Consequently, Cuba was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the United States' Lend-Lease program. Still, Cuba did not declare war on the Axis powers until December 1941, making it one of the first Latin American countries to enter the war. Cuba lost six merchant ships during the war and the Cuban Navy was credited with sinking one German submarine.
Before Cuba got fully involved in the war, there was a tournament held in Havana toward the end of January in 1940 that aroused great interest, but only in Cuba. The only major chess magazine in the U.S. in those days was Chess Review and despite the fact that Isaac Kashdan who was one of the country’s top players (along with Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben Fine) won the tournament it received scant mention and only a few games survive. 
The event was held in one of the mo st beautiful buildings in Havana, the Centro Asturiano. During the evening tourists watched the games. The players we re entertained by various government offices and they were taken on outings by the city’s notable citizens.
In the following game Kashdan defeats a player known only as “Paz” in a game that at one point had a maze of tactical possibility that never happened. I was unable to locate any information on Señor Paz, but his play in this game was quite impressive ans he made a good account of himself and nearly succeeded in holding the formidable Isaac Kashdan to a draw.
[Event "Havana International"]
[Site "Havana CUB"]
[Date "1940.01.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Isaac Kashdan"]
[Black "Paz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[Annotator "Stickfish 17/Dragon by Komodo"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "1940.??.??"]
[Source "British Chess Ma"]
{C14: French: Classical System} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Qd2 a6 8. f4 c5 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. g3 {White usually plays 10.dxc5, but the slower text has actually yielded better results.} b5 11. Ne2 {Usual is the immediate 11.Bg7} Nb6 12. b3 Bb7 (12... b4 13. Rc1 c4 {with complete equality.}) 13. Bh3 {A P offer which black refuses although he could have safely accepted it.} g6 (13... Nxd4 14. Nexd4 cxd4 15. Qxd4 Nd7 16. O-O Nc5 {White has no continuations that offer more than equality. As for black's extra P, due to the blocked nature of the position and his cramped pieces he has little chance of putting the P to good use. Five Shootouts were uneventful draws.}) 14. O-O Rc8 {The game Is taking a normal course fir the French. White Is planning a K-side attack while black counters on the Q-side. However, black might have considered capturing twice on d4 which would have simplified the position a bit.} 15. Rf2 {A real GM move, This plans to defend the c-Pawn and, at the same time, prepares to double Rs on the f-file.} Nd7 16. Re1 {Evidently this is designed to prevent ...f6} cxd4 {The correct continuation.} (16... f6 17. dxc5 fxe5 18. Nxe5 Nxc5 19. Nxc6 Bxc6 20. Bxe6 Nxe6 21. Nd4 Bd7 22. f5 {and white is winning.}) 17. Nfxd4 ({This is interesting, but not better than the text.} 17. f5 gxf5 18. Bxf5 {Black should now play ...h5-h4 with interesting play, but he must not play} exf5 19. Nfxd4 Ndxe5 20. Nxc6 Rxc6 21. Nd4 f6 22. Nxf5 Qc7 23. Qh6 {with a winning attack. A likely continuation might be} Rg8 24. Nd4 Rd6 25. Rxf6 Rxf6 26. Qxf6 Rg7 27. Rxe5+ Re7 28. Ne6 Qd6 29. Qf8+ Kd7 30. Qd8+ Kc6 31. Nd4+ Kc5 32. b4+ {etc.}) 17... Nc5 {A well-played move that keeps things equal. White must now prevent ...Ne4.} 18. Bg2 Nxd4 19. Nxd4 Ne4 {An interesting position. In Chess Review magazine an unidentified annotator called this a positional error because black's Ps are all on the same color as his N which means it is very limited in scope. He added that in addition after the exchange black's P on e4 is very weak and will probably be lost in any resulting ending. Stockfish, however, finds no fault with wither 19...Ne4 or 19...O-O and evaluates the position at dead even. In its evaluation Dragon by Komodo aggres with Stockfish.} 20. Bxe4 dxe4 21. b4 {An important restraining move. It also opens up the possibility of Nb4-c5 should the need arise.} Rd8 22. c3 Qc7 23. Qe3 h5 24. h4 O-O {Here or at some point black could also consider repositioning his B with ...Bd5-c4} 25. Kh2 Kg7 26. Ref1 (26. f5 {is tempting, but it doesn't seem to lead to anything either. After} Qxe5 27. Ref1 Bd5 28. f6+ Kh7 29. Nf3 Qc7 30. Ng5+ Kg8 31. Nxe4 Kh7 {White has to take the draw with 32.Ng5+}) 26... Rc8 {[%mdl 8192] With this logical looking move attacking the c-Pawn black finally has slipped up.} (26... Rg8 {renders 27.f5 innocuous.} 27. f5 exf5 28. Qg5 Kf8 29. Qh6+ Ke7 30. e6 Ke8 31. exf7+ Qxf7 32. Nxf5 gxf5 33. Rxf5 Qg6 34. Qxg6+ Rxg6 35. Rf8+ Ke7 36. R8f7+ Ke6 37. Rxb7 {and the double R ending will most likely be drawn.}) 27. f5 {Now this is a knockout punch as it leads to a winning attack.} Bd5 {With this and his next move black avoids some violent white threats, but the ensuing exchanges allow white to obtain a fairly easy ending.} (27... Qxc3 {is no better.} 28. Qxc3 Rxc3 29. fxe6 Rc7 30. exf7 Bd5 31. e6 {and white is winning.}) 28. Qg5 {Wham!! The addition of the Q to the attack is fatal. Black is mow faced with a maze of choices, but none of them help him save the game.} Qd8 {Faced with a maze of choices, Paz chooses the best try. It's not sufficient to save the game, but it's still the best move available.} (28... Qxc3 {This is just as bad as before.} 29. fxg6 fxg6 30. Qe7+ Kh6 31. Rxf8 {[%emt 0:00:07] mates in} Qd2+ 32. R1f2 Qe3 33. R2f7 {Black can only avoid mate by tossing material.}) (28... Qxe5 {is met by} 29. f6+ Kh7 30. Qxe5) (28... exf5 {[%emt 0:00:16] Stockfish spots a mate in} 29. Nxf5+ Kg8 30. Qf6 Qxe5 31. Qxe5 f6 32. Qxd5+ Kh8 33. Qd7 Rg8 34. Nd6 Rg7 35. Qxc8+ Rg8 36. Qd7 Rg7 37. Qd8+ Kh7 38. Nxe4 g5 39. Nxf6+ Kg6 40. Qh8 Ra7 41. Qxh5+ Kg7 42. Qh7+ Kf8 43. Nh5+ Ke8 44. Rf8#) (28... e3 {This is also a good try as there is no forced win and it leads to complications. For example...} 29. Qxe3 Rce8 30. Qg5 exf5 31. Nxf5+ Kg8 32. Rd1 Ba8 33. Nh6+ Kh7 34. Rd6 Rxe5 (34... Re6 35. Rxe6 fxe6 36. Rxf8) 35. Qxe5 Qb7 {Threatening mate on h1} 36. Rd1 Kxh6 37. Qf4+ Kh7 {White is the exchange up and theoretically at least should win.}) 29. fxe6 {Kashdan misses a stronger, but hard to see, line.} (29. Qe3 {is more deadly.} Qc7 30. Qg5 Qd8 {and white has a nice finish.} 31. Nxe6+ Bxe6 32. fxe6 Qxg5 33. Rxf7+ Rxf7 34. Rxf7+ Kg8 35. hxg5 Rxc3 36. Rf6 Rc7 37. Kg2 {White picks off the e-Pawn and wins the ending.}) 29... Qxg5 30. hxg5 {White now has only a modest advantage, but Kashdan was one of the best endgame players in the world and so practically speaking black us facing a difficult task trying to hold the game.} (30. Rxf7+ {is not nearly as god as the text!} Rxf7 31. Rxf7+ Kg8 32. hxg5 Bxe6 33. Rf6 Bg4 34. Rxg6+ Kh7 35. Rc6 Re8 36. e6 e3 37. Kg2 e2 {It's doubtful that white can win. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4}) 30... fxe6 {Missing his last chance to try and save the game.} (30... Rc7 {keeps white's advantage at a minimum after} 31. Kg1 e3 32. Rxf7+ Rcxf7 33. exf7 Rxf7 34. Re1 {White needs to keep the R on if he wants to have any chance at winning.} Rf2 35. Rxe3 Rg2+ (35... Rxa2 {at once would lead to an eventual loss.} 36. e6 Kf8 {Black has problems in that his R is out of play.} 37. Ne2 Ke7 38. Nf4 Bc4 39. Nxg6+) 36. Kf1 Rxa2) 31. Rxf8 Rxf8 32. Rxf8 Kxf8 {[%mdl 4096] Kashdan now gets to strut his stuff in the ending.} 33. a3 e3 34. Kg1 Ke7 35. Nc2 e2 36. Kf2 Bc4 37. Ne3 {Played to bring the K to a strong square.} (37. Nd4 {was sufficient to win though as it wins the e-Pawn.} Kd7 38. Nxe2 Kc6 39. Nf4 Ba2 40. Ke3 {followed by Kd4 keeping the black K out and then a K-side P falls..}) 37... Bd3 38. Ng2 Bc4 39. Nf4 Kd7 40. Nxg6 Ke8 41. Nf4 {[%csl Be2,Bh5]} Kf7 42. Nxh5 Kg6 43. Nf4+ Kxg5 44. Nxe2 Kf5 45. Ke3 Kxe5 46. Nf4 Kf5 47. Nd3 {Black resigned. The threat is Nc5 winning the a-Pawn. Paz put up a good fight, but Kashdan's play was just a bit more precise.} (47. Nd3 Bxd3 48. Kxd3 Kg4 49. Ke4 Kxg3 50. Ke5 Kf3 51. Kxe6 Ke3 52. Kd5 Kd3 53. Kc6 Kxc3 54. Kb6 Kb3 55. Kxa6 Kc4 56. Ka5 {and the b-Pawn falls,}) 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment