Kottnauer's social game!?

Historical knowledge and information regarding our great game.
John McKenna

Kottnauer's social game!?

Post by John McKenna » Fri Jun 29, 2012 5:27 pm



The game above is posted partly in memory of Cenek Kottnauer and partly in response to mention of 'geo-social games' in 'FIDE does Chess Boxing?' in 'General Chat'. There one of the forum's most prolific pundits comments as follows -

RdC>Actually it (a geo-social game) seems to be a development of the old idea of a mass consultation game, the traditional form of which, GM v newspaper or magazine readers dates back decades. The problem with that set up was that unless you had a GM moderator on the collective side, the collective side was likely to fall into every trap going. Still the new proposal is to pit collective v collective. It remains to be seen the standard of the resulting games.<

I have a personal memory of seeing IM Kottnauer play, which I will post here in the next few days.
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John McKenna

Re: Kottnauer's social game!?

Post by John McKenna » Sat Jun 30, 2012 4:51 pm

During the late 1970s I played in one of the sections of the Aaronson tournament in North London. At that tournament two IMs played a game each against a chess programme running on a remote computer connected - by telephone I believe - to the Aaronson venue. I remember being present for both games, which were played outside the main hall.

The first to try his strength against the distant machine was a US IM in his thirties, who was a frequent visitor to these shores. My recollection is that he looked nervous, played a sharp game, seemed surprised by the machine's moves, became agitated at times, and was soon defeated.

The second IM was in his sixties, grisled but outwardly calm and collected. He played in a more strategic style than the younger IM and never look flustered in a game that he seemed to win with ease. Here is a brief summary of his life -

Cenek (pronounced CHEN-ek) Kottnauer born 1910, Czechoslovakia. IM 1950 and International Arbiter 1951. Played the Helsinki Ol. 1952 on board 4 for Czechoslovakia (+10 =5 -0). 1st Lucerne 1953. Emigrated to England, played for England in the Olympiads of 1964 and 1968. In 1970s one of England's top coaches of young players. Deceased 1996, I believe.

One of the players in the Aaronson top section was the Soviet GM Alexander Kotov. Below is a game that shows Kottnauer could combine strategy and tactics even against the best.



I am unsure if Kottnauer played in the main event or if he was just visiting and end up playing against the computer by chance. Also unsure if the games played by the two IMs survived. Does anyone know?
Last edited by John McKenna on Mon Jul 02, 2012 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ian Kingston
Posts: 1071
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 3:16 pm
Location: Sutton Coldfield

Re: Kottnauer's social game!?

Post by Ian Kingston » Sat Jun 30, 2012 11:20 pm

Here's a Kottnauer game that's never previously seen the light of day:



The prizewinners of various sections at the Evening Standard London Junior Congress, held at the end of December, were invited back to play in one of several simuls. Kottnauer played the weaker players. I recall that Vlastimil Jansa was one of the other simul givers, but there were one or two others that I don't remember.

I was trying to learn the French Defence at the time, but clearly not really getting it.
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John McKenna

Re: Kottnauer's social game!?

Post by John McKenna » Sun Jul 01, 2012 12:23 pm

Thanks for letting your game out into the light, Ian, and for informing about the context in which you came to play it.
By one account Kottnauer was so good at beating a promising youngster's Frenches he engendered an aversion to it. So, why not turn the board round and let the Master show how it's done? Unfortunately I can find no example of Kottnauer playing against the Advance. Found a game where he played the French (probably with a quick draw in mind) against E. Paoli's Tarrash, Venice 1949 (R12).
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