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Friday, June 17, 2022

The Other Christmas Tournament

     Everybody knows about the annual Hastings Christmas tournament. The first one took place in 1920-21 and was a four player double round-robin of British Champions, won by Frederick Yates ahead of R.H.V. Scott, Henry Atkins and Richard Griffith. It grew in importance and the winner's list became a Who's Who of chess champions. 
     There was another international Christmas tournament in Lucerne, Switzerland, but it only lasted from 1947-48 to 1953-54 and the most prominent winner was former World Champion Max Euwe in 1950-51 who tied with Herman Pilnik of Argentina. 
     Just three weeks before, in the 1950 Amsterdam tournament, Euwe and Pilnik met in round 7; Pilnik won and they ended up sharing sixth place. There were 18 players and Najdorf finished ahead of Reshevsky. 

     At Lucerne they met in the last round, played 25 moves and called it a draw. In the following game, in a good position, the Swiss Master Martin Christoffel strives for more than he should have and his plans were frustrated by two counters by Pilnik...one on the Q-side, the other on the K-side. Black was then left with the better ending and managed to win against demoralized resistance. A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
[Event "Lucerne"] [Site "?"] [Date "1950.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Dr. Martin Christoffel"] [Black "Herman Pilnik"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B91"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "92"] [EventDate "1950.??.??"] {Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 { This is known as either the Fianchetto Variation or the Zagreb Variation. Despite its quiet appearance black has to play accurately. Spanish GM Javier Moreno Carnero explains, "...in general, theoreticians have not investigated this line deeply enough, probably because they consider it a minor line, and as result underestimate its real value. Many Najdorf specialists have experienced some problems due to this, mainly because they did not really know the dangers hidden in this scheme. This variation is not only strategically complex, but also a bit of transpositional chaos because many lines can be reached through different move orders."} Bg4 {Very seldom played. Black almost always replies with 6...e5} 7. f3 Bd7 8. Bg2 {White continues in a slow, but solid, way. More aggressive is 8. g4, the loss of time being insignificant because clack has also lost time with his B. The initiative is what is important here.} (8. g4 h6 9. Be3 e6 10. Qd2 (10. h4 {This is also good.} Be7 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. O-O-O b5 13. Qg2 Nxd4 14. Bxd4 b4 15. Ne2 {with a sharp position. Popovic,P (2550)-Ljubojevic,L (2635) Belgrade 1989}) 10... Nc6 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. h4 Qc7 13. Rg1 b5 14. Qf2 Rc8 15. g5 {White has a strong attack. Stefansson,H (2585)-Miton,K (2600) Reykjavik 2011}) 8... Nc6 9. Be3 (9. Nb3 g6 10. Be3 Bg7 11. a4 Ne5 12. Nd2 Rc8 13. a5 Nc4 14. Nxc4 Rxc4 15. Bb6 Qc8 16. O-O {Black is slightly better. Hernandez,A (2285) -Gormally,D (2484) Cardiff 2015}) 9... Rc8 10. O-O (10. Nde2 Ne5 11. b3 g6 12. O-O Bg7 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 { is equal. Stoyanov,I (1978)-Fedoseev,V (2321) Herceg Novi 2008}) 10... Nxd4 11. Bxd4 e5 12. Be3 Be7 13. Rf2 O-O 14. Rd2 b5 15. a3 Be6 16. Qe2 Rc6 {By transposition the position has reached one very similar to the Boleslavsky Variation. where the entire game centers around one single strategic goal: the control of d5. It's complicated...opposite flank attacks often happen as do breaks in the center and tactics can erupt. So far white has played well and holds a a slight advantage. He ought to now continue with 17.Nd5.} 17. h3 { Christoffel wants to continue with 18.f4 so first guards first against 18... Ng4, but he is aiming for more than the position justifies and black now obtains strong counterplay.} (17. Nd5 Bxd5 {This deprives black of his better B, but it's the best way for black to get counterplay.} (17... Nxd5 {of course loses a piece.} 18. exd5 Rc4 19. dxe6) 18. exd5 Rc4 {with equal chances.}) (17. Nd5 h5 (17... Qd7 18. Nb4) 18. a4 Rc4 19. Nxe7+ Qxe7 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ra6 { Although black is on the defensive with careful play he should have adequate resources.