Bobby Fischer's Winning Basket and Paris 1938

     At half time the 8th Avenue Temple basketball team and the Workmen's Circle were deadlocked 8-all, but in the closing seconds Bobby Fischer scored the winning basket. Oops! That was reported in the January 17, 1938 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, so it was the wrong Bobby Fischer. 

     In chess news John W. Collins, secretary of the Brooklyn chess league and Louis J. Wolff were the first players in the borough to file their entry for the preliminaries of the US Championship. 

     The Brooklyn Chess League final standing were Collins’ Hawthorne club which finished ahead of King’s club (headed by Herbert Seidman) followed by the Gambit club (headed by Harry Baker). 

     Over in England, Reshevsky finished first ahead of Paul Keres and C.H.O’D. Alexander who tied for second at Hastings. In a small announcement in the Daily Eagle it was reported that “J.R. Capablanea of Havana, former world champion...won first prize in a European tournament at the Salons Caissa with a score of 8-2. N. Rossolimo, an Italian, finished second with 7.5-2.5 and Dr. H. Cuikerman of Austria was third with 6-4.” 

     There were a number of interesting games played in this long-forgotten tournament, but the following game between Capablanca and Rossolimo was instructive. It illustrates the theme of discovered attack. At the critical moment Rossolimo miscalculated and made a tactical mistake. At move 27, instead of capturing the checking N, Capa moved his K to c3 where it attacked two black pieces and the game was essentially over. 

     A Rossolimo story: Back in the mid-1960s a friend and I were on a 4-day liberty from the Marine Corps Base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and slumming around New York City when we ended up at Rossolimo's Chess Studio in New York City. We were the only one’s in there at the time and I asked Rossolimo for a game to which he replied, “I can’t play for nothing.” He wanted $20 which on my Corporal’s pay was a lot...about $163.68 today! 

     In spite of the steep fee I coughed it up and we began play using a Druke Player’s Choice set at the end of a long table. I had white and remember the opening was the Leningrad Variation of the Nimzo-Indian (4.Bg5). 

     I got a pretty good game and Rossolimo walked over to a shelf and picked out a board that appeared to be made out of blue butterfly wings under glass and set it down at the other end of the table where the sun was shining on it. He then walked back to our board and began grabbing the pieces and setting them up on the glass board. When I asked what he was doing he said, “I want to play on this board,” I think he set the position up correctly, but the sun glare off the glass board combined with the shiny butterfly wings was too distracting and I soon lost.

Jose Capablanca - Nicolas Rossolimo
Result: 1-0
Site: Paris
Date: 1938
Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical Main Line

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 d5 4.♗g5 It was this variation which was extremely popular in those days that lead Capablanca to declare that chess was dying and in a few decades all games would end in draws. As far back as the 1920s he introduced a version that incorporated two new pieces and was played on a 10><8 board. He added an Archbishop which combined the powers of a B and N and a Chancellor which chancellor combined powers of a R and N. The main alternative is the Cambridge Springs Defense (4...Nbd7). 4...♗e7 5.e3 O-O Other alternatives are: 5...h6 6. Bh4 0-0 7. e3 b6 (Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky), 5...h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 (Anti-Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky), 5...0-0 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 (Lasker Defense) and 5...0-0 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 (Orthodox Defense). 6.♘f3 ♘bd7 7.♖c1 c6 8.♗d3 h6 9.♗h4 dxc4 10.♗xc4 b5 11.♗d3 a6 12.a4 b4 13.♘e4 ♘xe4 14.♗xe7 ♘xf2 15.♗xd8 ♘xd1 Nothing new here, it's all been played before. 16.♔xd1 This is an improvement on Vidmar,M-Asztalos,L/ Maribor 1934 where white played 16.Be7.

16.♗e7 ♖e8 much better was 16... Nxb2 with the advantage. 17.♔xd1 ♖xe7 18.♖xc6 e5 19.♗f5 having failed to take advantage of the opportunity presented him on move 17, black is at a disadvantage and eventually lost.

16...♖xd8 17.♖xc6 ♗b7 18.♖c7 ♗xf3 19.gxf3 ♘b6 He could have kept his disadvantage to a minimum with 19...e5. 20.♖c6 ♘xa4 21.♔c2 ♖db8 22.♖a1 A slight inaccuracy by Capablanca that allows black to equalize. (22.♔b3 ♘b6 23.♗e4 ♖a7 24.♖hc1 is equal.) 22...b3 23.♔c1 ♖b4 This is a serious mistake as after 23...Rc8 exchanging a R would leave black equal. 24.♗xa6 ♘b6 25.♔d2 Black should now play 25...Kf8 followed by ... Nd5 which leaves white with only a microscopic advantage. 25...e5 Instead, he makes a bid for counterplay that backfires. 26.dxe5 ♘c4 Rossolimo has badly miscalculated. 26...Kf8 would have at least kept him in the game. 27.♔c3 Unlike checkers, in chess captures are not mandatory. (27.♗xc4 ♖xa1 28.♖c8 ♔h7 29.♗xf7 is unclear.)

27.♖xc4 ♖xc4 28.♗xc4 ♖xa1 29.♗xb3 ♖h1 And at the GM level white is winning as confirmed by Shootouts with Stockfish. White scored +3 -0 =2.

27...♘xe5 28.♖c5 (28.♔xb4 ♘xc6 29.♔b5 ♘e5 is equal.) 28...♖b6 29.♗d3 Another accurate move by Capablanca that forces black's immediate resignation.

29.♖xe5 and black would still be able to play on after 29...♖axa6 30.♖xa6 ♖xa6 31.♔xb3

(29.♗d3 ♖ab8 (29...♖xa1 30.♖c8#) 30.♖xe5 wins.)

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