MARK RUBERY CHESS
The Spanish Opening or the Ruy Lopez has been long considered the ‘gold standard’ of the Open Games that begin (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6) with the Italian Game and the Scotch being popular alternatives. The Georgian grandmaster, Baadur Jobava, is renowned for his taste in lesser played lines and his adoption of the optically modest 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Be2!? called the ‘Inverted Hungarian’ is returning him impressive results.
The Hungarian GM Istvan Csom (perhaps an introverted Hungarian?) has played it on numerous occasions but the name comes from Black’s response to the Italian game 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 where 3… Be7 is known as the Hungarian Defence.
In the following amazing game Jobava succeeds with an imaginative, if flawed, sacrificial concept.
Jobava,Ba (2710) - Bok,B (2560) [C44]
Tata Steel Challengers Wijk aan Zee NED (10.4) 2014
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2 Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.Nbd2 Bc5 6.c3 a5 7.a4 0–0 8.0–0 Re8 9.h3 h6 10.Qc2 b6 11.Re1 Bb7 12.Nf1 Bd6 13.Ng3 Ne7 14.Nh4 c5 15.Bg4 c4 16.dxc4 Nxe4 17.Rxe4!? dxe4 18.Bxh6!? (Chess from another planet!) …Bc5 (‘Unbelievable. White sacrifices a rook without there being any mate in the offing. Bok thought for a long time eventually deciding not to take the bishop. The variations after 19…gxh6 are not that complicated as long as he meets 19 Rd1 with 19…Nc8!-Timman) 19.Rd1 Qc7 20.Qc1 e3 21.Bxe3 Bxe3 22.Qxe3 Qxc4 23.Nh5! (‘Winning. The black queen is kept away from f4, after which the White attack becomes an avalanche’-Timman) … Qe4 24.Qg5 Ng6 25.Kh2 Bc8 26.f3 Qc2 27.Rd6 Bxg4 28.hxg4 Kh7 29.Nxg6 fxg6 30.Nf6+ gxf6 31.Rd7+ Kg8 32.Qxf6 1–0
Kasparov was the best player in his age, and Carlsen is the best right now. It’s impossible to compare. I tell people that it’s a pointless question. All World Champions were great players at their time. It’s like asking who is better – Maradona or Pelé. Both were geniuses in their own way. Why not Capablanca, who used to crush his opponents in blitz taking one minute against five? It was impossible to play blitz against Capablanca. My opinion is that he was the best blitz player ever. This was said by Lasker about the young Capablanca. (Jobava)