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!
Sal Matera–Walter Browne0–1A61US Junior Champ, New York7New York, NY USA16.07.1967Stockfish 16
A73: Modern Benoni 1.c4 f6 2.c3 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.f3 g6 7.d2 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 g4 This does not seem to be disadvantageous for
white. 8.a4+ d7 8...d7 9.b5 8...bd7 and now 9.d2 and black
has to weaken his position in order to deal with the threat of 10.h3 9.b3
Black has lost time with the B and he is also under a great deal of pressure. 7...g7 8.e4 0-0 9.e2 a6 10.0-0 b8 10...c7 is a good alternative. 11.a4 a6 12.f3 b8 13.a5 d7 14.c4 e5 15.b6 d7 16.c4 e5 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 b4 12.c4 e8 13.f4 a6 14.d2 b6 15.e5 with the better
game. Pinter,J (2570)-Hansen,C (2560) Dortmund 1988 11...c7 12.a4
Typical in these types of positions because it hinders ...b5. b6 13.c4
a6 14.f4 fe8 Black is now ready for . ..b5 15.e5 ...and so
white pushes on. dxe5 16.xe5 b7 17.d2 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.c6 It's probably best to avoid this. xc6 18.dxc6 d4+ 19.h1 f6 20.d5 xd5 21.xb8 e3 22.b3 xf1 23.xf1 xc6 24.xa6 g7
Although material is equal and white has the two Bs black's position remains
the more active. 17...xd5 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.xd5 18.fd1 Matera thought he could
have seized the advantage with this, but that's not the case. f6 19.c4 xc4 20.xc4 xd2 21.xd2 bc8 22.xc7 xc7 23.xa6 with com[lete equality. 18...xd5 19.xd5 xd5 20.g3 ec7 20...xe5 21.xe5 ec7 keeps the P,
but leaves white with two Bs which could make themselves felt. 21.d7 xb2 22.ab1 d4+ 23.h1 b7 24.xf8 xf8 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.c4 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.d6+
is correct. g7 26.b3 e8 27.g3 b4 28.d1 a5 and it's doubtful that
either side can make any progress. 25...e3-+ 26.fc1 xc4 27.xc4 e6 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.c2 e7 29.f2 d6 30.xd4 xd4 31.d2 b5 32.axb5 axb5 33.g1 d5 34.f2 b4 35.e3
Almost there...but not quite! c4 36.c1+ b5 37.d3 e7+ 38.d2 e2+
with an easy win. 28...e7 Centralizing. 29.h5 d7 30.hxg6 hxg6 31.e1 c6 32.c2 b5 33.axb5+ axb5 34.a2 b4 35.a8 This maneuver is
meaningless as Black has no weaknesses. b3 Brown conducts the final phase
pre- cisely. 36.g3 c4 37.c8+ d5 38.g2 b2 39.f1 a7 40.b8 c3 White resigned. A great demonstration by Browne. 0–1
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