West Germany (Unzicker, Schmid, Pfeiffer, Rellstab and Staudte) were third while the United States (Reshevsky, Steiner, Horowitz, Shainswit, Kramer and Evans) finished fourth. There were 16 teams in the finals.
After the event team captain Herman Steiner had some scathing, and according to the Chess Life editor Montgomery Major, ill-advised comments about the US team’s finish.
Steiner stated that there was internal dissension among the team members that prevented them from winning first place. Major labeled Steiner’s allegations as being in “poor taste” and an example of “poor sportsmanship” because Steiner was offering an an alibi for what he considered a failure. In Majors’s opinion alibis for failure were unacceptable. No explanation was give as to the nature of the dissensions.
Major also took umbrage with Steiner’s labeling of the US team’s performance as poor as being unjustified. According to Major, fourth place in such a strong field was not a poor showing. Additionally, the US team had the distinction of being the only team that lost no matches and with exception of US Champion Herman Steiner all team members ended with plus scores.
Major also was of the opinion that in granting the interview (which was given to the New York Times) Steiner violated “the first principle of good publicity.” Feuds and disagreements should not be aired publicly because it was bad for US chess. Instead of the New York Times, Steiner should have, according to Major, saved his words for a chess magazine...that is, Chess Life.
The US team probably suffered somewhat because US Open Champion Arthur Bisguier was not on the team. He was absent because when returning from the Open in Detroit (held in mid-July) he and five other players were involved in a car accident in Batavia, New York.
Their car overturned on a rain-slick road and four were taken to the hospital. Bisguier suffered a broken rib and a rash on his
forehead. Larry Evans was very badly bruised. Walter Shipman had his leg in a cast for an injured ankle. Kit Crittenden of Raleigh, North Carolina suffered a fractured collar bone. Jeremiah Donovan and Eliot Hearst escaped serious injury. All-in-all, not a bad injury report considering that in 1950 airbags and seat belts were safety features of the future.
Lambaste is a verb that means to assault violently, beat or whip, That describes exactly what Lambert did to Puch in the following game.
After World War II Hans Lambert (1928-2020) was one of the leading Austrian players. Yugoslavia’s Stojan Puc (1921-2004) was an IM (awarded in 1950) and an Honorary Grand master (awarded in 1984).
[Event "Olympiad, Dubrovnik"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1950.08.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Hans Lambert (Austria)"]
[Black "Stojan Puc (Yugoslavia)"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B72"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1950.??.??"]
{Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2
Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 a6 9. f4 {[%mdl 32] White usually plays the positional 9/
a4 here, but Puc is playing more aggressively There is little hope of
launching a successful attack on black's K with pieces alone because the
fianchetto is just too strong. So. Puc plans an all out P assault.} Qc7 10. g4
{The beginning of a strong and very dangerous P advance that's not for the
faint of heart. Black is not doomed because the P advance also strips white's
K of its own defenses.} (10. Nd5 {is a god move and it's preferred by those
seeking a less adventurous path.} Nxd5 11. exd5 Nd7 12. c4 Nf6 13. Rc1 {
White has a solid, but boring, position. Kindermann,S (2500)-Miles,A (2585)
Bath 1983}) 10... e6 (10... Nc6 {serves better.} 11. f5 (11. g5 Ng4 12. Bxg4
Bxg4 13. Qxg4 Bxd4 14. Nd5 Bxe3+ 15. Nxe3 {is completely equal.}) 11... d5 12.
exd5 Qe5 13. Bf2 Nxd5 14. Nxd5 Nxd4 15. Bxd4 Qxd4+ 16. Qxd4 Bxd4+ {lead to a
quick draw in Klundt,K (2398)-Colovic,A (2414) Mogliano Veneto 2000}) (10... e5
{This is an OK move, too.} 11. Nb3 {Black only has one move jere and that's 11.
..exf4. Watch what happens if he omits it.} Be6 {It's hard to believe that
this loses.} 12. f5 Bc4 13. g5 Bxe2 14. Qxe2 Nh5 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. f6 Bh8 17.
