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Chess
4 Life!
By Candidate
Master Collin Madhavan
Getting
to know Rashid
'throw in the kitchen sink' Nezhmetdinov
"His games reveal the beauty of chess and make you love
chess, not so much the points and high placings, but the wonderful harmony and elegance of this particular world"
- Mikhail Tal
"Rashid Nezhmetdinov is a virtuoso of combinational chess."
- David Bronstein
"Nobody sees combinations as Rashid Nezhmetdinov "
- Mikhail Botvinnik
"Nezhmetdinov is
the greatest master of the initiative." - Lev Polugaevsky
Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov
(1912 - 1974) was probably the strongest attacking player of all time!
Apart from winning the Russian Chess Championships five times, he was
also one of the strongest checker (draughts) players in the world.
Grandmaster Andy Soltis once had this to say of Rashid, " He was probably the best
checker player among the 20th Century Chess Masters - or the best chess player among the checker
champions."
He feared no one over the 64
squares of the chessboard, and yet he only became an International
Master. A lack of opportunity, a late start to his chess career and
the difficultly in travelling abroad, were probably some of the
reasons for his not achieving the GM title. For the
record, his score against Tal was 3 - 1 in his favour! It is no wonder
that Tal chose
Rashid as his trainer when he was preparing for his World Chess title
match with Botvinnik.
My advice for those who have
'lost their Chess direction or are too busy chasing after title norms and
rating points, go through the games of Mr. Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov,
and a new window in Chess will open itself to you!!
Below are two of Rashid's games to get you excited
about Chess once again, to give you a 'new lease of Chess life', as it
were, and to remind you why we enjoy Chess so.
Nezhmetdinov - Tal
Polugaevsky -
Nezhmetdinov
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