Americans made a song titled Tossin' and Turnin' by some guy named Bobby Lewis the country's top song and the big movies that year were 101 Dalmatians, West Side Story and The Parent Trap.
In Lancaster, New Hampshire Betty and Barney Hill were abducted and examined by aliens; at least that's what they claimed. And Morley cigarettes became popular.
Over in England, in 1961 the farthing coin, used since the thirteenth century, ceased to be legal tender as did black and white £5 notes. Members of the Soviet Portland Spy Ring were arrested in London; they were accused of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
The top TV shows in England were the Royal Variety Show, No Hiding Place, Sunday Night at the Palladium, Coronation Street and the Army Game.
The year ended with a bang when the 37th Hastings Christmas Chess Festival began on December 27; it ended January 5, 1962. In the Premier event the featured players were world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, four-time Hastings champion Svetozar Gligoric and famous Russian GM Salo Flohr. Botvinnik became the first reigning world champion to win the tournament.
It was at this tournament that England's John Littlewood played his most famous game...a whirlwind attack against Botvinnik. It failed and Botvinnik won, but the game was published everywhere as players marveled at Littlewood's panache. Littlewood also played (and won) a ripsnorter against Arthur Bisguier. After the game Bisguier asked, "What do you feed this guy on - raw meat?"
The tournament was also famous because the US women's champion, beauty queen and media darling Lisa Lane withdrew after she had two losses, a draw and one adjourned game in a reserve event claiming she was homesick and in love with her future second husband Neil Hickey. A more likely reason was that she hated to lose and wasn't living up to the hype and her expectations. In an interview she stated she hated anybody who beat her. Within a few years she quit chess and even refused to talk about it. Read a Sports llustrated article
It's not clear which Reserve tournament Lane was playing in. The Premier Reserve tournament was won by Manfred Mannke, Sr. of Germany and Drazen Marovic of Yugoslavia. Mannke died at the age of 27 on August 15, 1962 as a result of a car accident on the road between Sieradz and Lodz in Poland. Dragoljub Velimirovic finished third. 
The Reserves A event was won by Dragoljub Baretic. An FIDE Master, Baretic is a well known blind player, but I was unable to establish when he lost his sight. The Reserve B was won by David Wells and the Reserve C by Peter Hempson. The Reserve D was won by Rudolf Bendenbender
Littlewood wasn't the only player to have played some hair raising games. The Gligoric - Bisguier was also one such game.
On move 16 Gligoric shocked Bisguier with a B sacrifice. Bisguier realized he had blundered and after some thought concluded that if he took the B, Gligoric had another B sacrifice that would win. Left with little choice, Bisguier declined the B and settled for just the loss of a P.
Even after the loss of a P, Bisguier was still in serious danger from Gligoric's Bs, but he was able to use the time Gligoric lost in retreating the proffered B to initiate a sacrificial attack of his own.
Svetozar Gligoric - Arthur Bisguier
Result: 0-1
Site: Hastings
Date: 1961.12.30
Queen's Gambit Declined
[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 d5 4.♗g5 ♗e7 5.e3 O-O 6.♘f3 ♘bd7 7.♖c1 a6 In this position white will normally play 8.cxd5. Thus, the purpose of this move is to gain a tempo if white elects to play the Exchange Variation because the R usually has to return to b1 in order to support the advance b2-b4. 8.cxd5 exd5 9.♗d3 c6 10.♕c2 To sum up so far: White has control of the c-file, his Q and B are lined up on h7 and his B on g5 exerts annoying pressure on black. For his part, black's immediate problem is to complete his development, especially getting his light squared B into play. 10...♖e8 Making room for the N.
18.exf4±
20...♕xf4 21.♖e3 This move forfeits the advantage.
22.♕e2 ♖xe3
10...♘b6 This opens up the diagonal for the B, but it doesn't work... 11.♗xf6 ♗xf6 12.♗xh7+ winning a P and seriously weakening black's K.
11.O-O ♘f8 12.♘a4
12.♖b1 leads to the Minority Attack which many years ago was a favorite of Reshevsky. And, in Modern Chess Strategy, Pachman devoted a lot of space to the Minority Attack. Nowadays it has lost it's sting. 12...♘g6 13.b4 ♘e4 14.♗xe7 ♕xe7 15.a4 ♘xc3 16.♕xc3 with equal chances.
12...♘g6 The N shields the h-Pawn.
12...♘e4 This is often an effective black strategy in the Exchange Variation; black changes the P-structure. 13.♗xe7 ♕xe7 14.♗xe4 dxe4 15.♘d2 ♗f5
13.♘d2
13.♘c5 ♘d7 14.♗xe7 ♕xe7 15.b4 ♘df8 16.♖fe1 is equal. Klauser,M (2345)-Begovac,F (2425)/ Switzerland 1995
13.♕b3 ♘g4 14.♗xe7 ♖xe7 15.♘b6 ♖b8 16.♕b4 with equal chances. Gheorghiu,F (2495)-Begovac,F (2405)/Bern 1991
13...♗d6 Interesting. This leaves his N pinned, but at the same time he threatens ... Bxh2+ 14.g3 his is questionable. It defends against the threat of ...Bxh2 but at the same time it creates a weakness on the light squares around his K.
14.♗xf6 This eliminates the threat to h2 but it also surrenders the two Bs. 14...♕xf6 15.♘b6 ♖b8 16.♘xc8 is equal.
(14.♗xf6 ♕xf6 15.♘b6 ♖b8 16.♘xc8 ♖bxc8) 14...♗h3 15.♖fe1 h6 Forcing the exchange of the B which has no good square to which it can retreat.. Black threatens to win material: h6xg5 (15...♘f8!? should be investigated more closely) 16.♗xh6⩲ It's somewhat surprising that the tactician Bisguier didn't see this. 16...♘e4 Letting Gligoric have the P is a wise decision because black has some compensation in the form of counterplay on the K-side.
16...gxh6 would make survival difficult, but not impossible. 17.♗xg6 fxg6 18.♕xg6+ ♔f8 19.♕xh6+ and wins.
16...gxh6 17.♗xg6 The best defense is now 17...b5 18.♘c3 ♕d7 19.♗d3 ♖ac8 to support the advance of the c-Pawn, but here white is better.
17.♗f4
17.♘xe4 Or 17.Bxe4 allows unclear complications. 17...dxe4 18.♗xe4 ♖xe4 19.♕xe4 gxh6
(Inferior is 17.♘xe4 dxe4 18.♗xe4 ♖xe4 19.♕xe4 gxh6∓) 17...♘xf4
17...♗b4 18.♘c3 (18.♘xe4? is very tempting, but 18...dxe4 19.♗xe4 ♘xf4−+)
18.♗xe4 dxe4 19.♘c3 ♗xc3 (19...♘xf4 20.exf4 ♕xd4 21.♘dxe4±) 20.♕xc3 ♕d7⩱
18...♘xd2 19.♕xd2⩲18.gxf4 On this move black gains the upper hand with 18...Qh4, but Bisguier intended a clever N sacrifice on f2. 18...♘xf2 19.♔xf2 ♕h4+ 20.♔e2 ♖xe3+ 21.♔xe3 ♗xf4+ 22.♔e2 ♖e8+ 23.♗e4 ♖xe4+ 24.♕xe4 (24.♘xe4 ♕g4+ 25.♔d3 ♕f3+ 26.♖e3 ♕xe3#) 24...dxe4 25.♘xe4 ♗xc1 26.♖xc1 ♕xe4+ 27.♔f2 ♕f4+ and wins
18.gxf4 White is not obligated to take the N. 18...♘xf2 19.♗h7+ ♔f8 20.♘f3 ♘e4 21.♗xe4 dxe4 22.♘e5 and black's advantage is minimal.
18...♗xf4 No prosaic 18...Nxd2 with equality for Bisguier. Instead he prefers to offer his own B for a dangerous attack on Gligoric's K. 19.gxf4 ♕h4 20.♘f1 Being a piece ahead and facing a dangerous attack, Gligoric begins building a defense for his K. In his book The Art of Bisguier (Vol 2), Bisguier is guilty of producing some incredibly sloppy analysis of this position even though in some games in the book he said he used Fritz 8. His analysis of this position is so bad I will not even quote it because it looks like something he dashed out without actually checking everything.
