Belgian Chess History

By now, there are several thousands of games on this site. How is one supposed to find games that are interesting? The answer is that one is not. One can, from now, look at the Best Of Belgian Chess History posts to find some of the more interesting ones. One can even make suggestions to the webmaster. One is very lucky, indeed.

The scene:

In 1971, the European team championship was not held in a Swiss system, but rather with preliminary groups, much like in football. And lo! it came to pass that the strong Czechoslovakian team travelled to the distant city of Ostend, in order to make minced meat out of their Belgian opponents. The first day, the Belgian faced their formidable opponents and were crushed. Boey managed to snatch half a point against Hort, but all other games were lost. Then came the second day…

The protagonists:

White: Roland Beyen, 39 years old, rating: 2280

When this game was played, Beyen had been a national top player for quite some time. He represented Belgium in four olimpiads and countless matches. In the national club championship he was Ostend’s trusted first board. He is more well-known now as a correspondence player. He earned the IMC title, but that had not happened yet in 1971.

Black: GM Miroslav Filip, 43 years old, rating: 2510

Filip was a world-class player. He won the GM title in 1955, qualified twice for the candidates’ tournament and chessmetrics puts him as high as number 17 in the world in 1961. At the time of this game, he was still number 63 on the FIDE list. By then, he had won the Czechoslovakian championship three times. On the final of the previous European team championship, he had won the gold medal on board 2 before Korchnoi. Clearly, he is the upperdog.

Why did I pick this game?

Because of white’s 28th move: a magnificent tactical trick which, according to Tim Krabbé’s website, was really due to Dunkelblum.