Byrne Bashes Stein

     The year 1967 is memorable to me because it was the year I returned to civilian life after four years in the military. 

     We lost a lot of players that year. One of the leading German players in the 1930s, Ludwid Engels (1905-1967), died in Sao Paulo. The 1933 and 1934 Scottish champion James Creevey (1873-1967) died in Dublin and the 1956 French champion Pierre Rolland (1926-1967) died in a car accident. 

     The 1957 British champion Dr. Stefan Fazekas (1898-1967) died in England and Swedish GM Gideon Stahlberg (1908-1967) died of liver disease in Leningrad. German master and author Alfred Brinckmann (1891-1967) died in Kiel, Germany. And, finally, the 1928 Hungarian champion Arpad Vajda (1896-1967) died in Budapest as a result of a faulty oven leaking gas. 

     In April, Bobby Fischer took first place at Monaco. When his trophy was presented to him by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace, being the odious snot that he was, Fischer refused to pose for a photograph with them. 

     At the Sousse Interzonal in Tunisia in October Yugoslav GM Milan Matulovic took back a losing move against Hungarian GM Istvan Bilek. Matulovic played his move, but then took it back after saying J'adoube, which he should have announced before adjusting the pieces. Bilek protested to the arbiter who allowed the corrected move to stand. The incident earned Matulovic the nickname "J'adoubovic."

     Bobby Fischer was playing in the Sousse Interzonal. He had a lot of games to play in succession as a result of the organizers rescheduling his games around his religious holidays and Sabbath. At the time he was a member of the World Wide Church of God which observed the Jewish holidays and Sabbath. Because he had so many games to play in a row as a result of the rescheduling, he protested and forfeited his game against Soviet GM Aivars Gipslis. The organizers would not let him replay the forfeited game and so Fischer withdrew. 

     But, enough of Bobby Fischer! Let's take a look at the international tournament held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia in 1967. The Sarajevo tournaments in the past had a bad reputation because of the large number of draws, but this tournament was different...it was a real battle and until the last move was made it wasn't clear who the winner would be. 

     Among the GMs was the Soviet Champion Leonid Stein who from the very beginning was in the leading position, but he was closely pursued by Borislav Ivkov, Robert Byrne and Dragoljub Ciric. 

     In the first half of the tournament Byrne was among the leaders, but he lost to Nikolic in an easily won position and with that loss he dropped out of contention. Ciric also lost an important game against Stein. Ivkov was in the fight when Stein lost to Byrne three rounds before the end. Stein's loss made it a dramatic race for first. 

     After his defeat Stein then drew with Tringov and going into the last round it was Ivkov who was leading by half a point. In the last round Ivkov drew with Ciric while Stein defeated one of the tailenders, Vladimir Kozomara, and so Ivkov and Stein tied for first. 

     The following game was Byrne's victory over Stein. In order to beat back Byrne's K-side attack, Stein exchanged his Q for two Rs plus a P which theoretically gave him a slight material advantage. However, the lesson to be learned from the game is that in all cases of unbalanced material, positional considerations can nullify a material advantage. 

     In this game, factors such as black's difficulties in obtaining a safe King position and problems in getting good play for his Rs and minor piece his allowed the white Queen to strut her stuff and show her mobility on the open board. As a result, white won a P and then managed to infiltrate black's position and expose its tactical weakness which culminated with white winning a piece. 

     Of the two players, Leonid Stein (1934-1973), three time Soviet champion (1963, 1965 and 1966) is better known. He narrowly missed qualifying for the Candidate tournaments in 1962, 1964 and 1967. Tragically, Stein died at the age of 39 of a heart attack in the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow as he prepared to leave for the European championships in Bath, England. 

     In the late 1960s, college professor Robert Byrne (1928-2013) had become a semi-professional player. He won the 1972 US Championship after tying with Samuel Reshevsky and Lubomir Kavalek and then winning the playoff. 

     In 1973 he placed third at the Leningrad Interzonal in 1973 and thereby qualified for the Candidates Tournament. He lost his first-round Candidates' match to former world champion Boris Spassky in 1974. 

     As a 1974 Candidate, Byrne was seeded directly to the 1976 Biel Interzonal where he performed very well, but missed a playoff spot by half a point, sharing 5th-6th places with 11.5-7.5. 

     Byrne was known as a cagey, patient player who favored flank attacks and solid structural defense, avoided Pawn weaknesses and was especially strong in the endgame He died of Parkinson's disease, a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement.

