From the publisher:

“Larry Kaufman can safely be called an exceptional chess grandmaster

Larry Kaufman started out as a prodigy, however not in chess but as a whizz kid in science and math. He excels at shogi (Japanese chess) and Go, and is also a world-famous computer programmer and a highly successful option trader. Remarkably, as a chess player he only peaked at the weirdly late age of fifty.

Yet his victories in the chess arena are considerable. Over a career span of nearly sixty years Kaufman won the state championships of Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Virginia, D.C. and Pennsylvania. He was an American Open Champion and won the U.S. Senior Championship as well as the World Senior Championship.

‘Never a great chess player’ himself (his words), he met or played chess greats such as Bobby Fischer, Bent Larsen, Walter Browne, Boris Spassky, Viktor Kortchnoi and many others. He worked as a second to legendary grandmaster Roman Dzindzichashvili, and coached three talented youngsters to become International Master, one of them his son Raymond.

This engrossing memoir is rife with stories and anecdotes about dozens of famous and not-so-famous chess players. In one of the most remarkable chapters Larry Kaufman reveals that the American woman chess player that inspired Walter Tevis to create the Beth Harmon character of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit fame, is his former girlfriend. You will learn about neural networks, material values and how being a chess master helps when trading options. And find lots of memorable but little-known annotated games.

Larry Kaufman is an American Grandmaster. He has been involved in computer chess since 1967, when he worked on ‘MacHack’, the first computer that competed in tournaments with human players. More recently he has been working on the programs Rybka and Komodo.

Praise for the best-selling opening manual Kaufman’s New Repertoire for Black and White:

“Kaufman’s book is a pleasure to read.” — Miguel Ararat, Florida Chess Magazine

“Kaufman does an outstanding job.” — IM Gary Lane, Chess Moves Magazine”

The memoirs of a relatively obscure grandmaster might not be at the top of your wish list, I guess.

The title might be considered slightly odd as well, referring in part to his career as an options trader, with perhaps also some reflections on options for the further development of chess.

Nevertheless, Larry Kaufman has some interesting stories to tell, and much to say about the future of our favourite game. You’ll also find, appropriately enough, 64 games, some played by the author, some by players he knew, and some by computers against grandmasters, all with brief but pertinent annotations. I’d urge you to stop and take a look inside rather than just pass it by.

The introduction provides some background biographical information concerning his 60 year chess career.

Here’s an early game: the book provides annotations as far as move 20.

[pgn]

[Event “USA Annual op-ch69”]
[Site “Aspen”]
[Date “1968.08.??”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Kaufman, Larry C”]
[Black “Tarjan, James Edward”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B73”]
[PlyCount “111”]
[EventDate “1968.08.11”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 1999”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1998.11.16”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. Be3 Nc6 8.
O-O O-O 9. Qd2 Ng4 10. Bxg4 Bxg4 11. Nd5 Be6 12. c4 Qd7 13. Rad1 Bxd5 14. exd5
Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Qf5 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rfe1 Rfe8 18. b3 b6 19. Re3 Rac8 20. Rde1
Rc7 21. Rf3 Qd7 22. Rh3 Rh8 23. Qh6+ Kg8 24. Rhe3 f6 25. h4 Qe8 26. Re6 Kf7 27.
Rxd6 exd6 28. Rxe8 Kxe8 29. Qf4 Rd7 30. Qxf6 Rf8 31. Qd4 Re7 32. Qd2 Kd7 33. f4
Kc7 34. g3 Rfe8 35. Kf2 h5 36. Qd3 Re1 37. Kf3 a5 38. a3 Kb7 39. b4 axb4 40.
axb4 Kc7 41. Qa3 Rf1+ 42. Kg2 Rb1 43. Qa7+ Kc8 44. Qa8+ Kd7 45. Qb7+ Kd8 46.
Qxb6+ Kd7 47. Qc6+ Ke7 48. Qc7+ Kf8 49. Qxd6+ Kf7 50. f5 Rb2+ 51. Kh3 gxf5 52.
Qd7+ Re7 53. Qxf5+ Ke8 54. Qxh5+ Kd7 55. Qf5+ Ke8 56. d6 1-0

