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Shelby Lyman: On ChessChessThe main tenet of modern chess is dynamic play. Cede your opponent an im-pressive-looking pawn center, take a couple of bad pawn weaknesses yourself, or lose a pawn with no immediate material compensation, and you yet may win, if the activity of your pieces can keep your opponent too busy to exploit his own “advantages.”But dynamic chess is not for the faint of heart. Complications must be bravely welcomed, though there is the inevitable danger they will backfire. Sharp and imaginative moves must be found again and again, as new problemsare encountered.Sal Matera is an extremely promising young American chess master. His 7 4-24 record in the 1974 World Student Team Olympiad at Teeside, England was an outstandingperformance. There he impressively bested grandmasters Sax and Balashov of Hungary and the USSR respectively.Apparently England inspires Matera. For recently he has registered another fine performance there. He has just tied for second in an international tournament in Birmingham. And he has celebrated the Bicentennial year with a deft win over the British champion, Botterill.The latter game is modern (dynamic) chess, par excellence.We first see Matera’s exceptionally spirited intentions in Diagram One. White (Botterill) has just played 1. N-N5, blockingblack’s (Matera’s) twopronged attack on the queen knight’s pawn, and uncovering the white queen’s bishop on the black queen.BLACKMATL'RAdo no bo o x ax nx axriAQR QN OB Q K KB KN KRWHITEBOTTERILL Black to playBut the white position is overblown with pawn moves and the alert black pieces, including the king’s bishop (which already attacks white’s rook), will take some unusual liberties: Matera played the surprising 1 . . N ) 2) - B 4! ! After 2. PxN, NxP; 3. QN-R3, BxR; 4. RxB, he has gained an exchange (rook for bishop) for a pawn and a knight. And he can win a second exchange (knight for a rook) beginning with NxQ. (See Diagram Two)BLACK MATERA dO NO BO O X BX NX dXQR QN QB QKB KN KRWHITEBOTTERILLBlack to playBut first he interposes4 . . P-QR3, which forces the knight back to QB3. Theblack queen pawn is no longer under attack, and the knight will soon be in white'sway.After 5. N-B3, therefollowed 5 . . NxQ; 6. BxQ, NxR; 7. N-K2 (to prepare B-Q4 and BxN), P-K4 (hindering that plan); 8. B-R5 (threatening B-B3, with the same idea), P-QN4 (counterplay); 9. B-B3, KR-Bl; 10. K-B?? (SeeDiagram Three)BLACKMATERAdO NO 80 O X BX NX dXQR QN QB QKB KN KRTVSprts at a GlanceWHITEBOTTERILL Black to playNow Matera need not lose the knight. After 10 . . P-N5!, Botterill saw his mistake and resigned.
Newspaper Details
Glens Falls Post Star
Glens Falls, New York, US
Sat, May 24, 1975
Page 40
Full Page
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Los A.
CA, USA 03 Jan 2023
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