During his peak, the Ukrainian born Stein was one of the best players of the world. A powerful attacker, he was known for the rapidity of his play, often using only 20 minutes of his thinking time.
A highly intuitive, natural player, his creative style was greatly influenced by Chigorin and Alekhine.
Writing in Chess Life, Dr. Anthony Saidy described Stein's style thus:
Stein was a pragmatist who eschewed grand schemes. He was not a brilliant player, although he liked to attack. Hence he played dynamic counter-attacking defenses: the Sicilian and King's Indian. He had the good strategist's feeling for squares (strong and weak points). His games often show little tactical skirmishes. In later years, a certain routine, characteristic of the professional, crept into his play. While not sufficiently creative or original to stamp him as one of the all-time greats, Stein's games are instructive and far from dull.
He won three USSR Championships (1963, 1965, and 1966) and was among the world's top ten players during that era. A Jew who served in the Soviet Army, in 1955 and 1956 he tied for first place in the Army Championship. He achieved the national Master title at the relatively late age of 24.
His result at the 1961 Soviet Championship qualified him to play in the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal where he tied for 6th–7th places, but couldn't advance to the Candidates' Tournament because of a FIDE rule which limited the qualifiers from any one country to three. The three Soviet qualifiers were Geller, Petrosian and Korchnoi.
In the next Interzonal tournament (Amsterdam 1964) Stein took fifth place, sufficient for qualification, but again he finished behind three Soviets: Tal, Smyslov and Spassky.
In 1967, Stein qualified for the Sousse Interzonal by tying for 6th–8th places, but in March of 1968 he had to take part in a playoff with Reshevsky and Hort in Los Angeles. The playoff ended in a tie and Reshevsky advanced thanks to the better tie-break. According to Saidy, who met Stein at the playoff, his play was very nervous and that is what prevented him from qualifying.
In April of 1973, just three months before Stein's death, Saidy was playing in the tournament at Las Palmas, Spain and observed that Stein was smoking heavily. When Saidy asked him if he maintained a healthy physical regimen, he just shrugged and lit up another cigarette. At Las Palmas, Stein and Petrosian tied for first.
Among Stein's outstanding international tournament victories were Moscow (1967 and 1971), Sarajevo (1967), Hastings (1967–68), Kecskemet (1968), Tallinn (1969), Parnu (1971) and Las Palmas (1973).
Stein had qualified for the 1973 Petropolis Interzonal and was considered a potential favorite to win the entire Candidates' cycle. But, as he was preparing to leave for the European team championship he collapsed and died. His place was taken by Bronstein.
His win over Smyslov at Moscow, 1972 was chosen by the judges of Informant magazine as Game of the Year. See annotated game HERE.
The following game appeared in The World's Greatest Chess Games as one of the 100 best games of all time. The game received a score of 9 votes out of a possible 15.
In annotating the games in the book, the authors (Nunn, Burgess and Emms) used Chessbase and relied heavily (perhaps a bit too heavily) on the engines Fritz and Junior. Unfortunately, looking at the games these days using Stockfish 13 and Komodo 12 rendered much of Nunn's notes to this game worthless. Analyzing with two modern engines shows that the game was far from flawless and probably should not even have been included in the book. That said, it's a good thing it was or it most likely it would never have seen the light of day and that would have been a shame.
Nikolai Krogius - Leonid Stein
Result: 0-1
Site: Russian Republic-Ukraine Match, Kiev
Date: 1960
King's Indian Defense
[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 g6 3.♘c3 ♗g7 4.e4 O-O 5.♗e2 d6 6.♘f3 e5 7.d5 The book of 100 games states that this introduces the Petrosian System and it is so named in Fritz' auto-annoattion . I am not sure how this can be called the Petrosian System because that system is associated with d5 and Bg5. In this game white never plays Bg5. 7...h6 These days the idea of wasting a move to prevent Bg5 is frowned upon. Black usually plays 7...a5 or sometimes 7...Nbd7 8.O-O ♘h7 9.♘e1 ♘d7
26...♕g7 27.gxf4 According to Nunn this is the only move, but that is not correct.
Turned out in white's favor after 9...f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.f4 ♘f6 12.♘f3 ♖e8 13.fxe5 dxe5 Barbosa,E (2422) -Carneiro,V (2089)/Montenegro BRA 2013
10.♘d3 f5 11.f3
11.♗e3 is interesting. 11...f4 12.♗d2 ♘df6 13.c5 g5 14.g4 h5 15.h3 Equals. Banas,J (2380) -Gufeld,E (2510)/Belgrade 1988.
