During August and September the Olympiad (known at the time as the Hamilton-Russell Cup) was held in Buenos Aires. Germany won, Poland was second and Estonia third. After the event many European played elected to stay in South America. The Women's World Championship was held in conjunction with the Olympiad. Vera Menchik-Stevenson retained her title finishing ahead of Sonja Graf.
On December 27, 1939 the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation form the United States Chess Federation. Prior to that happening, the annual congress of the American Chess Federation opened at New York City in the George Washington Hotel. It’s now the Freehand New York Hotel and it has an interesting history.
The tournament started wiyj a field of twenty-eight players and it was for the North American Chess Championship. In the preliminaries the top three scorers in each group qualified for the finals. The US champion Samuel Reshevsly entered hoping to become the holder of both titles, but a draw with Albert Pinkis, whom Fine defeated, cost him at least a tie for the title.
At move 27 in the following game against Ulvestad, Reshevsky made what should have been a losing move. A few move later a mistake by Ulvestad let Reshevsky off the hook and things were back to equal. Then at move 35 Ulvestad blundered again and Reshevksy was winning. But, the game wasn’t over! Reshevsky ,issed the strongest continuation at move 37, but on his turn Ulvestad erred and then the ga,me was over.
Olaf Ulvestad (1912-2000) was from Washington state, but in the 1960s hemoved to Italy, where he performed as an opera singer. He later moved to Spain, and played first board for Andorra at the 1970 Siegen Olympiad. He died on August 24, 2000 at the Washington Old Soldiers Home in Retsil, Washington.
Olaf Ulvestad–Samuel Reshevsky0–1A49ACF, N. American Chp, New YorkNew York, NY USA25.07.1939Stockfish 17
A49: Anti-King's Indian System 1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.g3 g7 4.g2 0-0 5.bd2 d6 6.c3 Ulvestad plays an unambitious system where he avoids c4. c6 Rather passive. 6...c5 7.e3 c6 8.0-0 c7 9.e1 b6 10.e4 cxd4 11.cxd4 b4 12.e3 c2 Zahariou,N (2009)-Sigalas,F (2153) Nikea 2002 diesn;t offer much either. 7.c4 e6 8.f4 If Ulvestad’s goal was to reach a simple, uncomplicated position then he gas been successful. The only drawback is that he has almost no attacking chances whereas at least black can operate on the Q-side. b5 9.a3 b8 10.c2 e7 11.b4 b7 12.0-0 a5 13.d3 h6 14.a4 bxa4 15.xa4 d5 16.e4 b6 17.c2 a4 18.fe1 a5 19.e2 d7 20.ae1 b5 21.e5 We finally see some action on white's part, but this is the wrong center P to advance. 21.d5 e5 21...exd5 22.e5 dxe5 23.dxe5 xe5 24.xe5 The threat of Nxg6 is to strong to meet 22.e3 with only a nomila advantage for black. 21...bc4 22.h4 This is no more than a gesture. b3 23.h2 xg2 24.xg2 a3 25.bxa3!= xa3 26.d1 c6+ 27.f3 This position is equal and Reshevsky could keep it that way by withdrawing the N on a3. Instead he makes a tactical blunder. fd8 28.a2 a8 28...b5 29.xb3 xd4 30.d1 xc3 31.xd4 xd4 White's extra piece is worth more than black's two Ps. In Shootouts white scored +5 -0 =0 29.b4 xd4 30.cxd4 xb4 31.d3 After this his advantage is gone and Reshevsky is back on equal terms. Ulvestad can be excused for this slip though because after the correct 31.exd6 rhings gwt super-complicated to calculate. 31.exd6 cxd6 32.d5 e5 33.c1 d4 34.xa3 xd5 35.b3 xb3 36.xb3 Theoretically at least white has a decisive advantage, but these kinds of positions are not so simple to play. 31...a4 32.ea1 Another small slip, but it's not too serious. 32.exd6 is better. After cxd6 33.xh6 A move that's hard to spot when calculating this variation! xh6 34.ea1 regains the piece. g7 35.xa3 xa3 36.xa3 with equality. 32...dxe5 33.xa3 xa3 34.xa3 d5 35.c3 35.e3 exf4 36.xf4 offers equal chances. 35...exf4 36.xc7 fxg3 And now we see why white's 35.Qc3 was wrong. 37.a5 37.fxg3 xd4 and black is two Ps uo. 37...d6 White has better drawing chances with Qs off the boad so he should have played 38.Qxd6 which would have allowed him time to play fxg3 38.c4 The final error. 38.xd6 was the crucial defense. xd6 39.a8+ f8 40.fxg3 Black has two Ps and a B vs. N, but the ending could prove arduous. 38...gxf2 39.a6 f1+ 40.xf1 d5 White resigned. Two Ps down us a hopeless fight. 40...d5 41.a4 b8 42.c1 e4 43.c3 g4+ 44.f2 f6 45.b4 xh4+ etc. 0–1
No comments:
Post a Comment