But, there are also fighting draws. Games in which both players
attack each other like wild animals; these are exciting battles leading to bloodshed. Sometimes these games continue until the players are exhausted, but not beaten...like in the following game.
It was played in Bucharest in 1953, an interesting tournament in that it involved cheating by the Russians...nothing new really! The tournament was a big deal in Bucharest. Twenty contestants were invited and it drew more than 700 spectators every day! Gosta Stoltz, the Swedish Grandmaster, was in his late forties and was the oldest player and the youngest was 16-year-old Boris Spassky.
Years later Spassky wrote about his experience in Bucharest. "It sounds funny, but the Soviet authorities helped me. The tournament began with a clash between Soviet players, as a result of which the Hungarian, Laszlo Szabo gained the lead. We then got a telegram from Moscow: 'Put an end to this nonsense and agree draws among yourselves!' Well it was convenient that I'd already scored a full point against Smyslov, but given my youth and inexperience I think it would have been difficult for me to achieve draws against Boleslavsky and Petrosian as well. Yet here was everybody obeying the order from Moscow, and as a result I became an International Master."
Note that there were two players named Szabo participating. The great Hungarian GM Laszlo Szabo (1917-1998) and the lesser known Romanian master, Stefan Szabo (1911-1954).
Writing about Hastings 1954/55 My Best Games of Chess, Laszlo Szabo said, "An excellent performance by a dead man', remarked a London friend of mine. Well, it turned out that many people believed me dead and buried in England. When Stefan Szabo died, the press agencies announced me dead by mistake. The outstanding English chess player, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, had already written my obituary for his column, when I turned up in Hastings. I was not sorry that the obituary was unpublished, but I still think I should have asked Alexander to give me the proof. It must be terribly interesting to read how people think of one after one's death."
Laszlo Szabo was born in Budapest and burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the age of 18, winning the Hungarian Championship, an international tournament in Tatatovaros and he was on the Hungarian team at the Warsaw Chess Olympiad.
Prior to World War II he had a number of successes before beginning career as a banker, dealing in foreign exchange. At the outbreak of war he was attached to a Forced Labor Unit and was later captured by Russian troops who held him as a prisoner of war.
After the war, he returned to chess and played many major international events. including the Interzonals and Candidates' tournaments. He continued to enjoy success into the 1960s and 1970s. He was known for his uncompromising attacking style.
His opponent Victor Ciocaltea (January 16, 1932 – September 10, 1983) was a Romanian GM (awarded in 1978) who won the Romanian Championship in 1952, 1959, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975 and 1979. He played in eleven Chess Olympiads from 1956 to 1982. Ciocaltea was a participant of four zonal FIDE tournaments between 1954 and 1982. He died at the board while playing a in a Spanish tournament in September, 1983.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Laszlo Szabo–Victor Ciocaltea½–½B95Bucharest1953Stockfish 15
Sicilian Najdorf 1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.g5 e6 7.e2 e7 8.0-0 c7 9.d3 White chooses a sharp continuation that was
used quite often by Paul Keres. bd7 9...c6 10.ad1 xd4 11.xd4 d7 12.d3 c6 13.fd1 b5 14.a3 with equal chances. Yurtaev,L (2505)-Dzyuban,O
(2440) Alma Ata KAZ 1995 10.g3 White might now consider 10.a4 hindering ..
.b5 10.f4 h6 11.h4 g5 12.fxg5 hxg5 13.g3 e5 14.xe5 dxe5 15.b3
Rysbayeva,K (1983)-Sukhov,M (2128) Alma-Ata 2008 10...e5 After this white
secures the advantage. Correct was either launching a Q-side demonstration
with 10...b5 or putting pressure on the e-Pawn with 10...Nc5 11.ad1 0-0
Castling at this moment is looking for trouble. 11...h6 would have
eliminated much of the danger to his K-side. 12.xf6 xf6 13.f4 g6
White has two reasonable continuations in 14.f5 and 14.Bh5, both of which are
designed to weaken black's K-side, but black appears to have adequate
resources to defend himself. 12.f4 g6 13.f5 e5 As will now be clear,
black's failure to force a decision on white's B on move 11 now makes itself
felt. 14.h6 g6 Black may have realized too late
that 14..Ne8 is not good. There would follow: 15. P-B6, BxP; 16. RxB, N-N3; 17.
RxN, etc. 14...e8 15.f6 xf6 16.xf6 g6 16...h8 is no better. 17.xg7+ xg7 18.h6 e8 19.h3 f6 Material is equal, but white's position is
superior. 17.xg6 hxg6 18.c1 Material-wise white has a B+B vs R+P, but
he has a free hand on the K-side and black's position is a losing one. 15.fxg6 gxh6 White has a number of reason able moves. The move played, 16.gxf7+,
16.e5 and 16.gxh7+ 16.g7 16.gxf7+ This is the most forceful. h8 16...xf7 17.h5# 17.g4 xg4 18.xg4 g5 19.g3 xf7 20.xf7 xf7 21.xd6
with a winning position. 16...e8 Though there is no forced win white is
clearly better, but on his next move it would have been best to add a R to the
fray with 17.Rd3 and then place his N on f5. 17.h1 b5 18.a3 Stifling black's counterplay, but it was not strictly necessary.
18.e5 is a winning punch. dxe5 19.xf6 xf6 20.e4 e7 21.h5 f5 22.xb5 axb5 23.xe8 g5 23...fxe4 24.f7+ xf7 25.g8+ f6 26.f1# 24.xg5 hxg5 25.xg5 xg7 26.d8 At first glance it may look like black has
survived, but he is actually quite lost. f8 27.c6 xa2 28.c7 a6 29.xb5 White's Q-side Ps will assure a won ending. 18...b7 Better was 18...Qc5
as will be seen next move. 18...c5 19.d5 fails exd5 20.exd5 xd5 21.xb5 b7 22.f3 xb5 23.xa8 e6 In this very messy situation Stockfish
states black is clearly winning. Over the board things might not be so clear. 19.f3 Again, Szabo misses a knockout, but the complications are abstruse. 19.d5 Attacking the Q which would be the case if it was on c5 xd5 19...exd5 20.f5 This cannot be allowed. 21.Nxh6 mate is threatened. g4 21.xg4 g5 22.h4 wins 20.exd5 xd5 21.f3 f6 22.xd5 e5 23.xe6 xe6 24.f3 ae8 25.xe6 xe6 26.a8+ xg7 27.xa6 xh2 28.xb5 and white is winning. 19...d7 It would have been somewhat better to drive the Q off with ...
h5-h4 20.d5 Szabo doesn't miss it a second time. Black is lost. exd5 21.f5 To repeat, the threat is 22.Nxh6 mate g5 22.h4
Relentless. dxe4 23.h5 With multitudinous
threats! Black's answer is the only way of trying to save face. f6 24.hxg5 xh5 25.xh6+ xg7 26.h4 With this imprecise move, white loses much of his
advantage, but he remains clearly better. 26.h2 f8 White wins. 26...g6 is now met
by 27.xd6+ 27.xh5 26...g6 A great defensive resource! 27.g4 27.xf7 hands over the advantage after e7 28.df1 xf7 29.xf7 xc2 30.xb7 c1+ 31.h2 e8 and the threat of the advance of the e-Pawn
cannot be met. 27.g4 This, however, keeps a significant advantage. f5 27...e3 28.f6 xg2+ 28...e2 29.xh5+ g7 30.h6+ mate next move. 29.xg2 xc2+ 30.g1 e2 31.xh5+ g7 32.xe8+ h8 32...xe8 33.xf7+
mates in 3 33.f3 c5+ 34.h1 xg5 35.xe2 and wins 28.f6 xf6 29.h6+ f7 30.xf5 White has a decisive advantage. 27...g3+ With this
move Ciocaltea finds a way out of his trouble. 28.xg3 e3+ 29.g1 e2 30.xd6+ g7 31.g6+ Clever, but insufficient; his advantage has disappeared. 31.e1 c5+ 32.f2 xf2+ 33.xf2 c8 34.xe2 xe2+ 35.xe2 e6 with a
likely draw. 31...hxg6 32.xc7 exf1+ 33.xf1 The storm
is over and the Q has no advantage over the two Rs. d5 34.c3+ h7 35.b3 ac8 36.h3 After the correct 36.Qd2 the position is equal, but
this move offers black a chance at gaining a winning advantage! g7 Which
Ciocaltea grabs. 36...xc2 is inferior. 37.xf7+ g7 38.h6+ xf7 39.h7+ f8 40.h8+ 40.xg6 loses outright after g2+ 41.g1 e1+ 42.h2 e4+ 40...g8 41.f6+ draws. 37.d3 cd8 Missing his chance to turn
the tables and establish a winning position. Understandable after the
defensive ordeal he has been through. 37...e5 38.d4 ce8 39.c4 bxc4 40.bxc4 c6 and white is in serious difficulty. For example... 41.f2 xg5 42.xf7+ xh6 43.f4 d7 44.c5 xg4 45.c6 e7 46.f8+ g7 47.c7 47.h8+ h7 48.f8+ h5 49.d6 f7+ 50.e1 gf5 and after white runs out of Q checks
he will be left with a lost position. 51.h2+ g5 52.d2+ h4 53.h2+ h3 54.b8 g5 55.c7 e5+ 56.d2 d7+ 57.c2 c5+ 58.b1 d1+ 59.b2 d2+ 60.b3 e6+ 61.b4 dc2 and black has a mate in 12. It's impossible to fault
black for not seeing all this! 47...f5+ 38.c3+ The position is equal. h7 39.f6 c8 40.f5 gxf5 41.xf5+ g7 Draw agreed. A fitting end to an
amazing game. ½–½
No comments:
Post a Comment