It doesn’t help to know the doorman at Club 5000, the exclusive venue where love and chess meet.
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we take a look at some of the strongest romantic pairings in the game. While some top players prefer a matrimonial partner as far from their profession as possible, marriages between top players are common.
At Chess.com, Russian WGM Natalia Pogonina (who married an IT guy) has kept a list of the current husband-wife teams whose combined FIDE rating tops 5000. By my count, based on the latest FIDE rating, the strongest marital pairing in the world right now is Russian GM Alexander Grischuk (2760) and his lovely bride, Ukrainian GM Natalia Zhukova (2484), with an impressive 5244 combined rating.
Second is another Ukrainian-Russian love match: GM Vassily Ivanchuk (2710) and Russian WGM Alisa Galliamova (2475), at 5185.
Should unmarried world champ Magnus Carlsen (2844) and unmarried women’s world champ Hou Yifan (2673) happen to hit it off, we’d be talking about an even more exclusive 5500 Club for the two of them. Just sayin’.
Actually, MagHou (to give our imaginary lovebirds their own celebrity mashup name) would still have a ways to go to catch the magnificently named Jana Malypetrova Hartston Miles Bellin. The WGM and professional anesthesiologist was twice the women’s champ in her native Czechoslovakia before moving to England in 1970, where she would go on to eight English women’s titles and play on 13 Women’s Olympiad teams.
Along the way Malypetrova would find the time to marry, in succession, three British men’s champions: IM William Hartston, the late, great GM Tony Miles and, last and lastingly, IM Robert Bellin. Add up the peak rating for Malypetrova and her three accomplished mates, and you get a cumulative connubial score of 9765, a record unlikely to be challenged.
It was apparently as Mrs. Miles that Malypetrova played the following game, defeating the fine Yugoslavian WIM Gordana Markovic at the 1978 Women’s Olympiad in Buenos Aires. In a Sicilian Kan Defense line, White never solves the problem of what do to with her awkwardly placed bishop on d3, and after 16. axb5 axb5 17. c4?! b4 18. b3? (locking in Black’s positional bind; the White bishop will be little more than a “tall pawn” for the rest of the game) Bb6! 19. Nc2 Bc5!, White’s problem bishop is locked in a prison made out of her own pawns.
Malypetrova shows nice patience in timing her break, striking just when she can use the a-file and a7-f2 diagonal to maximum advantage. White’s game collapses after 24. Qe1 (see diagram) Rxa1! 25. Nxa1 (the White rook can’t recapture as the bishop would hang) Ra8 (threatening 26Rxa1 27. Qxa1 Qxd3, and Black’s bishops will dominate the rook) 26. Be2 Qe7! (heading for the a7 to apply pressure on both the file and the diagonal) 27. Bd3 Ra2 28. Rd2 Rxd2 29. Qxd2 Qa7!, immobilizing White’s pieces.
After 30. Qe1 Qa2 31. Be2 (Nc2 Qxb3 holds out longer but is equally hopeless) Bd4 32. Nc2 Qxc2, and Markovic resigned.
Malypetrova-Hartston-Miles-Bellin remains active in the game, competing occasionally and currently serving as chairwoman of FIDE’s medical commission.
Markovic-Maylpetrova-HMB, Women’s Oympiad, Buenos Aires, November 1978
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nxc6 dxc6 7. Nd2 e5 8. Qh5 Bd6 9. Nc4 Bc7 10. O-O b5 11. Bg5 Nf6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Ne3 O-O 14. a4 Be6 15. Qe2 g6 16. axb5 axb5 17. c4 b4 18. b3 Bb6 19. Nc2 Bc5 20. Qd2 Qe7 21. Rfd1 Rfd8 22. Qe2 Qd6 23. h3 Kg7 24. Qe1 Rxa1 25. Nxa1 Ra8 26. Be2 Qe7 27. Bd3 Ra2 28. Rd2 Rxd2 29. Qxd2 Qa7 30. Qe1 Qa2 31. Be2 Bd4 32. Nc2 Qxc2 White resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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