SIMPSON'S
IN-THE-STRAND
Alexander the great
Raymond Keene
WHILE reminiscing about the last 20 years as The Spectator's chess correspondent, it struck me that a fascinating exercise might be to go back even further and take a look at the contributions of my predecessor, C.H.O'D. Alexander, who contributed to The Spectator under the pseudonym Philidor during the 1950s.
Alexander was a brilliant player, who once tied first in the Hastings Premier, winning a sensational game against David Bronstein. He also won the British champi- onship, yet maintained a highly active intel- lectual career outside chess. During the second world war he was one of those chess-players recruited to crack German codes at Bletchley Park, while after the war he took up a senior post at GCHQ in Cheltenham. I primarily remember him from my early playing career as the dynam- ic captain of the English team in interna- tional matches. For this week's column, in homage to my predecessor, I have resur- rected an essay by him which first appeared in The Spectator in 1957, and Alexander's comments to a game between two of the top grandmasters of his day.
`Why do people play chess? What is it about the game which gives it such a grip on its devotees that some of them have subordinated everything else in life to it? There are several answers to this, or per- haps one should say several components making up the whole answer. In the first place chess is something of intrinsic, if minor value, i.e. it is something which an intelligent person can take seriously with- out a feeling of futility. Once played, a game of chess has a permanent existence: anyone can play through it just as they can look at a painting or play a piece of music. And it has some meaning; a good game is a representation of something that perme- ates life at every level — struggle. Finally, it can have aesthetic merit; depth of thought, degree of imagination in the ideas in a game, economy and efficiency in exe- cution combine to give a beauty to a fine game which every chess-player will appreci- ate. "Minor" rather than major value as compared with, say, music has to be admit- ted because the total range in chess is so much more limited and the contact with life more remote and narrower: but chess has, to some extent at least, the same kind of justification as the arts.
`But this is only a reason why serious players think chess is worthwhile: it is not why they enjoy it. The chief charm of chess I am sure is the excitement of playing and the resultant feeling of living at a greater than normal intensity: this, paradoxically, but naturally, is caused by its slowness com- bined with the knowledge that the slightest slip will be fatal which results in a gradual building up of tension throughout the game. In these respects chess resembles cricket just as bridge is like tennis — and all right-minded readers will agree that Wimbledon is as nothing compared with Lord's.
`Finally (or at least finally for this arti- cle), chess is to some players a substitute for life. People who find the problems of ordinary existence too difficult, too untidy
SIMPSON'S IN-THE-STRAND
or too serious to be dealt with can retire to the artificial world of chess where all is tidy and clearcut.'
Pachman–Gligoric: Dublin Zonal 1957; King's Indian Defence.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 613e3 c6 7 Qd2 e5 It is better in this variation to omit e5 and play 7 ... a6 at once, followed by .. ,b5. 8 d5 cxd5 9 cxd5 a6 10 g4 Ne8 11 0-0-0 6 Although this looks dangerous, Black must play it or he will be smothered by the White pawn advance.12 gxf5 gxf5 13 Kbl f4 14 13f2 Bf6 15 b4 Ng7 16 Bh3 Nd7 17 Be6+ Kh8 18 Nh3 Qe7 19 Ng5 b5 20 Rdgl Rb8 21 Bf5 b4 22 Na4 NxfS 23 exf5 (Diagram) 23 ...Bxg5 23 ... e4 was the only chance though after 24 Qxf4 White retains the better game. 24 hxg5 Rxf5 25 g6 h5 26 Bh4 27 Qg2 Nf8 28 Be7 This is of course the decisive move as if 28 ...Qxe7 29 g7+ and mate follows. 28 ...Bd7 29 Bxd6 Rd8 30 Nc5 30 (2g4 was a simpler winning line. Both players were very short of time and there is repetition and inaccu- rate play from both sides over the next few moves. 30 ...Kg8 31 Ne4 a5 32 Bc7 Ra8 33 Bd6 Rc8 34 Bxf8 Rcxf8 35 Nc5 Qe7 36 g7 R816 37 Ne4 Rh6 38 Qf2 Rf7 39 d6 Rxd6 40 Nxd6 Qxd6 41 RxhS Bf5+ 42 Kal Black resigns After 42 . • Bg6 43 Rh8+ Kxg7 44 Qh4 Qd3 45 Oho+ Kf6 46 Rg8 White wins. A fine game in spite of all the inaccuracies.
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