Friday, December 17, 2021

Chess in 1963

     The year 1963 began with Bobby Fischer winning the US Championship on January 4th with a + 6 -1 =4 score; his one loss was to Edmar Mednis. 
     A couple of days later, on January 6, 1963, Hermann Helms, The Dean of American Chess, passed away in Brooklyn at the age of 93. The same day, in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, Weaver Adams died in at the age of 61. 
     On May 21, 1963, Tigran Petrosian defeated Mikhail Botvinnik in their World Championship match. Botvinnik was resentful that FIDE had abolished the return match clause he had always enjoyed and, as a result, he was through with the World Championship and made no attempts to play in any further qualifying events. The world was stuck with Petrosian and his tedious, cautious style until he was defeated by Boris Spassky in 1969. Thinking about the mighty Botvinnik though, he wasn't all that great of a champion. His score in matches was +2 -3 =2 and in games he scored +36 -39 =82. 
     On July 25, 1963, GM Gosta Stoltz (1904-1963) died in Sweden at the early age of 59. He was Swedish Champion in 1951, 1952 and 1953. 
     A big event in the month of July was the First Piatigorsky Cup held in Los Angeles. World Champion Tigran Petrosian and Paul Keres tied for first ahead of Najdorf and Olafsson, Reshevsky, Gligoric followed by Benko and Panno. Fischer was invited, but his demand for a $2,000 appearance fee was not met and Benko was invited instead. 
     On November 3, 1963, old time GM Boris Kostic (1887-1963) died in Belgrade at the age of 76. He was the Yugoslav Champion in 1935 (jointly) and 1938. 
     The year 1963 was an action packed year for me personally. After graduating from high school in June and vacationing with my parents in Florida for a couple of weeks, July found me, not following the Piatigorsky, but attending US Navy boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. I managed to finish up a couple of postal games I had going in a Chess Review tournament by drawing the positions in a notebook which we were required to keep with us at all times. 
     Upon completion of boot camp, I went straight to Hospital Corps school, also in Great Lakes. After graduating from there I was reassigned to the US Marine Corps, but that's another story. 

     What is still vivid in my memory was that on November 22, 1963 we had just returned from lunch and were in an anatomy and physiology class when our Company Commander entered the room with tears in his eyes and informed us that at 12:30pm CST in Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Classes were canceled for the rest of the day. 
     Amid all the hubbub of that year nobody remembers the tournament held in January at Bad Liebenstein, a spa town in East Germany. The tournament was limited to entrants from "Eastern" Communist bloc countries. The two exceptions, if you will, were the Yugoslavs Damjanovich and Karaklajich. 
     Prior to the start, the favorite was the Soviet Union's Lev Polugayevsky, but in this event he barely succeeded in tying for first. He caught a break in the 13th round when his opponent, Karaklajich, was unaware that he had a drawn position and let it slip. 
     At the same time the Yugoslav Damjanovich, who had been leading most of the way, started a string of draws before losing in the last round to Pietsch of East Germany. The fight for first place was not decided until the last two rounds when Damjanovich, Gipslis, Karaklajich and Polugayevsky were all in the running. 
 
Final scores:
1-2) Gipslis and Polugayevsky (10.5-4.5)
3-4) Damjanovich and Pietsch (9.5-5.5) 
5-6) Karaklajich and Ciocaltea (9.0-6.0) 
7-8) Fuchs and Malich (7.5-7.5) 
9-12) Liebert, Uhlmann, Minev, Szilagy (6.5-8.5) 
13-14) Jansa and Szily (6.0-9.0) 
15-16) Balcerowsky and Baumbach (4.5-10.5) 
 
     One of the most beautiful and exciting games was between Ciocaltea, Romania's strongest player, and the young up and coming Jansa of Czechoslovakia.

