Curt Hansen - Inventors of Modern Chess - Part I
Curt Hansen - Inventors of Modern Chess - Part I
Curt Hansen - Inventors of Modern Chess - Part I
By Curt Hansen
Now and again there has been some talk about how strong masters from the past were, compared to topplayers today. I
think it is rather difficult to compare players not living at the same time. Chessplayers learn from the players from the
past, so of course their strategic understanding and opening play will always be better than the masters that came before
themselves.
An interesting task, however, is to try to get an idea about who the real inventors of modern chess were/are. This can be
done by tracing some of the somewhat more extravagant ideas we have come to take for granted today. In this article I
will concentrate on the inventors of the idea h7-h5 in Sicilian Scheveningen/Paulsen positions - however excluding the
games where White fianchettoes his Bf1 to g2. Of the players who like to advance the h-pawn today, the most
conspicuous seems to me to be Igor Miladinovic. His pet-line has the following starting position where he has just played
8..h5!?:
That was today. Now we start to look at the past, where I will mention only the games that I found remarkable, and where
the black player did not make bad strategic errors - since inventing something on wrong assumptions is not bringing
chess to a higher level. Of course there this can be looked at and evaluated in many different ways, and I might have
overlooked games since the available material was huge. Nevertheless, here is my selection in more or less
chronological order:
The first game in chess-history where Black seemed to have a good idea about what he was doing in this modern setup
seems to me to be Yates,F - Bogoljubov,E Moscow 1925, where Black played 13..h7-h5!?
Black's strategy is risky and even though he won, White might have had good chances around move 23/24. However
there is nothing unusual in that. Black is playing on the whole board and keeping control is not easy.
The next step forward seems to me to be from 1963 where Simagin in the postal gameBobkov,V - Simagin,V for the first
time clearly connected h7-h5 with play in the c-line, showing some nice understanding of the importance of controlling the
white squares. Even though it has to be said that White made it easy for Black. Simagin's fine strategy began with
14..Qc7-c4:
It seems to me that Simagin was the first to understand that h7-h5 is only in seldom circumstances an attacking move, but
is much more often played with the idea of weakening the white pawn-structure on the kingside.
Another Simagin postal game from the same tournament is also interesting because it is one of the first games where
control over the square g3 is used efficiently and - not least - is a early example of Black castling short after having
moved his h-pawn. All this happened in the gameMiljutin,O - Simagin,V where Black in the following position played:
24..0-0!
However it should be mentioned that even a strong player like Simagin did sometimes get into trouble in his favorite line.
That happened in the fifth postal-OL against the German Koch. In the following position White started a strong attack and
won a complicated battle in 62 moves after 18.Ndb5!
One of the earliest modern examples with h7-h5 in a position where Black's d-pawn was still at d7 was seen in the game
Suetin,A - Osnos,V Leningrad 1967. White won even though Black's position seemed to be fine if he had exchanged
queens at move 16. This is also one of the first games where control over the square g3 is seen in combination with the
manouvre 12..Nc6xd4 13.Bxd4 Bc5 exchanging black-squared bishops and increasing control over g3. Below is shown
the position where Black unwisely avoided the queen-exchange with 16..Qe7?
Two years later in Tatai,S - Vasjukov,E Black showed that his chances in the endgame are often quite good with play in
the c-line and the white pawns somewhat cramped on the kingside. In the diagram-position 17..Qxd4+ 18.Nxd4 Ke7
solved all black problems:
That very year Kupreichik,V - Gufeld,E saw one of the first succesful examples of combining h7-h5 with e6-e5. Of course
this is generally only possible with a black pawn on g6 to stop Nd4-f5. This is the position where 15..e5! was a playable
idea: (though it was made to look unnecessarily strong by White's blunder 20.Nd5??)
Filipowicz had the following position three time in the years 1967-71 and seemed to get reasonable postions:
Whether White played a2-a3 or not, it seemed Black always got reasonable counterplay with b5-b4:
Grabczewski - Filipowicz,A, Bednarski - Filipowicz,A, Hort,V - Filipowicz,A Flis,J - Filipowicz,A A new example was
Odeev,H - Lutz,C.
