A Correspondence Beauty

    Around midnight Saturday the 1,900 mile long strip of bad weather that originated in Southern California hit my neck of the woods and the snow started and lasted nearly 24 hours. Sunday, right in the middle of a movie, we lost our Internet and cable for 5-6 hours. Officially we had 8 inches of snow, but there was closer to 12 inches in my driveway. 

    After spending about two hours out in the 10 degree weather clearing driveways and siderwalks, it was time to settle in with coffee and look over some of the games in the entertaining book The History of Correspondence Chess in America by Bryce Avery where I came across this pleasing game. I have no information on the winner, but Stephan Gerzadowich is a familiar name. 

    A Goole AI report says, “Based on available chess community records, Stephan Gerzadowicz...notable Massachusetts chess master, tournament director, and author, passed away before early 2023. However, a Facebook entry on January 14, 2024, reports that date as being the 79th birthday of “chess author, coach, correspondence chess master, and former MACA president and New England Chess Association president Stephan C. Gerzadowicz.” We will fo wityh that report!

    Gerzadowicz spent his first 53 years in rural Massachusetts where he ran nine marathons, wrote five books and became a Correspondence Master. He played in five USCF Absolute Championships and one USCCC. He has ranked as high as #10 on the USCF Top 50 List of correspondence players. 

    He also served as president of both the Massachusetts and the New England Chess Associations. He has been a tournament director at The Denker Tournament of High School Champions, The U. S. Blind Championship, the Tennessee Open Championship, and the Final Four of College Chess. 

    In 1998, while living in Princeton, New Jersey he taught chess as part of the regular curriculum in a small elementary school with his students winning numerous New Jersey Scholastic Championships. Gerzadowicz attended Princeton University but left after three years. After leaving Princeton he lived and taught in New York, Florida, Tennessee and Texas. 

 

[Event "CCLA North American (postal)"] [Site "CCLA"] [Date "1994.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Steven D. Wolff"] [Black "Steven Gerzadowicz"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Dtosckfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1994.??.??"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2026.01.26"] [SourceQuality "1"] {Leningrad Dutch} 1. c4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 {A sharp, tactical variation.} 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. e3 d6 6. Nge2 c6 7. O-O O-O 8. d4 e5 9. b3 {[%mdl 32] White has chosen a rather modest setup.} e4 10. Ba3 {This is just one of many moves white has played here, but the most promising seems to be 10.d5} Re8 11. Nf4 ( 11. h4 a6 12. Nf4 b5 13. d5 c5 14. Bb2 Ng4 15. Ne6 Rxe6 16. dxe6 Bxe6 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Qd2 {with equal chances. Raicevic,M (2355)-Marjanovic,S (2425) Yugoslavia 1994}) 11... Na6 12. h4 Nc7 13. Rc1 Rb8 14. b4 Bd7 15. Qb3 Bf8 { Too passive.} 16. Rfd1 Kg7 {Once again black plays a move that is much too passive. After this move white launches a strong attack. Vlack still should have played ...Ne6} (16... Ne6 $16) 17. d5 {An excellent move opening the long diagonal.} Ng4 (17... cxd5 18. Bb2 dxc4 19. Qxc4 b5 20. Qb3 {Black has to get his K off the diagonal, but h6 is hardly a safe square.} Kh6 21. Qf7 Be6 22. Nxe6 Nxe6 23. Bf1 a6 {Now, no doubt, we can expect some violenr K-side action, but first....} (23... Qe7 {Eliminationg Qs does not lessen the attack's ferocty.} 24. Qxe7 Rxe7 25. Nxb5 Ng4 26. Nxd6 Rxb4 27. Ba3 Rb8 28. Nxe4 fxe4 29. Bxe7 {White is up the exchange and a P.}) 24. Nxb5 {Opening up the diadonal for the B.} axb5 25. Bxf6 Be7 26. Be5 Rf8 27. Qxe6 {wins}) 18. c5 dxc5 19. bxc5 cxd5 20. Ncxd5 Kh6 21. Bb2 Nxd5 22. Rxd5 {the R into play against the black K.} Qc8 (22... Qe7 $142 23. Bh3 Bg7 24. Bxg7+ Kxg7 25. Bxg4 fxg4 26. Qc3+ Kg8 27. Rd6 Bc6 28. Rcd1 {Material is equal, but white has a winning attack, One example...} Qg7 29. Rf6 Rf8 30. Qb3+ Kh8 31. Rxf8+ Qxf8 32. Rd6 Re8 33. Rxg6 hxg6 34. Nxg6+) 23. Bh3 Be6 24. Bxg4 fxg4 {After this black loses quickly. } (24... Bxd5 {Would have made things more difficult for white.} 25. Qxd5 Qd8 26. Qg8 Qe7 27. Bxf5 Bg7 28. Qxg7+ Qxg7 29. Bxg7+ Kxg7 30. Bh3 {Material is unbalanced (B+N+P vs, a R) and white is theoretically winning, but it will reuire some technique.}) 25. Rh5+ {[%mdl 512] Who could resist playing this move?} gxh5 26. Qc3 Qd8 27. Qh8 {The f6 square is reserved for the B.} Bf5 28. c6 {White intends to play his R to c5 so vacates the square.} Qe7 {White must now prevent ...Bg7.} 29. Bf6 Rbc8 30. Rc5 {Black resigned.} 1-0