The winner (after a playoff) was the little known Vincenzo Nestler (January 8, 1912 - July 14, 1988) Born in the hilltop city of Agrigento on Sicily's southwest shore, he was probably Sicily’s greatest player. He passed away in Rome.
Nestler was Italian Champion in 1943 and 1954 and runner up in 1937, 1953, 1956 and 1959.
In 1942 he participated in what was purported to be the European Individual Chess Championship that was held in Munich and was organized by German Master Ehrhardt Post, the Chief Executive of Nazi Grossdeutscher Schachbund. It was really a manifestation of Nazi propaganda.
There were actually two tournaments, the 12-player main event that was won by Alekhie ahead of Keres. The little known secondary event, also consisting of 12 players, was won by Sweden’s Gosta Danielsson. Nestler finished 6th with a 6-5 score.
After the war, he tied for 10-11th (out of 12) in the 4th Schlechter Memorial in Vienna. 1951. He also played twice for Italy in the Olympiads at Dubrovnik 1950 and Helsinki 1952 and in team matches against Czechoslovakia in 1957 and Switzerland in 1958.
Nestler was aa mathematics professor and author of several books on parapsychology (the study of alleged psychic phenomena and other paranormal claims). In his last years he was nearly deaf, but a solid player with good endgame technique and he was still playing when in his 70s. In the following game he handles his opponent in a very precise fashion. Chess metrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been in 2454 which came in 1958. However, at the 1952 Helsinki Olypiad his performance rating was 2532.
Vincenzo Nestler–Armando Siveri1–0D02Italian Championship, Trieste05.1954Stockfish 16
Dutch Stonewall 1.d4 d5 2.f3 e6 3.g3 c6 4.g2 d7 5.0-0 e7 Both
sides are playing the opening very close to the vest. 6.bd2
The opening has transposed into a Stonewall Dutch which is not a particularly
popular these days, but it was often used by Botvinnik.. f5 7.c4 df6
If he plays 7...Ngf6 then 8.Ng5 is aggravating. 8.b3 h6 It may be a bit
surprising, but this is the best square for thgis N. 8...e4 9.xe4 dxe4 10.e5 f6 11.f3 A good move as it will leave black with a backward P on e6.
exf3 12.exf3 0-0 13.f4 8...e4 9.xe4 fxe4 10.e5 f6 11.f3 exf3 12.exf3 0-0 13.f4 with the same result 9.b2 0-0 10.e5 d6 11.df3 e4 12.e3 g5 So far things have been pretty boring and this commencement of K-side
action by black looks promising, but it's a dead end. More maneuvering with 12.
..Nf7 was better. 13.d3 d7 14.fe5 f6 15.c1 f7 15...g4 16.e4 fxe4 17.c5 not only is the N on h6 under attack, but so is the b-Pawn and black
is in a miserable state. 17.xh6 exd3 White is much better. 16.f3
White has been preparing the P-break e4 while black has treated us to more
maneuvering and the K-side ction never materialized. The problem facing black
is now after the coming 17.e4 white has really good chances. e8 17.e4
It would have been more accurate to remove the N for e5 first by playing 17.
Nxd7 because now black can (should) exchange on e5 which leaves white with a P
on e5 which shirlds black's e-Pawn and blocks white's B on b2 c7 18.e3 e8 19.ad1 f6 Black's strategy of shifting pieces has failed badly and this
move results in white finally breaking throug. Unfortunately for jhi, more
shifting with 19...Be7 was called for. 20.xf7 f4 Hoping to stir up some
complications. 20...xf7 21.xg5+ g7 22.xg7+ xg7 23.exd5 exd5 24.fe1 White is clearing better. 20...xf7 21.e5 g6 22.exd6 e8 23.a3 d8 24.d7 White is winning. 21.gxf4 gxf4 One wonders if black was still
thinking of a K-side attack when he played this, opening the g-file. 21...xf4 keeps black in the game. Stocfish treats us to more maneuvering with the
following recommended continuation. 22.xf4 gxf4 23.e2 xf7 24.a3 h6 25.d6 d7 26.e5 g6 27.f2 e8 28.h4 g7 29.h2 f7 30.g1 dxe4 31.fxe4 h5 22.f2 xf7 23.c1 At this point black could still hang on with 23..,.
Qg7 (more maneuvering!). Instead he makes a couple of weak moves. dxc4 24.bxc4 c5 25.dxc5 Black saw no point in playing on and so he chose to resign. 25.dxc5 e7 26.xf4 a6 27.d6 a4 28.d2 b6 29.h1 ae8 30.xe7 xe7 31.cxb6 axb6 32.xb6 is hopeless for black. 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment