Chess - The Scotsman 04/02/2012

FEBRUARY 11 marks the 60th birthday of IM Roddy McKay, a great friend and hero who I first saw at a weekend tournament in Castlemilk almost 40 years ago.

At the very start of round one on the Friday evening when the tall, dark and handsome Roddy strode into the playing hall, Mick Hanley shouted out, “Hey, Roddy, do you want the cheque now or at the end!?” Roddy truly was the best player there, and so two days later he duly won the first prize as Mick had predicted. Something else of considerable significance had also happened: at least one small 12-year-old boy whose name, Paul, means ‘little’ had observed everything, and wanted to try to one day be a great chess master just like his new hero.

Roddy’s inspirational achievements have certainly not been limited to Scottish soil, as he also crossed swords with, and defeated, titans of the chess world at tournaments abroad. Just a few years after Vlastimil Hort had given a famous lecture at Dundee Chess Club, Roddy faced the then Czech super-GM over the board at the 1982 Lucerne Olympiad and absolutely trounced him. It was a bit like Rocky Balboa starting out massively as the underdog and yet beating Apollo Creed to become world boxing champion. That was in a film, of course, but Roddy’s knock-out chess moves are very real.

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Roddy loves sneaky ideas and puzzles with surprising twists – even ones not directly related to chess – so I feel sure that he will enjoy the following trio: quite appropriately, the original meaning of the name ‘Roddy’ is ‘famous power’; Roddy’s full name, Roderick McIntosh McKay, is an anagram of ‘A checkroom’s tricky mind’; the much-loved ‘Roddy McKay’ is an anagram of ‘My Dad Rocky’.

Thank you, Roddy, for all your inspiration and friendship. I’m now trying to do likewise for two young Belgian children, 12-year-old Manon Heiremans and her younger brother, Guillaume, whose parents contacted me recently. I’m sure you will like the following attractive miniature, based closely on a similar game that Manon won. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 a6 3 Nc3 d6 4 d4 Nd7 5 dxc5 Nxc5 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Bxc5! dxc5 8 Qxd8+ Kxd8 9 Rd1+ Ke8 (also terrible for Black is 9...Kc7 10 Ng5; 9...Nd7 10 Ne5 Ke8 11 Nd5!; 9...Bd7 10 e5 Ng4 11 h3 Nh6 12 e6! fxe6 13 Ne5) 10 e5 Nd7 11 Nd5 Rb8 12 e6!! fxe6 13 Nc7+ Kd8. 13...Kf7 would have allowed 14 Rxd7! Bxd7 15 Ne5+, but after 13...Kd8 White can force a beautiful mate in four moves that you can enjoy finding before seeing the solution below.

Solution to ‘Forced Mate in Four’ puzzle: After 14 Nxe6+ Ke8 15 Nfg5!, Black cannot prevent 16 Nc7+ Kd8 17 Nge6#!

As a bonus puzzle, Guillaume quickly found how White can win from the following position which occurred in the super-GM clash W.So-V.Laznicka, New Delhi 2011: wKb1,Qh6,Rd1,h1,Ne5,f4,Pa2,b2,e4,g4,h3; bKh8,Qa5,Rf6,g8,Bd8,e6,Pa7,b5,c4,d3,h7.

Solution to second puzzle: 1 Nxe6! Rxh6 2 Nf7#. That is one of 300 terrific puzzles in FM Graham Burgess’ excellent new work, The GAMBIT Book of Instructive Chess Puzzles – check out www.gambitbooks.com