Chess defeats Baseball

Chess defeats Baseball

It was 2002 when Larry Christiansen defeated Nick deFirmian for the US championship winning the famous ring for the US Championship.

Larry Christiansen won at Linares in 1979

Larry had committed with the BCF for a series of three lectures concerning his book "Storming the Barricades" in the fall of 2003.

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Editor's note: for those who were not at the lectures or haven't read his books, I want to testify that, like Mike, Larry's idea of looking for violent forcing moves has reverberated in my head ever since, especially after examples like this from Storming the Barricades:

All players at GM level are extremely proficient tactically (some more so than others) and can deduce basic combinations and tactics almost instantly. Years of experience and a basic love of tactics has brought me to a high level of tactical fluency. To illustrate this point, here is a position from a one minute game I played on the Internet Chess Club in 1999 against a South American GM. I recognized a mating pattern and played

1. Nd5!

1...exNd5

2 RxPh7

2... KxRh7

3.Qh6+ Resigns.

The continuation would have been:
3...KxQh6
4. Rh1+

4... Bh4

5. RxBh4
Keep in mind this was a one minute game against a GM.
I guess sac a Knight, sac a Rook, and then sac a Queen is what is meant by "tactical fluency."

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Little did any of us know at that time that the Red Sox would be involved in a playoff series with the New York Yankees while we would have the reigning US Champ giving us lectures.

And through both series it seemed that every Christiansen lecture matched an important game with the Yankees. Nevertheless both Larry and us arrived at the old Clarendon location for a lecture in spite of the super match that the Red Sox were involved with. This shows a dedication that both the US champ and chess players had to be committed to the game of chess over the Sox's attempt to get into the world series.

At the lectures, it was my job to sit with one ear plug connected to the radio and shout out big plays or the score while Larry reviewed games and chapters in his book. It was a fantastic lecture and I got Larry's autograph in my copy of his book.

To this day the voice of Larry is there: "look for violent forcing moves" some of my most fun games have been when I was able to "throw the hammer of Thor" at my opponent.

Unfortunately/fortunately the lecture ended before the infamous seventh game so we all got to suffer through that game on our own. I do want to say for those baseball masochists that rewatch old historical failures in the Sox's attempts up Olympus: in that seventh game please note the moment when Grady Little walks out to the mound and talks with Pedro Martinez.

Usually the catcher provides visual or verbal feedback to the manager in such situations, but captain Jason Varitek is absolutely neutral in his disposition at that meeting on the mound. So I place some of the blame on the catcher, having been a catcher, and feeling that I would have contributed to the coaches/mangers' read about the status of the pitcher's gas tank.

Grady Little bobble head dolls were smashed and burned throughout Red Sox nation after that non decision. A very painful memory when Boston fans felt swallowed up in the Greek baseball tragedy - that's until 2004 when all bad Karma was erased and the Curse of the Bambino erased.

Do you have any stories about the dedication of chess players over situations?

Please Comment.

Thank You

Mike Griffin
05/07/2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grady_Little http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Christiansen