Who is Bob Wade Talking About?

[Geoff Chandler]

HI,

Recently I was re-reading this;



It is excellent, one of the best books of it's kind.

On page 95 (in that edition ) Bob shows this position from the 1974 Las Palmas Open.

8/7p/6p1/2p5/1pPB4/1P1k3P/5KP1/8 w - - 0 1

Telling us that Black played 1...cxd4 ??

'...completely oblivions to the freedom suddenly acquired by White's c-pawn and
that it could Queen first; he actually sat back in his chair looking very contented."

Anybody know who Black was. (I've searched the usually databases but as yet no joy.)

[Joey Stewart]

From a nearly 50 year old game I would say there's a very strong chance both players are long dead but even if he is still around I doubt the black player would ever want to claim responsibility for this mistake.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I think the idea is that the game (or at least this bit of it) may have been published somewhere else with the players named.

[JustinHorton]

Certainly so unless Bob was present at the tournament.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Guys,

Thanks.

I'm going to have to go through the American mags online or my collection for that era to see if I can find a mention of it.

Bob did not play in the event, chessgames have Bob in Birmingham on the 9th April 1974
and the first round in the as Palmas Open was on the 15th April.
It is possible Bob attended it in another capacity during the event.

Bill Hartston played in the 1974 Las Palmas Open. I'm wondering if Bill used it or mentioned it to Bob in passing.
The book was published in 1974 (though updated in 1984 bringing Kasparov into the frame.)
It was called in 1974 'Playing Chess.' The position in question is on page 57 of the 1974 edition.

[JustinHorton]

From the context is it likely to have been played on a lower board or in a lower section (assuming such a thing as the latter existed)?

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Justin,

That is what I am thinking, if it was a 'name' then it would be more well known.

Every tournament seems to throw up a blunder that does the rounds.
It's like a car crash in a desert, nobody is about or interested....suddenly the board is surrounded by onlookers.
I'm guessing this it it.

[JustinHorton]

Well yes, but also, sometimes when chess magazines reported on tournaments back then you'd have a bit at the end which basically consisted of You Wouldn't Believe The Nonsense That I Saw and would involve positions and moves lke the one above, played by the likes of us. And I don't think they'd always bother to give the names, pmaybe artly to save the victims embarassment but maybe partly because it was a couple of people you'd never heard of.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Justin,

You are probably correct, it will be a space filler and I too doubt if the names will shown, but you never know.
I'll go though the American mags and perhaps BCM, Bill wrote for them around about then.

I've been in that situation. I made what I thought was an OK move, people appeared as if from
nowhere and pulled quizzical faces. I wondered what was wrong...one move later I resigned!

[JustinHorton]

Incidentally I have volume 39 of CHESS (October 1973 to September 1974) and the Index tells me that the Las Palmas 3rd. international is to be found on page 372. Turning to that page, it does not appear.

[Geoff Chandler]

Maybe B.H. Wood knew who played the black pieces and supressed it as a bribe.

Scottish Chess Magazine used to find horrendous blunders and blackmail the
guilty player into submitting an annotated game else they would publish it.

I recall seeing; 'Calling Mr. 'Smith' we have your game v Mr. 'Brown' played at the Ayr Open.
Unless we received a noted up game you recently won then we will publish the Brown game.'

I'm now off to the bookies. At CHESter 3:45 there is a horse running called 'Boardman' I'll drop a few quid on it.
I'll scan these mags and the BCM's tonight after the football.
(think I'll bet £1.00 on either team to win on penalties - both are at 12-1 to win on pens.)

[JustinHorton]

OK I have located the report of the tournament on page 350 in the issue for August 1974 but it's just two sentences plus the crosstable of the grandmaster tournament, i.e. not the open.

What's bugging me here is that I am sure I recognise the passage and the diagram position referred to - but I don't remember ever reading the book, so I wonder if any of it appeared in chess magazines earlier.

[MSoszynski]

I'm now off to the bookies. At CHESter 3:45 there is a horse running called 'Boardman' I'll drop a few quid on it.

And it won!

[Geoff Chandler]

Yes Boardman won but the Real - Liverpool game did not go to penalties so we broke even.

Hi Justin,

I too am sure I have seen it before and it was not in Bob's book.
It was that nagging doubt that took my interest.

I looked at a few books it may have been in, 'Brilliancies and Blunders' and Hartston's book 'Better Chess.' No.
Hartston was there and it's the kind of position any writer could build a piece around and 'Better Chess'
is a smashing collection of articles about all phases of the game.

I had high hopes for Van Perlo's superb 'Endgame Tactics' which is full of such OTB errors to avoid. Again No.
I love the blurb on that book cover. 'Tired of studying endgames that NEVER come up in real life? Here's help!'

BTW Van Perlo has a Hartston link in a Bishop and pawn ending, Bill lets a glorious finish pass him by.

Kinzel - Hartston, Adelboden 1969. (Black to play)

1b6/1P6/8/3k4/8/5p1p/7B/7K

Black played 1..Kc6 which 99% of us would have played and won ( 2.Bxb8 f2 0-1) but how about;

1....f2 2.Bg1 ...

Black has the wrong Bishop for the h-pawn so 2...fxg1 is a no-no.

2....f1=B! avoids Queen or Rook stalemates and suddenly Black has the correct h-pawn Bishop.
It is also a forced mate in x moves.

Today I'm just off to the club to do some more 200th anniversary stuff and in the afternoon,
weather permitting (though it's looking grim,) I'll play a few games in Princes St. Gardens.

So tonight I'll start going though all the rest of the books/mags/CD's I have.
Many years ago an American friend sent me all the Chess Reviews and Chess Life's up to mid 80's in pdf format on 26 discs!
(these are now updated and online - https://new.uschess.org/chess-life-digital-archives )

Also BTW I have never forgotten the Len Deighton 'Funeral in Berlin' quest. I still look in every old book
I come across to see if if there are any references that may have inspired Len's chapter intro's.

[Matt Mackenzie]

That ending gets mentioned in Roycroft's classic work Test Tube Chess.

Hartston later confirmed IIRC that he had seen that the Bishop underpromotion won, but chickened out of playing it.