By Lev Khariton

Before I set down these lines on paper, I had thought how I could possibly characterise, in a nutshell, my friend Yakov Murei, or as I call him Yasha since the 50s when I met him first. I am absolutely convinced that in the world there is no other chess player who is committed to the game more than Yasha. Chess is not only his life; chess is his blood and his skin. More than once I have witnessed such a picture. A big Paris open. 500 participants. Yasha wins his game quickly, and he can go home, or eat, or see the sights of Paris with his friends coming to the open from different countries ... After 5 hours' session the round has come to a close; the arbiters are arranging the chess sets and clocks, the organizers are switching off the light. There are two chess players remaining engaged in a post-mortem; and what a sight! Yasha is standing near them engrossed as much as they are in the analysis of the game played by those to whom he can give a simul!

I think Yasha can be called the Van Gogh of modern chess. For his originality, his loneliness, for the lack of understanding from other people, notably chess players. With his great talent (it is not by mere chance that Korchnoi invited Murei to assist him in Baguio against Karpov), he is relatively unknown and very poor. But he does not suffer. When you love, you do not suffer. And chess is his life-long love. To pay this man his due, I have written these lines.

I think that even today Viktor Korchnoi is regretting that he did not follow the advice of his trainer Yakov Murei: "Don't play the Pirc, Viktor Lvovich, choose something more solid and quiet". May be, on that October evening in 1978, Korchnoi would have won the match against Anatoly Karpov in Baguio, and all Karpov's backscratchers – Baturinsky, Roshal, Sevastianov, to mention just a few – would have been thrown away as unnecessary rubbish.

It would really be a great waste, living in one city with grandmaster Yakov Murei, not to write about him. It seems we made friends in another life, in another dimension in Moscow, and now this friendship continued in Paris – such are the tricks and vicissitudes of fate!

Chess is everything in Yasha's life. In other words, chess is really his life, his only life. His Muse, his poetry, his religion. It is unthinkable for him that somebody is not using this language, the language of chess, which is so natural to him.

Paradoxically, but we met at the chessboard only twice. The first time it was in Moscow, in the junior championship in 1958. I had started playing chess not long before and Yasha was already an experienced player. Almost until the very end of the game I had drawing chances, but finally my 'respect' for my older opponent failed me and I lost the game. Our second game was played 33(!) years later in the Paris championship. The game was important for both of us since we were in the leading group fighting for the prizes. To tell the truth, as Yasha's old friend, I wanted to propose him a draw before the game. But I knew that he would never accept such a cowardly proposal. When he plays chess, he forgets about money, prizes, everything! We were playing until the chessboard became practically a barren wilderness...

Kharitorn L – Murey Y, Paris 1991

22...Ne4 23.Rdc2. Here, to my regret, I noticed that 23.Bxe4 is met by 23... Bxe5 threatening Bf4.

23...Bxe5 24.dxe5 e6 25.cxd5 Rxc2 26.Rxc2 exd5 27.Bxe4 dxe4 28.Rc4. 28.Rc7 left some hopes of winning the endgame although 28... Re8 offered Black sufficient resources of successful defence.

28...Rd1+ 29.Kh2 Rd2 30.Rxe4 Rxf2 31.e6 fxe6 32.Rxe6 Rxa2 33.Rxh6 Rxa4 34.Rb6 Kf7 35.Kg3 Ra5 36.Rxb7+ Kf6 37.Ra7 Ra2 38.Kf3 a5 39.Ke4 Re2+ 40.Kf3 Re5 41.Ra6+ Ke7 42.g3 Kd7 43.h4 gxh4 44.gxh4 Kc7 45.Kg4 Kb7 46.Rf6 a4 47.h5 a3 48.h6 Re1 49.Rf2 Rg1+ 50.Kf5 Rh1 51.Kg6 Rg1+ 52.Kpf7 Rh1 53.Kg7 Rg1+ 54.Kf8 Draw.

