The Dating Guide to Chess Openings. Part 1: The Najdorf.

The Polish-Argentinian grandmaster Miguel Najdorf (1910-1997),was one of the best and most creative players of his time. Although he was a successful businessman later in his life, he stayed at heart a bohemien, famous for his charm and with an inveterate weakness for gambling and beautiful women. This contributed to his popularity probably as much as his creations over the board.

Today, Najdorf is best remembered for the line of the Sicilian opening which is named after him. The "Najdorf variation" continues to cause headache for the white players. They can choose between a huge lot of responses, but none of them seems to promise an advantage. Which one should you choose?

In memory of Najdorf and following up on this earlier post, I have decided to review White's options as Najdorf might have done it: namely as women of different character, looks and appeal. Choose yourself whatever suits you most!

The Blonde with Boobs: 6. Bg5.

This valiant and aggressive continuation is without any doubt the most beautiful girl in the crowd. A girl that speaks to your basic instincts. However, blondes with boobs are tricky. Their charme is a bit on the vulgar side (=brutal mating attacks), which you either like or you don't. She is demanding, too. Unless you attend the (computer) gym regularly, you are unlikely to impress her. And she requires an insane amount of courtship and attention. In any situation, you have to know extremely well what you are doing. If you don't, disaster is certain. On the other hand, if you manage to handle her, everybody will envy you.

The Elegant Lady: 6. Be3.

This principled continuation has a less direct charme than 6. Bg5, but is arguably more complex and fascinating. It is a girl from good family, with distinguished taste, knowing to behave in diverse situations. A wonderful partner, who will also help you to develop yourself---if you are up to her requirements. Most chess players aren’t. You don’t need a platinum credit card like for dating 6. Bg5, but you have to be experienced, to understand her whims and to have reliable intuition. I tried years ago, noticed too many misunderstandings, and we parted ways. But if I were a professional, I would try to conquer her again.

The Romantic Retro-Girl: 6. Bc4.

A poor, but attractive girl that indulges into memories of a glorious past. She dresses up like a lady from the belle époque, invoking the times when chess was still played in coffee houses, when a single beautiful mating attack was worth more than a gigabyte of computer analysis. She could not care less for modern fashions, but few girls have more style than her. The most famous chess player of all times, Robert James "Bobby" Fischer, got infatuated as well. But don't try to argue with logic. Otherwise, the dishes will be smashed on the floor or be thrown out of the window. Komodo shows -0.6 after the opening? Who cares. There is a bishop on b3, a pawn on e5 and soon, Rxf7 will decide the game. This is the ideal partner for the romantics among us, willing to bear the recurring drama for the occasional moments of sublime enchantment.

The Neighbor's Daughter: 6. Be2.

Did also your parents point you to the nice, unassuming girl next door? With the regular looks, the haircut that was in fashion ten years ago (if ever), and the welcoming smile on the face? This is in some sense a good advice, because the Neighbor's Daughter resembles most women more than the Blonde with Boobs or the Elegant Lady. Getting involved with her will make you understand some important things. Also the relationship will be sound, steady and honest. Unlikely that she ever throws the dishes at you. If things go badly wrong, it will usually be your fault. The Neigbor's Daughter is for players who value a reliable mate, like former world champion Anatoli Karpov. Excitement-seekers should try something else.

The Easy Companion (Sidekick of the Blonde with Boobs): 6. f4

Talking about excitement. There are girls with whom you can just have lots of fun when going out, in a bar, in the club, even on plain street. You spend half of the time laughing together, with good chances of getting laid. In German, we call this a Spaßnudel. It won’t be too serious and please don't look for emotional depth. (There is a reason why this girl often hangs out with the Blonde with Boobs!) Enjoy it as long as it lasts. And if you mess up things, at least you will be able to laugh together!

The Neighbor's Daughter's Best Friend: 6. a4

Talking about Sidekicks. The Neighbor's Daughter has a best friend who is quite similar in character, honest and decent, but sparks even less excitement. That's all that needs to be said.

The Friend with Benefits: 6. g3

This modest-looking girl is not really perceived by many players searching for a Najdorf date. Perhaps because she does not correspond to our teenage ideas of our ideal partner. But she is a faithful and reliable companion whom you can tell everything about your disasters with the "major options", that is, the Blonde with Boobs, the Elegant Lady or the Romantic Retro-Girl. She will smile, just look at you and ask “so why do you want to make yourself unhappy?” She will try her best to cheer you up! If this means that you are staying overnight, so be it. But don’t overdo it: the Friend with Benefits is not meant to be your long-term mate. Complications loom under the surface and a beautiful friendship can end up in an ugly split-up.

The Chameleon: 6. h3

Hard to characterize in a single sentence. But let’s try. 6. h3 is a girl with personality that adapts to a variety of different situations and shares several traits of other Najdorf dates: the Elegant Lady's sense of distinction, the proper affection of the Friend with Benefits, and the sense of humor of the Easy Companion. Which of them is most prominent depends on her mood---and also on you. If you feel that the previously mentioned dates are a bit too extreme and one-sided in their personalities, if you are looking for a via di mezzo, then you should give her a shot. Rumors have it that I am seeing the Chameleon from time to time.

The Mysterious Exots: 6. a3 and 6. Nb3

These girls are the most exotic ones in the crowd. Which means that they are not easy to decipher and that they may behave differently from what you expect. You have to invest quite a bit before you truly enjoy these dates. But before you think about marriage, keep in mind that the cultural gaps are likely to persist. A fascinating experience, but perhaps not the best long-run solution. 

The One-Night-Stands: 6. Rg1, 6. h4, 6. Bd3, 6. Qe2, 6. Qf3, etc.

These girls are ugly, stupid and dull. It is better to go for somebody who is beautiful, clever and cute. If you are desperate, you may try to hook up with them, but it should never, never, never be more than a one-night stand. 

There are fashion magazines which try to tell you that ugly, stupid and dull is the new beautiful, clever and cute, but people who believe those magazines should better stop dating.

The Unhappy Marriage: 2. c3 

Out of despair over recurrent dating disasters, some players start to look for solidity and decide to marry... the wrong person. The one that did not run away fast enough. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with 2. c3---a steady and reliable mate---, but for any player who likes excitement and variation, it will be a terrible mismatch. Is this everything life has for me? Shouldn't I try again to date the Blonde with Boobs or the Elegant Lady? When you start to ask these questions, moving the c-pawn from c2 to c3 may even trigger a feeling of disgust. Players trapped in an unhappy marriage often dream of starting a new life with daring bishop sorties on move six, but I rarely seem them file divorce.

The Escort: 3. Bb5+

Being too lazy for serious dating, a substantial number of players choose the easygoing option. Arguably better than an unhappy marriage, but it will rarely yield true satisfaction. I speak from experience.

The Street Hookers: 3. Bc4, 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2/h3

Everything that I have said about 3. Bb5+ applies here, too, with one restriction: this is even worse than an unhappy marriage.

BDSM: 2. Nc3 and other Closed Sicilians

This is a strange fetish which I have never understood. Adepts of 2. Nc3 are a pretty closed community (pun intended!), bound together by a set of shared preferences. What they appreciate is so radically different from Najdorf dating that I do not feel qualified to say more. Talk to the adepts if you really want to know.

The Radical Solution: 1. d4

You have tried all of the above, and you are still unhappy? Still no Najdorf date? Not even an escort? Well, perhaps it’s not about the ladies, but about you. Perhaps your ideal date needs to be… radically different from any of them. So try 1. d4 instead. It is a whole dating universe of its own, strange and captivating at the same time. But don’t tell your mom.

The Croatian Campaign: Looking Back on the League

In terms of rating average, we were the weakest of all ten teams. Hence, there could only be one goal for our team: to stay in the league. This would mean that out of ten teams, we would have to finish 8th or better. Fortunately, the league was a little bit weaker than in previous years, when several 2700 players were hired for the first board. And the captain's skills at drawing lots brought us in a good position: the matches against our direct opponents were all in the first six rounds, when we could play in the strongest formation (Arthur had to leave afterwards for a match in the Dutch league). This would mean that a good start into the tournament was absolutely vital!

In the first round, we played against the strong team from SK Zagreb. The match developed almost like a game of the national Italian football team: we did not concede many opportunities for the opponents, and several games petered out in a draw. One of them embarassingly fast. In particular, Arthur did not concede an inch against his 2650 opponent, Sergey Fedorchuk. After three hours, the first game was decided:

White: Bontempi, Piero (2360)
Black: Ivic, Mateo (2267)

The Black position is winning in multiple ways, but the mutual timetrouble gave us some reason for concern. Mateo kept cool and finished the game in style by opening the long diagonal: 29. ...e3 30. fe3: c5+ 31. d5 fe3: 32. Te3: c4. Now large material losses are inevitable. 33. Bc2 Be3: 34. Qe3: Rg3 0-1

A bit later, the score was 3:2 for Brda (one win, four draws) and only Darko Doric's game was still running. His opponent tried everything, opened the position, got a passed pawn... but Darko remained cool and not only repelled the enemy threats, but also placed a decisive counterattack in the last minutes of the round. 4:2 for Brda and an excellent start into the league, thanks to our successful catenaccio!

