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     Volume 4 Issue 57 |August 5 , 2005 |


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Time Out

Organising chess                Chess

The development of chess in any country depends to a great extent on how it is organised at different levels. Bangladesh had a good start in that the Chess Federation was formed with government support in 1974. The game was no longer confined to a handful of chess lovers who did not treat it as anything more than a pastime. True, tournaments were organised in the then East Pakistan also, but chess didn't have a broad base in those days.

The Chess Federation created the conditions for organising tournament chess. But we still lacked two other important ingredients for pushing the game forward. We didn't, and still don't, have a chess magazine, nor was there national rating for the players. The problem of rating was solved when players began to get international rating. The Silver King International Rating Tournament (July1979) played a pivotal role in this respect as GM Niaz Murshed became the first internationally rated player of the country after performing very well in the meet.

But the absence of a chess magazine is still felt acutely. A magazine can help popularise the game and can be a bridge between the players from different areas. Perhaps, the need for such communication was not that great because most of the top players were from Dhaka. But there was a time when Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna were growing as important chess centres, but they had little communication with the Chess Federation. A chess magazine could have brought these centres closer to each other.

Most chess playing countries have magazines of various types. Of course, the former Soviet Union was known for its great number of chess publications. The British Chess Magazine, a very old publication, was once very popular among our players.

Players have far greater access to chess literature these days. Nevertheless, well written articles in magazines can still be a source of immense joy to the avid readers. We are lagging behind in this area. The attempts that were made in the past to bring out a magazine were not really successful. Will anybody give it a try once more?

Today let's watch an interesting game played by British GM Jonathan Speelman.

 

White- Mark L Condie (2360)
Black- Jonathan Speelman (2500) [E49]
Brighton 1984

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 00 5.Bd3 d5 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 e5!? 8.Bb2 e4 9.Be2 c6 10.h4 Nbd7 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.Nh3 Nb6 13.Nf4 Nc4! 14.Qb3 b5! 15.a4 Bg4 16.Ba3 Re8 17.Bxc4 bxc4 18.Qc2 Nh5!µ 19.Nxh5 Bxh5 20.Rb1 Re6 21.Rb7 Rg6 22.Kf1 h6 23.Rh3 Bg4 24.h5 Rg5 25.Rg3 Rxh5! 26.Rxg4 Qc8!+ 27.Rxe4 Qxb7 28.Re7 Rh1+ 29.Ke2 Qc8 30.f3 Rb8 31.Bd6 Rb6 32.Be5 Rhb1 0-1



Position after 14....b5

-PATZER

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