By Timothy Taylor
YOU CAN’T DISAPPOINT TWO WOMEN
(From Amanda)
“I'm thinking,” I said.
Lisa half turned to look sharply at me over the seat. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said.
“I’m sure you do,” I said, disengaging one of my hands and putting it on Lisa’s neck. “I’m thinking of the U.S. Open.”
“Right,” said Amanda.
“Absolutely,” said Lisa. The girls looked at each other with exaggerated expressions of disbelief, and then Lisa continued, “So tell us about the U.S. Open.”
“It’s in Columbus, Ohio.”
“That’s profound,” said Lisa.
“It starts in six weeks.”
“Most interesting.”
“Grandmasters and International Masters from throughout the world will be there. I’ll be ranked about fiftieth to start with, but...”
“But what?”
“But I’m going to win it.”
“That would be nice,” Amanda said.
“Have you ever beaten a Grandmaster?”
I looked hard at Lisa and said, “That’s not a nice question, but I do have an answer.” I leaned forward and kissed the top of Lisa’s head, and then did the same with Amanda.
“No, but now I have inspiration.”
Timothy Taylor - GM Peter Biyiasas
King’s Indian Defense, Averbakh Variation [E73]
U.S. Open Columbus, 1977
12th and last round
After the last round, there is no more. And here it was, the last round of the U.S. Open, Columbus, Ohio, 1977. I was an unheralded regular master then, still five years away from my IM title, a year away from my first norm.
And I was in contention for first place.
I had already defeated two GMs in the tournament, Anatoly Lein and Larry Christiansen. I was going up against a third in the last round, Canadian champion Peter Biyiasas. The score at the top was as follows: The late Leonid Shamkovich was alone in the lead with 9.5. Trailing closely with 9 were Walter Browne, Andy Soltis, Hugh Tobin, Biyiasas and myself.
Shamkovich had to drop to the highest 9, Browne. Walter, then at top form, could be expected to win or draw (in fact a draw was the result) in which case 10 points would tie for first. Soltis had to play Tobin (a big ratings mismatch) and could be expected to win, and he did. This left me with White against Biyiasas, another ratings mismatch, but …
I had inspiration!
I was living in a ménage a trois at the time with two lovely ladies, one of whom, when I wrote my somewhat autobiographical erotic novel Amanda based in part on my U.S. Open win, asked that her character be called Lisa “because I’ve always liked that name.”
I could not imagine disappointing both of them.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0–0
Somewhere around here, in this very early going, I did something that disturbed my opponent greatly, and he got up and summoned a TD. My crime? Drinking water!
The TD looked at my opponent curiously, and said something to the effect that drinking water during the game was customary and permissible, and walked away.
Right then I realized my opponent was even more nervous than I was—I felt a rush of confidence.
6.Bg5
A DANGEROUS ANTI-KID WEAPON
The Averbakh system, which at the time was one of White’s most dangerous weapons against the King’s Indian.
The first idea of this system is to prevent the natural 6...e5 – which one of my lower rated opponents, not knowing this, fell right into one day: 6… e5?? 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bxf6 (also good is Nd5) 9...Bxf6 10.Nd5 and White picked up a pawn for nothing and went on to win, Taylor - NN, c. 1975.
Perfectly possible is 6...c5, but the Benoni positions arising after 7.d5 are not to every King’s Indian player’s taste.
The move Biyiasas plays in the game (6…h6) is designed to allow Black to play …e5, but as will be seen, White has many chances to gain the advantage after that move. Only years later was the solution found: 6...Na6! This move became popular around 1990 and has been all the rage to this day. Kasparov played it (which didn’t hurt its popularity!) and one of the foremost exponents has been the Chinese World Women’s Champion Xie Jun, who has used the move with success in many important matches.
It's amazing how many ways this “Knight to the rim” move improves Black’s position. First, let’s see a typical Xie Jun game, and I will compare it point to point with my struggle with Biyiasas.
This is Nona Gaprindashvili-Xie Jun/Kuala Lumpur 1994: 6… Na6 7.Qd2 (does not gain a tempo as in my game) 7...e5 (safe because c7 is protected) 8.d5 c6 (opens the c-file to discourage White’s queenside castling, and the Black Queen covers d6; Biyiasas developed his Knight to d7, so d6 was undefended at this point) 9.f3 (In my game, I could play g4 at once, here the Black Q-Knight does not block the light-squared Bishop, so g4 is covered) 9…cxd5 10.cxd5 Bd7 11.g4 Qe8 12.Nh3 Nc5 13.Nf2 a5 14.0–0 b5 15.Rac1 Kh8 16.Be3 Ng8 17.Nd3 b4 18.Nd1 Nxd3 19.Bxd3 f5 and Black has typical kingside King’s Indian play, while White has nothing much on the queenside – Xie Jun goes on to win in fine tactical style: 20.Nf2 Qd8 21.exf5 gxf5 22.gxf5 Ne7 23.Bg5 Bxf5 24.Bxf5 Rxf5 25.Ne4 Qd7 26.Kh1 Raf8 27.Qd3 R5f7 28.Bxe7 Qxe7 29.Rc6 Rf4 30.Kg2 Rg8 31.Nxd6 e4 32.Nxe4 Be5+ 33.Ng3 Rd4 34.Qe3 Bxg3 35.Qxd4+ Be5+ 36.Qg4 Qh4 37.Qxg8+ Kxg8 38.Rg1 Kf7 39.Kf1 Qd4 40.Rc2 Qd3+, 0–1.
6…h6 7.Be3 e5 8.d5 Nbd7 9.Qd2
Now this move gains an important tempo.
9...Kh7 10.g4
Possible in one move because Black’s Q-Bishop is blocked by his Knight!
10...Nc5 11.f3 a5
Black makes two related mistakes in this game, and this is the first. Basically the mistakes he makes are “playing normal King’s Indian moves in an abnormal position.” Black often plays … a5 to secure the Knight on c5 in many lines of the KID – but generally speaking, this is when the players have both castled kingside. Here, White is clearly intending 0-0-0, so a White b4 is not to be feared (If I played b4 to go with my g4, where would I put my King?). Black should forget “attacking the base of the chain” as one is taught (which means, in the KID, …f5) and attack the head of the chain with 11…c6! now. This immediately creates queenside counterplay and will give an open file to attack White’s King if I do castle long.
And the second mistake? Black will, later, play the “normal King’s Indian move” …f5 on move 17 (so strong for Xie Jun, but in her game the Kings were castled on the same side) but in this odd case, where White attacks on the kingside, that “normal” move will just open lines for the White pieces.
The worst thing you can do is make normal moves in weird positions!
12.h4
With the killing line opening threat of 13.g5
12...h5 13.Nh3!
How many times have I said in these True Combat columns, “Never think on an intuitive sacrifice!” If you missed the message, read the line above again!
I didn’t waste a second on this “computer unapproved” move: as any human can see, the White Knight attacks the Black King with tempo, and lines open for attack – that’s all we need to know!
13… hxg4 14.Ng5+ Kg8 15.0–0–0 gxf3
Or 15...g3 16.f4 and White opens the game anyway!
16.Bxf3 Nh5 17.Rdg1 f5?!
As mentioned above, this is the second “normal King’s Indian move that fails miserably in this weird position!”
Black could dig in with 17...Qf6, defending his kingside, keeping lines closed, and offering the possibility of counterattack with …Nf4. Then White has good compensation for the pawn, but no clear win.
But now White has a forced win!
WHITE TO MOVE AND DESTROY
After I won this game in my complicated, pretty, and messy way, with the following additional sacrifice 18.Ne6!?, I was so proud of myself! I showed the game to my lovely ladies (rated then about 1600) and of course they were suitably admiring, and hardly critical of my “genius!”
So a couple of weeks later, out comes the New York Times, with this very game in it! I am thrilled, because this is the first time I’ve ever had a win in Robert Byrne’s famous chess column, but also shocked for two reasons.
One, I had been following this column for years, and would read it for many years after, and this day, and only on this day, when my first win was published – the diagram was put in upside down!