Ne7+ {1-0 (17) Kerecki,L (2174)-Vulin,M (2092) Belgrade 2008}) 11. g5 Nfd7 12.
f5 {White wastes no time in forcing the breakthrough. Continuing the P buld uo
with 12.h4 is too slow.} (12. h4 b5 13. a3 Bb7 14. h5 Nc6 {Black has completed
his development and the chances are equal.}) 12... Ne5 (12... exf5 $16 {
was a better defense. After} 13. exf5 Re8 14. Nd5 Qa5 15. Bc4 Ne5 {Black's
position is holding together, but he must defend carefully.}) 13. f6 {A fine
move. Opening the f-file by capturing on e6 or g6 would be wrong because black
would bw able to use the open f-file in his defense. By playing 13.f6 white
intends to attack on the h-file and it will prove impossible for black to
defend against it...there will be no way to get his pieces to the defense
because of the cramped position his K is caught in.} Bh8 14. Qe1 h6 {Opening
up the Ks position is the wirst thing he could have done. Attempting a
diversion with 14...b5 was worth a try.} 15. Qh4 (15. gxh6 {is less good
because white would then be unable to operate on the h-file.} Kh7 {White is
better, but there is no effective way to continue.}) 15... h5 {Puc's thinking
was probably now no possible P moves on white's part can open the K-side. In
such a case white must sacrifice a piece to achieve the breakthrough.} 16. Rad1
{This over-preparation was not really necessay.} (16. Bxh5 gxh5 17. Qxh5 Nbc6
18. Rf3 {Another sacrifice!} Nxf3+ {Else the R goes to the h-file ending the
game.} 19. Nxf3 e5 20. Nh4 Be6 21. Rf1 (21. g6 {and black has a defense in}
fxg6 22. Qxg6+ Bg7 23. fxg7 Qxg7 24. Qxg7+ Kxg7 {and here it's black who is
better.}) 21... Nd4 {In this situation as soon as white can play Nf5 the game
will be over.} 22. Bxd4 exd4 23. Nd5 (23. Nf5 {at once is also playable.} Bxf5
24. Nd5 Qd7 25. Rxf5 Qxf5 26. Ne7#) 23... Bxd5 24. exd5 Qxc2 25. Nf5 {wins})
16... b5 {Black has no viable defense and suggested improvements would be moot.
} 17. Bxh5 {[%mdl 512] Black's unmoved Q-side pieces provide sufficient
strategic justification for this sacrifice.} b4 (17... gxh5 18. Qxh5 Re8 19.
Rf4 Ng6 20. Rf3 Nd7 21. Rh3 Ndf8 {Black looks to have defended himself rather
nicely, but there is nothing he can do except watch white bring up some more
pieces.} 22. Nce2 Qc5 23. Rf1 Bd7 24. Qh6 Qc4 25. Nf4 e5 26. Nxg6 {Now the
best black has is...} Qxf1+ 27. Kxf1 Bxh3+ 28. Qxh3 fxg6 29. Nf5 gxf5 30. exf5
Rad8 31. Qh5 Rd7 (31... Rc8 32. f7+ Kg7 33. f6#) 32. Qxe8 {and wins}) 18. Nce2
{Another piece will be added to the attack.} gxh5 {This hastens the end, but
he no longer hs any defense.} (18... Re8 {This holds out longer, but that is
the only thing that can be said for it.} 19. Rf4 Nbd7 20. Rdf1 Nf8 21. Bg4 Nxg4
22. R4f3 Ne5 (22... Nxf6 23. gxf6 e5 24. Nf5 Bxf5 25. exf5 Bxf6 26. Qxf6 Qe7
27. fxg6 Qxf6 28. gxf7+ Qxf7 29. Rxf7 {and white is winning.}) 23. Rh3 {
leads to mate}) 19. Qxh5 {The breakthrough has been successful.} Nbc6 20. Rf4 {
As soon as this R gets behind the Q it will be all over.} Nxd4 21. Nxd4 Ng6 22.
Rf3 e5 23. Nf5 {White mates.} Bxf5 24. exf5 Nf4 25. Bxf4 exf4 26. Rh3 {
Success! There is no defense against mate so black throws in a couple of spite
checks.} Qc5+ 27. Kf1 Qc4+ 28. Rdd3 {Black resigned} 1-0
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