Friday 19 September 2008

We are all socialists now

With the nationalisation of the worlds financial systems filling our television screens, it is almost as though being an economist is as noteworthy as winning Big Brother or Australian Idol.
And one face that keeps popping up on my TV is Ken Rogoff, who is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University. However prior to 1980 Ken Rogoff was also a very strong chessplayer, becoming a Grandmaster in 1978. Interestingly enough his career as a chess player ran parallel to his student career, in that he retired from chess in the same year he received his Phd in Economics (ie he seemed not to sacrifice one for the other).
Now it is probably a good thing for Rogoff that he become both a Grandmaster and one of the worlds leading economists, otherwise he might just be remembered for his part in the following notorious game in the World Students Teams Championship in 1972. Apparently he and Robert Huebner agreed a very short draw, but were ordered to replay the game by the organisers. The following were the moves they came up with, and no, this is not a misprint.

Huebner,R (2590) - Rogoff,K (2430) [A15]
WchT U26 17th Graz (8), 1972

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Ng1 Bg7 4.Qa4 0-0 5.Qxd7 Qxd7 6.g4 Qxd2+ 7.Kxd2 Nxg4 8.b4 a5 9.a4 Bxa1 10.Bb2 Nc6 11.Bh8 Bg7 12.h4 axb4 ½-½

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The game you give was Huebner and Rogoff's third attempt at a prearranged draw. Each time they were told to play again. They were ordered to play a fourth game and, fed up, Huebner forfeited.