Probably the most shocking news story of the year was when singer Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old 2nd cousin, Myra Gale Brown. They were divorced in December of 1970 and she quickly remarried, but that marriage also ended in divorce. She was married a third time in 1984 and started selling real estate in Georgia.
Walt Disney created an uproar in the 1958 movie White Wilderness. The movie's producers purchased scores of lemmings for a scene in which the creatures were pushed and thrown off a cliff while shooting footage that presented it as a natural occurrence. Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide? See the Britannica article HERE
Actress Lana Turner’s 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl, saw her mother being beaten by her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato and killed him with a butcher knife. Read more HERE.
In 1958 radio disc jockey Alan Freed, the man who coined the term Rock and Roll, started being questioned about his being paid to promote specific songs on his popular radio and live shows. Ultimately, Freed was arrested in 1960 for accepting $30,000 in bribes; that's about $300,000 today. In 1962 he was given a small fine and a suspended prison sentence, but his career had been ruined and he died a penniless alcoholic in 1965.
The top song was At The Hop by Danny and The Juniors:
Now, on to chess. I posted on the Haifa-Tel Aviv, 1958 international tournament a few months back and gave Reshevsky's game against Israeli Master Ari Rosenberg, but here is another Reshevsky game from the same event.
This time his victim was Dutch Master Carel van den Berg.
IM Carel Benjamin van den Berg (12 February 1924 – 29 June 1971) spent his childhood in Leiden and after WWII obtained a philosophy degree from the University of Groningen.
He won Dutch Correspondence Championship in 1943 and won the Daniël Noteboom memorial tournaments four times: in 1948, 1953, 1954 and 1959.
He was also a chess theorist and edited Losbladige Schaakberichten and collaborated with Max Euwe on a couple of books. Reshevsky told of the time he was discussing an opening variation with Euwe who suggested that they consult van den Berg. Euwe told Reshevsky that van den Berg remembered hundreds of games by heart, including the tournaments they were played in.
When Reshevsky and van den Berg met in round 12, in order for Reshevky to keep pace with Laszlo Szabo he needed to win.
The opening was one of the latest variations of the K-Indian and Reshevsky managed to get a passed Pawn, but it turned out to be a disadvantage and he had to use all of his resources to defend it.
The middlegame was played well by van den Berg and Reshevsky stated that he was starting to get worried when on his 27th move he suddenly saw a combination which looked extremely promising. It involved sacrificing his Q for a R and B plus hr gained positional superiority. Because van den Berg was in time trouble Reshevsky went for it and his opponent's resistance quickly collapsed.
This game turned out to be very complicated and I found myself running numerous Shootouts to double check the engine's evaluation. For the record, in unclear positions, in the Shootout mode the engine plays against itself until a result is reached.
[Event "Haifa/Tel Aviv"]
[Site "Haifa/Tel Aviv"]
[Date "1958.11.15"]
[Round "12"]
[White "Samuel Reshevsky"]
[Black "Carel van den Berg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E63"]
[Annotator "Stockfush 15"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "1958.??.??"]
{King's Indian: Fianchetto: Panno Variation} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4.
Bg2 O-O 5. O-O d6 6. d4 Nc6 {Popular today, at the time this move was one of
the newest setups in the K-Indian. The purpose is to prepare ...a6 and ...b5
by exerting pressure against white's c-Pawn.} 7. Nc3 a6 8. h3 {At the time 8.
Bf4 (rarely seen today) and 8.b3 (never seen today) were considered good
alternatives. Nowadays the text and 8.d5 (which actually gives the best
results) are the most popular by far.} Rb8 9. Be3 {While not bad, this looks
awkward as he eventually has to move the B again to advance the e-Pawn.} (9. e4
{is the main line and after} b5 10. e5 {play gets interesting.}) 9... b5 10.
