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| Hungarian GM Istvan Csom |
The big movie was Jaws, which I have never seen. Notable books were The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins and Shogun by James Clavell; I did read the latter.
Gas cost 53 cents a gallon and a movie ticket was $2.00. The average income in those days was about $8,600, or about $44,500 in today's dollars.
Drug addled, bisexual, vulgar comedian Richard Pryor was making a lot of people laugh. Carol Burnett was the funny lady that ruled television with the Carol Burnett Show. I didn't care for either one of them.
One of my favorite childhood television programs was the Lone Ranger, starriny Clayton Moore who appeared in 169 episodes and two feature films in the 1950s. For years Moore made appearances as the Lone Ranger, but in 1975 he was sued by the company that owned the Lone Ranger character by copyright. After losing the suit, Moore had to appear in wrap-around sunglasses instead the Lone Ranger's signature mask.
On a more serious note. long time Teamster Union boss Jimmy Hoffa mysteriously disappeared and to this day nobody really knows what happened to him.
In 1975, I was employed as a timekeeper in a foundry and getting off my job at 1:30pm meant I had time to take in the Cleveland Plain Dealer international tournament. It was played on the campus of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and was held from May 1-22, 1975.
It was originally expected that GMs Borislav Ivkov of Yugoslavia and Lajos Portisch of Hungary would be playing, but they didn't. Instead GMs Predrag Ostojic and Istvan Csom took their places.
Ostojic (Yugoslavia) met an untimely end at the age of 58 in Mainz, Germany on July 5, 1996 when he either committed suicide by jumping out of a window or some gangsters threw him out because of unpaid gambling debts.
Csom (Hungary) was something of a surprise winner at Cleveland...at least I thought so. I expected the winner to be Leonid Shamkovich who had just left Russia and moved first to Israel, then Canada, and finally the United States. His result was quite disappointing. I had also hoped to see James Tarjan do better...he had a tactical style that was appealing.
The winner turned out to be Csom who took the lead in Round
1 and kept it all the way through. His lead was periodically in danger but he was never overtaken.
Csom's style was original and interesting. With white he exhibited excellent positional play, preferring English-Reti type positions. With black he liked sharp, tactical defenses.
Csom was born on June 2, 1940 and passed away at the age of 81on July 28th last year. In the 1970s he was one of Hungary's best players and he was part of the Hungarian team that won gold ahead of the heavily favored Soviet team at the 1978 Olympiad in Buenos Aires.
He learned chess from his father at pre-school age, but as a teenager he preferred to play football (soccer to we Americans) and later basketball. During his college days he began to study chess and made rapid progress. He was awarded the IM title in 1967 and the GM title in 1973.
In 1958, he won the Hungarian Student Championship and was Hungarian champion in 1972 and 1973 (jointly).
Csom also played many times for Hungary at World Team Championships and European Team Championships and won several medals in those events.
Starting in 1991 he became an International Arbiter and worked as a coach for, among others, GM Ferenc Berkes. For many years he served as Lajos Portisch's second.
The following game from Cleveland illustrates both Csom's strategic and tactical prowess.
Edmar Mednis - Istvan Csom
Result: 0-1
Site: Plain Dealer International, Cleveland, Ohio
Date: 1975
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.♗b5+ For some reason this move (the Moscow Variation) was popular in this tournament, but it enjoyed little success. The Rossolimo Variation occurs after 2.Nc6 3.Bb5. 3...♘d7 This is black's sharpest response and it was the the popular reply in the tournament. With this move black loses some time to exchange off white's B for his N giving him the two Bs. Voluntarily stepping into a pin with 3...Nc6 can't be recommended. Usual is 3.. .Bd7. 4.d4 ♘gf6 5.♘c3 cxd4 A satisfactory alternative is 5...a6 as played in Shamkovich-Quinterous in the same event. 6.♕xd4 e5 Black has a host of reasonable moves here: 6...g6, 6...e6 and 6...a6, but the text was a Csom specialty.. The idea is to prevent white from gaining center space with e5, but the price is a permanent weakness on d5. Csom also had played this in an earlier round against Biyiasas. Mednis believed he was well prepared for 6... e5, but Csom had a surprise in store. 7.♕d3 h6 A must play move or else white plays Bg5 stepping up the pressure on d5. 8.♘d2
8.♗e3 ♗e7 9.a4 This was played in the Biyiasis-Csom game and white got a slight advantage. Mednis' move was an idea of Eugene Torre. White is going to maneuver the N to e3 where it controls d5 and f5 and will possibly help support a K-side attack with g4. On the negative side the maneuver costs white time.