     I had an opportunity to meet Byrne at the 1975 US Championship and found him to be quiet, reserved and quite pleasant.

[Event "Sarajevo"] [Site "Sarajevo YUG"] [Date "1967.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Byrne"] [Black "Leonid Stein"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B35"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] {Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 {Unlike in the normal Dragon, black delays playing the move ...d6 for as long as possible, prioritizing piece development instead. This can have significant ramifications.} 3. d4 Bg7 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 {Stein played the Accelerated Dragon several times in this tournament and white tried several different methods of overcoming it, but none were successful. Byrne commented that although this was only game Stein lost with the variation the position after the opening is too unclear to justify any claim of opening advantage and no method of obtaining the advantage against it was known.} O-O 8. Bb3 {Necessary to guard against ...Nxe4 and ...d5} Qa5 {Black usually plays 8...d6 or 8...a5 here. One of the principal points of the Accelerated Dragon is that after this move white cannot now prepare Q-side castling by 9. f3 without allowing black easy equality.} 9. O-O (9. f3 d5 10. exd5 Nb4 11. Qd2 Nbxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd2+ 13. Bxd2 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Bxd4 15. O-O-O {Black has equalized.}) 9... d6 10. h3 Bd7 11. f4 Rac8 12. Qf3 {In round 5, Janosevic tried 12. P-B5 against Stein but got no advantage.} Qh5 13. Qf2 (13. Nxc6 {is a satisfactory alternative, but it has to be followed up correctly} Bxc6 14. g4 {Safer is 14.Nd5} Qa5 15. Rad1 b5 16. g5 Nd7 17. f5 {Black has the upper hand, but in th egame he erred and lost. Kamsky,G (2695)-Anand,V (2720)/Sanghi Nagar 1994}) (13. g4 {is a serious mistake.} Bxg4 {After this white cannot guard against both the threat of mate and loss of material.} 14. hxg4 Nxg4 15. Qh1 Qxh1+ 16. Kxh1 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 Nxd4) 13... b5 {A surprise and a great improvement over 13....Nxd4. The threat of course is ...b4 and ...Nxe4. Note that 14.a3 is no help for white because of 14...a5} (13... Nxd4 14. Bxd4 Rxc3 15. bxc3 Nxe4 16. Qe3 Bc6 17. Rae1 a6 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qd4+ e5 20. fxe5 dxe5 21. Qb6 Nd2 22. Rf2 Qg5 23. Re3 Ne4 24. Rfe2 Ng3 25. Rf2 Ne4 {Draw. Ponizil,C (2432)-Rosko,L (2350)/Frydek Mistek 2013} ) 14. Ndxb5 (14. a3 a5 15. Nde2 b4 16. axb4 axb4 17. Ng3 Qh4 18. Nce2 Be6 19. Bxe6 fxe6 {Black has the initiative. Cooke,E (2266)-Xu,H (2420)/Budapest 2000}) 14... Nxe4 15. Nxe4 Qxb5 {As he was successful in doing in all his games with the Acclerated Dragon in this tournament, Stein has overcome all opening difficulties. As far as long term prospects go, black has a fine target for attack in white's Q-side Ps, two of which are backward on half-open files. It will take some preparation, but he can also threaten the advance of his center Ps. As Jeremy Silman emphasized in his book Reassess Your Chess, white, who is at a strategical disadvantage, must use any temporary imbalance that is in his favore or lose it. In this case, the temporary imbalance is the excellent placement of white's pieces which are poised for an immediate attack on black's King.} 16. Ng3 {Taking the a-Pawn would only result in further weakening of white's Q-side.} a5 (16... Bxb2 {would be a grave error.} 17. Rab1 {loses the B on account of the threat Bxf7+} Na5 18. Rxb2 Nc4) 17. a4 Qb4 18. f5 Kh8 {While not as bad as on the previous move, taking the b-Pawn is still not a good idea because white's K-side attack gains momentum.} 19. Rad1 Qh4 { Black can probably get away with taking the b-Pawn, but in over the board play the complications stemming would be difficult to fathom.} (19... Bxb2 20. fxg6 hxg6 (20... fxg6 {loses.} 21. Qxf8+ Rxf8 22. Rxf8+ Kg7 23. Rf7+ Kh8 24. Bh6 Qb8 (24... Bd4+ 25. Kh1 Bg7 26. Bxg7+ Kg8 27. Bh6 {mates}) 25. Rdf1 Bf6 26. R1xf6 exf6 27. Ne4 {White's pieces swarming on the K-side deliver mate in 8 moves.} Qg8 28. Rxd7 Ne5 29. Rc7 d5 30. Nxf6 Nc4 31. Bxc4 dxc4 32. Nxg8 Kxg8 33. c3 g5 34. g4 Kh8 35. Rc8#) 21. Ne2 Qe4 (21... f6 22. Rd4 Qb7 23. Qh4+ {mate next move.}) 22. Bd5 Qf5 23. Qh4+ Qh5 24. Qxh5+ gxh5 25. Bxf7 Ne5 26. Bb3 Rxf1+ 27. Rxf1 Nc4 28. Bg5 {This position is very complicated, but in Shootouts white scored +4 -0 =1 in endings that were long and quite tricky.}) 20. Rd3 Rb8 { Stein still wisely avoids ...Bxb2} (20... Be5 21. Bf4 gxf5 22. Qd2 Bxf4 23. Rxf4 $19) 21. Qe1 Bxf5 22. Rf4 Qxf4 {The resulting position is difficult for black to play, but it's evaluated at 0.00 by Stockfish while Komodo 14 thinks black is better by about a Pawn.} (22... Qf6 {This is probably his best move.} 23. Rd5 Rb4 24. Rf1 Qe6 (24... Qxb2 25. Nxf5 gxf5 26. Rdxf5 Re4 27. Rxf7 Rxf7 28. Rxf7 Rxe3 29. Qf1 h5 30. Rf8+ Bxf8 31. Qxf8+ Kh7 32. Qf5+ {draws.}) 25. Nxf5 Rxb3 26. Rb5 (26. cxb3 Qxd5 {black is winning.}) 26... Rxe3 27. Nxe3 Bd4 { Black is slightly better, but in Shootouts all the games were drawn.}) 23. Bxf4 Bxd3 {The result of black's little demonstration is that he has two Rs plus a P for his Q. The position is evaluated at 0.00, but from the human perspective, as Byrne wrote, despite superficial appearances, black's K is still not safe and his Rs are a long way from developing any activity.} 24. Qd2 Ba6 25. Bh6 Bxh6 26. Qxh6 f6 {White was threatening Ne4-g5} 27. h4 Nd4 {This turns out to be a serious error. He could have stayed in the game with 27...Ne5} (27... Ne5 28. h5 g5 29. Nf5 Rg8 30. Bxg8 Rxg8 31. Nxe7 Ng4 32. Ng6+ Rxg6 33. Qf8+ Rg8 { and a draw seems to be a reasonable outcome.}) 28. Bd5 e6 29. Qe3 Nxc2 { The alternatives were no better.} (29... exd5 30. Qxd4 Rb4 31. Qxd5 Bb7 32. Qxd6 Kg7 33. h5 Rxb2 34. h6+ Kg8 35. Qe6+ Rf7 36. Ne4 Bxe4 37. Qxe4 {and white's Q should prevail.}) 30. Qxe6 {White's K-side demonstration has resulted in the breaking up of black's Ps so that black's position is loose on both sodes of the board. Stockfish gives white a clear winning evaluation in this position.} Nb4 31. Bf3 d5 32. h5 Kg7 33. Qe7+ Rf7 34. h6+ Kg8 35. Qc5 f5 { Stein hopes to advance his d-Pawn and doesn't want to yield e4 to white's N.} 36. Qxa5 {Now the Ps are even but white still has an enormous advantage In mobility.} Bd3 37. Qc5 {White is not interested in taking the d-Pawn because it would permit an exchange which would ease black's problems.} (37. Bxd5 Nxd5 38. Qxd5 Be4 39. Nxe4 fxe4 40. Qxe4 Rxb2 41. Qe8+ Rf8 42. Qe7 Rf7 {White has a tedious win.}) 37... Rd7 38. Ne2 Be4 39. Nd4 Kf7 40. Be2 {Threatening 41.Bb5} Nd3 41. Qc6 Rbb7 42. Qe6+ Kf8 {Realizing that white wins a piece, Stein resigned.} (42... Kf8 43. Bxd3 Bxd3 44. Qf6+ Ke8 45. Ne6 {Threatening 46.Qf8 mate} Re7 46. Nc5 Re1+ 47. Kh2 Rf7 48. Qh8+ Ke7 49. Nxd3) 1-0