20.♗xe4 loses to 20...♖xe4 21.♕b3 (21.♘xe4 ♕g4+ mates) 21...♖xf4 22.♕g3 ♖g4
20.♘xe4 eliminating some attackers was a plausible course. 20...dxe4
20...♖xe4 favors white after 21.♖e3!21...♖xe3 22.fxe3 ♕g4+ 23.♔f2 and white has escaped.
21.♗xe4 ♖xe4 22.♕xe4 ♕g4+ 23.♔h1 f5 24.♖g1 fxe4 25.♖xg4 ♗xg4 with equal chances. 21.♗xe4 was stronger. 21...♕g4+ 22.♘g3 ♖xe4 23.♖e3 and white is better.
21...♘g5 This is certainly not bad, but 21...Qg5 was interesting.
21...♕g5+ 22.♘g3 And black has an interesting sacrifice on f2. 22...♘xf2 23.♗h7+ ♔h8 24.♖ee1
24.♖xe8+ ♖xe8 and the threat of ...Re1+ can't be met in any satisfactory way.
24...♘e4 25.♗xe4 ♖xe4 26.♖xe4 dxe4 27.♖e1 f5 with complications. 22...♗e6 introducing complications may have been a better decision. 23.♘c5 ♘h3+ 24.♔h1 ♘xf2+ 25.♔g2 ♘g4
23.fxe3 ♕f6 24.♘d2 ♖e8 25.♘c3 This allows Bisguier to keep up the pressure. (25.♔h1 ♕e7 26.♖e1 followed by Nc5 keeps the advantage.) 25...♕h6 26.♔h1 c5
26...♘f3 This was much better. After 27.♘xf3 ♖xe3 28.♕d2 ♖xd3!29.♕xh6 gxh6 30.♖g1+ ♔f8 31.♖g3 White is better, but at least black is still in the game.
27.♘xd5 cxd4 28.e4 f5 Being a P down and not really having an especially good position Bisguier is simply trying to complicate things...not a bad idea!. 29.♖g1 fxe4 Bisguier incorrectly claimed that by piling on the pinned B he would soon have his piece back. He can be forgiven for that incorrect assumption because based on his next move Gligoric apparently thought the same thing! 30.♗xe4
30.♘f4 Taking advantage of the fact that black's e-Pawn is pinned. 30...♗d7 Renewing the threat of ...exd3. 31.♗c4+ and white has escaped and keeps a slight plus. On the down side he has to deal with black's to passed Ps which it seems will be difficult, but possible.
30...♗f5 31.♕c4 ♘xe4 The only correct reply. (31...♗xe4+ 32.♘xe4 ♖xe4 33.♘f6+ ♔f8 34.♕c8+ ♔f7 35.♘xe4 wins.) (31...♖xe4 32.♘e7+ ♔f8 33.♘xf5 ♕c6 34.♕xc6 bxc6 35.♘xe4 ♘xe4 wins) 32.♘f6+ Wrong check!
32.♘e7+ The only good move. 32...♔h7 33.♘xf5 ♘f2+ 34.♔g2 ♕xd2 35.♕xd4 ♕xd4 36.♘xd4 ♘d3 with a draw.
32...♔h8 33.♘dxe4
33.♘xe8 allows a mate in four: 33...♘f2+ 34.♔g2 ♗h3+ 35.♔g3 ♕g5+ 36.♔xf2 ♕e3#
33...gxf6 34.♘d6 ♕h5 Threatening ...Qf3+ but this should have let his advantage slip away.
34...♕e3 is difficult to meet. 35.♕d5 (35.♘xf5 ♕f3+ mates in two.) 35...♗e4+ 36.♘xe4 ♕xe4+ 37.♕xe4 ♖xe4 38.♖d1 and white has a fighting chance in the ending.
35.♕xd4 Stepping on a land mine.
35.♕f1 This would have held the game 35...♖e2 36.♕f4 ♗g6 37.♖g4 ♖f2 38.♕xf2 ♕xg4 39.♕xf6+ with a draw.
35...♕f3+ Facing mate in 5 Gligoric resigned. (35...♕f3+ 36.♖g2 ♖e1+ 37.♕g1 ♗h3 38.♘f7+ ♔h7 39.♘g5+ fxg5 40.a3 ♕xg2#) Powered by Aquarium
I believe Baretic lost his sight during WW2 as a Yugoslav fighting the Germans: I don't know the year. I was present at Hastings in 1961-happy days!
ReplyDelete