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I dont know about you but I found his research about Bob Wachtel to be fascinating. With the modern trend for good chess players to gravitate to poker, I found Bob Wachtel's admittance to gravitating to backgammon because he both enjoyed the thinking in the game and the money to be refreshing. For those of you wondering what Im talking about Bob Wachtel was not just another chess master. He reached 2400 in the 70's and was well respected in tournament circles. - and my first win against a master was against Bob in 1975 (and I was sweet sixteen). Wachtel White: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e5 (in those days I believed in this move) 7.Nb3 b5 8.a4 b4 9.Nd5 Bb7 10.Bc4 Nbd7 11.Qd3 Be7 12.a5 00 13.00 Nxd5 14.Bxd5 Bxd5 15.exd5 f5 16.Bd2 Qb8 17.f4 e4 18.Qh3 Bf6 19.Kh1 Bxb2 20.Rab1 Qb5 21.Bxb4 Qxb4 22.Rxb2 Rac8 23.Qe3 Nf6 24.Qb6 Nxd5 25.Qxa6 Ne3 26.Rfb1 Rxc2 27.Rxc2 Nxc2 28.Qb6 e3 The rest of the moves came in a rush with seconds on both clocks 29.Qxb4 Nxb4 30.Nd4 Nd3 31.g3 Ra8 32.Rb5 Rc8 33.a6 Rc1+ 34.Kg2 Ra1 35.Nxf5 e2 36.Nxd6 h6 37.Rb8+ Kh7 38.f5 e1=Q 39.Nf7 Qf1# Who said masters dont play it out to checkmate. Kevin liked the next game much better. White: Sam Kleinplatz Black: Hans Jung 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.b4 cxb4 4.d4 g6 5.a3 bxa3 6.Nxa3 Bg7 7.c3 Nc6 8.Bd3 Nf6 9.Nc2 00 10.00 Ne8 11.Ne3 e5 (we see e5 again in different form) 12.Bc4 exd4 13.cxd4 Nf6 14.Qd3 Qe8 15.Nd5 Nxd5 16.exd5 Bf5 17.Qd2 Ne7 18.Qb4 Be4 19.Re1 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Qd7 21.Bf4 Nf5 22.Rac1 Nxd4 23.Re3 Qf5 24.Bxd6 Nxf3+ 25.Kg2 Qg4+ 26.Bg3 Nh4+ 27.Kh1 Nf5 28.Ra3 Rfc8 29.Qxb7 Rab8 30.Bxb8 Rxc4 31.Re1 Bc3 32.d6 Bxe1 33.d7 Ba5 34.Qc8+ Kg7 35.Be5+ Kh6 36.f3 Qh4 37.Qxc4 Qxc4 38.Bf4+ Kh5 39.Kg2 Qe2+ 40.Kh3 Qf1# "Those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end."
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Re: Kevin Spraggett's blog has article about Bob Wachtel
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We'd sing and dance forever and a day.
Bishop or Knight to choose.
We'd fight and never lose.
For we were young and sure to have our way! -
Re: Kevin Spraggett's blog has article about Bob Wachtel
I only ever played Bob one tournament game, at some Toronto Labour Day event in 1973. He was really stong then but I managed a draw. Years later when I lived in Vancouver and had really improved a lot, he showed up at one of our more obscure chessclubs, totally out of the blue, and we played a couple of speed games. As I recall I won one and so did he. Nothing special about that. What I recall best is that he then told me that he had just come from playing backgammon on the beach and had won the guy's car!! A case of the hustler getting hustled? In any case he was a ferocious backgammon player.Comment
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Re: Kevin Spraggett's blog has article about Bob Wachtel
Hey Steve, How did you know the chessic version?Comment
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Re: Kevin Spraggett's blog has article about Bob Wachtel
Well, the Bishop/Knight choice has always been difficult for me. I seem to remember a couple of years ago where someone printed in a now defunct chess magazine a couple of old chessnuts of positional terms:
Bad Bishop: your bishop
Good Bishop: your opponent's bishop
Outpost: where your opponent's knight is
Rim: where your knight is
Once you get to that position in a game you have to learn to sing and dance forever and a day.
SteveComment
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