Most players are familiar with the 8th Chess Olympiad which took place between August 21 and September 19, 1939, in Buenos Aires and coincided with the outbreak of World War II.
When the war broke out many of the participants decided to stay in Argentina or moved elsewhere in South America rather than face an uncertain future by returning to a Europe.
The players, most of whom were Jewish, remaining in South America were: Miguel Najdorf, Paulino Frydman, Gideon Stahlberg, Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt, Jiri Pelikán, Karel Skalicka, Markas Luckis, Movsas Feigins, Ilmar Raud, Moshe Czerniak, Meir Rauch, Victor Winz, Aristide Gromer, Franciszek Sulik, Adolf Seitz, Chris De Ronde, John Francis O'Donovan, Zelman Kleinstein, Sonja Graf and Paulette Schwartzmann.
This list includs all five members of the German team (Eliskases, Michel, Engels, Becker, Reinhardt).
It’s largely unknown, but coinciding with the Olympiad was the 7th Women's World Championship. The event was won by Vera Menchik who was undefeated and finished two points ahead of the then stateless Sonja Graf. Other top finishers with plus scores were: Berna Carrasco (Chile), Elfriede Rinder (Germany), Mona Karff (United States), Milda Lauberte (Latvia), Maria Teresa Mora (Cuba), Catharina Roodzant (Netherlands), Blazena Janeckovaa (Bohemia-Moravia) and Paulette Schwartzmann (France).
It’s also not widely known that immediately after Olympiad another tournament was held in Buenos Aires from from the 2nd to the 19th of October 1939 at the Círculo de Ajedrez, one of the two main chess clubs in the city.
Nardorf and Keres tied for first with 8.5 points followed by Stahlberg and Czerniak, both with 7.0 points. Frydman and Guimard shared 5th and 6th with 6.5. The remaining players were Grau (5.5), Luckis (5.0), Gerschman and Francisco Benko (3.5), Graf (2.5) and Palau (2.0).
The following game was one of Capablanca’s last great games and it’s full of fight and has a striking finish. Czerniak came out swinging and developed a strong attack, but Capa consistently found the best moves and at the end Czerniak trapped his own Queen.
Concerning this game Capablanca wrote: Yesterday evening I had the white pieces again in Cuba's match against Palestine, a team we had beaten 3-1 in the preliminary section although I had only drawn.
As is my custom, shortly after play began I went to see how my compatriots were faring, and I observed that things were going badly, since my teammates had played inferior openings and were all under pressure. Meanwhile, I had obtained a satisfactory opening in a fairly well known though little played variation of the Caro-Kann.
I suppose that a large number of aficionados who are accustomed to see me almost always play a positional game in which everything is solidly constructed were surprised to see me playing a purely attacking game.
I must point out that games must be conducted in accordance with the kind of opening that is played.
In the defense adopted yesterday evening by Black, it is necessary for White, if he wishes to obtain any advantage, to attack vigorously before Black can consolidate his defenses and exert pressure on White's isolated queen's pawn.
In the light of the above, the public will understand why I launched an assault in such resolute fashion.
I had the good fortune of being able to make a long, difficult combination as a result of which I obtained a clear advantage, which I was quickly able to exploit.
Black's position collapsed before the end of the playing session. The game was of the kind that most appeals to the public and it is a source of satisfaction for me that this game was the first of its kind played in this tournament.
Capa’s opponent was Moshe Czerniak (February 3, 1910 – August 31, 1984) who isn’t very well known, but Chessmetrics assigns him a rating that put him in the world’s top 100 players from 1939 through the 1950s.
 |
| Czerniak |
Czerniak was born in Poland, but in 1934 he emigrated to Palestine, then British Mandate. He played for Palestine at first reserve board in the Olympiad at Warsaw 1935 and at first board at Buenos Aires 1939.
In September 1939, when World War II broke out, Czerniak decided to stay in Argentina.
After the aforementioned post-Olympiad tournament he tied for 7–9th in Argentine championship of 1940. He played with considerable success in many of the major South American tournaments and in 1950 he finally settled in Israel.
From that time he continued to be active in European tournaments, again with considerable success.
He represented Israel in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, and 1974. He retired from active competition in 1978.
Czerniak wrote several chess books in three languages and in 1956 founded the first Israeli chess magazine, 64 Squares. For more than thirty years he was the chess editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz. He was also the chess teacher of IM and GM of chess composition, Yochanan Afek.
[Event "Buenos Aires Olympiad Final A"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1939.9.4"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Jose Capablanca"]
[Black "Moshe Czerniak"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Caro-Kann} 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 {Czerniak is making Capa play against one of his
own pet openings.} 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 {Entering what was to become known as
the aggressive Panov-Botvinnik Attack... or is it?!} 4... Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4
{Normally black plays 5...Nf6, but here he delays it in order to attack the
d-Pawn.} 6. cxd5 Qxd5 {This position can arise not only from the Caro-Kann,
but from the Alapin Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.c3). In fact, when auto-annotating
the game that's the opening assigned. I have preferred to call it the
Caro-Kann though because that's how it opened.} 7. Be2 e6 8. O-O Nf6 9. Nc3
Qa5 10. h3 Bh5 11. a3 Rd8 {Czerniak is still intent on winning the d-Pawn, but
it would have been wiser to play 11...Be7 and then castle. But what does black
have to fear? He has a lead in development and is attacking the d-Pawn.} 12.
