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Historical Games - Videos By S. Farmer

 

Bogoljubov-Alekhine, Hastings 1922 1of2 [42:06] Efim Bogoljubov vs. Alexander Alekhine, Hastings, 1922.
 Bogoljubov-Alekhine, Hastings 1922 2of2 [23:54] This is a wonderful battle. Alekhine, playing the Black pieces, plays a Dutch Defense. Bogoljubov's play is solid, but somewhat passive. Black probes the kingside first and obtains some minor concession in that sector. Seeing that the well has gone dry on  the king side, Black switches plans and moves to the queenside for more play, it is by this circuitous route that Black is finally able to go after the White king. This game involves what many refer to the "Engels Pawn" or the "Alekhine's Pawn" as based on this game.

Another Fischer Classic Game [30:14] Bobby Fischer vs. Pal Benko, New York 1963 - Pirc Defense. In this Classic Game we again see the attacking brilliance of Bobby Fischer. Benko seems to be holding the defense just nicely but Fischer is not about to sit idly by while his opponent builds his defenses, instead Bobby finds an ingenious way to break through thanks to a magnificent Dirruptive Sacrifice with 19...R-B6!! - a move to remember!

Morphy's famous Opera House Game [26:26] Paul Morphy vs. Count Isouard, Paris 1858. This is a game that everyone should know by heart. It is a model example of the imbalance of time versus material. Morphy gives up just about everything he owns to speed his development and to keep the opponent's king stuck in the center. The final mating pattern is pure brilliance!

The Immortal Polish Game [44:37] Glücksman vs. Miguel Najdorf, Warsaw 1930. Before seeking the safety in Argentina during the Second World War, Miguel Najdorf was already a very strong Polish player. This game shows both his patience as well as his ability to calculate - a wonderful game through and through.

Karpov vs Kasparov - 1984 World Championship, Game 16. A Paradox and Octopus come to play chess. Needless to say, the match-up between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov has been unrivalled in chess history, and this is perhaps the most famous game from their many many battles on the 64 squares. Garry plants his knight on d3 and sits back to watch his opponent squirm for the rest of the game.

Pillsbury vs Gusnberg, Hastings 1895 - Harry Nelson Pillsbury shot to fame in this one tournament, knocking off some of the giants of the time. This game features one of the most famous endgames in chess history. This game was also an important factor in deciding the champion.

Hastings 1895; Tchigorin's Pain - Tchgorin vs Lasker and Tchgorin vs Janowski. Poor Mikhail played good chess in this mammoth event but he still fell short of Pillsbury and only managed to take second place.

Another Fischer Brilliancy [37:00] Robert Byrne vs. Robert Fischer, New York 1963. This game is remarkable for two reasons; first, it is a positional crush in short order, tactics are used under the surface to a point where White is quickly and completely tied down, and secondly, at the point of White's resignation the professional commentators demonstrating the game to an audience were explaining that Fisher was lost at the very point that Robert Byrne decided to resign!

Argentine Tragedy [43:39] This is the story of three classic show-downs at the 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal. Three Soviets had White against three Argentinians. Geller vs. Panno, Spassky vs. Pilnik and Keres vs. Najdorf. The Argentineans had prepared a special line in the Sicilian Najdorf variation and the Soviets all handled it well, following Geller's lead they came up with a what was considered a refutation to the Argentineans plan. As a result, all three players from Argentine suffered defeats. As will be seen from this video, this was not the last word in this line, it was none other than Bobby Fischer who found an improvement for Black in an attempt to revive this dangerous weapon.

Steinitz vs. Von Bardeleben [29:09] Wilhelm Steinitz vs. Count Von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895. Another classic that everyone should know by heart! In this famous game we see Steinitz walking a thin line in his attack, with his opponent ready to launch a counter-attack if there is one free moment. Bardeleben is never given that 'one free moment' and in disgust, in the middle of defending against an unrelenting attack, walks away from the board and away from the tournament all altogether, thus depriving his opponent of one of the most beautiful mates imaginable. Fortunately for the on-lookers, once it was clear that his opponent was not coming back to the table, Steinitz proved to them that the attack does indeed end in a very pretty mate!

Levitsky vs. Marshall - The Golden Game [16:02] Stepan Levitsky vs. Frank Marshall 1912. At the chance of belaboring myself, this is a 'must-know' game. The ending of this game is so spectacular that it is said that the spectators showered the board with gold pieces.

