Time!

     I posted on the 1955 Interzonal at Gothenburg (see Boleslavsky’s Hole) earlier this year and mentioned the peculiar case of Yugoslav master Andrija Fuderer when, after a great start, he totally collapsed at the finish. Also, back in 2012 I did a post on Fuderer, but the featured game has, for some reason, disappeared. 
     The following game is one of Fuderer’s games from Gothenburg that was part of his unfortunate collapse, but it features a good tactical finish with a Rook sacrifice by Pachman and the game illustrates the importance of obtaining maximum cooperation of one’s pieces. 
     The character of some positions is determined by features that affect play for a long time (static features), but things like a lead in development, active pieces, the concentration of pieces in on sector of the board (dynamic features) will affect the game for only a short period of time. 
     There are four things that fall into the category of dynamic elements: Lead in development, gain of time at the cost of material, cooperation of pieces and Pawns and positional sacrifices. In those situations every move will determine whether the active side will succeed in taking advantage of his momentary superiority. It’s all about time...neither side can afford to lose any by playing a superfluous move. 
     A word about the Ponziani Opening: The opening was favored by Staunton who wrote in The Chess-Player’s Handbook (1847) that the opening is “so full of interest and variety that it’s omission in many of the leading works on the game is truly unaccountable...it deserves, and if we mistake not, will yet attain a higher place in the category of legitimate openings...” 
     In 1904, Marshall wrote that, "There is no point in White's third move unless Black plays badly. ... White practically surrenders the privilege of the first move." and Graham Burgess called it "a relic from a bygone age, popular neither at top level nor at club level". 
     In Chess Master vs. Chess Amateur, Max Euwe and Walter Meiden wrote, "What should one do with this opening? It is no opening for beginners, because tactics predominate in the play. There are no simple strategic principles to govern the general lines in this opening.” 
     Bruce Pandolfini has said, “Curiously, every great teacher of openings who investigated the Ponziani has concluded that it leads to interesting play and deserves to be played more often. Yet it has never captured the fancy of chess players in general, and it remains to be seen whether the Ponziani is an opening of the past or of the future.” 
    Back in 2013, Magnus Carlsen played it against Pentala Harikrishna at Wijk aan Zee, but GM Evgeny Najer, one of a few high-level GMs who plays the Ponziani, commented, “...it's a bit risky to play...against...Kramnik, but it's completely okay to play...against those made of common clay for you can get some interesting (positions)...” He also added, “...it seems to me we shouldn't be expecting the rise of popularity for Ponziani opening because Black actually has a lot of secure continuations in it." 
     This game is quite a complicated seesaw affair with some rather surprising tactical twists. Especially interesting is the following position in which it's black's move: 

At first glance it looks like black should win easily, but Stockfish evaluates the position at 0.00 and cannot find a win. If you want to look at the position with an engine, here's the FEN:
 r7/P1p2k2/5B2/3qPb2/5Q2/1p3PK1/3p4/R7 b - - 0 43 

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[Event "Gothenburg Interzonal"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1955.9.21"]
[Round "21"]
[White "Andrija Fuderer"]
[Black "Ludek Pachman"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]

%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Ponziani Opening} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. d4 d5 {One of several
reasonable replies. The others being 4...Nxe4, 4...exd4 and 4...d6.} 5. Bb5
exd4 6. e5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 {Equally good is 7.cxd4.} 7... Bc5 8. O-O O-O 9. Bxc6
bxc6 10. Be3 Bd7 11. Nd2 {In the 1992 German Championship M. Hermann played
11. f3 against R. Schlehoefer (2335) and followed it up with Qc1 and b2-b4 and
the dame was soon drawn.} 11... Nxd2 12. Qxd2 {Although the position is
technically equal, black's chances seem preferable because of the more active
pieces.} 12... Qe7 {According to Stockfish white has a promising P-sacrifice
with 13.Bg5 Qxe5 14. Rfe1 which it evaluates at almost a one P advantage for
white. I wasn't seeing it and so ran a Shootout which resulted in some
interesting play with white scoring +1 -0 =4.} 13. Rfe1 Bb6 14. b4 {So as to
maintain the N on d4. Equally good was 14.f4.} 14... a5 {In view of what
happens a better line was ...Qh4 and ...Rfe8} 15. Bg5 {With this move white
gets a near winning position.} 15... Qe8 16. Bf6 {If black plays 16...gxf6
then after 17.exf6 he is faced with both the loss of his Q and mate.} 16...
h6 17. Re3 {The B is still immune.} 17... Kh7 18. Qd3+ g6 19. Rg3 Bxd4 20.
Qxd4 axb4 21. cxb4 Bf5 {Pachman has managed to hold off on the K-side, but now
faces difficulties on the Q-side.} 22. a4 Qe6 23. Rga3 { Slightly better was
was 23.Rc3 reminding black that his c-Pawn is vulnerable.} 23... Rfb8 {Fuderer
now, perhaps unwisely, switches back to the K-side. It would probably have
been better to continue pressing hsi advantage on the Q-side with moves like
Rc1 and a5.} 24. f3 Qc8 25. g4 Be6 {Fuderer's next move likely was designed to
give his R access to the K-side with the intention of trying to open up files
by the further advance of his K-side Ps. However, as immediately becomes
clear, he needed to play 26.Be7 preventing black's next move.} 26. Kf2 {After
this his advantage evaporates.} 26... Qf8 27. a5 {This move indicates how
completely Fuderer's play collapsed at the end of the tournament! Within the
space of a couple of moves he has transitioned from a nearly won position to a
lost one. With 27.Qc5 Qxc5+ 28.bxc5 he would have remained in the game.}
27... Rxb4 28. Qd3 Qc5+ 29. Kg3 Rb2 {White's K is in some serious danger and
Pachman begins advancing his passed Ps...white is nearly helpless.} 30. Qf1
d4 31. Qd3 Qd5 32. h4 {This is just a gesture...there is no danger to black's
K...or is there?} 32... c5 33. h5 c4 34. hxg6+ fxg6 35. Qf1 d3 { This position
is a pretty straightforward win for black by just advancing his Ps, but
Stockfish likes 35...h5. True, it might be stronger, but black has to see
through some pretty complicated tactics in order to come out ahead. So... the
text move is far better from a human standpoint.} 36. a6 d2 37. Qh1 {Do you
see the mate threat? White threatens 38.Qxh6+ Kxh6 39.Rh1mate. Or 38. Qxh6+
Kg8 39.Qg7mate} 37... h5 {Black could also stymie the threat with 37...Bxg4
38. fxg4 Qh1 and win with his Q-side Ps.} 38. a7 {If 38.gxh5 g5 ends all
white's shenanigans on the K-side.} 38... Rb3 {As baseball player Yogi Berra
once said, "It ain't over until it's overf." A quicker end could have been
had with 38...c3. As played white sneak right back into the game.} 39. Rxb3
cxb3 40. gxh5 Bf5 41. hxg6+ Kxg6 42. Qh4 {Mate is threatened with Qg5+, Qg7+
and Qe7mate} 42... Kf7 {Now the white Q should have stopped on f4 attacking
the B. Amazingly, with the Q on f4 there is no way for black to continue that
gives him any advantage. Seriously! I let Stockfish work on this position
for several minutes and its evaluation was 0.00!!} 43. Qb4 {With the Q on f4
he could have met black's next move with 44.Bg5 shielding the K. If you can,
copy and paste this game into an engine and take a close look at this
position.} 43... Rg8+ 44. Kf4 c5 45. Qb8 {White is right back in the game
unless black finds the one move that leads to mate.} 45... Rg4+ {He does!
It's mate in ten.} 46. fxg4 Qe4+ 47. Kg3 Qxg4+ 48. Kf2 Qf4+ 49. Kg2 Be4+ 50.
Kh3 Qf3+ 51. Kh4 Qf2+ 52. Kg4 Bf3+ 53. Kf4 Be2+ 54. Kg5 Qg3+ 0-1