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Originally posted by Brad Thomson
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Uncanny resemblance. Wow! -
At the 99 closed in Brantford. I was chauffeur for a couple of enjoyable evenings on the town. As you say Nick loved karaoke and what he didnt have in voice he made up for in enthusiasm. Nick and Kevin Gentes danced with every girl present and when there wasnt a partner they danced together. 3 am came too quickly they still had lots of energy. Memorable times.Comment
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Pargat, thanks again for your interesting work. Nick was often in time trouble by move 30, this was not at all uncommon. Back in those days 40/2 + 1, or even 40/2 + 20/1 + 1 were the standards for tournament play, depending upon the event. And Nick was not the only one with this time trouble propensity, it was quite common for both players to run short. And your analyses show that Nick was not the only one blundering. I would think that once move 40 is reached the numbers of blunders are/should be greatly reduced.
That is great, Hans! You mentioned that you drove Nick and Heather back to Toronto after Winnipeg 1994. Do you recall much of that journey?
Here is Nick's favourite karaoke tune to (attempt to) sing:, I witnessed him perform it (with my hands over my ears) several times:
Takin' Care Of Business - YouTubeComment
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Nick also practiced the unheimlich maneuver on the dance floor.Comment
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The ride from Winnipeg to London, Ontario was interesting in a different way. Not what you might think. Dan Majstorovic was the driver. Dan is a master at driving at high speeds and carrying an indepth conversation simultaneously. But Nick showed his shy charming side on that trip. He was obviously smitten with Heather. They held hands but what grabbed me was that Heather and Dan did virtually all the talking (and an endless range of topics) Nick became almost boyish and I never heard him laugh so much, with little asides to Heather. Occasionally we talked chess but not so much. I wish Dan did chesstalk. He could then enlighten us. All I remember was Dan talking about the cello. He is a terrific cello player - symphony orchestra caliber. Heather also contributed. Thats about all I remember.Comment
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The first time I actually saw Nick was in the late 80’s at the Skyline Triumph, can’t remember the tournament name, I think Chris Field organized it. I was there with my beautiful wife and while we were walking together in the hotel, I spotted Nick heading toward us. He walked right up to my wife and planted a big kiss on her. My first instinct was to punch out his lights but my wife grabbed my hand and whispered “Forget about it, he’s been drinking.” Later in the tournament, we were in one of the hotel lounges and there was Nick along with Kevin Spraggett and several other players. Nick had the stage and was boasting how he could beat anyone in the world under the correct circumstances. I don’t recall much from that conversation but was impressed with Nick’s confidence. I also remember seeing him at the Canadian Open/Closed in Winnipeg in 1986. He and Robert Hamilton were playing speed chess while consuming large amounts of beer. It was to say the least, very entertaining. I also got to see Ivanov playing in both events. Between the playing halls, Igor would stop and play the grand piano. He was an accomplished pianist.
After that, I saw Nick at several tournaments, mostly in and around Toronto. We didn’t actually meet until the early 90's at one of Dr. Paul Wentworth's soirees. The "Doc" as we called him hosted a Sunday tournament featuring players like Lawrence Day and Brian Hartman to name a few. The format was a 6 player Active round robin, played in the Doc’s basement. On the evening prior, the Doc would provide a feast to all the players and their wife’s and girlfriends at his house as well as provide accommodations to anyone who needed them. These were legendary events. The Doc would even put up a nice prize fund. Nick brought Heather along and my wife and her became fast friends. This was the first time I got to talk to Nick and really got to know him. The conversations with guys like Nick and Lawrence were fascinating.
I also attended North Bay the year Nick played Shirov. Nick spent most of the hours after the games at our residence and we played several games of speed chess. My friend Frank would buy the beer and Nick would stand watch over the fridge as that beer was only for the three of us. Nick was willing to play and analyze with everyone, there was no chess class barrier with Nick.
Nick played in several of the tournaments that I organized, including the 1999 Canadian Closed. He also came down to Brantford during the 2001 Lesiege Spraggett match. Brantford hosted the event, which was sponsored by the World Chess Network. We had a closed circuit TV set up where fans could watch the game from the back room. Nick provided live analysis, as did Hartman. I remember during a critical moment in one of the games, Nick and Brian were discussing the position. Nick then asked what I thought. OK, these guys are light years ahead of me in chess knowledge but I added my two cents and Nick was very gracious in his reply, basically agreeing with what I said. Nick was a great guy, one of a kind. I would agree that Nick was GM strength. As a person, he was a Super GM.
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Yes, Brad, I did notice that both Nickoloff and Day were blundering almost every move from moves 31 through 40. I didn't mean to imply it was only Nick blundering. The reason I commented on move 33.Qe1 is because even in post-game analysis it wasn't commented how bad that move is, so I'm thinking both Nickoloff and Day just didn't realize it. Which shows that engines like Stockfish are turning up new insights into old pre-time increment games, understandably with the engines' ability to go so many plies deep.Originally posted by Brad Thomson View Post
For me, this is interesting because I like to program engines to play chess variants. I am not a true chess programmer, so my engines do not have anywhere near the playing strength of Stockfish, so I am left wondering when I have the engine play against itself just how strong it is playing. I may look at the moves and say yeah, that seems a good move, when it could turn out to be (if it were ever analyzed by a truly strong engine) a blunder. Maybe this is the appeal of chess variants to me, that engines haven't taken over and discovered almost everything about a particular variant. Which means humans can do what they did in the 20th century, i.e. analyze a position, try to find new and better lines, without fear of being embarassed by an engine analysis. I think those days must have been fun for chess players. Now, everybody just looks at the engine lines.Comment
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So in that last scan of EP 128 there's mention of Nickoloff laying claim to the Arkhangelsk system ... renamed ... the Nick system!!!
Here's a scan of that EP 116 referenced above, replete with Nick's notes ...
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/EP116_BN_1.jpg
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/EP116_BN_2.jpg
What would Capa do in this position?Comment
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Thanks for mentioning the Doc and his famous tournaments. Very classy! Sadly I was not strong enough to take part but Nick thoroughly enjoyed himself there and mentioned it several times. Paul Simon (the chessmaster) also had fond stories of the Doc. Maybe Brian Hartman could share if he reads this.Comment
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Thanks Tony, good of you to weigh in. Doc put on a nice afternoon for all of the players and other CFC personages during the Closed of 1994. In fact the group pic on page 186 of the book Nick's Best, was taken there. (All Canadian chess players should have this book, contact Strategy Games if you do not.) Thanks too to Grandmasterov for more Nick annotations, including where he claimed to be the world's leading expert on the opening that he would only later completely outplay Shirov in!Comment
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Many knew the gregarious, even boastful Nick, but only those closer to him knew the "shy charming" Nick. Bryon was very sensitive and a fully respectful gentleman. He had great compassion for others and he always looked to take the younger, less experienced players under his wing. For example we were quick to follow Lesiege, Livshits and Koliada when they entered the "dance club" across the street from the venue of the Closed of 1994. Nick explained to me at the time that, "We should go in just to make sure that the lads are all right." Later that tournament Nick and I, along with the other lads, helped Alex to celebrate his 18th birthday in this same "dance club". It became expensive for me when one of the dancers began extracting two- and five-dollar bills from their mouths as they lay backwards on the front edge of the stage.Originally posted by Hans Jung View PostComment
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The first published and annotated game I remember from Nick was his win as Black in the Archangel Spanish, over NM Robert Wachtel, from the Toronto Closed 1975. This game was analyzed in 'Masters' Forum' in the magazine, when NM / IA Jonathan Berry was editor, and I recall GM Bent Larsen was one of the annotators!! I searched for that issue, I know I have it, but so far, no success. That would be an interesting one to put up on this site, for discussion now. It is an extraordinary game, from the time well before that variation became fashionable.
I was fortunate to encounter Nick when he gave an impromptu simul on 8 boards at the Ontario High School Championship, New College, University of Toronto, May 1975. He had left school sometime before, so was not competing in the event, but was there, playing blitz chess for stakes. The Ontario HS was THE BIG EVENT in those days, well before anything like CYCC or Chess 'N Math events, and it attracted 200 to 300 players many years. By now, this was getting fairly late into the evening, around nine p.m., I think it was after round one of six, with three rounds the next day. But with the tournament accommodations being right on-site, quite a few people were still on hand, waiting to play Nick, or watching. So, someone suggested he take on a simul for $10 a board, to recognize the interest, and Nick accepted the challenge. I was the only one to win, and he allowed one draw, winning the other six. I think I have the game somewhere, and when I find it, I will post it here. Sharp tactical battle, with me as Black in a Nimzo-Indian, and Nick at first said my combination was unsound, but I later showed him through analysis that it was sound. He had asked me to stay around until he finished the simul, so we could analyze. I was unrated at the time, so I thought that showed some class on his part, for a Master to analyze with a nobody. He was sipping from a neck-cord supported wineskin during the games; he kept it semi-hidden under a jacket! Some HS teachers who were there cast disapproving glances at that, but didn't do anything. Everyone was well-behaved, and having too much fun!Comment
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Thanks Frank, good luck finding the games! It is heart warming to read so many anecdotes about Nick.Comment
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So here's that 1975 Toronto Closed crosstable where Nickoloff came in 2nd place. Also in this Bulletin he briefly annotates his game with Nurmi ...
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/B9_BN_1.jpg
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/B9_BN_2.jpg
And here's that GRANDmasters' Forum from Bulletin 27 1978, where his game with Wachtel from the above 1975 TO Closed is anylized by Abe Yanofsky, Leonid Shamkovich and Bent Larsen ...
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/B27_BN_1.jpg
https://www.chessmetro.com/images/B27_BN_2.jpg
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