Dr. Miroslav Filip Hoodwinks Tal

    Miroslav Filip (1928 - 2009) was a Czech Grandmaster. He was born in Prague and like Ludek Pachman, he benefited from the occasional presence of the world champion Alexander Alekhine in Prague competitions during the early 1940s. However, it was not until the age of 25 that Filip began to make a serious mark on the postwar chess scene. 

    From 1955 to 1962, the 6 foot 9 inch tall Filip became a world force. During this period he twice achieved the arduous feat of qualifying for the Candidates Tournaments for the World Championship at Amsterdam in 1956 and again at Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, 1962. Filip never was chess professional so his two appearances in these events are an impressive achievement. 

    After the Candidate tournaments Filip grew less enthusiastic about tournament play and was more concerned with avoiding defeat than in scoring wins. He also became more involved in journalism and serving as an arbiter. 

 

 

    The following game, mentioned in the previous post, was probably Filip’s best in the tournament. Tal was playing his usual sharp game and had established a significant advantage when he got hoodwinked. Filip’s sacrifice of the exchange caught Tal off guard and he played a few weak move before totally collapsing.

 

 

 

[Event "Curacao Candidates"] [Site ""] [Date "1962.05.20"] [Round "12"] [White "Mikhail Tal"] [Black "Miroslav Filip"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B43"] [WhiteElo "2706"] [BlackElo "2618"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "1962.05.02"] {B43: Sicilian: Kan Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 { The moves ...e6 and ...a6 are the flexible Kan Variation in which black keeps his options open. He has the optio of where to place his dark squared B and 4.. .a6 prevents Nb5 and prepares ...b5} 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. f4 b5 7. a3 Bb7 8. Qf3 { Normal is 8.Bd3 and then if he chooses, placing the Q on e2, but Tal liked playing with fire.} Nf6 9. Bd3 Bc5 10. Nb3 Be7 11. O-O O-O {Safer was 11...d6 followed by ...Nbd2} 12. Bd2 (12. Qh3 {threatening e4-e5 would have been more Tal-like!} d5 (12... e5 13. fxe5 Qxe5 14. Rf5 Qe6 15. Nd4 {is crushing.}) 13. e5 Ne4 14. Nd2 {White has the initiative.}) 12... d6 13. g4 d5 {A safe alternative was 13...g6, but Filip is not inyerested in defending, he is alsi playing aggressively,} 14. e5 Nfd7 15. Qh3 {[%mdl 2048]} g6 16. Nd4 Nc6 17. Nce2 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 Nc5 19. b4 Ne4 20. Be3 (20. Bxe4 {Turns out ot be in black's favor after} dxe4 21. Be3 Bd5 22. c3 f6 (22... Qxc3 23. Rfc1 Qd3 24. Rd1 Qc3 25. Rdc1 {draws}) 23. exf6 Bxf6) 20... Rfe8 21. Rae1 Bf8 22. Nf3 a5 23. f5 (23. Bxb5 axb4 24. axb4 (24. Bxe8 {does not win the exchange.} Rxe8 25. axb4 Ba6 $17 {wins bacj the exchange and white is left with two weak Ps.}) 24... Bxb4 25. Bxe8 Rxe8 26. Rb1 Bc5 27. Bd4 Ba6 {White has win the exchange but black has compensation in the form of the well placed N, two Bs and white's weak c-Pawn}) 23... exf5 24. gxf5 Rxe5 {This offer of the exchange is nothing more than a bluff, but there was really nothing better and Tal now fails to find the correct way to keep his advantage.} 25. fxg6 (25. Nxe5 Qxe5 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27. Rd1 {White is in complete control of the game.}) 25... hxg6 26. Nxe5 Qxe5 27. c3 {Better was 27.Qd7} axb4 28. Bd4 {Filip has now managed to equalize.} Bc8 {Very good. The exgchange of Qs would only be to black's advantage.} 29. Qg2 Qh5 {Threatening ...Bh3.} 30. Bxe4 dxe4 31. Qxe4 {White has a small material advantage (R vs B+P). His B and Q are well placed and he has control of the e-file and...he has a lost game after this! Watch Filip's pieces spring into life!} (31. axb4 Bh3 {regains the exchange and equalizes.}) 31... Qg5+ 32. Kh1 (32. Qg2 Qxg2+ 33. Kxg2 bxa3 34. Ra1 Be6 35. Rfb1 Bc4 { White is reduced to shuffling pieces/} 36. Kf3 a2 37. Rc1 Rd8 38. Rc2 Bg7 39. Ke3 Bxd4+ (39... b4 40. Bxg7 b3 41. Rcxa2 bxa2 42. Bf6 Rd6 43. Bd4 Re6+ { Black has a win ending.}) 40. cxd4 Rxd4) (32. Kf2 Rxa3 33. Re3 Ra2+ 34. Re2 b3 35. Qe5 Qxe5 36. Bxe5 Bc5+ 37. Bd4 Bxd4+ 38. cxd4 Rxe2+ 39. Kxe2 Bf5 40. Kd2 b2 {wins}) 32... Be6 {...Bd5 is the threat.} 33. Be5 Rd8 {Renewing the threat of . ..Bd5} 34. h4 Qh5 {Threatens to win with ...Bd5.} 35. Qf4 Rd3 {35...bxa3 was even stringer.} 36. Bf6 {This loses instantly.} (36. axb4 {at least gives him a fighting chance.} Rh3+ 37. Kg1 Rxh4 38. Qf3 Qg5+ 39. Kf2 Bd5 40. Qxd5 Rh2+ 41. Bxh2 Qxd5 42. Be5 Bg7 43. Bxg7 Kxg7 {and white can play on hoping for a miracle.}) 36... Qd5+ 37. Kg1 bxc3 38. Re4 Bc5+ 39. Kh2 Qa2+ {White resigned. Tal's collapse was sudden and complete.} (39... Qa2+ 40. Rf2 Qxf2+ 41. Qxf2 Bxf2 42. Re2 Bg3+ {is hopeless for white.}) 0-1

Nezhmetdinov at Bucharest in 1954

     Nezhmetdinov was also a checker champion and the photo is of him playing the Senegalese player Baba Sy in checker tournament on a 10 by 10 board. Concerning checkers, Bobby Fischer was interested in the game, but he never played it seriously. Besides Nezhmetdinov, quite a few well known chess players also excelled at checkers, but none to the extent that he did. Among chess players known to have been checker players are: Alexandre Deschapelles, Albert Hodges, Harry N. Pillsbury, Frank Marshall, Edward Lasker (who wrote books on both games). Checker champion Newell Banks was also a master chess player. Irving Chernev, who probably was not actually a chess master, also wrote a book on checkers. 
     In the spring of 1954 Nezhmetdinov, who rarely played outside of the Soviet Union, made one of his most successful appearances in any tournament. Four Soviet masters played, Viktor Korchnoi, Ratmir Kholmov, Semyon Furman, and Rashid Nezmetdinov. Joining them were distinguished players Gideon Stahlberg of Sweden, Dr, Miroslav Filip and Ludek Pachman of Czechoslovakia, Alberic O'Kelly de Galway of Belgium, Bogdan Sliwa of Poland and Enrico Paoli of Italy, Bela Sandor, Stefan Szabo, and Gyula Kluger all of Poland, Robert Wade then representing New Zealand plus four Romanian players, Victor Ciocaltea, Ion Balanel, Octav Troianescu, and Paul Voiculescu.  For many of these players this tournament was the one that gained them their first titles.
     At the time the four Soviet players were practically unknown outside Russia and were being allowed to compete in international tournaments as a result of Nikita Kruschev's DeStalinization program. In addition, the Russian Chess Federation wanted to answer criticism that they only sent their top masters to tournaments because they were afraid their “ordinary” masters wouldn't be very successful. 
     In order to make sure Korchnoi, Kholmov, Furman, and Nezmetdinov would do well at Bucharest the authorities sent them to Moscow for training and preparation under the direction of Isaac Boleslavsky and David Bronstein. At the time of this event none of the Russian participants had titles and it was because of their results in this event that all four would be awarded the IM title. 
     The big surprise was Korchnoi's first place finish with a score of +10 -1 =6; his only loss was to Kluger who also earned the IM title as a result of his fifth place finish. Nezhmetdinov, in addition to capturing the first brilliancy prize for his win against Paoli in the fifth round, finished second just a half point behind Korchnoi with a score of +10 -2 =5. For Paoli the tournament was a disaster; he finished next to last with a single win and eleven losses and five draws. Paoli (who died in 2005) had a long and successful career in Italian chess and in 1969 missed the GM title by only a half point; he was awarded the title of Honorary GM in 1996. 
     As for the other Soviet players, Kholmov tied for third with Filip and Furman tied for sixth with Pachman. Just before the fifth round, Nezhmetdinov was informed that his son, Iskander, had just been born. This tournament was also the beginning of Filip's brief (1955 to 1962) foray into the group of the world's elite players. During this period he twice qualified for the Candidates Tournaments for the World Championship (Amsterdam 1956 and Curacao, 1962).
     At Curacao he was pretty much outclassed and afterward he lost interest in tournament play, becoming more concerned with just avoiding defeat rather than winning and turned to writing books, journalism and working as an arbiter. In 2002 he was invited to attend festivities for the 40th anniversary of the 1962 Candidates, but he declined saying he had pretty much lost interest in chess. Interesting fact: Filip was 6 feet 9 inches tall.

     Nezhmetdinov's win over Paoli is well known and has been analyzed many, many times but in case you haven't seen it, it's the featured game here. Even if you have seen it, enjoy playing over it again.  While looking over the game I also discovered the opening followed the Ciocaltea-Filip game from the same tournament, but Ciocaltea missed a fine sacrifice; if he had seen it, it's possible that the first brilliancy prize would have been his. Crosstable
 

Engine Experiment

    Labor Day was officially established as a national holiday in the United States on June 28, 1894, when President Grover Cleveland signed a law passed by Congress making the first Monday in September a legal holiday to honor American workers. The first Labor Day celebration, however, had already taken place in New York City on September 5, 1882, organized by the Central Labor Union. 

    Now that the long weekend (for those who are still working) is over) and things are back to normal I have been monkeying around analyzing a game Tal lost to Filip in 1962 that has turned out to be more complicated than expected, playing a bit online where I had one interesting game that I might publish and I have been looking at an engine named Alexandria. 

    While visiting the CCLR engine rating list I noticed the open source neural network engine Alexandria 8.0.0 64-bit 4CPU was ranked 7th only 28 points below Stockfish 17.1. 

     I was unable to locate a site where version 8 was available and while searching for it visited Chess Engine Diary on Facebook and found the link to download version 8. Clicking on it took me to a porn site! Quickly backing out and running my antivirus program turned up no threats. 

    What I did find was a safe download of an older (about two years) version, Alexandria 5.1.4 on an interesting site called CHESSENGERIA. On my laptop Alexandria version 5 was defeated in 4 minute blitz games by Stockfish by a score of +0 -4 =1, but I found something interesting in the process. The evaluation of Alexandria notes that it “does not wait for...unfavorable developments”, but is willing to take risks in an attempt to weasel out of an unfavorable situation. 

    As a test, I used a position from the previously mentioned Tal-Filip game because that’s exactly what Filip did. He was in a bad situation and took a risk and it worked. Specifically, I wanted to compare the two engines’ analysis of the position after Tal’s 24.gxf5 to see how they compared. 

 

    Both engines give white a winning advantage of about 3.5 Pawns after 24...Re7. However, I was excited to see that Alexandria initially looked at Filip’s sacrifice of the exchange (24...Rxe5) which it finally evaluated at about 6 Pawns in white’s favor compared to Stockfish’s 5 Pawns. As a result, the risk was too great and so Alexandria finally settled on 24...Re7 as preferred by Stockfish. 

    Obviously, Alexandria is weaker than Stockfish and so there is not much point in using it for analysis purposes after the fact. What it might be useful for is uncovering an opening surprise when preparing for over the board play.

