Bryon Nickoloff Annotations

[Brad Thomson]

Nick did not like to annotate his own games on paper, though he was quite prepared to discuss them over refreshments. No one had smart-phones with built-in movie cameras back in those days, therefore much of Bryon Nickoloff's analysis is lost to us now. But with the help of his partner, Heather, I did manage to extract a body of handwritten work from Nick and transcribe it into En Passant magazines. This thread will offer the written works of Nick. Please keep all commentary to the chess games themselves.

[Brad Thomson]

Thanks to Grandmasterov for the following links. This is the article that I managed to squeeze out of Nick after the Canadian Closed of 1994. The first link is the En Passant cover with a tremendous picture of Nick mulling. I had the good fortune of witnessing all of these games in person. Those against Fletcher and Alex have existed in my memory as being exceptional examples of Nick. It will be good to have a discussion on the subject of Nick's annotations and comments, and upon the games. Be prepared to be immersed into the mind of a genius.

EP129_BN_1.jpg (1162×1820) (chessmetro.com)
EP129_BN_2.jpg (2320×1820) (chessmetro.com)
EP129_BN_3.jpg (2320×1820) (chessmetro.com)
EP129_BN_4.jpg (2320×1820) (chessmetro.com)
EP129_BN_5.jpg (2320×1820) (chessmetro.com)

[Neil Frarey]

Thomsonov. you know it's my pleasure!

So I just finished throwing together some of Nick's quotes from EP129 which resonated with me the most ...

https://www.chessmetro.com/images/IM-BN_quotes.jpg

And if you want to take the graphic into a larger format and offer it up for grabs as a poster or whatever over on Redbubble or wherever just let me know.

BTW, that display typeface I used is called TT Trailers by TypeType which stylishly supports local features of Bulgarian cyrillic.

Flava+!

[Brad Thomson]

Annotations to Nick's Annotations of game with Baragar

I shared a hotel room with Nick throughout the Closed of 1994. We had a number of guests, some regular and some not so much. This game stood out as one of Nick's best from the tournament. Nick was a perfectionist and preferred games without flaws. Nick's favourite games of those he won were always those where he had ruthlessly exploited a small error on the part of his opponent while making no slip-ups himself. Nick almost feared winning in twenty moves if there was a way to be found to do it in twelve. The rest would be a blemish, it would be a waste as far as Nick was concerned.

On 11.c5! Nick writes simply space. This is a perfect example of Nick's cold sobriety. Bryon was never one to mince words, nor to waste them. One word captures perfectly everything Nick needs to say about the position. We can see the essence of Nick's genius operating here.

On 28.Be2!! Be2 and only now does Nick explain the punctuation. I was doing demo-board work at the time and happened to be standing almost directly behind Nick watching him when he physically played this move. His opponent immediately slumped back into his seat and needed a deep breath and he also shook his head. Soon the entire playing room was aghast. Nick calmly left for a smoke and I inevitably took the opportunity of joining him. He was already talking about any money the best-game prize would offer. Nick was at his best, he was very refined. He exuded a calm and relaxed confidence bordering on something mystical. He did waste a lot of time on smoke breaks however.

[Ian Findlay]

Annotations to Nick's Annotations of game with Baragar

I shared a hotel room with Nick throughout the Closed of 1994. We had a number of guests, some regular and some not so much. This game stood out as one of Nick's best from the tournament. Nick was a perfectionist and preferred games without flaws. Nick's favourite games of those he won were always those where he had ruthlessly exploited a small error on the part of his opponent while making no slip-ups himself. Nick almost feared winning in twenty moves if there was a way to be found to do it in twelve. The rest would be a blemish, it would be a waste as far as Nick was concerned.

On 11.c5! Nick writes simply space. This is a perfect example of Nick's cold sobriety. Bryon was never one to mince words, nor to waste them. One word captures perfectly everything Nick needs to say about the position. We can see the essence of Nick's genius operating here.

On 28.Be2!! Be2 and only now does Nick explain the punctuation. I was doing demo-board work at the time and happened to be standing almost directly behind Nick watching him when he physically played this move. His opponent immediately slumped back into his seat and needed a deep breath and he also shook his head. Soon the entire playing room was aghast. Nick calmly left for a smoke and I inevitably took the opportunity of joining him. He was already talking about any money the best-game prize would offer. Nick was at his best, he was very refined. He exuded a calm and relaxed confidence bordering on something mystical. He did waste a lot of time on smoke breaks however.

Nick was a great talent and nice of you to remember him. I would argue that he would be playing variations in his head during smoke breaks so you may overestimate how much time he wasted doing that. I do not think there is a player so generous with his time as Nick to show you his analysis after his game. Of course he also loved to analyze. He is greatly missed.

[Brad Thomson]

Thanks Ian. Nick was very gracious with everyone, even with the 1400 players who were analyzing their own games. Bryon would pop his head in and explain to them what they were looking at.

[Brad Thomson]

Nickoloff, Bryon - Lesiege, Alexandre 1994 , CAN-ch , Hamilton CAN (chesstempo.com)

The game against Alex took place in the last round and Nick was not interested in a draw. With 10.e4 it was clear than he meant business. Of all of the games that I had the pleasure of watching Nick play, this one may be the most memorable. I recall discussing the game with Denis Allen as it took place, and he too was quite taken by the bravado of Nick's gambit. Nick always seemed in total control of this game, and he seemed to know what move his opponent was going to play throughout. Despite the fact that Alex was ascending to grandmaster strength at the time, Nick essentially gave him a lesson. The move 25.Qe4 baffled the peanut gallery, then Nick soon played 28.Qxh7. We were surprised that Alex played out the pawn ending as far as he did.

[Hans Jung]

Reminiscent of Capablanca's play. The natural 24...Kf6 seems like the losing move and Nick finds the lovely Qe4 and Qxh7 tactic and the queen is boss!

[Brad Thomson]

Reminiscent of Capablanca's play. The natural 24...Kf6 seems like the losing move and Nick finds the lovely Qe4 and Qxh7 tactic and the queen is boss!

Nick would have taken this as a sincere compliment, he was very fond of Capablanca and liked it when his games were said to resemble those of the great genius.

[Pargat Perrer]

Annotations to Nick's Annotations of game with Baragar

I shared a hotel room with Nick throughout the Closed of 1994. We had a number of guests, some regular and some not so much. This game stood out as one of Nick's best from the tournament. Nick was a perfectionist and preferred games without flaws. Nick's favourite games of those he won were always those where he had ruthlessly exploited a small error on the part of his opponent while making no slip-ups himself. Nick almost feared winning in twenty moves if there was a way to be found to do it in twelve. The rest would be a blemish, it would be a waste as far as Nick was concerned.

On 11.c5! Nick writes simply space. This is a perfect example of Nick's cold sobriety. Bryon was never one to mince words, nor to waste them. One word captures perfectly everything Nick needs to say about the position. We can see the essence of Nick's genius operating here.

On 28.Be2!! Be2 and only now does Nick explain the punctuation. I was doing demo-board work at the time and happened to be standing almost directly behind Nick watching him when he physically played this move. His opponent immediately slumped back into his seat and needed a deep breath and he also shook his head. Soon the entire playing room was aghast. Nick calmly left for a smoke and I inevitably took the opportunity of joining him. He was already talking about any money the best-game prize would offer. Nick was at his best, he was very refined. He exuded a calm and relaxed confidence bordering on something mystical. He did waste a lot of time on smoke breaks however.

Hi Brad, I want you to know I am doing a GPR (Game Performance Rating) analysis of all of the Nickoloff games in this thread.

So I am just getting started... and in the Baragar game, Bryon was doing great up to move 25. The only blemish was his 20.Rad1, which is slightly inferior (about 1/3 Pawn) to Qc2. He makes no comment on this move.

But them comes move 25.a4. Again, Nick makes no comment on this move, perhaps taking it as natural. However, it is actually a blunder. If he had played 25.Nd5, that would have been a 3-Pawn improvement over a4.

Before 25.a4 Nick was leading the game by almost 3 Pawns in Stockfish 15 evaluation. But after a4, Nick was barely ahead at all. In fact, if Baragar had replied ...f5 the game would likely have been drawn (assuming best play afterwards). But Baragar returned the blunder with a more minor one of his own, playing 25...Nd8?.

Of course, Nick didn't have any computer engine when he wrote his annotations. I have to assume he basically didn't entertain 25.Nd5 at all.

When I have finished the GPR analysis of all the games in this thread I will gladly provide you the results and the pgn files with Stockfish analysis.

By the way Brad, were you a tournament player around this time also? Or were you just a friend of Nick's who accompanied him to his games and you didn't actually play at all, or perhaps rarely?

[Brad Thomson]

Thanks Pargat, this is interesting analysis. I worked at the CFC from 1992-1997, Nick and I became good friends. He is something of a legend, and one of the finest men I have ever known.

[Pargat Perrer]

Thanks Pargat, this is interesting analysis. I worked at the CFC from 1992-1997, Nick and I became good friends. He is something of a legend, and one of the finest men I have ever known.

Brad, sorry for the delay, I got sidetracked. I've completed analyzing the Nickoloff games versus Baragar and Day, and am halfway through the Spraggett game. Then the Lesiege game and I'll be done, and I'll start analyzing the 118 games of the Canadian Closed. That will take me a long while.

