Chess
Smokescreen
Raymond Keene
Danger — Government Health Warn ing. Cigarettes can seriously damage Your health. This modern attempt by of- ficialdom to dissuade the populace from smoking quite lacks punch and conviction When compared with the efforts of King James I in his A Counterblast to Tobacco, of 1604:.
'Herein is not only a great vanity, but a great contempt of God's good gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath should be wilfully corrupted by this stinking smoke.' Smoking is, according to the King, 'A branch of the sin of drunkenness, which is
the root of all sins A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs and in the black, stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the Pit that is bottomless.' That was a real Government Health Warning. Most Grandmasters used to be chain- smokers, risking damage to their own inter- nal organs and creating fire hazards for
harmless onlookers. In 1973 I was watching a game between Penrose and the giant Dutch Grandmaster Donner at Manchester Town Hall. Donner had the habit of half- finishing a cigarette, partly stubbing it out, and then starting on another, and in this manner he used to consume many packs during the course of one game. Just as I was turning my attention to their board, I notic- ed the habitual heap of incompetently ex- tinguished cigarettes in Donner's ashtray burst into flames. The ashtray cracked, and burning paper, tobacco and ash poured over towards the two players who had been stunned into inaction. With what I still regard as enormous presence of mind in the face of this crisis, I seized Dr Penrose's cup of coffee and threw the contents over the conflagration, which then subsided into a steaming, sticky, black ooze, spreading like lava over the table and chessboard. Not sur- prisingly, a draw was instantly agreed, leav- ing the janitor to clear up the mess.
From a poll I recently conducted for the Fide Players' Council, it seems that a ma- jority of Grandmasters are now in favour of not only banning smoking by the audience, but also forbidding use of cigarettes by the players themselves.
Here is a game from the days when smok- ing at the board was considered normal. The comments are by Frank Marshall from his book My 50 Years of Chess.
F. Marshall — Amos Burn: Paris 1900; Queen's Gambit Declined.
My opponent was a very conservative player who liked to settle down for a long session of close, defensive chess. He loved to smoke his pipe while he studied the board. 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 As 1 made my second move Burn began hunting through his pockets for his pipe and tobacco, 3 NO Nf6 4 Bg5 Bel Not much thought needed on these moves, but Burn had his pipe out and was look- ing for a pipe-cleaner. 5 e3 0-0 6 Nf3 b6 7 Bd3 Bbl 8 cxd5 exd5 He began tilling his pipe. I speeded up my moves. 9 Bx16 Bx16 10 h4 Made him think on that one — and he still didn't have the pipe going. The threat is Bxh7-i- Kxh7 and Ng5 + • 10 ... g6 11 h5 Re8 12 hxg6 Ing6 Now he was looking for matches. 13 Qc2 Bg7 14 Bxg61 He struck a match, appeared nervous. The match burned his fingers and went out. 14 ... fxg6 15 Qxg6 Nd7 Another match was on its way. 16 Ng5 Q16 He was puffing away and lighting up at last. No time left. 17 Rh8 + Black resigns, for if 17
Kxh8 18 Qh 7 mate.
Poor Burn. He took it good-naturedly and we shook hands. Then his pipe went out.
After this light relief from the problems of world chess I must sadly report that Fide has defaulted Kasparov in his match with Korchnoi while the situation with Ribli- Smyslov remains unclear. 1 doubt the mat- ter will rest here and I foresee frightful pro- blems for the Fide Congress in October, possibly even leading to a split in the world federation. Finally, the British champion- ship started this week in Southport. The favourites are Speelman, Mestel, Chandler and Hebden.
Previous page
