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Wednesday, July 22, 2020

The Second AVRO Tournament

     Every chessplayer has heard of the great AVRO tournament that was held in the Netherlands in 1938. It was a double round-robin tournament between the eight strongest players in the world and Paul Keres and Reuben Fine tied for first place. Though it had no official status, it was intended to provide a challenger for Alekhine, but World War II ended any chance of that happening. 
     The second AVRO tournament in June 1973 took place to celebrate 50 years of sponsorship by AVRO (a broadcasting company) and 100 years of organization by KNVB (the Royal Dutch Chess Association). It, too, was an eight player double round event that was played in Hilversum. 
     Of the original AVRO participants only Keres and Reshevsky were still active players and it’s not known if they were invited, but they had to play a few weeks later in the Petropolis Interzonal. Besdies Petropolis, the Leningrad Interzonal, was also played in June 1973, making it impossible for some other strong players to participate. As a result, unlike the first AVRO, many of the world’s leading players were absent. 

     Instead, the tournament pitted the older generation of Szabo, Geller, Ivkov and Polugaevsky against some of the leading young players, Andersson, Ljubojevic, Sax and Timman.  Polugaevsky, Elo 2645, was equal 3rd with Petrosian on the FIDE rating list, but he had a terrible tournament with blunder filled games against Sax and Timman in the first cycle. However, a month later in Petropolis he qualified for the 1974 Candidates tournament. 
     The following game paired one of the young players against a veteran. Laszlo Szabo (March 19, 1917 – August 8, 1998) was a Hungarian GM. Born in Budapest, Szabo burst onto the international chess scene in 1935 at the age of 18, winning the Hungarian Championship, an international tournament in Tatatovaros and was selected to represent his country at the Warsaw Chess Olympiad. 
     It is thought that the young Szabo studied under Geza Maroczy, then a patriarchal figure in Hungarian chess who had previously trained future world champions Max Euwe and Vera Menchik. 
     Szabo began a career as a banker dealing in foreign exchange. At the outbreak of war he was attached to a Forced Labor Unit and was later captured by the Russians and held as a prisoner of war. After the war, he returned to chess and played many major international events with considerable success into the 1960s and 1970s. 
     Former Yugoslav champion GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic was born November 2, 1950 in Titovo Uzice, Yugoslavia and in 1983 he was ranked third in the world, but he never succeeded in reaching the Candidates Tournament stage of the World Championship. 
     Their game is a good example of a critical situation where a player must choose between two or more moves that appear equally good. Making the right decision is especially critical in tactical situations. Such was the case in this game.

Ljubomir Ljubojevic - Laszlo Szabo
Result: 0-1
Site: Hilversum NED
Date: 1973
Larsen Opening

[...] 1.b3 During his career Bent Larsen popularized this move in which the c1B will help control the center squares and put useful pressure on the K-side. 1...e5 This is the most common response, occupying the center and limiting the scope of white's B. 2.♗b2 ♘c6 3.e3 d6 4.c4 g6 5.♘f3 ♗g7 6.♗e2 f5 7.h4 This seldom played move is actually favored by Stockfish.
7.O-O ♘f6 8.d3 O-O 9.♘c3 h6 10.♖c1 Wohl,A (2280)-Booth,S (2280)/Melbourne 1992 is equal.
7.d3 ♘f6 8.♘c3 O-O 9.♘d2 ♘e7 10.♕c2 Brito,L (2354) -Delgado Ramirez,N (2611)/Foz do Iguacu BRA 2018 favor black ever so slightly.
7...♘f6 8.♘c3 e4 9.♘g5 ♘e5 10.♕c2 h6 Simply castling was better. White now gets slightly the better game. 11.♘h3 ♗e6 12.O-O-O ♕d7 13.♘f4 ♗f7 14.f3 g5 15.♘fd5 ♘xd5 16.cxd5 exf3 17.gxf3 g4 White is consierably better here and playing for complications is black's best chance. 18.f4
18.fxg4 is also good. 18...fxg4 19.d4 ♗g6 20.♘e4 ♕f5 favors white, but would require precise play.
18...♘f3 19.♘b5 ♗xb2 20.♔xb2 A quick glance at the position would indicate that castling K-side would not be the best because the K-sdie is open and so the K would be expose there. Besides, black is attacking on the K-side and so his K will be safest on the Q-side. However, that is exactly the wrong place for it to be. 20...O-O-O Black is oblivious to the danger lurking on the Q-side.
20...O-O is best although white is quite well off after 21.♗xf3 gxf3 22.♖c1 ♗xd5 23.♖hg1 ♔h8 24.♕c3 and 25.Qxc7
21.♘xa7 ♔b8 22.♘c6 bxc6 23.dxc6 ♕e7 White's winning plan is obvious...he has to get his Q to the mating square b7, but how? A check on the b-file so he played 24.Qc3 24.♕c3 After this white is still winning, but in the complications the win slips through his fingers. After the game Ljubojevic insisted he missed a win and was eventually able to demonstrate that was, in fact, the case. Szabo claimed he asked 50 spectators their opinion and they all agreed that 24.Qc3 was the best move. After black's 23rd move Lujobojevic didn't appreciate the fact that he had a choice because 24.Qc3 was so obvious.
24.♕d3 leads to a forced mate and is therefore the best move. 24...♕f6 25.♔b1 ♘d4 26.exd4 ♗c4 27.♕xc4 ♕xd4 28.♕xd4 ♖de8 29.♕a4 ♖e4 30.d4 ♖xe2 31.♕a6 ♖b2 32.♔xb2 d5 mate next move.
24...d5 Now of course white saw the the intended 25.Qb4+ isn't possible and 25.Qa5 followed by 26.Qa6 fails. 25.♖c1 This protects the c-Pawn and renews the threat of Qa5 (25.♕a5 ♕f6 26.♔a3 ♕xc6 and black wins.)
25.d4 Playing this first is best and white is still winning after... 25...♗e8 26.♗a6 ♗xc6 27.♕xc6 ♕b4 The only move to avoid mate. 28.♖c1 ♕b6 29.♕a4 and white has a winning position.
25...d4 This excellent move cuts white's advantage to a minimum. 26.♕a5 ♖d5 Black is on the verge of seizing the initiative and white must play very carefully to prevent that from happening. Lujubojevic does not yet appreciate that is he who is now in danger. 27.♗b5 A gross blunder in a bad position.
27.♕a6 ♕b4 28.♖c4 ♕b6 29.♖a4 ♕xa6 30.♗xa6 (30.♖xa6 dxe3 wins easily.) 30...♔a7 31.♗d3 ♔b6 and white is better, but black still has plenty of fight left.
27...dxe3 28.♕a6 How does black avoid getting mated on b2? 28...♖xd2 (28...♖xb5 Panic! 29.♕xb5 ♔c8 30.♕b7 ♔d8 31.♕b8#) 29.♖c2 ♖xc2 30.♔b1 (30.♔xc2 ♕c5 31.♗c4 ♕b4 32.♗xf7 e2 wins) 30...♘d2 31.♔xc2 ♕c5 32.♗c4 ♕b6 33.♕xb6 cxb6 34.♗xf7 ♖d8 You might think the P on e3 will force the win, but it's actually the P on g4 that brings home the point. 35.♖e1 g3 36.♖xe3 g2 37.♖e7 Hoping for a miracle that black hastily queens his P. (37.♖g3 ♘f3 38.♖xg2 ♘e1) 37...♖c8
37...g1=♕ 38.c7 ♔c8 39.♗e6 ♖d7 40.♖xd7 ♕b1 41.♔xd2 ♔b7 draws. 42.♗d5 ♔c8 43.♗e6 etc.
38.♖b7 ♔a8 39.♗d5
39.♔xd2 Makes black's job more difficult. Just one example... 39...g1=♕ 40.♖d7 ♕f2 41.♔d3 ♕f3 42.♔d2 ♕xf4 43.♔d1 ♕f3 44.♔d2 ♕f4 45.♔e2 ♕e4 46.♔f2 ♕xh4
39...g1=♕ 40.♖d7 White exceeded the time limit.
40.♖d7 and white has a forced mate in 13 moves 40...♘e4 Stockfish 201019 64: 41.c7 ♔a7 42.♗c4 b5 43.♗xb5 ♕f2 44.♔c1 ♔b6 45.♗c4 ♖xc7 46.♖d1 ♕xa2 47.♖d5 ♖g7 48.♖b5 ♔c7 49.♖b7 ♔xb7 50.♗d5 ♔a7 51.♗c4 ♖g1 52.♗f1 ♖xf1#
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