g4 {Theoretically white can play 12.Be3 after which the engines assign a tiny,
tiny advantage to white. At Matanzas 1995 in the game Lima,D (2505)-Zapata,A
(2535) white played 12.Qb3 with equal play. Capa's idea is more enterprising,
if not better. } 12... Bg6 13. b4 {Everybody and his brother has commented on
this move. Czerniak himself awarded it two exclamation marks, stating that he
considered his reply for nearly an hour, before becoming convinced that
Capablanca's combination was incorrect. In a later note he acknowledged that
in accepting the sacrifice he had overlooked that at move 20 he would be
unable to capture the white N on d4. Alekhine stated that the line from 13.b4
onwards was a very rare instance in modern chess of a master having to
calculate so far ahead. Guys like Panov, Golombek and things like Stockfish
suggested 13...Qc7 with Golombek adding that the time lost by black's Q will
eventually tell. John W. Collins observed that with his last two moves Capa
has surprised his critics who claimed he played an unimaginative game. Here he
has thrown caution to the wind and expanded on both flanks. What does
Stockfish think? It still likes defending the P with 13.Be3 and now gives
black just a wee bit of an advantage. What a killjoy engines can be!} 13...
Bxb4 {Throwing caution to the wind. He eventually gets three Ps for the
piece, but it's not goi ng to be quite enough.} 14. axb4 Qxa1 15. Qb3 {Black
has swallowed the bait. At the moment white is the exchange and a P down but
he threatens Bb2 winning the Q. But wait! Czerniak has something up his
sleeve.} 15... Rxd4 {A clever stroke.} 16. Ba3 Bc2 {And here it is. White's Q
is threatened. Of course so is black's but so are his R and B. This leads one
to suspect that white is better because black can't save everything. But the
bluff worked even against Capa. Again, I don't know of any commentary
critical of Capa's next move. Annotating it in Chess Review way back in 1945,
John W. Collins passed over it without comment. White has a substantial
advantage after 17.Rxa1! Bxb3 whereas after the move played the chances are
equal.} 17. Qxc2 {Wrong!} 17... Qxa3 18. Nb5 {Czerniak faced a dilemma
here...which P to capture, the one on b4 or g4? In one of his books Czerniak
wrote that he saw 18...Rxg4, but wasn't sure that it would have saved him.
After 18...Rxg4+!! 19.hxg4 Qxb4 (Threatening ...Qxg4+) white can defend the P
with 20.Ne5 or shield it by playing a N to d4 after which black will castle
and the game would then offer both sides equal chances. Out of curiosity I
ran a Shootout from this position using Stockfish 11 with surprising results.
White scored +2 -2 =1. This is the type of position where the stronger side is
likely to win regardless of what color they are playing. In any case, here
it's clear what was wrong with 17.Qc2.} 18... Qxb4 19. Nfxd4 {It's interesting
to observe the fate of the a- and b-Pawns which look to be a potentially
dangerous pair in the ending.} 19... Nxd4 {As far as I know Capa's next move
has slipped through the cracks and nobody has commented on it. While the move
is a good one, 20.Qc8+ is even better (twice as good according to Stockfish).
20. Qc8+ Ke7 21.Qc7+ Nd7 22.Nxd4 Qb6 (Better 22...Qxd4 23.Rd1) 23.Qc3
winning.} 20. Nxd4 {Black has at long last gotten three Ps for the B he
sacrificed on move 13, but he has to cope with white's active pieces. Of
course the N can't be taken: 20...Qxd4?? 21.Qc8+ Qd8 22.Bb5+ Nd7 23.Bxd7+
wins.} 20... O-O 21. Rd1 Nd5 22. Bf3 {Capa has compelled the N to remove
itself from the fine square it's sitting on.} 22... Nf4 23. Kh2 {This is a
critical position for black. His best choice is to get his Q-side Ps moving
with 23...a5.} 23... e5 {This turns out poorly as white's N is not a one
square pony. All the move does is weaken black's position and lose critical
time.} 24. Nf5 g6 25. Ne3 Ne6 {To use terminology of the day when this game
was played, what a swell move Capa's next move is! People don't use the word
swell much any more. If, for example, white attacks the Q (and the b-Pawn
behind it) with 26.Rb1 black has 26...Qf4+ sending the game into a difficult
ending after 27.Kg2 Qxf3+ 28.Kxf3 Nd4+ 29.Ke4 Nxc2 30. Nxc2 f5+ 31.gxf5 Rxf5}
26. Nd5 {Instead of a difficult endign which no doubt would have been
instructively played by Capa, we are going to get a pretty win in the
middlegame.} 26... Qa3 27. Rd3 Qa1 28. Rd1 Qa3 29. Rd3 Qa1 30. Qd2 {The
repetition is to gain time on the clock. After this move Czerniak must prevent
Qh6.} 30... Kg7 31. Qe2 {Black is threatened with Rd1 and Qxe5+ hence he
defends the e-Pawn.} 31... f6 {It's hard to believe the game is about to end.
Black's a- and b-Pawns which once looked like they had some promise have
turned out to be a disappointment.} 32. Qe3 a6 33. Rd1 Qb2 34. Nc3 {Menacing
Rc1...where can the Q safely go? If 34...Qb4 35.Rb1 Qf4+ forcing the exchange
of Qs and reaching an ending that may be difficult to win for average players,
but certainly not Capablanca.} 34... Nd4 35. Rb1 Qc2 36. Be4 {Forcing black to
give up the Q which can only be save by the spite check 36...Nf3+ so Czerniak
resigned.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment