Keres – Kotov Budapest 1950 featuring a Sac on e6

     After the 1948 World Championship was held FIDE began a series of cycles that would select Botvinnik’s challenger. The first Interzonal was held in Saltsjöbaden in 1948 and nine players qualified: Bronstein, Szabo, Boleslavsky, Kotov, Lilienthal, Bondarevsky, Najdorf, Stahlberg and Flohr.
     Bondarevsky later withdrew due to illness. Smyslov, Keres, Reshevsky and Euwe were also supposed to be included as they had been participants along with Botvinnik, who had won the World Championship match-tournament in 1948. Euwe declined his invitation and Reshevsky did not participate. Some reports say it was because the US State Department refused his request for a visa, but Reshevsky once said in an interview that it was his decision alone not to play.
     Bronstein and Boleslavsky tied for first with 12 points and Bronstein won the playoff. In an interesting side note, in 1984 Bronstein married Boleslavsky’s daughter 7 years after the death of Boleslavsky.
     Smyslov was clear third with 10 points followed by Keres with 9.5, Najdorf, 9.0, Kotov 8.5, Stahlberg with 8.0, with Lilienthal, Szabo and Flohr all at 7.0
     The following game between Keres and Kotov appears in Vukovic’s Art of Attack in Chess though he failed to give it much analysis or comment. The game was also annotated by Keres in his The Complete Games of Paul Keres. The opening was Keres’ home preparation, but Kotov's 9th move varied so the N-sac, 10.Nxe6, was found by Keres over the board. The game itself is instructive because it shows a common theme of a sacrifice on e6.