Sharp Play by Lodewijk Prins

     The winner of the international tournament in Madrid in 1951 was Lodewijk Prins of Holland. He accomplished it in spite of losing four games, including to the US Champion Herman Steiner and Argentina’s GM Herman Pilnik both of who tied with Ossip Bernstein for second place.

    Both Steiner and Pilnik had 7 draws. Bernstein only had 5 draws, but a critical loss to Prins cost him first place. 

     Prins started off with a bang by going undefeated through the first seven rounds before he wa stopped by Steiner. Thereafter Steiner made a strong bid for first; included among his victories was a last round win against Esteban Canal. His efforts weren’t quite enough to catch Prins though. 

 

     Lodewijk Prins (January 27, 1913 - November 11, 1999) was born in Amsterdam and was awarded the International Master title in 1950, and was made an International Arbiter in 1960. In 1982 FIDE made him an Honorary Grandmaster. Prins co-authored several chess books with Max Euwe as well as several tournament books. 

     Between 1937 and 1968, Prins represented Holland twelve times in the Olympiads. Prins qualified for the 1952 Interzonal and was Dutch Champion in 1965. 

     After the German invasion of Holland in May 1940, Prins was fortunate to survive, but he did not participate in any tournaments because of his Jewish origin. 

     At the 1968 Olympiad in Lugano Prins scored a strong 9-3 and earned a bronze medal, but he was not selected for the Dutch team at the 1970 Olympiad. As a result, he broke from the Dutch Chess Federation and played only on rare occasions, mostly in opens. 

     His last tournament was Cattolica, Italy in 1993, where he finished in the middle of the field. 

     His opponent in the following game was Antonio Medina (1919-2003) an IM who was born in Barcelona. He was Spanish champion in 1944, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1963 and 1964 and was the 1962 US Open champion. 

     This game is an example of what is known as Damiano's Bishop Mate where the Queen, defended by a Bishop, delivers mate on the edge of the board. 

 

[Event "Madrid"] [Site "Madrid ESP"] [Date "1951.05.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Lodewijk Prins"] [Black "Antonio Medina"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C58"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1951.??.??"] {C58: Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 {Once called a "duffers move" and "primitive", it's at least as good as the tame alternative 4.d3. Do they still call weak players duffers? Is that epithet considered offensive? Perhaps "rating challenged" is a better term.} d5 { The only other reasonable move is 4...Bc5 which leads to wild complications.} 5. exd5 {White has little option other than to play this because both the B and the P on e4 are attacked.} Na5 {This is almost always played because other options are bot quite satisfactory. They are: 5... Nxd5 (Pi kus variation), 5.. .Nd4 (Fritz Variation) and 5...Nd4 (Ulvestd Variation)} (5... b5 {This move was made famous in the Yakov Estrin-Hans Berliner, World Correspondence Championship (1965-68).} 6. Bf1 Nd4 7. c3 Nxd5 8. Ne4 Qh4 {The Berliner Varuation. Theoretically white is better, but Berliner won the game.}) 6. Bb5+ {It's long been known that this is white's best move.} c6 {Better than the alternative of 6...Bd7} 7. dxc6 bxc6 {The main line is 8.Be2, but the unusual 8.Bd3 has also been tried. The text was popular back in the 1800s, fell out of favor until it was revived by Bogoljubow.} 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. Bd3 Be7 (9... Bd6 10. Nc3 Bg4 11. Nb5 Bxf3 12. Nxc7+ Bxc7 13. gxf3 Nd5 {was played in Van der Wiel,J (2465) -Beliavsky,A (2590) Vienna 1980. WHite is a little better, but the players soon agreed to a draw.}) 10. Nc3 (10. b3 h6 11. Ne4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 O-O 13. Bf5 {Bkacj is better. Kardoeus,D (2003)-Hofer,E (2197) Kiel GER 2014}) 10... O-O 11. Bf5 Bb7 {It would have been more prudent to chase the N away with 11...h6} 12. Nce4 {This is slightly stronger that the alternative of 12. Qh3} (12. Qh3 g6 13. Nce4 h5 14. Nxf6+ Bxf6 15. Ne6 {This is not quite correct; he should play 15.d3 with a good position.} fxe6 16. Bxg6 {Black is better. Garner,P-McMahon,D Dublin 1991}) 12... h6 {Now that white can capture on f6 this is bad. 13...g6 was necessary.} (12... g6 {While this is best white is still better after} 13. Qh3 h5 14. Qg3 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Bxg5 16. Qxg5 {At least the exchanges have allowed black to beat off the direct attack.}) 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Nh7 {Black likely did not see this unexpected move when he played 12.. .h6} Be7 {Unfortunately giving up the exchange is the ebst option.} (14... Rfd8 15. Nxf6+ gxf6 16. b4 Nc4 17. Qg4+ Kf8 18. Qxc4 {White has won a piece.}) 15. Nxf8 Rxf8 16. d3 c5 17. Qg3 Kh8 18. O-O Nc6 19. c3 {White simply wants to prevent ...Nd4} Bd6 20. Qh3 Kg8 {After this black's hopes plummet to zero.} ( 20... Ne7 {offers a glimmer of hope.} 21. Be4 (21. Bxh6 Nxf5 22. Bd2+ Nh6 23. Bxh6 Bc8 24. Qh4 gxh6 25. Qxh6+ Kg8 26. Rfe1 f6 27. Re3 Qh7 {is unclear, but theoretically white is slightly better.}) 21... Bc8 22. g4 f5 23. gxf5 Bxf5 24. Qh4 Bxe4 25. Qxe4 {White has what should amount to a decisive advantage.}) 21. Bxh6 {This doesn't require much thought.} gxh6 (21... Ne7 {would have beaten off the direct attack, but black would still be left with a losing position.} 22. Bg5 Nxf5 23. Qxf5 Bc8 24. Qf3 f6) 22. Qxh6 Re8 23. Rae1 {White can finish off the game in a number of ways, but this is the quickest.} (23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. Rae1 Ke7 25. Qh4+ f6 26. f4 {also wins or white.}) 23... Ne7 (23... Re6 { is the only way to avoid mate, but what would be the point?!} 24. Bxe6 fxe6 25. Qxe6+) 24. Bh7+ Kh8 25. Bg6+ {Black resigned. Nearly perfect play by Prins+/-} (25. Bg6+ Kg8 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Qxf7#) 1-0