Reshevsky at Leeds

 

    Today’s game was played by the eight year old prodigy Samual Reshevsky in his historic appearance at Leeds, England on August 31, 1920. Before moving to the U.S. later that year, Reshevsky toured major European cities, including Paris (where he scored 20-0) and London, giving simultaneous exhibitions. 

    During his stop in Yorkshire, he visited the Leeds Chess Club. It’s interesting that as an adult he regarded his play in those old simultaneous displays as quite meritorious. Edward Winter has an interesting post on Reshevsky as a prodigy HERE. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Event "15 bd Simul, Leeds. Eng"] [Site ""] [Date "1920.08.31"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "George W. Beaumont"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C34"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1920.??.??"] {C34: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 Be6 5. Bxe6 fxe6 6. d4 g5 {This is questionable. Black's best move is 6...Qf6} (6... Qf6 7. O-O e5 8. Nc3 c6 {with equality.}) 7. O-O {It would be more advantageous to white to play 7.h4!} h6 8. Qe2 {This is too passive. For white to have any hope of gaining an advantage he has to play 8.g3} (8. g3 fxg3 9. hxg3 {and now either 10.Nc3 or 10.d5 would be about equal.} Bg7) 8... a6 {This is a waste of time. Simply 8...Bg7 was correct.} (8... Bg7 9. g3 Qd7 10. gxf4 g4 11. Nh4 Bxd4+ {followed by 12...Nc6 leaves black with an excellent position/}) 9. Ne1 {Likewise, Reshevsky wastes time, but his plan of breaking up black's K-side Ps remains.} Qe7 10. g3 e5 11. Nc3 Nf6 (11... exd4 {is a bad tactical error.} 12. Nd5 Qd7 13. Bxf4 gxf4 14. Rxf4 Be7 15. Qh5+ Kd8 16. Qg6 {and the R invades on f7 with decisive results.}) 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nd3 Nc6 14. Nd5 {This innocent looking move has set up a critival position that black fails to appreciate.} Nxd5 {This is an error that lets his advantage slip. He should have delayed this capture a move and played 14...Qg7} (14... Qg7 {Black intends to castle Q-side and will remain a solid P up and have K-side attacking potential} 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Qh5+ Qf7 17. Qxf7+ Kxf7 {Black is much better.}) 15. exd5 Nd4 16. Qh5+ Kd8 {White has now achieved equality.} (16... Qf7 17. Qxf7+ Kxf7 18. Nxe5+ {White has equalized.}) 17. Bd2 {Black must now continue aggressively with ...e4 and ...Bg7} Qf6 {Now Reshevsky could secure a solid positional advantahe with 18.Rae1 and 19.Bc3. Instead he plays an unsound tactical move.} 18. Nxe5 {Strictly speaking this is not a blunder nor is it really unsound, but it loses the advantage and results in equality. Fortunately for Reshevsky, his opponent falls for the bluff, but he can hardly be blamed because the way to equalizing is quite difficult to see!} Rh7 $2 {[%mdl 8192] This loses quickly.} (18... Qxe5 19. Rae1 {The game saver is the problem-like...} Ne2+ $3 20. Rxe2 Bc5+ 21. Kg2 Qxd5+ 22. Rf3 {with fully equal chances.}) 19. Rae1 {White has brought his last piece into play and is now ready to launch a decisive attack.} Bd6 (19... Bc5 {presents no danger to white.} 20. Kh1 Re7 21. gxf4 {with an easy win.}) {]} 20. gxf4 {[%mdl 32]} (20. Nc6+ {Threatening 21.Qe8# was a cute little trap. Black can avoid it with} Kd7 21. gxf4 gxf4 (21... bxc6 22. fxg5 Qg7 23. Qg4+ {is decisive.}) 22. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 23. Kh1 Rf8 24. Bc3 Qc5 25. Bf6 {Material is equal, vut black's poeces are too disorganized to offer any serious resistance.}) 20... Bc5 21. Kh1 c6 22. fxg5 {White quickly wins a lot of material.} Qd6 23. Nf7+ Rxf7 24. Qxf7 Qxd5+ 25. Qxd5+ cxd5 26. gxh6 Kc7 27. h7 Rh8 28. Rf7+ Kb8 29. Bf4+ Ka7 30. Be5 {Black resigned. All in all not a bad performance by an 8-year old playing a simul and having only a few seconds per move.} 1-0