samsloan
2012-06-20 13:10:07 UTC
ISBN 4871874931
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874931
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874931
ISBN 4871874907
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874907
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874907
ISBN 4871874915
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874915
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874915
Checkmate in Prague
by Luděk Pachman
Introduction by Sam Sloan
This is the autobiography of Ludek Pachman, one of the world's
strongest chess grandmasters and one of the world's greatest writers
and teachers of the game.
Luděk Pachman was born in Bělá pod Bezdězem, Czechoslovakia on May 11,
1924. Czechoslovakia went to political extremes, first being occupied
by the Nazis and then being liberated by the Communists. Pachman was
in the middle of all of this, first being sent to a Nazi concentration
camp and later being imprisoned by the Communists.
Pachman's first big break came at an international tournament in
Prague in 1943 with Alekhine and Keres. Pachman came to watch and to
play in a subsidiary tournament. When the subsidiary tournament was
canceled, Pachman was given a spot in the main event, taking the place
of a player who could not make it. Pachman finished in the top half
and created a sensation.
At the awards ceremony after the tournament was over, two of the Czech
masters stood to attention, clicked their heels and gave the Nazi
salute. Pachman remembered this when, years later, one of them had
become a Communist and spoke out against Pachman.
Pachman led a remarkable and amazing but somewhat tragic life.
Although one of the world's strongest players who won 15 international
tournaments, he never quite made it to the top elite. He won four
zonal tournaments and played in six Interzonal tournaments, possibly a
record, but he missed qualifying to the World Champion Candidates
Tournament by a half-point twice. He played in Interzonals at
Saltsjöbaden 1948, Saltsjöbaden 1952, Gothemburg 1955, Portoroz
1958, Amsterdam 1964 and Manila 1976. Pachman was the first chess
grandmaster to truly publicly endorse, investigate and recommend
computer chess.
He got into serious political trouble by first being a staunch pro-
Communist who supported the 1968 reforms of Alexander Dubcek, the head
of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. The resulting ''Prague Spring''
ended when Soviet tanks rolled into the capital on Aug. 21, 1968, and
Mr. Dubcek was ousted. At the 1968 World Chess Olympiad 1968 in
Lugano, just a few weeks after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia,
Pachman tried to get FIDE to expel the Soviet Union from the
tournament and from the world chess organization.
After the Soviet invasion, Pachman increasingly spoke out in support
of Mr. Dubcek and his followers and against the policies of the Soviet-
installed government. It was said that he turned from being a 100% pro-
Communist to being a 100% anti-Communist. In August 1969, Mr. Pachman
was arrested. He spent months in prison without being charged. He was
released in 1970 but was rearrested in January 1972. He was released
again in the summer of 1972. In November 1972, he was allowed to leave
the country with his cat and he settled in West Germany.
In 1976, Pachman was given a special invitation to compete in the
Interzonal tournament in Manila on the ground that he had been in
prison during the period of competition for a qualifying spot.
However, his result in the 1976 Interzonal in Manila showed that his
level of play had suffered from his years in prison. He finished tied
for last. Pachman still had a few good results, winning the West
German Championship in 1978.
He considered his best result to be sharing second place in Havana
1963 with Mikhail Tal and Efim Geller, behind Viktor Korchnoi. Pachman
won the Czechoslovak championship seven times between 1946 and 1966.
He represented Czechoslovakia in eight consecutive Chess Olympiads
from 1952 through 1966, usually playing first board.
Pachman played aggressively and took risks. His style of play was
quite different from the slow positional style he advocated in his
books. Pachman played eight tournament games against Bobby Fischer,
finishing with an even score. His most famous game is his win over
Bobby Fischer in Chile in 1959. This game is typical of many of
Pachman's games because he took outrageous risks, yet survived, kind
of like the way Pachman lived his political life, always on the brink
of being executed.
This game is amazing because Fischer launched a ferocious attack. It
seemed that Pachman was getting mated and there was no hope of
survival. Yet, Pachman's king kept slipping away. Fischer finally had
to resign when he reached a lost endgame.
[Site "Santiago"]
[Date "1959"]
[Round "06"]
[White "Pachman, Ludek"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 O-O 7.a3 Bxc3
8.Bxc3 Ne4 9.Qc2 a5 10.b3 b6 11.Bb2 Ba6 12.Bd3 f5 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.O-O
Rf6 15.Rfd1 Rh6 16.Bf1 g5 17.cxd5 g4 18.Bxa6 gxf3 19.gxf3 Qg5+ 20.Kf1
Rxh2 21.fxe4 Rf8 22.e5 f4 23.e4 f3 24.Ke1 Qg1+ 25.Kd2 Qxf2+ 26.Kc3 Qg3
27.Qd3 exd5 28.Rg1 Rg2 29.Rxg2 Qxg2 30.Qf1 dxe4 31.Qxg2+ fxg2 32.Rg1
Rf2 33.Bc4+ Kf8 34.Bd5 Rf3+ 35.Kc4 b5+ 36.Kc5 Ne7 37.Rxg2 Nxd5 38.Kxd5
Rxb3 39.Kxe4 b4 40.axb4 axb4 1-0
XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-trk+(
7+-zp-+-+p'
6Lzpn+p+-+&
5zp-+PzP-wq-%
4-+-zPP+-+$
3zPP+-+p+-#
2-vLQ+-zP-tr"
1+-tRR+K+-!
xabcdefghy
Position after Black played 23. . . . f3.
The most successful year of his career was 1959. After winning the
Czechoslovakian championship he went on a South American tour, winning
tournaments in Mar del Plata (tied with Miguel Najdorf), Santiago,
Chile (tied with Borislav Ivkov) and Lima, Peru (again tied with
Ivkov). On this tour he beat the 16-year-old Bobby Fischer twice.
Pachman made an even lifetime score against Fischer, +2 -2 =4
In spite of his great accomplishments as a player, Pachman is now
remembered primarily as a writer and teacher. He is credited with
writing more than 60 chess books. Complete Chess Strategy in three
volumes is considered his master work.
Ludek Pachman died on March 6, 2003 in Passau, Germany.
Sam Sloan
San Rafael California
USA
June 20, 2012
ISBN 4871874931
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874931
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874931
ISBN 4871874907
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874907
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874907
ISBN 4871874915
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874915
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874915
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874931
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874931
ISBN 4871874907
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874907
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874907
ISBN 4871874915
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874915
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874915
Checkmate in Prague
by Luděk Pachman
Introduction by Sam Sloan
This is the autobiography of Ludek Pachman, one of the world's
strongest chess grandmasters and one of the world's greatest writers
and teachers of the game.
Luděk Pachman was born in Bělá pod Bezdězem, Czechoslovakia on May 11,
1924. Czechoslovakia went to political extremes, first being occupied
by the Nazis and then being liberated by the Communists. Pachman was
in the middle of all of this, first being sent to a Nazi concentration
camp and later being imprisoned by the Communists.
Pachman's first big break came at an international tournament in
Prague in 1943 with Alekhine and Keres. Pachman came to watch and to
play in a subsidiary tournament. When the subsidiary tournament was
canceled, Pachman was given a spot in the main event, taking the place
of a player who could not make it. Pachman finished in the top half
and created a sensation.
At the awards ceremony after the tournament was over, two of the Czech
masters stood to attention, clicked their heels and gave the Nazi
salute. Pachman remembered this when, years later, one of them had
become a Communist and spoke out against Pachman.
Pachman led a remarkable and amazing but somewhat tragic life.
Although one of the world's strongest players who won 15 international
tournaments, he never quite made it to the top elite. He won four
zonal tournaments and played in six Interzonal tournaments, possibly a
record, but he missed qualifying to the World Champion Candidates
Tournament by a half-point twice. He played in Interzonals at
Saltsjöbaden 1948, Saltsjöbaden 1952, Gothemburg 1955, Portoroz
1958, Amsterdam 1964 and Manila 1976. Pachman was the first chess
grandmaster to truly publicly endorse, investigate and recommend
computer chess.
He got into serious political trouble by first being a staunch pro-
Communist who supported the 1968 reforms of Alexander Dubcek, the head
of Czechoslovakia's Communist Party. The resulting ''Prague Spring''
ended when Soviet tanks rolled into the capital on Aug. 21, 1968, and
Mr. Dubcek was ousted. At the 1968 World Chess Olympiad 1968 in
Lugano, just a few weeks after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia,
Pachman tried to get FIDE to expel the Soviet Union from the
tournament and from the world chess organization.
After the Soviet invasion, Pachman increasingly spoke out in support
of Mr. Dubcek and his followers and against the policies of the Soviet-
installed government. It was said that he turned from being a 100% pro-
Communist to being a 100% anti-Communist. In August 1969, Mr. Pachman
was arrested. He spent months in prison without being charged. He was
released in 1970 but was rearrested in January 1972. He was released
again in the summer of 1972. In November 1972, he was allowed to leave
the country with his cat and he settled in West Germany.
In 1976, Pachman was given a special invitation to compete in the
Interzonal tournament in Manila on the ground that he had been in
prison during the period of competition for a qualifying spot.
However, his result in the 1976 Interzonal in Manila showed that his
level of play had suffered from his years in prison. He finished tied
for last. Pachman still had a few good results, winning the West
German Championship in 1978.
He considered his best result to be sharing second place in Havana
1963 with Mikhail Tal and Efim Geller, behind Viktor Korchnoi. Pachman
won the Czechoslovak championship seven times between 1946 and 1966.
He represented Czechoslovakia in eight consecutive Chess Olympiads
from 1952 through 1966, usually playing first board.
Pachman played aggressively and took risks. His style of play was
quite different from the slow positional style he advocated in his
books. Pachman played eight tournament games against Bobby Fischer,
finishing with an even score. His most famous game is his win over
Bobby Fischer in Chile in 1959. This game is typical of many of
Pachman's games because he took outrageous risks, yet survived, kind
of like the way Pachman lived his political life, always on the brink
of being executed.
This game is amazing because Fischer launched a ferocious attack. It
seemed that Pachman was getting mated and there was no hope of
survival. Yet, Pachman's king kept slipping away. Fischer finally had
to resign when he reached a lost endgame.
[Site "Santiago"]
[Date "1959"]
[Round "06"]
[White "Pachman, Ludek"]
[Black "Fischer, Robert J"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.d4 d5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 O-O 7.a3 Bxc3
8.Bxc3 Ne4 9.Qc2 a5 10.b3 b6 11.Bb2 Ba6 12.Bd3 f5 13.Rc1 Rc8 14.O-O
Rf6 15.Rfd1 Rh6 16.Bf1 g5 17.cxd5 g4 18.Bxa6 gxf3 19.gxf3 Qg5+ 20.Kf1
Rxh2 21.fxe4 Rf8 22.e5 f4 23.e4 f3 24.Ke1 Qg1+ 25.Kd2 Qxf2+ 26.Kc3 Qg3
27.Qd3 exd5 28.Rg1 Rg2 29.Rxg2 Qxg2 30.Qf1 dxe4 31.Qxg2+ fxg2 32.Rg1
Rf2 33.Bc4+ Kf8 34.Bd5 Rf3+ 35.Kc4 b5+ 36.Kc5 Ne7 37.Rxg2 Nxd5 38.Kxd5
Rxb3 39.Kxe4 b4 40.axb4 axb4 1-0
XABCDEFGHY
8-+-+-trk+(
7+-zp-+-+p'
6Lzpn+p+-+&
5zp-+PzP-wq-%
4-+-zPP+-+$
3zPP+-+p+-#
2-vLQ+-zP-tr"
1+-tRR+K+-!
xabcdefghy
Position after Black played 23. . . . f3.
The most successful year of his career was 1959. After winning the
Czechoslovakian championship he went on a South American tour, winning
tournaments in Mar del Plata (tied with Miguel Najdorf), Santiago,
Chile (tied with Borislav Ivkov) and Lima, Peru (again tied with
Ivkov). On this tour he beat the 16-year-old Bobby Fischer twice.
Pachman made an even lifetime score against Fischer, +2 -2 =4
In spite of his great accomplishments as a player, Pachman is now
remembered primarily as a writer and teacher. He is credited with
writing more than 60 chess books. Complete Chess Strategy in three
volumes is considered his master work.
Ludek Pachman died on March 6, 2003 in Passau, Germany.
Sam Sloan
San Rafael California
USA
June 20, 2012
ISBN 4871874931
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874931
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874931
ISBN 4871874907
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874907
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874907
ISBN 4871874915
http://www.amazon.com/dp/4871874915
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/product.aspx?ISBN=4871874915