But Filipowicz's opponent in 1976 was smart. He stopped b7-b5 with a2-a4 - and won!Poulsson,E - Filipowicz,A
This is another sign that h7-h5(-h4) is not really a attacking move. Black's play is most often on the queenside. The
h-pawn is like when a boxer annoys is opponent with his left hand. And when this left hand is taking to much of the
opponents attention, he is knocked out by the main weapon - a strong right hand uppercut. It makes a lot of diffence
whether the pawn-formation on the queenside is a4 versus b6/a6 or - better for black because he has more space a3 versus a6/b5.
However Black also faced big problems after White seemingly found the right inroad into Filipowiczs favorite setup:
However Black also faced big problems after White seemingly found the right inroad into Filipowiczs favorite setup:
Here 15.e5! was strong for White in Upton,T - Filipowicz,A and Skousen,N - Sandahl,J because 15..dxe5 16.Nxc6 Bxc6
17.Bxc6+ Qxc6 18.fxe5 is not playable. So Filipowiczs setup seems to have been refuted. Even without h5-h4 Black's
position does not seem to be good: Gavrikov,V - Summermatter,D.
13.Sxc6! Lxc6 14.Ld4 h4 15.Df2, and now Black found it necessary to play 15..Th8-h7 just like in Nunn,J - Olafsson,F , a
clear sign that something is wrong. It seems to me Black should play either a) h7-h5 in connection with d7-d6 and Nb8-d7
or b) h7-h5 with Nb8-c6 but - at least at first - without d7-d6.
The German player Podzielny has been playing the black setup with good results. His strategy has been to keep the king
in the centre, often he plays h7-h5 and g7-g6 after which e4 is put under pressure for instance with Qc7-b8-a8. He did
not always have time for that manouvre, but Black's position proved quite resilient:
Spassky,B - Podzielny KH
Black played 17..h3 18.g3 d5! with strong play in the long diagonal.
Also: Ivanovskis,J - Podzielny,K Peric,M - Podzielny,K , Foehl,F - Podzielny,K though sometimes it went wrong even
though Black's postion seemed quite okay: Prokopp,H - Podzielny,K, Binder,G - Podzielny,K It has to be said though that
the over the board games generally are played by Podzielny jr. (the son), while the postal games are played by Podzielny
the over the board games generally are played by Podzielny jr. (the son), while the postal games are played by Podzielny
sr. (the father). Svacek,P - Podzielny,K
The Czech grandmaster Mokry liked to play a setup where h7-h5 was combined with e6-e5 which sooner or later was
followed up by short castle: Kristiansen,J - Mokry,K, Prandstetter,E - Mokry,K.
Some Yugoslav players made a great effort to make their own setup in the Paulsen work. Marjanovic tried it out in many
games. I am talking about the position after 10...h5:
His games should be taken note of: Marinovic,B - Marjanovic,S Cseshkovsky,V - Marjanovic,S
Parma,B - Marjanovic,S Hjartarson,J - Marjanovic,S Abramovic,B - Marjanovic,S Zapata,A - Marjanovic,S
Seitaj,I - Marjanovic,S Dragojlovic,A - Marjanovic,S Iordachescu,V - Marjanovic,S and then there is one more slightly
different game: Prasad,D - Marjanovic,S
Also Matulovic played this line in many games:Janosevic Dragoljub - Matulovic,M Balashov,J - Matulovic,M
Jansa,V - Matulovic,M Velimirovic,D - Matulovic,M Ivanovic,B - Matulovic,M . Interestingly he lost against a different
h7-h5 setup against the already mentioned Miladinovic. That game is mentioned in connection with Nunn-Gurevich,I
further below in this next.
