Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Fischer Wins 1957 New Jersey Open

 
     The 1957 New Jersey Open was where one of Bobby Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games was played...his game against James T. Sherwin. 
     There were 81 players. Fischer scored 6 wins and 1 draw (with Dr. Ariel Mengarini) and and pocketed $125, or about $1,125 today. 
     This made three tournaments in a row Fischer had won: the US Junior Championship and now the New Jersey Open. Shortly after the New Jersey Open Fischer would defeat 19-year old Rodolfo Cardoso of Manila is a match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola by a convincing score of +5 -1 =2. 
     Anthony Saidy (6.0-1.0), who lost to Fischer in the 5th round, was runner up a half point behind. Next came Arthur Feuerstein of New York and Robert Sobel of Philadelphia with 5.5-1.5. As the highest scoring New Jersey resident Matthew Green won the State title and Leroy Dubeck won the Junior Championship.  
     The 7-round Swiss tournament was held over the Labor Day weekend and started on Friday evening, August 30, 1957 and ended on Monday, September 2nd. 
     Some sources say the tournament was played at the Independent Chess Club which had recently been opened by the well known Master Edgar T. McCormick. The club had an advertisement in Chess Review stating it was always open. When I Googled the address I discovered that it is a private residence on a residential street. The house hardly looks like it could have accommodated 80 players! There was a preliminary ad in Chess Life stating that the tournament was to be held at a location to be announced and for details, write Leroy Dubeck in Maplewood, New Jersey. A later ad stated that the New Jersey Open was at the Independent Chess Center in conjunction with the East Orange Hotel. It would seem the hotel was a more likely venue. 
     Dr. Leroy Dubeck (born March 1, 1939, in Orange, NJ) is a master and a chess politician and a retired Professor of Physics. He was president of the USCF from 1969-1972. Dubeck also writes science fiction. 
    The entry fee was $8.00 and $4.00 for juniors. That may seen cheap, but it was a hefty $73.00 and $36.50 in today’s dollars. In addition you had to be a USCF and NJSCF member which cost $5.00 (about $46.00 today) and $2.00 (about $18.00 today), respectively. Prize money was offered for the first five places as well as the highest scoring Expert and Class A, B anc C players (in those days Class C was as low as you could go). The top three juniors were also awarded a cash prize. 
     The next USCF rating list after the tournament was published in March of 1958 and Fischer’s rating was 2626 placing him number two behind Reshevsky at 2713. Except for Fischer’s games, games from this long forgotten tournament are scarce, but here’s Fischer’s interesting win over Master Attlio Di Camillo, rated 2319. 

     A word about the opening, the King’s Indian Attack. Some authors are unscrupulous. They dupe readers into buying their book by stating this opening can be played against anything black plays and insinuating that you can play it, as one author put it, without the need to waste your time learning separate lines against different black defenses because the K-Indian Attack is playable against all of them. 
     Don’t believe everything the authors say! The part about it being playable against any black setup is true, but NOT the part about your not needing to waste your time learning separate lines. If that was true he would not have broken his book down into chapters on playing the KIA against various black setups: Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, black plays ...d5 and ...Bg4, black plays ...d5 and ...Bf5, K-Indian Reversed and other defensive setups. 
     Why did he do that? Because to play the KID correctly, you must adapt a different strategy against each different black setup and that is going to require you to spend your time learning separate lines.

Bobby Fischer - Attilio Di Camillo
Result: 1-0
Site: ?
Date: 1957
A08: King's Indian Attack

