Larry Christiansen: the modesty of a grandmaster

While there wasn't much truly remarkable about today's simul at South Station, Grandmaster Larry Christiansen did begin by joking that his autograph was worth 39¢ on eBay.  The Gabridoodle isn't selling !

There was a full house and the Gabridoodle only got in two games. Both were relatively long, 36 and 41 moves.  Against a grandmaster, the Gabridoodle considers anything more than 30 moves a small triumph.

A gawker posted a video in which the Gabridoodle appears briefly.

Game 1

The Gabridoodle was stunned when the GM opened with c4 -- he almost always starts with e4.  Perhaps, as GM Ben Finegold likes to joke, it was because c4 is an explosive move.  After collecting himself, the Gabridoodle went for a symmetrical English.  However, he later blundered a piece and never really recovered.

Game 2

The second game featured some relatively interesting action. GM Christian had the white pieces again.

Here, the Gabridoodle actually managed to be a dirty rat and pull a fast one on the GM. After moving his queen to f6, Christian chased it away with his knight.  Maybe he didn't notice the pawn on f2 was hanging or, perhaps more likely, he didn't care.

Christiansen's rook to f1 chases away the Gabridoodle's queen but with queen to d4, he threatens mate and forces a queen trade.  The GM seemed unhappy about this.

Later on, the GM finagled an exchange and is about to turn his queenside pawns into a fleet of runaway locomotives.  Here, finally at move 41, the Gabridoodle resigned rather than suffer while Christiansen ground out the win.