Alexander Tsvetkov, Bulgarian Master

 

 Pachman vs Tsvetkov (Hilversum, 1947)

     The People's Republic of Bulgaria was the official name of Bulgaria when it was a socialist republic that existed from 1946 to 1990 and ruled by the Bulgarian Communist Party, which in turn ruled together with its coalition partner, the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union. Bulgaria was closely allied with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. 

     The Bulgarian resistance movement during World War II deposed the Kingdom of Bulgaria administration in the Bulgarian coup d'etat of 1944 which ended the country's alliance with the Axis powers and led to the People's Republic in 1946.

     During World War II, exploiting the popular feeling that those who were responsible for Bulgaria’s involvement in the war should be punished, “people’s courts” were established to prosecute the political leaders of the war time period. The first mass trial in 1944-45 resulted in death sentences for more than 100 top officials. By the time sentencing was completed in April 1945, the courts had tried 11,122 people, condemned to death 2,730, 1,305 to life imprisonment and 5,119 to terms of up to 20 years. Unofficial estimates suggested that as many as 30,000 political opponents of the new regime, including anti-Nazi activists, were killed without trial. When the army returned following the German surrender, the the officer corps was also purged. 

     After the war Bulgaria was not a high priority on the diplomatic agenda of the West and as early as October 1944 Winston Churchill had shown his willingness to allow the country to fall under Soviet control. 

     Thus Bulgarian communists and their Soviet sponsors began to forcefully eliminate the opposition and elections held in November 1945 gave a substantial majority to the communists. 

     In September 1946 a referendum decided by a 93 percent majority proclaimed Bulgaria a republic, and Tsar Simeon II and the Queen Mother were kicked out the country. Elections held in October resulted in non-communist opposition in 28 percent of the votes with Nikola Petkov being their principal spokesman. 

     Opposition couldn't be tolerated so he was charged with plotting to overthrow the government and expelled from the Grand National Assembly along with most of his associates. In June 1947, he was arrested and in September he was executed. A week later the United States recognized the new regime. 

     The country's leader, Georgi Dimitrov, died in office in July 1949 and was succeeded by Vasil Kolarov, who died in early 1950, and Vulko Chervenkov, known as Bulgaria’s Little Stalin, came into power. He followed a policy of rapid industrialization, forced collectivization of agriculture, heavy reliance on the police and security forces and isolation from countries outside the Soviet bloc. 

     Bulgaria has had a number of players whose names might be recognized: Dejan Bojkov, Evgenij Ermenkov, Kiril Georgiev, Ventzislav Inkiov, Borislav Ivanov, Atanas Kolarov, Nikolay Minev (who eventually made his home in Washington state in the US), Oleg Neikirch, Luben Popov, Ivan Radulov, Vasil Spasov, Veselin Topalov and Alexander Tsvetkov. 

     In 2016, the Bulgarian Chess Federation was kicked out of FIDE because of allegations of possible wrongdoing on behalf of the Bulgarian Chess Federation under the presidency of Silvio Danailov. FIDE also called for action by Bulgarian authorities (President and Prime Minister included). It has also barred Danailov from taking any offices in the Bulgarian Chess Federation for a period of 18 months. Not surprisingly Danailov denied any wrongdoing, describing the decision as "political" and initiated by FIDE President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.  Read more...

     The best Bulgarian player of the 1930s and 40s was Alexander Tsvetkov (October 7, 1914 - May 29, 1990), an IM who was Bulgarian Champion in 1938, 1940 (tied), 1945, 1948 (tied) and 1950. Tsvetkov represented Bulgaria in he Olympiads in 1936, 1939, 1954 and 1956. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2552 in 1956 which placed him at number 99 in the world. 

     In the following game he defeats Ludek Pachman. The tournament was won by O'Kelly only after Pachman lost to Tsvetkov in the last round, while O’Kelly defeated Doerner. Hans Kmoch was the TD. Originally, Tartakower was supposed to represent France, but he couldn’t come and the Romanian representative didn't show up. 

