Continuing Down Memory Lane

    Continuing the stroll down memory lane I came across my one surviving game from the 1967 Ohio Championship. That was a memorable year if only because I had survived my 4 years in the military and was discharged at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. 

    American readers have probably seen the television commercials from law firms wanting to take on cases of people sickened by the contaminated water on the base. 

    Water on the base was contaminated from 1953 to 1987. The water was contaminated only at a couple of dependent housing areas mostly due to the disposal practices of an off base dry cleaner. I received letters from the Marine Corps for about two years. When the letters stopped the television ads by civilian law firms flooded television. Over a half a million claims have been filed, but only a very few have been settled. Lawyers get 20%. 

    1967 was a year of a lot of cultural change, political questioning and personal “liberation”. There was psychedelic rock music, young people in San Francisco were showing an interest in Eastern religions and communal living. 

    Racial unrest resulted in the "Long Hot Summer" and saw racial unrest in cities such as Detroit, Newark and Cincinnati. And, of course, there were protests against the Vietnam War. On a lighter note, Elvis married Priscilla Beaulieu in Las Vegas. 

    A leading German platyer of the 1930s, Ludwid Engels (1905-1967) died in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Former Irosh Champion James Creevey (1873-1967) died in Dublin at the age of 93. The 1956 French Champion French master Pierre Rolland (1926-1967) died in a car accident. IM Stefan Fazekas (1898-1967) died at the age of 69 in England; he was the British champion in 1957 at the age of 59. Sweden’s vteran GM Gideon Stahlberg (1908-1967) died of a liver ailment in Leningrad while there for a tournament. German IN and author Alfred Brinckmann (1891-1967) died in Kiel. Former Hungarian champ (1928) Arpad Vajda (1896-1967) died in Budapest of a gas leak from his oven. 

    Bobby Fischer took 1st place in the US Championship and at Monaco. Anatoly Karpov won the European Junior Championship in Groningen, Netherlands. 

    The 1967 Ohio Championship was held in Cincinnati. There were 56 players and Cleveland Master Tom Wozney scored 6.5 out of 7. He was followed by Experts om Mazuchowski of Toledo and Richard Noel of Cleveland. I have no idea what my score was, but I won the following rip snorter from a local player.

[Event "Ohio Championship, Cincinnati"] [Site ""] [Date "1967.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Opponent"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A83"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] {A83: Staunton Gambit} 1. d4 f5 2. e4 {Beiong a fan of Botvinnik I was fairly familiar with the Dutch, but knew nothing about the Staunton Gambit. The idea is to get quick development with the hopes of launching an attack against black's King. Although it was once a feared weapon theory has shown how to neutralize it.} fxe4 {Black can decline the gambit with 2...d6, transposing to the Balogh Defense, but accepting P is considered stronger.} 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 g6 5. f3 exf3 (5... d5 6. fxe4 dxe4 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. Nge2 Na5 9. Bb3 Nxb3 10. axb3 Bg7 11. Qd2 O-O 12. O-O b6 13. Rad1 Ba6 14. Qe3 Qd7 {is equal. Straka,V (2341) -Krnan,T (2430) Tatranske Zruby 2016}) 6. Nxf3 d5 7. Bd3 {So far both players have fiollowed known lines, but black's logical looking next move turns out to be in white's favor because it results in the exchange of a B for a N amd white gets pressure on the f-fi;e.} Bg4 (7... Bg7 8. Qe2 Nc6 9. O-O-O O-O { is equal. Ramirez Alvarez,A (2547)-Stopa,J (2493) Dallas 2009}) (7... Nc6 8. O-O Bg7 9. Ne5 O-O {is also about equal. Teichmann,R-Tartakower,S Berlin 1921}) 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 c6 {Defending the d-Pawn was not really necessary.} (9... Bg7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Nxd5 {regains the P, but after} Bh4+ 12. Ke2 Qd6 13. Rhf1 Nc6 {White's d-Pawn is attacked, but after} 14. c3 O-O-O 15. Ne3 {tjr chancesd are equal.}) 10. O-O-O Bg7 11. Rde1 {[%mdl 1024]} Nbd7 12. Rhf1 O-O 13. Qe3 Re8 14. Bh6 {Exchanging off black's B looks logical, but it allows black to seize the initiative with his next move. For that that reason 14.Qe6+ was correct. Then the cances would have been equal.} e5 {Very good!} 15. Bxg6 {This spur of the moment decision is completely unsound.} (15. Bxg7 {was worth a try.} Kxg7 16. dxe5 Rxe5 17. Qf2 {But here black is a solid P up.}) 15... hxg6 16. Qg5 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 {Now all black has to do is defend the h-Pawn with 17...Nf8. Instead...} e4 18. Qxg6+ Kf8 {Avoidung the draw and allowing white to gain the upper hand.} (18... Kh8 {is a draw by repitition.} 19. Qh6+ Nh7 {loses to} 20. Rf7) 19. g4 Re6 (19... Ke7 20. g5 Ng8 21. Rf7#) 20. g5 Ke7 21. gxf6+ Nxf6 22. Qg7+ Kd6 23. Qxb7 Qh8 {Going after the h-Pawn is a poor decision; it never gets captured. The Q was needed to defend the Q-side and so 23...Qb8 was called for.} 24. Na4 Rb8 25. Qxa7 {White's advantage is decisive.} Rb5 26. Nc5 Re7 27. Qa3 Kc7 28. Na6+ Kd7 29. Nc5+ Kc7 30. Nxe4 {Unablr to find a winning conrinuation, I played this which on;y resilts allowing black back in the game. } (30. Qg3+ Kb6 31. Qd6 {Attacking both the R and N wraps it up.} Rf7 32. Rxf6 Rxf6 33. Qxf6 Qg8 (33... Qxf6 34. Nd7+) 34. Qe7 Qc8 35. a4 Rb4 36. Re3 {etc.}) 30... Rxe4 31. Rxe4 Nd7 {[%mdl 8192] Black dis not realize he had been bluffed. } (31... Nxe4 32. Rf7+ Kc8 33. Qa8+ Rb8 34. Qxc6+ Kd8 35. Qd7#) (31... dxe4 { is a different story; it's still a fight.} 32. Qa7+ Kd6 33. a4 Rh5 34. Qf7 Qh6+ 35. Kb1 Nd7 {and the outcome is uncertain.}) 32. Qg3+ Kd8 33. Qh4+ Qxh4 34. Rxh4 {[%mdl 4096]} Kc7 35. Rf7 Rb8 36. Rhh7 Rd8 37. h4 Kc8 38. Rxd7 Rxd7 39. Rxd7 Kxd7 40. a4 {Black resigned. Accuracy: White = 59%, Black = 40%.} 1-0