The Chess Mind

Due to an apparent problem with the server, or at least my connection to it, last Wednesday night's ChessBase presentation was cut off practically from the very beginning. So we'll try it again this week at the usual hour: Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET/Thursday morning at 3 a.m. CET. Last week's preview follows:

For most of us, Frederick Dewhurst Yates is one of those background names in chess history. He wasn't a world champion or one of the great challengers, though his name featured in many of the great tournaments of the first third of the twentieth century. We see the name and see their games when they lose to one of those greats, but rarely seem them as players in their own right.

As I've suggested before, this is a pity - not only for the somewhat abstract that it's worthwhile to remember those who have come before us, but also because these players have produced some fantastic games which we can enjoy and benefit from. Yates, for instance, lost 11 times to Alekhine while defeating him but twice - but a player who could defeat Alekhine twice must have had something going for him. Indeed, over the course of his relatively short career (he died in 1932, at the age of 48) he managed to win 6 British Championships and to defeat all the great players of the day but Lasker and Capablanca (e.g. Euwe, Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, Bogoljubow, Reti and plenty more).

Enough apologia. Yates' best games can speak for themselves, if people will "hear" them, and you're invited to be auditors this Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET (3 a.m. Thursday morning CET) on the Playchess server. Just log on, go to the Broadcast room and find Alekhine-Yates under the games tab. Once you're there, you'll see a game that's interesting from beginning to end: an early King's Indian that might be of interest to those seeking a theoretical byway, followed by a middlegame where Yates more successfully understood what was going on than his illustrious opponent, and was concluded by a very long and well-calculated combination that resulted in Alekhine's resignation 17 moves later.

It's a great game; hope to see you there!