And, the Winner Is...Joel Fridlizius

     Do people still buy chess books and play through the games using a board and pieces? Or, do they do everything electronically? It’s been years since I have actually fondled chess pieces...in fact, I no longer own a chess set. 

     My old laptop has the ancient Master Chess 8000 on it. The program was distributed by Chess4Less which is owned and operated by an old friend, Paul Azzurro. Also on my laptop are ChessOK Aquarium 2014, Aquarium 2020, Chess Assistant, ChessBase 16, Fritz 12 and my “go to” program Fritz 17. 

     Most of my chess books were either given away or destroyed when our house flooded. One book that remains is Al Horowitz’ Golden Treasury of Chess that was first published in 1943. I no longer have the original edition, but the one that was reprinted in 1971. It has 322 games in descriptive notation up to 1966. The games themselves have a brief and glowing introduction describing how delightful the games is. A lot of the games won’t be found elsewhere...many of them are long forgotten gems that are just fun to play over. 

     The book has an interesting history that was given by chess historian Edward Winter in an article titled The Horowitz-Wellmuth Affair. 

     Let’s take a look at a game chosen more or less at random...Joel Fridlizius vs. Alexander Alekhine (the loser!) from the tournament Stockholm 1912; the game won the brilliancy prize. Stockholm 1912 was Alekhine's first victory in an international tournament. 

 

 

     Joel Fridlizius (December 3, 1869 – January 6, 1963) was a Swedish master and a correspondence player. He won the first correspondence tournament in Sweden that was played from1897 to 1900. He then won the 1st Nordic correspondence tournament (1900-1902). 

     Fridlizius' best OTB resulte was second place at the 3rd Nordic Championship in Gothenburg 1901. Fridlizius was editor of the chess column in the newspaper Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfarts-Tidning. In later years he lived in Skara, Sweden, a town of about 18,500 inhabitants that is located about 220 miles west of Stockholm. He won the club championship there in 1954 at the age of 85.

 

[Event "Stockholm"] [Site "Stockholm SWE"] [Date "1912.06.27"] [Round "3"] [White "Joel Fridlizius"] [Black "Alexander Alekhine"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C77"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1912.05.26"] {C77: Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. O-O b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. d3 Bg4 9. Be3 {This is the standard move, but engines prefer 9.h3} (9. h3 Be6 10. Be3 Nd4 11. Bxd4 Bxd4 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Ne2 {Draw agreed. Mamedov,N (2405)-Mamedyarov,S (2503) Oropesa del Mar ESP 2001}) (9. Bg5 Nd4 10. Nd5 c6 11. Ne3 Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 {Black is better. Klundt,K (2325)-Gergel,V (2202) Katerini GRE 2014}) 9... Nd4 $11 10. Bxd4 Bxd4 11. h3 {Black should now play 11...Bx3 or first 11...Bxc3 or even 11...Bh5 is OK. Instead, Alekhine bluffs his opponent with an unsound B offer.} h5 12. Qe2 (12. hxg4 {wins as blacj really has no good way of following up the sacrifice.} hxg4 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Ne2 Nd7 {to open a line for the Q.} 15. Ng3 Qh4 16. Re1 Ne5 17. c3 dxc3 18. bxc3 O-O-O 19. d4 Ng6 20. Qd2 {Black has no attack.}) 12... Nd7 {Strange...now if the B is taken white has no advantage anbd the chances would be equal!} 13. Nd1 (13. hxg4 hxg4 14. Nxd4 Qh4 {mates as follows...} 15. Bxf7+ Kxf7 16. f4 g3 17. fxe5+ Kg8 18. Rf8+ Rxf8 19. Qh5 Qxh5 {20.any Qh1$}) (13. a4 {is quite satisfactory because after} Rb8 14. axb5 axb5 15. hxg4 {Also good is 15.Nd5} hxg4 16. g3 {He can't allow ...Qh4} Bxc3 17. bxc3 gxf3 18. Qxf3 {the game is completely even.}) 13... Nf8 (13... Qf6 {After this white should avoid taking the B.} 14. hxg4 (14. c3 Bb6 15. Bd5 Rb8 16. Bc6 {with equak chances}) 14... hxg4 15. Re1 gxf3 16. Qxf3 Qxf3 17. gxf3 {Black is better,}) 14. c3 (14. hxg4 { leads to more than equality after} hxg4 15. g3 gxf3 16. Qxf3) 14... Ba7 15. Ne3 {This is better than taking the B which was possible, but it would lead to no more thanb equal chances. After the text white gains the advantage.} (15. hxg4 $6 hxg4 16. g3 gxf3 17. Qxf3) 15... Bd7 {the either had to reteat of capture on f3.} 16. d4 {Fridlizius' restraint in not taking the B has lead to his gaining the initiative thanks to Alekhine's loss of time with his Bs having been driven back.} Ng6 17. Qd2 (17. Rad1 {was a bit more precise.} exd4 18. Nxd4 Kf8 (18... Qg5 19. Nd5 Rc8 20. e5 {and white should win.}) 19. Kh1 Bxd4 20. cxd4 Nf4 21. Qf3 Qh4 22. e5 Rd8 23. Rc1 {with a clear advantage.}) 17... Bc6 18. Nd5 Rc8 19. Rad1 O-O 20. Kh2 (20. dxe5 {was even better.} Nxe5 21. Qf4 Nxf3+ 22. gxf3 Bxd5 23. Rxd5 {with a dangerous attack.}) 20... Bb7 21. Rg1 { The indicates the point of white's last move...he wants to play g4, but the plan is not feasible.} (21. dxe5 {offered better chances. Even then, black can still defend quite strongly.} dxe5 22. Qc1 c5 23. c4 (23. Nf4 Qb6 24. Nd5 Qd8) 23... Bb8 24. g3) 21... c6 22. Ne3 {[%mdl 32]} Qf6 23. Nf5 d5 {At this point, thanks to a few not quite precise moves by Fridlizius, Alekhine has managed to achieve equality.} 24. Ng3 h4 25. Nh5 Qd6 26. Qg5 exd4+ 27. e5 Qe6 {But this moves allows white the opportunity to set up a very strong attack.} (27... Qd8 {offering the exchange of Qs blunts the force of white;s attack and keeps the chances equal.} 28. Qxd8 Rfxd8 29. cxd4 c5 {is equal.}) (27... Qd8 28. Qf5 { Avoiding the exchange if Qs also allows black to solidify his position as follows...} d3 29. Qxd3 Qc7 30. Bc2 Rce8 {and black;s defense will hold.}) 28. cxd4 c5 {Again, offering to trade Qs (28...Qe7) would have been a little better.} 29. Nxh4 cxd4 (29... Qe7 {runs into} 30. Nf6+ gxf6 31. exf6 Qd6+ 32. g3 Rc6 33. Nxg6 {and wins because black cannot play} fxg6 34. Qxg6+ Kh8 35. Qg7#) 30. Rge1 Bb8 (30... Qe7 {loses to} 31. Nf6+ {Again.} gxf6 32. exf6 { as in the previous note...}) 31. f4 Qe7 {Guess what's coming.} 32. Nf6+ { [%mdl 512] Not unpredictable, but still beautiful.} gxf6 33. exf6 Bxf4+ 34. Qxf4 Qxe1 $2 35. Nxg6 Qe4 36. Ne7+ {White mates in 8 moves at most.} Kh8 37. Rxd4 Qh7 (37... Qxf4+ {leads to a pretty mate.} 38. Rxf4 Rc4 39. Bxc4 dxc4 40. Rh4#) 38. Qh4 Rc4 39. Bxc4 dxc4 40. Qxh7+ Kxh7 41. Rh4# {A memorable performance by Ffidlizius!} 1-0