CCLA Portraits

The following column was originally published in the July-August 1996 issue of The Chess Correspondent, Vol. 69, No. 4.

Hanon W. Russell The debut of this column is long overdue. We are happy to announce that the premier column will profile CCLA expert Hanon W. Russell from Milford, Connecticut. Hanon tells me that he has never been profiled in the pages of The Chess Correspondent. We think it is about time we introduce him to you then. He is 48, happily married and the father of two. He began playing chess at the age of 8, eventually reaching the expert level in both OTB and postal play. Hanon writes, "Professionally, I am an attorney specializing in real estate and business law, a partner in the firm of Cantor, Floman, Russell, Gross, Kelly & Amendola, Orange, Connecticut. Those who follow USCF doings may also know that I am chair of the legal task force; translation: Chief legal/counsel advisor to the policy board and executive director. "My collection of original letters, scoresheets and the like all related to chess is now probably the largest collection of its kind in the world, with over 14,000 documents. Among the documents are letters from Philidor to Kasparov, and virtually every major and minor chess personality in between. It has probably the highest concentration of both original Capablanca and Fischer material in any one place. This includes virtually all the original correspondence between Capablanca and Alekhine for their re-match that ultimately never took place and about 10% of all of Fischer's original scoresheets, including his "Game of the Century." Selections from the collection have been exhibited world-wide, including New Brunswick 1989, New York 1990, Amsterdam 1995 and Vienna 1995. "Over the years, I have been active in chess publishing. The International Chess Calendar that I publish has been coming out for nine years and the highly acclaimed Tal-Botvinnik 1960 by Tal has just appeared in its fourth edition - I am the translator/publisher. Correspondence players may be familiar with the now out of print Correspondence Chess, the first book in English devoted to the play of chess by mail. Other books include Russian for Chessplayers (authored), The Pirc by Fridshtein (translator). Finally, I have just developed a site of the Internet where those interested can find frank book reviews of the latest chess books, translations from Botvinnik's autobiography, selections from my collection and other features of interest. you can check it out at www.chesscafe.com." Hanon submitted a game from the 1995 Team Championship.

White: Hanon W. Russell Black: Thomas Greco [A07] CCLA 1995 Team Championship, Bd5, 1995 [Notes by Hanon Russell (RPM=Ralph Marconi)] 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.0-0 0-0 5.d3 d5 6.Nbd2 c6 7.e4 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nbd7 [9...e6 10.Qe2 Na6 11.Nb3 Nd7 12.h4 h5 13.Bg5 Qe8 14.c3 Flesch-Karaklajic, Beograd 1965, RPM] 10.Re1 e5 After the exchange of Black's white-squared Bishop, he should try to keep the position closed. 10 ... e6 is therefore preferable. 11.exd5 cxd5 12.c4! Opening the position for the Bishops. Although the move looks anti-positional, it poses great strategic problems for Black. 12...Re8 13.cxd5 Nb6 14.Nc4 Nfxd5 15.Nxb6 Nxb6 16.Qxb7 Qxd3 (Diagram)

Russell - Greco After: 16...Qxd3

After a series of forced exchanges, we can assess the position. White has an open game for the Bishops, a Queenside pawn majority and the Bishops rake the board. I thought the game was strategically winning for White at this point. 17.Be3 Reb8 18.Qe4 Qb5 Of course, 18...Qxe4?! loses the exchange, RPM. 19.Qh4 It is not clear how Black avoids material loss. 19...Nd5 20.Rad1 Nxe3 Perhaps the best practical decision. If the Queenside pawns can be liquidated, Black may have real drawing chances, even down the exchange. (20...Rd8? loses to 21.Bxa7!, RPM) 21.Rxe3 Qxb2 22.Bxa8 Rxa8 23.Rd8+ Rxd8 24.Qxd8+ Bf8 25.Qd5 Bg7 26.Rf3 Qc1+ 27.Kg2 Qc7 28.Rb3 1-0 With the idea of Rb7, with an easy win.

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