 Most of the games are long positional affairs, culminating in an ending rather than a direct attack on the king. Typically, the material balance will be equal (or as near as damn it) all the way through, and the opponent will have made no gross errors, yet Gligoric’s powerful positional play will carry the day.
Reviewed by P.P.O. Kane
I Play Against Pieces
By Svetozar Gligoric
Translated by Biljana and Zoran Ilic
Batsford, 2002
ISBN: 9-780-7134-8770-1
Not just another games collection, by any means, since Gligoric was such a classy and forceful positional player when in his prime, and his star continued to shine bright thereafter.
This book collects together some 130 of his best games, arranged by opening, and it wouldn’t be surprising to find another 130 of his games of a commensurate quality. For Gligoric has been a prolific player and a very successful one; and certainly he is the best Yugoslavian (and Serbian) player of all time.
Most of the games are long positional affairs, culminating in an ending rather than a direct attack on the king. Typically, the material balance will be equal (or as near as damn it) all the way through, and the opponent will have made no gross errors, yet Gligoric’s powerful positional play will carry the day. Such games (one unassuming example is game 41, versus Filip at Zagreb 1965) are as impressive in their way as games full of spectacular combinations and sacrifices. They are extremely instructive as well.
The import of the title, incidentally, is that Gligoric was primarily interested in the logic of the game of chess rather than the psychology of the opponent. He played the board, and the pieces, rather than the man. Undoubtedly, he was a sportsman as well as one of the leading grandmasters of his era.
With this fine book, which includes as well a ‘chess autobiography’ (sketchy but intriguing, it reads sometimes like a CV) and an account of some of Gligoric’s contributions to opening theory (and, in particular, to the theory of his beloved King’s Indian Defence) we have a fitting monument to his considerable achievements.
Here is the game Gligoric-Filip, Zagreb 1965, which I mention above, with some brief notes:
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bxf6 Bxf6 8. Rc1 c6 9. Bd3 Nd7 10. O-O dxc4 11. Bxc4 e5 12. Ne4 exd4 13. Nxf6+ Qxf6 14. Qxd4 Qxd4 15. Nxd4 Nf6 16. f3! (to limit the N's freedom of movement) Bd7 17. Rfd1 Rad8 18. e4 (with unspectacular moves White has obtained a clear advantage) Rfe8 19. b4 Bc8 20. Bb3 a6 21. Kf2 g6 22. Ne2 Be6 23. Bxe6 fxe6 24. Nf4 Kf7 25. Nd3 Nd7 26. Nb2! (intending Nc4 and Nd6+) Nb6 27. a4! Ke7 28. a5 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Nd7 30. Na4!! (the best move of the game; the point is that c5 is a more important square than either d6 or e5, so this move is miles better than the superficially appealing 30.Nc4, which anyway might be met with 30 ...c5) Rf8 31. Nc5 Nxc5 32. bxc5 (now White is effectively a pawn up, since his two pawns hold Black's three on the queenside) Rf7 33. Ke3 Kf6 34. h4 h5 35. Kf4 e5+ (now the 6th rank is weakened: see White's 40th move) 36. Ke3 Kg7 37. g3 Re7 38. f4 (creating a passed pawn) exf4+ 39.
gxf4
Kf6 40. Rd6+ Kg7 41. e5 Kf7 42. Ke4 Kg7 43. f5 gxf5+ 44. Kxf5 1-0 (because e6 and Rd7 - and perhaps also Kf6 - will follow: note that at no point in the game, not even in the final position, did White have a material advantage)
About the reviewer: P.P.O. Kane lives and works in Manchester, England. He welcomes responses to his reviews and you can reach him at ludic@europe.com
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