The magazine noted that after his tie for sixth place at the tough Saltsjobaden Interzonal Najdorf must have found winning the Venice tournament a breeze, adding that he celebrated the absence of Soviet opposition and that’s what resulted in a “handsome lead” over the opposition. The 20 player Saltsjobaden tournament was won by David Bronstein, who along with seven other players advanced to the 1950 Candidates Tournament.
The short article added that former World Champion Max Euwe was unable to shake off a poor start. His two losses (against Canal and Castaldi) combined with difficulty in defeating the tailenders resulted in him being “just another chessplayer.”
Venice consisted of twelve players, six Italians, two South Americans and four from Europe, including former World Champion Euwe. Not only did Venice have competition form the goings on at Saltsjobaden, but it was just one of many tournaments that year that fell under the shadow of the 1948 World Championship tournament held to determine the new Champion following the death of Alekhine in 1946. This tournament (won by Botvinnik ahead of Smyslov, Jeresm Reshevsky and Euwe) marked a significant shift in the international chess scene as the FIDE took control of the world championship title and the cycle of tournaments leading up to it.
The winner of this game, Giuseppe Primavera (1917-1998) was Italian Chess Champion in1948, 1953, 1954 and1970. He was one of the founders of the organization Association of Chess Masters of Italy and in 1973-1974, he published the chess magazine Tutto Schacchi. IM Henri Grob (1904-1974) was Swiss champion in 1939 and 1951 who is best known for popularizing the Grob Attack (1.g4).
Their brief encounter at Venice has the same plot as the game between Koenig and Weinberger in the previous post. In this game Primavera erred in the opening and Castaldi got an overwhelming attack, b
A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
ut misplayed it and lost.
Giuseppe Primavera–Henri Grob1–0D45VeniceVenice ITA1948Stockfish 17
D46: Semi-Slav Defense 1.d4 f6 2.f3 d5 3.c4 c6 Black is threatening to
capture on c4 and hold it with ...b7–b5. White can avoid this in a number of
different way, but at the dame time doing so is not really necessary. Either
way some very sharp positions can arise/ 4.c3 e6 4...dxc4 is the
thematic move, but it's super sharp. 5.e4 b5 6.e5 d5 7.a4 e6 8.axb5 xc3 9.bxc3 cxb5 10.g5 b7 11.h5 g6 12.g4 e7 favors black. 5.e3 b4 6.d2 0-0 7.d3 bd7 8.0-0 e7 9.e1 dxc4 10.xc4 e5 11.e4 exd4 12.xd4
Up to here the moves have all been seen many times. White can try the text or
12.Ne2, but the aggressive 12.e5 is no doubt best. The text is faulty, but
both players missed its refutation. e5 While not as good as 12...Qc5 after
this black still has an advantage. 12...c5 attacking two pieces results
in a sizable advantage for black after 13.e5 xe5 14.b3 xc4 15.xe5 d8 13.b3 Primavera's faulty opening play has left his opponent with a clearly
better position. Grob's next move plunging his N into the guts of white's
position is by no means bad, but there was an even better one. 13.f5
is a btter alternative. After xf5 14.exf5 c5 15.e2 To stop ...N6g4 fd8 Black has an active position. 13...d3 13...c5 is a tough move to meet.
After 15 minutes this is Stockfish's top line... 14.f5 xf5 15.exf5 fg4 16.xe5 xe5 17.f6 gxf6 18.e4 ad8 19.h5 d3 20.g4+ h8 21.xc5 xc5 22.f3 xf2+ 23.xf2 xf2 with a clear advantage. 14.e3 Primavera has
underestimated the strength of the attack on his g2 or else he would have
reinforced it with 14.Re1 xf2 15.xf2 g4+ 16.f1 d8
A major slip that should have cost most of his advantage. is also a path to
nowhere. 16...h4 17.e1 xe3+ 18.xe3 xh2 19.f3 and white has
equalized. 16...c5 leaves white in dore straits. 17.ce2 h4 Now this
is really good. 18.g3 xh2+ 19.g1 xd4+ 20.xd4 and black is winning. xg3 17.f3 17.h3 keeps white in the game after xe3+ 18.xe3 c5 19.ce2 xd4 20.xd4 c5 21.c1 cxd4 22.g5 d7 23.xd8 xd8
Black is better, but that's not to say white is going to lose. 17...xh2+ 18.g1 Black now plays what was the winning move in previous variations, but
now it's not...it's a gross blunder that loses! c5 Grob has
overlooked his opponent's reply. 18...xf3+ wins... 19.xf3 c5+ 20.f1 g4 21.e1 xf3 22.gxf3 d7 23.e3 xe3 24.xe3 h3+ 25.f2 h2+ 26.f1 d2 27.d1 h1+ 28.g1 xf3+ 29.f2 e2+ 30.g2 xe4+ 31.h3 f3+ 32.g3 xf2 19.xf7 Stunning! Amazing! Startling! Shocking! xd4+ 19...xf7 20.xf7+ xf7 21.h5+ g8 22.xc5 20.h1 20.xh2 h4# 20...e5 A casual
glance may give the impression that black still has an attack, but all he can
do is play on a bit on inertia. 20...xf7 21.xf7+ xf7 22.xh2 e6 23.h5+ White is winning. 21.f5+ h8 22.xe5 xe5 23.h5 g4 24.g5 f2+ 25.g1 g4 26.h4 Black resigned 26.h4 f8 27.e3 Black loses more
material. f6 28.xf2 h5 29.d1 h6 30.xg4 hxg4 31.xg4 f8 32.d1 f6 33.c5 g8 White wins at will. 1–0
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