Monokroussos on Pachman vs Fischer
17.04.2005
– The Czech/German GM Ludek Pachman was a very strong GM and a fine chess author
as well. In 1959 he faced the young Bobby Fischer, and their game, which Dennis
Monokroussos will show us in his Monday night lecture on Playchess.com
is full of sacrifices, counter-sacrifices and special effects. Join us for
a terrific show.
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Dennis Monokroussos writes: I recently read the late Ludek
Pachman’s memoir Checkmate in Prague, and was thus particularly
reminded of his second, very dramatic win over the young Bobby Fischer. (Young,
but quite strong: he was already a grandmaster, two-time defending US champion
and a world championship candidate!)
It's a very exciting game, and one in which Fischer certainly had his chances.
Fischer played the opening and early middlegame extremely aggressively, sacrificing
two pieces for a speculative attack. Nevertheless, Pachman defended very cooly,
and when Fischer failed to find the most accurate path through the complications,
the White king went on a remarkable march to safety.
So there are at least three reasons to watch. First, Pachman is a player worth
remembering – he was a very strong GM in his heyday and a fine chess
author as well. Second, the game is high in entertainment value – sacrifices,
counter-sacrifices, and all sort of special effects. And third, it features
an interesting opening (the Ragozin System) every player needs to think about
at least once in their career. So join me this Monday night for a terrific
show – you’ll be glad you did!
Dennis Monokroussos'
Radio ChessBase
lectures begin on Mondays at 9 p.m. EDT, which translates to 02:00h GMT,
03:00 Paris/Berlin, 13:00h Sydney (on Tuesday). Other time zones can
be found at the bottom of this page. You can use Fritz or any Fritz-compatible
program (Shredder, Junior, Tiger, Hiarcs) to follow the lectures, or
download a free trial client. |
 Dennis
Monokroussos is 38, lives in South Bend, IN (the site of the University
of Notre Dame), and is writing a Ph.D. dissertation in philosophy (in the philosophy
of mind) while adjuncting at the University.
He is fairly inactive as a player right now, spending most of his non-philosophy
time being a husband and teaching chess. At one time he was one of the strongest
juniors in the U.S., but quit for about eight years starting in his early 20s.
His highest rating was 2434 USCF, but he has now fallen to the low-mid 2300s
– "too much blitz, too little tournament chess", he says.
Dennis has been working as a chess teacher for seven years now, giving lessons
to adults and kids both in person and on the internet, worked for a number
of years for New York’s Chess In The Schools program, where he was
one of the coaches of the 1997-8 US K-8 championship team from the Bronx, and
was very active in working with many of CITS’s most talented juniors.
When Dennis Monokroussos presents a game, there are usually two main areas
of focus: the opening-to-middlegame transition and the key moments of the middlegame
(or endgame, when applicable). With respect to the latter, he attempts to present
some serious analysis culled from his best sources (both text and database),
which he has checked with his own efforts and then double-checked with his
chess software.
Here are the exact times for different locations in the world
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