Chess Review magazine was founded in 1933 in partnership between Horowitz, who had been a securities trader on Wall Street and Isaac Kashdan, who departed after just a few issues because he moved to California.
Few players realize just how good Horowitz was at the height of his powers. He was a leading player in the U.S. during the 1930s and 1940s. And, Chessmetrics estimated his highest ever rating to have been in January 1943 when it was estimated to have been 2680. That placed him number 10 in the world behind Reshevsky, Alekhine, Botvinnik, Euwe, Keres' Smyslov. Stahlberg, Najdorf and Paul Schmidt.
When the United States won the world team championships in 1931, 1935 and 1937 the victories were in a large part do to the games Horowitz won. against some of the best European players.
Style-wise Horowitz was of the classical tradition aiming for mobile piece play, clear‐cut strategic themes and opportunities for sharp attacking play. He disdained cramped positions that required tortuous maneuvering and he never cottoned to the style of his rival and contemporary, Samuel Reshevsky.
The following game was played in the 1943 U.S. Open. With the war in full progress and restricted travel, the turnout was OK, but only Horowitz and Anthony Santasiere could be considered serious contenders for the title. The decisive game was played in the final round between those two, but according to the report in Chess Review, Santasiere, who was a half-point behind Horowitz with second place assured, made no attempt to win and accepted a draw by repetition.
Today's game features vigorous and elegant attacking play by Horowitz against Ward M.P. Mitchell from Massachusetts.
[Event "US Open, Syracuse, NY"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1943.08.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ward Mitchell"]
[Black "I.A. Horowitz"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C58"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "44"]
[EventDate "1943.??.??"]
{Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6.
Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 {The usual and safe line is 8.Be2. The text leads
to very sharp play.} cxb5 {The books give this sacrifice a ?, but like white's
last move, it has the merit of leading to very interesting play.} 9. Qxa8 Bc5
10. Qf3 {White's decision to get the Q back into play is sound, but furthering
his development was also worth considering.} (10. O-O O-O 11. b4 {Situru,M
(2382)-Kunte,A (2561) Kuala Lumpur 2005 saw 11.d3 whih is quite solid.} Bxb4
12. Nc3 Nh5 13. Nf3 Nf4 14. Rb1 {Bogoljubow-Euwe, Match, 1941. Chances are
equal.}) (10. Ne4 {is the Stockfish way.} Nxe4 11. Qxe4 O-O 12. O-O Re8 13. d3
{with a slight advantage.}) 10... Bb7 11. Qe2 {This is the best reply.} (11.
Qg3 O-O 12. O-O h6 13. Nh3 {Matsenko,A (1953)-Boskovic,M (1864) Herceg Novi
2008. Black is clearly better.}) 11... O-O 12. c3 {This move is a poor choice
after which white finds himself in a losing position because it hinders his
development. Correct was 12.d3. After the text, black's attack really gets
going.} (12. d3 Nc6 (12... Bxg2 {Is too risky.} 13. Rg1 Bb7 14. Be3 Bxe3 15.
fxe3 h6 16. Nf3 {White is a clear P up.}) 13. c3 h6 14. Ne4 Bb6 15. O-O {
Black's two Bs and better development should be enough compensation for his P
minus.}) 12... h6 13. Nf3 Nc4 14. b4 {At this point white's game is pretty
much beyond hope.} (14. O-O e4 15. Nd4 Bxd4 16. cxd4 Qxd4 17. Nc3 b4 {followed
by ...Ne5 and all white can do is wait for the end.}) 14... e4 {White could
resign here, but nobody wants to do that after only 14 moves.} 15. Nd4 Bxd4 16.
cxd4 Qxd4 17. Nc3 Ne5 18. O-O Nf3+ 19. Kh1 Ng4 20. Qxb5 {Desperation. Now it's
mate in 7 moves at most. but his position was hopelessly lost anyway/} Qxf2 21.
Qe2 Qh4 22. gxf3 exf3 {White resigned} (22... exf3 23. Rxf3 Bxf3+ 24. Kg1 Bxe2
25. Nxe2 Qxh2+ 26. Kf1 Qf2#) 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment