Open Files Are Important

     Officially, the 1913 Scheveningen tournament celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the Nederlandschen Schaakbond, and was held in Scheveningen from July 28-August 8 and it was one of the twenty-year-old Alekhine’s early victories. 

     Edward Lasker was invited at the last minute as a replacement for Nimzovich who had fallen ill. 

     Of the Dutch players Adolf G. Olland (1857-1933, 66 years old), a medical doctor, was the only one with an international reputation. He was the leading Dutch chess master in the time before Max Euwe. 

     Ollan was unofficial Dutch champion in 1895 and 1901 and official champion in 1909. Besides being an active tournament player, he also played a number of matches...29 in all! Olland died of a heart attack playing in the 1933 Dutch Championship at The Hague. 

     Dr. Olland died of a heart attack while playing hos game against A. Hamming, in the 1933 Dutch Championship at The Hague.

     Edward Lasker (188501981, 95 years old) was born in a part of the German Empire that is now in Poland. Before World War I he moved to London, England, but after the outbreak of the war he left the UK for the United States. 

     When America entered the war, he was sent enlistment papers, but with the right of exemption as a German. He waived his right to exemption, hoping that may expedite his request for American citizenship; however, the war was over before he was called. FIDE awarded him the IM title in 1961. Lasker also authored several books. 

 

     In the following game Olland gives us a lesson on the importance of an open file. 

 

[Event "Scheveningen"] [Site ""] [Date "1913.07.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Adolf G. Olland"] [Black "Edward Lasker"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C83"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1913.07.28"] {C83: Open Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 { In the Open Ruy Lopez black tries to make use of the time white takes to regain P to gain a foothold in the center. This defense was to become a favorite of Euwe.} 6. d4 b5 (6... exd4 {is inferior.} 7. Re1 d5 8. Nxd4 Bc5 9. Bxc6+ bxc6 10. f3 (10. Nxc6 {is a loser...} Bxf2+ 11. Kh1 Bxe1 12. Qxe1 (12. Nxd8 Nf2+ 13. Kg1 Nxd1 14. Nc6 Bf2+ 15. Kf1 Bb6 16. Ke2 Bb7 17. Kxd1 Bxc6 {wins }) 12... Qd6 {with the advantage.}) 10... Qh4 11. g3 {Black's attack is at a standstill and white's position is superior.}) 7. Bb3 d5 (7... exd4 {is wrong because after} 8. Re1 d5 9. Nc3 Be6 (9... dxc3 {loses} 10. Bxd5 Bb7 11. Bxe4 { White is winning.}) 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Rxe4 {and black is at a disadvantage. Robert Fischer - Dr. Petar Trifunovic, Bled 1961}) 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Qd3 {The customary move is 11.Nbd2. Olland's move apparently was played with the idea of playing Rd1 attacking the d-Pawn three times. However, black can easily meet the threat.} (11. Nbd2 $14 Qd7 12. Re1 Rad8 13. Bc2 { is the main line.}) (11. Re1 {is not quite up to par.} Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bc1 Bc5 14. Nd4 Nxf2 15. Kxf2 Qh4+ {Black went on to win. Efimenko,Z (2590) -Kaidanov,G (2629) Moscow 2003}) 11... Na5 {This continuation enables an early advance of the c-Pawn and gains black the initiative on the Q-side.} 12. Nbd2 ( 12. Rd1 {is now met by} Nc4 {and black is completely equal.}) 12... Nxb3 $146 { Lasker admitted that the better 12...c5 did not occur to him because he missed the fact that white can’t take on e4 because 13...c4 wins a piece.} (12... c5 {Five years later Rubinstein did not miss the fact that this is better.} 13. Bc2 (13. Nxe4 {is a blunder.} c4 14. Nf6+ gxf6 15. Qe2 cxb3) 13... Bf5 14. Nxe4 Bxe4 15. Qe2 Nc4 {and the game was eventually drawn. Schlechter,C-Rubinstein,A Berlin 1918}) 13. axb3 Nxd2 14. Qxd2 c5 15. b4 {Risky! Both players missed the fact that after this black has a promising continuation with 15...d4 which would have given black Ps on the a- and b-files. It’s true that white gets a P in the center, but it would not be able to advance any time soon.} (15. Bg5 Bxg5 16. Nxg5 h6 17. Nxe6 fxe6 {The position is completely even.}) 15... cxb4 ( 15... d4 16. cxd4 cxb4 17. Bg5 Bd5 18. Rfc1 a5 19. Bxe7 Qxe7 20. Rc5 Qd7 { Stockfish was left to analyze this position for about 30 minutes and up to move 44 the position was judged equal.}) 16. cxb4 Qd7 17. Rfc1 (17. Bc5 Rfc8 18. Rac1 {with a slight advantage.}) 17... f6 {Lasker has failed to realize that trying to stop white's operations on the c-file is much more important than his own plan of opening the f-file because white’s f2 is well protected while black’s c7 is not.} (17... d4 {This is still the right move. Note that if white ha played 17.Bc5 then 17...d4 is not an option.} 18. Bxd4 Rfd8 19. Qc3 Bd5 20. Bc5 {and the position is roughly equal.}) 18. Bc5 fxe5 19. Nxe5 { White now has a the edge as black has been forced into a passive position.} Qe8 20. Nc6 Bxc5 21. Rxc5 Rf6 22. Re1 Qf7 23. Ne5 Qb7 24. Rec1 Raf8 {Lasker thought perhaps he had drawing chances afte 24...Rc8, but the text is actually his best move. Even so, as it is he drifts into a hopeless, purely defensive game.} (24... Rc8 {After about 15 minutes Stockfish can up with the following line...} 25. Rxc8+ Bxc8 26. Rc6 Be6 27. h3 {White stands better and in Shoots outs scored +2 -0 =3 so there is not a lot of difference between Lasker's suggestion and the move played.}) 25. f3 {[%mdl 32]} Qb8 26. Rc7 Rf4 27. R1c6 { White's Rs on the open file are far more potent than black's on the semi-open file.} Qd8 28. g3 (28. Rb7 {was even stronger.} Bh3 29. Rcc7 {The Rs on the 7th rank spell victory.} (29. gxh3 Qg5+ 30. Kh1 Qxe5 {and now it's black that has the advantage.}) 29... Qg5 30. Rxg7+ Qxg7 31. Rxg7+ Kxg7 32. gxh3 {with a winning advantage. For example...} d4 33. Kg2 R8f6 34. Kg3 R4f5 35. Qxd4 { Black can only mark time.}) 28... R4f5 29. Qd4 Bf7 30. f4 Rf6 31. Rc5 {[%mdl 32]} Be6 32. Rb7 Kh8 33. Rcc7 {With black's pieces completely tied up white can win at his leisure.} Rg8 34. Nc6 Qf8 35. Ne7 Qe8 36. Nxg8 Bxg8 37. Re7 Qg6 38. Rxg7 Qb1+ 39. Kg2 {[%mdl 32]} Qc2+ 40. Kf3 Qb3+ 41. Kg4 Be6+ 42. Kg5 { Black resigned. White's K has avoided the checks and he now has a mate in 5.} ( 42. Kg5 Rf5+ 43. Kh6 Rh5+ 44. Kxh5 Qd1+ 45. Rg4+ Qxd4 46. Rb8+ Bg8 47. Rgxg8#) (42. Kg5 h6+ 43. Kxf6 Qc2 44. Rh7+ Kg8 45. Rbg7+ Kf8 46. Rh8+ Bg8 47. Rhxg8#) 1-0

Judd Clouts Johnston

     One television station has broadcast the slogan, “Cleveland, the Best Location in the Nation”. Don’t believe it. In Cleveland the summers are warm, humid and partly cloudy and the winters are very cold, snowy, windy and mostly cloudy. The snowy period lasts for four months, from December to April, but snow in November and May doesn’t surprise anybody. Violent weather like thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding and blizzards are not unknown. 

     The Second American Chess Congress was held in Cleveland in 1871, the beginning of the city’s Gilded Age of the 1870s. The years following the Civil War were a time of great growth and progress in Cleveland, a time when industry took root and immigrants began to build up the land Moses Cleaveland founded in 1796. With a population of about 93,000 it was the 15th largest city in the country. Today it ranks 54th. 

     Only nine players showed up to compete for what was even in 1871 a measly prize fund of $100, the equivalent in purchasing power of about $2,521.89 today,

     The entrants were: George H. Mackenzi of New York City, Henry Hosmer of Chicago, Frederic Elder of Detroit, Max Judd of Cleveland, Preston Ware of Boston, H.D. Smith of Cassoplis, Michigan, Henry Harding of East Saginaw, Michigan, Arthur Johnston of Cincinnati, Ohio and W.B. Haughton of Chicago. 

 

 

     The following brevity from the event is quite entertaining. The player with the white pieces was Arthur Johnston (1841-1919) who was botn in London, England. He immigrated to the United States in 1861 and shortly thereafter fought in the Civil War as a member of Company A, Illinois 4th Cavalry. 

     After the war, he became court reporter for the Federal Court in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1865 he was secretary of the Cincinnati Chess Club. 

     By 1874, he was living in Santa Ana, California, where he engaged in farming and raised orchids commercially. Later he gave up those endeavors and returned to being a court reporter and public stenographer. He authored two or three books on the relations of Great Britain and the United States. 

     In 1894 he competed in the Southern California Correspondence Chess in which he finished second. 

     After his wife died in 1911, he began to travel, taking a pleasure trip to Canada and visiting Cincinnati. His remaining years were spent in Asheville, North Carolina and wintering in Jacksonville, Florida. Johnston died of cancer at a hotel in Jacksonville. His body was returned to Santa Ana where he was interred next to his wife. 

