Surprise Attack

    International Master, author and publisher Al Horowitz wrote that in chess a surprise is, “nothing but logic that packs a wallop." However, when it comes to playing over games for enjoyment as opposed to actually studying them, we chess enthusiasts are more interested in the wallop than the logic. 

    Some surprise moves come early, some late. But, whenever they emerge it’s when they do so in an unlikely scenario that makes them really entertaining. That’s what we see in this game where a dull Caro-Kann opening suddenly erupts into an attack involving a series of sparkling threats. 

    Reuben fine is well known, but his opponent, Mario Monticelli (1902-1995, 93 years old), is pretty much forgotten. He was born in Venice and passed away in Milan. He was awarded the International Master (IM) title in 1950 and the Honory Grandmaster title in 1985. 

    The featured game was played in the 1934 Syracuse, New York International. The tournament that was organized as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the New York State Chess Association and it was played in the Hotel Onondaga; the hotel was demolished in 1970 to make way for a new office building. 

    The time control was 36 moves in two hours, followed by 18 moves in one hour. The games were begun at 7:00 P.M. with adjournments scheduled to be played the next day. To fit 15 rounds into a 13 day schedule, extra afternoon rounds were added. Originally the tournament had 16 players, but Isador Turover withdrew after losing to Arthur Dake in the first round and the game was canceled. 

    Besides Monticelli, the foreign players invited were Captain J. J. Araiza of Mexico and Robert E. Martin of Canada. It had been hoped that Alekhine or Capablanca would play, but they were unavailable. 

    Robert E. Martin (1910-1978) is virtually unknown today. He won the Canadian championship in 1933 and was the Canadian Correspondence champion in 1946 and Jose Joaquin Araiza Munoz (1900-1971) was Mexico's leading player until the arrival of Carlos Torre. His best tournament was 3rd place at Mexico 1932 behind Alekhine and Kashdan. He was Mexican Champion in 1957.

 

 

    Early on Abraham Kupchik kept within a striking distance of Reshevsky, but after his only loss, to Horowitz, his play weakened and he only managed to take fifth prize. By winning the tournament, which followed closely on the heels of his triumph in the Western Chess Association Tournament in Chicago, Reshevsky pretty much asserted himself as the leading American player. 

[Event "Syracuse"] [Site "?"] [Date "1034.09.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Mario Montecelli"] [Black "Reuben Fine"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B18"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "42"] [SourceVersionDate "2024.09.02"] {B18: Caro-Kann} 1. e4 c6 {Watch how quickly a rather dull opening turns into a livelt attacking game.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 e6 7. Bc4 {Although frequently played, the B is not very useful here.} (7. h4 h6 8. Ne5 Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 {is more avtive, but even here the position holds little promise for either side.}) 7... Nf6 8. Qe2 Nbd7 9. Ne5 (9. Bb3 a5 10. a4 Be7 11. O-O O-O 12. Nh4 Qb6 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. Be3 {is completely equal. Akopian,G (2235)-Ivanchuk,V (2705) Yerevan 2004}) (9. c3 Be7 10. Nh4 Nd5 11. Nxg6 hxg6 12. Ne4 {equals. Nezar,M (2417)-Feller,S (2478) Differdange 2007}) 9... Nxe5 10. dxe5 Nd7 (10... Nd5 11. O-O Be7 12. Bb3 Qc7 13. c4 Nb4 14. Rd1 Rd8 {lead to a quick draw in Yin Hao-Berescu,A Bratislava 1993}) 11. f4 Bc5 12. Bb3 {This move appears quite natural, but it results in black gaining a slight advantage on the Q-side. White should have played 12.Bd2 with a completely equal position.} a5 {With this move, which is difficult to meet satisfactorily, black establishes a slight plus.} 13. a4 {It would have been sonewhat better to establish a way for the B to retreat to the b1-h7 diagonal with either 13. c3 or 13. Bc4. As it is the B has no future on its current diagonsl.} Qb6 14. Bd2 O-O-O 15. Nf1 {[%mdl 8192] This move is harmless and shuts in the R. 15. O-O-O would have left black wih no more than the initiative. Instead, now black unleashes a powerful attack.} Bb4 {It may ne surprising, but after this black is winning!} 16. O-O-O (16. Bxb4 Qxb4+ 17. Qd2 (17. Nd2 Nc5 18. O-O-O Qxf4 19. Ba2 Qxa4) 17... Qb6 18. Qe3 Nc5 19. Ng3 Qb4+ 20. Qc3 Nxb3 21. Qxb4 axb4 22. cxb3 Rd3 {Black has a winning position.}) 16... Nc5 {[%mdl 32]} 17. Qf3 Rd3 {Surprise!} 18. cxd3 Nxb3+ 19. Kc2 (19. Kb1 Rd8 20. Bxb4 Qxb4 21. Ng3 Rxd3 {with a clear win.}) 19... Bc5 (19... Nd4+ {Of course, this was even better.} 20. Kb1 Nxf3 21. gxf3 Bxd3+) 20. Qh3 Nd4+ 21. Kc1 Qb3 {White resigned. . It's mate in 8.} (21... Qb3 22. Kb1 Qxd1+ 23. Bc1 Qc2+ 24. Ka2 Qb3+ 25. Ka1 Nc2+ 26. Kb1 Nb4 27. Qxe6+ fxe6 28. Bd2 Bxd3+ 29. Kc1 Qc2#) 0-1