I've been playing some chess on the Internet Chess Club of late (as I tend to do from time to time) & played a game that sparked my interest in chess analysis again.
The game was the Fritz-Ulvestad variation of the Two Knights Defense (this is the complicated way of saying both my opponent & I made moves so that the pieces on the board looked like the diagram): 
This is a rather famous position from a 1965 correspondence game between Yakov Estrin & Hans Berliner, where Berliner won a spectacular game (and ultimately the World Correspondence Championship).
This is a rather famous position from a 1965 correspondence game between Yakov Estrin & Hans Berliner, where Berliner won a spectacular game (and ultimately the World Correspondence Championship).Of course I attempted to follow the Estrin-Berliner game, but played a different (and worse) move on move 9 & soon after completely forgot about the clock (not the smartest of things to do in a 1-minute game) & lost on time. This got me thinking about the variation & its many wild complications ... and of course dreams of playing a game like this in a tournament one day (though of course my recent form would suggest that this is a long way from reality). The variation is fascinating on many levels & I would not be able to do it justice in this blog, however if you are interested in it, this page has a number of links to articles about the variation (in particular have a look at the Tim Harding articles).
This got me thinking about some of my favourite chess players & some of their best games (which also double as some of my favourite games). In order to keep this post to a manageable length, I've decided to run with a brief description about the player in question, with links to some of their better games.
Jonny Hector
My favourite player without a doubt. Jonny is a Grandmaster from Sweden who has been a regular in top level events there, as well as other events around Europe. Although he sometimes has shockers, he loves attacking chess & many brilliancies can be found in his games.
Some of his best games:
Watch for the uber-sadistic zugzwang finish!
A less-than-conventional opening that turns into a stunning attack!
Another unusual opening turns into an amazing sacrificial attack leading to a king hunt!
Rashid Nezhmetdinov Rashid, or Nezh, was an International Master from the Soviet Union (born in modern-day Kazakhstan) who was well known inside the Soviet Union (not so much outside) for his tactical style & ability to find combinations in a range of positions. His reputation outside the USSR did not grow until late in his career & after his death in the 1970s.
Some of his best games:
Nezh's most famous game with an amazing queen sacrifice leading to a king hunt & eventual mating attack.
Nezhmetdinov v Enrico Paoli
Another fascinating attack that sees two pieces sacrificed for the attack, which ultimately proves decisive.
Another fascinating attack that sees two pieces sacrificed for the attack, which ultimately proves decisive.
A piece sacrifice in a seemingly standard opening position launches a devestating attack on the king.
A positional queen sacrifice in the middlegame, followed by an exchange sacrifice, before a combination leading to a winning ending!
This queen sacrifice is in some ways similar to another very famous queen sacrifice played in the game Vassily Ivanchuk v Alexei Shirov where Shirov sacrifices his queen in the middlegame for two pieces. This is another of my favourite games, played by two of my favourite modern Super Grandmasters.
Tiger Hillarp Persson Tiger is another Swedish Grandmaster who plays in a very creative attacking style. He has become a regular in the Swedish Olympiad team & like Hector plays many tournaments around Europe.
Some of his best game:
An innocuous opening soon turns wild & Persson sacrifices his queen, then a rook for a mating attack!
A wild game with many pieces flying all over the board, which ultimately leads to a winning attack for Persson.
Ultimately I'll continue to play chess & hope to one day play a game of that quality. The closest I have been would have to be a game I played at the Australian Open against Tony Weller, which won the brilliancy prize for the round. Some of my other best games would include a win against Andrew Allen from the Parkroyal Invitational, or for a straightforward attack that worked perfectly, my game against Kevin Tan from last year's Oceania Zonal.
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