Sarapu Eviscerates Endzelins

     For me 1960 was a not an especially memorable year, but there were a few noteworthy events that year. In July, Senator John F. Kennedy accepts the Democratic nomination for president. On October 1st, James H. Meredith was the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi and that made news!

     Although I had long outgrown it, after 13 years the television program The Howdy Doody Show was canceled. That year a TV series called Checkmate aired on CBS, but it had nothing to do with chess and it was canceled in 1962 after 70 episodes. It was about a private detectives who solved cases in San Francisco with the help of a British criminologist. 

     In chess action the year started off in January with Bobby Fischer again winning the U.S. Championship (+7 -0 =4). Down in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Fischer tied with Boris Spassky for first two full points ahead of the field. Fischer lost to Spassky, drew with David Bronstein and won his other thirteen games. Spassky was undefeated as was Bronstein who finished third. 

     The biggest news was that Mikhail Tal defeated Mikhail Botvinnik to become the World Champion. Later, in October, Tahl was driving to the Chess Olympiad in Leipzig, Germany when he got into a car accident and as a result missed the first 3 rounds.

     The Olympiad was won (as usual) by the Soviet Union (Tahl, Botvinnik, Keres, Korchnoi, Smyslov, Petrosian) well ahead of the US (Bobby Fischer, Williaim Lombardy, Robert Byrne, Arthur Bisguier, Nicolas Rossolimo and Raymond Weinstein). Reshevsky refused to play because he was in a snit over Fischer being assigned to first board. 

     Today’s’ featured game is from the 1960 Australian Championship and is one in which Ortvin Sarapu slaughtered Lucius Endzelins. Soviet players Yuri Averbakh and Vladimir Bagirov were visiting Australia and were invited to play as guests. After this loss Endzelins came to himself and wen on to capture the title. 

 

     Ortvin Sarapu (1924-1999) was born in Narva, Estonia. He learned to play chess at eight and took up the game seriously a few years later in the wake of the successes of Paul Keres. 

     In 1940, he won the Estonian Junior Championship, but his chess development was interrupted by WWII.. In 1943. he made his way via Finland to Sweden where he was interned for the rest of the war. During a tournament in Oldenburg, West Germany in 1949, Sarapu met New Zealander Robert Wade which led to his emigration to New Zealand in 1950. 

     Sarapu won or co-won the New Zealand Championship 20 times and also won the Australian title in the late 1950's, and he played in the Olympiads 10 times. In 1966, he won the Zone 10 Zonal tournament in Auckland and as a result he was awarded the IM title and a qualification spot in the Interzonal tournament at Sousse, Tunisia in 1967. 

     For his services to chess he was awarded an MBE in 1980. Sarapu retired from international play at the beginning of 1998.     

     His opponent, Lucius Endzelins (1909-1981), was an etborn in Tartu, Estonia. He began his chess career in Riga, Latvia, going on to earn a place on the Latvian Olympic team. He participated in the 1936, 1937 and 1939 chess Olympiads. He was awarded the Correspondence GM title in 1959 and was Australian champion in 1960. Finishing behind Viacheslav Ragozin, he tied with Lothar Schmid in the 2nd World Correspondence Chess Championship (1956) for share of 2nd-3rd place before tiebreaks. He passed away in Adelaide in 1981. 

 

[Event "Australian Champ, Adelaide"] [Site ""] [Date "1960.10.10"] [Round "5"] [White "Ortvin Sarapu"] [Black "Lucius Endzelins"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B35"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1960.??.??"] {Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 { When black plays the Accelerated he must be prepared to face the Maroczy Bind (5.c4) which requires him to conduct a patient defense.} 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 {At the time this was popular because it was a favorite of Bobby Fischer. In addition to attacking f7 it makes black's freeing ...d5 very difficult.} O-O 8. Bb3 {Averbakh suggested here 8.f3 followed by 9.Qd2 and 10. O-O-O} Ng4 {Reshevsky once lost quickly with 8...Na5. Most popular nowadays is simply 8...d6} (8... Na5 9. e5 Ne8 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Ne6 dxe6 12. Qxd8 { Robert Fischer-Samuel Reshevsky, US Champ, New York, 1958. Reshevsky played on until mpve 42 before resigning.}) 9. Qxg4 Nxd4 10. Qd1 Ne6 {An awkward position for the N so 10... Nxb3 was better.} (10... Nxb3 11. axb3 b6 12. Qd5 Bxc3+ 13. bxc3 Qc7 14. O-O-O Qxc3 15. Bd4 Qc6 {Fischer,R-Reshevsky,S, Match, Los Angeles 1961. The game was eventually drawn.}) 11. Qd2 Qa5 {This leads to a very difficult position for black, but the alternative of 11...d6 wasn't much better.} 12. Nd5 Qxd2+ 13. Kxd2 {Very good. With Qs off the K will be quite safe and it's well positioned for the ending although in this game that situation never arises.} Re8 (13... Bxb2 14. Nxe7+ Kg7 15. Rab1 Ba3 16. Nxc8 Raxc8 17. Bxa7 {favor white.}) 14. f4 {[%mdl 32]} Kf8 {After this hapless move black is lost!} (14... d6 {was a must.} 15. f5 {would then be pointless because after} Nc5 16. fxg6 (16. f6 {As in the game.} Nxe4+ 17. Kc1 Nxf6 { Black is better.}) 16... hxg6 17. Nc7 Nxe4+ 18. Kc1 Bd7 19. Nxa8 Rxa8 20. Bd5 Bc6 {equals.}) 15. f5 Rd8 16. Ke1 {Getting out of the line of fire of black's R is a necessity.} (16. fxe6 dxe6 17. Kc1 exd5 18. exd5 Bf5 {Not only has black equalized, he stands a bit better.}) 16... Nd4 {After this black's game totally collapses.} (16... gxf5 17. exf5 Bxb2 18. Rb1 Be5 19. fxe6 dxe6 20. Nf4 {White is better.}) (16... Bxb2 17. Rb1 Be5 18. fxe6 dxe6 19. Nf4 {Here, too, white is better.}) 17. f6 {A nice tactical shot! Black must lose a piece.} Bxf6 (17... Nxb3 {This was what Endelins had intended to play, but at the last minute realized that it does not work.} 18. fxe7+ Kg8 19. exd8=Q+ Bf8 20. Bh6 { mates nest move.}) 18. Nxf6 Nxc2+ {A desperado move.} 19. Bxc2 exf6 20. Rf1 d5 21. exd5 Rxd5 22. Rxf6 Kg7 23. Rf4 {Black resigne.} 1-0