This is a tribute to GM Robert Byrne, one of the greatest American Grandmasters in history. This is a look back at an excellent chess column by the legendary GM Byrne.
CHESS; Timman Goes Astray On His Home Turf
By ROBERT BYRNE
Published: October 3, 1993
NY Times
THE first game of the International Chess Federation championship match on Sept. 6 in Zwolle, the Netherlands, was a calamity for the grandmaster Jan Timman. Although he played an opening variation that he invented five years ago, he quickly went astray. He then put up a struggle only to commit more errors in an end game and hand a victory to Anatoly Karpov of Russia, the former titleholder.
In the Caro-Kann, 7 Qe2 creates the threat of 8 Nf7! Kf7 9 Qe6 Kg6 10 Bd3 Kh5 11 Qh3mate. After 7 . . . Nb6 8 Bd3, Black cannot take a pawn with 8 . . . Qd4 because 9 N1f3 Qg4 10 Nf7! ruptures the pawn position.
Black’s 12 . . . Qc7 prevents White from preparing to castle queenside by 13 Bd2? in view of 13 . . . Ne5 14 Ne5 Bf2! 15 Kf2 Qe5! 16 Qe5 Ng4 17 Kg3 Ne5, winning a pawn. On 13 Bf4, the plan in 13 . . . Bb4 is to prevent White from castling queenside: 14 c3? would be ruined by 14 . . . Bc3!
It was in Amsterdam in 1988 that Timman flinched from Karpov’s 13 . . . Bb4 with 14 Kf1 in a game that was drawn, and later he suggested 14 Nd2 Bd2 15 Kd2 O-O. This time, after 16 Rhd1 Qb6, he played 17 Nc4, but later, in Game 3, he improved with 17 Kc1 and got the advantage after 17 . . . Nd5 18 Bg3 Nc5 19 Bc4 Bd7 20 Nd7 Nd7 21 a4.
Full analysis can be seen here.
Timman, Jan (2620) – Karpov, Anatoly (2760) [B17]
FIDE-Wch NED/INA (1), 1993
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Bc4 Ngf6 6.Ng5 e6 7.Qe2 Nb6 8.Bd3 h6 9.N5f3 c5 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Ngf3 Qc7 13.Bf4 Bb4+ 14.Nd2 Bxd2+ 15.Kxd2 0-0 16.Rhd1 Qb6 17.Nc4 Qc6 18.Qf3 Nd5 19.g3 Nc5 20.Bxh6 gxh6 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Ne5 Qa4 23.Qh5 Kg7 24.Ng4 Rh8 25.Ne5 Rf8 26.Ng4 Rh8 27.Ne5 Qe8 28.Qg4+ Kf8 29.Qd4 Nxd3 30.Ng6+ fxg6 31.Qxh8+ Ke7 32.Qxe8+ Kxe8 33.Kxd3 b5 34.Re1 Ke7 35.Re5 g5 36.Rae1 Kf6 37.R5e4 Bd7 38.h4 Rf8 39.c3 a5 40.Kd4 Rc8 41.f3 a4 42.Rc1 Ne7 43.Kd3 e5 44.Ke2 Be6 45.Kf2 Bxa2 46.Rce1 Rc5 47.hxg5+ hxg5 48.f4 Ng6 49.fxe5+ Nxe5 50.Rd4 Rd5 51.Rxd5 Bxd5 52.Ke3 Bc4 53.Rd1 Kf5 54.Rd4 Nd3 55.g4+ Ke5 56.Re4+ Kf6 0-1
Click here to replay the game.
A great champion! A great columnist! The good old days. Now the NY Times chess column has become the National Enquirer of chess. What a pity!
I used to look forward to reading GM Byrne’s column every Sunday. I don’t bother anymore. The quality has suffered quite a bit with the change.
They should have given Byrne’s column to GM Kavalek. The current format has no credibility.
It’s unfair to compare the 2 columnists. One was a pro and one is an amateur. I now read the columns by IM Peters and GM Kavalek.
I actually like current column. It’s a crossover between the National Enquirer and Daily Dirt. If I want to read real chess analysis or news I would go elsewhere.
Byrne always has great & instructive articles!
Actually I used the link to go over the game but the game unfortunately ended in move 40.. There is a technological error in chesspublisher or someone did not input all the moves of the game
Actually the game is a tribute to Karpov who knows how to take a dead position and convert it to a winning one.
But also Timman’s game is instructively interesting.
This is one of many examples of irresponsible journalism by the NY Times columnist:
“Kamsky and Topalov and their representatives signed the contracts Tuesday at the Chess Olympiad in Dresden, Germany. ”
This is misinformation, as no one has reported that they have signed the contracts. FIDE representatives had started to draft the contracts, but the actual signing won’t happen until next week (at least), or even longer.
I am surprised you are making things up, given that you are writing for the NY times – you should always verify the info before writing, otherwise you look stupid.
Cheers 🙂
— andre
“This is misinformation, as no one has reported that they have signed the contracts.”
It amazes me every time, how people have the nerve to talk about things they know very little, or nothing, about.
If the contracts have been signed then how do you explain this???
http://photos.chessdom.com/topalov-kamsky-2009-contract-signing
Thats “if the contracts HAVEN’T been signed…”
Also Topalov’s manager Danailov confirmed that the contracts have been signed by both sides, in a press conference he had with Susan. You can find the video on this blog.
The contract wasn’t signed when Mr. McClain decided to print falsehood. This isn’t something any real journalist would do. Mr. McClain should have apologized for making something up. He simply isn’t in the same level with GM Byrne and he’ll never be.