Because of that it was a very enjoyable couple of weeks when I got to observe him in action close up at the 1975 U.S. Championship and it was a chess thrill of a lifetime when, in 1979, I drew a correspondence game with him.
Reshevsky's own description of his play was that he was "essentially a positional player, although I can conduct an assault with precision and vigor when the opportunity arises. My style lies between that of Tal and Petrosian. It is neither over-aggressive nor too passive. My strength consists of a fighting spirit, a great desire to win and a stubborn defense whenever in trouble. I rarely become discouraged in an inferior situation and I fear no one."
He continued, "By playing slowly during the early phases of a game I am able to grasp the basic requirements of each position. Then, despite being in time pressure, I have no difficulty in finding the best continuation. Incidentally, it is an odd fact that more often than not it is my opponent who gets the jitters when I am compelled to make these hurried moves."
Bobby Fischer said that Reshevsky was "like a machine calculating every variation" and he had to "find every move over the board by a process of elimination." Fischer added that REeshevsky could "see more variations in a shorter period of time than most players who ever lived."
Though Reshevsky pretty much adhered to the positional concepts of Steinitz and Nimzovich, his play was a rather curious mixture of their positional ideas and tactics.
He claimed that chess is basically positional, but tactics was how you obtained those positional advantages. You need a strong position in order to attack and you got those positions through tactics.
The following game was played in the 1958 Chess Olympiad that was played in Munich, West Germany. As expected, the Russians (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Tal and Petrosian) won easily. They were followed by Yugoslavia, Argentina and the United States (Reshevsky, Lombardy, Bisguier, Evans and Rossolimo).
Reshevsky's opponent in the following game was the English veteran C.H.O'D. Alexander, a tough, resourceful and dangerous attacker who was a hard player to beat. Over his career ge has wins over the likes of Botvinnik, Bronstein, Pachman and Szabo.
The game is pretty boring up to move 17, but then Reshevsky sacrificed a Pawn to reach a complicated position. Alexander was defending very well until time pressure set in. It was a gritty, vintage Reshevsky game.
In pre-engine days it's excusable that annotation errors were made, but Reshevsky's annotations to this game were, I hate to say this, appalling! It's almost as if he annotated the game without setting up a board.
Samuel Reshevsky–C.H.O'D. Alexander1–0A10Final Olympiad, MunichMunich FRG14.10.1958Stockfish 15.1
English Opening 1.c4 At the time this game was played the English had
become quite fashionable because it was thought that it was less committing
than 1.d4. On the other hand, as Reshevsky pointed out, it gives black a wider
choice of defenses. g6 2.g3 g7 3.g2 e5 Black's intention is to play an
early ...f5 which was a favorite setup of Alexander. The idea is to obtain
immediate control of e4 and then launch a K-side attack. 4.c3 d6 5.d3 f5 6.e4 e7 Black wants to be aboe to recapture with the N if white plays exf5.
Other options are 6...Nc6 and 6...Nf6 7.ge2 0-0 8.0-0 bc6 9.f4 In this
nearly symmetrical position white's P on c4 does not give him any particular
advantage and so the position is quite equal. fxe4 9...b8 10.d5 fxe4 11.dxe4 g4 is equal. Kurosaki,T (2131)-Duckworth,W (2352) Los Angeles 2011 10.dxe4 e6 10...g4 11.h3 e6 12.d5 d7 White's position is slightly more
active, but black's is solid and in Habibi,A (2343)-Fierz,M (2201) Mendrisio
SUI 1999 the game was eventually drawn. 11.d5 11.b3 would have been too
passive for Reshevsky's taste. exf4 12.gxf4 g4 13.b2 d4 14.d2 xe2+ 15.xe2 xb2 16.xb2 xe2 17.xe2 and black has simplified too much. 11...d7 In his notes to this game Reshevsky made some incredibly bad
observations!! He claimed that this a natural move that was aparently played
with the intention of playing ...Bh3. In fact, in this position ...Bh3 would
be horrible. 11...d4 was also possible. 12.f5 12.xd4 exd4 13.d2 c6 14.xe7+ xe7 15.c2 c5 is equal, but not very promising for white. 12...xd5 13.cxd5 gxf5 14.g5 with equal chances. 12.b1 Reshevsky was
expecting 12...Bh3 to which he would have then played 13.b4. Honest! That's
what he wrote. g4 Here Reshevsky wrote some fiddle-faddle about how
Alexander apparently concluded that white's B on g2 was weak so he avoided
exchanging it, preferring to give up his B for a N, but that was a wrong
assumption because later in the game the B on g2 became very active. 12...h3 turns out to be a mistake. 13.xh3 xh3 14.xc7 ac8 15.b5 White
has snagged a P. cd8 16.e3 Somewhat better than taking on d6. 16.xd6 c8 17.c5 xd6 18.cxd6 e6 19.d5 xd6 20.xe6+ xe6 21.f5 gxf5 22.exf5 16...e6 17.d3 with good position. 13.e3 xe2 Reshevsky preferred 13..
