An Exciting Game by Arnold Denker

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     In January 1946, less than one week after Hastings ended, the newspaper Sunday Chronicle sponsored a Victory Tournament in London to celebrate the end of the war. The event was divided into A and B sections, each with 12 players. 

     It was hoped that Mikhail Botvinnik would play, but he was, for whatever reasons, unavailable. And, because of his Nazi sympathies World Champion Alexander Alekhine’s participation was protested by Max Euwe and the Dutch Chess Federation and by Arnold Denker and the USCF. As a result Alekhine’s invitation was withdrawn. 

     The players were divided into two equally strong groups, A and B. The A group order of finish was: 1) Herman Steiner, 2) Bernstein, 3) Tartakower, 4) Opocensky, 5) Golombek, 6-7) Prins and Pomar, 8-9) List and Broadbent 10) Fairhurst 11) Stone and 12) Friedmann. 

 

 

     Today’s game was played in the B event which consisted of former World Champion Max Euwe, US Champion Arnold Denker, Swiss Champions Martin Christoffel. former British champion Sir George Thomas, strong British amateur and author Gerald Abrahams, Imre Konig, a strong Yugoslav professional player and UK immigrant, Spanish Champion Antonio Medina, the strong Portuguese player Francisco Lupi, the Belgian champion Paul Devos, former British Champion William Winter, London City Champion Gabriel Wood and the British Army Champions Richard Newman. 

     Arnold Denker (1914-2005) had tied for third place at the recently concluded Hastings tournament. He was born in New York and in his youth he took to boxing, but his true love was chess. 

     A New York businessman, Denker won the Manhattan Chess Club championship six times (1940, 1944, 1950, 1950-51, 1954, 1969-70) and was the US Champion in 1944-46. In 2004 the US Chess Federation bestowed upon him the title of "Dean of American Chess". 

     His opponent was Gabriel Wood (1902-1903) who won the British Correspondence Champion in 1946 and 1948 (jointly) and was London Champion in 1945. He also competed in the 1st World Correspondence Championship (1950-1953) and finished in 8th place. 

     After a long bookish opening both players miss ed the fact that Denker’s 21st move was a bad mistake. But then on his 24th move Wood’s plausible move turns out to be one that give black the initiative and it just keeps growing. The game ends thanks to Denker’s precise play over the course of the rest of the game. 

[Event "London B"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "1946.01.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Gabriel Wood"] [Black "Arnold Denker"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D49"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "1946.01.14"] {Semi-Slav: Meran System} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. e3 { [%mdl 32]} Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 {[%mdl 32]} 9. e4 c5 10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxb5 axb5 12. exf6 Qb6 13. fxg7 Bxg7 14. Qe2 b4 15. O-O Bb7 16. Bf4 O-O {All book so far!} 17. Rfe1 (17. Ng5 h6 18. Ne4 e5 19. Bd2 f5 20. Ng3 e4 21. Bc4+ Kh7 22. Qh5 f4 {Black is winning, but failed to score the point and ended up drawing in the endinf in Hassan,A (2352)-Zozek,S (2225) Amman 2008}) ( 17. Ne5 Nxe5 18. Bxe5 Qc6 19. f3 Ra5 20. Bxg7 Kxg7 21. Qf2 Qd6 22. Qh4 h6 23. Rad1 {and in this completely equal position Bobula,M (2359)-Cyborowski,L (2580) Opole 2007 agreed to a draw.}) 17... Ra5 {This prevents Ne5.} 18. a3 bxa3 19. Rxa3 Rfa8 20. Rea1 Rxa3 21. bxa3 {Black has to reasonable moves here: 21...h6 and 21...Qc6. Instead, both players made a curious oversight.} Ba6 {This is an oversight that should have cost him the game!} 22. Bxa6 (22. Qe4 {There is no satisfactory way to meet this.} Rc8 (22... Bxd3 23. Qxa8+ {wins}) 23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Bxa6 Qxa6 25. Bh6 Bxh6 26. Qxh6+ Ke8 27. Nxd4 {with a decisive advantage.}) 22... Qxa6 23. Qxa6 Rxa6 {The ending is equal and a draw would not be a surprising outcome.} 24. Kf1 {Bringing the K towards the center is a perfectly logical move, but here it gives black excellent chances.} (24. Rc1 Rxa3 25. Rc8+ Nf8 26. h4 {This gives the K an escape square and intends the further advance of the h-Pawn and black's N is precariously pinned.} Ra5 27. Bd2 Rd5 28. g4 h6 29. Bb4 f5 30. g5 hxg5 31. Nxg5 d3 32. Bd2 e5 33. h5 Rd6 {The position is equal because blac's extra P on d3 should pose no real threat. Just a sample line...} 34. Kg2 e4 35. Rc5 Nh7 36. Rc8+ Nf8 (36... Bf8 37. Nxh7 Kxh7 38. Rxf8) 37. Rc5 {draws}) 24... e5 {Now black's center Ps become more and more dangerous.} 25. Bd2 e4 26. Ng5 e3 {The e-Pawn won't stop...it just keeps going!} 27. Bb4 e2+ 28. Ke1 d3 29. Rc1 {White's position is highly critical and defending it is a great strain and precise play is required.} Bb2 $1 30. Rc8+ Kg7 31. Rd8 {This loses instantly.} (31. Kd2 {holds up the Ps and at least puts up a fight.} Ne5 32. f4 Bxa3 33. Bc3 Bc1+ 34. Kxc1 Ra1+ 35. Kb2 e1=Q 36. Bxe1 Rxe1 37. Ne4 Re2+ 38. Kc1 Ng4 39. Rc4 Nxh2 {Clearly black is better, but is his advantage sufficient to win? In all likelihood yes, In Shootouts white salvaged one draw out of 5 games. However, the games were long (at least another 40 moves) and the endings were tricky.}) 31... Rxa3 {Very nice., The B cannot be taken because black's B must guard the a5-e1 diagonal.} 32. Nf3 (32. Bxa3 Bc3#) 32... Ra1+ {Wood now plays a few more moves out of momentum.} 33. Kd2 Rd1+ 34. Ke3 Bc1+ 35. Ke4 d2 36. Kf5 (36. Bc3+ Kh6 37. Rxd7 e1=Q+ 38. Nxe1 dxe1=Q+ 39. Bxe1 Rxd7) 36... e1=Q 37. Nxe1 dxe1=Q 38. Bxe1 Rd5+ {White resigned. In the auto-analysis Stockfish described Denker's play as precise. It's worth noting that Wood's play was hardly bad as his Weighted Error Value was only twice Denker's. In other words, Wood's play was good, but Denker's was better.} (38... Rd5+ 39. Kg4 Nf6+ {wins the R}) 0-1