In chess Murei finds all the emotions, hopes, disappointments... Disappointments...Yasha had drunk the full cup of disappointments and humiliations. The most original chess thinker (honestly, not worse than Reti or Nimtzovich) he was for many years exploited by the administration of the Chess Club of the USSR in Moscow. Almost every grandmaster was using his fantastic ideas, traveling to international tournaments while Murei was working modestly as a trainer, playing from time to time blitz games with patzers on Boulevard Gogol near the club. His misery and poverty were proverbial. The humiliations he had to stand were all the more unbearable for Yasha – I know too well his aversion to any kind of injustice and his vulnerability.

In 1977 Murei repatriated to Israel. At that time one needed a lot of courage and determination for such a decision. Everyone who was emigrating was considered to be a traitor. Yasha is an honest man. He really went to Israel, although most of the people leaving the USSR on an Israeli visa stopped in Vienna and changed their route for the United States. For ten years Murei lived in Tel Aviv, went through all the joys and hardships of an 'ole hadash' (new repatriate), served in the army, played for the Israeli Olympic team, helped Korchnoi in Baguio. Since 1987 he has been residing in France playing for different French clubs. Nevertheless, he never loses touch with Israel, playing from time to time in international tournaments and matches organized there.

Once Murei and I were talking about one talented chess player who had failed to make a career. "But I was always sure that nothing good would come out of him", – said the grandmaster. – He never liked chess analysis". For Murei the ability to analyse, to penetrate into the secrets of chess positions is the greatest joy of the game as well as the guarantee of chess progress and success. He always likes to remember how he used to analyse together with such giants as Paul Keres and Rashid Nezhmetdinov. But it was not only their analytical talent that attracted Yasha. First of all, they were great improvisers; their creativity was so superior to today's tendency of memorizing the opening theory and putting chess variations inside computer's programs. Murei had always been averse to such a mechanic approach. "I would never exchange one Nezhmetdinov for ten Kamskys" – he confessed to me once.

But why should I speak about the great chess players of the past when Murei himself is a chess analyst richly endowed by God? Is there any chess player in the world who refuted Bobby Fischer's analyses? My answer is – yes! And I am, so to say, an eyewitness. Soon after the publication of Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games" in Russian, Murei called me and said: "Either you have made a mistake in your translation, or there is a 'hole' in Fischer's analyses." He was speaking about Bobby's annotations to the 11th game of his match with Samuel Reshevsky in Los Angeles. I took the original and the translation and discovered that the fault was not mine, but Fischer's! I suggest that the reader should take a look at this famous position.

S. Reshevsky – R. Fischer, Los Angeles, 1961 [Replay]

Here Fischer, playing with Black proposed the following variation: 1...h4 2.Kf3 h3 3.Kf2 h2 4.Kf1 Ra8 5.Kf2 Ra2+ 6.Kf1 Ra3 7.Kf2 Rf3+! 8.Kxf3 Kg1 9.Be3+ Kf1 and Black wins.

Murei discovered that White loses in this variation because of 5.Kf2 and found the breathtaking 5.Be3!! After 5... Ra3 6.Bd4 Rxg3 7.Kf2 Rd3 8.Bc5 the draw is inevitable since Black's King cannot escape from the cage.

This position is now known in chess endgames theory as 'Murei's position'. Only few people in chess history had this honour – Philidor, Lasker, Reti... Quite a glorious company for any contemporary grandmaster!

'En passant' Murei proved that in the first diagrammed position Fischer overlooked a simple win for Black: 1...Kh2! 2.Kf3 [if 2.Kf1 h4] 2...Kg1 3.Ke3 Kg2 4.Ke4 Rg8 5.Ke3 Rxg3+. When Fischer was shown all these variations, he is said to have thanked Murei, at that time an unknown master far away in Moscow, for his analytical work. A unique instance in the great American's career!

No less impressive was Murei's hair-splitting analysis of the famous game

B. Larsen – L. Stein, USSR – Rest of the World, Belgrade, 1970 [Replay]

Here Stein played 17...Nc6. This move eventually brought about Black's loss in this game. The whole world was analysing this position, but only Yasha found the stunning 17...Nf7!! which gave a definite edge to Black, for instance, 18.Bh3 Rxe4 or 18.Rxe8+ Qxe8 19.Re1 Bxd4+ 20.Kh1 Qf8.

The game continued: 18.Nxc6 Rxe4 19.fxe4 Qxc6. Another inaccuracy; Murei suggested 19...Bxa1 20.Ne7+ Kf8 21.Qd1 Qg4 22.Qxa1 Qxg5 23.Nxc8 Qe3+ 24.Kf1 Qd3+.

The game continued: 20.e5 Qc5+ 21.Rh1 Be6 22.Bxb7 Rf8 23.Be3 Qxe5 24.Re1 Qc3. Here Murei found that Black could have saved himself by 24...Bh3 25.Bxa7 c5 26.Qd5+ Kh8 27.Qxe5 Bxe5 28.Bg2 Bxg2+ 29.Kxg2 Ra8 30.Bxc5 Rxa2+ 31.Kh3 Rb2 32.Re3 h5. Stein missed this last chance and finally lost the game.

Murei’s analytical research is not confined only to other chess players' games. Confronted with his opponents at the chessboard, he often puzzles them from the first opening moves. His gift as an improviser, as I have noted, has no limits. Is it possible today with the abundance and speed of theoretical research to come upon a chess novelty as early as the 4th move? Especially in such a weather-beaten opening as 'Petroff's Defence'? Playing against Jan Timman (French first league, April, 1993), after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 N:e4 4.Fd3 Murei came out with the 'killer' 4...Nc6!! The move in the position known for 150 years! Timman, the greatest connoisseur on chess openings, the man not to play trifles with, plunged into 50-minutes' think.

Whatever it is, I would like to express what alarms me, what bothers me personally. First of all, I feel great injustice: this talented man has not been recognized for years, he is not fully recognized even today. Some years ago I witnessed one French organizer saying to Yasha, who was playing at the time for the team of Auxerre: "Now you are playing much better because you are in the same team with Kasparov and Polugayevsky!" As if Yasha needs some 'company' or some 'praise'! He is a strong player without anybody's help, and his chess style is unique.

Recently I proposed to Murei to collect his games and chess analyses and to write a book. That will be really a best-seller, not like many books covered with dust in chess shops. "I have never kept scores of my games, – he said. – And when I was leaving Moscow for Israel, every single paper was checked up at the airport". To tell the truth, I have almost forgotten the "interest" of Soviet customs officials for papers and documents. The chess notation, whether it be algebraic, figurine or American, could have been taken for a spy's message! Nevertheless, I think that it would be a pity if all that my friend has created in chess one day might be gone with the wind.

However, I should like to wind up on an optimistic note. Soon after Murei came out with his bomb-shell novelty against Timman I received very good news. The Yugoslqv chess "Informant" awarded Murei with the first prize for the most outstanding theoretic ql novelty. Such an award is, I believe, more important than all the laurel wreaths for the unwon World Championship matches (cf. Karpov-Fischer, or Karpov-Timman, which cannot be considered as a title match)...

I propose a small collection of Y. Murei' games which, hopefully, gives at least some vague idea of the greatness and singularity of this chess player.

Korchnoi V. – Murei Y., Jerusalem 1986: 1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 Nf6 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Nc3 Bf5 8.Re1 Ne4 9.Nd5 Bd7 10.Qc2 f5 11.Rd1 e6 12.Nc3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Qe8 14.Nd2 e5 15.Nb3 e4 16.c5 d5 17.Bf4 Rc8 18.f3 h6 19.fxe4 fxe4 20.h4 Ne7 21.c4 c6 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.Qc3 Bg4 24.Rd2 Nf5 25.Rf1 Qa4 26.Kh2 Bf6 27.e3

27...g5 28.hxg5 hxg5 29.Be5 Qd7 30.Rdf2 b6 31.Kg1 Bxe5 32.dxe5 bxc5 33.Rc1 Qe7 34.Nxc5 Rc7 35.e6 Qd6 36.Rd2 Qxg3 0-1. [Replay]

Murei Y. – Geller Y., Amsterdam 1987: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.Re1 Bd6 13.g3 Qd7 14.d3 Qh3 15.Re4 Bd7 16.Nd2 Rae8 17.Rh4 Qf5 18.Nf1 Qg6 19.Bd2 Bf5 20.Bxd5 cxd5 21.Ne3 Be6 22.a4 Be7 23.Rf4 Bg5 24.Rf3 b4 25.c4 Bxe3 26.Rxe3 a5 27.c5 d4 28.Re4 Rd8 29.Rc1 Bf5 30.Re5 Bd7 31.Rg5 Qf6

32.c6 Bxc6 33.Rgc5 Bf3 34.Bg5 Qxg5 35.Qxf3 Qd2 36.R1c2 Qe1+ 37.Kg2 b3 38.Re2 Qb4 39.Qc6 Qb8 40.Rxa5 Rd6 41.Qb5 Rb6 42.Qe5 Qd8 43.Qe7 Qb8 44.Re4 g6 45.Ra7 Qd6 46.Qxd6 Rxd6 47.Rb7 Rc8 48.Rxb3 Rc2 49.h4 Rd2 50.Kf1 Rd7 51.a5 f5 52.Re2 Rd1+ 53.Re1 Rd2 54.a6 Kf7 55.Rc1 Re7 56.a7 1-0. [Replay]

Kouatly B. – Murei Y., Lyon, 1988; 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 c5 6.d5 e6 7.Nf3 exd5 8.cxd5 0-0 9.Be2 Re8 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Ng4 12.Bg5 Qb6 13.0-0 c4+ 14.Kh1 Nd7 15.e6 fxe6 16.dxe6 Ndf6 17.h3 Qxb2 18.Na4

18...Nf2+!! 19.Rxf2 Ne4! 20.Rf1 Ng3+ 21.Kg1 Qxa1 22.Qxa1 Bxa1 23.Rxa1 Nxe2+ 24.Kf2 Bxe6 25.Re1 c3 26.Rxe2 Rac8 27.Nd4 Bd7 0-1. [Replay]

Lautier J – Murei Y.: Paris, 1989: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Nf3 0-0 7.h3 e6 8.Bd3 exd5 9.exd5 Re8+ 10.Be3 Nbd7 11.0-0 Nh5 12.Qd2 Ne5 13.Nxe5 Rxe5 14.Rfe1 Bd7 15.Ne4 f5 16.Nc3 Qf8 17.g3 Rae8 18.Kh2 f4! 19.gxf4 Nxf4 20.Bf1 Nxh3 21.Bxh3 Bxh3 0-1.

Spraggett K – Murei Y., Paris, 1993: 1.c4 c6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 a6 8.b3 b5 9.Bb2 Nbd7 10.Rc1 Bb7 11.Rc2 Rc8 12.Qa1 dxc4 13.bxc4 b4 14.Nb1 c5 15.Rd1 cxd4 16.exd4 Be4 17.Rcc1 Nb6 18.Nbd2 Na4 19.a3 b3 20.Nxe4 Nxe4 21.Bd3 Nec5 22.Bf1 Rb8 23.Rb1 Nxb2 24.Qxb2 Na4 25.Qd2 e5 26.Nxe5 Bxe5 27.dxe5 Qxd2 28.Rxd2 b2 29.Rc2 Rfc8 30.g3 Rb3 31.Kg2 Rcb8 32.c5 Rc3 0-1.

Murei Y. – Janotta P., Metz, 1994: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.g4 Bxg4 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Qb3 Nbd7 7.cxd5 0-0 8.Qxb7 Rb8 9.Qa6 Rb6 10.Qd3 e5 11.dxe6 Rxe6 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 Rfe8 14.0-0-0 Qb8 15.f3 Re3 16.Qd2 Bf5 17.Bh3 Bxh3 18.Nxh3 Nb6 19.Bf2 Nc4 20.Qc2 Qb4 21.Qb3 Rxc3+ 22.bxc3 Qa5 23.Qxc4 Qa3+ 24.Kc2 Nd5 25.Qxd5 Rxe2+ 26.Rd2 Rxd2+ 27.Kxd2 1-0.

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This article originally appeared in the magazine CHESS