Remembering when the Rooks raged and a chess barrier came down

It might have been the biggest U.S. chess story in the mainstream press since Bobby Fischer’s world championship win two decades earlier, and a good one to recall as we mark Black History Month.

The Raging Rooks, a scrappy team of Black, Hispanic and Asian players from Harlem’s Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Junior High School, tied for first in the 1991 U.S. National Junior High School Championships in Dearborn, Michigan. As The New York Times, Sports Illustrated and other national publications noted repeatedly at the time, among the 60 teams the Rooks bested in the event were the defending champs from the tony Dalton School, the tony and exclusive Upper East Side school.

It’s hard to find any games from the storied 1991 tournament, for all the media coverage the event generated. But we did find a nice more recent win by the team’s captain, Kasaun E. Henry, who kept up his chess while earning a Ph.D., becoming a college professor and hosting the podcast “PoliticalSoulFood.”

At the 2006 Reykjavik Open, Henry and German expert Volker Scheeff engaged in a spirited theoretical battle out of a Chigorin QGD. Black tries to hold on to the gambit pawn while Henry looks for compensation in his positional pressure on the queenside.

After 18. Qc3 Nb7 (the key battle here is whether Henry can prevent the freeing advance of the Black c-pawn) 19. Bf3!? (the sharper way to go; another idea was 19. a4 Rab8 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ra7, with dynamic equality) Ne4 20. Nxe4 Bxe4 21. Bxe4 Qxe4 22. d5!?, and White rushes to open the long diagonal as quickly as possible, with a little mate threat on g7 as a bonus.

By 25. Rc6 Rd8 26. Rac1, Sheeff’s c-pawn is definitively blockaded, although Black still has that extra pawn. But Scheeff’s effort to seek play elsewhere leads to grief: 32. Rc2 h5?! 33. f3 (not only defending g4 but clearing the way for the White rook to the h-file) hxg4 34. hxg4 Qf7? (see diagram; with more space, White can shift the point of attack far more easily than Black, and it was time to give back the pawn with 34…Na5 35. Rxc7 Rxc7 36. Qxc7 Qxc7 37. Rxc7 Nc4 38. a4 Nd2 39. Kf2 bxa4 40. g5 fxg5 (Rf8 41. g6!) 41. Rxg7+ Kf8 42. Rxg5 a5, holding the balance) 35. Qf5!, and suddenly the Black king is in a world of hurt.

With Henry’s rook heading for the h-file, the attack breaks through in short order: 34…Kf8? (a panicky reaction, but White’s major pieces dominate the board after the tougher 35…Ne5 36. Bxe5 fxe5 37. Qe4) 36. Bc5+ Kg8 (cute would have been 36…Ke8 [Nd6 37. Bxd6+ cxd6 38. Rxc8+ and wins] 37. Re6+ Kd8 38. Rd2+! Nxd2 39. Qd3+ Qd7 40. Be7+ Ke8 41. Qg6 mate) 37. Rh2 g6 38. Qxg6, and Black’s kingside collapses.

Even with a queen trade, Henry’s rooks and bishop give the Black king no rest for the remainder of the game. The hunt ends on 50. Rc6 a5 51. Ra6 R3h6 52. Bb6!, and Sheeff resigns as more material will be lost just to stave off the threat of 53. Rxa5 mate.

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In another nice bit of historical justice, FIDE officials have posthumously awarded the grandmaster title to the great Mian Sultan Khan, the Punjabi-born servant who forged one of the most remarkable — and successful — careers during just a short four-year stay in Britain starting in 1929 and ranks as one of the greatest natural talents the game has ever seen.

He won three British national titles, starred on the U.K.’s Olympiad team and defeated the great Capablanca over the board in a positional masterpiece. He returned home in 1933 with his employer, eventually became a citizen of Pakistan and played just a handful of known games for the last three decades of his life.

Khan’s chess often brings to mind Conrad’s prose — subtle, flexible and often profound, but eccentric in the way of someone who grew up speaking a very different language and switched over later in life. Khan grew up playing India’s close-but-different version of the game, where pawns can move only one square at a time, there’s no castling but the king in certain cases can hop like a knight, and where an endgame with just two pieces for both sides is automatically a draw.

That Khan enjoyed such meteoric success against some of the best Western chess players of his time is a doubly remarkable achievement.

Khan won his third and last British national title at the 1932 tournament just before returning to India and effectively giving up the game forever. In that event, he schooled rising Irish-English star C.H. O’D Alexander when the younger player unwisely challenged him to a tactical duel.

White’s diffident 5. c3!? is classic Khan, whose knowledge of Western opening systems was limited and who typically just sought a playable middle game where he could display his brilliance.

After 12. Ne5 (another signature move from Khan, who loved throwing his knights forward in unlikely positions) Nxe5 13. dxe5 Bxa4?! (Be7 14. Rc1 b5 15. Nc3 is equal), Black unwisely seeks complications against one of the best natural calculators the game has ever seen.

By 19. Bc3 Bd6 20. Rb3, White has a very pleasant pull with the bishop pair and better placed pieces, despite the ugly doubled pawns. Alexander doubles down, but White stays in control as the position sharpens: 20…Nd7 21. Rxb7! Rf7 (White has a clear edge after 21…Nc5? 22. Rxe7 Nxd3 23. Rxg7+ Kh8 24. Ba1) 22. Ba1 Rc4 23. e4!, staying aggressive even though Black gets strong pressure on f2 after 23…Nc5 24. Rxe7 Nxd3 25. Rxe6 Bc5.

It’s a piquant position after 28. exd5 Nxf2 — Black has a powerful discovered check in hand but can’t move the pinned knight to execute it. White displays an admirable stiff upper lip as the battle rages: 29. d6! (Bh3!? Ke7 30. Be6 Rxa4 is far less persuasive) Rc2 (Ke8 30. Bc6+ Kd8 31. Bxg7 Ng4+ 32. Kh1 Bxd6 33. Bf3 Rxa4 34. Bd5, with the bishop pair and an extra pawn) 30. Be4 Rxa2 31. Bc3 Rxa4. Black has won back his two pawns, but still hasn’t solved the problem of his pinned knight.

The tactics remain tricky, but White collects the piece on 33. Be1 Rc1 34. d7 Ke7 35. d8=Q+ Kxd8 36. Ba5+ Ke7 37. Rxc1 Nd3+ 38. Rxc5 Nxc5 39. Bd5, and Black resigned. Alexander would become one of the best British players of the mid-20th century, but his record against Khan was a lone win against six losses.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Henry-Scheeff, Reykjavik Open, Reykjavik, Iceland, March 2006

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4 Bg4 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be2 Bb4 7. Bd2 O-O 8. O-O dxc4 9. h3 Bh5 10. a3 Bxc3 11. Bxc3 Qd5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nd2 b5 14. b3 cxb3 15. Qxb3 a6 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. Bb2 Na5 18. Qc3 Nb7 19. Bf3 Ne4 20. Nxe4 Bxe4 21. Bxe4 Qxe4 22. d5 f6 23. dxe6 Nd6 24. Qd4 Qxe6 25. Rc6 Rd8 26. Rac1 Qa2 27. Ra1 Qb3 28. Qb4 Qf7 29. Qc5 Rdc8 30. Bd4 Nc4 31. Rc1 Qd7 32. Rc2 h5 33. f3 hxg4 34. hxg4 Qf7 35. Qf5 Kf8 36. Bc5+ Kg8 37. Rh2 g6 38. Qxf6 Qxf6 39. Rxf6 Ne5 40. Bd4 Nd7 41. Rxg6+ Kf7 42. Rg7+ Ke6 43. Rh6+ Kd5 44. Rxd7+ Kc4 45. Rc6+ Kb3 46. Rc3+ Ka4 47. Bc5 Rh8 48. Rxc7 Rh3 49. Kg2 Rah8 50. Rc6 a5 51. Ra6 R3h6 52. Bb6 Black resigns.

Khan-Alexander, 25th British Chess Federation Championship, London, August 1932

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. c3 cxd4 6. cxd4 e6 7. O-O Bd6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. b3 a6 10. Na4 Bd7 11. Bb2 Ne4 12. Ne5 Nxe5 13. dxe5 Bxa4 14. bxa4 Bc5 15. Rb1 Rc8 16. Qd3 f5 17. exf6 Nxf6 18. e3 Qe7 19. Bc3 Bd6 20. Rb3 Nd7 21. Rxb7 Rf7 22. Ba1 Rc4 23. e4 Nc5 24. Rxe7 Nxd3 25. Rxe6 Bc5 26. Re8+ Rf8 27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. exd5 Nxf2 29. d6 Rc2 30. Be4 Rxa2 31. Bc3 Rxa4 32. Bc6 Rc4 33. Be1 Rc1 34. d7 Ke7 35. d8=Q+ Kxd8 36. Ba5+ Ke7 37. Rxc1 Nd3+ 38. Rxc5 Nxc5 39. Bd5 Black resigns.

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