cxb5 axb5 11. Nd2 Bd7 12. Rc1 {Here Reshevsky was considering 12.Nb3 in order
to take the square a5 away from black's N, but rightly decided against it.} (
12. Nb3 b4 13. Nd5 {much better than Reshevsky's suggested 13.Nb1} Nxd5 14.
Bxd5 e5 {with good play.}) 12... Na5 {Also quite good was 12...b4} 13. b4 Nc4
14. Nxc4 bxc4 {This is the position Reshevsky had been aiming for: he has a
passed P and has given black doubled Ps. But, as Reshevsky pointed out, these
theoretical advantages remain theoretical only because of the following
considerations: 1) His passed P cannot be easily advanced and 2) Black's
doubled Ps are not a disadvantage in this particular instance because one of
them is a passed P far in the enemy's territory.} 15. a3 {Several more modern
games have seen white play 15.b5 or 15.Rb1, but there is nothing at all wrong
with Reshevsky's move.} c6 {Obviously, intending to support his P on c4 with ..
.d5} 16. Qd2 d5 17. Bg5 {With the logical intention of preparing e4.} Re8 {
Black also intends to advance his e-Pawn.} (17... Qc8 {This odd looking move
was suggest by SashChess. The idea is to gain time attacking the h-Pawn then
transfer the Q to the a-file where it puts pressure on white's a-Pawn.} 18. Kh2
Qa6 19. e4 {with equal chances.}) 18. Rfe1 {He could have played 16.e4
immediately.} Ra8 {Pressuring the a-Pawn and at the same time getting out of
the pin on his R after ...e5. The immediate ...e5 does not work.} (18... e5 19.
dxe5 Rxe5 20. Bf4) 19. a4 Qb6 (19... e5 {is interesting, but not quite
satisfactory as after} 20. dxe5 Rxe5 21. Be3 {white is slightly better. An
interesting continuation is} Rh5 22. g4 Nxg4 23. hxg4 Bxg4 24. Bf4 Qf6 25. e4
d4 26. e5 dxc3 27. exf6 cxd2 28. Bxd2 Bxf6 29. Rxc4 {White is somewhat better.}
) 20. b5 {Slightly better was 20.Rb1 followed by b4-b5. As a result of the
text white is left with a weak a-Pawn.} e6 {Due to some mistakes in his
analysis (he was annotating without an engine!) Reshevsky thought 20...cxb5
was bad, but it it's not. Both it and the move played are satisfactory.} (20...
cxb5 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Nxd5 Qa5 23. Nxf6+ exf6 24. Qxa5 Rxa5 25. axb5 Bxb5 {
with equal chances. In Shootouts all five games were drawn.}) 21. bxc6 (21. e4
{Now was a good time to play this.} cxb5 22. axb5 Nxe4 23. Bxe4 dxe4 24. Rb1
Qxd4 25. Qxd4 Bxd4 26. Nxe4 Kg7 27. b6 Bc6 {in this position also five
Shootout games were drawn.}) 21... Bxc6 {This is superior than taking with the
Q because now the advance of white's e-Pawn is prevented.} (21... Qxc6 22. Bxf6
Bxf6 23. e4) 22. Rb1 (22. e4 dxe4 23. Bf1 (23. Bxf6 Bxf6 24. Bxe4 Red8 {
favors black.}) 23... Red8 24. Bxc4 Rxd4 {Black is slightly better.}) 22... Qa5
23. Rec1 Nd7 {This takes the pressure off the square e4.. A good move was 23...
Qa7 attacking the d-Pawn.} 24. Bf4 (24. e4 {was more appropriate.} Nb6 25. Nxd5
Qxd2 (25... exd5 26. Qxa5 Rxa5 27. Rxb6 Bxa4 {is good for white.}) 26. Bxd2
Nxd5 27. exd5 exd5 28. Rb6 Bxa4 29. Bxd5 Rad8 30. Bxc4 Bxd4 {with a likely
draw.}) 24... Bf8 {As Reshevsky pointed out, his passed P is not an asset
because it is weak and feebly protected. He also observed that if black can get
control of the b-file white would be in real trouble. Also, black's pieces are
well positioned.} 25. Qb2 {Intending to play B-Q2.} (25. e4 {is still the best
move. One plausible sequence is} Ba3 26. Rc2 Bb4 27. Qc1 Bxc3 28. Rxc3 Qxa4 {
Black is a P ahead, but his bad B and white's control of the b-file are
sufficient compensation. This was confirmed by another Shootout which resulted
in five draws.}) 25... Ra7 (25... Bxa4 {leads to complications that seem to
favor white.} 26. Ra1 Qb6 27. Qxb6 Nxb6 28. Bc7 Bb3 29. Bxb6 Rxa1 30. Rxa1 Bb4
31. Rc1 Ba3 32. Rb1 Bb4 33. Nd1 Bd2 {and white is better, but by enough to
win? Probably not. In five Shootouts white scored one win and one game went
over 150 moves. Practically speaking the game is likely a draw/}) 26. Bd2 Rb7 {
For nitpickers Reshevsky said 26...Qa6 was correct while Stockfish prefers 26..
.Rb8, but there's only a fraction of a Ps difference in the evaluations.} 27.
Qxb7 {This is why Reshevsky believed black should have played 26...Qa6. There
is, as he pointed out, very little doubt that van der Berg did not see this
sacrifice. Ordinarily, of course, a R and B are not sufficient material for a
Q, but in this particular case there are the additional, important
considerations. i.e. white's passed P and gaining control of the seventh rank.
Technically all things taken into consideration, the position is dead equal,
but practically, as we shall see, black's cramped position is difficult to
defend.} Bxb7 28. Rxb7 Qd8 (28... Nb6 {is refuted by} 29. Ne4 Qa6 30. Nf6+ Kh8
31. Rxf7 {threatening mate with Rxh7, so...} Re7 32. Rxf8+ Kg7 33. Bh6+ Kxh6
34. Rg8 {with a decisive advantage.}) 29. Rcb1 {[%mdl 1024]} Bg7 {Black's
pieces are almost completely out of play, but instead of the text which has
the logic of attacking the e-Pawn, 29...Kg7 was actually his best move. At f8
the B keeps on eye on the squares on the a3-f8 diagonal and d6 in particular.}
(29... Kg7 30. Nb5 Re7 31. a5 Nb8 {and it will be very difficult for white to
make any progress.}) 30. Nb5 {Black's next move is the decisive mistake...
possibly a "harmless" move made in time pressure?!} Kh8 {[%mdl 8192]} (30...
Nb6 {loses} 31. a5 Nc8 32. a6 h6 33. Ra1 Nd6 34. Ba5 Qa8 35. Nc7) (30... Qe7
31. Bb4 Qd8 32. e4 h5 33. e5 Qc8 34. Rc7 Qa6 35. Rxd7 Qxa4 {With the
elimination of the a-Pawn a lot of white's advantage has gone also, but he
still has a lot of piece activity and can therefore force black to play
carefully.}) (30... Qe7 31. a5 {The advance of this P is a road to extreme
complications that are best avoided.} Rb8 32. Nc7 Rxb7 33. Rxb7 Bxd4 34. a6 Qa3
35. Bh6 c3 {with equal chances.} 36. Nb5 Qxa6 37. Rxd7 Bf6 38. Nd6 c2 39. Kh2
Qb6 40. Rxf7 Qxd6 41. Rxf6 g5 42. Bxd5 c1=Q 43. Bxe6+ Kh8 44. Rf8+ Qxf8 45.
Bxf8 {An amazing position. In Shootouts going well over 100 moves Black scored
3 wins and 2 draws.}) 31. a5 {[%mdl 32] White's passed P Is now something to
be really concerned about.} Nb8 32. Nc7 {Slightly less precise would have been
32.Rxf7} Rf8 33. e3 {Protecting the d-Pawn. White need not be in any hurry
because black can't really do anything.} Nc6 34. a6 Nxd4 {Obviously a
desperate attempt to get some counterplay, but if black just does nothing, he
is going to be strangled slowly but surely.} 35. exd4 Bxd4 36. a7 Qf6 37. Rb8
Qxf2+ 38. Kh2 Bxa7 39. Rxf8+ Kg7 40. Nxe6+ Kf6 41. Rf1 {This is the move that
white had in mind when he made his 37th move. Black reigned.} 1-0
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