Then, the second shock: I’m reading the annotations, fully expecting Mr. Byrne to admire my game as much as I did, when, lo and behold, he strongly criticizes my “beautiful” 18.Ne6, feeling it gives Black chances to survive, and points out that I had a simple, forced win on this very move!
I haven’t had a chess quiz in this column for a while, so here it is: from this diagram, there is some move besides the one I played that gives White a crushing advantage by force, while allowing Black no counterplay at all.
Answer at the end of the column.
Anyway, I was a bit deflated by the time I finished reading the column – Byrne was right and the diagram was upside down!
By the way, I put this on Fritz, and of course the computer finds Byrne’s forced win in under a second!
18.Ne6
Messy, messy!
18...Bxe6
Black could try18...Nxe6 19.dxe6 f4 20.Bxh5 fxe3 21.Qg2 ±, but nowhere near as killing as the Byrne line.
19.dxe6 f4
Better is 19...Nxe6 20.exf5 Rxf5 21.Bxb7 Rb8 22.Be4 ±.
20.Bxc5!
Now White finally has a dead win.
20… dxc5 21.Nd5
IT’S ALL OVER
21…Ng3
Even worse is 21...Re8 22.Bxh5 gxh5 23.Qg2 Re7 as 24.Qg5! wins the house and the barefoot servants too!
22.e7 Qd6 23.exf8=Q+, 1-0.
The problems are of only a light technical nature after 23…. Rxf8 24.Rh2 c6 (24...b6 25.Qc2) 25.Nb6 Qd4 26.Re1 and either Black exchanges Queens on White’s terms (takes on d2) or loses the a-pawn: in either case White wins with ease.
And so, for the first, and so far only time, I won the U.S. Open, or strictly speaking, tied for first: GM Shamkovich, GM Soltis, and untitled me.
I have claimed ever since that only the lack of a suitably inspiring ménage a trois has prevented me from winning the U.S. Open again, but have yet to find another two volunteers!
So my final advice for winning the nerve shredding last round is this: whether you are male or female, take two lovers to bed with you before the last round – I guarantee that you will be so relaxed when game time comes that you will not even think of complaining about your opponent’s drinking water!
ANSWER TO CHESS QUIZ:
WHITE TO MOVE AND DESTROY
18.Bxh5 (R. Byrne & Fritz) wins mathematically: 18...gxh5 (Forced) 19.Qe2 Qe8 (Forced) 20.Bxc5 dxc5 (Forced) 21.Nb5! Bang! Black is dead. White wins material while keeping a crushing attack.
It’s well known that Queen + Knight is a formidable attacking force, but Queen + 2 Knights is unstoppable! A sample finish is 21...Qe7 22.Qxh5 Rf6 23.Nh7 Rf7 (23...Rb6 24.d6 cxd6 25.Nc7 Qxc7 [25...Rb8 26.Nd5 Qf7 27.Ndf6+ Kh8 28.Qxf7] 26.Nf6+ 26...Kf8 27.Qe8 mate) 24.Nxc7 Ra7 (24...Qxc7 25.Rxg7+ Kxg7 [25...Rxg7 26.Nf6+ Kf8 27.Qe8 mate] 26.Rg1+ Kh8 27.Nf6+ Rh7 28.Qe8 mate) 25.d6 Qxd6 26.Ne8 Qe7 27.Rxg7+ Rxg7 28.Nhf6+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Kf7 30.Qxg7+ Ke6 31.exf5+ Kxf5 32.Qg4 mate.
And for those of you who have now had enough chess, and wish to read my “high class, high quality erotic novel” (Jacksonville Daily News) Amanda, I refer you to the link at my bio on this very website. But be warned twice! First, the book is 99% erotica, 1% chess. Second, the book is out of print, while demand has become ridiculous, so the price (for a little paperback) hovers around $40 these days, and has been known to spike as high as $120. One would think an enterprising publisher would jump at the chance to reprint a book so in demand that it commands such prices based solely on word of mouth, so far no one has stepped up!
Could it be fear of that dreaded word, “erotica?” But if you, dear reader, happen to be a fearless publisher, do contact me!
