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)
[Event "US Championship, New York"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1968.07.25"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Samuel Reshevsky"]
[Black "Herbert Seidman"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D92"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "1968.??.??"]
{D92: Gruenfeld Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 {This
somewhat unusual move was a favorite of Reshevsky. More often seen are 6.Qb3
and, less often, 6.cxd5 and 6.e3} 5. Bf4 O-O 6. Rc1 {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
Be6 8. e3 Qa5 9. Nd4 Nc6 10. Nxe6 {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. Qb3 {was an interesting alternative.} Qxc5 11. Nxe6 {It turns
out that wgite has to play this move anyway.} (11. Qxb7 {is a mistake because
after} Nxd4 12. exd4 Qxd4 13. Bg3 Ne4 {black has a clear advantage.}) 11...
fxe6 12. Qxb7 {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... Ne4 13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Qb5 {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. Na4 Qa5+ 14.
Nc3 Rfc8 15. cxd5 Nxd5 16. Bc4 {Black is slightly better.}) 10... fxe6 11. Qa4
{According to Reshevsky other moves were inadequate. gain, he was probably
correct because 11.Qb3 leads to complications that offer black good prospects.}
Qxc5 12. Qb5 Qxb5 $11 13. cxb5 Nb8 {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... Na5 14. Be2 Rac8 15. O-O Nc4 16. Na4 Nd7
17. Bxc4 Rxc4 18. Rxc4 dxc4 19. Rc1 {and the game Roiz,M (2595)-Zakhartsov,V
(2453) Dresden 2015 lead to a draw,}) 14. Bd3 {Reshevsky thought this was
superior to 14.Be2, but there doesn't seem to be much difference.} (14. Be2
Nbd7 15. O-O Rac8 16. Rfd1 e5 17. Bg5 e6 18. Bxf6 Nxf6 19. Na4 {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... Nbd7 15. Ke2 {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. Bg3 e4 17. Bb1 {Not 17.Bc2 blocking the R.} Rac8 18. Na4 (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. Bd6 Rfe8 20. f3 {and there is no way for black to occupy d3 and the
chances are equal.}) 18... Ng4 19. Rhd1 e6 20. Rxc8 Rxc8 21. f3 (21. Bxe4 {
was not to Reshevsky's liking.} Rc4 (21... dxe4 22. Rxd7 {highly favors white.}
) 22. Nc3 Rb4 23. Nxd5 Rxb2+ 24. Rd2 Rxd2+ 25. Kxd2 exd5 26. Bxd5+ Kf8 27. Bxb7
{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.} Nge5 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. Bxe4 b6 25.
Rd6 {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.} Nf6 26. Bh1 Rc2+ 27. Rd2 Rxd2+ 28. Kxd2 Ned7 {with equal chances.})
25... Nf8 {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... Kf7 {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.} Rc4 27. Nc3 Nc5 28.
fxe5 Nxe4 29. Rd7+ Kf8 30. Rxa7 Nxg3+ 31. hxg3 Rb4 {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. Nxb6 {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. Rxb6 h5 {[%mdl 32]} 29. Ra6 {More precise
was 29.Rb7 threatening Rxg7+ and Bxe5+} h4 $11 30. Bf2 Neg6 {After Reshevsky's
small slip on move 29 Seidman conducts a manly defense.} 31. Ra8 (31. Rc6 {
Reshevsky thought this was much stronger, but it's not because black has good
defensive possibilities after, for example...} Rd8 32. b6 Be5 33. b7 Nf4+ {
An amazing position. White has only one move that does not lose.} 34. Ke1 (34.
Kf1 Rd1+ 35. Be1 Nd7 {White's pinned B will cost him te game.} 36. Rc8+ Kf7 37.
Kf2 Bb8 38. a4 h3 39. a5 Ba7+ 40. Kf1 Ng2 41. Ke2 Rxe1+ 42. Kd3 g4 43. Kd2 (43.
fxg4 Nf4+ 44. Kd2 Rxe4) 43... g3 44. hxg3 h2 45. Rh8 h1=Q 46. Rxh1 Rxh1) 34...
Ng2+ {and black draws.}) 31... Rxa8 {Technically this is OK, but practically
31. ..Nf4 would have made it more difficult for white to win.} (31... Nf4+ 32.
Kd2 Bc3+ 33. Kc2 Rxa8 34. Bxa8 Ba5 {and with correct play black should be able
to stop the Ps.}) 32. Bxa8 Be5 33. Bg1 Nf4+ 34. Kf1 {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. Ke3 Nh3 35. Ke4 Nd7 36. Bc6 Nxg1 37. Bxd7 Bxh2
38. Bxe6+ {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... Nd7 35. a4 {[%mdl 32]} Bc7 {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... Bc3
36. Bc6 Ne5 37. Be4 Kf7 38. b6 Nd5 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b7 Nc6 {The Ps are
stymied and bringing up the K doesn't help.} 41. Ke2 h3 {The K can go no
further.} 42. Be3 (42. Kd3 Be5 {wins}) 42... Kf6 43. f4 g4 44. Bb6 Kf5 45. Kd3
Bb4 46. Bc7 g3 {and wins}) 36. Bc6 Nb8 37. Be4 {A very fine move because now
white is ready to advance his Ps and black is compelled to parry this threat.}
Nd5 {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... Ba5 {is the only move that gives him a fighting
chance.} 38. Bc5 Nd7 39. Be7 Nd5 40. Bxd5 {This is the correct move.} (40. Bxg5
h3 {is unclear and a very difficult position to play.}) 40... exd5 41. b4 Bc7
42. h3 Kf7 43. Bxg5 {Five Shootouts from this position all ended in white wins.
}) 38. Bxd5 exd5 39. b4 {[%mdl 32] The winning move. Give it two exclamation
marks!} (39. b6 {Looks good, but it;s a loser...or rather a drawer!} Bd6 40. h3
Kf7 41. Be3 Kf6 42. a5 Bb4 {The Ps are stopped and black draws.} 43. f4 (43.
Ke2 {White cannot bring up the K.} Bxa5 44. Kd3 Nc6 45. Bc5 Bb4 46. Bxb4 Nxb4+
47. Kd4 Ke6 48. Kc5 Nd3+ 49. Kc6 Ne5+ 50. Kc7 Nd7 51. b4 d4 {wins}) 43... Bxa5
44. fxg5+ Kf5 {There is no chance of white winning.}) 39... Kf7 $2 {Black's K
is just a bit too far from the Q-side to be of any help.} 40. a5 Nd7 41. b6 Bd8
(41... Nxb6 {fails.} 42. Bxb6 Bxh2 43. a6 Bb8 44. Bc7 Bxc7 45. a7 h3 46. a8=Q)
42. b7 Nb8 43. Ba7 Bc7 44. b5 Nd7 45. a6 Bxh2 46. b8=Q {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=Q
Nxb8 47. Bxb8 Bxb8 48. b6 {wraps it up.}) 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment