TWIC is 30. First issue 17th September 1994.
Tony Miles (1955-2001)
Remembering Tony Miles
IM Malcolm Pein - Saturday 12th November 2011
Tony Miles 1955-2001 | http://www.theweekinchess.com
Malcolm Pein pays tribute to Tony Miles who died a decade ago on November 12th 2001. Miles was England's first GM and led the way to the English chess explosion.
Today is the 10th anniversary of the passing of Tony Miles who was the first Briton to become a grandmaster. Tony possessed incredible fihgting spirit, he always played for a win and he was one of the most creative players ever to move the pieces. He possessed a wicked sense of humour and his writings on chess were always entertaining. His style was original and he usually avoided main lines of opening theory and relied on his natural ability to outplay opponents.
Here are two of what I regard as his most memorable games. The first features the cheeky 1...a6 which Tony played against the then world champion Anatoly Karpov and downed the great man. The game was played in the 1980 European Team championship when England drew with the USSR. The match is well worth recalling. Michael Stean drew with another world champion Tigran Petrosian and the USSR were saved only by a win on bottom board from a certain Garry Kasparov.
Russia 4-4 England
Miles 1-0 Karpov; Stean draw Petrosian; Nunn 1-0 Polugaevsky; Speelman draw Geller; Keene draw Balashov; Hartston draw Romanishin; Vaganian 1-0 Mestel; Webb 0-1 Kasparov.
A Karpov - A Miles
European Team Championship Skara 1980
St George Defence
1.e4 a6
Tony Miles
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Anatoly Karpov
Position after 1...a6
2.d4 b5 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Qe2 e6 6.a4 c5
(Miles also suggested 6...b4)
7.dxc5
(7.e5 c4!? or 7.c3 Nc6 8.0-0)
7...Bxc5 8.Nbd2 b4 9.e5 Nd5 10.Ne4 Be7 11.0-0?!
(11.Bg5! 0-0 12.Nd6 with an edgeor 11.Bg5 f6?! 12.exf6 gxf6 13.Ne5! 0-0 14.Bh6!)
11...Nc6 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.c4
(13.Ng3 h5!? would have appealed to Miles)
13...bxc3 14.Nxc3 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 Nb4 16.Bxb4 Bxb4 17.Rac1 Qb6 18.Be4 0-0
Tony Miles
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Anatoly Karpov
Position after 18...0-0
19.Ng5
(19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Ng5+ Kg6! 21.Qg4 f5)
19...h6 20.Bh7+!?
(Karpov is provoked. 20.Bxb7 Qxb7 21.Qe4=)
20...Kh8 21.Bb1 Be7 22.Ne4
(22.Qd3 g6)
22...Rac8 23.Qd3? Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Qxb2!
Tony Miles
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Anatoly Karpov
Position after 24...Qxb2!
25.Re1
(25.Rc7 Bc6!)
25...Qxe5 26.Qxd7 Bb4 27.Re3 Qd5 28.Qxd5 Bxd5
Miles emerged with the bishop pair and an extra pawn
29.Nc3 Rc8 30.Ne2 g5 31.h4 Kg7 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.Bd3 a5 34.Rg3 Kf6 35.Rg4 Bd6 36.Kf1 Be5 37.Ke1 Rh8 38.f4 gxf4 39.Nxf4 Bc6 40.Ne2 Rh1+ 41.Kd2 Rh2 42.g3 Bf3 43.Rg8 Rg2 44.Ke1 Bxe2 45.Bxe2 Rxg3 46.Ra8 Bc7 0-1
Miles' strategy is based on leaving White with a bad light squared bishop in a closed position that favours knights.
I Sokolov - A Miles
Biel 1989
Old Indian
1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.c4 Nd7 4.e4 e5 5.Be2 Be7 6.d5 Bxf3!? 7.Bxf3 Bg5 8.Nc3 a5 9.Bxg5 Qxg5 10.0-0 Nh6!
Typically original, Black is ready for f5 and also leaves a retreat for the queen
11.Qb3?! Nc5 12.Qb5+ Ke7! 13.Na4 b6
(13...c6? 14.Qb6! Nxa4 15.Qxb7+ Kf6 16.Qxc6)
14.Nxc5 bxc5 15.a3 Rhb8 16.Qc6 Kd8!
Tony Miles
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Ivan Sokolov
Position after 16...Kd8!
17.h4?
(17.b4! axb4 18.axb4 Rxa1 19.Rxa1 Qd2! 20.bxc5 Qa5!=)
17...Qd2!
(17...Qxh4? 18.b4 with counterplay)
18.Bd1 Ng8!
Coming to e7 to evict the queen or to f6 to cover d7
19.Ba4 Nf6 20.f4??
(20.Rad1 Qe2!)
Tony Miles
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Ivan Sokolov
Position after 20.f4?? Black to play and win
Answer:
20...Rxb2! 0-1
