By the time of the 1958/59 US Championship Bobby Fischer had become a Grandmastyer and an international star. In this tournament it was thought he might face a sweious challenge from the former Hungarian Pal Benko who had been doing very well in European events. But, Benko had a mediocre performance and Fischer went undefeated to take his second title in a row.
The following game is from that event and it’s an interesting one that contains a mix of strategy and tactics. It’s a rare bird in that, at least in modern times, not many games between Grandmasters end in mate.
The players came out of the opening with equality, but on move 13, in an attempt to play aggressively, Reshevsky made a slightly inferior move that gave Evans good chances.
Things were going well for Evans until move 23 when he made a tactical error that, according to Reshevsky, could only be attributed to a lack of positional judgment. He was quick to add that he wasn;t implying that Evans lacked positional judgment, but his troubles resulted from misjudging the position and sacrificing a Pawn on move 27. After that his, position deteriorated rapidly. In spite of his manly defense his position soon collapsed.
[Event "US Championship 1958/59"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1958.12.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Samuel Reshevsky"]
[Black "Larry Melvyn Evans"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E46"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "77"]
[EventDate "1958.12.??"]
{E46: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3
O-O 5. Nge2 d5 6. a3 Be7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nf4 {A Reshevsky favorite. The
purpose of this move is to prevent black from playing the freeing ...c6-c5.
Sometimes white plays 8.b4 which accomplishes the same thing, but it has the
disadvantage of weakening the c4 square.} a5 9. Bd3 Re8 10. O-O c6 11. f3 {
In this position white must play aggressively if he hopes to get any advantage
and this move prepares for either e4 or g4.} Na6 12. Qc2 $18 (12. Kh1 Nc7 13.
Bd2 c5 14. dxc5 Bxc5 {equals. Faizrakhmanov,R (2364)-Studer,N (2403) Batumi
GEO 2014} 15. e4 {0-1 (41)}) 12... g6 13. g4 {Routine would be moves like 14.
Bd2 or 14.Bb5 or even 14.Kh1. Instead.Reshevsky decided against 13. QN-K2 (in
order to plat aggressively.} Nc7 14. Qg2 b5 15. Bd2 Ne6 16. Nfe2 {A very small
slip, but it givves black the initiative. A better plan was to play 16.Nxe6
and then replace the N by N-e2-f4} Ba6 {This threatens to win material.} 17.
Nd1 {This retreat proves that white's 16th move was incorrect..} (17. Kh1 {
A pass to demonstrate the threat.} b4 18. Bxa6 bxc3 19. bxc3 Rxa6 {and black
has won a piece.}) 17... c5 {This excellent move threatens to strengthen his
position considerably with 18...c4 followed by ...b4.} 18. dxc5 (18. b4 {
is an ingenious defense that minimizes black's advantage.} axb4 19. axb4 cxb4
20. g5 Nxg5 21. Nf4 (21. Qxg5 Ne4) 21... Ne6 22. Nxe6 fxe6 23. Rb1 {regains
one of the Ps and white at least has some play.}) 18... Bxc5 19. b4 $15 Bb6 20.
Kh1 axb4 21. axb4 {This is a critical position. Reshevsky threatens to win a P
with 22.Rxb6 and 23.Bxb4 forking the s. Black's best defense is 21...Bb7} Nc7 {
Black has considerable pressure on the e-Pawn. Slightly better, but beyond
human ability to calculate, was 21...Bb7 leading to to enormous complications.}
(21... Bb7 22. Rxa8 Qxa8 23. Bxb5 Rd8 24. Ng3 Nxg4 25. fxg4 Bxe3 26. Bd3 Ng5
27. Nxe3 d4 28. Qxb7 Qxb7+ {Black is only very slightly better.}) 22. Nd4 Nd7 {
His intention is to play ...Ne5-c4} 23. f4 {This prevents the N maneuver, but
at the expense of weakening the e4my square.} ({was a promising alternative,
After} 23. Nc6 Qh4 24. g5 Bb7 25. Rxa8 Bxa8 26. Nd4 {the chances are equal.})
23... Bxd4 {Not a good choice because it gives up one of his best pleces.
Correct was 23...Ne6. The text allows white's pieces too much mobility and he
is now able to launch a strong attack against black's weakened K-side now that
the dark squared B is gone.} 24. exd4 {White's dark squared B us now ready to
enter the action.} Qf6 {Defending the dark squares, but it would have been
more beneficial to place the N on f6.} 25. Qf2 h6 {This prevents 26.g5, but at
the cost of weakening the K-side even further. Reshevsky now executes a nice
tactical shot. What should have balck played? There really wan't anything that
could be considered a whole lot better.} 26. g5 {White is winning so Evans
decides to throw caution to the wind.} hxg5 27. f5 {This may or may not have
come as a surprise to Evans.} ({Not} 27. fxg5 {looks logical, but white
maintains the upper hand after} Qxf2 28. Nxf2 {Bringing the N in to play.} Kg7
29. Ng4 {Black has better chances of defense than after 27.f5, ultimately
white's positional advantage would prove decisive.}) 27... Nf8 (27... gxf5 {
is not at all playable...} 28. Bxg5 Qg6 (28... Qxg5 29. Rg1) 29. Bxf5) 28. Qg3
{Attacking the N and threatening to play fxg6. There is no defense.} Qxd4 29.
fxg6 {[%mdl 512]} fxg6 {Taking with the N was only a bit better, but it really
would not have made much difference.} 30. Qxc7 {aiming for Qf7+.} Qxd3 31. Qf7+
Kh8 32. Rf3 {There is no defense to Rf3#. It's quite possible that Reshevsky
was in his usual tome pressure now and that would explain why Evansd continues
playing.} Qxf3+ 33. Qxf3 d4 {Losing another piece, but it doesn't matter.} 34.
Qf6+ Kh7 35. Rxa6 Rxa6 36. Qxa6 Re2 37. Qa7+ Kh6 38. Qxd4 Ne6 39. Qh8# 1-0


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