Tuesday 13 July 2010

Weird chess spoofs

I suspect that chess writing is a far more serious business these days. Apart from Kingpin (and early Mig Greengard) there isn't a lot of satire in modern chess. Of course writers still make fun of other writers but it often has a nastier edge than in previous years.
Back in 1891 Tarrasch had a little bit of fun at the expense of Steinitz and Tchigorin. Steinitz played a match against Tchigorin to test some opening theory, including his line of the Two Knights where the White Knight completes a circle in the opening (Nf3-g5-h3-g1). Tarrasch wrote of "Chess of the Future" where two masters agreed to a draw after 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Ng1 Ng8 4.Nb1! Nb8!! 5.Nh3 Na6!! 6.Na3!! Nh6!! 7.Ng1 Ng8 8. Nb1 1/2

60 years later Hans Kmoch parodied the sometimes bombastic style of Nimzovich in the following, constructed, game. Purporting to be played by Nimzovich himself, the whole game hinged around the e5 pawn. White went to great pains to over-protect it (eg 8.Qh2!!) while Black unsuccessfully attempted to target it. Throw in a couple of mysterious rook moves (17.Rae1!!) and it is hardly uprising that Black was mated in short order.

Nimzovich - Sistemsson [C00]
Copenhagen, 1927

1.e4 e6 2.h4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.d4 cxd4 5.h5 Qb6 6.h6 Nxh6 7.Qh5 g6 (D)
8.Qh2 Nf5 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.Nf3 h5 11.b3 Bg7 12.Bf4 Bd7 13.Nbd2 Rc8 14.Ke2 Nb4 15.Ne1 Nxd3 16.Nxd3 Rxc2 17.Rae1 a5 18.Kd1 Rc6 19.Re2 Ke7 20.Rhe1 Re8 21.Nf3 Bf8 22.g4 hxg4 23.Qh7 gxf3 24.Bg5# 1-0

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