The Kibitzer 
by Tim Harding

Forty Years A Kibitzer

This month my Kibitzer column reaches its half century. So I
thought I would permit myself the indulgence of a brief look back
over some aspects of my four-decade love-hate relationship with
the game of chess.

This article has quite a lot of games, only lightly annotated; some
of these are games I played, other games that I kibitzed. It also has
a small amount of general reminiscences but is by no means a full
set of memoirs! (That can wait for another ten years at least.) I
hope I have avoided making too many references to the books and
articles I have written, and I have decided to concentrate on over-
the-board games as nowadays I play almost exclusively by post and
email.

That could change, however, as in another eight years I shall be
qualified to play in the FIDE Veterans Championship. (Why are
women allowed to enter when they reach 50? Discrimination!)

In fact, the Hungarian Chess Federation has just invited me to play
in a Budapest Defence thematic tournament in October, and I am
considering whether I can go. This would mean reviving my
international OTB career rather earlier than intended.

I learned the moves of chess some time before the age of ten. (I
remember my father showing me the opening 1 e4 c5 and telling
me it was called the French Defence!) I certainly had at least one
pocket set which I used to bring in to primary school sometimes for
playing at break-times. However, I don't remember playing much
actual chess at that age.

Mostly my schoolmates and I played Losing Chess, where the aim
is to make the opponent capture your pieces. I think we also played
Progressive Chess, where White makes one move, Black makes
two, White makes three etc.

I do remember thinking that I would definitely start playing chess
at grammar school, which I started at the age of ten and a half.
However, the chess club was moribund and the timing of its
meetings was geared to older boys not the juniors. Instead I
acquired a couple of chess books and studied them. One was
Hoffer's Chess, an ancient work which should have been burnt on
bonfires rather than sold to kids, and the other was Smyslov's Best
Games which was too advanced for me although I probably learned
something from it. At the public library I discovered only slightly
more suitable books, many of them by Reinfeld and Chernev. Also
there were a book on gambits and a copy of My System by
Nimzowitsch.

Things improved suddenly in my third year at the secondary school
with the appointment of a new enthusiastic mathematics master
named J.V. Tyson, fresh from Cambridge University. He was put
in charge of the chess club and proceeded to get all the third year A
stream excited about chess, handing out copies of B.H. Wood's
Chess magazine to everyone, and entering the school in various
competitions.

The first of these that I played in was an under-15 jamboree event
in Oxford, where I was paired with a young chap called M.N.
Crombie who spent most of our game doing his Latin homework.
Consequently I managed to draw from a lost position. Years later,
his father was my supervisor for postgraduate philosophy.

Next Mr. Tyson discovered the Sunday Times Schools Chess
Competition, which was organised for teams of six all over the
UK, with a special age handicap rule that made it advantageous to
have younger players on the team. If most of your team was 12 or
13 years old then opposition with an average age of 16 or 17 might
have to beat you 5-1 or be eliminated. So each September the new
intake of boys was very closely monitored for signs of talent, and
boys of 16 or older really had to keep working at their game or be
dropped in favour of somebody a bit weaker but several years
younger. I managed to stay on the team until I left school.

The event was organised on a regional basis, with the most
successful teams in an area getting through to the national stages.
Abingdon School was usually eclipsed by Magdalen College
School from Oxford, led by Andrew Whiteley, but we were fairly
successful against other teams in the area. Early in 1965 we were
drawn at home against Eton College in The Sunday Times and we
managed narrowly to beat them.

On this occasion I played one of my most memorable moves
(White against C.J.E. Rickett) (See Diagram)

White: Ke1, Qh5, Nf7, Bf1, Rc1, Rh1; pawns - b4, d4, f2, g2, g3
Black: Kd7, Qa4, Bc8, Bf6, Ra8, Rh8; pawns - a7, b7, d5, e6, h7

Whether justifiably or not, I didn't fancy going walkies with my
King after 20 Nxh8 Qxb4+ 21 Ke2 and instead came up with 20
Bb5+!!? and the game ended 20...Qxb5 21 Nxh8 Qxb4+ 22 Kf1
Qb5+ 23 Qe2 Qxe2+ 24 Kxe2 Bxh8 25 Rxh7+ Kd6 26 Rxh8
Kd7 27 g4 b6 28 Ke3 Bb7 29 Rh7+ 1-0.

This win was great prestige for the chess club in the eyes of the
Headmaster, but perhaps even better for his ego was being invited
back for a friendly the following autumn. My opponent that time
was the Hon. Julian Hardinge (now Lord Hardinge) who greeted
me with the words "My name's Harding too!". I think that game
was probably drawn and it's the only time I ever played anyone
with the same (or nearly the same) surname.

By the time of these Eton matches, I was an experienced
campaigner, having played several junior tournaments. Frank
Wood, a schoolteacher from Bicester (and father-in-law of
Jonathan Penrose) used to organise most of the events in our
region.

