Lengyel Romps Over Rosino

     The year 1969 was a landmark year in history. The first humans landed on the moon under the Apollo space program. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first astronauts to set foot on the moon while Michael Collins stayed in lunar orbit in the command and service module. Some people still believe the landing was a fake. In fact, I met one just last week. 

     Then there was the incident at Chappaquiddick, an island in Massachusetts, in which Ted Kennedy escaped the clutches of the law after accidentally driving his car off a bridge and Mry Jo Kopechne, his 28-year-old passenger, was trapped inside and drowned. 

     The accident happened some time between about 11:30pm Friday and 1am Saturday and Kennedy left the scene without reporting it. Shortly after after 8am Saturday morning a man and boy, who were going fishing, saw Kennedy's submerged car and notified the residents of a nearby cottage and they called the police. 

     Not long after the police arrived a diver discovered Kopechne's body in the back seat and it was discovered that it was Kennedy's car. Kennedy did not report the accident to police until after 10am Saturday. 

     In 1970 at an inquest it was concluded that Kennedy was not taking Kopechne back to the ferry as he claimed, but intentionally turned toward the bridge and was operating his car negligently, if not recklessly, at too high a speed. 

     Ultimately a judge recommended no charges be filed against Kennedy and a grand jury returned no indictments. Kennedy did get driver's license suspended for sixteen months though. 

     Chess saw Boris Spassky defeat Tigran Petrosian by the score of 12.5 to 10.5 to become new world champion. Nona Gaprindashvili, retained her world title and Anatoly Karpov won the World Junior Championship. 

     Major international tournaments included: Hastings 1969-70 (Portisch), Amsterdam (Portisch), Beverwijk (Botvinnik and Geller), Ljubljana (Planinc),Palma de Mallorca (Larsen), Malaga (Benko and Ivkov), Monaco (Smyslov and Portisch), Netanya (Reshevsky), San Juan (Spassky), Skopje (Hort and Matulovic) and Tallinn (Stein). 

     Also, in 1969, over in Venice, Vlastimil Hort, a 25-year-old Czech GM, romped through the tournament undefeated. Hort started out with four straight wins and had 7 points after 8 rounds and then coasted into first place. 

    

      There was a mammoth tie for places two through seven. One of those in the group was the untitled US player Anthony Saidy. Venice was an important event for him because he got enough points to earn the IM title. At the same time, in the last round Saidy dashed the hopes of the Italian Stefano Tatai by handing him a defeat that meant Tatai missed obtaining the 10.5 points he needed for the GM title. Tatai never did get the GM title although he probably should have. 

     Soviet GM Mark Taimanov was unbeatable, but drew too many games. One of the world's foremost players in the mid-1950s, by the time of this tournament his style had become more positional than ever. In 1971, Taimanov was famously skunked by Bobby Fischer 6-0 in the Candidates Quarterfinal match. 

     The following sharp game from the tournament was played between the Italian FM Antonio Rosino, who is also an FIDE Trainer, and Levente Lengyel (1933-2014), a Hungarian GM. 

[Event "Venice"] [Site ""] [Date "1969.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Antonio Rosino"] [Black "Levente Lengyel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B61"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "1969.03.05"] {Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 {The Richter–Rauzer Attack. It threatens to double black's Ps with Bxf6 and forestalls the Dragon.} Bd7 7. Qd2 Rc8 8. Be2 a6 9. f4 e6 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Nf3 (11. Bf3 Qc7 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Bxc3 16. bxc3 {fizzled out to a draw in Kavalek,L (2550)-Kunsztowicz,U (2460) Germany 1981}) (11. Kb1 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Bc6 13. Bf3 Qc7 14. Rhe1 {offered equal chances in Muratoglu,S (2114)-Arkhangelsky,B (2300) Rogaska Slatina 2009} ) 11... b5 {[%mdl 32]} (11... Qa5 {was another option.} 12. Kb1 b5 13. Bd3 O-O 14. e5 b4 {with equal chances. Izumikawa,B (2395)-Margulis,I (2270) San Francisco 1997}) 12. e5 {Also playable was 12.Bxf6} b4 13. Na4 {After this black seizes the initiative.} (13. exd6 bxc3 14. Qxc3 Bf8 15. Bxa6 {with unclear complications. In Shootouts 5 games were drawn.}) 13... Ne4 14. Bxe7 Qa5 (14... Nxe7 {was more accurate.} 15. Qxb4 d5 16. Bd3 Nf2 {with a slight advantage.}) 15. Qe3 {With this move white equalizes.} Nxe7 16. Nb6 {This is the purpose behind white's last move, but he should have delayed it for a move. After the text black can force an abrupt end.} (16. exd6 {and black's advantage would be minimal after} Nxd6 17. Nb6 Nef5 18. Qg1 {Not an attractive move, but a necessary one to avoid the pin one the B} (18. Qf2 {allows black a decisive attack with} b3 19. a3 (19. axb3 Qa1+ 20. Kd2 Ne4+) 19... Rxc2+) 18... b3 19. axb3 {with the Q on g1 this is playable.} Qa1+ 20. Kd2 Ne4+ 21. Ke1 Qa5+ 22. c3 Nxc3 23. bxc3 Rxc3 24. Nxd7 Rxf3+ 25. b4 Qxb4+ 26. Rd2 Re3 {With a lot of luck white may be able to survive.}) 16... b3 {Decisive!} 17. Qxb3 (17. Qxe4 bxa2 {and the P queens.}) (17. axb3 Qa1#) 17... Nc5 {[%mdl 32]} 18. Qa3 (18. Qc3 Qxb6 {wins}) 18... Qxb6 19. Rxd6 Qc7 20. Nd4 O-O {Black is up a piece and white has no compensation so he could safely resign.} 21. b4 {Not that it matters but 21.Bf3 would have been better.} Ne4 22. Rxa6 Rfd8 23. Qb3 Be8 24. Rd1 Nc3 {White resigned.} (24... Nc3 25. Rd2 {is met by} Rxd4 26. Rxd4 Nxe2+ { followed by 27...Nxd4}) 0-1