 

Alexandar Tsvetkov - Ludek Pachman

Result: 1-0

Site: Hilversum

Date: 1947.07.31

Ruy Lopez: Old Steinitz Defense

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗b5 d6 The Old Steinitz Defence (black omits ...a6) is solid but passive and cramped. It was a favorite Steinitz, and often played by Lasker, Capablanca, and occasionally Smyslov, but it fell into disuse after World War I, mostly because it was considered too passive. 5.d4 This is the most direct approach immediately challenging black's P on e5, Both 4.c3 and 4.0-0 are viable alternatives. 5...♗d7 This breaks the pin and defends against the threat of winning a P with 5.Bxc6 and 6.dxe5. 6.O-O exd4

6...♗e7 7.♖e1 Laying a trap. Black should now play 7...dxe4 with equality, but he must not castle. Tarrasch published analysis of this trap in 1891, but 18 months later Georg Marco fell into it in Tarrasch versus Marco, Dresden 1892. Tarrasch spent just five minutes thinking during the entire game. 7...O-O 8.♗xc6 ♗xc6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.♕xd8 ♖axd8 11.♘xe5 ♗xe4 12.♘xe4 ♘xe4 13.♘d3 f5 14.f3 ♗c5+ Somewhat better was 14...Bh4 15.♘xc5 ♘xc5 16.♗g5 ♖d5 17.♗e7 ♖e8 18.c4 Black resigned. Siegbert Tarrasch-Georg Marco/Dresden 1892

7.♘xd4 ♗e7 8.♗xc6 bxc6 9.f3 O-O 10.♗e3 ♖e8

10...d5 11.e5 ♘e8 12.♗f2 c5 13.♘b3 White is better. Pallardo Lozoya,J (2173)-Galvan,J (2169)/Manises 2002

11.♕d2 ♕b8 The purpose of this move is to begin action on the Q-side. He is following the usual plan of forcing his opponent to play b3 after which he will prepare the advance ...a5, ...a4 and ...c5, ...c4. White's chances lie mainly in the center. 12.b3 a5 13.♘de2 ♕b4 The Q is actively placed here and should white move his N it would allow the exchange of Qs which would favor black. 14.♘f4 This looks very strong as after 15.Nd3 and the retreat of black's Q he can then play 16.e5. But it is actually quite innocuous.

14.g4 This followed by Ng3 was suggested by Pachman, but after 14...d5 15.♘g3 dxe4 16.♘cxe4 ♕xd2 17.♗xd2 ♘xe4 18.♘xe4 f5 19.gxf5 ♗xf5 20.♖fe1 neither side has anything to boast about.

14...♕b7 Tsvetkov now attempts to prove black has lost time with his Q moves.

14...c5 15.♘d3 This plan leads to no advantage. 15...♕b7 16.e5 dxe5 17.♘xc5 ♗xc5 18.♗xc5 with a completely equal game.

15.♖ad1 (15.♘d3 ♗e6 16.e5 dxe5 17.♘xe5 ♗b4 is advantageous for black.) 15...♖ed8 16.♕f2 ♗f8 17.♖d3 c5 18.♖fd1 ♖e8 What's black doing?! He had just played ...Rd8 and now he moves it to e8. The answer is that 15..Red8 hindered the advance of white's e-Pawn, but now that white's Q has vacated the d-file black's R no longer serves any purpose on d8. Now the R has a better future on the e-file. 19.g4 Tsvetkov goes for a K-side attack, but from the strategical point of view the plan is unjustified because black's K-side has not been weakened and in the time it takes to create a weakness and any serious threats black will generate strong threats on the Q-side. (19.♘fd5 Pachman 19...♘xd5 20.♘xd5 a4 is equal.) 19...♗c6 20.g5 ♘d7 21.♕g3 a4 22.♖3d2 axb3 Reasonable would have been 22...Ne5, but Pachman is playing for a little tactic on the Q-side. 23.axb3 ♖a3 Threatening 24...c4 24.♘fd5 Defending the N. 24...♖e6 He could have played his planned ...c4 immediately.

