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I have to admit that some of my best years were drowned out by my enjoyment of the "traditional" San Francisco/Haight Ashbury lifestyle. Nevertheless, I finally decided that it was time to get a title and, since such things were impossible to acquire in the United States, I jumped on a jet and became a "quasi-Brit." Living in London, I achieved an International Master norm in my very first English event.

Silman - J Speelman
London, 1978
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (The Rossolimo Variation has remained a personal favorite right up to the present time. In fact, I often recommend this line to my students.) 3...Qb6 4.Nc3 e6 5.0-0 Nd4 6.Bc4 Ne7 7.d3 a6 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.Ne2 g6 10.Bg5 Bg7 11.Bb3 Qc5 12.f4 b6 13.f5!? (An emotional reaction. I was so enraged by him leaving his King in the center for so long that I decided to rip things open at any cost. My positional training vanished and my tactical desires reared their ugly head!) 13...gxf5 14.Bxe7 Qxe7 15.exf5 Bb7 16.Ng3 (A very interesting position has arisen. I think Jon underestimated my chances here.) 16...Be5 17.Qh5 Bxg3 18.fxe6!

(This was my point. Now 18...Bxh2+ 19.Kxh2 dxe6 20.Bxe6 favors White, as does 18...dxe6 19.hxg3. So Black is forced to sacrifice a pawn, but that also turns out to be nice for me.) 18...0-0-0 19.exd7+ Rxd7 20.hxg3 Qe3+ 21.Kh2 Rd6 (The threat of 22...Rh6 is dealt with by a nice triangulation maneuver by the White Queen.) 22.Qg4+! Kb8 (The alternative was 22...Kd8, but White would then have played 23.Qh4+ Kc8 [This is almost an identical position to that which occurred after 21...Rd6. However, there is an important difference: White's Queen now stands on h4 where it is protected.] 24.Rae1 Qd2 25.Qg4+ Kb8 26.Re2) 23.Qf4! Qxf4 24.Rxf4 Re8 25.Raf1 Re2 26.Rf6! Rxg2+ 27.Kh3 (Black has managed to restore material equality, but this is only temporary--his many pawn weaknesses leave him in a hopeless position.) 27...Rg1 28.Rxd6 Rxf1 29.Rxb6 Kc7 30.Rb4 Bf3 (Actually threatening ...Rh1 mate.) 31.g4 (As they say, the rest is a matter of simple technique. Fortunately, at this phase of my career I had developed enough technical expertise to win such positions.) 31...Kd6 32.Rxd4+ Ke5 33.Ra4 h5 34.gxh5 f5 35.Kh4 Bc6 36.Rc4 Bb5 37.Rb4 f4 38.Re4+ Kf6 39.Ba4 Kf5 (He keeps finding ways to threaten mate!) 40.Kh3 Bxa4 41.Rxa4 Rh1+ 42.Kg2 Rc1 43.Rc4 Kg4 44.h6 Rd1 45.h7 Rd2+ 46.Kg1 Rd1+ 47.Kf2 Rd2+ 48.Ke1 Rh2 49.Rc7 f3 50.d4 Kg3 51.Rg7+ Kf4 52.d5, 1-0.

I like this game against Speelman. Instead of playing for "mate or bust," I used my tactical abilities to transpose into a winning endgame. This kind of "all phase" integration is necessary if you wish to successfully compete at an international level.

The following game, from the same tournament, is certainly nothing special. However, it shows that quick victories often come from calm, positional buildups. Once a player realizes that he can play safely, correctly, and still vent his bloodlust on a hapless opponent, then you can open up to the idea of "stylistic balance." By the way, the Basman game also demonstrates a great way to deal with the rather dodgy 1.e4 b6 system.

Silman - Basman
London, 1978
1.e4 b6 (At the time this was considered very risqué. In later years, Basman pushed the envelope in many ways, one sample of his lunacy: 1.e4 g5) 2.d4 Bb7 3.Nd2 e6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Qc7 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Nf1 (I love this line against 1...b6. White gets space and chances for play all over the board.) 9...d6 10.Bg5 Nbd7 11.e5!? (A bit rushed, but there were a few variations that attracted me. The simple 11.Ng3 recommends itself.) 11...dxe5 12.dxe5 Nd5?? (Losing. He could have kept White's advantage to a minimum by 12...Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nxe5 14.Qg3 Bd6 15.Bxf6 Ng6 16.Qf3 gxf6 17.Qxf6) 13.c4! (My opponent clearly underestimated the strength of this move.) 13...Bxg5 (It's already too late--Black is completely lost.) 14.Nxg5 Nf4 15.Bxh7+ Kh8 16.g3! (The rest doesn't need comment.) 16...f6 17.gxf4 fxg5 18.Qh5 Rxf4 19.Bf5+ Kg8 20.Bxe6+ Kf8 21.Qh8+ Ke7 22.Qxg7+ Kxe6 23.Qg6+ Ke7 24.Qxg5+ Ke6 25.Qxf4 Rf8 26.Qh6+ Ke7 27.Rad1, 1-0.

I repeated this same "quiet" system a couple of years later, and this time won even faster!

Silman - L Kaushansky
Chicago, 1980
1.d4 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Nd2 e6 4.Ngf3 Be7 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Re1 d6 8.c3 c5 9.Nf1 Nc6 10.a3! (Keeping the enemy Knight out of b4 and also preparing to expand on the queenside.) 10...cxd4 11.cxd4 Rc8 12.b4 a6 13.Ng3 b5 14.Bb2 g6 15.Qd2 (What's not to like? Things are even on the queenside, while White has an obvious advantage in the center and on the kingside.) 15...Re8 16.Rad1 d5 17.e5 Nd7 18.Qf4 Nb6 19.h4 Nc4 20.Bc1 Qd7? (Black's game is horrible, but this simply leads to Armageddon.) 21.Nh2 (The holes on f6 and h6 are calling.) 21...Bf8 22.Ng4 Bg7 23.Nh5! gxh5 24.Nf6+ Bxf6 25.exf6 Ne7 26.Qh6, 1-0.

Though I had an IM norm under my belt, an empty wallet forced me to return to the United States and give up my title aspirations. Nevertheless, I continued to compete in tournaments. One change concerned my first move: I had played 1.e4 throughout my life and felt bored by it. I finally decided that I had to switch to 1.d4, if for no other reason than to enrich my understanding of the game by facing unfamiliar positions.