Interesting reading

     I recently came across a blog and an editorial that were interesting and I thought I’d share them. A blog that is quite interesting and deserves to be wider read is one that oddly doesn’t seem to have a name. 
     It’s a blog by Douglas Griffin of Scotland. At the age of 12, in 1979, Griffin began competitive play and in 1980-1989 represented Scotland at every level from Under-14 to international. In the early 1990s his professional career caused him to gradually give up over-the-board play. His FIDE rating is 2270. 
     Griffin has a fascination with the Russian language and culture and over the the past 15 years he has translated the annotations to a great many games from classic Soviet-era books and periodicals. On his website he shares some of the results of his labor. There are only 17 posts dating from 2016 although some months actually have more than one subject. The blog also has some nice photos which I have never seen before. Definitely a blog worth visiting. I only wish Mr. Griffin would do more material.  Visit
     There is also an interesting old (2015) article in The Guardian titled "Grandmaster crash: the inside story of how English chess pawned its future: In the 80s, English chess was second only to the Soviet Union in the world game. Now we’re being outdone by Egypt and Peru. This is the tale of how a defecting grandmaster, an ousted chief executive and a spot of online mudslinging left the most cerebral of contests in raucous meltdown.” Read article
     If you can read Russian you can occasionally find Russian chess books that make for great reading.

My book of Lilienthal's best games

     Once upon a time somebody wrote a book that translated Russian chess words and phrases into English.  It was available from the USCF, but I can't remember the title or who wrote it. See this article: Why Russian to English is difficult for Machine Translation.



What you can do is download this Excel spreadsheet: Chess Vocabulary in 17 Languages

Pal Benko is gone

The legendary Pal Benko passed away at the age of 91 on August 26th.

Lady Champion Murdered

     Clarice Benini (January 8, 1905 - September 8, 1976) was a WIM and was the strongest Italian female player of all time. Never married, she was always “Signorina Benini,” a moody and sober spinster whose only known amusement was to hang out with the men at the chess club who referred to her as “Benini girl” because she was unmarried. 
     Born in Florence, at the age of fifteen she found herself fatherless when Giuseppe Benini died while she was playing in a tournament. After the death of her parents she devoted herself to chess and became a close friend of Marquis Stefano Rosselli del Turco (1877-1947) who was also from Florence. 
     A dangerous attacker, she was always going after the opponent’s King, usually with exceptional creativity and violence. Take a look at her game against Chaude de Silans below!

     She was the twice Italian women's champion (1938 and 1939). At the women's super-tournament at Semmering 1936, won by Sonja Graf, she finished 2nd. 
     Then she was a surprise at the Women's World Championship at Stockholm 1937, when she finished second behind Vera Menchik. This event took place during the 1937 Stockholm Olympiad. 
     In 1949/50, she finished 9th in the Women's World Championship in Moscow; it was won by Lyudmila Rudenko. The title had been vacant since the death of Vera Menchik in 1944. 
     For Benini the Moscow tournament was a long-awaited event after the war years during which time chess in Italy had suffered badly under the Italian fascist regime. Though her youth was gone and she had been threatened by her employer in the new post-fascist Italy with losing her job if she went to the Soviet Union, she didn’t think twice about it and undertook the fifteen-day train trip anyway. She traveled to Moscow at her own expense and when she arrived there it was 32 below zero. 

     By this time she no longer resembled the young woman who had surprised everyone in Sweden because she had been out of practice for years. As a result, she lost many games, but even so, the Soviets were impressed with her fighting spirit; Bronstein and Ragozin made special mention of her. It was clear that if the Benini had been well prepared, she would have been a dangerous contender.      She tied for 3rd-4th at Venice 1951 (WWCC zonal). In 1953/54 Benini achieved excellent results in the International Women's tournaments of Abbazia where she placed second with 13.5 points out of 17. At Gardone in 1956 she was unbeaten and finished first. Then at Amsterdam in 1957 she was undefeated and took another first. She finished 2nd at Beverwijk in 1958. 

     Benini continued to play in Italian women’s events and at the Florence chess club, but then had to abandon competitive activity in the mid-Sixties due to an eye disease. 
     She moved to the countryside where she owned a small house in Borgo Nuovo in northwestern Italy not far from the French and Swiss borders. It was there that she suffered an untimely end when an insane farmer murdered his wife and children and then murdered Benini who was his neighbor. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Womens World Championship Moscow"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1949.12.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Chantal Chaude de Silans"]
[Black "Clarice Benini"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Slav Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 {The Slav gain popularity in the 1920s and
received an exhaustive test during the two Alekhine-Euwe World Championship
matches.} 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O O-O 9.
Ne2 {Nowadays the preference runs towards 9.Qe2} 9... h6 10. Ng3 Bh7 11. Qe2
Nbd7 12. e4 Qe7 13. Ne5 Rad8 {Had black taken the N the doubled P would be no
disadvantage because after f2-f4 white has a remote possibility of a general P
advance on the K-side.} 14. Nxd7 Rxd7 15. e5 {Aggressive play by white who
eschews the solid 15.Rd1.} 15... Nd5 16. Nh5 Kh8 17. f4 Nb6 18. Be3 Nxc4 19.
Qxc4 Rd5 20. Qc1 {With the N on h5 in the vicinity of black's K, white plans a
R-lift and the advance of her f-Pawn to give her a promising attack.} 20...
Rfd8 21. Rf3 Qh4 {An interesting way of defending...white either must retreat
the N or defend it with the R. But there is a third possibility that leads
to quite interesting play. 22.Nxg7?! Kxg7 23.Rh3 Qe7 24.f5 with complications
that are unclear...to humans. Engines prefer black based on material
considerations.} 22. Rh3 Qg4 23. f5 {The N sac is no longer a possibility}
23... Bxf5 24. Nf4 {One would now expect black to tamely retreat the R and
keep a solid advantage. Instead, she sacrifices it in order to gain play on
the d-file...d2 in particular. Watch!} 24... Rxd4 {Beautiful!} 25. Bxd4 Rxd4
26. Rf3 Bd2 {Winning the N...the game is over, or so it would appear.} 27.
Qc5 Bxf4 28. h3 {Now with the quiet retreat 28...Qh4 black would have a
winning position. Instead she gets fancy and could have lost the game.
Thankfully for all the spectators Benini decided to exhibit her uncompromising
style for which she was so well known.} 28... Qxf3 {This is unsound in the
sense that it results in equal chances... equal if white finds the correct
defense. If white takes the Q she would get a lost ending: 29.gxf3 Be3+
followed by ...Rd1+ and black ends up with two Bs and a Q-side P-majority vs a
R which should win without great difficulty.} 29. Qf8+ {The only correct
defense because now that her Q is not exposed to attack she can safely play
30.gxf3} 29... Kh7 30. gxf3 Rd2 31. Qb4 {Somewhat better was 31. h4} 31... g5
{Better was 31...Be3+ and 32...b6} 32. Qxb7 Kg6 {White has now equalized and
should have taken the a-Pawn} 33. Re1 {Now black could have grabbed some extra
Ps with 33...Bg3! ...Bxh3 and white's e-Pawn would also soon fall.} 33...
Bxh3 34. Qb8 {The Ks entry into the action is decisive.} 34... Kh5 {Thanks to
the advancing K black has a mate in 10 moves.} 35. Qg8 Kh4 36. Qxf7 Kg3 {There
was a quicker mate to be had with 36...Bh2+, but no matter, black's next move
makes the ending even better.} 37. Qh5 {Taking the a-Pawn would delay the
mate, but fortunately she palyed this which allows a nice finish.} 37... Be3+
{Mate attack! 38.Rxe3 Rd1 mates next move.} 0-1

