Thursday 14 January 2010

Stop it or you will go blind!

In the latest copy of Chess magazine there is a review of a book on blindfold chess, called Blindfold Chess, by Eliot Hearst and John Knott.In the review is quote from Kasparov about why he doesn't play Melody Amber. 'I don't want to become mad!' is his explanation, possibly echoing the claim that Pillsbury had a breakdown caused by too much blindfold chess. (Of course it is now believed that Pillsbury suffered from syphilis instead).
In the review there is also a game snippet from a blindfold simul that Kasparov gave in 1985 where he crushed a Mephisto 6800 chess computer. Here it is in full, and it is quite spectacular.

Kasparov,Garry - COMP Meph.68000 [C97]
blindsim Hamburg, 1985

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.d4 Qc7 12.d5 Bd7 13.b3 Qb6 14.Nbd2 Rfc8 15.Nf1 h6 16.Be3 Qd8 17.Qd2 Nh7 18.Ng3 Rab8 19.Nf5 Bxf5 20.exf5 Nf6 21.g4 Nh7 22.Kg2 Rb7 23.Rh1 Nf6 24.Rag1 Qb6 25.Kf1 Rd7 26.g5 hxg5 27.Nxg5 Qb7 (D)
28.Ne6 fxe6 29.fxe6 Rdc7 30.Rxg7+ Kxg7 31.Bh6+ Kh8 32.Bg7+ Kxg7 33.Qg5+ Kf8 34.Qh6+ Ke8 35.Bg6+ Kd8 36.Qh8+ 1-0

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