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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Nov-26-20
 | | FSR: <qqdos> As I mentioned in the commentary to Unzicker vs O Sarapu, 1970, I learned of 18.Nxd6! in David Neil Lawrence Levy 's notes to Gligoric vs Larsen, 1959 in his book <Gligoric's Best Games 1945-1970>. I had also seen it in the pamphlet <Sicilian Defence 4: Unusual Second Moves for Black> by Leonard M Pickett. I learned of C W Pritchett vs E Gonzales, 1978 and C W Pritchett vs P Ostermeyer, 1980, which also predated my game, from the late GM Edmar J Mednis. I sent Rhine-Sprenkle and and my notes thereto to him, in the hopes that he could help me get the game into Chess Informant. He then sent it to Informant, and sent me a letter telling me of the two Pritchett games, which he informed me had been published in <The New Chess Player>. I had all the Informants at the time, but didn't have <The New Chess Player>, a competitor of <Chess Informant>. I had erroneously assumed that "all the games that were fit to print" would be in Informant, which was one of the preeminent chess publications at the time. Informant apparently felt the same way, since it deemed 18.Nxd6! a novelty (N) and its panel of eminent judges (all GMs except for one IM) later voted it one of the top 10 "novelties" of Volume 32. Bent Larsen voted it No. 1, and Robert Eugene Byrne voted in No. 2. The other judges were less impressed. (Possibly some didn't consider it a "novelty" at all, but rather old hat. I don't know.) I was happily surprised, since I knew it was not a new move, just new to Chess Informant. (The move hadn't even surprised David Sprenkle, who mentions in his November 23, 2011 comment to this game that he'd looked at the position after 21...Rg8 more than once in his home analysis.) To recap: I didn't invent 18.Nxd6!, which I had seen in Levy's book and Pickett's pamphlet before playing my game against Sprenkle. Pritchett had played it twice before my game, and published his games in two volumes of <The New Chess Player>, which I hadn't seen. But Chess Informant deemed any move not in its pages a <Novelty>, so I in effect ended up, undeservedly, being credited as the inventor of this "novelty." |
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| Nov-26-20 | | qqdos: <FSR> Many thanks indeed for such an informative (no pun intended) narrative. I don't think Chess Informant would accept your narrow definition of how they "deemed" a "novelty". The impression created was objective, cutting edge, first with the news, which was why so many professionals were avidly scanning its pages. I still cannot understand how Nunn didn't find the reference to Pritchett, who had been Scotland's top board for several years and must have been well known to the English team. BTW I can't trace The New Chess Player - Bill Wall doesn't have it in his very comprehensive list of chess magazines.
You certainly drew the world's attention to "that" move and deserve credit for your annotations. Games from the 1978 Olympiad appeared in Chess Informant No.26 with Korchnoi winning the gold medal for board No.1 with the staggering score of 9/11 having been beaten by Karpov in Bagio City the month before. |
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Dec-10-20
 | | Honza Cervenka: As Russians used to say, a novelty is everything what has been already forgotten. |
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| Oct-12-22 | | thegoodanarchist: GOTD Pun:
"Sprenkel's Not On Top." |
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| Oct-12-22 | | thegoodanarchist: Oops, make that "Sprenkle's Not On Top".
Submitted with my misspelling, sorry. |
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Sep-26-23
 | | OhioChessFan: Pretty good pun. I think <tga> should submit his for another Sprenkles game. I think it would flow better for a Sprenkles win, and not have the word "not". |
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Sep-26-23
 | | PeterLalic: Wow - what are the chances? Mere minutes ago, I watched a blitz game between Rychagov and Schreiner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooP... . It opened 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd5 Qb6 9.Bc4 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2. 
click for larger viewI did not remember having ever seen this gambit before, so I was impressed. Immediately thereafter, I visited chessgames.com for the game of the day. Lo and behold the same 10 moves in F Rhine vs D Sprenkle, 1981! Is this really mainstream theory? Apparently surprised, IM Schreiner played 10...Nd8 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Ng5 Ne6. I preferred 10...0-0 by Sprenkle because he gained a tempo with 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Ng5 Nd4+! 13.Kd1 Ne6. |
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Sep-26-23
| | FSR: I'm delighted to see this game finally make GOTD. Thanks to <rapidcitychess> for suggesting the pun, and to <MissScarlett> for selecting it. This is my best OTB game, and easily my most theoretically important game. It was published with my annotations in Chess Informant (Volume 32) and cited in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (Vol. B (2nd ed.) at 183 n.19). In Volume 33 of Chess Informant, my 18th move (18.Nxd6!) was voted the 8th-9th most important theoretical novelty in Volume 32. The game was also cited in MCO-13 and "The Aggressive Nimzowitsch Sicilian 2...Nf6" by Eric Schiller, and occupies an entire chapter in all three editions of "Beating the Sicilian" by John Nunn. It is game 218 in "1000 TN!! The Best Theoretical Novelties" (Chess Informant, 2012). |
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Sep-26-23
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: Sparkling, indeed! Quite a fight, too; at times it appears that both players ignored each other's attacks. |
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| Sep-26-23 | | goodevans: Great game <FSR>. Truly that's Rhine gold. |
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Sep-26-23
| | PeterLalic: This game demonstrates the importance of piece development and initiative.
