Vassaux was one of the founders of the Guatemalan National Chess Federation in 1939. In 1953, he was called one of the three great Guatemalan chess figures of the time. The other two were Enrique Hidalgo and Carlos Enrique Salazar. Vassaux won the Guatemalan Chess Championship fourteen times from 1934 to 1973.
He participated in the Chess Olympiad once, representing Guatemala at first board in the 8th Chess Olympiad in 1939 in Buenos Aires, scoring +5 -8 =2.
Vassaux authored three chess books and wrote a regular chess column in the Prensa Libre from 1974 to 1991. During that time he also ran a chess program Ajedrez bajo los arboles (Chess under the trees) a park in Guatemala City. His students included three future Guatemalan champions. He was awarded a Medal of Honor by the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Presidential Medal shortly before his death.
His opponent was John Morrison (1889-1975). Born in Toronto, e was Canadian Champion in 1910, 1913, 1922, 1924, 1926 and 1931.
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
Guillermo Vassaux–John S. Morrison0–1C02Olympiad Final B, Buenos Aires06.09.1939Stockfish 17
[%evp 16,67,49,49,70,-20,0,0,67,65,56,64,82,79,72,73,89,86,128,117,115,70,120,104,160,158,167,153,210,208,278,289,262,273,254,235,379,234,248,106,473,496,1083,1065,972,863,29992,29993,29993,29994,29994,29995,29995,29996] C02: French: Advance Variation 1.e4 c5 2.c3 e6 3.d4 d5 4.e5 The opening has transposed into the Advance Variation of the French. White’s idea is to gain space in the center. By blocking black’s Pawns on light squares, the B on c8 will have a hard time getting into the game. Although mot popular the Advance Variation us a solid, yet ambitious, option. c6 5.f3 b6 6.d3 d7 7.dxc5 xc5 8.0-0 a5 9.e2 ge7 10.f4 g6 11.g3 ce7 12.bd2 So far this has all been seen before, but this is Stockfish's first choice. f5 12...xb2 As is often the case this is a risky move. 13.ab1 xa2 14.b5 14.xb7 would allow black to equalize after c6 15.bb1 0-0 14...c6 15.d3 c8 16.xc6+ xc6 17.a1 b2 18.fb1 The Q is not trapped because after xc3 19.xc3 black has xf2+ 20.xf2 xc3 21.xb7 0-0 22.b6 a8 23.xa5 The material imbalance (B vs 2Ps) favors white. It's still a very difficult position though! In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2, but the winning process was tedious, so ITB the outcome is not guaranteed. 13.b3 xg3 It's really hard to call this an error, but looking ahead the opening of the h-file is going to be disastrous for black...something that cannot be foreseen at this point! Perhaps he should have just castled. 14.hxg3 e7 15.bd4 0-0 16.fe1 ae8 It's hard to say what black had in mind with this rather pointless move. 16...Bc5 seems reasonable. While black has mot made any obvious errors one gets the feeling that white's position has a lot more potential. 17.ab1 c8 18.h2 What?! fe8 19.g1 It's hard to explain the last couple of moves! f8 20.g4 The aggression starts. c5 21.g5 g6 After this black's position will be almost impossible to defend. 21...xd4 This reduces the pieces white has available for ab attack a bit. 22.xd4 It's better to have the N here than a P. c5 23.g4 b5 24.e3 The plan is to double heavy pieces on the h-file. White clearly has the better chances, but there is no forced win. 22.g3 e7 23.g2 f5 24.h1 g6 25.h3 Looking back at black's 13th move it's hard to believe the consequences of opening the h-file for white! g7 26.g4 Offering a P, but driving away a defender. xd4 27.cxd4 Hardly bad, but taking with the N was more accurate. xd4 Taking the P results in disaster. Hunkering down and trying to defend himself with ...Be7 and ...Rh8 was his best chance. 28.d2 White wants to reposition the Q to f4 c5 29.f4 Threatening mate with Rxh7+! h8 29...a4 A pass to demonstrate white's threat. 30.xh7+ xh7 31.xf7+ h8 32.h1# 30.bh1 Intending Rxh7+ and mate...there is no preventing it. e7 White to mate in 8 moves. 31.xh7+ White mates. xh7 32.xh7+ xh7 33.xf7+ h8 34.xg6 Black resigned, A great attacking game by Vassaux. 34.xg6 xf2+ 35.xf2 c2+ 36.xc2 c5+ 37.g2 mate next move. 0–1
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