The next round saw another convincing 4:2 against the team from Pozega, which was like ourselves a relegation candidate. Then followed two hard-fought 3:3 draws against SK Rijeka and Duro Dakovic where the equilibrium was never disturbed significantly. Since the two teams were direct competitors for staying in the league, we were not dissatisfied with these results. Altogether, this brought us to six points in total (in chess, a team gets two points for a win and one point for a draw), a number that might already be enough to survive. Everybody was surprised by the splendid performance of the team, especially since we were stuck at three points at our latest presence in the 1A league in 2012!

The fifth round featured our match against Mladost Zagreb, who missed a player (Kronislav Hulak) due to severe illness and whose reserve had to leave Bol by the time of the match. So they showed up with five players only. However, the match was extremely close. After almost five hours, we were leading 2,5-1,5, but Arthur was suffering on Board 1 against a the strong Grandmaster Evgeny Postny and also my opponent tried to win a fairly equal endgame. Indeed, Arthur finally had to surrender, but on my board, miraculous things happened...

White: Sprenger, Jan (2510)
Black: Rusev, Krasimir (2547)

Black has been pressing for some time without changing the evaluation of the position as equal. Now, he tried 50. ...Rh1 and of course, I played my main trump and pushed the c-pawn. 51. c5 bc5: 52. bc5:. Now 52. ...Rd1 is the most precise defense, but also after the text move 52. ...Rh8 Black should not be in danger. However, after 53. c6! Rd8+ 54. Ke3 Rb8?! 55. c7 I barely trusted my eyes when Black played 55. ...Rb3 as if his life depended on the a-pawn.

56. Kd4! The Black position is now very difficult to hold and most probably lost. 56. ...Bc8 57. Re2 Rb7 58. Rc2 Rb6 59. Rc5 Ke7 60. Ke5 Re6+?! (60. ...Rf6, planning f5-f4, would have been a more tenacious defense, but Black's time was already very low.) 61. Kf4 Kd6 62. Ra5: Kc7: 63. Rc5+ 1-0 This turned out to be the decisive point for our 3,5-2,5 victory and was certainly the dramatic highlight of my play in Bol.

With that match, the goal of the campaign was achieved after just the half of the tournament and the rest of the league would just be "gallery play". Unfortunately, most of us did not conserve their form in the second half of the tournament, with one exception about which I will talk later. We lost 2:4 against the equally strong team from Sljeme Agroproteinka in round 6, and after Arthur's departure, we suffered defeats from the strongest teams in the league: Solin-Cemex, ETF Osijek and Liburnija. So we did not collect any further points and finished 6th. But what matters, ultimately, is the fact that the club will, despite the lack of sponsoring, play in the 1A league again in 2016! I am already looking forward to it.

P.S. A post dedicated to Rade's splendid performance will follow later. Live games can be followed here and all results are listed here.

Albanian Coffeehouse Chess

In many countries, you can find men in cafés, in a park or on the street playing chess. In the Balkan more frequently than in Western Europe. When I was staying in Shkodra, Northern Albania, and walking to the ruins of the fortress of Rozafa (the outlook from there is pictured below), I passed by a group of chessplayers in front of a store who had gathered around two tables with boards.

After having done my sightseeing duties and feeling reminded about this splendid book, I walked back and the same crowd was still busy. They were men of different ages, though definitely over 30, wearing once stylish, but now worn out shoes, suits and jackets. It dawned on me that they were playing real coffeehouse chess although technically, the place where they were playing was no coffeehouse.

But what makes a game of chess a coffeehouse game, apart from the fact that usually, none of the players is organized in a club and the level is not too high? Wikipedia characterizes it as

Adjective used to describe a move, player, or style of play characterized by risky, positionally dubious play that sets traps for the opponent.

My own characterization diverges a bit and can be captured by the following three golden rules:

1. Every game has to begin with 1. e2-e4 e7-e5.
2. The only purpose of the game is to attack, and players are asked to launch their charge as soon as possible.
3. Technical conversion of a material advantage is not an acceptable way of playing.

In addition, some conventions apply. Fingering on the board in order to facilitate calculation is acceptable as long as pieces are not moved. Kiebitzers may suggest moves or reveal threats. Placing a piece on a square with some noise just underlines the strength of that move. Same for insulting the opponent (“This guy is a bit stupid!”).

The above rules shall now be illustrated in some fragments.

White and Black: Two Albanian Coffeehouse Players

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2 This is a bit timid for the proper coffeehouse style. Black, however, compensates by means of his response. 3. ...h6!? 4. 0-0 g5!? 5. c3 g4 6. Ne1 h5.

White now remembered about Rule #2, too, and after the moves 7. d4 Lh6 8. de5: Se5: 9. f4, a tense battle developed where Black emerged ultimately victorious.

