Carlos Jesus Torre Repetto (November 29, 1904 - March 19, 1978) was born in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, but spent much of his early life in New Orleans where he was mentored by Edwin Z. Adams, a New Orleans, Louisiana, amateur who wrote to Capablanca that after he had learned to play chess he improved by watching better players at the club and playing over games until he "finally learned to play a little." As he told Capa, his interest consisted principally in mentoring Torre.
Torre later published his famous combination that was supposed to have occurred in a game he lost against Adams, but it has been determined that the combination was probably never played in the game. You can read chess historian Edward Winter's discussion of the game HERE.
Torre quickly improved by playing at the Manhattan and Marshall Chess Clubs in New York City. His style was Classical and he is most famous for the Torre Attack (1.d4, 2.Nf3 and 3.Bg5).
He first came to international attention when he played in the great New York 1924 tournament and impressed everyone with the high quality of his speed chess and analytical ability. The website Chessmetrics.com places Torre as eighth in the world following his tour of Europe. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1977.
Torre's career was cut short by mental illness. After his breakdown in 1926, Torre spent much of the remainder of his life hospitalized. His breakdown was supposedly the result of a letter from his fiance calling off their marriage. Reuben Fine visited Torre many years he had retired and found that he still played a good game.
His weakness was that he feared losing and often offered draws even when he had an advantage. His feeble excuse was it was because of his inexperience. However, it's possible that, as NM James R. Schroeder opined, because of his mental condition he may have been simply too fatigued to continue playing after several hours.
As for the book, which was published 21 years ago, it is well printed with only one column per page and the diagrams are excellent. But, of the 105 games many of them are poorly played or worthless exhibition games.
The reason is that a selection of Torre's games is actually pretty slim. He played in only four international tournaments and scored a modest +25 -11 =31. Lamentably a lot of Velasco's analysis is worthless and his comments fatuous, but some of his historical observations are interesting.
In the following game from the New York 1924 Dimock Theme Tournament, Torre defeats the redoubtable Frank Marshall in a Urusov Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4).
The Urusov is a plucky gambit that I have tried in several engine assisted games in correspondence tournaments and have found it to be quite playable, not to mention entertaining!
Harold Dimock of New London, Connecticut, was a prominent chess philanthropist of the 1920s and donated the prizes. Along with other members of the Marshall Chess Club, he sponsored several theme tournaments: the Vienna, Evans Gambit and the Sicilian Wing Gambit.
The seven players in the Dimock tournament were the strongest members of the Marshall Chess Club. Marshall was the reigning US Champion, Torre was the Western Open and New York State Champion. Anthony Santasiere was a frequent participant in tournaments in the New York area and was a Romantic at heart so his participation in this event was a natural.
Erling Tholfsen was the Marshall Chess Club champion. Rudolph Smirka had been the NY State Champion in 1923 and 1927 and because of his work schedule he was unavailable to play during the week and so by special arrangement his games were played on weekends.
Horace Bigelow was described by The New York Times of 1924 as the Oxford University star, but today is best remembered for his columns in the American Chess Bulletin and for his introduction to Reti's book Masters of the Chessboard. Hermann Helms described Bigelow's games as the most spectacular in the tournament.
Bruno Forsberg was a frequent competitor in New York area tournaments and he finished fifth in the New York State Championship of 1930. Due to illness he withdrew near the end of the tournament and forfeited games to Torre, Santasiere and Tholfsen.
By the way, Marshal and Torre were friends and they traveled together on Torre's European tour in 1925 when they both played in tournaments in Baden-Baden, Moscow and Marienbad. In the tournament meeting between the two Torre had the advantage, scoring +3 -1 =4.
Frank Marshall - Carlos Torre
Result: 0-1
Site: Dimock Theme Tournament, Marshall Chess Club
Date: 1924
Urusov Gambit
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♗c4 ♘f6 3.d4 This gambit actually dates back to about 1750 when it was discovered by Ponziani. but ir wasn't analyzed until 1857 when Sergey Urusov took an interest in it. 3...exd4 I have reached this position 12 times in correspondence play (engine assisted) and have scored +6 -0 -6!!
3...♘xe4 This coffeehouse move can lead to some sharp play, but it favors white. 4.dxe5 Larsen recommended 4.Qf3 which is just plain bad. (4.♕f3 d5 5.♗xd5 ♗b4+ 6.c3 ♕xd5 Black has a huge advantage.) 4...c6 5.♕e2 Black has two plausible move (5...Qe7 and if 6.Qxe4 d5) and 5...Nc5) both of which leave white slightly better.
4.♘f3 ♘xe4 The main line is 4...Nc6 transposing into either the Scotch Gambit or the Two Knights Defense. 5.♕xd4 ♘f6 Against 5...Nc5 Keres recommended 6.Bg5 while Urusov opted for 6.Ne5. Engines seem to have no preference. 6.♘c3
6.♗g5 ♗e7 7.♘c3 c6 8.O-O-O d5 9.♖he1 ♗e6 10.♗d3 ♘bd7 11.♕h4 ♘c5 12.♘d4 ♘g8 13.f4 ♔f8 Very weak.. Black is equal after 13...Bxg5 14.b4 white is superior. Torre-Tholfsen, same event.
6.♗g5 ♘c6 Torre's excellent idea. 7.♕h4 In this case this is not good. Black is only slightly better after 7.Qe3+ 7...d5 8.♗d3 ♘b4 9.O-O ♘xd3 10.cxd3 ♗e7 11.♘bd2 O-O Black is better. Tholfsen-Torre, same event.
6...♘c6 In correspondence games I have reached this position twice and have scored two wins.
6...c6 This is Stockfish's first choice. 7.♗g5 d5 8.O-O-O ♗e7 9.♕h4 Initially Stockfish does not think too highly of this move and gives black a slight advantage, but subsequent play proves the move to be satisfactory. 9...O-O 10.♗d3 h6 11.♖de1 hxg5 12.♘xg5 g6 13.♕h6 ♗d6 14.h4 ♗f5 Correct was 14...Bg4 equals. 15.♗xf5 gxf5 16.g4 wiht a strong attack and black's game quickly collapsed.
6...♗e7 7.♗g5 O-O 8.♕h4 Obviously I like this move! 8...d6 Too passive. Better was 8...d5. 9.O-O-O ♗f5 10.g4 ♗e6 11.♗d3 g6 12.♘d4 ♘bd7 13.f4 ♗xg4 14.♖de1 ♖e8 15.♖hg1 White's attack soon prevailed.
7.♕h4 ♗b4
7...d5 8.♘xd5 ♘xd5 9.♕xd8+ ♘xd8 10.♗xd5 c6 11.♗e4 ♘e6 with equality. Rios,C (2204)-Mosquera,M (2375)/Bogota 2009
8.O-O Being a P down Marshall seeks rapid development even though the text move allows a weakening of his P-structure.
8.♗g5 ♕e7+ 9.♔d1 ♗xc3 10.bxc3 d6 11.♖e1 is equal. Tiitta,S (2224)-Kiik,K (2452)/Jyvaskyla 2006
8...♗xc3 9.bxc3 O-O 10.♗d3 ♘e7 This excellent move bolsters his K-side defense. 11.♗g5 ♘g6 12.♕g3 d5 Torre intends to return the P in exchange for positional superiority.
12...d6 13.♘h4 ♘h5 14.♕e3 ♕e8 This positional approach was also a solid continuation.
13.♖fe1
13.♗xf6 ♕xf6 14.♕xc7 ♗g4 15.♘d4 ♘f4 looks good for black even if the engines think the position is equal.
13...h6 14.♗xf6 ♕xf6 15.♕xc7 ♘f4 16.♕e5 ♕xe5 17.♖xe5 The ending is equal. Chances in this ending are about even. 17...♗e6 18.g3 18.Bf1 was played in Samuels-Torre, but in that game tremendous pressure on the doubled Ps, so here Marshall tries to find the least disadvantageous line. 18...♘xd3 19.cxd3 ♖ac8 20.♖c1 ♖c5 21.♘d4 ♖fc8 22.f4 Hoping for one of his famous Marshall swindles.
22.c4 was objectively best as after 22...dxc4 23.♖xc5 ♖xc5 24.♘xe6 fxe6 25.♖xc4 the position is roughly even.
22...♗g4 Forcing the win of the c-Pawn which also serves as a the centralized Ns support.
22...♖xc3 23.♖xc3 ♖xc3 24.f5 equalizes...for example 24...♗c8 25.♘b5 ♖c1+ 26.♔f2 ♔f8 27.♖xd5
23.c4 It would have been somewhat better to centralize his K with 23.Kf2 23...f6 24.♖e7 dxc4 25.dxc4
25.♖xb7 is much worse as after 25...♖d5 26.♘b5 cxd3 27.♖xc8+ ♗xc8 28.♖b8 ♖c5 29.♔f2 ♖c2+ 30.♔e3 d2 31.♖xc8+ ♖xc8 32.♔xd2 a6 black's advantage is a winning one.
25...♖xc4 26.♖xc4 ♖xc4 27.♘b3 ♖c2 28.h4 ♖xa2 29.♖xb7 a5 Black has achieved a relatively easily won ending. 30.♘d4 a4 31.f5 ♖d2 32.♘e6 (32.♖b4 a3 33.♘b3 ♖d1+ 34.♔f2 h5−+) 32...♗xf5 33.♘xg7 ♖d7 34.♖b5 ♗d3 White resigned. Not flashy, but a solid performance by Torre as he never allowed Marshall a chance. (34...♗d3 35.♖a5 ♖xg7 36.♖xa4 ♖xg3+ 37.♔f2 ♖h3 wiht an easy win.) Powered by Aquarium
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