Decades before AlphaZero | Spassky vs Polugaevsky | USSR Championship

[@PowerPlayChess]

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[@pazdziochowaty]

I remember the position where white could play Kf6 from Bronstein's "Self-tutorial of chess game" (not sure if this book was translated to English and if so - what title it was actually given, in Russian it's "Самоучитель шахматной игры"). Bronstein mentions Polugaevsky's state where he was called "the most crafty and tricky of all grandmasters". At first, Bronstein considered gifting Polu a Russian dictionary which would help him find more "friendly" words but instead he decided to show examples from Polugaevsky's games where the latter happened to be equally crafty and tricky. One of those examples was this game "After a brilliant attack, the ace of chessboard Spassky was just about to force resignation with Kf6. Assuming that all the roads lead to Rome he committed a mistake Kh5? which allowed black to play Qb5+. Polugaevsky had been awaiting to give this sneaky check and achieved an equal position which Spassky even lost after further mistakes". Sorry for inaccurate translation, first of all I'm trying to quote from memory (and I studied this book in the 90's), and English is not my first language. Thanks for showing the whole game, until today I only knew the tragic conclusion

[@PowerPlayChess]

Thanks very much for this!

[@huddunlap3999]

couldn't find the book but I did find this. Probably a little much for my High School russian. kzbin.info/aero/PL06kQdfPWs5pi8w5LRkyOxppYJy6fzcs5

[@pazdziochowaty]

@@huddunlap3999 this is exactly the book I am referring to. If you love chess russian is a must, Fischer knew that (but he was in a better situation as his mother was Russian)

[@huddunlap3999]

@@pazdziochowaty I have a number of books in Russian including " Botvinniks brilliant games of Chess" Languages are not my things but I still go over them to get new ideas and Google translate helps.

[@pazdziochowaty]

@@huddunlap3999 I have the luxury of understanding Russian both in writing and speach so I can read old Soviet books and watch chess streams in Russian. But this is because I am old enough to have learned Russian at school like everyone from my generation in Poland. I can even say chess books helped me get better grades at school because they showed me a living language instead of grammar exercises and made-up readings :)

[@Forest_Knight]

wow beautiful. Haven't seen this before. Thank you.

[@philippepiette7254]

Loving these videos! Thanks for your enthusiasm and knowledge. Perhaps I'm impulsive in saying this, but I believe your reviews have assisted me in playing more open-mindedly and that may have contributed to my increase in rating!

[@PowerPlayChess]

I have no doubt!

[@philippepiette7254]

@@PowerPlayChess don't get me wrong.. I'm not a titled player, but my bullet soared to 2254 recently and my blitz is usually around 2000. I'm looking forward to more of your content. I'm a practitioner of the King's Gambit so I'm enjoying the series on that opening

[@guest_informant]

Danny's obviously over-excited about Brentford's Premier League play off prospects.

[@iconicon5642]

Bees make honey!

[@brandonjoncas1582]

ty for these videos daniel ive been enjoying them for many years

[@axefalchess1342]

Thank you for the great commentary!

[@TheMNZOO]

Thanks for more excellent content from the KING of chess commentary!

[@DrZZZee]

Wow! This game leaves quite a pleasant feeling. I mean, seeing brilliant attacks succeed is great, but watching how even the best of the best not always able to make it work is very refreshing indeed. Excellent choice Daniel!

[@NoraSH_]

thanks for the superb chess analysis. .. these games are beautiful to watch...

[@Erap21z]

Great game! If I remember correctly From Kasparov's book it was actually Polugaevsky who was in time trouble and was down to his last seconds while Spassky still had plenty of time on his clock. The loss had a devastating effect on him and held him back for a few years

[@PowerPlayChess]

Interesting! Thank you!

[@muradnnolaki6788]

spectacular stuff! thx King

[@BaksteenUitMaassluis]

Lev did a great job defending. A nice game. Glad you showed it.

[@winningtechnique1849]

Spassky's games are hugely underrated. Together with Alekhine he was one of the elder gods of dynamic chess before Kasparov.

[@crazymulgogi]

Actually, Polugaevsky's are even more underrated. He got burnt famously by Nezhmetdinov, so he's best known for that (even though he beat Nezhmetdinov 12 times), which is a bit sad. 🤗 PS you do realize that Polugaevsky won this game, right?

[@DevilTheoryRS]

Thank you, King!

[@rickdynes]

TY Daniel😊 Much Love

[@denisrozier5831]

An important precision which could make confusion : in 1961 in fact there were two USSR championships ! From 11/01/61 to 11/02, in Moscow : the 28th USSR Ch which was a Zonal too; our game is inside, and the championship won by T. Petrosian, Spassky 6th, Polugaevsky 8th. But from 16/11/1961 to 20/12/1961 (sic !), in Baku : the 29th USSR Ch; Spassky finished first and defeated with white Polugaevsky who was the second ! What incredible tournaments, very long and very heavy for the players ...

[@alieskandari6036]

An awesome choice for the day.Thanks

[@amritmenda4303]

King walking upwards leads to win.what a game when engines weren't there!!!

[@dawnloader123]

Also props to Polugaevsky. I would have resigned after Rxh7.

[@skakdosmer]

And I thought I was the only one to make a fool of myself in winning positions. No, of course I knew I wasn’t. But it doesn’t console me that even Spassky throws away victories. All it does is prove that I’ll never reach a level where winning a winning position is simple. On the other hand it's good news that even a strong opponent might allow you to recover from a lost position.

[@jodymccullough5891]

Polugaevsky was really good himself and also a tremendous attacker who beat pretty much all of the top players at one time or another. But in this game he shows he could also defend pretty well too.

[@BearWinnie]

Real pleasure!

[@lazyatthedisco]

A favorite game of mine from Spassky is a Queen's gambit against Bobotsov in The Havana Olympiad. The constant attack with new ideas makes it really instructive even if there's no flashy moves. Would love if you check it out.

[@PowerPlayChess]

That is a great game! Excellent suggestion.

[@williamkyburz]

Thank Daniel, great analysis. I was curious what the silicon beasties had to say. It seems that 22.Ne5 instead of 22.Be5 is a killer move. Stockfish with 12 CPU's and a few minutes gives it +6.43. The main idea is to take on g7, keep the Q on the b1-h7 diagonal, and either win the Rook on f5 or get it to move and deliver mate on h7.

[@PowerPlayChess]

There were a few moments in the game where, according to the machines, Spassky could have played a better move, but I didn't want to mention this because his play was actually very sound. He made no mistakes - until the king move near the end.

[@williamkyburz]

@@PowerPlayChess Thanks Daniel, that is a lesson in itself.

[@Aj-ch5kz]

Can you do some of the classic games series , from Capablanca or Alekhine era ?! Would be interesting . Thanks.

[@cheryllins1105]

This is an amazing game. Thanks for showing it to us. I was thinking as you were going through it, when Spassky was attacking and Polugaevsky defending, how difficult to calculate the variations, such complexity on the 64 squares. And then in a few moves, Spassky himself, as you say, in time pressure, makes a misstep. What a game. btw, is there a good book of Spassky's "greatest games"? I can't remember one. Thanks!

[@hubertsang7418]

Spassky 100 best games by bernard cafferty

[@PowerPlayChess]

@@hubertsang7418 A very old Batsford book which I have in my collection. It's not bad. Cafferty, as a Russian speaker, was able to use Soviet source material which makes the game annotations more interesting.

[@hubertsang7418]

@@PowerPlayChess His annotations of the Larsen-Spassky Belgrade 1970 game with the times spent on every move is very interesting. There is another small book, I believe the title is Spassky road to the summit by clarke. But these two books only cover Spassky's career pre 1971. Thanks for the lesson.

[@cheryllins1105]

Thanks for the suggestions. I wanted to let you know I was able to get a pretty good used copy of Cafferty's Spassky's 100 Best Games. So far very interesting reading, and I see a few King's Gambits in there! One online database says that Spassky played over 2300 games in the 28 years after his WCC match with Fischer. I'm sure there must be another 100 great games there. Thanks for sharing the analysis of the games of this great player!

[@stefanholbek2449]

To my knowledge Bent Larsen also liked to push his flank pawns. Any examples of that/games you like? AlphaZero did for sure re-introduce the concept along with ridiculously strong defense as well as positional play, but the "credit" goes to much older Masters!

