Dutch Treat by Hans Ree Mercenaries Nearby my hotel is the office of an undertaker who advertises as being "serious and worth the money." Quite right. Nobody needs an unserious undertaker. I feel inspired by the motto. Serious and worth the money, that is what I want to be. The match between the German clubs "Schachfreunde Brackel" and "Mlheim Nord 1931" may not be the match of the century, but for me it is important enough to have come one day beforehand to Dortmund, where the Chessfriends of the town district Brackel reside. Not much is written in the papers about the club competitions of the different European countries, but they are important, if only because they are an indispensable source of income for many professionals. The German Bundesliga used to be the most important competition, but nowadays there are many European countries where clubs pay well. Most federations try to restrain their clubs a bit when they go shopping for foreign chessplayers, but nowadays with jurisdiction giving European citizens the right to work in the whole of the European Union, this has become difficult. Our match decides what you might call the championship of the Ruhr area. The winning team is promoted to the league of the German federal state Nordrhein-Westfalen, which forms the third class of the national competition, the Bundesliga. No, we are not playing the match of the century. In Germany the foreign players are usually called legionaries. In France and England the word is mercenaries. It doesn't sound very affectionate. Mercenaries are not supposed to have a true love for their club. They come, fight, receive their pay and depart for other adventures. Nevertheless they are eagerly sought. If I remember well, there was one year when the Dutch IM Rini Kuijf played in four different leagues, the Dutch, German, Belgian and the Spanish. Now for this German match Genna Sosonko and I have come over from the Netherlands. For Sosonko it is the second time that he has played for the chessfriends of Brackel, for me the first. "Don't you know that I play much weaker than I used to?" I asked the team captain on the phone. This he knew quite well, but it was not easy to find strong Dutch players. Most of them already played for another German Club. At the Amsterdam railway station I had met a friend, a poet, who had come from Groningen in the north of the Netherlands, to give a reading in Amsterdam. A mercenary of poetry. "No time, I have to go on, to Germany to play in the Bundesliga," I said, and while I hurried to my train I hoped that for a few seconds the bewildered poet would think that I meant that I had to play professional soccer. On our way to the match venue our team captain tells us that the team was in the same situation five years ago. Then also they were in a play-off for advancement to the higher league. It is difficult. Every year only one team of the Ruhr area goes up. Being the traditional center of German heavy industry, it is a densely populated area with many good chessplayers. Five years ago the club went to extreme measures for the play-off, putting Russians on all eight boards. Nowadays this would be against the rules, though eight British or Dutch players would be allowed. The opposition came with eight Polish mercenaries. Russia beat Poland 4«-3«.. Brackel was promoted, but in later years they lost their sponsor and went down again. Now there is a little money again and that's why we are here. The enemy staff of Mlheim hasn't been idle either and comes with masters from Russia and Lithuania. Our team loses. Sosonko and I make hard-fought draws. We have not helped the team much but we can't be blamed either, the more so because had we both won anyway, the match would have still been lost. If we are quick, we can catch the international train to Amsterdam that leaves two minutes to seven. We hardly had the opportunity to say one word to one of our team members, let alone to get to know them better, but that's how it is with mercenaries, they are not in it to fraternize with the natives. The team captain pays out. He must be a little unhappy, but it does not show. "Maybe next year, if we make the play-offs again," he says with a friendly smile. Yes, let's hope so. And off we go. White: Aumann (Mhlheim Nord)-Black: Sosonko (Schachfreunde Brackel) 1. c2-c4 c7-c5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. d2-d4 c5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 Ng8-f6 5. Nb1-c3 e7-e6 6. g2-g3 Bf8-c5 7. Nd4-b3 Bc5-b4 8. Bf1-g2 b7-b6 9. 0-0 Bc8-a6 10. Nb3-d4 Nc6xd4 This exchange sacrifice looks good. Black gets one pawn now and another one will soon follow. But it is not that clear; White maintains good counterplay. 11. Bg2xa8 Bb4xc3 12. b2xc3 Nd4xe2+ 13. Qd1xe2 Qd8xa8 14. Bc1-a3 Qa8-e4 15. Qe2-d1 Qe4-c6 16. Qd1-d4 Ba6xc4 17. Rf1-d1 d7-d5 18. Qd4-e5 Ke8-d7 19. Ba3-c1 Qc6-d6 20. Qe5-g5 Rh8-g8 21. Bc1-f4 Qd6-e7 22. a2-a4 Kd7-c6 23. Rd1-d4 h7-h6 24. Qg5-e5 g7-g5 25. Bf4-e3 Kc6-b7 Here also 25...Nd7 was possible, but then White has 26. Rxc4+ dxc4 27. Qb5+ with some attack. 26. a4-a5 Nf6-d7 It looks as if Black is winning the Queen. (See Diagram) 27. a5xb6 But no, White still has a resource. 27...a7xb6 27...Nxb6 was possible but of course this was not what Black intended when he made his last move. 28. Ra1-a7+ Kb7xa7 29. Qe5-c7+ Ka7-a6 30. Rd4-d1 Now White threatens at least a draw by perpetual check. Maybe Black would be wise to allow White to execute this "threat". 30...Qe7-a3 31. Qc7xd7 Rg8-b8 32. Qd7xf7 Qa3-a4 and Black offered a draw. "He embraced me," Sosonko said later, but objectively speaking White has more chances to win in this difficult position than Black. The next game is from a more prestigious event, the main league of the French club competition. My notes are based on the (more extensive) analysis that the loser John Nunn gave in the British Chess Magazine. White: Nunn (Monaco)-Black: Nataf (Clichy) 1. e2-e4 c7-c5 2. Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6 3. d2-d4 c5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 e7-e5 5. Nd4-b5 d7-d6 6. c2-c4 Bf8-e7 7. Nb1-c3 a7-a6 8. Nb5-a3 f7-f5 9. Bf1-d3 f5-f4 10. g2-g3 Ng8-f6 11. g3xf4 e5xf4 12. Bc1xf4 0-0 13. Bf4-g3 Nf6-g4 14. Bd3-e2 White saw the coming sacrifice, but he misjudged it. 14...Ng4xf2 15. Qd1-d5+ This check is necessary to control square g5. After 15. Bxf2 Rxf2 16. Kxf2 Bh4+ Black would be winning. 15...Kg8-h8 16. Bg3xf2 Nc6-b4 White did not expect this move. 17. Qd5-h5 Rf8xf2 18. Ke1xf2 Be7-h4+ 19. Kf2-g2 g7-g6 Forcing White to give up the control of g5. 20. Qh5-f3 Qd8-g5+ 21. Kg2-f1 Bc8-h3+ 22. Qf3xh3 Ra8-f8+ 23. Be2-f3 Qg5-e3 24. Qh3xh4 (See Diagram) All this Nunn had seen after Black's 16...Nb4, but he thought that now Black would be forced to take the draw with 24...Qxf3+ 25. Kg1 Qe3+. 24...Nb4-d3 But a Rook and two pieces down Black has time for a quiet move. 25. Nc3-d5 Qe3xf3+ Even stronger was 25...Rxf3 26. Kf1-g1 Nd3-f2 27. Kg1-f1 Qf3xh1+ 28. Kf1-e2 Qh1xa1 White resigned. Nunn writes that at dinner that evening his teammates were so jubilant about the beauty of this game that he began to worry that in fifty years' time he would be only remembered as the guy who lost to Nataf. This is unlikely, but the feeling is understandable. A similar thought occurred to Hein Donner after a game in the Olympiad in 1978 in Buenos Aires. (See Diagram) White: Ke1, Qh4, Ra1, Rh1, Nd5, Ng1, Bc1, Be2; pawns - a2, b2, c2, e4, f2, g5 Black: Kg8, Qd8, Ra8, Rf8, Nc6, Ne8, Be6, Bg7; pawns - a7, b7, c5, d6, f5, g6 White: Liu Wen Che (China)-Black: Donner (Netherlands) 15. Dh4-h7+ Kg8-f7 16. Dh7xg6+ Kf7xg6 17. Le2-h5+ Kg6-h7 18. Lh5-f7+ Lg7-h6 19. g5-g6+ Kh7-g7 20. Lc1xh6 Black resigned, it is mate next move. After this Donner sat at his board motionless for at least half an hour. Then he regained himself and proudly claimed that he would be remembered as long as chess will exist as the Chinese Kieseritzky. This was indeed remembered and during the first international chess tournament in China, Donner received a postcard from Peking on which many of the participants had put their signatures, a tribute to the self- proclaimed godfather of Chinese chess. This column, in slightly shorter form, first appeared in the Dutch newspaper NRC-Handelsblad June 12, 1999. Copyright 1999 Hans Ree, All Rights Reserved.