Dr. Lajos Asztalos was born in the city of Pecs, an ancient city in southern Hungary, in 1889. After the First World War he moved to what later became Yugoslavia and represented them in international tournaments. After the Second World War he returned to Hungary and became Vice-President of the Hungarian Chess Federation.
A professor of philosophy and a language teacher, he was never a professional player. In 1950 he was among the first group of players awarded the International Master title. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2656 on the July, 1913 rating list which ranks him as #14 in world. He died in Budapest in November of 1956, during the Hungarian revolt.
One of the more exciting games of the 1966 Asztalos memorial was the encounter between Lubomir Kavalek, who at that time was representing Czechoslovakia. He fled the country in 1968 and eventually made his way to the U.S. by way of West Germany and Holland.
The game featured one of Bronstein's favorite defenses, the 5…gxf6 variation of the Caro-Kann. In his introduction to the game Bronstein wrote that he started the tournament poorly with a 1-2 score, but then went on to score 10.5-1.5 in his remaining games.
Lubomir Kavalek–David Bronstein0–1B16Asztalos Memorial, Szombathely HUNSzombathely HUN07.1966Stockfish 14.1
Caro-Kann: Bronstein-Larsen Variation 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 dxe4 4.xe4 f6 5.xf6+ gxf6 This move is generally considered somewhat unsound. Black
voluntarily accepts an inferior P-structure and is practically forced to
castle Q-side, but in return he gets a dynamic position with the semi-open
g-file for his R and much more active play than he usually gets in the
Caro-Kann. 6.e2 f5 7.f3 7.f3 e6 8.e2 h5 9.c3 h4 10.g4 hxg3 11.xg3 Black has an active position. Kasimdzhanov,R (2595)-Franke,J (2270)/
German Chp 1999 7...d7 7...g7 This turned out badly for black in
Larsen,E-Wasenius,T/Helsingor 2009 8.e3 e5 9.d2 e4 10.h4 e6 11.g3 f5 12.g2 a6 13.xa6 bxa6 14.f4 c8 15.h5 g8 16.0-0-0 Black paid the
ultimate price for having his K stuck in the center. 8.0-0 8.c4 c7 9.0-0 0-0-0 10.a4 b8 11.e3 e6 12.b4 h5 13.c5 White has a promising position.
Lalic,S (2195)-Taniskidou,D/Dubai 1986 8...e6 9.c4 g6 10.d5 Bronstein
was not happy to see this move because 22 years earlier he had lost a game
against Sokolsky in the 1944 USSR Championship. e5 Multiple exchanges on d5
would have proved fatal. 10...exd5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.xd5 e7 13.h6 b6 14.ac1 Strategically black is lost. 11.d2 c7 12.b3 d6 13.h6
This prevents the h-Pawn from moving; its advance is an important part of
black's planned K-side operations. c5 14.h4 f5 15.f4 15.h5 Winning the B
would lose the game because after 0-0-0 16.hxg6 hxg6 The open h-file and
black's mass of K-side Ps will prove to me more than white can handle. 17.d2 e4 18.e1 h2+ 19.f1 f4 The threat is 20...Rh1Mate and white has no
satisfactory defense. 15...e4 16.h5 f6 17.g3 0-0-0 18.f2 e8 White's
is B may be stuck at h6, but black's position is cramped and white can claim a
slight advantage, but no more than that. 19.f1 This passive defense causes
white immediate difficulties. 19.g2 This renders black's occupation of
the g-file less effective. g8 20.a4 and black can't play ...Rg4 so he must
come up with another plan. 19...g8 20.h2 g4 21.e2 xh5 22.h1 b6
Here Bronstein wrote that he broke his own rule of not making a move, even an
obvious one, without checking and as a result he was immediately punished. He
added that fortunately his mistake added to interest to the game. He stated
that the correct move was 22...Rdg8. 22...dg8 23.h2 xg3 24.xh5 xf4 25.d6 xd6 26.d5 b8 with a dangerous attack. 23.h2 f7 23...xg3
still works. After 24.xh5 b8 white is better off than in the previous
variation and the chances are about even. 25.f1 dg8 26.h4 and it's
difficult to see how black can make any progress. 24.f1 d7 Bronstein
said he thought for a very long time over this move. It renounces any threat
of ...Nxc4, but the variations associated with 24...Qg6 were unconvincing. The
aim of the move 24...Nd7 is seen in the variation beginning with 25.Qh3.
Bronstein's idea in playing 24...Nd7 was to reposition the N with ...Nd7-f6-g4
or ...Nd7-f6 and ...Bg6-h5-f3+ 24...g6 25.h3 xg3 26.xh5 g8 27.xg6 8xg6 and black's attack on the K-side is over and the chances in this
position are equal. 25.h3 g6 26.d2 Kavalek waits, hoping to capture
the R under more ideal conditions. 26.xg4 fxg4 27.xg4 f5 28.h3 b6 29.g5 e8 30.f1 and white is slightly better. 26...e8 27.f1 e3 At this
point Bronstein had only 8 minutes to make the time control while Kavalek had
30. 28.e1 g8 29.f3 White has reorganized his pieces and is prepared to
capture the e-Pawn and the R on g4. f7 This indirectly defends the P on e3
because of the threat of ...Rxg3, Black in some cases intends to withdraw the
R to g6. 30.xg4 Not really bad, but not quite as good as capturing om e3.
