Naranja’s Dogfight With Matulovic

     In 1969 the East Asian Zonal Tournament was organized by the Singapore Chess Federation and was held in the Facility of Medicine. 
     It ended in a tie between a young Australian player named Walter Browne and Renato Naranja of the Philippines when both scored 8-3. 
     Their individual game ended in a draw. Both players lost two games: Browne to Haji Ardijansyah of Indonesia and Tan Lian Seng of Singapore. Narjana lost to Max Wotulo of Indonesia and Yukio Miyasaki of Japan. 
     The playoff ended in a 1-1 tie and Naranja qualified for the Interzonal that was to be played in 1970 in Palma de Mallorca on the basis of better Sonneborn-Berger points. 

Naranja in 1967

     Renato Naranja (born September 24, 1940) is an International Master from the Philippines. He was Philippine Junior Champion in 1958. In 1959, he placed 9th in world junior Under-20 championship. He played for Philippines in the Olympiads of 1960, 1964 (Board 1), 1966 (Board 1), 1968, 1970 (Board 1) and 1974. He won the Philippine Championship in 1965. 
     At the Interzonal in Palma de Mallorca Naranja did not finish very high, only 21st out of 24, but he had some major highlights when he drew with Bobby Fischer who finished a whopping 3-1/2 points ahead of the field. He also held Lajos Portisch and Vasily Smyslov, both of whom failed to qualify for the Candidates Matches by a half-point, to draws. 
     He scored five wins: Reshevsky (17th place), Suttles (15th-16th place), Addison and Matulovic (18th-19th place) and Jimenez (24th place). 
     In 1989 Naranja took a look a long break from chess after emigrating to the United States where he worked as a computer engineer. An International Master and a Life Master with the USCF, he still frequents the Marshall Chess Club. His last rated event was in 2014 when he finished an undefeated first in a small FIDE rated tournament at the Marshall. 

Naranja more recently

     Describing himself as a better tactician than strategist, Naranja calls the following game against Milan Matulovic as his most memorable game. 
     Milan Matulovic (1935 – 2013) was a Yugoslav GM who was the second or third strongest Yugoslav player for much of the 1960s and 1970s behind Svetozar Gligoric and Borislav Ivkov. 
     He won the Yugoslav Chess Championships of 1965 and 1967 and was a prolific competitor on the international tournament scene during the 1960s and 1970s and remained an occasional tournament competitor until 2006. 
     Matulovic was involved in several controversies. Much to the annoyance of his opponents, he often played on in hopeless positions in which he should have resigned. 
     Against Istvan Bilek at the Sousse Interzonal in 1967, Matulovic played a losing move but then took it back after announcing j'adoube. Bilek complained to the arbiter but the move was allowed to stand earning Matulovic the nickname "J'adoubovic". That wasn’t the first time he had pulled that trick. 

Matulovic

     In his book Endgame, author Frank Brady wrote about a match the fifteen year old Bobby played against Matulovic before the 1958 Interzonal in Portoroz. In that match Matulovic took back a move in their first game which Fischer lost. After that, Fischer, who went on to win the match, told Matulovic he’d no longer accept any j’adoubes. 
     After the 1970 Palma de Mallorca tournament, he was accused of throwing his game against Mark Taimanov in return for a $400, thus allowing Taimanov to advance to the Candidates matches. Those were the famous matches where Fischer skunked Taimonov and Larsen 6-0 and then beat Petrosian +5 −1 =3 on the way to defeating Spassky for the World Championship. 
     During the game against Taimanov, Matulovic offered feeble resistance and appeared uninterested in the game. According to IM David Levy, Matulovic arrived at the board twenty minutes late and began playing incredibly weak moves at the rate of about one move per minute; strange, since he normally he was a slow mover and used all of his available time. 
     Levy put forth two possible explanations: Matulovic was bribed, a theory that many t observers believed was probable despite a Soviet denial of any bribe at the time or that he couldn't care less about the game. Matulovic was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and served nine months in prison for a car accident in which a woman was killed. 
     GM Nigel Short, never known to mince words or exhibit good taste, said on Facebook after hearing of Matulovic's death posted, "They say only speak good of the dead. He's dead? Good!" 

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[Event "Palma de Mallorca Interzonal"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1970.12.2"]
[Round "17"]
[White "Milan Matulovic"]
[Black "Renato Naranja"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{B81: Sicilian Scheveningen: Keres Attack} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4.
Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 {P-structures are important and here are some basic
observations: White has a space advantage and more room to operate. Black is
making a lot of P moves while white is developing. White has complete freedom
to operate on the K-side. All this leads one to the conclusion that white has
reason to be optimistic that a quick attack will result in success and he has
many ways to carry out such an attack. Black is not without resources of
course. The saying goes that white wins the short games, black the long ones.
And, if white is ever forced to play a3 to stop ...b5 black has taken over the
in iniative. From black's point of view he must counterattack.} 6. g4 {The
Keres Attack. IM John Watson calls this move the most striking example of
modern chess strategy. Normally theory says black should meet such a
'premature' atatck by a counterattack in the center with ...d5. But, here it
doesn't work: 6...d5? 7.exd5 Nxd5 8,Bb5+! Bd7 (This is a move black does not
want to play) 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.Qe2+ as in Fischer-Reshevsky, 1966 US Champ.
White has a huge advantage.} 6... Be7 {Far more popular is 6...h6. It
concedes a significant weakening of the K-side and castling there is almost
ruled out. However, the move has a point and that is to keep the N on f6
because it's black's only developed piece and it also is an important piece
for both attack and defense.} 7. g5 Nfd7 8. Rg1 {The immediate 8.h4 gives
better results.} 8... Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. h4 Re8 {This is too slow. Black
needs to get his counterplay going with 10...a6 11.h5 Nxd4 and then he can
think about advancing his b-Pawn. } 11. h5 Nf8 {It's necessary to meet the
threat of g6 which rips apart his Ks position and undermines the support of
the P on e6. However, a better was to do it would have been 11...Nde5.} 12.
Qd2 e5 {Black's normal method of advancing the b-Pawn just takes too long so
he must resort to this move which creates some positional weaknesses.} 13.
Nb3 {The sharp 13.Nf5 was an interesting alternative.} 13... Be6 14. O-O-O a5
15. Bb5 g6 {A suicidal move, but black's position is probably lost even after
15...Qc7...what else?!} 16. Nd5 { This prep move is not required. He could
have launched a winning attack down the h-file with 16.hxg6 and 17.f4! giving
the Q quick access to the h-file.} 16... a4 17. Na1 Bxd5 18. exd5 Qa5
{Suddenly white's attacking chances have diminished and black is getting some
play.} 19. Qe2 a3 {With his next move Matulovic makes a tactical error. He
should play either 20,c4 or even 20.b4 with about equal chances.} 20. b3 Qc3
21. dxc6 {White is either overly optimistic or underestimating his opponent.
Offering a trade of Qs with 21.Qc4 was better.} 21... bxc6 22. Ba4 {This is
really bad...22.Bxc6 at least gives him a fighting chance.} 22... Rxa4 {Of
course. The R can't be taken because if 23.bxa4 Rb8!! (Threatening ...Rb1+
and ...Qb2 mate) 24.Nb3 Rxb3!! and white can't avoid mate. } 23. Qd3 Qb2+ 24.
Kd2 Raa8 25. hxg6 Nxg6 26. Rb1 Qxa2 27. Qf5 d5 28. Rh1 {Now it's Naranja's
turn to make a tactical error that should have lost the game! He needed to
play 28...Bb4+ (Clearing e7 for the R so it can defend f7). Also 28...Rf8
would serve the same purpose.} 28... d4 29. Rxh7 {The R can't be taken because
after 30.Qxf7+ black gets mated.} 29... Bb4+ 30. Ke2 Ra7 31. Rbh1 {White now
has a winning attack and there's nothing black can do except offer up is Q.}
31... Qxa1 {If white takes the Q then after 32...Kh7 black has enough material
for it that he can put up stiff resistance. On his next move Matulovic misses
another tactical shot that would have allowed him to win black's Q and the
game: 32.Rh8+! Nxh8 33.Qh7+ Kf8 34.Qxh8+ Ke7 35.Qf6+ Kd7 36.Rxa1; 32.Rxa1
Kxh7 } 32. Qf6 {Black is back in the game and the chances are now equal.}
32... d3+ 33. cxd3 Qb2+ 34. Kf1 Qb1+ 35. Kg2 {Disdaining the perpetual he
could have allowed after 35.Ke2.} 35... Qxh1+ {Threatened with mate there was
no choice, but black still has plenty of compensation for the Q} 36. Rxh1 Rc7
37. Bb6 Rcc8 { Matulovic should have taken the draw here with 38.Rh6 and
39.Rxg6} 38. Kf3 { After this defeat is only a few moves away.} 38... Bc3 39.
Ke2 a2 40. Rh6 {Realizing too late that he has to take the draw by sacrificing
the R on g6. But...} 40... Nf4+ {There's a fly in the ointment. Obviously
the K can't retreat to the firat rank because the P queens with check. And,
if 41.Ke3 Nd4+ wins the Q.} 41. Kf3 e4+ {Black wins the Q anyway.} 42. Kxf4
Bxf6 {He is going to lose the R too after 43.Rh1 a1Q} 0-1