The great Dr. Savielly Tartakower (born February 1887) passed away on February 4, 1956, and in Detroit, Michigan a Tartakower Memorial Tournament was held from August 31 to September 3 at Wayne (State) University, a public research university.
It was an 8 round Swiss and first prize was a staggering $500, which had the buying power of nearly $5,500 today. Back in those days the average yearly salary was $4,450. A new Ford car cost between $1,748-$3,151 and gas to put in it cost $0.23 a gallon.
The entry fee was a little stiff, $8.00 which was about a week's pay if you were making the average salary.
Second prize was $175 ($1,900 today) and third prize was $75 ($800 today). There were also prizes for Classes A, B and C, unrated players and Juniors.
No mention was made of a prize for women, but in those days very few women played chess. The top female player was Lucille Kellner of Lima, Ohio, who finished with 5-3 (+4 -2 +2); she was rated 1782 placing her 9th on the women's rating list.
Eva Aronson of Chicago, had returned to play after a two year layoff due to illness and finished with +3 -3 =2. She was not rated because she had not played before the rating list was published.
The tournament was a strong one and Donald Byrne tallied 7-4 to win the event, drawing with runner-up Arthur Bisguier who tied for second with National Master Povilas Tautvaisas. Fourth to sixth with 6-2 scores were Stephan Popel, Walter Shipman and Dr. Ariel Mengarini. Seventh to ninth with 5.5-2.5 scores were Dr. Erich Marchand, Kazys Skema and Kazimieras Jakstas.
Obviously, in the opening black has to be much more careful than white because white, having the first move, has a slight but definite advantage. Black usually finds himself on the defensive in the opening and sometimes he even has to continue playing a defensive game into the middlegame or even the ending.
Defensive play requires nerves of steel and one of white's advantages is that in the opening his superior center can cause black problems in developing his pieces. Consequently, black must be alert for every opportunity to seize his share of the center or, at least, to control as much of it as he can.
Another opening advantage white has is the "initiative" so he can generally play whatever type of middlegame plan that looks the
most promising.
Generally black has two basic plans: 1) He can try for complications, hoping to wrest the initiative or cause white to go astray...a difficult and risky option! Or, 2) play simple chess, close the position, exchanges pieces and avoid the opening attacking lines.
The idea is to meet each threat as it arises and by gradual positional means build up a strong position and maybe even develop an attack.
The following game by US Master Dr. Erich Marchand, who at he time was rated a class below Master at Expert, illustrates some of these defensive procedures.
His opponent was given as "K. Pleskacz", but I believe that is incorrect. I found an obituary for Bazyli Pleskacz (February 12, 1916 - March 17, 2006) who was originally from Belarus and after many hardships and adventures ended up in Detroit in 1950. The obituary added that he was an accomplished chess player and the May 1957 issue of Chess Life's rating list had a "B. Pleskacz" from Detroit who was rated 1887. I also discovered an obituary for his son, Peter Victor Pleskacz (1948-2021), and it mentioned that he had enjoyed playing bridge and chess with his father.
Bazyli Pleskacz–Dr. Erich Marchand0–1B40Tartakower Memorial, Detroit1956Komodo 14
Sicilian Defense 1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 Marchand purposely avoided the Dragon
Variation which was extremely popular at the time. 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 b4 This move is somewhat risky to play early because of the possible
reply 6.e5 which can lead to unclear complications. 6.d3 6.e5 d5 7.d2 xc3 8.bxc3 e7 9.g4 and already white has a dangerous attack and black
must proceed with caution. 6...e5 Again somewhat risky, but Marchand
played it thinking that Pleskacz would not know the best reply. Actually,
Marchand was mistaken about what is the best reply! 7.b3 Certainly not bad,
but at the time the star move was thought to be 7.Nf5 7.f5 d5 This move
loses, but it does show the practical advantage of 7.Nf5 8.xg7+ f8 9.h6 g8 10.f5 xf5 11.exf5 f8 12.g5 bd7 13.xd5 a5+ 14.c3 e4 15.b5 h6 16.h4 b4 White has a decisive advantage, but managed to throw it away and
ended up drawing in the ending. Jablonski,N (2266)-Shirazi,K (2401) Paris 2007 7.f5 is correctly met by 0-0 8.0-0 and black can try either 6...Bxc3
ot 6...d6 7.de2 This is the most solid move after which the position is
even after 0-0 8.a3 e7 9.0-0 7...d5 8.exd5 xd5 Here Marchand avoided
8...Bxc3+ and 9...Qxd5 doubling white's Ps because he thought that in the
resulting open position white's teo Bs could end up being quite powerful.
Beside, the figured he could double the Ps without yielding the two Bs. 9.d2 Castling at once was also worth considering. c6 This developing move
cannot be bad, but 9... Bxc3 was more precise. 9...xc3 10.bxc3 0-0 11.0-0 c6 12.h5 f5 Shleimovitch,V-Lelumees,B (2110) Tallinn 2001 with equal
chances. 9...xc3 10.bxc3 d6 11.h5 He could also castle. g6 12.h6 f8 13.e3 g7 14.c5 Cirkovic,R-Meister,Y (2503) Berlin 2005 with equal
chances. 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 e7 More exact was 11...Bd6 rendering
white's next move totally harmless. 12.f4 exf4 Played to prevent white from
gaining space with 13.f5. White's weakness is his doubled Ps, but as
compensation he has a lead in development because black still needs to castle
and develop his other B. One important factor to take inot consideration
though is that white has opened a disgonal toward his own K and this is
something black needs to keep in mind. 13.xf4 e6 14.h1 White plays with
caution...he yields a tempo in order to get his K off the diagonal. The
alternative was 14.Qf3 and then Rad1. 0-0 15.d4 Both sides having
completed their development and the position is quite equal. White intends to
bring his N into play and invite white to undoubling the c-Pawns and, this is
important, he is setting a trap for black's Q, xd4 While undoubling the Ps
may appear surprising, it's actually the best move. The idea is to exchange
one small advantage for another. White now gets a weak c-Pawn, but more
importantly black exchanges off white's pieces before they can be used to
launch a full scale attack. 16.cxd4 f6 Avoiding the trap. With this move
black slows down his opponent's attack. Note that black is still on the
defensive because white has control of the center and the semi-open f-file
might prove handy. Black must continue to be cautious. 16...xd4 17.xh7+
wins easily., 17.c3 17.h5 There is nothing to be gained by this
seemingly aggressive move because after g6 18.f3 xd4 black has the upper
hand. 17...c8 Development combined with a threat, thus keeping the
balance. Practically speaking it seems that black is gradually taking over the
initiative without white having made any mistakes. 18.d2 c4 Forcing the
exchange of one of white's Bs. 19.xc4 xc4 20.f3 g5 Forcing the
exchange of the other B or else white has to make a time losing and pointless
retreat 21.xg5 xg5 22.e2 c6 Black has a number of reasonable
alternatives, but Marchand felt that the coming action on the e- and f-files
was going to play an important role and from c6 his R can defend his K by
going to g6 or h6. 23.af1 d5 23...d8 Would have avoided the
possibility of white taking on f7, but not safer. 24.c4 24.xf7 is, of
course, no longer a possibility. xf7 25.xf7 xf7 24...e8 25.d3
Technically the position is equal, but practically black is clearly going to
be defending. 24.f5 24.xf7 leads to tricky play after xf7 24...xf7 25.e8+ f8 26.xf8# 25.xf7 xf7 26.c4 Theoretically the chances would
be equal, but this is one of those position where the win is likely going to
go to the stronger player. In any case, the ending is going to be a tough one! 24...c4 25.xc4 25.xf7 Again, this was playable. xf7 26.xf7 xf7 27.c4 as noted before. 25...xc4 26.5f3 26.e5 was an interesting
possibility, but after xc3 27.e7 a3 28.xb7 xa2 29.h3 h6 30.d5 d2 31.xa7 xd5 it's a draw 26...f6 27.e1 Marchand mistakenly called this an
error. It's not at all; in fact the position is dead equal. 27.d1
Marchanbd. It ties up white's pieces after fc8 28.dd3 a4 29.d2 a3 30.c2 It's unlikely that black could win this, but it is he who has all the
play. 27...fc8 28.ee3 This move. leaving his first rank undefended, is
the fatal mistake. 28.e7 xd4 29.h3 dc4 30.xb7 with a draw. 28.g1 was also quite playable as after 8c7 29.b1 a4 30.b2 it's not likely
that either side can squeeze out an advantage. 28...xd4 Pleskacz has made
an elemenrary mistake! With R's and Q's on the board one must protect the 1st
or 8th rank or give the K an escape square for escaping checks on the rank! 29.d3 This allows a cute finish. 29.h3 would have made
black's task more difficult. dc4 30.d3 8c7 31.g1 f7 32.f2 b5 33.e2 a4 34.d2 a6 35.fd3 a3 36.c2 c4 and with white's pieces tied up black
can patiently turn his attention to using hsi K-side P-majority. 29.g1
was also a reasonable try. dc4 30.e7 8c7 31.xc7 xc7 with care black
should be able to squeeze out the win. 29...xc3 White resigned.
He has to give up a R to avoid mate. A fine defensive example by Marchand. 0–1
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