Julius Partos

 

   In the 1941 New York State Championship Julius Partos showed great sportsmanship when he had a good chance of winning the Class A tournament or dividing first prize. In one of his games he got into a bad position but his opponent hung a Rook and Partos told him, I don't want to win that way; I offer you a draw." He needed the money too because to get to the tournament in Hamilton he had hitchhiked the 215 miles from his home in Corona on Long Island. As it was, Partos tied for second place (+7 -2 =1) with Paul Rosenzweig of New York city behind Frank Valvo of Albany. 

     Partos’ exact birthday is uncertain. His obituary in Chess Review gave it as January 16, 1915, the 1987 edition of Chess Personalia gave it as July 26, 1916, while the 1994 edition listed it as July 26, but in 1915, not 1916. What is known for certain is that he passed away prematurely at the age of 52 or 53 on December 7. 1968. 

     A phenomenon at rapid chess, in his day Partos was also a well known figure in the New York Metropolitan chess circles. When playing blitz, for which he was especially noted, he could make six or seven moves in the time his opponent took to make four. 

     He appears to have been naturally gifted and at the age of five he was playing chess, sometimes with Mary Bain who at the time was living in the same apartment. Partos also played also with a very strong amateur named Zoltan Rossinger, who played only what were known as rapid transit games at a time limit of ten seconds per move. As a specialist in rapid games, some claimed that Partos was second only to Reuben Fine. 

     By the age of eleven Partos gave his first simultaneous exhibition against a group of players in New Brunswick. And, he won the individual high school championship of the Interborough High School Chess League in 1933. In 1947, he played for the Queens Chess Club in the Metropolitan Chess League where he won all of his games, including victories against Anthony Santasiere, then State Champion and former US Champion Arnold Denker. 

     In addition, Partos held the title of Queens County Champion over a number of years, won a tournament in Denver which made him Champion of Colorado for a year and was the top scorer for the Log Cabin Chess Club team during its transcontinental tours which included the West Coast, Canada, Alaska and Mexico. 

     Professionally, Partos was employed by the City of New York as Administrative Assistant and worked in the Comptroller's Office. Later, he was transferred to the Department of Social Services where he was administrator of a surplus food depot. 

     In later years, he pretty much abandoned chess because of the pressures of work and because he took up an interest in playing in duplicate contract bridge tournaments. More details on this game HERE. Did you know that, like chess, bridge has it cheaters? Read more HERE. 

     Partos also composed chess problems called Reconstructions, or Retro problems, in which he gave the solution to a composed endgame and the problem was to reconstruct the problem position. Read more HERE.

     There was a brief mention in Chess Review about Partos when he was playing in the qualification section of the 38th annual American Chess Federation Congress in Chicago in 1937 where he finished 6th out of 8, scoring +1 -3 =3, but did defeat second place finisher David Polland. Chess Review’s note may explain his poor placement: The supreme note of self-confidence was struck by Partos, who sat through a Rook and Pawn ending blithely reading a tabloid newspaper while Barnie Winkelman, only the author of Modern Chess Endings, tackled the position. For this feat Partos received the epithet of Little Capablanca. 

     Partos’ best known game is probably his win over V. Harris in the 1951 Colorado State Championship that was given as an example in Pawn Power in Chess by Hans Kmoch. Below is another of Partos’ famous victories in which he defeated Reuben Fine in the 1944 US Speed Championship.

Julius Partos - Reuben Fine
Result: 1-0
Site: US Speed Championship New York City
Date: July 25, 1944
King's Indian: Classical Line

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 g6 3.♘c3 ♗g7 4.♘f3 O-O 5.e4 d6 6.♗d3 Since this game was played in the days before the K-Indian ws thouroughly investigated white plays a move thaty does not score well for white. Best is 6.Be2. 6...♘bd7 The main line is 6...c6. 7.O-O e5 8.dxe5 Also playable are 8.h3 and 8.d5. 8...dxe5 9.♗c2 c6 10.♗g5 As soon becomes apparent this move does not work out well so 10.h3 or 10.Qe2 wew better. 10...h6 11.♗h4 ♕e7 12.♕e2 ♘c5 13.♗g3 ♘h5 14.♖ad1 ♘e6 15.♕d2 Now with 15...Nxg3 black would stand quite well. Instead his next move allows white to equalize. 15...♘d4 16.♘xd4 exd4 17.♘e2 ♖d8 18.♗d3 ♗e6 It would appear that black's protected passed d-Pawn wou;d give him the long term advantage, but the awkward position of his N allws white to begin a strong attack. 19.f4 Here Fine failed to appreciate the danger contained in white's position or he would have played 19...f5 19...♘xg3 Allowing white to obtain a substantioal advantage. (19...f5 20.exf5 ♗xf5 21.♗xf5 gxf5 is nearly equal.) 20.♘xg3 ♗g4

20...f5 is no longer sufficient. 21.exf5 gxf5 22.♕c2 Best. White is now much better.

22.♘xf5 is alos playable. 22...♗xf5 23.♗xf5 ♕e3 24.♖f2 ♕xd2 25.♖fxd2 c5

21.♖de1 ♗d7

Stockfish 11 64: 21...♗f6 22.♘h1 ♕f8 23.♕c2 ♕g7 24.♘f2 ♗c8 25.e5 ♗h4 26.g3 ♗e7 27.c5 Isolating black's d-Pawn and now white has the advantage.

22.e5 ♖e8

22...c5 is too slow as after 23.f5 ♗xf5 24.♘xf5 gxf5 25.♖xf5 and here an interesting idea is Be4-d5.

23.♘e4 c5 24.♘d6 The N on d6 coupled with the advance of his Ps assures white of victory. 24...♖eb8 This is a a horrible square for the R! (24...♖f8 25.f5 ♗xe5 26.♕xh6 is crushing.) 25.f5 Well played! Black wins the N but to no avail. 25...♗xe5 26.fxg6 ♕xd6 27.♕xh6 White has a forced mate. 27...♗e6

27...fxg6 28.♗xg6 ♕e7 29.♖xe5 ♗e6 30.♖g5 ♗f5 31.♗f7 ♔xf7 32.♕g6 ♔f8 33.♕g8#

28.gxf7 ♗xf7 29.♕h7 ♔f8 30.♕xf7# A great attacking game by Partos at 10 seconds a move.

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