In May Botvinnik drew his match with Smyslov to retain the world championship title. And, in June the USSR crushed the U.S. team at the Hotel Roosevelt in Manhattan by a score of 20-12. An unknown eleven year old kid named Bobby Fischer was there for all four rounds.
The following month Arthur Bisguier won the U.S. championship ahead of Larry Evans. Reshevsky wasn't playing. Also in July, the USSR team (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Bronstein, Keres, Geller, Kotov) won the Olympiad in Amsterdam. The U.S. didn't send a team. In August, the U.S. Open was held in New Orleans and was won by Larry Evans on tiebreak over Arturo Pomar who lost their individual game.
The chess world lost two players in 1954. On February 23rd Jacques Mieses died in London at the age of 88. On December 31st Eugene Znosko-Borovsky died in Paris at the age of 70.
In early November of 1954, the president of the French Chess Federation telephoned the 72 year old Dr. Ossip Bernstein (1882 - 1962) and asked him if he would like to participate in a tournament in Montevideo. Bernstein said he'd like to think it over a few days, but was told that the tournament started soon and he had to make his decision by the next morning!
The tournament was played to support UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) which had been founded in 1945 and aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences, and culture. It is still around. It hasn't worked, but they are still trying.
Bernstein wrote that he had never been to South America and to see that part of the world was his dream. The November weather in Paris was cool but not excessively cold; in Montevideo it was summer and it might be hot. The changes in weather, his 72 years and playing without preparation all figured into his decision. It was all a bit frightening he admitted, but he accepted and took a plane to Madrid.
At Madrid, somehow a reporter had discovered Bernstein was on his way to the tournament and did an interview. Finally, after a delay due to engine trouble, Bernstein, Spanish Champion Roman Toran and Swedish Champion Bengt-Eric Hoerberg were off and arrived tired and sleepy at 2a.m. in Montevideo on November 18th...a round late as the tournament had already started. Because tournament officials knew they were on the way they were permitted to make up the round they missed.
The tournament became a race between Rene Letelier of Chile and Miguel Najdorf of Argentina. Letelier played what was to be the best tournament of his career.
In the process he defeated Najdorf by a risky Rook sacrifice to take the lead. Then he lost to Flavio Carvalho and Najdorf forged ahead, followed by Toran and Bernstein.
In round 16 Bernstein was victorious over Najdorf and in the last round he defeated Hoerberg and so was able to tie for second with Najdorf.
Few people are aware that in his day back in 1906 (!) Bernstein was very good. In that year Chessmetrics estimates his rating to have been 2668 placing him at number 9 in the world. Between the years 1904 and 1906, Chessmetrics estimates that he occupied 9th place ten different months.
Bernstein was a successful businessman who earned considerable wealth before losing it in the Bolshevik Revolution. He earned a second fortune that was lost in the Great Depression and a third that was lost when France was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940.
Being Jewish, in 1940, Bernstein and his family had to flee Nazi-occupied France by crossing the Pyrenees mountains on foot as they fled to Spain. At the border they were arrested, but some of his influential friends in Spain managed to negotiate his release and arranged for them to set out the war in Barcelona. Bernstein lived the last years of his life in Barcelona passing away in a hospital in 1962 at age 80.
When this game was played Chessmetrics puts Najdorf's rating at 2728 ranking him 8th in the world. Bernstein's was 2527 placing him way down at number 128 in the world. Watch Bernstein take down the mighty Najdorf with ease.
Ossip Bernstein–Miguel Najdorf1–0Montevideo, 1954Montevideo, 1954Stockfish 14.1
King's Indian Defense 1.d4 f6 2.c4 d6 3.c3 bd7 4.e4 e5 5.f3 g6 6.dxe5 This move is seldom played. For some strange reason although the
resulting positions are evaluated as being nearly equal, black scores very
well against it. Of course this game was played in the early days of the
K-Indian and the best lines hadn't yet been discovered. White's intention is
to prevent black, at a later move, from capturing ...exd4 and extending the
scope of hisB on g7. Nowadays 6.Be2 is almost always played. dxe5 7.e2 7.g5 h6 8.h4 g7 9.xe5 xe5 10.xd8+ xd8 11.0-0-0+ The position is
roughly even. Acosta,P (2409)-Sosa,T (2466)/Buenos Aires 2017 7...c6
Black's play here is quite odd in that he eschews the natural ...Bg7. 8.0-0 c7 9.h3 The reason for this move is that white anticipates a struggle for
the domination of d4 which is bound to ensue. Hence, he prevents any such
maneuver as ...Nc5, ...Bg4 and ...Ne6. As a result of 9.h3 black's light
squared B has limited scope and white has an active position. c5 Better
first was 9...a5 because now white could gain a tempo with 10.b4 10.c2 h5
A risky place for the N. Better would have been 10...Ne6 11.e1 White is
preparing Bf1 and prepares eventually g2-g3 to deny black the post f4 for his
N. e6 12.e3 12.d5 This flashy surprise move should lead to an
advantage for white, but calculating it OTB would be quite time consuming. Here
is Stockfish's line after 10 minutes of cogitation. cxd5 13.exd5 ef4 14.xe5 xe5 15.xf4 xf4 16.xh5+ d8 17.c3 g8 18.f3 with the advantage.