.Bh5, but wrote that Alexander probably feared that the B would get into
trouble there, but the fact is that there is no way white can endanger the B.
Alexander was a very strong player and I think he, too, would have known that.
He probably played 13...Bxe2 as part of a plan to exchange pieces and simplify
the position. 13...h5 14.f5 gxf5 15.exf5 h6 16.f6 xe3+ 17.xe3 f5
The chances are completely equal, but that does not equate to a draw! 13...e6 leads to more routine play. 14.b4 d4 15.b2 c5 with equal chances. 14.xe2 d4 A very fine move. White has two Bs vs black's well posted N and
now white needs to find a way to use the two Bs. 15.d3 exf4 Another nice
move. The idea is to increase the scope of the B on g7. 16.gxf4 a5 17.d2 c5 18.f5 With his Q-side prospects shut down it's time for white to undertake
some aggressive action elsewhere. ec6 This natural move is an imperceptible
error! 18...ae8 19.xa5 gxf5 20.exf5 exf5 21.xf5 xf5 22.c3 e3
with complications. 19.d5 Here's the flaw with black's last move...the
threat is 20.f6 and black has no good defense against it. e5 20.h3 xc4 20...gxf5 21.exf5 ae8 22.e3 favors white 21.g5 Black is confronted
with the serious threat of Ne7+ ae8 Meeting the threat. 22.f6 In thgis
case the threat was stronger than the execution because after this black can
equalize. 22.h1 e5 23.bd1 f7 24.f4 b5 25.df1 keeps up the
pressure. 22...xh3 23.xh3 Black now has complete equality if he finds
the best move. Even if he plays the expected retreat of the B to h8 he should
be able to defend himself. e5 A terrific rejoinder that was overlooked by
Reshevsky. 23...h8 24.h6 f7 Best! 24...f7 25.bd1 e5 26.e7+
favors white. 25.xf8 xf8 26.bd1 b5 with adequate defensive resources. 24.c1 Here Reshevsky stated that after black retreats the B he
will lose material. True, but it's hardly relevant. 24.f4 can be met by xd5 25.exd5 xf6 26.h6 g7 Here, too, black has sufficient defensive
resources so that the game must be called even. 24.e7+ is not nearly as
good as it looks at first glance. After f7 25.fxg7+ xg7 26.h6+ xh6 27.xf8 xe7 black is clearly better. 24...e2+ Here is where Alexander
begins going down the path to destruction. Most likely he was beginning to
feel the effects of time pressure. 24...h8 25.b3 The N is trapped so xd5 26.exd5 e5 and white has the advantage. 24...xd5 This excellent
move was missed by both players. 25.exd5 xf6 and the chances are equal. 25.h1 xe4 Best under the circumstances according to Reshevsky. Engines
slap a ? on it! 25...xc1 The logical followup. 26.bxc1 d2 27.e7+ h8 28.fxg7+ xg7 29.xf8 xf8 30.c8 xe4 White is better, but proving it
might be difficult! 26.fxg7 xf1+ 27.xf1 xg7 Black has 3 Ps for the
piece which is usually sufficient compensation, but here white's two powerful
Bs vs black's uncoordinated Ns make the defense next to impossible. 28.g5 h6 29.d8 d2 30.g2 a4 31.a1 31.d1 looks tempting, but things get
tricky after xa2 32.xd2 a1+ 33.f1 xf1+ 34.g2 f5 35.e3 f4+ 36.f3 f7 37.e4 and white should be able to win. 31...f7 32.a3 h4
Alexander was in terrific time trouble, but his position was helpless...
theoretically at least! 32...d4 33.e1 c4 34.b3 34.xe2 makes things
more difficult...for white. d1+ 35.f1 xf1+ 36.g2 b1 34...xa3 35.f3 d3 36.e4 d2 37.xa5 b2 38.d3 b6 39.xb6 d2 40.f1+ g7 41.e4 d4 42.f6 White is theoretically winning...OTB things wouldn't be so clear. 33.xh4 Black resigned. 1–0
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