During 1956 and 1957, Bobby Fischer had been playing a lot and by the time the 1957/58 championship rolled around most players felt was Reshevsky was the favorite although Larry Evans was also considered a contender while William Lombardy and Arthur Bisguier were not without their chances. Also, Robert Byrne was considered a possible contender, but he declined his invitation at the last minute.
Going into the last round Fischer had 10 points and he met his old blitz partner, Abe Turner, and played an 18-move draw. That left him with a final score of 10.5. He then wandered off to play blitz and only checked back occasionally to see how his rival Reshevsky was doing.
Going into the last round Reshevsky had 9.5 and playing white, he needed to defeat William Lombardy to tie Fischer. That was not outside the realm of possibility, but when the dust had settled, Lombardy had won the Championship for Fischer by defeating Reshevsky.
Did that mean Bobby Fischer was the best player in the United States? When asked, he said, "No, one tournament doesn't mean much." Who was the best? "Maybe Reshevsky..." Things soon changed, didn't they?
In the following game Reshevsky defeats Arthur Bisguier in one of those games that looks so simple that playing like him looks like it would be a fairly easy thing to do.
Arthur Bisguier–Samuel Reshevsky0–1US Championship 1957/58New York, NY USA29.12.1957Stockfish 15
Sicilian: Taimanov 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 At the time this line was being
revived by the Russians and Reshevsky decided to experiment with it. His
favorite in the past had been the Dragon. 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 a6 This allows
white to play the Maroczy Bind (5.c4) if he wishes. 5.c3 He doesn't. c7
Reshevsky mentioned that with this move black has the possibility of ...Bb4
and at the same time it prevents white from playing e5. 6.d3 c6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.0-0 According to Reshevsky, Bisguier has handled the opening with
logical slmplicity and he is better developed and so has the better prospects. f6 Black gets better results when he plays 8...d5 8...d5 9.e1 b7 10.g4 f6 11.h4 d6 12.g5 d7 white is slightly better. Caruana,F (2828)
-Xiong,J (2672) chess.com INT 2019 9.e2 d6 Better was 9...d5; instead
Reshevsky decides on passive strategy. 9...d5 10.g5 Somewhat better is
10.e5, but Reshevsky did not like the possibility that white might play this
threatening toi win a P with Bxf6, exd5 nd Nxd5. This seems rather odd
reasoning because the so called threat is so remote a possibility. e7
parries the threat. 11.xf6 and black has a satisfactory position despite
his problems castling. gxf6 11...xf6 is less good because after 12.exd5 xc3 13.d6 xd6 14.bxc3 0-0 white is slightly better thanks to his more
active pieces. 10.f4 d7 Preventing the advance of white's e-Pawn. 11.e3 worked out well for white in Tiviakov,S (2622)-Ogleznev,A (2335) Eforie
Nord ROU 2011 11.b3 e7 12.a3 c5 13.b2 f6 14.e5 dxe5 15.f5 b6 16.fxe6 xe6 17.xa6 White is better. 11.h1 seems a bit passive. e7 12.d2 0-0 13.f3 c5 14.e3 xd3 15.cxd3 f5 16.c1 Black is doing well.
Sokolov,A (2505)-Kurajica,B (2530) Novi Sad 1984 11.a4 This is playable,
but offers white nothing special. e7 12.e3 c5 13.c4 0-0 14.ac1 b7 15.c3 with equal chances. Bruchmann,S (2315)-Simon,R (2153) Berlin 2012 11...e7 12.f3 Preparing an attack against the K if black should dare to castle
on the K-side. b8 13.a4 Capturing the a-Pawn would allow black a
promising position after 13.xa6 xa6 14.xa6 xb2 15.d4 b4 16.xg7 g8 Black's position is preferable. 13...f6 14.b1 a5 Better was 14...c5 15.c4 Preventing an eventual ...d5 which black has neglected to play.
Allowing him to do so would free black's position considerably. a6 Ready
for some Grandmaster reasoning? According to Reshevsky this is the only
logical place for this B. The only other useful square would be at b7, but in
order to get any use out of it black would have to play ...c5 (Stockfish's
preferred move) and in that event white would have had an excellent square for
his N on b5. 16.c1 h5 An admission that black has given up hope of
castling. 17.ff1 e7 This withdrawal seems rather odd, but it lures
white's B to d4 after which ...e5 packs a punch. If black plays 17...e5
immediately then 18.f5 leaves white with a promising position. 18.d4
Either 18.b3 or 18.h3 would have been slightly better. 18.b3 e5 19.f5 f6 20.h3 with a good game. 18...e5 19.c3 On 19.fxe5 Nxe5 black has pretty
much equalized because he has a fair share of the center. exf4 This looks
risky but Reshevsy has decided that the complications Involved offered some
chances of success. 20.xg7 h7 21.c3 e5 22.d2 Reshevsky suggested 22.
b3, but there is nothing wrong with Bisguier's move. a7+ 23.h1 d4
Black has some pressure and white has to surrender the exchange. 24.f3 24.b1 runs into xc4 25.f2 xf2 26.xf2 b5 27.c3 h4 28.xf4 g5 29.f2 g4 and black is winning. 24...xf3 25.xf3 White is
seriously threatening to open lines against black's K with e5. h6 25...c8 26.e5 g4 27.xc6+ f8 28.e4 xe4 29.xe4 g7 30.h3 e6 31.exd6 xd6 32.c5 c7 and white has managed to equalize. 26.xf4 26.e5 can now be met
by dxe5 and c6 is defended. If 27.xa5 b4 28.xb4 xb4 29.b3 c8
black is winning. 26...f6 With the exchange to the good, black is in a
comfortable position, but white's position is not without defensive
possibilities. The threat is ...Rxf4 27.g3 This seriously weakens his K's
position. 27.e2 c8 28.h3 e6 29.d3 and it's difficult to see how
black can make any headway. 27...c8 A great move! It places the B on a
usefull diagonal. 28.g2 After this white is completely lost. 28.e1
would have made black's task a little more difficult. h3 29.b3 d8 30.e3 xe3 31.xe3 h4 Black is clearly better. 28...g4 The clever 28...Rxf4
would be winning in the world of engines, it's not quite so clear in the world
of humans. 29.f1 h4 Black is clearly winning. 30.b3 hxg3 31.hxg3 d7
A handy little move that gets the R on b1 into play. 32.e2 xe2 32...xe4+ Perhaps this is a wee bit more precise. 33.f3 xf3+ 34.xf3 xf4 35.xe4 35.gxf4 g8+ 36.f2 h4+ mates 35...xe4 winning easily. 33.xe2
Here is the reason that 32...Qxe4+ was a little bit better...in this position
black is winning, but only if he finds the one move that does so! xf4
Which, of course, Reshevsky does. 33...g8 Bringing the other R
into play as mentioned in the note allows white to equalize. 34.d1 xd1 34...a7 35.e3 b8 36.e5 and white has the initiative! 35.xd1 xf4 36.c3 fg4 37.e2 h4 38.f1 e7 39.f3 xg3 and a draw is quite likely the
outcome! 34.gxf4 g8+ 35.f3 h4 White resigned as there is no way to
meet the threat of ...Rg3# 35...h4 36.c5+ xc5 37.h2 h5+ 38.e3 g3+ 39.d2 f3 40.e2 g2 etc. 0–1
No comments:
Post a Comment