I don't worry about a thing

Long ago and far away I sat one day in an architectural history class, anticipating another dull lecture from another dull professor. Was I in for a surprise. This new prof walks in, flips off the lights, cranks up a slide show of historic buildings, and starts the music. "Sit back and soak it up," says he.


I did. It was my introduction to Mose Allison. I was, as they used to say, gobsmacked. In the more than five decades since that intro I can no longer remember what that album was, but I believe it must have been his first, Back Country Suite, released in 1957.


Later, when I began to play a little chess, I considered adopting this number as my theme song.

I believe it was this game that convinced me...  

More Mad Dog

We all know we don't see the Blackmar-Diemer played that much in "serious" chess, so I was a bit surprised to come across this game played a decade ago in the second round of a tournament in England. Does the audacity (a popular word these days) of this variation account for Black's tenth move? Black is not a weak player. Now he is a FIDE master with a rating of 2327. But then he reacted badly in his encounter with a mad dog. Ormrod,Joe P - Webb,Laurence (2225) Aintree Open (2), 05.06.1998 BDG, Bogoljubov Defense, Mad Dog Variation [D00] 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.h4 c5

8.h5 gxh5 9.Ne5 e6 10.Bg5

10...Nc6?

Inexplicable. Clearly better was 10...Qxd4 11.Qe2 Nd5 12.Nxd5 Qxe5 13.Qxe5 Bxe5 14.Nf6+ Bxf6 15.Bxf6 Rg8 16.Rxh5 a6 (16...Rxg2 17.Rxh7 Rg1+ 18.Bf1+/=) 17.Rxh7 Nd7 =/+

11.Nxc6+- bxc6 12.Qf3

12...cxd4

12...Qxd4 gets complicated quickly, e.g., 13.Qxc6+ Nd7 14.Qxa8 Qe5+ 15.Be2 Qxg5 16.Qxc8+ Ke7 17.Qc6 Qg3+ 18.Kf1+-

13.0-0-0 Rb8 14.Bb3 c5?

Not good, but I can't find a move here to prevent the loss of a piece.

15.Ne4 Bb7 16.Nxf6+ Bxf6 17.Qxf6 Qxf6 18.Bxf6 Rg8 19.Ba4+ Kf8

20.Be5

Okay, but 20.Rxh5 is better 20...Bd5 (20...Bxg2 21.Rxc5) 21.Rxh7 Rb4+- with 22.Rdh1!? or 22.b3.

20...Rc8 21.Bd6+ Kg7 22.Rxh5 Be4 23.Bxc5 Kg6 24.Rdh1 Bxg2 25.Rh6+ Kf5 26.R1h5+ Ke4

26...Rg5 27.Be7 Rxh5 28.Rxh5+ Kf4 29.Rxh7+-

27.Bb5

27.Rh4+ Kd5 28.Bxd4 Be4 29.c3+-

27...e5 28.Bd3+ Kd5 29.b4

29...a5??

29...Rg6 30.Rxh7 Rf6 31.Rg5 and Rhh5+-

30.Rd6# 1-0

Mad Dogs and Halloween

Well, it's Halloween and a nice little Frankenstein-Dracula variation (1 e4, e5 2 Nc3, Nf6 3 Bc4, Nxe4!?) in the Vienna Game seems appropriate. But I've never played that line. (I could offer up a nice Evans Gambit from the days when I opened games with 1.e4--but that wouldn't fit the season). So how about a couple of mad dogs. I cooked this (obviously unsound) line up several decades ago.

  Purser,Tom - Giles,T Stuttgart, 1980 BDG, Bogoljubov Defense, Mad Dog Attack [D00]

  1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.h4?!

The h-pawn as mad dog. Black has a number of easy refutations, but I still won correspondence games with it before the days of computer analysis. This game was played in the first round of an OTB tournament. 7...0-0 8.h5 Nxh5 9.Rxh5 gxh5 10.Qd3 e5 11.Ng5 e4 12.Qxe4 Bf5 13.Qxf5 Qe7+ 14.Ne2 Rd8 15.Bxf7+ Kf8 16.Nxh7# 1-0

 A correspondence game from the same year:

 Purser,Tom - Szasz,Charles Correspondence, 1980 BDG, Bogoljubov Defense, Mad Dog Attack [D00] 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.h4 Bf5

8.Ne5 0-0 9.g4 Be4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Nxf7 Rxf7 12.Bxf7+ Kxf7 13.Qf3+ Nf6 14.g5 Qxd4 15.gxf6 exf6 16.Qb3+! Kf8 17.Be3 Qe5 18.0-0-0 Nc6 19.Rd5 Qe4 20.Bc5+ Ke8 21.Rhd1 Rb8 22.Rd8+

Black has no defense against 23. Qg8+ 1-0