A Strong Attack by Noteboom

    In January of 1932, the chess world suffered a sever loss kiss when the brilliant Dutch masterr Daniek Noteboom (1910-1932) caught pneumonia after playing in the Hastings 1931/32 tournament and died of pneumonia in London at the age of 21. Euwe considered him to have been the best Dutch player ever up to that time. 

    Known for his aggressive play, his games are filled with wild complications. Noteboom is almost unknown except for an opening variation that's named for him.

    He was born in Noordwijk and was a rising star in the early 1930s and gained notoriety with an impressive debut at the 1930 Olympiad when he scored11.5 – 3.5.

    He learned to play chess at the age of 12, and at 14 won a local tournament in Noordwijk. At the age of 15 he was admitted to the Leiden Chess Society at a time when chess clubs were generally reserved for adult men with social standing. He later won the club championship three times. 

    His opponent in the following ame was Paulino Frydman (1905-1982, 78 years old), a regular on the Polish chess scene during the 1930's. After the Buenos Aires Olympiad at the start of World War II, he remained in Argentina. He was awarded the IM title in 1955. 

 

[Event "Hamburg Olympiad"] [Site ""] [Date "1930.07.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Paulino Frydman"] [Black "Daniel Noteboom"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A84"] [PlyCount "104"] [EventDate "1930.07.13"] {A84: Dutch Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. e3 f5 {The Dutch Stonewall, later championed by Botvinnik, is best when, as in this case, white has shut in his B with e3.} 5. Bd3 Nf6 6. b3 Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 {It was probrbly better to play 7.Bd2 hoping to trade Bs because white's QB has a limited future owing to his 4th move.} Ne4 8. Ne5 O-O {[%mdl 32]} 9. O-O Nd7 10. Nxd7 (10. Ndf3 Rf6 11. c5 Rh6 12. Nxd7 Bxd7 13. Bxe4 fxe4 14. Ne5 {was soon drawn in Gschnitzer,O (2410)-Joachim,S Niedersachsen-Baden 1989}) 10... Bxd7 11. Nf3 Rf6 {It's instructive to watch how Noteboom develops his attack.} 12. Ne5 Rh6 {While white's next move which eliminated black's well placed N, it would have been better to drive it back and gain space with moves like g3, f3 and c5} 13. Bxe4 {Now the big question for black is how to recapture.} dxe4 {One annotator from the pre-engine days claimed this is the right way because 13...fxe4 woud give white the valuable g4 square and allow him to mobilize his K-side Ps. Balderdash! It makes no difference which way black recaptures, but the two ways lead to a different type of game. That said, if black wants engineer a K-side attack, and Noteboom does, then capturing with the d-Pawn is the way to go.} (13... fxe4 14. f4 exf3 15. Nxf3 Rf6 16. Bd2 Be7 {Of course he doesn't want to trade his good B.} 17. Be1 {This brings his bad B into play by intending Bh4} dxc4 18. bxc4 c5 {and neither side has what appeards to be a promising attack.}) 14. f3 Qh4 {Unexpected, but white has adequate defensive resources.} 15. h3 (15. Nxd7 Qxh2+ 16. Kf2 {How does black continue the attack?!} Rh3 $3 17. Ne5 Qg3+ 18. Ke2 Rh2 19. Rf2 Rxg2 20. Qf1 (20. Rxg2 Qxg2#) 20... Rg1 {wins the Q. An amazing sequence.}) 15... Qg3 16. fxe4 {This gives black what is technically only a small advantage, but it rapidly grows. A better defense would have been 15.Kh1 getting out of the nasty pin.} Rxh3 17. Rf3 $1 {No doubt Frydman was relying on this excellent defensive move.} (17. Bd2 Qh2+ 18. Kf2 Bd6 19. Rh1 Qg3+ 20. Kg1 Rxh1+ 21. Kxh1 Bxe5 {and black has won a piece.}) 17... Qh2+ 18. Kf2 Rxf3+ 19. Nxf3 Qh5 {White has survived the worst, but black is much more active.} 20. e5 g5 {Strongly threatening ...g4.} 21. Bd2 Be7 22. Qh1 Qg6 23. Qh2 {White's build up on the h-file is only a gesture, but apparently only if he is playing an engine.} Kg7 24. Ng1 h5 25. Ne2 h4 26. g3 Rh8 27. Rg1 hxg3+ {Here Stockfish comes up with some esoteric analysis after 27...h3 that gives black a much greater advantage, but maneuvering the Q to h4 than switching to Q-side operations is not human-ike!} 28. Qxg3 g4 {threateninging ...Bh4.} 29. Qg2 Rh4 {White must now prevent ...Qh6.} 30. Rh1 $1 Qh7 31. Rxh4 Bxh4+ 32. Kg1 Bg5 33. Qh1 {Thanks to black's not following Stockfish's recommendation on move 27 Frydman has by excellent defensive play managed to equalize.} Qxh1+ 34. Kxh1 {[%mdl 4096] Noteboom's once promising attack has vanished and now it's hard to imagine how white can lose this game!} Kf7 35. Kg2 b6 36. Kf2 Bc8 37. Bb4 Bh4+ 38. Kf1 Bb7 39. Bd6 b5 {And now ...bxc4 would win.} 40. Nc3 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Now White is beyond hope.} (40. c5 {it should be obvious that after this neother side can make progress.}) 40... bxc4 41. Bc5 (41. bxc4 {fails badly.} Ba6 42. Kg2 Bxc4 43. a3 Kg6 44. Bc5 a6 {Black wins the ending by penetrating with his K on the K-side.}) 41... cxb3 42. axb3 Ba6+ {The rest is easy.} 43. Kg1 Be1 44. Na2 g3 45. Kg2 Bf2 46. Nc3 Bd3 47. Bxa7 Be1 48. Nd1 Bc2 49. Nb2 Bxb3 50. Nd3 Bd5+ 51. Kh3 g2 52. Kh2 Bd2 {White resigned.} 0-1

Capablanca’s 1926 Visit to Cleveland, Ohio

    Cleveland, Ohio is a city with a greater metropolitan area population of approximately 2.2 million that is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie. 

    In the late 1960s it was known by the well-known nickname of the Mistake on the Lake due to events like the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River catching on fire in 1969.

    Capablanca visited Cleveland on about ten separate occasions between 1909 and 1926. In 1922, he set a record-breaking 103-board simultaneous exhibition in which he won 102 games and drew one. Pf his 1926 visit John S. Hilbert wrote, “When a player of Jose Raúl Capablanca’s stature and ability came to town for a simultaneous exhibition, even early in his career, people took notice.” 

    Hilbert is a retired senior attorney with the Social Security Administration living in Buffalo, New York, and is widely considered the country’s premier chess historian and one of the world's leading researchers of chess history. You can read his article on Capa’s 1926 visit to Cleveland HERE. 

 

[Event "Cleveland simultaneous"] [Site ""] [Date "1926.12.11"] [Round "?"] [White "J. R. Capablanca"] [Black "E. Augustus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C79"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "1926.12.??"] [EventType "simul"] [EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "USA"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2002.11.25"] [SourceQuality "1"] {C79: Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {[%mdl 32]} a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 Na5 8. d4 Bg4 {This move is often played in the Ruy Lopez. but it is seldom good. Instead, vlack should play 8...Nxb3 and 9...Bb7. Even then white has the more promising position.} (8... exd4 {would be a very serious mistake.} 9. e5 dxe5 10. Nxe5 Be6 11. Nxf7 Kxf7 12. Bxe6+ Ke8 (12... Kg6 13. Qd3+ Kh5 14. Re5+ {1-0 Laiz Ibanez,H-Pita Argemi,A Granada 2009}) 13. Bd5+ Be7 14. Bxa8 {White has a winning position. Breyer,G-Lowcki,M Bad Pistyan 1912}) (8... Nd7 {is also vastly inferior.} 9. dxe5 Nxb3 10. Bg5 f6 11. exf6 gxf6 12. e5 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Rxe5+ Be7 15. Qh5+ {amd black resigned after a few more moves. Edouard,R (2620)-Tkachiev,V (2639) Belfort 2010}) (8... Qe7 {isn't much better.} 9. Nc3 Nxb3 10. axb3 c6 11. Bg5 Bg4 12. d5 Qb7 13. dxc6 Qxc6 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nd5 {White is winning. Zapata,A (2465)-Pascua,R (2025) Atlanta USA 2014 1-0 (31)}) 9. dxe5 Bxf3 (9... dxe5 {results in disaster after} 10. Qxd8+ Rxd8 11. Nxe5 {with a decisive advantage.}) 10. Qxf3 dxe5 11. Qc3 Nxb3 12. Qxe5+ Qe7 13. Qxe7+ Bxe7 14. axb3 O-O {Black has lost a P, but he has play on the open d-file however that is not sufficient compensation for the P.} 15. Bg5 Rfd8 16. Nc3 h6 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. e5 $1 Bg5 {This is actually a very complicated position and white should play 19.g3 to deprive black's B of the f4 square.} 19. Ne4 Be7 (19... Bf4 {attacking the e-Pawn was a much better defense. It would best be met by} 20. Nc5 Rd2 21. c3 Rd5 22. Nxa6 Rxe5 {and white's advantahe is minimal.}) {Rad1} 20. Red1 Rxd1+ 21. Rxd1 Rd8 {Although black's position is lost he would have done better to keep the Rs on. The flaw with 21...Rd8 will be apparent in a few moves. As it is white's extra P and active N leave Capa with a routine win. Still, it's instructive to see hoe he plays the ending.} 22. Rxd8+ Bxd8 23. Nc5 a5 24. Nb7 Bg5 25. Nxa5 {Thanks to black's 21st move white has won an important P.} Bc1 26. Nc6 Bxb2 {Black has regained the P, but the N dominates the position. Now both sides centralize their K.} 27. f4 {[%mdl 32]} Kf8 28. Kf2 Ke8 {The Ns position prevents the direct approach via e7.} 29. Ke3 Bc3 30. Ke4 Kd7 31. Kd5 b4 32. f5 {Black has no useful moves/} Bd2 33. e6+ fxe6+ 34. fxe6+ Ke8 35. Ke5 g5 36. g4 Bf4+ 37. Kf6 Bd6 {Black has succeeded in holding up the e-Pawn and defending the h-Pawn, but the Q0side Ps are vulnerable.} 38. h3 Bc5 39. Kg6 Bf8 40. Na7 {Black resigned. Near;y flawless play by Capablanca. In fact, black's play was actually quite good, nut he never recovered from a poor opening.} 1-0

Stockfish 19 is out

    On September 5th Stockfish 19 wa released. Aside from technical improvements it is reported to be 44 points stringer than version 18 which is currently rated 3649 on the CCLR rating list. Download it HERE

9 Winning Tips From Kasparov

A Tal Game You’ve Never Seen

Skuja

    For his entire career Mikhail Tal (1936-1992, 55 years old) was known and admired for his style of sharp play and lack of compromise and in this early game his opponent suffers the consequences of his dubious opening. 

    Tal’s opponent was Roberts Skuja (1910-1984, 74 years old) who was born into a peasant family and all his life he was an agricultural worker. He learned to play chess at age 14. Also known as a problemist, 

    in 1927, he became the champion of Aluksne, a small town in NE Latvia. From 1930 to 1971, he participated eighteen times) in the Latvian Championship. His best result was sharing 2nd-3rd place in 1950. After the Second World War, he was the Latvian rural sports association's strongest player. 

 

 

[Event "Latvia Champ, Riga"] [Site ""] [Date "1958.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Mikhail Tal"] [Black "Roberts Skuja"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "54"] [EventDate "1958.04.13"] {B01: Scandinavian Defense} 1. e4 d5 {Back in the old days I knew this as the Center Counter Defense. It was a Skuja favorite.} 2. exd5 Qxd5 {This is the main line and statistically it yields nearly the same results as 2...Nf6} (2... Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. Nf3 g6 5. c4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 {is an entirely different game.}) (2... c6 {I sometimes play this completely unsound gambit in omline games and it has yielfed moderate success.} 3. dxc6 e5 4. cxb7 Bxb7 5. Nc3 Bc5 6. Bb5+ {This is almost always played.} Nc6 {Black has no compensation for the P, but things can get tricky if white getys careless.}) 3. Nc3 Qa5 {The main line although 3...Qd6 is sometimes seen. Again, the results do not indicate that one is better than the other.} 4. d4 e5 $6 {The usual 4...Nf6 servers black better. The text opens up the game too soon.} 5. Nf3 {[%mdl 32] White often plays 5.dxe5, but this is definitely best because it applies pressure on the e-Pawn.} Bb4 6. Bd2 {This move, breaking the annoying pin, is the most effective.} (6. Nxe5 Bxc3+ $6 7. bxc3 Qxc3+ 8. Bd2 Qxd4 {and black has equalized.}) (6. dxe5 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Nc6 (7... Qxc3+ 8. Bd2 {and white is much better.}) 8. Bd3 Nxe5 9. O-O Nxd3 10. Qxd3 Nf6 11. Re1+ Be6 12. Bg5 {White's freeer position compensates for his shattered Ps.}) 6... exd4 7. Qe2+ Ne7 8. Nxd4 O-O 9. a3 $1 {This is a great little move! While 10.axb4 is not a threat, after 10.Nb3 leaves black is a difficult position.} Bd6 (9... Kh8 {A pass to demonstrate white's threat.} 10. Nb3 {and no natter where the Q goes white wins the B.}) 10. Ndb5 {Another really swell move that and attacks the B. the retreat of the Q} (10. Ncb5 Qa4 11. Nxd6 cxd6 12. Bb4 {Stronger was 12.Nb5} Nbc6 13. Nxc6 Qxc6 14. O-O-O Nd5 15. Qc4 Nxb4 16. Qxb4 Bf5 17. Qc4 d5 18. Qxc6 bxc6 19. Bd3 Bxd3 20. Rxd3 {White has let black escape and the players agreed to a draw in Hubley,R-Felber,R in a 1995 online game in IECG.}) 10... Qb6 11. O-O-O {This not only tucks the K away, bit it places the R on the d-fi;e and threatens the B.} Be6 12. Bg5 {Adding more pressure to d6.} Ng6 13. Nxd6 cxd6 {Here the engine wants white to play on the Q-side with Be3 and Qb5, but Tal didn't play that way. Instead, he attacks black's K.} 14. h4 {[%mdl 32] Very nice from the himan stand point! Tal starts a fierce P-storm that also leaves him with a significant, if not quite a winning advantage.} Nc6 15. Be3 {Continuing the attack is much stronger than snatching the P on d6.} ({Less strong is} 15. Rxd6 Nd4 16. Rxb6 Nxe2+ 17. Bxe2 axb6 18. Be3 Rfe8 19. Bxb6 {with a B+2Ps for the R.}) 15... Qa5 16. h5 {Tal would rather attack than win a P.} Nge5 {White's position is already won.} 17. Rh4 {Tal stumbles! He should have pushed home his attack with 17.h6!, but Skuja's next move allows Tal to correct his mistake. After 17...h6 white's advantage would not have been mearly so great.} d5 18. h6 g6 {The engine's way os still maneuvering on the Q-side with Ea4 and Qb5, but, agin, that wasn't the Tal way. Tal} 19. f4 {Adding another P to the attack still leaves white with a huge advantage.} Nc4 20. f5 $1 Nxe3 (20... Bxf5 21. Rxd5 Qc7 22. Rxc4 {wraps it yp.}) 21. Qxe3 Bxf5 22. Nxd5 Rad8 23. b4 Qa4 24. Qc3 {Defends c2 and threatens mate. Black has absolutely no defense.} Ne5 {Skuja tries one last trick hoping Tal will take the N.} (24... Qxc2+ 25. Qxc2 Bxc2 26. Kxc2 {and black is a piece down.}) 25. Ne7+ (25. Qxe5 $4 Qxc2#) 25... Kh8 26. Qxe5+ f6 {Tal now has a problem-like finish.} 27. Qxf6+ $3 {[%mdl 512]} Rxf6 {Black resigned befire white could reply.} (27... Rxf6 28. Rxd8+ Qe8 29. Rxe8+ Rf8 30. Rxf8#) 1-0

A Cute Miniature Correspondence Game

    The 1974 U.S. Correspondence Championship ended in 1976 and was won by Anthony Cayford (1939-2005, 65 years old). He was 1962 Canadian CC champion, US Golden Knights champion 1972 and shared first and winner of first Anglo-Pacific Tournament Bureau Championship (1992). 

    The following miniature was played in the 1974 U.S. Correspondence Championship.  No information is available on the winner, Rudolf G. Katzl (1934-2014), but that such a disaster should befall the loser, a strong and experienced correspondence player, is surprising. 

    Orlando A. "Bud" Lester, Jr. (1921-2012, 90 years old) was born in Cumberland, Maine and lived for many years in West Newbury, Massachusetts. He was considered one of the strongest players in New England in the 1940s and '50s. He wrote a chess column for the Haverhill Gazette in Massachusetts before later becoming the chess columnist for the Boston Herald in the 1980s. 

    Lester He was a three-time New Hampshire state champion and was known as a blindfold simultaneous exhibition player. He holds the record in New England for playing22 blindfold games in an exhibition. In 955 his USCF rating was 2089 making him an Expert.

