Petrosian Played Like Tal

     The 1968 Moscow City Championship was a very strong tournament which included World Champion Tigran Petrosioan. He was, as is well known, a solid positional player and this was his second tournament in a row (the other was an international event in Bamberg, Germany) in which he did not lose a single game.

     He was sometimes criticized for his strictly positional play, but that was simply a matter of preference; you do not get to be World Champion with out being very good at all phases of the game, including tactics. 

     Petrosian's opponent, Yakov Estrin (1923-1987) was an IM, theoretician, writer and World Correspondence Champion who held the Correspondence Grandmaster title. Estrin was an authority on the Two Knights Defense. His game with Hans Berliner in which Berliner played the Two Knights and won is one of the most famous and important games in correspondence chess.
 

     In OTB play, Chessmetrics estimates Estrin's highest ever rating to have been 2595 in 1974 and that placed him at number 90 in the world. At the time this game was played Chessmetrics estimates his rating to have been 2456 which was no where close to even the top 100. 

     As an opening theoretician, Estrin's poor play in the opening is quite surprising and Petrosian took advantage of it and crushed him. 

ChessBase

Tigran Petrosian–Yakov Estrin1–0Moscow ChampionshipMoscow URS1968Stockfish 15

English Opening 1.c4 e5 2.g3 c6 3.g2 d6 4.c3 e6 Already a poor move as this move has never worked well for black. Best is 4...g6 5.d3 g6 6.b4 d7 6...xb4 loses to 7.b3 a5 8.a3 c6 9.xb7 d4 10.b1 Black has no good continuation. For example... c8 11.e3 f5 12.b5 and there is no satisfactory way to meet Na7 7.b5 d8 8.f3 Black's poor opening play has resulted in reaching a position where he has no really satisfactory reply. g7 8...f6 9.a4 e7 10.0-0 g7 11.a3 0-0 White is better. Perkins,A (2305)-Tarjan,J (2405) Graz 1972 8...h3 9.xh3 xh3 10.d4 g7 11.dxe5 e6 11...dxe5 12.a3 g4 13.0-0 Black's position is very poor. Li,C (2680)-Makka,I (2154) Guben GER 2014 12.d5 with the advantage. Li,C (2680)-Makka,I (2154) Guben GER 2014 8...h6 This probably black's best reply. 9.0-0 g7 Here white should play... 10.b2 c5 11.bxc6 xc6 12.d2 with the better game. 9.g5 e4 Not good. Because white is better developed the opening of the position is unfavorable for black. A developing move like 9...Nf6 or 9....Bf5 was better. 10.b2 Naturally, Petrosian is not going to fall for taking the e-Pawn. 10.gxe4 f5 wins the N. 10...exd3 11.xd3 a6 This is a serious tactical error. 11...e7 keeps fighting. 12.xe6 fxe6 and white is clearly better, but at least black has some hope of defending himself. 12.h4 Petrosian had a number reasonable positional continuations available, but here, especially against Estrin's weak opposition, he prefers to go for the throat. Black has a number of difficulties: his K will not be safe on either wing and trouble is brewing on the a1-h7 diagonal which he carelessly opened on mpve 9. axb5 13.cxb5 e7 14.d2 0-0 Castling into trouble, but there weren't any really good options. 14...d5 15.ce4 d4 15...dxe4 16.xd7+ wins material. 16.a4 d5 17.c5 d6 18.ge4 xe4 19.xe4 b6 20.a5 xb5 21.xd4 0-0 21...xd4 22.xd4 White is winning. 22.xg7 xg7 23.c3+ with a clear advantage. 15.h5 gxh5 Estrin appears to have a death wish. 15...h6 was considerably better. 16.xe6 fxe6 17.a4 White has a clear positional advantage. 16.xh5 16.xh7 is unsound because after xh7 17.xh5+ g8 18.e4 f6 White's attack is at a standstill and the advantage has shifted to black. 16...f5 17.e4 White is clearly winning. g6 At first glance it appears that black has managed to shore up his K-side, but white's next move destroys the Ks defenses. 18.xh7 xh7 19.xh7+ h8 20.0-0-0 Bringing the R into play. g8 21.h1 h6 22.d5 Bring his remaining pieces into play. f6 22...xb2+ 23.xb2+ f6 24.xh6 g7 25.g6 Black's position is hopeless. 23.e4 xa2 23...df7 24.exf6 xb5 25.e7 c5+ 26.c2 mate is unavoidable. g5 27.xg5 xg5 27...e5 28.xh6+ xh6 29.xh6# 28.g6# 24.xh6 xh6 25.xh6 g7 26.h4 Black resigned. 26.h4 xh7 27.xf6+ xf6 28.xf6+ g7 29.xd8+ g8 30.xg8+ xg8 31.ec3 White wins the ending. 1–0

Download PGN

An Impressive Win By Santasiere

     In the last post it was described how President Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last week in November to the 4th week in November. In this post we're still in 1939. 

     That was the year that the New York Times predicted television would fail because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it. Today, on average, 79% of people over the age of 15 spend about 3 hours a day watching television. For those over 65 years old, the average is about an hour more. In 1939, a lot of the over 65 crowd would not have been available to watch television because life expectancy for men was 62.1 years and 65.4 years for women. 

     In 1939 General Motors introduced the first mass-produced, fully automatic transmission as an option for the 1940 model year Oldsmobile. And, Ernest Vincent wrote the book Gadsby which has over 50,000 words in it without containing the letter e, the most common letter in English. The plot revolves around a dying fictional which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of John Gadsby and a youth organizer. 

     In other happenings, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics, Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead after her 1937 disappearance. The first Thin Mint cookies were sold by the Girl Scouts and the first Little League Baseball game was played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Also in baseball, the Hall of Fame was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. 

     One of the popular songs of the day was God Bless America sung by Kate Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986). She was known as The First Lady of Radio and besides the song God Bless America, When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain. She became known as The Songbird of the South because of her tremendous popularity during World War II. 

     I remember Kate Smith from my youth when she appeared on TV shows like The Ed Sullivan Show where she sand her iconic songs. I thought they were awful. 

     For over a year following her death, her remains were stored in a vault at St. Agnes Cemetery in Lake Placid, New York where she regularly attended Sunday Mass and could be heard singing the hymns, while church officials and Smith's executors engaged in a dispute over her request to be buried in a mausoleum on the cemetery's grounds. Her private burial service wasn't held until November 14, 1987. If you can tolerate it, you can listen to her sing HERE.

     The following game was played in the 40th ACF Congress in New York City which ran July 18-29, 1939. This tournament was an important one...at the closing dinner an announcement was made concerning the merger between the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation. The new organization would be known as the United States Chess Federation.

 

Finals section

     This tournament had a new rule, too. Players had to make 40 moves with two hours and special time clocks were used. 

     Anthony Santasiere's victory in the following game is impressive. His opponent, Boris Blumin (1908-1998), was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, later settled in Canada and in the late 30s was Canadian Champion in two successive years. Later in life, he moved to New Jersey where he won the Hamilton Chess Club Championship at the age of 78. 

ChessBase

Anthony Santasiere–Boris Blumin1–0US Open, New YorkNew York, NY USA18.07.1939Stockfish 15

Colle System 1.d4 f6 2.f3 e6 3.e3 b6 4.d3 b7 5.bd2 d6 6.b3 The Colle-Zukertort System where white aims for a K-side attack; it can be very dangerous. bd7 7.b2 e7 7...g6 I think this is the safest way to meet the Colle because it blunts the force of white's B on d3. 8.c4 g7 9.c2 0-0 10.0-0 e8 11.g5 g4 12.df3 f5 with equality. Adly,A (2480) -Dgebuadze,A (2535) Arnhem 2006 8.0-0 0-0 9.c4 9.e2 c5 10.ad1 d5 11.e5 c7 12.f4 equals. Krueger,P-Moritz,B Frankfurt 1923 9...d5 10.e2 h6 11.e4 dxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 xe4 14.xe4 f6 15.e2 What a boring position. What could go wrong? d7 A bit passive. A more active move was 15.. .c5 16.ad1 e8 17.d3 Very instructive. Santasiere will use this R as an important part of his K-side attack. c6 this passive approach is going to cause black problems. 17...Bd6 was better. 18.e5 c7 19.g3 xe5 20.dxe5 Don't worry about the P on e5 blocking white's B; it will get into play very soon. ad8 20...g6 21.e4 h8 21...ad8 22.xg6+ fxg6 23.xg6+ h8 24.xh6+ g8 25.xe6+ wins for white. 22.h4 White has good attacking chances, but with careful play black may be able to ward it off. 22.xg6 is no good here because after fxg6 23.xg6 f8 white's attack is stymied and it's black who is winning. 21.c1 As mentioned previously, the B gets into play. h7 22.h5 f8 23.xh6 This vigorous move is by far the best. Even though there is no forced win, black is walking a very fine line. g6 23...gxh6 gets him mated. 24.g4 h5 25.g8+ h6 26.h8# 24.g5 e7 This meets a clever refutation. 24...xh6 was his best chance. Then after 25.h3 g8 26.xh6 26.xh6 xe5 leaves white with nothing. 26...e7 27.g4 g7 28.h3 h8 And all white can brag about is having an extra P. Foir white, the win, if there is one, is a long way off. 25.h3 g8 26.f4 c5 27.g5 d4 This allows a mate in 5, but there was no way to save the game. 27...f5 28.exf6 f5 29.c7 e7 30.fxe7 is hopeless for black. 28.f6 g7 What's the quickess finish? 29.h6 Nice! Black cannot avoid mate. 29.h6 xh6 30.xh6 h4 31.xh4 xf2+ 32.xf2 mate next move. 1–0

Download PGN

Eliskases vs. Bogoljubow Match

     Even though World War II had broken out on September 1, 1939, the big brouhaha in the United States was when Thanksgiving should be held. 

