Strategy, tactics and psychology can be intertwined with a masterful approach, as Miguel Illescas does in this video’s game against one of the great non-Soviet stars in the last years of the 20th century, the British Tony Miles. Furthermore, this masterpiece was produced in the legendary city of Linares (Jaén), headquarters of the chess wimbledon. The Spanish grandmaster takes advantage of the initiative of the white pieces to repress Miles’ great creativity and condemn him to passivity. And when it seems that the Englishman reacts, Illescas sacrifices material to keep the straitjacket tight, and then creates a tactical bobbin lace to finish off with great elegance.
Illescas (Barcelona, 1965), eight-time champion of Spain and member of the world elite in those years, is one of the great names in Spanish-speaking chess, and not only for his achievements as a player. He was hired by IBM in 1997 as a member of the team of grandmasters who advised its engineers so that the Deep Blue computer defeated Gari Kasparov in New York. And he also stands out as a coach, businessman, director of the magazine King’s Pawnandlecturer. His name could not be missing from El Rincón de los Inmortales, and even less so when his sports production includes gems like this one.