A Long Tactical Chain of Moves by Alekhine

     Avid readers of this blog (that's just a bit of humor) will, no doubt, remember a post I did a couple of months ago that featured one of Richard Reti's games. As I mentioned in that post, I never relished his games. My book Reti's Best Games by Harry Golombek has been largely unread. 

     Reti was among the best players in the world during his prime which was during the 1910s and 1920s. He started out as a classical, but tactical player, who favored openings like the King's Gambit. However, after the First World War his style changed and he became a proponent of Hypermodernism. 

     The following game does not appear in Golombek's book probably because it was "only" a draw. It does, however, appear in Alekhine's collection of his best games...with his usual hype of course. 

     Although the game was a draw, what a draw it was! It features some excellent positional play and Reti salvaging an inferior ending, but more than that, it features a ten move long tactical sequence by Alekhine that is as instructive as it is astonishing. The game was played in Vienna, 1922, which was one of the first great events after World War One. Alekhine's fourth place tie was something of a surprise, but it was only a minor setback in his career.

[Event "Vienna"] [Site "?"] [Date "1922.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexander Alekhine"] [Black "Richard Reti"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C77"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "118"] [EventDate "1922.??.??"] {Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 { Alekhine commented that if it was black's intention to play ...Bc5 he should have done so before playing 5...b5 because the text move needlessly exposes black to "grave perils." In my database 6...Bc5 gives black much better results than Alekhine's recommendation of 6...Be7, but I suspect that may be because in many of those games white did not follow up correctly.} 7. Nxe5 { Alekhine says this gives white an extremely dangerous attack in every variation. Again, my database shows that after this move does quite well which is the reason for my conclusion in the previous note.} Nxe5 8. d4 Bd6 {Uusual, but not bad. Black usually plays 8...Bxd4} (8... Bxd4 9. Qxd4 d6 10. f4 c5 11. Qd2 Ng6 {equals. Rzayev,B (2411)-Durarbayli,V (2600)/Baku 2016}) 9. dxe5 Bxe5 10. f4 {Alekhine awarded himself aan exclamation mark for this. Stockfish thinks it's an overly aggressive move that favors black. The mundane 10.Nd5 was satisfactory.} (10. Bd2 Bb7 11. Qe2 O-O 12. O-O Bxc3 13. Bxc3 Nxe4 14. Qf3 Nxc3 15. Qxb7 {Black is better after 15...Ne2+ Nolot,C-Bertrand,M/Aix les Bains 2006}) 10... Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 {White's P-structure is ruined, but in return he has good attacking possibilities. However, black has not made any mistakes and with careful play, he should be able to withstand the onslaught.} O-O (11... Nxe4 {runs into} 12. Bxf7+ (12. Bd5 {This faux pas was given by Alekhine in his book, but it loses quite handily!} Nxc3 13. Qf3 Nxd5 14. Qxd5 Qh4+ 15. g3 Qf6 16. Qxa8 O-O 17. Qe4 Qxa1 {and white's down a bunch of Ps.}) 12... Kxf7 13. Qd5+ Kf6 {Other moves lose.} 14. Qxa8 Qe7 15. Be3 Ng3 16. Kd2 Ne4+ 17. Kd3 c6 {White is slightly better after he extricates his Q.}) 12. e5 { Here's where things get interesting! Black's N on f3 is attacked and it is apparently forced to retreat to e8 after which black's position is badly cramped. Alekhine gave Reti credit for finding the only move that gave him defensive chances and Reti was also praised for the exemplary manner in which he conducted the defense.} c5 {This excellent move takes advantage of the limited mobility of the B on b3. Should white take the N, because he is not castled black can equalize fairly easily.} 13. Ba3 {One spectator claimed that when Alekhine played this move he banged the B onto a3 so hard that it was heard throughout the playing hall. The move pins the P and leads to some pretty complicated play. At the end of the tactical sequence white ends up winning a P, but that's all!} (13. exf6 Re8+ 14. Kf2 c4 15. Re1 {Best} Qb6+ 16. Qd4 Qxd4+ 17. cxd4 Rxe1 18. Kxe1 gxf6 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. d5 Bb7 21. Bb2 Re8+ 22. Kf2 Bxd5 23. Rd1 Bc6 24. Bxf6 {The position is completely equal.}) 13... Qa5 { This move attacks the B on a3 and indirectly defends the c-Pawn. Unfortunately, it also yields the advantage to white. In fact, Alekhine's combination is based upon the temporary removal of black's Q from the center.} (13... Bb7 { This is the correct move that keeps the chances balanced.} 14. Bxc5 Ne4 15. Bxf8 Qh4+ 16. g3 Nxg3 {White has two ways of equalizing.} 17. hxg3 (17. Be7 Qxf4 18. hxg3 {Also equalizing is 18.Qd4} Qxg3+ 19. Kd2 Qf4+ 20. Ke1 {black must take the draw by repetition.}) 17... Qxg3+ 18. Kd2 Qxf4+ 19. Ke1 Qxe5+ 20. Qe2 Qxc3+ 21. Kf2 Kxf8 {In this crazy unbalanced position Shootouts tresulted black managing to draw all five games.}) 14. O-O {White aoms to take advantage of the exposed position of black's R on a8 and the fact that after an eventual exf6 black's K will be exposed.} (14. Bxc5 Qxc3+ {wins the B.}) 14... Qxa3 15. exf6 c4 {Reti is unconcerned about the reply 16.Qd5 and rightfully so. It looks like black will be, after his move, a piece ahead.} 16. Qd5 {Attacking two weak points in black's position...the R and the K-side with Qg5 threatening mate. It may look grim, but Reti has a resource.} Qa5 {And this is it.} (16... gxf6 17. Qxa8 cxb3 18. cxb3 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 d5 {and white is winning.} ) (16... Rb8 17. Qg5 {wins outright.}) 17. fxg7 {The importance of this exchange will be clear in three more moves.} Qb6+ 18. Kh1 Kxg7 {He has to take the P at once.} (18... Re8 19. Bxc4 bxc4 20. Qxa8 Qb7 21. Qxb7 Bxb7 22. Rfe1 { White is the exchange up with a winning position.}) 19. Bxc4 {Amazing! the doomed B gains fresh life.} Bb7 {The only move that doesn't lose.} (19... bxc4 20. Qxa8 Bb7 21. Rab1 {White is the exchange up no matter what.}) 20. Qe5+ { Look back to move 17. If the P was still on f6 this saving check would not be playable.} Qf6 21. Bd3 {The fascinating chain of complications of the previous few moves have come to an end. White is a P ahead, but that's not enough to win.} Rfe8 {Reti surrenders another P in order to occupy the e-file with his Rs...a good decision.} 22. Qh5 h6 23. Qg4+ Kh8 24. Qxd7 Re7 25. Qd4 Qxd4 26. cxd4 Rd8 27. f5 {Alekhine is still thinking of attacking. The idea is to play f6 when he has hopes of attacking the K. Instead of capturing the d-Pawn Reti prefers to play it safe and guard against that possibility.} (27. c3 {There is no good way for white to defend the d-Pawn.} Re3 28. Rad1 (28. Rfd1 Rg8 29. d5 Bxd5 30. Bf1) 28... Rc8) 27... f6 28. Rae1 {Alekhine wants to give back a P to rid himself of black's strong B. Besides, he can't possibly defend all of his Ps anyway.} Rg7 (28... Rxe1 {loses} 29. Rxe1 Rg8 (29... Rxd4 {loses outright.} 30. Re8+) 30. Re2 Bd5 31. a3 {White has a won ending.}) 29. Be4 Rxd4 30. Bxb7 Rxb7 31. Re6 {Temporarily winning another P.} Kg7 32. Rxa6 Rc4 33. Rf3 { There was no way to defend the c-Pawn.} Rxc2 {The remainder of the game lends credence to the saying that all double R endgames are drawn.} 34. h3 Kf7 35. Rg3 Rf2 36. Rg6 Rxf5 37. Rxh6 Kg7 38. Rh4 b4 39. Rg4+ Kf7 40. Rg3 Rfb5 41. Rb3 Kg6 42. Kh2 Rc5 43. Ra4 Rcb5 44. h4 R5b6 45. Kh3 Rb8 46. g3 f5 47. Ra5 Rc8 48. Rf3 Rf6 49. Kg2 Rc3 50. Ra8 (50. Rxc3 bxc3 51. Rc5 Ra6 {draws}) 50... Rxf3 51. Kxf3 Rc6 52. Rb8 {The game I downloaded from 365Chess gives white's move as 52. Rg8+ with the game being drawn on move 61. I am using the sequence given in Alekhine's book as it is generally considered correct. But is it? Alekhine was known to doctor games! In any case, the outcome of a draw was the correct one.} (52. Rg8+ Kf6 53. Rf8+ Kg6 54. Rb8 Rc4 55. Rb6+ Kg7 56. h5 Rd4 57. Rc6 Re4 58. Rg6+ Kf7 59. g4 Rxg4 $11 60. Rxg4 fxg4+ 61. Kxg4 Kg7) 52... Rc4 53. Rb6+ Kg7 54. h5 Rd4 55. Rc6 Re4 56. Rg6+ Kf7 57. g4 Rxg4 58. Rxg4 fxg4+ 59. Kxg4 Kg7 { Draw agreed. Black's K will arrive just in time to stop the a-Pawn.} (59... Kg7 60. Kg5 Kh7 61. h6 Kg8 62. Kg6 Kh8 63. Kf5 (63. h7 b3 64. axb3 {Stalemate}) 63... Kh7 64. Ke4 Kxh6 65. Kd4 Kg6 66. Kc4 Kf7 67. Kxb4 Ke6 68. Kb5 Kd7 69. Kb6 Kc8 70. a4 Kb8 {draw}) 1/2-1/2

