In January 1940, Lupi lost a game to Alekhine in Estoril when Alekhine played a blindfold simultaneous against eight of the best Portuguese players. The following month he drew a simultaneous display game with Alekhine, also in Estoril.
Speaking of Portugal, from October to November 1964, I was taking part in Operation Steel Pike, the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history, conducted by the US Navy and Marine Corps that took place on the coast of Spain.
I remember making an amphibious landing off the USS York County
in an AmTrac
and landing on a beach in Spain. We spent about a week conducting training exercises and I remember a young barber arriving on a motor scooter at our site one afternoon and, armed with only a comb and a pair of scissors, offering to cut hair for a very reasonable price.
We completed our exercise on a farmer's land and that evening he butchered a lamb and invited the officers and senior NCOs to a cookout (I was not included...we ate C-rations)
That brings me to the point that at some time during the Operation we visited Oporto, Portugal and it was the most charming of all the ports we visited on the operation.
But, I have digressed.
The city of Estoril is one of the most expensive places to live in Portugal. It is home to a sizable foreign community. It is famous as a major international luxury tourist destination and is known for its luxury hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. Famed for having been home to numerous royal families and famous personalities, the town is also known for hosting numerous notable events, such as the Estoril Open and the Estoril Film Festival.
By 1944 Alekhine's game had collapsed and he barely defeated Spanish master, Ramon Rey Ardid, in a match and the following year he was often unable to hold his own against obscure Spanish and Portuguese masters.
In 1945-46, during the last couple years of his life, Alekhine was destitute and living in Portugal and during that time Lupi was practically supporting him.
In January 1946, Lupi lost a match to Alekhine (+1 –2 =1) in Estoril. He later told an interviewer that he had agreed to the match because it was financially beneficial to Alekhine. After he won the second game Lupi claimed he regretted having agreed to the match because he realized that Alekhine was sick and disillusioned to the point that he (Lupi) actually had a chance to win. He added that fortunately the match went otherwise when Alekhine won the next two games.
When the interviewer asked if he would not have liked to have defeated Alekhine in the match, Lupi replied, "Of course, but that would have been an irony of destiny, a cruelty, and I have always been a conscientious man and chess player."
Lupi was active mostly during the 1940s and 1950s playing in tournaments and giving many simultaneous exhibitions in Spain. In the spring of 1945, he lost a match against Ramon Rey Ardid (+1 –5 =0).
Lupi's health began declining in 1951 and he was confined to a sanitarium with a heart condition, finally dying in Madrid on January 14, 1954.
In January 1946, the newspaper Sunday Chronicle sponsored a Victory Tournament in London to celebrate the end of the war. There were a couple of disappointments. The Russians, especially Mikhail Botvinnik, were not going to show up and the participation of the World Champion Alekhine was protested against by Max Euwe, the Dutch Chess Federation, Arnold Denker and the USCF because of Alekhine's Nazi sympathies. As a result, Alekhine's invitation was canceled.
At the tournament a partition was circulated condemning Alekhine for his war time anti-Semitic articles that had appeared in the German press.
US Champion Arnold Denker later wrote about how he had signed the petition, but afterwards regretted it because he remembered that in earlier years Alekhine had been very kind to him.
At the time the petition was being circulated, Tartakower pleaded on Alekhine's behalf and took up a collection to help Alekhine out financially.
As for the tournament, there were actually two. The players were divided into two groups, A and B. that were supposed to be equally strong, but a look at the participants shows that was not the case.
The A-group was made up of Herman Steiner, California champion and the 1942 US Open winner, 62-year-old Ossip Bernstein who had "retired" from chess in 1907, Savielly Tartakower, nearly 60 years old and recent Hastings winner, Karel Opocensky, the Czech champion, Lodewijk Prins, the pre-war Dutch champion, Paul List, a UK immigrant from Russia whho was almost 60 years old. Scottish champion, R.J. Broadbent, the soon to be British champion Harry Golombek, minor British master Joseph Stone and a minor master from Czechoslovakia named Otto Friedmann. Of real interest was Alekhine's pupil, 14-year-old Arturo Pomar.
The A event was won by Steiner who finished a point ahead of Bernstein who defeated him in their individual game. Bernstein, like Steiner, lost one game, to Broadbent, but had too many draws. Pomar finished tied for places 6-7 with 5.5 points.
The B event was won by Dutch champion and former World Champion Max Euwe with the Swiss Champ Martin Christoffel a distant second.
Besides them and Arnold Denker, the other players were 64-year-old former British champion Sir George Thomas, Gerald Abrahams, a strong British amateur and Imre Konig, a professional player from Yugoslavia who had immigrated to the UK in 1938. He eventually ended up living in California.
Antonio Medina was the 1938 Spanish Champion, Paul Devos was the Belgian champion, William Winter was a former British champion (1935 & 1936), Gabriel Wood was the London city champion and Richard Newman was the British Army champion.
For Lupi the tournament was hardly a success, but his defeat of Thomas was well played and showed that he was capable of playing some strong chess. Chessmetrics retro-ratings assigns Lupi a high rating of 2508 on its June, 1946 list placing him at number 92 in the world.
