Monday, December 20, 2021

Down in Argentina in 1942

     In 1942 WWII, which the US had entered in December of 1941, was in full swing. Time Magazine missed the mark when they named Joseph Stalin Man of the Year. President Roosevelt sent a proposal to all 48 state governors that speed limits throughout the nation be reduced to 40 miles per hour in order to conserve rubber and gas rationing went into effect with a limit of 3 gallons per week. And, on March 8th Jose Raul Capablanca passed away in New York City at the age of 53. 
     Down in Argentina, which was keeping a neutral stance in the war amid foreign pressure to join, the nation's government refused, along with Chile, to break diplomatic relations with Japan and Germany mostly due to the fact that there were hundreds of thousands of German immigrants living in the country. 
     Eventually Argentina did give in to the Allies' pressure and broke relations with the Axis powers on January 26, 1944. Finally, on March 27, 1945 the country declared war on the Axis powers, but the Allies accepted Germany’s surrender about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide on May 8th. 
     After the war, records show that Chile and Brazil took in thousands of Nazi war criminals, but by far the largest number, as many as 5,000, relocated to Argentina.
     In 1942, Gillette, the US razor and personal care company, and Helena Rubinstein, the Polish-American businesswoman, art collector, philanthropist and cosmetics entrepreneur who was one of the world's richest women, opened for business in Argentina. 
     At the movies Argentinians were watching movies like La guerra gaucha (The Gaucho War), an award winning historical drama. It was the story of the irregular forces in the north of Argentina who were fighting against the Spanish Crown for independence. 

     The Mar del Plata tournament went to Miguel Najdorf who scored +11 -1 =5, his one loss was to runner up Herman Pilnik, who scored +12 -3 =2. Pilnik lost to Carlos Guimard, Jacobo Bolbocan and Paul Michel. Here is Pilnik's stunning win over Najdorf.

Herman Pilnik - Miguel Najdorf

Result: 1-0

Site: Mar del Plata

Date: 1942

Caro-Kann

[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 Pilnik eschews the aggressive Panov-Botvinnik attack (3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4) in favor of a somewhat simpler line. 3...dxe4 4.♘xe4 ♘f6 In the day Fine thought this was superior to both 4...Bf5 and 4...Nd7 5.♘xf6+ Alekhine had experimented with the speculative sacrifice 5.Bd3
5.♗d3 ♕xd4 Few player have risked this in favor of 5...Nbd2 6.♘f3 ♕d8 7.♕e2 White's lead in development is probably sufficient compensation.
5...exf6 While this move is a violation of the principle of capturing towards the center, it has stood the test of time and is mostly a matter of preference. 6.c3 White intends to develop his B at d3 and his N at e2 and build up a K-side attack. Fine believed that 1) black's K-side Ps offer adequate defense for his K and 2)because white has a Q-side P-majority which means that theoretically hie should not play for a K-side attack, but rather his most reasonable continuation is 6.g3 followed by Bg2, Ne2, 0-0, c4 and an advance on the Q-side or in the center. Today, Fine's 6.g3 is almost never played in favor of the text. 6...♗d6 7.♗d3 O-O 8.♕h5 Hyper-aggressive play by Pilnik! 8...g6 Safest.
8...h6 creates a slight weakness of the K's position although the immediate B sacrifice by white would not be quite sound. 9.♗xh6 gxh6 10.♕xh6 ♖e8+ 11.♔f1 f5 12.g4 ♖e6 13.♕h5 fxg4 14.♘f3 (14.♕h7+ ♔f8 White has no followup.) 14...♕f6
14...gxf3 15.♖g1+ ♔f8 16.♕h8+ ♔e7 17.♖g8 ♕xg8 18.♕xg8 is just a plain wild position in which black probably has enough compensation for the Q. In Shootouts 7 games were drawn.
15.♖g1 g3 black has survived the attack and is somewhat better.
9.♕h4 Best.
9.♕f3 ♖e8+ 10.♘e2 ♗e6 11.O-O ♗d5 12.♕h3 ♗e4 13.♗xe4 ♖xe4 14.♕f3 White's attack is at a standstill and the position is even. Bykovskiy,O (2326) -Strebkovs,A (2336)/Mukachevo UKR 2016
9...c5 Black counterattacks in the center.
9...♖e8+ also worked out well for black after 10.♘e2 ♘d7 11.O-O ♘f8 12.f4 Better was 12.Re1 12...f5 13.♕xd8 ♖xd8 and black is slightly better. Rigo,J (2329)-Saltaev,M (2526)/Dortmund GER 2001
10.♘e2 ♘c6 11.♗h6
11.O-O also lead to equal chances after 11...cxd4 12.♘xd4 ♘xd4 13.♕xd4 Wagenmakers,E (2220)-Boersma,P (2365)/ Enschede NED 1993
11...f5 This results in a weakening of the dark squares which later leads to his defeat. His best defense was 11...Re8 12.♗g5 ♕b6 13.O-O Well played as the b-Pawn is immune.
13.O-O-O in order to get his other R into play would be a mistake because it would allow black to counterattack after 13...cxd4 14.♘xd4 ♘xd4 15.♕xd4 ♗c5 16.♕f4 ♗e6 and black is better. An interesting try for white is 17.♗h6 but it fails after 17...♖fc8 18.♕e5 ♗d4
13...cxd4
13...♕xb2 14.dxc5 ♗xc5 15.♘f4 ♗e6 (15...♘e5 16.♘d5 and there is no way to meet the threat of Nf6+) 16.♘xe6 fxe6 17.♗c4 ♖ae8 18.♖ae1 ♕xc3 19.♗xe6+ wins for white. 19...♔g7 20.♖c1 ♕a3 21.♗h6+ ♔h8 22.♗xf8
14.cxd4 ♖e8 An unfortunate move which has serious consequences. Either 14...Be6 or 14...Nb5 would have been better. 15.♗c4 Intending Bxf7+ leaving black's K undefended and exposed. 15...h5 (15...♗e6 doesn't work because of 16.d5) 16.♖ae1 Overlooking the best move. After this, had he found the bets moves, black could have equalized. (16.♘c3 ♕xd4 17.♕xd4 ♘xd4 18.♘d5 ♗e6 19.♘f6+ ♔g7 20.♘xe8+ wins) 16...♖e4 An active defensive move that increases the pressure on the d-Pawn.
16...♗d7 trying to complete his development is best met by 17.♗f6 ♘a5 18.♗d5 ♗c6 19.♘c3 ♗xd5 20.♘xd5 ♕c6 21.♕g5 ♔h7 and here white is only slightly better.
17.♘f4 Fine observed that the game is approaching a crisis because black's K is still exposed and undefended and his Q-side is still undeveloped so it is no wonder that an explosion soon happens. The most immediate threat is 18.Rxe4 fxe4 19.Nxg6 17...♕xd4
17...a6 A pass to illustrate the threat. 18.♖xe4 fxe4 19.♘xg6 ♕xd4 20.♕xh5 ♕g7 21.♖d1 ♗c5 22.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 23.♘e7+ ♔e6 24.♕g4+ ♔f7 25.♕f4+ ♔e8 26.♘d5 and wins
18.♖xe4 This is the only way for white to successfully continue the attack. 18...fxe4 This is the wrong defense.
18...♕xe4 and black has excellent chances of surviving the attack. 19.♘xg6 ♕xh4 20.♗xh4 ♔g7 21.♖d1 ♗c7 22.♘e7 ♘xe7 23.♗xe7 ♔g6 and it's unlikely that white will be able to win. All 7 Shootout games were drawn.
19.♘xh5 The only way of continuing the attack. 19...gxh5 There is little choice. (19...♕c5 20.♘f6+ ♔f8 21.♕h8+ mates next move.)
19...♗xh2+ 20.♔xh2 gxh5 21.♗f6 ♕d2 22.f3 exf3 23.♖xf3 ♗g4 24.♗xf7+ ♔xf7 25.♗c3+ wins
20.♗f6 ♕c5 21.♖d1 To quote Fine: This simple move is the key to the whole series of combinations, the point being that the threat 22.Rd5 is murderous 21...♔f8
21...e3 was his best chance, but after 22.♗d5
22.♖d5 doesn't work because of 22...exf2+ 23.♔f1 ♕e3 and black is winning.
22...exf2+ 23.♔f1 ♗e6 24.♕xh5 ♕b5+ 25.♔xf2 ♗c5+ 26.♔g3 ♗d6+ 27.♔h4 ♕a4+ 28.g4 ♕xg4+ 29.♕xg4+ ♗xg4 30.♔xg4 ♗e7 31.♔f5 ♖d8 32.♗b3 ♖xd1 33.♗xd1 ♗d6 34.h4 White has a won ending. Here's how. 34...♘b4 35.♗b3 ♗f8 36.a3 ♘a6 37.h5 ♘c5 38.♗c4 b6 39.♗d4 ♗g7 40.♗e5 ♘b7 41.♗e2 ♘c5 42.♗c4 ♘b7 43.♗e2 ♘c5 44.b4 ♘a4 45.♗b5 ♘b2 46.♗e2 ♘a4 47.♗a6 ♔h7 48.♗xg7 ♔xg7 49.♔e4 ♘b2 50.♗e2 ♘a4 51.♔d3 b5 52.♔c2 a6 53.♗f3 ♘b6 54.♗b7 ♘c4 55.♗xa6 ♘xa3+ 56.♔b3 ♘c4 57.♗xb5 ♘b6 58.♗e2 f5 59.b5 and the N cannot deal with the two widely separated white Ps.
22.b4 Note that 22. Rd5 would be bad because of 22... Qc4! and white must lose time to deal with mate threats against his K.
22.♖d5 ♕xc4 23.♕xh5 ♕c1+ 24.♖d1 ♗xh2+ 25.♔h1 ♕xd1+ 26.♕xd1 ♗c7 In this crazy position Stockfish was unable to demonstrate w win for white. The endings were long and quite tedious, some going to well over 100 moves.
22...♘xb4 The Q cannot move because it defends both the h-Pawn and the B. 23.♕g3 White wants to mate with Qg7+ 23...♗g4 24.♖xd6 ♘d3
24...♕xc4 is met by 25.♕f4 ♔e8 26.♕g5 and black cannot prevent mate.
25.♗xd3 ♕c1+ 26.♗f1 ♖c8 To quote Fine: With a piece behind black' s plight is pretty hopeless. There are still some pretty points, but the game is over. 27.h3 ♕xf1+ 28.♔h2 ♕c1 29.hxg4 hxg4 30.♕xg4 ♕h6+ 31.♔g3 ♖c3+ 32.f3 Black resigned.
32.f3 ♕xf6 33.♖xf6 ♖c6 34.♖xc6 bxc6 35.♕xe4 ♔g7 36.♔f4 f6 37.♔f5 ♔f7 38.♕e6+ ♔g7 39.♕e7+ ♔h8 40.♔xf6 c5 41.♕g7#
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