Boleslavsky - Kotov. A Blackpool Banquet.

A few bits of string tied together today. It's Candidates tournament time again, and probably the most famous one of them all - Zurich 1953 - has been getting some mentions. Indeed, my friend Don McKim - a lovely man who is posting some original stuff here - did a crossword about it.

Recently my dear friend @kamalakanta mentioned this book

with the comment that Boleslavsky was rather under appreciated.

He did a look at Boleslavsky some time ago - yes, we have been doing this stuff for a while!!

https://www.chess.com/blog/kamalakanta/isaac-boleslavsky-a-giant-among-chessplayers   

I also posted on Gennady Nesis, who, amongst his other books, wrote one on 'exchanges into the endgame.' That subject came up in some recent game notes on this site, where the author commented that modern players do not seem to understand which pieces they should exchange and which they should keep. Fascinating comment!! A big debate there, but perhaps they should dig out the Nesis book - not all knowledge comes from engines and databases, ( understanding has value too!) but these guys employ seconds/trainers. Maybe they are the ones to talk to!?

All of which brought me to one of my favourite games of the 1953 Candidates - a game that often gets overlooked when talking about that tournament ( yes, we've all seen Geller - Euwe, Averbach - Kotov, etc!! )

So I give the game here with three sets of comments - A Blackpool banquet. A day out at the most famous fish and chip shop in the world.

Opening thinking, middlegame strategy and tactics/combinations, plus a textbook endgame ( I love my endgames!!) A chess feast.

A big portion of fish, chips and mushy peas - Boleslavsky's own notes.

Some salt and vinegar - Bronstein's notes.

And a couple of slices of bread and butter plus a big old mug of tea - Nesis' notes on the endgame.

Plus a bit of tomato sauce ( ketchup to my U.S friends) in two lessons from me - 1. NEVER trust old analysis, and 2. However well you play the opening, and however well you can do tactics, you have to be able to play endgames. Fact!

Kotov during the latter stages of the game - via Griffin  on twitter.

So, first up Boleslavsky's notes from the book.

The two players at the opening ceremony

Bronstein's take on the game.

And Nesis on the endgame.

That's it for today guys - If you are still hungry, then join me next time!!