     Max Judd (18101906) was born in Poland and emigrated to the United States in 1862. Judd was founder and president of the Saint Louis Chess Club. He was appointed by President Cleveland as the U.S. Consul General to Austria. His brothers Maurice and Isidor were amateur players. It’s hard to say how strong Judd was, but Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have come in 1882 when his rating is estimated to have been 2610 ranking him at #9 in the world. The top players on that list were Zukertort, Steinitz, Mackenzie, Blackburne, Winawer, Mason, Englisch, Paulsen< Judd and Wittek. 

     Don’t be surprised if you never heard of Alexander Wittek (1852-1894) who was an Austrian-Hungarian architect and chess master. 

     As an architect, Wittek worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Austro-Hungarian Empire. His most well-known works in Sarajevo are the City Hall building which later became the National Library and the Sebilj public fountain. As a chess master he tied for 5–6th at Berlin 1881, the 2nd DSB–Congress which was won by Blackburne. He finished 9th in Vienna 1882, which was won bySteinitz and Winawer won). 

     Wittek died in a lunatic asylum in Graz in 1894, having been diagnosed with a "paralytic mental disorder" the previous year. This is a disorder in which mental health issue disrupt how the brain works. It causes real, physical symptoms that a person can't control. Symptoms can include seizures, weakness or paralysis, or reduced input from one or more senses like sight, sound, etc. One source says that he committed suicide, but another cites tuberculosis. 

[Event "2bd American Congress, Cleveland, Ohio"] [Site "Cleveland, OH USA"] [Date "1871.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Arthur Johnston"] [Black "Max Judd"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B21"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "48"] [EventDate "1871.12.??"] {B21: Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. f4 {I am not sure what to call this opening: the Grand Prix (2.f4), the Alapin (2.c3) or the Kopec System (2.Bd3), It's probably a hybrid..Bd2} e6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. c3 Be7 {After 4...Nf6 white has tried 5.Bd3 and 5.e5, Black has also played 4...Nge7 and 4...h6. All are reasonable moves, but 4...d5 seems the best move.} 5. Bd3 d5 6. e5 Qb6 7. Bc2 Nh6 {Thanks to his 4th move this rather poor position for the N is the only reasonbale way to try and get it into play. ...Nf5 is a possibility, but it' curious that the N remains here until it delivers mate!} 8. a3 {Rther than stopping short white should have moved this P on square further, or he could have castled.} O-O 9. d4 c4 {Closing the position was not the best idea because now white's position is the more active. 9...f6 or even 9...cxd4 would have been preferable.} 10. h4 (10. Nbd2 {was better.} f6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. Nf1 Bd7 13. Ne3 {with a promising position.}) 10... f6 11. exf6 Bxf6 12. Ng5 { [%mdl 8192] This attacks h7, but it's premature. White should have castled.} e5 {A brilliant and surprising move that leaves white's K fatally explosed.} 13. dxe5 (13. Bxh7+ Kh8 14. O-O Bg4 15. Qc2 exd4 {rips the guts out of white's position!} 16. cxd4 Nxd4 17. Qf2 Ne2+ 18. Kh1 Qxf2 19. Rxf2 Nxc1 20. Bg6 Bd4 21. Rd2 Nb3) 13... Bxe5 {[%mdl 512] There's no point in being picky and pointing out that 13...Nxe5 was a wee bit better because in either case black is winning.} 14. Qxd5+ Kh8 15. Qe4 {At least Johnston avoids the worst!} (15. fxe5 {results in mate...} Qf2+ 16. Kd1 Bg4+ 17. Nf3 Rxf3 18. gxf3 Bxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Qxf3+ 20. Kd2 Rd8+ 21. Ke1 Qxh1+ 22. Ke2 Qg2+ 23. Ke1 Ng4 24. Be3 Nxe3 25. Bd3 Rxd3 26. Nd2 Qxd2#) (15. Nxh7 {is equally hopeless.} Bxf4 16. Bxf4 Rxf4 { White's K is fatally caught in the center.} 17. Qd2 Bf5 18. Qxf4 Bxc2 19. Ng5 Re8+ {wraps it up.}) (15. b4 {is the best white has, For example...} Re8 16. Kf1 Bf6 17. Qxc4 (17. Bd2 Bg4 18. Be4 Re7 19. Qc5 Qd8 20. Qxc4 Qe8 {Here, too, white is in a lot of trouble.}) 17... Bg4 18. Be4 Rac8 19. Qc5 {Black is clearly better, but he has no forced win.}) 15... Bf5 16. Qe3 Qxe3+ {Even the trade of Qs can't stop Judd's attack.} (16... Bd4 17. cxd4 Rae8 {is also good}) 17. Bxe3 Bxc2 18. fxe5 Nxe5 19. Kd2 {Materially white is not too badly off as he has a B+P vs a R, but he he has three undeveloped pieces and his K is exposed. Judd's attack is merciless} Bd3 20. Bd4 Rf5 21. Re1 Nc6 {[%mdl 32] Heading for b3. White can't do anything but wait.} 22. Nf3 (22. a4 {is met by} Nxd4 23. cxd4 Rf2+ 24. Kc3 Rc2+ 25. Kb4 Rxb2+ 26. Ka3 Rb3+ 27. Ka2 {but this position is equally hopeless.}) 22... Na5 {At least had white played 22.a4 his K ended up on a square where is was sheltered from mate, but now it's driven to it's doom.} 23. Ke3 {White commits suicide.} (23. Re3 Nb3+ 24. Kd1 Nxa1 { with an easy win.}) 23... Nb3 24. Ra2 (24. Kf2 Nxa1 {...and wins.}) 24... Ng4# {A fine attacking exhibition by Judd.} 0-1

Short, Ultra-Sharp Game by Nezhmetdinov

     In Russia, back in the early days before rating systems, the Master title could be earned by scoring 50 percent in the Soviet Championship, by winning a match from an established Master, by drawing two matches with an established Master or by winning a tournament that had at least three Masters participating. 

      In 1948, Vladas Mikenas and Rashid Nezhmetdinov played a natch for the Master title, but I am not sure which player was attempting to gain the Master title, but I strongly suspect that it was the Lithuanian Mikenas. In any case, the match ended in a 7-7 tie. 

     Vladas Mikėnas (1910-1992) was a chess legend in Lithuanian, an International Master, an Honorary Grandmaster and a journalist. He was one of the most outstanding players from the Baltic's prior to World War II. He emigrated from Estonia to Lithuania in 1931. After Lithuania was annexed by the USSR in 1940, he also played in many Soviet Championships. 

     Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) was a Soviet player and writer as well as a checker champion. He was a fierce and imaginative attacking player who was capable of beating anyone in the world. 

     Unfortunately the only time he played outside the Soviet Union was at Bucharest in 1954 where he finished 2nd behind Korchnoi. He had a lifetime plus score against Tahl and Spassky, but his weakness was that given a position where there were few attacking chances he would often try and complicate in the hopes of attacking even if it was not justified. He served as Tahl’s trainer in the latter’s championship matches against Botvinnik. 

     The following short, sharp encounter from their match was played with precision by Nezhmetdinov. 

[Event "Match for Title of Master"] [Site "Kazan URS"] [Date "1948.03.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Rashid Nezhmetdinov"] [Black "Vladas Mikenas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1948.??.??"] {B02: Alekhine Defense: Chase Variation} 1. e4 {[%mdl 32]} Nf6 {A Mikenas favorite. I've always had a macabre fascination with this defense...like a car accident where you don't want to look, but can't force yourself to turn away.} 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. c5 Nd5 5. Bc4 e6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nxd5 $14 exd5 8. Bxd5 c6 { This move was Mikenas’ invention.} (8... dxe5 {Mikenas thought this move was bad which is why he preferred 8...c6} 9. Qf3 {is the move Mikenas feared, but after} (9. Qb3 Qf6 10. Bxb7 Bxb7 11. Qxb7 Qc6 12. Qc8+ {White is better. Roeder,F (2275) -Ruehrig,V (2300) Germany 1982}) 9... f6 10. Bxb7 Bxb7 11. Qxb7 Nd7 {The position offer chances to both sides after either 12.d4 or 12.b4. After the obvious} 12. c6 Nc5 13. Qb5 Rb8 14. Qe2 Nd3+ 15. Kf1 Bc5 {white would be lost.}) 9. Bxf7+ {At the time this game was played this sacrifice was unexpected, but it's the best move even though white's advantage turns out to be minimal.} Kxf7 10. cxd6 Qe8 (10... Be6 {was played in the 3rd game of the match which continued} 11. f4 {and now black unnecessarily returned the extra piece with} (11. Nh3 {Nezhmetdinove came up with this improvement in the post-game analysis.} Qh4 ({is much worse.} 11... Bxh3 12. Qf3+) 12. Qf3+ Kg8 13. Nf4 {White is better.}) 11... Bxd6 12. exd6 Re8 13. Kf2 Qxd6 {and black won. Actually, this position is fully even, but in the post-game analysis Nezhmetdinov came up with the improvement at move 11 and so Mikenas avoided 10. ..Be6}) 11. Qe2 (11. Qf3+ {11 years later Vasiukov discovered this better move in his game against Spasskey.} Kg8 12. Qe3 {Now black can’t return the extra piece by sacrificing it for the P on d6.} Be6 13. Ne2 Nd7 14. O-O {White has the more promising position. Vasiukov, E-Spassky,B Tbilisi 1959}) 11... c5 12. Nf3 Bxd6 {Nezhmetdinov wrote, "A timely sacrifice which can’t be accepted by white."} 13. Ng5+ (13. exd6 Qxe2+ 14. Kxe2 Re8+ 15. Kd1 {This position offers equal opportunities to both sides, so the sacrifice could have been accepted without incurring any disadvantage.}) 13... Kg6 $1 14. Qd3+ {Instead of this white had a couple of more promising continuations: either 14.d4 or 14.f4 and the chances would have been avout equal, Now, depite the precarious looking position of black's K, it is he who is winning!} Kxg5 15. Qxd6 (15. f4+ { turns out to not to be an improvement.} Kh6 16. Qxd6+ Qg6 17. Qxc5 Qxg2 18. Rg1 Qe4+ {An unbalanced material situation (white has 2Ps vs. a N) has been reached and black has what should prove to be a decisive advantage.}) 15... Qd8 {This move tosses away his advantahe and now the chances are back to equal.} ( 15... Qc6 {is good because once Qs are traded white’s attack fizzles out} 16. d3+ Kh5 17. Be3 Qxd6 18. exd6 {Again, black has what should be a winning position and did, in fact, win 5 out of 5 Shootouts in games lasting 50-60 moves. In practice white may have remote chances of salvaging a draw.}) 16. d4+ Kf5 {[%mdl 8192] This is the move that loses the game. Even though the position of black's K looks really bad, it's quite safe after 16...Kh5!!} ( 16... Kh5 17. Qxc5 {White must avoid the exchange of Qs} Be6 18. O-O Nc6 { Now that black has gotten his pieces unto play there is little chance that white can successfully conduct a winning attack. In Shootouts white manages to score +1 -0 =4}) (16... Kh5 17. g4+ {as in the game does not work.} Bxg4 18. Qxc5 {and black is winning.}) 17. g4+ {This is the only winning move that white has.} Ke4 (17... Kxg4 18. Rg1+ Kf5 19. Rg5+ Ke4 20. Qxc5 {Surprisingly white ha sno forced mate, but black's K is fatally exposed.}) 18. Qxc5 Rf8 19. O-O {Stockfish spots a mate in 15 moves.} Kf3 20. h3 b6 21. Qc3+ Ke4 22. Qc4 { Black resigned as mate is unavoidable.} (22. Qc4 Bxg4 23. hxg4 Rxf2 24. Re1+ Kf3 25. Qd3+ Kxg4 26. Qe4+ Kh5 27. Qxh7+ Kg4 28. Re4+ Kg3 29. Qg6+ Qg5 30. Qxg5+ Kh3 31. Qg4#) 1-0

