Saturday saw strong thunderstorms and a tornado not far from here. Sunday was OK, but Monday was dark, thundery and rainy all day. It was a good day to continue poking around the post-WW2 years.
I found a small tournament in Havana in 1947 that fell through the cracks.
Two New Yorkers, 17-year old Donald Byrn e and the 62-year old veteran Edward La sker participated against six locals.
Of course Byrne and Lasker were the favorites. The teen-aged Byrne had shared fourth prize in the U. S. Open at Pittsburgh the previous year and Lasker's competitive career began way back in 1910.
There was a shock in store for both of them.
The unheralded Gilberto Garcia finished first after he started off with a sensational 18 move win over Byrne.
Lasker took the early lead by beating Garcia in the third round, but Garcia continued to trail right behind Lasker. Finally, when Lasker stumbled and lost to Byrne and tailender Gonzalez, Garcia passed him to capture first.
Byrne got off to a poor start and after four rounds he only had an even score, but by winning his last three games he managed to move into second place.
The bad showing of Gonzalez, who had recently returned to Cuba after spending time in New York City, was surprising because he had recently finished 4th in the strong Manhattan Chess Club Championship and he had won the 1946 U.S. Speed Championship.
Dr. Juan Carlos Gonzalez de Vega was born in 1917 and according to chess historian Bill Wall he died in 1990. Gonzalez was Cuban champion in 1942, 1943, 1951, 1952 and 1955. From Capablanca's death in 1942 until the mid-1950s he was considered the strongest player in Cuba.
Before he returned to Cuba, Dr. Gonza;ez was a resident in surgery at Manhattan's West Side Hospital. Whhen he was on call he frequently spent time analyzing openings and playing through games. He emigrated to Florid sometime in the early 1960s.
Donald Byrne (1930-1976) is pretty well known. He passed away in Philadelphia of complications arising from lupus. He was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2003.
Here is Byrne’s miniature loss. Not much is known of Byrne’s opponent, Gilberto Garcia except that he was born in 1919 and from the 1940s to the 1960s he was one of the leading Cuban players.
In 1963, in Havana, Garcia participated in the Pan American Championship and finished in 12th place. Also in 1963m, he participated in World Chess Championship Central American Zonal tournament and finished in 7th place.
His last tournament seems to have been the Havana Radio Rebelde, a 12-player round robin, in 1978 where he finished in 11th place with a 3.5-7.5 score. His rating was 2250. In 2019 there was a Gilberto Garcia in Memoriam tournament held in Havana in his honor.
[Event "Havana"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1947.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gilberto Garcia"]
[Black "Donald Byrne"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B32"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "35"]
[SourceVersionDate "2023.08.14"]
{Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 {The Kalashnikov
Variation is a close relative of the Sveshnikov Variation (4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e5)
and and is also referred to as the Neo-Sveshnikov. The move 4...e5 has had a
long history that dates back to de La Bourdonnais in the 1830s.} 5. Nf3 {
My database has plenty of examples of this move, but none at the GM level.
That's not to say that the following play is bad, but only that there is no
theory on anything other than the far more popular 5.Nb5} (5. Nb5 {is the
modern way...the threat is 6.Nd6+ gaining the two Bs after 5...Bxd6} d6 6. c4 {
Also popular is 6.N1c3} Be7 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 Be6 9. Nc2 {etc.}) 5... Nf6 6.
Bg5 {The alternative is to defend the e-Pawn with 6.Nc3, but the text is much
more interesting!} Qa5+ {Black could also play the equally good 6...Bc5.
Instead he moves the Q out of the pin and at the same time threatens the
e-Pawn.} 7. Bd2 Qb6 {Things are already interesting as both the e-Pawn and the
b-Pawn are attacked. Which P should white let go?} 8. Bc4 {This is risky.
Which P should black take?} (8. Nc3 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. Nb5 {is clearly not
going to go well for black.}) (8. Nc3 Bc5 9. Qe2 {is equal, but black has a
wide choice of moves: 9...Nd4, 9...Qxb2 and 9...d6 are all equally good.}) 8...
Qxb2 {While mot really bad, this allows white to gain the initiative...call it
risky.} (8... Nxe4 {This is a better choice.} 9. Qe2 Nxd2 10. Nbxd2 Be7 {
This sets a nice trap that it would be easy for white to fall into.} 11. O-O-O
(11. Nxe5 Qxb2 {forking the R and N} 12. Bxf7+ (12. Rb1 Qxe5) 12... Kf8 13. O-O
Qxe5 {Black has a won position.}) 11... Qc7 {with a solid position.}) 9. Nc3
Qb6 {Black has lost time grabbing the b-Pawn...a somewhat questionable course.}
10. O-O Be7 11. Nd5 Qd8 {Another loss of time. Still, his position can hardly
be considered inferior.} 12. Ng5 {Black's next move must be the right one or
he will be in real trouble!} O-O {Byrne does not fall for white's trick.} (
12... Nxd5 {is a mistake.} 13. Nxf7 Kxf7 14. exd5 {The threta is 15.d6+} b5 15.
Bb3 (15. Bxb5 Nd4 {favors black.}) 15... Nd4 16. d6+ Nxb3 17. dxe7 Qxe7 18.
Qf3+ Qf6 19. Qxb3+ (19. Qd5+ Qe6 20. Qf3+ {would draw.}) (19. Qxa8 {only
results in equality.} Nxa1 20. Qd5+ Qe6 21. Qf3+ Qf6 {Here a draw by
repetition is also possible. If instead...} 22. Qxf6+ gxf6 23. Rxa1 {Even with
Bs of opposite color black is better.}) 19... d5 {White is better.}) 13. Nxf6+
Bxf6 14. Qh5 {White's attack looks very dangerous, but black's position is, in
spite of all the time he ha lost with his Q maneuvers amazingly resilient.}
Bxg5 {The only correct move.} (14... h6 15. Nxf7 Rxf7 16. Bxf7+ {wins.}) 15.
Bxg5 Qe8 {This move creates a logjam on the K-side and so a better move would
have been 15...Qc7} (15... Qc7 16. f4 d5 17. Bxd5 Nb4 {This is a complicated
position in which the chances are equal.}) 16. Rad1 {[%mdl 1024] White has
strong pressure for his P.} Na5 {[%mdl 8192] It's understandable that Byrne
wants to get rid of the B that's eyeing f7, but this is a fatal mistake
because he has overlooked Gacia's surprising riposte.} (16... d5 {is his only
hope of staying in the game.} 17. exd5 (17. Bxd5 Nb4 18. Bb3 Be6 {and black
has equalized.}) 17... Nd4 18. Bd3 e4 19. Rfe1 exd3 20. Rxe8 Rxe8 21. cxd3 Re5
{and with any luck black may be able to survive, but it's not likely. In
Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2}) 17. Bf6 {[%mdl 512] A nasty surprise!} h6 {
A lame defense, but there wasn't anything that was really better.} (17... Qe6
18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Rd3 Rf6 21. Rg3+ Rg6 22. Rh3 {and there is
nothing for black to do except resign.}) 18. Qg6 {Black resigned. It's mate
next move. A fine game by Garcia.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment