From between 1944 and 1951, then between 1954 and 1956, and, finally, in 1965, small tournaments with 8 to 12 players were held there. The original purpose was to focus on the recovery of chess in Spain and Europe after World War II.
The strength of the tournaments which featured local players and prominent ones varied. They featured the rapid decline of World Champion Alekhine, the rise of Spanish child prodigy Arturo Pomar and such greats as Euwe, Rossolimo, Prins, Medina, Darga, Donner, O’Kelly. And, a young Larsen played in 1956.
Today’s game was played in 1951. In the U.S> that was the year I Love Lucy debuted on television and Pabst Blue Ribbon was the first ever television beer commercial. It was also the year the first baseball game was televised in color. It' was between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves.
In other happenings, Tupperware was invented, the first direct-dial coast to coast telephone call was made, the first commercial computer, UNIVAC, was put into use at the U.S. Census Bureau. It was also the year the U.S. government began nuclear bomb testing at a test site in Nevada. Also, it was the year that birth control pills were developed.
In the chess world problem composer Alain C. White, Alain (1880-1951) died in April in Sumerville, South Carolina. In Budapest Geza Maroczy (1870-1951) died on May 29th.
Mary Bain won the US women's championship. Samuel Reshevsky won the Wertheim Memorial in New York, Larry Evans won the US Championship, also held in New York and Larry Evans won the US Open, held in Fort Worth, Texas.
A 7-year old kid named Bobby Fischer played one of the boards against in a simultaneous exhibition given by Max Pacey at the Grand Army Plaza Library in Brooklyn. Within 15 minutes Fischer lost his Queen and burst into tears. 14-year old Edmar Mednis also played in the exhibition and he held Pavey to a draw.
The big international news was the World Championship match in Moscow. Mikhail Botvinnik retain the title when he drew with David Bronstein. Was Bronstein warned not to win?
The World Junior Championship held in Birmingham, England was won Borislav Ivkov, age 17, of Yugoslavia. With the exception of Bent Larsen and Fridrik Olafsson, most of the players seem to have vanished. For example, who was the second place finisher Malcolm Barker?
With everything going on in the world in 1951, it’s no surprise that nobody remembers the tournament at Gijon or Euwe’s nice victory over Rossolimo.
Nicolas Rossolimo–Max Euwe0–1C53GijonGijon ESP19.07.1951Stockfish 16
C53: Giuoco Piano 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.c4 Rossolimo was one of the rare
proponents of this anciet opening. c5 4.c3 e7 5.d4 b6 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 f6 8.e1 0-0 This N is headed for e3 where it will have more influence than on
c3. 9.a3 h8 The purpose of this odd looking move will soon become clear...
Euwe intends ...f6; The expected move here is 9...h6 10.c2 d8 11.b3
You might think he is making room for jhis B on b2, but if he was, it never
gets there. In fact, the B is not going to move for a long, long time. e6 11...g8 This undeveloping move leads to an inferior game. 12.a4 12.e3 f6 13.a4 is also possible. 12...a6 12...c6 13.a3 c5 14.b4 and white
is clearly better. 13.e3 f6 13...f5 14.d5 e8 15.exf5 xf5 15...c6 16.a3 and white is much better. 16.a5 14.a3 with the better game.
Sperber,G (2200)-Eslon,J (2200) Skelleftea 1972 12.d3 g8 The fact that
black has to play this move anyway is evidence that his position is not so
great. It's surprising that Euwe, a great theortician, has gotten himself into
this situation. 12...c6 13.a3 Threatening dxe5, so... c5 14.e3
and black has a passive position with little prospects of doing anything but
defening. 13.e3 f6 Clearly black has few prospects of attacking and there
is not much else he can do. 14.d5 f7 It's at this point that a couple of
less than optimal moves lets Euwe off the hook and it is he who gains the
initiative. 15.c4 15.c2 forces black to be careful. e7 16.a4 c6 17.xe7 xe7 18.a5 c7 19.b4 White, who must now switch his attention to the
Q-side is better, but not by much. 15...xd4 16.xd4 exd4 17.c2 c6 18.f4 18.d3 g6 18...cxd5 19.exd5 g6 20.dxe6 xe6 21.b2 is ghood for
white/ 19.f4 d7 19...cxd5 20.cxd5 d7 21.xd6 e8 22.c5 c8 23.xd4 with the better game. 20.xd4 cxd5 21.cxd5 g5 22.d2 xh3 23.gxh3 xh3 24.e3 A sharp position with chances for both sides/ 18...c5 19.d3 g5
All of a sudden it's black who is calling the shots. 20.d5 c6 21.g3 e5 22.h4 gxh4 23.xh4 g6 24.h1 xd5 25.cxd5 e7 At long last the N is
going to join in on the attack. 26.f4 g8 27.h3 g4 28.g1 xd5 29.d3 29.exd5 xc2 30.f3 g7 and doubling the Rs on the g-file spells the end of
the game. 29...de3 30.d2 This allows an elegant finish, but eliminating
one of the Ns would not have helped. 30.xe3 xe3 31.e2 g4 32.xg4 xg4 33.ae1 33.b1 ag8 34.bb2 xf4 35.f2 xf2 36.xf2 g7 and black has
a won ending. 33...ag8 30...f2 A finish worthy of Rossolimo himself! 31.xf2 xg2+ 32.xg2 xg2+ 33.f3 ag8 34.e5 8g3+ White resigned; it's
mate next move. 0–1
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