[Event "US Cirres Cho Final"] [Site ""] [Date "1974.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Rudolf G. Katzl"] [Black "Orlando A. Lester"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "29"] [EventDate "1974.??.??"] {B00: Nimzovich Defense} 1. e4 Nc6 {A Hypermodern defense that invites white to occupy the center after which black intends to block or restrain it and eventually undermine it. British GM Raymond Keene wrote that it "has never been fully accepted as a dependable opening. Nevertheless it is sound and offers the maverick spirit a great deal of foreign territory to explore."} 2. d4 {Most popular is 2.Nf3 hoping black will play 2...e5 transposing into normal e-Pawn openpngs.} (2. Nf3 d6 {I fblack doesn't want to transpose this is about his only reasonable alternative, After} 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 {Here instead of the popular 4...Bg5 black's berst line is} e5 5. Bb5 exd4 6. Nxd4 Bd7 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 {White is slightly better.}) 2... d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. c3 e6 {Here white often play 5.Bd3 to exchange black's B, but because it trades off his good B the move does not serve him well in practice.} 5. Ne2 h5 {It is usual to attack white;s center with 5.f5, but the text move is also quite playable.} 6. Ng3 Bg6 7. h4 {Prevents 7...h4 driving the N back/} Be7 (7... f6 $1 {is best when even though black's K-side is in shambles there does not seem to be any way for white to take advantage of it.} 8. Bb5 (8. exf6 gxf6 9. Be2 Qd7 {and after ...O-O-O chances are equal.}) 8... Qd7 9. O-O a6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 {with about equal chances.}) 8. Be2 {White is a bit better.} Bxb1 {Played with the idea of strengthening his K-side which os not a bad idea, but attacking the cebter with 8...f6 is liekly to prove more productive.} 9. Rxb1 g6 10. b4 (10. Bb5 Qd7 11. Qa4 O-O-O 12. Bxc6 Qxc6 13. Qxa7 Kd7 $1 {Schalkwijk,P (1536)-D'Emilia,J (1011) LSS correspondence 2006. Here white misplayed the game with 14.O-O? when he should have played} 14. b4 Qxc3+ 15. Bd2 Qc6 16. Rb3 {with equal chances.}) 10... Bxh4 11. b5 {This position turns out to be much more complicated than it looks!} Nb8 $2 (11... Na5 12. Nxh5 {as in the game doesn't quite work and the complications keep growing.} gxh5 13. Bxh5 Kd7 (13... Kf8 14. Qg4 Bf6 (14... Be7 15. Rh3 {gives white a winning attack.}) 15. exf6 Qxf6 16. Rh3 Ne7 17. Bf4 Nc4 {with equal chances.}) 14. Qg4 Be7 15. Qg7 Nh6 16. Bxh6 Qg8 17. Qxg8 Raxg8 18. Be3 Rxg2 {with equal chances.}) 12. Nxh5 $1 {[%mdl 512]} gxh5 13. Bxh5 {Threatens to win with Qg4.} Kf8 $4 {This loses outright, but there was nothing that would save the game.} (13... Nh6 14. Bxh6 Rxh6 15. Qg4 Qg5 16. Qxh4 Qxh4 17. Rxh4 Ke7 {White is only a Pup and his B is pinned, but he still has a substantial advantage. Tje main line runs} 18. g3 Nd7 19. Be2 Rah8 20. Rxh6 Rxh6 21. Kd2 f6 22. exf6+ Nxf6 23. Ke3 {White has a favorable ending, but whether or not he could have scored the point is open to question.}) 14. Qg4 Nf6 (14... Be7 15. Rh3 Nh6 (15... Nd7 16. Bxf7 {wins}) 16. Bxh6+ Rxh6 17. Bxf7 {still wins}) 15. Ba3+ {Black resigned. This mice finishing blow was clearly overlooked by Lester.} (15. Ba3+ Ke8 (15... Qd6 {is clearly hopeless.} 16. Bxd6+ cxd6 17. exf6 Bxf6 18. Bxf7 Rxh1+ 19. Ke2 Rh8 (19... Rxb1 20. Qg8+) 20. Bxe6) 16. Qxe6+ Qe7 17. Qxe7#) 1-0

Hidden Gems

  

    When I purchased the new laptop a while back I also spent about $20-25 for a case to put the hard drive from the old laptop in so I could access data and use it for extra storage. This was the second hard drive that has been salvaged. 

    The first one is from a laptop I don’t remember having, but it must date back to 2016 because while browsing through the hard drive I discovered a database named My Online Games that contains almost 1,200 of my online games played between 2010 and 2016. 

    I don’t remember saving them and it was fun randomly playing through them. Many of those early games were annotated using the Houdini engine which was first released on May 15, 2010 by Belgian programmer Robert Houdart. My version 1.5 was released on December 10, 2010.. 

    The engine had an attacking style that was compared to the style of the Romantic Era and it was rated around 3185 on CCRL (Computer Chess Rating Lists) and ranked as the top engine in the world when it was released. 

    It was also involved in a controversy when it was alleged to be a derivative of another engine and to have plagiarized code from yet another engine. In 2021, the Stockfish team announced legal action against ChessBase alleging that Houdini 6 and Fat Fritz 2 were in violation of the GNU General Public License. As part of the settlement agreement ChessBase conceded that the allegations were true. 

    Some of the games were played on sites that are now defunct, but most were played on two sites. One was Instant Chess (Cup of coffee compatible). The site was created and developed by French programmer Thibault Duplessis, who later evolved the project into Lichess. The other site was Queeb Alice which is still around. 

    Here is one of the early games I lost. After emerging from the opening with an advantage passive play lead to a quick debacle. 

 

[Event "Instant Chess G15"] [Site "?"] [Date "2011.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Opponent"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C61"] [Annotator "Stocksis 18"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] {C61: Ruy Lopez: Bird's Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {This game was played at a time when I was still taking chess seriously and not playing just for fun, so there were no Urusov Gambits, Grob Attacks or other unusual openings.} Nd4 {Known since 1843 when it was piblished in von Bilguer's Handbuch des Schachspiels, it was explored by the English master Henry Bird in the late 1800s. It was later used a few times by Siegbert Tarrasch, Today it is used only rarekly as a surprise and with careful play white is believed to gain an advantage.} 4. Nxd4 exd4 {Now white generally plays 5.O-O with 5.d3 and 5.Bc4 being distant second choices.} 5. Qf3 {Rare and not especially good. The main idea is that since white at some point will have to retreat the B, when it reaches the a2-g8 diagonal white will have pressure on f7. It's not a very good point though because black can easily defend f7 and the Q is not very well placed on f3. Still, white can often get away with a move like this because of his extra opening tempo. What it really does is allow black to equalize without difficulty.} (5. O-O {is usual.} Bc5 6. d3 c6 {and either 7.Ba4 or Bc4 are acceptable.}) 5... Nf6 {This move is not a book move and for a good reason...it offers white a chance to gain space and seize the initiative.} (5... Qf6 6. Qe2 c6 7. Bc4 Bc5 8. d3 Ne7 {equals. Moreno Martin,D (2196)-Bardera Gil,S (2056) Vila-Seca ESP 2010}) (5... g6 6. c3 Bg7 7. cxd4 Bxd4 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. d3 O-O {White is slightly better. Villar,J (2105)-Lima,D (2475) Brasilia 1998}) (5... Bc5 6. O-O Ne7 7. c3 c6 8. Bc4 d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Bb3 O-O {equals. Papay,J (2024)-Horackova,A Teplice 2007}) 6. d3 {There is nothing wrong with this move, but it's too wimpy. White should try and play aggressively, but I was influenced by my opponent's higher rating and wanted to play it safe.} (6. e5 $1 {illustrates the problem with black's last move.} Qe7 {This attack on the e-Pawn hinders the development of black's B, but it's better than undeveloping. White now has to move his Q again to defend the e-Pawn...or does he?} 7. Kd1 $1 {This unconventional move secure the advantage because now black is forced to retreat the N.} Ng8 (7... Qc5 {is successfully met by} 8. exf6 Qxb5 9. Re1+ Kd8 10. fxg7 Bxg7 11. d3) 8. d3 {and black has problems getting his pieces into play. White has a slight advantage.}) ({White should play} 6. e5 $16) 6... c6 7. Bc4 {Playing aggressively with 7.e5 was still the best.} (7. e5 cxb5 8. exf6 Qxf6 9. Qxf6 gxf6 10. O-O {Black's Ps are shattered, but white has no real way to take advantage of them, so the chances are equal. However, in some interesting Shootout games white scored +2 -0 =3.}) 7... b5 {Better was 7...d5} 8. Bb3 a5 {It was still advisable to play 8...d5.} 9. a3 {Again, white's play is too passive.} (9. a4 {Gums black's Q-side play. After} bxa4 10. Bxa4 {black still faces the possibility of e5 plus he has yet to make a way to get his B on c8 into play.}) 9... a4 10. Ba2 d6 {Again, 10...d5 was best.} 11. e5 $2 {Crude. This is no longer good. Simply castling was the best choice. Then the position would be about even.} dxe5 12. Qxc6+ {The lone Q isn't going to cause any damage, but even after 12.O-O white has few prospects..} (12. O-O Be7 13. Bg5 O-O 14. Re1 {Black stands wejj.}) 12... Bd7 13. Qf3 Bd6 14. Bg5 Rc8 {[%mdl 32]} 15. Bxf6 {Anxious to simplfy. Black's not going to trade Qs of course. Now he also has the g-file.} gxf6 16. Qe2 {Defending the c-Pawn. White's position is pretty bad.} Rg8 17. Qh5 {This threatens mate and attacks the h-Pawn, but white's position remains hopeless because black has a series of tactical blows.} Qe7 18. O-O Rxc2 19. Qxh7 Rg6 20. h4 (20. Qh8+ Qf8 21. Qxf8+ Bxf8 {This enables him to bring the B into play with ...bh6. White's position is so passive that ot can be considered lost.}) 20... Bc6 21. g3 {Black has a won position, but his next move came as a shock!} Rxg3+ $3 {[%mdl 512] Blackl finished with a flurry.} 22. fxg3 Rg2+ 23. Kh1 Rxb2+ 24. Kg1 Rg2+ 25. Kh1 Rxa2+ 26. Kg1 Rg2+ 27. Kh1 {and I resigned here before black could move.} (27. Kh1 Rxg3+ 28. Kh2 e4 29. Qf5 Rg7+ {and white has to start shedding material to delay mater.}) 0-1

An Al Horowitz Favorite

    In one of the first chess books I ever had, The Golden Treasury if Chess, the author, Al Horowitz wrote, “In the course of the decades which I have devoted to the preparation of this volume, I have had occasion to examine thousands upon thousands of scores. Those that have pleased me most are included in (this book). But even among these favorites, there are some which I have enjoyed so much that I have set them aside in order to attract the reader's attention to these games. I will not deny that ten years ago I might have selected other games, and that in the years to come, my tastes will again be modified! Nevertheless, you will be delighted with these games.” 

    The following was one he called, “one of the most astonishing games on record.” A cold look at the game with Stockfish shows it to be riddled with flaws on the part of both players, but that doesn’t matter...it’s still a fascinating game. 

    There is an interesting discussion about the game on chessgames.com. Whatever the true facts about the game are, it truly is quite remarkable. Was THIS man the winner? 

 

[Event "Paris"] [Site ""] [Date "1843.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Michelet"] [Black "Lionel Kieseritzky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C37"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "61"] [EventDate "1845.??.??"] {C37: King's Gambit Accepted: Salvio Gambit} 1. e4 {According to Bobby Fischer, who was mentioned in the previous post, these old players knew something about chess because they almost always opened with 1.e4.} e5 2. f4 {For an opemingthat has been around for some 500 years the King's Gambit is still a reasonable choice.} exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 {White has a few options here: 5.O-O (Muzio Gambit, 5.d4 ( Ghulam Kassim Gambit), 5,Nc3 (McDonnell Gambit and 5,Ne5 (Salvio Gambit).} 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 {This position is rightly considered better for black due to the insecurity of white's K.} (6. g3 {loses...} fxg3 $2 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 {[%eval -321,16] [%wdl 0,0,1000] [%emt 0:00:03]} 8. Qxg4 Qxg4 9. Nxg4 g2 10. Rg1 Kxf7 11. Rxg2 d6 {Black has won a piece for a P.}) 6... f3 {Black may play safely with 6...Nh6 (Silberschmidt Variation) or counter-sacrifice with this, the Cochrane Gambit or 6...Nc6 (Viennese Variation).} 7. d4 Nf6 8. Nc3 Bg7 {Black has played it a bot too safe and as a result white has now nearly equal.} (8... Nc6 9. Bxf7+ Kd8 10. Bb3 Nxe5 11. dxe5 fxg2+ 12. Kxg2 Qh3+ 13. Kf2 Bc5+ 14. Ke1 Qh4+ 15. Kd2 Nh5 16. Rf1 Qxh2+ {Now after 17.Kd3 black has only a slight advantage. Instead whitye blundered with} 17. Qe2 Ng3 {0-1 Zukertort,J-Anderssen,A Breslau 1865/ The continuation might be} 18. Qxh2 Nxf1+ 19. Ke2 Nxh2 {and black is R+P up.}) 9. g3 $2 {White has only one good move here.} (9. Bxf7+ Ke7 10. Bb3 d6 11. Nf7 {with nearly equal chances.}) 9... Qh3+ 10. Kf2 d6 (10... Qg2+ {While 10...d6 is hardly bad, this is much better,} 11. Ke3 Nc6 12. Nxf7 Na5 $3 13. Bd5 Nxd5+ 14. Nxd5 Kxf7 {Black is a piece up.}) 11. Nxf7 $2 {While this may look good, it leaves gim with a losing position.} (11. Bf1 {is his best chance.} Qh5 12. Nd3 O-O 13. Nf4 {with at least some chance of surviving.}) 11... Rf8 (11... Qg2+ {Again, this should secure the win.} 12. Ke3 Nc6 13. Qf1 d5 14. Qxg2 fxg2 15. Rg1 Kxf7 16. Nxd5 Be6 {Black is a piece up.}) 12. Ng5 $2 {This shpuld lose. Again, he had to try 12.Bf1} Qg2+ 13. Ke3 Bh6 {This is much weaker than 13...Nc6} (13... Nc6 14. d5 Nb4 15. Bf1 Nxc2+ $3 16. Kd3 Qxh1 17. Kxc2 Qxh2+ 18. Bd2 Qxg3 {Black us the exchange and 3Ps up.}) 14. Kd3 Nc6 15. a3 {Prevents Nb4+.} Bxg5 16. Bxg5 {Black has played weakly over the last few moves and his advantage has largely vanished. Je now needs to resort to routine play with ...Na5, ...b6 amd ...Ba6} Nxe4 {[%mdl 8192] A completely unsound sacrifice!} 17. Qe1 $2 {Taking the N would have left white wit a winning position.} (17. Nxe4 Bf5 18. Kc3 Bxe4 19. Rg1 Qh3 20. Re1 {wins the B.}) 17... Bf5 $1 18. Nxe4 f2 {This prevents Rg1, but it wasn't necessary.} (18... Kd7 $3 {gettingout of the pin and allowing him to retain a slight advantage.} 19. Rg1 Qh3 20. Kc3 Rae8 21. Nf2 Rxe1 22. Nxh3 Rxa1 23. Rxa1 gxh3 {Black is slightly better.}) 19. Qe3 {Due to inaccurate play by both sides the position is now evaluated at 0.00!} Kd7 20. Bd5 {[%mdl 32]} Rae8 21. Raf1 $4 {It's been said a thousand times before...wrong Rook!} (21. Rhf1 {Right Rook.} Bg6 22. Bf4 (22. Bh6 Rf3) 22... Ne7 23. Bxb7 d5 24. Rxf2 Qxe4+ 25. Kc3 {and it's anybody's game.}) 21... Bxe4+ $4 {[%mdl 8192] This logical looking move is wrong. There would be no good answer to 21...Bg6} (21... Bg6 22. Bf4 Ne7 23. Bxb7 d5 {wins. Unlike in the pevious note with the a1R on f1 white cannot play Rxf2 because the other R is undefended..} 24. Kc3 Qxe4 25. Qxf2 Qe6 26. b3 Qb6 27. Bxd5 Nxd5+ 28. Kb2 Qa5 {and black is winning.}) 22. Bxe4 Rf3 23. Qxf3 {Even though 23.Kd2 gets a slightly higher evaluation ny the engine, the stunning text is prettier!} gxf3 24. Bf5+ {White's two Bs prevail.} Re6 25. d5 {[%mdl 32]} Ne5+ 26. Ke4 h5 27. dxe6+ Ke8 28. Bf6 h4 29. Bxe5 {aiming for Bf6.} dxe5 30. Kxe5 hxg3 31. Kf6 {and wins, The remaining moves are not known, but white has a mate in 10.} (31. Kf6 gxh2 32. Rd1 f1=Q 33. Rhxf1 Qg8 34. Bg6+ Qxg6+ 35. Kxg6 Ke7 36. Kf5 f2 37. Ke5 Kf8 38. Rxf2+ Kg7 39. Rg2+ Kf8 40. Kf6 h1=Q 41. Rd8#) 1-0

Bobby Fischer’s Top Ten List

 

    In the previous post I mentioned Fischer’s opinion of Lasker and an alert reader called my attention to the fact that Fischer had voiced his opinion on who the greatest players in history have been. Chess historian Edward Winter has posted a compilation o Fischer’s fascinating observations HERE.

Who Do You Believe?

    Emanuel Lasker, the second official World Champion, reigned for an unmatched 27 years from 1894 to 1921. Some modern day Grandmasters view him as a pragmatic, psychological genius who was ahead of his time while other dismiss his unconventional methods. 

    Richard Reti noted that Lasker routinely steered games into complex, seemingly inferior positions on purpose, relying on his unmatched defensive and psychological ability to outlast opponents at the "brink of an abyss," 

    Garry Kasparov highly praised Lasker in My Great Predecessors, saying Lasker played from a "future era" and that he understood dynamic risk and practical problem solving long before modern theory caught up. 

    Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi both had respect for Lasker and considered him as the greatest player of all time because of his resilience and deep understanding of the psychological struggle. 

    Vladimir Kramnik regarded Lasker as the first 2700 rated player in modern terms. Of course, everybody has their critics. 

    Bobby Fischer had a harsh opinion of Lasker and dismissed him as a "coffeehouse player" who allegedly did not truly understand the openings or sound positional principles. Fischer attributed Lasker’s success to merely trickery.

    Max Euwe observ  ed that Lasker’s games are extraordinarily difficult to learn from, describing them as a source of mystical wonder rather than a clear instructional blueprints. 

     The following game is, contrary to Euwe's claim, an instructive lesson on Knight outposts. In addition, Lasker’s play draws praise from Stockfish for being “extremely precise.” 

 

[Event "London"] [Site ""] [Date "1899.06.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Samuel Tinsley"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D51"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate ""] [EventType ""] [EventRounds ""] [EventCountry ""] [Source ""] [SourceVersion ""] [SourceQuality "1"] {D51: Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 {At the time this was the fashionable move; today it's 4...Be7.} 5. e3 h6 {This gains tempo or the two Bs depending on how white wants to meet it.. Its main rival is 5...Be7} 6. Bh4 {Maintaining the pin is the most limiting to black.} c6 {One annotator called this move "horrible" because even though it is not an apparent tactical error it's weak because it "softens the d6–square without justification" and the consequences will be seen later on. Also, it "throws away valuable time" because ;ater black may want to counter with ...c5.This is complete nonsense. Black is perfectly equal here. The problem is that the annotator was a huge Lasker fan who praised everything Lasker did while denigrating Tinsley's play which is really not bad as his Weighted Error Value is only 0.49 indicating that on average his moves were half a P worse that Stockfish's. i.e. his play was moderately imprecise with notable mistakes,ut not a blunderfest! Tinsley was not a complete idiot! Chessmetrics estimates his higest ever rating to have been 2588 in 1900 and he was ranked #25 in the world 5 times om the monthly rating list between 1890 and 1891.} (6... Be7 7. Rc1 O-O 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6 {equals. Danilov,V (2405)-Marin,M (2560) Mamaia 2013}) 7. Bg3 {This is not the best. Normal is 7.Nge2} (7. cxd5 {is also a reasonable option.} exd5 8. Bd3 g5 $2 {Too weakening. Correct was8...Be7} 9. Bg3 Qe7 10. h4 {White has a good game. Zhukova,N (2322)-Buksa,N (2405) Petrovac MNE 2023}) 7... Be7 8. Bd3 Nb6 {This is a very poor choice as it loses time and at the same time yur=elds white space on the Q-side which is where black's play belongs. Good moves were 8...dxc4 or 78...o-o} 9. c5 {After this Lasker is in complete control of the game even though technically hisadvantage is very modest.} Nbd7 10. b4 O-O 11. h3 {A safety precaution to preserve his B.} Nh7 {The previously mentioned annotator stated that this makes s no sense at all and Tinsley played it because he was afraid of e3–e4 and so prepares to prevent it with ...f5. In that respect the move does make sense. That said, it is a poor idea because os results in black getting a very passive position. Counterplay against white's Q-side was his best bet, so ...b6 and ...a5 were his best course of action.]} 12. Nf3 f5 13. Ne2 {[%mdl 32] Very deep! The plan is to invade on the K-side.} Nhf6 {Black now intends ...Ne4 with a Stonewall formation, but it turns out to not be very strong, After white's reply, in order to de fend e6 black will play the dubious withdrawal of his N to b8 which leaves him even more undeveloped.} (13... Ng5 {could probably be considered safer.} 14. Nxg5 hxg5 15. O-O {White has a positional advantage, not a tactical one.}) 14. Nf4 {This targets both the e6 Pawn and g6. As the previously mentioned annotator observed, now begins the lessom on N outposts.} Nb8 {After this engines eveluate the position as won for white...Lasker will prove them right.} (14... Kf7 {Technically this is not evaluated as being any better than 14...Nb8, but practically it it seems a better choice because black's inferiority is positional, not tactical. Here is the main variation...} 15. O-O g5 16. Ne2 Ne4 17. Bh2 h5 18. Ne5+ Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Nf6 {and, I think , only an engine can see that black is nealy lose, In Shoot out white scored +3 -1 =2 is some highly tactcal games, so clearly 14...Kf7 was the move that should have benn played.}) 15. Ng6 Re8 16. Nxe7+ {Black is left with a horrible weakness on the dark squares around his K and his Q-side is totally undeveloped.} Rxe7 17. Bd6 {It's unusual to see a B replacing a N on an outpost, but the B is extremely we;; placed.} Rd7 18. Ne5 Rxd6 {This is his best try and although he gets a B+P for his R white still has a winning advantage.} 19. cxd6 Qxd6 20. a3 {[%mdl 32]} Nbd7 21. f4 a5 22. Rb1 {There is no way white can launch a direct attack, so instead he continues to methodically build up his position.} axb4 23. axb4 Ne4 {Black has his own N outpost, but not for long. Comparing his remaining pieces to white's and it's clear that white has much greater freedom.} 24. Bxe4 {Eliminating black's only active piece.} dxe4 25. O-O Nf6 26. Nc4 Qc7 27. Ra1 Rxa1 28. Qxa1 Nd5 {Black's remaining N finds a home, but it's not accomplishing anything.} 29. Qa5 b6 30. Qa3 Kh7 {He had to move something and this is a safe move.} (30... c5 {to reduce the number of Ps comes up short adfter} 31. bxc5 b5 32. Nb6 Nxb6 33. cxb6 Qxb6 34. Rc1 Bb7 35. Qe7 Bd5 36. Rc7 {and wins.}) 31. Rc1 g5 {Realizing that just sitting passively by is not going to get him anywhere, Tinsley makes a practical decision and tries to launch a counterattack, but in the long run all it's going to do is end up exposing his K.} 32. Ne5 gxf4 33. Rxc6 Qb7 34. exf4 e3 35. g3 Bd7 36. Rd6 {This is a major slip that should have allowed black to equalize. The correct strategy was to keep up the pressure with the positional maneuver Rc2–a2 so as to invade on the a-file} Bb5 $2 {[%mdl 8192]} (36... e2 $3 37. Qa1 (37. Kf2 Nf6 38. Kxe2 Bb5+ 39. Ke3 Qe4+ {draws}) 37... Bb5 38. Kf2 Qe7 {and black should be abke to squeeze out a draw.}) 37. Rxe6 Qc7 38. Qb2 Kg7 39. Rg6+ {The start of a decisive attack.} Kh7 40. Qb1 Qc3 {Lasker's next move can only be described as stunning.} 41. Rc6 $3 {[%mdl 512]} Bd3 {You have to admire Tinsley's ingenuity here; he is setting a trap.} (41... Bxc6 42. Qxf5+ Kh8 43. Qf8+ Kh7 44. Qf7+ Kh8 45. Ng6#) 42. Qxd3 Qe1+ 43. Qf1 Qxg3+ {This position is a good illustration of the point that it's never to late to blunder and throw away the win.} 44. Qg2 $1 (44. Kh1 e2 45. Qxe2 Qxh3+ 46. Kg1 (46. Qh2 Qf1+ 47. Qg1 Qh3+) 46... Qg3+ 47. Kh1 (47. Kf1 Ne3+ 48. Qxe3 Qxe3) {draws} 47... Qh3+) 44... Qe1+ 45. Kh2 Qd2 46. Rc2 {Black resigend.} 1-0

Looking Way Back to…

    1968. It a was a turbulent year filled with vitriolic political campaigns, assassinations, social protests and monumental space exploration. The year started with that vulgar out Lyndon B. Johnson serving as President. His Vietnam War policy was so bad that people were growing sick of him. 

    In January, to the shock of the American public, the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War began. When November arrived there were violent confrontations between police and college students at the Democratic convention in which Hubert Humphrey was nominated. 

     The Republican nominee was Richard Nixon who was later to claim he was not a crook and there was also a third-party candidate, an ignorant racist named George Wallace. 

    Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April, sparking nation wide riots. That was followed by the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy in June. 

    King was shot by James Earl Ray on April 4th while standing on a balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Ray pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and received a 99-year prison sentence. 

     He died on April 23, 1998, at age 70. He managed to survive nearly 30 years in maximum-security prisons mainly by keeping an extremely low profile, avoiding prison politics and relying on prison protection procedures. 

     Bobby Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan on June 5th at a hotelin Los Angeles. Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian-born Jordanian citizen, opened fire in the hotel kitchen after Kennedy finished a speech celebrating his victory in the California presidential primary. Kennedy died the following day. 

    Sirhan was convicted in 1969 and sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after California invalidated the death penalty. 

     In the chess world we were focused on the Candidates Matches, where Boris Spassky defeated Viktor Korchnoi in the final. This victory earned Spassky the right to challenge World Champion Tigran Petrosian in 1969 which was won by Spassky. Thankfully, we had a World Champion whose games did not put us to sleep. 

    As for me, with my military service having been completed the previous year, most of 1968 was spent living on my savings, killing time at a business college, hanging out at the chess club and plating in a lot of Chess Review magazine’s correspondence tournaments. 

    It was in one of those events that I played the following game against a dentist from Detroit. I used to think it was one of my better games in which I played a strong attack. However, as engines got better they kept revealing more flaws. Still, our play wasn't all that bad because my Weighted Error Value was a decent 0.48 and my opponent’s 0.57.

[Event "Correspondence"] [Site ""] [Date "1968.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Detroit Dentist"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B60"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "1968.??.??"] {B60: Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 {The once dreaded Richter–Rauzer Attack threatening to double black's Ps thereby forestalling the once dreaded Dragon by rendering 6...g6 unplayable. At least it's supposed to, but some players have played it anyway. In my database white wins 6 out of 10 games and black only scores a miserable 2 out of 10.} g6 {My opponent is one of them. In eschewing the usual 6...d6 accepts a slight inferiority.} 7. Bxf6 exf6 8. Bc4 Bg7 {Theoretically (according to Stockfish anyway) this position is equal, but black's miserable results from this position don't bear out that conclusion!} 9. Qd2 (9. Ndb5 {is the usual move.} O-O 10. Qxd6 f5 11. O-O-O Qa5 12. Qc7 fxe4 13. Qxa5 Nxa5 14. Bd5 {with equal chances. Volokitin,A (2662)-Carlsen,M (2675) Biel GM 2006}) 9... O-O {With the K tucked away behind the B and Ps black's [osition looks pretty safe and Stockfisk evaluates the position at nearly dead equal. Still, black's position looks to have little in the way of attacking prospects and there is the issue of the isolatyed d-Pawn,} 10. f4 {This move is to be frowned upon' it's tactically faulty.} (10. O-O-O f5 11. Ndb5 Qb6 12. Nxd6 fxe4 {with equal chances.}) 10... f5 {this isn't the best, but it still leaves bvlack with a slight advantage.} (10... Nxd4 $1 {was even better.} 11. Qxd4 f5 12. Qe3 fxe4 {and obviously the P can't be take because of ...Re8, so} 13. O-O-O Bg4 {and black is in good shape.}) 11. Nf3 $2 {This is just awful. I have completely misplayed the last moves and now black has what should amount to a winning advantahe!} fxe4 12. Ng5 {Black should anmswe this with 12...Bf5} h6 13. Ngxe4 (13. Nxf7 {is no good...it rarely is.} Rxf7 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. O-O-O Be6 16. Nxe4 d5 {Black has what should amount to a winning advabntage.}) 13... Re8 {A bit better would have been 13...Bf5} 14. O-O-O Nd4 {Developing with 14...Bg4 was better,} 15. h3 {[%mdl 8192] Intending a P advance, but it leaves the door open for black to launch a nearly winning attack.} (15. Qe3 Nf5 (15... Bf5 16. Rxd4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 Rc8 18. Bd5 {is winning for white...at least it should be!}) 16. Qf2 Be6 {with about equal chances.}) 15... Bf5 $1 16. Ng3 (16. Bd3 b5 17. Rhe1 Rc8 18. Kb1 d5 {and black jhas a very strong attack.}) 16... Bxc2 {The prospects of white surviving are slim at best.} 17. f5 Bxf5 18. Nxf5 Nxf5 19. Rhf1 {Suddenly my position doesn;t look so bad even though Stockfish gives black an advantage of over 3 Ps. Black's extra P on d6 is attacked and maybe I can whip up somethingagainst f7.} h5 {This was apparently played to discourage the advance of the g-Pawn, but it is a tactical error.} (19... Re7 {defending f7 was correct.} 20. g4 {This causes black no problems. After} Ne3 21. Bxf7+ Kh8 $1 22. Bxg6 Qb6 23. Rf3 d5 24. Rxe3 Qxe3 25. Qxe3 Rxe3 26. Nxd5 {Black has a R vs a N+P and it is a winning advantage...at kleast it is if the two sides play on the level of an engine. For amateurs let;s call it unclear.}) 20. Bxf7+ {[%mdl 64] Finally! White is back on an equal footing.} Kh8 21. Rxf5 $1 (21. Bxg6 {is less convencing. After} Bh6 22. Bxe8 Bxd2+ 23. Rxd2 {White only has a R+B for the Q, but the situation is unclear.}) 21... gxf5 22. Bxe8 Qxe8 23. Qxd6 {White has equalized.} Rc8 24. Kb1 b5 {Here I should probably have played 25.a3 to himder ...b4} 25. Qd5 {[%mdl 8192]} b4 26. Nb5 Qe4+ {Black goes into a drawish ending, but he overlooked good tactical play.} (26... Qe2 {Had I played 25.a3 he could not have played this. Now white is once again in serious trouble.} 27. Rd2 Qe3 28. Nd6 Rc5 29. Qd3 Qg1+ 30. Rd1 Qxg2 {Black has won a P and white must take care to guard his K.}) 27. Qxe4 fxe4 {[%mdl 4096] With xorrect play this ending should be drawnm but that's not going to happen.} 28. Nd6 {Over the course of the next several moves there is minor improvements to the play of both sides, but I don't want to nit pick.} Rf8 29. Nxe4 Rf5 30. Rd8+ Kh7 31. Rd7 a5 32. b3 Rf1+ $1 33. Kc2 Ra1 34. Nf6+ Kg6 35. Nxh5 {[%mdl 64] Deflection} Rxa2+ 36. Kb1 Rb2+ 37. Kc1 $1 Kxh5 38. Rxg7 Rxb3 {This ending is drawn, but I had spent a lot of time studying R&P endings so felt incluned to play on.} 39. g4+ {[%mdl 32]} Kh4 40. Rh7+ Kg3 41. g5 Kf2 42. g6 Rg3 43. Rf7+ Ke3 44. g7 Rg2 45. h4 Kd3 46. h5 {this is still a draw, but only if black advances his Ps.} Kc3 $4 {[%mdl 8192]} (46... a4 $3 47. h6 (47. Rf3+ Ke2 48. Rf4 a3 49. Rxb4 (49. h6 {would be a mistake.} b3 {Whits can delay, but not avoid, mate.}) 49... Rxg7 {draws}) 47... Rg1+ {In this situation ny K cannot approach the R because its path is blocked by black's K.} 48. Kb2 Rg2+ {White cannot avoid the checks.}) 47. Rf3+ {Black resigned.} (47. Rf3+ Kd4 48. h6 {One of the Ps will Queen.} Rg1+ 49. Kd2 Rg2+ 50. Ke1 Rg1+ 51. Kf2 Rg6 52. h7) 1-0

Buddy Engine Mumbo Jumbo

    During the last couple of months I have spent some time getting acquainted with Widows 11 on the new laptop and tinkering with the ChessBase programs. Fritz 20 has a unique feature I finally got around to looking at...the Buddy Engine. 

    In the past, running a second engine, the Kibbitzer, was available if you wanted a second opinion. Personally, I never saw a need for this because Stockfish is so strong that there isn’t really anything a second engine can add. It’s sort of like Magnus Carlsen asking for my opinion. 

    The Buddy Engine is reported to be a helpful analysis tool. It runs along side the main engine as a secondary “lightweight” engine to “decode complex variations and annotate lines into plain conclusions.”  i.e. deep complicated variations are spelled out as clear, understandable ideas.

    The Buddy Engine only uses one CPU. For example, when analyzing with 4 CPUs when you turn on the Buddy Engine the main engine drops to 3 CPUs. After watching THIS video I guess I don’t understand precisely what the Buddy Engione is telling me and I don't see its practical value. 

    Here is an example from a correspondence game I played over 60 years ago. 

 

 

     In this position my opponent (black) is to play his 17th move.  Running on 4 cores Stockfish 18’s top choice is 17...d5 after which white’s advantage is about half a Pawn. The second option is 17...gxh6 which is evaluated at 7/10 of a Pawn in white’s favor. This looks simple enough, but here is the Buddy Engine’s analysis: 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps I am missing something, but honestly I don’t see anything to be gained with the Buddy Engine especially considering that it is running on only one core while the main engie is running on three.  I am a huge fan of ChessBse products, but this looks like nothing more than sales hype.

Tudev Ujtumen At His Best

    America's Golden Boy, Bobby Fischer's decisive win in the Interzonal at Palma de Mallorca Interzonal in 1970 wasn't a big surprise, but the way he won it was incredible; he won by a 3.5 point margin ahead of Robert Huebner, Bent Larsen and Yefim Geller. 

    At the end of round 16 with seven rounds to go, Fischer's score stood at 11.5. Trailing him were Geller and Uhlmann (10.5), Taimanov (10.0), Huebner, Larsen, Gligoric and Portisch (9.5). In the remaining rounds Geller could make no progress while Huebner and Larsen surged to tie him for second place. Fischer? He won seven games in a row. 

    One of the more famous incidents was when Argentina's Oscar Panno refused to play Fischer in the last round, in the last round. With the top six qualifying for the Candidates and a seventh spot available for a reserve. Any of the players with 12.5 had a theoretical chance of qualifying for the reserve spot. That was important because you could never be sure if Fischer was going to participant in the next event. 

    Panno was scheduled to play black against Fischer in the last round. The organizers had scheduled the last round to begin on Saturday at 4:0 PM. But Reshevsky and Fischer couldn't play due to their Sabbath observances so their games were scheduled to start after sundown at 7:00 PM. (Reshevsky was an Orthodox Jew and Fischer was at the time a member of the Worldwide Church of God,)

    Panno protested that all games should start at the same time so nobody would have an unfair advantage. Reshevsky's opponent, Duncan Suttles, had no problem with the arrangement and the two played a 23-move draw. Fischer showed up at 7:00 PM. But Panno was nowhere to be found. Fischer played 1.c4 and not wanting to accept a forfeit, went to Panno's hotel room and tried to talk him into playing, but Panno refused. 

    According to Larry Evans, Panno arrived after the hour was up and he had been forfeited, wrote “Resigns” on his score sheet and left. I am not sure it this is actually what happened; Evans was known to be a little “loose” with his stories. Why would Panno bother to show up after he had been forfeited? Why write “Resigns” on his score sheet? He did not resign, he lost on forfeit. Panno's chance at qualifying were theoretical; he would have had o beat Fischer with the black pieces and the other games would all have to work out in his favor, but who knows what would have happen if he had played? 

    As it was, there was a playoff match between Portisch and Smyslov for the reserve spot was played in Portoroz in 1971. The match was drawn, and Portisch was awarded the spot due to better tiebreaks from the tournament. After this tournament Fischer went on to win the World Championship. 

 

 

    Ujtumen began Palma 1970 with three straight wins and was all alone in first place. Of course that wasn't going to last, but he DID draw Fischer. He ultimately tied for 20th place with a score of 8.5. 

    Tudev Ujtumen was born in Altaj, Mongolia August 27, 1939 and died at the age of 53 in 1993. He became Mongolia's first IM in 1965. In 1969, he won the West Asian zonal tournament in Singapore. In other international tournaments, he took 15th at Sochi 1964, 15th at Sochi 1965, 9th at Havana 1967, tied for 11-13th at Tbilisi 1971 and 9th at Dubna 1973. 

    Ujtumen was a three-time winner of the Mongolian Chess Championship, in 1972, 1978 and 1986. He played six times for Mongolia in Chess Olympiads (1964–1974). He won the individual gold medal on second board (+11 −1 =5) at Tel Aviv 1964 and silver on second board (+12 −3 =3) at Siegen 1970. 

     According to Chessmetrics. Ujtumen's highest rating was achieved in January 1971 at 2565 which placed him 117th in the world. His normal rating was in the low to mid 2400s. Here is his nice third round win over IM Renato Natanja (born 1940) who was Philippine Champi on in 1965. He also played on the Philippine Olympiad teams of 1960, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970 and 1974. 

 

[Event "Palma de Mallorca Interzonal"] [Site ""] [Date "1970.11.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Tudev Ujtumen"] [Black "Renato Naranja"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1970.11.09"] {B06: Modern Defense} 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c3 d6 4. Be3 b6 {Black usually plays 4.Nf6 after which both sides have a plethora op options.} 5. f3 {This off looking, but not bad, move is often played against 4...Nf6.} c5 6. Bc4 (6. dxc5 {is better/ Black has no really satisfactory reply.} dxc5 (6... bxc5 7. Qd5) 7. Bb5+ Nd7 8. Qd5 Rb8 9. Bf4 {winning the exchange.}) 6... e6 {Eliminating the possibility of Qd5} 7. Ne2 Ne7 8. Na3 a6 9. Qd2 O-O 10. Bd3 (10. Bh6 {athis routine move eliminating the dark squared B does not accomplish much. After} d5 11. Bb3 dxe4 12. fxe4 Bb7 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. h4 h6 {Black's defense of his K is adequate, so white must turn his attention to the center with} 15. d5 Nd7 (15... exd5 16. exd5 Nf5 17. O-O-O Re8 18. Rdf1 {White is more active, but black's defense should prove adequate.}) 16. Nc4 Nf6 {A dynamic position that offers equal chances.}) 10... Nbc6 11. Rd1 cxd4 12. cxd4 b5 13. Nc2 Bb7 14. O-O Qd7 15. Bh6 Rac8 16. h4 {Over the past few moves white has managed to reach a position that has some real attacking potential.} Nd8 {Black has no time for such slow maneuvering...he must undertake strong countermeasures.} (16... Bxh6 17. Qxh6 Kh8 18. h5 Ng8 19. Qd2 Nf6 20. hxg6 fxg6 21. Ne3 e5) 17. h5 f6 18. hxg6 hxg6 $16 19. Bxg7 Kxg7 20. Ne3 Rh8 {Black has managed to reduce white's advantage to a minimum, but with all of black's pieces sitting on the back two ranks it's clear that danger is lurking.} 21. Ng4 e5 22. Bc2 Qc7 23. Bb3 Qb6 24. Rf2 Rc6 $2 {This runs into serious difficulties. His best option was to try a conter against the center.} (24... Ndc6 {]} 25. Qe3 f5 26. dxe5 Qxe3 27. Nxe3 dxe5 28. exf5 Rcd8 (28... gxf5 29. Rd7 {wins}) 29. fxg6 Rxd1+ 30. Bxd1 Nxg6 31. Ng3 Rd8 {with a fighting chance at survival.}) 25. f4 {[%mdl 32] Black's K is about to get gutted.} exd4 26. Nxd4 Rc5 27. e5 dxe5 28. fxe5 Nec6 29. exf6+ Kf8 30. Ne6+ {Black resigned. stockfish's evaluation of Ujtumen's play...very precise. Actually, Naranja's play was not horrible...(0.60).} (30. Ne6+ Nxe6 31. Qd6+ {is mate in 2}) 1-0

Wallis Whips Thomas

  

Wallis in 1958

 The Southsea 1949, tournament (the Stevenson Memorial and SCCU Championship) took place from April 13 to 23, 1949, at the Milton Training College in Southsea, England, with Savielly Tartakower winning the premier event. 

    Today’s game was playe don that event. The winner was Philip Norman Wallis (1910-1973), who appears to have been an accountant by profession and published a few books on economic management. During his lifetime he lived all over England ans was a frequent competitor in local events. 

    He is credited as being the first to develop the English Defense (1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6) which was played by several strong English players in the 1970s, including Tony Miles, and even Viktor Korchnoi gave it a try. 

 

 

 

 

[Event "Southsea"] [Site ""] [Date "1949.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "P.N. Wallis"] [Black "Sir George Thomas"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2440"] [BlackElo "2470"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2026.08.14"] {D02: QP Opening} 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 Nbd7 4. d4 Ne4 (4... b5 {An ih.nteresting approach.} 5. O-O e6 6. b3 Bb7 7. Nbd2 b4 8. Bb2 c5 {with equality. Aguero Jimenez,L (2420)-Luther,T (2525) Havana CUB 2010}) 5. O-O e6 6. Nbd2 (6. c4 dxc4 7. Qc2 Nd6 8. Ne5 Nb6 9. Nd2 Be7 {White is a bit better, Lutz,A (2153)-Pohle,D (2206) Meran 2009}) 6... Nxd2 7. Nxd2 f5 {Thomas is going to set up a Stonewall formation. In spite of its sollid looking appearance when played either as white or black it never seems to wotk out well because its just to limiting.} 8. c4 {White is better.} c6 9. cxd5 exd5 {Capturing with the other P was no better.} 10. e4 $6 {A volatile move; instead of playing ir safe with 10.Nf3 Wallis attacks black's center in an attempt to tale advantage of his K in the center.} dxe4 11. f3 $1 {Black shpuld now stymie white's idea with 11...e3 and 12...f4} Nf6 (11... exf3 {is a bit too risky.} 12. Nxf3 Be7 13. Qb3 {Black can't castle and he has development problems. Even so, white's attacking chances are minimal.}) 12. fxe4 {[%mdl 32]} Qxd4+ 13. Kh1 Ng4 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Instead of this premature attack black needed to get castled with ...Be7 and ...O-O.} 14. exf5 $1 Nf2+ {Clearly white must now sacrifice the exchange, but how does he follow it up?} 15. Rxf2 $1 Qxf2 16. Qh5+ {Evidently Thomas underestimated the strength of this riposte which leaves him totally at white's mercy.} g6 (16... Kd8 {isn't a bit better.} 17. Nf3 Bd7 18. Bf4 Qc2 (18... Qxb2 19. Rd1 {is clearly fatal for black.}) 19. Qg5+ Kc8 20. f6 Qf5 (20... gxf6 21. Qxf6 Rg8 22. Qe5 {and wins}) 21. fxg7 {wins}) 17. fxg6 Bg7 18. gxh7+ Qf7 {Thomas may have been counting on this, but white has a strong continuation.} 19. Qe2+ $1 Be6 20. Ne4 {[%mdl 32] The N joins the attack.} ({Not} 20. Bh3 {and black weasels oyt of the pin!} Kd7 21. Qd3+ Kc7 {The K has reached safety and the material is equal and so the chances are abput equal/}) 20... O-O-O 21. Ng5 Qf5 22. Nxe6 Rhe8 {White has a number of good moves available!} 23. Bf4 (23. Qf1 Qxf1+ 24. Bxf1 Rxe6 25. Bh3 Kd7 26. Bg5 Rde8 27. Rd1+) (23. Bh6 Bxh6 24. Nxd8 Rxe2 25. h8=Q) 23... Rxe6 24. Qf1 {While technically not nearly as good as 24...Qxh7 this sets a trap into which Wallis falls and it costs him almost all of his advantage!} Bxb2 (24... Qxh7 {Makes things much more difficult for white and therefore was by far the best practical chance.} 25. h4 Bxb2 26. Bh3 Qe4+ 27. Qg2 Qxg2+ 28. Kxg2 Bxa1 29. Bxe6+ Rd7 30. Be3 (30. Bxd7+ Kxd7 {and white cannot win.}) 30... b6 31. Kf3 {In order to win white must activate his K.} c5 32. Ke4 Kd8 33. Bxd7 Kxd7 34. g4 {with his K centralized white can now win the ending.}) 25. Rb1 $2 (25. Bh3 {keeps a winning advantage.} Qd5+ 26. Qg2 Bxa1 27. Qxd5 Rxd5 28. Bxe6+ Rd7 29. h4 Kd8 30. Bxd7 Kxd7 31. g4 {with a won ending.}) 25... Qc2 {[%mdl 8192] Evidently Thomas was not aware that his last move was a trap!} (25... Bf6 26. h4 Qxh7 27. Bh3 Qe4+ 28. Kh2 Rd7 29. Bxe6 Qxe6 {Material is equal and with careful play blackl should be able to stop the advance of white's Ps. here is a sample line...} 30. Qf2 Rd5 31. Re1 Qd7 32. a4 b5 33. axb5 Rxb5 34. Re2 Kb7 35. Qe3 a5 {with a likely draw.}) 26. Re1 Bc3 27. Bh3 {Black resigned.} (27. Bh3 Rd7 (27... Bxe1 28. Bxe6+ Rd7 29. h8=Q#) 28. Rxe6 Kd8 29. Qe1 {mates shortly/}) 1-0

Sparkling With Life

    ...that’s how Tartakower described the following game played in the 1925 USSR Championship. The winner was Pyotr Romanovsky (1892-1964, 71 years old). He was born in St. Petersburg and passed away in Moscow. He was awarded the IM title at its inception in 1950 and was made an Inte rnational Arbiter in 1951. In 1934, Romanovsky became the first Soviet player to be awarded the title of Honored Master of Sport. 

     He was USSR C and hampion in 1923 and 1927 as well as Leningrad Champion in 192 5. Both of his brothers, Yevgeny and Alexander, were players of some note.

    His opponent was Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942, 50 years old) who was also born in St. Petersburg. He was joint USSR Champion in 1934 and Leningrad Champion in 1920, 1925 (joint), 1928 and 1940-41. He played in nine USSR Championships during the period 1920-1939, sharing the title with Grigory Levenfish in 1934/5.Primarily a positional player, in 1927, he published the first original book in Russian on the endgame. 

    He starved to death during the siege of Leningrad in 1942. Starving to death is a slow, painful process where the body consumes its own tissues for fuel. It begins with intense physical hunger and stomach pain, transitions into severe fatigue, cold, and mental fog as fat reserves vanish, and ends with the body breaking down its own muscles and vital organs. He was one of approximately 650,000 peoplewho died from starvation, freezing cold weather, disease, and artillery attacks. 

 

[Event "Leningrad"] [Site "] [Date "1925.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Pyotr Romanovsky"] [Black "Ilya Rabinovich"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C16"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1925.??.??"] {C16: French Defense, Winawer Variation} 1. e4 {[%mdl 32]} e6 2. d4 {[%mdl 32]} d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 f6 $2 {Theory on the Winawer was sparse at the time and this is a poor move. Better was the usual 4...c5 with a complex game to follow.} 5. Nf3 (5. a3 Bf8 {Very odd.} 6. Bd3 Qd7 {Even odder. 6...b6 looks natural.} 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. O-O fxe5 9. Bb5 Bd6 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Qh5+ {1-0 (37)}) 5... c5 6. Bb5+ {Usual is 6.a3 when black can play either 6...Bxc3+ or 6...Ba5} Kf8 $2 {Black has completely misplayed the opening! This leaves his K fatally weak. Simply 6...Bd7 was correct.} (6... Bd7 {is a better defense.} 7. O-O Bxc3 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. bxc3 Nc6 {White is better, but not winning.}) 7. dxc5 Qa5 {Putting pressure on the pinned N, but white can ignore it.} 8. Be2 fxe5 (8... Bxc3+ {Triples white's Ps, but it does not work put well after} 9. bxc3 Qxc3+ 10. Bd2 Qxc5 11. O-O Nc6 {Black's position may look OK, but white's big lead in development, two Bs and open lines should prove to be a winning advantage.}) 9. O-O Nc6 {Black has an imposing looking center, but Romanovsky now unleashes an impressive tactical display.} 10. Nxd5 $1 {[%mdl 512]} exd5 {Black's position looks very good. He has a N for a P and what appears to be a formidable P center. However, watch how his position quickly crumbles.} 11. c3 $1 Bxc5 {Hoping for ...Bd6.} 12. b4 Nxb4 13. cxb4 Bxb4 {Black is up two Ps and in exchange white has a won position!} 14. Rb1 Bf5 15. Rxb4 {[%mdl 512]} Qxb4 16. Qxd5 Ne7 (16... Qe4 {Offering a Q trade doesn't work.} 17. Qd6+ Ne7 18. Bg5 {wims}) 17. Qxe5 {Black's center has vanished!} Qe4 18. Qb2 {What a move!} Rc8 {Black has a dangerous looking threat in ...Rc2, but it doesn't amount to anything.} 19. Bh6 Rg8 20. Qf6+ Ke8 21. Bb5+ Rc6 (21... Nc6 22. Bxg7 Qd5 23. Re1+ Be4 24. Ng5 {is equally hopeless for black.}) 22. Bxg7 Bd7 23. Bxc6 Qxc6 24. Re1 Qc5 25. Bh6 Kd8 26. Bf8 {Black resigned. It's no wonder Tartakower called this a sparkling game.} 1-0