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Stuck abroad Chess
Professional
chess players have a rather nomadic lifestyle. In the past,
they used to travel from one place to another like the members
of an opera troupe. They often travelled by train and played
in four or five big tournaments in a year. There were tournaments
in Baden Baden, Bad Pistyan, San Remo, Monte Carlo and many
other beautiful places in Europe.
Things
have changed a lot since the days of Lasker, Capablanca or
Alekhine. The players have a very busy schedule today since
the number of tournaments has increased manifold. There are
various types of tournaments for players of different categories.
So in a category 20 tournament, only the supermasters are
invited to fight against players of roughly equal strength.
And even the beginners have tournaments where they face other
newcomers. There is no need to be trounced by a far stronger
player and quit the game once and for all! Chess is not an
'unjust' game in our times.
A chess
player's life is usually peaceful. But one must not forget
that they, too, are influenced and affected by major global
events. All the national teams of Europe travelled onboard
the same ship on their way to Buenos Aires in 1939. The chess
olympiad was held at a time when the threat of the Second
World War was looming large on the horizon of Europe. The
players were stuck in Argentina when Britain declared war
on Germany on September 3. Many of them could not return to
their country after the olympiad was over. This had happened
before the First World War also. Frank Marshall and some other
masters had to leave their baggage at a Mannheim hotel, as
they rushed out for the first train going out of Germany.
Miguel
Najdorf, the Polish master, was in Buenos Aires when the bad
news came. He had to wait for six years before he could return
to Warsaw. Najdorf was not lucky like Marshall. It was no
longer the city that he had known; his home had been razed
to the ground. There was no trace of life! Where had his wife
and beautiful little daughter gone? Najdorf never got an answer
to his question. He went back to Argentina and stayed there
for the rest of his life.
Here is
a game played by Najdorf.
White-M
Najdorf
Black-D Yanofsky [D61]
Buenos Aires Ol, 1939
1.d4
d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 00 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c6
8.Rd1 Re8 9.Bd3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Nd5 11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.00 N5f6 13.Bb3
h6 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.dxe5 Nd7 16.f4 Nc5 17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Qxe4 Bd7
19.Rd6 Red8 20.Rfd1 Be8 21.Bc2 g6 22.Qd3 Rxd6 23.exd6 Qd7
24.e4 c5 25.Qc3 b6 26.f5 exf5 27.exf5 Kh7 28.Qf6 Rb8 29.Re1
g5 30.Re7 Qc6 31.Qg6+ 1-0
Position
after 21.Bc2
-PATZER
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(R) thedailystar.net 2004
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