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