<- Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next ->

San Diego wasn't the best place for an aspiring chess professional to live, so at 19 years of age I packed up my bags and headed for San Francisco. There the competition was far stronger.

In my very first SF tournament I proved successful, finding myself in a tie for first with one round to go. At that point an odd thing happened, the other three players tied with me all began to demand the young Silman as their final opponent! As luck would have it, the U.S. Champion got me, blatantly told his friends that I would be easy-pickings, and the battle began.

Silman-J Grefe
San Francisco 1974
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 (Grefe was a fine theoretician at that time, having blown away Walter Browne's Najdorf in the U.S. Championship. Undaunted, I wanted to test my own preparations against this guy and see if I was living in a fool's dream. Looking back, I realize that I really didn't know what I was doing, but sometimes ignorance really is bliss!) 6.Bg5 (I felt it would be cowardly to choose anything but the sharpest line.) 6...e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.Bd3 h6 11.Qh3 (The theory on this move, which is still considered best, was in its infancy at that time.) 11...Rg8 (After years of trail and error, it was finally ascertained that 11...Nb6 was Black's best reply. Whether Black can equalize after 11...Nb6 is quite another matter.) 12.Bxf6 (Far more threatening to Black is 12.e5!, with good chances for a White advantage. Again, none of this was known in 1974!) 12...Nxf6 (12...Bxf6!?) 13.Nf3 e5 14.f5 Bd7 15.g4 b5 16.Qg2! (A good move that prepares the thematic g4-g5 advance [with or without h2-h4] and also creates certain tactical possibilities along the h1-a8 diagonal.) 16...Qb7 17.g5! b4 18.Nd5 Nxd5 19.exd5 hxg5 20.Be4! (As my hero Alekhine loved to say, "The point." With c2 well guarded and the pawns on d5 and f5 solid, I'm ready to chop on g5 or, in some lines, open things up further by h2-h4. A little tactic is also lurking.) 20...Rc8 21.Nxe5 dxe5 22.d6 Qb6 23.dxe7 Kxe7 24.Qxg5+ f6 25.Qg3 Bc6 26.Bxc6 Qxc6 27.Qb3 Qc4 28.Rhg1! Qxb3 29.axb3 Rcd8 30.Rxd8 Kxd8 31.Kd2 Ke7 32.Ke3 Kf7 33.Rd1 Ke7 34.Rg1, 1/2-1/2. I felt that I had certainly missed something somewhere, but I couldn't be too upset with a tie for first.

Other games from this period saw me playing in the same manner-sharp, interesting tactics with little need for positional niceties.

Silman-C Escondrillas
Mexico City 1975
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (I absolutely loved playing the White side of the Ruy Lopez, and I would have stuck with 1.e4 for life if it wasn't for annoying openings like the Sicilian and the French.) 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Nf1 Bd7 13.Ng3 Na5 14.Bc2 g6 15.b3 c5 16.Be3 Nc6 17.d5 Ne7 18.Qd2 Kh7 19.Bxc5 (This, my first international event, featured players from South America, Mexico, and Cuba. I was the only U.S. representative [my participation was arranged by Koltanowski]. I arrived sick as a dog and played the first few games with a high fever, mowing everyone down with unnerving ease. Alone in first, I made the monumental mistake of getting well. Finally feeling great, my play collapsed and I finished in the middle of the field. This sacrifice of a piece was made in my fevered state. Two pawns and a powerful center seemed like a great deal!) 19...dxc5 20.Nxe5 Kg8 21.c4 Bg7 22.f4 Nh7 23.Rad1 b4 24.Rf1 a5 25.Nf3 a4 26.e5 axb3 27.axb3 Ra2? (A mistake that allows me to take over the game.) 28.e6! Bxe6 (Black didn't like the look of 28...Bc8 29.exf7+ Kxf7 30.Bxg6+ followed by 31.Qxa2) 29.dxe6 Qxd2 30.exf7+ Kxf7 31.Rxd2 Rea8 (I played the technical phase that follows far from perfectly, but it turned out to be good enough to eventually reel in the full point.) 32.Rff2 Ra1+ 33.Kh2 Nf8 34.f5 gxf5 35.Nxf5 Nxf5 36.Bxf5 Bf6 37.Rd6 R8a6 38.Rd5 R6a5 39.g4 Kg7 40.Kg3 R1a3 41.Bc2 Ra1 42.h4 Be7 43.Ne5 R5a2 (sealed move) 44.Rf7+ Kg8 45.Rxe7 Rxc2 46.Nf3 Rc3 47.g5 hxg5 48.Rg5+ Kh8 49.Re8 Rg1+ 50.Kf4 Rxg5 51.Nxg5 Kg8 52.h5 Rc1 53.Rc8 Rf1+ 54.Ke5 Kg7 55.Ne6+ Nxe6 56.Kxe6 Rf6+ 57.Ke5 Rh6 58.Rxc5 Rxh5+ 59.Kd6 Rh3 60.Rb5 Rxb3 61.c5 Kf6 62.c6 Rd3+ 63.Kc7, 1-0.

Again, at that time my ultimate failure in Mexico was a mystery to me. Looking back, though, my losses featured good positions (achieved by sharp tactics) fouled up by horrible technique.

The following game makes a nice impression because it didn't call for any technique at all. A little heavy-handed brute force was all I needed to get the job done.

Silman-D Strauss
Phoenix 1975
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.h3 (This was my favorite way of dealing with the Pirc.) 5...0-0 6.Be3 c6 7.a4 a5 8.Be2 Na6 (Black thinks that he is gaining a nice square on b4 for his Knight, but this is more or less an illusion. The reality is that the Black horse can be kicked away by an eventual c2-c3, while the hole on b6 can turn into a very real problem after the Nf3-d2-c4 maneuver.) 9.0-0 Nb4 10.Qd2 Qc7 11.Rad1 Re8 12.Qc1! (I've always had a penchant for backwards "creeping" moves. I don't know where this habit came from, but it's served me well over the years. The strange looking 12.Qc1 prepares the aforementioned Nf3-d2-c4 maneuver.) 12...b6 13.Nd2 (Now both 14.Nc4 and 14.f4 are in the air.) 13...d5 (Keeping the Knight off of c4, but allowing me to create a very favorable kingside attacking structure.) 14.e5 Nd7 15.f4 f5 16.Nf3 Ba6 17.Bxa6 Nxa6 18.Qd2 e6 19.g4 Rec8 20.Rf2 Rab8 21.Rg2 (Black's queenside counterplay is almost nonexistent while White's kingside attack more or less plays itself.) 21...b5 22.gxf5 b4 23.Ne2 exf5 24.b3 Nf8 25.h4 h5 26.Kh2 Bh6 27.Rdg1 Kf7 28.Qd3 Rb6 29.Rxg6 (The rest of the game is rated "R" for extreme violence.) 29...Nxg6 30.Qxf5+ Kg8 31.Qxg6+ Bg7 32.f5 Rf8 33.f6 Rf7 34.Nf4 c5 35.Ng5 Rbxf6 36.exf6 Rxf6 37.Qe8+, 1-0.

Another example of a backwards creeping move: Silman-Montchalin, Richland 1985.

White to move and "creep."

1.Nb1! (The Knight makes room for the Queen to come to c3, while the Knight threatens to make its way to c4 by Na3 or Nd2. The targets are the Black pawns on b6, c5, and e5.) 1...Qf6 2.Qc3 Nd6 3.Nd2 e6 19.Bf1 Re8 20.a5 and Black's position was falling apart (though I later blundered and allowed my opponent to make a draw).

<- Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next ->