A Vicious Attack By Edgar Walther

`FM Edgar Wather was born on December 24, 1930 and passed awau in Zuricj at the age of 82 on October 23, 2013. 

    Walther gained a measure of notoriety at Zurich in 1959 when he had a winning position against the eventual world champion, but thanks to a stroke of luck, Fischer managed to draw when Walther misplayed the ending. 

    Walther took four national titles: he was Federal Champion in 1949, 1957, 1971 and in 1965 he won the Coupe Suisse. Oddly, he never managed to win the Swiss Championship. The closest he came was in 1965 when he lost the playoff against Marcel Markus after they tied for first. As a long-time member of the Swiss national team Walther played in six chess Olympiads. He was a long time member of the Zurich Chess Club. 

    He was also well known in correspondence chess and he won the Swiss Correspondence Championship twice (1967 and 1971). In the semi-final of the 8th World Correspondence Championship (1972-75), he tied for first and second and in the final he finished 11th. As a result, he was awarded the Correspondence IM title. His highest OTB FIDE rating was 2316. 

    The following game wa splayed in Oldenburg, 1949. While Walther did not obtain a particularly good result, his game against Heemsoth contained a pleasing finale.

 

 

    Hermann Heemsoth (1909-2006) was a German player who was awarded the Correspondence IM title in 1972 and the Correspondence GM title in 1987. He was German Correspondence Champion in 1954 and 1969. 

    It’s interesting to note that three of the Oldenburg participants ended yp living in the United States. Elmars Zemgalis (1923-2014). Originally from Latvia, when the Soviet Union invaded Latvia in WWII he fled to Germany and in 1952 he finally settled in Seattle, Washington. 

    Nicolas Rossolimo (1910-1975) was born in Kiev and moved to Paris in 1929. In 1952 he moved to New York City. I met Rossolimo at his chess studio sometime in the early 1960s. U asked him for a game and he said, “I can’t play for nothing.” I coughed up his $20 fee and we sat down to play on regulation set. 

    After the opening I must have had a pretty good game because he jumped up, walked over to a display case and grabbed a glass board that look like the dark squares were made out of blue butterfly wings and sat it at the end of the table where the sun was shining on it. He then started grabbing pieces off out board and setting them up on the new one. When I asked what he was doing he said, “I want to play on this board.” I think he set up the position correctly, but in any case I lost quickly. 

    Povilas Tautvaisas (1916-1980) was born in what is now Belarus. Following the Second World War as a displaced person he eventually via Germany made his was ti the Chicago area.

 

[Event "Oldenburg"] [Site "Oldenburg GER"] [Date "1949.06.21"] [Round "4"] [White "Edgar Walther"] [Black "Hermann Heemsoth"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B67"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1949.06.19"] {B67: Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 {The Richetr-Rauzer Attack threatening to double black's Ps after Bxf6 and avoids the once feared Dragon Variation.} e6 {After this move Vsevolod Rauzer introduced the modern plan of Qd2 and 0-0-0 in the 1930s.} 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 h6 10. Bh4 Be7 11. Nf3 Qc7 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Nd5 {Preferred by Stockfish engines around the world.} (13... Ng4 14. Bg3 Rd8 15. Qe1 h5 {and white is better. Ou,R (1390)-Gao,M (1172) Nanjing CHN 2023}) 14. Nxd5 exd5 15. Bxe7 Nxe7 {White now has several playable moves.} 16. Re1 ( 16. Bd3 O-O-O 17. Rhe1 (17. Qf4 Be6 18. Nd4 Nc6 19. Nxc6 Qxc6 20. Qd4 Kb8 { Draw agreed. Foltys,J-Kottnauer,C Vienna 1949}) 17... Kb8 18. Nd4 Nc6 19. Nxc6+ Bxc6 20. Qb4 {is equal. Kamishov,M-Chistiakov,A Moscow 1947}) (16. Qb4 Bf5 17. Bd3 Bxd3 18. Rxd3 O-O 19. Rhd1 {is equal. Pilnik,H-Wexler,B Mar del Plata 1955} ) 16... O-O 17. Rg1 Rfc8 18. g4 {A hint of what Walther is up to on the K-side. } b5 {A routine move that quickly lands him in trouble. A better idea was pressuring white's e-Pawn with 18...Re8} 19. Bd3 a5 20. Nd4 Qb6 21. Nf5 { Black's last few moves have amounted to beating the air. White, on the other hand, is clearly preparing a K-side strike.} Ng6 22. Rg3 {The idea is to place the R on the h-fule...clearly Walther is planning something on the h-file.} ( 22. Rgf1 {This was actually more potent.} Rc6 23. g5 hxg5 24. Qxg5 a4 25. h4 { with a very strong attack.}) 22... Re8 (22... Rc6 {was a far better defense which demonstrates the problem with white's 22.Rg3} 23. h4 (23. g5 h5 24. Nd6 Rb8 25. Bxg6 fxg6 26. Qxd5+ Kh7 {and suddenly with the reduced material it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to get at black's K. And, in the meantime, black is poised for Q-side play. White's pieces are centralized, so the chances are equal.}) 23... Re6 24. Rge3 Rae8 25. Nd6 d4 26. R3e2 R8e7 { and black has successfully beaten off the attack/ The chances are equal.}) 23. Nxh6+ {Very nice...white's assault on black's K has been in the air for some time.} gxh6 {There was nothing that was really better.} (23... Kf8 24. Nxf7 Kxf7 25. Qg5 Re6 26. Rf1+ Kg8 27. Qh5 Rxe5 28. Qxg6 Qxg6 29. Bxg6 {with a decisive advantage.}) 24. Qxh6 Qf2 25. Rf1 Qxf1+ {A clever, but futile, attempt to save himself.} 26. Bxf1 Rxe5 27. Bd3 Ra6 28. Rh3 {Finally...the point of his 22nd move.} Bxg4 29. Bxg6 Re1+ {By giving up his Q black gets a series of checks and in OYB play who knows where it might lead?} 30. Kd2 Rd1+ 31. Kc3 (31. Ke3 {would have been an unfortunate mistake.} Re6+ 32. Kf4 (32. Kf2 Rf6+ 33. Rf3 Rxg6 34. Qh4 Bxf3 35. Kxf3 Rd2 {Black has equalized!}) 32... Rf6+ 33. Kxg4 Rxg6+ {draws}) 31... d4+ 32. Kb3 Be6+ 33. Ka3 b4+ 34. Ka4 Bd7+ 35. Kb3 {Stockfish is announcing mate in 27.} Be6+ 36. c4 dxc3+ 37. Kc2 Rd2+ 38. Kc1 {Now if black plays 38...Rd1+ he can hold pff mate for 15 moves.} fxg6 39. Qh8+ {Black resigned. It's mate next move.} 1-0