Byrne Bashes Stein

     The year 1967 is memorable to me because it was the year I returned to civilian life after four years in the military. 

     We lost a lot of players that year. One of the leading German players in the 1930s, Ludwid Engels (1905-1967), died in Sao Paulo. The 1933 and 1934 Scottish champion James Creevey (1873-1967) died in Dublin and the 1956 French champion Pierre Rolland (1926-1967) died in a car accident. 

     The 1957 British champion Dr. Stefan Fazekas (1898-1967) died in England and Swedish GM Gideon Stahlberg (1908-1967) died of liver disease in Leningrad. German master and author Alfred Brinckmann (1891-1967) died in Kiel, Germany. And, finally, the 1928 Hungarian champion Arpad Vajda (1896-1967) died in Budapest as a result of a faulty oven leaking gas. 

     In April, Bobby Fischer took first place at Monaco. When his trophy was presented to him by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, being the odious snot that he was, Fischer refused to pose for a photograph with them. 

     At the Sousse Interzonal in Tunisia in October Yugoslav GM Milan Matulovic took back a losing move against Hungarian GM Istvan Bilek. Matulovic played his move, but then took it back after saying J'adoube, which he should have announced before adjusting the pieces. Bilek protested to the arbiter who allowed the corrected move to stand. The incident earned Matulovic the nickname "J'adoubovic."

     Bobby Fischer was playing in the Sousse Interzonal. He had a lot of games to play in succession as a result of the organizers rescheduling his games around his religious holidays and Sabbath. At the time he was a member of the World Wide Church of God which observed the Jewish holidays and Sabbath. Because he had so many games to play in a row as a result of the rescheduling, he protested and forfeited his game against Soviet GM Aivars Gipslis. The organizers would not let him replay the forfeited game and so Fischer withdrew. 

     But, enough of Bobby Fischer! Let's take a look at the international tournament held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1967. The Sarajevo tournaments in the past had a bad reputation because of the large number of draws, but this tournament was different...it was a real battle and until the last move was made it wasn't clear who the winner would be. 

     Among the GMs was the Soviet Champion Leonid Stein who from the very beginning was in the leading position, but he was closely pursued by Borislav Ivkov, Robert Byrne and Dragoljub Ciric. 

     In the first half of the tournament Byrne was among the leaders, but he lost to Nikolic in an easily won position and with that loss he dropped out of contention. Ciric also lost an important game against Stein. Ivkov was in the fight when Stein lost to Byrne three rounds before the end. Stein's loss made it a dramatic race for first. 

     After his defeat Stein then drew with Tringov and going into the last round it was Ivkov who was leading by half a point. In the last round Ivkov drew with Ciric while Stein defeated one of the tailenders, Vladimir Kozomara, and so Ivkov and Stein tied for first. 

     The following game was Byrne's victory over Stein. In order to beat back Byrne's K-side attack, Stein exchanged his Q for two Rs plus a P which theoretically gave him a slight material advantage. However, the lesson to be learned from the game is that in all cases of unbalanced material, positional considerations can nullify a material advantage. 

     In this game, factors such as black's difficulties in obtaining a safe King position and problems in getting good play for his Rs and minor piece his allowed the white Queen to strut her stuff and show her mobility on the open board. As a result, white won a P and then managed to infiltrate black's position and expose its tactical weakness which culminated with white winning a piece. 

     Of the two players, Leonid Stein (1934-1973), three time Soviet champion (1963, 1965 and 1966) is better known. He narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidate tournaments in 1962, 1964 and 1967. Tragically, Stein died at the age of 39 of a heart attack in the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow as he prepared to leave for the European championships in Bath, England. 

     In the late 1960s, college professor Robert Byrne (1928-2013) had become a semi-professional player. He won the 1972 US Championship after tying with Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek and then winning the playoff. 

     In 1973 he placed third at the Leningrad Interzonal in 1973 and thereby qualified for the Candidates Tournament. He lost his first-round Candidates' match to former world champion Boris Spassky in 1974. 

     As a 1974 Candidate, Byrne was seeded directly to the 1976 Biel Interzonal where he performed very well, but missed a playoff spot by half a point, sharing 5th-6th places with 11.5-7.5. 

     Byrne was known as a cagey, patient player who favored flank attacks and solid structural defense, avoided Pawn weaknesses and was especially strong in the endgame He died of Parkinson's disease, a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement.

     I had an opportunity to meet Byrne at the 1975 US Championship and found him to be quiet, reserved and quite pleasant.

ChessBase

Robert Byrne–Leonid Stein1–0B35SarajevoSarajevo YUG1967Stockfish 14.1

Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon 1.e4 c5 2.f3 g6 Unlike in the normal Dragon, black delays playing the move ...d6 for as long as possible, prioritizing piece development instead. This can have significant ramifications. 3.d4 g7 4.c3 cxd4 5.xd4 c6 6.e3 f6 7.c4 Stein played the Accelerated Dragon several times in this tournament and white tried several different methods of overcoming it, but none were successful. Byrne commented that although this was only game Stein lost with the variation the position after the opening is too unclear to justify any claim of opening advantage and no method of obtaining the advantage against it was known. 0-0 8.b3 Necessary to guard against ...Nxe4 and ...d5 a5 Black usually plays 8...d6 or 8...a5 here. One of the principal points of the Accelerated Dragon is that after this move white cannot now prepare Q-side castling by 9. f3 without allowing black easy equality. 9.0-0 9.f3 d5 10.exd5 b4 11.d2 bxd5 12.xd5 xd2+ 13.xd2 xd5 14.xd5 xd4 15.0-0-0 Black has equalized. 9...d6 10.h3 d7 11.f4 ac8 12.f3 In round 5, Janosevic tried 12. P-B5 against Stein but got no advantage. h5 13.f2 13.xc6 is a satisfactory alternative, but it has to be followed up correctly xc6 14.g4 Safer is 14.Nd5 a5 15.ad1 b5 16.g5 d7 17.f5 Black has the upper hand, but in th egame he erred and lost. Kamsky,G (2695)-Anand,V (2720)/Sanghi Nagar 1994 13.g4 is a serious mistake. xg4 After this white cannot guard against both the threat of mate and loss of material. 14.hxg4 xg4 15.h1 xh1+ 16.xh1 xd4 17.xd4 xd4 13...b5 A surprise and a great improvement over 13....Nxd4. The threat of course is ...b4 and ...Nxe4. Note that 14.a3 is no help for white because of 14...a5 13...xd4 14.xd4 xc3 15.bxc3 xe4 16.e3 c6 17.ae1 a6 18.xg7 xg7 19.d4+ e5 20.fxe5 dxe5 21.b6 d2 22.f2 g5 23.e3 e4 24.fe2 g3 25.f2 e4 Draw. Ponizil,C (2432)-Rosko,L (2350)/Frydek Mistek 2013 14.dxb5 14.a3 a5 15.de2 b4 16.axb4 axb4 17.g3 h4 18.ce2 e6 19.xe6 fxe6 Black has the initiative. Cooke,E (2266)-Xu,H (2420)/Budapest 2000 14...xe4 15.xe4 xb5 As he was successful in doing in all his games with the Acclerated Dragon in this tournament, Stein has overcome all opening difficulties. As far as long term prospects go, black has a fine target for attack in white's Q-side Ps, two of which are backward on half-open files. It will take some preparation, but he can also threaten the advance of his center Ps. As Jeremy Silman emphasized in his book Reassess Your Chess, white, who is at a strategical disadvantage, must use any temporary imbalance that is in his favore or lose it. In this case, the temporary imbalance is the excellent placement of white's pieces which are poised for an immediate attack on black's King. 16.g3 Taking the a-Pawn would only result in further weakening of white's Q-side. a5 16...xb2 would be a grave error. 17.ab1 loses the B on account of the threat Bxf7+ a5 18.xb2 c4 17.a4 b4 18.f5 h8 While not as bad as on the previous move, taking the b-Pawn is still not a good idea because white's K-side attack gains momentum. 19.ad1 h4 Black can probably get away with taking the b-Pawn, but in over the board play the complications stemming would be difficult to fathom. 19...xb2 20.fxg6 hxg6 20...fxg6 loses. 21.xf8+ xf8 22.xf8+ g7 23.f7+ h8 24.h6 b8 24...d4+ 25.h1 g7 26.xg7+ g8 27.h6 mates 25.df1 f6 26.1xf6 exf6 27.e4 White's pieces swarming on the K-side deliver mate in 8 moves. g8 28.xd7 e5 29.c7 d5 30.xf6 c4 31.xc4 dxc4 32.xg8 xg8 33.c3 g5 34.g4 h8 35.c8# 21.e2 e4 21...f6 22.d4 b7 23.h4+ mate next move. 22.d5 f5 23.h4+ h5 24.xh5+ gxh5 25.xf7 e5 26.b3 xf1+ 27.xf1 c4 28.g5 This position is very complicated, but in Shootouts white scored +4 -0 =1 in endings that were long and quite tricky. 20.d3 b8 Stein still wisely avoids ...Bxb2 20...e5 21.f4 gxf5 22.d2 xf4 23.xf4-+ 21.e1 xf5 22.f4 xf4 The resulting position is difficult for black to play, but it's evaluated at 0.00 by Stockfish while Komodo 14 thinks black is better by about a Pawn. 22...f6 This is probably his best move. 23.d5 b4 24.f1 e6 24...xb2 25.xf5 gxf5 26.dxf5 e4 27.xf7 xf7 28.xf7 xe3 29.f1 h5 30.f8+ xf8 31.xf8+ h7 32.f5+ draws. 25.xf5 xb3 26.b5 26.cxb3 xd5 black is winning. 26...xe3 27.xe3 d4 Black is slightly better, but in Shootouts all the games were drawn. 23.xf4 xd3 The result of black's little demonstration is that he has two Rs plus a P for his Q. The position is evaluated at 0.00, but from the human perspective, as Byrne wrote, despite superficial appearances, black's K is still not safe and his Rs are a long way from developing any activity. 24.d2 a6 25.h6 xh6 26.xh6 f6 White was threatening Ne4-g5 27.h4 d4 This turns out to be a serious error. He could have stayed in the game with 27...Ne5 27...e5 28.h5 g5 29.f5 g8 30.xg8 xg8 31.xe7 g4 32.g6+ xg6 33.f8+ g8 and a draw seems to be a reasonable outcome. 28.d5 e6 29.e3 xc2 The alternatives were no better. 29...exd5 30.xd4 b4 31.xd5 b7 32.xd6 g7 33.h5 xb2 34.h6+ g8 35.e6+ f7 36.e4 xe4 37.xe4 and white's Q should prevail. 30.xe6 White's K-side demonstration has resulted in the breaking up of black's Ps so that black's position is loose on both sodes of the board. Stockfish gives white a clear winning evaluation in this position. b4 31.f3 d5 32.h5 g7 33.e7+ f7 34.h6+ g8 35.c5 f5 Stein hopes to advance his d-Pawn and doesn't want to yield e4 to white's N. 36.xa5 Now the Ps are even but white still has an enormous advantage In mobility. d3 37.c5 White is not interested in taking the d-Pawn because it would permit an exchange which would ease black's problems. 37.xd5 xd5 38.xd5 e4 39.xe4 fxe4 40.xe4 xb2 41.e8+ f8 42.e7 f7 White has a tedious win. 37...d7 38.e2 e4 39.d4 f7 40.e2 Threatening 41.Bb5 d3 41.c6 bb7 42.e6+ f8 Realizing that white wins a piece, Stein resigned. 42...f8 43.xd3 xd3 44.f6+ e8 45.e6 Threatening 46.Qf8 mate e7 46.c5 e1+ 47.h2 f7 48.h8+ e7 49.xd3 1–0

