Lucerne Christmas Tournament 1950-51

 

Euwe defeats Giustolisi

     The year 1950...paranoia about the Communist taking over the country was rampant and there was the dark fear of nuclear war. 

     Television was coming into its own. Popular programs included game shows What's My Line, Beat the Clock, Truth or Consequences and You Bet Your Life. Entertainment/sit-coms The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and The Jack Benny Program debuted. 

     You could buy a new house for $8,500, a car for $1,500 and gas was $0.18 a gallon. And, if you made an average salary, you made $3,200 a year. 

     The chess year started with the 1949-50 Hastings Christmas tournament ending on January 8, 1950. Laszlo Szabo won and Americans were thrilled to learn that 17-year-old Larry Evans finished 4th. And, Ludmila Rudenko won the second Women's World Championship, held in Moscow. 

     Only two chess players departed this earth in 1950. On May 27, American chess patron Maurice Wertheim died at the age of 64 and on October 30, the 1929 Soviet Champion IM Boris Velinsky died in Moscow at the age of 62.

     Madame Chantel Chaude de Silans became the first woman to play on a men’s team when she played first reserve board on the French team at the Dubrovnik Olympiad; she scored +1 -4 =1. The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) was formed. 

     The US State Department would not allow Reshevsky to travel to Hungary for the first candidates tournament that was held in Budapest. David Bronstein and Isaac Boleslavsky tied for first and it was Bronstein who won the playoff by a score of 7.5-6.5. 

     FIDE awarded the first Grandmaster title to 27 players, 94 IMs and 17 Women IMs. GMs were Bernstein, Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Duras, Euwe, Fine, Flohr, Gruenfeld, Keres, Kostic, Kotov, Levenfish, Lilienthal, Maroczy, Mieses, Najdorf, Ragozin, Reshevsky, Saemisch, Smyslov, Stahlberg, Szabo, Tartakower, and Vidmar. 

     In November, the USCF published its first rating list; Fine was number one and Reshevsky number 2. There was no US Championship tournaments in 1949 or 1950 so Herman Steiner, who won the championship in 1948 in South Fallsburg, New York ahead of Isaac Kashdan, held the title. 

     In other news, Arthur Bisguier won the 1950 US Open, held in Detroit and the Yugoslav team (Gligoric, Pirc, Trifunovic, Rabar, Vidmar junior, Puc) won the Dubrovnik Chess Olympiad. The United States team (Samuel Reshevsky, Herman Steiner, I.A. Horowitz, George Shainswit, George Kramer and Larry Evans) finished fourth. 

     The year ended with the 1950-51 Hastings Christmas tournament getting underway. It was won by West Germany's Wolfgang Unzicker who was undefeated and finished ahead of O'Kelly and Rossolimo. 

     There was another Christmas tournament nobody remembers that was being held 590 miles away in Lucerne, Switzerland. Today's game is from that event. Underappreciated World Champion Dr. Max Euwe defeated Italian master Alberto Giustolisi. 

     Giustolisi (March 17, 1928 - February 27, 1990) was IM who won the Italian Championship four times: 1952 (shared with Castaldi and Norcia), 1961, 1964 and 1966. 

 

[Event "Lucerne Christmas Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "1950.12.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Alberto Giustolisi"] [Black "Max Euwe"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "2022.07.13"] {Nimzo-Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Nf3 c5 6. dxc5 Na6 { [%mdl 32]} 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. Qxc3 Nxc5 9. b4 Nce4 10. Qc2 b6 {the main alternative here is 10...a5, but as might be expected, Euwe plays the most exact move and enjoys a slight advantage.} 11. Bb2 {Two other moves have been tried here: 11.Ng5 and 11.e3.} Bb7 12. e3 {White seems oblivious to the coming attack on f2.} (12. Nd2 {was his best move. After} d5 13. cxd5 Rc8 14. Qd3 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Bxd5 {Black is slightly better.}) 12... Ng4 13. h3 {This is incomprehensible! Why waste a move forcing black to play the move he was going to play anyway?} (13. Be2 Ngxf2 14. O-O Ng4 15. Bd3 f5 {Black is clearly better, but at least white has minimized the damage.}) 13... Ngxf2 14. Rg1 f5 { This keeps the Bs diagonal open, but even better was 14...d5} (14... d5 15. Bd3 (15. cxd5 {leaves white lost after} Rc8 16. Qb1 Qxd5 {and there is no way for white to salvage the game.}) 15... Rc8 (15... Nxd3+ 16. Qxd3 Qc7 17. Be5 Qxc4 18. Qxc4 dxc4 {with a won ending.}) 16. Bxe4 Nxe4) 15. Be2 Qc7 {The nasty threat is ...Qg3} 16. Be5 d6 17. Bb2 g5 {[%mdl 2048] Black has a dangerous K-side initiative, but white's position, while clearly inferior, turns out to have some defensive resources.} 18. Rf1 g4 19. Nd4 (19. Rxf2 {was the only reasonable try.} Nxf2 20. Kxf2 gxf3 21. gxf3 Kf7 {and white remains without any counterplay.} 22. Qc3 Qe7 23. Qg7+ Ke8 24. Rg1 Qh4+ 25. Rg3 Rf7 26. Qg5 Qxg5 27. Rxg5 f4 28. e4 Rc8 {and at least white can make a fight of it.}) 19... Qe7 {Evidently the idea is to play ...Qh4, but playing in the center would have been more dangerous to white.} ({Black should try} 19... e5 20. Rxf2 Nxf2 (20... exd4 {lets white off the hook.} 21. Rf4 dxe3 22. O-O-O Rf7 (22... gxh3 { would be a ghastly blunder.} 23. Rxe4 Bxe4 24. Qc3 Qe7 25. c5 Rf6 26. cxd6 Qd8 27. d7 hxg2 28. Qxf6 Qxf6 29. Bxf6 Bd5 30. d8=Q+ Rxd8 31. Bxd8 f4 32. Bg5 f3 33. Bxf3 Bxf3 34. Rd8+ Kf7 35. Bxe3 {and wins}) 23. hxg4 {and white has equalized!}) 21. Kxf2 exd4 {Black has a decisive advantage.}) 20. Rxf2 Nxf2 21. Kxf2 {Suddenly white is right back in the game.} e5 {Black's P mass looks threatening, but white has a way out of danger.} 22. Nb5 {[%mdl 8192] But this isn't it!} (22. c5 {An amazing resource that would have kept the position completely equal.} exd4 23. Qc4+ Rf7 24. Qxd4 {Black must meet the threat of Qh8} Qe5 {This is superior to the other main option 24...g3+} 25. cxd6 Qxd4 26. Bxd4 {with an unclear position. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4}) 22... gxh3 {and wins...} 23. Bf3 Bxf3 24. gxf3 Qh4+ {More efficient would have been 24... Kh8} (24... Kh8 {The idea is ...Rg8-g2+} 25. Nxd6 Qxd6 26. Qd1 Qe7 27. Qd5 Rae8 {and black is winning.}) 25. Kf1 {[%mdl 8192] After this the game is clearly over.} (25. Ke2 {was the crucial defense.} Qg3 26. Qd2 Qg2+ 27. Kd3 {and while black is winning, white can still put up a fight.}) 25... Rf6 26. Qd3 h2 (26... Kh8 {Making room for the R on the g-file would have lead to a quick win.} 27. Nxd6 {This may be why Euwe avoided 26...Kh8...because 27.Nxd6 introduces some tricky complications that could be hard to figure out OTB.} Qg3 (27... Rg8 { this unsuspecting move is refuted by} 28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Bxe5+ Rfg7 30. Qxf5 h2 31. Ke2 h1=Q 32. Rxh1 Qxh1 33. Bxg7+ Kxg7 34. Qg5+ Kf7 35. Qd5+ {and black's K can't escape the checks! An incredible save.}) 28. Bxe5 Qxe5 29. Qd4 Qxd4 30. exd4 Rxd6 {and wins}) 27. Qd5+ Kg7 28. Ke2 h1=Q $1 {[%mdl 512]} 29. Rxh1 Qxh1 30. Qxa8 Rg6 31. Kd2 Rg2+ {Facing mate, white resigned.} (31... Rg2+ 32. Kc3 Qb1 33. Qxa7+ Kh6 34. Qxh7+ Kxh7 35. Nd4 Qxb2+ 36. Kd3 Rd2#) 0-1