After the text Kavalek believed he would be facing only the technical problem
of realizing his material advantage (R vs B+P). 30.xe3 This would have
allowed white to keep the advantage. xe3 31.xe3 xg3 32.f1 White has a
solid position and black's attack is at a standstill. 30...fxg4 31.g2 b6 Threatening 32...Nxd5 so white removes his Q from the dangerous diagonal, but
he need not have feared this line. 32.c2 After this black equalizes...at
the least! 32.b3 xd5 33.b2 33.cxd5 xd5 33...e7 34.xf6 and white
is well off. 32...xc4 Kavalek had overlooked this, but the c-Pawn would
have been lost in any case. Now it's a whole new game with black having a
slight advantage. 33.g1 xd5 34.b3 b6 The maneuver ...Na5-c6-d4 did not
promise anything since black's Bs could have been exposed to attack. Now back
devotes his attention to the defense of the d5-square. (Bronstein) 35.xe3
Missing his chance to keep things equal. 35.f5+ d7 36.xe3 e6 37.d3 c7 38.f5 35...c7 A slip. Both players were probably feeling the effects
of the clock. 35...c4 A strong shot. After 36.f5+ b8 37.xf6 c5 38.f5 An extremely complicated position has been reached, but it favors black.
In Shootouts black scored five wins. c6 39.c3 e4 40.d2 a6 41.f2 c3 42.f6 d5 43.f7 d7 44.a4 a5 45.c2 xf7 46.xc3 b6 47.f4+ b7 48.d3 h5 49.c2 d4 50.e2 d5 51.g2 d1 52.xd5 xe3+ wins 36.d2 c6 36...f3 keeps things equal... 37.f5 c4 38.xd6 xd6 39.xf6+ d7 40.d4+ c8 37.f5 c4 38.bxc4 xc4 39.xf6 After this white is lost...he needed to
eliminate the dark squared B. 39.xd6+ xd6 40.xf6+ c5 41.xe8 xe8 42.f8+ b5 43.b2+ a6 44.a3+ a4 and black is better, but white is still in
the game. 39...d5 Kavalek missed this fork...time pressure?! 40.xd5 xd5 The game was adjourned again here. Kavalek had considered 40...Kxd5 to
have been completely wrong and while he was considering his sealed move
Bronstein was studying the position on the demonstration board. After half an
hour Kavalek, seeing that Bronstein was still hanging around offered a draw
which was declined. When he played 40...Kxd5 Bronstein believed white has no
mating attack and he was threatening 41...Bc5. During the half hour he studied
the position Bronstein worked out that the best defense for white was 41.Re5+
Bxe5 42.fxe5, after which white's dark-squared B returns to the game with
great force. Finally, after 44 minutes Kavalek sealed his move and it was the
expected one. 40...xd5 41.xe8 xf1 42.c8+ b6 43.b2+ a6 44.f8 xf8 45.xf8 leaves white slightly better. 41.e5+ Even though it turns out
that this was not the best move, white is lost anyway; 6.5 Ps according to
Stockfish; half that according to Komodo 14. 41.b2 was better. c6 42.g7 xf1 43.xe8 xe8 44.xf1 and the ending is better for black, but it's
still a fight. 41...xe5 42.e3+ Bronstein explain that he had resumed
this game without having a clear path to victory and had to improvise at the
board. And, as a result, he was in time trouble again, but so was Kavalek who
had only 16 minutes remaining. c5 A move played after long thgought, but it
was the only correct move as other K moves would have allowed white to at
least equalize. 43.fxe5 e6 Bronstein correctly admitted 43...Qg6 looked
better, buthe was not certain that the black K could find shelter, but could
have. 43...g6 44.xc4 xc4 45.f1+ d4 and the K is quite safe on d4! 44.f4 b5 45.f8+ b6 46.d6 a6 White's B has arrived at a formidable
position and black must first tend to the safety of his K. And, considering
his time trouble Bronstein decided to place his pieces on the white squares. 47.c2 g6 48.d2 e4 49.c5 xe5 There threatened 50.Nb4+ White has given
up a P in order to increase the mobility of his B and at the same time
reinforce the defense of his K. 50.f2 c8 51.a4 b7 52.a5 a8 53.d4 c7 54.e1 d7 55.axb5 e8 56.a1 a8 After a few less than precise moves time
trouble is over and the black K is no longer in danger. With an active R, a
material advantage and his complete mastery of the white squares, black can
expect to win. 57.c6 Kavalek does not want to go on the defensive and
continues attacking, but he has overlooked black's 58th move. 57.a4 d3 58.c6 e2 59.d4 e4 would not be pleasant for white. 57...xb5 58.xa7 a4 Now the N proves to be misplaced and the game is over. 59.c3 d1+ 60.h2 f8 61.c5 f3 62.g1 e2+ 63.h1 e4+ 64.h2 c2+ 65.xc2 xc2 66.b5 e4 67.c3 c6 68.e2 f1 Kavalek resigned. 0–1
No comments:
Post a Comment