Last night saw a coating of snow (a half an inch, or 1.25 centimeters)...just enough to cover road surfaces...and the temperature plummet to 0 degrees F. (-18 degrees C.) which is causing a disruption to everything here. No doubt we are now the object of people’s snickering by those living in places like, say, International Falls, Minnesota, where the temperature is -28 degrees F. (33 below C.).
It’s a funny thing, but in January of 2019, I posted how we were suffering from a Polar Vortex
for a couple of days that brought unusually cold weather with temperatures below 0 degrees F.
It was at that time that my hard drive crashed and had to be replaced with a solid state drive. There were other problems...Fritz 12 wouldn’t work. Fortunately, after a few days of tinkering, it was up and running. But, for some reason the website on which I had been posting games was no longer available and the games posted disappeared!
Today’s game is taken from Dallas, 1957; it was played from November to December. David Bronstein from the Soviet Union was invited but unfortunately he was unable to obtain a visa. It probably had something to to with the US and Russia’s political situation. In October of 1957. Then in November (the same time the tournament in Dallas started) the Soviets sent up another satellite, this time carrying a dog.
A match between Pal Benko and the strong Texas Master, Ken Smith was played as a side event. Benko won 5.5-1.5. This event resulted in Yanofsky’s first GM norm.
In the following game Larry Evans cleverly recovered from mediocre opening play, but then rashly captured a Pawn and not only did Larsen get a dangerous passed Pawn, but he also got a Rook on the 2nd rank which resulted in a brilliant sacrifice not once, but twice. For the curious, on the day this game was played it was 58 degrees (14 C.) in Dallas. Here it was close to freezing with light snow.
Larry Evans–Bent Larsen0–1D32DallasDallas, TX USA03.12.1957Stockfish 17
D32: QGD, Tarrasch Defense 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.c3 At the time this game was played the QGD, Exchnge Variation (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.cxd4) was popular, but ifhe wanted to play it he had to play 3.cxd4 otherwise black can evade it. c5 The Tarrasch Defense, an aggressive bid for central space, had a poor reputation at the time. Today it's considered sound. 4.e3 The main line is the Rubinstein Variation (4.cxd5 followed by the fianchetto of the f1B). Instead Evans chooses this quiet variation, perhaps to avoid a sharp confrontation against the erver dangerous Larsen. f6 5.f3 c6 6.cxd5 Tarrasch thought 6.Bd3 was best here because it leads to the Queen's Gambit Accepted only with an extra tempo for black after 6...dxc4 exd5 Larsen has no fear of getting an isolated d-Pawn because it offers attacking possibilities. 7.b5 The other equally popular option is the non-committal 7.Be2. The strange looking text is equally good though. a6 8.xc6+ bxc6 9.0-0 d6 10.dxc5 xc5 11.e4 Energetic play. 11.b3 g4 12.b2 0-0 13.e2 d6 14.e5 xe5 15.xe5 and Paszewski,M (2286)-Szustakowski,A (2267) Krakow POL 2022 was soon agreed drawn. 11...0-0 12.g5 e7 13.d4 d6 13...d7 14.exd5 xd5 15.xe7 xe7 16.xd5 cxd5 is equal. Bukhman,E (2371) -Bach,M (2354) Kiel 2003 14.e5 xe5 15.xc6 xg5 16.xe7+ h8 17.xc8 axc8 White has succeeded in eliminating black's two Bs and isolated his d-Pawn, but as will be seen the P is hardly a weakness. 18.d3 Evans now takes steps to stopped the passed d-Pawn which must be held up as quickly as possible, but doing so is as job for which a N is usually better suited. The text move is not bad though. 18.e2 fe8 19.d4 with a dead equal position and it is not likely either side can make progress. 18...fd8 19.xa6 Even though this gives white two connected passed Ps it leads to a double-edged position that is harder for white to defend than ot is for b;ack to attack. Evans excelled in good positional judgment and here it seems he gets reckless. Both 19.Rac1 and 19.Ne2 were solid continuations. d4 As Nimzovich said, passed Ps have a lust to expand. 20.e2 It's a bit too late for this to be really effective. c2 Now black appears to have a great advantage on account of his advanced P and his R on the 2nd rank. Nevertheless, appearances can be deceptive because white is not completely without chances. Shootout results were interesting: white scored +1 -2 =2 20...d3 The P could have kept lusting. 21.c3 b8 22.ab1 d2 23.fd1 e8 with an unclear position. In Shootouts white scored +0 -1 =4 21.ad1 e5 22.g3 h5 23.fe1 d5 White has two good defensive choices. 24.e2 This terrible only fuels the lust of the d-Pawn and results in the loss of the gaem. 24.d3 xb2 25.f5 c5 26.xd4 with a likely draw. 24.b6 d6 25.b8+ h7 26.h3 with a murky position. 24...d3 25.e3 No doubt Evans was hoping that the d-Pawn has been stopped and has finally will become weak, but now Larsen strikes from a different direction. 25.xc2 dxc2 26.f1 h4 27.e2 h3 28.f4 e4 29.xh3 d1 30.g5 xf1+ 31.xf1 d5 wins 25...xf2 The first offer of this R. It's beautiful and devastating...if it's followed up corretly. 26.e4 26.xf2 g4+ 27.g1 xe3 28.d2 c5 wins 26...xe4 This is exactly why you cannot believe everything you see in pre-engine analysis! In the notes I saw the annotator missed the fact, as did the players, that this throws away all of black's advantage and should have allowed white to equalize. 26...g4 wins. 27.dxd3 27.xd3 xe3 28.xd5 xd5 29.xf2 xd1 27...xb2 28.d2 xe3 29.xd5 xd5 30.a8+ h7 31.f1 xg2+ 32.h1 d1 33.xg2 xg2 34.xg2 a1 win a won ending. 27.exd3 Did Evans think he was winning here? It may look like it, but watch this... 27.dxd3 avoids th threat of a discovered check and holds the position. g5 28.xd8+ xd8 29.xe4 xb2 with a likely draw. 27...f1+ Another offer of the R...this time it has to be taken. 28.xf1 It looks like white has escaped with the loss of a piece, but he will have some play in the form of two connected passed Ps on the Q-side plus a R on the 7th vs a R+N. 28.xf1 loses in a clever way. f5+ 29.f3 xd1+ 30.e2 c3+ 31.xc3 f1+ 28...c5+ White resigned because black has a forced mate. 28...xd3 29.xd3 xd3 30.xf7 and black will win this ending, but it will tale some time. 28...c5+ After this surprise move black mates as follows... 29.e3 xe3+ 30.h1 f2+ 31.xf2 xf2 32.h3 d1+ 33.f1 xf1+ 34.h2 f4+ 35.g3 f2# 0–1
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