Game of the Week: Shvedchikov, Kupreichik

I’ve noticed that players of today are remarkably versatile, seemingly at home in any kind of position. It’s noteworthy that Magnus Carlsen could become World Champion on the strength of his play in apparently quiet endgames. In my experience on the international circuit, I’ve encountered a number of old-timers who were particularly adept at one type of chess but not the other. The book on playing experienced Soviet grandmasters was to play tactically to offset their strategical training. This was not the case with Viktor Kupreichik, who was always a crazy attacking player with little interest or aptitude in the endgame. I see that Kupreichik hasn’t changed much on the senior circuit, judging from this week’s bizarre little game from the World Senior’s Championship, which was won by GM Anatoly Vaisser. In the face of his opponent’s quiet opening, Kupreichik sets about creating complications from the get-go, even at the expense of the soundness of his position. They say that fortune favors the brave (and for the most part, I believe that is true in chess); let’s see how it fared in this game.