I Am #1!

THERE is a silly but fun pastime at the end of a college football season in the United States when boosters of even the lowliest university set out to prove their school is really number one or, as it is usually written, #1!

For example, in 2022 the national championship game was won by the team I support, Georgia Bulldogs.

But during the season they lost to Alabama Crimson Tide, who in turn had lost to Texas A&M, who lost to Mississippi State, who lost to Memphis Tigers, etc, etc.

Eventually the chain leads to one of the lowliest teams in the land, which can thus make a claim to be #1!

It is possible to play a similar game in chess, by which you trace your wins up to a victory over a reigning world champion, thus putting yourself in position to claim, however far-fetched the claim may be, to be #1!

My chain starts with the following game in round two of the 1996 US Open at Alexandria, Virginia.

George Kramer (2312) - Spanton (2054)*

QGD Semi-Tarrasch

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4!? 6.Qa4+!?

Most popular in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database is 6.Qxd4. The point of the text is to oblige Black to put a piece on d7 where, White hopes, its positioning will be awkward.

6...Bd7 7.Qxd4 exd5

How should White proceed?

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8.Bg5

This is the commonest move in Mega24, but the game's move-order lets White grab a pawn with 8.Nxd5!? However, after 8...Qa5+ 9.Nc3 Nc6 Black has obvious compensation; Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 reckon chances are equal.

8...Nc6 9.Qe3+!?

This seems to have been a novelty. Known moves were 9.Bxf6 and 9.Qd2.

9...Be6 10.0-0-0?

The white king proves too vulnerable on the queenside. The engines prefer 10.Nd4, when Humpy Koneru (2574) - Anna Muzychuk (2534), Women's Candidates (Monaco) 2022, continued 10...Bc5 11.Nxe6 Bxe3 12.Nxd8 Bxg5 13.Nxc6 bxc6, with an equal position, according to the engines (½–½, 34 moves).

10...Be7 11.h3

My notes show Fritz5 recommended 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.Rxd5!? Qe7 13.Rb5, claiming equality. However Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 reckon Black is winning.

11...0-0 12.Qd2 Qa5 13.e3 Rac8 14.Kb1 Nb4

Black's attack is coming first.

15.a3 Bf5+ 16.e4

Not 16.Kc1?? Na2#, and also no improvement is 16.Ka1 Nc2+ 17.Ka2 Bxa3!

16...dxe4 17.axb4 Bxb4 18.Bd3!? exf3

Capturing on c3, with rook or bishop, is even stronger, according to the engines.

19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Qf4

This is better than 20.Bxf5?!, which allows 20...Bxc3 etc.

20...Bxd3+ 21.Rxd3 Bxc3 22.bxc3 Rxc3 23.Rxc3 Qxc3 24.gxf3

The complications are over, and Black's extra pawns (and the exposed white king) should decide matters unless White can somehow conjure a draw by repetition or provoke a blunder

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24...Rc8 25.Rg1+ Kh8 26.Qg4 Qd3+ 27.Ka1 Qa6+ 28.Kb1 Qb5+ 29.Ka1 Qe5+ 30.Kb1 f5 31.Qg5 Qb5+ 32.Ka1 Qa6+ 33.Kb1 Qg6 0-1

*US Chess Federation ratings.