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.

[Event "Women's Tourament, Belgrade"] [Site "Belgrade YUG"] [Date "1967.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexandra Nicolau"] [Black "Edith Bilek"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] [Source "http://uscf1-ny"] {Modern Defense} 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4 c5 {This move is riskier than the more usual 3...d6. Statistically the most solid move appears to be 3...c6} 4. dxc5 Qa5+ 5. c3 Qxc5 6. Qb3 {Here white begins gaining time owing by attacking black's vulnerable point b7 and f7, plus the Q is exposed on c5.} e6 7. Be3 Qc7 8. Na3 {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. Bb6 ( 9. Qb6 {is the wrong way to occupy b6 because black profits from the exchange of Qs.} Qxb6 10. Bxb6 Nc6 11. O-O-O Nf6 12. f3 d5 {and black has equalized. Machulsky,A (2495)-Mohr,S (2425)/New York 1990}) 9... Qf4 10. Ne2 {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. Be2 $142 Nc6 11. Bf3 $16) 10... Qxe4 11. O-O {Black can't win a piece by playing 11...d5 } Nc6 {A natural developing move which in this case leads to disaster.} (11... d5 12. Rad1 {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. Rd8+ Ke7 14. Qb4+ Kf6 15. Ng3 Qc6 16. Bd4+ e5 17. Rd6+ {wins.}) (11... d5 { White's correct continuation is now} 12. Rfe1 Nf6 13. Nd4 Qg4 14. Bxd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 O-O 16. Qd6 {and white is slightly better because of his more active pieces.}) (11... Nf6 {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. Rad1 d5 {Note that the B doesn't have to move as long as white has Rd8+ available.} 13. f4 Bd7 14. Nd4 dxc4 15. Nxc4 O-O 16. Rde1 Qd5 17. Re5 Ba4 (17... Bb5 {Black could surrender the Q with this, but white comes out slightly better after} 18. Rxd5 exd5 19. Ne5 Bxf1 20. Kxf1) 18. Qxa4 Qd7 19. Qb3 Nd5 {and black is slightly better.}) 12. f4 {Was black aware that now her Q does not have any retreat squares?} d5 (12... Nce7 {was a better defense. } 13. Nd4 Bxd4+ 14. Bxd4 f6 15. Rae1 Qc6 {And at least black can play on.}) 13. Ng3 dxc4 {...or did she lay a trap?} 14. Nxc4 (14. Nxe4 cxb3 {Now it's black who is winning!} 15. Nd6+ Kf8 16. Bc5 b6 17. Bxb6 bxa2 18. Bc5 Nge7 19. Rxa2 { And black is a piece up!}) 14... Qd5 15. Rad1 {The Q still has nowhere to go.} Nd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 17. Rxd4 Qc6 {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. Rfd1 Kf8 (18... Bd7 {does not save the day} 19. Rxd7 Qxd7 20. Rxd7 Kxd7 21. Qxb7+ Ke8 22. Nd6+ Kd8 23. Nge4 {is mate in 3.}) 19. Nb6 (19. Rd8+ {was even more forceful.} Kg7 20. Qb4 Ne7 21. Qxe7 {Black is helpless.}) 19... Rb8 20. Rc4 Qe8 21. Qb4+ Kg7 22. Qd6 Qb5 23. Rb4 {Bilek resigned.} 1-0