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Tuesday, June 8, 2021

1965 Marshall Chess Club Championship

     In 1965 Herbert W. Seidman made a successful return to tournament play after a two and a half year absence when he won the Marshall's 50th Anniversary tournament with an undefeated 6.5-1.5 score. 
     Paul Robey lead for most of the tournament, but Seidman, who won his last three games, clinched first in a last round when he defeated Sidney Bernstein while Robey blundered and lost in a time scramble against Orest Popovych. 
     Robey won the Marshall championship the following year when he tied Walter Browne for first with a 6-2 score. In the playoff Robey won the first game and Browne failed to appear for the second game and was forfeited.
     Luck was on Seidman's side when he beat Bernstein because it was his first win against his old nemesis in their last 12 meetings...his last victory over Bernstein being in the 1950 US Championship! 
     Herbert Seidman (October 17, 1920 – August 30, 1995) was a Senior Master born in New York City. Seidman, who played several times in the US Championship and was a frequent competitor in open tournaments in the New York City area and was known for his swashbuckling-style, playing risky, sacrificial openings and offbeat openings. Al Horowitz, editor of Chess Review, once published one of Seidman’s games under the title “Sideman Seidman.” 
     Allen Kaufmann (born 1933) is a master and the former Executive Director of the American Chess Foundation and Chess-in-the-Schools. A longtime member of the Marshall Chess Club and former president and vice-president, in 1954 he finished seventh in the US Open. In 1958, Kaufman finished 6th in the U.S. Open and handed the winner, Eldis Cobo Arteaga of Cuba, his only loss in the tournament. 
     As the executive director of the American Chess Foundation, Kaufman expanded their program of teaching chess to school-age children, leading to the name change of the organization to Chess-in-the-Schools. Kaufman advocated chess as mental training believing it increases children's reading and reasoning skills. 
     At the American Chess Foundation, Kaufman aided Gata Kamsky in his defection from the Soviet Union in 1989. He was also instrumental in the formation of the Samford Chess Fellowship and is former secretary of the fellowship committee.

Herbert Seidman - Allen Kaufmann

Result: 1-0

Site: Marshall CC Champ, New York

Date: 1965

Sicilian: O'Kelly Variation

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 a6 The O'Kelly Variation. Some have contended that the move is bad, but at least in my database it fares no worse than other more frequently played moves. 3.g3
3.c3 Many players put forth the argument that this is the best way to meet the O'Kelly because by switching to the Alapin variation the move ...a6 is not usually a useful move. 3...e6 Seen equally often is 3...d5 but in practice it has not given black good results. 4.d4 d5 Now is the time to play this, but white is doing well after 5.Nbd1, 5.e5 or 5.exd5. This is a good argument for playing 3.c3!
3...d6 4.♗g2 g6 5.O-O ♗g7 6.c3
6.♘c3 ♘c6 7.d3 e6 8.♖b1 ♘ge7 9.♗e3 ♘d4 10.♘e2 e5 11.c3 ♘xf3+ 12.♗xf3 O-O 13.b4 Equal. Bischoff,K (2415)-Csom,I (2480)/Luzern 1985
6...♘f6 7.♕e2 O-O 8.d4 ♗g4 If black wants to play ...Bg4 he should first exchange 8...cxd4
8...♕c7 9.♖d1 e5 10.dxc5 dxc5 11.♘bd2 h6 12.♘c4 ♘c6 The position is even. Vojtek,V (2311)-Csolto,R (2267)/Slovakia SVK 2012
(8...cxd4 9.cxd4 ♗g4 and white does not have dxc5 available) 9.h3
9.dxc5 was better because after 9...dxc5 10.e5 white has an excellent game.
9...♗xf3 Retreating to d7 would be pointless. 10.♕xf3 ♘c6 This is a mistake.
10...cxd4 was necessary. 11.cxd4 ♘c6 12.♗e3 e5 and black has equalized.
11.dxc5 With this move white has gained the upper hand. 11...dxc5 Now worth considering was 12.Qe2 and 13.f4 12.♗e3 ♘d7 This is much too passive!
12...♘e5 13.♕e2 ♕d3 14.♖e1 ♕xe2 would have made his defense much easier.
13.♘d2 ♕c7 14.h4 Seidman wastes no time initiating his attack. 14...♖ad8 15.h5 ♘de5 16.♕e2 ♘d3 17.hxg6
17.h6 ♗h8 18.f4 was even better. After 18...♘xb2 19.e5 b5 20.♘e4 ♘d3 white is at a momentary standstill on the K-side but he can switch his attention to the other side with 21.a4 with a strong initiative.
17...hxg6 18.♖ab1 b5 19.f4 c4 With his N firmly anchored on d3 it appears that black has managed to equalize. While that may be the case technically, in practice white has good attacking chances. 20.e5 ♖d7 Obviously Kaufmann intends to double Rs on the d-file, but he needed to play 20...e6 to prevent white from doing so. 21.♘e4 While this leaves white with a distinct advantage it's rather surprising that the tactician in Seidman missed the shot 21.e6! (21.e6 fxe6 22.♕g4 ♘d8 23.♕xg6 with a winning attack.) 21...♘a5 His best chance was to play 21...f5 but even after that white has an excellent position after 22.Ng5 22.e6 Seidman doesn't miss it a second time! 22...fxe6 23.♕g4 ♘c6 24.♕xe6+ ♖f7 25.♗h3 ♖d6 (25...♖d8 26.♘g5 is fatal for black.) 26.♘xd6 exd6 27.♕xg6 ♖f6 28.♕e8+ ♖f8 29.♗e6+ ♔h7 30.♕h5+ ♗h6 31.♗f5+ ♖xf5 32.♕xf5+ Kaufmann gave up.
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