Instead, the winner was Alan Nield who played aggressive, but steady chess. The runner up was David Lynch (1910-2002) who was New Zealand North Island Champion in 1949 and won the New Zealand Championship in 1951. He was also New Zealand Correspondence Champion on three occasions in the 1940's and 1950's. In the 1952 New Zealand Championship he was the player who stopped Ortvin Sarapu from getting a perfect 11-0 when they drew in the last round.
The other favorite was Harold McNabb (1914-1988). In 1934 he spent two years in hospital with an injured spine and during this time studied chess seriously, with the aid of a special board crafted by his brother.
He was a strong player, finishing runner-up in the New Zealand Championship at least four times as well as winning numerous other event. He also he played for New Zealand in numerous international team matches.
McNabbe lived in Wellington for a period during the 1940s before returning to his place of birth, Nelson, a city on the northern tip of South Island.
Robert Wade, an IM originally from New Zealand, wrote that personally he feared McNabb’s play more than anyone else in New Zealand except perhaps twice New Zealand Champion Philipp Allerhand. Wade said that if you gave McNabb “an edge...there will be no more chances.”
Although MeNabb played some good games in this championship he was not at his best and failed to win some games that would ordinarily have been
easy for him. His game against Nield, is a good example...he should have won, but after trading mistakes the point went to Nield.
Alan E. Nield (March 4, 1893 – April 2, 1972) also won the 1950 BCF Major Open tournament in Buxton, England with a +9 -1 =2 score.
In their game Nield’s courage in playing a tricky line in the Ruy Lopez was matched only by his incredible luck. The game proves that Tartakower was right when he said the game is won by the player making the next to last mistake.
[Event "New Zealand Champ. Wanganui"]
[Site "Wanganui NZL"]
[Date "1949.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alan Nield"]
[Black "Harold McNabb"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C80"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "70"]
[EventDate "1949.??.??"]
{COpen Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 Nc6 {An invitation to play the little explored
Nimzovich Defense, but Nield prefers a more classical approach.} 2. Nf3 (2. d4
d5 3. e5 Bf5 {is the Nimzovich's main line.}) 2... e5 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.
O-O Nxe4 {A refreshing change from the usual 5...a6. In the Open variation
black tries to make use of the time white will take to regain the pawn to gain
a foothold in the center.} 6. d4 {The universal reply.} b5 7. d5 {A surprising
move that was likely a prepared variation, but it's known not to be very good.
The only good move here is 6.Bb3} Ne7 {When this game appeared in print the
annotator mistakenly called it an error and, also, Modern Chess Opening (the
opening Bible of the day and for many years to come!) also claimed that the
correct move is 7...bxa4. That's wrong! McNabb's move is the correct one and
the auto-annotation by Stockfish awards it a "!"} (7... bxa4 8. dxc6 {[%emt 0:
00:00]} d6 (8... dxc6 9. Qxd8+ Kxd8 10. Nxe5 {is good for white.}) 9. Re1 f5 {
Black is slightly better.}) 8. Re1 Nf6 {[%mdl 8192] But this retreat is, in a
word, horrible. Now is the time to play 8...bxa4 because after the text white
gets an overwhelming opening advantage.} (8... bxa4 9. Rxe4 d6 10. c4 g6 11.
Nc3 Bg7 12. Nxa4 O-O {Black is better and in Neelotpal,D (2468)-Sorokin,M
(2560) Mumbai 2003 he went on to win.}) (8... Nc5 {favors white.} 9. Nxe5 Bb7
10. Bb3 Nxb3 11. axb3 Bxd5 {White is better, but in Nilsson,A (2472)-Welin,M
(2436) Stockholm 1994, black soon blundered and lost a miniature.}) (8... f5 {
This is also quite playable if black is feeling adventurous.} 9. Bb3 d6 10. c4
Ng6 11. cxb5 axb5 {with the advantage. Balaskas,P (2245)-Skembris,S (2450) Ano
Liosia GRE 1997}) 9. Nxe5 {This excellent move probably caught McNabb totally
off guard. Whute now has what should be a decisive advantage.} bxa4 {What else?
} 10. d6 {A decisive punch!} a5 {There really wasn't anything better.} (10...
Bb7 11. Nc3 cxd6 12. Nc4 Qc7 13. Nxd6+ {is hopeless for black.}) (10... cxd6
11. Nc4 Qc7 12. Nxd6+) (10... Ned5 11. Nc6+) 11. Bf4 cxd6 12. Nc4 Ra6 {Things
have gone horribly wrong for black, but now it's Nield's turn to start
slipping beginning with his next move.} 13. Bxd6 {After this white's advantage
is minimal.} (13. Nxd6+ {puts black down.} Rxd6 14. Qxd6 {Black is bound hand
and foot and the end is only a matter of time.} Ng4 {So miserable is black's
position tht this is the best Stockfish could come up with!} 15. Qc5 f6 16.
Qh5+ g6 17. Qxg4 d5 18. Qe2 Kf7 19. Nc3 h5 20. Rad1 {White is clearly winning.}
) 13... Rc6 {White is now only slightly better, but he contrives to throw even
that small advantage away and give his opponent what should amount to a
winning advantage!} 14. Ne3 {[%mdl 8192]} (14. Qd4 {keeps the pressure on and
so white could, perhaps, claim a slight advantage.} Ba6 15. Ne5 Qb6 16. Nxc6
Qxc6 17. Bxe7 Bxe7 18. Qe5 Ng8 {with a difficult position for both sides to
play!}) 14... Ne4 {Incredibly black, now a piece up, is winning.} 15. Ba3 d6 {
Much safer was 15...Re6 which breaks the pin on his Ns.} 16. Nd5 $17 Nf6 17.
Nxf6+ {This looks inviting, but hoping to maintain the N of d5 and playing 17.
c4 would have minimized black's advantage.} (17. c4 {was called for.} Nfxd5 18.
cxd5 Ra6 19. Nc3 {Black is better, but he still has some difficulties in
completing his development.}) 17... gxf6 $19 18. Qf3 Be6 (18... Rxc2 {is a
poor choice...there is no time to grab a P.} 19. Nc3 Be6 20. Ne4 {and with the
Ps on d6 and f6 under attack black is forced to retreat.} Ng8 21. Nxd6+ Bxd6
22. Rad1 Ne7 23. Rxd6 {White has equalized.}) 19. Nc3 {[%mdl 32]} Bg7 20. Rad1
O-O {It's taken 20 moves, but both sides have completed their development, but
white's B sacrifice has failed and black has a decisive advantage.} 21. Nb5
Rxc2 22. Rxd6 Qb8 {A square too far. White now equalizes!} (22... Qc8 {was the
correct move. Even then in practical play the outcome would not be perfectly
clear. For example...} 23. Nc3 (23. Nd4 Rc1 24. Qe3 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 Nf5 26. Nxf5
Bxf5 {Black is a clear piece up.}) 23... Rd8 24. Qd1 Rxd6 25. Bxd6 Rxc3 26.
bxc3 Ng6 27. Re4 Qxc3 28. Rxa4 h6 {In this position in Shootouts using
Stockfish black won 4 games with one draw. However, the games were long,
difficult endings and there is no guarantee that the two players would play up
to the engine's standards!]}) 23. Nd4 {The N attacks the R, d6 is attacked 3
times and the N on d7 is undefended...it looks grim for black, but in theory
the chances are equal. Black could retreat 23...Rc8, but then white would have
just a smidgen of an advantage. Instead, black has two equally good moves.} Rc7
(23... Rd2 24. Nxe6 Rxd6 25. Nxg7 Kxg7 26. Qg3+ Ng6 27. Qxd6 Re8 28. Rd1 {
and a draw would not be out of the question.}) (23... Rxb2 {is a bit trickier
because white could easily go astray, but then so could black!} 24. Nxe6 (24.
Bxb2 Qxd6 25. Nxe6 fxe6 {Black remains a piece up.}) 24... fxe6 25. Rdxe6 Ng6
26. Bxf8 Bxf8 27. Qxf6 Rxa2 {This messy situation is anything but clear!}) 24.
Rdxe6 {[%mdl 8192] This move leaves white a R down and what should be a lost
game.} (24. Nxe6 $16 {is necessary to keep the advantage.} fxe6 25. Rdxe6 Ng6
26. Bxf8 Nxf8 27. Re7 Rxe7 28. Rxe7 Qxb2 29. Qd5+ Kh8 30. g3 {In Shootouts
white scored +3 -0 =2, but the games were long...ovr 100 moves. In OTB play
anything could happen.}) 24... fxe6 25. Nxe6 {Black should now play 25...Rfc8,
but...} Qc8 {[%mdl 8192] This is a griss blunder that should have lost. Why
didn't it? The person annotating the game that I saw claimed that white had
"no intention of giving up his Knight for a mere Rook." Both Nield and the
annotator were mistaken, but they did not have Stockfish and plenty of time to
fiddle around with the position!} (25... Rfc8 26. Nxc7 Qxc7 27. h3 Ng6 {
Black still has a LOT of work to do, but he should be able to score the point.}
) 26. h3 {[%mdl 8192] This rates a couple of question marks.} (26. Nxc7 {
Taking the mere R is the only winning move.} Qxc7 27. Bxe7 Rf7 28. Qd5 {
White's pieces are active while black's are limited in scope and as a result
white should be able to win.}) 26... Rc1 {This wraps it up.} 27. Rxc1 Qxc1+ 28.
Kh2 Re8 {Black is a whole R up and white has no compensation.} 29. Qh5 Ng6 30.
Qd5 {Now all black has to do is move his K out of the discovered check.} Qc8 {
[%mdl 8192] This is just awful!} (30... Kh8 31. Qd7 Rg8 32. Qd5 Ne5 {As soon
as black gets his pieces untangled he can use his extra R to wrap it up.} 33.
Qxa5 Nf3+ 34. Kg3 (34. gxf3 Bh6 {and mate is unstoppable.}) 34... Bh6+ 35. Kxf3
Qc6+ 36. Ke2 {Black could take the NB, but there's a mate in 12...} Qc4+ 37.
Kd1 Qf1+ 38. Kc2 Qe2+ 39. Kc3 Bd2+ 40. Kd4 Bxa5 41. Nf8 Rg5 42. Nd7 Qxf2+ 43.
Ke4 Qxg2+ 44. Ke3 Qd2+ 45. Ke4 Qd5+ 46. Ke3 Rg3+ 47. Kf2 Qf3#) 31. Ng5+ {
White is clearly winning, but the wat the game has been going betting on it
would not be a good idea.} Re6 (31... Kh8 {leads to mate.} 32. Nf7+ Kg8 33.
Nh6+ Kh8 34. Qg8+ Rxg8 35. Nf7#) 32. Nxe6 Kh8 {A move too late.} 33. f4 h6 34.
Kg3 (34. f5 Ne5 35. Qxa5 {is an easily won ending.}) 34... Bf8 35. Qf5 Bxa3 {
A last blunder allowing mate in 2 so black resigned at once.} (35... Bg7 36.
Nxg7 Qxf5 37. Nxf5 {is hopelessly lost in any case.}) 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment