At one time Stark worked in Washington, DC as traffic engineer and project manager, overseeing and implementing the facilitation of traffic flow along the major DC roadway.
In 1956, he left that job to work for the former National Bureau of Standards in Washington (known today as the National Institute of Standards and Technology) as an operations research analyst, until he retired in 1973.
He was a member of the Harvard champion chess team and in the 1937-39 he won the championships of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.
Besides being a rated chess master he enjoyed playing the piano, playing in duplicate tournament bridge, word games and nationally sponsored number contests.
The following game was played in Ventnor City in 1943. Weaver Adams played one of his specialty defenses, the Albin Counter Gambit which all the books say is bad, but in days long gone players like Alekhine, Spielmann and Tartakower used it. It has not been extensively analyzed and so because theory is not exhaustive there remains some wiggle room for black.
Stark's win in this game was awarded the Best Played Game prize which makes it especially unique because Adams was renowned for his expertise with the gambit. Stark chose a relatively unknown line and handled it quite well and concluded the game in jaunty fashion.
Martin C. Stark–Weaver Adams1–0D09Ventnor City1943Stockfish 15
Albin Counter Gambit 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 Reuben Fine warned Chess
Review readers that white must choose his next move carefully because there
are hidden traps! That's absurdity. 4.f3 4.e3 b4+ 5.d2 dxe3 A move
not considered by Fine, The chances are equal after 6.fxe3 6.xb4 as
given by Fine. exf2+ 7.e2 fxg1+ ripping through white's position. 6...h4+ 7.g3 e4 8.f3 xe3+ 9.e2 4...c6 Black wants to defend his d-Pawn,
but he should not do so by blocking his B with 4...c5 5.g3 FIne wrote:
white's strategy is to concentrate on development and the Q-side. If the
e-Pawn falls in the process, it does not matter since the better placement of
his pieces will be more than enough compensation. The order of moves is of no
great consequence. White often plays either 5.a3 or 5.Nbd2 with the idea of
putting pressure on the e-Pawn. Stark pursues a different plan: to defend his
own e-Pawn not in order to hold it because that is impossible, but to
disorganize black's development c5 6.f4 The point. While the idea is
unusual, there is in fact no no good reason why the B is not better here than
(elsewhere) - Fine 6.g2 a5 7.0-0 ge7 8.bd2 a7 9.a3 0-0 10.b4
White is better. Ligterink,G (2391)-Brenninkmeijer,J (2499) Groningen 2001 6.a3 a5 7.g2 7.bd2 g4 8.g2 a7 9.0-0 Schlechter,C-Cohn,W Munich 1900
7...ge7 8.bd2 g4 9.0-0 Here, too, white is slightly better.
Schlechter,C-Marshall,F Paris 1900 6...ge7 7.g2 g6 8.bd2
Black is faced with a dilemma here as moves like 8...O-O and 8...Qe7 prove
unsatisfactory. So, Adams decide to offer a P sacrifice in the hopes of
gaining the initiative. f6 The engine's recommendation! 9.exf6 xf4 10.f7+ An unpleasant surprise. After this black's position is disrupted. 10.gxf4
This is the move Adams was hoping for because he could then equalize with xf6 11.0-0 xf4 10...xf7 11.gxf4 h6 A loss of time to prevent Ng5+ 11...f8 This is his best try. 12.g5+ 12.b3 b4+ 13.f1 13.fd2 g8
Here black is quite well off. 13...g8 14.c5 e7 15.c1 and white is
slightly better. 12...g8 and white has allowed black to equalize! 12.b3 d6 While his position was not very promising, black could have offered
stout resistance after 12...Bb4+ 12...b4+ 13.f1 f6 14.c5 d3 White can
now initiate favorable exchanges. 15.e5+ xe5 16.fxe5 xe5 17.xd3 13.e5+ This is not the best move as it should have allowed black full equality. 13.0-0 d8 14.d3 Black has nothing to show for his P minus. g8 14...b4 15.a3 a5 16.e5+ xe5 17.fxe5 xe5 18.c5 White is winning. 15.f5 a5 White is better. 13...xe5 14.fxe5 b6 To quote Fine -
After the text black is mercilessly slugged into unconsciousness. 14...b4+ equalizes! 15.f1 xe5 16.xd4 White's advantage is minimal. 15.d5+ e7 16.d3 f8 16...c6 17.g6 b4+ 17...cxd5 18.xg7+ wins 18.d1 f8 19.xg7+ d8 20.e4 with a decisive advantage. 17.g1 f5 18.xg7+ e8 19.e4 xe4 20.xe4 d3 21.0-0-0 xf2 22.b1 d8 23.e6 Black resigned.
1–0
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