The year started off with Nicolas Rossolimo winning Hastings. Also in Britain, Eileen Tranmer (1910-1983) set a record in the British Ladies' Championship when she scored a perfect 11-0, but she never got the publicity that Fischer did in 1963 when he scored 11-0 in the US Championship.
James B. Cross, Arthur Bisguier and Larry Evans tied for first in the US Junior Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. The first Soviet correspondence championship tournament was held and lasted until 1951. Alexander Konstantinopolsky was the winner. John Purdy won the Australian championship. Harry Golombek won the British Championship which for the first time was run as a Swiss system. David Bronstein and Vasily Smyslov tied in USSR Championship.
The chess world lost one player in 1949. On August 21st Arthur Mackenzie, Scottish Champion in 1908, 1909 and 1913, died at Hastings at the age of 78.
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| Fine playing Horowitz |
The four were former world champion Max Euwe, Reuben Fine, Miguel Najdorf and Swedish champion Gideon Stahlberg.
Stahlberg declined because he was not going to be staying in New York long enough to participate and so Samuel Reshevsky was invited, but he declined.
Argentinian Herman Pilnik found out about the tournament from Najdorf and offered to fill the empty seat. Pilnik was untitled at the time; he was awarded the IM title in 1950 and the GM title in 1952.
Bisguier, Denker, Horowitz, Kashdan, Kramer and Steiner each received a $250 (a little over $2,600 today) appearance fee. The tournament was played from December 23rd, 1948 to January 2nd, 1949, allowing only two rest days. Fine won first prize of $1,000 (over $10,000 today).
In 1959 was Fine still one of world's strongest players? His admirers were not sure that he could live up to his reputation as one of the top tournament competitors of the 1930s. But in this tournament Fine showed that he still had it despite the presence of Miguel Najdorf and Dr. Max Euwe.
Najdorf’s first visit to the US was a fiasco. Racking up 5.5 points in the early rounds it seemed as though he was going to run away with the tournament, but luck had played a part in his success; Denker frittered away a win and Horowitz had gotten a lucky drawwhen Horowitz was in severe time pressure and Najdorf's keyed-up nerves took over. Najdorf mistakenly thought he was in time trouble and began rushing his moves and continually missed winning lines. Finally on the verge of a loss, he offered Horowitz a draw which was accepted.
But, Najdorf’s bad luck didn’t end there. In the sixth round Fine, who was trailing by a half point trailing by half a point, defeated Najdorf. The result was a disheartened,Naidorf played indifferently in the last two rounds and drew both games.
Both Euwe and Pilnik lost only in the first round; Euwe to Fine and Pilnik to Najdorf and both played too many draws.
Except for Fine the Americans had a difficult time. Especially disappointing was Kashdan. His problem was he was unfamiliar with recent developments in opening theory. Denker really didn’t want to play and only agreed when Reshevsky declined. Steiner just played very badly.
Sportsman, Al Horowitz: In a gesture that would be considered nothing short of sensational today, in the last round Fine offered Horowitz a draw on move 13, but in a gesture of sportsmanship Horowitz refused in order to preserve Najdorf's chances. The gesture cost him a prize because he went on to lose.
In another important last round game Najdorf was paired against the 18-year-old Bisguier, overlooked an easy win of a piece and allowed Bisguier to draw the ending.
As we will see, luck played a big part in Bisguier’s game against Euwe, too. Only this time it was bad luck. On his 25th move Bisguier missed his chance after, as Hans Kmoch put it, “stooping to a childish prank, he is soundly paddled by the Dutch schoolmaster.”
Dr. Max Euwe - Arthur Bisguier
Result: 1-0
Site: New York City
Date: 1949
QGD Semi-Slav
[...] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.♘f3 e6 4.♘c3 ♘f6 5.♗g5 Usual is 5.e3, but Euwe wanted to try out an opening innovation. 5...h6 Euwe was hoping to see the Anti-Meran Gambit 5...dxc4, but Bisguier wasn't interested. 6.♗xf6 ♕xf6 7.♕b3 ♘d7 8.e4 In the same round Kramer played the less ambitious, but more solid, 8.e3 against Horowitz. 8...dxe4 9.♘xe4 ♕f4 10.♗d3 ♘f6
11.♘xf6 gxf6 This move denies white the opportunity to use the square e5 as a base for his N. The disadvantage is that he can no longer castle safely and as a result his pieces will find themselves uncoordinated. 12.O-O
10...e5 is interesting. At the time it was believed white must either accept equality with 11.Nxe5 or sacrifice a piece with 11.O-O. 11.O-O f5
11...♗e7 declining the sacrifice is better and was played in Euwe-Fine AVRO 1938.
12.♘g3 e4 13.♖fe1 ♔d8 14.♘xe4 with a strong attack. 12.♗c2 h5 13.g3 ♕h6 14.d5 ♗d6 15.dxc6 bxc6 16.♗e4 O-O 17.O-O ♖b8 18.♕c3 c5 19.♖ad1 ♖b6 20.♖fe1 f5 21.♗c2 ♗b7 22.♘e5 ♖d8 23.♗a4 ♗e7 24.♖xd8 ♗xd8 25.♘d7 ♖d6 26.♘xc5 ♗f6 Gasanov,E (2490)-Manush,S (2202)/Moscow RUS 2018/1-0 (37)
12...♖g8 13.♗e2 b6
13...♗d6 14.g3 h5 15.♔h1 ♕g4 16.♕e3 ♗d7 17.d5 cxd5 18.cxd5 ♕f5 19.♖ad1 e5 20.♘d2 ♗e7 21.f4 exf4 22.♖xf4 ♕xd5 23.♘e4 ♕e5 24.♘xf6 ♗xf6 25.♖e4 ♗c6 26.♗b5 ♔f8 27.♗xc6 ♕c7 28.♗d5 Kharlov,A (2614) -Malakhov,V (2664)/Moscow 2005/CBM 106/1-0 (37) 28...♖g6 29.♕f3 ♖d8 30.♖f4 ♕e5 31.♖f5 ♕xb2 32.♖f1 ♔g7 33.♖xh5 ♕d2 34.♗b3 b6 35.♗d5 ♖h6 36.g4 ♔f8 37.♖d1 1-0 Kharlov,A (2614)-Malakhov,V (2664)/Moscow RUS 2005 (37)
14.♖fe1 ♗b7 15.c5 An excellent multi-purpose move that gives more scope to his B, prevents black from castling and opens up the position. 15...♕c7 16.♗c4 ♗e7 17.cxb6 axb6 18.♖ac1 Threatening a decisive breakthrough with d5. 18...♕d8 19.♕e3 ♖h8 20.♗xe6 Kmoch stated this sacrifice was barely sufficient for a draw and recommended 20.a3 and 21.Rcd1. Euwe's move initially got the stamp of approval from Stockfish, but it soon changed its evaluation to 0.00. 20...fxe6 21.♕xe6 ♔f8 22.♘h4 ♖g8 23.♘f5 ♗b4 24.♘xh6 ♖g7 25.♖e3 White is compelled to attack with abandon because he doe not have enough compensation for hsi sacrifice owing to black's strong Bs. 25...♗d2 Kmoch described this
as stooping to a childish prank.
25...♗c8 would wrap up the game. 26.♕xc6 ♗d7 27.♕c7 (27.♕f3 ♗d2 Now this is OK. 28.♖ce1 ♗xe3 29.♖xe3 ♖xa2) 27...♕xc7 28.♖xc7 ♖xa2 and black wins.
26.♖f3 ♗g5 27.♘f5
27.h4 This is what Bisguier was hoping for because after 27...c5 (27...♗c8 This, however, is much better. 28.♕xc6 ♗b7 wins.) 28.hxg5 ♗xf3 29.gxf3 ♖xg5 he has a good game.
27...♗xc1 This is a mistake that allows white back in the game and resume his terrific attack.
27...♖h7 and black has the better chances. 28.♘d6 ♕e7 29.♖e1 ♗c8 30.♘xc8 ♕xe6 31.♖xe6 ♖xc8 and black has winning chances.
28.♖h3 Finally, for the first time since his sacrifice white has things under control. 28...♖xg2 The only defense as all other moves lead to him getting mated. 29.♔xg2 Forced. 29...♕d5 30.♕xd5 cxd5 31.♖h7 Regaining the B. 31...♖xa2 After this black is lost. Euwe's finish is quite precise. 32.♖xb7 ♖xb2 33.h4 ♗d2 34.♔f1 ♖b1 35.♔e2 ♗c3 36.h5 b5 37.h6 ♔g8 38.♘e7 ♔h7 39.♘xd5 ♔xh6 40.♘xc3 Black resigned. (40.♘xc3 ♖b2 41.♔e1+−) Powered by Aquarium
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