In 1964 I asked my parents if we could have our summer holiday in
Whitby, Yorkshire, so that I could play in the British Under-16s,
for which I was qualified on the cut-off date though my 16th
birthday was actually about three months before the event. They
agreed, but thought I should play another event first at Easter to see
if I was really up to it. This involved travelling up five days in a
row by train on my own from Worcester (where my parents were
living) to Birmingham, for the West Midlands Under-16s, going
out the venue in a big city by bus, play two games and then home
again, while most of my opponents lived much nearer to the venue.

Due to my relative inexperience and this gruelling schedule, it's not
surprising that I lost three games and finished only about fifth but I
had done enough to convince my parents and myself that it was
worth going to Whitby. Unfortunately I hadn't read Bram Stoker's
"Dracula" at this stage of my life so I missed out on some of the
interest in that little port town.

In this event, I managed to (consciously) emulate Reti-Rubinstein,
Karlsbad 1923, by doubling my Queen and Bishop on the long
diagonal. What is more, I did it with Black in a sharp line of the
Two Knights Defence! Black against one D.M.Adams, I reached
the diagram position after White's 16th move (See Diagram):

White: Kg1, Qe2, Bc1, Ra1, Rf1, Nc3, Nf3; pawns - a2, b2, c2, d3,
f2, g2, h2
Black: Kg8, Qd8, Rf8, Rg6, Nd7, Bb7, Bc5; pawns - a7, e5, f7, g7,
h7

I am sure I wasn't worried about being a pawn down. I played
16...Qa8! 17 Kh1 f5 18 Be3 Rff6 19 Bg5 Rxg5 20 Nxg5 Bxg2+
21 Kg1 Rg6 22 Qh5 Nf6 23 Qh4 h6 24 Qc4+ Kh8 25 Qxc5 Rxg5
26 f4 Bh3+ and I soon won.

At Whitby, a two-week event over 12 rounds, I had a respectable
result which would have been a lot better if I hadn't lost on time in
the last round in a favourable position, I had made move 40 on the
board but was insufficiently aware of the urgent necessity of
pressing the clock.

More interesting was the chance to meet some masters and watch
the British Championship. So this was the true start f my
"kibitzing" career!

As the Under-16s played in the mornings, this was a great
opportunity to see how "real" players handled their games. On the
first afternoon I managed to draw against IM Bob Wade who was
giving a simul before leaving for Cuba to play in the Capablanca
Memorial.

Jonathan Penrose was the favourite to win the British but he
missed out that year and the winner was Michael Haygarth, a
Yorkshireman. Here is one of his wins from the event.

M.J. Haygarth - Owen Hindle British ch, Whitby, 1964 1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Be2 0-0 6 Nf3 Nbd7 7 0-0 e5 8 Re1
exd4 9 Nxd4 Re8 10 Bf1 Nc5 11 f3 c6 12 Be3 a5 13 Qc2 Nfd7 14
Rad1 Qf6 15 Qd2 Qe7 16 Bf2 Ne5 17 Nc2 Bf8 18 Bg3 Be6 19
Ne3 Rad8 20 Qe2 h5 21 f4 Ng4 22 h3 Nxe3 23 Qxe3 Bg7 24 Qf3
Bc8 25 Bf2 Rd7 26 Bd4 (See Diagram)

26...Bxd4+ 27 Rxd4 Ne6 28 Rd2 Qf6 29 Rf2 Rde7 30 e5 dxe5 31
Ne4 Qg7 32 fxe5 Kh8 33 Qc3 b6 34 Qe3 c5 35 Nf6 Rd8 36 Nd5
Rb7 37 Bd3 Nd4 38 Qg5 Re8 39 Nf6 Rf8 40 Re4 Ne6 41 Qe3
Rd8 42 Rh4 Rd4 43 Be4 Re7 (See Diagram)

44 Rf5 1-0.

Two years later I was at Oxford University and after Christmas
went with some friends to watch the Hastings master tournament
and play in one of the lesser tournaments in the mornings. This was
the first time I was present at an international tournament and
could see grandmasters in action, including the legendary
Botvinnik who had lost the world title only three years previously.
Brazilian prodigy Henrique Mecking was also in the Premier.
          