Unfortunately, as useful as GPR is, it takes a long time to get it done right. There are many rules I've developed to make it more accurate. It is such a neat thing, though, to be able to tell how well you performed in a single game versus just an ELO rating taken after many games. And the GPR is independent of who you are playing against. It is a measure of how well you do in the positions you were playing in a game, and the positions are independent of who the opponent is.

So I'm going to post the pgn text for Nickoloff vs. Baragar here, and Brad you will be interested to know that the final move Baragar made was a blunder. He could have drawn the game. There was a brilliant drawing move. This is all according to Stockfish 15.

Here is the pgn, everything in brackets is Stockfish 15 analysis. If you scroll down to the end, you will find the saving move Baragar could have played.

[Date "1994"]
[Result "1-0"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]
[White "Bryon Nickoloff"]
[Black "Fletcher Baragar"]
[Event "Canadian Closed 1994"]
[Round "9"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 O-O 6.Nf3 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6
9.Bh4 Qe8 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.c5 c6 12.Nd2 Nh6 13.f3 Qe7 14.b4 Rd8 15.Qa4 Be6
16.Nc4 Nf7 17.Bf2 Nd7 18.Na5 Nf8 19.O-O a6 20.Rad1 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 Rd8
( 21...Qc7 22.Qc2 Rd8 23.Bd3 Ng5 24.a3 Bf7 25.Na4 Nge6 26.Bc4 Nd4 27.Bxd4
Rxd4 28.Rxd4 exd4 29.Qb3 Bxc4 30.Nxc4 Qf7 31.Na5 Qxb3 32.Nxb3 f5 33.exf5
gxf5 )
( 21...Nd8 22.Nb1 Nf7 23.Nd2 Rd8 24.Qc2 Qc7 25.Ndc4 Rxd1+ 26.Bxd1 h5
27.Qd3 f5 28.h3 fxe4 29.fxe4 Bh6 30.a4 Bf4 31.Nd6 Nxd6 32.cxd6 Qf7 )
22.Nxc6 Rxd1+ 23.Bxd1 bxc6 24.Qxc6 Bc4
( 24...Bh6 25.Nd5 Bxd5 26.exd5 e4 27.d6 Qe5 28.Qxe4 Bd2 29.Qxe5 Nxe5
30.Bb3+ Kg7 31.a3 Nfd7 32.Bd5 Nb8 33.Bg3 a5 34.bxa5 Bxa5 35.Bxe5 fxe5
36.c6 Nxc6 37.Bxc6 Kf6 38.Kf2 Ke6 39.d7 h5 40.h4 Bd8 41.g3 Kd6 42.Bb5
Ke6 43.a4 )
25.a4
( 25.Nd5 Qe6 26.Qa8 Bxa2 27.b5 Bxd5 28.exd5 Qf5 29.Qxa6 Qd3 30.Qa4 f5
31.Qb3 Qd2 32.c6 e4 33.Kf1 Bc3 34.Qc2 Qxd5 35.Be2 Ba5 36.c7 Bxc7
37.Qxc7 exf3 38.gxf3 Ne6 39.Qc4 Qe5 40.b6 Kg7 41.Bg3 f4 42.Bf2 Nd6 )
25...Nd8
( 25...f5 26.Qa8 Bh6 27.Nd5 Qd8 28.Qxd8 Nxd8 29.Nb6 Bd3 30.Bb3+ Kg7
31.Bc4 fxe4 32.fxe4 Bxc4 33.Nxc4 Nfe6 34.b5 axb5 35.axb5 Nc7 36.b6 Na6
37.Nxe5 Bf4 38.Nd3 Bb8 39.Kf1 Kf7 40.Ke2 Ke6 41.Kd2 Kd7 42.Kc3 Kc6
43.Kc4 Bxh2 )
26.Qa8
( 26.Qc8 Qd7 27.Qxd7 Nxd7 28.b5 Nb8 29.Be2 Bxe2 30.Nxe2 Bh6 31.Nc3 Kf7
32.Kf1 Bf4 33.Nd5 f5 34.g3 Bd2 35.Ke2 Ba5 36.Kd3 Ke6 37.Kc4 fxe4
38.fxe4 axb5+ 39.axb5 h5 40.Be3 Be1 41.Kd3 Ba5 42.Bg5 Nb7 )
26...Qd7 27.Nd5 Nfe6
( 27...Kh8 28.Bc2 Nfe6 29.h3 Bf8 30.Be3 Qc6 31.Qa7 Bxd5 32.exd5 Qxd5
33.Qxa6 Kg7 34.a5 Qa2 35.Qd3 Nd4 36.Bxd4 exd4 37.Qb3 Qa1+ 38.Kh2 Qc1
39.a6 Qf4+ 40.Kh1 Nc6 41.Bd3 Qd2 42.Qb1 Qe3 43.b5 Ne5 44.b6 Bxc5 45.b7
Bd6 46.b8=B Bxb8 47.Qxb8 Qxd3 48.Qb7+ Kh6 49.a7 Qe3 50.a8=Q Qc1+
51.Kh2 Qf4+ )
28.Be2 Bxe2 29.c6 Qf7
( 29...Qe8 30.Bb6 f5 31.Bxd8 fxe4 32.fxe4 Qf8 33.h3 Bd3 34.c7 Nxc7
35.Nxc7 Qf1+ 36.Kh2 Qf4+ )
30.Bb6
( 30.b5 axb5 31.c7 Nxc7 32.Qxd8+ Ne8 33.a5 b4 34.Qb6 b3 35.Qxb3 Bf8
36.Qb6 Qd7 37.Kh1 Qd6 38.Qb3 Kh8 39.Qb7 Qe6 40.Qb8 h5 41.Nxf6 Qxf6
42.Qxe8 Qd6 43.Qa8 Kh7 44.Qa7+ Bg7 45.h3 Qa6 46.Qc5 g5 47.Bg3 Qf6
48.Qc8 Ba6 49.Qd7 Kg6 )
30...Bf8 31.Bxd8
( 31.c7 Nxc7 32.Nxc7 Ne6 33.Nxe6 Qxe6 34.Bc5 Qf7 35.b5 axb5 36.a5 b4
37.Bxb4 Kg7 38.Bxf8+ Qxf8 39.Qb7+ Kh6 40.Qb6 Bc4 41.h3 f5 42.Qc6 Bd3
43.exf5 Bxf5 44.Qc1+ g5 45.Qc6+ Bg6 46.a6 Qb4 47.Kh2 Qf4+ 48.Kh1 e4
49.a7 exf3 50.gxf3 Qe3 51.a8=Q Qe1+ 52.Kg2 Qe2+ 53.Kg3 )
( 31.b5 axb5 32.Bxd8 bxa4 33.c7 Nxc7 34.Bxc7 Bc4 35.Bd6 Bxd5 36.exd5 Kg7
37.Bxf8+ Qxf8 38.Qxa4 Qc5+ 39.Kf1 Qxd5 )
31...Nxd8??
( 31...Bc4 32.c7
( 32.Nxf6+ Kg7 33.Ng4 Nxd8 34.Qxd8 Bxb4 35.c7 Bc5+ 36.Kh1 Qf4 37.h4
Be6 38.c8=R Qc1+ 39.Kh2 Bg1+ 40.Kh1 )
32...Bxd5 33.Qxd5 Nxc7 34.Bxc7 Bxb4 35.Qxf7+ Kxf7 36.Kf2 Ke6 )
32.c7 {1-0} *

By the way.... the game Nickoloff vs Day .... of all the games I've done GPR on, this one takes the cake! It took the most hours of any game to analyze, and it turned out there were so many turning points .... one thing I realized is that the old time controls didn't have time increment, and that affected GPR is a profound way ... because without time increments, players could be having their flags hanging by a thread and making super fast moves, and these fast moves could be blunders, but still moves that make the opponent have to think, and the opponent if his flag was also hanging would most likely reply with a blunder, etc, etc.

Brad, did you witness that game Nickoloff vs Day? If yes, do you remember if the flags of each player where hanging for several moves leading up to the time controls? Because many moves leading up to move 40 were atrocious blunders, so I have to believe the flags were hanging.

These days, with increments, there is a minimum of usually what, 10 seconds? So outright blunders aren't as common in time shortages. So this is one thing about today's games with increments, the time scramble blunders have been drastically reduced.

[Brad Thomson]

Thanks Pargat. I will have a close look at your work. I certainly witnessed the Nick game with Lawrence, though I do not remember it specifically now. I will say that Nick was a chronic time-trouble fanatic. This is because he was such a perfectionist. Nick was always in search of the best possible moves, he was not at all practical sometimes. The famous game where he drew Shirov is an example. In Nick's own notes he points out where he went for the perfect knockout blow rather that simply mopping up effectively. In the postmortem Spassky said to Nick that he played a good game, was winning and that it was too bad he gave away the game in time trouble. Also, I once beat Nick in a blitz game- he flagged looking for a perfect kill in a position that he was easily winning, all he needed to do was play sensible moves.

[Brad Thomson]

Here is a question for Hans, Ian and any of the better players who knew and played Nick and who now grace us with their presence herein. How much better would Nick have been if he had played in the modern era of incremental time controls? Or would it have made any difference?

[Hans Jung]

I'm willing to go on record as saying that Nick would be 2700 with todays computer prep and increments. Nick was born a generation too soon as far as chess accomplishments go.