24...♗xd5 25.♖xd5 And now ...c4 would have given black the upper hand. 25...c4 26.♖b5

26.♗c1 ♖aa8 27.bxc4 ♕b4 28.f4 ♕xc4 29.♕d3 ♕xd3 30.♖5xd3 ♘c5 31.♖e3 Black is better.

26...♕c8 27.♗c1 ♖a8 28.bxc4 ♕a6 with equal chances.

25.h4 This does not work out well because it's more of a gesture than anything.

25.♘f4 was better. 25...♖e8 26.♘fd5 ♗xd5 27.♖xd5 c4 28.♗c1 ♖aa8 29.bxc4 ♕b4 30.f4 ♕xc4 31.♕d3 and black has a nominal advantage.

25...♗xd5 26.♘xd5 c4 27.♗d4

27.bxc4 is met by 27...c6 28.♖d3 ♖xd3 29.cxd3 cxd5 30.cxd5 ♖e8 and black has won a piece for two Ps. That's not to say that scoring the point will be easy though. Here is a Shootout result: 31.f4 g6 32.♕f3 ♕b3 33.♖d2 ♖a8 34.h5 ♖a1+ 35.♔h2 gxh5 36.♗d4 ♕b4 37.♕e3 ♖b1 38.♖c2 ♖d1 39.♖b2 ♕a4 40.♔g2 ♗g7 41.e5 ♘f8 42.♕e4 ♕a3 43.♖e2 dxe5 44.fxe5 ♕e7 45.♕f5 ♕d8 46.d6 ♘e6 47.♗e3 ♕a8+ 48.♕f3 ♕xf3+ 49.♔xf3 ♗xe5 50.d7 ♗c7 51.♔e4 ♔f8 52.d4 ♔e7 53.d5 ♘d8 54.♗f4 ♗xf4 55.♔xf4+ ♔xd7 56.♖h2 ♖xd5 57.♖xh5 ♘e6+ and black wins.

27...cxb3 28.cxb3 ♖xb3 And so black has won a P which should be sufficient to win the game. 29.h5 Pressing on with his "attack" but this is a tactical mistake. Better was 29.Qf2. 29...♘e5 With this move Pachman allows white full equality. He missed a neat tactical resource. He saw the variation, but hesitated because he saw ghost. This game was played in the last round and Pachman's loss cost him the game and a tie first place in the tournament.

29...♖xe4 wins outright. 30.♘f6+ (30.fxe4 ♖xg3+) 30...♘xf6 31.gxf6 g6 32.hxg6 hxg6 33.♕h3 ♖xd4 34.♖xd4 ♖xf3 35.♕g2 ♕b3 36.♕e2 ♖xf6 with a winning endgame.

29...♖xe4 30.♗xg7 This is what Pachman visualized and even long after the game in his classic book Modern Chess Strategy he was under its spell and completely incorrectly evaluated the position! 30...♗xg7

30...♔xg7 This is even stronger as it leaves white with no reasonable move.

31.♘f6+ Pachman wrote that white is winning, but nothing is further from the truth... ask any engine! Black is ahead in the evaluation by about 2.5 Ps! 31...♔h8 32.♘xd7 ♖ee3 33.♖f2 ♖xf3 34.♖xf3 ♖xf3 and wins.

30.♗xe5 ♖xe5 31.h6 ♖b1 32.hxg7 ♗xg7 33.♘f6+ ♔h8 Loses brilliantly.

33...♔f8 Keeps the game going. After 34.♘d7+ ♔g8 35.♘xe5 ♗xe5 the game is up for grabs.

34.♕xe5

34.♕xe5 ♖xd1+ (34...dxe5 35.♖d8+ mates) 35.♖xd1 and black is simply lost.

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