Magic in the Basement
Ross Powell 1958-2015, by Bill Forster
In our third form (year 9) my friends and I started to really get into chess. We didn't know much, but we played incessently. I can recall taking out a book from the mobile library that served the less fashionable Wellington suburbs in those days; "Chess in a Nutshell" by the prolific and reliable author Fred Reinfeld. This was something of a revelation, and I learned about developing pieces and winning material. Forks, pins and skewers decided almost every game. Soon enough we knew how to safely convert an extra rook. Maybe even just an extra piece or exchange.
We had a kind and wise maths teacher, Mr Jones, who noticed what was happening and encouraged us. Mr Jones was a lovely man. I wonder now what was his backstory? What saw him abandon his native Wales and bring his soft vowels and capable mathematics to this most uncelebrated and obscure corner of new world suburbia? Presumably it was Mrs Jones. At the time I didn't give it a thought, and when he had to retire early after a bad heart attack in our fifth form year I don't recall making any attempt to check on his life or his health. Teenage boys are monsters. Or perhaps it was just me. Belatedly I appreciate him. Thank you Mr Jones, for everything that you did for us.
Early in 1975, our fourth form year, Mr Jones received notice that there was a secondary school chess competition. This was not a one day affair like the contemporary equivalents. It was a weekly event in the evenings, one game a night. Time control: 36 moves in 90 minutes. Probably then 30 more minutes to finish the game although I am not sure about that. No increment of course, digital clocks were still a twinkle. I know the time control only because recently Murray Chandler rediscovered a treasure trove of his early material including many scoresheets. He would usually dutifully record the time control.
On the first evening of the competition, Mr Jones dutifully collected each of us and we set off into the city on a weekday evening, a rare treat and a real adventure at the time! The Civic Chess Club (as it was known then – basically the predecessor of today's Wellington Chess Club) met in the basement of the old YWCA in upper Willis Street. I can still recall the assault on my senses of walking into that space for the first time. Chess everywhere. Equipment, trophies, giant scoretables of competitions complete and in progress. Serious chess players. My eyes widened at the wonder of it and I have never really recovered. The boards and pieces had heft, gravitas, mana. New Zealand's “Polish shipyard” economy of those times meant a single type of cheap plastic chess set was ubiquitous in homes and schools. Handling these weighty pieces instead, and pressing clocks that smelled of chess somehow made me realise just how important this game really was.
In my mind's eye the space was cavernous and genuinely impressive. The building is now a slightly shabby three star hotel and the basement apparently houses a pool and gym. I approached reception to get permission to have a look, get a photo to accompany this piece, and see if it was still familiar in any way. I was told rather coldly that, sorry the space was closed due to earthquake concerns. I think the modern reality would have jarred against my idealised memories, so maybe this was for the best.
On that first night we were drawn against Wainuiomata College, one of the favourites. On boards 2 through 4 we were probably outrated by 200- 300 Elos a board, and we lost routinely on all three. I was black on board three against Colin Rolfe and remember that my Pirc succumbed to White's space advantage leading to a standard kingside crush. On board 1 we were out rated by around 700 Elos. Logic dictates that only one outcome made any sense at all. Let's have a look at the game.
Chandler, Murray G - Powell, Ross A
Wainuiomata College v Newlands College 1975
1.e4 c5 If I may be allowed a digression so early; We had only recently stopped playing the most simplistic Italian game with Nc3 almost exclusively in every game. For my part I had discovered The Pirc Defence by Botterill and Keene in the Wellington Public library. I played it with complete lack of understanding, it was just fun to develop pieces in a different way, just advance the d pawn one square because it doesn't block the dark bishop if you develop it sideways instead! I couldn't understand the Sicilian at all. What are you developing? Recently I saw Eric Rosen explaining the Sicilian in a Youtube coaching video. Paraphrasing a little; "Think of the Sicilian as an improved form of the Pirc. In the Pirc you're always uncomfortable because with a pawn on d4 White always has the opportunity to kick your knight away from f6 with e5. In the Sicilian you defuse that possibility ahead of time, you're just preparing to exchange off a White pawn that arrives on d4". Why couldn't Botterill and Keene say something as simple as that? (Maybe it would have compromised sales of their book I suppose). Where was Eric Rosen and Youtube in 1975? 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Qb6 6.Nb3 e6 7.Be3 Qd8?! ( A standard enough position 7...Qc7 has been played hundreds of times ) 8.Bd3 Be7 9.Qe2 O-O 10.f4 d5 11.O-O-O An uncompromising approach 11...d4? Straightforward, but it's not hard to see that this isn't going to win a piece 12.Bb5 Qb6 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 Qc7 15.Be5 Qa5 16.g4 a6 17.Bd3 Nd7 18.Bd4 e5 19.Nd5 Re8 20.fxe5 Bg5+? Forcing White to play a move he wants to play anyway (20...Qxa2 is better ) 21.Kb1 Nxe5
Moves are clickable
