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.
Alan Nield–Harold McNabb1–0C80New Zealand Champ. WanganuiWanganui NZL1949Stockfish 16
COpen Ruy Lopez 1.e4 c6 An invitation to play the little explored
Nimzovich Defense, but Nield prefers a more classical approach. 2.f3 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 is the Nimzovich's main line. 2...e5 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 xe4 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 e7 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 d6 8...dxc6 9.xd8+ xd8 10.xe5 is good for white. 9.e1 f5
Black is slightly better. 8.e1 f6 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.xe4 d6 10.c4 g6 11.c3 g7 12.xa4 0-0 Black is better and in Neelotpal,D (2468)-Sorokin,M
(2560) Mumbai 2003 he went on to win. 8...c5 favors white. 9.xe5 b7 10.b3 xb3 11.axb3 xd5 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.b3 d6 10.c4 g6 11.cxb5 axb5 with the advantage. Balaskas,P (2245)-Skembris,S (2450) Ano
Liosia GRE 1997 9.xe5 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...b7 11.c3 cxd6 12.c4 c7 13.xd6+ is hopeless for black. 10...cxd6 11.c4 c7 12.xd6+ 10...ed5 11.c6+ 11.f4 cxd6 12.c4 a6 Things
have gone horribly wrong for black, but now it's Nield's turn to start
slipping beginning with his next move. 13.xd6 After this white's advantage
is minimal. 13.xd6+ puts black down. xd6 14.xd6 Black is bound hand
and foot and the end is only a matter of time. g4 So miserable is black's
position tht this is the best Stockfish could come up with! 15.c5 f6 16.h5+ g6 17.xg4 d5 18.e2 f7 19.c3 h5 20.ad1 White is clearly winning. 13...c6 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.e3 14.d4 keeps the pressure on and
so white could, perhaps, claim a slight advantage. a6 15.e5 b6 16.xc6 xc6 17.xe7 xe7 18.e5 g8 with a difficult position for both sides to
play! 14...e4 Incredibly black, now a piece up, is winning. 15.a3 d6
Much safer was 15...Re6 which breaks the pin on his Ns. 16.d5 f6 17.xf6+ 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. fxd5 18.cxd5 a6 19.c3 Black is better, but he still has some difficulties in
completing his development. 17...gxf6-+ 18.f3 e6 18...xc2 is a
poor choice...there is no time to grab a P. 19.c3 e6 20.e4 and with the
Ps on d6 and f6 under attack black is forced to retreat. g8 21.xd6+ xd6 22.ad1 e7 23.xd6 White has equalized. 19.c3 g7 20.ad1 0-0 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.b5 xc2 22.xd6 b8 A square too far. White now equalizes! 22...c8 was the
correct move. Even then in practical play the outcome would not be perfectly
clear. For example... 23.c3 23.d4 c1 24.e3 xe1+ 25.xe1 f5 26.xf5 xf5 Black is a clear piece up. 23...d8 24.d1 xd6 25.xd6 xc3 26.bxc3 g6 27.e4 xc3 28.xa4 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.d4 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. c7 23...d2 24.xe6 xd6 25.xg7 xg7 26.g3+ g6 27.xd6 e8 28.d1
and a draw would not be out of the question. 23...xb2 is a bit trickier
because white could easily go astray, but then so could black! 24.xe6 24.xb2 xd6 25.xe6 fxe6 Black remains a piece up. 24...fxe6 25.dxe6 g6 26.xf8 xf8 27.xf6 xa2 This messy situation is anything but clear! 24.dxe6 This move leaves white a R down and what should be a lost
game. 24.xe6± is necessary to keep the advantage. fxe6 25.dxe6 g6 26.xf8 xf8 27.e7 xe7 28.xe7 xb2 29.d5+ h8 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.xe6 Black should now play 25...Rfc8,
but... c8 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...fc8 26.xc7 xc7 27.h3 g6
Black still has a LOT of work to do, but he should be able to score the point. 26.h3 This rates a couple of question marks. 26.xc7
Taking the mere R is the only winning move. xc7 27.xe7 f7 28.d5
White's pieces are active while black's are limited in scope and as a result
white should be able to win. 26...c1 This wraps it up. 27.xc1 xc1+ 28.h2 e8 Black is a whole R up and white has no compensation. 29.h5 g6 30.d5 Now all black has to do is move his K out of the discovered check. c8
This is just awful! 30...h8 31.d7 g8 32.d5 e5 As soon
as black gets his pieces untangled he can use his extra R to wrap it up. 33.xa5 f3+ 34.g3 34.gxf3 h6 and mate is unstoppable. 34...h6+ 35.xf3 c6+ 36.e2 Black could take the NB, but there's a mate in 12... c4+ 37.d1 f1+ 38.c2 e2+ 39.c3 d2+ 40.d4 xa5 41.f8 g5 42.d7 xf2+ 43.e4 xg2+ 44.e3 d2+ 45.e4 d5+ 46.e3 g3+ 47.f2 f3# 31.g5+
White is clearly winning, but the wat the game has been going betting on it
would not be a good idea. e6 31...h8 leads to mate. 32.f7+ g8 33.h6+ h8 34.g8+ xg8 35.f7# 32.xe6 h8 A move too late. 33.f4 h6 34.g3 34.f5 e5 35.xa5 is an easily won ending. 34...f8 35.f5 xa3
A last blunder allowing mate in 2 so black resigned at once. 35...g7 36.xg7 xf5 37.xf5 is hopelessly lost in any case. 1–0
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