Tal Shreds Gurgenidze

     Tal said there were two types of sacrifices, sound ones and his. He also observed that errors are not good for a chess game, but they are unavoidable and a game without any errors is colorless. If you don’t believe him then a book of games between engines or of any of the recent world correspondence championships is for you! Kasparov said, “He (Tal) was the only one I knew who didn't calculate the variants, he saw them.” 
     I got to wondering, what was Tal’s greatest game? I came to the conclusion that the question has no answer because defining great is hard to do and no matter what definition you use, there are just too many of his games that would qualify. 
     The following game is Tal vs. Gurgenidze from the 1968/69 USSR Championship. Tal faced a Caro Kann in which he got space advantage, dangerous Bishops and Queen. 
     On move 16 he played a nice P-sac with the idea of either weakening the K-side or opening the h-file. When the h-file open his R was already in position and on move 21 he cut loose with a series of sacrifices that ripped Gurgenidze’s K-side to shreds. 
     The 36th USSR Championship played in 1968/69 was held in Alma-Ata (now called Almaty) in Kazakhstan. The tournament was a second straight victory for Polugaevsky, who along with Tal had won the 126 player Swiss system championship tournament the year before. This year it was Alexander Zaitsev who tied with Polugaevsky. A six game playoff was won by by a score of 3.5-2.5. It turned out to be Polugaevsky's final Soviet championship title. 

1-2) A. Zaitsev and Polugaevsky 12.5 
3) Lutikov 11.5 
4-5) Liberzon and Tseshkovsky 11.0 
6-10) Vasiukov, Klovans, Podgaets, Tal and Kholmov 10.5 
11-13) Averbakh, Lein and Osnos 10.0 
14) Sakharov 9.0 
15-17) Bagirov, Gurgenidze and I. Zaitsev 8.5 
18) Platonov 6.5 
19) Cherepkov 4.5 
20) Nikitin 3.5 

Play Online Chess

[Event "USSR Championship 1968/69"]
[Site "Alma-Ata (Almaty)"]
[Date "1969.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Bukhuti Gurgenidze"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Caro-Kann} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 b5 {Gurgenidze has a variation of the
Caro-Kann named after him, but this isn't it. His system is 3...g6.
Gurgenidze played 3...b5 three times in this championship. In the other two
games he drew with Igor Zaitsev and lost to Janis Klovans. The idea of the
immediate advance of b-Pawn is to gain the square d5 for his N in lines
similar to main line of Caro-Kann. The move weakens the Q-side, but in this
game it's a moot point!} 4. a3 {Introduced by Tal, this move is now standard
in this line.} 4... dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bf5 {Also coming into consideration is
5...Nf6} 6. Bd3 {The alternative is 6.Ng3 and 7.Nf3.} 6... Bxe4 7. Bxe4 {White
has the pair of Bs and black's Q-side is weak, but as mentioned, it's a moot
point in thsi game.} 7... Nf6 {You would expect 8.Bf3, but that's not the Tal
way. Instead he offers a dubious P-sac.} 8. Bd3 e6 {Gurgenidze is scared to
take the P which against Tal has some rationality. Objectively though white
has no immediate, forceful continuation that would cause black any harm.} 9.
Nf3 Be7 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 {This is one of those positions where
you just know white is goping to work up a dangerous K-side attack. It's
instructive to watch how Tal does it.} 12... Re8 13. Ne5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 {Of
course he take with the P so as to drive the N away from the K-side.} 14...
Nd5 15. Qg4 {The storm clouds are gathering. Engines don't appreciate black's
predicament because by examining a gazillion moves they can pick their way
through the minefield and come out OK; humans can't do that. For example,
SugaR puts the evaluation at 0.14. Fritz has a little gizmo called the Hotness
Meter that tells you when the position enters a sharp tactical phase or when
there is a significant change in positional features. Here it's starting to
creep up...it's at 4.0 out of 10. The Mate-O-Meter warns you if the Kings are
in danger.; it's only on 1.0 here.} 15... a5 {White has a slight advantage
here in that he has more space and looking at black's position, it's clear he
may be in danger owing to the paucity of pieces available to defend his King.
Things are starting to get interesting.} 16. h4 {A really swell move...black
should have avoided opening up the h-file and played something like 16...Qc7
maybe.} 16... Bxh4 17. g3 Be7 18. Kg2 {Gurgenidze has failed to appreciate how
dangerous this file is going to be. The Hotness Meter is up to 6.4, but the
Mate-O-Meter is just a touch over 1.0 so black's K is still pretty safe.}
18... g6 19. Rh1 Bf8 {Gurgenidze obviously reasoned that the fianchettoed B
would be more than adequate to defend his K.} 20. Bg5 Qc7 { Attacking the
e-Pawn. Black doesn't suspect a thing. Hotness = 7.2, Mate-O-Meter = 2.4}
21. Rxh7 {When Tal made this move a loud report was heard throughout the
tournament hall (Just joking...nobody heard anything). If black takes the R
he can only avoid immediate mate by shedding heavy plastic.} 21... Qxe5 {Black
probably figured he could slip out of trouble after 22.Rah1 B67 23. Bh6 Bxh6
24.R1xh6 Nf6 25.Rxg6+ Kf8 26.Rxf6 Qxf6 and he is the exchange up.} 22. Rxf7
{Another big surprise that bumps the Hotness Meter to 9.0. Black has no good
defensive move, but mate is not imminent.} 22... Kxf7 {Fritz has this to say,
"Sad, but how else could Black save the game?"} 23. Bxg6+ Kg8 {Taking the B
loses the Q.} 24. Bxe8 Bg7 {Material is equal, but white's attack continues to
rage.} 25. Bd7 {Even stronger was 25.Bg6! threatening 26.Qh4.} 25... Nc7 26.
Bxc6 Rf8 27. Rd1 Qc5 28. Bf3 Qxc2 29. Rd7 Rf7 30. Rd8+ Rf8 31. Bf6 {The
Mate-O-Meter is at 5.5} 31... Qh7 32. Be4 Qh6 33. Bg5 Qh8 34. Rd7 {White ha a
mate in 10 after 34... Rf7} 1-0

Nezhmetdinov’s Flight of Fancy

     From time to time I like to pull out Super Nezh: Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Chess Assassin by Alex Pishkin and play through a few of his games.
     Nezhmetdinov was an early version of Tal...his combinations were fantastic, if not always entirely sound. Every time I play over his games I get to thinking I could play like that, but, of course I can’t.
     The following game was played against Oleg Chernikov (October 15, 1936 – February 6, 2015), an International Arbiter and the 2000 World Senior Chess Champion. It was played in a Russian team championship at Rostov-On Don in 1962. 
     After Chernikov played 11...Bf6 a position was reached that had long been known to be drawn and so after making it Chernikov went for a stroll thinking Nezhmetdinov would take a quick draw. But, Nezhmetdinov sunk into deep thought and everyone wondered what he could be thinking about. Finally after 45 minutes a youngster rushed up to Chernikov and informed him that Nezhmetdinov had sacrificed his Queen. 
     Nezhmetdinov’s Queen sacrifice only netted him two pieces, but he hoped to attack the weakened dark squares around black’s King. Immediately after the game it was thought black had a draw at best. After this game subsequent analysis reached the conclusion that the chances should be about equal if black plays 14...d5 instead of Chernikov’s 14...Re8. However, since then it’s been discovered that black has several reasonable moves. While the engine evaluations after 14.Nc3 lead one to believe that the chances are even, practical results strongly favor black. 
     In the end, Nezhmetdinov didn’t succeed in overturning theory, but what does that matter? The depth of his plan and his flight of fancy are worth more than reams of engine analysis. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Chigorin Team Cup, Rostov-On-Don"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1962.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rashid Nezhmetdinov"]
[Black "Oleg L Chernikov"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5.
Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 {Either 8...d6 or 8...a5 are
preferable.} 8... Ng4 9. Qxg4 Nxd4 10. Qh4 {After 10.Qd1 it is difficult for
black to equalize as was also known when this game was played.} 10... Qa5 11.
O-O Bf6 {This is leads to a known draw. White can play 12.Qh6 Bg7 13. Qh4 and
repeat moves. Or, he can play 13.Qg5 and after the exchange of Qs the endgame
is drawn. Here Nezhmetdinov thought for 45 minutes.} 12. Qxf6 {White only get
two pieces for his Q but he hopes to attack on the weak b\dark squares around
black's K. At Warsaw 2006 in Cyborowski,L (2559)-Narmontas,M (2310) white
played 12.Qg4 but failed to get any advantage and eventually lost. In case
you're wondering what the engine thinks, SugaR's evaluation is that the
position is almost dead equal. Black can't try to grab material here: 12..
.Nxb3?? 13.Qe7 Nxa1 14.Nd5 followed by Bd4 leaves black busted.} 12... Ne2+
13. Nxe2 exf6 14. Nc3 {This is the reason for 12...Ne2+...white has had to
expend a tempo to get the N back.} 14... Re8 {The Fritz opening book labels
this a novelty ends because there are only two games in the database:
Serwinski-Grabczewski, Polanica Zdroj in which black played the 14...d5 and
went on to win and Rozkov-Terekhin, Kazan 2008 where he played 14...Qd8 and
also went on to win. SugaR likes 14...d6 and ...Be6.} 15. Nd5 Re6 16. Bd4 Kg7
17. Rad1 d6 {It's been suggested that the only correct move here was 17...b5,
but in fact black has several reasonable defenses. It would be too risky to
play 17...Rxe4 though because after 18.Bxf6+, 19.Bc3 and 20.Nf6 white's pieces
are very active.} 18. Rd3 Bd7 19. Rf3 Bb5 20. Bc3 Qd8 21. Nxf6 {Now with
21...Rc8! black can hope to survive because it leads to multiple exchanges
after 22.Bxe6 Rxc3 and in the best line black will have a Q vs a R and B in a
position which should be drawn.} 21... Be2 {After this black is worse.} 22.
Nxh7+ {Alertly played.} 22... Kg8 {Of course he can't allow 22...Kxh7 23.
Rxf7+} 23. Rh3 {Even better was first 23.Nf6+ and then Rh3. Black can't
capture on f1 because 24.Ng5 Kf8 (Also bad is 24...Re5 25.Nxf7 winning) 25.
Rh8+ wins the Q.} 23... Re5 24. f4 {After his next move black is completely
lost. In annotating this game ICCF Master Alex Pishkin makes no comment on
this move. If it was bad to take on f1 last move, it's still bad. Black could
have put up stiffer resistance with 24... Rh5! 25.Nf6+ Kf8 26.Nxh5 gxf5}
24... Bxf1 25. Kxf1 { Not bad at all, but even more forceful was 25.Ng5}
25... Rc8 26. Bd4 {Nezhmetdinov is over finessing. The prosaic 26.fxe5 was
sufficient.} 26... b5 {This shortens his misery. Far better was 26...Rxe4. He
has to surrender his Q after 27.Nf6+ Qxf6+ 28.Bxf6 but after 28. ..Rxf4+
29.Rf3 Rxf3+ gxf3 black a R+5Ps vs white 2Bs+5Ps. White wins this ending, but
it will require some work.} 27. Ng5 { Nice! 27.fxe5 dxe5 and ...Qd1+ gives
black too much play.} 27... Rc7 28. Bxf7+ Rxf7 29. Rh8+ {A nice finish.}
29... Kxh8 30. Nxf7+ Kh7 31. Nxd8 Rxe4 32. Nc6 Rxf4+ 33. Ke2 1-0

Chessplayer James Vernon, A Real Hero

James Vernon, Hero Chessplayer

     We live in a society where we are encompassed with ersatz heroes...people in politics, sports and Hollywood. A parade of Hollywood stars are presented to us as people to be respected and admired, but as actor John Cusack confessed, “Hollywood is a whorehouse and people go mad.” Angus T. Jones, formerly the child actor on the TV show Two And A Half Men, called the show filth that nobody should be watching, but he could have been speaking of dozens of them. 
     What defines a hero? There a lot of definitions, but a real hero is someone who demonstrates behaviors and decisions that are ethically and emotionally worthy of our awe. A real hero is someone who can be looked up to for their actions and courage. Back in 2015, a 75-year-old Vietnam War-era U.S. Army veteran and retiree named James Vernon did just that. 
     Vernon, USCF rating 1516, was teaching chess to a group of 16 children and their mothers at the Morton Public Library in Morton, a small town in central Illinois when 19-year-old Dustin Brown entered the room brandishing two knives and shouting, “I’m going to kill some people.” Court documents claimed that Brown wanted to kill the children before he killed himself. 
     For a few seconds Vernon didn’t believe what was happening, but then realized he had to do something and immediately got in between the attacker and the children, telling the frightened children and mothers that it was time to leave. 
     The children, aged 7 to 14, remained frozen in their seats as Vernon approached the attacker and calmly began asking him questions. Brown just stood there making shallow cuts in his own left arm as he told Vernon his whole life sucked. 
     Vernon asked Brown to let the children leave and then they could talk about Brown’s problems. At that point one of the mothers hurried the children out. As the children were leaving, Brown lunged at Vernon who lifted his hand to block the attack and as a result suffered a deep stab in his left palm that severed two arteries which began spurting blood all over the place. 
     In spite of his wound, Vernon fought back, subdued Brown and pinned him to one of the conference tables. Not bad for a 75-year-old with bad knees, a bad shoulder and high blood pressure. Vernon credited basic Army training that he had received over 50 years earlier for knowing what to do in a knife fight. 
     Vernon's actions remind me of what author Adam Chan wrote in his book Climbing Mountains and Eating Punches when he said his view was the really dangerous guys are the quietest ones who are very good at avoiding trouble. Like he also said, you never know who you are messing with.  

     Brown was arrested and charged with attempted murder, armed violence, and aggravated battery. Vernon underwent two hours of surgery on his hand. 
     It took until this year for Vernon to be awarded the Carnegie Medal for his heroic action that day. The 113-year-old Carnegie Commission recognizes civilian heroism in the U.S. and Canada. About 20-percent of those awards are made posthumously. 
     And what happened to Dustin Brown? As a teenager Brown suffered from fixations on aviation, child pornography and eventually mass murder that were caused by autism. 
     Brown, whose intellectual capacity was less than his age of 19, claimed to have been sexually abused as a child which may have contributed to his actions, but he understood his actions in the library were criminal. 
     Brown went to the library with two large knives in his book bag with the intent to kill people and when he saw the children he selected them as his target. His plans stemmed from a fixation over mass killings he’d developed while watching video games.
     He told police the children sparked a desire for revenge after he was charged eight months earlier with possessing more than 200 computer-downloaded videos and pictures of preteen girls engaging in sexual acts. He was free on bond when he made the attack in the library.  
     Brown’s parents said they had no idea until after Brown’s arrest on the porn charges that he was sexually abused for a half-dozen years by his older brother who is imprisoned on an unrelated sex-related charge. The parents had adopted both boys as young children. 
     Brown pleaded guilty (but mentally ill) to possessing child porn, attempted murder and armed violence. The Assistant State’s Attorney sought a 50-year sentence while Brown’s attorney asked for the minimum 16-year term. In the end, Brown received a 32-year prison sentence. Time served since the library assault and good behavior could reduce his prison term to 22 years. He’ll receive mental health therapy during his prison time. 
     James Vernon is a real hero, not the fake kind you see on television.

Kudzu String Band and Chess

     1.3 million. That’s how many visitors this blog reached yesterday. I don’t know if that means anything, but the average is about 450 views per day. 
     Most of the visitors are from the U.S. with Russia and the Ukraine a distant second and third. The UK, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany are way back. 
     I was interested to see what subject matter is the most popular...engines, openings, biographies, tournaments, etc. Oddly, no one category stands out. 
     Posts on engines are popular, but what really surprised me is that one of the top viewed post is the one about Bobby Fischer’s girlfriend...the one where I “borrowed” her picture from another site and it turned out to be a young Hillary Clinton. They do favor each other though. 
     Not far behind in the number of views was my comparison of the Chess Assistant and Chessbase programs. A post titled Nanny McPhee of Chess featured one of my ugly, wart covered games, so I'm not sure why it had so many views.  Perhaps the attraction was the post title?!  Very close behind was GM Rosendo Balinas and a Sugar High...Real or Myth? 
     It seems odd, but my update on a (then) new, but very short lived, server site called Chesshood racked up over 12,000 views. Supposedly the lady who owned the site (Emilie Ropers) was killed in a shootout, but nobody ever located any news of the shooting or her obituary. I traced the incorporation to a private address in Florida. It was all very strange. 

     By far the all time leader for views is a real surprise as it had nothing to do with chess; it was a video of the Kudzu String Band from Marion, Alabama. They play what they call "regressive bluegrass," music that pre-dates legends like Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers, Ralph and Carter. That post has over 16,000 views! 

Legendary buck dancer Thomas Maupin

Moscow 1956

Szabo vs. Smyslov

     Moscow 1956: The Silenced Spring by Kathleen E. Smith is a book about how, in 1956, Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, stunned a closed gathering of Communist officials with a litany of his predecessor’s abuses. 
     Meant to clear the way for reform, Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” of February 25, 1956, shattered the myth of Stalin’s infallibility and resulted in a wave of anti-Stalin sentiment that morphed into calls for democratic reform and eventually erupted in dissent within the Soviet bloc. 
     The Soviets ruthlessly crushed the Workers' uprising against Communist rule in Poland that lasted from June 28 to the 30th. 
     Most notably there was the Hungarian Revolt which was also viciously crushed by Soviet tanks and troops. It was this revolt that lead to some Hungarian players fleeing...Laszlo Witt to Canada, Bela Berger to Australia and Pal Benko to the US, for example. 

     Other big news was Egypt, under Nasser, nationalized the Suez Canal in late July and Israel launched attack on Egypt's Sinai peninsula and drove toward the Canal in October. Then British and French invaded Egypt at Port Said on November 5th. A cease-fire forced by US pressure stopped the advance of British, French and Israeli troops. 
     Chess happenings in 1956 included the death of 5-time British Ladies Champion Edith Price and Veniamin Sozin, a Russian master, author, and theoretician. Savielly Tartakower died in Paris at the age of 68. Julius du Mont, a player, journalist, editor and writer, died in Hastings at the age of 74. On July 16, Karel Hromadka, Czech champion in 1913 and 1921 died in Prague at the age of 69. Also in 1956, Lajos Asztalos, the 1913 Hungarian champion, died in Budapest. He was a professor of philosophy and languages. 
     In February Isaac Kashdan appeared on Groucho Marx’s game show You Bet Your Life. Kashdan’s partner was Helen Schwartz, actor Tony Curtis’ mother. They didn’t win any money. View
     In July Bobby Fischer took first place in the U.S. Junior Championship in Philadelphia with 8 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss thus becoming the youngest-ever junior champion at age 13. Later in the year he defeated Donald Byrne in the famous Game of the Century. 
     In March and April, Smyslov won the Candidates tournament in Amsterdam. For twenty-five years after Alekhine fled Russia he was considered a traitor and an enemy of the people, but within a few years after his death in 1946 he was being hailed as Russia’s greatest player. After the Candidates tournament in a Soviet delegation that included Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Geller and Petrosian, marked the tenth anniversary of his death at a ceremony organized by FIDE in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris. 
     Between August 31 and September 25 the Chess Olympiad, won by the USSR, was held in Moscow. Not long after the Olympiad, Moscow was the scene of the Alekhine Memorial that was held from October 9th to November 2nd. 

Alekhine's death – an unresolved mystery 
Alekhine’s Death by Edward Winter 

     Vasily Smyslov, Mark Taimanov and Mikhail Botvinnik were the early leaders. Then beginning in round 10 Botvinnik scored 4.5 points out of 5 which gave him a full point lead going into the last round. In the last round an out-of-form Paul Keres handed Botvinnik a stunning defeat. Smyslov ground out a win over Gideon Stahlberg to tie for first place while Taimanov settled for a short last-round draw which left him a half point short of a tie for first. Botvinnik’s shared 1st place was his only first place finish during his world championship years.
     British champion C.H.O’D. Alexander was invited to Moscow, but the British Foreign Office forbade him to go because as one of Britain’s top decoding experts at Bletchley Park during World War II it was felt he knew too many secrets. 

