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Thursday, May 28, 2020

Torremolinos 1962


   The year 1962 saw a lot of action, but also some sadness. 
   In March veteran GM Vyacheslav Ragozin (1908-1962) died in Moscow at the age of 53. He won the 2nd World Correspondence Chess Championship (1956-1959) and for many years helped Botvinnik with his training. In November, Russian problemist Abram Gurvich (1897-1962) died in Moscow. 
     In April, Ernst Grünfeld (1893-1962) died in Vienna at the age of 68 and in May, Josef Rejfir (1909-1962), one of the strongest Czech masters before the Second World War, died prematurely at the age of 52. Veteran Dr. Milan Vidmar (1885-1962) died in Ljubljuna, Yugoslavia at the age of 77 in October. Then in November, Dr. Ossip Bernstein (1882-1962) died in France at the age of 80. 
     U.S. chess also suffered a couple of losses when on April 23, 1962, Frank Graves (born 1893) died in Fort Worth, Texas. He was elected USCF President in 1954. Then on October 25th the 38 year old Abe Turner was stabbed to death by Theodore Smith at the office of Chess Review magazine. Smith, who had been recently released from an insane asylum, claimed that Turner was a Communist spy and had to be killed on orders from the U.S. Secret Service. Other sources claim that Turner, who was a homosexual, made an unwanted pass at Smith. 
     The year began in January with Mikhail Botvinnik pocketing $280 (about $2,604 these days) for winning the Hastings tournament. Viktor Korchnoi won the Soviet Championship, held in Yerevan and Larry Evans won the US championship; Fischer did not play in the event. 
     The big sensation came in April when 18-year-old Bobby Fischer won the Stockholm Interzonal 2.5 points ahead of the field. He won with 13 wins, 9 draws, and no losses. Fischer earned $750 ($6,381 in today’s dollars) and qualified for the Candidates Tournament in Curacao. 
     In June, Tigran Petrosian won the Curacao Candidates and Fischer finished in 4th place. Fischer later accused the Russians of cheating. In the book Chess is My Life Korchnoi confirmed the accusations. 
     The great Interzonal tournament overshadowed the one at Torremolinos, a city in southern Spain. It was a poor fishing village before the growth in tourism began in the late 1950s. 
     Torremolinos enjoys one of the best climates in Europe. It has long dry summers with relatively low humidity, and mild winters with occasional, though heavy, rainfall. The town benefits in the summer from cool sea breezes predominately coming from Africa although this does mean a fair amount of Sahara dust. Temperatures normally hover around 86 °F in the summer and 63–66 °F in the winter. The city sometimes experiences a sea fog that goes as quickly as it appears. The beach which extends for nearly 5.0 miles has cycle and skating lanes alongside the fully illuminated promenade and features many beach bars and live dance music events throughout the summer. 
     The field for the 1962 event had an outstanding field: Laszlo Szabo, Alberic O'Kelly, Eduardo Perez, Bruno Parma and Roman Toran. 
     At the outset it appeared as if Junior World Champion Parma would win. But an unexpected loss to the Portuguese Durao caused him to share first with Szabo and Perez. Langeweg appeared somewhat tired after playing in rapid succession in tournaments at Zevenaar, Utrecht and Beverwijk. 
     In the first round Langeweg played Ricardo Calvo, the Spanish junior champion, and Calvo obtained an irresistible attack by means of a beautiful sacrifice. The win was good for the first brilliancy prize in the tournament. 
     IM Ricardo Calvo (October 22, 1943 – September 26, 2006, 58 years old) of Spain was a doctor, a chess historian, author and reporter, as well as a strong chess player. He spoke many languages fluently. In 1987, Calvo was condemned by FIDE and declared persona non grata by a vote of 72-1 for allegedly making racial attacks on Latin American players in an article printed by New in Chess. The FIDE committee was headed by US representative Arnold Denker. For further reading refer to this article by Edward Winter.  
     Christiaan Gerrit (Kick) Langeweg (born March 7, 1937) became an IM in 1962 and had good results in some of the IBM international tournaments at Amsterdam and played for the Netherlands in six Olympiads (1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968 and 1970).


Ricardo Calvo - Kick Langeweg
Result: 1-0Site: Torremolinos
Date: 1962Sicilian Scheveningen

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 e6 6.f4 More ususal here is either 6.Be2 or Keres' 6.g4 6...a6 7.♗e2 This is the main line, but at the time the Yugoslav players Matanovich and Parma had been experimenting with 7.Bd3 7...♕c7 It is too soon to play 7...b5 because of 8.Bf3. 8.O-O ♘bd7 Black chooses the Paulsen setup, but somewhat better was 8...Nc6.
8...b5 At the time this game was played it was believed this move needed further testing, but it turns out in white's favor after... 9.♗f3 ♗b7 10.e5
9.♗f3 The most popular move.
9.g4 b5 10.a3 ♗b7 11.♗f3 ♘c5 12.♕e2 e5 13.♘f5 Nezhmetdoniv-Tal, USSR Championship, Baku 1961. The chances are even, but white has a strong attack.
9...♗e7 Here white usually plays it safe with a prep move like 10.Kh1 or continues developing with 10.Be3. Instead Calvo continues in the style of Nezhmetdinov with the very dangerous (for black!) 10. g4!? 10.g4 ♘f8 Analysis by Calvo refuted 10...h6, but that's precise;y the move black should have played as after 10...Nf8? white gets a decisive attack. Calvo's analysis is a case of "long analysis, wrong analysis." At least that was the case in the pre-engine days!
10...h6 11.g5
11.h4 was unsuccessfully tried in Day,L-Timman,J/Jerusalem 1967 and Day lost badly.
11...hxg5 12.fxg5 d5 13.♖f2 ♘xe4 14.♗xe4 dxe4 15.g6 f5 This was Calvo's move and it's a losing move that's ?? worthy.
15...♘f6 gives black a distinct advantage after 16.gxf7 ♔f8 and white's K is more exposed than black's.
16.♘xe6 ♕e5 17.♘d5 and the threat of 18.Ndc7+ is desicive.
10...O-O Has also been tried, but white has also been able to demonstrate a clear advantage after 11.g5 ♘e8 12.a4 Hindering black's Q-side play. Kogan, A (2526)-Abergel,T (2440)/Erts 2015. White is better.
11.♕e2 White continues with his development, but misses a chance to get a very strong attack by advancing the g-Pawn.
11.g5 ♘6d7 12.♘f5 and black is in grave danger. He can't take the N... 12...exf5 13.♘d5 ♕d8 14.exf5 with a decisive attack.
11...h6 Necessary. If 11...Bd7 12.g5 leaves him with only the abject retreat to g8. 12.♕f2 ♘g6 13.♗e3
13.g5 While this was good a couple of moves back, here it's not. After 13...hxg5 14.fxg5 ♘d7 15.♗h5 Very dangerous looking, but black has 15...♘de5 16.♗xg6 fxg6 which unclear according to Gligoric, but a wee bit in black's favor according to the engines.
13...♘h7 This ugly move gets refuted in brilliant fashion so black needed to play something else, but what?
13...h5 This! 14.♘f5 can now be met with
14.g5 This leads to equal chances after 14...♘g4 15.♗xg4 hxg4 16.f5 ♘e5
14...hxg4 15.♗b6 ♕d7 16.♘xe7 ♘xf4 17.♗xg4 g5 18.♘xc8 ♘xg4 with a real mess that favors black slightly.
14.♘f5 After this brilliant move black has no really satisfactory defense, but 14...O-O is his best chance. 14...exf5 A regrettable decision that results in immediate defeat.
14...O-O 15.♘xe7 ♕xe7 16.♖ad1 and while white stands better, it's still a game.
15.♘d5 ♕b8 Other Q moves were not any better. 16.exf5 ♗h4
16...♘h4 is not any better. After 17.♖ae1 ♘xf3 18.♕xf3 b5 19.♗d4 ♔f8 20.♖xe7 and wins.
17.♕e2 ♘e7 18.♗b6 White has a nasty threat in 19.g5 18...♔d7 (18...♗xf5 19.gxf5 ♔f8 20.♘c7 is also decisive.) 19.♕c4 ♘xd5 20.♗xd5 The threat is 20.Qa4+ 20...♔e7 21.♗xf7 ♗xf5 Desperation, but there wasn't anything else. Now Calvo wraps it up. 22.♖ae1 ♗xe1 23.♖xe1 ♔f8 24.gxf5 ♕c8 White has a mate in ten. 25.♗c7 ♕d7 26.♗g6 d5 27.♕c5 ♔g8 28.♖e7 ♕c6 29.♖xg7 Black resigned. (29.♖xg7 ♔xg7 30.♕e7 ♔g8 31.♕f7#) (29.♖xg7 ♔xg7 30.♕e7 ♔g8)
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