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A Long Tactical Chain of Moves by Alekhine

     Avid readers of this blog (that's just a bit of humor) will, no doubt, remember a post I did a couple of months ago that featured one of Richard Reti's games. As I mentioned in that post, I never relished his games. My book Reti's Best Games by Harry Golombek has been largely unread. 

     Reti was among the best players in the world during his prime which was during the 1910s and 1920s. He started out as a classical, but tactical player, who favored openings like the King's Gambit. However, after the First World War his style changed and he became a proponent of Hypermodernism. 

     The following game does not appear in Golombek's book probably because it was "only" a draw. It does, however, appear in Alekhine's collection of his best games...with his usual hype of course. 

     Although the game was a draw, what a draw it was! It features some excellent positional play and Reti salvaging an inferior ending, but more than that, it features a ten move long tactical sequence by Alekhine that is as instructive as it is astonishing. The game was played in Vienna, 1922, which was one of the first great events after World War One. Alekhine's fourth place tie was something of a surprise, but it was only a minor setback in his career.

ChessBase

Alexander Alekhine–Richard Reti½–½C77Vienna1922Stockfish 14.1

Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.c3 b5 6.b3 c5 Alekhine commented that if it was black's intention to play ...Bc5 he should have done so before playing 5...b5 because the text move needlessly exposes black to "grave perils." In my database 6...Bc5 gives black much better results than Alekhine's recommendation of 6...Be7, but I suspect that may be because in many of those games white did not follow up correctly. 7.xe5 Alekhine says this gives white an extremely dangerous attack in every variation. Again, my database shows that after this move does quite well which is the reason for my conclusion in the previous note. xe5 8.d4 d6 Uusual, but not bad. Black usually plays 8...Bxd4 8...xd4 9.xd4 d6 10.f4 c5 11.d2 g6 equals. Rzayev,B (2411)-Durarbayli,V (2600)/Baku 2016 9.dxe5 xe5 10.f4 Alekhine awarded himself aan exclamation mark for this. Stockfish thinks it's an overly aggressive move that favors black. The mundane 10.Nd5 was satisfactory. 10.d2 b7 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 xc3 13.xc3 xe4 14.f3 xc3 15.xb7 Black is better after 15...Ne2+ Nolot,C-Bertrand,M/Aix les Bains 2006 10...xc3+ 11.bxc3 White's P-structure is ruined, but in return he has good attacking possibilities. However, black has not made any mistakes and with careful play, he should be able to withstand the onslaught. 0-0 11...xe4 runs into 12.xf7+ 12.d5 This faux pas was given by Alekhine in his book, but it loses quite handily! xc3 13.f3 xd5 14.xd5 h4+ 15.g3 f6 16.xa8 0-0 17.e4 xa1 and white's down a bunch of Ps. 12...xf7 13.d5+ f6 Other moves lose. 14.xa8 e7 15.e3 g3 16.d2 e4+ 17.d3 c6 White is slightly better after he extricates his Q. 12.e5 Here's where things get interesting! Black's N on f3 is attacked and it is apparently forced to retreat to e8 after which black's position is badly cramped. Alekhine gave Reti credit for finding the only move that gave him defensive chances and Reti was also praised for the exemplary manner in which he conducted the defense. c5 This excellent move takes advantage of the limited mobility of the B on b3. Should white take the N, because he is not castled black can equalize fairly easily. 13.a3 One spectator claimed that when Alekhine played this move he banged the B onto a3 so hard that it was heard throughout the playing hall. The move pins the P and leads to some pretty complicated play. At the end of the tactical sequence white ends up winning a P, but that's all! 13.exf6 e8+ 14.f2 c4 15.e1 Best b6+ 16.d4 xd4+ 17.cxd4 xe1 18.xe1 gxf6 19.xc4 bxc4 20.d5 b7 21.b2 e8+ 22.f2 xd5 23.d1 c6 24.xf6 The position is completely equal. 13...a5 This move attacks the B on a3 and indirectly defends the c-Pawn. Unfortunately, it also yields the advantage to white. In fact, Alekhine's combination is based upon the temporary removal of black's Q from the center. 13...b7 This is the correct move that keeps the chances balanced. 14.xc5 e4 15.xf8 h4+ 16.g3 xg3 White has two ways of equalizing. 17.hxg3 17.e7 xf4 18.hxg3 Also equalizing is 18.Qd4 xg3+ 19.d2 f4+ 20.e1 black must take the draw by repetition. 17...xg3+ 18.d2 xf4+ 19.e1 xe5+ 20.e2 xc3+ 21.f2 xf8 In this crazy unbalanced position Shootouts tresulted black managing to draw all five games. 14.0-0 White aoms to take advantage of the exposed position of black's R on a8 and the fact that after an eventual exf6 black's K will be exposed. 14.xc5 xc3+ wins the B. 14...xa3 15.exf6 c4 Reti is unconcerned about the reply 16.Qd5 and rightfully so. It looks like black will be, after his move, a piece ahead. 16.d5 Attacking two weak points in black's position...the R and the K-side with Qg5 threatening mate. It may look grim, but Reti has a resource. a5 And this is it. 16...gxf6 17.xa8 cxb3 18.cxb3 c5+ 19.h1 d5 and white is winning. 16...b8 17.g5 wins outright. 17.fxg7 The importance of this exchange will be clear in three more moves. b6+ 18.h1 xg7 He has to take the P at once. 18...e8 19.xc4 bxc4 20.xa8 b7 21.xb7 xb7 22.fe1 White is the exchange up with a winning position. 19.xc4 Amazing! the doomed B gains fresh life. b7 The only move that doesn't lose. 19...bxc4 20.xa8 b7 21.ab1 White is the exchange up no matter what. 20.e5+ Look back to move 17. If the P was still on f6 this saving check would not be playable. f6 21.d3 The fascinating chain of complications of the previous few moves have come to an end. White is a P ahead, but that's not enough to win. fe8 Reti surrenders another P in order to occupy the e-file with his Rs...a good decision. 22.h5 h6 23.g4+ h8 24.xd7 e7 25.d4 xd4 26.cxd4 d8 27.f5 Alekhine is still thinking of attacking. The idea is to play f6 when he has hopes of attacking the K. Instead of capturing the d-Pawn Reti prefers to play it safe and guard against that possibility. 27.c3 There is no good way for white to defend the d-Pawn. e3 28.ad1 28.fd1 g8 29.d5 xd5 30.f1 28...c8 27...f6 28.ae1 Alekhine wants to give back a P to rid himself of black's strong B. Besides, he can't possibly defend all of his Ps anyway. g7 28...xe1 loses 29.xe1 g8 29...xd4 loses outright. 30.e8+ 30.e2 d5 31.a3 White has a won ending. 29.e4 xd4 30.xb7 xb7 31.e6 Temporarily winning another P. g7 32.xa6 c4 33.f3 There was no way to defend the c-Pawn. xc2 The remainder of the game lends credence to the saying that all double R endgames are drawn. 34.h3 f7 35.g3 f2 36.g6 xf5 37.xh6 g7 38.h4 b4 39.g4+ f7 40.g3 fb5 41.b3 g6 42.h2 c5 43.a4 cb5 44.h4 5b6 45.h3 b8 46.g3 f5 47.a5 c8 48.f3 f6 49.g2 c3 50.a8 50.xc3 bxc3 51.c5 a6 draws 50...xf3 51.xf3 c6 52.b8 The game I downloaded from 365Chess gives white's move as 52. Rg8+ with the game being drawn on move 61. I am using the sequence given in Alekhine's book as it is generally considered correct. But is it? Alekhine was known to doctor games! In any case, the outcome of a draw was the correct one. 52.g8+ f6 53.f8+ g6 54.b8 c4 55.b6+ g7 56.h5 d4 57.c6 e4 58.g6+ f7 59.g4 xg4= 60.xg4 fxg4+ 61.xg4 g7 52...c4 53.b6+ g7 54.h5 d4 55.c6 e4 56.g6+ f7 57.g4 xg4 58.xg4 fxg4+ 59.xg4 g7 Draw agreed. Black's K will arrive just in time to stop the a-Pawn. 59...g7 60.g5 h7 61.h6 g8 62.g6 h8 63.f5 63.h7 b3 64.axb3 Stalemate 63...h7 64.e4 xh6 65.d4 g6 66.c4 f7 67.xb4 e6 68.b5 d7 69.b6 c8 70.a4 b8 draw ½–½

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Robert S. Brieger

     Texas Expert (Elo 2000-2199) Robert S. Brieger (1925-2012) was primarily a problem composer who authored several books on problems, but he was also played both over the board and correspondence chess and he won the Houston city champion many times.

     As a composer some of his favorite themes were minor promotions, reciprocal Zugzwang and other problem specialties. As a player he reveled in tactical chess.

     Brieger, who learned to play chess at the age of 17, passed away at the age of 86 on April 26, 2012, in Houston. He was born on October 18, 1925 and in 1926, he moved with his parents to a house located in the NW of Houston where he resided his entire life except for brief jobs away from Houston. Besides teaching math in Houston and other Texas districts, he worked two years for Convair Aeronautics in San Diego, California. He graduated with B.S. in Mathematics from University of Houston in 1946 and obtained a teaching certificate in 1951.

     A lover of classical music, he played clarinet in high school and university orchestras and later enjoyed attending concerts and opera. Also later in life he enjoyed all types of ballroom dancing. He loved classical movies and collected his favorites, especially winners of awards in Cannes and Venice, as well as Hollywood.

     The following game was played in the last round of the 1962 U.S. Open which was held in San Antonio, Texas. Breiger finished with a score of +5 -2 =5 (7.5-4.5) and tied for places 20-30. His opponent, George Kane, finished with 6.5 points and tied for places 43-64. The event was won by Antonio Medina of Spain ahead of Pal Benko and William Lombardy.

ChessBase

Robert S. Brieger–George Kane1–0B22US Open, San AntonioSan Antonio, TX USA25.08.1962Stockfish 14.1

Sicilian Defense, Alapin Variation 1.e4 c5 2.c3 For many years the Alapin Variation was not held in high regard, since 2...d5 was thought to allow black easy equality. Today it's considered to be one of the most solid and respectable Anti-Sicilians around. d5 This is the main alternative to 2...Nf6 3.exd5 xd5 This line is known as the Barmen Defense. The main alternative is 3...Nf6 4.d4 For the next couple of moves black has tried just about every reasonably playable move you can think of. c6 5.f3 cxd4 6.cxd4 g4 6...e5 is most common. 7.c3 b4 8.d2 xc3 9.xc3 e4 10.e5 xe5 11.dxe5 e7 12.e2 Black can play either 12...Bd7 or 12...O-O witjh a fully equal position. Jonkman,H (2470)-Adly,A (2473)/Wijk aan Zee 2006 7.c3 xf3 8.xd5 8.gxf3 is not played nearly as often. The following example shows why this is so even though Stockfish thinks it's best. xd4 9.xd4 xd4 10.b5 c2+ 11.d1 xa1 12.c7+ d7 13.xa8 White is better! e6 14.b5+ c8 15.f4 g5 16.xg5 g7 17.c1 b8 18.b1 xa8 19.xa1 f6 20.d1 d5 21.c4 d8 22.xd8 Black resigned. Sotnikov,A (2362)-Meshkov,A (2390)/Tula 2007 8...xd1 9.c7+ d7 10.xa8 h5 White's N is doomed, so eliminating it from the material count, black has two Ns vs a R...a very unclear situation. 11.d5 b4 Threatening ...Nc2+ but the N is on the wrong square. 11...d4 12.f4 e5 Excellent! 12...c2+ is suicidal. 13.d2 xa1 14.b5+ d8 15.c7+ c8 16.c1 13.dxe6+ fxe6 14.f3 d6 Safest. 14...c2+ 15.d2 xa1 16.b5+ e7 17.xa1 White's advantage, if any, is minimal as black should be able to untangle himself. 15.xd6 xd6 16.c1 with about equal chances. 12.e3 This allows black to equalize. 12.f4 xd5 12...c2+ This is still not playable...compare to the last note. 13.d2 xa1 14.b5+ d8 15.c7+ c8 16.c1 13.b5+ d8 14.b8 a6 12.b5+ was also good. After d8 13.0-0 c2 14.d2 xa1 15.c1 e5 16.a5+ b6 17.xb6 axb6 18.xb6+ e7 19.c5+ White wins. 12...c2+ 13.d2 Here is the critical position. Naturally, black black chooses to capture the big R on a1, but he should have captured the agile B on e3. In that case the chances would have been equal. xa1 A natural, but losing move. 13...xe3 14.b5+ d8 15.xe3 f6 16.d4 c8 17.ac1+ b8 18.c7 g5 So as to bring his N and R into play. 18...g6 would leave the B on h5 trapped. 19.h4 gxh4 20.xh4 g7 and the chances are equal. 14.b5+ d6 15.c1 Not bad, but both 15.Bxa7 and 15.Rxa1 were better. g6 15...f6 16.xa7 xd5 17.b8+ e6 18.c7+ xc7 19.xc7 g6 20.xa1 In this line, too, white is better. 16.c5+ xd5 The K has no safe haven. 17.c7+ e5 18.e1+ f4 18...e4 is no better. 19.d3 f6 20.xe4 xe4+ 21.d3 and wins. 19.d5+ 19.xa1 Unlike earlier when this was quite playable, at this point white doesn't have time to stop and play this. f6 20.xa7 e5 21.e3+ g4 22.c1 d6 23.e2+ f5 White is still winning, but black can put up a manly defense. 19...g5 20.e5+ 20.xa1 would now be a blunder throwing away all of his advantage! f6 21.e3+ f5 Amazing! There is no way to get to black's K. 22.d3+ e5 23.xf6 xf6 24.c1 e6 25.c7 b4+ 26.e2 xd3+ 27.xd3 b5 28.xa7 d8+ 29.e4 d2 For all practical purposes black has equalized. 20...f5 20...f5 is met by 21.h4+ g6 22.h5+ winning the B. 21.e3+ h5 21...Kh4 avoids the mate in 4...not that it matters. 22.e2+ h4 23.f4 Kane resigned. What a game! 23.f4 b3+ 24.e1 a6 25.f2# 1–0

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Here a brilliancy! There a brilliancy! Everywhere a brilliancy!