Janowsky at Marienbad 1925

     The Czech Republic's proudest natural resource is its healing water and Marienbad (Marianske Lazne) is home to hundreds of cold, curative springs. In 1907 English King Edward VII said of it, “I have traveled through the whole of India, Ceylon, all the spa places in Europe, but nowhere was I so spellbound by the poetry of beautiful nature as here in Marianske Lezne.” 
     Many spa towns have hosted chess tournaments and Marienbad has a great history. Beginning in 1925 the town hosted a strong international tournament organized by Isidor Gunsberg, who was also the tournament director. Tournaments held there were: 

1925: Marienbad was the host of an international tournament from May 20th to June 8th in 1925 and it featured Sixteen chess masters in a round robin event. Among them were former and current World Champion challengers Frank Marshall, Akiba Rubinstein, David Janowski and Aron Nimzovich. Rubinstein jumped off to an early lead but eventually he was neck and neck with Nimzovich, with whom he eventually shared first place. While the quality of games was poor, it was an important victory for both Nimzovich and Rubinstein as they were later regarded as top players of the 1920s. 
1948: A tournament of West Bohemia Spa Towns was organized, the first half was held in Carlsbad and the second in Marienbad. It included the likes of Lajos Steiner, Vidmar, Barcza, Janowsky, Pirc, Stoltz, Foltys, Opocensky, Tartakover who was 61-years old at the time. A strong finish of 5.5 point out of 6 games allowed Jan Foltys to capture first ahead of Barcza, Steiner, Pirc and Stoltz. 
1951: The FIDE Zonal Tournament was held there with the exception of the two last rounds, which were played in Prague. The tournament was won by Ludek Pachman, who was undefeated, scoring 13-3. Other top finishers were Szabo, Barcza, Stoltz, Foltys and Benko.
1954: This was the second Zonal Tournament was played in Marienbad. Sadly, this time it was the Jan Foltys Memorial. Foltys had died of leukemia in March, 1952 at the age of 43. Marienbad hosted rounds 7-14; the rest of the tournament was played in Prague. The winner was Pachman who finished a half point ahead of Szabo who beat Pachman in their individual game. They were followed by Sliwa, Filip, Stahlberg and Olafsson. 
1956: This tournament was partly organized by Prague and was the Steinitz Memorial. It was won by Miroslav Filip who was followed by Ragozin, Flohr, Pachman and Stahlberg.
1959: Polugaievsky won ahead of Szabo followed by Kozma and Ujtelky. 1961: Was another zonal tournament which was to rake place in Berg en Dal in the Netherlands, but political pressure of the cold war resulted in a visa refusal to Wolfgang Uhlmann, who was sent from the Amsterdam airport back to Germany. In protest, the Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Yugoslav players refused to take part at the tournament. As a result Olafsson finished first with 7.5-1.5. But with so few players, the results were annulled and a new tournament was played in Marienbad. Undaunted, Olafsson won this tournament, too. He was followed by Filip, Uhlmann, Johannssen, Ghitescu, Ciric and Bobotssov. 
1962: Not all the participants of in the Student Team Championship which was to held in Great Britain could obtain visas so instead the tournament was moved to Marienbad. The organizers managed to prepare the tournament in less than two months.The head of the committee of organizers was Jaroslav Sajtar, the main referee of the tournament was Karel Opocensky and one of the other referees was Igor Bondarevsky. Eighteen teams played in the tournament and the winner was the Soviet Union. The team consisted of Boris Spassky, Eduard Gufeld, Vladimir Bagirov and Vladimir Savon. There was also an international tournament. Mark Taimanov won ahead of Tringov, Djurasevic, Ciric, Sliwa, Hort and Ghitescu. 
1965: Ths event was won by Keres who was followed by Hort, Shamkovich, Uhlmann,Filip, Pachman and Stahlberg.  
1978: Marienbad hosted the Czech Championship which was won by Eduard Prandstetter who edged out Jan Smejkal by a half point. 
2008: A two-round Scheveningen match was held with veteran GMs facing team of young femae GMs. The veterans Karpov, Hort, Olafsson and Uhlmann outscored Viktorija Cmilyte, Anna Ushenina, Katerina Nemcova and Jana Jackova. 
2009: There was another double-round Scheveningen match in Marianske Lazne this year. The team of Korchnoi, Timman, Hort and Huebner lost by one point to lady players Humpy Koneru, Anna Muzychuk, Katarina Lahno and Jana Jackova. 
2010: In this year's tournament the top finishers were Hort, Portisch, Velimirovic and Uhlmann 

Janowsky

     Most players do not realize just how strong Janowsky (June 1868-January 1927) really was, but he was probably in the world's top 50 for several decades. His problem was he hated endings and was notorious for becoming impatient and throwing games when the ending was reached. Chessmetrics ranks him at number 1 in the world in 1904 with a rating of 2776. By the time of this tournament the 56-year old Janowsky's rating had sunk to 2501 placing him number 47 in the world. By that time the best players in the world were Emanuel Lasker, Jose Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Aron Nimzovich and Efim Bogoljubow. 
     In the 1928 Marienbad event he scored but three wins: Saemisch, Michell and Haida and lost all the rest. Final results were:

1-2) Nimzovich and Rubinstein 11.0 
3-4) Marshall and Torre 10.0 
5-6) Tartakower and Reti 9.5 
7) Spielmann 8.5 
8) Gruenfeld 8.0 
9) Yates 7.0 
10) Opocensky 6.5 
11-12) Przepiorka and Thomas 6.0 
13-14) Saemisch and Janowsky 5.5 
15) Michell 3.5 
16) Haida 2.5 

     Few players won more brilliancy prizes than Janowsky and the following game demonstrates his genius. As Irving Chernev wrote in 1000 Best Short Games of Chess, "Even in the twilight of his career, Janowsky could make electrifying moves." 

Saemisch

     Friedrich (Fritz) Saemisch (September 20, 1896 – August 16, 1975) was a German GM whose most famous game is his loss to Nimzovich at Copenhagen 1923 in the Immortal Zugzwang Game. He is also famous for playing in tournament in Linkoping, Sweden in 1959 and losing all 13 games on time. He followed that up at the age of 73 losing all 15 games on time. Saemisch is also remembered for his game against Capablanca at Carlsbad 1929, when the former World Champion lost a piece in the opening but refused to resign. 
     During World War II Saemisch was appointed as Betreuer (Supervisor) for the troops and his job was to give chess demonstrations and play simultaneous exhibitions for German soldiers all over Europe. 
     In 1944 when he arrived in Spain he made a proposal to the British ambassador that he would play a simul for the British troops in Gibraltar, but his offer was refused. Then Saemisch criticized Hitler at the closing banquet of the Madrid tournament in summer 1944. Upon returning to the German border, he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. This was not his first transgression, since he had previously said loudly in the Luxor coffee house in Prague, “Isn't Hitler a fool? He thinks he can win the war with Russians!” According to Ludek Pachman Prague was full of Gestapo, and Saemisch had to be overheard at least at the next few tables. Pachman asked him to speak quietly, but Saemisch replied, “You don't agree that Hitler is a fool?” 
     It may sound like Saemisch wasn't a great player, but Alekhine had this to say of him: “Of all the modern masters that I have had occasion to observe playing blindfold chess, it is Saemisch who interests me the most; his great technique, his speed and precision have always made a profound impression on me.” Coming from one of the most greatest exponents of blindfold play, that is quite a compliment! And in 1929 Chessmetrics puts him in the top 10 in the world with a rating of 2665 and he had performance ratings of over 2700 at Baden-Baden 1925 and Dortmand in 1928. 
     In the following game just when it looks like Janowsky's attack has fizzled out he comes up with a brilliant Q offer. 

