Samuel Schweber

     Samuel Schweber (July 16, 1936 - January 1, 2017) was an Argentine International Master who played in several Argentine championships. His best result being in 1963 when he finished 2nd behind Raimundo Garcia and in 1968 when he finished 2nd behind Najdorf. He was born in Zarate, a port city in the northeast of the province of Buenos Aires.

     A player with a solid style, Schweber is probably best remembered for his famous loss to Bobby Fischer in the 1970 Buenos Aires international tournament, but he had his share of successes. 

     In 1955 he finished 9th in the World Junior Championship in Antwerp (Boris Spassky won). He finished 2nd in the 1960 Sao Paulo Zonal tournament, but in the 1962 Interzonal in Stockholm he had a dismal result and finished 19th-20th. 

     In 1963, he tied for 3rd-5th in the Zonal at Fortaleza with Oscar Quinones and Mauro De Athayde. In the playoff at Rio de Janeiro in 1964 he finished 2nd Quinones. 

     He played for Argentina in five Olympiads: (1960, first reserve, (1964, third board), (1966, second reserve), (1980, fourth board and (1984, fourth board). Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2578 in 1962 which placed him number 68 in the world. 

     A good example of his play can be seen in the following game against the (East) German IM Heinz Liebert where Schweber's sudden winning attack seemed to materialize out of nowhere. The game was played in the preliminaries of the Olympiad in Tel Aviv. 

     Liebert (born May 24, 1936) had a number of successes from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s: Ulan Bator 1956 (1st), Polanica Zdroj 1966 (2nd), Varna 1969 (4th), Kecskemet 1970 (2nd), Lublin 1972 (=2nd) and Smokovec 1975 (3rd). He's also represented East Germany at every Olympiad from 1962 to 1972. 

     At Tel Aviv Argentina's team was significantly weaker than usual because the Argentinian Chess Federation offered low prize fund for their national championship and imposed a regulation stating that only top championship players would qualify into Olympic team. As a result their top players (Najdorf, Panno, Rossetto and Julio Bolbochan and others) refused to take part. Thus the team consisted of Erich Eliskases, Raimundo Garcia, Schweber, Bernado Wexler and Raul Cruz. 

     The team qualified for the finals and finished 9th out of 14 teams. The first three places were taken by the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and West Germany. The US team (Samuel Reshevsky, Pal Benko, Anthony Saidy, Arthur Bisguier, Donald Byrne and William Addison) finished in a dismal 6th place. The US team got skunked 0-4 by the imposing Russian team (Petrosian, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Stein and Spassky)

Samuel Schweber - Heinz Liebert

Result: 1-0

Site: Olympiad Prelims, Tel Aviv

Date: 1964

King's Indian Attack.

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 e6 3.d3 ♘c6 4.g3 d5 5.♘bd2 ♘f6 6.♗g2 ♗e7 7.O-O In spite of what some authors claim in their opening books, the KIA is not one of those openings where you can play the same set up and use the same strategy against anything black plays and so avoid a lot of opening study. To play the opening correctly white's strategy will be determined what type of setup black selects...here the French Defense setup. In a prelude to white's K-side attack, which will be opposed by a Q-side counterattack, white will close the center with e5. 7...O-O 8.♖e1 b5 9.e5 Chasing away the N and leaving black with a distinct lack of minor piece protection for his K. Since the e-Pawn is such an important part of whites plans he must be careful to make sure that it is overprotected should black try and undermine it with .. .f6. At some point the N on d2 can head for either e3 or g4 (an especially nice square if black has played ...Qc7). 9...♘d7 10.♘f1 b4 Black's plan is simple...get his Q-side Ps on the move and hopefully force white to make positional concessions. The idea is to advance his P all the way to a3 to gain control of c3 and d4 so he can use his Ns effectively. Another idea is to play ...d4 and make d5 a N outpost. The disadvantage for black is that he will have to be careful defending his K as the slightest slip up can be fatal. 11.h4 Both sides begin the Pawn race. 11...a5 12.h5 a4 13.h6 g6 This logical looking move allows white to gain the advantage.

13...f5 was much better. Then after 14.exf6

14.hxg7 is less effective. After 14...♔xg7 white has no effective way of continuing with his K-side plans.

14...♗xf6 white's advantage is minimal after he tends to black's Q-side play with 15.a3 ♘de5 16.♘xe5 ♗xe5 17.♘h2 gxh6 18.axb4 cxb4 19.♖xe5 ♘xe5 20.♘g4 ♘xg4 21.♕xg4+ ♔h8 22.♗xh6 ♖f7 23.♕xb4 and white is better.

14.♘1h2 ♗a6 15.♘g4 c4

15...♘d4 failed to blunt white's attack. 16.♘xd4 cxd4 17.b3 a3 18.♘h2 ♖c8 19.♘f3 ♕b6 20.♗g5 ♗xg5 21.♘xg5 Kamsky,G (2713)-Lenderman,A (2582)/US Chp, Saint Louis 2014. White went on to win.

16.d4

16.dxc4 Proved to be better for white. 16...♗xc4 17.b3 axb3 18.cxb3 ♗b5 19.♗e3 White stands well. Vorobiov,D (2129)-Vunder,A (2284)/St Petersburg 2006

16...a3 17.b3 ♘a7 The idea is to continue on to c3. 18.♗f4 ♘b5 19.♕d2 ♘c3 A classical outpost. By now back has equalized thanks to white's slip on move 16. 20.♘g5 ♖c8 21.♘h3 ♖c6 22.♗g5 ♗xg5 23.♘xg5 ♕e7 24.♗f1 ♖fc8 25.♕f4 cxb3 26.cxb3 ♗xf1 27.♔xf1 ♘b5 Liebert intends to get play on the c-file, but it can be easily neutralized. 28.♖e3 A better plan would have been 28.Kg2 and then challenge black on the c-file. 28...♖c3 This turns out poorly.

28...♖c2 29.♖f3 ♖f8 White's attack is at a standstill and the chances arre equal after either 30.Ne3 or 30.Rc1

29.♖ae1 White is determined to play Rf3 and black is determined to stop him and as a result both sides are missing better moves.

29.♖xc3 was better. No matter how black captures white maintains the initiative, but finding a way to breakthrough could prove difficult. 29...bxc3 The most aggressive plan. 30.♘f3 ♕b4 31.♖c1 White is better and in Shootouts scored +2 -0 =3.

29...♖xe3 30.♖xe3 So as to play the R to f3, but this should have allowed black right back in the game.

30.♕xe3 was correct because now if 30...♘c3 (30...♖c3 31.♕d2 white is better.) 31.♖c1 Here, too, white enjoys a slight advantage.

30...♖c3 An unfortunate move that prevents Rf3, but it's tactically faulty and loses quickly. Now it's white to play and win.

30...♘c3 Seizes the advantage because after white's intended 31.♖f3 ♖f8 32.♘f6+ ♘xf6 33.exf6 ♕e8 white has to take a move to defend his a-Pawn with 34.♕d2 and now black seizes the initiative with 34...e5

31.♘f6+ ♘xf6 32.exf6 ♕f8 Nothing was better. Now white has a move that totally smashes black. 33.♖xe6 His position is so good that he could take on e6 with the N and also win.

33.♘xe6 fxe6 (33...♕e8 34.♘g7 wins at once.) 34.♖xe6 ♖c7 35.♕e5 ♖c8 To save the Q. 36.♖e7 wins

33...♖c8 (33...fxe6 allows mate in 3. 34.f7+ ♔h8 35.♕e5+ ♕g7 36.hxg7#) 34.♖e7 ♕xh6 35.♔g2 ♖f8 36.♖e1 Black resigned. His Q is trapped unless he makes a retreat square.

36.♖e1 ♖c8 37.♖e7 ♖f8 38.♕e5 ♘c3 39.♘xf7 ♕c1 40.♖e8 and black can only delay mate for a few moves.

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