So I can confirm that Ray Keene acquired his nickname The
Penguin from this occasion when he turned up in a black and white
dress suit for his game with one of his idols. In his book Becoming
A Grandmaster he has described the sense of anticlimax he felt
when Botvinnik blundered against him in a drawn position. (See
Diagram)

White: Kg1, Qh3, Ne2, Rb1, Re1; pawns - a4, b3, d5, g3, h2;
Black: Kg8, Qf3, Rc2, Rf8; pawns - b4, b7, d6, e4, e5, h7

Here 33...Rxe2 is the simplest drawing line but Botvinnik played
33...Qe3+ 34 Kh1 Then after 34...Rxe2?? 35 Qg4+ 1-0 he
resigned. Keene says Black could still have drawn by 34...Rf2 35
Ng1 Qd2 36 Re2 Rxe2 37 Nxe2 Qxe2 38 Rf1 Kh8!=. I am sure
everyone at Hastings felt the injustice of this result, especially as
Michael Basman had fought through two sessions with a slight
advantage as Black against Botvinnik but only got a half-point.

Two weeks later Botvinnik came to Oxford and beat me in a simul
game that lasted well over 40 moves. I have never done well in
simuls and I cannot remember ever winning against a grandmaster.

These memories of Botvinnik were somewhat effaced by seeing
him again at Monaco 1968 where I saw him play the following
tremendous attack, which is rightly one of the hundred games
included in The Mammoth Book of World's Greatest Chess Games
(by Burgess, Nunn and Emms).

Mikhail Botvinnik - Lajos Portisch Monte Carlo, 1968 1 c4 e5 2
Nc3 Nf6 3 g3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 Bg2 Be6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 0-0 Nb6 8
d3 Be7 9 a3 a5 10 Be3 0-0 11 Na4 Nxa4 12 Qxa4 Bd5 13 Rfc1
Re8 14 Rc2 Bf8 15 Rac1 Nb8 (See Diagram)

16 Rxc7! Portisch probably thought this was impossible because of
his reply, which threatens both Rook and Queen, but Botvinnik had
seen further. 16...Bc6 17 R1xc6 Of course. 17...bxc6 18 Rxf7! h6
18...Kxf7 loses to 19 Qc4+ Kg6 20 Qg4+ Kf7 21 Ng5+. 19 Rb7
For the exchange, White has two pawns, dominant piece positions
and weaknesses to attack around the black King. Botvinnik
polished off by 19...Qc8 20 Qc4+ Kh8 21 Nh4 Qxb7 22 Ng6+
Kh7 23 Be4 Bd6 24 Nxe5+ g6 25 Bxg6+ Kg7 26 Bxh6+ 1-0.

This Monte Carlo event was held over the Easter holidays. I went
there by train with Bob Wade (who was editing a tournament book)
and several other English players who, like me, were in the Open.
This was a much bigger event than Hastings and a great
opportunity to meet many famous names or at least see them in
action. I was introduced to GM O'Kelly de Galway and the famous
Hamburg book dealer Kurt Rattmann.

The artist Marcel Duchamp was pointed out to me there; he was
also kibitzing. Unfortunately I didn't have the confidence to speak
to him; he died shortly afterwards.

Apart from the chess, this event was memorable for a tragic news
item I heard on the radio one day when I was in a caf‚ having lunch
before one of the games. It made the news headlines in France and
all over the world. The Rev. Martin Luther King had been
assassinated by a gunman on April 4, 1968.

I went back to Hastings a few more times, mostly just for a few
days to kibitz, and when I lived in England I liked to see in the
New Year there. Many pubs had late extensions where chess
players could go for drinks until after midnight, and one New
Year's Eve I spent talking with Korchnoi and some other players in
the lobby of the Queen's Hotel (now demolished). January 1 was
traditionally a rest day in the Premier. In later years, I sometimes
found myself playing an Irish chess tournament over the New Year
and was very disappointed to find that in Cork (despite the Irish
reputation for great drinking) there was no tradition of pub
extension: sit was your hotel bar or nothing.

I tried to get to master tournaments whenever they were held in
Britain. In May 1972 there was a grandmaster tournament at
Teesside in north-east England where I played in one-week opens
in the morning and watched the masters in the afternoons. I have
several memories of this event. One is being swindled ingeniously
by Kevin Wicker after winning his Queen for two minor pieces.
The other occurred while I was watching the GMs. Romanian
grandmaster Florin Gheorghiu was walking around the hall, and
came over to me and asked "How do you think I stand?"
Apparently he did this sort of thing a lot. I don't know what I told
him; perhaps I said his position looked OK.

In those days in Birmingham there were several great characters.
B.H. Wood was one; I always got on very well with him. While I
was studying in Birmingham, I went out to his headquarters at
Sutton Coldfield railway station one afternoon and browsed old
books and had a good look around. He told me of his great
grievance: Brian Reilly, he said, had come to work for him in the
late 1940s and then had gone off and run BCM (formerly just a
magazine) as an exact copy of the Chess business. Barry drove me
once to a weekend tournament in South Wales. We checked into a
local hotel and wandered round Caerphilly castle. Round one was
truncated because of a power cut or something. When we got back
to the hotel there was a message to say his wife was unwell and he
had to return home. I won the tournament with 5/5 but had
considerable difficulty getting back to my lodgings afterwards as
my game was the last to finish and nobody else from Birmingham
was playing in the tournament.

