The story I’m about to reveal is not fictitious… Unfortunately, it’s all too true. The part of Doctor Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronkensteen”) will be played by any and all members of the Boston Blitz. Most other parts, including the Monsta, will be played by that versatile troupe, the Dallas Destiny.

It was a dark and stormy night and the electricity from the flashing clouds rattled in the towers of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as I creaked opened the door to the playing room. “DESTINY! DESTINY! NO ESCAPING THAT FOR ME!” Dr. Frankenstein (presently played by Matt Phelps) was in one of his rare moods as he busily hurried to set up for the match. I took this as an Ominous sign.

The players trickled in one by one and gathered for a group hug and the usual Matt Phelps pre-match pep talk…. “From that fateful day when stinking bits of slime first crawled from the sea and shouted to the cold stars, ‘I am man’, our greatest dread has always been the knowledge of our own mortality. But, tonight we shall hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of death itself. Tonight, we shall ascend into the heavens. We shall mock the earthquake. We shall command the thunders, and penetrate into the very womb of impervious nature herself… on three… one… two… three… Revenge!”… touching as always.

The first game began with the introductions…

Davorin: Dr. Frankenstein…
Jorge: It’s “Fronkensteen”.
Davorin: You’re putting me on.

Already off on the wrong foot… things got worse.

Jorge: You must be Igor (ee-gor)?
Davorin: No, It’s pronounced “eye-gor”.
Jorge: But, they told me it was “ee-gor”.
Davorin: Well, they were wrong now weren’t they.

The tension was palpable as the game began…

SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic

Usually the Queen’s Gambit is a pseudo gambit… no White player truly gives the pawn away and no Black player seriously tries to hold it… do they?

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.Bg5 Bb4 7.e3 b5 8.Nd2 Bb7

Believe it or not, this has all been played before and Black has had the best of it… but, how to get the pawn back… Oh, I forgot, Jorge doesn’t worry about the little guys.

Fritz still calls things close to equal. Jorge now forces the exchange of the Bishop for Knight… Bishop e2 to f3 is another way to go here.

9.axb5 Bxc3 10.bxc3 cxb5 11.Qb1 Bc6 12.e4 h6 13.Bh4 Nbd7 14.Be2 Qb6 15.0-0 0-0 16.Bf3 e5 17.d5 Bb7

The Bishop has returned. Black has allowed the passed pawn in order to gain access to the c5 square. He is probably hoping that he can get the Knight to d3. But, Fritz thinks things are about equal. If White plays carefully… he can prevent this plan. For example… 18.Qb2! Nc5 19.Bxf6 Nd3 hitting the Queen is answered simply by 20.Nxc4… hitting Black’s Queen and after 20… bxc 21.Qxb6 axb 22.Be7… White has his pawn back and the two Bishops with a slightly better game.

I could give other variations along these lines, but, in the end, it seems White’s best play is Qc2, Rb1 with pressure on the queenside and it seems he will eventually win his pawn back or create enough threats with the passed pawn to gain equality.

I think about now I turned to Chris Bird and said… “You know, at times like these, I’ll never forget what my Dad used to say…” “What did he say?” Chris obliged… I answered dolefully… “What the hell are you doing in the bathroom day and night?… give someone else a chance!” Chris nodded knowingly.

Meanwhile, White kept pushing for a kingside attack and this just leads to more trouble for him.

18.Qc2 a6 19.Rfb1 Qc7 20.Nf1 Rfb8 21.Ne3 Ne8 22.Nf5 Nd6 23.Be7 Nxf5 24.exf5 f6 25.d6 Qc8 26.Qe2 Nc5 27.Bxb7 Rxb7 28.Qg4 Nd3 29.Bxf6…

Now Black is much better.

After 29… h5 30.Qg6 Rf7 31.Bg5 Rxf5 Black would put maximum pressure on the position.

29… Qc5 this leads only to a draw.

30.Be7 Nxf2 31.Qh4 Ne4+ 32.Kh1 Nf2+ 33.Kg1 Ne4+ 34.Kh1 Nf2+ 35.Kg1 Ne4+ draw by repetition.

Jorge got up from the board and walked outside to get some air… quite a disappointment for the highest league rated player.

Just then, a blindman near the coffee machine disturbed the silence… “Wait, Where are you going? I was going to make espresso.”

Meanwhile, Boston’s second board was in a maneuvering mood…

The game began as the sound of distant violins filled the air.

Dave: What is this place?
John: Music room?

IM John Bartholomew vs. IM Dave Vigorito — Board 2

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 a6 5.Nf3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.gxf3 e6 9.c5 Nbd7 10.f4 g6 11.Qc2 Bg7 12.Bd3 Ng8 13.Bb2 Ne7 14.0-0-0 Nf5 15.Ne2…

Now that’s a lot of maneuvering!

Just then, Phillip Nutzman, who had been making the moves for White on Board 2 sat down beside me and whispered… “What is it?” I answered most confidently… “ Schwartzwald Kirchetort”. This seemed to evoke a frighteningly gutteral response from somewhere outside the playing room door… “MMMMMM!”.

Up to now we have followed a game, Peter Nielsen – Glenn Flear, 2002. The game continued 15… Qh4 and didn’t turn out well for Black as the Queen loses a tempi to White’s positioning of the Knight on f3 and has to retreat anyway. Dave’s move is better.

15… 0-0 16.Kb1 a5 This move surprised me. It seemed to me that on move 15 or 16 Black had to play …b4 if he ever hoped to break through to the White King. Maybe Dave thought that White’s attack would be faster and wanted to concentrate on countering threats on the Kingside. I didn’t get a chance to ask him. Now things get locked up. 17.a3!?… No matter which way Black pushes his pawns, White will counter with a pawn push ending any hope for a Black attack.

17… Qe7 18.Ng1 Nh4!?

This move points out why 15… Qh4 was not good. Dave saves a few tempi over the Nielsen-Flear game and prepares to trade off the pesky White Knight if it should move to f3.

19.Qe2 a4 20.b4 Rab8 21.Nf3 Nxf3 22.Qxf3 Nf6 23.Rdg1 Kh8 24.h4 Nh5 25.Rg5 f5 26.Rh3 Bf6

Yeah! Definitely a Schwartzwald Kirchetort. White can’t make progress unless he is willing to sack an exchange. He decides to retreat and a draw is eventually agreed on move 37. Good game Dave… a nice easy draw with the Black pieces.

Click here for Part II of this story…