Lutes es was a bibliophile and chess openings editor. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, he contracted Osgood-Schlatter's Disease at age eight and during his long convalescence his grandfather taught him how to play chess.
The condition is one that affects the knee and causes a painful bump and swelling on the shin bone below the knee. It typically affects kids during their preadolescent growth spurt between the ages of 10 to 13 for girls and the early teens (12 to 14) for boys.
Lutes passed away in Peoria, Illinois at 1:40 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013, in the Proctor Hospital. Lutes was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He married Virginia Miller in Sandusky, Ohio on May 7, 1966. She passed away at the age of 79 at 8:58am on Saturday, March 9, 2013 in the same hospita.
He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science degree from Ohio State University and during that time he was a well known player throughout the state. During his working career Lutes was a neurological respiratory therapist.
Lutes is best known by chess players as, the way Lutes put it: a student of the Apostle of Aggression, Weaver W. Adams of East Orange, New Jersey and later Stepan A. Popel (who was originally from the Ukraine which at the time of his birth was the Austria-Hungary Empire) who eventually wound up living in Fargo, North Dakota. Lutes was known for his exploration of openings of questionable repute.
His best OTB rating was 2245 after winning the 1961 Indiana Championship and the 1966 Pennsylvania State Open Championship. Lutes also won the Indianapolis City Championship many times, the Columbus, Ohio Championship and the Springfield, Illinois Championship. He eventually gave up OTB chess due to his job requirements and only rarely returned to it.
Lutes authored nine booklets on the openings which are of the rather romantic variety and are better played OTB than in correspondence play. Lutes became known worldwide for his exhaustive research in chess and his two best known books were Compendium of the King's Gambit and Petrov Defense: Cochrane Gambit.
Today’s game is one Lutes played against Bobby Fischer during the latter’s simultaneous exhibition in Dayton, Ohio on May 18, 1964, at the Central YMCA Auditorium.
Fischer arrived 45 minutes late and the acerbic master James R, Schroeder (1927-2017 and pronounced Sch-A-der) introduced him and said that before he had previously met Fischer in Cleveland, Ohio, he had a low opinion of him, but after meeting him in person, hearing him speak before a group and seeing him in action over the boards, Schroeder change his mind. He added that we could be proud of Fischer because he was a kind man and a good representative for the US.
I considered Schroeder a friend and once helped him on one of his books, typewritten pamphlets really, by proofreading the games and he gave me a book (a real one) of Karpov's games for my efforts.
One day he approached me at a tournament and asked if I had a car and could I give him a ride to his apartment to pick up some chess books to bring back and sell. His apartment was in an older building and was sparsely furnished with a small portable black and white TV with a coat hanger antenna. Chess books were piled all over the place. On the way back we stopped for lunch at an out of the way Chinese restaurant where we were the only non-Chinese in the place, but Schroeder seemed to be pretty well known.
Back to the subject at hand...After giving a brief account of his tour the exhibition began and one of Fischer’s opponents was Wendell John Lutes who, at one point was actually winning, but misplayed it and only managing to draw.
The match was finished by 11:45pm and Fischer had won 48 games and drawn with Lutes and Ed Lense, a seminary student from Dayton.
[Event "50 board simul, Columbus, Ohio"]
[Site "Columbus, OH USA"]
[Date "1964.05.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Robert Fischer"]
[Black "Wendell J. Lutes"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B01"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "1964.??.??"]
{B01: Scandinavian Defense} 1. e4 d5 {Back in the days of yesteryear this was
called the Center Counter Defense. Ir's the oldest opening by black recorded
in modern chess. The general goal of the defense is to prevent white from
controlling the center with Pawns plus it forces an open game, while allowing
black to build a strong P-structure. Considering who his opponent was and the
fact that it was a simul, it was pronanly a good a choice as any for Lutes to
play...plus he knew the defense very well.} 2. exd5 {White normally continues
with this and now black has two main continuations: 2...Qxd5 and 2... Nf6 (the
Modern Scandinavian). The rare gambit 2...c6 (the Blackburne-Kloosterboer
Gambit) is almost never seen at the master level play. White normally
continues with this and now black has two main continuations: 2...Qxd5 and 2...
Nf6 (the Modern Scandinavian). The rare gambit 2...c6 (the
Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit) is almost never seen at the master level play.}
Qxd5 {The Modern Variation is 2...Nf6 with the idea of delaying capturing the
d5-Pawn for another move and avoiding the loss of time that black suffers in
the 2...Qxd5 lines 3.Nc3.} 3. Nc3 {Black has three main choices: 3...Qa5, 3...
