Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Keres Barks Up The Wrong Tree

     Zurich 1953, the Candidates Tournament for the 1954 World Championship is famous for the strength of the players and the high quality of the games. 
     Two well known books on it were written by David Bronstein and Miguel Najdorf. It later came out that Bronstein didn’t actually write "his" book, he only contributed analysis and everything else was written by Boris Vainshtein. I always preferred Najdorf’s book, but it’s rather harder to come by. There is also a scarce third book written in 1979 by National Master Jim Marfia of Michigan.   Marfia’s typewritten book concentrates less on variations and more on verbal descriptions of what was happening in the games. 
     Smylov finished first and only suffered one defeat (to Kotov) which is an incredible feat given the strength of the tournament which contained the best 15 players in the world at the time. 
     Bronstein, Keres and Reshevsky tied for second. Bronstein suffered only two losses (to Geller and Szabo). Keres lost both of his games to Smyslov, one to Bronstein and one to Averbakh. His critical game against Smyslov in the 24th round is given here and it was also one of the most exciting. Reshevsky lost one game to Keres, both games to Smyslov and one game to Kotov. 
     The Keres - Smyslov game from round 24 demonstrates the danger of trying to force the issue by playing for a win instead of just playing the best moves. It also illustrates a point that was unknown to masters of the Romantic Era. In those days when offered a piece they took it, but sometimes it's best to just say no. 
     In this game, when Keres offered him a Rook, Smyslov pondered a long time and finally decided against accepting it.  As a result, Keres paid a steep price. The game also illustrates the point that even two dangerous looking Rooks on the h-file may not constitute a sufficient attacking force if they are not backed up by other pieces.
     This game was included in the book The World’s Greatest Chess Games by Burgess, Nunn and Emms where it received a rating of only 9 points out of a possible 15, meaning that while it was a great game, it did not receive high marks based on their criteria of quality and brilliance by both players, instructive value and historical significance. 
     Of the game itself, Keres wrote that it was an important game for him because if he had succeeded in winning he would have lead the tournament and felt he would then have had “every chance of emerging with final victory.” Consequently, he believed he should not have done as he had so often in the past and played so risky and “staked everything on one card.” 
     He offered Smyslov an extremely complicated piece sacrifice which, had it been accepted, would have subjected him to a very virulent attack. But, after long thought Smyslov declined, coolly defended and handed Keres what he (Keres) described as “an ignominious defeat” that not only threw away first place, but dropped him back to fourth place. 
    The game was played in the 24th round when Keres was a half point behind Smyslov. Keres was due for a bye in the next round. If they drew, Keres would either be a half point back or a full point depending on how Smyslov did in his 25th round game against Reshevsky. 
     This explains Keres’ decision of going for broke; he needed to win and so on move 19 he offered the Rook. By playing it safe, sidestepping the tactics and emphasizing his positional advantage, Smyslov forced his opponent to prove he could mate Smyslov’s King; he couldn’t and so lost a critical game. Against a lesser player, Keres' attack might have succeeded.
     For the record, when Smyslov met Reshevsky in the next round (round 25), Reshevsky was a half point behind Smyslov with one more game to play. As a draw would not have helped Reshevsky, like Keres, he was forced to play for a win. Reshevsky was outplayed in a maneuvering game and so made a last ditch effort by introducing complications. But, Smyslov was careful, avoided all the danger and prevailed in the ending. 


No comments:

Post a Comment