[/pgn]

In Part 1, Kaufman introduces us to some of the 20th century champions he has known, with plenty of anecdotes and a few games along the way. We meet Fischer, Spassky and Kasparov, Korchnoi, Larsen, Gligoric and others. For me, though, the most interesting chapters here are about the lesser known players. We go all the way back to Harold Phillips (1874-1967), a family friend, who had played Steinitz in simuls back in 1894. I guess this must make Kaufman one of the youngest players to have a shared opponent with Steinitz. In 1961 or 1962 there was a kindly old man who ‘gave generous and valuable free chess lessons to the kids’. This was the notorious Norman Whitaker: of course they knew nothing of his background at the time.

Then there was Steve Brandwein (1942-2015), a new name to me. ‘Although he retired from tournament play at only 22 years of age, … he … was a very strong player … and probably taught me more about the finer points of chess than any other individual.’ Kaufman compares him to Bernie Sanders, and describes him as ‘perhaps the best-liked chess master I’ve ever known’, who could, if he’d wanted have become a grandmaster, or perhaps, had he been prepared to compromise, a US President.

Even more interesting (although readers of New in Chess might have read about this before), is Diana Lanni, who, according to Kaufman, may have been the major inspiration behind the character of Beth Harmon in The Queens Gambit. He also sees himself as the closest match to Harry Beltik, and Walter Browne as Benny Watts.

Part 2 looks at Larry Kaufman’s life outside chess: his time as an options trader and his interest in Shogi, Go and other games.

In Part 3, he shows us some of his most memorable games and talks about his chess students, including his son Ray.

This was his first win against a grandmaster, and helped him towards his first IM norm.

[pgn]

[Event “Marshall op”]
[Site “New York”]
[Date “1979.??.??”]
[Round “2”]
[White “Ostojic, Predrag”]
[Black “Kaufman, Larry C”]
[Result “0-1”]
[ECO “C91”]
[WhiteElo “2410”]
[PlyCount “48”]
[EventDate “1979.03.??”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[EventCountry “USA”]
[SourceTitle “MCD”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “1999.07.01”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4
d6 9. c3 Bg4 10. Be3 d5 11. dxe5 Nxe5 12. exd5 Bxf3 13. gxf3 Qd7 14. Bf4 Ng6
15. Bg3 Rad8 16. c4 h5 17. h4 Qh3 18. Qd3 Bc5 19. Re3 Bxe3 20. Qxe3 Rfe8 21.
Qd2 Nxh4 22. Bxh4 Qxh4 23. cxb5 Re5 24. Nc3 Rg5+ 0-1

[/pgn]

This game helped propel him to a shared first place and the grandmaster title in the 2008 World Seniors.

[pgn]

[Event “Wch Seniors 18th”]
[Site “Bad Zwischenahn”]
[Date “2008.11.03”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Kaufman, Larry C”]
[Black “Butnorius, Algimantas”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “E32”]
[WhiteElo “2391”]
[BlackElo “2438”]
[PlyCount “97”]
[EventDate “2008.10.28”]
[EventType “swiss”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[SourceTitle “EXT 2009”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2008.11.26”]
[SourceVersion “1”]
[SourceVersionDate “2008.11.26”]
[SourceQuality “1”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 b6 7. Bg5 Bb7 8.
f3 h6 9. Bh4 d5 10. e3 Nbd7 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Bd3 Re8 13. Ne2 c6 14. Bf2 Qc8
15. Ng3 Ba6 16. Nf5 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 Re6 18. O-O c5 19. b4 c4 20. Qc2 b5 21. Rae1
Qa6 22. e4 Qxa3 23. e5 Ne8 24. Ra1 Qb3 25. Qxb3 cxb3 26. Rfb1 Nb6 27. Rxb3 Nc4
28. f4 Kf8 29. g4 Rc6 30. Bh4 f6 31. Re1 Re6 32. Bg3 a5 33. bxa5 Rxa5 34. Nh4
Nd2 35. Rd3 Ne4 36. f5 Rea6 37. Ng6+ Kg8 38. Ne7+ Kh7 39. Nxd5 Nxg3 40. hxg3 b4
41. Nxb4 Rb6 42. Nc2 Rc6 43. Re2 Nc7 44. Kf2 Nd5 45. e6 Ra7 46. Ne3 Nc3 47. Rb2
Ra1 48. Kf3 Na4 49. Rb8 1-0

 

[/pgn]

Part 4 is about computer chess. Kaufman has been involved in this since 1967, when, as a student at MIT, he had a part-time job working on MacHack. Today, he’s part of the Komodo team. After a brief résumé of his career in computer chess, we see some recent games between engines and grandmasters. These days, the engines give the GMs considerable odds.