Two More Guys Who Abandoned Chess

     I have written about these two great but relatively unknown players from a bygone era before and when I came across this game from the Zagreb 1955 tournament, I couldn't resist posting it. 
     Zagreb was won by Smyslov who scored 14.5-4.5 followed by Ivkov and Matanovich who were two points behind. Filip finished 9th with 10 points and Fuderer tied for 14-15 with Nikolay Minev with 8 points. BTW, Minev, who was awarded the IM title in 1960 and contributed to early editions of the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings and the Encyclopedia of Chess Endings, along with his wife, immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s. They live in Seattle, Washington. 
     From 1955 to 1962 Filip qualified for the candidate tournaments twice. Filip's play was characterized as serious, solid and deep. Outside of chess he had no problem with the Soviet invasion of his country in 1968 and remained loyal to the authorities and managed to do very well. Filip did not have a fanatical enthusiasm for chess and in 2002 he was invited to attend festivities for the 40th anniversary of the 1962 Candidates Tournament held in Curacao, but he declined, saying he had pretty much lost interest in chess. While in Curacao Bobby Fischer visited a brothel and when asked later how he enjoyed it, his reply was, "Chess is better."
     His opponent in this game, Fuderer, after a promising beginning ended up abandoning the game for his real passion, chemical engineering. His swansong was the 1959 Soviet Union v Yugoslavia where, only 28 years old, he showed what might have been by beating Bronstein, the victor at Gothenburg, by a score of 3-1. In the late 1960s he left Yugoslavia for good, living in Spain and working as a chemical engineer in Antwerp. He only played in tournaments outside Yugoslavia to acquire consumer goods which when he got home he could resell at a profit to finance his university studies. 
 

Two Who Gave Up Chess

    The following game was played by two great, but relatively unknown, players from a bygone era, both of who, gave up chess. The game was played in the 1955 Gothenburg Interzonal.The top nine players qualifying for the Amsterdam Candidates that was held the following year, 

    From 1955 until 1962 Dr. Miroslav Filip (1928-2009) qualified for the candidate tournaments twice. Filip's play was characterized as serious, solid and deep. Outside of chess he had no problem with the Soviet invasion of his country in 1968 and remained loyal to the authorities and managed to do very well. 

    Filip did not have a fanatical enthusiasm for chess and in 2002 he was invited to attend festivities for the 40th anniversary of the 1962 Candidates Tournament (im which Filip had finished last) that was held in Curacao, but he declined, saying he had pretty much lost interest in chess. 

    After a promising beginning his opponent in this game, Andrija Fuderer (1931-2011), ended up abandoning the game for his real passion, chemical engineering. His swansong was the 1959 Soviet Union vs. Yugoslavia team match where, at the age of 28 he showed what might have been by beating Bronstein, the victor at Gothenburg, by a score of 3-1. 

 

    In the late 1960s Fuderer left Yugoslavia for good, living in Spain and working as a chemical engineer in Antwerp. He only played in tournaments outside Yugoslavia in order to acquire consumer goods that he could sell when he returned home and use the profit to finance his university studies. 

Surprises At Praia da Rocha, 1969

     In 1969 there were three zonal tournaments in Europe: Raach, won by Uhlmann with Andersson, Ivlov, Portisch and Smejkal tied for second. Athens was won by Matulovic with Hort and Huebner tied for second. 

     The third Zonal was held in Praia da Rocha, Portugal. The tournament was originally scheduled for twenty players, but at the last minute the players from Holland and Tunisia canceled. 

     Praia da Rocha was the weakest of the European zonals and the participants in the other two have complained that it was easier for those in Portugal to attain to the goal of qualifying for the Interzonal. Even so, Gligoric of Yugoslavia, who was considered the prime favorite, had his problems and his qualification was in doubt until the end when he managed to qualify by scoring nine points in the last ten rounds. For the results of all the Zonals that year refer to Mark Weeks post HERE.

     The high finish of Dr. Miroslav Filip of Czechoslovakia was something of a surprise and when Dragoljub Minic of Yugoslavia scored six and a half points in the last seven rounds to take first place that was also a surprise. 

     Italy's Sergio Mariotti, who scored 9 points in the last 10 rounds, could have been a major surprise if he hadn't blundered against the lowly placed Belgian Helmut Schumacher and the South African Brian Donnelly. 

     England's William Hartston was also a very serious rival for first until he lost his last four games! Among other surprises were the showing of Bulgarian GM Milko Bobotsov who collapsed at the very end and Hungarian GM Istvan Bilek who was completly out of form. In the end, in tie break order, the qualifiers were Minic, Filip and Gligoric. 

     This was the first time Portugal was host to such an important chess event and although Filip thought it was was one of the best organized of tournaments he had played in, some of the other players did a lot of bellyaching. 

     Gligoric complained about dogs barking all night and the early morning noise, but it was also noted that he spent a lot of late nights analyzing and stuff. Scotland's David Levy complained that the Spaniards and Portuguese were put up in better hotels than the foreigners and that the foreigners held their own special tournament to see who would find the most flies on their plate. 

     Pre-tournament favorite Gligoric took a gut punch from Italy's champion Mariotti who upset him in sensational style early on. Mariotti's fourth place finish was one place away from Interzonal qualification. 

 

     Sergio Mariotti (born August 10, 1946) is the first Italian to achieve the GM title which he was awarded in 1974. Born in Florence, he became the Italian junior champion in 1965 and in 1969 the Italian Champion. After several successes in the early to mid-1970s the British Chess Magazine nicknamed him "The Italian Fury" due to his collection of tournament wins and his enterprising, tactical style. His preferred openings are, with either color, the Sicilian and the Ruy Lopez with an occasional Evans Gambit or Albin Counter Gambit thrown in.

     Yugoslav GM Svetozar Gligoric (February 2, 1923 – August 14, 2012) won the championship of Yugoslavia a record twelve times, and is considered the best player ever from Serbia. In the 1950s and 1960s, Gligoric, who was fluent in several languages, was not only one of the top players in the world, but he was also among the world's most popular players. Although he compiled a superb tournament record he is best known as an openings theorist who made enormous contributions to the theory and practice of the King's Indian Defense, Ruy Lopez and Nimzo-Indian Defense, among others.

Sergio Mariotti - Svetozar Gligoric

Result: 1-0

Site: Praia da Rocha POR

Date: 1969.10

King's Indian: Four Pawns Attack

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 g6 3.♘c3 ♗g7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 Mariotti was a fearless player and it's hard to say if his decision to play the grandiose Four Ps Attack was courageous or foolhardy because Gligoric was born playing the K-Indian. This formation has never attracted serious interest although Alekhine used it three times at New York 1924 and scored +1-0=2. In his day Bent Larsen occasionally experimented with it. 5...c5 For years this was the standard response. White can now choose between hte Benoni-like 6.d5 with sharp play or the more restrained 6.dxc5 or 6.Nf3 6.d5 On rare occasions white has tried the hyper-aggressive 6.e5 with mixed results. 6...O-O 7.♗e2

7.♘f3 is usually played. 7...e6 8.♗e2 exd5 9.cxd5 ♗g4 10.O-O with a sharp position resembling those of the Benoni.

7...e6 8.dxe6 Black now faces a conundrum. Should he recapture with the P or B? Capturing with the B is more cautious and prevents the complications that arise in the game. 8...fxe6 It's possible Gligoric chose this because it leads to complications and as an experienced GM he may have felt he could outplay his young and inexperienced opponent.

8...♗xe6 This is the most popular choice and it serves black well. 9.♘f3 ♘c6 10.O-O and black is well developed and controls d5 sufficiently so that the weaknes of the P on d6 is of little significance.

9.g4 Talk about courageous and enterprising! Apparently Mariotti was trying to present the old man with new problems in unfamiliar territory.

9.♘f3 ♘c6 10.O-O a6 11.♔h1 b6 12.♗e3 is perfectly even. Fries-Nielsen,J (2454)-Mortensen,E (2441)/Greve DEN 2002

9...♘c6 10.h4

10.g5 looks promising but after 10...♘e8 11.h4 e5 White is pretty much committed to continuing hyper-aggressively and things turn out to be in black's favor after 12.f5 gxf5 13.h5 ♘d4

10...♘d4 11.h5 d5 Mariotti's strategy has brought him success! Gligoric proceeds on the rule that the best defense against a flank attack is the counter attack in the center. But here it's the wrong strategy because after 11...d5? white's Q penetrates on to the opened h-file and gives white some serious play.

