TWIC is 29. First issue 17th September 1994.
Vitaly Sevastyanov (1935-2010)
Vitaly Sevastyanov, 1935-2010
IM Malcolm Pein - Wednesday 14th April 2010
Soviet Astronaut Vitaly Sevastyanov passed away last week. He played a game of chess in space.
The Soviet astronaut Vitaly Sevastyanov, 1935-2010 passed away last week. A strong chess player and a staunch Communist, he became a major figure in Soviet chess. Sevastyanov was the Chairman of the USSR Chess Federation from 1977-1986 during some tumultuous times including the battles between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi which were fought on and off the board and the ascent of Garry Kasparov to the chess summit. Sevastyanov played a major role in the halting of the first Kasparov v Karpov match.
He went into space twice and played the first ever game of chess in space, in 1970 from Soyuz 9 against the Ground Control team.
He later embarked on a political career, becoming a member of the Communist Party Central Committee and a Deputy in the Russian Duma. He was twice made a hero of the Soviet Union.
Sevastyanov played with his fellow companion Andriyan Nikolayev against Commander Nikolai Kamanin and another cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko. The space game lasted nearly six hours and the standard of play was very high.
Soyuz 9 Cosmonauts - Ground Control
Soyuz 9 9th June1970
Queen's Gambit Accepted
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 e5 4.Bxc4 exd4 5.exd4 Nc6 6.Be3 Bd6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0 Bg4 10.h3 Bf5
(10...Bh5!)
11.Nh4 Qd7 12.Qf3 Ne7 13.g4 Bg6 14.Rae1 Kh8 15.Bg5 Neg8 16.Ng2 Rae8 17.Be3 Bb4 18.a3 Bxc3 19.bxc3 Be4 20.Qg3 c6 21.f3 Bd5 22.Bd3 b5 23.Qh4
(23.g5 Nh5 24.Qg4! Qxg4 25.hxg4 embarrasses the knight)
23...g6 24.Nf4
(24.Bf4-e5 suggests itself)
24...Bc4 25.Bxc4 bxc4 26.Bd2 Rxe1 27.Rxe1 Nd5 28.g5 Qd6 29.Nxd5 cxd5 30.Bf4 Qd8 31.Be5+ f6 32.gxf6 Nxf6 33.Bxf6+ Rxf6 34.Re8+ Qxe8 35.Qxf6+ Kg8 draw
Grandmaster David Norwood has retired from active play but you can still see his Modern Defence on the Internet Chess Club from time to time. Norwood lives in the Bahamas and I gather he is writing a book. Recently he has been supporting the Bahamas Chess Federation and played a 26 board simultaneous display in Nassau, conceding just two draws. Here is his Modern Defence in action.
U Floegel - D Norwood
Bundesliga 1997-98
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 d6 5.Qd2 Nd7 6.f4 b5 7.Bd3 Nb6 8.b3 e5 9.Nf3 Bg4 10.dxe5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 dxe5 12.fxe5 Bxe5 13.Rd1 Qf6 14.Ne2 Qxf3 15.Rf1 Qh3 16.Nd4 Nf6 17.Nxc6 Bc3 18.Rxf6 Qxe3+ 0-1