click for larger viewWhite to move. Last: 28...Kg8 |
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Sep-26-23
 | | offramp: Very impressive. It's a very good game and a high class TN. |
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| Sep-26-23 | | catlover: Wonderful game, Fred! |
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Sep-26-23
 | | Check It Out: Congrats on GOTD, FSR! |
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| Sep-26-23 | | Damenlaeuferbauer: <FSR> A well deserved Game of the Day! You can be very proud to play such a brilliant game in over-the-board chess. |
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Sep-26-23
 | | keypusher: Congratulations FSR! I've known about this game for a long time, thanks to John Nunn. It's terrific, even if I never did learn to <Beat the Sicilian>. |
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| Sep-26-23 | | sfm: Well played, FSR!
I recall a beginners book way back then:
1. Castle very early in the game.
2. Prevent attacks on the weakest point in your position: f2/f7
3. Do not try to attack before all your pieces are well developed.
Hmm. It was a cheap book anyway. |
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| Sep-29-23 | | VerySeriousExpert: Dear Mr. Rhine, I'm congratulating you a lot! Could you tell, please, what was your plan after the possible response 6...c4 ? |
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Sep-29-23
 | | Sally Simpson: Hi FSR good game.
A while back I picked up 2nd hand ' The Greatest Ever Chess Opening Ideas' by Christoph Scheerer (Everyman 2008). I just went though it hoping to add to your list of citations. The book concentrates on this game I A Kopylov vs S Korolev, 1981 and the move 5.Ne4. In the notes the moves in your game up to move 21 are given but no names, just a jot saying this is now mainline theory, However here; 
click for larger viewThe author suggests 21...Rxd3+!? as a possible improvement giving a game J.Majer - P. Miskovsky, correspondence 1983 which ended in a draw. |
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| Sep-29-23 | | qqdos: <FSR> Spoiler Alert: i leave it to your conscience to fill out the picture of that TN. |
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Sep-30-23
| | FSR: <VerySeriousExpert> I knew that 6...Nc6 was almost always played, and expected it from my opponent, a strong and knowledgeable player who liked to play this variation. I also knew that 6...d6 had been played in the spectacular game Keres vs W Winter, 1935, though I did not recall the moves. I did not consider 6...c4, which is very rarely played and doesn't help Black's development. The typical response is 7.b3. If then 7...b5, White plays 8.a4 undermining Black's pawn chain, since 8...a6? 9.cxb5 is unplayable for Black. Or if 7...cxb3, 8.axb3 improves White's pawn structure. White will likely follow up with Bd3, O-O, and c4. |
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Sep-30-23
| | FSR: <Sally Simpson> Thanks. I had never seen 21...Rxd3+ and didn't consider it during the game. ChessBase Online has 75 games that reached the position after 21.Bg5. In 73, Black responded with 21...Rg8. White scored 76.7%. In the other two, Black played 21...Rxd3+. White scored only 25%! Tiny sample size, obviously. Stockfish 16 after thinking a while says that 21...Rg8 is best, 21...Rxd3+ is second best, and that both give White a winning advantage (+2.46 and +2.85, respectively). I know 5.Ne4 is a move, but it always struck me as a cop-out. To my surprise, Stockfish 16 likes it a lot, and even seems to consider it significantly better than 5.Nxd5! |
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Dec-04-24
| | FSR: I was gratified to see that Anish Giri, in his Chessable course <Lifetime Repertoires: Giri's 1. e4 − Part 3> (2023) recommends this line for White. After 22.Be3, he writes, "The computer evaluates this as completely hopeless for Black and it is. Our king is in fact much safer, thanks to our much better pieces." https://www.chessable.com/learn/159... (You probably can't access that link unless you have the course. The general link for the course is https://www.chessable.com/lifetime-... ) More than 40 years after I played this game, my line still kicks ass!
click for larger view |
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Dec-05-24
| | FSR: Giri writes in his Chessable course:
<I have been guilty of trying 5.Ne4!? f5 6.Nc3!? far too many times online, which is the engine's top choice, but I propose to learn from my mistakes and recommend something more straightforward instead. Black has many options there and practically it was always hard to convert the engine advantages there and more often than not it backfired. The text continuation [5.Nxd5!] is far more clearcut.> |
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| Mar-26-25 | | Justin Flint: 32. Rf1+ Ke6 33. Qg6+ Ke5 34. Rf5+ Bxf5 35. Qxf5# 32. Rf1+ Ke8 33. Qh8+ Kd7 34. Qxg7+ Ke6 35. Qf7+ Ke5 36. Qf6# 32. Rf1+ Ke6 33. Qg6+ Kd7 34. Rf7+ Ke8 35. Rc7+ Qf7 36. Qxf7# 32. Rf1+ Ke6 33. Qg6+ Kd7 34. Rf7+ Ne7 35. Rxe7# 32. Rf1+ Ke6 33. Qg6+ Kd7 34. Rf7+ Qxf7 35. Qxf7+ Ne7 36. Qxe7+ Kc6 37. Qxd8 Kxc5 38. Bf5 +- |
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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 4 OF 4 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
Kibitzing
sac: 29.Rh8+