In another game, the following position appeared on the board:

White and Black: Two Albanian Coffeehouse Players

White, who was actually a player able to calculate three moves deep, rejected the tempting 31. Qg4 because of 31. ...Qe3+. However, after 32. Kd1, White would develop a winning attack by either Qc8+ or Re4. I guess that he saw 31. Rf3, forcing Black to exchange queens sooner or later, but after all, a true coffeehouse player stays faithful to Rule #3 and does not try to win an endgame with an exchange up!

Instead, White played 31. c3?, and after 31. ...bc3: 32. bc3: b4!, Black was back in the game.

In the following fragment, White proved to be extraordinarily inventive in the attack.

White and Black: Two Albanian Coffeehouse Players

The situation looks rather gloomy for White, who is just a piece down with no visible way to reinforce the attack. It is rather Black's attack that seems to prevail. However, perhaps thinking of the old rule to improve the position of one's worst piece---or rather of Rule #2 to attack at all costs---, White found the spirited move

27. Nh5!! [sic]

Nobody noticed, neither the Black player nor the bystanders, that this move was plain illegal. Mezza voce, I remarked that the knight was coming from the square f3. Wouldn't they be able to tell a knight from a bishop?. The White player only shook his head laughingly and pointed to the f6-pawn which was now hanging. Gamesmanship? Or did he fall prey to the same illusion as everybody else?

Black thought deeply and played 27. ...Qc5!. This would have been an excellent move, were it not for the available alternative to declare White's last move illegal. After 28. Nf6:+ Kd8 29. Ne8: (29. d4 Qb5 does not change matters) 29. ...Qe3+ 30. Kc2 Qe2+ 31. Kc1 Qe1+ 32. Kc2 a draw was agreed. The winning attempt 32. ...Qb1+ 33. Kd2 Qb2:+ 34. Ke3 would only have been dangerous for Black.

The final fragment contains some beautiful lines which unfortunately remained behind the scenes.

White and Black: Two Albanian Coffeehouse Players, visibly struggling with the position

Admittedly, this has not really been a coffeehouse game. First, this position emerged from a Sicilian Najdorf with heterogenous castling, violating Rule #1. Second, there was no particularly violent attacking play involved, violating Rule #2. Third, both players played the last moves before the diagram in a materialistic style, violating Rule #3.

Moreover, the position is definitely too complex to be handled with coffeehouse technique---also as a bystander, I did not find it easy. White now did something very natural and decided to push his a-pawn: 45. a4. Black responded in the same fashion and soon, a race emerged. 45. ...e4 46. a6 e3 47. a7 e2.

Perhaps it now dawned on White that the principled 48. Qb8 would be answered by 48. ...Qc5:!, and White cannot take the queen (or the rook) because Black has e1D+ at some point. Checking on h1 first does not win either: 48. Rh1+ Kg8 (48. ...Kg7?? 49. Ne6+!) 49. Qb8 Qc5: 50. a8D Qc2+ 51. Ka1 Qc3+ is a draw by perpetual.

So White played 48. Qb7. 48. ...Qc5: 49. Qf7:+ Kh6 50. Qf4+ now looks quite scary---White threatens to come to e5 or h4 with check---and so Black responded 48. ...Rc5:. White approached the black king with 49. Qf7:+, and now, Black played a move that wins in all lines but in one:

49. ...Qg7?? 50. Rh1 mate.

On the way back home, enjoying an excellent espresso macchiato in a proper coffeehouse, I asked myself how to evaluate the position after 49. ...Kh6 50. Rh1+ (what else?) Kg5. White can never promote his queen, e.g., with 51. a8Q, because of 51. ...Rb5+ and mate is approaching. And 51. Qe7+ Kf5 52. Qc5: Qc5: 53. a8Q Qb4+ followed by e1Q leads to a superior endgame for Black. So it looks like a draw after the perpetual check 51. Qe7+ Kf5 52. Qf7+ Kg5 53. Qe7+. Can any side deviate? The computer says no and displays the usual “0.00”. If Black tries to run out of the checks, he gets mated by White's heavy pieces.

This raises the question of whether White missed a win somewhere. The position is given as equal with the pawns on a7 and e2 (the second diagram). But the engine shows that Qb7 was winning in any earlier move. The pointe is that with the Black pawn on a different square, White has Qf7:+ followed by Qf8+, winning the rook on c5. (In the game, this is not possible because Black threatens promotion on e1.) This is actually the only working winning idea. I conclude with some sample lines:

45. Qb7! Rf8 46. Ne6 Qd3+ 47. Kb2. The checks will soon be over, and then f7 will fall.
45. Qb7! Rc5: 46. Qf7:+ Kh6 47. Qf8+! (Rh1+ does not lead no mate unless the Black pawn is on e3!) Kh5 48. Qc5:+-

After all this analysis, I feel like playing in a coffeehouse again. In a nice ambiance, with coffee that is as great as in Albania, and with 1. e2-e4!

