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Chats on Chess Sun, May 2, 1971 – 78 · El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) · Newspapers.com
Chats on Chess Sun, May 2, 1971 El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas) Problem by N.R. Gheran, Romania. White to play and mate...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Monday, May 11, 2020
Problem by N.R. Gheran, Romania. White to play and mate in two moves.
FEN 8/6p1/4p1R1/5k1K/R4P2/2NP1n2/1rQ1P3/7b w - - 0 1
The Poisoned Pawn Variation
Match and tournament games are the building blocks of chess theory. The clash of two strong wills across the board can overthrow weeks and months of solitary study, and the variations we find in books on the openings owe far more to master practice than to the labor of analysts and annotators. Both are important, however, and in what follows, we shall illustrate the development of one such variation.
First, the brilliant miniature that started it all, from the 1955 Interzonal Tournament in Sweden.
Paul Keres vs Andrija Fuderer
Gothenburg Interzonal (1955), Gothenburg SWE, rd 16, Sep-10
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Poisoned Pawn Accepted (B97) 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1072525
8. Qd2 Qxb2(a)
10. e5 (b) Nfd7
11. f5 Nxe5 (c)
(a) This dangerous-looking move had been tried in Russian-tournaments, but was played here for the first time in an important international event.
(b) 10. P-B5 and 10. BxN are good also, but the text is the most direct attempt at a refutation.
(c) Black cannot survive after 11. … QPxP; 12. PxP PxN; 13. PxPch, KxP; 14. B-B4ch, nor after 11. … KPxP; 12 P-K6.
Second, we look across ten years of testing and retesting to the following example, played in the 1965 U.S. Championship.
Robert Eugene Byrne vs Larry Melvyn Evans
USA-ch (1965), New York, NY USA, rd 11, Dec-30
Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation. Poisoned Pawn Accepted (B97) 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1421905
10. e5 dxe5 (a)
12. Bc4 Bb4 (b)
15. Bf6 (c) gxf6
18. Ne4 (d) Bd2
(a) Fuderer's 10. … KN-Q2 has not been tried since the convincing refutation by Keres.
(b) This is the newer line. 12. … B-K2 has never been refuted, but the complications are enormous and White has ample possibilities.
(c) This spectacular move had been prepared by Byrne in home analysis for use against U.S. Champion Robert J. Fischer. (Fischer had been successful with the Black pieces a few weeks previously against a Bulgarian grandmaster who played 15. NxP.) Since Byrne did not have the White pieces against Fischer, he decided to try out his new move in the present game.
(d) Threatens 19. R-KR3.
We have not heard the end of the “poisoned pawn variation.” Robert Fischer plays it both for Black and White with success. Such is Chess!