11...a6 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.g5 ♘h7 14.♗d3 and now with 14...b5 black has equalized. Instead he played the inferior 14... e4 and got a losing game. Bleis,C-Kabisch,T (2285)/Niedersachsen 1989

11...b5 Is the correct strategy. Then after 12.hxg6 ♗b7 13.gxh7+ ♔h8 with the upper hand because white has no good way of meeting the attack on e4. 14.♗d3 b4 15.♘ce2 ♘xe4

12.e5 After this white has a really nice game. 12...♘e4 The strength of black's Ps and Ns in the center are an illusion because white has a powerful attack against black's K. 13.hxg6 hxg6 14.♕d3 Also good was 14. Bd3. 14...b5 This move may be typical in similar positions, but here it leads to problems.

14...♗d7 leads to equality after 15.cxd5 exd5 16.♘xe4 dxe4 17.♕xe4 ♘xe2 18.♕xe2 ♗c6 Black is a P down but he has sufficient play because white's K is precariously placed int he center.

15.♘xe4 This is the correct reply. (15.♘xb5 ♘xb5 16.cxb5 c4 with a dangerous initiative.)

15.cxb5 is successfully met by 15...♕a5 16.♘f3 ♘xe2 17.♕xe2 ♘xc3

15...bxc4 16.♕h3 dxe4 17.♕h7+ ♔f7 18.f5 White doesn't care about material. He is interested in attacking black's exposed K. 18...exf5 19.♖h6

19.♗xc4+ was even more forceful. Then if 19...♗e6 20.♗xe6+ ♘xe6 21.♖h6 f4 22.♕xg6+ ♔g8 23.♕h7+ ♔f7 24.♘h3 ♕e7 25.♘xf4 ♘xf4 26.♗xf4 ♖h8 27.♕g6+ ♔g8 28.♖xh8+ ♔xh8 29.O-O-O and even with the reduced material white has a winning attack.

(19.♗xc4+ ♘e6 20.♗h6 is fatal for black.) 19...♘c2+ 20.♔f1 fxg4

20...♘xa1 21.♕xg6+ leads to mate after 21...♔e7 22.♕xg7+ ♔e8 23.♕g6+ ♔d7 24.♖h7+ mates in 3.

21.♔g2 ♘e1+

21...♕d5 offered more resistance. 22.♕xg6+ ♔g8 23.♕h7+ ♔f7 24.♖d6 ♘e1+ 25.♔h1 ♖h8 26.♕xh8 ♗xh8 27.♖xd5 ♗e6 28.♖xc5 ♗xe5 29.♖xe5 ♖h8+ 30.♘h3 ♖xh3+ 31.♔g1 ♘f3+ 32.♗xf3 exf3 33.♗f4 g3 34.♖g5 and in this position white is winning.

22.♔h1 ♘d3 Black has prevented the deadly B check Bxc4+, but new threats are present and kill all hope. (22...♗f5 is still a small chance 23.♗xc4+ ♔e8+⁠−) 23.♕xg6+ ♔g8 24.♕h7+ ♔f7 25.♗e3 ♕e7 26.♖f1+ ♔e8 27.♕g6+ ♖f7 28.♕c6+ ♕d7 29.♖e6+

29.♕xa8 is no so effective as after 29...♗xh6 30.♗xh6 ♘xb2 black has some fight left in him.

29...♔f8 30.♗xc5+ ♘xc5

30...♔g8 what else? 31.♖e8+ ♔h7 32.♕xe4+ ♖f5 33.♖xc8 ♖xc8 34.♖xf5 ♕c6 35.♕xc6 ♖xc6+⁠−

31.♕xc5+ ♔g8 32.♖d6 ♕b7

32...♕c7 a last effort to resist the inevitable 33.♖c6 ♕xe5 34.♗xc4 ♕xc5 35.♖xc5 ♗a6 36.♗xf7+ ♔f8 37.♗c4+ ♔e7 38.♗xa6 ♗xb2+⁠−

33.♖xf7 ♔xf7 34.♗xc4+ ♔e8 35.♗d5 ♕e7 36.♕c6+ ♔f8 37.♕xa8 ♕h4+ 38.♔g2

38.♔g2 ♕g3+ 39.♔xg3 ♗xe5+ 40.♔g2 ♗xd6 41.♕xc8+ ♔g7 42.♕xg4+ ♔f6 43.♕e6+ ♔g7 44.♕f7+ ♔h6 45.♗xe4 ♔g5 46.♕f5+ ♔h6 47.♕g6#

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