Rashid G. Nezhmetdinov- Some Combinations, Part I
Rashid, Rashid, what can I say? Your moves make me fall in love with chess. Your passion deepens my respect for you as an Artist, even though this passion of yours for attack and combinations often cost you points on the scoreboard.
Rashid, you were a Grandmaster without an official title. Like you, others in Soviet society met the same fate- unrecognized greatness is greatness still!
"Rashid is the transliteration of two male given names: Arabic: راشد Rāshid and Arabic: رشيد Rashīd (also spelled Rasheed), both meaning 'rightly guided', 'having the true faith'. It also means 'the high one'.
Ar-Rashid Arabic: الرشيد is one of the 99 Names of Allah, meaning The Guide."
- from Wikipedia
Botvinnik: "Nobody sees combinations like Rashid Nezhmetdinov"
Oh, where do I begin? In the last few weeks I have been inspired (again) by the games of Rashid G. Nezhmetdinov.
I have three books about him. One is a copy of "Nezhmetdinov's Best Games of Chess", by Nezhmetdinov.
The second book is "Super Nezh- Chess Assassin", by Alex Pishkin. It is a brilliant collection of Nezh's game. The book is a labor of love. Unfortunately, Pishkin died in 1999, before the book was published.
The third book is based on the previous two, but was published recently, and is also done excellently; also a labor of love and admiration for this great player. It is titled:
"The Greatest Attacker in Chess: The Enigmatic Rashid Nezhmetdinov", by Cyrus Lakdawala
All three are great books; all are recommended. My favorite is Pishkin's book.
Regarding Rashid G. Nezhmetdinov, he is the type of player that, like Tal and Bronstein, inspires me to love chess more. His creative energy was enormous!
Before we move to some of his combinations, let us go back to 1957.....Tal won his first USSR Championship, and Nezhmetdinov finished in the lower half of the table, but he beat both Tal and Spassky!
Now, Spassky was no slouch! He had already played in the 1956 Candidates' Tournament in Amsterdam. In the Amsterdam Candidates in 1956, Spassky finished in fourth place, beating both Smyslov and Bronstein in the process!
Here are the games against Tal and Spassky. In both games, Nezh is superior to both opponents, both strategically and tactically.
in the following game, Spassky makes a positional mistake (21...Bxf6), after which his position collapses in a few moves, thanks to Nezh's energetic and exact play.
Now, let us enjoy some of Nezh's combinations:
To be continued. Enjoy!
