There was a chess tournament held there in 1938, but nobody remembers it because too much other stuff was going on in the world.
Following a number of years of success the US economy had a recession hit and in Europe, Germany was continuing it's strategy of persecuting the Jews and the occupation in Czechoslovakia. Fearing another war, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain went to Germany and after agreeing that Hitler could occupy Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain declared "Peace in our time." He was wrong.
In the US a law was passed making the minimum hourly wage 40 cents per hour for a 44 hour working week.
Weather reporting wasn’t what it is today and on September 21st a giant hurricane slammed into the east coast with little or no warning from the Weather Service.
The Weather Bureau had been advised that the storm was spotted in the Caribbean around September 16th and was expected to hit Florida. However, on September 19th it made an unexpected change of course and headed parallel to the coast. It made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Long Island, New York at about 2:30 PM on September 21st with sustained winds of 120 mph, a 15 foot storm surge and 40-50 foot waves.
From there the storm battered Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and New England. When it reached Canada it finally dissipated on September 23rd.
On October 30th the radio broadcast of Orson Wells’ War of The Worlds caused panic on the East Coast when it was broadcast like a breaking news story.
Most of the world cheered when Germany's Max Schmeling was defeated by a knock out in the first round by the great Joe Louis for the heavyweight championship.
As far as chess was concerned, about the only thing anybody remembers was that 1938 was the year the great AVRO tournament was held. Keres and Fine tied for first ahead of Botvinnik, Euwe, Reshevsky, Alekhine, Capablanca and Flohr. After the war Reuben Fine used the results and twisted logic as “proof” that he should be considered world champion.
A few people might remember the eighth South American Chess Championship (Torneo Sudamericano) that took place in Montevideo in March of 1938. Alekhine was undefeated and finished 1.5 points ahead of Carlos Guimard. The other players were mostly known only in South America.
The year started off with Laszlo Szabo beating out Max Euwe at Hastings. But, few people will know that in 1938, the Argentine championship was won by Roberto Grau who edged Guimard by a half point or that Euwe won the Dutch championship ahead of Nico Cortlever.
At Bad Elster, Germany, Bogoljubow finished first ahead of Eliskases and Engles. The German championship was dominated by Eliskases who finished 2.5 points ahead of Georg Kieninger and Paul Michel. In a small 8-player tournament in Berlin, Albert Becker and Ludwig Rellstab shared first place.
In another German tournament held in Gablenz, Karl Gilg finished ahead of Gideon Barcza and Dieter Keller.
At Karlsruhe, also in Germany, Anton Kohler, Max Eisinger, Jr. and Efim Bogoljubow tied for first. At Krefeld in, you guessed it, Germany, Ludwig Engels and Erich Eliskases tied for first.
At Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Boris Kostic won ahead of Szabo with Tartakower and Lajos Steiner tied for third. At Lodz, Poland Vasja Pirc won ahead of Tartakower. Alekhine took first at Margate ahead of Spielmann and in Nice, the French championship ended in a tie between Maurice Raizman and Aristide Gromer.
Eliskases won at Noordwijk ahead of Paul Keres. Gosta Stoltz won the Swedish championship. Karel Opocensky won the Czech championship, Alexander Tolush won the Leningrad city championship while Sergey Belavenets and Vasily Smyslov tied for first for the Moscow city championship.
In the US championship Reshevsky edged Fine by a half point and in a surprising result, Albert Simonson took third place ahead of Horowitz, Dake and Kashdan.
The answer to the quiz question is Vasja Pirc (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980), a leading Yugoslav player of his day. There were a number of interesting games played at Bad Harzberg, but one that I enjoyed was Bogoljubow’s win over German master Herbert Heinicke (March 24, 1905, Porto Alegre, Brazil - April 4, 1988, Hamburg). He was active mainly in the 1930's and the post WW2 era. He tied for 2nd in the German Championship of 1953 and also played for Germany at the Munich 1936 Team tournament and at the Helsinki Olympiad in 1952.
Born in Brazil, in 1914 the Heinicke family also returned to Germany. As an adult he was very successful as an entrepreneur. His company produced stainless steel that were used before and during the Second World War, especially in German submarines.
After the war, in which Heinicke lost his home and his huge chess library in 1943, Heinicke remained active with his company and in chess for a long time.
