Watson Book Review: Placing Planinc and Kupreichik

Mohr, Georg, and Adrian Mikhalchishin. Forgotten Genius: The Life and Games of Grandmaster Albin Planinc. Thinkers Publishing, 2021. ISBN-13: 978-9464201291, 439 pages. (Buy now at uscfsales.com)
Iglesias, Pablo. Apologia of the Unexpected: Selected Games of Albin Planinc. Self-published, 2020. ISBN-13 979-8585078118, 196 pages.
Multiple authors. Kupreichik: The Maestro from Minsk. London Chess Centre Publishing, 2021. ISBN: 978-0948443961, 325 pages

Originally published in the March 2022 issue of Chess Life.

When I was starting out in chess, games collections and tournament books constituted a majority of the high-quality chess books available — the ones that could teach a curious youngster something beyond the basics. As time went on, publishers began to produce a large variety of books about specialized topics such as tactics, endings, strategy, and openings, while the tournament book became a relative rarity. But it remained a major event when a world champion or leading grandmaster produced a book of annotated games. I venture to say that most of the best players of the pre-computer era learned as much or more from those books as from any other part of their studies.

Recently we’ve been treated to numerous books about legends who contended for the world championships. But in a pleasant surprise, authors have also been exploring lesser-known players of significant talent who, despite their less exalted results, have made original contributions and left a lasting impression on their contemporaries. I’ll be discussing a few of those here.

Few of today’s young players have heard of the Slovenian GM Albin Planinc (1944-2008), but there was a time during which he was a kind of hero for fans of romantic attacking chess all over the world. One of those was GM Georg Mohr, a student of Planinc’s, who is a kind of lead author for the book. Mohr describes Planinc’s games as “imbued with incredible energy… with so much of what most people think is beautiful in chess.” In the opening, Planinc would play to create dynamic chances, often without regard to safety or material. It wasn’t always the most practical style, but it gained him many fans.

When I was growing up, Planinc’s miniature masterpiece versus Vaganian was widely known, but I wonder how many of today’s young players have seen it. Oddly enough, Black’s opening treatment is still theoretically relevant over 40 years later.

[pgn]

[Event "Christmas Congress 1974/75-50 Premier"]

[Site "Hastings"]

[Date "1975.01.02"]

[Round "5"]

[White "Vaganian, Rafael A"]

[Black "Planinc, Albin"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "A32"]

[Annotator "Watson"]

[PlyCount "44"]

[EventDate "1974.12.28"]

[EventType "tourn"]

[EventRounds "15"]

[EventCountry "ENG"]

[EventCategory "9"]

[SourceTitle "Chess Life March 2022"]

[SourceDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceVersion "1"]

[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Ndb5 O-O 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.

Nxc3 d5 9. Bg5 h6 $1 {Black offers a pawn for superior development and

activity.} 10. Bxf6 (10. Bh4 {can be met by} d4 11. Ne4 g5 12. Nxf6+ Qxf6 13.

Bg3 e5 14. h4 Bf5) 10... Qxf6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Qxd5 Rd8 13. Qf3 Qb6 14. Rd1

Rxd1+ 15. Nxd1 {White has everything covered and an extra pawn.} Nc6 16. Qe3 $6

{Very logical, offering an exchange of queens and apparently threatening Qe8+.}

(16. e3 Be6 17. Be2 Rd8 18. O-O (18. b4 $2 Nxb4) 18... Rd2 {gives Black the

seventh rank with active pieces and more than enough for a pawn.}) 16... Nd4 $1

17. Qe8+ Kh7 18. e3 (18. Qxf7 $2 {wins a second pawn, but} Bf5 19. e3 Nc2+ {

hunts down the king, e.g.,} 20. Kd2 (20. Ke2 Bg6 21. Qf4 Qb5+ 22. Kf3 Qc5 23.

Kg3 Rf8) 20... Rd8+ 21. Kc1 Bg6 22. Qc4 Nxa3) 18... Nc2+ 19. Kd2 {Now White

threatens Bd3+ and appears safe. Planinc reveals the point of his previous

moves:} Bf5 $3 {[#]} 20. Qxa8 Qd6+ 21. Kc1 ({Without going into the details,} 

21. Kc3 {will also lose to} Qe5+ $1 22. Kb3 (22. Kd2 Qd5+ 23. Kc3 Qa5+ $1 24.

b4 Qxa3+ 25. Kd2 Qxb4+) 22... Na1+ $1 23. Kb4 (23. Ka2 Qd5+) 23... b6 24. Qc6

Bd7 $1) 21... Na1 {Threatening ...Nb3 mate!} 22. Qxb7 $2 {So logical. [#] 

[Place diagram after note]} (22. Bc4 {holds for a while, although Black gets

all the winning chances after} Qc6 23. Nc3 Qxc4 24. Qd8 $1 Nb3+ 25. Kd1 Qg4+

26. Ne2 {All forced.} Qe4 $1 27. Ke1 Qb1+ 28. Qd1 Qxb2) 22... Qc7+ $1 {Lovely.}

(22... Qc7+ 23. Qxc7 {is met by} Nb3#) 0-1[/pgn]

Planinc was plagued by what the authors call “a nervous disease” for the last 30 years of his life and played almost no chess. But even in his generally low-quality games from his last international tournament, he showed his tactical flair:

[pgn]

[Event "Rubinstein Memorial-17"]

[Site "Polanica Zdroj"]

[Date "1979.08.14"]

[Round "8"]

[White "Planinc, Albin"]

[Black "Pokojowczyk, Jerzy"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B99"]

[BlackElo "2365"]

[Annotator "Watson"]

[PlyCount "53"]

[EventDate "1979.08.06"]

[EventType "tourn"]

[EventRounds "15"]

[EventCountry "POL"]

[EventCategory "8"]

[SourceTitle "Chess Life March 2022"]

[SourceDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceVersion "1"]

[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 8. Qf3

h6 9. Bh4 Qc7 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Be2 g5 12. fxg5 Ne5 13. Qe3 Nfg4 14. Bxg4 Nxg4

15. Qd2 hxg5 16. Bxg5 Nf2 $2 {Tricky, but this gets crushed:} 17. Bxe7 Nxd1 {

[#]} 18. Nd5 $3 exd5 19. Bf6 Rh5 20. exd5 {White is still a rook down but the

attack is unstoppable.} Bg4 (20... Rxd5 21. Re1+ Re5 22. Qg5 $3 {and Black can

resign.}) 21. Re1+ Kf8 22. h3 $1 {A slow move which highlights Black's

helplessness:} Re8 23. hxg4 Rxe1 24. Qxe1 Nxb2 25. Kxb2 Rxd5 26. g5 Ra5 27. g6

1-0[/pgn]

The book is primarily a games collection, but it also has a great deal of biographical information. The descriptions of his opponents, along with the many photos of leading players of his day, should appeal to chess history buffs. For chess book collectors, I should mention that there is another (self-published) book of Planinc’s games that appeared not long before this one: Pablo Iglesias’ Apologia of the Unexpected: Selected Games of Albin Planinc. It is a much shorter, modest effort, written with an explicit appeal to other writers to examine Planinc’s career more thoroughly. I think that Iglesias will be happy that Mohr and Mikhalchishin have done precisely that.

If Planinc was known for attacking chess, GM Viktor Kupreichik (1949-2017) was equally aggressive, and uncompromising to a fault. He was also, like Planinc, a sort of folk hero for his Belorussian fans.

In part one of Kupreichik: The Maestro from Minsk, no fewer than 24 prominent players write short chapters in which some discuss their impressions of Kupreichik and present from one to five of his games apiece. Along with a number of younger GMs, there are contributions from Karpov, Beliavsky, Suetin, Tukmakov, Sosonko, Gelfand, Kasparov, Sveshnikov, Smirin, Mamedov, Balashov and Vaganian. This is followed by Part Two with 46 games annotated by Kupreichik himself over the years, sometimes with Informant-style notes supplemented by verbal notes added by the editors.

Several of the contributors point to Kupreichik’s over-ambitiousness as his curse. In two major top-class tournaments, for example, he started with five consecutive victories, but his refusal to play for the occasional draw (or accept draws when offered) led to mental fatigue and drastic collapses. You can see this in the games of this book where, after lengthy and monstrously complicated struggles, even against world-class players, he rejects drawing lines and risks losing.

The following game isn’t exceptionally flashy, but illustrates Kupreichik’s mastery of the King’s Indian Defense and his avoidance of simplification in pursuit of attack.

[pgn]

[Event "URS"]

[Site "Soviet Union"]

[Date "1980.??.??"]

[Round "?"]

[White "Dorfman, Josif D"]

[Black "Kupreichik, Viktor D"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E97"]

[WhiteElo "2540"]

[BlackElo "2535"]

[Annotator "Watson"]

[PlyCount "58"]

[EventDate "1980.??.??"]

[EventType "game"]

[EventRounds "9"]

[EventCountry "URS"]

[SourceTitle "Chess Life March 2022"]

[SourceDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceVersion "1"]

[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5

Ne7 9. Bd2 Nh5 10. g3 f5 11. exf5 Nxf5 12. Ne4 Nf6 13. Bd3 Bh6 14. Bc3 $5 {

My initial instincts in a position like this is that White should have a small

positional advantage, but the best King's Indian players are comfortable with

Black. Here a slow move like [#] [Diag after note] Kupreichik now finds an

astonishing reorganization which, above all, keeps maximum complications on

the board:} (14. b4 {might have kept better control over the kingside squares.}

) 14... Ng7 $5 {What a retreat! At first this is the fourth choice by my

engine, but rather soon it puts it on an equal level with several other moves.}

({Kovalev gives} 14... Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Qf6 $11 {and says "but this is too

conventional and tedious for Kupreichik".}) 15. Nfd2 Ngh5 $1 16. Re1 Bf5 17. c5

(17. f3 Qd7 18. Bf1 Nxe4 19. Nxe4 Qf7 20. Nf2 Nf6 {and the engine still calls

it equal}) 17... Qd7 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. f3 Rf7 {Every piece in the attack.} 20.