     On November 23, 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt carved the turkey at the Thanksgiving Dinner on his estate in Warm Springs, Georgia and wished all Americans a happy Thanksgiving. All Americans weren't happy though. 

     Many were not observing Thanksgiving on that day...they were waiting to celebrate the holiday the following Thursday because in many states November 30th was the official Thanksgiving Day. 

     In those days, legally, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday; it was up to the President to announce what date it would fall on. By tradition, since 1863, it was always the last Thursday in November because that's when President Lincoln declared it a national holiday. 

     Statistics showed that most people began their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving and since 1939 had five Thursdays, merchants feared they would lose money because there were only 24 shopping days until Christmas...so they asked Roosevelt to make Thanksgiving a week earlier. Thus, Thanksgiving in 1939 would be held, the President proclaimed, on the 23rd and not the 30th. 

     Changing the date proved to be a contentious move. Thousands of letters poured into the White House opposing the change. Some retailers were pleased to get the extra week of Christmas shopping which would increase profits, but smaller businesses grumbled that they would lose business to larger stores. How is not clear. 

     Calendar makers were enraged because they had already printed calendars for 1940. Most schools had already scheduled vacations and annual Thanksgiving Day football games and the change disrupted everything. 

     And, many were angry because they claimed Roosevelt was trying to alter not only a long-standing tradition, but, also, American values just to help businesses make more money. Some states defied Roosevelt and declared November 30th as Thanksgiving anyway. 

     It wasn't until Congress to passed a law on December 26, 1941, declaring Thanksgiving to be on the fourth Thursday of November every year that the mess was straightened out. 

     In the rest of the world more important issues were at stake because they were at war. In the chess world, the Olympiad in Buenos Aires had been disrupted by the outbreak of the war which happened just after the completion of the preliminaries. 

     The English team returned home immediately and Stuart Milner-Barry, Harry Golombek and C.H.O'D. Alexander went to work at the top-secret code-breaking station at Bletchley Park. 

     Remarkably, the final went ahead, but the French, Polish and Palestinian teams refused to play against Germany. Organizers decided that unplayed matches would be scored as 2-2 draws. Germany won ahead of Poland and Estonia. 

     Many European players remained in Argentina after the Olympiad and eventually settled in South America, rather than return to war torn Europe. 

     After the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, Austrian players were incorporated into the Greater German Chess Federation. After the annexation the only two players of equal stature were the aging Efim Bogoljubow who was almost almost fifty years old and twenty-five year old Erich Eliskases. 

     On the Chessmetrics January 1939 rating list Eliskases is ranked 9th and Bogoljubow 11th. They played a 20-game match between the 4th of January and the 12th of February 1939 that took place in eleven towns and cities in Germany.

     It was a clash of styles. Bogoljubow, while a player of strong positional skills, was primarily known as a strong tactician. Eliskases was a predominantly positional player and technically proficient in the ending. 

     Halfway through the match Eliskases had lost only the first game and had a huge 3 game lead. But, in the second half Bogoljubow fought back and won two games, but also lost two. 

 

 

How to pronounce Erich Eliskases  

How ow to pronounce Efim Bogoljubov

 

ChessBase

Erich Eliskases–Efim Bogoljubow1–0A70Match Game 3, Germany1939Stockfish 15

Modern Benoni 1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.f3 c5 In the previous game, as white, Bogoljubow had played the solid but antiquated Giuoco Pianissimo and Eliskases played energetically and drew the R&P ending. In this game Bogoljubow defends with a Hyper-modern defense. Frank Marshall invented the Modern Benoni in 1927, but his experiments with the opening went largely ignored. Then in the 1950s players in the Soviet Union, especially Mikhail Tal, began using it. It suffered a theoretical crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, but it made a recovery when Vladimir Kramnik used it in the 2004 World Championship. 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.c3 a6 7.a4 g6 8.e4 g7 9.d3 0-0 10.0-0 This is the basic P-structure of the Modern Benoni. White has a central P-majority, black a Q-side P-majority. Black aims to counterattack rather than equalize and frequently must resort to tactical play and material sacrifices in order not to be forced into passivity. White's central majority gives him a space advantage on the K-side. However, to make things more complicated, black can place a R on the e-file which restrains white's play. White can play a4 and Nf3-d2-c4 to hinder black's Q-side play. As GM Lev Psakhis once wrote, the Modern Benoni is definitely not an opening for cowards. g4 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 bd7 13.e2 e5 13...c7 14.f4 fe8 15.f3 c4 16.c2 c5+ 17.h1 b5 18.e3 b4 White is better. Pfleger,H (2545)-Filipowicz,A (2405) Tel Aviv 1964 14.c2 14.f4 is interesting. xd3 15.xd3 d7 16.e5 dxe5 17.f5 f6 Black should have tried a P-sac here with ...c5 and ...Rc8 followed by ... Nc5 with equal chances. 18.g5 h6 This loses quickly. Again, ...c4 was better. 19.xf6 xf6 20.fxg6 Inviting, but this loses all his advantage and allows black back in the game. Winning was 20.Ne4 xg6 21.e4 Now this is wrong; he should have exchanged Qs. f5 Even better was 21...c4 22.xc5 e4 23.c4 A good looking move, but it's also a losing move! 23.Qe3 was correct. d6 24.b4 Losing outright. The N belongs on e6 when the chances would be equal. 24.xb7 b6+ 25.c5 ac8 26.b4 xa1 Black is better. 24...a5 25.b5 d4+ White resigned. Rausch,S (2346)-Granabetter,J Vienna 2003. This game illustrates some of the complications involved in the Modern Benoni! 14...h5 15.g4 f6 16.f4 ed7 17.e3 e8 To hinder the advance e5. 18.g2 b5 This is a sound move but results in no more than equality. Bogoljubow misses the correct followup though. 19.axb5 axb5 20.xa8 xa8 21.g5 White is more active. 21.xb5 favors black after xd5 22.c1 22.exd5 xe3 is very much worse for white. 22...b8 23.e5 xf4 24.xf4 xe5 in this unbalanced position the chances are about even. 21...h5 22.xb5 This is playable now that the possibility of ...Nxd5 has been eliminated. b8 Inhibits Nc7. 23.d3 b3 is the strong threat. f5 This is questionable. 23...Nb6 threatening Nxd5 as well as c4 wins back the P. 24.gxf6 dxf6 25.c3 25.xd6 was playable, but not better. xd6 26.e5 b8 27.d6 27.exf6 loses to xe3 28.f3 28.fxg7 g3 28...xf3 29.xf3 xf6 wins 27...d7 28.c6 f8 29.c4+ h8 30.d1 It's doubtful that black can save the game. 25...b3 Better was 25...Bh6 26.c1 26.e5 is not so clear. dxe5 27.b5 b8 28.a4 xb2 29.xb2 xb2 30.fxe5 xd5 31.xd5 xe5 26...d7 27.c2 b4 This is bad. 27...d4+ 28.g2 b8 29.xb3 xb3 is about equal. 28.b5 This is a real gut punch. g3 29.d2 d4+ Black's position is not good, but this is probably the worst mover available. 29...xb2 30.xb2 xb2 31.e1 and black's d-Pawn goes and with it the game. 30.g2 Even better was 30.Rf2 30.f2 Black's Q is trapped. xf2+ 31.g2 with an easy win. 30...xf1 31.xf1 xb2 32.xb2 xb2 33.xd6 a8 34.c4 Inhibits Nb6. c1 35.xc1 a1 36.e5 xc1+ 37.e2 The ending is won for white but he needs to exhibit good technique. h1 38.e6 f6 39.d6 h2+ 40.e1 xh3 41.e5 h1+ 42.d2 Threatens to win with d7. a1 43.d7 a8 44.c6 g7 45.d8 xd8 46.xd8 Stockfish says white is clearly winning, but great care is still required! But, I was curious. A Shootout using an old engine (Fritz 5.32) was stopped because while it evaluated the position as won for white, it was running was too slowly and was making little progress in just the first game, so I stopped it! The ending is actually not so easy! h5 47.e7 h4 48.b5 h3 49.e8 xe8 50.xe8 f6 51.b7 h2 52.c6 c4 53.d6 g5 54.fxg5+ xg5 55.xc4 Confident in his opponent's ability to mate with a N and B, Bogoljubow resigned. How would white mate? Watch. 55.xc4 h1 56.xh1 The Nalimov Endgame Tablebases show black loses in 27 moves no matter what he plays. f5 57.d5 g5 58.e3 f5 59.d4 g5 60.e5 g6 61.d6 g7 62.e4 g8 63.f6 f8 64.d3 g8 65.f7 f8 66.h7 e8 67.e5 d8 68.e6 c7 69.d7 b7 70.d3 c6 71.e2 c7 72.b5 d8 73.b6 c7 74.a4 d8 75.d6 c8 76.c5 d8 77.a4 c8 78.d7+ b8 79.c6 a7 80.c7 a8 81.b6 b8 82.a6+ a8 83.c6# 1–0

Download PGN

A Short, Sharp Win by Kimball Nedved

     On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, Kimball Nedved passed away at the age of 91. At the time he was living in Cumberland, Maryland.

     He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a degree in psychology, a B.S. in 1952 and an M.S. in 1953. 

     In 1953, he was drafted into the Army and at Fort Benning, Georgia he made the rifle team which was the precursor to the elite Marksmanship Unit. Today this unit is made up of fewer than 100 soldiers who are at the top of the marksmanship game. They are the best of the best, not just in the military, but also in the competitive shooting world. These expert marksmen support readiness and recruiting, and train and compete year-round, including for the Olympics. 

     Also, while at Fort Benning Nedved did psychological testing of thousands of paratroopers training at the Airborne School's "Free Towers" which are 250 foot high towers from which students are dropped as part of their training. 

     After his service, Nedved worked in advertising for one of the world's largest ad agencies. His market research lead to employment with Johnson Wax where he helped develop Glade air freshener. Next, he worked for Campbell Soup and then Heinz Ketchup. 

     Eventually, he and a partner founded a company that provided market research for 30 years to most supermarket chains and large retailers in North America. 

     Besides chess, Nedved also loved history, especially studying the strategies used in the US Civil War and he greatly enjoyed visiting historical sites and national parks. 

     Nedved won the 1951 Illinois State Championship and the 1969 US Amateur Championship. His team won the 1986 US Amateur Team Championship. In 1987, his rating was 2321 and in 1988, when Carnegie-Mellon University was developing Deep Thought, they tested it by having Nedved play against it. 

     When Nedved won the 1969 US Amateur Championship held in Philadelphia, he was rated a USCF Expert (2000-2199) and living in New Jersey. He topped an entry 1ist of over 250, including the championship and reserve sections, with a perfect 6-0 score. His win from George Miller, who tied at 5-1 with four others for third place, is the featured game today...and it's a beauty. 

ChessBase

Kimball Nedved–George Miller1–0US Amateur, Philadelphia1969Stockfish 15

Ruy Lopez: Schliemann 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 f5 The rarely seen Schliemann Defense is sharp and the idea is to develop a quick counterattack on the f-file, but at the same time it weakens the K-side, especially the white squares. In this game black's general strategy backfires and it's white who develops a quick K-side attack. 4.d3 Rather tame. 4.Nc3 is usual. fxe4 Black has enjoyed greater success using 4...Nf6 and not capturing on e4 5.dxe4 f6 6.c3 A poor move that allows the N to be pinned. Correct was 6.O-O b4 7.0-0 He could have ruled out doubled Ps with 7.Qd3 7.d3 d6 8.0-0 xc3 9.xc3 0-0 10.e1 g4 is completely equal. 7...xc3 8.bxc3 d6 9.g5 0-0 10.d3 10.d2 was played in Byambaa,Z (2279)-Lavrov,M (2397) Moscow 2012 which continued e6 11.c4 e8 12.e2 h8 13.f3 with equality. 10...e8 11.d2 a6 12.a4 e6 13.f4 Launching what turns out to be a dangerous K-side attack, but the move should have allowed black to gain the initiative. 13.b3 h5 14.fb1 b8 15.e3 f4 While the position is equal, white's position has little promise. 13...h5 With this move black fails to take advantage of the opportunity white's last move offered him. In subsequent play the Q turns out to be subject to great harassment which gains white time to build up his attack. 13...exf4 14.xf4 d7 15.xf8+ xf8 16.f1 d7 17.xc6 bxc6 18.c4 e5 Black is slightly better. 14.xf6 xf6 Black may very well have been thinking of a K-side demonstration and in that case this recapture makes sense. However, it's white who is now able to launch a dangerous Kside attack and so the correct move was 14.gxf6 which would have left white with only a minimal advantage. 15.f5 This P is destined to exert a great influence on the coming play. f7 16.f3 h6 17.h3 g5 18.g3 Keeping black busy. f6 18...h5 would be very bad. 19.f3 b5 20.g5 snags the Q 19.b1 Hoping black will take the a-Pawn and then white gets his R on the 7th. a5 19...xa2 20.xb7 with the c-Pawn and the N both attacked black's game is lost. 20.f3 With black's b-Pawn defended there is now no reason to allow black to capture the a-Pawn which would leave the position about equal. Therefore, white should have played 21. Bb3 h8 There was no reason to avoid 20...Bxa2 after which even Stockfish and Komodo are left casting about for a viable plan. After the text black has thing under control when it comes to defending his K-side so white must revert to Q-side operations. 21.g5 21.b3 xb3 22.cxb3 h5 23.c4 Black has no K-side attacking possibilities and white has a slight positional plus. 21...g8 This move is just awful...as will be seen. 21...xa2 22.a1 c4 and it's black who can lay claim to the better position. 22.d7 White intends to exploit the e6 square. From here on Nedved plays with great precision. h5 It's hard to find a really good move for black, but this isn't it. 22...xa2 is no longer even a consideration. 23.e6 xe6 23...xb1 is fatal 24.f7+ g8 25.xh6+ f8 26.g4 24.xe6 g8 25.xc7 and black is lost. 22...e7 This seems about the best. 23.e6 h5 24.xg8 xg5 25.xg5 xg5 26.d5 Here white's advantage is not so great and black would have good defensive chances. 23.e6 b5 23...xe6 24.fxe6 g5 25.f3 e7 25...g6 26.f1 h6 27.e7 wins 26.f7 is crushing. 24.xg7 g5 The saving move...or is it? 25.e8 Stunning! This is an unusual situation. Often a R on the last rank is a killer; here it's a N! xg3 26.xg3 26.xf6 also works. xd3 27.cxd3 g7 28.xg8 xg8 29.e6 with a won ending. 26...e7 After this comes the crusher by the f-Pawn as previously noted. Applause to black for allowing white to finish with a bang! 26...h6 was a stouter defense, but still losing. 27.xc7 xa2 28.a1 a7 29.e6 xe6 30.xe6 c4 White will win the ending. 27.f6 xd7 28.g7+ xg7 29.fxg7# Again, remember the note about this P on move 15! 1–0

Download PGN

A Complicated Charousek Game

     Rudolf (Rezso) Charousek (September 19, 1873 - April 18, 1900) was a Czech born Hungarian player who was one of the top ten players in the world during the 1890s. On the March 1900 rating list Chessmetrics estimated his rating to be 2734 placing him #6 in the world behind Lasker, Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Maroczy and Janowsky. 

     Charousek had a short career, dying at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. Reuben Fine wrote of him "Playing over his early games...you cannot help feeling a grievous, oppressive sense of loss, of promise unfulfilled". 

     Born near Prague, at the age of five weeks his family moved to Debrecen, Hungary, where he became a naturalized Hungarian citizen. He learned to play chess at the age of 16 while studying law and he is said to have copied out the voluminous Handbuch des Schachspiels by hand, unable to afford his own copy.

     Despite the lack of competition during that time he soon became a strong player and also qualified as a lawyer. In 1893, he entered a correspondence tournament in which he shared first place with another up and coming (and later great) Hungarian player, Geza Maroczy. He joined the Budapest chess club where he frequently played Maroczy and other prominent players of the day. 

     An almost unknown player, his style was between two schools of chess. Way back in 1946, Reinfeld and Horowitz published Chess Strategy and Tactics and in it they made the observation that like the masters of the Morphy-Anderssen period, he often played the King's Gambit. But, unlike them, he rarely won brilliantly with it. Instead, in gambit openings he introduced the concept of positional motifs and playing for the ending. They reached the conclusion that based on a careful examination of his games, he represented a contrast to the popular conception of him as a belated Romanticist. 

     The following game is an exception. Lamentably, the game was superficially annotated as I discovered when going over it with Stockfish and Komodo. The game turned out to be much more complicated than their notes indicated. I don't want to disparage Reinfeld and Horowitz because it's a complicated game and 1) they didn't have engines and 2) if one wanted to dig deeper into the game, it's possible that my notes might not bring to light all of the bountiful possibilities! 