11.♗d2 Also results in equality after 11...♘df6 12.f3 f4 13.c5 Malich,B (2450)-Pietrusiak,B (2245)/Rostock 1981
11...f4 12.b4 ♖f7 13.c5 ♘df6 14.c6 In the book The World's Greatest Chess Games, John Nunn gave this a ! and called it a very strong move because black's misplaced N pn h7 has no influence on the center so with 14.c6 white seizes the initiative in the center and on the Q-side. Komodo 13 expresses dubiety with that opinion. Not that 14.c6 is bad by any means, but the engine prefers a different line of play.
14.♗d2 Komodo 13. 14...♘e8 15.♔h1 h5 16.♗e1 h4 17.♖g1 ♘f8 18.♕b3 a5 19.bxa5 ♖xa5 20.c6 with a considerable advantage for white.
14...bxc6 Nunn calls this an unpleasant necessity. Komodo 13 give 14...Ng5 and 14...h5 as being of nearly equal value. However, in both of those lines the play looks artificial and unhuman-like!
14...b6 (Nunn) doesn't work because after 15.b5 g5 16.a4 h5 17.a5 Black's Q-side falls apart before he can generate any play on the K-side.
14...♘g5 15.cxb7 ♗xb7 16.♗d2 c6 17.h4 ♘gh7 18.dxc6 ♗xc6 19.♕b3 ♘h5 20.♘f2 ♗f6 21.♗c4 ♗e8 22.♖fd1 ♔g7 23.♗e1 ♖f8 and white is slightly better.
14...h5 15.cxb7 ♗xb7 16.♕e1 a6 17.♔h1 c6 18.dxc6 ♗xc6 19.♗d1 ♔h8 20.♗b2 ♖c7 21.♕f2 ♗d7 22.♗b3 ♖b8 23.♖ac1 With equality.
15.dxc6 ♗e6 16.b5 Preapring the maneuver Nb4-d5 16...♗f8 17.♘b4 Black's next move is a practical decision...he attempts to muddy the waters. Theoretically, after Nd5 black would be lost owing to white's control of d5 and his advanced Q-side majority. 17...d5 On any other (passive) move white retains the advantage with no difficulty. 18.♘bxd5 (18.exd5 was also good. 18...♗c5+ 19.♔h1 ♗f5 20.♘a6) 18...♗c5+ 19.♔h1 ♘h5 20.♕e1 ♘g3+ Engine's don't like this, but again practically speaking, having started down the sacrificial path black has to continue if he wants to keeps the momentum going. (20...♗d4 21.♗d2 ♗xd5 22.exd5 and black has no punch.) 21.hxg3 ♕g5 22.g4 h5 23.g3 Very good...Krogius found the only correct move. It frees g2 for his K. (23.♖f2 ♕h4+ 24.♔g1 hxg4 25.fxg4 ♘g5 is winning fr black.)
23.♘xf4 returning the extra material to lessen the force of the attack also fails. 23...exf4 24.g3 This has to be played anyway. 24...hxg4 25.♔g2 gxf3+ 26.♖xf3 ♖af8 and black has the initiative.
23...hxg4 24.♔g2 ♖af8 25.♗d2 This loses any advantage white had.
25.♖h1 was correct. Things can get complicated after after 25...♗d4 26.♗a3 ♗xd5 27.♗xf8 ♗xc3 28.♗h6 ♗xe1 29.♗xg5 ♘xg5 30.♖hxe1 ♗e6 31.gxf4 ♖xf4 32.fxg4 ♗xg4 33.♗xg4 ♖xg4+ 34.♔h2 ♘xe4 (34...♘f3+ 35.♔h3 ♖f4 36.♖ed1 white is winning) 35.♖e3 ♖h4+ 36.♔g2 ♖g4+ 37.♔f3 ♖f4+ 38.♔e2 and white will have his work cut out for himself, but it's clear that he stands better.
25...♕h6 In the book no comment was made by Nunn on this move which should have resulted in a lost position. Even my ancient Fritz 5.32 which operates on only a single core recognized this move as an error!
25...gxf3+ was correct, but to keep things equal play must be extremely precise! Komodo demonstrates that in the following line there is only one correct move to each reply. 26.♖xf3 ♕g4 27.♕h1 ♘g5 28.♖xf4 ♕h3+ 29.♕xh3 ♗xh3+ 30.♔h2 exf4 31.gxf4 ♗e6 32.♖e1 ♗xd5 33.♘xd5 ♘xe4 with equal chances.
26.♖h1
26.fxg4 packed more punch. 26...♘g5 27.♖h1 ♕g7 28.♗d1 f3+ 29.♔f1 ♕h7 30.♖h4
30.♖xh7 is a loser! 30...♖xh7 31.♗xf3 ♘xf3 32.♔e2 ♘xe1 33.♖xe1 ♖h3
30...♗xg4 31.♗e3 is winning for white. 27.♗d1 fxg3 Contrary to Nunn's comment, this is no threat. e.g. 28.♗h6 gxf3+ 29.♗xf3 ♖xf3 30.♗xg7 ♔xg7 and black is quite lost.
27...exf4 28.♖d1 Too passive.
28.♘a4 ♗d4 29.♗c3 ♗xd5 30.exd5 ♖e8 31.♕d2 ♗xc3 32.♘xc3 ♘g5 33.♖af1 ♖e3 Watch this... 34.d6 ♕xc3 35.♕xc3 ♖xc3 36.d7 ♖f8 37.♗d1 ♖d3 38.fxg4 f3+ 39.♔g1 and white has a promising position.
28...g5 29.e5 Baiting a trap into which Stein falls. 29...♕xe5
29...gxf3+ and both players are on the razor's edge. 30.♗xf3 g4 31.♗e4 f3+ and it's anybody's game.
30.fxg4 Now it's Krogius' turn to miss the best continuation!
30.♗d3 This is a wiiner! 30...gxf3+ 31.♔f1 ♗e3 32.♗xe3 fxe3 33.♕xe3 ♕xe3 34.♘xe3 and wins. How? Here is the results of a Shootout at 17 plies: 34...♘f6 35.♘f5 ♗xf5 36.♗xf5 ♔g7 37.♔f2 ♖e8 38.♖dg1 ♖e5 39.♖xg5+ ♔f8 40.♖h8+ ♔e7 41.♖a8 ♔d6 42.♖xa7 ♖fe7 43.b6 cxb6 44.♖xe7 ♖xe7 45.♖g6 ♔xc6 46.♖xf6+ ♔c5 47.♖xb6 with an easy win.
30...♕xe2+ 31.♕xe2 f3+ 32.♕xf3 ♖xf3 With his next move Krogius hands the advantage back to Stein who finishes up strongly. 33.♖hf1
33.♗e1 The B is to be transferred to a better position. 33...♗xg4 34.♗g3 ♘f6 35.♗xc7 is not nearly as good as it might look at first glance because after 35...♘h5 Threatening mate beginning with ...Rf2+ 36.♖xh5 ♖f2+ 37.♔g3 ♗xh5 38.♖d3 ♗g6 39.♘d1 (39.♖d1 ♖8f3+ leads to mate.) 39...♗xd3 40.♘xf2 ♗xf2+ 41.♔g4 White's cluster of pieces and Ps on the Q-side look dangerous, but black has everything under control! 41...♗c5 42.b6 axb6 43.♗xb6 ♗d6 44.c7 ♗e2+ 45.♔xg5 ♔f7 and white has not a single useful move. 46.♘f6 ♖c8 47.♔f5 ♗xc7 48.♗xc7 ♖xc7 49.♘e4 and I will spare you the 22 moves leading to mate that Komodo spotted almost instantly.
33...♗xg4 34.♘e4 ♗h3+ 35.♔h2 ♖xf1 36.♖xf1 ♗xf1 37.♘xc5
37.♘xc7 To quote Fritz, this doesn't get the cat out of the tree. Nor does it get the bull off the ice. 37...♗b6 38.♘d5 ♗d3 39.♘d6 ♖f2+ 40.♔g3 ♖xd2 41.♘xb6 ♗xb5 42.c7 ♗a6 43.c8=♕+ ♗xc8 44.♘bxc8 and black has a won ending.
37...♖f2+ 38.♔g1 ♖xd2 39.♘xc7 ♗h3 40.a4 ♖g2+ 41.♔h1 ♘f6 42.a5 ♘g4 43.♘e4 ♖e2 There was a quicker mate after 43...Kh8, but that's a moot point because Krogius resigned. In the light shed on this game by modern engines, it certainly wasn't one of the best 100 games ever played, but the delectation one gets from playing over it can't be denied.
43...♖e2 44.♘f6+ ♘xf6 45.♘d5 ♘g4 46.♘f6+ ♘xf6 47.c7 ♖c2 48.c8=♕+ ♖xc8 49.♔h2 ♖c3 50.a6 ♘g4+ 51.♔g1 ♖c1#
(43...♔h8 44.a6 ♖e2 45.♘d2 ♖xd2 46.b6 ♖d1#) Powered by Aquarium
Great player. My favorite Soviet player from that era.
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