Chess, Go and global diplomacy
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Of the major board games, Draughts relies primarily on material superiority to achieve victory. Meanwhile Go (known in China as Wei Chi) depends on control of territory. Only chess, where triumph is ultimately and solely confirmed by checkmate, transcends all elements of material, time or space. Although such factors may well contribute to an advantage, only checkmate, or its inevitability, can confer the final and decisive laurels.
To my mind, this lends a quasi-mystical aspect to chess, which is absent in the alternative strategic board games. As that dashing Grandmaster Rudolf Spielmann opined in his classic book, the Art of Sacrifice in Chess:
“The beauty of a game of chess is usually appraised, and with good reason, according to the sacrifices it contains. Sacrifice — a hallowed, heroic concept! Advancing in a chivalrous mood, the individual immolates himself for a noble idea.
”Such sacrifice evokes our homage and admiration even where the idea as such does not meet with our full approval. In chess, which we like to view as a counterpart of life, a sacrifice arouses similar feelings in us. On principle we incline to rate a sacrificial game more highly than a positional game. Instinctively we place the moral value about the scientific. We honour Capablanca, but our hearts beat higher when Morphy’s name is mentioned. The magic of the sacrifice grips us and we care nothing for the accompanying circumstances — whether Morphy’s opponents were weaker than Capablanca’s, how Morphy would fare today, how Capablanca would have played in those far-off days. The glowing power of the sacrifice is irresistible: enthusiasm for sacrifice lies in man’s nature.”
I have gradually reached the conclusion that Donald Trump has diversified his global strategy into Go, as well as chess. Go has already been used as an analogy (in the book, The Protracted Game) for the policy behind the campaigns of Mao Tse Tung. In his determination to expand American territory by annexing Greenland as the 51st US state, the 47th President is simply adopting a time honoured device, for which clear precedents exist in the history of American deal making.
Thus, in 1803, the fledgling USA bought a giant chunk of territory from Napoleon Bonaparte. For $15 million dollars the USA acquired approximately 800,000 square miles of prime central real estate, in what came to be known as the Louisiana Purchase.
Then in 1867, for a mere $7 million dollars, Alaska (a similar landmass) was transferred from the Russian Empire of Czar Alexander II to the USA. Once one recalls such transactions, Trump’s attitude towards Greenland, Gaza, Panama and even Canada, becomes more readily comprehensible.
Should the inhabitants of Greenland, rich in resources, but low in population (around 50,000) prove recalcitrant to the Trumpian overtures, might I propose that the USA offer each inhabitant a sweetener of $100,000 to express their democratic right to join the American Imperium. Why, Elon Musk alone could rustle up the required five billion dollars from his personal small change.
This week’s game, a sublime performance by the late Boris Spassky, which demonstrates in dramatic fashion the imperviousness of chess to the elements of time, space and especially material, when delivering checkmate is at stake.
Gilles Andruet vs. Boris Spassky
Bundesliga,1987/88, Federal Republic of Germany
1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Qxd2 d5 6. Nc3 O-O 7. e3 Qe7 8. Rc1 Rd8 9. Qc2 Nbd7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bd3 Nf8 12. Ne2 TN
An unproductive departure from the 12. O-O, played in van der Sterren-Andersson, Hoogovens, 1988.
12… c6 13. O-O Ng6 14. Ng3 Re8 15. Qc5 Qd8 16. Nd2 Nh4 17. b4 a6 18. a4 Bd7 19. Rb1 Ng4 20. Qc2 g6 21. b5 axb5 22. axb5 h5 23. bxc6 bxc6 24. Rfe1?!
White does better with either, 24. Rb3 or Ne2.
24… Qf6 25. Ndf1?!
It is better to continue with, 25. Re2 Qd6 26. Ndf1 Ra3 27. Rd2 Rea8 28. Ne2.
25… Ra3 26. Re2 c5 27. dxc5?
A serious error when White had good alternatives. For example, both 27. Bb5 Bxb5 28. Rxb5 cxd4 29. Rxd5 dxe3 30. fxe3 Nxe3 31. Rxe3 Rexe3 32. Nxe3 Rxe3 33. Rd1; and, 27. h3 c4 28. Bxg6 fxg6 29. hxg4 Bxg4 30. f3 Bf5 31. Qc1 Bxb1 32. Qxa3, keep the position level.
27… Ne5 28. Bb5??
A losing error. White has remote chances of salvaging something with, 28. Bxg6! fxg6 29. Nd2 Bc6 30. Qb2 Rc3 31. Qa1 Ra8 32. Qb2 Rf8 33. f3 Kh7 34. Rf1 Nd3 35. Qb6 Rxc5.
28… Qf3!! White resigns 0-1
Sacrificing the queen to overprotect g2 fails to, 29. Qe4 dxe4 30. gxf3 Nexf3+ 31. Kh1 Bh3 32. Ra1 Bg2#; capturing the sacrificial queen fails to, 29. gxf3 Nexf3+ 30. Kh1 Bh3 31. Qxg6+ fxg6 32. Bxe8 Bg2#.
On Tuesday May 13, there will be an evening reception and dinner at L’Escargot to celebrate the paperback launch of Chess through the Looking Glass. For further details please contact Ima Von Wenden at secretary@snailclub.co.uk
Ray’s 206th book, “ Chess in the Year of the King ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “ Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) can be ordered from both Amazon and Blackwells. His 208th, the world record for chess books, written jointly with chess playing artist Barry Martin, Chess through the Looking Glass , is now available from Amazon.
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