1) Botvinnik * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.0 
2) Smyslov ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.0 
3) Taimanov ½ ½ * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 10.5 
4) Gligoric ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 10.0 
5) Bronstein ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 9.5 
6) Najdorf 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 9.0 
7) Keres 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 8.5 
 8) Pachman ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 8.5 
9) Unzicker ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 8.0 
10) Stahlberg 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 8.0 
11) Szabo 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 6.0 
12) Padevsky 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 1 ½ 5.5 
13) Uhlmann 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 * 1 ½ ½ 5.5 
14) Ciocaltea 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * 1 ½ 3.5 
15) Sliwa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ 3.0 
16) Golombek 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 2.5 

     In the following game Szabo played his home-prepared innovation 8.e4 offering his d-Pawn which Smyslov readily accepted. With the initiative that came with the P-sac Szabo went on to launch what appeared to be a crushing K-side attack, but misplayed it and lost. 
     Szabo had started out with a modest score of 3-2. This game was played in round 6 on October 17th when rumblings of political unrest coming out of Hungary. On October 23rd, a national uprising began and a few days later, on November 4th, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest and crushed it. The news was upsetting to Szabo, who was from Budapest, and he later wrote that he didn’t have the ambition to prepare for his remaining games. 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Alekhine Memorial Moscow"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.10.17"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Laszlo Szabo"]
[Black "Vasily Smyslov"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Nimzo-Indian} 1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. a3 Bxc3+
7. bxc3 Nc6 8. e4 {This is not as good as 8.Nge2, but it leads to sharp play.
Ever since Szabo burst onto the international scene in 1935, at the age of 18,
he was admired for his attacking chess, a style that ran contrary to the dour,
positional approach adopted by his Hungarian contemporaries.} 8... cxd4
{Another approach is 8...d6 and 9...e5.} 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. e5 Qa5+ 11. Kf1
{Black can't play 11...Qxe5 because after 12.Bb2 he has serious problems.}
11... Ne8 12. Bd2 { Where should the Q go? In Podolchenko-Kupreichik Minsk
2005 black played the better 12...Qc7 but even after 13.Bb4 f5 white had a
promising position which he later mishandled and lost.} 12... Qd8 13. Bb4 {The
game would be unclear after 13. ..Nc6 14.Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Bxf8} 13... d6 {Saves
the exchange, but it doesn't prevent the B sacrifice on h7.} 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7
15. Qxd4 {Black's best plan is to undermine the center with 15.. .f6! 16.Bxd6
fxe5 and anything can hapopen.} 15... a5 16. Bc3 {Szabo releases the pressure
for vague attacking chances on the long diagonal and h-file. 16.Bd6 and Rd1
keeps up the pressure.} 16... f6 {Brilliant defense by Smyslov...he is not
concerned about the long diagonal as he realizes the dissolution of white's
advantage in the center is more important.} 17. Qh4+ {Szabo's attack looks
formidable, but either the developing move 17. Nf3 or 17.Qd3+ and exf6 were
better.} 17... Kg8 18. Rd1 Qc7 19. Rd3 {As is often the case, attacking before
completing development does not work out well. Better was 19.Nf3.} 19... dxe5
20. Rh3 b6 {Smyslov has determined his defensive resources are adequate so he
goes after the c-Pawn.} 21. Nf3 Ba6 22. Nd2 Rc8 {White is strategically lost,
but his best chance was to get the other R into play and so 23.Ke2 was his
best chance.} 23. Qh7+ Kf7 24. g4 Bxc4+ 25. Ke1 Qd6 26. g5 { At a casual
glance white's attack looks overwhelming, but it lacks substance.} 26... Qxa3
27. Qc2 Bd5 28. Rg1 {At last it looks as if the R is going to get into the
action.} 28... Qa1+ {Destroying any hope white may have had.} 29. Nb1 Qa2 30.
g6+ Ke7 31. Qc1 {Obviously to have any hope at all white has to keep the Qs
on.} 31... Nd6 32. Rh7 Nf5 33. Rg3 b5 {With his K secure the advance of the Ps
wraps it up.} 34. Rd3 b4 35. Rd2 Qc4 36. Rc2 Qe4+ {A nice win by Smyslov.}
0-1

Johannesburg 1955

     If you lived in South Africa (in those days the Union of South Africa) in 1955 the big political news was The Congress of the People that was held in June. And, if you were a railroad fan the South African Railways placed the first of sixty Class 5E, Series 1 electric locomotives in service. They would eventually become the most prolific locomotive type to ever run on South African rails. 
     If you were a sports fan the South Africa national football team toured Australia and played and won five games against the Australia national association football teams. 
     If you were a chess player the big news was that the first world champion to ever play an event in Africa was Max Euwe who played in the Johannesburg 1955 event. And, the really big news was Euwe came in a surprising third a half point behind Muhring and Hreidenfeld. 
     The final standings were in doubt until the last round when Euwe went all out against Muhring after losing to Heidenfeld in the previous round. But, Euwe only managed a draw while Heifenfeld defeated Wilken and so moved into a tie for first. 

     Willem Muhring (1913 - 1999) was a Dutch IM and a pioneer in the computer industry. See A tribute to Willem Jan Muhring for an interesting bio.
     Wolfgang Heidenfeld (1991 - 1981) was born in Berlin and was forced to move from Germany to South Africa because he was a Jew. In 1957, he moved to Dublin and in 1979 the family moved back to Germany. You can read my post about him HERE.
     Barta da Cruz was from Mozambique while the other players were local South Africans about whom nothing is known. 

     
     The September 1955 edition of a typewritten South African magazine titled New Youth, Independent Youth Monthly mentions Dr. Euwe in the section On The Youth Front. 
     A group of seven young "non-European chess enthusiasts" who were members of the Transveal Indian Youth Congress at the South African Colored Peoples’ Organization interviewed Dr. Euwe and handed him an open letter.
     Their interview with Dr. Euwe took place in the foyer of the venue, the Johannesburg Library, as the youths were barred from entering the library itself. Euwe actually came into the foyer in between moves during his game to listen to and speak with the youths. 
     The letter they gave to Euwe expressed “deep disappointment in not being able to watch you play owing to the color of out skins.” 
     The letter went on to say that the game originated in the 5th century in India and it had always been played by people of all nationalities, colors and creeds. It stated, “We are sure that in your wide experience you have played and enjoyed games with persons of all colors. You must agree with us that the color of a person’s skin does not matter as long as they appreciate the art of chess.” 
     After the interview with Dr. Euwe the youths stated that they had been received by him with understanding and he had expressed regret at not being able to participate in playing games against non-whites because his contract for the trip and tournament forbade him from doing so.
 

