Halloween hallucinations at the chessboard

We write this two days before Halloween, a celebration of disguise, delusion and things unseen that haunt the mind.

Chess may be a rigorously logical game, but one also prone to phantasms and hallucinations in the heat of battle. World champions have hung queens, overlooked mates-in-one, botched the most elementary of endgames and even captured pieces that were not there or based an entire combination on a patently illegal move.

Bobby Fischer’s opponents were particularly prone to such errors, a tribute to Fischer’s skill and relentless will to win. Perhaps the most famous example came from the 1970 Palma de Mallorca interzonal against Soviet great GM Efim Geller, who was long a particularly tough opponent for the American.

Fischer won a pawn on Move 25 but faced a difficult task in the two-rook ending with all the pawns on the kingside. After an arduous defense, Geller after 64. Kf3-f4 has reached the diagrammed position, and the draw seemed well in sight.

Instead, this happened: 64…Rxd3 65. Rxd3 Rf1 66. Rd2?? (Kg3! Kg5 67. f3 gxf3 68. Rxf3 Rxf3+ 69. Kxf3 f4 70 Kf2 with the opposition and a dead draw) Kh4 67. Kxf5 g3! (at the end of a grueling defense, a woozy Geller later admitted he planned to meet this obvious advance with 68. fxg3+ [illegal] Kxg3 69. Kxf1!?!? [super-illegal], um, winning), and White is now scrambling to save the draw.

Understandably flustered, White compounds the disaster with 68. f4 Kh3?! (inaccurate on Fischer’s part; 68…Ra8 was stronger) 69. Rd3 Kh4 70. Rd2 Ra1 71. Ke5?? (another hallucination — 71. Rd8! g2 72. Rh8+ Kg3 73. Rg8+ Kf3 74. Ke6! draws, as the White passed pawn will soon cost Fischer his rook) Kg4 72. f5 Ra5+ — the pawn is lost, the king will be cut off and White’s game is hopeless. Geller resigned.

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Also this week we have All Saints’ Day. One doesn’t get to be a grandmaster by being a choirboy, and the list of canonized chessplayers is a compact one, including St. Thomas More, Pope John Paul II and St. Teresa de Avila (the patron saint of chessplayers, by the way.)

The strongest chessplaying “saint” may be the 19th century French star Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, who spent a lot more time in cafes than cathedrals and battled English star Howard Staunton is what is widely considered the first unofficial world title match. Saint-Amant lost the stakes match in late 1843, but gave Staunton all he could handle before going down by a 13-8 score.

Trailing early in the match, Saint-Amant made a spirited comeback, including this win in the 19th game which features some very modern-looking play by both sides around White’s isolated d-pawn. White wins a pawn after a Staunton inaccuracy (21…c5! held the balance), but needs some further tactics and some strong endgame skills to take the point.

Key is 44. h5 Nxb4 45. h6! (a temporary piece sacrifice to get the pawn moving) Nc6 46. h7 Rb2+ 47. Kd3 Rb3+ 48. Kc2 Rh3 49. h8=Q Rxh8 50. Rxh8 Nxe5 51. Kc3, with a very tricky ending.

White misses one put-away (55. Kxd5!, instead of the game’s 55. Kf5?!, works because 55…Nb6+ 56. Kd4 Nxa4 57. Rb8 Kd6 [Ke6 58. Rb4] 58. Rb4 Nc5 59. Rb6+ picks off the knight) but navigates a minefield of knight forks and stalemate traps to finally collect the point. In the final position, the threat of 80. Rd8 mate is decisive and Staunton resigned.

Saint-Amant - Staunton, Paris Match, Game 19, December 1843

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e5 4. Bxc4 exd4 5. exd4 Bd6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. h3 O-O 8. O-O Nc6 9. Bg5 Be7 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Ne4 12. Be3 Bf6 13. Re1 Nd6 14. Ba2 h6 15. Qa4 Ne7 16. Rad1 Ng6 17. Bc1 c6 18. Ne5 Qc7 19. g4 b5 20. Qb4 Bc2 21. Rd2 a5 22. Qc5 Bxe5 23. dxe5 Nb7 24. Nxb5 Nxc5 25. Nxc7 Nd3 26. Rxd3 Bxd3 27. Nxa8 Rxa8 28. f4 Re8 29. Rd1 Be4 30. Rd4 Bd5 31. Bxd5 cxd5 32. Kf2 Rc8 33. Be3 Ne7 34. Ke2 Rb8 35. Bc1 Kf8 36. b4 Rb5 37. bxa5 Nc6 38. Ra4 Nxa5 39. Bd2 Nc6 40. Bb4+ Ke8 41. h4 g5 42. fxg5 hxg5 43. Ra8+ Kd7 44. h5 Nxb4 45. h6 Nc6 46. h7 Rb2+ 47. Kd3 Rb3+ 48. Kc2 Rh3 49. h8=Q Rxh8 50. Rxh8 Nxe5 51. Kc3 Nxg4 52. Kd4 Nf6 53. Ke5 Ke7 54. a4 Nd7+ 55. Kf5 d4 56. a5 Nc5 57. Kxg5 d3 58. Kf4 d2 59. Rh1 Kd7 60. Ke3 Kc6 61. Rb1 d1=Q 62. Rxd1 Kb5 63. Rd5 Kc6 64. Kd4 Ne6+ 65. Kc4 Kb7 66. Rd7+ Ka6 67. Rxf7 Nd8 68. Rf5 Nc6 69. Rf6 Kb7 70. Kb5 Na7+ 71. Kc5 Nc8 72. Rh6 Na7 73. a6 Kb8 74. Rh7 Nc8 75. Rb7+ Ka8 76. Kc6 Na7+ 77. Kc7 Nc6 78. Kb6 Nb4 79. Rd7 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email dsands@washingtontimes.com.