Fischer Bashes Weinstein

     The year 1963 was a momentous one for me; I graduated from high school and entered the military. The other day when we entered a store I was wearing a USMC cap and the greeter informed me he was an ex-Marine and asked when I got discharged. I tole him 1967 and he replied that was the year he was born and then added, “I’m glad you’re still here.” So am I! 

     The big event in 1963 happened in Dallas, Texas on November 23rd...President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Did singer/songwriter Bob Dylan know anything about it?  Read article...

     In 1963, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Perry hit his first and only home run. 

     Ben Franklin (aka “the dime store” or “the five & dime”), a chain of variety stores went bankrupt in the 1990s, but some independently owned stores still exist. They were selling turtle kits that included a bowl, food, ornament and gravel for 44 cents. You could buy a baby turtle to go with the kit for 25-50 cents. That may seem pretty cheap, but in 1953, 50 cents was almost $5.00 today. Back in the 1950’s I never bought a turtle, but used to go catch them for free at a pond near our home. I named all my turtles...they were all named Herman. 

     The year 1963 started off with Bobby Fischer winning the US Championship with 6 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss (to Edmar Mednis). The next championship (1963/64) was different...he scored 11-0. 

     Players who passed away that year were: Hermann Helms (1870-1963) and Weaver Adams (1901-1963), Boris Kostic (1887-1963) and Gosta Stoltz (1904-1963). 

     Today’s game is Fischer vs. Weinstein, played in the 1963/64 US Championship. The story of IM Raymond Weinstein (born April 25, 1941) is a tragic one. 

     While in Amsterdam studying under the Dutch psychology professor and International Master Johan Barendregt, Weinstein assaulted Barendregt, got deported and while being detained in a halfway house (a type of recovery residence for those transitioning out of drug and alcohol rehab, mental health treatment, and/or incarceration) he slit his 83-year-old roommate’s throat with a razor when the old man made derogatory remarks about Weinstein’s mother who was also institutionalized. 

     Weinstein was deemed incapable of standing trial and was sent to the Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center on Manhattan’s Wards Island where he remains.

     Author and chess activist Sam Sloan visited Weinstein in 1996 and described him as having gotten obese and having a habit of rubbing the side or under his nose, During the 45 minute Weinstein did not utter a single word and just stared blankly at Sloan. Weinstein did not give any indication that he recognized nbames like Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer, Anand and other top grandmasters or that he even knew what Sloan was talking about. Finally, Weinstein went to the attendant and told her rather angrily that he wanted to go back to his ward.

 

     In the following game he got defeated by Fischer, but so did the ten other players Fischer faced.

 

[Event "US Championship 1963/64, New York"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1963.12.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Fischer"] [Black "Raymond Weinstein"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C96"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1963.??.??"] {C96: Ruy Lopez: Chigorin Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 {[%mdl 32]} O-O 9. h3 {This is all book in the Ruy. Fischer's move, preventing the pin by ...Bg4, is by far the most popular because if white allows it then according to my database black does much better. In fact, the black scores about 50 percent.} Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 cxd4 {Just about any reasonable move has been played by black here.} 12. cxd4 Bb7 13. d5 Bc8 {It's interesting that my database has only a couple of games with this move, but it's the one preferred by Stockfish. It makes sense though to reposition the B which has no future on b7 after white has closed the center with his lst move.} (13... Rc8 {This is the move that is usually played. } 14. b3 Qc7 15. Bd3 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 f5 {White is better. Morozevich,A (2742) -Ponomariov,R (2684) Moscow 2001}) 14. Nbd2 g6 (14... Bd7 15. Nf1 Rc8 16. b3 Nh5 17. Bd3 g6 18. Bh6 Re8 19. Qd2 f5 20. exf5 gxf5 {Black resigned. White is considerably better, but reso\ignation seems premature. Garrido Outon,A (2380) -Djokic,M (2227) Vrnjacka Banja SRB 2023}) 15. b4 $16 {Did Weinstein see this possibility and that's the reason he retreated his B on move 12?} Nb7 {The N has a dim future on b7.} 16. a4 Bd7 (16... a5 {This messy looking move was somewhat better. After} 17. axb5 Bd7 18. Nb3 Bxb5 {white's advantage is minimal.}) 17. axb5 axb5 {This is questionable because it allows white a lot of pressure on the Q-side.} (17... a5 {was much better because after} 18. Ba4 ( 18. bxa5 Bxb5 19. Nb3 Nxa5 {black has equalized.}) 18... axb4 19. Nb3 {White is slightly better.}) 18. Rxa8 Qxa8 19. Re3 {[%mdl 32] A brilliant move. Fischer is going to pace his R on the 7th rank from where it will exert a tremendous influence.} Qc8 20. Ra3 Qc7 21. Nb3 {More brilliant play by Fischer. Before going to a7 with the R he first improves the position of this N and then ties Weinstein down to the defense of his b-Pawn. If at once 21.Ra7 Qb8 and the R must retreat.} Nh5 22. Bd3 Rc8 23. Qf1 Nf6 {Indirectly defending the b-Pawn.} 24. Bg5 {By threatening to take the N white would then be free to capture the b-Pawn.} (24. Bxb5 Nxe4 25. Bxd7 Qxd7 26. Ra7 Nc3 27. Bd2 Nxd5 28. Qa6 Rc7 29. b5 Bd8 {Black has pretty much equalized because the advance of the b-Pawn is held up. For example, if...} 30. b6 Nxb6 31. Qxb6 Rc1+) 24... Rb8 25. Ra7 {Fischer disdains the win of a P and instead chooses to keep black under great pressure.} (25. Bxf6 Bxf6 26. Bxb5 Nc5 27. Bxd7 Nxd7 28. b5 Qc2 29. Ra7 Nc5 30. Nxc5 Qxc5 {and the b-Pawn has been rendered harmless.}) 25... Qd8 26. Qa1 Qe8 (26... Ne8 {is a better defense.} 27. Bxe7 Qxe7 28. Qa6 Nc7 29. Qb6 Na8 30. Rxa8 Rxa8 31. Qxb7 Qd8 32. Bxb5 Bxb5 33. Qxb5 Rb8 34. Qa4 {White's two Ns and passed P should prevail over the R which they did in 5 Shootouts.}) 27. Qa6 Qc8 {Weinstein totally cracks, but he was as good as lost anyway.} 28. Nxe5 $1 {[%mdl 512]} dxe5 29. Bxf6 Bxf6 30. Qxf6 Qc3 31. Nc5 Nxc5 32. bxc5 Be8 (32... Qxd3 33. Rxd7 Rf8 34. c6 Qxe4 35. c7 Qf5 36. Qxf5 gxf5 37. Rd8) 33. Bf1 Qxc5 34. Re7 b4 35. d6 Qb6 36. Bc4 {Black resigned} (36. Bc4 b3 (36... Rb7 37. Rxe8# ) 37. Bxf7+ Bxf7 38. Qxf7+ Kh8 39. Qg7#) 1-0

Alekhine Smashes Zubarev

     Here is an instructive game by Alekhine against a little known Master from Moscow that was played in a First Category tournament. First Category was approximately equal to an Elo rating of 2000-2125, or roughly USCF Expert. 

     Alekhine is known to everybody, but the chances are you never heard of the Soviet player Honored Master of Sport Nikolai Zubarev (January 10, 1894 – January 1951), twice champion of Moscow. 

     The title of Honored Master of Sport was a Soviet government honor introduced in 1934; it was awarded by the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sport to athletes, including chess players, for outstanding performance. The award was in the form of a badge and certificate. Though normally conferred for life, it was revoked in the case of Alla Kushnir and Viktor Korchnoi following their defection from the Soviet Union. Mark Taimanov also had his award revoked in 1971 following his crushing defeat by Bobby Fischer, but it was restored in 1991.

     Back in the 1930s, when Nikolai Krylenko reigned in Soviet chess, Zubarev wielded considerable authority as a Krylenko deputy. As a key member of Krylenko’s Chess Section, Zubarev was instrumental in setting up the Soviet title system. It was during those days that Alekhine would occasionally drop by his home in Moscow where they would analyze and play skittles. 

     Vasily Panov described Zubarev's play as follows...at the board he personified common sense, a cold-blooded rationalist, with high-arching, skeptical eyebrows. Zubarev followed opening theory rigidly and sought conservative, clear-cut, low-risk plans, but was often helpless when positions became murky or the opening was new to him. 

     The following game game is fairly well known because it demonstrates the importance of the P-center and how it cab fuel an attack. Alekhine begins the game with positional play, but when the time is right switches to tactical play.

 

[Event "1st Category tournament, Moscow"] [Site "Moscow RUE"] [Date "1915.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexander Alekhine"] [Black "Nikolay Zubarev"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E32"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1915.??.??"] {E32: Nimzo-Indian: Classical (4 Qc2): 4...0-0} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 { Zubarev was an early fan Nimzovich even though My System wasn’t published until 1925.} 4. Qc2 {This was an early attempt to refute the Nimzo. From here the Q guards the N on c3 and offers the possibility of playing e2-e4.} b6 { This move has pretty much disappeared from Master practice because it's makes a major concession in that it allows white to advance his e-Pawn. Correct is 4. ..O-O, but 5...d5 and even 4...c5 are preferrabe.} (4... O-O {Now white usually plays 5.a3} 5. e4 d5 6. e5 {and black equalies after} Ne4) 5. e4 Bb7 6. Bd3 Bxc3+ {This takes advantage of the fact that white can’t recapture with the Q.} (6... c5 {This is best met by…} 7. d5 {with a space advantage plus black's B on b7 is extremely limited in scope.}) 7. bxc3 {Forced because of the pressure on e4. White now has doubled c-Pawns, but that’s really unimportant and, as a trade off he has the two Bs and good control of the center.} d6 {The prepares a counterattack on white’s center with ...c5 or ... e5} 8. Ne2 {Better than 8.Nf3 which blocks the f-Pawn.} Nbd7 {Black already has a dismal position.} 9. O-O O-O (9... Qe7 10. f4 e5 (10... O-O-O 11. a4 a5 12. Ng3 {with good play. Virkud,A (2027)-Amrayeva,A (2191) Porto Carras GRE 2015}) 11. Ng3 g6 12. c5 exd4 13. c6 Bxc6 14. cxd4 Nb8 15. f5 Nfd7 16. d5 Bb7 17. Qxc7 Ba6 18. Bxa6 Nxa6 19. Qb7 {Black resigned in Horvath,J (2525)-Fokin,S (2365) Budapest 1990}) 10. f4 h6 {Oddly, this game was duplicated up to this point 13 years later.} 11. Ng3 {Bringing up the reserves.} (11. e5 {This is good, too. It shows how strong white's position is that in both games bnlack didn't last long.} Ne8 12. Ng3 c5 13. Qe2 Qh4 14. f5 cxd4 15. Rf4 Qd8 16. cxd4 dxe5 17. dxe5 Nc7 18. Rg4 Qe7 19. Rxg7+ {Black resigned. Euwe,M-Colle,E Amsterdam 1928}) 11... Qe7 12. Qe2 {Equally playable was 12.e5, but from e2 the Q may eventually join the attack by going to h5.} Rae8 {What's the purpose of this move? There isn’t any, but he has to play something.} 13. Ba3 { Black is clearly facing imminent disaster, but how will it manifest itself?} c5 {Black is so cramped, so cramped he has to do something and so he tries to break the pin.} 14. Rae1 {Alekhine brings one more piece to the K-side.} Kh8 { Zubarev is without any viable options. 14..cxd4 15. cxd4 only mobilizes white’s center Ps.} (14... e5 {loses as follows...} 15. Nf5 Qd8 16. Nxd6 exf4 17. e5 f3 18. gxf3 {with a crushing position.}) 15. d5 {The immediate 15.e5 was also good.} Ng8 {Other moves were possibve, but not a one of them could be considered an improvement.} 16. e5 {A serious tactical mistake because it drops the d5-Pawn.} (16. Bc1 {This fine retreat (found by the engines) brings the B back into the game.} Qd8 17. Qd1 Bc8 18. Re3 g6 19. Ref3 e5 20. f5 Ndf6 21. Bc2 Nh7 22. Nh1 Kg7 23. Rh3 Ba6 24. Qe2 g5 {There is no forced win, but white can keep up the pressure with either 25.Rg3 or 25.Ba4}) 16... g6 { Zubarev returns the favor and so white remain unscathed.} (16... dxe5 { equalizes!} 17. fxe5 exd5 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. Bb1 Nxe5 20. Qc2 f5 21. Nxf5 Qg5 22. Ng3 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 g6 24. Bc1 {Black is a P up, but he still has to contend with a strong white attack, so practically speaking the chances are equal}) 17. Qd2 {Now things are back on track. It would not have beneficial for white to capture with either P, but he could also have played 17.Ne4 with the advantage.} (17. Ne4 dxe5 (17... exd5 18. Nxd6 dxc4 (18... Rb8 19. Nxb7 { wins outright}) 19. Bxc4 Bc6 20. Nxe8 {with a winning advantage.}) 18. fxe5 Rd8 19. Nd6 Ba6 20. Bc1 {with a clear advantage.}) 17... exd5 {This is neither better nor worse than taking with the other P because white already has what amounts to a winning position.} 18. cxd5 dxe5 (18... Bxd5 {is the alternative, but after} 19. Bb5 Bb7 20. exd6 {black is better oof than after 18...exd5}) 19. c4 Kh7 {Black is simply out of meaningful moves.} (19... f5 {is met by} 20. fxe5 Nxe5 21. Bb2 {and the game is over.}) 20. Bb2 Ngf6 21. fxe5 {[%mdl 32]} Ng4 22. e6 {This destroys black’s defenses. The move attacks the N, the f7 square and opens the long diagonal.} Qh4 {This threatens ...Qxh2# and, on 23. h3, black can take the N. Even in that caser white;s position is so good that he would still win!} (22... fxe6 {leads to disaster.} 23. Bxg6+ Kg8 24. Rxe6 Rxf1+ 25. Nxf1) 23. Rxf7+ {An outounding move that may have come as a complete surprise to Zubarev. Stockfish informs us that white now has a mate in 13 moves.} (23. h3 Qxg3 24. hxg4 Nb8 25. Qc3 f6 26. Bxg6+ Kg7 (26... Kxg6 27. Rxf6+ {mates in 3}) 27. Qxg3) 23... Rxf7 24. Bxg6+ {[%mdl 512] Of course the prosaic 24.exf7 also wins.} Kxg6 25. Qd3+ Kg5 26. Bc1+ {Black resigned.} (26. Bc1+ Kf6 27. Qf5+ Kg7 28. Qxf7+ Kh8 29. Qxe8+ Kh7 30. Qxd7+ Kh8 31. Bb2+ Nf6 32. Qe7 Qd4+ 33. Bxd4 cxd4 34. Qxf6+ Kg8 35. Nf5 Bc6 36. Qg7#) 1-0

Sal Matera Wins 1967 US Junior Championship

 

     Sal Matera (born February 5, 1951) was awarded the IM title in 1976. In 1967, as a sixteen-year-old Junior at Brooklyn Preparatory School, at the US Junior Championship je tool the lead at the half way point nd clinched the title in the semi-final round. The event was played at the Henry Hudson Hotel in New York City. 

     After five rounds Matera had 4.5-0.5 points, Robert Wachtel had 3.5-1.5 and Walter Browne had 3.0-2.0. Matera couldn’t afford a loss as that would have lefty him tied with Wachtel going into the last round A draw could have meant that if he lost in the last round a tie for first with Browne was a possibility. However, Matera defeated Wachtel nd so even though he lost his last round game to Browne (given below) he still emerged as Junior Champion. 

     Walter Browne (January 10, 1949 – June 24, 2015) was an Australian-born American chess and poker player. He was warded the GM title in 1970. Browne was a six time winner of the US Chess Championship six times, a record exceeded only by Bobby Fischer and Samuel Reshevsky. 

     Browne was noted for spending a lot of time during the opening and early middlegame and so often found himself in time trouble and so mistakes popped up, but Browne played well blitzing out good moves which sometimes disconcerted his opponents. Early on his intensity and fighting spirit sometimes lead to unsportsmanlike behavior, but as he matured such conduct disappeared, but not his aggressive play! 

 

     Going into the last round, when this game was played, Browne was only a half point ahead of Wachtel, so there was no doubt that he was going to be playing for the win. The result was a sharp game which Browne handled superbly. 

     Matera annotated the game in Chess Life, but as is often the case in pre-engine days, some of his conclusions were inaccurate. Actually, Matera played a muchgbetter game than the thought! 

[Event "US Junior Champ, New York"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1967.07.16"] [Round "7"] [White "Sal Matera"] [Black "Walter Browne"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A61"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] [Source "Chess Life, Sept"] {A73: Modern Benoni} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 { The systen Browne uses here was made popular by Tal during his rise to World Champion. Later Fischer used it. It leads to a very double-edged position in which white aims for an attack in the center, usually by the advance of his e-Pawn. Black intends to use his Q-side majority to counterattack and disrupt white's pieces. A secondary goal for black is to reach an ending in which the Q-side P-majority can be exploited. In the meantime, black intends to use the half-open e-file to hold back the advance of ehitr's e-Pawn and, at the same time, exert prtessure on it.} 6. Nf3 g6 7. Nd2 {Matera explained that this is an important move because it preserves this important N and it may go to c4 from where it attacks black's e-Pawn. White wants to play e4, but Matera did not want to do so at once because of 7...Bg4} (7. e4 {Now black should play either 7...a6 or 7...Bg7} Bg4 {This does not seem to be disadvantageous for white.} 8. Qa4+ Bd7 (8... Qd7 9. Bb5) (8... Nbd7 {and now} 9. Nd2 {and black has to weaken his position in order to deal with the threat of 10.h3}) 9. Qb3 { Black has lost time with the B and he is also under a great deal of pressure.}) 7... Bg7 8. e4 O-O 9. Be2 Na6 10. O-O Rb8 (10... Nc7 {is a good alternative.} 11. a4 a6 12. f3 Rb8 13. a5 Nd7 14. Nc4 Ne5 15. Nb6 Nd7 16. Nc4 Ne5 {and white's advantahge is minimal.}) 11. f3 {Matera had hoped to transpose into the game Petrosian-Schmid, Zurich 1961, but it's not possible because in that game black played 10...Re8. Matera considered 11.f3 to be a waste of time, but it's not really bad at all. That said, 11.,a4 would have been more precise though.} (11. a4 Nb4 12. Nc4 Ne8 13. Bf4 a6 14. Qd2 b6 15. e5 {with the better game. Pinter,J (2570)-Hansen,C (2560) Dortmund 1988}) 11... Nc7 12. a4 { Typical in these types of positions because it hinders ...b5.} b6 13. Nc4 { [%mdl 32]} a6 14. Bf4 Nfe8 {Black is now ready for . ..b5} 15. e5 {...and so white pushes on.} dxe5 16. Nxe5 Bb7 17. Qd2 {Matera thought that even though white has a number of possible moves here none are satisfactory. Actually, the position is quite equal here, but whereas it's hard to suggest anything better for white than shifting pieces, black has an active position. Sooner or later white is likely to find himself in a position where he must find only the best boves to avoid disaster. ..a dangerous situation to be in against a player like Browne!} (17. Nc6 {It's probably best to avoid this.} Bxc6 18. dxc6 Bd4+ 19. Kh1 Qf6 20. Nd5 Nxd5 21. Bxb8 Ne3 22. Qb3 Nxf1 23. Bxf1 Qxc6 24. Bxa6 Ng7 { Although material is equal and white has the two Bs black's position remains the more active.}) 17... Bxd5 {Matera called this move daring and recommended 17...Nd6, but Browne's judgment is correct...17...Nd6 favors whitr. Even so, here the position remains equal.} 18. Nxd5 (18. Rfd1 {Matera thought he could have seized the advantage with this, but that's not the case.} Nf6 19. Nc4 Bxc4 20. Bxc4 Qxd2 21. Rxd2 Rbc8 22. Bxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxa6 {with com[lete equality.}) 18... Qxd5 19. Qxd5 Nxd5 20. Bg3 Nec7 (20... Bxe5 21. Bxe5 Nec7 {keeps the P, but leaves white with two Bs which could make themselves felt.}) 21. Nd7 Bxb2 22. Rab1 Bd4+ 23. Kh1 Rb7 24. Nxf8 Kxf8 {Matera mistakenly asserted that black has now reached a winning position. His pieces are well coordinated and beautifully centralized and he will soon have two connected passed pawns. All very true, but the game is hardly won! In Shootouts usimng Stockfish 7 games (11-21 plies) ended in draws.} 25. Bc4 {Even at the cost of giving black the two Bs white decides to get rid of one of black's well-placed pieces and it's this move that turns out tp be the one that loses the game.} (25. Bd6+ { is correct.} Kg7 26. Rb3 Ne8 27. Bg3 Nb4 28. Rd1 a5 {and it's doubtful that either side can make any progress.}) 25... Ne3 $19 26. Rfc1 Nxc4 27. Rxc4 Ne6 28. h4 {This doesn't accomplish anything; his only hope was to try and get his K over to the Q-side, but there is no way to accomplish that.} (28. Rc2 Ke7 29. Bf2 Kd6 30. Bxd4 Nxd4 31. Rd2 b5 32. axb5 axb5 33. Kg1 Kd5 34. Kf2 b4 35. Ke3 { Almost there...but not quite!} Kc4 36. Rc1+ Kb5 37. Rd3 Re7+ 38. Kd2 Re2+ { with an easy win.}) 28... Ke7 {Centralizing.} 29. h5 Kd7 30. hxg6 hxg6 31. Be1 Kc6 32. Rc2 b5 33. axb5+ axb5 {[%mdl 32]} 34. Ra2 b4 35. Ra8 {This maneuver is meaningless as Black has no weaknesses.} b3 {Brown conducts the final phase pre- cisely.} 36. g3 c4 {[%mdl 32]} 37. Rc8+ Kd5 38. Kg2 b2 39. Kf1 Ra7 40. Rb8 c3 {White resigned. A great demonstration by Browne.} 0-1

Vienna 1950/51

     The Korean War started in 1950 when North Korean Communist invade South Korea and on June 27th the United States got involved; it ended in 1953. I have memories that in either 1952 or 1953 sitting in my parents’ living room with my sister and her boy friend (a fellow named Howard) who was wearing his Army uniform. He had been wounded in Korea and was home on leave. 

     On November 1, 1950, there was an assassination attempt on President Truman by Puerto Rican nationalists. The day before the attempt, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola boarded a train to Washington from the Bronx in New York. They carried with them two pistols and had the goal of bringing national attention to the cause of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party. 

     There was a shootout and White House policeman Leslie Coffelt became the first and only member of the Secret Service to die protecting the President from an assassination attempt. Griselio Torresola (July 19, 1925 – November 1, 1950) was, in turn, killed by a returned shot from Coffelt. 

     Oscar Collazo (January 20, 1914 – February 21, 1994) was convicted and sentenced to death, but Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. In 1979 Collazo's sentence was commuted to time served by President Jimmy Carter. He was paroled and he return to Puerto Rico where he continued to participate in activities related to the independence movement. On February 21, 1994, he died of a stroke in Vega Baja, having passed his 80th birthday by just over a month.

     Today you step into an elevator and push a button for the floor you want and that’s it. But it wasn’t always that way. In 1950, the first self-service elevator was installed in Dallas, Texas by Otis Elevator. 

     Before that there used to be elevator operators. A good elevator operator had to have skills. Early elevators were usually controlled by a lever and the operator had to start and stop it, regulate its speed which required a good sense of timing because he had to stop it so the car was lined up the with the floor. They operator also had to open and close the doors manually. They were also trained in safety and in large department stores they served as greeters, announced product available on each floor and occasionally mentioning special offers. 

     In the chess world the year started off with Laszlo Szabo of Hungary winning at the Hastings 1949/50 tournament. Larry Evans, age 17, finished 4th. 

     In early January, Liudmila Rudenko (1904-1986) won the 2nd Women's World Championship, held in Moscow. 

     David Bronstein and Isaac Boleslavsky won the first candidates tournament, held in Budapest. Bronstein won the playoff, 7.5-6.5. Reshevsky was unable to play because the State Department would not allow US citizens to travel to Hungary. 

     FIDE met in Copenhagen and awarded the first Grandmaster title to 27 players, 94 International Master titles and 17 International Women Master titles. The first USCF rating list was published; there were 2,306 rated players, Fine was top rated at 2817 and Reshevsky was 2ndat 2770. 

     James B. Cross won the US Junior championship and Arthur Bisguier won the 1950 US Open. 

     The Yugoslav team (Gligoric, Pirc, Trifunovic, Rabar, Vidmar, Jr. and Puc) won the Dubrovnik Olympiad. The US team (Reshevsky, Steiner, Horowitz, Shainswit, Kramer and Evans) took 4th. Miguel Najdorf won the Amsterdam international. Samuel Reshevsky was 2nd. Paul Keres won the USSR Championship.

     I used to own a duplicate of the Dubrovnik chess set, but it was destroyed when our house flooded this past summer. It's shown here with my chess table and vintage Russian chess clock, both of which survived.

 

     Boris Velinsky (1888-1950) the 1920 USSR champion died in Moscow. In the US , Maurice Wertheim (1886-1950) died in Cos Cob, Connecticut at the age of 64. He was former president of Manhattan Chess Club and chess patron. 

     Lost in all that was a small international tournament in Vienna that was played at the end of the year and finished in 1951. It was won by Alfred Beni (1923-1995), an Austrian International Master. 

 

     The following game from that little known event was played by the little known Karl Kopetzky (1909-1985) of Austria and Bora Tot (1907-1987) of Yugoslavia.

 

[Event "Vienna 1950/51"] [Site "Vienna"] [Date "1950.12.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Karl Kopetzky"] [Black "Bora Tot"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B08"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1950.12.26"] {B08: Pirc Defence: Classical System} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 {According to Garry Kasparov, the Pirc Defense is "hardly worth using in the tournaments of the highest category" because it gives white "too many opportunities for anybody's liking." Black will have counterplay but has to be cautious about playing too passively.} 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 {The main line is 4.f4. In this line qhite contents himself wityh the classical P center (Ps on d4 and e4).} Bg7 5. h3 { The main line is 5.Be2, but white has been quite successful with this move.} O-O 6. Be3 Nbd7 7. Qd2 c5 8. O-O-O (8. d5 a6 9. a4 Qa5 10. Ra2 Nh5 11. g4 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Qxc3+ 13. bxc3 Ng7 14. Nh4 {White's position is the more active. Tsuboi,E (2344) -Rodriguez,A (2485) Sao Paulo 2004}) (8. Be2 cxd4 9. Nxd4 Nc5 10. Bf3 Bd7 11. O-O {is equal. Gerasimenyk,M (2211)-Kubanov,N Evpatoria 2006}) 8... Qa5 {Well played...it gives black active play on the Q-side since white's castling there could prove somewhat risky.} 9. Kb1 (9. Bc4 {didn't work out too well for white in Jelson,Y-Le Hoang Tran,C Thailand 2005. Black should now continue} Nb6 10. Qe2 Nxc4 11. Qxc4 b5 12. Qxb5 Qxb5 13. Nxb5 Nxe4 {with a good game.}) 9... b6 {But this move is far too passive. The aggressive followup to black's last move was 9...b5!} (9... b5 10. Nxb5 Qb6 11. Nc3 Bb7 12. e5 {Whte must continue aggressively to have any hpe of success.} (12. Bd3 Rab8 13. b3 Qb4 {with sufficient play for the P/}) 12... dxe5 (12... cxd4 13. Bxd4 Qc7 14. exf6) 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Rfd8 15. Qe1 Nd5 {Black has good play, but the chances are about equal if white defends carefully.}) 10. Bh6 { While it's true that this eliminates black's B it really does not accomplish much. Aginn, 10.e5 is better.} (10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Qxe5 12. f4 Qc5 (12... Qa5 13. Nc6 Qh5 14. Be2 Qh4 15. Nxe7+ Kh8 16. Bf2 Qh6 17. g4 {with a winning attack.}) 13. Ne6 {wuth a excellent position.}) (10. e5 dxe5 11. dxe5 Ne8 12. Bh6 Nxe5 13. Nxe5 Bxe5 14. Qd5 Bxc3 15. bxc3 Qxc3 16. Qxa8 {with a decisive advantage.}) 10... cxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb7 {This logical followup to his last move misses a tactical shot that maintains the balance. Now white gets the better of it.} (11... Nxe4 12. Nxe4 Qxd2 13. Bxd2 (13. Rxd2 Bxh6 {wins}) 13... Bxd4 14. Bg5 Bg7 15. f3 {with equal chances.} (15. Bxe7 Re8 16. Bxd6 Rxe4 {and wins} )) 12. Bxg7 $16 Kxg7 13. Nb3 {[%mdl 2048]} Qh5 {After this it's clear black's Q-side operations have come to a halt. Of course on h5 the Q is subject to harassment.} (13... Qe5 {This is the only other available position for the Q, but after} 14. f4 Qh5 15. g4 {his position is even worse.}) 14. g4 Qh4 15. Bg2 Nc5 16. f4 Nxb3 {The decision not to take the e-Pawn was the correct one.} ( 16... Nfxe4 17. Nxe4 Bxe4 18. Bxe4 Nxe4 19. Qd4+ Nf6 20. g5 {wins the pinned N. }) (16... Bxe4 $2 {just transposes.} 17. Bxe4 Ncxe4 18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. Qd4+ Nf6 20. g5) (16... Rad8 $142) 17. axb3 Rad8 18. Qe3 Kg8 19. Bf3 h6 20. Rhg1 Nd7 { Obviously it would prove too dangerous to take the h-Pawn, but his best chance was countering in the center with 20...e5} (20... e5 21. f5 gxf5 22. g5 { This excellent move rips open the K-side.} hxg5 23. Qxg5+ Qxg5 24. Rxg5+ Kh7 25. Rxf5 Ng8 26. Rh5+ Nh6 27. Nb5 {A not so obvious ,ove it would have been difficult to OTB!} d5 (27... a6 28. Nxd6 Bc8 {Otherwise Nf5} 29. Rxe5 Be6 30. Rh5 Rd7 31. e5 {and white is winning.}) 28. exd5 f5 29. c4 e4 {and black can at least put up a fight.}) 21. g5 {The threat is 22.Rg4} h5 22. Ne2 {[%mdl 32]} Rfe8 (22... Qxh3 $2 23. Rh1 Qe6 24. Nd4 {traps the Q}) 23. Bh1 Ba6 {Black should still try ...e5} 24. c4 {Preserving jis N} Bb7 25. Rd4 {Instead of this move which allows black to equalize, white should have pressed on with his attack.} (25. f5 e5 26. fxg6 fxg6 27. Rxd6 {White is clearly better.}) 25... e5 {Suddenbly black has equalized!} 26. Rxd6 exf4 {This only improves the position of white's pieces.} (26... Nc5 27. fxe5 Bxe4+ 28. Bxe4 Qxe4+ 29. Qxe4 Nxe4 30. Rxd8 Rxd8 {The mass exchanges have made black's defense much easier and here the chances would be equal.}) 27. Nxf4 Nc5 28. Rxd8 Rxd8 29. Nd5 Bc8 { This attack on the h-Pawn is not dangerous, but his position has already badly deteriorated to the point that it's hard to suggest any improvements.} 30. Rd1 Ne6 (30... Qxh3 {leads to mate.} 31. Nf6+ Kg7 32. Rxd8 Qf1+ 33. Ka2 Qxf6 34. gxf6+ Kxf6 35. Qf4+ Bf5 36. exf5 Nd3 37. Rxd3 Kg7 38. fxg6 f6 39. Rd7+ Kxg6 40. Be4+ f5 41. Qxf5+ Kh6 42. Qg6#) 31. Ne7+ {Black resigned; white picks up the R. } 1-0

Who Played Black?

     By April 1945, Americans were exhausted, scared and overwhelmed with the month’s headlines. Even though the war in Europe looked to be drawing to an end things looked bleak: Japan was still fighting, economic disaster was predicted, there was a rising death toll plus flu and polio were on the up rise with no end in sight.

     It was the closing stages of World War II and headlines reported the unexpected death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the killing of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and the suicide of Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler. Also in April, on the 18th, beloved columnist Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese machine gun fire.

     Would the American and British armies win the race to Berlin and occupy the enemy capital before the Red Army? Could the Marines take Okinawa and provide a jumping-off point for invading Japan? 

     People wondered how many lives would be lost in the invasion of Japan? In late July 1945, the War Department provided an estimate that there would be between 1.7 to 4 million US casualties, including 400,000 - 800,000 US deaths and 5-10 million Japanese. 

     Other question included how many people had died in the Nazi concentration camps that were being liberated? When would the national rationing program end? There were shortages of everything: paper, ink, gasoline for delivery trucks, photographic film just to name a few. 

     The end of the war appeared tantalizingly close and chess provided a respoter. For West Virginia players there was some good news. The April 10, 1945, issue of the West Virginia Chess Bulletin reported that one of the state’s best players, Reid Holt of Charleston who in the previous issue had been reported as missing in action, had been discovered to be alive and well in Germany. 

     On April 17, 1945, the promising young German player Klaus Junge (1924-1945) was killed in action at the age of 21. Junge, like his father, was a staunch Nazi. On April 17, Lieutenant Junge refused an offer by British troops to surrender and as a result he and those under his command were killed in the Battle of Welle. On their way to capture Harburg, the British 7th Division captured Welle and Tostedt on April 18th. It was one of the last battles of the War. 

     Among the chess action in the Unites States, in Peoria, Illinois, on April 29th there was an 8-board team match played between Illinois and Missouri. As a prelude to the match, Chicago's Samuel Factor gave a simultaneous exhibition, scoring 15 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. 

     The player conducting the white pieces in the following game was Albert Sandrin (1923-2004). As a child his vision was damaged after he stared at the sun. His vision deteriorated and by 1968 he was totally blind.. Despite being blind, Sandrin was still a strong master. He won the 1949 US Open held in Omaha, Nebraska, scoring an undefeated 10-2 in a strong field that included Larry Evans, Arthur Bisguier and Anthony Santasiere. After going blind he lived with his brother Angelo, also a strong master. 

     Exactly who his opponent was is not clear. According to the May 1945 edition of Chess Review the game was played on “April 29th” and Sandrin’s opponent was Lewis W. Haller. How a game played on April 29, 1945, made it into the May, 1945 issue of the magazine is unclear. 

     There was a strong St. Louis player named Lewis T. Haller. His brief biography at chessgames.com gives his date of birth as 1855 and his date of death as March 8, 1936. He is reported to have operated the demonstration board for the games that were played in St Louis as part of the Steinitz-Zukertort World Championship Match in 1886. His brother was William Haller (1856-1920), also a string St, Louis player. 

     But, who was Lewis W. Haller whom Sandrin played? This Haller must have been a pretty strong amateur also because he was playing on board 3. 

     I discovered a Lewis W. Haller, age 46, in the 1940 census. He lived St. Louis and was listed as Head of Household which consisted of his wife Alma (age 48), daughter June (age 24) and son Lewis, Junior (age 18). If I had to guess, my guess is that it was the senior Haller who played black. 