}) (17. f4 {at once is met by} Rxc3 18. bxc3 Qa5 19. f5 Bc4 {and black has fully equalized.}) 17... Qc8 {Sacrificing the exchange with 17... Rxc3 was good here, too.} 18. Kh2 Rxc3 {For the exchange, black seizes the initiative, gets one P and sooner or later he may pick up a second one. Even so, at this point the position is equal.} 19. bxc3 Qxc3 {White has two reasonable, but passive, moves: 20.Rdd1 and 20.Qe1} 20. Rad1 {White still dreams of getting an attack going with the advance of the f-Pawn and so willingly gives up another P...a questionable decision.} Qxa3 21. f4 {This move does not help white's position, but practically speaking, no other move is better.} (21. Qe1 Qc3 22. Rd3 Qc6 {and black remains with the slightly better position.}) (21. Bg5 Qc5 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 (22... gxf6 {is also playable.} 23. f4 a5 {Black is slightly better.}) 23. Rxd6 Ra8 24. f4 {Finally, but blck is better.}) 21... Bg4 {A little tactical trick that works...white plays into an unfavorable endgame.} (21... h5 {keeps the initiative and was a better move as after} 22. Qd3 Qa5 23. Qe2 Qc3 24. Qd3 Rc8 {White has no attacking prospects and all he can do is shift pieces while black further builds up his position. Still, white's game can hardly be considered lost.}) 22. hxg4 Qxe3 23. g5 Qxe2 24. Rxe2 Nd7 25. fxe5 {It's hard to explain this move which completely spoils his P-formation and gives black's pieces good squares.} (25. Red2 {keeps the chances equal. For example...} Ra8 26. Ra1 Nc5 27. Rd5 a5 28. Bf1 b4 29. Bc4 {is doubtful black can make any real progress.}) 25... Nxe5 26. Ra1 Ra8 (26... Bxg5 27. Rxa6 Rd8 28. Rb6 {and white has equalized.}) 27. c3 g6 28. Rea2 Rc8 29. Rxa6 Rxc3 {Black's passed P gives him all the winning chances. Perhaps white can manage to save the game, but the pressure is on him to keep finding the best defense.} 30. Rb1 Bxg5 {Now is the right time to play this. It's instructive to watch how Pilnik is able to conjure up an attack against Christoffel's King.} 31. Rxb5 {Capturing the right P because the b-Pawn is more dangerous than the d-Pawn.} h5 {White is is grave danger from the threta of ...Ng4+} 32. Kh1 (32. Rxd6 Ng4+ 33. Kg1 Rc1+ 34. Bf1 Be3+ 35. Kg2 Rc2+ 36. Be2 Rxe2+ 37. Kf1 Rf2+ 38. Ke1 Rf3 {with a won ending/}) 32... Be7 33. Rb7 Bf6 34. Rxd6 Ng4 (34... Rc1+ {would have been a knockout punch.} 35. Kh2 Ng4+ 36. Kh3 Rc3 37. Rdb6 Be5 38. Rb3 Nf2+ 39. Kh2 Bxg3+ 40. Kg1 Rc1+ 41. Bf1 Nxe4) 35. Bh3 Nf2+ 36. Kh2 Nxe4 37. Ra6 {[%mdl 8192] The final mistake after which white is clearly lost.} (37. Rd5 {keeps him in the game.} Re3 38. Rdd7 { Counterattack! Now there is nothing black can do because of the Rs on the 7th rank.} Re2+ 39. Kg1 Nxg3 40. Rb8+ Kg7 41. Rbb7 {and if} Kh6 42. Rd3 h4 43. Rxf7 {and five Shootouts were all drawn.}) 37... h4 {An interesting situation has arisen and it demonstrates why old pre-engine analysis is so often untrustworthy. In many cases annotations were based on the result and they were also quite superficial. Hans Kmoch gave this move a ! and called it the finishing touch. In fact, it's question mark worthy because it should have allowed white to equalize. Of course, Kmoch didn't have Stockfish.} (37... Be5 {is winning.} 38. Re7 Ng5 39. Kh1 (39. Rxe5 Nf3+) 39... Bxg3) 38. Ra8+ { [%mdl 8192] White misses a chance to equalize. The next few moves are poorly played by both players and it may very likely have been due to time pressure.} (38. Rb4 Re3 39. Rxe4 {By returning the exchange white eliminates all danger to his K.} hxg3+ 40. Kg2 Rxe4 41. Rxf6 Re3 {and white can draw.}) 38... Kg7 39. Rc8 hxg3+ {Better was 39...Rxg3 and ...Ng5} 40. Kg2 Ra3 {After this we are back to equality!} (40... Rd3 41. Rc2 {Or else black has a winning check on d2. } (41. Rcc7 Rd2+ 42. Kf1 Rf2+ 43. Kg1 Bd4 {wins}) 41... Nd6 42. Rd7 Kh6 43. Rc5 Rd2+ 44. Kxg3 Ne4+ 45. Kf3 Rxd7 46. Kxe4 {Black scored five wins in Shootouts.} ) 41. Rcc7 {[%mdl 8192] Logical, doubling Rs on the 7th, but it turns out to be the final mistake that loses the game.} (41. Be6 {This powerful move makes a draw a likely outcome.} Nd6 42. Rcc7 {Now is the time for this.} Nxb7 43. Rxf7+ Kh6 44. Rxb7 {draws}) 41... Ra2+ {Black is now back on track and wraps it up.} 42. Kf3 Ng5+ 43. Kg4 Ra4+ 44. Kxg3 Be5+ 45. Kg2 Bxc7 46. Rxc7 Ra2+ { White resigned} 0-1

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