Andersson played a nice game in the Szirak Interzonal:Nunn,J - Andersson,U . Black's formation was strong enough to
make the solid Swede decide on 16...0-0!:
Another Swede - Pia Cramling - has also played this setup in the games:Howell,J - Cramling,P ,
Arakhamia,K - Cramling,P , Berg,E - Cramling,P and Guyard,B - Cramling,P . However she has also played other h7-h5
ideas amongst others giving an idea of how Black should play if Whites takes on g7 after h5-h4:Andreu,S - Cramling,P .
ideas amongst others giving an idea of how Black should play if Whites takes on g7 after h5-h4:Andreu,S - Cramling,P .
Some other Cramling games with h7-h5:Van der Wiel,J - Cramling,P Ioseliani,N - Cramling,P Arnason,J - Cramling,P
Bojkovic,N - Cramling,P .
The possibility of playing against White's weak queenside pawns in connection with the exchange Bf6xNc3 comes up
now and again. For instance in Nunn,J - Gurevich,I ,
where 12..Bxc3 13.bxc3 Sf6 followed by a later e6-e5 gave black a nice game. However, the position is not easy to
control and White was winning until around move 43. This idea can also be found in the gamesAttard - Mariotti,S,
Smyslov,V - Gurevich,I Matulovic,M - Miladinovic,I and Malisauskas,V - Ramos,D, but as the results also show - and the
improvement of White's play in the Smyslov game - Black has to be very careful when playing B(f6)xc3.
Igor Miladinovic has stubbornly continued to play the black setup illustrated in the first diagram:
This idea has been used in other games as Geller,E - Barczay,L , and then Podzielny one more time:
Zwanzger,J - Podzielny,K .And a couple of related examples with Bd3/Bg1 countered by g7-g5:Ruiz,M - Shapiro,D , Lutz,C - Polgar,J
Jonasson,B - Oral,T .
White's strategy has also been refined. For instance the Hungarian grandmaster Sax seems to be of the opinion that
Black's postion - in Scheveningen setups - with d7-d6 - should be destabilised with a2-a4:Sax,G - Ivanisevic,I and
Sax,G - El Ghazali,Y . Also worth noting is: Naumann,A - Gershon,A .
12.a4!?
Also Evgeni Agrest has played a very early h7-h5 - with the main idea of stopping White's g2-g4 it seems to me. His
results have been good: Palac,M - Agrest,E , Winsnes,R - Agrest,E, Astrom,R - Agrest,E and Kjartansson,G - Agrest,E .
A typical position where the Swedish grandmaster has just played h7-h5:
My impression is that many of these h7-h5 ideas are playable. However, black players should always be aware of the