Play Online Chess

[Event "Johannesburg"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Wolfgang Heidenfeld"]
[Black "Max Euwe"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Giuoco Piano} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 {The main line in which
white plays 4.c3 in preparation for the central advance d2-d4.} 4... Bb6 {A
rare sideline. Black can try to hold a strongpoint in the center at e5 with
4...Qe7 or counterattack with 4...Nf6.} 5. d4 Qe7 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Nf6 8. Re1
O-O 9. a4 a6 {More usual is 10.Bg5 or 10.b4. From here the N begins a long
journey to d5, but it only gets to stay there for a single move.} 10. Na3 {
Pelikan-Pereira, Sao Paulo 2005 continued 10...Bd7 11.Nc2 Na5 12.Bd3 Nb3 with
equality. del Campo-Vega Merida 2002 continued 10...Re8 11.Nc2 h6 12.Ne3 and
Nd5 with a quick draw.} 10... Kh8 {Euwe's idea is to overprotect e5, but it
allows white to seize the initiative with 11.d5! 12.Bf1 and 13.Nc4 with good
play on the Q-side. His best plan was to play 10...exd4, but after 11.cxd4 he
would have to lose a tempo with 11...Qd8 in order to get his Q off the line
with white's R.} 11. Nc2 {Equally promising was 11.d5 Euwe now has a choice
of a couple of good moves: 11...a5 hindering white's expansion on the Q-side.
And both 11...exd4 and 11...Bd7 were worth considering.} 11... Ng8 {But this
move is just too passive and allows white a free hand to carry out his own
plans.} 12. b4 f6 13. Ne3 Ba7 14. Ba3 Qe8 15. Qd3 Nce7 {Euwe's opening play is
rather surprising because he was a leading opening theoretician and here he
has been moving his pieces backwards and avoiding counterplay while neglecting
his development.} 16. b5 axb5 17. axb5 Qh5 {Instead of the better 17...Bb6
Euwe plays a move that Stockfish give two ?? and, as Fritz puts it, "strolling
merrily down the path to disaster." It works out OK though because Heidenfeld
missed (as did Euwe) the surprising tactical refutation. 18.Bxd6!! cxd6 19.b6
and white comes out of the complications with a very good position.} 18. Nf1
Qe8 {This is wrong because the same idea is still available to white with 19.
Bxd6. Therefore, black needed to play 18...Bb6 which renders the whole idea
of capturing on d6 ineffective...bad even.} 19. Re2 {Too passive. After this
black should have adequate defensive resources, but his position remains
cramped.} 19... Ng6 {After this white retains a considerable advantage. He
still should have played 19...Bb6} 20. Bc1 {The Bxd6 idea is out because of
the threat of ...Nf5} 20... Bd7 {For what it was worth black might have tried
for some play with 20...f5} 21. Rea2 {So...now the idea of b6 is looming with
devastating consequences. White now has a clearly winning position.} 21...
Qb8 { White's next move is OK, but he could have switched over to a K-side
attack with moves like Ng3 and h4 and Euwe would have been totally helpless.}
22. b6 { Even so, this is a neat tactical resource that also leaves white with
a winning position.} 22... cxb6 23. Bb5 Bxb5 24. Qxb5 N8e7 25. Ne3 Nc8 26.
Nd5 Nge7 27. Nxe7 Nxe7 28. dxe5 Nc6 {He might as well have resigned as play
this. Even so, 28...dxe5 29.Be3 is hopeless.} 29. exd6 {29...Qxd6 30.Ba3 is
out of the question.} 29... Na5 30. Ba3 Rd8 31. e5 Qc8 32. Bb4 Nc6 33. Qd5
fxe5 34. Nxe5 Nxe5 35. Qxe5 Qb8 36. Qe7 b5 {Euwe resigned before his opponent
could play...} 37. Rxa7 Rxa7 38. Rxa7 Rg8 39. d7 h6 40. Bc5 Kh7 41. Bd4 {mates
in 9 moves} 41... Qd8 42. Qe4+ g6 43. Ra8 Qxd7 44. Rxg8 Kxg8 45. Qxg6+ Kf8
46. Bc5+ {etc} 1-0

Taking Another Gander At Chess Assistant 16

     The current version of Chess Assistant is Chess Assistant 19 Professional with Houdini 6 PRO and the download version for the USCF costs $169.95. 
     Because you probably don’t remember, let me remind you that I purchased Chess Assistant 16 back in March of 2016. Initially I downloaded the program from the USCF and had a problem both getting it installed as well as locating the big game database. Those problems were handled by Chess Assistant’s support quickly and efficiently. Their tech support is superb, which is something I can’t say for the snots at ChessBase. Then in November of 2017, I posted that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fall in love with Chess Assistant. 
     As I mentioned, I never cottoned to the appearance of the board, but more importantly, I never learned how to use all its features because I found the most mundane tasks difficult to perform. 

     Then in January of this year I posted about my hard drive failure that happened just as we were suffering through a polar vortex which brought unusually cold weather with temperatures below zero. That caused me to have to venture out into the cold and make a trip to Best Buy and $272 later I had a new solid state drive which is nice and very fast. Shortly after that the keyboard crapped out. That was an easy fix...just disconnect the laptop keyboard and replace it with a $20 wireless board. 
     While I am on the subject of wireless keyboards, the first one I bought was the $30 Insignia Wireless Keyboard/ Mouse and after two days the keys started sticking making it almost impossible to type anything. When I checked customer reviews on Amazon and Best Buy I discovered there were literally dozens of complaints about this unit having that problem. Clearly the manufacturer and Best Buy are aware of the issue, but obviously don't care. In any case, I took it back to Best Buy and exchanged it for a cheap $20 Logitech Wireless Keyboard and it’s still working fine. The only disadvantage is that it takes two receivers/transmitters, one for the wireless mouse and one for the keyboard whereas the Insignia only took one. Bottom line: Insignia is junk...don't buy.

     But, this post is really about my old, outdated Chess Assistant 16. It was on the old hard drive, but wouldn’t run off of it. It took a couple of days monkeying around with the program, but I finally got it running off the SSD drive. If I didn’t like it in the first place, why bother, you ask? Good question. The answer is that 1) getting it up and running on the new SSD was a challenge and 2) I just wanted to play around with it some more. 
     What can you do with Chess Assistant? The latest version has the Houdini 6 engine which according to the sales hype is “the World's strongest chess program.” That’s not true according to the CCLR 40/40 rating list; it’s a good engine, but it can’t compare to Stockfish. It holds its own against Komodo though. 
     Chess Assistant is tool for managing games and databases, playing on the Internet, analyzing games, or playing against the computer. Let’s throw out playing on the Internet and playing against the computer and look at the other stuff. 
     Chess Assistant 19 Professional includes (as does my old version 16) the Chess Opening Encyclopedia, a search system, the unique Tree mode, databases of over 7 million games (Nov. 1, 2018) that can be automatically updated with 3000 new games every week for free, one year access to all courses at Chess King Learn and the 7-piece Lomonosov Tablebases. The Lomonosov TBs are awesome and I used them frequently when I had free access because in correspondence play these days (on sites where engines are allowed) you are going to run into quite a few endgames. 

