I've put this through Stockfish. White was about +1.7 at one point As was often the problem, there was no money in chess so Michael Stean just took a regular tax consultant job and didn't make it as a "top" grandmaster.
I am going through this game with Stockfish. Re7 wasn't really a mistake from a strictly technical point of view. The first half of the game (up to and including Schmid's draw offer) were played extremely well from both sides. The theoretical truth is that Stean never had such a great position -- maybe very slightly more than the expected White edge. White's max advantage was only around 0.5 pawns. There were some moves on each side that lost about 0.1 or 0.2 pawns but both players played superbly. In particular, when Schmid offered a draw, the position was exactly equal. The error from all four commentators was in assuming that Stean's advantage was much greater than it actually was. It may have looked good but Black can hold it all together with solid defence.
An Englishman plays the English opening against a German who plays a "foolish" opening and gets into a beautiful position. There could only be one winner !
Oddly enough, Schmidt's initial opening has been labeled inferior since Petrosian as white flattened Korchnoi in that line in 1962. But Schmidt varied early from that game.
Tony Miles showed us how it's done against Schmid the following year. It was the Dane Bent Larsen who had a totally winning position against Miles then blew it that series. That proved costly. Tony Miles then went on to lose to Nigel Short in the final.
Somehow a real pleasure to watch these. What a different era!
Interesting, and a more charming time
Stean wrote one of thr great chrss books of the 1970s, Simple Chess.
Schmidt's "dionagal" is very sweet.
Great to see a game from a new series of TMG - More Please!
Yes I agree. Thanks for this Rob.
Very interesting game!
Good game! I can’t remember this show on TV - but I was very young at the time.
I've put this through Stockfish. White was about +1.7 at one point As was often the problem, there was no money in chess so Michael Stean just took a regular tax consultant job and didn't make it as a "top" grandmaster.
Title is wrong though. This was played in 1979.
I thought perhaps Re7 was a mistake. He didn’t seem to have a plan after Rf8,
I am going through this game with Stockfish. Re7 wasn't really a mistake from a strictly technical point of view. The first half of the game (up to and including Schmid's draw offer) were played extremely well from both sides. The theoretical truth is that Stean never had such a great position -- maybe very slightly more than the expected White edge. White's max advantage was only around 0.5 pawns. There were some moves on each side that lost about 0.1 or 0.2 pawns but both players played superbly. In particular, when Schmid offered a draw, the position was exactly equal. The error from all four commentators was in assuming that Stean's advantage was much greater than it actually was. It may have looked good but Black can hold it all together with solid defence.
This is excellent to see. Don't think I've seen this particular one since 1980! Do you have the whole of this series?
I have a few more. I wanted to preserve as I think they would otherwise be lost.
@@robclark4626 Indeed. Thanks for taking the time to digitize & upload, most appreciated 🙂
@@robclark4626this is great, I’ve only season seasons 6&7 elsewhere
Someone tell me how Stockfish would have beaten Schmid. Was Re7 correct?
It was the best move according to Stockfish. Bf4 and Nd3 saw the evaluation go from 2.5 to 0.1.
An Englishman plays the English opening against a German who plays a "foolish" opening and gets into a beautiful position. There could only be one winner !
anyone ever noticed how much hair these guys have ?
That's how we looked in the 70's and early 80's.
Oddly enough, Schmidt's initial opening has been labeled inferior since Petrosian as white flattened Korchnoi in that line in 1962. But Schmidt varied early from that game.
Tony Miles showed us how it's done against Schmid the following year. It was the Dane Bent Larsen who had a totally winning position against Miles then blew it that series. That proved costly. Tony Miles then went on to lose to Nigel Short in the final.