On Nov 25, 9:28 am, "Chess One" wrote:
When I am playing correspondence I like to adopt an idea from S.
Gerzadowicz - from Diary of a Chess Master - at various stages of the game,
what is my assessment of each side's chances? Here is perhaps the most
laboriously played poisoned pawn in history - as if Bilek had never seen it
before - I wonder if it is encountered very much these days by players in
this forum?

I can't speak for readers of this forum, but the Mega Database 2005
shows the line still being played quite a bit, and by very good
players. For example:

[Event "ARM-ROW m"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2004.06.11"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2666"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2004.06.10"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "6"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.09.23"]
[WhiteTeam "ROW"]
[BlackTeam "ARM"]
[BlackTeamCountry "ARM"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4
Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13.
e5 dxe5 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4 Qxa2 16. Rd1 Be7 17. Be2 O-O 18. O-O Ra7
19. Rf3 Kh8 20. Rg3 Rd7 21. Qh6 Rf7 22. Qh5 Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Qa5 24. Kf1
Qd8 25. Qxf7 Qxd1+ 26. Kf2 Qxc2+ 27. Kf3 Qd1+ 28. Kf2 Qc2+ 29. Ke3
Bc5+ 30. Nxc5 Qxc5+ 31. Kd2 Qf2+ 32. Kc3 Qd4+ 33. Kc2 Qf2+ 34. Kc3
1/2-1/2

[Event "EUCup 20th"]
[Site "Izmir"]
[Date "2004.10.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Azarov, Sergei"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2556"]
[BlackElo "2813"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2004.10.03"]
[EventType "team"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "TUR"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.11.11"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4
Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13.
e5 dxe5 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4 Qxa2 16. Rd1 Be7 17. Be2 O-O 18. O-O Ra7
19. Rf3 Kh8 20. Rg3 Rd7 21. Qh6 Rxd1+ 22. Bxd1 Rf7 23. Qh5 Qa5 24. Kf1
Qd8 25. Qxf7 Qxd1+ 26. Kf2 Qxc2+ 27. Ke3 Bc5+ 1/2-1/2

And here's an example close to home, Phil:

[Event "Vermont CCA op"]
[Site "Stratton Mountain"]
[Date "2003.06.05"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Adamson, Robby"]
[Black "Shabalov, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B97"]
[WhiteElo "2308"]
[BlackElo "2592"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "2003.06.03"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2003.07.09"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4
Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13.
Be2 Be7 14. O-O Qa5 15. Kh1 Qd8 16. Bd3 O-O 17. e5 dxe5 18. Qe1 Rf7
19. Qxe5 Qd6 20. Qe2 Bd7 21. Ne4 Nxe4 22. Qxe4 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 g6 24.
Bf4 Qd5 25. Qe2 Qh5 26. Qd2 Rf8 27.
Bxa6 Qd5 28. Qe2 Qd4 29. Bg3 Rxf1+ 30. Qxf1 Qb2 31. Qd1 Qxa2 32. h3
Be8 33. Qe2 Qa1+ 34. Kh2 Bc5 35. Be5 Qc1 36. Bc4 Bg1+ 37. Kg3 Qg5+ 38.
Kf3 Bf7 39. Bf4 Qc5 40. Kg3 g5 41. Be5 h5 42. Kf3 h4 43. g3 hxg3 44.
Kxg3 Be3 45. Bc3 Kf8 46. Qd3 Ke7 47. Bb2 Ke8 48. Kg2 Bf4 49. Bf6 Bc7
50. Qe4 Bb6 51. h4 g4 52. Kg3 Qg1+ 53. Kf4 Bc7+ 54. Kg5 Qc1+ 55. Kxg4
Qg1+ 0-1

I mean - we 'know' it is not a good idea to take the pawn,

A difficult line to be sure, but it can't be all that bad. The list
of those who have essayed it as Black reads like a "Who's Who" of 20th
century chess: Fischer, Korchnoi, Bronstein, Geller, Gligoric, Euwe,
Portisch, Najdorf, Panno, Stein, Hort, Ribli, Mecking, Hübner, Timman,
Nunn, Tukmakov, Savon, Kasparov et al.

and
yet Fischer took it, against the best players in the world. After move 8,
would you rather be white or black?

Here is both the fastest and slowest playing times for any GM game I can
find:
Molasses Slow: At the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal, Istvan Bilek lost on time
against Bobby Fischer when his flag fell when making his 27th move.
Incredibly, while Bilek had used 2 and a half hours for his 27 moves,
Fischer had used only around 10 minutes for his moves in the game. Small
wonder that Bilek took so much time - Fischer played the notoriously
complicated poisoned pawn variation of the Sicilian defence. Fischer was
renowned as connoisseur of this system and was probably still following his
home preparation when the game ended. Here is the game:

Bilek,I - Fischer,R [B97]
Stockholm Interzonal Stockholm (5), 03.02.1962

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2
9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Nfd7 12.Bc4 Be7 13.Bxe6 0-0 14.0-0 Bxg5 15.Qxg5
h6 16.Qh4 Qxc3 17.Rxf7 Rxf7 18.Qd8+ Nf8 19.Bxf7+ Kxf7 20.Rf1+ Kg6 21.Rxf8
Bd7 22.Nf3 Qe3+ 23.Kh1 Qc1+ 24.Ng1 Qxc2 25.Rg8 Qf2 26.Rf8 Qxa2 27.Rf3 Kh7
0-1

Phil Innes