Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Queen Trapped Herself

     Most players are familiar with the 8th Chess Olympiad which took place between August 21 and September 19, 1939, in Buenos Aires and coincided with the outbreak of World War II. 
     When the war broke out many of the participants decided to stay in Argentina or moved elsewhere in South America rather than face an uncertain future by returning to a Europe. 
     The players, most of whom were Jewish, remaining in South America were: Miguel Najdorf, Paulino Frydman, Gideon Stahlberg, Erich Eliskases, Paul Michel, Ludwig Engels, Albert Becker, Heinrich Reinhardt, Jiri Pelikán, Karel Skalicka, Markas Luckis, Movsas Feigins, Ilmar Raud, Moshe Czerniak, Meir Rauch, Victor Winz, Aristide Gromer, Franciszek Sulik, Adolf Seitz, Chris De Ronde, John Francis O'Donovan, Zelman Kleinstein, Sonja Graf and Paulette Schwartzmann.
     This list includs all five members of the German team (Eliskases, Michel, Engels, Becker, Reinhardt). 
     It’s largely unknown, but coinciding with the Olympiad was the 7th Women's World Championship. The event was won by Vera Menchik who was undefeated and finished two points ahead of the then stateless Sonja Graf. Other top finishers with plus scores were: Berna Carrasco (Chile), Elfriede Rinder (Germany), Mona Karff (United States), Milda Lauberte (Latvia), Maria Teresa Mora (Cuba), Catharina Roodzant (Netherlands), Blazena Janeckovaa (Bohemia-Moravia) and Paulette Schwartzmann (France). 

     It’s also not widely known that immediately after Olympiad another tournament was held in Buenos Aires from from the 2nd to the 19th of October 1939 at the Círculo de Ajedrez, one of the two main chess clubs in the city.
     Nardorf and Keres tied for first with 8.5 points followed by Stahlberg and Czerniak, both with 7.0 points. Frydman and Guimard shared 5th and 6th with 6.5. The remaining players were Grau (5.5), Luckis (5.0), Gerschman and Francisco Benko (3.5), Graf (2.5) and Palau (2.0). 
     The following game was one of Capablanca’s last great games and it’s full of fight and has a striking finish. Czerniak came out swinging and developed a strong attack, but Capa consistently found the best moves and at the end Czerniak trapped his own Queen. 

     Concerning this game Capablanca wrote: Yesterday evening I had the white pieces again in Cuba's match against Palestine, a team we had beaten 3-1 in the preliminary section although I had only drawn. 
     As is my custom, shortly after play began I went to see how my compatriots were faring, and I observed that things were going badly, since my teammates had played inferior openings and were all under pressure. Meanwhile, I had obtained a satisfactory opening in a fairly well known though little played variation of the Caro-Kann. 
     I suppose that a large number of aficionados who are accustomed to see me almost always play a positional game in which everything is solidly constructed were surprised to see me playing a purely attacking game. I must point out that games must be conducted in accordance with the kind of opening that is played.
     In the defense adopted yesterday evening by Black, it is necessary for White, if he wishes to obtain any advantage, to attack vigorously before Black can consolidate his defenses and exert pressure on White's isolated queen's pawn. In the light of the above, the public will understand why I launched an assault in such resolute fashion. 
     I had the good fortune of being able to make a long, difficult combination as a result of which I obtained a clear advantage, which I was quickly able to exploit. Black's position collapsed before the end of the playing session. The game was of the kind that most appeals to the public and it is a source of satisfaction for me that this game was the first of its kind played in this tournament. 

     Capa’s opponent was Moshe Czerniak (February 3, 1910 – August 31, 1984) who isn’t very well known, but Chessmetrics assigns him a rating that put him in the world’s top 100 players from 1939 through the 1950s. 
Czerniak

     Czerniak was born in Poland, but in 1934 he emigrated to Palestine, then British Mandate. He played for Palestine at first reserve board in the Olympiad at Warsaw 1935 and at first board at Buenos Aires 1939. In September 1939, when World War II broke out, Czerniak decided to stay in Argentina. 
     After the aforementioned post-Olympiad tournament he tied for 7–9th in Argentine championship of 1940. He played with considerable success in many of the major South American tournaments and in 1950 he finally settled in Israel. From that time he continued to be active in European tournaments, again with considerable success. 
     He represented Israel in 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, and 1974. He retired from active competition in 1978. 
     Czerniak wrote several chess books in three languages and in 1956 founded the first Israeli chess magazine, 64 Squares. For more than thirty years he was the chess editor of the Israeli daily Haaretz. He was also the chess teacher of IM and GM of chess composition, Yochanan Afek.

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