[...] 1.e4 e6 2.d3 The K-Indian Attack was an early favorite of Fischer. 2...d5 3.♘d2 ♗d6 (3...c5 4.♘gf3 ♘c6 5.g3 ♘f6 6.♗g2 ♗e7 7.O-O O-O 8.♖e1) 4.♘gf3 c5 5.g3 ♘c6 6.♗g2 ♘ge7 7.O-O O-O 8.♖e1 What we have here is similar to the standard variation of the KIA against a French setup with the differences being: instead of black's N being on f6, it's on e7 and his B is on d6 instead of e7. These differences alter basic strategy of this setup. Normally white would play e4-45 and attack K-side while black would hope to weather the storm and advance his Q-side Ps. 8...♕c7 Rendering e5 unplayable. 9.c3 ♗d7 10.♕e2 Again threatening e5. 10...f6 Parrying the threat of e5. 11.a3 With the advance of the e-Pawn no longer possible and slim prospects of a K-side attack being successful Fischer seeks play on the Q-side. 11...♖ae8
11...a5 12.a4 ♖ae8 13.♘f1 d4 14.♘1d2 e5 is equal. Gurgenidze, B-Khasin,A/Moscow 1957/URS-ch
11...♖ac8 12.♘b3 ♕b6 13.♘bd2 ♔h8 14.♗h3 ♕c7 is about equal. Zapata,A (2545)-Lautier,J (2570)/Novi Sad 1990
12.b4 b6 13.d4 The threat of e5 is renewed. 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 dxe4 15.♘xe4 All the central exchanges have altered the position to the point that basic KIA strategy no longer applies. 15...♘d5 White is better here because of black's weak e-Pawn and his Q is sitting on the c-file where white will be able gain time to control the file. Black cannot eliminate his weak e-Pawn with 15...e5. (15...e5 16.dxe5 ♘xe5 17.♘xd6 ♕xd6 18.♘xe5 fxe5 19.♕xe5 winning a P.) 16.♗b2 ♕b8 Too passive. Better was 16...Rc8. 17.♘fd2 (17.♘xd6 ♕xd6 18.b5 ♘ce7 19.a4 and after Ba3 white is better.) 17...♘d8 Not a good idea; he should keep the two Bs and so withdraw to e7. 18.♘xd6 ♕xd6 19.b5 ♗c8 20.a4 ♕d7 21.♗a3 Suddenly white has seized complete control of the position. 21...♖f7 22.♘c4 ♘b7 23.♕d3 ♖d8 24.♗e4 g5 Mengarini was not a player to sit passively by and be content to just weaken his K's position by 24...g6. instead, he weakens it with a purpose...counterattack. 25.♖ac1 ♘e7 26.♗xb7 This trade appears to leave him vulnerable on the light squares around his K, but it's not as bad as it looks because of the uncoordinated state of black's pieces.
26.♘e3 This is much better though because white threatens Ng4 with a very strong attack. 26...♘c5
26...♔h8 A pass to demonstrate the threat. 27.♘g4 ♘d6 28.♘h6 ♖ff8 29.♗c6 ♕c7 30.♗d5 ♕b8 31.♗xe6 with a crushing position.
27.♗xc5 bxc5 28.♖xc5 and white is winning.
26...♗xb7 27.♘d6 ♘f5 28.♘xf7 Black now has only one good move here. 28...♕d5 How does Fischer meet the awful threat to his K? (28...♔xf7 loses after 29.g4 ♘g7 30.♕xh7 ♕xd4 31.♖c7)
28...♕xf7 Only this offers black any chance at all. 29.♗b2 h5 30.h3 ♖d7 31.♖c6 ♗xc6 A clever tactic. 32.bxc6 ♖c7 33.d5 wins.
29.♕e4 ♕d7
29...♕xe4 30.♖xe4 ♖xd4 (30...♗xe4 31.♘xd8 a Zwischenzug winning the R.) 31.♖xd4 ♘xd4 32.♖c7 ♘f3 33.♔f1 ♘xh2 34.♔e1 and wins.
30.♕xe6 Stockfish says he could take the B and still be winning. (30.♕xb7 ♕xb7 31.♘xd8 but few, if any, humans would take this course.) 30...♕xe6 31.♖xe6 ♔xf7 32.♖ee1 ♔g6 Fischer has a R and a P vs a N, but does the kid have enough technique to win the game? 33.♖c7 ♗f3 One must admire Mengarini's tenacity. He is not going to resign until there is absolutely no hope of his K-side demonstration accomplishing anything! 34.♗b2 h5 35.♖xa7 ♖c8 36.♖c1 ♖e8 37.♖a6 h4 38.g4 Even better was 38. Rxg6. 38...♗xg4 39.♖xb6 ♖e2 40.♗c3 h3 41.d5 ♘h4 42.♖xf6 ♔h5 43.b6 ♘f3 44.♖xf3!44...♗xf3 45.b7 ♖e8 46.♗e5!46...♖xe5 47.b8=♕ ♖e4 48.♕g3 ♖g4 49.d6 Black resigned.
49.d6 ♖xg3 50.fxg3 ♗g4 51.♖c7 ♗f5 52.d7 ♗xd7 53.♖xd7 ♔g6 54.a5 ♔f6 55.a6 ♔f5 56.a7 ♔e6 57.♖d2 ♔f6 58.a8=♕ ♔e5 59.♕c6 ♔f5 60.♖d5 ♔e4 61.♕e6 ♔f3 62.♖d3#
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