‘Winning Ugly in Chess’ by Cyrus Lakdawala (New in Chess 2019). Index of openings (rich in Sicilians and King’s Indians), Index of Players, 10 chapters, 336 pages. Many games from all eras from Anderssen to recent Swisses. Subtitled ‘Playing badly is No Excuse for Losing’. Paperback, no use of Rabars, no photos but exercises scattered throughout. www.newinchess.com. Cover price $24.95. This exceptional book is offered for sale at the Chess & Bridge Shop in Baker Street for £20.95. Good value!
So, enquires the author, when was the last time you won a perfect game? A game that wasn’t tainted by inferior moves?
Every player knows that smooth wins are the exception and that play is often chaotic and positions are frequently irrational. The road to victory is generally full of bumps and misadventures.
Books supposedly feature superbly played games. In ‘Winning Ugly in Chess’ you will see games, usually quoted in full, where weird moves are rewarded. The prolific author (has he written 43 books?-Ed.) knows that playing good chess is all very well, but that beating your opponent is better, that these are not two heads on the same coin. He shows that this is no paradox or contradiction. It is a fact of life – of chess life, anyway – and he demonstrates the fine art of winning undeserved victories by:
* miraculously surviving chaos
* throwing vile cheapos (swindles)
* refusing to resign in lost positions
* getting lucky breaks
* provoking unforced errors
* finding other ways to land on your feet after a roller-coaster ride.
Lakdawala shows how you can make sure that it is your opponent, not you, who makes the last blunder. he calls it ‘flip-flop a result’. (What would Tartakower have said? Actually, towards the end of his life Tartakower was largely inaudible-Ed.). If you’d rather win a bad game than lose a good one, then this your ideal guide.
The next time the, supposedly, wrong player wins, you could be that player. Welcome to the fine art of winning undeserved victories.
A short review in CHESS 08/19 welcomes this title, adding that it is largely based on Lakdawala’s games and those of his students. This really is a book to be enjoyed on so many levels. Random thought: I wonder why the book calls 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 – as well as the Petroff’s, naturally – the Russian Game? Unusual! The author is an International Master.
Daily Archives: July 16, 2020
Happy Birthday IM Lawrence Cooper (16-vii-1970)
BCN wishes Happy Birthday to IM Lawrence Cooper (16-vii-1970)
Lawrence was born in Stone, Staffordshire and attend Walton High School, Stafford.
He became a FIDE Master in 1989 and then an International Master in 2001.
Lawrence was awarded the FIDE International Organiser title in 2011 and the FIDE Arbiter title in 2016.
His peak rating was 2430 in January 1988.
Lawrence plays for Wood Green in the Four Nations Chess League (4NCL) plus Newport (Shropshire), Stafford, Bushbury and Worcestershire CCA in other competitions.
[pgn]
[Event “Midland Open”]
[Site “?”]
[Date “1991.03.22”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Cooper, Lawrence”]
[Black “Eames, Bob”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C89”]
[Annotator “Lawrence Cooper”]
[PlyCount “129”]
[EventDate “1991.??.??”]
[SourceTitle “Lawrence Cooper”]
{[%evp 0,129,16,28,38,44,16,8,24,-16,6,3,16,-37,-11,6,3,-55,-14,14,14,25,25,19,
19,16,19,11,10,17,17,-345,-4,14,29,33,34,-28,78,43,98,79,171,105,144,115,304,
237,369,158,164,264,264,209,209,185,340,31,21,0,179,176,198,240,240,245,185,
170,216,198,342,339,326,88,31,31,31,32,0,0,0,0,27,0,116,134,134,176,176,176,
138,100,253,233,236,175,353,342,468,468,468,476,497,497,503,535,543,547,411,
539,557,536,628,612,724,1103,1103,1216,1262,1002,1002,1012,1016,1016,1016,1022,
1260,1312,1312,1312,1312,1312]} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O
Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d4
Bd6 13. Re1 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Be3 Bg4 16. Qd3 Rae8 17. Nd2 Re6 18. a4 bxa4 19.
Rxa4 f5 20. Qf1 Qh5 21. f4 Rfe8 22. Rxa6 Rxe3 23. Rxe3 Rxe3 24. Rxc6 Qe8 25.
Bxd5+ Kf8 26. Ne4 $146 (26. Rxd6 Re1 27. Re6 Rxf1+ 28. Nxf1) 26… fxe4 27.
Rxd6 Rd3 28. Bb3 Qb8 (28… e3 29. Qxd3 (29. Rd8 $2 Qxd8 30. Qxd3 e2 31. Qe4
Qa5 32. Qb1 Qa8 33. Qe1 Qf3) 29… e2 30. Re6 Bxe6 (30… Qxe6 31. Bxe6 e1=Q+
32. Kg2 Qxe6)) 29. Qa1 Ke7 $2 (29… Qxb3 30. Qa8+ Kf7 31. Qa7+ $11) (29…
Qxd6 30. Qa8+) 30. Qa5 Qxd6 31. Qg5+ Qf6 32. Qxg4 Rd2 33. Qc8 (33. f5) (33. Ba4
) 33… Qb6 (33… Rxb2) 34. Qg8 (34. Qc4) 34… Rxb2 (34… Qh6 35. Qf7+ Kd8
36. Qf8+ Kd7 37. Qf5+ Kd8 38. h3) 35. Qxg7+ Kd8 36. Ba4 (36. Qg8+ Kd7 37. Qxh7+
Kc8) 36… Rb1+ 37. Kg2 Rb2+ (37… Qe6) 38. Kh3 Qe6+ 39. g4 e3 40. Qg5+ Kc7 (
40… Kc8) 41. d5 Qe4 42. d6+ Kb6 (42… Kxd6 43. Qd8+ Ke6 44. Qe8+ Kd5 45.
Qc6#) 43. Qd8+ Ka6 44. d7 Qf3+ (44… e2 45. Qc8+ Ka7 46. Qc7+ Ka6 47. d8=Q
Qf3+ 48. Kh4 e1=Q+ 49. Kg5) 45. Kh4 Rxh2+ 46. Kg5 h6+ 47. Kg6 Qxg4+ $2 (47…
Rd2) 48. Kh7 Qf5+ 49. Kh8 Rd2 50. Qa8+ Kb6 51. Qb8+ Ka6 52. Qa8+ Kb6 53. d8=Q+
Rxd8+ 54. Qxd8+ Kb7 55. Qe7+ Kb6 56. Qxe3+ Kc7 57. Qe5+ Qxe5+ 58. fxe5 Kd8 59.
Kg7 Ke7 60. Kxh6 Ke6 61. Kg5 Kxe5 62. Bb5 Kd5 63. c4+ Kd4 64. Kf4 Kc5 65. Ke5
1-0
[/pgn]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbR118yiFo[/embedyt]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlehK0SY2I8[/embedyt]