Particularly interesting here is a 2020 16-game match (15’+10″) between Komodo and GM Alex Lenderman. In every game, Komodo played White without a knight. In half the games, Lenderman played without a pawn, in four games he had all his pieces but without castling rights, and four games were played using Fischerrandom rules, but with kings and rooks on their usual squares. On the first day, using its standard version, Komodo lost three games, with just one draw. It then switched to the Monte Carlo Tree Search version, which seeks the best practical chances rather than the objectively best moves. In the remaining twelve games, all of which are published here, Komodo scored three wins, seven draws and only two losses.

Here’s a Komodo win. Kaufman’s brief annotations don’t mention a significant improvement for Komodo pointed out by Stockfish 14.

[pgn]

[Event “Komodo v Lenderman”]
[Site “chess.com”]
[Date “May 2020”]
[Round “10”]
[White “PlayKomodo”]
[Black “Lenderman, Alex”]
[Result “1-0”]
[SetUp “1”]
[FEN “rnbbknqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/R1BBKNQR w KQkq – 0 1”]
[PlyCount “87”]

{[#]} 1. f4 d5 2. d3 Nc6 3. e4 dxe4 4. dxe4 e5 5. f5 Be7 6. Ne3 Nd7 7. c3 Nf6
8. Nd5 Bd6 9. Nxf6+ gxf6 10. Qf1 Bd7 11. Be3 O-O-O 12. Qe2 Kb8 13. O-O h5 14.
b4 Bf8 15. Rf3 h4 16. Bf2 Qg5 17. Be3 Qg4 18. h3 Qg8 19. Bf2 Ne7 20. Rd3 Nc8
21. a4 Be7 22. Kh1 Nd6 23. b5 b6 24. Bb3 Bc8 25. Bd5 Bb7 26. c4 Bxd5 27. cxd5
Nb7 28. a5 bxa5 29. Rc1 Qg5 30. Qc2 Bd6 31. Rc3 Rd7 32. Be3 Qg7 33. Rb1 Rg8 34.
Rc1 a4 35. g4 (35. Bxa7+ Kc8 36. b6) 35… hxg3 36. Qxa4 g2+ 37. Kg1 Bc5 38.
Rxc5 Nxc5 39. Bxc5 Rdd8 40. Qxa7+ Kc8 41. b6 Kd7 42. bxc7 Ke8 43. Rb1 Rc8 44.
Qa4# *

[/pgn]

Part 5 comprises short essays on various topics such as: ratings, openings and piece values, along with suggestions for the reform of competitive chess and thoughts about the future.

Kaufman is perhaps best known, at least in the USA, for a 1999 Chess Life article about the values of the pieces. As someone involved in teaching beginners, this is of considerable interest to me. I’d really like to stop my pupils trading BN for RP on f7 and thinking they have an advantage because points are equal and they’ve exposed the enemy king. He suggests that, while the traditional values (1, 3, 3+, 5) are reasonable for positions without queens, in the presence of queens we should teach 1, 4, 4+, 6, 11. That will resolve my problem: the trade on f7 will now win 7 points but lose 8+ points.

I found this book a riveting read, especially parts 4 and 5, but then it covers a number of topics which are of particular interest to me. If the topics appeal to you too, or if you have a general love of chess culture, I’d give it a very strong recommendation. Fascinating, well written, and, as usual with New in Chess, well produced.

 

Richard James, Twickenham 19th August 2021

Book Details :

• Softcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: New In Chess (27 May 2021)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10:9056919334
• ISBN-13:978-9056919337
• Product Dimensions: ‎17.02 x 23.11 cm

Official web site of New in Chess