Nc4 $4 (20. a4 $5 Raf8 21. Ra3) (20. Qe2 Raf8 $15) 20... Bxe4 21. fxe4 (21.

Bxe4 Nxe4 22. fxe4 Raf8 23. Qe2 Qh3 24. Qg2 Qc8 $1 25. Na3 Qc5+ 26. Kh1 Rf2 27.

Qh3 b5 {will win a piece and then some}) 21... b5 22. Na3 {[#]} ({The notes

suggest} 22. Nxe5 dxe5 23. Bxe5 {, but among other ideas,} Raf8 24. Qe2 Ng4 {

is extremely strong:} 25. Bd4 (25. Bxb5 Qc8 {and ...Rf2}) 25... Nxh2 26. Qxh2 (

26. Kxh2 Rf3 27. Rf1 Qg4) 26... Rf3 27. Bf1 Rxg3+ 28. Bg2 Qg4 29. Rf1 Bf4 $19)

22... Nxg3 $1 23. hxg3 Qh3 24. Qf3 Ng4 25. Qg2 Qh5 26. Qh1 Rf3 $1 27. Qxh5

Rxg3+ 28. Kh1 gxh5 29. Be2 (29. Bf1 Nf2+ 30. Kh2 Bf4 31. Bg2 h4 $1 32. Re2 h3

$19) 29... Rh3+ (29... Rh3+ 30. Kg1 Be3+ 31. Kf1 Rh1+ 32. Kg2 Rh2+ 33. Kg3 Bf4+

34. Kf3 Rf2#) 0-1[/pgn]

Here’s another King’s Indian, one that Kovalev calls “one of the best King’s Indian games of all time.” I won’t clutter it with notes, but suffice it to say that all of Black’s play is sound, as is White’s up to his final defensive lapse.

[pgn]

[Event "URS-ch49 Final"]

[Site "Frunze"]

[Date "1981.12.??"]

[Round "7"]

[White "Agzamov, Georgy"]

[Black "Kupreichik, Viktor D"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "E73"]

[BlackElo "2575"]

[Annotator "Watson"]

[PlyCount "74"]

[EventDate "1981.11.28"]

[EventType "tourn"]

[EventRounds "17"]

[EventCountry "URS"]

[EventCategory "12"]

[SourceTitle "Chess Life March 2022"]

[SourceDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceVersion "1"]

[SourceVersionDate "2022.03.01"]

[SourceQuality "1"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qd2 e5 8. d5

Nc5 9. f3 Bd7 10. h4 Qe8 11. g4 h5 12. O-O-O hxg4 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. fxg4 Qd8

15. Qe1 Bg7 16. Nh3 f5 17. exf5 gxf5 18. g5 b5 $1 19. cxb5 a6 20. b4 $6 {

Tempting, but Black can get too much activity for a piece.} (20. h5 {would get

White's counterattack moving.}) 20... axb5 $1 21. bxc5 b4 22. Nb1 Rxa2 23. Bc4

Ra5 24. c6 {[#]} Qb8 $3 {This second piece sacrifice is the key.} 25. Qe2 {

A logical defense.} ({After} 25. cxd7 Rc5 {, c4 hangs and White's king is

exposed. Okay, the computer finds the miraculous} 26. Rd4 $3 {, leading to

balanced chances after} Qb5 $1 (26... exd4 $2 27. Qe6+ Kh8 28. Nf4 Rxc4+ 29.

Kd1 $18) 27. Kd1 Rxc4 ({or} 27... Qa4+ 28. Kd2 Qa1 $13) 28. Rxc4 Qxc4 29. Nd2

Qb5 30. Qe2 Qxd7 {'=' according to my engine. But who would actually play this

way as White?}) 25... b3 $1 26. cxd7 Qb4 27. Rd2 e4 28. Nf4 $2 ({White had to

return the piece with} 28. Kd1 Ra1 29. Bd3 exd3 30. Qxd3 {with dynamic

equality.}) 28... Ra1 29. Rh3 Bc3 $1 {There's no good defense now.} 30. Bxb3

Bxd2+ 31. Qxd2 Rxb1+ 32. Kxb1 Qxd2 33. Ne6 Rb8 34. d8=Q+ Rxd8 35. Nxd8 e3 36.

Ne6 e2 37. Rh1 f4 $1 0-1[/pgn]

Kupreichik: The Maestro from Minsk is primarily a games collection, but includes biographical information and stories provided by other players, as well as a nice photo section, exercises, and personal essays by family members.

Both these books offer a plethora of exciting, complicated, back-and-forth struggles. One impression I get is that, before the rise of the engines, it was easier to achieve unclear tactical positions from forcing lines the opening and to survive, even when accepting an objectively worse position. Today, players are better at finding harmless continuations that frustrate the attacker, and when they do allow tactical lines, they are more likely to have a concrete solution prepared to either refute or neutralize them.

I’m not sure if we will ever again have players like this so consistently succeed in throwing even the highest-level players upon their own resources, but these books make for great reading and will inspire attacking players everywhere.