It's easy to sit with a computer and see that it thinks White's position is overwhelming if he just focusses on attack and doesn't worry about g4 22.Bb6 Instead Murray decides to be materialistic and try to get his retaliation in first 22...Qa4 23.Nc7 Bxg4 24.Qg2 Bxd1 25.Nxa8
The board is almost literally on fire, everything is enprise 25...Bf3 (25...Nxd3! Actually wins a safe piece for Black, eg 26.cxd3 Rc8 27.Nc7 ( not 27.Qxg5?? Qc2+ mates ) 27...Bf4 28.Rg1 g6 and Bxc7 is inevitable ) 26.Qxg5 Bxh1 27.Nc7 Black has a material advantage and is still winning according to the computer, but his pieces are scattered and it's easier to play White 27...Qd7 ( After something like 27...Nf3 28.Qg3 Rf8 29.Nd5 Kh8 Black keeps the exchange, but is still struggling to stabilise with a stranded Black bishop and a strong White bishop pair. The computer still likes Black, but it's a computer ) 28.Nxe8 Qxe8 29.Bd4 f6 30.Qg1 Nxd3 31.cxd3 Bf3 32.Qf2? I can only assume White just missed (32.Bxf6 with decent winning chances as long as queens are on the board ) 32...Bh5 33.Bc3 Bg6 34.Qd4 h6 35.Kc2 Kh7 36.b3 Qb8 37.e5 Of course exchanging Queens leads to a dead draw. 37...Qxe5 38.Qxe5 fxe5 39.Bxe5 b5 40.Kc3 Bf5 41.d4 a5 42.Bc7 a4 43.bxa4 bxa4 44.d5 Bd7 45.Kd4 Kg6 46.Ke5 Kf7 47.Kd6 Ke8 48.Bb6 g5 49.Be3 Kd8 50.Ke5 Ke7 51.Bc5+ Kf7 52.Bf2 Ke7 53.a3 Kf7 54.Bg3 Ke7 1/2-1/2
I was surprised at the final position when transcribing this game, I thought I had a distinct memory of a big crowd gathering and watching the game ending as an even knight and pawn ending. So much for my reliable memory. At the time the drawing properties of opposite bishops were beyond my level, and I suspect Ross might have stumbled into something he hadn't encountered before. I think if it was knights and pawns Murray would have played on and no doubt found a way to bamboozle Ross eventually.
Obviously one of the players in this contest needs no introduction. He had already played in his first New Zealand Championship. Rapidly improving, by the end of the year he was narrowly the second rated player in New Zealand after the legendary Ortvin Sarapu. Not much later than that he would be a professional player in Europe, doing things like beating the young Kasparov and documenting his journey in the New Zealand Listener. Although we were complete neophytes in competitive chess, we knew exactly who Ross was up against. Fischer-Spassky had popularised chess around the world. A local chess prodigy was big news in the wider community. Even if you didn't know who he was before, you'd soon understand. I can clearly remember how his presence dominated that big room. If anything his diminuative stature was just another distinguishing characteristic, along with that shock of unruly blond hair.
What about his opponent though? Ross Powell was the odd man out in our group, a sixth former rather than a fourth former, and a natural for board one on that basis alone. Ross was a gentle soul, an intellectual in the purest sense of the word. He seemed largely uninterested in the practicalities of day to day life, preferring to focus on his interests; physics, astronomy, mathematics, chess. My brother used to commute on the same bus as Ross. Apparently there would regularly be a commotion at the back of the bus. Ross would have suddenly emerged from his reveries and realised he was already two or three stops beyond where he originally intended to get off. As my grandmother would say “his head was in the clouds”. Sadly he couldn't compete effectively in the struggle to secure a proper academic career, and he never landed stable remunerative work at the university. His later life was blighted by persistent poverty.
Jonathan Sarfati remembers Ross “A tragedy that he died quite young not long ago. When we were both at Victoria University, we traded logic lessons by him for chess lessons by me for about a year at lunchtimes. Around that time, he played for the Wellington Chess Club.”.
After seeing the first version of this article, Jonathan added: “If I remember correctly, he earned a B.Sc. in physics, a B.A. double major in Classics and Philosophy, and an M.A. in Philosophy, in particular on Buridan's solution to semantic paradoxes.”
John Gillespie was friends with Ross. “Apart from his scary ability to double rooks on an open file, I have few chess-related recollections of Ross now, since he dropped out of the Wellington chess scene a long time ago. I do recall his prodigious memory of games he had played aeons before, including what tactical mistakes were made leading to a narrow loss (or victory). As well as being a philosopher and a practitioner of fencing and astronomy, Ross was adept at chess variations such as shogi and Chinese chess. In later years, Ross took up art as a hobby, painting themes from Homer’s Odyssey. A true Renaissance gentleman who was only too aware of his failings.”
When I told John about the draw with Murray, John said he could readily imagine Ross' voice, posthumously recalling the exact stratagems used. Not that Ross ever mentioned this particular game to John. Ross was free of ego and apparently the game made a much greater impression on me than it ever did on Ross himself.
Photo courtesy of John Gillespie
For my own part I sadly confess that I lost track of Ross during my own university years, and never really talked with him again. Now that this game has come to light, I'd love nothing more than to be able to show it to my old school friend and compare memories of a magical night, a long time ago.
Thanks to Murray Chandler for unearthing this game and so many others, and generously sharing them with the chess community.