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| Walter O. Cruz |
On the international scene China became a communist country and Russia had nuclear bombs and there was increased the tension between East and West, i.e the US and Russia in what was known as the Cold War.
In the US, one of the first long-running and successful sitcoms, The Goldbergs, first aired live on January 17, 1949. It was on the air until 1956. It was about the daily lives of a Jewish family in New York, tackling the everyday issues of an ordinary family.
President Harry S. Truman gave his fair deal speech in which he expressed his thoughts on how every American should expect a fair deal from the U.S. government. 
In chess news, the year started off with Nicholas Rossolimo winning Hastings 1948/49. Larry Evans won the Marshall Club Ch. The strong local master James B, Cross tied with Arthur Bisguier and Larry Evans in the US Junior Championship, held in Fort Worth, Texas. Cross won the1950 US Junior Championship and was the 1957 California State Champion. In the late 50s or early 60s Cross gave up chess.
Claude Shannon presented a paper on programming a computer to play chess. Reuben Fine won the New York International.
Down in Brazil Walter Oswaldo Cruz (January 23, 1910 - January 3, 1967) won the country's championship dor the fifth time. He had been champion in 1938, 1940, 1942, 1948 and won the titl for the last time in 1953. He was runner up in 1928, 1929and 1939.
He played third board for the Brazilian team at the 1939 chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires where he scored +4 -7 =5. For many years he was a regular participant in South American tournaments.
His opponent in the following game was Luiz Tavares da Silva (April 13, 1916 – June 29, 1994). He was Brazilian Champion in 1957. He was also President of the Brazilian Chess Federation from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1986 to 1988.
In addition to his chess career, he was also an eminent thoracic surgeon and cardiologist, who lived and studied in London for part of his life and was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There is an excellent article (with photos) about Tavares HERE.
In the game when Tavares' Knight threatened to penetrate his position, Cruz failed to recognize that he had to exchange it and so lhe ended up losing[ it was his only loss in the tournament which he won.
Luiz Tavares–Walter O. Cruz1–0E70Brazilian Chp, Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro BRA1949Stockfiah 16
E88: King's Indian: Saemisch 1.c4 f6 2.c3 g6 3.d4 g7 4.e4 0-0 5.e3 d6 6.f3 Friedrich Saemisch developed this system in the 1920s. It often
leads to very sharp play with the players castling on opposite wings and
attacking each other's King. c6 7.d2 e5 8.d5 It was thought that this
move promises little and that white does better by maintaining the tension in
the center, for the time being at least, with 8.Nge2. However, Tavares has an
interesting idea planned. cxd5 9.cxd5 e8 White has tried several move
herem but 10.h4 is a new, and now pretty much forgotten, one. 10.h4 At the
time this was criticized as, well, let's quote the annotator of the day...
Another inconsistent move. As will become obvious, the weakening of g3 only
diminishes white's chances of opening lines on the King-side. 10 0-0-0 is
better. That said. 10.h4 is Stockfish's preferred move. 10.0-0-0 f5 11.d3 Preferrable is 11.exf5 a6 12.ge2 c5 13.c2 a5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.h3
with equal chances. Gheorghiu,F (2525)-Kozul,Z (2450) Graz 1987 10...f5 11.0-0-0 Here white has tried 11.g3,m but it is too passive. 11.g5 f6 12.exf5 gxf5 13.0-0-0 f4 14.e4 with equal chances. Lorenzo de la Riva,L (2391)
-Vidal Zamora,A (2112) Figueres ESP 2011 11.h5 This is an interestingm
but untested, line. After f4 12.f2 g5 13.h6 f6 14.0-0-0 followed by 15.
g3 seems to offer white good attacking chances. 11...f6 12.h3 12.exf5
is promising... gxf5 13.h5 f4 14.f2 h6 15.g4 with attacking chances. 12...bd7 Strangely enough, black ignores the dangerous threat of Ng5-e6. He
must play 12...f4 12...f4 13.f2 h6 And white's advantage is minimal. 13.c4 Pointless. For the time being at least white ignores his own threat! 13.g5 b6 13...e8 Leads to white getting a decisive attack in which
many roads all lead to victory. 14.e6 a5 15.h6 h8 16.h5 f4 16...xh5 17.xh5 gxh5 18.g5+ mates 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.g3 c5 19.gxf4 xe6 20.dxe6 xe6 21.f5 f7 22.fxg6 xg6 23.c4+ 14.e6 xe6 15.dxe6 is similar to
the game continuation. 13...c7 Black still should play 13...f4 13...f4 14.f2 h6 and the chances are equal. Thius shows the drawback to white's 13.
Bc4 14.b3 fxe4 After this black faces serious difficulties. He could
still play 14...f4, but now there is time to try a counterattack with 14...Bc4
and after 15.Bc2 then 15...b5 14...c5 15.c2 b5 16.xb5 b6 17.c3 b8
etc. 15.g5 Finally. c5 16.xc5 xc5 17.e6 xe6 17...e3 is his
best try. 18.e2 b6 19.g4 d7 20.h5 ac8 Of course white is clearly
better, but at least black has some play. 18.dxe6 This interloper on e6
turns out to be a mighty passed Pawn. Add to that white's control of the
d-file and he has a decisive advantage. d5 Black hopes for 19.Bxd5 19.fxe4 19.xd5 xd5 20.xd5 xd5 21.xd5 exf3 22.e7 fe8 23.gxf3 f7 and black
has equalized. 19...xe4 20.xd5 h6+ 20...e3+ is no salvation. 21.b1 xc3+ 22.bxc3 h8 23.h5 with a decisive advantage. 21.b1 xd5 22.xd5 This is the correct way. Other recaptures are less effective. xc3+ 23.bxc3 fe8 24.d7 e3 25.f1 There is no way to prevent 26.Rff7 so black
resigned. 1–0
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