The Night Bus to Podgorica (and first impressions from Montenegro)

This expression sounds, admittedly, a bit less romantic than the "Nachtzug nach Lissabon", a succesful novel by the Swiss philosopher Peter Bieri a.k.a. Pascal Mercier. However, I imagine the Lisbon night train to be a pretty dull and exhausting affair---after all, from the center of the universe (=Cologne) it takes you more than 24 hours until you reach your destination. The night bus from Split to the Montenegrin (I had to look up this adjective) capital Podgorica does it in a bit more than nine hours. Since flights via Belgrade or Zagreb are expensive, not really eco-friendly and involve substantial stopover time, I opted for the night bus. That also gave me the opportunity to spend two days in Montenegro (Crna gora) and to travel on to Skopje, Macedonia, from there.

Me and my baggage arrived at 2:00 a.m. at the autobusni kolodvar in Split, which is conveniently located next to the passenger port, in the very center of the city. Since I am used to bus station in dodgy city outskirts, this was a real relief for me. Half an hour later, the bus left and I managed to (sort of) sleep, interrupted only by a passport control in the Bosnian port of Neum, which we had to cross. (Another country checkmarked on the map.)

In Dubrovnik, around 7:00 a.m., the sunlight woke me up and I had to change buses anyway. I already dreamt about arriving early: Montenegro looked so small on the map that the scheduled arrival time of 11:00 a.m. seemed excessively conservative. However, these naïve dreams were smashed by the brutal reality of Montenegrin topography. The number of curves in the hilly terrain is not even the main problem. More importantly, there is just no thing such as a straight road in Montenegro. There is some reality behind the advertizements of tourism brochures ("mediterranean fjords"). In particular, you may need half an hour to travel two kilometers as the crow flies: namely if there is no ferry or if the bus operator is too stingy to pay it. In that case, you would drive around the entire bay or fjord and enjoy the view of the very same place from all possible angles.

This sounds slightly sarcastic, and indeed, 15 minutes on a boat would have been a welcome interruption from the bus travel. But the drive through the fjords is absolutely scenic and comparable to any Norwegian fjord, just with Mediterranean vegetation. (Note also that it rains most of the time in Norway.) Mountains that tower hundred of meters, turquoise waters blistering in the morning light, small tree-grown islands in their middle... it is one of Europe's most beautiful roads. Also the last part of the journey, when the road is winding up from Budva to the central highland, offers some incredible views of the mountains and of Lake Shkodra at the border to Albania. I took some pictures from the bus window, but they have the usual defects of those pictures, which you will undoubtedly discover yourself.

Summing up: the night bus to Podgorica is nothing for those who value a comfy bed instead of a less comfy bus seat, but it is one of the highlights of European public transport.

When arrived in Podgorica, I decided to move my city tour to the next day (a report is to follow) and to do an excursion to Cetinje, the nearby old capital, and to Mount Lovcen National Park. The main reason was the good weather which was threatening to vanish on the next day. Cetinje is cute and charming---it is a small village which served as a capital for the young Montenegrin state in the 19th century. If you ever asked yourself what would be a good example for an "Operettenstaat" is (=a state not to be taken too seriously), the Montenegro of the Imperialist age would be a good example. Even the diverse embassies in Cetinje look more impressive than the Royal Palace, without making a great effort to this end.

But the real thing about my excursion was the ascent to the holy national mountain, Mount Lovcen. I hired a taxi and up we went, to roughly 1600m above sea level, driving through beautiful autumn forest. On the top of the mountain, the national hero Petar Petrovic-Njegos (1813--1851), philosopher, poet, archbishop and country ruler is buried in a great modern mausoleum, designed by the Croatian sculptor Ivan Meskovic. You have to walk up long and steep stairs, but it is more than worth the effort. Apart from the mausoleum, the view itself is just be great! You oversee the entire Montenegrin coast, the capital Podgorica, tips of Croatia and Bosnia, and on the southern side, there is Lake Shkoder (Skadarsko jezero) and behind it, Albania. A memorable outlook and a good moment to close this first posting about Montenegro.

Split, mon amour

I have been to Split several times and I always liked the city. After a week on the island of Brac with a lot of rain and only a couple of nice days, I was happy to see that the Dalmatian capital welcomed me with radiant sunshine and 20° C. I slendered along the Riva and through the beautiful pastiche of Roman ruins, medieval churches and renaissance palaces that is the center of Split. Then did a walk on the Marjan hill, where you enjoy the most beautiful views of the city and the sound between Split, Brac and Solta. Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic Sea? A museum for cruise ship tourists. The true connaisseurs go to Split.

In the city center, which is actually completely placed within Diocletian's palace. The man took no half measures!

The bell tower of the Cathedral, rising behind Roman ruins.

Also a newly wed couple thinks it is time for pictures in front of the Riva.

