Where I live we had a 2.5 hour electric outage late in the morning thanks to wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour. A 50 mph wind will apply 5 to 7 pounds of force per square foot, but this increases exponentially as winds get stronger. At 100 mph, it jumps to 28 pounds per square foot and at 130 mph to 47 pounds per square foot. At 40 mph, even strong branches can start to rip off trees and around 50 mph shingles and eaves can come off houses. The house across the street had its eaves blown down yesterday..
Most thunderstorm winds that cause damage at ground level are a result of outflow generated by a thunderstorm's downdraft. Damaging winds are classified as those exceeding 50-60 mph. Wind speeds in thunderstorm can reach up to 100 mph and can produce damage extending for hundreds of miles.
Wind is air moving from areas of high atmospheric pressure to low pressure and its strength results from a complex interplay of different forces. Since wind is air in motion, it has momentum which can be transferred to the objects it hits, including people. Also, winds moving over and around objects can cause pressure changes around the object which can also cause it to move.
You can derive a mathematical equation to answer the question, "What wind speed would blow a man down?" It would depend on several factors: the velocity of the wind, gravity, static friction (the force that keeps you anchored to the ground), drag of the wind pushing on you, air density, your weight, size and center of gravity.
If you weighed 100 pounds, it would take a wind speed of about 45 mph to move you, but it probably won't knock you down. Knocking a person who weighed about 100 pounds down would take a wind of at least 70 mph. But, what about a more normal person, say of 180 pounds? A lot depends on variables, but the wind speed that blows people over is probably around 90 mph. One person reported being in a hurricane said and a 97 mph gust exerted so much force that their shoes slid on the pavement and they slid 20 feet.
Speaking of wind of a different kind, according to flatologists (scientist who study flatulence, aka "farts") a fart can travel about 10 feet per second, or approximately 6.8 miles per hour. Watch a video on flatology HERE.
Thankfully today is a better day and now that you know more about wind than you want too, let's move on to chess stuff.
If you were around and playing chess in 1952 the big news would have been the Interzonal in Grand Hotel Saltsjobaden (about 9 miles east of Stockholm). In one unfortunate happening, the brilliant Czech IM Jan Foltys (October 13, 1908 - March 11, 1952) qualified, but he passed away of leukemia at the age of 44. His spot was to have been taken by Pal Benko, but he was in prison for trying to defect to the West. As a result Gideon Stahlberg took Foltys' place.
As for US players, Samuel Reshevsky (who was already qualified for the Candidates tournament in Zurich, 1953), Larry Evans, Robert Byrne and Arthur Bisguier were still in Europe after the Helsinki Olympiad. Evans had qualified, but he and Byrne had to return home. Bisguier was then offered a place, but he had to withdraw only days before the tournament started because he was in the Army and couldn't get any additional leave.
That meant that the 1948 champion Herman Steiner, who had lost the US Championship match to Evans in 1952 was next in line.
Julio Bolbochan of Argentina had bad luck. After adjourning his game against Geller in round 1 and drawing with Szabo in round 2 he had to withdraw due to illness.
The tournament was dominated from start to finish by Russia's Alexander Kotov who finished in first with 3 points to spare. He started with an incredible 7 straight wins which meant his lead was never even challenged.
Chess Review magazine pointed out the "noteworthy circumstance" of the peaceful attitude of the Soviet players toward each other. All games between them were drawn. The magazine was especially critical of Kotov who "fell with fury" upon all his rivals, but took short draws against his compatriots. "A sterner attitude" towards his fellow Russians might have allowed an outsider to squeeze in to the group of qualifiers. As we now know, that was never going to happen.
The following game is an instructive example of forcing a weakness in an opponent's position with piece play rather than Pawns...in this game the square f6 and its weakness eventually proves black's undoing. Very instructive.
Efim Geller - Wolfgang Unzicker
Result: 1-0
Site: Stockholm Interzonal
Date: 1952.09.22
Slav Defense
[...] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.♘f3 ♘f6 4.♘c3 dxc4 5.e4 b5 6.e5 ♘d5 7.a4 e6 8.axb5 ♘xc3 9.bxc3 cxb5 10.♘g5 ♗b7 11.♕h5 The fight is going to be for the square f6 and this is the beginning. White must figure out a way to eliminate the black minor pieces that defend that square. 11...g6 An interesting option is 11...Qd7
11...♕d7 12.♗e2 ♗xg2 13.♗f3 ♗xf3 14.♕xf3 ♘c6 15.♘xf7 ♖g8 16.♘g5 O-O-O 17.♖xa7 ♘xa7 18.♕a8+ ♔c7 19.♕xa7+ with roughly equal chances.
11...♕d7 12.♘xh7 is too risky. After 12...♘c6 13.♘f6+ gxf6 14.♕xh8 ♘xd4 black has the advantage and white dare not take the N! 15.cxd4 ♕xd4 16.♖a2 O-O-O and wins...for example 17.♗d2 ♕e4+ 18.♗e2 ♕b1+ 19.♗d1 ♕xa2
12.♕g4 ♗e7 13.♗e2 ♘d7 14.♗f3 ♕c7
14...h5 15.♕g3 ♗xg5 16.♗xb7 ♗xc1 17.♗xa8 ♕xa8 18.♖xc1 ♘b6 In this difficult position both sides have their chances. The game Guliev,S (2528) -Miton,K (2497)/Ohrid 2001 was eventually drawn.
14...♕c8 This move was first successfully employed by Petrosian. 15.♘e4 h5 16.♕g3 ♗xe4 17.♗xe4 ♘b6 is about equal. Pogosian,M (2373)-Odnorozhenko,E (2309)/Lipetsk 2010
15.♘e4 The N on g5 has served its purpose (forcing ...g6) and so it seeks employment elsewhere. From here it joins the fight for f6.
15.♗xb7 ♕xb7 16.♘e4 a6 17.♗g5 ♘b6 18.♗f6 with equal chances. Dobrev,N (2142)-Kirov,D (2116)/ Sofia 2009
15...♘b6
15...h5 This has been recommended, but Pachman thought it was hardly better. It prevents white's next move, but he thought that in the long run it weakens black's K too much. 16.♕g3 b4 seems to give black sufficient counterplay.
16.♗h6 Threatening Bg7 and Nf6. 16...♖g8 This meets the threat what happens if one follows CJS Purdy's advice and pretends that the threat isn't playable?
16...a5 17.♗g7 h5 18.♕h3 ♖g8 19.♘f6+ ♗xf6 20.♗xf6 b4 and black has a strong initiative.
17.♗g5 This received praise from Pachman because with his previous moves black was prevented from castling and now white does not have to fear the exchange of all the minor pieces because he would still have an advantage because black's Rs are out of play. 17...♗xe4 18.♗xe4 ♘d5
18...O-O-O is not so good because of 19.♗xe7 ♕xe7 20.O-O ♘d5 21.♕f3 and black is under a lot of pressure.
19.♗xd5 exd5 20.♗xe7 ♕xe7 21.O-O ♔f8 22.♖fb1 a6 Black has overcome his difficulties and the position is now even. 23.♕f3
23.♖xb5 axb5 24.♖xa8+ ♔g7 Here Pachman claims that things aren't so good for black because he still has to reckon with the weakness of f6, but that sounds like he is really stretching the point. Komodo 12 and Stockfish 13 evaluate this position as 0.00.
23...♕e6 This seemingly harmless moves leads to a forced loss!
23...♕b7 should hold the draw, but the ending with all heavy pieces can be treacherous. 24.♕f4 g5 25.♕f6 ♖g7 26.f4 gxf4 27.♖f1 ♔g8 28.♖xf4 b4 29.♖af1 ♖g6
24.♕f6 Decisive because black's K is confined to the 8th rank. 24...♕c8 (24...♕xf6 25.exf6 ♔e8 26.♖xb5 wins) 25.f4 ♕b7
25...h5 is no better. 26.♖a5 ♔e8 27.♔f2 ♕e6 28.♖bxb5 ♕xf6 29.exf6 ♔d7 30.♖xd5+ ♔e6 31.♖dc5 ♔xf6 32.♖c6+ ♔e7 33.♖c7+ ♔e6 34.d5+ ♔f6 35.♖xc4 and white has a won ending.
26.♖a5 ♔e8 27.♖ba1 b4 28.cxb4 ♕xb4 29.♖xd5 ♕b7 30.e6 Black resigned. (30.e6 fxe6 31.♕xe6+ ♔f8 32.♖d7 ♕xd7 33.♕xd7) Powered by Aquarium
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