Towards the end of the Teesside event I was running short of cash
and B.H. Wood generously bought back the latest Informator from
me at the same price I had paid him for it the previous week. A few
years later, we were both at the tournament in Jersey, which was
where my grandparents lived. Barry played very well and got first
prize. I managed to beat Dave Rumens in the last round and come
second. If there had been one more round, I would have been
paired with B.H. but as it turned out, we never once played a game.

W. Ritson Morry was a kind of rival to B.H.; they certainly fought
out British correspondence championships in the 1940s and they
must have met over the board a few times but I never saw them
together. Maybe they avoided each other; I heard that Ritson was
once in jail for a while over some financial irregularity but that was
long before this time. He used to organise tournaments for juniors
and adults in Birmingham and sometimes they were a bit irregular.
He once managed to give his prot‚g‚ P.C. Griffiths (who later
wrote an endgame series for BCM) white in three consecutive
rounds at a crucial stage of the Midland Open. However. I am sure
Ritson did a lot to keep midlands chess going for many years; at
Easter he financed a master tournament in Birmingham which
helped at least one player get the IM title. One time in the 1980s he
virtually financed Hastings out of his own pocket to keep the
tradition going when sponsorship collapsed.

Also on the Birmingham chess scene at this time were Bernard
Cafferty, who later became editor of BCM, and the up-and-coming
Tony Miles who was to be England's first grandmaster. Because
the Birmingham University team was only in the second division
of the local league, I didn't get the chance to play these luminaries
across the board.

I had heard from a friend that the Hoogovens tournament was an
excellent winter holiday. The organisers gave you accommodation
with families, you played your tournament and you got to meet
some masters. So in 1972 I entered for the First Class tournament
and managed to qualify for the Reservc Master Group the
following year by finishing second. In a crucial game, I adjourned
with Rook, Knight and f-pawn (on the fourth) against Rook and
Knight. I spent most of the hour-long adjournment break at the
bookstall, trying to see what possibilities there might be of winning
with R+N v R. As it turned out, my opponent missed the chance of
giving up his Knight for my pawn, which rushed down the board
and became a second Knight with check, forcing mate.

My prize for second place was the volume on Morphy and Paulsen
in the Weltgeschichte des Schachs series, and on the bookstall I
bought Estrin's Two Knights Defence in Russian. Over the
succeeding weeks I studied just about every game in those books.
By this stage I had passed my Oxford B.Phil. (2-year masters
course) in Philosophy and realised that my proposed doctoral thesis
at Birmingham was leading nowhere. So in the months before I
finally abandoned it, I played and studied a lot of chess.

The conditions of play and standard of organisation were however
much higher than one normally found in England, especially from
1973 onwards when the amateur groups were moved to a new
sports hall, De Moriaan. (In 1972 we had played in the basement of
the Kennermerduin Hotel while master groups played upstairs.)

I stayed with the same very friendly family in Beverwijk all the
three years that I went to that event. The main problem I found was
that, having saved money with a night ferry crossing from Harwich
to Hoek van Holland, one was very tired for the first round played
the next afternoon and it was hard to play one's best. Also, leaving
to catch the night ferry at the end meant that you had to miss the
famous Green Pea Supper, the concluding meal where the masters
got their prizes. The last time I went to Wijk aan Zee I stayed an
extra night and was able to attend this event at last; I seem to
remember Najdorf made a multilingual speech.

It was not easy to kibitz at the Hoogoven events, where the masters
played in small rooms, and the amateurs played in a hall elsewhere.
However, spectators were catered for with demonstration boards,
video screens and commentary in the Kennermerduin restaurant
where great characters like Jongsma kept the spectators informed
and amused with analysis of the games. The social atmosphere at
these events was good too, especially in 1973 when the European
Ladies Zonal was played alongside the master groups. I believe the
Swedish master Axel Ornstein met his bride (the extremely pretty
Bulgarian representative) at this event.

My best game in these Dutch events was perhaps the following.

Leslie Leow (Singapore) - Tim Harding, Wijk aan Zee Reserves
A, 1973 1 e4 g6 2 d4 Bg7 3 c3 d6 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 Nbd2 0-0 6 Bd3 c5
7 0-0 cxd4 8 cxd4 Nc6 9 a3 a5! 10 Rb1 Nd7 11 d5 Nce5 12 Bb5
Nxf3+ 13 Qxf3? Perhaps hoping for...Ne5 when the Q moves and
then the N is not doing anything. 13...f5! 14 Bxd7 Bxd7 15 b3 Rc8
16 Bb2 Bxb2 17 Rxb2 Qb6 18 Qe3 Qxe3 19 fxe3 Rc3 20 exf5
(See Diagram)

20...Bb5! Consolidates Black's endgame advantage, because 21
Rf3 Be2 22 Rf2 Rc1+ simplifies to a won ending. 21 Re1 gxf5 22
a4 Bd3 23 b4 Rfc8! 24 bxa5 Rc2 25 Rxc2 Rxc2 26 Nf3 Be4 27
Rd1 Ra2?! 27...Rc5 was the correct way to win. 28 Rd4 Re2 29
Kf1? He fails to take advantage of my slip by 29 Nd2!. 29...Rxe3
30 Ng5 Rd3 31 Rb4 Bxd5 32 Nh3 Rb3 33 Rh4 Rb1+ 34 Kf2
Rb2+ 35 Ke3 e5 0-1.