     It should be noted that this was a casual game played during the 11th DSB Kongress held in Cologne in 1898. In that tournament, won by Amos Burn, Charousek tied for second with Chigorin and Cohn. Their individual game was drawn. 

ChessBase

Rudolf Charousek–Amos Burn1–0C39Casual Game, CologneCologne GER1898Stockfish 15

King's Gambit Accepted 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.f3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.e5 g7 In the primitive days of Morphy black played 5...h5. Most modern players, if that's the right term for it since the King's Gambit is so rare, is 5...Nf3 6.d4 f6 7.xg4 White has played 7.Bxf4, 7.Bc4 and 7.Nc3 here all of which are reasonable. 7.h5 is an interesting try. d6 8.h6 xh6 9.xh6 dxe5 10.c3 exd4 Here white has two plausible moves. 11.xf4 11.d5 xd5 12.xd4 0-0 13.xd5 xd5 14.exd5 e8+ 15.f2 11...dxc3 12.xd8+ xd8 13.g5 7...xe4 Not good. Correct was 7...Nxg4 with equal chances. 8.xf4 e7 Besides the discovered check he also threatens 9...Qb4+ But. these threats are easily met so he should have castled. 8...0-0 9.c3 e8 10.e3 d5 11.cxd5 g3 12.xg3 xd5 13.f4 c5 with approximate equality. 9.e2 Now if 9...Qb4+ 10.c3 and the b-Pawn is defended. In the book both Reinfeld and Horowitz missed the winning move...as did the players! 9.e3 and there is no good defense against the threatened Nd5 d6 9...c6 10.f5 f6 11.g4 f8 11...g8 12.d2 xd2 13.xd2 d5 14.xg7+ xg7 15.xc8+ e7 16.e1+ wins... it's a mate in 7 12.e5 and white is winning. 10.d5 d8 11.d3 f6 12.bc3 xd5 13.xd5 c6 14.e2+ e6 15.e3 xd4 16.f5 xb2 17.xd6+ f8 18.b1 c3+ 19.d1 White's position is far superior. 9...xd4 An improvement. 9...d6 10.e3 e6 11.c3 0-0 12.f3 d5 13.d3 c5 14.xe4 dxe4 15.g3 cxd4 16.d6 d8 17.cxd4 e8 18.d5 d7 19.c3 a6 20.0-0 c8 21.f2 f6 22.af1 h8 23.h5 c5 24.h6 Black resigned. Walbrodt,C-Burn,A Vienna 1898 10.c3 g7 This looks reasonable, but it's wrong. 10...c6 allows black to equalize after 11.e3 This has lost it's punch. Correct is 11.Nd2 with equality. g3 12.xg3 xe3 13.xc7 c1 Black is better. 11.e3 A strong move, especially in combination with the following maneuver. White has good compensation. 11.xc7 d5 12.xb8 xg4 13.xg4 xc3+ 14.e2 xe2+ 15.xe2+ xe2 16.xe2 xb2 Black is winning. 11...e6 Reinfeld and Horowitz claimed that black had no better way of guarding against the threatened invasion of the N, but that's not the case. Apparently they were referring to the "threat" of Nf5. Prevents Nd5. 11...d6 prevents Nf5 but loses to 12.d5 g4 13.xg4 f6+ 14.xe7 xg4 15.f5 0-0 16.e2 White has won a piece. 11...f6 This defense is his best chance. 12.f5 xe2+ 13.xe2 0-0 14.xc7 e8 15.d6 b6 16.e7+ h8 17.f3 c6 Black's position is unattractive, but it's holding together just fine. 11...f6 12.a3 This is the preferable answer to black's last move. d6 13.0-0-0 c6 14.g4 e6 White has two plausible continuations to maintain the initiative: 15. Bg2 and 15.g5 12.g3 12.xc7 would be a poor choice. After d5 13.d2 0-0 14.xe4 xe4 White's pieces are uncoordinated. 12...0-0 13.h3 Better was 13.Nd2 getting rid of black's one well placed piece. f5 Supporting the N makes sense, but Stockfish found a unique defense. 13...a6 A most unusual equalizing move! 14.d5 14.f3 d5 15.xc8 xc8 16.d2 c5 with equal chances. 14...xe2+ 15.xe2 a6 with equality. Fascinating! 14.0-0 d6 15.d2 This eliminates the well placed N and at the same times connects his Rs. It also threatens 16.Nxf5 which would win. xd2 15...a6 A pass to illustrate the threat. 16.xf5 Threatens to win with Nh6+! xc3 17.xe6+ xe6 18.e7+ h8 19.xe6 e2+ 20.h1 White has a won position. 16.xd2 c6 17.ae1 In return for his Pawn white has obtained vastly superior development and a promising position which he utilizes in impeccable fashion. f7 17...xa2 This gets complicated, but black can probably hold things together. 18.g2 18.d5 is unclear. For example... d4+ 19.cxd4 xd5 20.g2 xd4+ 21.xd4 xd4 22.d5+ g7 23.e7+ f6 24.g5+ g6 25.e3 c2 26.f4 b4 27.c4 d5 28.e2 c5 Watch this... 29.h5+ f6 30.xh7 e8 White is slightly better. 18...f7 19.g4 White has the initiative, but with careful play black may be able to survive. 18.g2 This move was mistakenly praised by Reinfeld and Horowitz, but in reality black now equalizes. 18.g5 is much more promising. e5 19.xf5 xf5 20.xf5 c4 21.h5 18...h8 It would probably have served black better to have played 18...Be6 19.d5 Preventing the development of the B on c8, but white had a far better alternative. 19.g4 was also a good try. e5 20.gxf5 f6 21.xe5 dxe5 22.g4 xh4 23.xe5 g7 Black can likely hold his position together. 19...e5 19...e6 fails 20.xc7 xc7 21.xe6 e5 22.xc6 bxc6 White is winning and curiously there is no way for black to take advantage of the seemingly stranded R on e6. 19...e5 This looks quite promising ofr the defense. 20.g4 e6 21.gxf5 xd5 21...xf5 22.xe5+ xe5 23.g5 g6 24.xc7 ad8 25.xg6 xg6 26.xf8+ xf8 27.b5 d3 28.e2 f5 29.xd6 h5 30.xb7 xh4 White is better. 22.xd5 g7+ 23.g5 h6 24.g2 f6 25.e6 hxg5 26.xf6 xf6 27.hxg5 White is much better. 20.g5 20.h5 is much more promising. h6 21.xh6 e6 22.xg7+ xg7 23.g4 with a strong attack. 20...c6 Black should develop by Be6 and Rae8 21.f4 d5 21...h6 was no better. After 22.e7 c4 23.d1 g8 24.xd6 xd6 25.xd6 White is clearly better. 22.h5 d7 22...c4 was a much better defense. 23.d1 f6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.h6 d7 25...xb2 26.c1 c4 27.h5 d8 28.f4 favors white 25...xh6 26.e7 This cannot be allowed. 26.h5 g5 27.d4+ g8 28.b3 d6 29.c4 f7 29...xh5 30.g7# 30.cxd5 xh6 31.f4 Black has equalized 23.h6 Now follows a catastrophe on the long diagonal once the protecting B is removed. f6 24.xf6+ xf6 25.h5 d6 26.xe5 A crushing finish. xe5 27.e1 The Q can no longer guard d4, so black resigns 27.e1 xe1+ 28.xe1 Intending Qe5+ and mate. fe8 Black is a piece down and will lose in the long run. It's a long process so if you're interested, here is the finish using Stockfish in a Shootout. 29.d2 e7 30.c4 e6 31.d4+ g8 32.f3 f8 33.f6 f4 34.xf4 dxc4 35.xh7+ e8 36.f8+ d7 37.f6+ d6 38.e4+ c7 39.xe7+ b6 40.b4+ c7 41.d6+ b6 42.d4+ a5 43.h7 b6 44.e5+ d5 45.g4 a6 46.d6 b5 47.c8+ a5 48.h8 a6 49.e3 b4 50.b7+ a4 51.b6 c3 52.c5# 1–0

Download PGN

Penrose Pummels Barden

     Finally! After three days of a cold, dripping rain (with a few snow flurries in some locations), a 300 mile wide front stretching 1,300 miles from Ontario, Canada to southern Ohio, is finally clearing out and a warm up (maybe near 70 degrees!) is on the way. 

     The gloomy weather meant the last couple of days allowed for some time playing blitz on line, but my play was as wretched as the weather. Ergo, I spent some time looking through Ludek Pachman's old book, Modern Chess Tactics, which was first published in English in 1970. It was a companion to Modern Chess Strategy which I also have. Pachman, I should mention, was an excellent writer.

     One game that I came across was the following fantastic game by Jonathan Penrose (October 7, 1933 - November 30, 2021, 88 years old). He won the British championship a record 10 times, yet he always remained an amateur whose chess career was fitted into vacations at Middlesex University, where he lectured in psychology. 