Nezhmetdinov vs Cernikov 1962 Sadly, Rashid Nezhmetdinov died  soon after I started playing chess at the age of 62. Nezhy was a bold and daring attacking player and sought to play his opponent and not the board (no wonder I like his play!) and it did not matter what the tournament situation was, if there was a fight to be had, he was the one instigating the destruction. In this exciting game we see him give up his queen for just two pieces in a more or less positional sacrifice, but the coordination of the pieces was much more than his opponent could handle, even though he was up in material.

Polugaevsky vs Nezhmetdinov 1958 - I was only one year old when this game was played. It is a fantastic battle and a game that every wanna-be chess master should study. It has been reprinted in many chess books and articles, and now you get to see this fierce attacking game in the form of a video. Enjoy this tremendous battle!

Rotlewi vs. Rubenstein [40:25] Georg Rotlewi vs. Akiba Rubenstein, Ostende 1907, Queen Pawn Opening - Tarrasch Defense. This game is in almost every anthology of the game of chess. It shows the tremendous attacking genius of the great Rubenstein. White seems to have everything covered, but Rubenstein shows exactly how overworked White's pieces really are. A wonderful game to study commit to memory.

Tal vs Botvinnik [99:48] Mikhail Tal vs. Mikhail Botvinnik, World Championship 1960 - King's Indian Defense. This is one of the games that got me interested in playing the King's Indian Defense in the first place. This is an extremely complicated and lively game that is worth studying over and over again. Tal plays in his typical uncompromising fashion and overwhelms his stodgy opponent.

Adams Vs. Torre 1920 Again, a "must-know" game. This is the famous game where Adams maneuvers his queen around several times, leaving it en prise move after move, but his opponent cannot take her for fear of mate on the back rank. Finally, White works his way to a position where the guard of the back rank is finally persuaded to flee and the game is over. There is also a game presented within this one showing Torre's attacking ability, even though he lost this classic battle (some say that this game was an invention and was not really played).

1956 Game Of The Century[37:01] Donald Byrne vs. Bobby Fischer, New York 1956, Gruenfeld Defense. Need I say it? Another 'must-know' game! This game has been called the Game Of The Century and it was a very big win for the then 13 year old Bobby Fischer. If you don't know this game, I won't give any spoilers, go on and watch the video, just be sure to pick your jaw up off the floor before you leave!

Karpov vs. Kasparov, Linares 1993 [58:38] In this game we see Kasparov give up a pawn for a lead in development and to improve the quality of his pieces. On the flip side, it seems that Karpov makes no real mistakes as he follows some basic precepts of the game, only to find out that Kasparov had seen a bit further. Soon after the opening is over, Karpov finds his forces being pushed back , and how! At one point he has all 7 of his remaining pieces pushed back to the back rank. Kasparov uses the technique of the Engles Pawn (a.k.a. Alekhine's Pawn) to bring of a rewarding and deserved victory. Vintage Kasparov. Going for the KILL picks up on some analysis that was omitted in the original presentation.

Ftacnik's Evergreen Game - Lev Polugaevsky vs Lubomir Ftacnik, Lucerne Olympiad 1982. Lubomir is another aggressive player that is not well known to many of today's players, yet his games should be studied as he was ahead of his time in many ways. In this game we get to see the Hedgehog System back when it was starting to become a viable weapon for Black.

Lajos Portish vs Lubomir Kavalek 1975 -  This game was played at Wijk aan Zee and is one of my all-time favorite games for the imbalance that Kavalek brings into the game. When starting out in chess Kavalek was one of my favorite players owing to his aggressive nature and hard work on his opening. He also has an interesting history which is explained in the video introduction.

Bobby Fischer vs Tigran Petrosian 4 Queen Game Part 1 of 3 - This was a titanic struggle from the 1959 Candidates Tournament in Zagreb. So complicated was this game that I have broken it down into three parts.
Bobby Fischer vs Tigran Petrosian 4 Queen Game Part 2 of 3 - We pick up the game here in the late middlegame.
Bobby Fischer vs Tigran Petrosian 4 Queen Game Part 3 of 3 - Here it is, the moment have been waiting for, FOUR QUEENS!

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