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| Bronstein vs. Shamkovich |
As mentioned in a previous post, there I an excellent article on Bronstein at Chessbase that gives a lot of insight to the bitter man that was almost world champion. Still, he was a top-ranked player for 30 years and was one of the greatest thinkers and innovators in the history of chess.
Bronstein pioneered the King’s Indian Defense, transforming it from an unknown and discredited defense into one of the most popular and dynamic openings. The was one of the first who wanted to speed up play with faster time limits and in 1973 introduced the idea of adding a time increment for each move made.
Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 is a must own and is a great book and Bronstein is credited with being the author. It was something of a letdown to discover he only contributed analyses and that the rest of the book was written by Boris Vainshtein.
Edward Winter has an interesting post on Bronstein which you can read HERE. It’s post 4753.
Vainshtein (May 19, 1907 – December 18, 1993) was from the Ukraine and was sometimes known as "Ferzberi.” He grew up in Ukraine and Uzbekistan and moved to Moscow in 1935. Vainshtein was a high-ranking Soviet NKVD and chess official and a good player, now best remembered as a friend and supporter of David Bronstein. He also authored a number of chess books himself. For more details on his NKVD activity you can read the article The Phantom of Beria in the Moscow Times.
After David Bronstein moved to Moscow he played in many of the city’s championships. In 1947 he tied for first with Ravinsky and Simagin who won the playoff with Bronstein finishing second. Bronstein successfully made attempts at winning the city championship in 1953 and 1957, both times by a two point margin.
He only finished third in 1969, then in 1961 he tied for first with Leonid Shamkovich. The genial Shamkovich (born June 1923) in Rostov-on-Don was never one of the Russian elite, but he was twice champion of the Russian Federation and qualified for the USSR championships six times.
In 1974 the Soviet authorities allowed him to leave for Israel but he soon settled in the US. He passed away on April 22, 2005. He defeated Shamkovich in the 1961 playoff match +2 -1 =3. The 1962 championship was an open and Averbakh and Vasyukov shared first a point ahead of Bronstein, Barcza, Lilienthal an Shamkovich.
I was unable to locate any games from the Bronstein-Shamkovich match in 1961, but did discover their individual game from the championship tournament and an exciting one it was. Bonstein’s mating attack with reduced material is quite impressive.
[Event "Moscow City Championship"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1961.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "David Bronstein"]
[Black "Leonid Shamkovich"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 d5 {Known as the Scandinavian Defense, back in the day this was called
the Center Counter Defense. Although it has never enjoyed widespread
popularity among top-flight players, it is sound. } 2. exd5 Nf6 {This and
2...Nf6 (the Marshall Gambit) are almost always played. The rare 2...c6 has
been tried, but it's unsound. } 3. d4 {Normally white plays 3.Nc3.} 3... Nxd5
4. Nf3 Bf5 {This move should result in a disadvantage; better is 4...Bg5.} 5.
a3 {White usually plays either 5.Be2 or 5.Bd3. The text is a Bronstein
experiment that has no particular value. } 5... e6 6. c4 Nb6 {Black's N turns
out not to be especially well placed here and so her should have played it
back to f6. } 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Qb3 Qc8 {It's hard to explain this poor move that
allows white to play 9.c5. Correct was 8...c5. } 9. c5 N6d7 10. Bf4 Nf6 11.
Bc4 c6 12. O-O Nd5 {The fact that half of lack's moves have been with this N
says that something has gone wrong with his opening play. } 13. Bxd5 exd5 14.
Rae1 Be6 15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 O-O 17. Ne2 {Maneuvering his remaining piece to
the K-side. } 17... Na6 {This turns out to be a very poor choice as the N is
destined to remain here forever. Better was 17...Nd7. } 18. Ng3 h6 19. Nxe6
fxe6 20. f4 Qd7 21. Re5 {With this move Bronstein prepares for an assault on
black's K. } 21... Rf7 22. f5 exf5 23. Nxf5 Raf8 {Hindsight says that black
would have done better to try and exchange a pair of Rs with 23...Re8.} 24.
g4 {Bronstein goes for an all out attack against black's K and black's
position has become critical. Was it worth a P for black to try bringing his
misplaced N over to the defense with 24...Nc7? White could safely take the
b-Pawn or he could choose to continue his attack with 25.Rfe1. In either case
he enjoys a considerable advantage. } 24... Qd8 {Shamkovich plans to bring his
Q to the defense of his K, but didn't appreciate the danger to which it is
going to be exposed. His game soon borders on hopeless. } 25. Rfe1 Qg5
{Allowing white to win the Q, but would it be safe to do so? } 26. Qg3 {If
26.Ne7+ Rxe7 27.Rxg5 (no better is 27.Rxe7 Qxg4+) Rxe1+ followed by ...hxg5
would give black two Rs and a N against the Q which should be greatly to his
advantage. } 26... Kh7 {Black avoids the possibility of white playing Ne7 with
check.} 27. h4 {Unnecessary preparation as the sacrifice 27.Nxh6 is
immediately decisive after 27...Qxh6 28.Rh5.} 27... Qg6 28. Kg2 h5 {From the
frying pan into the fire. This loses quickly, but there wasn't anything else
available that would even come close to saving the game.} 29. Ne7 Rxe7 30.
Rxe7 {Black is the exchange down, but with his N way over yonder on a6 he
might as well be the exchange and a piece down!} 30... hxg4 31. Qe5 g3 32.
Qg5 Rf2+ 33. Kxg3 Qxg5+ 34. hxg5 Rxb2 {A cursory glance at the position might
suggest that black has managed not only to survive, but maybe has even
equalized. But, Bronstein is not done attacking with the reduced material. }
35. R7e6 Nc7 {Going after the a-Pawn with 35...Rb3+ runs into a mating attack
after white plays 36.Kg4!! threatening g6+ putting black in a mating net. As
it is, Stockfish sees white has a mate in 17 moves.} 36. Rh1+ Kg8 37. Re7 Nb5
38. Rh8+ {Black's last move gives white a mate in 6 with 38.g8. As it is
38.Rh8+ leads to a mate in 12 moves. } 38... Kxh8 39. g6 Rb3+ 40. Kg4 {Now
40,Kf4 is mate in 5 while 40.Kg4 is a mate in 9. } 1-0
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