In such a short tournament a loss must certainly be avoided and wins against the players at the bottom are a must if one is to succeed in winning the tournament. Larry Evans and Robert Byrne pulled it off, Reshevsjy didn’t.
The crucial game for both Evans and Byrne was their game against William Lombardy; Evans won, Byrne drew.
Reshevsky fell short in two games that were crucial: he drew with his old rival from 1941 when they played a match for the US Championship, Al Horowitz. Both Evans and Byrne beat Horowitz. Reshevsy’s cause suffered a serious blow when he lost to Pal Benko while both of his rivals drew with Benko.
As for Reshevsky;s opponent in the following game, Herbert Seidman, a veteran of many events, he hadn’t been playing a lot of chess since the 1962 US Championship (also won by Evans) where he finished tied for places 3-6 (out of 12) with a +5 -3 -3 score. As a result he was out of form due to lack of practice.
Even so, he scored an impressive victory against William Lombardy.
When Reshevsky faced Seidman in the 8th round he was conscious of the fact that it was a must win game. At the same time he was
fully aware that Seidman was a dangerous opponent especially if he got the kind of position he liked...sharp tactical ones!
Seidman was well prepared in the opening, rapidly playing his first 13 moves. An optimistic Reshevsky believed it was he who had a slight advantage in the middlegame, but in reality the position was equal.
Seidman defended stubbornly and was holding his own.
Just when it looked like Reshevsky wasn’t making any real progress he was suddenly struck by an idea in the ending...he sacrificed a piece for a gob of passed Ps. Stopping them was theoretically possible, but in practical play the task proved too difficult and Seidman got nipped.
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
Samuel Reshevsky–Herbert Seidman1–0D92US Championship, New York825.07.1968Stockfish 16
D92: Gruenfeld Defense 1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 d5 4.f3 g7 This
somewhat unusual move was a favorite of Reshevsky. More often seen are 6.Qb3
and, less often, 6.cxd5 and 6.e3 5.f4 0-0 6.c1 The generally held belief
that Reshevsky never studied openings is a myth. He did. Pal Benko was once
hired by Reshevsly as a second and one of the things they worked on was
openings. Benko explained his exasperation when they studied opening in the
morning and after a break for lunch Reshevsky had forgotten everything!. At
least in this game Reshevsky was aware that this setup was popularized by the
gifted Hungarian GM Lajos Portisch, who had scored numerous victories with it.
At best, however, white has no more than his usual opening edge. c5 7.dxc5 e6 8.e3 a5 9.d4 c6 10.xe6 Reshevsky felt (probably correctly) that
this was the only way to procure a semblance of an opening advantage. However,
as will be seen, the doubling of blacl's Ps does not yield any particular
advantage. 10.b3 was an interesting alternative. xc5 11.xe6 It turns
out that wgite has to play this move anyway. 11.xb7 is a mistake because
after xd4 12.exd4 xd4 13.g3 e4 black has a clear advantage. 11...fxe6 12.xb7 This is white's best move, but it will require precise play to
keep the position equal. a6 Safest, but it's probably not the move Seidman
would have played. 12...e4 13.xe4 dxe4 14.b5 An unusual position in
that blacks' tripled Ps perform an important function in that they control the
center squares and as a result, the position is about equal. 13.a4 a5+ 14.c3 fc8 15.cxd5 xd5 16.c4 Black is slightly better. 10...fxe6 11.a4 According to Reshevsky other moves were inadequate. gain, he was probably
correct because 11.Qb3 leads to complications that offer black good prospects. xc5 12.b5 xb5= 13.cxb5 b8 Uo to here Seidman had been playing his
mvoes quckly. Here he wants to reposition his N to b6 via d7. Another equally
acceptable move was 13...Na5 13...a5 14.e2 ac8 15.0-0 c4 16.a4 d7 17.xc4 xc4 18.xc4 dxc4 19.c1 and the game Roiz,M (2595)-Zakhartsov,V
(2453) Dresden 2015 lead to a draw, 14.d3 Reshevsky thought this was
superior to 14.Be2, but there doesn't seem to be much difference. 14.e2 bd7 15.0-0 ac8 16.fd1 e5 17.g5 e6 18.xf6 xf6 19.a4 Theoretically
the position ids equal, but in Miralles,G (2445)-Kouatly,B (2485) Montpellier
1991 black managed to squeeze out a win, so perhaps Reshevsky's assessment was
correct after all. 14...bd7 15.e2 AN instructive move. In view of the
ensuing endgame Reshevsky keeps his K in the center. e5 A well played
advance. Seidman prefers to take aggressive action rather than to play
defensively and make a waiting mov. Also, the move crosses Reshevsky's
intended plan of playing 16.Bb1 followed by Rc2 and doubling Rs on the c-file. 16.g3 e4 17.b1 Not 17.Bc2 blocking the R. ac8 18.a4 18.a4 was
discarded by Reshevsky because black could easily defend the d-Pawn by ...e6
and then try to occupy the strategic square d3. This seems a rather an
abstract concept, but it's an interesting insight into Reshevsky's thinking. e6 19.d6 fe8 20.f3 and there is no way for black to occupy d3 and the
chances are equal. 18...g4 19.hd1 e6 20.xc8 xc8 21.f3 21.xe4
was not to Reshevsky's liking. c4 21...dxe4 22.xd7 highly favors white. 22.c3 b4 23.xd5 xb2+ 24.d2 xd2+ 25.xd2 exd5 26.xd5+ f8 27.xb7 with an unclear position. Five Shootouts from this position were drawn, but
playing the enbding OTB would be just too difficult. 21...exf3+ 22.gxf3
Now retreating the N to f6 hindering white's next move would have been the
safest course. ge5 23.e4 Now the purpose of white's 20th move becomes
apparent. By forcing the following exchange of Ps white is able to activate
his R and the B on g3. Black is not at any disadvantage here, but white has
the initiative and so black's defense must be precise. dxe4 24.xe4 b6 25.d6 The R is activated and the B's diagonal has been opened. 25.f4
It was annoying to Reshevsky that this move was insufficient to gain any
advantage. f6 26.h1 c2+ 27.d2 xd2+ 28.xd2 ed7 with equal chances. 25...f8 Reshevsky was totally mistaken when he called this move the best;
he was hoping for the natural 25...Kf7 because he though he would hve gotten
slightly the better of it. The text move is not the best, in fact, it's a
mistake that allows white to get an active position. 25...f7 This keeps
the position equal. 26.f4 This is the correct move, but it does not, as
Reshevsky thought, confer any special advantage on white. c4 27.c3 c5 28.fxe5 xe4 29.d7+ f8 30.xa7 xg3+ 31.hxg3 b4 and the position is
comletely equal. 26.b3 g5 Suddenly black's position has become critical,
but it is far from obvious. A casual glnce would suggest that he has nothing
to worry about. That said, Seidman's aggressive defense is his best course of
action. 27.xb6 A bolt from the blue! After this (sound) sacrifice, black's
game is, for all practical purposes, untenable. White has only procured two P
for the piece, but the passed Ps along with the help of the Rs and two Bs are
mot likely to be stopped. axb6 28.xb6 h5 29.a6 More precise
was 29.Rb7 threatening Rxg7+ and Bxe5+ h4= 30.f2 eg6 After Reshevsky's
small slip on move 29 Seidman conducts a manly defense. 31.a8 31.c6
Reshevsky thought this was much stronger, but it's not because black has good
defensive possibilities after, for example... d8 32.b6 e5 33.b7 f4+
An amazing position. White has only one move that does not lose. 34.e1 34.f1 d1+ 35.e1 d7 White's pinned B will cost him te game. 36.c8+ f7 37.f2 b8 38.a4 h3 39.a5 a7+ 40.f1 g2 41.e2 xe1+ 42.d3 g4 43.d2 43.fxg4 f4+ 44.d2 xe4 43...g3 44.hxg3 h2 45.h8 h1 46.xh1 xh1 34...g2+ and black draws. 31...xa8 Technically this is OK, but practically
31. ..Nf4 would have made it more difficult for white to win. 31...f4+ 32.d2 c3+ 33.c2 xa8 34.xa8 a5 and with correct play black should be able
to stop the Ps. 32.xa8 e5 33.g1 f4+ 34.f1 A very fine move! In the
auto-annotation Stocfish attached a ! to this move. The reason is that white
needs to keep his K near the K-side and not go wandering off the the Q-side to
try and support the Ps. 34.e3 h3 35.e4 d7 36.c6 xg1 37.xd7 xh2 38.xe6+ I spent a consideable amount of time trying to win this position
for white, but it can't be done! In fact,in Shootouts white scored +0 -3 =2,
so had white not played 34.Kf1 ge likely would have lost. I suspect $eshevsky
instinctively knew this! 34...d7 35.a4 c7 Obviously played
in order to stop the advance of the Ps, but this turns out to be a serious
mistake after which saving the game will prove nearly impossible. 35...c3 36.c6 e5 37.e4 f7 38.b6 d5 39.xd5 exd5 40.b7 c6 The Ps are
stymied and bringing up the K doesn't help. 41.e2 h3 The K can go no
further. 42.e3 42.d3 e5 wins 42...f6 43.f4 g4 44.b6 f5 45.d3 b4 46.c7 g3 and wins 36.c6 b8 37.e4 A very fine move because now
white is ready to advance his Ps and black is compelled to parry this threat. d5 Black seems to have solved the problem of stopping the onrushing Ps. This
might have been true had his B been behind the Ps (35...Bc3) and not in front
of them (35...Bc7). 37...a5 is the only move that gives him a fighting
chance. 38.c5 d7 39.e7 d5 40.xd5 This is the correct move. 40.xg5 h3 is unclear and a very difficult position to play. 40...exd5 41.b4 c7 42.h3 f7 43.xg5 Five Shootouts from this position all ended in white wins.
38.xd5 exd5 39.b4 The winning move. Give it two exclamation
marks! 39.b6 Looks good, but it;s a loser...or rather a drawer! d6 40.h3 f7 41.e3 f6 42.a5 b4 The Ps are stopped and black draws. 43.f4 43.e2 White cannot bring up the K. xa5 44.d3 c6 45.c5 b4 46.xb4 xb4+ 47.d4 e6 48.c5 d3+ 49.c6 e5+ 50.c7 d7 51.b4 d4 wins 43...xa5 44.fxg5+ f5 There is no chance of white winning. 39...f7? Black's K
is just a bit too far from the Q-side to be of any help. 40.a5 d7 41.b6 d8 41...xb6 fails. 42.xb6 xh2 43.a6 b8 44.c7 xc7 45.a7 h3 46.a8 42.b7 b8 43.a7 c7 44.b5 d7 45.a6 xh2 46.b8 Black resigned. An
extremely well played game by Reshevsky especially given that Seidman's play,
with the exception of his slip at move 37, was also quite precise.. 46.b8 xb8 47.xb8 xb8 48.b6 wraps it up. 1–0
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