     In 1960, at the Leipzig Olympiad Penrose defeated Mikhail Tal and Max Euwe then caught Bobby Fischer’s King in the middle of the board, forcing him to settle for an endgame a Pawn down. Short of time, Penrose offered a draw. Fischer replied “Sure!” then demonstrated a forced win for Penrose. 

     By the age of 17, Penrose was acknowledged as a top prospect. At Southsea in 1950, defeated both Efim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower. Playing in Hastings for the first time in 1950/51, he beat the French champion Nicolas Rossolimo and in 1952/1953, he shared the first place at Hastings with Harry Golombek, Antonio Medina and Daniel Yanofsky. 

     Penrose earned the IM title in 1961 and was the leading British player for several years in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was widely considered to be of GM strength, but did not achieve the title during his active playing career. He also held the GM title in correspondence chess. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2610 on the February 1969 rating list placing him at number 57 in world. 

     One of the primary goals, starting right in the opening, is to invest the pieces with a greater degree of effectiveness. Even moves like 1.e4 and 1.d4 open lines for the pieces while a move like 1.Nf3 brings the N into play. Later, in the middlegame this goal can include such things as the opening of a diagonal for a B, transferring a N to an outpost, the opening of a file for a R, etc. 

     In the following game played at Hastings 1957/58, Penrose's tactical shot 15.Bf4 was played with the realization that at the end of the sequence at move 19 his Queen would be much stronger than the combined forces of his opponent's Rook and two Bishops. So said Pachman. 

     Unfortunately (?), today we live in an age where laptops coupled with chess engines enable any armchair Grandmaster to poke holes in the play of guy's like Nezhmedinov, Tal, Bronstein or any other great player you can name because engines find the defects no matter how small or deeply hidden. 

     That's what happened when analyzing this game...Penrose's 15.Bf4 was found wanting by the engines. It doesn't matter because we humans can still delight in such a move. The concept was brilliant and in practical play it was crowned with success. 

     His opponent, Leonard Barden, is an English master, writer, journalist, organizer and promoter. His weekly Guardian chess column began in September 1955 and continued for sixty-one years. Barden was born on August 20, 1929, and as far as I know he is still among the living and that would make him 93 years old. Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2497 on the January 1958 rating list and his best tournament result to have been in this Hastings event. 

ChessBase

Jonathan Penrose–Leonard W. Barden1–0B56Hastings 1957/58Hastings ENG03.01.1958Stockfish 15

Sicilian Dragon 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 d6 6.f4 g6 7.b5 d7 8.xc6 xc6 9.e5 This is the goal of white's opening strategy, but he has not accomplished much as black has sufficient play. 9.f3 was the main alternative. In that case black equalizes easily with b6 10.b3 g7 11.e3 a6 12.d4 12.d4 xe4 Instead of this tricky line black could also play 13...O-O or 13...Rc8 13.xe4 f5 14.xc6 fxe4 15.xe4 bxc6 16.e6 xb2 The position is approximately equal. 12...0-0 Black is slightly better. 9...dxe5 The correct reply. 9...xg2 is not so good because after 10.g1 dxe5 11.fxe5 d7 white gain the advantage with 12.e6 fxe6 13.xg2 b6 14.b3 Black is a piece down with only two very weak Ps to show for it. 10.fxe5 e4 Taking the g-Pawn is still a bad idea. 11.xe4 11.xc6 was more accurate, but it allows black easy equality. xd1+ 12.xd1 bxc6 13.f2 xf2 14.xf2 g7 15.e1 11...xe4 12.0-0 In the book, Pachman wrote that white has come out of the opening with a considerable lead in development (which I am not seeing), but he has a weak pawn at e5 and in addition, black has the two Bishops. White's task, therefore, will consist in creating effective threats as quickly as possible and thereby preventing black from completing his development. Komodo 14 gives black a slight edge here of less than half a Pawn. g7 13.e1 d5 Pachman was critical of this move because black falls in with his opponent's plan and difficult complications arise. Both Komodo 14 and Stockfish 15 prefer Barden's move and evaluated the position as slightly in black's favor. 13...c6 was tried in Kavalek,L-Jansa,V Jablonec 1962 and after 14.g5 b6 15.c3 d8 16.e2 d5 17.f6 0-0 18.xg7 xg7 the position is about equal. 14.c3 xe5 This is the best here, since other continuations failed to give black a satisfactory game. 14...xe5 is a mistake because after 15.a4+ f8 16.xe4 xh2+ 16...xe4 17.e6+ wins the Q 17.xh2 xe4 18.d2 White's B+N should prove superior to the R. This is one of those positions which theoretically favors white, but in practical play among amateurs, the stronger player is the more likely to win with either side. 14...xg2 15.c4 xc4 16.xg2 d8 17.e4 xe5 18.xe5 xd4 This materially unbalanced position (B vs 3Ps) favors white according to the engines. In practice things probably wouldn't be so clear. That said, in Shootouts Stockfish won 5-0. 14...0-0 is reasonable, but after 15.e2 f5 16.xf5 gxf5 17.f2 xe5 18.f4 f6 19.ad1 White has equalized. 15.f4 A very pretty move even if the engines don't like it! The unprotected position of the black Q and B give white very good practical chances. Black cannot well decline the sacrifice and. indeed, doing to would definitely favor white. 15.e2 This is hard to evaluate. Komodo thinks the position is ablut equal while Stockfish prefers black by about a P after f5 16.f3 c7 17.g5 d5 18.f4 c5+ 19.h1 f6 But even here things are not so clear after 20.e6 xe6 21.xe6 15...xf4 15...d5 16.a4+ f8 17.ad1 and white has reason to be well satisfied with his position. 16.a4+ And this is where Barden starts to go wrong. Without the help of engines the move that keeps the advantage is too hard to find...obviously, or pre-engine annotators would have found it! c6 After this what's going to happen is that black will get two Bs and a R for his Q, but his situation will be extremely bad owing to the lack of any real co-ordination among his pieces. 16...f8 was recommended by Pachman who thought the position favored white, but it does not. After 17.e6+ fxe6 18.f1 xf1+ 19.xf1+ f5 20.g4 f6 21.gxf5 exf5 Fritz 17, Stockfish, Komodo all have the same 0.00 evaluation...anything can happen! 16...b5 What a move! 17.xb5 Best. 0-0 18.xe4 xe4 19.xe4 ab8 20.xa7 xb2 There are multitudinous possibilities, but the best line is 21.c6 xc3 22.c4 d2 23.a4 e6 and black is, theoretically at least, better, scoring +4 -0 =1 in Shootouts. 17.xe7+ A beautiful move! After this white has equalized, but, and this is important, he has an active position and black must watch his step. f8 Taking the R would be bad. 17...xe7 18.xc6+ bxc6 19.xf4 18.e6+ Another terrific move, in fact it's the only move. fxe6 18...xe7 19.xf4 fxe6 20.c7+ favors white 19.xf4+ xe7 20.c7+ This is the same position as in the note to move 18. d7 21.d1 ad8 Black could not protect the B with the other R because then the R on a8 would be lost. 21...hd8 22.xb7 e5 23.xd7+ xd7 24.xa8 22.xb7 hf8 23.xa7 All of a sudden things are looking very gloomy for black. f5 24.a4 The Ps are destined to decide the game. e5 25.a5 e8 26.a6 c6 27.xd8+ xd8 Now 28.Qxh7 puts the game away, right? 28.e3 28.xh7 Wrong!! Things aren't so simple. b5 Threatening mate. 28...c7 29.h4+ 29.xg6 b6+ 30.h1 f1# 29...c8 30.h8+ d7 31.d4+ d5 32.g7+ d6 33.c4 b6+ 34.f1 f5+ 35.e1 f4 36.c3 f2+ 37.e2 xg2 White should be able to squeeze out the win. 29.g4 f1+ 30.g2 xa6 31.xg6 e1 32.g5+ 32.xe6 b7+ 33.f2 g3+ wins 32...e8 and white may or may not win even though he can claim to have the advantage. 28...c7 29.b4 e5 29...b5 is more resistant. 30.g4 e5 31.d4+ c8 32.a7 e1+ 33.f2 e2+ 34.f3 a2 35.c4 c6+ 36.e3 and in a few more moves black can throw in the towel. 30.d4+ c8 31.c4 The remaining mvoes require no comment. e4 32.h8+ d7 33.xh7+ d8 34.h8+ d7 35.g7+ c8 36.f8+ d8 37.c5 d7 38.b5 a8 39.a7+ Stockfish, Komodo and Fritz notwithstanding, a brilliant performance by Penrose! 1–0

Download PGN

The (Not So Great) Vazquez vs. Sterling Matches

     Manuel Marquez Sterling y Loret de Mola (1872-1934) was born in Lima, Peru to Cuban parents and died in Washington, DC. He was a Cuban diplomat and interim President of Cuba for 6 hours on January 18, 1934. At the age of 16 he began a career in journalism writing for publications founded by his father.

     Suffering from asthma, part of his adolescence was spent in Mexico because his father believed the climate would help. While there he met Jose Marti, a Cuban poet, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. 

     Sterling was credited with saving the life of Mexican President Francisco I. Madero, when the latter was hiding from the authorities at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Sterling served in the revolution then in 1901 went to Washington as member of the Cuban mission where he unsuccessfully protested against the Platt Amendment, legislation which outlined US policy for its meddling in Cuban affairs. 

     After a journalistic career, he served in diplomatic service for many years as ambassador to Mexico and the United States. 

     Sterling tied for last place in the Paris 1900 tournament (won by Emanuel Lasker) that was held during the world exhibition. As an author, Sterling wrote about 15 books on diverse topics such as politics, history and chess. 

     He played, and lost, two matches against Andres Clemente Vazquez (1844 - 1901), a Cuban-Mexican problem composer who was an attorney by profession. In 1869, he emigrated to Mexico, becoming a naturalized Mexican citizen the next year. 

     In Mexico he collaborated in different periodicals and was a member of various organizations publishing his works such as Mexican Orators, Political Rights and Duties, Minorities Representation in Popular Elections. 

     Vazquez became a distinguished Consul of Mexico in Havana, a position which he held until his death. In that position he was lauded for his outstanding performance in all his endeavors which included diplomacy, literature and in the courts. 

     He was also a first class player and wrote three chess books: Chess by Memory, Masterly Chess and Chess Game Analysis. He also served as the first chess club president of Mexico and composed many direct mates. 

     The first match was held in August of 1894 with Vasquez winning 4.5-0.5. It was supposed to be a ten game match, but Sterling resigned half way through not only because his bad play left him no hope of winning, but also because he wanted to take advantage of the few days of leave that he had been given to visit family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 

     They met again in January of 1900 in a match that was to go to the first to win five games, draws not counting. Vazquez was in the process of again trouncing his opponent with a +2 -0 =2 score when the match came to an abrupt end when Sterling was forced to resign the match when he had to leave for Washington. 

     The reason was that he had been appointed private secretary for Gonzalo de Quesada, a key architect (along with Jose Marti) of Cuba's Independence Movement. In that position Sterling was sent to the Universal Exposition of Paris as Cuba's representative. 

     The following was game 3 of their first match and it was a tactical humdinger...one worth playing over with a board and pieces if you want to sharpen your tactical vision and ability to see ahead. 

ChessBase

Andres Clemente Vazquez–Manuel Marquez Sterling1–0C13First Match3Havana CUB11.08.1894Stockfish 15

French: Classical System 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 f6 4.g5 e7 5.xf6 xf6 6.f3 0-0 7.d3 h6 Harmless. Both 7...c5 and the old fashioned 7...b3 are reasonable. 7...dxe4 8.xe4 xd4 This mild looking position can actually get incredibly complicated. 9.fg5 Wrong N! 9.eg5 g6 10.xh7 xh7 10...xf2+ is not quite sufficient. 11.xf2 xh7 12.h4 g7 13.d2 white has sufficient compensation for his P minus. 11.xd4 g7 11...xd4 loses 12.xg6+ 12.f3 f6 is completely equal. 9...f5 Wrong P move! 9...h6 and black wins! 10.h5 xb2 11.d1 d7 White is at a standstill. Black simply must avoid taking the N. 10.h5 h6 11.g6 e8 12.f7 d7 13.xh6+ f8 14.g5 gxh6 15.h7+ e7 16.0-0-0 a4 17.xf5 xb2+ 18.xb2 b5+ 19.c1 xf5 20.g7+ f7 21.xh6 d7 22.g5+ Black resigned. Naranjo Espinosa,S-Guerra,L Bogota 2004 8.e2 c6 This mild move blocking the c-Pawn does no real harm, but it's quite passive. 9.e5 e7 10.a3 a6 11.g4 f6 12.0-0-0 fxe5 13.dxe5 b5 14.h4 e8 15.g5 h5 16.h3 Best. 16.dg1 doesn't work out. xf3 17.gxh6 xh6+ 18.b1 f4 16...xg5+ This is the wrong way to capture the g-Pawn. Now white could have gained the advantage. 16...hxg5 17.g1 gxh4 18.xh4 xe2 19.h7+ f7 19...xh7 20.f5+ h4 21.xh4+ h5 22.xh5+ g8 23.xg7# 20.g6+ g8 21.h7+ draw 17.b1 Moving out of check seems reasonable, but in this case it loses. 17.xg5 was correct. Then after xe2 18.h7+ h8 19.xe2 xf2 20.d4 white has active play. xe5 21.e1 hxg5 22.hxg5 22.xe5 allows black to equalize. g4 23.c3 xh7 24.xc7 f6 22...f7 23.h5 17...d8 This meeks retreat costs the game. 17...f4 Moving forward! 18.e1 b4 Opening lines against white's K gives black excellent attacking chances. 19.axb4 b8 18.g1 Once the Rs are doubled on the g-file the game will be over. e7 18...xe5 19.xe5 xe2 20.xe2 c5 21.hg3 a7 22.c6 b7 23.xd8 xd8 24.g6 and white should prevail. 19.hg3 f7 20.xd5 A nice finishing touch. f5 20...xd5 21.g6 traps the Q 21.xf5 xf5 The rest of the game is a mopping up exercise. 22.d4 h7 23.f6+ xf6 24.exf6 xf6 25.e5 f7 26.xe6 xe6 27.xe6 f8 28.g6 xf2 29.c6 Black resigned. 29.c6 d8 30.xc7 fd2 31.xg7 and it's over. 1–0

Download PGN

Prominent Chessplayer Perishes In Fiery Crash

 

     The German Zeppelin L2 was the second Zeppelin airship to be bought by the Imperial German Navy. It caught fire and crashed with the loss of all aboard on October 17, 1913 before it even entered service. 

     The Zepplin was first flown on September 6th and following a number of trial flights it was flown to Johannisthal in northeastern Germany on September 20th for an acceptance trial by the Navy. 

     This trial flight, the craft's tenth, was to be an altitude trial and was scheduled on October 17th. On the morning of the flight things started badly. Takeoff was delayed because one of the engines wouldn't start. 

     During the two hours it took to repair the engine the airship was sitting in the sun and the heated hydrogen expanded. As a result, on takeoff the airship ascended rapidly to about 650 feet and that's when observers saw flames leaping out of the forward engine car. 

     The flames caused some of the gasbags to explode and the airship began plummeting to the ground. Halfway down there was a second explosion and as the wreckage hit the ground there were more explosions as the fuel tanks ignited.

     Medical personnel were there immediately and shortly thereafter several ambulances arrived. Two crew members were found alive lying outside the debris and severely wounded lieutenant was freed from the wreckage. Of the three survivors one died at the site, the second died during transport to the hospital and the third died in the hospital. The remaining 25 crew members were killed on impact. 

     Among the 28 crew members who died in the crash was one of the strongest members of the Berlin Chess Club (Berlin Scachgegellschaft), Captain Max Behnisch who was in command of the airship. 

     It was determined that the accident had been caused by the rapid ascent leading to venting of hydrogen through the relief valves, which in Zeppelins of the period were placed at the bottom of the bags; there were no vents to convey any hydrogen let off to the top of the ship. As a result, some of the vented gas was then sucked into the forward engine car where it was ignited, the fire then spreading to the gasbags. 

     Korvettenkapitaen Max Behnisch (1873-1913) had been in the German Navy for 15 years originally serving as a corvette captain; a corvette is the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. He had commanded the gunboat Panther when, in 1911, he was appointed to the Reichsmarineamt where he was head of the aviation department. 

     Behnisch was the son of the director of the Gorlitz mechanical engineering and iron foundry corporation. His family (mother and sister) received the news of his death at 1:00pm by telegram from Berlin. 

     Although Behnsich was not a Master, he was a highly esteemed as an amateur player as well as for his personal qualities. He enjoyed the distinction of having been the only player to have defeated Emanuel Lasker in a simultaneous exhibition at the club in 1912. Lasker himself spoke very highly of the brilliant effort by Behnisch, 

     It was very audacious of Behnisch to play the Scandinavian, but it paid off because he obtained good development and fine attacking possibilities. Then, a temporary sacrifice of a N enabled him to make progress and Lasker found it necessary to give up the exchange. 

     In 1912, at the annual congress of the German Chess Association Behnisch participated in one of the minor tournaments at the Breslau International Congress. After the conclusion of the events the Breslau officials arranged an extra quadrangular tournament with the order of finish being 1) Hugo Suechting 2) Walther von Holzhausen 3) Behnisch and 4) Dr. Carl Hartlaub. 

     Unfortunately, I was unable to discover any of Behnisch's games except for his win over Lasker. 

ChessBase

Emanuel Lasker–Max Behnisch0–1B01Simultaneous, BerlinBerlin GER17.11.1912Stockfish 15

Scandinavian Defense 1.e4 d5 This used to be known as the Center Counter Defense. It's the oldest black defense recorded in modern chess. The general goal is to prevent white from controlling the center with Pawns and forcing an open game. It's played only occasionally today. 2.exd5 f6 This the more modern way, but at the time it would have been more usual to play 2...Qxa4. The rare Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit is 2...c6. 3.c4 This attempt at holding the P allows black to obtain full compensation for the P because he rapidly gets his pieces into play. White does better playing 3.d4 c6 4.dxc6 The best move is still 4.d4 xc6 5.c3 e5 6.d3 c5 6...f5 7.f3 e4 8.dxe4 xe4 9.e2 b4 Black has slightly the better of it. Savchenko,B (2562) -Asrian,K (2634) Moscow 2007 7.e3 White's safest moves is the uninspired 7.Be2 7.f3 f5 8.e2 0-0 9.0-0 is equal. Blondel,J (1626)-Andrieu,P (1914) Bagnoles de l'Orne 2009 7...d4 8.f3 Here black should probably either play 8...O-O or 8...Bf5. but instead he plays for the attack. g4 White should get a slight advantage after this, but in a simul where Lasker is moving quickly and not expecting master level competition the text proved to be worth the risk. 8...0-0 9.e2 f5 10.xd4 exd4 11.b1 b5 12.bd2 bxc4 13.xc4 d5 14.0-0 e8 15.a3 f4 16.e1 f6 17.f1 g4 and the players agreed toi a draw. Trifunovic,P-Maric,R Zagreb 1953 9.xd4 exd4 10.e4 b4+ 11.fd2 It would have been safer to play the other N to d2. 0-0 Black threatens ...f5 putting white under pressure and causing him to have to lose time retreating the N which would not have been the case had white played 11.Ned2 12.e2 e3 As forceful as this looks, black's advantage, if any, is only a positional one as he obtains the open d-file and what amounts to no more than potential threats. 13.fxe3 dxe3 14.0-0 exd2 15.xd2 15.a3 was safer. a5 16.b4 c7 17.xd2 Neither side can claim any advantage. 15...d4+ 16.h1 xb2 17.e4 Rb1 is the strong threat. d4 17...d8 18.b1 a3 19.h5 e6 20.f3 and it's white who has the better chances. 18.b1 a5 19.f4 The very transparent threat is Nf6+ It's rather odd that in his brief notes to this game that appeared in the American Chess Bulletin, Isadore Gunsberg made no comment on this, the losing move. 19.c1 would have kept black's advantage to a bare minimum. a6 20.c5 c6 21.f4 h8 22.a3 xc5 23.xc5 xc5 24.xc5 xc5 19...f5 20.b3 Hoping black takes the N! e6 20...fxe4 21.c5+ e6 22.xe6+ h8 23.xf8+ xf8 24.xe4 xe4 25.dxe4 c8 21.g5 21.a3 was hardly any better. d6 22.xd6 xf4 23.b5 ae8 Black is still winning. 21...xf4 22.xe6 e5 This should have left Lasker off the hook! 22...e3 stays on track. 23.c5 h8 24.xf8 xe2 24...xf8 25.f3 e8 Threat ...Qe1+ 26.f1 f2 27.d1 xa2 White is very close to equalizing. 25.f7 e8 26.h3 e7 27.xe7 xe7 28.f1 g6 White's N goes leaving black with a won ending. 23.xf8 This hasty material grab is wrong. 23.f3 solves white's defensive problems as after fe8 24.d4 f6 25.xb7 ab8 26.c7 Black's attack has been beten back and the chances are equal after, say f8 27.c5+ h8 28.c6 h4 29.b5 be8 30.g3 e4 23...xe2 24.d7 e1 Not bad as black is ambitious and wants to force mate, but 24...Rd8 was even stronger. 24...d8 25.c5+ h8 26.d5 e7 winning the N. 25.c5+ h8 26.h3 f1+ 27.h2 f4 Threatening ...Bg3# 28.xe1 xe1 29.d4 Avoiding the exchange of Qs with 29. Qf7 still loses after 29...Qe3! and white has run out of reasonable moves. g3+ 30.xg3 fxg3+ 31.xg3 d8 The ending is lost. 31...d8 32.b6 xd4 33.f3 d2 34.a4 c2 35.d7 c4 etc. 0–1

Download PGN

Roos Routs Gresser

     I remember 1955 because as a ten-year old I was a fan of the television program Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Canadian Mountie Sgt. Preston was played by Richard Simmons (1912-2003) and he was supported by his dog King and his horse Rex. I should mention that Simmons was NOT the Richard Simmons of exercise fame! The show was sponsored by Quaker Oats so naturally, tasteless as it was, I ate Quaker Puffed Rice cereal.

     In 1955 Quaker Oats bought bought about 19 acres of land in the Yukon Territory for $1, 000 and printed up 21 million deeds for one square inch of land. They set up and transferred the land to the Great Klondike Big Inch Land Company to make the company the registered owner and manager of the deeds.

     Starting in January 1955, the promotion instructed people to mail a form along with a box top from a Quaker Oats cereal. In turn, you got a 5 by 8 inch deed to one square inch of land in the Klondike. Of course, I got one.
    Then in February Quaker Oats was blocked from trading the deed for a box top by the Ohio Securities Division until it received a state license for the "sale" of foreign land. Sounds like a politician trying to make a name for himself and so making a big deal out of nothing.

     To get around the stupid injunction, the company stopped the trade-in offer and instead put one of the deeds in each box of cereal. 

     Of course it was all a bit of advertising bosh. Since none of the deeds, which excluded mineral rights, were registered, they were not legally binding and owners of the deeds never owned the land. 

     In 1965 all of the land was repossessed by the Canadian government due to $37.20 in unpaid back taxes. To this day officials still get inquiries from people inquiring if they really own a square inch of land which today is part of the Dawson City Golf Course. 

     I didn't play chess in those days and so was oblivious to the 1955 U.S. Women's Championship which was probably the strongest women's championship event up to that time even after the withdrawals of Mary Bain, Sonja Graf Stevenson and Eva Aronson. 

     Other top rated women players who declined invitations were Adele (Rivero) Belcher, Dr. Helen Weissenstein, Edith Weart, Kathryn Slater and Dorothy Williams. Among the participants however were defending champion Mona M. Karff and former champion Gisela K. Gresser. 

 

 

     It was an exciting battle with Irene Vines leading for six rounds, but she collapsed and the tournament ended in a tie between the former champion Gisela Gresser and Nancy Roos who were declared co-Champions. 

     Third place went to defending champion Mona Karff who began badly with only 2 points lost in the early rounds, but playing vigorous and aggressive chess, she won six consecutive games after the fifth round in a nearly successful attempt to overtake the leaders. 

     In the following game Roos seems to be lost, but when Gresser suddenly begins to play very passively, Roos seizes her chance and commences an irresistible K-side attack. There is an excellent article on Nancy Roos by Batgirl on Chess.com HERE 

ChessBase

Nancy Roos–Gisela Gresser1–0A00US Women's Champ, New York1955Stockfish 15

Polish Opening 1.b4 A rare guest in tournament play, but it was a favorite of Roos. e6 2.b2 f6 3.a3 An attempt at preventing ...Nc6 by playing 3.b5 does not confer any advantage on white and it can be satisfactorily met in any number of ways. d5 4.e3 a5 5.b5 c5 6.c4 6.bxc6 bxc6 7.f3 bd7 8.e2 b8 9.c1 favors black. Poley,V (2326)-Sukhareva,E (2248) Taganrog RUS 2013 6...bd7 7.cxd5 7.f3 b6 8.cxd5 exd5 9.a4 9.d4 c4 10.c3 d6 11.e2 0-0 12.0-0 e7 13.d2 f5 and a draw was agreed even though black stands well. Christensen,T (2280)-Hansen,C (2310) Gausdal 1990 9...d6 10.c2 e7 11.d3 Black is slightly better. Donguines,F (2380)-Nadera,B (2405) Genting 1995 1-0 (46) 7...exd5 8.a4 e7 In annotating this game IM Hans Kmoch claimed that because the e-file is semi-open and white has no chance of getting anywhere with an early e2-e4 a natural plan would have been 8...Bd6, .. .Re8 and then bring the N oin d2 into action with ...Ne4 or ...Nf8. Gresser's move is quite playable, too. However, 8...c4! puts white in an uncomfortable bind. 9.f3 0-0 10.e2 b6 11.0-0 f5 12.d3 c8 13.bd2 The position is equal and now both sides begin shifting pieces around in an attempt to come up with a workable plan. Even engines don't come up with anything clear and five Shootouts all resulted in drawn endings. fd7 14.c1 f6 15.a3 e8 16.h3 a8 Kmoch thought perhaps black's idea was to protect the c-Pawn with ... Nc7-e6. This is time consuming, but white's position is quite passive so there is not much she can do. Or, perhaps she was thinking of defending the c-Pawn by ...b6. Who knows? 16...g5 is an interesting idea. 17.h2 h5 but white has an equalizing counter in 18.e4 Here things get interesting. dxe4 19.dxe4 e6 20.xh5 c4 21.g4 c3 22.f3 c4 23.d6 xg4 24.xg4 cxe4 with equal chances. 17.b3 d4 Kmoch claimed that Gresser changed her mind about the aforementioned maneuver with her N and with this move the game becomes a struggle between two P majorities. He added that the change is brought about by the importance of the c4 square and in order to have sufficient influence on that square, black needs a N on b6 and so ...b7-b6 is ruled out. 18.e4 e6 19.c4 White would have fared better by retreating the Q. In that case, it's hard to suggest a productive plan of action for either side. What can be said of this position is that as is almost always the case, it's a bad idea to voluntarily walk into a pin as white does with this move. ab6 20.d1 Safer was adding additional support to the N with 20.Nfd2 xc4 20...xc4 21.dxc4 xe4 As pointed out by Kmoch, black is ahead by a protected passed P and ought to win rather easily. In reality things aren't so simple! Five Shootouts from this position were drawn mostly because in the ensuing endings black did not have a light squared B and so was unable to do anything when white blockaded the P with a piece on d3. 21.dxc4 c7 22.d3 b6 23.c2 Roos realizes that she must try to advance her f-Pawn and this move aims to support its further advance. Black is better here, but fortunately for Roos, Gresser cooperates with her! f8 A strange retreat. Better was 23...Ne5 24.c1 h6 Preventing Ng5, but she is seeing ghosts. 24.. .Ng6 was solid. 25.e1 cd8 Another passive move and now it's white who has the initiative, but black is not yet lost as Kmoch declared. 25...h4 To meet 26.f4 with 26.Bxe1 is met by 26.h5 e7 27.f4 and black can maintain an equal position by defending her K-side with f6 28.e5 d7 after which she can put up stout resistance. 26.f4 c8 27.h5 b7 This time wasting maneuver repositioning the B has accomplished nothing and has resulted in white's position being even better. As ugly as it is, the defensive plan of ...Be7, ...Nd7 and ...Bf8 would have made things harder for white. 28.e5 e7 29.e2 Defending the e-Pawn so she can play f5 c8 This loses quickly, but there is not much fight left in her position. 29...d7 This hinders the dreaded advance of the f-Pawn 30.e6 But white has the advance of the e-Pawn as an alternative. fxe6 31.xe6 f6 32.g6 f8 33.f3 Resigning time is drawing nigh for black. xf3 34.xf3 d6 35.f5 d7 36.xh6 f7 37.g4 xe6 38.fxe6 xe6 39.g5 e1+ 40.g2 h4 41.gxf6 xh6 42.fxe7 xg6+ 43.xg6 xe7 and this ending is lost. 30.f5 g5 31.xg5 hxg5 31...f6 is no better. 32.f4 fxe5 33.f6 f7 34.xf7+ xf7 35.fxg7 exf4 36.gxf8+ xf8 37.xf4+ and wins 32.f6 gxf6 33.xf6 e6 34.h7+ f8 35.ef2 35.g6 Not that it matters, but this forces mate. g7 36.e6 e4 37.xe4 e7 38.xg7 d8 39.exf7 h2+ 40.xh2 f8 41.xf8+ c7 42.e7+ b8 43.xb6+ a8 44.xc8# 35...d8 Avoiding immediate mate, but equally fruitless was 35...Ke7 36.h6+ e7 37.xg5 f8 38.g6 xe5 38...f6 39.fxf6+ f7 40.f3 The Q covers e7 and Rg8# cannot be stopped. 39.g8# This game was first auto-annotated at 12 seconds per move using Fritz 17 and Stockfish 15. It's interesting that for a player rated 1888 that Roos' play was evaluated as having a weighted error value of 0.10 (very precise). If a player's moves exactly match the engine the score would be a perfect 0.0, so a WEV of 0.10 is quite impressive. 1–0

Download PGN

Stearns Smashed by Hahlbohm

     A far reaching law that had a personal impact on me almost 30 years later was passed in Ohio on April 29, 1921; it was the Bing Act. 

     With two major exceptions the law required children between the ages of six and eighteen to attend school. The two exceptions were a child who had already graduated from high school did not have to stay in school until turning eighteen; and a child who was sixteen and had passed the seventh grade was allowed to work as a farmer instead of attending school. 

     The law's intent was created to stop child labor, but it also caused problems and, naturally, there were those who opposed the bill...farmers and the Amish. They didn't want to take their children off the farm to continue in school. Plus they knew it meant they were going to take a financial hit...more taxes would have to be raised to run the schools. 

     Some also thought school would be a training ground that would teach children to be delinquents and learn bad behavior. When children were forced to attend school some families faced financial troubles because they relied on their children's income to help pay the bills. 

     To meet the schools needs the Legislature adopted a 3 percent sales tax that gave half of the funds to the schools for education purposes and operating costs. Question...what happened to the other half?!

     1921 was the last season for the Cleveland Tigers, the first Cleveland team franchise in what became the National Football League. For the 1921 season, the name of the team was changed to the Indians, partly because it was a stock name in Cleveland. A baseball team had also used the name since 1915, additionally, the football team had three Native Americans who had been signed away from the Canton, Ohio Bulldogs. 

     In October of 1921, the 22nd Western Championship (forerunner of the U.S. Open) was played at the Hotel Hollenden in Cleveland, Ohio. Edward Lasker won his third title in a row and fifth in six years. Hermann Helms served as referee and tournament director. 

 

     In the following game the well known Clevelander Elliott E. Stearns (1891-1969), a corporate attorney by profession, got clobbered by the prominent Chicago master Herman Hahlbohm (1886-1963). 

ChessBase

Elliott E. Stearns–Herman H. Hahlbohm0–1D0222nd Western Champ, Cleveland Ohio05.10.1921Stockfish 15

Symmetrical English 1.d4 f6 2.f3 d5 3.c4 c5 4.c3 cxd4 5.xd4 This is the reason the auto-annotation using Fritz has classified this slippery opening sequence as the Symmetrical English. e5 6.f3 d4 7.xe5 Already a losing move! 7.b1 c6 8.a3 and here in the game Poliakov,Y (2249)-Rakhmangulov,A (2401) Pavlograd 2000 black erred with the passive 8... Be7, but he could have gotten an overwhelming edge with 8...e4 or even 8... Qa5+ 7.b5 b4+ Also good was 7...Nc6 8.d2 xd2+ 9.xd2 a6 10.a3 e4 11.d1 a5+ Black has a significant advantage. Poliakov,Y (2249) -Rakhmangulov,A (2401) Pavlograd 2000 7...dxc3 This move is faulty in that it allows white to equalize. 7...d6 attacking both Ns would have been much better. 8.a4+ bd7 9.xd7 xd7 10.b5 b6 Black will regain the piece and be left with an excellent position. 8.xd8+ xd8 9.xf7+ e8 10.xh8 b4 Black has enough compensation for the exchange in the form of active play. The text move threatening a discovered check also sets a trap. 11.d1 ...into which white falls. 11.b3 renders the discovered check harmless. c2+ 12.d2 a3 13.e4 Tricky! xe4 13...b2 is the correct move. 14.c1 xc1 15.xc1 c6 16.d3 In this highly unbalanced material situation the chance would be approximately equal. In Shootouts five games were drawn, but with humans I suspect the game could go either way. 14.d3 xd2 15.xd2 and white is better. 11...f5 With the obvious threat of 12...c2# 12.e3 12.e4 This surprising move giving up a P would have kept his disadvantage at a minimum. The reason is clear next move. xe4 13.e2 c6 13...cxb2 is inferior. 14.xb2 c6 15.g4 e6 16.xg7 Black's advantage has mostly disappeared. 14.f3 d2 15.g4 e6 16.a3 d4+ 17.f2 c5 18.b4 2b3 19.d3 xa1 20.bxc5 Black is better, but white can at least play on. 12...c6 Getting his R into play. 13.a3 d8+ Here is the reason 12.e4 would have been better; in those lines black was not able tp get his R into play with a gain of time; a subtle difference. 14.e2 cxb2 Much the best as it brings the R into a dominating position. 14...d3+ This is not bad. White's K can skitter away, but it is still subject to a devastating attack. 15.f3 e5+ 16.g3 h5+ 17.h3 f5+ 18.g4 xg4+ 19.g2 f3+ Black is winning. 15.xb2 d2+ 16.e1 a5 White is out of any meaningful moves...everything he plays will lose. 17.xf6 gxf6 18.c1 This allows a mate in 13, but he was hopelessly lost anyway. b2+ 19.d1 g4+ 20.f3 d2+ 21.e1 xg2+ 22.d1 xf3+ 23.e2 xe2 White resigned. A crushing defeat. 23...xe2 24.c3 xc3 25.g1 b2+ 26.c1 a5 27.g8+ d7 28.g7+ c6 29.xb7 xb7 30.f7 b3# 0–1

Download PGN