A Clever Finish by Euwe

    The following game is a bit boring, but it's redeeming point is the clever finish by the former World Champion. The game was played in an international tournament in Gijon, a large coastal city in northern Spain. 

    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. 

[Event "Gijon"] [Site "Gijon ESP"] [Date "1951.07.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Nicolas Rossolimo"] [Black "Max Euwe"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "1951.??.??"] {C53: Giuoco Piano} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {Rossolimo was one of the rare proponents of this anciet opening.} Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. d4 Bb6 6. O-O d6 7. h3 Nf6 8. Re1 O-O {This N is headed for e3 where it will have more influence than on c3.} 9. Na3 Kh8 {The purpose of this odd looking move will soon become clear... Euwe intends ...f6; The expected move here is 9...h6} 10. Nc2 Nd8 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.} Be6 ( 11... Ng8 {This undeveloping move leads to an inferior game.} 12. a4 (12. Ne3 f6 13. a4 {is also possible.}) 12... a6 (12... c6 13. Ba3 c5 14. b4 {and white is clearly better.}) 13. Ne3 Nf6 (13... f5 14. Nd5 Qe8 15. exf5 Bxf5 (15... Nc6 16. Ba3 {and white is much better.}) 16. a5) 14. Ba3 {with the better game. Sperber,G (2200)-Eslon,J (2200) Skelleftea 1972}) 12. Bd3 Ng8 {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. Ba3 {Threatening dxe5, so...} c5 14. Ne3 { and black has a passive position with little prospects of doing anything but defening.}) 13. Ne3 f6 {Clearly black has few prospects of attacking and there is not much else he can do.} 14. Nd5 Qf7 {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. Qc2 {forces black to be careful.} Ne7 16. a4 c6 17. Nxe7 Qxe7 18. a5 Bc7 19. b4 {White, who must now switch his attention to the Q-side is better, but not by much.}) 15... Bxd4 16. Nxd4 exd4 17. Bc2 c6 18. Nf4 (18. Qd3 g6 (18... cxd5 19. exd5 g6 20. dxe6 Nxe6 21. Bb2 {is ghood for white/}) 19. Bf4 Qd7 (19... cxd5 20. cxd5 Bd7 21. Bxd6 Re8 22. Bc5 Rc8 23. Bxd4 {with the better game.}) 20. Qxd4 cxd5 21. cxd5 g5 22. Bd2 Bxh3 23. gxh3 Qxh3 24. Re3 {A sharp position with chances for both sides/}) 18... c5 19. Qd3 g5 { All of a sudden it's black who is calling the shots.} 20. Nd5 Nc6 21. Qg3 Ne5 22. h4 gxh4 23. Qxh4 Qg6 24. Kh1 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Ne7 {At long last the N is going to join in on the attack.} 26. f4 Rg8 27. Qh3 Ng4 28. Kg1 Nxd5 29. Bd3 ( 29. exd5 Qxc2 30. Qf3 Rg7 {and doubling the Rs on the g-file spells the end of the game.}) 29... Nde3 30. Bd2 {This allows an elegant finish, but eliminating one of the Ns would not have helped.} (30. Bxe3 Nxe3 31. Re2 Qg4 32. Qxg4 Rxg4 33. Rae1 (33. Rb1 Rag8 34. Rbb2 Rxf4 35. Rf2 Rxf2 36. Rxf2 Kg7 {and black has a won ending.}) 33... Rag8) 30... Nf2 {A finish worthy of Rossolimo himself!} 31. Kxf2 Qxg2+ 32. Qxg2 Rxg2+ 33. Kf3 Rag8 34. e5 R8g3+ {White resigned; it's mate next move.} 0-1