Chess Ingenuity Vs. Nerves + Time, Starring Vassily Ivanchuk

Chess Ingenuity Vs. Nerves + Time, Starring Vassily Ivanchuk

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Arkham in All Articles w/ Videos, General Chess Articles

The great Alexander Alekhine once said, “The fact that a player is very short of time is to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.” Although quite heavy in his reasoning, it holds no weight in the accelerated form of chess where each player has only five minutes to make all his moves. It’s a known truth that time management becomes more critical the less time there is. This is especially true in blitz chess.

Much like the classic match-up of striker against grappler in mixed martial arts, we have the recurring theme of a chess player fighting against his own nerves while in a frantic race against the clock. This dynamic conflict is best exemplified when you subject an often-nervous chess genius such as Vassily Ivanchuk to some super-fast blitz games against Super Grandmasters who are notorious for their super-fast play.

Death by indecision

The first of these Super GMs to test Ivanchuk in these examples is none other than the solid speed demon Vladimir Kramnik. We are treated to witness the genius play of Ivanchuk as he sacrifices a Knight early in the game in order to place a pawn deep into his enemy’s second rank. But what about his other two nemeses, namely nerves and time?

Here Ivanchuk was clearly winning but the time it took to achieve such a position had cost him the game. His nervous tendencies can also be seen to be a factor, not to mention Kramnik’s superb play and quickness. As Ivanchuk’s clock fell to just under a minute, Kramnik used his time advantage to find a clever reply that would take more time to solve. Time that the anxious Ivanchuk just didn’t have enough of.

Struck by lightning

In the next example, Ivanchuk is tested against the electrifying speed of the Lightning Kid himself, today’s World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. Notice the commentator’s statements of how Ivanchuk was “blitzing out” his moves in the opening in order to try to avoid time trouble. Regardless, he still gets into an early time deficit as the other commentator shortly points out. Once again we see a great Ivanchuk sacrifice, this time with a rook, that leaves Anand’s King exposed and apparently demised. But will that be enough for Ivanchuk? More importantly, will Ivanchuk have enough time?

Once again, nerves and time were an overwhelming factor. Had Ivanchuk had more time, he would have been more calm, and would therefore not have missed seeing such an obvious mate. Accurate was Daniel King’s commentary when he soon after stated, “And Ivanchuk lost his nerve.”

Outweighed by a feather

After watching these games, you can’t help but consider the weightiness of having these two speed chess giants as opponents. So under the same conditions, how would our eccentric chess genius fare against a player of lesser caliber? Will our subject fall to the same pressures of time and nerves when playing the lighter Alexey Dreev?

Again the commentators can’t help but quickly point out Ivanchuk’s time dilemma after only nine moves have been played. Even with a whole minute advantage at the start of the game, and against a weaker player, ingenuity loses to the formidable duo of nerves and time.

A sinking feeling

In watching these games, it becomes apparent that good positions are often achieved with the compromise of lost time and pressure build up. It’s safe to say that in time trouble, one is no longer in control. No matter how ingenious his disposition or how great his board position, the complimenting combination of nerves and time recurrently surfaces above the player. Thus the dwindling countdown of the timer and the resulting nervousness thereof oftentimes drown out the panicked efforts of a chess player frantically swimming against the complicated currents that they cause.

The disorder of depth

This reminds me of HPNS, a neurological and physiological diving disorder called high-pressure nervous syndrome. This occurs when a diver descends too deep under water where the pressure and rate of descent in depth causes mental and visual disturbance. In blitz chess, this can be equated to, if such a term existed, as TPNS – time pressure nervous syndrome. This occurs when a player descends too deep into time trouble where the pressure and the rate of ascent in nervousness causes a proportionate mental and visual disturbance.