We will never have be able to witness the greatest chess players from different historic eras playing matches against each other but that doesn’t stop me from musing about such matchups. Just imagine Paul Morphy launching an all out attack against the great defender Tigran Petrosian. I like to believe that, at least for one game, Morphy’s ruthless attack would be counterbalanced by Petrosian’s exact defenses and a perfect equilibrium would be reached. The game would be a draw similar in style to what we witnessed during the fierce battle played between the young FIDE Master Austin Mei and the legendary Grandmaster Leonid Yudasin in the Second Mission 360 Bay Area GM/IM Invitational Norm Tournament. We will never see Morphy – Petrosian but Mei – Yudasin was certainly a clash of styles for the ages.
[Event “Second Mission 360 Bay Area GM/IM Invitational Norm Tournament”]
[Site “San Jose, California”]
[Date “2022.04.04”]
[Round “07”]
[White “Mei, Austin”]
[WhiteElo “2336”]
[Black “Yudasin, Leonid”]
[BlackElo “2454”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Nf3 Bc6 6.Bd3 Nd7 7.Neg5 h6 8.Nxe6 Qe7
9.O-O fxe6 10.Bg6+ Kd8 11.Re1 Qf6 12.d5 Bxd5 13.Qxd5 Ne7 14.Rxe6 Qxg6 15.Qc4
Qf7 16.Bf4 c6 17.Rae1 Nd5 18.Bg3 Bc5 19.Qb3 Kc8 20.Qa4 Nc7 21.Rxc6 bxc6 22.Qxc6
Nb8 23.Qxc5 Na6 24.Qc3 Re8 25.Rxe8+ Qxe8 26.Qxg7 Rb8 27.h4 Rb6 28.Kh2 Qg6
29.Qf8+ Qe8 30.Qg7
1/2-1/2