The view from Marjan Hill over the sound that separates Split and the island of Brac, where we played.

A Croatian flag on top of the Marjan. Rut un wiess, wie lieb' ich dich...

The Trg Republike is Split's answer to Madrid's Plaza Mayor, with the seaside view as an extra.

The Riva in the evening light.

The Professor

Name: Armanda Ivica
Title: International Master
Age: 42
Rating: 2322
Nickname: Armi, Professor, El Profesor

I have already introduced the team members. But like with every good team, there is also an entourage of supporters and friends. In the case of SK Brda, the most fascinating member of that group is Ivica Armanda, International Master and former Croatian champion, nicknamed "Armi" or "Professor". Apparently I have introduced the nickname in an earlier year, although I cannot remember the occasion any more. The Professor also has a lovely wife, pictured below, and a son of nine years who is apparently a great basketball talent!

The Professor lives in Split and frequently visits SK Brda, but in the league he plays for the sponsored team from Solin. In the evenings he frequently joined our team where he was always eager to steer the analysis into his preferred direction (often involving some wild sacrifices) and to play some blitz with Arthur and me afterwards. The Professor's results in these late night games were not too convincing. However, on other occasions that involved less alcohol, he showed that he is a talented and dangerous opponent whom one most by all means take seriously. With dynamic play and creative tricks, he managed to save (and even to win) more than one seemingly lost position!

In round seven, we were avidly waiting for the epic duel between the Professor and Kapetan Bonaca (=the name of the all inclusive hotel next to our place where we scored free drinks every night). The Captain told the Professor: "If you beat me, we take you into the team next year!" This was indeed the most likely result given their ratings, but the Captain showed extraordinary skills and outplayed the Professor with unexpected ease. Then the stress of chess got hold of the Captain and he missed a win in the endgame. Draw. I don't know whether the Board of SK Brda considers this result convincing enough to hire the Professor for next year, but in any case, he will soon take off to Koblenz to cook in a restaurant owned by his relatives. Everybody is excited about the outcome of this German adventure, not the least the Professor himself, who has already asked me about chess clubs and tournaments in the region...

The Team and the League

I should probably say something about the Croatian team I am playing in. It all began with a pretty surprising email I got in the spring of 2012. A player from the Croatian team of SK Brda in Split asked me whether I would be interested in joining their team for the national team championship in September/October of that year.

The Croatian league is played as a round-robin tournament with ten teams on nine consecutive days. This means that it feels like a real tournament. Each team fields six boards, only two of which can be filled by foreigners. This means that strong domestic players are in high demand (and tend to be pricey), whereas for the foreigners, team captains can shop around a bit.

In the case of SK Brda, however, there is no shopping around because the club is basically broke. Negotiations with the City of Split for sponsoring are tough every year, and the club is happy if the hotel rooms and the meals can be paid. Hence, instead of some 2600+ players who would demand a substantial playing fee, they looked around for strong amateurs that could have some reasonable chance to survive on the very strong first boards. Behind them, Brda lined up their local players from Split: Miroslav Rade, Mateo Ivic, Zeljko (“Zuki”) Susak and Ivan Krnic. Since 2014, Darko Doric from Rijeka, is also part of the team.

The team photo. From left to right: Jan Sprenger, Ivan Krnic, Arthur Pijpers, Darko Doric, Miroslav Rade, Mateo Ivic, Zeljko Susak

No idea how they got the idea to approach me, among all the decent amateurs with a rating of 2500. They might have seen that I had played against strong opponents in the Bundesliga, and they may have guessed that I was less interested in money than in the “soft factors” at a tournaments. Indeed, I enjoy tournaments in a beautiful place (such as the Adriatic coast) and the opportunity to play against strong opponents.

Anyway, I played for SK Brda in 2012 and 2013 and we had lots of fun together, although in both years, the team's campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. In 2014 I could not make it, but the team got again promoted to the 1A league. In 2015, we finally met again, and this time, I brought Arthur Pijpers, my teammate in our Dutch club LSG, with me.

I will now introduce the locals of SK Brda one by one. (I leave out Darko Doric since he lives in a different part of the country. But be assured that he is a very nice and open-minded guy and a strong player, too.)

Mateo, Kapetan, Darko and Rade at the analysis.

The Master of the Game: Miroslav Rade

Title: International Master
Rating: 2433
Age: 58

Miroslav Rade is a phenomenon. When you think of an ageing master, you would usually think of somebody who plays conservatively, is afraid of complications, happy with a draw, and so on. None of this is true of the best local player of SK Brda. His game is principled, he is not afraid of any 2600+ player and he has an amazing understanding of almost any position that may arise. He believes in the truth of certain principles in chess (in fact, he is now writing a book intended as a complete chess school) and his approach to the game is dictated by logic, simplicity and an infallible feeling for the requirements of the position. Because he rarely misplays any position, he often beats strong grandmasters. This time, Jankovic and Lenic were among his victims (I will write more about this later). If he played more than 15 games a year, the Grandmaster title would just be a matter of time.