For my most memorable win, however, I have to thank Mikhail Tal
who was in the GM group. The last round, of course, was being
played early in the morning and I needed to win with White to keep
my place for 1974. My opponent, the experienced Polish
international Witkowski, was nowhere to be seen. I opened 1 e4
and waited. I watched the opening moves in my group; still no
Witkowski. I walked over to the Kennermerduin to see the
openings in the master groups and then back to De Moriaan. Half
an hour on Black's clock. Somebody said they had seen Witkowski
talking with Tal in the bar in the wee hours of the morning.

Eventually Witkowski appeared before his time ran out and he
played the Sicilian. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6. Strangely, one of the other
four games in our group that morning had begun the same way and
White had played 3 Nc3. I did the same as I didn't know the theory
of 3 e5 very well. Witkowski continued 3...d5 4 exd5 Nxd5 just
like the other game, but I now played 5 Bc4 instead of the normal 5
Bb5+ which had been played on the other board.

Eager to make up for lost time, Witkowski picked up his queen's
Knight and plonked it on c6. Then he realised what he had done. I
hadn't checked him, my Bishop was on c4. So of course I took his
Knight (probably with the Bishop) and he immediately resigned.
The whole game had taken about one minute and had been decided
by my opponent's hangover.

I lost to some pretty good players in the three Reserve Master
groups I played (Wijk 1973 and 1974, Amsterdam IBM 1973).
Most memorable was Sosonko who won comfortably against me in
February 1973, only a few weeks after he had come to live in
Holland. He had no FIDE rating then and in fact the rating system
was relatively new; a ten player event had to have six rated players
and we were one short. If Sosonko had an ELO then of even 100
points later than he showed up with 12 months later, my 50% score
in 1973 would have got me on to the FIDE list at somewhere
around 2350.

Definitely 1973 was my best year as an OTB player. At Easter,
having learned a lot from the Wijk aan Zee experiences and a
season on a fairly high board in the London league, I managed to
tie first with Yugoslav GM Bojan Kurajica in the Hammersmith
Open, held at Easter, with most of the top London players in the
field. My name was even mentioned next day in a (very small)
headline in The Times; somebody posted it to me.

This was a seven round event played over four days and of course a
lot of luck was involved. Playing conditions were excellent, which
usually helped me, and one or two contenders fell by the wayside.
For example, at this time a lot of London players were trying out
the DERLD (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6
Bxc6) which had been deeply analysed by a player called Len
Pickett. I thought I had found two flaws in his monograph, one
positional and the other tactical (involving a piece sacrifice by
Black early on).

A few weeks earlier I had to play Jonathan Speelman in a county
match and we agreed he would play the DERLD, At the last minute
I decided to try the positional "refutation", got a passive position
and was crushed. At Hammersmith, somebody else beat Jon with
the knight sac and he was out of the running!

In round four, I had to meet the formidable Jonathan Mestel with
Black. We were in a small group of players still on 100%. He
played the Italian Game with 7 Bd2 which I also knew quite well,
but I mixed up my analysis and inadvertently innovated by
playing...Nb6 a move too soon. He thought quite a long time, then
sacrificed the exchange. Almost in the same breath, he offered me
a draw. I was quite astonished but after 15 minutes I accepted and
it turned out he was afraid of some line where I could defend by
putting a Knight on h8, a move which had not occurred to me at
all. Probably the short game while others were struggling hard did
not do us much harm, anyway.

Before the last round, played on the afternoon of Easter Monday
after a tough morning game, the situation was Kurajica 6/6, Mestel
and Harding 5.5, Nigel Povah and some others 5pts. While
grabbing a sandwich before the game, I happened to see Povah and
I offered him a draw because I had a terrible headache and a draw
would guarantee a share of second prize. Povah needed to win to
be second so of course he refused. Here is what transpired.

Tim Harding - Nigel Povah Hammersmith open, 1973 1 e4 c5 2
Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 An unusual move order. In those days I usually
played 3 d4 against 2...d6 and in an earlier round I had met 2...Nc6
by 3 Bb5. Against 3 d4 Povah in those days played 3...cxd4 4 Nxd4
e5 5 Nb5 a6 but he later switched to the Sveshnikov.A few years
later Povah became a FIDE IM and ICCF grandmaster (and he got
his revenge for this defeat in the 1997 Lloyds Bank Masters). 3...g6
4 g3 Bg7 5 Bg2 d6 6 d3 e5 7 Bd2 Nge7 8 Qc1 h6!? 9 0-0 Be6 10
a3 Qd7 11 Rb1 Bh3 12 b4 cxb4!? 13 axb4 h5 (See Diagram) 

Black has contempt for his opponent. Under the stimulation of
Black's attack, my head cleared and White's defence/ counter-
attack presented itself to me fairly quickly. Black doesn't have
sufficient development to conduct a successful attack so long as the
key squares around the King can be protected, especially h3 and
maintaining the other Knight at f3. Then White will open lines
against the black King in the centre. But how is f3 to be defended?
14 Ne2! f6 15 b5 Nd8 16 Qa3! h4 17 Bb4!ý Qg4?! 18 d4!! Now
my Queen protects f3. 18...Bxg2 19 Kxg2 Qxe4 20 dxe5! fxe5 21
Neg1!+- Everything is defended. 21...hxg3 22 hxg3 Nf5 23 Rfe1
Qg4 Black's position falls apart. His queen's Rook never moves in
the whole game. (See Diagram) 

24 Bxd6 Nf7 25 Nxe5 Nxe5 26 Bxe5 Nh4+ Desperation. 27 Kf1
Qc4+ 28 Qd3 Qxd3+ 29 cxd3 0-0 30 gxh4 Bh6 31 d4 1-0.
Mestel, who had drawn with me in round 4, did me a big favour by
holding the Yugoslav GM to a draw in a long game. Thus I shared
first prize with Kurajica on 6.5/7. and finished on 6.

Unfortunately, I was prone to make blunders and to play poorly in
events played in bad conditions (especially noisy ones) and so bad
losses tended to keep my rating lower than it should have been.
Just before the 1974 Hoogovens tournament, I won an interesting
game that made into Informator, but when I was in Holland I went
down with flu and couldn't calculate properly.

Also I began to concentrate more on writing and correspondence
play from the mid-1970s. These both involved studying different
openings from the ones that suited me best in over-the-board play.

In 1974 I visited Hastings again for the New Year holiday and was
present to witness the following lively miniature. 

Rafael Vaganian - Albin Planinc Hastings, 1974 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4
c5 3 Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e6 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Ndb5 0-0 7 a3 Bxc3+ 8
Nxc3 d5 Black sacrifices a pawn. 9 Bg5 h6 10 Bxf6 Qxf6 11 cxd5
exd5 12 Qxd5 Rd8 13 Qf3 Qb6 14 Rd1 Rxd1+ 15 Nxd1 Nc6 16
Qe3 Nd4 17 Qe8+ Kh7 18 e3 Nc2+ 19 Kd2 And now he gives up
a Rook. (See Diagram) 

19...Bf5 20 Qxa8 Qd6+ 21 Kc1 Na1 (See Diagram) 

White makes a terrible blunder, although he is probably in big
trouble anyway. 22 Qxb7? Qc7+ 0-1. If 23 Qxc7 Nb3 mate so
White resigned.

When I moved to Ireland in mid-1976, I found I was one of the
strongest players there, but there were always a few players who
could get the better of me on most occasions, especially Bernard
Kernan, David Dunne, Paul and John Delaney, and Tony Doyle.
All these players would probably have become IMs quite easily if
they had lived in England or a continental country where there was
more opportunity to meet varied strong opposition and get IM
norms. Doyle, for example, was Irish OTB champion at least once,
and became a very strong postal player (senior IM rated above
2550). I rarely found him an easy opponent yet on one occasion I
beat him so easily that it actually made it very hard to play against
him afterwards.

Tim Harding - Tony Doyle Dublin 1978 1 c4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g3
g6 4 Bg2 Bg7 5 a3 a6 6 Rb1 Rb8 7 b4 d6?! 8 bxc5 (See Diagram) 

8...Bf5? If 8...Ne5?! 9 d4! but maybe 8...Na5!? is better. 9 Rxb7!
Nd4?! Here 9...Rxb7 10 Bxc6+ Rd7 11 cxd6 exd6 is relatively best
for him but I have won two Pawns. 10 Qa4+ Kf8 If 10...Bd7 11
Rxb8 Qxb8 12 c6. 11 c6 Rxb7 12 cxb7 Qb6 (See Diagram) 

13 Qa5!! Nc2+ 14 Kf1 1-0.

In 1977 I played in the Irish Championship, finishing half a point
behind the joint winners Alan Ludgate and Ray Devenny (a
protestant minister from the North) but I was then told that I should
not have been allowed to enter. Some years later, I received a letter
from the Irish Chess Union that I could enter Irish Championships
and be considered for national teams, but the dates of the Irish
Championships always conflicted with work and family holidays.

