Alexey Sokolsky

Solkosky

     The year 1949 was significant because the FIDE General Assembly in Paris decided the right to organize a world championship match was the right of the federation of the champion's country. That ruling turned FIDE's control of the World Championship over to the Sports Committee of the Soviet Union for the next twenty years. There was an honorarium of $5,000 (about $50,000 today) to the winner and $3,000 to the loser, but the match details were left to the organizers. And, since the match was played in the Soviet Union the honorarium was paid in rubles which were worth a fraction of the specified amount. 
     In other 1949 happenings in the chess world the Women's World Championship took place in the winter of 1949–1950 in Moscow. The title had been vacant since the death of Vera Menchik in 1944. The 16-player round-robin Lyudmila Rudenko dominated by scoring 11.5-3.6 to finish ahead of four of her compatriots. The United States was represented by Gisela Kahn Gresser who had no draws, but did manage to defeat Rudenko. Mona May Karff also represented the US and tied with Gresser and Nina Grushkova-Belsk of Czechoslovakia for places 12-14 with a score of 5-10. 
     In other news, in 1949 Euwe had undertaken an extensive tour which included the United States and Canada. After playing in New York in the Manhattan Club international tournament in December 1948, he had embarked on a long series of simultaneous displays that included Detroit, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg and San Juan. The New York tournament was a decisive victory for Reuben Fine who was undefeated, scoring 8-1. Najdorf was second a point and a half behind. Euwe tied for 3rd and 4th with Hermann Pilnik. The remaining players were Horowitz, Kramer, Bisguier, Kashdan, Denker and Steiner. 
     In what was to be one of Euwe's last major events before returning to his teaching profession and concentrating on Dutch tournaments and team events, he played a match with Vasja Pirc, the third ranked Yugoslav player after Svetozar Gligoric and Petar Trifunovic. Pirc had a one point lead twice, including going into the last game, but the match ended up in a 5-5 tie. 
     There was no U.S. championship in 1949. Herman Steiner had won the 1948 championship ahead of Isaac Kashdan ar South Fallsburg, New York. Going into the last round Steiner and Kashdan were tied for the lead. Kashdan was paired against the upcoming George Kramer while Steiner faced Franklin Howard, a New Jersey master of no great talent. Steiner soon got into trouble and looked to be losing, but in the end it was Howard who collapsed and lost. Meanwhile, Kramer forced a perpetual against Kashdan. 
     After this tournament the USCF realized that while the U.S. Championship had grown in size (20 players in 1948) and prize money, the level of play had fallen off drastically. They devised a new plan, but nothing happened until 1951, but things were so disorganized that in 1951 things were even worse...24 players showed up in New York in June and all had to go through an elimination stage to reach the 12-player finals in July. 
     When all was said and done, Larry Evans finished with an undefeated score of 9.5-1.5 to finish a full point ahead of Reshevsky. The difference was Reshevsky's upset loss to 8th place Dr. Ariel Mengarini in what was Mengarini's only point against the top five finishers. 
     The name of Alexey Sokolsky is known now mostly for his opening research on the Sokolsky Opening, 1.b4. Although the opening is also known as the the Polish Opening or the Orangutan Opening, a name given it by Savielly Tartakower gave it in 1924 after his visit to the New York Zoo, it was Sokolsky who did the pioneer research on it. 
     For many years Sokolsky served as the permanent trainer and second of his close friend Isaak since 1945, head coach of the Belarus national team, and an arbiter. He was also a teacher, working with young players. Many Sokolsky Memorial master-norm tournaments have been held in Minsk since 1970. Some of the winners have been Lutikov, Savon, Kupreichik, Malaniuk, Kasparov and B. Gelfand. 
     Alexey Sokolsky (November 3, 1908 – December 27, 1969) was a Ukrainian-Belarusian player of IM strength over-the-board chess as well as a noted correspondence player. 
     In 1935, he took second in the Russian FSSR, was twice Ukrainian Champion (1947 and 1948) and was Belarus Sub-Champion in 1958. He also played in the 13th Soviet Championship in 1944, finishing with 7.5-8.5 tying for 8th–10th place. In the 1949 Championship in 1949 he scored 8.5-10.5, finishing in 12th place. In the 1954 Championship in 1954 he finished last with a 5.0-14.0 score.
     Chessmetrics puts his rating at 2639 on the April 1945 placing him number 18 in the world. The top players on that list were Botvinnik, Najdorf (2757), Keres (2751 and Smyslov (2748). 
     Sokolsky was the first Soviet Correspondence Chess Champion (1948–1951). The ICCF holds correspondence events are devoted to his memory. In correspondence play he was runner-up of the 1st Soviet correspondence championship (1948/51). 
      Sokolsky wrote over a dozen books, some of which have been translated into other languages. The most famous are The Modern Openings in Theory and Practice and 1.b2-b4. He also composed problems and endgames studies. Known as the Godfather of Belarus postal chess, he headed the Belarus postal chess commission to organize the 1st correspondence chess championship of Belarus in 1964/65. 
     The following game is from the 1949 USSR Championship which took place in Moscow from October 16th to November 20th, 1949. Twenty of the Soviet Union's best players either qualified or received invitations. 
     Twelve players qualified from semi-final tournaments: Bondarevsky, Taimanov, Levenfish, Mikenas, Sokolsky, Furman, Aronin, Goldberg, Liublinsky, Geller, Petrosian and Kholmov. Bondarevsky was unable to play in the fianl and was replaced by Nikolai Kopilov. 
     Invitees were: Bronstein and Kotov (champions from the previous tournament), Lilienthal and Keres (former champions) and four previous finalists: Boleslavsky, Flohr, Ragozin,and Vasily Smyslov. 
     This tournament was to be Bronstein's second consecutive Soviet championship and his last, but he would face Botvinnik two years later for the world title. This championship was Smyslov's first and also his last Soviet title and he, too, would go on to face Botvinnik. 

1-2) Smyslov and Bronstein 13.0-6.0 
3-4) Geller and Taimanov 12.5-6.5 
5-7) Furman, Boleslavsky and Kotov 11.5-7.5 
8) Keres 11.0-8.0 
9-10) Aronin and Kholmov 10.0-9.0 
11) Flohr 9.0-10.0 
12) Sokolsky 8.5-10.5 
13-15) Lilienthal, Mikenas and Kopilov 8.0-11.0 
16) Petrosian 7.5-11.5 
17) Ragozin 6.5-12.5 
18-20) Levenfish, Liublinsky and Goldberg 6.0-13.0 

     We all make assumptions, but they can be dangerous! And that's often the bane of those of us with a limited talent for chess, especially when it comes to calculating. How many times have we based our calculations on the assumption that our opponent is going to do what we expect and the result is we spend time looking at moves our opponent never intended to make? That generally happens because as average players our ability to correctly evaluate the position and its requirements are woefully inadequate.
     In the below game it would appear that both players made the assumption that after 22.Nxe6 Kholmov had to capture the offending Knight, but he didn't. And, probably when Kholmov played 23...Nxf3+ he assumed Solkosky had to capture 24.gxf3, but he didn't. It happens. Eduard Gufeld once said he forgot that in chess, unlike in checkers, you don't have to make a capture.