Monday, September 01, 2014

Ray Could Play XII: Olympic ISEs


Black to play
Cardoso - Keene, Nice Olympiad 1974



Tromso may be over - The Best of Times; The Worst of Times - but that doesn’t mean we have to stop thinking about Olympiads.

Times have changed. Incredible to think that forty years ago we - England - didn’t have any Grandmasters. We didn’t even have any Grandmaster norms until You Know Who notched one at Nice.

Today’s ISE helped RDK on his way. White has just played 16 Bc5 attacking the rook but Ray cares not a jot. It took White a couple of moves, but eventually he bit.

Keene didn’t go on to win this game, but eventually he got his norm and pretty soon afterwards, without dying, he was in the Daily Express (Chessman Raymond Plays for Cheque). Now that is what I call worthy of note.

Like I say, times have changed.


2014 ISE Count: 53
TISE Index



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What at the time was regarded as an "experimental" idea by RDK is now a known line of play. 150 Attack v the Tiger Modern. In the position at move 6, they now prefer 7. h4 to 7. Nh3. Even players in the British U13 appear to know this.

RdC