Schacksnack

The Ukrainian Grandmaster Oleg Romanishin (born 1952) is visiting Sweden for the sixth time during this year’s edition of the Rilton Cup, which is taking place at the Scandic Hotel opposite Stockholm Central Station. The first time he visited Sweden was when he was a promising junior participating in Gothenburg in 1971, where among others, he faced the Swedish chess genius Ulf Andersson, who was then having his best tournament ever on Swedish soil.

Romanishin is not only participating in the main tournament but he has also provided a lecture that lasted over 2 hours. During the lecture, he shares memorable anecdotes and showcases brilliant games focusing on the Spanish Opening. He has conducted many in-depth analyses in this opening, and it’s fascinating to hear the lecture as he belongs to the Informant generation that didn’t have access to computers. Back then, the time control was 40 moves in two and a half hours, including adjournments, which ensured a much higher quality in all phases of the game than today, where particularly endgames suffer.

For those unfamiliar with Romanishin, it’s worth mentioning that he has defeated all the great players except Karpov because he had the privilege (or misfortune depending on how you see it) to face Karpov when he was at his peak. But when he faced other giants like Petrosian, Tal, and Geller, they were on the decline. Romanishin’s greatest success was securing second place in the Soviet Championship in 1975. There, he defeated, among others, Tigran Petrosian in 30 moves in an astonishing game with the opening moves 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.e4 Bb7 5.Bd3N. This is the game that I have always considered Romanishin’s immortal game, as I feared this specific setup with the black pieces when I was a junior. He also recounts this memorable game, so watch the entire clip, and you will learn a few things that you won’t find anywhere else, gaining a good insight into how chess was played in the mid-70s.