Amedee Gibaud (1885-1957, 72 years old) was a strong player who won the French championship four times and he denied ever playing the game, though he did admit that he once fell for for a similar tactical motif against Lazard in a casual game.
Tim Krabbe debunked the game as a myth and claimed it was not a master game, white probably wasn't Gibaud, it wasn't played in 1924 and it was five moves, not four.
According to Krabbe,. in his autobiography Lazard gave a friendly game against an "Amateur" that he played in Paris "around 1922" which was a five move version. Lazard mentioned his opponent as being "a very strong player whose talent is done no justice by this game." Exactly how the 4-move version got to be attached to Gibaud's name is unknown.
In 1937 the British magazine Chess, quoting the book Curious Chess Facts by Irving Chernev, published it as the shortest tournament game ever played, adding that it was from a Paris Championship. In the next issue Gibaud wrote that never lost any tournament game in four moves although he did recall a skittles game he once played against Lazard in which, after Gibaud was momentarily disrtracted when his friend Andre Muffang arrived, he allowed Lazard to play a similar combination, but the game was certainly not four moves long.
Lazard lived in Paris where he played in many local tournaments and won the Paris Championship in 1911. In 1912, he drew a match with Gibaud (3–3), and lost to Edward Lasker (0.5–2.5). In 1913, he drew with Smirnov (1.5–1.5). In 1926 he tied for first with Andre Cheron in the French Championship.
He was a younger brother of Gustave Lazard (1876-1946) who was also master, problemist and organizer.
Lazard served in the First World War in the infantry. He was injured twice in the Verdun sector and was decorated with the Croix de Guerre and the Military Medal. Shortly after the foundation of the French Chess Federation in 1921, he became its first "technical secretary."
From 1940, he suffered from a disabling illness which condemned him to almost total physical inaction, but in no way affected his intellectual capacities. During World War Two although seriously ill, he was Jewish and was interned in the Drancy (a northeastern suburb of Paris) assembly and detention camp from from March 3, 1944 until the liberation of Paris. Most Jews as Drancy were later deported to the extermination camps during the German military administration of Occupied France during World War II.
Lazard was among the 1,542 prisoners who remained alive at the camp when the German authorities in Drancy fled as Allied forces advanced and the Swedish Consul-General Raoul Nordling took control of the camp on August 17, 1944, before handing it over to the French Red Cross to care for the survivors.
Drancy was under the control of the French police until 1943 when administration was taken over by the SS, which placed Austrian SS officer Alois Brunner in charge of the camp. 
Brunner is something of a mystery. After some narrow escapes from the Allies immediately after the war, Brunner fled West Germany in 1954, first for Egypt, then Syria, where he remained until his death.
He was the object of many manhunts over the years and was condemned to death in absentia in France in 1954 for crimes against humanity.
Brunner lost an eye and then the fingers of his left hand as a result of letter bombs sent to him in 1961 and 1980, reportedly by Israeli intelligence. The government of Syria came close to extraditing him to East Germany before this plan was halted by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
Brunner survived all the attempts to catch him and was unrepentant about his activities to the end. During his long residence in Syria, he was reportedly granted asylum, a generous salary and protection by the ruling political party in exchange for his advice on effective torture and interrogation techniques used by the Germans in World War II.
Starting in the 1990s and continuing for the next twenty years there was periodic media speculation about Brunner's exact whereabouts and his possible death. In November 2014, the Simon Wiesenthal Center reported that Brunner had died in Syria in 2010 and that he was buried somewhere in Damascus, but the exact date and place of his death remain unknown. Recent information points to 2001 as the year of his death.
Even if the illness and the internment left him in a deplorable state of health, he did not stop composing during the entire time.
Here is a genuine Lazard - Gibaud game that was played in Paris in 1909 and it contains a nice puzzle. The game's conclusion was just brilliant.
Frederic Lazard - Amedee Gibaud
Result: 1-0
Site: Paris
Date: 1909
Giuoco Piano
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.♘f3 ♘c6 4.♗c4 ♗c5 5.c3 ♘f6 6.cxd4 ♗b4 7.♘c3 ♘xe4 8.O-O ♗xc3 9.d5 ♗f6 10.♖e1 ♘e7 11.♖xe4 d6 12.g4 h6
12...O-O 13.g5 ♗e5 14.♘xe5 dxe5 15.♖xe5 ♘g6 is equal. Ypma,P (2105)-Hess,R (2625)/ Groningen 2011
13.h4 ♔f8 14.h5 The point of this move is to hinder black's repositioning his N on g6.
14.♕e2 ♘g6 15.h5 ♘e5 16.♘xe5 Here black should have recaptured with the B and he would have had an equal game. Lauer,R-Manz,A/Ladenburg 1992
(14.♕b3 a6 15.♗e3 b5) 14...g5 15.♘d4
15.hxg6 ♘xg6 and the N has reached g6. The position of both Ks are compromised so the chances are equal.
15...c6 White should play 16.dxc6 which leaves black better, but it's the only viable choice. Instead, he makes a mistake that loses a P. 16.♕f3 ♘xd5 Winning a P. 17.♗d2 (17.♗xd5 cxd5 and when the R retreats the N is lost.) 17...♘c7 content with having won a P black makes a wimpy retreat and hands the initiative over to white who now has more than enough compensation for the P he just lost.
17...♗e5 keeps the advantage. 18.♖ae1 ♕f6 leaves black quite well off.
18.♖ae1 Baiting a trap into which black obligingly falls. 18...d5
18...♗d7 was better, but not by much. 19.♗a5 b6 20.♖e7 and black is forced to give up his Q. 20...♕xe7 21.♖xe7 ♔xe7 22.♗c3 ♘e8 23.♘xc6 ♗xc6 24.♕xc6 ♖b8 25.♕e4 ♔d8 (25...♔f8 26.♕d5 ♖h7 27.♗xf6 ♘xf6 28.♕xd6 wins) 26.♗xf7 and white has a winning game.
19.♗b4 ♔g7 (19...♔g8 20.♗e7 ♗xg4 21.♕xg4 ♗xe7 22.♖xe7 dxc4 23.♖d7 ♕c8 24.♖ee7 wins.) 20.♖e7
20.♗e7 was even better. 20...♗xe7 21.♖xe7 ♕f8 22.♖xc7 dxc4 23.♖ee7 and wins.
20...dxc4 White to play and win. Do you see the crusher? (20...♗xe7 21.♖xe7 ♕f8 22.♖xc7 wins.) 21.♘xc6 Only this! No other move will work.
21.♘f5 would allow black to reach a winning endgame. 21...♗xf5 22.♕xf5 ♕d3 23.♖xc7 ♕xf5 24.gxf5 ♖ab8 25.♗c3 ♗xc3 26.bxc3
21...♕d3 Has black saved himself?
21...bxc6 allows a pretty Q sacrifice. 22.♕xf6 ♔xf6 23.♗c3 ♕d4 24.♗xd4#
22.♖xf7 A brilliant finish.
22.♖1e3 would also win, but it's nowhere near as pretty. 22...♗xe7 Offering the Q for excellent counterplay. 23.♘xe7 (23.♖xd3 ♗xb4 24.♘xb4 cxd3) 23...♕c2 24.♗c3 and black has to surrender his Q or get mated in 8 moves at most. 24...♕xc3 25.bxc3 ♖d8 26.♘xc8 ♖axc8 27.♖e7 ♖f8 28.♕f5 with a winning position. 28...♔g8 (28...♘e6 29.♕g6 etc) 29.f4 a6 30.fxg5 hxg5 31.h6 winning.
22...♔xf7 23.♖e7 ♔g8 24.♕xf6 ♖h7 White has two mates in 8 moves with either 25. Bc3 or 25.Rxh7, but he has an even better move... 25.♖e8 After 25...Nxe8 white mates with 26.Qf8# Gibaud resigned. Powered by Aquarium
No comments:
Post a Comment