Ewfim Bogoljubow - Herbert Heinicke
Result: 1-0
Site: Bad Harzburg
Date: 1938
Queen's Indian: Classical Variation
[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘f3 By playing this move white sidesteps the Nimzo-Indian. Like the Nimzo, the Q-Indian aims to impede white's efforts to gain full control of the center by playing e2–e4. 3...b6 4.e3 This quiet move is rarely seen today, but it may lead to complex middlegame play. These days 4.g3 is usually played although 4.a3 and 4.Nc3 are also popular. 4...♗b7 5.♗d3 If 5...d5 6.O-O Bb4 or 6.Nc3 Bb4 with a Nimzo-Indian after all. 5...c5 6.♘c3 ♗e7 7.O-O O-O 8.d5 d6 9.e4 At this point black should keep the central tension and play ...Re8, ...Nbd7 and ...Bf8. 9...e5 This move blocking the center leaves black passive with little play. 10.g3 Already planning to play f4 and attack on the K-side. 10...♗c8 Losing time, but the B had a dim future on b7.
10...♘e8 11.♘e1 ♗g5 12.f4 ♗h6 13.♘f3 ♘d7 14.f5 Sulashvili,M (2431)-Odeev,H (2487)/Agana TUR 2006 is technically even, but in the game black's lack of space eventually cost him the game.
11.♔g2
11.♘h4 g6 12.♘g2 ♗h3 13.f4 ♘g4 14.f5 with equality. Lomineishvili,M (2410)-Charkhalashvili,I (2369)/Tbilisi 2008
11...♘e8 Black intends ...f5, but that turns out to be a bad idea. Trying to expand on the Q-side with ...Na6, ...Nc7 then advancing the Q-side Ps was a better plan. 12.♘g1 f5 With all his pieces except the B on e7 (which is a bad B at that) all huddled on the back rank black understandably tries to get some play, but all he ends up doing is weakening his position. 13.f4 Opening up the position. 13...exf4 14.♗xf4 fxe4 15.♘xe4 ♘d7 This blocks his B; better was 15...Bf5 which at least helps defend his K. Black's position is critical and one more questionable move will be his last. 16.♕c2 It's too late to get any Q-side play. 16...h6 (16...b5 17.cxb5 ♗b7 18.♘c3)
16...a6 17.♖ae1 b5 18.b3 bxc4 19.bxc4 ♖b8 and even here all he can do is try to defend against white's looming attack on his K.
17.♖ae1 ♘df6 18.♘c3 a6 19.♘f3 ♖a7 From here, hopefully, the R can defend along the 7th rank. 20.♗c1 Now black's best hope is to play ...Ng4-e5. Instead, he weakens his K-side even more. 20...g5 21.h4 g4 22.♘g1 ♔g7 (22...h5 23.♗h6 ♖f7 24.♗g6) 23.♘ge2 Bringing up the reserves. Black can only wait. 23...♘d7 24.♕d2 ♖h8 25.♘f4 ♘e5 Finally black has a well placed piece, but his position is so bad that white can work around the N. 26.♘h5 ♔g8 27.♕f4 ♘f3
27...♗f6 (or 27...Nf6) runs into 28.♖xe5 dxe5 29.♘xf6 ♘xf6 30.♕xf6 ♕xf6 31.♖xf6 h5 32.♗h6 The stinger! Mate is threatened on f8, so... 32...♖xh6 33.♖xh6 and wins. Nifty!
28.♕e4 Even stronger was 28.Bg6 threatening mate on f7 when black is totally helpless. 28...♘e5 29.♕f4 ♘f3 29...Bf6 runs into that old Rxe5 trick previously mentioned. 30.♗f5 The B stops one square short. Better was 30.Bg6, same as on move 28. (30.♗g6 ♘xe1 31.♖xe1 ♘f6 32.♘e4 and wins.)
30.♗g6 ♗g5 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.♕xg5 ♘xg5 33.♗xg5 ♕d7 34.♖xe8 ♕xe8 35.♗xe8 and wins
30...♗g5
30...♘xe1 31.♖xe1 ♗xf5 32.♕xf5 ♖h7 33.♕g6 ♔h8 34.♗xh6 and white will win easily after playing his R to e4 and capturing the g-Pawn.
31.♕xg4 ♘xe1 32.♖xe1 ♗xf5 33.♕xf5 ♖f7
33...♘g7 is better, but not by much. 34.♕g6 ♕f8 35.♗xg5 ♕f7 (35...hxg5 36.♘f6) 36.♖e8
34.♕g6 ♘g7 35.hxg5 ♕f8 36.♘f6 Black resigned. A nice crush by Bogo!
36.♘f6 ♖xf6 37.gxf6 ♖h7 38.♖e7 ♔h8 39.♖b7 h5 40.♗h6 h4 41.♗xg7 ♖xg7 42.♕h6 ♔g8 43.♖xg7 ♕xg7 44.♕xg7#
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