fact that the rook on h8 might well be shut out of the game for some moves. Therefore they must be careful not to allow
White to destabilise the position on the queenside or let the opponent open the center with e4-e5.
Bobkov,V
Simagin,Vladimir
cr 06-ch URS
Miljutin,Oleg
Simagin,Vladimir
URS-ch06 corr6364
1963
5
3
B84
Koch,B
Simagin,Vladimir
B84
olm5 corr6370
B84
1963
8
Tatai,S
Vasjukov,E
Amsterdam IBM (11)
B48
1969
10
Bednarski
Filipowicz,A
Poland
Janosevic Dragoljub
Matulovic,Milan
1970 It Majdanpek YUG (10)
B47
1976
11
Hort,V
Filipowicz,A
POL
13
Poulsson,E
Filipowicz,A
Sandefjord
B85
1976
10
11
21
B47
Parma,B
Marjanovic,S
YUG ch
1982
19
B85
Upton,Tim
2295 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
Filipowicz,Andrzej
2395 c6 5.c3 c7 6.e2 a6 7.0-0 f6
Manchester Benedictine 5th (4)
1982 8.h1 xd4 9.xd4 c5 10.d3 b5
11.f4 h5 12.f3 g4 13.e5 b8
1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
14.d2 d5 15.exd6 xd6 16.e4 e7
a6 5.c3 c7 6.e2 f6 7.0-0 e7
17.c3 f6 18.f2
8.f4 d6 9.e1 c6 10.e3 d7
-
11.g3 h5 12.f3 h4 13.f2 c8
14.ad1 b5 15.e5 xd4 16.xd4
dxe5 17.fxe5 h7 18.b7 g5
22
B47
Hjartarson,Johann
19.xc8 xc8 20.e4 b7 21.xg5
Marjanovic,Slavoljub
xg5 22.b6
Bela Crkva op (7)
1983
1-0
20
Cseshkovsky,V
Marjanovic,S
Minsk ,MCL
B47
2595
2515
1982
23
B47
Abramovic,B
Marjanovic,S
Bor
1983
24
Jansa,Vlastimil
Matulovic,Milan
Vrnjacka Banja
B47
1983
25
Nunn,J
Olafsson,F
Wijk (8)
B85
1983
26
Spassky,B
Podzielny KH
BL8384 Solingen-Enger/Spenge
B84
1984
27
Zapata,A
Marjanovic,S
Titograd
B47
1984
28
Velimirovic,D
Matulovic,M
YUG
30
Kristiansen,J
Mokry,K
Malmo
B84
1985
31
Prandstetter,E
Mokry,K
Trencianske Teplice (3)
B84
2450
2455
1985
14
33
Prasad,D
Marjanovic,S
Subotica izt ,CBM (1)
B49
2425
2505
1987
34
Nunn,J
Andersson,U
Szirak izt
B47
2585
2600
1987
35
Skousen,Nikolai
Sandahl,Jan
Copenhagen
B85
1989
15
B47
2560
2480
1989
37
Howell,J
Cramling,P
Spijkenisse ,EXT (6)
B47
2440
2480
1989
38
Ioseliani,N
Cramling,P
Biel-B ,CBM (4)
B43
2480
2505
1990
39
Arnason,J
Cramling,P
Helsinki
B47
2540
2470
1991
40
Andreu,S
Cramling,P
Palma de Mallorca
B43
2470
1991
41
Gavrikov,V
Summermatter,D
SUI-GP Suhr ,CBM (4)
B85
2580
2320
1991
42
Goetz,R
Podzielny,K
BL
B43
2355
2455
1992
43
Arakhamia,K
Cramling,P
Bern op ,CBM (4)
B49
2445
2530
1992
44
Nunn,J
Gurevich,I
Hastings
B42
2595
2510
1992
17
B42 50
2460
Ivanovskis,J
2480
Podzielny,K.H
1994 cr VI-BSTT/15
B84
1994
52
Agnos,Demetrios
Miladinovic,Igor
It op Ano Liosia Greece
B48
54
1995
Prokopp,H
Podzielny,K
MN/11 -
Mainka,Romuald
Miladinovic,Igor
It op Ano Liosia Greece
1995
55
53
B43
Kudrin,S
Benjamin,J
B48
USA-ch Modesto ,CBM (11)
B48
2525
2575
1995
58
B43
Svacek,P
Podzielny,K
56
B48
Prie,Eric
2480 MN/11 1996
Miladinovic,Igor
2535
Erevan olm (14)
1996 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
a6 5.c3 c7 6.d3 f6 7.0-0 d6
1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 8.a4 b6 9.e3 b7 10.f3 bd7
c7 5.c3 e6 6.e3 a6 7.d3 f6
11.e1 e7 12.g3 g6 13.fd1 e5
8.0-0 h5 9.h3 d6 10.e1 h2+
14.e2 h5 15.b3 h4 16.f2 ed7
11.h1 xd4 12.xd4 e5 13.xe5
17.h3 h5 18.d2 g3 19.a5 b5
xe5 14.d2 g5 15.d5 xd5
20.f4 xe2+
16.exd5 f6 17.ad1 g4 18.e3 gxh3 -
19.gxh3 d6 20.dxe6 xe6 21.e4
0-0-0 22.b4 d5 23.b3 d7 24.xd5
b8 25.dd3 xd5+ 26.xd5 g8
59
B48
27.xd7 c6+ 28.f3 xd7 29.h2
Hansen,Curt
2600
a8
Miladinovic,Igor
2500
0-1
FIDE-Wch k.o (1)
1997
1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
57
B43 c7 5.c3 e6 6.e3 a6 7.d3 f6
8.0-0 h5 9.h3 b5 10.xc6 xc6
Binder,Gerhard
11.a3 b7 12.e1 h4 13.d2 c8
Podzielny,Karl Heinz Sr
GER jub50 cr
1996 14.ad1 b4 15.axb4 xb4 16.d4
h5 17.f4 f8 18.xf6 gxf6 19.xf6
e5 20.xc6 xc6 21.e2 g5
1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
22.xd7 c8 23.d3 a5 24.c1 xc3
a6 5.c3 c7 6.d3 f6 7.0-0 d6
8.f4 bd7 9.e3 h5 10.f5 e5 11.f3
25.bxc3 a6 26.d2 xe2 27.xe2
b5 12.a3 b7 13.h3 c8 14.e2 e7 xc3 28.a1 xh3 29.xa5 c3
30.h2 c6 31.d2 g7 32.ad5
15.ad1 b8 16.g5 a8 17.fe1
cg6 33.f3 g3 34.f2 f6 35.c4 h6
c5 18.c1 h4 19.f3 h5 20.g5
21
62
B47
2515
2460
1998
Iordachescu,Viorel
B82
Sax,Gyula
2570
Marjanovic,Slavoljub
Ivanisevic,Ivan
2540 Bucharest Fest GM
Szeged
1997
1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 c7 5.c3 e6 6.e2 a6 7.0-0 f6
c7 5.c3 e6 6.e3 a6 7.f4 b5
8.h1 xd4 9.xd4 c5 10.d3 h5
8.d3 b7 9.b3 d6 10.f3 f6
11.g5 g4 12.f4 f6 13.h4 b5
11.0-0 h5 12.a4 b4 13.d1 e5 14.a5
14.e5 f5 15.d5 a7 16.b4 f8
exf4 15.xf4 e5 16.b6 d7
17.f3 b8 18.ac1 f7 19.c4 g6
17.e3 g6 18.f2 g4 19.xg4
20.c5 exd5 21.xd5 c7 22.ce1
hxg4 20.e5 xe5 21.ae1 c8 22.f5 b7 23.e6 xd5 24.xd5 dxe6
e7 23.xg4 xh2 24.xe5 xg2+
25.xe6+ h7 26.xf5+ g8 27.xa6
25.xg2 dxe5 26.d2 c4 27.d7+
f7 28.xf7+ xf7 29.a7+ g8
xd7 28.xd7+ xd7 29.xf7+ e7
30.f5 h6 31.g3 d8 32.f4 f6
30.c5 xc2 31.xe7+ c8 32.b6
33.h3 h6 34.g4 hxg4 35.hxg4 c6
c6 33.c5 g6+ 34.f2 f6+
36.b7 xg4 37.xb5 d5 38.g5
35.e1 c6 36.c7+
a6 39.g2 xa2+ 40.g3 h2
1-0
41.f2 xf2 42.xf2 xf5+ 43.g2
xg5+ 44.xh2 f7 45.h3 g1
46.b7+ e6 47.c6 d6 48.b5 g5
61
B84 49.g7 f4 50.b7 e5 51.b6 f5
Zwanzger,Johannes
2235 0-1
Podzielny,Karl Heinz
2495
Bechhofen opJ
1998
63
B42
1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
Palac,Mladen
2560
a6 5.c3 c7 6.e2 f6 7.0-0 d6
Agrest,Evgenij
2545
8.f4 b5 9.f3 b7 10.e2 h5 11.h1 Corsican op Bastia (8)
1998
bd7 12.a3 e7 13.e3 c8 14.b3
b8 15.g1 a8 16.ad1 g4
1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
17.fe1 df6 18.d3 d8 19.a4 b4
a6 5.d3 c5 6.b3 e7 7.f4 d6
20.a2 c8 21.c4 g5 22.fxg5 e5
8.f3 d7 9.c3 c7 10.e3 h5
23.d4 fg4 24.xb4 xg5 25.c5
11.a4 b6 12.e5 b7 13.e4 xe4
f6 26.xg4 hxg4 27.cxd6 0-0 28.f2 14.xe4 d5 15.c3 b4 16.d2 c4
g7 29.d3 g6 30.f4 xf4
17.f1 c8 18.xc4 xc4 19.e2
31.xf4 e5 32.d2 f5 33.exf5 xf5
xd2+ 20.xd2 f6 21.bd4 fxe5
60
22
64
Peric,Mijo
Podzielny,Karl Heinz
Godesburg op
66
Winsnes,Rikard
Agrest,Evgenij
SWE-chT
B42
2385
2525
1998
68
Astrom,R
Agrest,E
Sverige tt
B42
70
1998
69
Ruiz,M
Shapiro,D
World op Philadelphia USA (6)
Kotronias,V
Miladinovic,I
ch-GRE tt Poros GRE (5)
B82 71
2185
Malisauskas,V
2295
Ramos,D
1998 ol men Elista RUS (1)
B48
2570
2565
1998
B43
2515
2325
1998
72
Lutz,Christopher
Polgar,Judit
Frankfurt-West Masters rapid (12)
B82
2610
2675
1999
73
Berg,Emanuel
Cramling,Pia
Katrineholm (1)
B47
2360
2515
1999
25
74
Foehl,Frithjof
Podzielny,Karl Heinz
Staufer-op
45.a8+
1-0
B42 76
1825
Guyard,B
2500
Cramling,P
1999 ch-FRA tt
B47
2195
2515
1999
75
B82
Naumann,A
2475
Gershon,A
2490 77
B85
WJun Erevan ARM (8)
1999
Odeev,H
2425
Lutz,C
2585
1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 f6 4.c3
1st ch-Europe St Vincent ITA (4)
2000
cxd4 5.xd4 c6 6.c4 b6 7.b3
e6 8.e3 c7 9.d3 a6 10.f4 b5
1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4
11.f3 b7 12.0-0 e7 13.h3 h5
f6 5.c3 a6 6.e3 g4 7.g5 h6
14.a4 b4 15.d1 g4 16.d2 a5
8.c1 c6 9.e2 f6 10.e3 e6
17.xa5 xa5 18.h1 c8 19.e3
11.f4 e7 12.0-0 d7 13.e1 c7
f6 20.c4 xc4 21.xc4 xe4
14.g3 h5 15.ad1 h4 16.f2 b5
22.e1 h4 23.d3 f5 24.xe4 xe4
17.a3 c8 18.b3 b8 19.d2 b4
25.c3 b3 26.f2 g5 27.fxg5 xg5
20.axb4 xb4 21.a7 c7 22.f3
28.fe1 d5 29.a3 f4 30.xb3 xa4 c6 23.b6 b8 24.a5 d7 25.d4
31.b6 d7 32.b7+ c8 33.g7
0-0 26.g3 a8 27.fd1 c7 28.b3
c2 34.d4 d2 35.g1 h6 36.b4
e5 29.e3 b8 30.g4 f6 31.f5
e2 37.a1 d2 38.b5 xb5 39.c4
xc2 32.xc2 xb3 33.xc8 xc8
b4 40.xa6 dxc4 41.aa7 h8
34.dc1 e8 35.f3 exf4 36.xf4 d5
42.xh4 f8 43.g3 f4 44.g4 d5
37.e3 d4 38.xd4 xe4 39.e2
26
78
Reinaldo Castineira,Roi
Miladinovic,Igor
Dos Hermanas op (5)
B48
2345
2535
2000
79
Goldenberg,Danny
Miladinovic,Igor
Montreal2 (3)
B48
2310
2560
2000
80
Jonasson,Benedikt
Oral,Tomas
Reykjavik op
B48
2285
2540
2000
81
Kjartansson,Gudmundur
Agrest,Evgenij
Reykjavik op
B42
2600
2000
28