Two Forgotten Ladies

    I am guessing most readers never heard of the two ladies who played the following game in the 1939 Women’s World Championship tournament that was held in Buenos Aires concurrent with the Olympiad. 

    Dora Trepat de Navarro (1910 - 1971, 61 years old) was women's champion of Argentina eight time (1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1959, 1960, 1964) and participated in two women’s world championship challenger tournaments (1939 and 1964). 

    She started played chess in Buenos Aires chess in the Club de Ajedrez Jaque Mate de la Capital Federal. From 1935 to 1939 and from 1954 she worked as a children’s chess instructor at the Lorenzo.

 

 

    Her opponent in this game was Salome Reischer (February 19, 1899 – January, 1980, 80 years old), an Austrian player. Reischer was born in Poland, then under Russian government. 

    Her meanderings due to wars are not entirely clear, but it seems she moved from Austria, first to Palestine and then to the USA. Apparently she returned to Austria after World War II. Awarded the Women’s IM title in 1952, she participated in was a Women's World Championship Challenger tournaments in 1937 and 1939. She was Austrian Women's Champion in 1950, 1952 and 1954. 

    In the following game Reischer had the unfortunate experience of resigning in a position where she actually had a slight advantage! It probably was not enough to win because Shootouts with Stockfish 16 resulted in white scoring +1 =0 =4. Reischer probably resigned because blacsk’s two Rooks on the second rank LOOK intimidating!

[Event "Womens Worpd Chp, Buenos Aires"] [Site "?"] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Solome Reischer"] [Black "Dora Trepat"] [Result "*"] [ECO "E61"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "1939.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.02.29"] {E61: King's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 O-O 5. h3 d6 6. Bf4 {This move is not eapecially effective. 6.e4 is a better option.} Nbd7 7. e3 Nh5 {This game was played in the early days of the K-Indoian and theory was not yet fully developed. While the text is haerdly bad, either 7...c6 or 7. ..Re8 are better.} 8. Bh2 e5 9. dxe5 (9. Be2 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nhf6 11. O-O Nc5 { Or 11...Re8} 12. Qc2 Re8 13. Bf3 a5 14. Rfd1 {is equal. Dzindzichashvili,R (2550)-Southam,T (2325) New York 1993}) 9... dxe5 {Or 9...Nxe6 which seems more appropriate.} 10. Be2 f5 11. O-O f4 (11... c6 12. Nd2 Nhf6 13. Qc2 Qe7 14. Rfd1 a5 15. Na4 Nc5 16. Nxc5 Qxc5 17. Nf3 Re8 18. Rd2 Ne4 19. Rdd1 {Draw agreed. Giardelli,S (2438)-Szmetan,J (2394) Pinamar 2001}) 12. Qd5+ Kh8 13. Rad1 Qe7 14. Qd3 (14. exf4 {is a promising alternative. After} Nxf4 15. Qe4 c6 16. Rfe1 {White has completed her development and so her position is the more promising.}) 14... c6 15. a3 a5 16. Ne4 Nc5 17. Nxc5 Qxc5 18. b4 {In view of what is to come this opening of the a-file, while by no means bad, was probably not such a good idea! Instead, white has several plausible moves: 18. exf5 followed by 18.Nd4, 18.Ng5, 18.Nd4 followed by 18.Ne4 or even 17.Qd6} axb4 $17 19. axb4 Qe7 (19... Qxb4 $17 {There was no reason at all to avoid this.} 20. Nh4 Qc5 21. Bxh5 gxh5 22. exf4 exf4 23. Rfe1 Ra3 24. Qe4 Rc3 25. Rc1 Rxc1 26. Rxc1 Bd4 {Black has a slight advantage.}) 20. Qd6 Qxd6 21. Rxd6 Ra2 22. Re1 {It would has been a little more prudent to chase away the interloper on a2 with 22.Rd2} Bf5 (22... e4 {was nore active. Then if} 23. Nd4 Be5 24. c5 Rd2 ( 24... Bxd6 25. cxd6 Rd2 26. b5 {White has almost enough compensation for the exchange.}) 25. b5 {with complications. Although black can safely take the R she can also keep the complications up with....} Ng3 26. bxc6 Nxe2+ 27. Nxe2 Bxd6 28. cxd6 fxe3 29. fxe3 bxc6 30. Be5+ Kg8 31. Nc3 Rff2 32. g4 {and black is slightly better.}) 23. b5 cxb5 24. cxb5 Rc8 25. Ng5 {This should have lost, but black misses the refutation.} (25. Rd2 {results in a completely even position after} Rxd2 26. Nxd2 Bf8 27. Nf1 Rc2 28. g4 fxg3 29. Nxg3 Nxg3 30. Bxg3 e4 31. Bg4) 25... Bf6 {Not really ad because even after this black has the advantage, but she has missed the winning move.} (25... Rxe2 26. Red1 { The threat is 27.Rd8+} (26. Rxe2 Rc1+ 27. Rd1 Rxd1+ 28. Re1 Rxe1#) 26... Bf8 27. Rd8 Rxd8 28. Nf7+ Kg8 29. Nxd8 Rb2 {Black is a piece up.}) 26. exf4 { [%mdl 8192] Another move that should have lost!} (26. Bxh5 {at least allows white to play on after...} Bxg5 27. Bf3 Bh4 28. g3 Be7 29. Rdd1 e4 30. g4 exf3 31. gxf5 Bh4 32. Rf1 Rcc2 (32... fxe3 33. fxe3 Rg2+ 34. Kh1 Rf2 {is equal.}) 33. Bxf4 gxf5 {Black is better, but white may be able to defend her position.}) 26... exf4 {Another missed chance!} (26... Rxe2 {and wins!} 27. Rdd1 Rxe1+ 28. Rxe1 exf4 {Black is a piece up with a won position.}) 27. Bxh5 {This saves the game.} Bxg5 (27... gxh5 {loses as follows...} 28. Rxf6 Bg6 29. Bxf4 Kg8 30. Re7 {and black;s situation is grave. A sample line...} h4 31. Ne6 Re2 32. Rxb7 Re1+ 33. Kh2 Bd3 34. b6 Ba6 35. Rg7+ Kh8 36. Rh6 Bd3 37. b7 Re8 38. Re7 {mates in 7} Rd8 39. Nxd8 Rxe7 40. b8=Q Kg7 41. Qd6 Re8 42. Qf6+ Kg8 43. Qf7+ Kh8 44. Qxe8+ Kg7 45. Ne6#) 28. Bf3 Rcc2 {White resigned, but there was absolutely no reason to do so because black has no way of forcing a win. In fact, in this position it's white who stands better, but in Shootouts from this position white only scored one win and 4 draws.} (28... Rcc2 29. g4 {Thepoint of 28.Bf3} Bc8 (29... fxg3 30. Bxg3 Kg7 31. Rb6 Bc8 32. Bxb7 {and white should be able to win this ending.}) 30. Re8+ Kg7 31. Bd5 {and it's white who has the more promising position.}) *