Andre Muffang, Attacker

     French IM Andre Muffang (July 25, 1897 – March 1, 1989) was once hailed as a prodigy. While not a prodigy like Capablanca or Reshevsky or even by today's standards, he appears to have had considerable talent. 

     In 1914, when he was 16 years old and a student in special mathematics class, he defeated Capablanca in a clock simultaneous game. He also won the championship of the Cafe de la Regence. As champion of the cafe he was invited to the French amateur championship in Lyon where he finished 5th. 

     Before World War I, he finished 3rd behind Alekhine and Marshall, in a quadrangular tournament in Paris 1914. In the 1914 French Amateur championship he finished fifth. 

     In 1915 he enlisted in the First World War during which he distinguished himself as a second lieutenant in the artillery and won the Croix de Guerre with the following citation: "... has shown since his arrival on the front the finest qualities of initiative and composure. He is a precious auxiliary for his battery commander whom he assists with untiring dedication.'' 

     In 1919, he was an artillery lieutenant in Strasbourg and was preparing for entry into the Polytechnique and so was unable to devote time to chess until he left Polytechnique in 1922. 

     At the beginning of the 1920s, he played a few games against masters visiting Paris: he drew against Kostic in a small match in 1920 (+1 -1 =0) and in 1922 he  lost a small training match against Alekhine (+0 -3 =0). 

     In 1922 and 1923, he devoted himself a little more to chess and his good results earned him two invitations to play abroad. In 1922, he won one of the side events of the BCF's international tournament in London. 

     In 1923, he finished second in the Margate International Tournament with Alekhine, Bogoljubow and Mitchell behind Gruenfeld. At the end of the tournament there was a traditional blitz event which Muffang won ahead of Alekhine!    

     Also in 1923, he participated in a famous live chess game in Compiegne, in which he was opposed to Edouard Pape, but thereafter, he played very little, taking part in only a few French championships and playing for the French team in the Olympiads. After WWII, Muffang played little. He played or France in friendly matches against Switzerland (1946), Czechoslovakia (1947), Soviet Union (1954) and Romania (1955). He also played in the Olympiad at Moscow 1956.

     Professionally, Muffang was involved in administration that involved the overseeing bridges and roads. He maintained his interest in chess in his old age, despite almost complete blindness at the end of his life. He owned an exceptional chess library which was sold at auction in June 1991. 

     Playing over his games shows him to have been a remarkable tactician. In the following game against Dutch IM Lodewijk Prins (January 27, 1913 - November 11, 1999) he unleashes a vicious attack. 

     Prins was awarded the IM title in 1950, was an International Arbiter and in 1982 he was made an honorary GM. Prins also co-authored several books with Euwe. He represented The Netherlands twelve times in all the Olympiads from 1937 to 1968. 

     At the beginning of World War II Prins played in tournaments in the Netherlands, but after the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, being Jewish, he did not play in any tournaments. 

     Despite his strong performance at the 1968 Olympiad in Lugano, Prins was not selected for the Dutch team at the 1970 Chess Olympiad. Subsequently, he broke from the Dutch Chess Federation and played only occasionally. His final tournament was a large open in Cattolica, Italy in 1993, where he finished in the middle of the field.

Andre Muffang - Lodewijk Prins

Result: 1-0

Site: Men's Olympiad, Moscow

Date: 1956.09.22

Sicilian: O'Kelly Variation

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 a6 Although named for Belgian GM Alberic O'Kelly de Galway who began playing this move at the end of World War II, it was first played by Tartakower in his match with Reti in 1919 and against Spielmann in 1921. The move does not have an especially good reputation, but well booked black player can make it work. It prevents Nb5 by white and black hopes to equalize by playing ...Bb4. Also, it helps black by offering the possibility of playing ...b7-b5 and developing his B on b7 which is a common idea in or black. 3.d4 White has four main continuations here: 3.d4, 3.Nc3, 3.c4, and 3.c3, the last being considered better for white according to opening theory. (3.c3 d5 4.exd5 ♕xd5 5.d4 e6 6.♗e2 ♘f6 7.O-O and white stands well.) 3...cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 e5 6.♘f3

6.♘f5 Interesting, but not very good as after 6...d5 7.♕f3 Better than the more frequently played 7...Bg5 7...d4 8.♘d5 ♘xd5 9.exd5 ♗xf5 10.♕xf5 ♘d7 with the better game. (10...♕xd5 11.♕c8)

6.♘b3 has been called a mistake, but it, too, looks interesting. 6...♗b4 threatening to win the e-Pawn. 7.♗c4 This interesting move baits a trap.

7.♗d3 Is usually recommended than after 7...d5 8.exd5 ♘xd5 9.♗d2 ♘xc3 10.bxc3 ♗d6 the position is about equal.

7...d6 (7...♗xc3 8.bxc3 ♘xe4 9.♕d5) 8.O-O ♗xc3 9.bxc3 with about equal chances as both sides have weak Ps

6...♗b4 7.♗c4 More aggressive than 7.Bd2. (7.♘xe5 Doesn't lead to anything. 7...♕e7 8.♘d3 ♘xe4) 7...♕c7 Unexplored territory is reached after 7...Bxc3+ but white alwas seems to emerge with the more active position. 8.♕d3 Now that black has protected his e-Pawn white must do the same. 8...b5 9.♗b3 ♗b7 10.♗d2 ♗xc3 Not necessary, but one wonders if Muffang intended to capture the e-Pawn and then had second thoughts? 11.♗xc3 d6 Capturing the e-Pawn is unsatisfactory. (11...♘xe4 12.♗xe5 d6 13.♗xg7) (11...♗xe4 12.♗xf7 ♔xf7 13.♘g5 ♔e7 14.♗b4 d6 15.♘xe4) 12.♘g5 O-O 13.O-O-O h6 The complications are growing. Should white take on f7? 14.h4

14.♘xf7 ♖xf7 15.♕xd6 ♕xd6 16.♖xd6 ♘c6 17.♖hd1 This is a most difficult position to evaluate so I ran a Shootout and white scored 5 wins in 5 games, but the endings were long and difficult. So, practically speaking 14.Nxf7 is probably not good idea.

14...♘bd7 After this white gains a significant plus.

14...♘c6 was correct as black demonstrated in Rahman,Z (2330)-Juarez Flores,J (2240)/Thessaloniki 1988 15.f3 b4 16.♗e1 a5 Now instead of 17.g4 which eventually lost, white could have kept the his chances equal by playing 17.Qxd6 17.g4 ♘d4 18.♗a4 ♗a6 and black is better and went on to score the win.

14...hxg5 loses outright after 15.hxg5 ♘g4 (15...♘fd7 16.♕h3 mates next move) 16.♕h3 ♘h6 17.gxh6 g6 18.♕h4 ♘d7 19.♗xe5!19...dxe5 20.♖xd7 ♕xd7 21.♕f6

15.♕xd6 ♕xd6 16.♖xd6 ♘c5 17.♗xf7 ♖xf7 18.♘xf7 ♔xf7 White has R+2Ps vs 2Ns which constitutes a winning advantage in the ending. 19.f3 ♖e8 20.♖hd1 Muffang's endgame technique is instructive as he wastes no time demonstrating the win. 20...♗c8 21.♖c6 ♘cd7 22.♖c7 ♔g6 23.♖d6 ♘f8 24.♗xe5 ♘e6 25.♖xc8 With the ending hopelessly lost Prins resigned. (25.♖xc8 ♖xc8 26.♖xe6 ♖a8 27.♗xf6 gxf6 28.e5 ♔g7 29.♖xf6 wins easily.)

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