[Event "London B"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1946.01.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Sir George Thomas"]
[Black "Francisco Lupi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C86"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "1946.01.14"]
{Ruy Lopez: Worrall Attack} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {[%cal Bf1b5,Bb5a4,
Ba4b3][%mdl 32]} a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 {The Worrall Attack has the advantage of
avoiding the tremendous amount of theory from the mainlines. The idea is that
white will use the Q to support the e-Pawn, leaving the R free to move to d1
to support the advance of the d-Pawn. However, white may not have time to
achieve this goal. Paul Keres played the line in the past and in recent times
Sergei Tiviakov has played it.} b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. c3 d5 {This is the
disadvantage to the Worrall; white is unable to play Rd1 and d4.} (8... d6 {
After this white can carry out the strategy noted in the comment at move 5.} 9.
Rd1 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4) 9. d3 {The only move seen in practical play.} (9.
Rd1 dxe4 10. Ne1 Bg4 11. f3 exf3 12. gxf3 Bh5 {and black has a strategically
won position.}) (9. exd5 {In Marshall Gambit fashion.} Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11.
Qxe5 Nf6 12. d4 Bd6 13. Qe2 Re8 14. Qd1 Bg4 15. f3 Bh5 16. Nd2 c5 {Is
technically equal (according to engines), but it's doubtful anybody would
enjoy playing white's position.}) 9... d4 10. Bg5 (10. Rd1 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12.
Qxf3 {is equal. Tiviakov,S (2648)-Short,N (2683) Montreal 2007}) 10... Be6 (
10... Bb7 {is a better line.} 11. Rc1 dxc3 12. Nxc3 Nd4 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Bxf6
Bxf6 {with an equal position. Safarli,E (2681)-Santos Ruiz,M (2554) Moscow 2019
}) 11. Nbd2 (11. Bxf6 {gives white a slight advantage after} Bxf6 12. Bxe6 fxe6
13. Nbd2) 11... Nh5 12. Bxe7 (12. Bxe6 fxe6 {More exact would have been 12...
Bxg5} 13. Bxe7 Nf4 14. Qd1 Qxe7 15. cxd4 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 exd4 {and after 17.a4
the position would have been equal. Yagupov,I (2466)-Golovchenko,G (2308) St
Petersburg 2002}) 12... Qxe7 (12... Nf4 {Equalizes after} 13. Bxd8 Nxe2+ 14.
Kh1 Raxd8 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. cxd4 Nexd4 17. Rac1) 13. Nxd4 {Not the best.} (13.
cxd4 exd4 14. g3 {Preventing ... Nf5} Bg4 15. Bd5 (15. e5 {This is a good
alternative.} Rae8 16. Rfe1 Nf6 17. Rac1 Qd7 18. Rc5 {and white is better.})
15... Ne5 16. Bxa8 Rxa8 17. h3 Nxf3+ 18. Nxf3 Bxh3 19. Rfc1 {favors white.})
13... Nf4 {This N has an ephemeral future.} 14. Qf3 Nh3+ 15. gxh3 exd4 16. Qg3
Rad8 {This inhibits Bd5.} (16... f5 {leads to interesting play after} 17. exf5
Bxb3 18. axb3 Rxf5) 17. f4 {This move initiates a K-side attack, but because
it ignores black's plans in the center and on the Q-side it results in black
gaining the advantage.} (17. c4 bxc4 18. Bxc4 f5 {Counterattacking in the
center.} 19. Bxe6+ Qxe6 20. f4 fxe4 21. dxe4 d3 22. Rf2 Qd6 23. Raf1 Qd4 24. b3
{with equal chances.}) 17... dxc3 18. bxc3 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Qxc3 20. f5 {After
this black has a significant advantage.} (20. Bxe6 {was better.} fxe6 21. Rac1
Qxd2 22. Rxc6 Qxd3 23. Qxd3 Rxd3 24. Rxe6 {And white can at least put up stiff
resistance.}) 20... Rxd3 21. Qg5 h6 22. Qf4 Bxb3 (22... Rxd2 {Is inferior as
white has an equal position after} 23. fxe6 g5 24. exf7+ Kg7 25. Qg3) 23. Nxb3
Qe5 24. Qg4 Re3 25. Rac1 Rxe4 26. Qg3 Qxg3 27. hxg3 Nb4 28. Rxc7 Nxa2 29. Nc5
Re3 30. Kg2 Rd8 {Otherwise white plays Rd1 and doubles Rs on the 7th rank.} 31.
Nxa6 Rdd3 {Black is clearly winning, but some technique is still required
because double R endings can be tricky. Both sides have to be careful not to
walk into a mate! The defender should avoid trading either of his Rs because
keeping both Rs on the board will create complications that the defender needs.
} 32. Rf4 Rxg3+ 33. Kf2 Rxh3 {Threatens to win with ...Nc3.} 34. f6 Rh2+ 35.
Kg1 Rb2 36. Rf1 Rdd2 37. Re1 gxf6 {White abandoned all hope and resigned.} 0-1
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