Qd8 and 3... Qd6.} Qa5 {This the old, classical move and it's still the most
popular even though statistically it seems to make little difference which
move black plays.} 4. d4 (4. b4 {This odd move has been described by GM Nigel
Davies as an ancient gambit and that was been played by Lasker, Capablanca and
Keres. Of course it's not really good but its success can be attributed to the
strength og those three players and for lesser lights, good luck. This odd
move has been described by GM Nigel Davies as an ancient gambit anfd it haa
been played by Lasker, Capablanca and Keres. Of course it's not really good
but its success can be attributed to the strength og those three players and
for lesser lights, good luck.} Qxb4 5. Rb1 Qd6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. d4 c6 8. Bd3 b6 9.
O-O e6 10. Qe2 {White has sufficient play for his P. Leonhardt,P-Mieses,J
Prague 1908}) 4... c6 {It's interesting that while 4...Nf6 is far more popular
and yields much etter results for black, this move is evaluated by engines as
being nearly on a par with 4...Nf6} 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bc4 Bg4 {By far the most
popular option is 6...Bf5. With the text black intends eliminating the N so it
can't eventually land on e5 which would give white better chances of whipping
up an attack. By far the most popular option is 6...Bf5. With the text black
intends eliminating the N so it can't eventually land on e5 which would give
white better chances of whipping up an attack.} 7. h3 Bxf3 8. Qxf3 e6 {Black's
setup is reminiscent of the Caro-Kann} 9. Bd2 Qc7 10. O-O-O Nbd7 11. Kb1 (11.
Bb3 Bd6 12. g4 O-O 13. Ne2 c5 14. g5 c4 15. gxf6 cxb3 16. axb3 {Kotronias,V
(2590)-Ricardi,P (2575) Buenos Aires 1997 with equal chances.}) (11. Rhe1 O-O-O
12. Bb3 Bb4 13. Kb1 Bd6 14. g4 Nb6 15. g5 {White's position is much more
promising. Della Morte,P (2300)-Lopez Rebert, P (2093) Villa Ballester 2006})
11... O-O-O {[%mdl 32]} (11... Nb6 12. Bb3 O-O-O 13. Bg5 Be7 14. Rhe1 Rd7 15.
g4 Nfd5 {is about equal. Kholmov,R (2445)-Shvedchikov, A (2395) Moscow 1991})
12. g4 Nb6 13. Bf4 (13. Bb3 {is an interesting P offer. After} Rxd4 14. g5 Nfd5
15. Ne4 Qe5 16. Rhe1 Qf5 17. Qe2 Nf4 18. Ng3 Qxg5 19. Qe3 e5 20. Ne2 Rd7 21.
Nxf4 Qxf4 22. Qxf4 exf4 23. Bxf4 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Nd5 (24... f6 {trying to
develop his B runs into} 25. Be6+ Nd7 26. Rxd7 {[%emt 0:00:04] mates in} Bd6
27. Bxd6 a5 28. Rxg7+ Kd8 29. Rxb7 Ke8 30. Rb8#) 25. Bxd5 cxd5 26. Rxd5 {
with an equal position.}) 13... Bd6 14. Bxd6 Rxd6 15. Bb3 Rhd8 $1 16. Ne2 c5 {
Lutes has managed to completely equalize...quite an accomplishment considering
he has played a once discredited defense. Some modern GMs (Bent Larsen,
Anatoly Karpov, Curt Hansen,Ian Rogers, Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen)
have rediscovered it.} 17. c3 c4 {An aggressive player, Lutes has no interest
in trading Qs with 17...Qc6 even against Fischer.} 18. Bc2 $14 Nbd5 19. Ng3 Ra6
20. Ne2 (20. g5 {Why did Fischer noit play this?} Nd7 21. Rhe1 {Who knows? In
any case, here too white's advantage is minimal.}) 20... Rd7 21. Nc1 Qa5 22.