In 1983, I got the chance to represent Dublin in a European Union
Capitals tournament, but when I got to Paris I found that the
concept of the event had changed somewhat; it was no longer just
one player from each city but several more French and other
players in the field. Unfortunately in round one, I missed the
chance to get a flying start with a win against an IM. It was one of
those momentary things you regret forever afterwards. The opening
and middle game had been level with not much going on.
Suddenly, with about five minutes each left on the clock, an
opportunity presents itself.

Here I was White against Nicholas Giffard who has just played
33...Kg7-h8. (See Diagram)

White: Kg1, Qe3, Ne6, Bb3; pawns - a3, b4, d3, e4, f3, g3, h2 
Black: Kh8, Qf6, Nd7, Bb7; pawns - a6, b6, d6, e5, f5, g6, h7

The game continued 34 Qg5?! fxe4 35 dxe4 Qxg5 36 Nxg5 Kg7
37 Nf7 d5 38 Nd6 Ba8 39 Bxd5? (White should have tried 39
exd5or 39 Ne8+!? with the idea N-c7xd5) 39...Bxd5 40 exd5 Nf6
41 Nc4. Here the game was adjourned but no winning chances
remain. If I had not been so nervous of the clock, I should have
found (in the diagram) 34 Qc1! attacking from a totally different
direction. The threat is Qc7 and Black is totally busted. This was
the kind of thing I would have spotted at Hammersmith ten years
earlier.

After this, I played one more international event. I was picked as a
reserve for the 1984 Irish olympiad team and after of the original
selections dropped out I was on the team. By this stage I was not
playing at a very high standard OTB but a FIDE olympiad in
Greece was too good a chance to miss. Playing second reserve, I
eventually scored =3 =3 -3. Two of the players I met soon became
grandmasters: Luc Winants (Belgium)m, who beat me, and Suat
Atalik (Turkey) against whom I had an edge but drew.

I met Leslie Leow again at the 1984 FIDE olympiad, where we had
a great chat over old times. Also at that olympiad I met one of my
contemporaries on the Abingdon school team of the 1960s, Tony
Medland, who was working for Cable and Wireless in Bermuda
and had got on their team! I also met several of my former postal
chess opponents in Thessaloniki.

I got my first game in round two, Black against B. Landau Papua
New Guinea. It sounded like an easy pairing but one still had to
win the game. It began1 d4 d5 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nc3 dxc4 4 e3 e5 5 d5
Na5 6 Qa4+ c6 and as it was my debut game, I spent about half an
hour on the first ten moves. Apparently Ray Devenney, who was
non-playing team captain, was worried until John Delaney told him
it was all theory that I had studied specially for the olympiad. (See
Diagram)

After 7 b4 cxb3 8 axb3 Qb6 Devenney (and White) saw the point.
Because of the very unusual bishop fork, White loses material: 9
Qxa5 Qxa5 10 Rxa5 Bb4 11 Ra2 Bxc3+ 12 Bd2 Bxd2+ 13 Rxd2
cxd5 14 Rxd5 f6. Black has won a pawn and the rest was
technique (0-1 in 30 moves).

I conclude this column with one of the most dramatic games I have
ever kibitzed. The 1993 PCA World Championship match
coincided with an invitation to visit my old Oxford college,
Pembroke, for the retirement party of my tutor, Dr Zbigniew
Pelczynski. I was able to see Game 8 in London, travel down to
Oxford next day and return to London in time to catch the end of
Game 9 also.

I had first encountered Nigel Short in the 1975 Jersey tournament
won by B.H. Wood. He had made a good impression and scored
4/7 at the age of nine. Fifteen months later I had to play Nigel in
the last round of the 1976 Charlton Open. Fortunately I had White
and Nigel had been somewhat softened up by a loss in round five.
Managing to exploit his still somewhat porous opening repertoire, I
won a piece for two pawns and eventually the game but Nigel
fought like a tiger all the way. So I was very happy to see him
competing at the highest level.

However, when I got to London, the match already seemed
virtually over unless Short could soon win a game. In Game One,
Short (who had been close to losing) turned down a draw and then
lost on time in a winning position; all this happened in a few
seconds of time trouble. After that, Short was having great
problems with Black while being quite competitive with the white
pieces.

Short had recently sacked GM Kavalek as his second. Since
Kavalek had been the architect of Nigel's victories against Karpov
and Timman, this dubious move can only have benefited Kasparov.
Anyway, in Game 8 he made a tremendous effort to put that point
on the scoreboard.

Nigel Short-Gary Kasparov 8th match game 1993 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3
d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 Bb3 Nbd7 8 f4
Nc5 9 e5 dxe5 10 fxe5 Nfd7 11 Bf4 b5 12 Qg4 h5 13 Qg3 h4 14
Qg4 g5! Apparently Speelman had pointed this move out to Short
in pre-game analysis but the player had not analysed it. 15 0-0-0
(See Diagram)

15...Qe7? Not 15...gxf4? 16 Nxe6! would be a typical Sicilian
breakthrough sacrifice. According to Gallgher and Nunn's book
The Complete Najdorf: Modern Lines, 15...Rh6! could be good for
Black because it gives extra protection to e6. After Kasparov's
mistake, Short was inspired to make some fantastic moves and this
was great spectator chess. The analysts providing the earphone
commentary for the audience got very excited and an English win
seemed very much on the cards. 16 Nc6!! Nxb3+ 17 axb3 Qc5 18
Ne4! Qxc6 19 Bxg5 Bb7 20 Rd6!! A piece down and with both
the e5-pawn and the e4-Knight en prise, Short offers the exchange.
Kasparov had to calculate very hard and did very well to avoid
total annihilation. All he could do was try to find a line where
Short would have some chance of going wrong. 20...Bxd6 The
only move. If 20...Qxe4 then 21 Rxe6+ mates very soon, and if
20...Nxe5 21 Nf6+ Ke7 22 Rhd1 Nxg4 23 Rd7+ Qxd7 24 Rxd7
mate. 21 Nxd6+ Kf8 22 Rf1 There are mating threats everywhere.
22...Nxe5 If 22...Rh7? 23 Qxe6 Nxe5 24 Qxe5+- Kg8 25 Bf6 Qxg2
26 Qe1 threatening Rg1. Or 22...f5 23 Rxf5+ winning. 23 Qxe6
Qd5 Black must be willing to return the piece and reach an ending
that he may be able to draw. Now he offers White a tempting
combination. (See Diagram)

24 Rxf7+!? Spectacular but maybe not best. Gallagher and Nunn
say that, according to Short, 24 Qf6 Rh7 25 Rf5 would have won.
Then if 25...Qxg2 ("unclear"- Ftacnik) comes 26 Qxe5 Qh1+ 27
Kd2 with winning chances. Not, however, 24 Bh6+ Kg8 25 Rxf7
Qxe6 26 Rg7+ Kf8 27 Rf7+ Kg8 28 Rg7+ which is only equal.
24...Nxf7 Not 24...Kg8 25 Rg7+ Kxg7 (25...Kf8 26 Qe7 mate) 26
Nf5+ Kh7 27 Qh6+ Kg8 28 Qg7 mate. 25 Be7+ Kg7 26 Qf6+ Kh7
27 Nxf7 Qh5 28 Ng5+ Kg8 29 Qe6+ Kg7 Kasparov kept finding
"only" moves to frustrate Short - and the home crowd. (See
Diagram) 

White has Knight and two pawns for two Rooks. It was becoming
clear that there was no forced mate and Short needed to cash in his
chips for a permanent advantage. 30 Qf6+ Kg8 31 Qe6+ Kg7 32
Bf6+ Kh6 33 Nf7+ 33 Qe7!? was an alternative. 33...Kh7 34
Ng5+ 34 Nxh8 Rxh8 35 Qe7+ Kg6 36 Bxh8 Qg5+! reaches a
drawish endgame. 34...Kh6 35 Bxh8+ Short also had to calculate
the consequences of Nf7+ and Nxh8 to decide which minor piece
to retain. 35 Qe7!? was also possible. 35...Qg6 Kasparov still had
to be very careful and he was short of time. Not 35...Kxg5 36 Qe5+
Kg6 (36...Kg4 37 h3 mate) 37 Qf6+ Kh7 38 Qg7 mate. 36 Nf7+
Kh7 37 Qe7 Qxg2? 37...Kg8 was probably a clear drawing line.
Now Short gets another fleeting chance to win. It is a bit like my
situation with Giffard, but on a much higher level. 38 Be5? 38 Bd4
would have prevented the perpetual check and possibly won in the
end. 38...Qf1+ 39 Kd2 Qf2+ 40 Kd3 Qf3+ 41 Kd2 Qf2+ Draw
agreed.

It was a pity this exciting game fizzled out. When Short eventually
did win a game, it was after Kasparov had equalised and then
blundered.

As I was leaving the Savoy (where the match was played) after this
game, the leading British chess columnist Leonard Barden said to
me (maybe not quite in these exact words)"This event is terrible for
British chess. There has been such hype and it will take us years to
recover".

I was surprised by his comment at the time, but looking back on it,
he was absolutely right. It is only in the last two or three years,
with the return of sponsorship for the British Championship and
the Four Nations Chess League growing in stature to rival the best
continental leagues in Europe, that some sort of revival has begun.