Some important features of the program are: 
* Search for novelty 
This probably isn’t what you think. It’s not a way of finding a new idea in an opening position that you can spring on your opponent. It just searches a different database to find any games with same opening moves and identify where the games diverged. You have to open two databases: one containing the game you are looking at and another one for comparison. CA will search for the place where the game under investigation diverged from the games in the second database...that is assuming a CA Tree has been built for the second database beforehand. i.e. you can’t search just any old database. 
     I won’t go into detail here, but there are two different kinds of trees, each with their own advantages and disadvantages: CA trees and Direct trees. This is one example of why this program has a steep learning curve. To fully utilize some functions you have know the difference between trees.
* Search for blunders 
Any analysis program will do this, so this isn’t anything unique to CA 
* Multi-pass game analysis 
You can even choose different engines for each phase of the game. My Fritz program offers the “Compare Analysis” that does the same thing. 
* Analysis markers 
These allow you to mark selected positions for automatic analysis at a later time. Analysis is performed in the background while the program is occupied with other things. If you have a network connection, you can distribute analysis among several computers which will analyze simultaneously. 
* Interactive analysis 
This feature is probably the programs greatest single asset and is similar to Aquarium’s Interactive Deep Analysis (IdeA). This feature allows you guide the engine in its analysis and choose lines and it will remember the results. This is a handy feature...very handy. 
     The idea of interactive analysis is to allow the player to work with the engine, allowing it to analyze a position, and then guide it in its analysis without forgetting its conclusions. This is something I cannot do with Fritz...interrupt the analysis and it forgets everything and you have to start over.
     Without human assistance an engine requires a lot of time to reach a great depth. When the engine starts to analyze a position, it reaches the 8-10 ply depth rather quickly, but then it slows down and going deeper gets difficult. The engine analyzes the position and works out a line it considers the best then it jumps to the end of this line and analyzes the final position with all results being stored in the hash tables. 
     Then the engine returns to the starting position and thanks to its accumulated knowledge of the final position of the line, it will probably re-estimate the initial position. Due to this re-estimation it will probably consider another line to be the best and switch to more deep analysis of that line. These actions may be accomplished automatically in accordance with the options you have set. 
     However, the point is that at any moment you can interrupt the engine, adding any variations of your own, and the program would analyze them as if they were its own suggestions. Hence, it will learn not only from its own mistakes, but from your input. This is interesting because you can suggest risky moves and the engine will refute them if they are incorrect. The important point is, besides analyzing in the background, if you interrupt its analysis, it does not have to start over. 
* Chess Opening Encyclopedia 
This includes theoretical material on all openings, more than 8000 annotations by GM Kalinin and 40 million evaluations by the strongest engines of key positions. 
* Search 
Chess Assistant offers search by position, header, maneuvers, material, comments, novelty search, advanced search by material in 12 regions of the board. Handy if you’re looking for something like the Classic Bishop Sacrifice or, say, exchange sacrifices by black on c3 in the Sicilian. 
     Fritz has a similar function where you can search for "medals" which were added to the games by ChessBase, but my database doesn't have any games marked with medals. You can, however, search for game header information and positions.

     For me, the level at which I play and the level of my involvement in chess doesn't justify spending $169.95 for a chess program that has a lot of features I don't need.
     And so my old Fritz 12 is still the workhorse because it does everything I need, plus it’s really simple to use. Then there are SCID and Arena which are free and they do just about all the stuff an amateur needs done.

A Bizarre Game

     The Chigorin Memorial is in honor of Mikhail Chigorin (1850–1908), founder of the Soviet Chess School and one of the leading players of his day. The first was played in 1909 in St. Petersburg. Later on, an international invitation Memorial tournament series was established, and mainly played in the Black Sea resort Sochi (from 1963 to 1990). Further irregular tournaments had been held in 1947, 1951, 1961, and 1972, played in diverse venues. From 1993 the venue returned to his hometown, the Memorial is now played as an Open event.
     In 1964 the tournament was held in Sochi and was won by Nikolai Krogius. 

1) Nikolai Krogius 11.0 
2-3) Ratmir Kholmov and Mato Damjanovic 10.0 
4) Boris Spassky 9.5 
5) Milan Matulovic 9.0 
6-8) Vladimir Antoshin, Anatoly Lein, and Rashid Nezhmetdinov 8.5 
9) Igor Bondarevsky 8.0 
10-11) Maximilian Ujtelky and Gideon Barcza 7.5 
12) Vladimir Doroshkievich 7.0 
13) Florian Gheorghiu 6.0 
14) Gyozo Forintos 3.5 
15) Tudev Ujtumen 3.0 
16) Gonzales Garcia 2.5 

     The winner of the following outlandish game was Maximilian Samuel Rudolf Ujtelky (April 20, 1915 - December 1979), a Slovak master and theoretician of Hungarian origin. Dr. Ujtelky was a descendant of famous Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. 
     In 1960 Ujtelky tied for first with Jiri Fichtl in the Czechoslovak Championship, but lost the playoff match for the title. He represented Czechoslovakia in Chess Olympiads three times: Amsterdam 1954, Leipzig 1960 and Havana 1966. He was awarded the IM title in 1961. 
     The defense that Ujtelky employed in the following game might better be classified as the Hippopotamus, a dull, plodding defense in which black sits tight and waits for white to overextend himself, launch a premature attack...or blunder. It’s one of those outlandish defenses that Ujtelky made a living out of playing. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. 
     In this game Nezhmetdinov, a fearsome attacker, obtained a dominating position, won (or was handed) the exchange and had good winning chances. Then after blundering away a center Pawn, he manically began sacrificing for vague attacking chances and ended up losing. A strange game.

Play Online Chess

[Event "Sochi - Chigorin Memorial"]
[Site "Sochi URS"]
[Date "1964.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rashid Nezhmetdinov"]
[Black "Maximilian Ujtelky"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{B06: Modern Defense} 1. e4 g6 {The Modern or the Pirc? The Modern is closely
related to the Pirc with the primary difference being that in the Modern black
delays developing his knight to f6. The delay of ...Nf6 attacking the P on e4
gives white the option of blunting the g7-bishop with c2-c3. There are
numerous transpositional possibilities between the two openings.} 2. d4 Bg7
3. Nc3 d6 4. Bc4 e6 5. Nf3 Ne7 6. h4 {Typical Nezhmetdinov...play for the
attack.} 6... h6 {It's too risky to play 6...O-O 7.h5. Now black can meet h5
with ...g5.} 7. Bf4 a6 8. Qe2 Nd7 {Since white's next move prevents ...b5
black may have wanted to consider playing 8...b5.} 9. a4 b6 10. Rd1 Bb7 11.
Kf1 {Another move typical of Nezhmetdinov. He wants to bring his K to safety,
but castling would remove the R from the h-file. So, he plays this trying to
get the best of both worlds.} 11... Nf8 12. Kg1 Qc8 13. Bb3 Qd7 14. Rh3 {Does
the R have a future here? It does, but not for many, many moves...something
that was beyond calculation. One might expect something like 14.e5, but guess
what? Nezhmetdinov's move is one that shows up as a favorite of Komodo!}
14... Rd8 15. Bc4 {White threatens to win material: Bc4xa6} 15... Qc8 {It's
interesting that Komodo gives white no advantage here (less than half a P)
while Stockfish thinks white is ahead by a little over one P.} 16. Bb3 {In the
auto-annotation Stockfish slapped two question marks on this becasue it loses
all of white's supposed advantage. Instead Stockfish likes 16.d5. In reality
the game is even.} 16... f6 {Ujtelky it seems is just being cute hereabouts,
but there seems to be no clear way to take advantage of it.} 17. Re1 Kf7 18.
Bc1 c6 19. Nd2 {If white wants to undertake some action then moves like 19.d5
or 19.h5 come into consideration. In the meantime anyone playing over this
game can safely zip through the next 20 moves to get to the real action.}
19... d5 20. a5 b5 21. Nf3 Qc7 22. Bd2 Bc8 23. Na2 Nh7 24. Nb4 Rhe8 25. Nd3
Nf8 {Black's passive play has finally started to tell against him as his
position is very passive. It's rather surprising that Nezhmetdinov didn't
play 26.e5 which would have given him a promising attack.} 26. Bf4 Qxa5 {This
P-grab is wrong. Correct was 26... e5.} 27. e5 {Suddenly white finally
undertakes some real action.} 27... f5 {Wgite's next move is somewhat
surprising as one would expect Nezhmetdinov to play 28. h5! trying to dig out
black's K. Black couldn't play 28...g5?? 29.Bg5 and 30. Nxg5+ winning.} 28.
Bd2 Qb6 29. Ra1 {The move 29.h5 was still a good one.} 29... Nh7 {Preventing
the advance of the h-Pawn, but losing the exchange.} 30. Ba5 Qa7 31. Bxd8
Rxd8 32. Qd2 Bb7 33. Qa5 Ra8 34. Nc5 Bc8 35. c3 Nf8 36. Ne1 {This is a
questionable move because it allows black to suddenly get some play.} 36...
Bxe5 37. dxe5 Qxc5 {Materially white has a R vs a N and two Ps and the chances
are about equal.} 38. Nd3 Qa7 39. Bc2 c5 40. b4 {White is ruining his position
and loses a P.} 40... Nc6 41. Qa3 c4 42. Nc5 Nxe5 43. Qc1 h5 44. Rg3 Ned7
{White should now play 45.Nxd7 and then play his Q to f4.} 45. Nxe6 {Instead
he makes a completely unsound sacrifice.} 45... Nxe6 46. Qh6 Ndf8 {White has
no good followup and so is committed to sacrificing more material and hoping
black makes a bad mistake.} 47. Bxf5 gxf5 48. Re1 Bd7 49. Qxh5+ Ke7 50. Qxf5
Kd6 {Materially white is way behind (R+P vs 2Ns+B) but practically he has some
hope because of his K-side Ps.} 51. h5 a5 {Very good. White can't trade Ps
because black quickly gets his Q-side Ps in motion with ...b4 netting two
passed Ps.} 52. Qe5+ Kc6 53. Rd1 Nc7 54. Ra1 Qb8 55. bxa5 b4 56. cxb4 Qxb4
57. Rf3 {If white tries advancing his h-Pawn black simply sacrifices the N for
it and wins with his c- and d-Pawns.} 57... Nce6 58. a6 Qc5 59. Qe1 Nd4 60.
Rf6+ Nfe6 61. Ra5 Qb6 62. h6 Kd6 63. h7 c3 64. Ra1 c2 65. Rg6 (65 66. Rh6 {the
last chance for counterplay} 66... Nb3 67. Rb1 Rh8 68. a7 {White has managed
to cause some trouble with his Rook Ps, but Ujtelky has everything under
control.} 68... Qb2 69. Rh6 {Not that it matters much, but black missed a mate
in 11 moves with 67...Nf3 followed by ...Qg7.} 69... Ne2+ {Hoping to deflect
the Q. 68.Qxe2 Qb1+ 69.Rxb1 cxb1Q+ leaves black with a winning position, but
it requires careful play. Therefore it was probably white's best hope.} 70.
Kh2 c1=Q 71. Rxc1 {Now a simpler win would be 69... Qxc1 70. Qxc1 Nxc1 71.
a8=Q Rxa8 72. h8=Q Rxh8 73. Rxh8 and black wins by virtue of his d-Pawn.}
71... Nxc1 72. Qa5 Bc6 73. Qa6 Qe5+ 74. g3 Nb3 75. f4 Qb2+ 76. Kh3 Nbc5 77.
a8=Q {After playing this move Nezhmetdinov resigned. Stockfish gives the
following continuation...} 77... Nxa6 78. Qxa6 Qc1 79. Qe2 Qh1+ 80. Qh2 Qe4
81. Qf2 d4 {This P is the reason that black is able to win.} 82. Qa2 d3 83.
Qa3+ Kd7 84. Qa7+ Bb7 85. Qa1 d2 86. Qd1 Qe1 87. Qa4+ Kc8 88. Qc2+ Kb8 89.
Rh5 d1=B 90. Qxd1 Qxd1 91. Kh4 Qf3 92. Rh6 Be4 93. Rh5 Bf5 94. Rxf5 Rxh7+
{mates next move.} 0-1

Hastings 1969-70

     The 45th Hastings Christmas Chess Festival featured some big names. There was five time winner (1951/52, 1956/57, 1959/60, 1960/61, 1962/63) Svetozar Gligoric. One of the top rated players on the world Lajos Portisch, former world champion Vasily Smyslov, the previous year's winner, and the promising 17 year old Dutch player Jan Timman. Past winners also included the 1950/51 winner Unzicker and the 1952/53 winner Medina. 
     The British representatives were the promising 1969 British Under 18 champion Martyn Corden, who had also come equal second in the 1969 British Championship. 
     John Littlewood had played three times in the Hastings Premier tournament and had represented England at the 1962 Varna Olympiad. He had also come second equal in the 1969 British Championship. 
     David Levy had represented Scotland at the 1968 Lugano Olympiad and had finished 5th at the 1969 Praia da Rocha Zonal Tournament. 
     Smyslov failed to repeat his previous tournament victory at Hastings, but he appeared to be nervous and his surprise loss to the young British player Corden was put down to trying to win too hard. "Having watched both players from a ringside seat, I am sure that Smyslov lost this game because he had the fixed idea that he had to win at all costs to keep in the running for the first prize" (Bernard Cafferty in Birmingham Mail). 
     Golombek commented that a fighting spirit pervaded and inspired the players from the top to the bottom. Of the 45 games, only 17 were drawn.
     British Pathe news filmed the opening speech by Lieutenant-General Sir John Bagot Glubb and the players in round one, but there is no sound. Watch  

[Event "Hastings 1969/70"] [Site "Hastings ENG"] [Date "1970.01.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Dolfi Drimer"] [Black "John Littlewood"] [Result "1-0"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "1970.??.??"] {Scotch Four Knights} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 {This is the Scotch
Four Knights Game which leads to an open position.} Bb4 {Much more common
is 4. ..exd4. White normally replies 5.Nxd4 but but the Belgrade Gambit
(5.Nd5) is interesting.} 5. Nxe5 Nxe4 6. Qg4 Nxc3 { The only correct move.
} 7. Qxg7 {Black's next move looks awkward, but it is better than 7...Qf6 8.Qxf6
Ne4+ 9. c3 Nxf6 10.Nxc6 Bxc3+ where white has the two Bs and better
P-formation.} Rf8 8. a3 {Black has two main moves here: 8...Nxd4 (most
popular) and 8...Ba5 (best),} Qh4 { A Littlewood innovation, but a very
bad one. He needed to remove one of his minor pieces from danger. White had
a quick refutation in 9. axb4 and 10.Bh8 and black will have to give up the
exchange.} 9. Nxc6 dxc6 10. axb4 {Black's best chance was to force the
exchange of Qs with 10...Qe7+ but his position would not have been very
good.} Bg4 {After this he faces a debacle.} 11. Qe5+ {Black can't
interpose Qs because after 11... Qe7 white trades Qs and takes the N on b3
leaving black a piece down.} Kd7 12. g3 {Even stronger was 12.Bg5.
} Qd8 13. Qf4 Re8+ 14. Be3 { The consequences of black failing to remove
one of his pieces from attack on move 8 are still with his... he still has two
pieces under attack plus, nor the P on f7 is threatened. Black simply cannot
meet all three threats.} Re4 15. Qxf7+ {Black can't wriggle out of the
mess he's in with 15...Re7 16.Qf4 Re4 17.Qh6! because his K is still exposed
and he is too many Ps down.} Kd6 16. bxc3 {It's taken a few moves, but
the consequence of black's 8th move have been made manifest.} Qh8 {
} 17. Bg2 {Equally crushing was 17.c4} Rf8 18. Qc4 {Being a piece and two Ps
down, Littlewood gave up.} 1-0