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.
[Event "Montevideo, 1954"]
[Site "Montevideo, 1954"]
[Date "1954"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ossip Bernstein"]
[Black "Miguel Najdorf"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO ""]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1 "]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "1954"]
{King's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 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. Be2 (7.
Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Bg7 9. Nxe5 Nxe5 10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. O-O-O+ {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. O-O
Qc7 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.} Nc5 {Better
first was 9...a5 because now white could gain a tempo with 10.b4} 10. Qc2 Nh5 {
A risky place for the N. Better would have been 10...Ne6} 11. Re1 {White is
preparing Bf1 and prepares eventually g2-g3 to deny black the post f4 for his
N.} Ne6 12. Be3 (12. Nd5 {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 Nef4 14.
Nxe5 Qxe5 15. Bxf4 Qxf4 16. Bxh5+ Kd8 17. Qc3 Rg8 18. Bf3 {with the advantage.
In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2}) 12... Be7 {Why not the normal 12...Bg7?
It's because the B has no future on g7.} (12... Bg7 13. Rad1 O-O 14. c5 {
White has strong pressure on the Q-side and can possibly play his R to d6.})
13. Rad1 O-O {Black must quickly conclude development.} 14. Bf1 {With this
move white readies for black's intended P-storm on the K-side.} Nhg7 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. Bh6 $5 Bf6 17. b4 Re8 $18) 16... f4 17. Bc1 {According to
Bernstein, black must reinforce his e-Pawn before pursuing his K-side
objectives which explains his next move.} Bf6 18. c5 g5 19. Bc4 Kh8 {Black
averts a tactical possibility.} (19... h5 {Played just to demonstrate the
tactical threat.} 20. Nd5 cxd5 21. exd5 g4 (21... Nd8 22. d6+ {wins the Q}) 22.
dxe6 Bxe6 23. hxg4 hxg4 24. Nh2 Bxc4 25. Qxc4+ Qf7 26. Qxf7+ Kxf7 27. Nxg4 {
White is only a P up, but Komodo 14 puts his advantage at nearly 3 Ps.}) 20.
Bb2 h5 21. Nd5 {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... Qb8 {There is no safe have for the Q.} 22. Nxf6 Rxf6 23. Bxe5 {is
crushing.}) (21... Qf7 22. Nxf6 Qxf6 23. Nxe5 Kh7 24. Nxc6 Qf7 25. Ne5 {
white is winning.}) 22. exd5 Nd4 23. Nxd4 exd4 24. d6 Qd7 {The threat is Qg6
threatening mate.} (24... Bf5 {is met by} 25. Qxf5 Nxf5 26. dxc7 Rac8 27. Be6
Bg7 28. Bxc8 {and white is winning.}) 25. Rxd4 f3 (25... Bxd4 {This is
disastrous.} 26. Bxd4 Qf5 27. Qc3 {and there s no way to defend the N. After}
Kh7 28. Bxg7 Be6 29. Rxe6 {black has no reasonable move and can resign.}) (
25... Nf5 {loses to} 26. Rd5 Qg7 27. Bxf6 Qxf6 28. d7) 26. Rde4 {Also good is
26.Re7} (26. Re7 Bxe7 27. Qg6 {Black is in danger of being mated. His best try
is} Qf5 28. Qh6+ Qh7 29. dxe7 Rg8 30. Rd6 {[%emt 0:00:08] and white has a mate
in}) 26... Qf5 27. g4 hxg4 28. hxg4 Qg6 29. Re8 {Very nice!} Bf5 (29... Qxc2 {
The loss of the Q is only temporary and this move loses as follows...} 30.
Rxf8+ Kh7 31. Bg8+ Kh6 32. Rxf6+ Qg6 33. Rxg6+ Kxg6 34. Re7 Bxg4 35. Rxg7+ Kh6
36. Bh7 {and wins.}) 30. Rxa8 Rxa8 {The Q is still immune.} (30... Bxc2 31.
Rxf8+ Kh7 32. Rxf6 Qxf6 {This, too, results in black getting mated.} (32... Bf5
{allows mate.} 33. Rxg6 Kxg6 34. gxf5+ Nxf5 35. d7 g4 36. d8=Q Ne7 37. Qxe7 g3
38. Qf6+ Kh5 39. Qf5+ Kh6 40. Re6#) 33. Bxf6 {and it's mate in 7 as follows...}
Bf5 34. gxf5 b5 35. Bxg7 bxc4 36. d7 Kxg7 37. d8=Q g4 38. Qe8 a6 39. Qg6+ Kf8
40. Re8#) 31. gxf5 Qh5 32. Re4 Qh3 33. Bf1 Qxf5 {White can win in a number of
different ways, but his next move, which may not be the most efficient is the
prettiest!} 34. Rh4+ {A nice finishing touch.} gxh4 35. Qxf5 Nxf5 36. Bxf6+ Kg8
37. d7 {Najdorf resigned. A crushing victory for Bernstein!} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment