This Latvian player had a lot of variations of his name: Fricis, Fritz and Franz (first name), Apšenieks and Apscheneek (last name), but let’s call him Fritz Apscheneek.
He was born in Tetele, Latvia on April 7, 1894. Tetele is about 25 miles from Riga where he died on April 25, 1941.
The occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on July 10, 1941 by Germany's armed forces. Anyone not racially acceptable or who opposed the German occupation, as well as those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, were killed or sent to concentration camps. However, there is no evidence I am aware of that this situation applied to Apscheneek.
Apscheneek was one of Latvia's strongest players between the two World Wars. He took 2nd place in the World Amateur Championship in Paris in 1924 and won the Latvian championship in 1926, 1927, and 1934, and played in seven Olympiads.
In 1978 Prof. Arpad Elo published a book entitled The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present which contained the historical ratings of 476 players. Apscheneek is listed at 2430. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2571 in 1936 which ranked him number 51 in the world.
Apscheneek was a brilliant chess tactician and according to an Edward Winter article was noted for his extremely fast play. Supposedly at Kemeri, 1937 he used only about fifteen minutes for all his moves in his drawn game against Alekhine, who used over two hours.
The following win over Arthur Dake is a good example of Apscheneek’s aggressive style. Beginning in 1931, US teams won four consecutive Chess Olympiads: 1931, 1933, 1935, and 1937. Dake, who played in 1931–1935, was one of the major members along with Isaac Kashdan, Frank Marshall, Reuben Fine, I.A. Horowitz and Abraham Kupchik Dake won two individual medals: silver (1933) and gold (1935). In this game he was playing on third board and scored +5 –2 =7.
[Event "Prague Men's Olympiad"]
[Site "Prague "]
[Date "1931.7.12"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Fricis Apsenieks"]
[Black "Arthur William Dake"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 {This line is appealing to amateurs
because it is a simple and easy to learn answer to the Caro-Kann. By
clarifying the central tension white gives himself a clear plan of attack
using the half open e-file and the e5 square. And, it can be hard to meet even
for GMs as players like Fischer, Timman and Browne, among other, discovered.
Black is not without resources but he needs to know what he's doing.} 4...
Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 {Also popular is 5...Qc7.} 6. h3 {Black will now have
difficulties developing his B because white has prevented ...Bf4 with 4th move
and with this move prevents ...Bg4.} 6... e6 7. Qe2 Be7 8. f4 {Clearly
Apscheneek has aggressive intentions or else he would have played the normal
Nf3 and castled.} 8... a6 9. g4 {Who would have guessed that when he played
his last move Apscheneek intended this?!} 9... b5 {Dake is equally aggressive
and invites white to play 10. g5 which can be met by 10...Ne4 inviting white
to win a P with 11.Bxe4 dxe4 12. Qxe4. But that would be too dangerous
because after 12...Bb7 white's Q and R are on the same diagonal as the B and
after ...Qc7 defending the B there is the threat of ...Nxd4. Also, white's K
is wide open.} 10. b4 Bb7 11. Nf3 Qb6 { The idea of 11...Ne4 is still
feasible.} 12. a4 {Playing on both sides of the board.} 12... bxa4 13. Rxa4
Ne4 {White still can't safely take the N and must defend against the fork on
g3.} 14. Rg1 {With his next move Dake chose not to play an interesting
sacrifice. 14...Nxc3 15.Nxc3 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 Qxd4 attacking the N on c3 and the R
on g1. Not surprising... Dake had a solid, positional style.} 14... g6
{Intending ...f5 to hinder white's K-side play.} 15. Be3 f5 16. gxf5 exf5 17.
Qa2 {With his K-side attacking chances stymied, white turns his attention to
black's a-Pawn and d-Pawn.} 17... Nf6 {Both sides now engage in repositioning
their Ns.} 18. Nbd2 Nd8 19. Nb3 Ne4 20. Bd2 Ne6 21. Nc5 {This attacks the
a-Pawn four times while it is only defended three times. Nevertheless, it
would not be safe to take it if black castles because of 21...O-O 22.Bxa6 Bxa6
23.Nxa6 Qb5! 24.Nc4 Nxf4! threatening ...Qe2 mate and ...Nxc3. So, if now
21...O-O 22. Ne5 and white stands well.} 21... N6xc5 {Black still should have
castled as the lesser evil because white not gets a protected passed P.} 22.
bxc5 Qe6 23. Ne5 O-O 24. Rb4 {White gets good play on the open b-file and at
this point has a strategically won game.} 24... Qc8 25. Qb3 Ra7 26. Rb6 Bh4+
27. Ke2 Bd8 28. c6 { White can win in a variety of ways. Besides the move he
selected, he could also have sacrificed a N with 28.Nxg6 followed by the
excavation of black's K.} 28... Bxb6 29. Qxb6 Qa8 30. Bxe4 fxe4 31. Nxg6 hxg6
32. cxb7 Rxb7 33. Qxg6+ Kh8 34. Qh5+ {White mates in 3.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment