Vincenzo Nestler

    The 1954 Italian Championship was played in Trieste, the capital city of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in northeast Italy. It’s a port city located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. 

    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. 

 

[Event "Italian Championship, Trieste"] [Site ""] [Date "1954.05.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vincenzo Nestler"] [Black "Armando Siveri"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1954.05.11"] {Dutch Stonewall} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 c6 4. Bg2 Nd7 5. O-O Be7 {Both sides are playing the opening very close to the vest.} 6. Nbd2 {[%mdl 32]} { 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 Ndf6 { If he plays 7...Ngf6 then 8.Ng5 is aggravating.} 8. b3 Nh6 {It may be a bit surprising, but this is the best square for thgis N.} (8... Ne4 9. Nxe4 dxe4 10. Ne5 Nf6 11. f3 {A good move as it will leave black with a backward P on e6. } exf3 12. exf3 O-O 13. f4) (8... Ne4 9. Nxe4 fxe4 10. Ne5 Nf6 11. f3 exf3 12. exf3 O-O 13. f4 {with the same result}) 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Ne5 Bd6 11. Ndf3 Ne4 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. Nd3 Bd7 14. Nfe5 Nf6 15. Qc1 Nf7 (15... g4 16. e4 fxe4 17. Nc5 {not only is the N on h6 under attack, but so is the b-Pawn and black is in a miserable state.} (17. Qxh6 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.} Ne8 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} Nc7 18. Qe3 Be8 19. Rad1 Qf6 {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. Nxf7 f4 {Hoping to stir up some complications.} (20... Qxf7 21. Qxg5+ Qg7 22. Qxg7+ Kxg7 23. exd5 exd5 24. Rfe1 {White is clearing better.}) (20... Bxf7 21. e5 Qg6 22. exd6 Ne8 23. Ba3 Rd8 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... Bxf4 {keeps black in the game. Stocfish treats us to more maneuvering with the following recommended continuation.} 22. Nxf4 gxf4 23. Qe2 Rxf7 24. Ba3 Qh6 25. Bd6 Rd7 26. Be5 Bg6 27. Qf2 Ne8 28. h4 Ng7 29. Kh2 Rf7 30. Rg1 dxe4 31. fxe4 Nh5) 22. Qf2 Qxf7 23. Bc1 {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 Be7 26. Bxf4 Na6 27. Bd6 Ba4 28. Rd2 b6 29. Kh1 Rae8 30. Bxe7 Qxe7 31. cxb6 axb6 32. Qxb6 {is hopeless for black.}) 1-0