An Unknown (slightly flawed) Masterpiece by Charles Kalme

     Karlis Ivars Kalme was the Latvian name of a player better known as Charles Kalme (November 15, 1939 – March 20, 2002), a Latvian American master and a mathematician. 

     Kalme was born in Riga and at the conclusion of World War II what was left of his family fled Latvia and for six years lived in a Displaced persons camp in Germany before finally arriving in Philadelphia in 1951. 

     After the war, the western Allies established DP camps in the Allied-occupied zones of Germany, Austria and Italy. The first inhabitants were concentration camp survivors who had been liberated by the Allies on German soil. 

     Especially at the beginning, conditions in the camps were difficult and the occupants found themselves still living behind barbed wire and subsisting on inadequate amounts of food with shortages of clothing, medicine and supplies. 

     In the camps Jews sometimes lived alongside anti-Semites and Nazis. As a result, Jews were transferred to separate camps where conditions were somewhat better. All of the camps were closed by 1950, except for Fohrenwald in the American zone. It was one of the largest camps and remained operative until 1957. 

     Kalme's first major success came in 1955 when he became the youngest player to win the US Junior Championship, held in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chess Life described the 15-year old Kalme as "a handsome unassuming youth from Philadelphia."

    His 9-1 score showed a striking superiority over a field of 25 players that included three Experts (2000-2199) and four Class A (1800-1999) players. In those days even an Expert's rating was quite high and achieving one was an admirable feat. His rating was 2186. Other top finishers were Larry Remlinger (a distant second with a score of 7.5-2.5), Robert Cross (7-3), Ronald Gross and Andris Staklis (both 6-4). 

     Kalme lost one game, to Robert Cross (1925-1993), the 1948 California Champion who was also a champion correspondence player 

     As a side note, the tournament was held in mid-July in the Lincoln YMCA which was air conditioned and that was especially welcome because there was a 100 degree heat wave that hit the city. Chess Life gave TD Alexander Liepnicks praise because he directed the tournament which was a Swiss event, something new at at time. And, the rules were considered complicated because the pairings were based on USCF ratings which changed from round to round depending on the game results!

     In addition to chess Kalme also became a master of contract bridge. He sometimes played as a partner of Michael Lawrence, who was a member of the world champion bridge team, the Dallas Aces. 

     Kalme, who held the IM title, received a Ph.D. degree in mathematics from New York University in 1967, and became a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley and later at University of Southern California.

     When Latvia restored its independence in 1991 from the Soviet Union, Kalme returned to Latvia, where he worked on a National Strategy for Bringing Computer Literacy to Latvian Schools. He died there in 2002. 

      The following thriller is an almost unknown slightly flawed masterpiece that he played against a player known only as Nedora in a Philadelphia City League match in 1953. 

[Event "Philadelphia City League"] [Site "?"] [Date "1953.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Nedora"] [Black "Kalme"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "80"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.08.26"] {French Defense, Winawar Variation} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 {The pin forces white to resolve the central tension.} 4. e5 {White normally clarifies the central situation...for the moment...in this way. The move gains space and he hopes to show that black's B is misplaced...it isn't.} c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 {White has doubled Ps which form the basis for black's counterplay,but, at the same time, they strengthen white's center. White also has the semi-open b-file, a space advantage and the potential for a K-side attack because black has traded off his dark-square Bishop. If he can survice, black's P-formation is favorable.} Ne7 7. Bd3 {White has far better chances of success with the sharp 7.Qg4} c4 {Black leaves the book which offers 7...Qa4 and 7...Nbc6 as the only two options.} 8. Be2 Qa5 9. Bd2 Qa4 (9... Nbc6 {transposes into Remizov,Y (2385)-Aitbayev,A (2475) lichess.org INT 2021 which continued} 10. h4 Bd7 11. h5 h6 12. f4 O-O-O 13. Nh3 g6 14. O-O Rdg8 {with equal chances.}) 10. Nh3 {White had somewhat better chances with 10.h4} Bd7 11. O-O Nbc6 12. f4 O-O-O {Black's K will be perfectly safe here and white's K-side maneuver has come to naught.} 13. Ng5 Rdf8 14. Qb1 f6 {This jab at the center gives black the initiative.} 15. Nf3 (15. exf6 {is quite inferior as after} gxf6 16. Nf3 Nf5 {Black has a promising position.}) 15... Nf5 16. Qb2 h5 {Something has gone awry for white...it's black with the makings of a K-side attack while white's prospects of successfully attacking black's K down the b-file are slim. } 17. Rab1 b6 18. Ne1 {White is curiously helpless when it comes to finding a promising plan.} h4 19. Bg4 Nce7 20. Qb4 Rh6 21. Bxf5 {Perhaps he should have played 21.Bh3 to stop the advance of the h-Pawn.} Qxb4 22. Rxb4 Nxf5 23. a4 Rfh8 24. Nf3 {Now it's time for a tactical display by the 14-year old Kalme.} Ng3 {[%mdl 512]} 25. Rfb1 {Taking the N allows mate.} g5 {[%mdl 8192] This seemingly logical move (it rips open the K-side) is seriously flawed. Correct was 25...Ne4} (25... Ne4 26. Ra1 {Supporting the advance of the a-Pawn.} Rg6 { which black can ignore.} 27. a5 b5 {and black still has his K-side attack while white is left with nothing but trying to defend against it.}) 26. Be1 ( 26. fxg5 {This counter-intuitive move salvages the game!} fxg5 27. Nxg5 Nf5 28. a5 {Black's P on h4 renders the Rs impotent while white's Rs are poised to rip black's guts out!} b5 29. Nf7 {White picks up the exchange which should prove sufficient.}) 26... Ne4 27. exf6 g4 {Thanks to his slip at move 25 Kalme has allowed his opponent back into the game.} (27... gxf4 {This was even better.} 28. Ne5 Rxf6 29. a5 b5 30. Nxd7 Kxd7 31. Rxb5 Nd6 {with a small advantage.}) 28. Ne5 Rxf6 29. Nxd7 {[%mdl 8192] White counters with a slip of his own... this time Kalme isn't going to let him get away.} (29. a5 {fully equalizes.} b5 30. Nxd7 Kxd7 31. Rxb5 {with equal chances.} Nd6 32. Rb8 Rfh6 33. h3 Rxb8 34. Rxb8 gxh3 35. gxh3 {etc.}) 29... Kxd7 30. a5 Rxf4 31. axb6 a5 {The difference here compared toi the position in the previous note is that white's Rs can't operate on the b-file.} 32. Ra4 (32. R4b2 g3 33. b7 Rf1+ 34. Kxf1 gxh2 { and the P queens.}) 32... g3 33. b7 (33. h3 Rhf8 {would cost white heavy plastic as he is forced to play} 34. Bxg3 hxg3 35. Raa1 Nxc3 36. Re1 Rf2 { and all of white's hope is gone.}) 33... Rf1+ {[%mdl 512] The game is over.} 34. Kxf1 gxh2 35. Ke2 h1=Q 36. b8=Q Rxb8 37. Rxb8 {All that's left is for white to figure out how to deliver the mate.} Qxg2+ 38. Kd1 Qf3+ {Black mates.} 39. Kc1 Qf4+ 40. Kd1 Qxb8 {Black has a mate in 11 moves. With the one exception, Kalme's play was very precise.} (40... Qxb8 {Stockfish 15:} 41. Bxh4 Qb1+ 42. Ke2 Qxc2+ 43. Kf3 Qd1+ 44. Ke3 Qd3+ 45. Kf4 Qf1+ 46. Ke3 Qh3+ 47. Ke2 Qxh4 48. Kd1 Qf2 49. Ra2 Qxa2 50. Kc1 Kd6 51. Kd1 Qd2#) 0-1