In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2 12...e7 Why not the normal 12...Bg7?
It's because the B has no future on g7. 12...g7 13.ad1 0-0 14.c5
White has strong pressure on the Q-side and can possibly play his R to d6. 13.ad1 0-0 Black must quickly conclude development. 14.f1 With this
move white readies for black's intended P-storm on the K-side. hg7 15.a3
This excellent move which seems to have little to do with his planned K-side
attack gets the stamp of approval from Stockfish. To advance his f-Pawn ,
black has had to desert the strong N post at h5. Now white undertakes a
demonstration on the Q-side which is the correct counter to black's plan. f5 16.b4 16.h6!? f6 17.b4 e8+- 16...f4 17.c1 According to
Bernstein, black must reinforce his e-Pawn before pursuing his K-side
objectives which explains his next move. f6 18.c5 g5 19.c4 h8 Black
averts a tactical possibility. 19...h5 Played just to demonstrate the
tactical threat. 20.d5 cxd5 21.exd5 g4 21...d8 22.d6+ wins the Q 22.dxe6 xe6 23.hxg4 hxg4 24.h2 xc4 25.xc4+ f7 26.xf7+ xf7 27.xg4
White is only a P up, but Komodo 14 puts his advantage at nearly 3 Ps. 20.b2 h5 21.d5 The first of a series of sacrifices and maneuvers which will
leave black's position in shambles. The N must be taken; otherwise, black's
e-Pawn goes which he can't afford becaust it's the backbone of his game. cxd5 21...b8 There is no safe have for the Q. 22.xf6 xf6 23.xe5 is
crushing. 21...f7 22.xf6 xf6 23.xe5 h7 24.xc6 f7 25.e5
white is winning. 22.exd5 d4 23.xd4 exd4 24.d6 d7 The threat is Qg6
threatening mate. 24...f5 is met by 25.xf5 xf5 26.dxc7 ac8 27.e6 g7 28.xc8 and white is winning. 25.xd4 f3 25...xd4 This is
disastrous. 26.xd4 f5 27.c3 and there s no way to defend the N. After h7 28.xg7 e6 29.xe6 black has no reasonable move and can resign. 25...f5 loses to 26.d5 g7 27.xf6 xf6 28.d7 26.de4 Also good is
26.Re7 26.e7 xe7 27.g6 Black is in danger of being mated. His best try
is f5 28.h6+ h7 29.dxe7 g8 30.d6 and white has a mate
in 26...f5 27.g4 hxg4 28.hxg4 g6 29.e8 Very nice! f5 29...xc2
The loss of the Q is only temporary and this move loses as follows... 30.xf8+ h7 31.g8+ h6 32.xf6+ g6 33.xg6+ xg6 34.e7 xg4 35.xg7+ h6 36.h7 and wins. 30.xa8 xa8 The Q is still immune. 30...xc2 31.xf8+ h7 32.xf6 xf6 This, too, results in black getting mated. 32...f5 allows mate. 33.xg6 xg6 34.gxf5+ xf5 35.d7 g4 36.d8 e7 37.xe7 g3 38.f6+ h5 39.f5+ h6 40.e6# 33.xf6 and it's mate in 7 as follows... f5 34.gxf5 b5 35.xg7 bxc4 36.d7 xg7 37.d8 g4 38.e8 a6 39.g6+ f8 40.e8# 31.gxf5 h5 32.e4 h3 33.f1 xf5 White can win in a number of
different ways, but his next move, which may not be the most efficient is the
prettiest! 34.h4+ A nice finishing touch. gxh4 35.xf5 xf5 36.xf6+ g8 37.d7 Najdorf resigned. A crushing victory for Bernstein! 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment