My friend Fritz (or Rybka, or...) – Part 1
David LeMoir
There was a lot of fuss surrounding Garry
Kasparov’s use of computers in the analysis
for his “On My Great Predecessors” series
of books. (Incidentally, I can unreservedly
recommend them for historical interest
and wonderful content.)
Some people feel cheated if a writer uses
electronic assistance in his analytical
work. I will not attempt to answer for
Kasparov - I will simply state that I could
not do without it. I hope that my readers are
entertained and instructed by my books,
but I am happy knowing that no-one can
easily pull apart the analysis contained in
them.
In the preparation of my books, I have
made several exciting discoveries that, if
‘my’ analysis is correct, should alter our
perception of some well known games.
The first example is from Essential Chess
Sacrifices, and is the famous Greek Gift
game Colle-O’Hanlon, which featured
in Vukovic’s The Art of Attack. (I have
an early English Descriptive Notation
edition.) Vukovic claimed that O’Hanlon
could have refuted the sacrifice, a claim
that Baburin correctly disproved in Mega
Database 2001. Baburin agreed with
Vukovic’s assessment that O’Hanlon
could have forced a draw in another line,
but both missed a clear win for White.
Colle has just played a Greek Gift (Bxh7+)
sacrifice and followed up with a knight
check on g5. After the game continuation,
13...Kg6 14 h4! (threatening 15 h5+ Kf6
16 Qf3+) O’Hanlon played 14...Rh8?
and lost quickly after 15 Rxe6+!. Vukovic
claimed a win for Black by 14...f5 15 h5+
Kf6 16 Qxd4+ Be5 17 Rxe5 Nxe5 18
Nh7+ Kf7 19 Ng5+ Kg8 20 Qxe5 Qd1+,
but Baburin pointed out 17 Qh4! (instead
of 17 Rxe5) 17...g6 18 f4! and a bishop
move loses the queen to 19 Nxe6+. Here
17...Qa5 protects the bishop and pulls the
queen out of danger, but it loses to 18 b4!
Qd5 19 Bb2!, when the threat of 20 c4
wins the bishop.
Instead of emerging via g6, the black
king had the option of retreating to g8,
and after 13...Kg8 14 Qh5 Ne5 15 Rxe5
Bxe5 16 Qxf7+ Kh8 17 Qh5+ Kg8 both
commentators assumed that White has
to settle for a perpetual check, missing
the immediately decisive 18 b3!, which
I found with the help of Fritz. White
threatens 19 Qh7+ Kf8 20 Ba3+, and 18...
Bd6 loses to 19 Qh7+ Kf8 20 Qh8+ Ke7
21 Qxg7mate.
Part of the excitement at finding such an
improvement is that it fits the logic of
the position. When the king is short of
breathing space, it often requires just one
more piece to join the attack to make the
defence crack. White left his dark-squared
bishop at home in order to play a very early
Greek Gift sacrifice. That bishop delivers
a coup-de-grace by joining the attack in a
way which would have been impossible
from any other square but c1.
Another exciting point is that Baburin’s
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