Victor Ciocaltea - Vlastimil Jansa

Result: 1-0

Site: Bad Liebenstein

Date: 1963

Sicilian Scheveningen/Najdorf

[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 ♘f6 5.♘c3 a6 6.♗c4 e6 7.♗b3 ♗e7 8.f4 O-O 9.♕f3 An interesting departure from the usual 9.O-O 9...♕c7
9...♘bd7 10.f5 e5 11.♘de2 b5 12.♗g5 ♗b7 is also playable for black. West,J (1970)-Wu,C/Branchburg 2009
10.g4 Usual is 10. O-O, but in addition to the very aggressive text white has also tried 10.f5 and 10.Be3
10.♗e3 ♘bd7 11.g4 ♘c5 12.g5 ♘fd7 13.f5 White has a promising attack. Kaufman,L-Kristjansson,B/Harrachov 1967
10.O-O and black got the initiative after 10...b5 11.a3 ♗b7 12.f5 e5 13.♘de2 ♘bd7 14.♗g5 Mariotti,S (2495)-Ljubojevic,L (2615)/Ljubljana 1975
10.f5 ♘c6 11.♗e3 ♘xd4 12.♗xd4 e5 13.♗e3 with equality. Sigurjonsson,G-Kristjansson,B/Reykjavik 1968
10.f5!? should be investigated more closely 10...♘c6 11.♗e3 ♘xd4 12.♗xd4⩲
10...♘c6 11.♘xc6 bxc6 12.g5 ♘d7 13.♗e3 c5 14.O-O-O c4 15.♗a4 ♖b8 16.♗xd7 ♗xd7 17.f5 White's attack looks dangerous, but black has adequate defensive resources. 17...♕b7 The threat to b2 is not real. 18.f6 This is the only way to continue the attack because any other move would allow the threat to b2 to be decisive. 18...♗d8
18...♕xb2+ 19.♔d2 And now the retreat 19...Bd8 is met by 20.Rb1 winning the unprotected R on b8. Hence, black's only try is 19...♖b3 20.axb3 cxb3 21.fxe7 ♕xc2+ 22.♔e1 ♕xc3+ 23.♔f2 ♖e8 24.♖xd6 and white is a R up.
19.b3 cxb3
19...g6 is somewhat better and it, too, leads to interesting play. 20.h4 (20.♖xd6 ♕b4 21.♗f4 ♗c7 22.♖xd7 ♗xf4+ 23.♕xf4 ♕xc3 is roughly equal.) 20...♗a5 21.♗d2 ♗c6 22.♖he1 With complications. Black can play 22...h5, 22...cxb3 or 22...Bb4 all of which should be adequate.
20.axb3 ♗a5 He still should have tried 20...g6. As it is, white's attack grows in strength. 21.fxg7 ♖fc8 22.♖hf1 ♗c6 With this move it appears that black has now defended himself and is launching a counter-attack, in fact, after this he is completely lost!
22...♗e8 is his only hope. Then after 23.♗d4 e5 24.♘d5 exd4 25.♘f6+ ♔xg7 26.♕h3 black's best line is 26...♖xc2+ 27.♔xc2 ♕c8+ 28.♕xc8 ♖xc8+ 29.♔b1 ♗b5 and white is better, but scoring the point will not be easy. In fact, 5 Shootouts using Stockfish were drawn.
23.g6 Brilliant! Any other move would have worked out to black's advantage. This move was most unexpected by Jansa who was already enjoying his win!. The point is that white now opens either the f- or the h-file and his P on g7 becomes the deciding factor in the attack.. 23...hxg6
23...fxg6 is also hopeless. 24.♗h6 The threat is mate on f8 starting with 25.Qf8+, so... 24...♕e7 25.♖xd6 ♗b4 (25...♕xd6 26.♕f7#) 26.♕f8+ ♖xf8 27.gxf8=♕+ ♖xf8 28.♖xf8+ ♕xf8 29.♗xf8 ♗xd6 30.♗xd6 and white wins.
24.♕h3 ♔xg7 25.♕h6+ ♔g8 26.♗d4 e5 27.♖d3 ♗d7
27...exd4 allows a mate in 6. 28.♖h3 f5 29.♕xg6+ ♕g7 30.♕e6+ ♕f7 31.♖g1+ ♔f8 32.♖h8+ ♕g8 33.♖hxg8#
28.♘d5 ♗d8 29.♖xf7 The logical conclusion of the attack.. 29...♔xf7 30.♕h7+ ♔f8 31.♕xg6 ♗e8 32.♖f3+
32.♕xd6+ ♔g8 33.♖g3+ ♕g7 34.♖xg7+ ♔xg7 35.♕xe5+ ♔f7 36.♘f4 ♖xc2+ 37.♔xc2 ♖c8+ 38.♔b2 ♖c2+ 39.♔xc2 ♗d7 40.♕g7+ ♔e8 41.♕g6+ ♔f8 42.♗g7+ ♔g8 43.♗h6+ ♔h8 44.♕g7#
32...♗f7 33.♕h6+ ♔e8 34.♕h8+ ♔d7 35.♖xf7+ ♔e6
35...♗e7 hardly improves anything 36.♖xe7+ ♔c6 37.♖xb7 ♔xb7 38.♕g7+ ♔c6 39.♕a7 exd4 40.♕xa6+ ♔d7 41.♕a7+ ♔c6 42.♕a4+ ♖b5 43.♕a6+ ♔d7 44.♕a7+ ♖b7 45.♕xb7+ ♖c7 46.♕xc7+ ♔e8 47.♕e7#
36.♕e8+ Facing mate with 37.Rf6, Jansa resigned. A brilliant attack by Ciocaltea.
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