GM Arnold Denker n'est plus.

[Réjean Tremblay]

Le GM Arnold Denker, âgé de 90 ans, n'est plus. Le portrait d'un homme qui a consacré sa vie aux échecs est dressé à l'adresse suivante:
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2119

J'ai eu la chance de jouer contre lui en 1989 en semi-rapide alors qu'il n'avait "que" 75 ans! Il était tout sourire et semblait simplement heureux de jouer aux échecs.

Bien à vous,
Réjean Tremblay

[SuperStef]

Le résultat contre Arnold ? tu avait gagner je crois ?

[Réjean Tremblay]

Non Stéphane j'avais perdu. Même que je n'avais même pas envie de le battre avant la partie!! Ça ne m'a jamais fait ça contre aucun autre joueur!

Bien à toi,
Réjean Tremblay

[SuperStef]

J'avoue que parfois c'est difficile de ce motiver ... et sans le goût de vaincre ca ne sert à rien de jouer je le sait maintenant!

[Jean Deschesnes]

Un article du Washingtonpost sur ce GM .La chornique d échecs du GM Kavalek est publié tout les lundis dans le washington post .


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/st ... mns/chess/

washingtonpost.com


CHESS Lubomir Kavalek

By Lubomir Kavalek

Monday, January 10, 2005; Page C10


Arnold Denker, the dean of American chess, passed away on Jan. 2 at age 90. Denker became U.S. champion in 1944 and successfully defended the title in 1946 in a match against Herman Steiner. He also won six Manhattan Chess Club championships. In 1950 he became an international master, and in 1981 FIDE awarded him the title of honorary grandmaster. His major international success came in 1946 in a star-studded tournament in the Dutch city of Groningen, where he shared 10th-12th places.

Denker excelled in many sports, and until his old age he radiated energy, youth and confidence. He was an excellent writer, teacher and promoter of the game. In 1984 he founded the Denker High School Tournament of Champions, an annual event that became his legacy. In 1992 he was inducted into U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.

Denker's most important game was a victory against Reuben Fine at the 1944 U.S. championship in New York that virtually clinched the title. It featured a spirited pawn sacrifice in the Nimzo-Indian defense that is still being debated six decades later.

Denker-Fine


1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.Bd3 Bb7 6.Nf3 Ne4 7.0-0! (An exciting pawn sacrifice, invented during the game, gives Denker a dangerous initiative.) 7 . . . Nxc3 (The notion that black can draw after 7 . . . Bxc3 8.bxc3 Nxc3 9.Qc2 Bxf3 10.gxf3 Qg5+ 11.Kh1 Qh5 12.Rg1 Qxf3+ 13.Rg2 f5 14.Qxc3?! Qd1+, as in the game Petrosian-Averbakh [Moscow 1955], was dispelled in the Candidates game Keres-Spassky [Riga, Latvia, 1965], when14.Ba3! gave white an overwhelming attack. More logical seemed protecting the aggressive knight with 7 . . . f5, although Denker thought that after 8.Bxe4 fxe4 9.Nd2 Bxc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.Qg4 should net white a pawn. But in 1966 the great Dane, Bent Larsen, discovered 11 . . . Rf5! with the idea 12.Nxe4? h5! and black wins.) 8.bxc3 Bxc3 9.Rb1 Ba5?! (Leaving the scene of the crime voluntarily. Bobby Fischer believed that after 9 . . . Nc6! " white hasn't got enough for his pawn." This is a rather optimistic view, although I saw Larsen beat Svetozar Gligoric with it in a tournament we played in Lugano, Switzerland, in 1970. White's attack succeeded in many other games. The latest try is 10.c5!?, for example 10 . . . Ba5 11.Ba3 with the idea 11 . . . Ne7 12. Ne5, threatening 13.Nc4. After 12 . . . Ng6 comes 13.c6! and now either 13 . . . Bxc6 14.Nxc6 dxc6 15.Be4 Ne7 16.Qg4!; or 13 . . . dxc6 14.Nc4! gives white an overpowering advantage.)

10.Ba3 (Larsen thought that 10.e4 could be even stronger.) 10...d6 11.c5! (Opening the c-file and softening the pawn on d6.) 11...0-0 12.cxd6 cxd6 13.e4 (Threatening 14.e5.) 13...Re8 14.e5 dxe5 15.Nxe5 (A critical point of the game. Denker thought that he was winning and expressed his feelings to Kenneth Harkness, a co-editor of Chess Review, with the words: "Right now Fine is busted higher than a kite." It is not that simple. First of all black has to defend against the obvious combination 16.Bxh7+! Kxh7 17.Qh5+ Kg8 18.Qxf7+ Kh7 19.Rb3 and white wins.)

15...Qg5?! (The queen move was criticized, but it is quite playable. Fine thought that he could have defended his kingside better with 15...g6, for example 16.Bb5 Qd5 17.f3 Bc618.Ng4 and here the two opponents disagreed:

(Denker gave 18...Qd8? 19.d5! Bxb5 20.Rxb5 a6 21.dxe6! Qxd1 [21...axb5 22.Qa1!] 22.Nf6+ Kh8 23.Rxd1 Rxe6 24.Rd8+ Kg7 25.Bb2 Rxf6 [On 25...axb5 26.Rg8+ Kh6 27.Bc1+ mates.] 26.Rbd5 and black is helpless.

(Fine called 18...Qd8? "almost the worst move on the board" and proposed 18...Kg7! 19.Qc1 Bxb5? 20.Qh6+? [Here 20.Rxb5! Qd8 21.d5! still gives white the edge.] 20...Kh8 21.Rxb5 Qxd4+ 22.Kh1 Nd7 and black has a clear advantage. Today's computers tilt the verdict slightly to Fine's side. After 18...Kg7! 19.Qc1 they come up with the sharp 19...f5!, e.g. 20.Qh6+ Kh8 21.Ne3 Qd7 22.d5 Bxb5 23.dxe6 Qg7 24.Bb2 Bc3 25.Bxc3 Qxc3 26.Rxb5 Na6 with a small edge to black.) 16.g3 g6?! (After16...Nc6 Denker planned the amazing 17.Nxf7! Kxf7 18.Rb5!!, claiming that black is lost either after 18...e5 19.Qb3+ Kf6 20.f4!; or after 18...Qf6 19.Qh5+ g6 20.Qxh7+ Qg7 21.Bxg6+ Kf6 22.Qh4+!. And after 18...Nxd4 19.Rxg5 Nf3+ 20.Kg2 Nxg5+ 21.f3 e5 22.Qb3+ Kf6 23.Be4 white's material advantage is decisive. However, 16...Rc8!? gives black a playable game.) 17.Qa4 Qd8 (After 17...Na6 comes 18.Qd7; and after 17...Rd8 18.Rfc1, black is tied up.)

18.Rfc1 b5? (It does not solve black's problems and Fine might as well let Denker finish the game elegantly with a queen sacrifice 18...Na6 19.Qxa5!! bxa5 20.Rxb7, for example 20...Nb4 21.Bxb4 axb4 22.Nxf7 Qxd4 23.Nh6+ Kh8 24.Rcc7 mating soon; or 20...Qxd4 21.Bb2 Qd5 22.Bxa6 with three pieces plus a winning attack for the queen.) 19.Bxb5 Qd5 20.f3 Bb6 21.Rc5! (The quickest way to end the game.) 21...Bxc5 (On 21...Qxa2 22.Rd1 Bxc5 23.dxc5 Rc8 24.Bc4 traps the black queen.) 22.Bxc5 (Black can't cope with a double threat: 23.Bxe8 and 23.Bc4 Qd8 24.Rxb7.) 22...Rc8 23.Bc4 Bc6 24.Bxd5 Bxa4 25.Bxa8 Black resigned.

[Rochefort C.]

Merci Jean, c'est par des interventions comme ça qu'on constate que tu es un "vrai" joueur d'échecs.