     When Max Euwe's book Strategy and Tactics was published back in 1937 he used as examples seven games that were played in Moscow, 1935. They were: Lasker-Lisitsin, Botvinnik-Spielmann, Capablanca-Kan, Spielmann-Pirc, Lasker-Pirc, Goglidze-Flohr and Lasker-Lisitsin. Over the years I think I have posted all of those games, but this tournament was jammed packed with even more thrilling games.

     After a month of incessant struggle in what at the time was considered the most interesting tournament of the century, Mikhail Botvinnik, the idol of Russia, and Czech star Salo Flohr garnered the top honors by sharing first. 

     The sensation of the tournament, however, was Old Man Lasker's fine showing. Like Flohr, he did not lose a game and finished in third place. His defeat of Capablanca was the high point of the tournament. 

 

     What was sensational was that Lasker, at the age of 66, was by far the oldest player and a long tournament like this was a test of physical stamina as well as mental alertness and the grand old man gave a truly remarkable exhibition. His performance was considered a biological miracle considering, in the United States at least, in 1935 the life expectancy for men was only about 60 and about 64 for women. 

     Here's a riddle for you. In the United States, Social Security was introduced in 1935 and the retirement age was set at 65 which was higher than the life expectancy! What's with that? 

     It looks like Social Security was designed in such a way that people would work for many years paying into it, but would not live long enough to collect benefits. But, it was argued that because infant mortality was high and that pulled down the average life expectancy, a better measure was life expectancy after attainment of adulthood. It was argued that the majority of Americans who made it to adulthood could expect to live to 65 and if they did, they could look forward to collecting benefits for several years. 

     Capablanca's fourth place finish was considered a good performance although his fans had expected him to finish higher. His lack of serious competition told against him at Moscow. After getting off to a poor start by losing to Rjumin in the first round, he buckled down and aside from his loss to Lasker played good chess.

    In spring 1933 Adolf Hitler had started a campaign of discrimination and intimidation against Jews, depriving them of their property and citizenship. Lasker and his wife Martha, who were both Jewish, were forced to leave Germany in the same year. 

     After a short stay in England, in 1935 they were invited to live in the USSR by Nikolai Krylenko, the Commissar of Justice who had been responsible for Show trials and, in his other capacity as Sports Minister, was an enthusiastic supporter of chess. On March 24, 1935, Lasker announced in Moscow that he was renouncing his German citizenship and would make his permanent home in Russia, where he would organize and direct a chess academy. He stated, "There is a great depression in the science of chess abroad," and the philosophy and psychology of chess would be studied at his academy. 

     He was given a post at Moscow's Institute for Mathematics and a post of trainer of the USSR national team. Lasker and his wife didn't stay in Russia long. In August 1937, they decided to leave the Soviet Union and moved, by way of Holland, to first Chicago,then New York in October 1937. They were visiting Mrs. Lasker's daughter, but they may also have been motivated by political upheaval in the Soviet Union. 

     In the US Lasker tried to support himself by giving chess and bridge lectures and exhibitions, as he was now too old for serious competition. In 1940 he published his last book, The Community of the Future, in which he proposed solutions for serious political problems, including anti-Semitism and unemployment.

     Lasker died of a kidney infection in New York on January 11, 1941, at the age of 72, as a charity patient at the Mount Sinai Hospital. A funeral service for him was held at the Riverside Memorial Chapel and he was buried at historic Beth Olom Cemetery, Queens, New York. His wife Martha and his sister, Mrs. Lotta Hirschberg, survived him. A few years later, Lasker’s sister, Lotta Lasker Hirschberg, died in a Nazi gas chamber. Martha died in Chicago on October 18, 1942. 

     The following game was yet another instructive one from this tournament. It was once superficially annotated by Fred Reinfeld and, as GM Alex Yermolinsky once so astutely observed, looking at old games with today's engines shows that they often were not the one sided thumping the notes would have us believe. This game was hard fought and both sides missed promising continuations.

ChessBase

Andre Lilienthal–Ilia Kan1–0E94MoscowMoscow URS18.02.1935Stockfish 14.1

King's Indian Defense 1.d4 f6 2.c4 d6 3.c3 bd7 4.e4 e5 5.f3 g6 6.e2 g7 7.0-0 0-0 8.d5 White has several choices here: 8.Be3, 8.Re1, 8.Qc2 and the text which gives the rest of the game its character: White will attack on the Q-side, black on the K-side. Lilienthal carries out his plan with great skill while Kan is guilty of some questionable play later on. c5 9.c2 a5 10.e3 Just one of many decent moves available to white. At the time theory on the K-Indian was practically non-existent and it was suggested that a good plan was Nd2-b3 as was played in Flohr-Bogolubow, Bad Sliac, 1932 and Dake-Alexander, Folkeston, 1933. 10.d2 g4 11.b3 xe2 12.xe2 cd7 13.e3 h6 14.c1 h7 15.d3 f5 16.exf5 gxf5 17.f4 e4 18.f2 xc3 19.bxc3 hf6 20.g4 h7 21.g5 g8 22.h1 e8 23.g1 g6 24.gxh6 xh6 25.g3 gf6 26.h3 1-0 Flohr,S-Bogoljubow,E/Sliac 1932 10...b6 10...g4 This is a more promising plan; if white move the B black gets a good game. 11.xc5 11.g5 f6 12.h4 g5 13.g3 f5 11...dxc5 12.h3 h6 The chances are equal, but black does enjoy the more acrive position. 11.d2 e8 12.a3 f5 13.f3 f4 13...a4 14.xc5 bxc5 15.xa4 h6 16.c3 h4 Black has a promisng attack for his P., but in the game Heissler,J (2435)-Werner,D (2420)/Germany 1997/GER-chT he misplayed the position and lost. 14.f2 a6 Temporarily preventing b4 by white. 14...a4 was only slightly better. After 15.xc5 dxc5 16.xa4 d7 17.c3 d6 18.b4 b7 19.b3 white has the initiative. 15.ab1 g5 This is not entirely satisfactory, but black's position is alreday compromised. 15...g5 16.b4 h5 17.bxa5 c5 18.axb6 cxb6 19.b2 a6 20.h3 f6 White is better. 15...h5 16.b4 16.h4 f6 16...axb4 17.axb4 h4 18.h3 g5 19.h2 f6 Here, too, white is better. In fact, white won all five Shootouts. 16.fc1 h5 17.h1 h6? The Q turns out to be badly misplaced here, so the best chance was for black to put his tail between his legs and retreat 17...Qd8. 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 g5 20.a4 White intends c4-5. Now both sides are ready for the respective P advances which are the goals of the play up to this point. Black intends ...g4 d7 20...g4 at once is met by 21.xb6 cxb6 22.xb6 b8 23.c5 xb4 23...ac7 24.xc8 xc8 25.c6 with an easy win. All black's K-side pieces are bystanders. 24.xb4 dxc5 25.xc5 d6 26.cb1 White has a winning position. 21.c5 Equally good was 21.Nxb6 xc5 This little interlude in no way alters the course of events. White's pieces are all admirably placed and his attack will be the first to succeed as black's forces still require considerable rearrangement. 22.xc5 bxc5 23.bxc5 g4 24.cxd6 cxd6 25.c4 In spite of his less than stellar play, black's position is only moderately inferior, say not quite the equivalent of a P. However, instead of 25...Rc8, he now makes an instructive mistake. gxf3 This is a violation of one of Tarrasch's strategic principles that says when a player has it in his power to open a file by a Pawn exchange, he must not do so until he has made certain that, once he has opened the file, his pieces will have undisputed commanad of it. It will be noticed in the course of this game that white is able to occupy the g-file with both Rs and the Q oniy because of this exchange of Ps. 26.gxf3 h3 27.f1 xf1 28.xf1 h4 29.g1 h5 30.d2 h8 31.g4 f6 32.bg1 The faulty exchange on the 25th move has allowed white to operate simultaneously on both wings. d8 33.c6 h7 34.c4 e7 Black seems to have defended all his weaknesses, but now comes a beautiful surprise move. 35.xh4 The knockout blow. f7 35...xh4 36.xe5 There is no answer to this. The fork of the K, Q and R at g6 is just one of the threats. 36.g8+ h7 37.xf6 xf6 38.a4 This gives black excellent defensive opportunities. 38.b6 was a much harder punch. d7 39.b8 f8 40.8g5 f6 41.b2 g8 42.g2 xg5 43.xg5 h8 44.h6+ h7 45.g6 the d-Pawn falls and with it black's whole position. 38...h6 A tougher defense was offered by 38...Qf7. In fact, analyzing with both Stockfish and Komodo was quite tedious! Both engines did a lot of piece shifting without reaching a clear conclusion even though white has a considerable plus. Consequently, I ran a Shootout here using Stockfish and white scored +4 -0 =1 in some lengthy and tricky positions, so we'll leave it at that. 39.a2 c8 This loses instantly. 39...d7 hangs on for a bit. 40.a5 f7 41.g2 g7 42.a8 h5 43.c6 h3 44.xh3 xh3 45.g2 h6 46.b1 and white wins. 40.g2 Black resigned. 40.g2 f6 41.xd6 c1 42.xc1 g6 43.xe8 xg2 44.xf6+ h6 45.h8+ g7 46.c7+ xf6 47.xg2 g5 48.h4+ g6 49.d6 f6 50.h6# 1–0

