The Strange Case of Alberto Lopez Arce

     It's known that the Cuban player Alberto Lopez Arce was born on April 23,1907, but the date and location of his death is unknown. Not much else is known about him either and his only claim to fame seems to have been that he played on the Cuban team on the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aires. The Cuban team consisted of Capablanca, Lopez, Aleman, Blanco, Planas. 

     Lopez is best known for his involvement in an incident where current champion Alekhine had expected to play the previous champion Capablanca. In a surprise move the Cuban team replaced Capa on first board with Lopez. 

     At this Olympiad Lopez, playing in the qualifications and finals, performed poorly, winning just one game (against the Lithuanian, later Canadian) Povilas Vaitonis), drawing three, and losing eleven. 

     During the Olympiad Alekhine and Capablanca were in a battle to score the best individual performance, so when Alekhine, playing for France, expected to meet Capablanca in the 12th round and the Cubans paired him against Lopez in order to protect Capablanca's individual performance. 

     On the day of the match Alekhine arrived for their game half an hour early and walked around pumping himself up psychologically. He was furious when he learned he would be playing Lopez instead. The France-Cuba match was drawn, 2-2.

     Capablanca later explained his absence in an article for an Argentine newspaper as being due to purely personal reasons. He claimed that because neither France nor Cuba was a leading contender there was no special significance as to whether or not he played. 

     Capa went on to emphasize that the event was a tournament for teams, not individuals and a week previously he had notified the Argentine Chess Federation that he did not intend to play against Alekhine and explained his reasons for his decision. 

     He claimed he made the announcement so that his intentions were known in advance and to prevent disappointment on the part of the public. He added that therefore his not playing was not an act of discourtesy to the Federation nor a lack of consideration for the public. 

     He also stated that his refusal to play Alekhine was incorrectly interpreted by some as his having refused a favor asked by the Argentine, adding that he had, and always had, the best intentions towards the chess public and the organizing body. 

     It is unknown what reasons Capablanca gave to the Argentine Chess Federation or if he gave them in writing. Additionally, Alekhine made no public comment on the incident. 

     The outcome was that Capablanca edged Alekhine for the best individual performance by two percentage points! Capa finished with 8.5-2.5 (77 percent) against Alekhine's 7.5-2.5 (75 percent). 

     As is often the case, even though the Alekhine - Lopez game is short and sharp, it was not the one sided shellacking that is often associated with such games. Black didn't make any major blunders, but instead made a few small slips here and there. Even then, Alekhine, too, gave his opponent some chances, but Lopez did not avail himself of them.

Alexander Alekhine - Alberto Lopez Arce

Result: 1-0

Site: Olympiad, Buenos Aires

Date: 1939

Ruy Lopez

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 This is the Morphy Defense, Tarrasch Variation. While unusual it is not inferior to the far more common 5.O-O. 5...b5 6.♗b3 ♗e7 7.O-O O-O This is OK, but 7...d6 is more common. 8.♘d5 Black has several possible continuations here, but best seems to be 8...d6. 8...♗b7

8...♗c5 This should allow white to gain the advantage. 9.♘xf6+ Commonly played, but either 9.c3 or 9.d4 are better. 9...♕xf6 10.d3 d6 11.a3 ♗g4 12.♗d5 ♘d4 13.♗xa8 ♘xf3+ 14.gxf3 ♗xf3 Black soon won. Aslan,O-Harakis,A (2253)/ICC INT 2009

8...♘xe4 is playable. After 9.d4 exd4 10.♖e1 ♘c5 11.♘xd4 black is slightly better.

8...♘xe4 9.♘xe7+ ♕xe7 10.d4 ♗b7 11.♗d5 ♘f6 12.♗xc6 ♗xc6 13.♘xe5 is about even.

9.♘xe7+

9.♘xf6+ ♗xf6 10.♗d5 ♕c8 11.c3 ♘e7 12.♗xb7 ♕xb7 13.d4 and a draw was agreed in Bronstein,L (2357)-Perdomo,L (2312)/Olavarria 2005

9...♘xe7 This is the wrong way to recapture as now white gets a slight advantage. (9...♕xe7 is solid. 10.d3 ♘a5 11.♘h4 d5 with equal chances.) 10.♘xe5 c5 Apparently Lopez parts with a P in the hopes of obtaining counterplay, but he would have been better off taking the P.

10...♗xe4 11.d3 ♗d5 12.♗g5 ♗xb3 13.axb3 ♘e8 Black's position is quite cramped, but it is defensible. In Shootouts white scored 5 draws.

11.d3 d5 12.exd5 ♘exd5 13.♖e1 ♕b6 Attacking the N with 13...Qc7 would have been slightly better, but white already has a very good position. 14.c4 ♘c7 15.♗g5 ♖ad8 16.cxb5 axb5 17.♕c1 ♕d6

17...♗d5 eliminating the potentially dangerous B was much better. 18.h3 ♗xb3 19.axb3 ♘cd5 20.♘g4 ♖c8 21.♘xf6+ ♘xf6 22.♖e5 with the initiative.

18.a4 At some point this is usually a good move in the Ruy Lopez. According to Alekhine opening the a-file in the Ruy is always good for white. 18...♖de8 19.♗f4 A rare Alekhine slip that should have cost him almost all of his advantage.

19.♗xf6 This is the only correct move to keep a significant advantage. After 19...gxf6 20.♘g4 ♖xe1+ 21.♕xe1 ♕f4 22.f3 Black has successfully defended his K-side, but white gets a good ending after 22...♔g7 23.♕e3 ♕xe3+ 24.♘xe3 ♖a8 25.♖a2 bxa4 26.♖xa4 ♖xa4 27.♗xa4

19...♕d4 After this slip he does not get a second chance!

19...♘h5 20.h3 bxa4 21.♗xa4 ♘xf4 22.♕xf4 ♖e7 and white's advantage is minimal. In fact, in Shootouts five games were drawn.

20.♗g3 ♘cd5 21.axb5 ♘b4 22.♕c3 ♘fd5

22...♗d5 is met by 23.b6 ♖e7 24.♕xd4 cxd4 25.♖a4 Demonstrating the value of the open a-file. 25...♘c6 26.♗c4 ♗xc4 27.♖xc4 ♘xe5 28.♖xe5 ♖b7 29.♖b4 ♖fb8 30.♖eb5 with a won ending.

23.♕xd4 cxd4 24.♖ed1 ♖a8 25.♘c6 There is little point in playing on against Alekhine in this obviously lost position, so black resigned.

Powered by Aquarium

Monkeying Around With ChessBase 16

 

     A short while back I took a look at ChessBase 16's Centipawn Analysis function and while I found it interesting, it doesn't seem to me that it has much practical use. In any case, ChessBase 16 has been on my laptop for a while now, but mostly it just sits there unused. 

     However, because the weather around here has been so wretched the past week or so, I have been tinkering with the program trying to make myself like it. One of the reasons I don't use it, if I am being honest, is that it is a lot more complicated than the old Fritz 12 I have been using for years. Also, because the improvement ship sailed a long time ago and I don't play OTB any more nor do I take correspondence play seriously (thanks to engines!!), I simply don't need a ton of features. So, what's it got? 

     For many players cost will be a factor because depending on what package you get the price range is roughly from $135 to $525! There's a lot of stuff that's new: folding game notation, novelty mining, live databases of tournaments, theory and tactics, opening comments and notifications, the aforementioned Centipawn Analysis, PGN downloads, the ability to organize your opening repertoire and game tags. That's a lot of new features!

     I got the download starter package and when it came to installation and launch it was quick and there were absolutely no snags. I read that ChessBase did not change their interface, so anyone that has used it before will see what they used to.

     One thing that had me slightly confused for a minute was something called Variation Folding. When it's on there are green and yellow minus/plus signs and the variations are hidden; this makes the game score cleaner. Just click on it and the variations magically appear. If you turn it off all variations are expanded which is what I am used to seeing in other programs.

     Opening Surveys is one of the new features. You can use it to cross-reference games and select the ones you are interested in. What it does is generate a survey based on the order of the opening moves. This could be quite handy for players for whom opening repertoires are important. 

     Another opening feature that could be handy is something called Novelty Mining which is a way to find novelties using an engine. When you click on it you'll get a list of options that let you configure how the engine will search and evaluate new moves. This looks to me to be no different than simply selecting a position and letting the engine analyze it. 

     One of the new feature is the Live Databases. In the database menu you click on the icon and you see several databases of major events from all over the world. Looking for Tactical Games? click on the Tactics icon and get a list of games that involved interesting tactical displays. Interested in Opening Novelties? There's an icon for that, too, but I am not sure exactly how you search for specific moves although there might be a way to do it. 

     Game Tags is another new feature that allows you to tag your games with information that will help you search them at a later date. For example, you can tag a game with something like "opening blunder" or "lost a won game" or some such. 

 

 

     All in all ChessBase 16 has some features that serious players looking to improve their game can use and it's relatively easy to use once you become familiar with its many features. However, if you are not particularly interested in trying to improve your chess and just want to do things like organize databases and play over and analyze games then the product is probably overkill.

A GM beats a Class A Player

     In 1965 a new tournament, the National Open in Las Vegas, made its debut and 138 players, including four GMs, had a shot at a then record breaking $4,500 (almost $40,000 today) prize fund. 

     In the end, Reshevsky and Robert Byrne yielded two draws each and were tied for first with scores of 7-1. First and second place prize money was split, each receiving $700 (about $6,200 today), but the title went to Reshevsky on the median tie-breaks. 

     Reshevsky started off by winning his first five games before yielding a draw to Ariel Mangarini. His defeat of Larry Evans was probably the best game of the tournament and it left him going into the last round in the lead with 6.5 points. He was followed by Robert Byrne, Tibor Weinberger, Jack Moscowitz and Paul Brandts with 6.0 points. 

      In the last round Reshevsky agreed to a quick, perfunctory draw against Weinberger. Byrne, who trailed Reshevsky by half a point most of the way won his last round game, but lost out by a fairly wide margin in the tie-break. 

     Pal Benko's 6-2 final score doesn't look bad, but he lost consecutive games in rounds 5 an 6 to Mengarini and California Expert Paul Quillen. Against Mengarini he fell into a mate in a winning position; the next day, against Quillen, he declined several draws by repetition and walked into mate. The rumor was that Benko's problem was lack of sleep as a result of spending long hours at games other than chess. 

      In the following game played in the first round Reshevsky defeats a provisionally rated 1805 player from Colorado named D. Korts. Out of curiosity I analyzed this game using Stockfish 14.1 at 10 seconds per move using ChessBases's Centipawn Analysis with the result that Reshevsky scored 32 and Korts 109. According to the chart on the post on Centipawn Analysis, Reshevksy's score puts him in the Master (not GM) class while Korts puts him in the beginner class, which he certainly was not. Draw you own conclusions.

Samuel Reshevsky - D. Korts

Result: 1-0

Site: National Open, Las Vegas

Date: 1965.02.08

Ruy Lopez: Deferred Steinitz

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 d6 5.c3 f5 6.exf5 ♗xf5 7.d4 e4 8.♘g5 d5 This move is the most popular in my database and it also gives black excellent results; he wins half of the games. But, oddly, Stockfish does not like it at all. It evaluates the position at +/- in favor of white.

8...♗e7 This is Stockfish's recommended mve. 9.c4 ♗xg5 10.♕h5+ g6 11.♗xc6+ bxc6 12.♕xg5 ♕xg5 13.♗xg5 h6 With equal chances. Kurajica,B (2525)-Lombardy,W (2520)/Banja Luka 1976

9.f3

9.♘h3 This strange move favors black. 9...♘f6 10.♘f4 ♗g4 11.♕c2 Koepke,E (2271)-Osmanodja, F (2348)/Germany GER 2018

9...♗e7 10.fxe4 Black has already managed to get himself into a lost position. 10...dxe4

10...♗xg5 11.♕h5+ ♗g6 12.♕xg5 ♕xg5 13.♗xg5 ♗xe4 14.♗xc6+ bxc6 White is much better. Hauge,L (2450)-Krstulovic, A (2294)/Graz 2017

11.O-O ♘h6

11...♗xg5 does not save the day 12.♖xf5 ♗xc1 13.♕xc1 ♘ge7 14.♖f4 and white is winning.

12.d5 Far stronger was 12.Qh5+ as it would have made black's defense very much more difficult.

12.♕h5+ ♗g6 13.♕h3 ♕d7 14.♘e6 ♘f5 15.♗b3 ♘a5 16.♖xf5 ♗xf5 17.♕xf5 ♘xb3 18.axb3 and white is winning.

12...♗xg5 Even after this poor move the game is deceptively complicated as indicated by Stockfish's analysis of this position.

12...b5 would have allowed him to continue the game. 13.♕h5+ ♗g6 14.♕h3 ♗xg5 15.♕e6+ ♘e7 16.♗xg5 bxa4 17.♗xe7 ♕d7 (17...♕xe7 18.♕c6+) 18.♗c5+ ♕xe6 19.dxe6 ♘f5 and the game is hardly over.

13.dxc6 Good and probably more clear than the engine's preferred 13.Qh5+

13.♕h5+ was still the best move! 13...♗g6 14.♕xg5

14.dxc6 is much weaker 14...b5

14...♗xh5 materialistic play, which will be punished 15.cxb7+ ♔e7 16.♗xg5+ (16.bxa8=♖ succumbs to 16...♕d5 17.♗xg5+ ♕xg5 18.♖xh8 ♗f3) (16.bxa8=♕ ♕xa8 17.♗xg5+ ♔e6 white is better.)

16.bxa8=♘ White must not take the rook, otherwise he will bring himself grief 16...♗xc1 17.♖xc1 ♕d5 Black is winning.

16.bxa8=♗ White cannot capture the rook 16...♗xc1 17.♖xc1 ♕xa8 is winning for black.

16...♔e6 17.♗xd8

17.bxa8=♖ is a bad alternative 17...♕xg5 18.♖xh8 ♗f3 with equality.

17.bxa8=♕ is the less attractive alternative 17...♕xa8 18.♘d2 ♗e8 19.♗b3+ ♔d7 Technically white is better.

17...♖axd8 18.♘a3 is winning for white.

15.♗xg5 Only equalizes. 15...♗xh5 16.♗xd8 ♖xd8

13...b5 14.♕xd8+ ♗xd8 15.♗xh6 gxh6 Natural, but bad.

15...♗g6 offers betetr chances even though after 16.♗xg7 ♖g8 17.♗d4 bxa4 18.♘d2 ♗e7 19.♖ae1 O-O-O white is better.

16.♖xf5 bxa4 17.♘d2 e3 18.♖e5+ ♗e7 19.♘c4 ♖f8 20.♘xe3 ♖f7 21.♘d5 ♔d8 22.♖ae1 ♗c5+ 23.♔h1 ♖f8 This allows a quick end, but black was dead lost in any case. 24.♘f6 Facing mate in 3, black resigned. And that's the way we average players play against GMs. (24.♘f6 ♗e7 25.♖xe7 a3 26.♖e8+ ♖xe8 27.♖xe8#)

Powered by Aquarium

Euwe Crushes Abrahams

     At the 1939 British Chess Federation Congress at Bournemouth there was a lot of uncertainty because of the looming war plus the fact that the best British players (Golombek, Alexander, Thomas, P.S. Milner-Barry and B.H.Wood) were competing in the Olympiad in Buenos Aires. As a result the British Championship wasn't up for grabs at the congress.

     Instead, the men’s championship was replaced with an international tournament pitting six foreign players against six English players. William Winter, the British champion in 1934, 1935 and 1936 withdrew in the last minute and was replaced by P.N. Wallis. 

     The hoped for exciting last round finish didn't come off. Due to the rumblings of war, he two Dutch players (Euwe and Landau) played their last round game in private the night before (on August 24th) and then departed for home as did the other Dutch players. 

     Euwe’s final score was 9.0 and going into the last round Salo Flohr of the Soviet Union had 8.0 points and so had a chance to tie for first if he could beat Imre Konig. In a game that went 60 moves and featured a time scramble, Konig held on for a draw. While that was going on Ernst Klein beat Francis Kitto in 26 moves and so tied Flohr for 2nd place. 

     Although the British Championship was not at stake there was a Ladies Championship which was won by 13-year-old Miss Elaine Saunders who went through the tournament without defeat and finished a full two points ahead of second place finisher Edith Michell. 

     There were also other events. The Major Open Section A was won by the 1934 Austrian champion, David Podhorzer, who finished 2.5 points ahead of Eugene Znosko-Borovsky. The Major Open Section B was won by Philip C. Hoad, a National Master. There were also five class events consisting of 12 players each. 

 

 

     In the following game Euwe crushes Gerald Abrahams who had a wretched tournament. There is some confusion as to the actual length of the game, some sources giving it as 12 moves and others as 14 moves. 

 

 

 

 

Max Euwe - Gerald Abrahams

Result: 1-0

Site: Bournemouth

Date: 1939

Polish Defense

[...] 1.d4 b5 Abrahams often played off beat openings. Perhaps here it was to avoid Euwe's extensive theoretical knowledge. This move has also sometimes been referred to as the Qs Fianchetto Defense. Judgments of the defense have varied from "entirely valueless" (Horowitz) to "neglects the center, but is not refuted." (Modern Chess Openings 10th edition) 2.e4 ♗b7 3.f3 Somewhat rare. The main alternative are 3.Bd3 and 3.Nd3. Perhaps Euwe was trying to take Abrahams out of his opening preparation! 3...a6 4.c4 Frequently seen is 4.Bd3, but the text pretty much forces black to take on c4 and so white gets his B to a good square without losing a tempo. 4...bxc4 5.♗xc4 e6 6.♘c3 d5

6...♘f6 7.♗g5 ♗e7 8.♕d2 O-O is equal. Spacek,P (2410)-Zurek,M (2457)/Ostrava CZE 2000

7.♕b3 This move practically refutes black's handling of the opening.

7.exd5 is less good. After 7...exd5 8.♗b3 ♗e7 9.♘ge2 ♘f6 10.♗g5 O-O 11.O-O ♘bd7 12.♕d2 c6 13.♖ac1 the position is about even. Lys,J (2138) -Trombik,K (2000)/Ostrava CZE 2016

7...♘c6 What could be wrong with developing a piece and at the same time it tempts white to take the B...which would lose! Actually the move is a gross blunder and he should have taken the B. (7...dxc4 8.♕xb7 ♘d7 9.♘ge2 ♗d6 10.♗e3 and white is quite well off.) 8.exd5

8.♕xb7 would be a bad mistake as after 8...♘a5 both the Q and B are under attack and the Q which has no retreat has to go. However, after 9.♗xd5 ♘xb7 10.♗xb7 ♘f6 This is actually better than saving the R! (10...♖b8 11.♗c6+ ♔e7 Black's advantage is minimal (about one Pawn).) 11.♗xa8 ♕xa8 In Shootouts black had 4 wins and a draw, no losses.

8...♘xd4

8...♘a5 was no better. 9.♕a4+ c6 10.dxe6 fxe6 11.♗xe6 with a won game.

9.♕xb7 ♖b8 10.♕xa6 ♖a8

10...♘c2+ and black still loses after 11.♔d1 ♘xa1 12.♗b5+ ♔e7 13.♘ge2 ♖b6 14.♕a4 ♘f6 15.♗e3 ♖xb5 (15...♖b8 16.♗c5+) 16.♕xb5 ♕d7 17.♔d2 ♕xb5 18.♘xb5 ♘xd5 19.♖xa1 with an easy win.

11.♗b5+ ♔e7 (11...♘xb5 is also hopeless... 12.♕c6+ ♔e7 13.♕xb5) 12.d6+ WIth this move Euwe launches a matying attack. It's not clear if Abrahams resigned here or played a couple of more moves. 12...cxd6 This allows a mate in 3, but there is no move that does not lose. (12...♔f6 13.dxc7 ♕c8 14.♕b6 ♘xb5 15.♕xb5 is clearly winning.) 13.♗g5+ ♘f6 (13...f6 also runs into a mate. 14.♕b7+ ♕c7 15.♕xc7#) 14.♕b7+ In alternate versions of the game this is where black resigned. (14.♕b7+ ♕d7 15.♕xd7#)

Powered by Aquarium