[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Larsen in action: A story of crime and (well-deserved) punishment

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Larsen in action: A story of crime and (well-deserved) punishment
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1223173772.shtml


   In tonight's issue of [1]Chess Today, some games were included from
   [2]a tournament in Argentina, and to my surprise Bent Larsen was
   included among the participants. Larsen, as many of you probably
   remember, was one of the world's best players in the 1960s and '70s
   and remained an elite player into the 80s as well. He's in his 70s now
   and doesn't play that much any more, but it's still nice to see him in
   action. Or rather, it was, until I saw what he was playing:
   Round 1: Larsen (2461) - Dos Santos (2435): 1.g4.
   Round 2: Mahia (2441) - Larsen (2461) 1.d4 c5 2.d5 e5 3.Nc3 h5.
   Round 3: Larsen (2461) - Lemos (2479) 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5 Nf6
   4.h4.
   Round 4: Contin (2304) - Larsen (2461) 1.e4 a5
   Round 5: Larsen (2461) - Liascovich (2435) 1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bxb4 3.Bxe5
   Nf6 4.c3 Be7 5.h4 Nc6 6.Bh2.
   Larsen was a great player, and in his prime he might very well have
   gone 5-0 against these opponents. But even so, why play like this? Why
   treat your opponent like he's a [donkey]? I can't understand why one
   of the all-time greats would do this - is it something special for a
   legend to humiliate a 2304 player by beating him with 1.e4 a5?
   Happily, we won't get to find out. Contin DESTROYED Larsen in that
   game; in fact, all his opponents won. The author of today's Chess
   Today called Larsen's 0-5 start unfortunate, but I couldn't disagree
   more. It's one thing to play like this in blitz, goofing around out at
   the local club or on the internet (especially when one has "the
   hate"). But for a living legend to do this in a slow tournament? He
   can do whatever he wants to, but if he's going to play like this, I'm
   going to take delight in all the severe beatings over the board he
   gets.
   As for those who want to invoke the 1.e4 a6 of Karpov-Miles, I think
   that gets it backward. Miles was an underdog with a horrible record
   against Karpov, and was doing something desperate to stop the negative
   trend. Larsen is in the bully role, not that of the gritty underdog.
   And if his goal was to avoid heavy theory, surely there were easier
   and sounder ways to do it than that!
   Having been rather hard on Larsen in this post, let me say three
   things on his behalf. First, he is or at least was a great writer on
   the game, and if you can find his book of selected games at a
   non-lethal price, it's worth your time and money. The book is a
   terrific read. Second, he has always been somewhat avant-garde in his
   chess, though never anywhere near this far during his active days. But
   charitably, we can see his openings here as an extreme caricature of
   his normal chess. And third, at least he's not playing the Latvian!
   (You can replay two of his thrashings [3]here.)

References

   1. http://www.chesstoday.net/
   2. http://www.argentinodeajedrez.com.ar/caarui08/caarui08.htm
   3. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/uglylarsengames2008.htm