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Brilliancy Prize for Nicolau

     The women's annual event in Belgrade did not favor Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili. In the 1966 tournament she shared first with Alexandra Nicolau of Romania and in 1967 tournament she was surpassed by her fellow Soviet player Tatjana Zatulovska. 

     Gaprindashvili's results were surprising because at the time she was considered absolutely the strongest female player in the world. In this tournament her result was passed off as a merely temporary and a passing relapse from her earlier fine form. Indeed, she didn't lose her crown until 1978 when she was defeated by 17-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, 

     The top two places were again secured by representatives of the Soviet Union. Tatiana Zatulovskaya (1935-2017), who had been left in the shadow of Gaprindashvili, revived her reputation and scored a major success. However, after the tournament Zatulovska announced that, although she finished first, she was not satisfied with her play and her result was a matter of Gaprindashvili's bad luck. Zatulovskaya emigrated to Israel in 2000. 

     The greatest surprise of the tournament were the results of the young master candidate, 25-year-old Tatjana Belamarich of Zagreb and the veteran Vera Nedeljkovich (born 1929), several times Yugoslavian Champion. So far as I have been able to determine Nedeljkovich is still with us and she would be 92 or 93 years old. Tatjana Belamarich was an unknown in this event and apparently she still is. 

     The following game was awarded the Brilliancy Prize. In it Romanian Alexandra Nicolau (1940-2013), who studied the Chinese language, showed that she could sometimes play like a GM. 

     Born in Bucharest, she was awarded the WIM title in 1960 and the WGM title in 1976. She was Romanian Women's Champion in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973. She was also Dutch Women's Champion, in 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. 

     She was the daughter of Ștefan Nicolau, a Romanian virology expert. She was introduced to chess at the age of six by one of her brothers, who taught her how to play. 

     Following her participation in a Dutch tournament in 1974, she stayed in the country to further her studies and began playing for the Netherlands. She was awarded permanent residency and later Dutch nationality when she married Kees van der Mije. 

     Previously Nicolau had been involved in some political maneuvering. Earlier she had lived in Holland for several months after a tournament even though she lacked permission from the Romanian government to do so. In 1969 she wanted to study at Leiden University, but she was not allowed to return to the Netherlands and was banned from playing international tournaments. Her ban was removed after pressure from FIDE president Max Euwe. 

     After that she was forced to promise the Romanian secret police that she would return after playing in any international tournaments until 1974. The 1974 Dutch tournament was the first one she played in after her promise to return had expired and she immediately chose to remain in the Netherlands. She won the Dutch Women's Championship in 1974 and again from 1976 to 1979. 

     From the end of the 1950s to the 1960s WIM Edith Bilek (born 1938) was one of the leading Hungarian women's players. Also a correspondence chess player, she played for Hungary in the 2nd Women's Correspondence Olympiad (1980-1982). She was married to the Hungarian GM Istvan Bilek. Her second marriage was to Dr. Krizsan Gyula.

ChessBase

Alexandra Nicolau–Edith Bilek1–0B06Women's Tourament, BelgradeBelgrade YUG1967Stockfish 14.1

Modern Defense 1.e4 g6 2.d4 g7 3.c4 c5 This move is riskier than the more usual 3...d6. Statistically the most solid move appears to be 3...c6 4.dxc5 a5+ 5.c3 xc5 6.b3 Here white begins gaining time owing by attacking black's vulnerable point b7 and f7, plus the Q is exposed on c5. e6 7.e3 c7 8.a3 This wins a tempo by virtue of the threat 9.Nb5 a6 While this prevents 9.Nb5 it permits 9.Bb6 which ties up black's entire Q-side. 9.b6 9.b6 is the wrong way to occupy b6 because black profits from the exchange of Qs. xb6 10.xb6 c6 11.0-0-0 f6 12.f3 d5 and black has equalized. Machulsky,A (2495)-Mohr,S (2425)/New York 1990 9...f4 10.e2 Technically white should defend the e-Pawn with the prosaic 10.Bd3. Instead, she plays a move that black likely did not expect. No doubt white believed this is one of those position where Ps don't count. Needless to say materialistic engines aren't impressed with 10.Ne2 and assign the advantage to black. 10.e2 c6 11.f3± 10...xe4 11.0-0 Black can't win a piece by playing 11...d5 c6 A natural developing move which in this case leads to disaster. 11...d5 12.ad1 In pre-engines days this line was given by one analyst. It's pretty, but faulty as the position actually favors black after 12...Nc6 dxc4 13.d8+ e7 14.b4+ f6 15.g3 c6 16.d4+ e5 17.d6+ wins. 11...d5 White's correct continuation is now 12.fe1 f6 13.d4 g4 14.xd5 xd5 15.xd5 0-0 16.d6 and white is slightly better because of his more active pieces. 11...f6 Now, this is a move that keeps black's slight advantage! The original analyst of this game (GM Trifunovic) made no comment on black's 11th move, but without an engine threading through the complications is a harrowing task! 12.ad1 d5 Note that the B doesn't have to move as long as white has Rd8+ available. 13.f4 d7 14.d4 dxc4 15.xc4 0-0 16.de1 d5 17.e5 a4 17...b5 Black could surrender the Q with this, but white comes out slightly better after 18.xd5 exd5 19.e5 xf1 20.xf1 18.xa4 d7 19.b3 d5 and black is slightly better. 12.f4 Was black aware that now her Q does not have any retreat squares? d5 12...ce7 was a better defense. 13.d4 xd4+ 14.xd4 f6 15.ae1 c6 And at least black can play on. 13.g3 dxc4 ...or did she lay a trap? 14.xc4 14.xe4 cxb3 Now it's black who is winning! 15.d6+ f8 16.c5 b6 17.xb6 bxa2 18.c5 ge7 19.xa2 And black is a piece up! 14...d5 15.ad1 The Q still has nowhere to go. d4 16.xd4 xd4+ 17.xd4 c6 At last, a safe square. Even though material is equal, black is lost because the only piece she has developed is her Q and look at the activity of white's pieces. Nicolau finishes up the game nicely. 18.fd1 f8 18...d7 does not save the day 19.xd7 xd7 20.xd7 xd7 21.xb7+ e8 22.d6+ d8 23.ge4 is mate in 3. 19.b6 19.d8+ was even more forceful. g7 20.b4 e7 21.xe7 Black is helpless. 19...b8 20.c4 e8 21.b4+ g7 22.d6 b5 23.b4 Bilek resigned. 1–0

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World Politics and a Chess Tournament

 

     On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, the British and French company that owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869. 

    Nasser’s announcement came about following months of mounting political tensions between Egypt, Britain, and France. Although Nasser offered full economic compensation, the British and French were suspicious of Nasser who was opposed to their political influence and efforts to perpetuate their colonial domination. 

     In the United States President Eisenhower was worried by the prospect of the outbreak of hostilities as well as possible intervention by the Soviet Union. Consequently, on September 9, 1956, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles proposed a consortium of 18 of the world’s leading maritime nations to operate the Canal. This and international mediation efforts failed. 

     Additionally, in discussions with the United States that took place between August and October, the British hinted that they might resort to force. At the same time in some political intrigue, the British and French were holding secret military consultations with Israel who regarded Nasser as a threat to its security. The result of those meetings was a plan to invade Egypt and overthrow Nasser. 

     As a result, Israel attacked on October 29, 1956, advancing to within 10 miles of the Suez Canal. Under the pretext of protecting the Canal from Egypt and Israel, Britain and France landed troops a few days later. 

     This left Eisenhower deeply concerned about the Soviet Union's intervention just like they had done in Hungary. The Hungarian Revolution which began on October 23, 1956 was a countrywide revolution against the Stalinist government and it was ruthlessly suppressed. It was also the reason a number of Hungarian chess players, including Pal Benko, ended up in the United States. 

     Under pressure from the United Nations Britain and France withdrew in December and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took over control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping. 

     What did that have to do with chess? It meant the annual traditional Hastings Christmas tournament had been called off in view of the unsettled international situation. 

     Eventually it was rescheduled and it was a four-way fight for first between Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia, Bent Larsen of Denmark, Alberic O'Kelly of Belgium and Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland. 

     Today, O'Kelly is mostly remembered for his contributions to the Sicilian Defense, but at the time he had been collecting a string of first prizes in tournaments and on the January 1957 rating list Chessmetrics puts his rating at 2644, placing him at number 31 in the world. That placed him in a group of better known players like Pal Benko, Wolfgang Unzicker, Oscar Panno and Alexander Kotov.

     In this Hastings tournament, as a result of a loss to Gligoric, he failed to capture first. Gligoric had been playing under par recently, but at Hastings he was in top form. 

     Olafsson, despite personal victory over Larsen, his bete noire to whom he had lost a match for the Scandinavian title, was relegated to a tie for third when he lost to Gligoric in the last round. 

 

     There is little doubt that when you look at the the crosstable the question springs to mind, "Who was Derek G. Horseman?" I posted about him last year and gave his game with Szabo from this tournament HERE. 

     The following short, sharp encounter features a nice combination by Peter Clarke against Roman Toran. FM Peter Clarke (March 18, 1933 - December 11, 2014, 81 years old) was born in London, England. He was a ICGM and in 1977 he won the British Correspondence Championship. Over the board he finished 2nd on five occasions in the British Championship. 

     Clarke was also a writer and chess correspondent for the London Sunday Times and is best known for his biographies of Mikhail Tal and Tigran Petrosian. Clarke was also an International Arbiter. 

     In the early 1950s, Roman Toran (October 8, 1931 - October 1, 2005, 73 years old) was among the best Spanish players. In 1951 and 1953, he won the Spanish Championship. He won the Gijon International Tournament seven times: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1954. He also qualified for two Zonal Chess tournaments (1954, 1962). 

     Toran retired from competition in the mid-1970s and devoted himself to journalistic work and chess activism. From 1982 to 1990 he was the FIDE Vice President for Europe, between 1988 and 2000 the president of the Spanish Chess Federation. He published dozens of books on chess, was the founder of several Spanish chess magazines.

ChessBase

Peter Clarke–Roman Toran1–0B93Hastings 1956/57Hastings28.12.1956Stockfish 14.1

Sicilian Najdorf 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.f4 e5 7.f3 bd7 8.c4 e7 9.a4 0-0 10.e2 b6 At the time this game was played theory on the Najdorf was in its infancy. The text move gives far worse results for black than today's standard reply of 10...Qa5 10...a5 11.d2 exf4 12.d5 d8 13.xf4 xd5 14.xd5 f6 15.xd6 xb2 16.b1 c3+ with equal chances. Ljubojevic,L (2605)-Ribli,Z (2585)/Amsterdam 1978 11.0-0 b7 12.fxe5 Not bad, but 12.Kh1 Qc7 13.Nh4 has proven more effective. dxe5 13.g5 Now black can keep the position even with either 13...h6 or 13...Qc7 h5 Black was probably expecting to place a N on f4 afetr white exchanged Bs. In that case white would have gained the advantage though. 14.ad1 Putting black in an uncomfortable pin and forcing him into a cramped position to get out of it. 14.xe7 xe7 15.ad1 f4 This is a mistake. 15...df6 keeps the game even, but black's Ns are rather poorly positioned. 16.e3 c7 17.d5 xd5 18.xd5 xd5 19.exd5 with equal chances. 16.d2 f6 17.d6 with an excellent position. 14...c5+ This natural check is in reality a blunder in a bad position. 14...e8 wasn't any real improvement. After 15.h4 f4 15...g6 16.f5 xg5 17.d6 e7 18.xf7 and white is practically winning. 16.xf4 exf4 17.f5 e5 18.d5 xd5 19.xd5 d8 Here, too, white has an excellent position. 15.h1 c7 16.xd7 Decisive. xd7 17.xe5 c7 18.xf7 He could also win with 18.Rxf7, but this is even more forceful. g6 18...xf7 19.xf7 and the discovered check will prove deadly. 19.d5 xd5 20.xd5 a7 21.d6+ g7 22.xf8 Black resigned. 22.xf8 h6 22...xd6 23.g8# 23.e8+ ends the game. 1–0

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Flummoxed By The Borg Defense

     On February 27th of last year I posted about how depressing the last few days had been. It started out drizzling rain before changing over to snow and it was dark, overcast, windy, cold and there was a fine, almost invisible, lake effect snow blowing around outside. It was a good day to say in and play a little chess online.

     Here's a video from a couple of days ago of the ice flowing from a nearby River into Lake Erie:

 

      Things have not changed much from last year, so playing online is what I have been doing the last few days. It's been fun playing one appalling opening and one horrid defense. 

     The opening of choice has been the Desprez Opening (1.h4), an opening that does nothing in either the fight for the center or for white’s development, plus it weakens the K-side. 

     With black my favorite defense has been the Borg Defense (1...g5). That’s Grob (1.g4) spelled backwards. It’s also known as the Basman Defense, after British IM Michael Basman. The move severely weakens the K-side, but according to Modern Chess Openings (MCO), black is only somewhat worse. I'm convinced that against average players it's not all that bad because they often seem to get totally bewildered! 

     In the following game I gave up the Q for not nearly enough compensation according to the engines, but when two average players are playing a 10 minute game things aren't so clear cut!

ChessBase

Guest–Tartajubow0–1B00Chess Hotel2022Stockfish 14.1

Borg Defense 1.e4 g5 2.d4 White almost always plays this. The only other move that seems worth considering is 2.Bc4 2.c4 d6 3.d4 h6 4.c3 c6 5.a4 f6 6.ge2 g4 White is better. Braun,G (2330)-Lang,S (2275)/Germany 1996/ GER-chT2 2...g7 I always play this instead of defending the P with 2...h6 because if white plays 3.Bxg5 then after ...c5 and ...Qc6 white invariably goes into a long think about how to defend himself against threat of ...Qxb2 and threats on the long diagonal, plus black also threatens to regain the P. 2...h6 3.c3 g7 4.e3 d6 5.d2 c6 6.0-0-0 a6 7.ge2 b5 White is better and went on to win the game. Collins,S (2387)-Williams,S (2427) West Bromwich 2004 3.xg5 c5 4.e3 b6 As recommended by Komodo 14. 5.f3 5.c3 can get messy! xb2 6.d5 d8 7.b1 xa2 8.a1 b2 9.c4 cxd4 10.a2 dxe3 11.xb2 exf2+ 12.xf2 xb2 13.c3 Petrienko,V (2450)-Svatos,J (2370) Pardubice 1992. This looks unclear perhaps, but white is better and in the game he went on to win. 5...xb2 6.bd2 cxd4 7.c4 Now, after 7...Qb4+ white has no more than a slight advantage, but this was an online game being played anonymously and once you sign out your rating points disappear. That's why I simply cannot understand people with terribly fragile egos who, when the game is lost, refuse to move or resign or just abandon the game. But, enough pontificating! Why not sacrifice the Q?! dxe3 Probably because Komodo says black is minus 2.5 Ps and is losing. Of course, Stockfish puts white's advantage even higher...a whopping 4 Ps. 8.xb2 White is clearly winning...says Fritz' auto-analysis. xb2 9.b1 Of course he wants to save the exchange, but this may not have been best. 9.c4 exf2+ 10.xf2 xa1 11.xa1 f6 12.e1 and black is up the creek. 9...c3+ 10.e2 exf2 11.xf2 f6 12.d3 g4+ 13.e2 c6 14.h3 f6 15.f2 His intention is to castle artificially. d6 16.f1 g8 White should now play 17.Qc1 or 17.g4, Stockfish doesn't care which. Instead, in his haste to get artificially castled, he blunders. 17.g1 xh3 After this white still can claim a slight advantage, but his K is exposed and he will have to play very carefully. 18.h4 18.xb7 Gets him mated. At least he was alert to that threat! xg2+ 19.h1 h5 There is no defense against .. .Ng3 mate. 18.h2 Getting out of the pin would have kept a small advantage. c8 Black really can't afford to allow Rxb2 so undeveloping the B is the best option. 19.b3 a5 Preserving the B rather than playing 19...Be5+ seems the best option. 20.b1 b6 21.xb6 Best! axb6 22.xb6 d7 If 22.. .Rxa2 23.e5 gives white a strong initiative. 23.c7 c5 24.e5 xd3 25.exd6 db4 26.e5 e6 27.d7+ f8 28.xb7 d8 29.xc6 xc6 30.xc6 wins for white. 18...d4+ 19.h1 g4 20.d2 h5 With the obvious threat of ... Ng3+, but... 21.xb7 White played this instantly and I thought he had just overlooked the fork on his K and R. It was a surprise to find out that Stockfish finds absolutely nothing wrong with white's move! g3+ 22.h2 xf1+ 23.xf1 Bb5 is a serious threat, but black can equalize. e5+ 24.h1 d4 This was not the best way to avoid the threatened Bb5. 24...f8 25.b5 d8 26.c7 b8 27.c4 a6 28.h6+ g7 and it's black who is winning because of the mate threat if the B moves. 29.e3 d5 Attacking the R. 29...axb5 30.a7 and white's occupation of the 7th rank with his Q and R would win. 30.c5 axb5 and black has more than enough compensation for the Q. 25.b4 25.c3 keeps the advantage. e6 26.f5 xf5 27.exf5 c5 28.c7 White is slightly better. 25...c8 This hands the advantage back to white. 25...f8 26.b8+ xb8 27.xb8+ g7 28.xa7 c8 29.d3 f6 30.g3 e6 A most interesting position that Stockfish evaluates at dead even. In Shootouts all five games were drawn. 26.b8 There is no good answer to this move...I am lost. d5 26...xc2 loses quickly to 27.xc8+ xc8 28.b8 d8 29.a6 26...f8 was worth a try. 27.xc8+ xc8 28.b8 g7 29.xa7 f6 30.f3 xc2 In Shootouts white won all five games, but as you can see it's unlikely the results would have been so cut and dried in the actual game!! 31.a4 g4 32.a5 c8 33.a6 h6 34.f2 b4 35.g3 h5 36.e5 dxe5 37.h2 h8 38.g1 e4 39.xg4 hxg4 40.xg4+ f8 41.xe4 xa6 42.xa6 h4 43.g4 e6 44.g2 g7 45.d3 h8 46.f4 e7 47.e5+ f6 48.c5 h6 49.e4 g5 50.c7 g7 51.e5+ f6 52.c5 h6 53.f3 g5 54.c7 g7 55.e5+ f6 56.c5 a1 57.g5+ f8 58.g3 g8 59.c5+ g7 60.g5 b8 61.g6 f8 62.e7 f6 63.d7 e5+ 64.g4 f6 65.gxf7 xf7 66.xe6 e7 67.f5 c3 68.d5 f6 69.c8 e5 70.g8+ h6 71.f8+ g7 72.f4+ h7 73.e4+ g8 74.g6 f6 75.xf6 e4+ 76.h5 h4+ 77.xh4 It's mate in 3. 27.xc8+ Best. 27.Rb7 Nc6 and black hangs on. xc8 28.c3 28.c5 e6 29.f5 xf5 30.exf5 was more precise. 28...g4 29.cxd4 This time pressure slip allows black to equalize. xh4+ Even though black has picked up a free N the chances are equal. 30.g1 h2+ 30...xe4 is also unclear after 31.b5+ d7 32.xd5 xd4+ 33.h2 h4+ 34.g3 g4+ 31.f2 f4+ By luck black follows the old saying patzer sees a check, patzer gives a check. 31...xe4 gains a P, but gives white the advantage after 32.g3 g4 33.b5+ f8 34.h3 xg3+ 35.f3 g5 36.xc8 32.e1 xe4+ Now by moving his K out of check to either d2 or f2 white would have kept the outcome unclear. Instead he walks into a fatal pin. 33.e2 Fatal. Not only is the B pinned, but black's Bs spring into life. g4 34.b5+ f8 35.xd5 xe2+ 36.f1 g3 White resigned. 36...g3 37.d8+ g7 38.a5 e1+ 39.xe1 xe1 0–1

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Same Player, Different Luck

     Here it is Friday and we were blessed to have survived another ugly winter storm that moved from the SW to the NE and stretched 2,180 miles from Maine to Texas. In places it was over 750 miles wide. I think it was a variation of a Panhandle Hook. Shades of the February 2nd storm! 

     As temperatures rose to 55 degrees this one brought, fortunately, only 1 inch of rain, not the 1-1/2 to 2 inches predicted, but it came on top of 10-12 inches of melting snow. Later in the day the temperature began dropping into the teens and the rain changed to freezing rain and then snow. We woke up this morning with 2-3 inches of snow on top of a layer of ice.   

     Thankfully, it was not as bad as what happened to the people in Petropolis, Brazil. Just over 10 inches of rain fell within three hours on Tuesday (almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined) and set off mudslides and floods in a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, killing multiple people, washing away homes, cars and everything else in their path. 

     Petropolis was the site of the 1973 Interzonal tournament that was won by Henrique Meking. Second place was a tie between Lajos Portisch, Lev Polugayevsky and Ewfim Geller. Portisch and Polugayevsky qualified for the Zonal when they eliminated Geller in the playoff in Portoroz. 

 

     Chess Life editor Burt Hochberg was there and wrote that while he and his wife were in Rio de Janeiro he was reading a newspaper chess article and noticed the name of a participant he had never heard of...somebody the article referred to as Mequinho when the headlines screamed MEQUINHO BEATS RESHEVSKY! 

     Mequinho was Henrique Mecking, Brazil's boy wonder, the strongest player on the South American continent and likely the best player South America ever produced. Mecking won the tournament, as Hochberg put it, "...al1 by himself. He did it cleanly, simply by playing better than anyone else." 

     It was a different story for old timers like Smyslov, Bronstein, Reshevsky and Keres; sadly, their star was fading. 

     Poor Reshevsky! Against Soviet player Vladimir Savon, Reshevsky had a forced mate when, in his usual time pressure, he played the last move of the time control, 40.Qxg6 mate...or it would have been a mate, but, alas Reshevsky simply forgot that Savon had a B lurking on b1 and so after Savon snapped off the Queen it wasn't mate at all...Reshevsky had simply blundered away his Q and so he resigned.

     However, in his game against Yugoslav (now Serbian) GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Reshevsky didn't miss the mate. Ljubojevic (born 1950) won the Yugoslav Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982. During his career he defeated just about every top player there was.

ChessBase

Samuel Reshevsky–Ljubomir Ljubojevic1–0Petropolis InterzonalPetropolis Interzonal1973Stockfish 14.1

Modern Defence: Averbakh Variation 1.d4 g6 In the Modern Defense, or the Robatsch Defense, white is allowed to occupy the center with Ps on d4 and e4 and then black will try to undermine this ideal center without attempting to occupy it. 2.c4 g7 3.e4 d6 4.c3 The Averbakh System. d7 It's a King's Indian after 4...Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.e2 c6 7.0-0 h6 8.b1 8.d5 c5 9.d2 f6 10.b4 f7 11.e1 cxb4 12.a4 a5 13.a3 bxa3 14.d3 is equal. Janssen,R (2503)-Martens,M (2377)/Netherlands 2019 8...0-0 9.b4 f5 Energetic, but risky. 9...a6 10.d5 c5 11.a3 f6 12.d3 f7 and black is badly cramped. Korotylev,A (2603)-Lanchava,T (2366)/Wijk aan Zee 2005 9...exd4 10.xd4 e5 11.b5 h4 12.bxc6 bxc6 13.b3 g4 14.f3 e6 and white is much better, but in Portisch,L (2640)-Meleghegyi,C (2355)/Hungary 1979 black managed to survive and hold on for a draw. 10.g5 e8 11.d5 f7 12.dxc6 bxc6 13.c1 b7 14.exf5 gxf5 15.h4 e4 16.b3 e6 Obviously defending the f-Pawn, but Rershevsky's next move is a surprise. 17.xf5 xf5 The win of the piece is very temporary. 18.g4 g6 19.xd7 So, white has won a P. e5 20.h3 f3 21.e2 d3 22.f4 A cute little tactical shot. xf4 23.xd3 exd3 24.xf4 c8 25.xc8 xc8 The exchanges have left white with an excellent ending because the P on d3 will eventually fall. 26.e1 f8 27.d2 f5 28.g3 d5 Wrong P push! 28...c5 29.bxc5 dxc5 Even here white is considerably better. 29.c5 h5 30.h4 Preventing even the hint of counterplay by ...h4 d4 31.g2 Here or on the next few moves Reshevsky could have reached an even more favorable ending with b5 followed by the advance of his d-Pawn. Instead, he spends considerable time shuffling his pieces around gradually improving their position. f7 32.f3 h7 This turns out to be a bad position for the K, but even a better move would not have saved the game 33.d1 e5 34.xe5 xe5 35.xd3+ g8 36.f4 b2+ 37.d2 xb4 The gme is over after Reshevsky's next move. 38.g6+ f8 39.h6+ g7 40.e2 xc5 41.h8+ f7 42.e8+ f6 43.e6# 1–0

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The Intriguing Henschel Twins

     The last post was about a virtually unknown player from the Civil War era. Today's is about a couple of virtually unknown twin sisters that participated in the 1944 U.S. Women's Championship: Wally and Kathe (Kate) Henschel. 

     The November 5, 1946 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called them "intriguing" and stated that they were in their 40s and arrived in the U.S. from Germany "several years ago." 

     The article also stated that Wally Henschel was the champion woman player in Germany and that the sisters, who had been taught chess by their father, had played chess since childhood. In the article Kate conceded that Wally was the better player.

 

     Not a lot of information is available on the sisters, but it is known that they were born in Hamburg in 1893. Wally participated in two Women's World Championships. In Hamburg 1930, she placed 3rd out of 5 players, scoring +4 -3 =1, defeating Vera Menchik in one of their two their individual games. Then in Prague 1931, she placed last with a score of +2 -6 =0. 

 

 

 

     More information seems to be available on Wally than Kate. Wally Henschel attended a high school for girls in Hamburg and began studying music at t at the age of 16. From 1909 to 1914 she studied piano as her first major and singing as her second major. 

     As part of her exam concerts, she played Beethoven and sang Mozart. According to her diploma, her performance in piano playing was consistently rated "very good." 

     After her studies, Wally most likely continued her musical education and passed further qualifying exams years later. In 1927 she received state recognition as a singing teacher and in 1929 she passed the aptitude test for the stage profession in the opera genre. She appeared in public mainly as a singer and when asked about her professional activity and her income before 1933, she stated that she had given a number of recitals in Hamburg. 

     Wally had a position at the Hamburger Tempel on Oberstrasse. where she sang regularly in church services, at weddings, funerals and on holidays and also conducted the children's choir. She earned her main income giving piano and singing lessons.

     Meanwhile, her sister Kathe worked until 1939 in a secretarial position as a secretary at the company Axel Dahlstrom and Co., There, even though she was Jewish, the company not only did not fire her, but even paid her a higher salary.

     Facing the growing restrictions of Jews in Nazi Germany, the sisters began planning their escape. In August 1938, a cousin sponsored their immigration to the United States and by the end of December they had all the necessary papers together. 

     They left Germany on March 25, 1939 with little or no assets. Six days later their passports were blocked because of visa and transport difficulties and it took them several months to get to New York via the Netherlands, England, the West Indies, Central America and Haiti! 

     After relocating to the United States the sisters still faced immense hardships. Wally found it impossible to establish herself as musician or music teacher and the sisters were reduced to being supported by their cousin for four years. Kate eventually found secretarial work while Wally opened a boarding house. By 1944 they were somewhat established and found time to explore the New York City chess scene. 

     Over time Wally had become almost blind in one eye and severely visually impaired in the other and by the mid-1950s she was badly restricted in her ability to work and lived on a disability pension. 

     In 1986, at the age 93, the sisters moved to Miami, Florida to be close to a nephew. Wally died in 1988 and Kate lived until 1990. 

     I was unable to locate any of Kate's games and only two of Wally's. Here is her win over Vera Menchik in the 1930 Women's World Championship.

ChessBase

Wally Henschel–Vera Menchik1–0E94Women's World Champ, HamburgHamburg GER07.1930Stockfish 14.1

King's Indian Defense 1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.f3 0-0 5.e4 d6 6.e2 bd7 7.0-0 e5 8.g5 h6 This game was played decades before the K-Indian became popular and so the best book line were unknown tot he players. White's correct move is 9.Bh4 although 8.Be3 has also been tried on occasion. 9.dxe5 This should hav lost a P with no compensation. dxe5 White's last move has resulted in her getting a very slight advantage, but only because black missed the correct continuation. 9...hxg5 10.exf6 xf6 Black has won a P and is now in a position to pile up on white's e-Pawn. 11.h3 e8 12.c2 c5 13.ae1 g4 14.hxg4 xg4 and white is under considerable pressure. 10.h4 c6 White won't be placing a N on d5. 11.d2 e8 12.fd1 b6 13.f1 Much too passive. Either 13.Rab1 or 13.Qc2 were better. h5 14.b3 f4 Better was 14.. .g5 15.a4 c7 16.ac1 Better was 16.c5 e6 17.c3 d4 18.e1 f8 19.f3 e6 20.c2 h7 After this white seizes the initiative. 20...g5 21.g3 e7 22.e2 xc2 23.xc2 g4 Black looks to have the better of it, but at the same time, white's defensive resources look to be adequate, so the position must be considered equal. 21.xd4 exd4 22.e2 22.d5 was also good as after cxd5 23.cxd5 White has a good game. 22...c5 Black has a protected passed P, but white's position is more active. 23.f4 e5 24.g3 d6 25.d3 This B looks very bad and it's hard to believe that in the future it will play a strong role in white's game! b6 26.e2 xg3 Black had a better defense with 26...g6 and 27...Ng3 27.xg3 a5 This is too slow. It would have been better to tend to the defense of her Q-side with 27...f6 28.a4 White dawdles. The direct 28.f4 was better. 28.f4 e7 29.e5 f5 30.exf6 xf6 31.f5 xf5 32.xf5 gxf5 33.f1 White stands very well. 28...c8 29.f1 White dawdles. Better was 29.f4 a7 30.ce1 White dawdles. Better was 30..f4 ae7 SHe still needed to play ...f6 as a precaution against the advance of white's e-Pawn. 31.f4 FInally! b7 Menchik was unaware of the lurking danger. 31...f6 32.e5 Anyway! fxe5 33.f5 gxf5 34.xf5 h8 35.e4 d8 36.f6 h7 37.ef1 e6 38.d6 with a decisive attack. 31...c6 offers black new life after 32.h4 32.f5 This move can be met successfully with d7 33.e5 xe5 34.e4 d6 35.f4 with equal chances. 32...h5 33.f5 e5 34.e2 White has the initiative, but black should be able to defend his K-side. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4 so black can be considered to have excellent drawing chances. 32.e5 The beginning of a decisive onslaught. b8 33.h5 Equally good was 33,f5 d7 33...f5 34.exf6 f7 35.e7 fxe7 36.fxe7 xe7 37.f5 gxh5 38.f6+ e4 39.e1 wins. 34.f5 f8 34...xe5 loses to 35.fxg6+ fxg6 36.f4 and black is helpless. 35.fxg6+ fxg6 36.e6 36.xg6+ is crushing. xg6 37.d3+ xh5 37...g5 38.f6 xf6 39.exf6 xe1 40.f5+ h4 41.g3+ xg3+ 42.hxg3+ xg3 43.f4+ h3 44.xe1 mates in 38.f5+ g6 39.xf8+ 36...e5 37.xf8 xf8 38.xe5 c8 39.f4 39.xg6+ g8 40.f7+ xf7 41.exf7+ xf7 42.d3 h8 43.f3+ g6 44.c6+ f7 45.c7+ f8 46.xc8+ f7 47.e6+ f8 48.e8# 39...f6 40.xg6 g7 41.h5 Menchik resigned. Nice game by Henschel. 41.h5 xg6 42.xh6+ g8 43.xg6 xe6 44.g5 d3 45.h5+ xg5 46.xg5+ h8 47.h6+ g8 48.xe6+ h8 49.f6+ g8 50.f7+ f8 51.d5+ e8 52.c6# 1–0

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