[Event "Inter-State Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1945.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Albert Sandrin (Illinois)"] [Black "Lewis W. Haller (Missouri)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1945.??.??"] {C68: Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 { This gives black the B pair, but it also weakens his P-structure. White hopes to reach an endgame with a superior P-structure, which may become an important factor. As a result, black must strive for an active position and generally avoid piece exchanges. The variation was dormant for many years until Bobby Fischer began playing it.} dxc6 {Black may recapture with either P, but this move is almost always played.} 5. O-O {This, the most popular move, is sometimes called the Barendregt Variation, a name proposed by Robert Byrne in a 1966 article for Chess Life. Dutch master Johan Barendregt played it in the early 1960s and made considerable contributions to its theory.} Bg4 {In Fischer's day 5...f6 was very popular. However, this move is the most aggressive.} 6. h3 {After this black can play either 6...Bh5 or 6...Bxf3, but the most modern and active variation is 6...h5.} Bxf3 (6... h5 {White can't take the B.} 7. hxg4 hxg4 8. d3 (8. Ne1 Qh4 9. f4 g3 {mates}) 8... gxf3 9. Qxf3 Qh4 10. Qh3 Qxh3 11. gxh3 Rxh3 {and black is better.}) 7. Qxf3 Nf6 8. d3 h6 9. Nc3 (9. Qg3 Qd6 10. Nd2 Qe6 11. Nc4 Bd6 12. Qxg7 O-O-O 13. Nxd6+ cxd6 14. Qg3 { White is clearly better. Balogh,C (2567)-Massoni,M (2013) Bastia FRA 2005}) (9. Na3 Bxa3 10. bxa3 Qe7 11. Rb1 b6 12. Bb2 O-O 13. Qg3 {is equal. Antal,T (2175) -Grigoryan,M (2099) Kecskemet HUN 2010}) 9... Bd6 (9... Qd7 10. Qg3 Qe6 11. Be3 O-O-O 12. Rfd1 {Black has the more active position. Ryberg,D-Reppen,E (1922) Copenhagen 2007}) 10. Be3 c5 11. Ne2 Qe7 12. Ng3 g6 {This prevents Nf5} 13. Qe2 O-O-O 14. Qd2 g5 {Having prevented white's N from landing on f5 on move 12, black now inexplicably allows it and in and as a result white's position is greatly improved. 14...h5 would have forced white to find another post for his N and kept the position even.} 15. Nf5 Qd7 16. Qc3 b6 {Black's Pformation on the Q-side is not as solid as it looks as white soon demonstrates...the position is full of holes.} 17. a3 a5 (17... Qe6 {might work better because it allows him to add the N to the defense of his K.} 18. b4 Nd7 {with a position that might prove difficult to crack even though positionally white stands considerably better.}) 18. f3 {An unnecessary precaution. 18.Rfb1 was more direct.} Nh5 19. Qc4 {The light squares around black's K are horribly weak.} Kb7 {Prevents Qa6+.} (19... Nf4 {allows white to invade as follows...} 20. Qa6+ Kb8 21. Nxd6 Qxd6 22. b4 Ne2+ 23. Kh2 Nd4 24. Rfb1 Qc6 25. bxa5 Qa8 26. Qxa8+ Kxa8 27. Bxd4 Rxd4 28. axb6 {with a won ending.}) (19... Nf4 20. b4 {is also very good.} b5 21. Nxd6+ cxd6 22. Qa2 Qe6 23. bxc5 Qxa2 24. Rxa2 dxc5 25. Rb2 Ne6 26. Rxb5 {Here, too, white's endgame advantage is decisive.}) 20. b4 { [%mdl 2048] White is on the roll.} cxb4 21. Nxd6+ {But with this move he allows black back in the game.} (21. Rfb1 Qe6 22. Nxd6+ Rxd6 23. axb4 Qxc4 24. dxc4 axb4 25. c5 Rc6 26. Rxb4 {and white is better, but the win, if it's there, is a long way off. In Shootouts in some long (70+ moves) white scored +2 -0 =3. }) 21... Qxd6 22. axb4 Qxb4 {[%mdl 8192] Black's desire to trade Qs and reduce white's attacking possibilities is understandable, but unfortunately for him white now has a won position.} (22... axb4 {allows black to defend himself.} 23. Rfb1 Ra8 24. Rxa8 Rxa8 25. Rxb4 Nf4 {with a solid position.}) (22... axb4 23. Qa6+ Kc6 {Black's K is quite safe here and surprisingly there is no way for white to make any progress. so he may as well repeat moves with 23.Qa4+ and take the draw.}) 23. Qxf7 {The invasion by white's Q proves decisive.} (23. Qxb4 {actually leaves black with the better game after} axb4 24. Rfb1 c5 25. c3 Rxd3 26. cxb4 Rxe3 27. bxc5 Kc6 28. cxb6 Rb8 29. b7 Rxb7) 23... Nf4 24. Rab1 Rhf8 25. Qg7 Ne6 (25... Ne2+ $2 26. Kf2 Rg8 27. Qxh6 Rh8 28. Qxh8 Rxh8 29. Rxb4 axb4 30. Kxe2) (25... Rg8 {puts up a much tougher fight. Here is analysis by Stockfish...} 26. Qh7 Rh8 27. Qg7 Rhg8 28. Qxe5 Qa4 29. Rf2 Rge8 30. Qb2 Rd6 31. Kh2 Qc6 32. Rd2 Rd7 33. Bxf4 gxf4 34. c4 Red8 35. d4 Qxc4 36. d5 Qb4 37. Qxb4 axb4 38. Rxb4 Re7 39. Rdb2 Rd6 40. g3 fxg3+ 41. Kxg3 Rg6+ 42. Kf2 Rf7 43. h4 h5 44. R2b3 Rg4 45. e5 Kc8 46. e6 Rf5 47. Rxg4 hxg4 48. f4 Rxf4+ 49. Kg3 Rd4 50. Re3 Kd8 51. Re5 Ke7 52. h5 b5 53. h6 Ra4 54. Rf5 Ra8 55. Rf7+ Kd6 56. Rd7+ Ke5 57. e7 {wins}) 26. Qxe5 Qd6 27. Qxa5 {White has a decisive advantage and the rest of the game presents no special problems.} Ra8 28. Qd5+ Qxd5 29. exd5 Nf4 30. d6 {A nice move undermining the Ks position.} Ra6 31. dxc7 Kxc7 32. Ra1 Rxa1 33. Rxa1 {[%mdl 4096]} Nd5 34. Kf2 Re8 35. Bd2 Re6 36. c4 Nf4 37. Bxf4+ gxf4 38. Re1 Rxe1 (38... Rd6 {was equally hopeless.} 39. Re4 Rxd3 40. Rxf4 Kd6 41. Re4 {cutting the K off} Rc3 42. g4 Kc5 43. h4 Rxc4 44. Rxc4+ Kxc4 45. g5) 39. Kxe1 h5 40. d4 Kd6 41. h4 {Black resigned} 1-0

A Mieses Classic

     Back in the good old days it seems sacrifices were played instinctively and the “combinations” as tactics were called then were, if mot sound, always exciting and sensational. 

     In the case of the double Rook sacrifice the principle underlying the sacrifice is simple and fairly well known. It happens when the victim’s King is exposed and he removes his Queen from the action by grabbing both Rooks that are sitting on the 1st or 8th rank. 

     This Craddock—Mieses game is a good example. Craddicj grabs both Rooks which puts his Queen is out of the game on h8. Mieses’ Queen on the other hand is poised to end the game quickly. 

     James M. Craddock 1913-2001) was the under-18 British Champion in 1929, 1930 and 1931 and played top board for Cambridge in his college days. He played for the National Liberal Chess Circle. 

     Jacques Mieses (1865-1954) was born in Leipzig. He won the chess championship of Berlin at the age of 17 and was a professional player. In 1938 Mieses settled in England and became a British citizen. He was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1950. 

[Event "Club game, London"] [Site ""] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "James Craddock"] [Black "Jacques Mieses"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A25"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "28"] [EventDate "1939.??.??"] {[%evp 9,28,-26,39,30,81,6,48,40,50,-4,-19,-290,-297,-612,-618,-29994,-29995, -29997,-29998,-29998,-29999] A25: English Opening} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bb4 5. e3 {At this point white has played just about every reasonable move you can think of, but the most popular by far is 5.Nf3} d6 6. Nge2 Bg4 {This is not particularly effective. Simply 6...O-O was more precie.} 7. Qb3 {This gets out of the pin and threatens 8...Bxc6+} (7. h3 {is better.} Be6 8. Nd5 Ba5 9. a3 Bb6 10. Nec3 O-O 11. b4 {with a favorable game.}) 7... Rb8 {Or 7...O-O} 8. Nd5 Bc5 {Now the reason for black's odd looking last move is clear.} 9. Nxf6+ {He could still have played 9.h3. The text is not really bad, but as it turns out white is barking up the wrong tree.} Qxf6 {This move contains a trap which Craddock fails to fathom.} (9... gxf6 {This may have been what white was anticipating and it gives him a good game after} 10. h3 Be6 11. O-O {and he can hope to take advantage of black's compromised K-side.}) 10. Bxc6+ {[%mdl 8192] After this white falls victim to a quick attack.} (10. Nc3 O-O 11. Nd5 Qg6 12. O-O {is completely equal.} (12. Nxc7 {would land white in difficulties after} Bf5 13. O-O (13. a3 Bc2 14. Qa2 Qd3 15. Nb5 Nd4 16. exd4 exd4 {with mate in 5} 17. f4 Rbe8+ 18. Be4 Qxe4+ 19. Kf2 Qe2+ 20. Kg1 d3+ 21. Nd4 Bxd4#) 13... Bc2 14. Qb5 (14. Qc3 Bb4 {The Q is trapped.}) 14... a6 15. Nxa6 Na7 16. Qa5 bxa6 17. Qxa6 Bd3 18. Re1 e4) 12... Be2 13. Re1 Bd3 {White's position is cramped, but free of organic weaknesses.}) 10... bxc6 11. Qxb8+ { Falling victim to the classic double R sacrifice. He could have held out longer by retreating the Q to d1, but hjis position would be pretty ugly.} (11. Qd1 O-O 12. a3 d5 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 (14. O-O Bh3 15. Nc3 (15. Re1 Qf3 16. Nf4 Qxd1 17. Rxd1 exf4) 15... Bxf1) 14... Bf3 15. Rg1 dxc4 16. Qc2 c5) 11... Kd7 12. Qxh8 {With the Q out of play black has a mate in 6} (12. Qb3 {This attempt to weasel out of difficulty also results in a complete rout.} Qf3 13. Qd3 Qxh1+ 14. Ng1 Qxg1+ 15. Qf1 Qxh2) 12... Qf3 13. Kd1 (13. Kf1 Qxe2+ 14. Kg2 Qf3+ 15. Kg1 Bh3 16. Qd8+ Kxd8 {mate next move.}) 13... Qxe2+ 14. Kc2 Qxc4+ {White resigned. A real debacle.} (14... Qxc4+ 15. Kb1 Qd3#) 0-1

An Entertaining Bobby Fischer Game

 

     During his heyday Bobby Fischer was generally acknowledged as the greatest player of all time. His play was brilliant, creative, daring, etc., etc. and few players could beat him. 

     In the Candidates’ matches leading up his defeating Boris Spasskyy by a score of 12.5-8.5 in the 1972 World Championship match, Fischer annihilated Mark Taimanov and Bent Larsen with a perfect 6-0 score. Former World Champion Tigran Petrosian did a little better...Fisch crushed him with a 6.5-2.5 score. 

     In 1975, Fischer abdicated his throne to Anatoly Karpov. The prior year FIDE voted in favor of Fischer's 10-win proposal for World Championship matches, but rejected the 9–9 clause as well as the possibility of an unlimited match. In response, Fischer refused to defend his title. 

     This is just my opinion, but I think Fischer was afraid to face Karpov. I think that because during the 1984 Karpov-Kasparov match for the World Championship, in two interviews with a Philippine radio station, Fischer voiced the opinion that the games were prearranged with the aid of computers. To me this indicates that Fischer understood neither computers nor the games. 

     The chess programs of that era could not compete with Masters. In a match that took place in February of 1996, the monster computer Deep Blue became the first chess program to win a game against a world champion under regular time controls. Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, beating Deep Blue by 4–2 in the match. 

     At the time of the K-K match in 1984, the SciSys Explorer table top chess program was being sold for under $80 (under $250 today) and it was promised to play at a 1550 level at 40 moves in 2 hours or your money would be refunded.

     SARGON was introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Fair where it won the first computer chess tournament held strictly for microcomputers, with a score of 5–0. Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik played a game against Sargon in 1983 at Hamburg; he won in 37 moves. 

     Correspondence GM Robin Smith published his Modern Chess Analysis in 2004 and at that time chess engines could still be beaten by Masters. 

     The point is, Fischer’s claim that the K-K match games, whether prearranges or not, most certainly did not involve any help from computers as Fischer claimed.

     In the first New York State Open held in Poughkeepsie over the Labor Day weekend inj 1963, Bnobby Fischer made a clean sweep. Arthur Bisguier, James Sherwin, Joseph Richman and Matthew Green finished behind Fischer in the 58-player field with 5.5-1.5 scores. 

     Here’s the Fischer-Bisguiser encounter. Fischer’s 26th move was praised as a beautiful winning move, but anybody (say, for instance, me) with a strong chess engine can see it was a lemon. 

 

[Event "New York State Open, Poughkeepsie"] [Site "Poughkeepsie, NY USA"] [Date "1963.09.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Fischer"] [Black "Arthur Bisguier"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C59"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "1963.??.??"] {C59: Two Knights Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6 {All standard moves so far. Where should the N go? Most often it retreats to f3.} 9. Nh3 {This is an odd looking move that dates all the way back to Steinitz and it's odd that it's not a bad one!} Bc5 ( 9... Bxh3 {This gives white the two Bs and the semi-open g-file which he can, hopefully, use to generate a K-side attack. Therefore, black usually refrains from taking it, but he need not do so.} 10. gxh3 Qd4 (10... Bc5 {is better.} 11. O-O (11. Rg1 {turns out to be a mistake.} Ne4 12. Bf3 Bxf2+ {is winning for black.}) 11... O-O 12. Nc3 Nb7 13. Bf3 Nd6 {White should now play 14.d3 with equal chances; taking the offered P gives black the initiative.} 14. Bxc6 Rc8 15. Bg2 Nf5 16. d3 Nh4 {with an active position.}) 11. O-O Bd6 12. d3 Rd8 13. c3 Qh4 {Taborov,B (2450)-Shianovsky,V (2295) Kiev 2003. The chances are balanced.}) 10. O-O O-O 11. d3 Bxh3 {The temptation is too much; Bisguier was never afraid of complications. The safe positional option was repositioning the N with ...Nb7-d6} (11... Nd5 12. c4 Bxh3 13. cxd5 Bf5 14. Be3 Qxd5 { This interesting position occurred in Socko,M (2462)-Batsiashvili,N (2417) Plovdiv BUL 2014. Does black have sufficient compensation for the P? Practically speaking he probably does.}) 12. gxh3 Qd7 {Now, should white give back the extra P?} 13. Bf3 {A good diagonal for the B and certainly more active than defending the P.} (13. Kg2 Nd5 14. Nc3 Rad8 15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. f4 f6 17. c3 Nc6 18. Qa4 {Socko,B (2643)-Pavasovic,D (2590) Austria 2009. White has an active position, but black's is quite solid.}) (13. Bg4 {is possible. After} Nxg4 14. hxg4 {He could also take with the Q.} f5 {Black has active play, but the position is technically even.}) 13... Qxh3 14. Nd2 Rad8 15. Bg2 Qf5 { Safer would have been 15...Qe6} 16. Qe1 (16. Qf3 {was an interesting alternative because after} Qxf3 17. Bxf3 {black is tied to the defense of his c-Pawn and white seizes the initiative.} Nd5 18. Rb1 Bd4 19. b4 Nb7 20. c4 Nc3 21. Rb3 Nxa2 22. Bb2 Bxb2 23. Rxb2 Nc3 24. Bxc6 {with a promising position.}) 16... Rfe8 {For his part white has some hope of generating an attack using his light squared B and the g-file, but for the moment his Q is uncomfortably positioned opposite black's R.} 17. Ne4 {This attacks the N on a5 and enables him to eliminate black's N on f6 lest it head for f4 via d5.} Bb6 (17... Nxe4 { loses a piece.} 18. dxe4 Qg4 19. Qxa5) 18. Nxf6+ Qxf6 19. Kh1 c5 {Black could recentralize his N with ...Nb7-d6, but instead Bisguier prefers to centralize it on the more active square d4. Actually, not a bad decision at all. The down side is that it blocks his B. Hiwever, the B may at some point get back into the game by relocating to c7 from where it attacks h2.} 20. Qc3 (20. Qe4 { is more active.} Rd4 21. Qf3 Qxf3 22. Bxf3 {with equal chances.}) 20... Nc6 21. f4 Nd4 {Bisguier has achieved an active position and has every reason to be satisfied with his game. His Rs are centralized and the threat is ...Ne2} 22. Qc4 Qg6 23. c3 {The N is just too well placed on d4 and so it has to go.} Nf5 { 23...Nc2 leads to tactical play that should favor black, but it would require precise play... something that would be very difficult to do OTB.} 24. fxe5 { Even though this opens up the e0file and allows black's R to reach the second rabk, it's a tremendous move by Fischer.} (24. Re1 {looks tempting, but after} Qh5 25. fxe5 Ng3+ 26. Kg1 Ne2+ {white comes under a crushing attack.} 27. Kh1 +++++Rxe5 28. Bf4 Nxf4 29. Qxf4 Bc7 30. Rxe5 Bxe5 31. Bf3 Qh3 32. Bg4 Bxf4 33. Bxh3 Rxd3 {and even with Bs of opposite colors black wins the ending. They were lengthy games, but black scored 5 out of 5 in Shootouts.}) 24... Rxe5 25. Bf4 Re2 {Things look grim for Fischer...Bisguier has a R on the 2nd rank and his Q and N look menacing.} 26. Be4 {This position is extremely critical...for both sides! The move Fischer played was praised as being innovative and as one that saves the game. Not true! It is, in fact, inferior to the correct 26.Bf3, but unfortunately for Bisguier he failed to find the right move and loses quickly.} (26. Bf3 {This is the correct move. Now after} Rxb2 27. Rae1 Qf6 {and only now} 28. Be5 Qe6 29. Qg4 g6 {Oddly enough there is no effective discovered attack on black's Q, so...} 30. c4 Rxa2 31. Bc3 Qd6 {and white should be content to repeat moves after 32.B35 because if, say...} 32. Bg2 Qxd3 33. Bf6 Rf8 34. Bd5 Kh7 35. Be4 Qd6 36. Qf4 Qxf6 37. Bxf5 Qxf5 38. Qxf5 gxf5 39. Rxf5 {Black is winning.}) 26... Rxb2 {[%mdl 8192] This move is quite natural, but it loses immediately.} (26... Re8 {This prevents the B from going to e5 and so now life is bright for black.} 27. Bf3 Ne3 28. Bxe3 R8xe3 29. Rg1 (29. Qg4 Qxg4 30. Bxg4 Rxb2 {with a won ending.}) 29... Rxh2+ 30. Kxh2 Bc7+ 31. Kh1 Qd6 32. Rg2 Rxf3 { A difficult position. Black only has B+P against a R, but his position is preferable, but in Shootouts white scores +0 -3 =2, so his position is not without some resources.}) 27. Be5 {White is clearly winning. The N and f7 are under attack,and there is nothing black can do.} Re8 (27... Qe6 {fails...} 28. Rxf5 Qxc4 29. dxc4 Rdd2 30. Bd5 Rf2 31. Rxf7 Rxf7 32. Rf1 Re2 33. Rxf7 Rxe5 34. Re7+) 28. Rxf5 (28. Bxf5 Qg2#) 28... Rxe5 29. Rxe5 {Black resigned.} (29. Rxe5 Rxh2+ (29... Qd6 30. Re8+ Qf8 31. Rxf8+ {wins}) 30. Kxh2 Qd6 31. d4 Bc7 32. Kg1 {White wins...for example} Qd7 33. Qd5 Qg4+ 34. Kf2 g6 35. Re8+ Kg7 36. Rg1 Qh4+ 37. Ke2 {WHite mates in 12.} Bg3 38. dxc5 Qg4+ 39. Kd3 h5 40. Rf1 Bf2 41. Qe5+ f6 42. Re7+ Kh6 43. Qxf6 Qg3+ 44. Kc4 Bd4 45. cxd4 Qg4 46. Bxg6 Qe6+ 47. Rxe6 h4 48. Qxh4+ Kg7 49. Qh7#) 1-0