Munich 1942

     The White Rose was a non-violent, intellectual resistance group in Nazi Germany led by a group of students from the University of Munich whose activities started in Munich on June 27, 1942, and ended with the arrest of the core group by the Gestapo on February 18, 1943. The book telling there story is an exciting read. 

     The group conducted an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. After their arrest they faced show trials by the Nazi People's Court and many of them were sentenced to death or imprisonment. 

 

      

     The European Individual Chess Championship that was held in Munich in September, 1942 was advertised as the European Championship (Europameisterschaft).

     The tournament was organized by Ehrhardt Post (1881-1947), a master and functionary. As a player, Post had quite a few modest successes German events and from 1933 to 1945 he was a Managing Director of the Nazi “Grossdeutscher Schachbund.” 

     He was a principal organizer of the strongest chess tournaments in Europe during World War II. The idea that Munich 1942 was European Individual Chess Championship was as comical as the claim that the second Fischer-Spassky match in 1972 was for the world championship. 

     At Munich there were no players from, for example, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and Poland and the participation of any Jewish players was unthinkable. In his book Chess Marches On, Reuben Fine wrote, "Alekhine has participated in a number of European shindigs, including one so-called European Championship...his competitors were at best second-rate second-raters." His statement was as laughable as the claim the tournament was for the European Championship. Paul Keres, Ewfim Bogoljubow, Gosta Stoltz, Klaus Junge and others were hardly "second-rate second-raters." 

     Alekhine's game collections are still a treasure trove of fantastic games and surprising opening ideas. In the Munich tournament of the previous year Alekhine singled out his opponent, Braslav Rabar, as being a “very interesting” player, adding that his main defect was insufficient knowledge of the openings. In 1941 Rabar finished tied for 9th and 10th (out of 16). 

     Rabar (1919-1973) of Yugoslavia was Yugoslav Champion in 1951 and 1953 (jointly) and he played on three Yugoslav Olympiad teams (1950, 1952, 1954). Altogether he played in 13 Yugoslav championships. He is best remembered for designing the opening classification system that was used in the Chess Informant. He was also co-editor of the monthly chess magazine Sahovski Glasnik. 

     In the following game Alekhine finishes him off with a nifty little N sacrifice on g7.

Alexander Alekhine - Braslav Rabar

Result: 1-0

Site: Munich

Date: 1942.09.24

Catalan Opening

[...] 1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 White adopts a combination of the Queen's Gambit and Reti Opening. Black has two main approaches: 1) play ... dxc4 and either try to hold on to the P with ...b5 or give it back for extra time to free his game, or 2) black can avoid capturing on c4 which gives him a solid, but cramped, position. 3...d5 4.♗g2 dxc4 5.♕a4+ ♗d7 6.♕xc4 ♗c6 7.♘f3 ♗d5 Black loses too many tempi with these bishop moves. Better is 7...Nbd7 as was played in the game Junge-Alekhine in the same tournament. 8.♕d3 c5 9.♘c3 ♗c6 Black has to oppose the B on the long diagonal immediately.

9...cxd4 10.♘xd5 ♕xd5 11.O-O and black has no satisfactory way of meetin the threat 12.Nxd4

10.O-O ♘bd7 11.♖d1 cxd4

11...♗e7 12.e4 and the threat of 13 d5 practically forces the exchange on d4 which gives white the advantage of the B pair. 12...cxd4 13.♘xd4

12.♘xd4 ♗xg2 13.♔xg2 ♗e7 14.♕f3 From here the Q exerts strong pressure on the Q-side.

14.e4 also worked out well for white. 14...O-O 15.♕e2 ♕a5 16.♗f4 ♗b4 17.♘b3 ♕b6 18.♖ac1 and white is slightly better. Nogueiras,J (2560)-Kortschnoj,V (2655)/Clermont Ferrand 1989

14...♕b6 Alekhine connented that this move will be refuted by energetic tactical play. but 14...Qb8 15.e4 was equally unsatisfactory. 15.♗e3 Alekhine observed that with this move (which hes gave a !) proves that black lacks any satisfactory defense. 15...O-O

15...♕xb2 loses quickly to 16.♘cb5 O-O 17.♖db1 winning the Q.

16.♘f5 ♗c5 This runs into a clever refutation.

16...♕d8 was best but white still has the upper hand after 17.♘xe7+ ♕xe7 18.♕xb7 ♖fb8 19.♕c6

17.♘a4 ♕a5 18.♘xc5 ♘xc5 19.♘xg7 This wins at least a P and leads to an easily won ending. 19...♔xg7 Of course this only cooperates with white.

19...♘ce4 Alekhine's line: After this, which represent black's best resource, white would force the Q to abandon the fifth rank and then he would occupy the long diagonal with the B resulting in a decisive advantage: 20 b4! Qe5 21 Bf4 Qb5 (or 21... Qc3 22 Nh5!!) 22 a4! Qxb4 23 Be5 etc. 20.b4 ♕e5 (20...♕xb4 21.♘h5 ♘xh5 22.♕xh5 e5 23.♖ac1 ♕e7 24.♕g4+ ♔h8 25.♕xe4) 21.♗f4 ♕c3 22.♘h5 ♕xf3+ 23.♔xf3 ♘xh5 24.♔xe4 with a winning endgame.

19...♘ce4 Stockfish's line: 20.♗h6 ♕e5 21.♖d3 ♖fd8 22.♖ad1 ♖xd3 23.♖xd3 ♖c8 24.♖e3 ♖c4 25.♖d3 ♖d4 26.♕e3 ♖xd3 27.♕xd3 ♘d6 With the advantage, bit Alekhine's line looks better. 28.♕f3

20.♗d4 The strength of this move lies mainly in the fact that after 20...Ncd7 White simply plays 21 Bc3, with the unavoidable threat of 22 Rxd7. 20...♘ce4 (20...♘cd7 21.♗c3 ♘e5 22.♕f4) 21.♕xe4 ♕f5 The endgame that follows is without any technical difficulties. 22.♕xf5 exf5 23.♖ac1 ♖fe8 24.♖c7 ♖xe2 25.♖xb7 ♔g6 26.♗xf6 ♔xf6 27.♖d6+ If 27...Kg7 the R on e2 will be forced to vacate the 2nd rank which allows the capture of the a-Pawn. Facing a lost ending Rabar resigned. This game shows that tactics don't always lead to mate or a big material game...some times they just lead to a small material or positional advantage or, as here, a won ending. (27.♖d6+ ♔g7 28.♖dd7 ♖f8 29.♔f3 ♖c2 30.♖dc7 ♖d2 31.♔e3 ♖d6 32.♖xa7)

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