Unfinished Business

    The 1934 Marshall Chess Club Championship had an interesting game that wasn't finished and didn't count. Samuel Reshevsky’s first round game against Roman Smirka was adjourned and wasn’t resumed because Reshevsky withdrew from the tournament for reasons that weren’t specified. Reshevsky claimed the final position was a draw, but it wasn’t. Smirka had a winning advantage. 

    Roman Smirka (1887-1947, 60 years old) was born in Vienna, Austria and not much else is known about him. He won the New York State championship in 1923 and 1927. He was one of the strongest members of the Marshall Chess Club, winning its championship in 1929-1930 after a play-off with Sidney Bernstein. 

 

 

    Even without Reshevsky, the tournament was a thriller. David Polland started off on a hot streak, but soon faded and was overtaken by Milton Hanauer, the former state champion. Hanauer established what appeared to be a commanding two point lead ahead of another former state champion, Fred Reinfeld. 

    At the halfway point Reinfeld started to gradually catch up with Hanauer. And, after the semi-final round they were tied. The final round was really exciting. Hanauer had outplayed Erling Tholfsen, but overlooked a mate in three and lost! Reinfeld ended a very difficult game with Santasiere by securing a perpetual check and so finished first by a half point. 

 

[Event "Marshall CC Chp, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1934.??.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Roman Smirka"] [Black "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Result "*"] [ECO "A48"] [Annotator "Atockfish 17.1 et al"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "1934.??.??"] {A48: Colle Systems} 1. d4 {This game was played in the first round.} Nf6 2. Nf3 c6 {Intending to play the Slav Defense if white plays 3.c4, but Smirka is uncooperative.} 3. e3 g6 4. Be2 Bg7 5. b3 O-O 6. Bb2 d6 7. Nbd2 Qc7 8. c4 Nbd7 9. Qc2 b6 {Fred Reinfeld gave this a ?, calling it a positional blunder that is not easy to forgive when made by a master strength player. He called the move pointless because the B couldn't be considered developed on b7 and it only helps to create a weakness later. He recommended 9...e5 followed by ... Re8. A couple of points to nore are that while Reinfeld was a very strong player, he was known to hold grudges against his fellow masters. Besides that, PlentyChess likes 9...b6 and considers the position equal.} (9... e5 10. O-O Re8 {This position has been reached many times in this opening and white can play several reasonable moves. The position is equal.}) 10. O-O e5 (10... Bb7 11. Rfd1 Rac8 12. e4 e5 13. dxe5 {½-½ Ptaschinski,D (2182)-Blasco,D (2111) Arco ITA 1999}) 11. Rfe1 Re8 12. b4 exd4 13. exd4 Nf8 14. Bd3 Bg4 {Equally good were both 14...Bb7 and 14...Ba6. The fact that black can play just about anything with impunity shows how innocuous white's opening play has been.} 15. h3 {[%mdl 2048]} Bxf3 16. Nxf3 {To quote Reinfeld: The exchange has improved white's game appreciably, but Black was probably glad to get rid of a piece which had so unpromising a future. To quote engines, the position is nearly equal.} Ne6 17. Bf1 Re7 18. g3 Qb7 19. Bg2 {The B's effectiveness is of course greatly heightened by black's 9th move, wrote Reinfeld.} b5 {The idea is to stop the advance of white's b-Pawn, but it's this move that is the cause of black's problem on the Q-side. Better would have been 19...Qc7 getting the Q off the B's diagonal and then ...Nf8 exchanging Rs.} 20. c5 (20. d5 {This sharp move would have given white a substantial advantage.} cxd5 21. cxd5 Nf8 22. Rxe7 Qxe7 23. Nd4 {followed by Nc6}) 20... Nd5 {It is understandable that black wants to obtain a good central square for his pieces; but the text allows a frontal attack on the weak c-Pawn and 20...d5 was therefore preferable. (Reinfeld) He was correct.} 21. cxd6 Rd7 22. Ne5 Rxd6 23. a3 Ne7 24. Rac1 Rc8 (24... Nxd4 {is a blunder.} 25. Bxd4 Rxd4 26. Nxc6 Nxc6 27. Bxc6 { and white is winning.}) 25. Qe4 Qb6 26. Red1 Qd8 27. Qf3 f6 {This weakens the K-side and should have allowed white to seize the advantage with 28.Nd3!} 28. Ng4 (28. Nd3 Nxd4 29. Bxd4 Rxd4 30. Nc5 Rxd1+ 31. Rxd1 Nd5 32. Qb3 Kh8 33. Bxd5 cxd5 34. Rxd5 {White's pieces are all well placed assuring him of a considerable positional advantage.}) 28... Kh8 29. d5 (29. Nxf6 {would be very bad.} Ng5 {and the N is hanging.}) 29... Ng5 30. Qb3 cxd5 31. Bd4 h5 {It's a good possibility that Reshevsky was in time trouble hereabouts.} 32. Ne3 Rxc1 33. Rxc1 {Starting with 28.Ng4 white's position has slipped to equality.} Ne4 ( 33... f5 {keeps the balance.} 34. Bxa7 d4 {and in the complications the chamces would be equal.}) 34. Bxa7 (34. Bc5 {is more difficult to meet.} Rd7 35. Bxe7 Qxe7 36. Nxd5 {White has a decisive positional advantage, For exanple. ..} Qe5 37. Qc2 Nxg3 (37... Ng5 38. Qc8+) 38. Rd1 (38. fxg3 Qxg3 39. Qc8+) 38... Ne2+ 39. Kf1 Nf4 40. Qc8+) 34... f5 35. Bxe4 fxe4 36. Bc5 Rc6 {This causes problems because it allows wite's Q to invade with a strong effect.. 36. ..Rd7 leaves black safe.} (36... Rd7 37. Rd1 d4 38. Qe6 Qc7 39. Ng2 {Black's center Ps assure him of at least equality.}) 37. Rd1 d4 {The game was adjourned here and Smirka sealed his bext move.} 38. Qf7 {This game was not completed because Reshevsky withdrew from the tournamment for unknown reasons. He claimed the position is drawm but although white still has some work to do, that is not the case. In Shootouts white scored 5-0. Accuracy: White = 42%, Black = 31%.} (38. Qf7 {A continuation might be...} Ng8 39. Qb7 Re6 40. Nd5 d3 41. Nf4 Re8 42. Be3 g5 43. Nxh5 Bd4 44. Rc1 Bb2 45. Qxb5 Re5 46. Qb7 Re7 47. Rc8) *