From 1961 to 1983 the Netanya Chess Club organized a series of tournaments, the most famous probably being the one held in 1968 that was won by Bobby Fischer (11.5-1.5) ahead of Daniel Yanofsky and Moshe Czerniak.
Through the years the winners were: Milan Matulovic, Petar Trifunovic and Moshe Czerniak in 1961, Yair Kraidman (1964), Moshe Czerniak (1965), Bobby Fischer (1968), Samuel Reshevsky (1969), Lubomir Kavalek and Bruno Parma (1971), Lubomir Kavalek (1973), Jan Timman (1975), Avraham Kaldor and Itchak Radashkovich (1976), Vladimir Liberzon and Miguel Quinteros (1983).
Apparently between between 1977 and 1982 if the tournaments were held they were not international round robins. However, it appears that a small round robin was held in 1990 that was won by Leonid Gofshtein of Israel and there were a couple of GM blitz tournaments.
The 58-year-old veteran Samuel Reshevsky won the eighth annual international tournament at Netanya, Israel that was held during May, 1969.
Reshevsky took the lead in round two and playing accurate chess, he scored seven wins and six draws for a final score of 10-5.
The first prize of $800 was never out of his grasp. That's the equivalent of $5,600 today and in 1969 you could have bought a car for $3,270 and you could made yourself a few bacon sandwiches with bread costing 23 cents a loaf and a pound of bacon 75 cents.
After Reshevsky managed to survive a close call against Kavalek in round six, his closest rival, Pal Benko, never had a chance of catching up.
Lumbomir Kavalek, who passed away on January 18th of this year, was at the time a 25-year-old Czech champion, who was in self-imposed exile in protest against the Soviet Union's invasion of his country.
At the time Kavalek, who had also brought his mother with him to Israel was considering an offer from the Israel Chess Federation to stay on as coach of the national team and also the possibility of emigrating to the US which he eventually did.
Benko had stayed close behind Reshevsky until his penultimate round game against Kavalek. Benko tried a Larsen recommended line in the Sicilian, but Kavalek had discovered a refutation that had been published by Suetin of the Soviet Union.
Lombardy was upset in the first round by Raaphy Peretz before going on a winning streak. He was involved in an unusual dispute in round eleven against the Israeli IM Kraidman.
Shortly before the resumption of their adjourned game, Lombardy came to the playing room and requested a postponement to the next day.
Lombardy had two complaints: he had a virus and on top of that he needed to change hotels because the noisy drilling by construction workers outside his room was waking him up too early.
Kraidman made the point that the delay might lead to too many adjournments at the end of the tournament. However, he was willing to wait, but only 30 minutes. Lombardy refused to play and the assistant TD started his clock and an hour later he was forfeited. His protest to was denied causing Lombardy, a Roman Catholic Priest, to say he would appeal the decision to a Higher Authority; it didn't do any good...he still lost...but maybe that was because his adjourned position aginst Kraidman wasn't all that great anyway.
It was a critical tournament for Canada's Abe Yanofsky who needed 9 points in order to hold on to his active GM title. I am not sure exactly how it worked, but in those days a GM could be listed as "inactive" if he did not play enough games. If that happened the GM would find it hard to get invitations. I remember Rossolimo complaining bitterly about the fact that he couldn't get any invitations after he became listed as inactive.
Anthony Saidy arrived for the tournament direct from Zagreb, where he had been sick and lost his first five games and his bad luck continued at Netanya. Saidy claimed to have lost all incentive after losing to Lombardy who had offered him a draw during a time pressure scramble. One wonders if Lombardy and Saidy were suffering from a disturbance in the lower tract similar to what ailed Morphy in the previous post!?
There was also an unheralded second section in which Walter Browne, then the 21-year-old champion of Australia, finished first. Few people are aware that Browne was born to an American father and an Australian mother in Sydney. The family moved to Brooklyn when he was three years old. He held dual Australian and American citizenship and briefly represented Australia, playing first board for Australia at the 1970 and 1972 Olympiads. He moved to California in 1973 and switched to representing the United States in 1974.
Anthony Saidy - Samuel Reshevsky
Result: 0-1
Site: Netanya
Date: 1969
Symmetrical English
[...] 1.c4 ♘f6 2.♘c3 c5 3.♘f3 ♘c6 4.g3 g6 5.♗g2 ♗g7 6.O-O O-O 7.d4
7.d3 was an old favorite of mine. White gets a super solid position. In my database white wins 8 percent, loses 12 percent and 8 out of 10 games are drawn. Thus, 7.d3 isn't something an enterprising player would want to play! 7...d6 8.a3 a6 9.♖b1 ♖b8 10.b4 Not very exciting is it?
7...cxd4 8.♘xd4 ♘xd4 9.♕xd4 d6 10.♕d3 a6 11.♗d2 ♗f5 Statistically this is just as good as the more popular 11...Rb8 12.e4 ♗e6 13.b3 ♕d7 14.♖fd1
14.♖ac1 ♖ab8 15.a4 ♗h3 16.f3 ♗xg2 17.♔xg2 ♖fc8 18.♗e3 ♕d8 19.♘d5 ♘xd5 20.cxd5 ♕d7 21.♖xc8+ ♖xc8 22.♖c1 ♖xc1 23.♗xc1 ♕c8 24.♗e3 Draw agreed. Ehlvest,J (2650)-Andersson,U (2640)/Reggio Emilia 1991
14.♖fe1 ♖ab8 15.a4 ♗h3 16.♖ad1 ♖fc8 17.♗g5 ♗xg2 18.♔xg2 and white eventually turned his small plus into a win in Hort,V-Browne,W/Zagreb 1970.
14...♘g4 15.a4 f5 16.♖f1 ♘e5 17.♕e3 fxe4 Things could not be more equal and would remain so if white had chosen to recapture with either the N or Q. 18.♗xe4 (18.♘xe4 ♗h3 19.♗c3 ♗xg2 20.♔xg2 ♖f3 21.♕e2 ♖af8 22.♖ad1 is equal.) (18.♕xe4 ♗h3 19.♖ad1 ♗xg2 20.♔xg2 e6 21.♗e3 is also equal.) 18...♗h3 19.♗g2
19.♖fe1 ♘g4 is good for black because of the attack on f2. 20.♗d5+ ♔h8 21.♗e6 ♕c6 22.♕e4 ♘xf2
19...♗xg2 20.♔xg2 ♖f3 21.♕e4 ♖af8 22.♖ae1 ♘d3 This is the difference between this position and the position reached after 19.Nxe4. There, black could not step up the pressure with this move. 23.♖e2 ♘c5 24.♕c2 ♗d4 The pressure on f2 builds, but it's not yet at the breaking point. 25.♘d5 The backward P on e7 is now a target. 25...e6 Driving the N out...or does it really?! 26.♘e3 White falls in line with white's plans and now black's advantage is considerable.
26.♗e3 This clever move would have minimized the damage as after 26...exd5 27.♗xd4 ♘xb3 28.♗e3 d4 29.♕xb3 ♕f7 (29...dxe3 30.♖xe3 ♖xe3 31.fxe3 is fully equal.) 30.♕d3 dxe3 31.♖xe3 ♖xf2+ 32.♖xf2 ♕xf2+ 33.♔h3 and black's advantage is minimal.
26...♕c6 27.♔g1 With black's pieces swarming deep in white's territory there isn't much he can do except play 28.a5 or 28.b4 and wait patiently for the right moment to resign. 27...♘e4 28.♘g4 But this meets with an immediate tactical refutation. 28...♘xg3 Saidy resigned. (28...♘xg3 29.hxg3 ♖xg3+ mates next move.) Powered by Aquarium
No comments:
Post a Comment