MARK RUBERY CHESS

During the 1980 SA Open held in Port Elizabeth the overseas guests were GM Yair Kraidman of Israel and IM Svend Hamann of Denmark. The final result saw Capetonian Charles De Villiers tie with Kraidman on 9,5/11

Here we see Charles De Villiers triumph over a player who had crossed swords with the likes of Fischer and Tal.

De Villiers,Charles - Hamann,S (2475) [D45]

RSA Open ch X Port Elizabeth, 1980

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.d4 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.b3 0–0 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.bxc4 e5 10.0–0 Qe7 11.Ng5 h6 12.Nge4 Nxe4 13.Nxe4 Bc7 14.Ng3 Nf6 15.Nf5!? (A Sharp pawn sacrifice. More solid is 15 Bb2)… Bxf5 16.Bxf5 exd4 17.exd4 Qd6 18.g3 Qxd4 19.Rb1 b6 20.Bb2 Qc5 21.Bxf6 gxf6 (The position De Villiers was aiming for where White has attacking chances with the resulting bishops of opposite colours) 22.Qe4 Rfd8 23.Qg4+ Kh8 24.Qh5 Qf8 (24…Kg7 would most likely lead to a draw after 25 Qg4+ Kh8 26 Qh5) 25.Rbe1 (With the threat of 26 Re7!)…Be5 26.Re4 Rd2 27.Rg4 Rxa2 28.Rd1 Ra1? (Exchanging this rook loses on the spot. More tenacious was to use the rook to remove the bishop after 28…Re8 29 Be4 Re2 30 Qf5 Rxe4 31 Qxe4 Re6 although White should still prevail) 29.Rxa1 Bxa1 30.Bc2!

1–0

An excerpt from Svend Hamann’s autobiography, Hamann (2020)

‘Hi it’s Bobby’ He was having a short stopover in Copenhagen after the Vincovi tournament which he won with 11/13 ahead of Hort and Matulovic. Anyway he wanted to meet, probably because he was bored, I do not pretend it was me or my brilliant conversation. I picked him up at his hotel and drove him to my place. My wife made a big tray of cheese sandwiches for the three of us-she thought. Bobby spied my Russian chess magazines and began to devour them as fast as he ate the sandwiches. In the end I really just wanted to have one sandwich and reached out for the last one, but he was faster. He lifted it from the tray without really looking.

South Africa’s first and thus far only grandmaster, Kenny Solomon, has written a book along with the prolific Dr Lyndon Bouah titled ‘My Game Plan’ – My quest to become a chess grandmaster. The book contains an impressive 157 games annotated by GM Solomon and would be a worthy addition to any local player’s chess library. The book is available at R350 from Dr Lyndon Bouah 071 363 1306.