bxf2 28. Bf6+ Kg8 29. Bb3+ Kf8 30. Rad1! Bxe1 31. Rd8+, and Black must lose his queen to stop mate.
As in the Kan game, White transmutes near-unfathomable complications into the simplest of wins, as after 35. Kg1 c5 36. a4, Black is down a piece for a pawn with no compensation; Nezhmetdinov resigned.
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Breaking news: FIDE officials announced Monday that the 14-game title match between Chinese world champion Ding Liren and Indian challenger GM Dommemaru Gukesh will take place in Singapore from Nov. 20 through Dec. 15. Ding will be making his first title defense after a string of poor results at the board, while Gukesh, who just turned 18, will be looking to make history as the youngest-ever classical world chess champion.
(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)
Bronstein-Kan, USSR Championship, Moscow, June 1945
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e5 Nh5 5. d4 g5 6. h4 g4 7. Ng5 d5 8. exd6 Bxd6 9. Bc4 Ng3 10. Bxf7+ Kf8 11. Be6 Qe7 12. d5 Nxh1 13. Qxg4 h6 14. Ne4 Bxe6 15. dxe6 Nc6 16. Bxf4 Qg7 17. Bxd6+ cxd6 18. Qf4+ Ke8 19. Nbc3 Rf8 20. Qe3 Qd4 21. Qxd4 Nxd4 22. O-O-O Nf2 23. Nxd6+ Ke7 24. Rxd4 Rad8 25. Ndb5 a6 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Nc7 Rd4 28. N3d5+ Kd6 29. c3 Re4 30. e7 Ng4 31. e8=Q Rxe8 32. Nxe8+ Kxd5 33. Kd2 Ke5 34. Ng7 Nf6 35. Ke3 Nd5+ 36. Kf3 Black resigns.
Bronstein-Nezhmetdinov, USSR Championship, Moscow, January 1957
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. c3 Bd7 6. d4 g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. a3 Nge7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Nbd2 Qe8 11. Bb3 Kh8 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nh4 f6 14. g3 Bh3 15. Re1 Rd8 16. Qe2 f5 17. f4 exf4 18. Bxf4 fxe4 19. Nxe4 Nd5 20. Bg5 Nd4 21. cxd4 Bxd4+ 22. Kh1 Ne3 23. Bc2 Ng4 24. Nf3 Qc6 25. Bxd8 Rxf3 26. Qxf3 Nf2+ 27. Qxf2 Bxf2 28. Bf6+ Kg8 29. Bb3+ Kf8 30. Rad1 Bxe1 31. Rd8+ Qe8 32. Rxe8+ Kxe8 33. Bc3 Bxc3 34. Nxc3 Ke7 35. Kg1 c5 36. a4 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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