Ka1 {Fischer probably should have played g5 at some point...his last two
rather passive moves have allowed black to gain the inititive. Fischer
probably should have played g5 at some point...instead, his last twi rathger
passive moves have allowed black to gain the inititive.} b5 {The threat is ...
b4 ripping open the position of white's K.} 23. a3 (23. Rhe1 b4 24. cxb4 Nxb4
25. Bb1 Nfd5 {White has no productive move.} 26. Re2 Rc7 27. Rde1 Rb6 28. Qe4
Nc6 {threatening ...Nc3. Black is clearly winning.}) 23... Ne8 {This move
aining at transferring the N ro the Q-side is unfortunate because it allows
his opponent to equalize.} (23... b4 {This is a tough move to meet, especially
in a simul.} 24. cxb4 Nxb4 25. Bb1 Rb7 26. Na2 Nc6 (26... Nd3 {fails competely.
fails compketeky.} 27. Bxd3 {Here's the catch...black can't recapture.} Qb6 (
27... cxd3 28. Rc1+ Rc7 29. Nb4 Rb6 30. Rxc7+ Kxc7 31. Rc1+ Kd8 32. Qg3 {
and black position is very difficult.}) 28. Rd2 Rxa3 29. Rc1 Rxa2+ 30. Kxa2
Qa5+ 31. Kb1 Qxd2 32. Rxc4+ {with the advantage.}) 27. Qe2 Qb6 {White is under
a lot of pressure, but black can't force an immediate win.} 28. Rhg1 Na5 29.
Rg3 Nb3+ 30. Rxb3 Qxb3 31. Rc1 Kd8 32. Rxc4 Nd5 {In Shootouts black scored 5
out of 5, but they were long, arduous endings,}) {As miserable as white's
position looks there is no way for black to crack it!} 24. Na2 Nec7 {As
intended...the transfer of the N, but the whol;e plan is too slow! Black needs
to be super- aggressive. As intended...the transfer of the N, but the whol;e
plan is too slow! Black needs to be super- aggressive.} (24... b4 25. Nxb4 Nxb4
26. cxb4 Qxb4 27. Kb1 Qb7 28. Be4 Qb5 29. d5 Rb6 30. Qc3 Nf6 31. Rd4 Nxe4 32.
Rxc4+ Kd8 33. Rxe4 Qxd5 {with complete equality.}) 25. h4 {There was no reason
to avoid 25.Bxh7} (25. Bxh7 g6 {This does not accomplish anything, but it
understandable that Fischer avoided it because with no more than a glance it
looks wrong. Instead of 25... g6 black should play 25...b4!} 26. h4 b4 27. cxb4
Nxb4 28. h5 Nxa2 29. Kxa2 {White extricates his B and then enjoys a small
advantage.}) 25... b4 26. cxb4 Nxb4 27. Nxb4 Qxb4 28. Rc1 {[%mdl 8192]} (28.
Bb1 Nb5 29. Ba2 Nxa3 30. bxa3 Rxa3 31. Qe2 Rd5 32. Rd2 c3 33. Rb1 Qa4 34. Rc2 {
and there does not seem to be any way for black to breakthrough. At the same
time white can't do much except wait.}) 28... Nb5 {This should give black a
nearly decisive advantage.} 29. Qc6+ {Fischer hopes the trade of Qs lessens
his defensive burden, but it should not have. Fischer hopes the trade of Qs
lessens his defensive burdenm but it should not have.} (29. Bxh7 {This is
completely wrtong at this point} Nxa3 30. Rc3 Rb7 {...and wins. White has to
surrender his Q to avoid mate.}) 29... Rxc6 30. axb4 Rxd4 31. Kb1 c3 32. bxc3
Nxc3+ 33. Kb2 Rxb4+ {Who could resist this check? Unfortunately it throws away
the win.} (33... Ne2 34. Rcd1 Rxb4+ 35. Ka3 Rxg4 {and white has no inkling of
hope.}) 34. Bb3 Na4+ 35. Ka3 {Unlike in the previous note, black cannot grab
the g-Pawn. Instead he has to give up the exchange. Unlike in the previous
note, black cannot grab the g-Pawn. Instead he has to give up the exchange.}
Rxb3+ (35... Nc5 {is a wily trap.} 36. Bxe6+ (36. Kxb4 Nd3+ 37. Ka3 Nxc1 {
with good winning chances.}) 36... fxe6 37. Rxc5 Ra4+ 38. Kxa4 Rxc5 {White
might be able to hold the draw. In any case, black has his work cut out trying
to win the ending.}) 36. Kxb3 {[%mdl 4096]} Nc5+ 37. Ka2 {[%mdl 1024] This
unbalanced material situation is probably one of those positions in which the
stronger player would win. 5 Shootouts ended in R vs N draws.} Kc7 38. Rh3 e5
39. Rhc3 Kd6 40. Rd1+ Ke6 $1 41. Rdc1 Kd5 42. Rd1+ Ke6 {A draw was agreed upon.
A good effort by Lutes that fell just short. A draw was agreed upon. A good
effort by Lutes that fell just shor.} 1/2-1/2
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