The bad news was that 3,300 people died of polio in the US and 57,000 children were paralyzed.
Over in England, Elizabeth II became the Queen after the death of her father King George VI and on December 4th a thick smog in London caused 4,000 fatalities. Great Smog of London
There was also more bad news for England because 1952 was the year the Mau Mau Rebellion started in Kenya.
The chess world lost a number of players that year and the British were hit especially hard. Robert F. Combe (1912-1952), the 1946 British champion, died at the age of 39 in Aberdeen on February 12. William
E. Napier (1881-1952), the British champion in 1904, died in
Washington DC at the age of 71 on September 7th. On October 20th Philip W.
Sergeant (1872-1952) died in England at the age of 80.
The French problem composer Henri Rinck (1870-1952) died in Barcelona. Jan Foltys (1908-1952) the 1942 Czech champion died in Moravska Ostrava, Czechoslovakia on March 11th. On June 18th Efim Bogoljubov died at the age of 63 in Triberg, Germany after giving a simultaneous exhibition. On July 16, Vasily Platov (1881-1952), an endgame study composer, died in Latvia.
There was a revolution in Cuba. In March of 1952 Fulgencio Batista returned to power through a bloodless military coup that deposed Carlos Prio Socarras. Batista returned as a brutal dictator, controlling the university, the press, the Congress and he embezzled huge sums from the soaring economy. He was eventually deposed by Fidel Castro.
Earlier in the year there was an international tournament in Havana that was held in February-March, 1952. During the tournament, on March 14th, the Cuban champion Juan Quesada died of a heart attack. His funeral was attended by all the players in the tournament.
As a result of Batista'a coup, the Mexican players (Manuel Soto Larrea and Jose Joaquin Araiza Munoz) were recalled by their government.
In the midst of it all few took note of the Italian championship that was played in Ferrara. Three players tied for first place and reigned as joint champions; they were Vincenzo Castaldi, Alberto Giustolisi anf Federico Norcia.
Today's game is from the Italian Championship. Guido Matteucci (May 11, 1884 - December 2, 1957, 73 years old) lost to Giorgio Porreca (August 30, 1927 - January 5, 1988, 60 years old).
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| Porrecca |
Porreca wrote several books on chess history. He had a degree in Russian language and Russian literature and translated a number of Russian chess books into Italian. He founded and until his death directed the Italian chess magazine Scacco! He was also an expert in endgame studies and for many years edited the endgame study section of the magazine.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Guido Matteucci–Giorgio Porreca0–1C58Italian Championship, FerrareFerrara ITA1952Stockfish 15
Two Knights Defense 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.c4 f6 First recorded by
Polerio in the late 1500s this defense was extensively developed in the 1800s.
The Two Knights is aggressive...black invites an attack on f7 and if white
accepts the game quickly takes on a tactical character: The defense's theory
was explored extensively in the game between Yakov Estrin and Hans Berliner in
the 1965 World Correspondence Championship. 3...e7 This is the Hungarian
Defense which was recommended for amateurs by CJS Purdy because it leads to a
quiet game that emphasizes strong defensive-positional play without tactical
complications. On the downside black must be prepared to defend a cramped
position. 4.0-0 4.d4 d6 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.bd2 f6 7.c3 0-0 with equality. 4...f6 5.d3 0-0 6.e1 d6 with a solid position. 4.g5 A
controversial move. While it attacks f7 the claim is that it loses time which
will eventually tell against white. d5 4...c5 can lead to wild
complications, but against correct play black has no compensation for the P
plus his K remains in the center. 5.xf7+ e7 6.b3 f8 7.d3 d6 8.f3 e8 9.e3 g4 10.h3 xf3 11.xf3 d4 12.g3 h5 13.h4+ d7 14.g4+ Bortnyk,
O (2598)-Morozevich,A (2659) lichess.org INT 2020. White is better and went on
to win. 5.exd5 a5 This is the standard move. 5...b5 6.f1 d4 7.c3 xd5 8.e4 h4 9.g3 g4 10.f3 e4 11.cxd4 d6 12.xb5+ d8 13.0-0 exf3 14.xf3 b8 Yakov Estrin-Hans Berliner ICCF World CC 1965. Although white
lost the game Stockfish thinks white is clearly better (2 Ps plus_. 6.d3 6.b5+ Black supposedly has compensation for the P after c6 7.dxc6 bxc6
but in practice white scores well after 8.Be2! 6...h6 7.f3 e4 8.e2 xc4 9.dxc4 c5 10.h3 0-0 11.h2 e3 exposing the vulnerability of the g3 square.
It's hard to go back and pinpoint exactly where white went wrong in giving
black such a strong initiative. Perhaps 6.d3 was the culprit. 12.xe3 xe3 13.fxe3 e4 There is no way white can successfully avoid a N fork on g3. 14.0-0 g3 15.f2 15.f3 xf1 16.xf1 h4 17.bd2 d7 18.g3 xg3 19.xg3
is equal. Narmontas,R (2056)-Martinkus,R (2140) Lithuania 2015 15.d3 xf1 16.xf1 g5 17.e4 and even though black is slightly better a draw was
agreed to in Rakic,T-Ivkov, B Sombor 1957 15...xf1 16.xf1 g5 16...b5
Black maintains a slight advantage after this. 17.c3 17.b3 bxc4 18.bxc4 c6 19.dxc6 black is winning. 17...bxc4 18.e4 Black is better. 17.f3 17.bd2 equalizes. b5 17...xh3 18.f3 g6 19.h4 g5 20.f3 draws 18.f3 f6 19.d4 17...f5 Now, with 18.Bc3 and 19.Re1 white has a nearly
equal game. Instead, his next move is a tactical error. 18.e4 A
surprising move. Its point will soon become clear. xe4 19.xe4 ae8 20.d4 e1 Both Ns are pinned and the R is useless. 21.f2 fe8 22.g3 c1
White is practically in Zugzwang. 23.d2 23.c3 f4+ 24.f3 d4+ 25.e3 xe3# 23...xa1 24.f5 1e5 25.g4 e1+ Not that it matters, but he missed
a forced mate. 25...e2+ 26.g3 e1+ 27.f3 h1+ 28.g3 g2+ 29.h4 g5+ 30.h5 xh3+ 31.h4 xh4# 26.f3 White plays a couple of more moves
out of inertia. e2+ 27.g3 e3+ 28.xe3 xe3+ White resigned. Nearly
flawless play by Porreca! 0–1
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