It’s Complicated

     The biggest non-news of 1951 came on January 17th when 7-year-old Bobby Fischer played a game against Senior Master and U.S. Speed Champion Max Pavey in a simultaneous against 13 players in Brooklyn. 

     The unknown kid lost his Queen in 15 minutes and burst out bawling. It’s a fact almost lost to history, but there was another kid playing Pavey that day, too. It was 14-year-old Edmar Mednis who went on to become a Grandmaster. 

     Mednis was a junior member of the Marshall Chess Club and along with Sylvan Katske they did better than Fischer; they both held Pavey to a draw. Fischer later declared that his loss to Pavey was what motivated him to improve, which he did.

     Among the spectators was Carmine Nigro, president of the Brooklyn Chess and Checkers Club and after the game he approached Mrs. Fischer and Bobby and invited Bobby to join the club for free. 

     Nigro was trying to teach his uninterested-in-chess son William how to play and offered to coach Bobby as well. As you know, Fischer was more enthusiastic than William and took Nigro up on his offer. History was also made because Fischer was the first child permitted to join the Brooklyn Chess Club which also had no female members. 

     The following game was played in the preliminaries in the 1951 Manhattan Chess Club Championship and, according to Al Horowitz writing in Chess Review, there was so much action in it that that it was difficult to keep track of its tactical accuracy. He added that only a minute inspection of the game MIGHT have changed hands on move 16 if white had played 16.Kf1 instead of 16.Kf2. 

     To be sure of which move was better Horowitz noted that an electronic computer would be needed. Of course, they didn’t have one in 1951, but today we have a glut of chess programs with strong engines, so let’s take a look and see if Horowitz was correct. 

     Herbert Avram (1913-2006, 92 years old) won the Virginia State Championship in 1952, 1953, and 1954. He was the Maryland State champion in 1955 and 1979. In 1969, he won the Capital City Open. His wife, Henriette Avram, was one of the first computer programmers and was a key figure in the computerization of library catalogs. There is s nice article on Boris Siff (1911-1998, 86 years old) HERE.

 

[Event "Manhattan CC Champ Preliminary"] [Site "?"] [Date "1951.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Boris Siff"] [Black "Herbert Avram"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D48"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1 (10s)"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1951.??.??"] {QGS Semi-Slav: Meran System} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. e3 e6 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 Ng4 {At the time this was a comparatively new idea against all the multifarious variations of the Slav. The idea is to put pressure on white's P on e5, the mainstay of his game. Nowadays black plays 10...cxd4} 11. Bf4 {Even at the cost of a P white intends to maintain his P on e5. The result of this move though is that it enters a maze of complications.} (11. Be4 {This is the most solid continuation.} Ra7 12. Be3 Nxe3 13. fxe3 g6 14. O-O Bh6 15. Qe2 O-O 16. Kh1 Rc7 17. Rad1 c4 18. a3 Nb6 19. g4 f5 20. exf6 {1/2-1/2 Atalik,S (2585)-Ivanisevic,I (2664)/Kallithea 2008 }) 11... Bb7 {This is not the most accurate.} (11... cxd4 12. Ne4 Bb4+ { Also playable is 12...Qa5+} 13. Kf1 Bb7 14. h3 Nh6 15. Bxh6 gxh6 {The position is equal. Kruger-Florian, Hungarian Chp 1950}) 12. Ng5 cxd4 13. Qxg4 dxc3 14. Nxe6 {Safer was 14.O-O which places the K in safety and still maintains attacking chances. The text invites complications and gives black plenty of counterplay. It's speculation, but Siff probably played 14.Nxe6 on intuition.} cxb2 (14... fxe6 {is really bad.} 15. Bg6+ hxg6 16. Qxg6+ Ke7 17. Bg5+ Nf6 18. exf6+ gxf6 19. Bxf6+ {and white is winning.}) 15. Rd1 Bb4+ {What should white play? Horowitz felt that since white is committed to attacking the right move was 16.Ke2 because it allows the R on h1 to join the game whereas after 16.Kf1 the R is shut out of the game. Stockfish indicates that there is about a whole P difference between the two and Horowitz was correct. At the same time Stockfish is absolutely certain that black has a significant advantage.} 16. Kf1 (16. Ke2 fxe6 17. Bg5 Qc8 18. Qxb4 (18. Qxe6+ {is slightly less good.} Kf8 19. Qf5+ {Now if 19...Kg8 white can repeat moves with 20.Qe6+} Nf6 20. exf6 Qxf5 21. Bxf5 Re8+ 22. Be3 gxf6) 18... Nc5 19. Bc2 {Black is better.}) 16... fxe6 17. Qxg7 Rf8 18. Bxh7 Nxe5 {Horrible! Black goes from winning to losing in a single move. Was Avram under the impression that he has sufficient xcounterplay against white's exposed K?} (18... Qc7 19. Qg6+ Kd8 20. Bg5+ Kc8 21. Qxe6 Bc6 22. Be7 Re8 23. Rd6 Bxd6 24. exd6 Qa5 25. Qb3 Rh8 26. Bd3 Qa4 27. Qxa4 bxa4 {Black is winning. Just a sample...} 28. Ke1 Bxg2 29. Rg1 Bd5 30. Kd2 a3 31. h4 Kb7 32. Rg5 Kc6 33. Rf5 Rhg8 34. Rf4 Bxa2) 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20. Qxe5 Bd5 (20... Rd1+ 21. Ke2 Rxh1 22. Bg6+ Rf7 23. Qb8+ Bc8 24. Qxc8+ Ke7 25. Qc7+ Ke8 26. Qxf7+ Kd8 27. Qc7#) 21. Bg6+ Rf7 (21... Ke7 22. Qg7+ Rf7 23. Qxf7#) 22. Ke2 Bc4+ 23. Kf3 Ke7 24. Bxf7 Rd3+ 25. Kg4 Kxf7 26. Qxb2 {The rest is technique as they say.} Bc3 27. Qb1 e5 28. Be3 e4 29. Rd1 b4 {Superficially it looks like black has a lot more play than he really does.} 30. Kf5 Rd5+ 31. Rxd5 Bxd5 32. Qd1 Be6+ 33. Kxe4 Bxa2 34. Qd7+ Kg8 35. Bd4 Bb1+ 36. Ke3 { Black resigned.} (36. Ke3) 1-0