Rade (Croatian chess players often call each other by second names) is not known as a big chatterbox, but his analysis vocabulary, where chess moves and heavy swearing follow each other in close succession, is equally legendary as his chess understanding.

How can one maintain so much strength, energy and vivacity at this advanced age? Certainly, it helps that he works as a night guard where he can study chess literally day and night. There is also the story that his wife once woke up at three o'clock in the morning and saw her husband analyzing a chess position in the bed. She took the pieces and threw them out of the window. He did not say a word---but took the most valuable crystal glasses of the household and threw them out of the window, too. Since then, it is reported, chess is no more a point of contention in the house of Rade.

The Reporter: Mateo Ivic

Title: FIDE Master
Rating: 2267
Age: 41

Mateo works as a journalist for a local newspaper, but he is also the president of SK Brda and the main organizer behind the scenes. During the league, he writes entertaining posts on the club's blog. He is a cheerful guy with a love for attacking chess, and the thing he hates most are quick draws without an effort to fight ("You may lose every single game, but fight!"). No surprise that he loves to celebrate and to drink with friends. This attitude is also reflected on the board where his performances is usually either stellar or wanting---his "normal" score in 2015 was an exception!

The Goalkeeper: Zeljko Susak

Rating: 2196
Age: 56
Nickname: Suki, Big White Shark

Zeljko Susak, called Suki, is a sound player with a good understanding of general principles and a very tough defender. In 2015, he managed to hold a couple of difficult positions, too, and he was one of the best performers in the team (relative to expectation), second only to Rade. Especially impressive was his victory in he 8th round, where he beat a much stronger opponent in grand style. His only weakness is fear: his White openings are a bit timid and he gets nervous in complex positions where three results are possible. Offside the board, he is best known for his large appetite (which also deserved him his second nickname), but somehow he manages to keep a normal figure.

Suki and Arthur

The Captain: Ivan Krnic

Rating: 2169
Age: 55
Nickname: Krpo, Kapetan, Kapetan Bonaca

The team captain used to be the actual captain of a ship sailing the seven seas. At some point, he quit the job---fraudulent ship owners, too much stress, and so on. More time to devote to his chess career. Learning the game late, at the age of 28, he plays fearless attacking chess and could have won all three games he played. He also seems to possess some supernatural capacities. Knowing that Arthur would leave after six rounds, he told us before going to the Captain's Meeting: "I will make sure that we get a good scheme". He drew number 10, meaning that we would face the three strongest teams in the last three rounds. Perhaps the most important single contribution to the successful survival campaign in the 1A league.

The Absentee: Drazen Curic

Rating: 2246
Age: 40
Nickname: Barba, Mutant

Drazen was born in Bosnia, but he grew up in Germany and speaks the language fluently. He is a true bohemien whose charme easily enchants people (ladies in particular), who knows to celebrate like nobody else, but who can also suffer the blues for an extended period of time. He shows the same attitude on the chessboard. When he is in the right mood, he perfectly knows where to place his pieces, and with his unconventional, intuition-based chess, he can be a dangerous opponent for anyone. So did he in 2012, when he started excellently into the league. But when he feels that chess in senseless anyway, things can badly go wrong. This time, he did not play due to some internal issues, but he followed the team avidly via internet.

Mind Games (The Long Story Behind A Short Draw)

Sometimes chess games are so devoid of content that it is a waste of time to analyze them. My game against Mladen Palac in the first round of the Croatian Team Competition was a case in point. However, the decisions and dilemmas on the psychological level deserve mention. What is more, they may even be understandable to a non-chess player, or a player with very basic knowledge of the game.

In my first game of the Croatian League 2015, I was facing Mladen Palac, the manifold Croatian champion. Although surpassed by Ivan Saric and others, he is still one of the countries' best players and I expected that he would try to win against me, in spite of having the black pieces and the not too high rating difference of 80 points. In addition, his opening repertoire was centered around one of the world's sharpest and at the same time most reliable openings---the Sicilian Najdorf, Garry Kasparov's favorite choice. Nothing else would be better suited for playing for a win with Black.

Struck by a pretty bad cold, my morning preparation was centered around getting enough sleep and energy for the game. When I had recovered a bit, I noted that my White repertoire against the Najdorf was not too convincing. Like against most openings, by the way. I used to play the modest fianchetto move 6. g3 with quite some success, but it does not inspire awe and respect in your opponent and there are many ways Black can equalize. I felt that it was time for something else, a real move, a move with balls: 6. Be3.

Short of time, I took up a suggestion of my teammate Arthur Pijpers in this line. It was a principled, little-explored continuation that would allow me to fight for the advantage in a complex position. Finally, I would play like a real man and not any more avoid the battlefields of opening theory!

This was the plan. And now see the game.

White: Sprenger, Jan Michael (2510) 
Black: Palac, Mladen (2591)

1. e4 c5 The Sicilian defense, Palac' primary choice. 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4: 4. Nd4: Nf6 5. Nc3 a6
 

So far, so good. This is the famous Najdorf variation. Faithful to my preparation, I now played the topical  

6. Be3

Palac was probably a bit surprised because he did not respond immediately. After all, the last time I played this move was in 2003. Then he played

6. ...Ng4.

Palac normally moves the e-pawn in this position and almost never the knight. After this sortie White has two options. He can play the principled and complex 7. Bg5, a line where one has to know what one is doing. I didn't. Or he can choose the lazy option and retract to c1. Guess what I did.

7. Bc1

and now, also Palac retreated his knight with

 7. ...Nf6

There are other moves available to Black, e.g., 7. ...Nc6, but this one enjoys the most solid reputation. Basically, it asks White what he is up to.

The same position has now occurred for the second time. Both sides have withdrawn their pieces to their former squares. If this sequence of moves were repeated once more, any player could claim a draw. That would certainly not be a very manly finish, and I felt reluctant to accept such a course of events.

But what were the alternatives?

I could play 8. f3 which might transpose into my preparation. But Black has the extra option 8. ...Qb6 which I did not prepare and do not know much about. Like in the case of 7. Bg5, playing a complex position based on nothing more than intuition did not seem attractive to me. Would Palac go for this? Who knows. Perhaps not, but then, what is the point of 6. ...Ng4? So I dropped that option. Not a great display of balls, but the decision is too rational to be called coward.

Then I could play my normal 8. g3. However, preparing a line and then playing something else would mean that I had wasted my preparation. I did not like the taste of psychological defeat either. Once you decide to play a certain line, you have to stick to it.

Would Palac aim for a draw if I played 8. Be3? That was an interesting question. He was a player in his forties, strong, experienced, and with good openings. He had no reason to assume that I had found a refutation of what he would normally play. First, such a refutation would most probably not exist, second, his understanding of the resulting positions was arguably greater than mine; and there was a chance that he was already familiar with whatever I had prepared. On the other hand, experienced ex-Yugoslav players are in general not known for their fighting spirit. Palac, however, was not as bad in this respect as several others. Moreover, I was not the player that he should be afraid of.

I judged that he just wanted to lure me into playing my normal 6./8. g3, for which he had certainly prepared a continuation which ensured comfortable equality. He was just trying to make me nervous by the repetition of moves, since it is usually White who has the moral duty to avoid an early draw. So I decided to call the bluff and played 8. Be3.

The disadvantage of this decision was that I could not avoid draw any more if he was really up for that. But wouldn't it a bit silly to call the arbiter to claim a draw by repetition, just minutes after the Croatian anthem was sounding through the hall, conjuring the beauty of the country and the glory of the Elders? I expected his normal 8. ...e5 and a hard-fought game. However, when Palac replied à tempo

8. ...Ng4

I already had a sense that my working day could be very short.

9. Bc1

What else? Palac plays the Najdorf with both colors and his knowledge in the 7./9. Bg5 line would be clearly superior to mine.

At this point, Palac's eyes started to wander through the tournament hall, evidently in search of an arbiter. This was even worse than I expected. I thought that if he was not willing to enter his normal lines, he would play 9. ...Nf6, putting me into the same dilemma that I was in two moves before. In particular, it would have been ME who would have the humiliating task to claim a draw... or to deviate from my preparation, with all the dangers that this decision could possibly have. But at least I could contemplate my options and see whether I had the guts to play on.

The arbiter approached the table. Palac explained that he was going to set up a threefold repetition of moves with 9. ...Nf6. We shook hands and signed the score sheet. Draw. I realized that it was me whose bluff had been called. A game without winners, without satisfaction. But at least half a point.

Preamble

This blog will report stories from my travels to the Balkans in October, some of them chess-related, others more touristic. The plan of the journey is as follows:

3-11 October: Croatian Team Competition in Bol on the Dalmatian island of Brac. Together with my Dutch teammate Arthur Pijpers, I am representing the colors of SK Brda in Split. (More about this remarkable club and its remarkable members will be said later)
Link to Club Blog

12-17 October: TBD (the plan is to descend the Dalmation coast by bus and to move into Macedonia via Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo)

17-24 October: European Club Cup (ECC), Skopje, with my Dutch team, the Leidse Schaakgenootschap (LSG)
Link to Tournament Site
Link to Club Site

If you ask yourself what the name of the blog is about, follow this link!