As nasty as this storm was it does not compare to the Great Blizzard of 1899 which you can read about HERE. It was incredible!
Nor did it compare to the one I remember...the Great Blizzard of 1978. That morning as I left for work it was nice, but someone called a radio station and said it was windy and their lawn furniture had just blown away. That prompted me to go back in the house and get my winter parka just in case.
Later that morning the blizzard hit hard and fast and there were 70-80 mile per hour wind gusts. The company sent us home and a couple of guys didn't make and got stranded. You can read about that one HERE. It was the result of a bomb cyclone which is described HERE.
As a result of this latest storm I have 3 or 4 Blog posts ready to go! This one is on the 1936/37 Hastings Christmas Congress. It had an excellent entry list that included former World Champion Alekhine, American star Reuben Fine, the Austrian champion Eliskases, Feigin a promising young Latvian and the experienced Yugoslav GM Vidmar, plus the British champion Winter, the veteran Thomas and the world's leading lady player Menchik.
Because Fine had won the previous year's event everyone was interested to see if he could repeat and he got off to a terrific start by scoring seven consecutive wins and it looked like he might very well repeat.
Fine's repeat performance seemed justified because although Alekhine had been doing almost as well, his score being only half a point less, their play had been polar opposites. Fine had run rough shod over his opponents while Alekhine had a number of adjourned games and his points had come harder.
The fatal game was their eighth round meeting. Alekhine was playing white and so was favored. In the game he essayed a doubtful sacrifice, but Fine mishandled the defense and lost. This reversed the tables and Alekhine led by a half point entering the final round.
Alekhine was paired with Koltanowski and Fine with Vidmar. Both games were drawn after strenuous efforts on the part of Alekhine and Fine, both of whom were a Pawn down, but still managed to hold the draw.
Alexander Alekhine–Reuben Fine1–0C90Hastings 1936/378Hastings ENG05.01.1937Stockfish 14.1
Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 I believe it was Pudry who did not
recommend the Ruy Lopez to beginners because of its complexities. a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 e7 6.e1 b5 7.b3 d6 8.c3 a5 9.c2 c5 10.d4 c7 11.bd2 0-0 12.f1 So far the play has been pretty standard, but black's next move is
questionable. He should have played 12...cxd4 g4 13.e3 The recommended
move is 13.d5, but at this point Alekhine was trailing Fine by half a point
and so he had to play for a win at all costs. This explains the text move,
which costs a Pawn but gives him decent attacking chances. xf3 13...c6 14.d5 b8 15.a4 b4 16.c4 d7 17.b3 g6 18.h3 e8 19.g4 g7 20.h2 f6
left white with good chances. Cruz,W-Vianna/Mar del Plata 1928 14.xf3 cxd4 15.f5 An interesting alternative was 15.cxd4 15.cxd4 c6 16.f5 xd4 17.xd4 exd4 18.b3 a5 19.f4 equals. 15...dxc3 16.xc3 fc8 Of course
not 16...Qxf3 17.Nxe7+ winning a piece. 17.g3 f8 18.d3 c6 19.g5
It should be pretty clear that white's chances on the K-side are greater than
black's on the Q-side as at the moment black can't really undertake any action
there. e8 In spite of black's cramped and passive position his defense
should hold. 20.ac1 20.h4 pressing on with his K-side attack looks
promising, but does not seem to lead anywhere. d8 21.e3 e6 22.d5 b7 23.e3 but even here black has plenty of pieces to defend his K. 20...b7
It would seem better to keep the Q centrlized with 20...Qd7 20...d7 21.e2 d8 22.e3 e6 23.d5 White's attack is at a standstill and now black can
beginb play on the Q-side. xc1 24.xc1 c8 with at least equality. 21.a3 He might still have considerd 21.h4 because now Fine begins to get some play. g6 Black rids himself of the well placed white N and eases his defense by
eliminating an attacker. It does not create a weakness because he has his dark
squared B. 21...d4 to alleviate the pressure might be considered here.,
but after 22.xd4 xc1 23.xc1 exd4 but white looks to have at least
equality. 22.h6+ xh6 23.xh6 d4 Now that the N on f5 is gone black can
occupy this fine square. 24.cd1 b4 It is difticult to say exactly where
Fine went wrong, but I.A> Horowitz thought this move permitting the white B to
eventually control the diagonal a2-g8 must be considered bad. Engines disagree
and eveluate the position as equal. 25.f4 exf4 25...f6 was incorrectly
recommended by Horowitz. After 26.f1 h8 27.fxe5 dxe5 28.xe5 f5 29.xf5 gxf5 30.xf5 white is betetr. 25...bxa3 seems to be the best move. After
26.bxa3 c3 27.fxe5 b3 it gets interesting after 28.exd6 e2+ 29.xe2 xg3 30.hxg3 b6+ 31.h2 xd6 wiht even chances! Shootouts resulted in five
draws. 26.xf4 bxa3 26...b3 was recommended by Horowitz in order to lock
the Q-side and then concentrate his efforts on the K-side defense. However,
Fine's move is actually better because in this line after 27.f1 e6 28.g4 8g7 29.e2 d4 30.f2 white still has the initiative. In Shootouts white
scored +2 -0 =3 in fairly long endings so black would have some drawing
chances. 27.bxa3 c3 28.f2 e6 29.a4 ac8 30.f1 Threatening to
capture the a-Pawn. 3c7 Defending f7. 30...h8 A pass to demonstrate
the threat 31.xa6 xa6 32.xf7 c4 33.d5 and wins because black must
surrender heavy material to stave off mate. c1 33...xa4 34.f8+ xf8 35.xf8# 34.xc1 xc1 35.xe6 g7 36.xd6 wins easily. 30...8c7
This was a better way to defend f7 because the R on c3 remains active. 31.b1 c6 White is only slightly better. 31.b1 With this move Alekhine seizes
th einitiative and his position just keeps getting stronger. c6 32.a5
The threat is 33.Rb6 followed by the capture of the a-Pawn. With the
weaknesses of the Q-side now black is helpless to defend on both wings. c5
This move resulting in an instant loss is probably explained by time pressure. 32...e7 This is the best defense he has. 33.c4 Clever! c5 33...xc4 34.bc1 and black has to surrender his Q for not quite enough compensation. 34.e3 e5 35.xa6 a8 36.b5 c5 36...xa5 37.xe8 xe8 38.xf7+ mates
37.d4 with a decisive attack. 33.c4 d7 34.a2 xe4 35.xf7 xf7 36.xf7+ xf7 37.e6 Fine resigned. 37.e6 4f6 38.xc8 is clearly
hopeless. 1–0
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