In another shocking event, we saw a photograph taken by photographer Eddie Adams of Nguyen Ngoc Loan, a South Vietnamese general and chief of the South Vietnamese National Police executing Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem with a pistol shot to the head.
It cost postal chess players 5 cents for a post card. A new Chevrolet Impala sport coupe cost about $3,500. The comedy basketball team, The Harlem Globetrotters, which was founded in 1926 in were from Chicago performed in Harlem, New York for the first time in 1968. Everybody thought Woody Allen, Bill Cosby and Carol Burnett were funny….except for me.
We lost some players that year. On September 25, Soviet GM Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968) died a few hours before he was scheduled to play in a tournament. October 2nd Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), the famous painter and chessplayer died in France. Stefan Erdelyi (1905-1968) died in Romania on October 26th; he was Romanian champion in 1931, 1934 and 1949. Finally, IM Carl Ahues (1883-1968) died in Hamburg on December 31st; he was German champion in 1929.
IM David Levy famously made a $3,000 bet that no chess computer would beat him in 10 years. He won the bet. Larry Evans won the US championship. Julio Kaplan of Puerto Rico won the world junior championship. Pal Benko won the National Open. Bent Larsen won the US Open. Hans Berliner won the World Correspondence Championship. Bobby Fischer win the Nathanya, Israel.
The following game was played in a Chess Review Class postal tournament and there was a nice problem-like mate after black’s 24th move. Before looking at the game see if you can find it.
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| White to move. Mate in 7 |
[Event "Chess Review Class B Postal Toutnament"] [Site "CORRESPONDENCE"] [Date "1968.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "RLS"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B98"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1968.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "India"] [BlackTeam "England"] [WhiteTeamCountry "IND"] [BlackTeamCountry "ENG"] {B98: Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 {This game was finished in July1968, and my opponent, who was from Kankakee, Illinois passed away at the age of 71 on May 31, 1969.} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {The Najdorf Variation is black's most popular system. Najdorf's intention with 5...a6 was to prepare ...e5 on the next move to gain space in the center.} (5... e5 {Playing thisd immediately is questionable.} 6. Bb5+ {Now black's best reply is} Nbd7 { In the event of 6...Bd7 white exchanges light-squared Bs after which the d5-square becomes very weak.} 7. Nf5 {This is similar to what happens in the game; white stands well/}) 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Be7 {The main alternative is 7... Qb6 which leads to complications.} 8. Qd3 {Much more popular here is 8.Qf3. We were most likely using Modern Chess Openings, the gold standard of opening books in those days.The 10th edition was published in 1965 and was referred to as The Chessplayers' Bible.} Nbd7 {Thos move does not appear in my Fritz opening book, but it has been played a few times in the past. It's Stockfish's 2nd choice behind 7...h6. Personally I do not care for the move 8...Nbd7 because it seems too passive. Black has too many other plausible moves: The alternatives are: 8...Qc7, 8...Nc6 and 8...b5 which is the most active.} 9. O-O-O {Besides this both 9.O-O and 9.Be2 are acceptable alternatives.} e5 { This advance is pemature. He should hace completed his development and gotten castled.} 10. Nf5 {This makes evident the flaw in black's last move. The N occupies a dominating position and Stockfish already gives white a decisive advantage.} O-O {There was nothing better.} (10... h6 11. Bh4 {and black's e-Pawn is a goner/} exf4 12. Nxd6+ Bxd6 13. Qxd6 {with by far the superior position.}) 11. Bh6 {Not bad as white still has a significant advantage, but 11.Nxe7+ was much stronger.} (11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Nd5 Qd8 13. Nxf6+ Nxf6 14. fxe5 {White has a winning position.}) 11... Nh5 (11... gxh6 {is out of the question.} 12. Qg3+ Ng4 13. Qxg4+ Bg5 14. h4 h5 15. Qxg5+ Qxg5 16. hxg5 { White is a piece up and black's position has multiple weaknesses.}) 12. Be2 ( 12. Qf3 {was a knockout punch.} Ndf6 13. fxe5 Bxf5 14. Qxf5 gxh6 15. exd6 Ng7 16. Qf3 h5 17. dxe7 Qxe7 18. Nd5 Nxd5 19. Rxd5 {and white is winning.}) 12... Bf6 {A mistake that leaves black totally lost.]} (12... Nc5 {would have given him a fighting chance.} 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. Qxd6 Qxd6 15. Rxd6 Nxf4 16. Bxf4 exf4 {Material is equal, but white enjoys a considerable positional advantage. Shootouts were time consumingm but white scored 5-0. Given the fact that we both were Class B (1699-1799) at the time a white win is not a foregone conclusion!}) 13. Bxh5 gxh6 14. Nd5 {Both Ns are beautifully posted, black's K-side is wrecked and his pieces are in each other's way.} Nc5 15. Qg3+ Kh8 16. Nxf6 Bxf5 (16... Qxf6 {is met by} 17. Nxd6 exf4 18. Qf3 Be6 19. g3 Bxa2 20. Qxf4 (20. b3 {would allow black to equalize.} Rac8 21. Nxc8 Rxc8 22. Bxf7 Qxf7 23. Kb2 Qg7+ {with equal chances.}) 20... Qxf4+ 21. gxf4 {Material is equal, but white has a huge positional advantage.}) 17. fxe5 Nxe4 18. Qf4 (18. Nxe4 { was even vetter.} Bxe4 19. Rhe1 Bc6 20. exd6 {with a winning position.}) 18... Nxf6 19. exf6 Qc8 20. Rd2 Be6 21. Re1 {White could capture either the h- or d-Pawn, but decided to bring the other R into play first.} d5 22. Bf3 {[%mdl 128]} Qc6 23. Re5 Rad8 24. Qxh6 Rg8 {White to play and mate.} 25. Rh5 (25. Be4 {A real problem-like move!} Qxc2+ (25... dxe4 26. Rxd8 {Black can only delay mate for a couple of moves by tossing some material.}) 26. Bxc2 Bf5 27. Bxf5 Rc8+ 28. Bxc8 Rxc8+ 29. Kb1 Rg8 30. Rh5 {mate next move.}) 25... Bf5 {Nlack is hopelessly lost.} 26. Rxf5 Rg6 27. Qh4 Qe6 28. Be4 {Firceful, but a move too late to force mate.} Rd6 (28... dxe4 29. Rxd8+ Qe8 30. Rxe8+ Rg8 31. Qg3 { mate next nove.}) 29. Rh5 Qxf6 30. Rxh7+ {Black resigned.} (30. Rxh7+ Kg8 31. Bxg6 Qxg6 32. Rh8+ Kg7 33. Re8 Qh6 34. Qxh6+ Kxh6 {Blac is a R down.}) 1-0
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