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Friday, September 13, 2024

A Pleasing Miniature by Gromer

    
Aristide Gromer (April 11, 1908 i0 July 6, 1964) was a rather obscure Master who won the Frencj Championship in 1933, 1937 and 1938. When WWII broke out in September of 1939, along with many other participants of the Chess Olympiad, he decided to stay permanently in Argentina. Most of what is known about Gromer is due to the efforts of chess historian Edward Winter and you can read his excellent post on Gromer HERE.
    The following entertaining miniature win was played against Franciszek Sulik (1908-1977) who was born in Gliniany, Austria-Hungary, later Lwow, Poland and now Ukraine. He played as a reserve on the Polish team at the the 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires in 1939. The team (Tartakower, Najdorf, Frydman, Regedzinski and Sulik) won the silver medal. 
    In September 1939, when WWII broke out, he also decided to stay in Argentina. In 1940 he moved to Australia where he won the South Australian Championship in 1954, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978. 

  A game that I liked (Fritz 17)

[Event "Buenos Aires"] [Site "Buenos Aires"] [Date "1940.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Aristide Gromer"] [Black "Franciszek Sulik"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C48"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "39"] [EventDate "1940.??.??"] {C48: Four Knights Game} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 {Even when this game was played in 1940 the Four Knights Game was a throwback to they days before World War One when it was popular. Though there are some sharp variations, it usually leads to quiet positional play. Not in this game though.} Nc6 4. Bb5 ( 4. Nxe5 {This is the dubious Halloween Gambit in which white tries to seize the center with his Ps and drive the Ns back to their home squares.} Nxe5 5. d4 Ng6 (5... Nc6 6. d5 Bb4 7. dxc6 Nxe4 8. Qd4 Qe7 {According to GM Larry Kaufman this reutes the gambit, but black's advantage is only minimal.}) 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bc4 d5 8. Bxd5 N8e7 9. Bg5 c6 10. Bb3 h6 11. Be3 Nf5 {is the engine refutation. }) 4... Bc5 5. Nxe5 {White usually castkesm, but here this move is, inlike last move, quite playable because of black's B on c5.} Bxf2+ {But this move, which has been unsuccessfully played several times, is unsoubd as black doies not have enough pieces in play to take advantage of the position od white's displaced K.} (5... Nxe5 6. d4 {Unlike in the previous variation this attacks two pieces so that after} a6 7. Be2 Bd6 8. dxe5 Bxe5 {the position is equal.}) 6. Kxf2 {[%mdl 32]} Nxe5 7. d4 Neg4+ {Safer would have been 7...Ng6} 8. Kg1 { One can see the appeal of black's strategy: white's R is hemmed in by his K and with his next move black drives back the B. The situation is only temporary as white already has a decisive advantahe. How? Gromer will demonstrate.} c6 9. Be2 d6 10. h3 Nh6 {Now black's N is awkwardly placed.} 11. Kh2 {Brilliant! This is even better than capturing the N.} (11. Bxh6 gxh6 12. Qd2 Qe7 13. Qf4 d5 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Nxd5 cxd5 16. Kh2 {Here, too, white's advantage proved decisive. Barbosa,E (2446)-Ayala Pena,E (2190) Katowice POL 2014}) 11... Nhg8 (11... Qe7 {proved no better in Reichardt,H-Mayer,F Dresden 2001 which continued} 12. Qd3 Be6 13. Re1 O-O-O 14. b4 Nfg4+ 15. Kg1 {and white soon won.}) 12. Rf1 {So, the R is in play and white's K is safe after all.} h5 {A futile attempt to get the N safely back in play, but there was really nothing that is much better.} (12... d5 13. e5 Ne4 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15. Bc4 {and with his J in the center the attack on f7 is too much for black to handle. }) 13. Kh1 {The reason for this is umclear, but his position is so good that it does no harm.} Nh6 14. Bg5 Qa5 15. Qd2 Nhg8 {Clearly the idea behind 12... h5 didn't work!} (15... Be6 {does not work out well after} 16. Rxf6 gxf6 17. Bxh6 O-O-O 18. Bf4 Rhg8 19. d5 cxd5 20. Nxd5 Qxd2 21. Bxd2 Bxd5 22. exd5 { and white's two Bs for the R coupled with black's weak Ps are sufficient to secure the win.}) 16. b4 {A nice sacrifice of a P to clear the way for the advance of his e-Pawn.} Qxb4 17. e5 {Ripping the guts out of black's position.} Nh7 (17... dxe5 18. dxe5 Nd7 19. Rab1 Qa3 20. Bc4 f6 21. exf6 gxf6 22. Rbe1+ Kd8 23. Bxf6+ Ngxf6 24. Rxf6 {White has a winning attack. A sanmple line...} Qc5 25. Bf7 Rf8 26. Ne4 Qe7 27. Rh6 Rxf7 28. Nd6 Qxe1+ 29. Qxe1 Rf8 30. Rh7 Kc7 31. Ne8+ Rxe8 32. Qxe8) 18. Ne4 Qxd2 {This allows mate in 4, not that it matters.} (18... Nxg5 19. Qxg5 Be6 20. Qxg7 O-O-O 21. Nxd6+ Kb8 22. Rab1 Qa3 23. Rxf7 Bxf7 24. Qxf7 {wins}) 19. Nxd6+ Kd7 20. Rxf7+ {Black resigned.} (20. Rxf7+ Ne7 21. Rxe7+ Kd8 22. Nf7#) 1-0

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