Forgotten Players, Games and Events

    A few years back, in 1958, we (my parents and I) drove to Miami and my father purchased three airline tickets to fly to San Juan the next day. Things were a little different in those days. First, the plane was propeller drive and second, the cockpit door was left open so passengers could go up and stick their head in and look around and the cockpit crew would say hello. I

    My brother was in the Navy and stationed at the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station (aka Rosy Roads). In March 2004, the Department of the Navy closed the facility. Today it serves as Jose Aponte de la Torre Airport, a public use airport. 

    I celebrated my 13th birthday there and one of my birthday presents my brother purchased for me was I.A. Horowitz’ book, The Golden Treasury of Chess. The book was originally published in 1942 and it went through many editions. I no longer have the one I got in Puerto Rico, but have a later edition. 

    One reviewer complained that the book wasn’t very good because it was mostly an outdated compilation of games that were very lightly annotated. That’s ridiculous! He wrote that in 2015 about an edition that had been last published over 50 years earlier...I would expect that the games would be from yesteryear! The games have brief introductions, but it is true that the notes are sparse to non-existent. Of course, it’s also in descriptive notation. 

    My edition has 322 games up to 1976. The games are by players, known and unknown, from events, remembered and forgotten and many of them won’t be found any place else. 

    Today’s game is one that appeared in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle once; it was played in a long forgotten league match by players that are long forgotten. It won a Brilliancy Prize and was played in 1940 in one of the a New York City Metropolitan Chess League matches. 

    The winner was Dr. Joseph Platz (1905-1981) learned the game at thirteen in Cologne, Germany. Improving rapidly, by sixteen he was considered one of the strongest players in that city. After Hitler ascended to power in 1933, Platz emigrated to the United States, where he studied under Emanuel Lasker and remained active in local tournaments in New York and Connecticut for many years. He was a USCF Master Emeritus.      

    Nothing is known of his opponent except that he was a member of the Queens chess club. As for the games itself, it was a strong attacking one by Platz, but not a brilliancy. 

ChessBase

Joseph Platz (Manhattan CC)–E.J. Korpanty (Queens CC)1–0D61Met League Match, New York City1940Stockfish 16

D61: Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical 1.d4 1.g3 1...f6 2.c4 e6 3.c3 d5 4.g5 bd7 5.e3 e7 6.f3 c6 7.c2 a6 8.d1 0-0 9.a3 h6 The usual move here is 9...Re8 10.h4 An interesting and original move. Black can take the B and survuve white's initiative. 10.f4 is the book move. dxc4 11.xc4 d5 12.g3 b5 13.a2 b7 14.b1 f5 15.0-0 Gudmundsson, J-Laterza,L Buenos Aires 1939. White is better. 10...g4 This does not seem to be a bad idea. Apparently black wants to simplify against his more accomplished opponent and if white avoids exchanging off his B black can close things up with ...f5/ . The engine way is 10...b6 and ...Bb7 10...hxg5 11.hxg5 g6 12.gxf6 xf6 13.d3 g7 14.g4 h8 and white's attack has all but fizzled out. 11.f4 f5 Black's B on c8 looks pretty useless and his N on g4 isn't accomplisjing much, but with the positon so blocked there doesn't seem to be much white can do. 12.d3 dxc4 But this move is completely out of place. Better was 12...b5! 12...b5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.0-0 b7 and it's hard to see how either side can make any progress. 12...b5 13.c5 is white's other possibility, but after df6 14.0-0 e4 black has a solid position. 13.xc4 b6 14.a2 This is a common place fpr the B in the QGD.. .the B will go to b1 creating a B+Q battery on the b1-h7 diagonal. True, the diagonal is currently closed, but only for the moment. d5 15.g3 Of course he would like for black to play ...Nxf5 allowing white to open up thr g-file. h8 The K removes itself from the g-file as a safety precaution. 16.e5 xe5 17.xe5 d6 18.e2 xe5 19.dxe5 e7 20.b1 f7 21.d4 21.e4 was another possibility/ fxe4 22.xe4 f5 23.f4 xe4 24.xe4 d7 Black's position is going to be a tough nut to crack. 21...g6 22.g4 d7 23.f4 Black could have equalized after this. Just building up the pressure with moves like Qc5, Rg1 and Rd3 would have been a better plan. ad8 23...xf4 eliminates the N which is destined to play an important role in the coming attack. 24.exf4 c5 25.d6 c6 26.g1 e4 Finally the B is out of its prison, something that looked i,possible a while back. Black has pretty much equalized now. 23...xf4 24.xf4 is white's other option, but it leads nowhere after c5 25.g1 c6 intending ...Be4 and black is equal here, too. 24.g1 c8 He needed to play 24...Rg8. Both players missed a very strong continuation for white. 25.d1 25.gxf5 The threat is Nxg6+ so black has to play xf4 but now 26.xd8 xd8 27.fxg6 g7 28.exf4 d4 29.c1 with a won ending. 25...c5 A couple of moves ago this was good...now it quickly loses! 25...Rg8 opposing white on the g-file offers stout resistance. 26.gxf5 cxd4 26...gxf5 27.g6+ h7 28.xf8+ xf8 29.dg4 wraps it up. 27.xg6+ h7 28.xf8+ xf8 29.fxe6+ h8 30.d3 e7 31.g6 Black resigned. 1–0

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