The Fischer and Sir George Thomas Connection

Hi Geoff,
Your observation "in your games Grandmaster ideas and tricks of the trade lurk all the time" reminded me of the game David Levin (2131)--Edward Gaillard (1880) from the 1980 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship.

Here's the position after 20...h6:


The game concluded, 21. Rf6 (Intending 21...gxf6 22. exf6, with the decisive pair of threats 23. Qg3+ and 23. Qxh6.) 21...Qd8 22. Qe4 (If now 22...g6, then 23. Rxg6+.) 1-0

After the game, teammate Colin McRae remarked that the finish was similar to Fischer-Benko. Here's the position after 18...exd4 in the game he was referring to (from the 1963-4 US Championship):


The game concluded, 19. Rf6 Kg8 20. e5 h6 21. Ne2 1-0

What's funny is that I didn't immediately realize what Colin was referring to. I had found 21. Rf6 as a result of wanting to clear the way for Qe4... without permitting ...f5.

For me, the main benefit of seeing combinations in books seems to be that it further develops my routine for finding and analyzing tactics. But I don't doubt that I've played games in which I recognized an available tactic as a result of having seen it previously.

Hi David,

I've often said that I must have played thousands of combos but I cannot think
of one that's been original. The root of the idea I've picked up somewhere and
it's pattern stuck. We don't search for it, we recognise it somehow.

This 'somehow' is the same thing at work when someone walks into a room.
Within a nano second your brain tells you whether or not you recognise this person.
Positions on a board are like group photographs, you look at the picture and a face
you recognise pops out. In some cases it's not the person you were looking for!

Studying tactics, or any aspect of the game gives you more faces to recognise.
Though it is probably best to meet them in the flesh. Playing and walking into
a trick/trap/tactic so you feel the burn is a lesson never forgotten and a face you
cannot forget. (and no matter how good you are or how good you get, it's a
face you will bump into again!)