GM Lubomir Kavalek told the story of how on the night of August 21, 1968 his wife met Simagin pacing back and forth in the lobby of a hotel in Polanica Zdroj, repeating:”Stupid people, stupid people, stupid people.” Simagin explained to her that Soviet tanks had invaded Czechoclovakia overnight. The Rubinstein memorial in the spa town of Polanica Zdroj, which is only about 20 miles from the border where the Soviets crossed, continued. But, because of the confusion of the times many of the games were not published and the arbiter planned to publish them later, but on a train journey home someone stole his briefcase and the games were lost to posterity. Trying to find complete information on the tournament is therefore impossible. Kavalek wrote that after the invasion, Smyslov remained silent while Simagin, who had been Smyslov’s second during his world championship matches, was exhausted and distressed.
Kavalek described Simagin as a philosopher who believed that violence has no place in our lives and it is best to leave it on the chessboard and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia had broken his heart. It can't happen in the United States...or can it? Read an article at Ammo.com HERE.
Vladimir Simagin (June 21, 1919 – September 25, 1968) was a Russian GM who won the Moscow City Championship in 1947, 1956 and 1959 and who made many significant contributions to the openings. He was much admired as both a player and teacher. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the GM title in 1962. He was also an IM in correspondence play and won the Soviet correspondence championship in 1964. As a high school student he was often among the winners of junior tournaments. His play was distinguished by originality and he was always experimenting and taking risks with the result that mistakes were common. Friends often asked why he played opening variations that no one else played, but he consistently followed his own path. Nevertheless, many of his ideas turned out to be feasible and soon became popular. At the same time, his tournament success increased. He was awarded the title of Soviet Master at the age of 24 in 1944 for his fine showing in the Moscow City Championship. In the mid-1940s his success in the city championships can be assessed by the fact that players like Smyslov, Bondarevsky, Kotov, Lilienthal, Ragozin, Alatortsev and Panov were participating.
He died of a heart attack at the early age of 49 while playing in a tournament in Kislovodsk which is in the North Caucasus region of Russia. The tournament was won by Geller who scored 10.0-5.0. At the time of his demise, Simagin’s score was +4 -4 =3, so his 5.5-5.5 score with four unplayed games placed him in a tie for 13th-14th places out of 15. The following game attracted a lot of interest because of Simagin’s ingenious and play.
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bg5 Bg7 {Today this is known s the Pirc
Defense, but in Russia it was called the Ufimtsev Defense. } 5. Qd2 h6 6. Bh4
{The most common reply these days, but at the time it was thought 9.Bf4 was
better. } 6... O-O {Almost never played today. Usually black prefers 6...Nbd7
although the riskier 6...g5 is also common. } 7. O-O-O c6 8. e5 {It's likely
that this is premature. By holding back on this move and playing 8.f4 white
would have had better prospects. } 8... Nd5 9. f4 Bf5 10. Bd3 Bxd3 11. Nxd5
cxd5 12. Qxd3 Nc6 13. Be1 {Panov is over finessing. Simply 13.Nf3 was
better} 13... Qc7 14. Nf3 a5 15. Kb1 Rfc8 16. Rc1 e6 17. h4 dxe5 18. fxe5 Nb4
19. Qd2 Qc4 20. b3 Qb5 21. h5 g5 22. c3 {After this black trades Qs and gains
a positional advantage. He could have tried a K-side attack with the
interesting 22.Nxg5 hxg5 23.h6! (Not 23.Qxh5+ followed by h6 when black's
defensive resources should be adequate) 23...Bf8 29.Qxh5+ followed by Rh3 and
white has a winning attack. Black's best defense to 22.Nxg5 was to play
22...Rc7 and double Rs on the c-file. Even then white has excellent chances.
} 22... Qd3+ 23. Qxd3 Nxd3 24. Rc2 Rc6 25. Bd2 Rac8 {An even better plan
appears to be transferring the N to e4 with 25...Nf2-e4 followed by the
advance of the a-Pawn. } 26. Rf1 f6 {Kotov and Yudovich praised this as
shaking the foundations of white's position, but white's position, while
difficult, is hardly lost. } 27. exf6 Bxf6 28. g4 Kg7 29. a4 Rb6 {White's
position is becoming difficult because all of his pieces lack scope and black
is threatening to advance his b-Pawn. } 30. Ra2 Rxb3+ 31. Kc2 {At first glance
it seems as though black has been outwitted, but Simagin has planned for this.
} 31... Rbxc3+ 32. Bxc3 Nb4+ 33. Kb2 Nxa2 34. Bxa5 {It looks like black is
about to lose his N, but Simagin has prepared for this also. } 34... Rc4 35.
Be1 {After this white is lost thanks to Simagin's clever maneuver. After
35.Ra1 Nb4 36.Bxb4 it's hard to seen how black can force a win. } 35... Nc1
36. Bg3 Nd3+ {The N has slipped away and returned to its strong position on c3
and black's wins the d-Pawn. Very clever maneuvering by Simagin! } 37. Kb3
Bxd4 38. Nxd4 Rxd4 39. Kc3 Rxg4 40. Bd6 Nf4 {The N occupies another strong
square and at this point white is quite helpless. } 41. Re1 Rg3+ 42. Kc2 Rg2+
43. Kc3 d4+ 44. Kc4 {Craftier was 44.Kxd4 and if 44...Nxh5 45.Rxe6 Rg4+ 46.Ke4
offering the a-Pawn as bait. If black bites with 46...Rxa4?? white has a
perpetual with 47.Re7+ thanks to the N on h5 blocking the Ks escape. Black
can avoid all such monkeyshines with 46...Rf4 though} 44... Rc2+ 45. Kb3
{Capturing on d4 is out...after 45...Rd2+ white will lose his B. } 45... d3
46. Rd1 Re2 47. a5 e5 48. Rb1 Kf7 49. Ka3 Ke6 0-1
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