[@gers19]

Hi, I think it would be nice if you add a link or the pgn on your description. (:

[@mariusdafunk]

Thanks, dear Mr. King! With regard to the beard, are you 'doing the Magnus'?

[@tobiasschoofs7006]

It's Danny King! I thought it was Lemmy of Motörhead.

[@mendoncacorreia]

Another must is Spassky-Evans, Varna Olympiad 1962! ✌

[@PowerPlayChess]

A complete smash. Also on my list, although frankly I think there are more creative wins.

[@letownia]

Looking fresh in the white t-shirt!

[@mrmarkstv6585]

I hope to see his best games from his candidate matches

[@ArtesanasCampesinas]

"Tragically, King f5 was a mistake!"

[@keithtaylor3198]

One game left Daniel good luck nice west London derby should be tasty

[@wjaieh]

Hello everyone. I recommand for us, a game played between Kasparov and Lautier, finished and winned tremendosly by lautier armed by two queens. Lautier was a great player in the neinteen but who disappear for reasons that i like to know

[@RoyGazoff]

A tough one to have as Boris

[@lucianotrigo7648]

Please analyze Fischer x Mecking (Buenos Aires, 1970). Luciano, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[@PDJMDS]

@ 4:45, although I'm pretty sure you don't want to allow Qxh7 and it is winning, I don't see the mate as f7 is no longer covered? can't the king just run away?

[@chessblunderer898]

Why not Ke2 right away? Instead of wasting a move with Kf1-e2 later?

[@PowerPlayChess]

If Ke2 right away then Bxf3+ gxf3 Bd6! exchanging the bishops and Black’s position is playable.

[@jimlawrence1771]

Ouch!

[@stevengordon3271]

Why not play Ke2 in the first place instead of f1 and then e2 a couple moves later? Would have allowed Rg1 a move earlier.

[@Socrates...]

No one talks about Tony Miles , please play over one of his games

[@PowerPlayChess]

I recently annotated one of Tony's wins in my test game, available to $5 Patreon subscribers. Go on, treat yourself!

[@johngrey5806]

Spassky was successful but also endured so much disappointment... Poor guy.

[@joeb4142]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@doncar9]

A heroes death

[@tomsoyer5639]

AlphaZero? what is this 2018?

[@mooneulogy8717]

4:43 maybe im not looking far enough but i dont think thats mate. apologies if i missed something. edit: may as well be as you lose a ton of material

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

You are correct, it's not, but allowing Qxh7 seems to be a winning attack

[@patament2944]

Stop saying you're "going to have a little slurp." Use the word "sip," unless you want to sound uncivilized, haha...

[@skakdosmer]

I think “tragedy” is quite an exaggeration. After all it’s only a chess game.

[@skakdosmer]

@Geoff M HAHA! Actually you’re right. I had to quit playing chess some fifteen years ago when I got a very good evening job. But even in my most active years I could only smile at players who took chess so seriously that they got really depressed when I beat them, and then demonstrated how easily they could have won earlier in the game.

[@Sara-gz1lp]

Why you... I thought Boris was going to win

[@kiraleskirales]

Hey Daniel, I have been following you for longtime and I really appreciate your channel, but I am growing tired of your repeated remarks about alphazero. Of course launching the g and h pawns is nothing new, even with a mobile center, but it was considered a purely tactical move which can either lead to a concrete advantage or give you long term weaknesses. Before alphazero, this was the evaluation of the engines, and games from the past where the flank attack had a positional idea behind were seen as examples of poor defence by the opponent. Alphazero did not change the game, but it changed the way we see it..

[@PowerPlayChess]

How bizarre. I mentioned AlphaZero in this game specifically because whenever a strategy involving the advance of the g or h pawns is seen in a contemporary game, there is often a knee-jerk comment along the lines of 'The influence of AlphaZero!' I wanted to show that players have been using this kind of strategy for a long time. I don't think I make 'repeated remarks about alphazero', but I'm happy to own it if I do!

[@kiraleskirales]

I hope that I am not demotivating him by just one punctual critique, I am the first to enjoy his videos. Sorry if the message turned out to be more aggressive than intended, but my main point was ALTHOUGH players had always used this strategy, as Daniel says, it was not considered a principled way to go. Alphazero changed the chess theory and I don't see why we should not recognise it. Still a big fan and keep up the good work!