Kmoch Scalps Fine

     The name Hans Kmoch (July 25, 1894 - February 13, 1973, 78 years old) is pretty familiar to older players because for many years he was a columnist for Chess Review magazine as well as being the author of, among other books, Pawn Power in Chess. He also served as the Secretary and manager of the Manhattan Chess Club in New York City from 1951 to 1973. 

     Kmoch, of Czech parentage, was born in Austria and moved to The Netherlands in the 1930s and before settling in the US in 1947. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 and became an International Arbiter in 1951. Pronounce Kmoch

     Most players know little of his chess playing career, but highlights are: first at Vienna 1921 in the Hauptturnier A, first at Debrecen 1925, tied for third at Budapest 1926, third at Brno 1928, tie for first with Spielmann at Vienna 1929/30, first at Ebensee 1930, first at Busum 1936, first at Delft 1940 and tied for first at Leeuwarden 1942. 

     Kmoch was in great demand in Europe as a tournament director. Euwe and Alekhine chose him as the referee for their 1935 World Championship match and Euwe, who was a very good friend, chose Kmoch to act as his second in the 1937 rematch against Alekhine. After Kmoch emigrated to the United States he directyed many US Championships. 

     The main qualities that Kmoch was known and respected for were his gentleness, fairness, integrity and generosity. An example of his integrity was that when great players like ALekhine, for example, announced an illegal move in blindfold exhibitions (which happened quite often), they simply announced another move. Kmoch thought that was unfair and when he announced an illegal move he simply resigned. 

     His annotations were excellent except that in later years he frequently missed tactics which sometimes subjected him to scathing criticism from those he called infallible supermen. Kmoch himself admitted that he was not infallible. 

     Although an IM in the days when few players were so honored, Kmoch never considered himself a great player. Kmoch once said that he had very bad nerves for chess and was constantly in time trouble. Still, he played many fine games and defeated some great players including Rubinstein. The following game was played in Amsterdam, 1936. The tournament eight players, including the world champion Euwe. Also playing was former world champion Alekhine and the new American player of great promise Reuben Fine. Euwe and Fine finished equal first with Euwe scoring a win against Alekhine (who was actively campaigning for a rematch) and finishing undefeated. The event was arraigned in celebration of the Amsterdam Chess Club's anniversary. 

     Besides his win over Fine, a position that could have arisen in endgame Kmoch's ending against Van Scheltinga made its way intoi Fine's classic Basic Chess Endings and it was noted by Botvinnik in his classic 100 Selected Games. See page 264 HERE 

     Fine, who scored the most wins, tied for first, but he thought he should have been clear first. He lost to Kmoch in the first round and in his book of his best games Fine wrote, "In the Amsterdam 1936 tournament my loss to Kmoch was something of an accident, in that I overstepped the time limit in a drawn position." 

     Fine claimed that his overstepping the time-limit was accidental since he had five minutes for his last move. The problem was that Kmoch, who had been in terrible time pressure, after making his 56th move remarked to the Tournament Director, "The time-control is over." Fine stated that unfortunately he heard the remark and was under the mistaken impression that it applied to both of them.

     Besides having an enormous ego, Arnold Denker wrote that Fine was an habitual fibber, so can we believe his claim that the final position was drawn? In the days before engines made us all armchair GMs few dared question a GM, but today, using Stockfish and Komodo, we'll check out Fine's claim. Drawn or not the fact remains that Kmoch took Fine's scalp.

Hans Kmoch - Reuben Fine

Result: 1-0

Site: Amsterdam

Date: 1936.10.10

Queen's Gambit Declined

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 It's somewhat surprising to see the statistics. 3...d5 results in white winning nearly half of the games with the remaining half split between black wins and draws. On the other hand if black plays 3...Bb5, although white has a small edge, the games are very nearly evenly split 1/3 white wins, black wins and draws. 3...d5 4.♗g5 ♘bd7 5.e3 ♗b4 6.cxd5 With this exchange white hopes to use his Q-side Pawn minority with (after preparation) a4, b4, b5 so as to leave black with weak Ps that he will have to defend. 6...exd5 7.♗d3 c5 8.♘ge2 c4 This line has eliminated the minoroty attack. 9.♗c2 h6 10.♗h4 O-O 11.O-O ♗e7 12.f3 Preparing e4. 12...b5 Offering a P with the hope of getting some Q-side play before white can advance in the center, but as it turns out, this strategy is also unsuccessful.

12...a6 did not work out well for white. 13.a4 b6 14.♗f2 ♖b8 15.♘f4 ♗b7 16.e4 Situru,M (2377)-Tu,H (2507)/Bled 2002 White has a significant advantage and went on to win.

13.♘xb5 ♖b8 14.♘xa7 ♖xb2 Looking far into the future you might think that after e4 white will undermine black's protected passed P leaving it weak and, also, white's a-Pawn will be a very important factor. You'd be wrong. In any case, Komodo gives white a positional advantage of a P and a half here. 15.♘c6 ♕e8 16.♘xe7+ ♕xe7 White has the two Bs. Will that be a factor? 17.♕c1 ♖b6 18.♘c3 ♗b7 19.♕d2 ♖e8 20.♖fe1 There's no way white can enforce e4 and so his e-Pawn is a source of concern because it must be defended. 20...♕a3 So, black does have some play on the Q-side and threatens ...Rb2 21.♖ab1 ♖xb1 22.♖xb1 ♗c6 23.♗f2 Although the engine evaluation favors white by a P and a half it's hard to come up with a plan for either side because the position is so balanced. White's e-Pawn is under tremendous pressure, his a_pawn needs protection and there doesn't seem to be much he can do on the b-file. So, Fine's next move seems to be a waiting move that does nothing to change the position. 23...♔h8 24.♗d1 This gives his Q access to the b-file. 24...♔g8 Another pass.

24...♖b8 is unsatisfactory because after 25.♖xb8+ ♘xb8 26.e4 is possible. The P cannot be taken... 26...dxe4 27.d5 e3 (27...♗b7 28.fxe4 with a winning advantage.) 28.♕xe3 Now the d-Pawn can't be taken and white is left with a winning advantage.

25.♕b2 ♕a5 Exchanging Qs qould deprive black of any counterplay whatsoever. (25...♕xb2 26.♖xb2 ♖a8 27.a4 and white is vastly superior.) 26.♕b4 ♕a7 27.♗c2 ♖b8 28.♕d6 ♖xb1+ 29.♗xb1 ♕b7 30.♕a3 ♘b6 31.♕b4 ♕a7 32.♗c2 ♘fd7 33.♗g3 ♘b8 34.♕d6 ♘6d7 All this maneuvering has finally lead to a decisive advantage for white, but now Kmoch misses his best shot. 35.♕b4 Not bad, but while this keeps his advantage it result in more maneuvering.

35.♘xd5 ♗xd5 36.♕xd5 ♕a3 37.♕xc4 ♕xe3+ 38.♔f1 and white's two Ps and two Bs assure the win.

35...♘b6 36.h3 One is tempted to say this is too passive, but Kmoch didn't have an engine to guide him and point out the crushing 36.Qd6!!

36.♕d6 From black's perspective this is a really nasty move that would force resignation. White threatens mate with Qd8+ and also the N. 36...♘6d7 is no help. 37.♕e7 ♕a5 38.♗d6!!38...g6 39.♕e8+ ♔g7 40.♗f4!!

40.♗e5+ is tempting , but it leads nowhere. 40...♘xe5 41.♕xe5+ ♔h7 42.♕e7 ♔g8 and white has to take a draw. 43.♗xg6 fxg6 44.♕d6 ♕xc3 45.♕xb8+ ♔g7 46.♕c7+ etc.

40...♕xc3 41.♗xh6+ ♔f6 (41...♔xh6 42.♕h8+ ♔g5 43.h4#) 42.g4 with a winning attack.

36...g6 37.♕c5 Once again 37.Qd6 was crushing. 37...♕b7 38.♕b4 ♘a6 39.♕d6 Finally! Here Komodo evaluates the position at an overwhelming 4.75 Ps in white's favor...an easy win, or so you would think, but in practical play it's not that easy. 39...♘d7 40.♕a3 More maneuvering. One suspects Kmoch may have been in time pressure here.

40.♗xg6 fxg6 41.♕xg6+ ♔h8 42.♕xh6+ ♔g8 43.♕g6+ ♔h8 44.e4 wins with little trouble.

40...♘b4 41.♗d1

41.♗a4 was better. 41...♗xa4 42.♕xa4 ♘d3 43.♕a5 White has a winning ending. There are many lines, but for example: 43...♘f6 44.♗e5 ♘xe5 45.dxe5 ♘d7 46.♕d8+ ♔g7 47.e6 fxe6 48.♕e7+ ♔h8 49.♕xe6

41...♘d3 42.♗d6 Wrong piece! The Q belongs here so, again, 42.Qd6 was much better. 42...h5 43.♔f1 ♘b6 44.♕a5 ♔h7 45.♗c2 ♘c8 46.♗a3 ♘a7 47.♔e2 There's little point in taking a critical attitude towards either player's moves here as it is obvious that both are in some serious time pressure. 47...♘b5 48.♘xb5 ♗xb5 49.♗d6

49.♗xd3 would be quite bad as after 49...cxd3+ 50.♔d2 ♗c4 51.♕b4 ♕c7 52.f4 neither side can make any progress and a draw would be an acceptable outcome.

49...♗a6 A better idea was ...Bd7and ...Bf4 50.♕a3 After this white can no longer lay claim to any advantage...assuming black plays correctly.

50.♕c7 ♕xc7 51.♗xc7 c3!52.a4 and white is winning. Here's how Stockfish demonstrated the win at 25 plies. (52.♗xd3 c2 53.♔d2 ♗xd3 54.a4 with a likely draw.) 52...♘b4+ 53.♔d1 ♗f1 54.g4 hxg4 55.hxg4 ♗g2 56.♔c1 ♗xf3 57.g5 ♔g7 58.♗e5+ f6 59.gxf6+ ♔f7 60.a5 ♘a6 61.♔b1 ♘b4 62.♗d6 ♘c6 63.a6 ♗e2 64.♗b3 ♔xf6 65.♗xd5 ♗d3+ 66.♔c1 ♘xd4 67.exd4 ♗xa6 68.♔c2 ♗c8 69.♗c6 ♔e6 70.♗e5 and wins.

50...c3 ...which he does not. Fine's move is clever, but inferior. He holds out with 50...Qb6 51.♕xc3

51.♗xd3 is a bad alternative 51...♕b2+ 52.♔f1 ♗xd3+ 53.♔g1 ♕xa3 54.♗xa3 and the Bs of opposite color lead to a draw.

51...♘c1+ 52.♔f2 ♕b5 53.♗xg6+ Decisive. 53...♔xg6

53...fxg6 54.♕c7+ leads to mate in 6. 54...♔g8 55.♕d8+ ♔h7 56.♕e7+ ♔h6 57.♕f8+ ♔h7 58.♕f7+ ♔h6 59.♗f8+ mate next move.

54.♕xc1 ♕e2+ 55.♔g1 ♕xa2 56.♕e1 Fine overstepped the time limit. This final position is hardly drawn even though with best play white will still be faced with practical difficulties. Komodo's evaluation is that white is better by about 6.5 Ps. In Shootouts using Stockfish white scored +7 -0 =0 although it took another 30 or so moves. Conclusion: in practical play black has drawing chances, but they would be a long shot.

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