8...♗e7 9.♘c4 O-O 10.♗xd7 Mednis was expecting 10...Qxd7 after which he can calmly continue with his plan. (10.♘xd6 ♘c5 wins the N.) 10...♗xd7 This came as a surprise to Mednis who had plenty of experience with the normal 10...Qxd7, but did not know of a game in which Csom had played this move against Adorjan. At the board Mednis realized the continuing as planned with 11.Ne3 (as Adjorjan had done) was just OK; white's position is safe, but he has zero advantage. 11.♘xd6 It took Mednis 40 minutes to decide to take the P knowing that he would have to endure some serious pressure before he could utilize his extra P. His reason was that he was on a winning streak and he hoped to continue it. 11...♕c7 12.♘f5 (12.♘c4 ♗b5 is too difficult to meet.) 12...♗xf5 13.exf5 e4 Csom had been playing quickly and so Mednis decided the best course was to trust his opponent. After the game Mednis thought his next move was a mistake and he should have played 14.Nxe4, but according to the engines, Mednis had things backwards. His move was correct and 14.Nxe4 was a mistake! 14.♕e2
14.♘xe4 ♕e5 Much better than Mednis' 14...Bb5+ 15.f3 ♖fd8 16.♕c3 ♕xf5 and black is better.
14...♖fe8 15.♗d2 ♖ac8 16.a3 Mednis was hoping to play O-O-O and then initiate a K-side attack wiht g4, but decided that the plan would not work and so with 16.a3 offered a draw. His reasoning was that he was way behind Csom in time and, also, believed that Csom had considerable compensation for the P. Csom went into a long think (70 minutes!!) and told Mednis he would like to continue playing. 16...♗c5 Not bad, but 16..Qe5 was better.
16...♕e5 Mednis had been thinking Csom might play this and that's when he realized his intended attack wouldn't work. 17.g4 Better is 17.O-O-O, but there, too, black stands well. 17...e3 gives black a strong initiative. Best is 18.fxe3 b5 and white's K can't find a comfortable place by castling on either side. Nor would he want his K to remain in the center.
17.♗e3 ♕e5 18.♗xc5 ♖xc5 19.O-O ♕xf5 Actually the position is about equal. Black has better control of the center which gives him good K-side attacking chances, but with accurate defense white should be able to ward off the attack. 20.♖ad1 Preparing to control the d-file which is his only hope to obtain any activity. 20...a6 21.♖d4 ♖ce5 22.♖fd1 ♔h7 23.♖d8 ♖8e7 Csom wants to avoid exchanges which would reduce his attacking chances. 24.♖f1 With the R on d8 commanding the d-file and the 8th rank, the other R is assigned defensive duties. 24...♕g5 25.♘d1 ♘h5 26.♘e3 f5 27.♕c4 ♘f6 28.g3 According to Mednis this is the losing move. He thought his threats on th e8th rank would give him sufficient counterplay, but black's N holds the defense while his K-side attack against the weakened K-side gains momentum. Actually, Mednis' evaluation was too harsh. Against careful defense black's advantage is not huge.
28.♘d5 intending to exchange Ns and a pair of Rs was suggested my Mednis as being the correct strategy. However, in fact, it is considerably worse! 28...♘xd5 29.♖xd5 And now Mednis would be correct if black exchanged Rs, but he has better. 29...f4 30.♖xe5 ♖xe5 and the two Ps menacing white's K-side black has promising endgame prospects. That said, in Shootouts white scored +0 -2 =3, so in practical play he does have drawing chances.
28...f4 29.♘g2 ♖c5 30.♕b3 f3 31.♘e3 ♖b5 32.♕c4 ♖c5 Black could have captured the b-Pawn, but the repeated moves are because both players were now short of time. 33.♕b3 ♕h5 34.♖fd1 This loses immediately. Mednis was completely wrtong when he claimed that he no longer had any defense. After 34.h4 he is still in the game.
34.h4 and the game is about even after 34...Qe4. 34...g5 Mednis claimed that black breaks through after this move which he gave a !, but that is totally wrong. 35.g4 This secures the advantage, but Mednis missed it. 35...♕xh4 36.♖f8 ♔g6 37.♖xf6+ ♔xf6 38.♖d1 and black's K is exposed to deadly threats after 38...♖e6 39.♖d7 b6 40.♕b4 a5 41.♕d4+ ♖ce5 42.♖h7 ♔g6 43.♕d7 ♖e7 44.♖xe7 ♖xe7 45.♕xe7 and wins.
34.h4 is satisfactorily met by 34...♕e5 35.a4 b5 36.♖fd1 bxa4 37.♕xa4 a5 38.c3 ♖b5 39.♕a3 and a draw would be a reasonable outcome.
34...♕h3 The game is over. 35.♖f8 ♖h5 White surrendered. Powered by Aquarium
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