Robert S. Brieger

     Texas Expert (Elo 2000-2199) Robert S. Brieger (1925-2012) was primarily a problem composer who authored several books on problems, but he was also played both over the board and correspondence chess and he won the Houston city champion many times.

     As a composer some of his favorite themes were minor promotions, reciprocal Zugzwang and other problem specialties. As a player he reveled in tactical chess.

     Brieger, who learned to play chess at the age of 17, passed away at the age of 86 on April 26, 2012, in Houston. He was born on October 18, 1925 and in 1926, he moved with his parents to a house located in the NW of Houston where he resided his entire life except for brief jobs away from Houston. Besides teaching math in Houston and other Texas districts, he worked two years for Convair Aeronautics in San Diego, California. He graduated with B.S. in Mathematics from University of Houston in 1946 and obtained a teaching certificate in 1951.

     A lover of classical music, he played clarinet in high school and university orchestras and later enjoyed attending concerts and opera. Also later in life he enjoyed all types of ballroom dancing. He loved classical movies and collected his favorites, especially winners of awards in Cannes and Venice, as well as Hollywood.

     The following game was played in the last round of the 1962 U.S. Open which was held in San Antonio, Texas. Breiger finished with a score of +5 -2 =5 (7.5-4.5) and tied for places 20-30. His opponent, George Kane, finished with 6.5 points and tied for places 43-64. The event was won by Antonio Medina of Spain ahead of Pal Benko and William Lombardy.

[Event "US Open, San Antonio"] [Site "San Antonio, TX USA"] [Date "1962.08.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert S. Brieger"] [Black "George Kane"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B22"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1962.??.??"] {Sicilian Defense, Alapin Variation} 1. e4 c5 2. c3 {For many years the Alapin Variation was not held in high regard, since 2...d5 was thought to allow black easy equality. Today it's considered to be one of the most solid and respectable Anti-Sicilians around.} d5 {This is the main alternative to 2...Nf6 } 3. exd5 Qxd5 {This line is known as the Barmen Defense. The main alternative is 3...Nf6} 4. d4 {For the next couple of moves black has tried just about every reasonably playable move you can think of.} Nc6 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. cxd4 Bg4 ( 6... e5 {is most common.} 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Bd2 Bxc3 9. Bxc3 e4 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Ne7 12. Be2 {Black can play either 12...Bd7 or 12...O-O witjh a fully equal position. Jonkman,H (2470)-Adly,A (2473)/Wijk aan Zee 2006}) 7. Nc3 Bxf3 8. Nxd5 (8. gxf3 {is not played nearly as often. The following example shows why this is so even though Stockfish thinks it's best.} Qxd4 9. Qxd4 Nxd4 10. Nb5 Nc2+ 11. Kd1 Nxa1 12. Nc7+ Kd7 13. Nxa8 {White is better!} e6 14. Bb5+ Kc8 15. Bf4 g5 16. Bxg5 Bg7 17. Kc1 Kb8 18. Kb1 Kxa8 19. Kxa1 Nf6 20. Rd1 Nd5 21. Bc4 Rd8 22. Bxd8 {Black resigned. Sotnikov,A (2362)-Meshkov,A (2390)/Tula 2007} ) 8... Bxd1 9. Nc7+ Kd7 10. Nxa8 Bh5 {White's N is doomed, so eliminating it from the material count, black has two Ns vs a R...a very unclear situation.} 11. d5 Nb4 {Threatening ...Nc2+ but the N is on the wrong square.} (11... Nd4 12. Bf4 e5 {Excellent!} (12... Nc2+ {is suicidal.} 13. Kd2 Nxa1 14. Bb5+ Kd8 15. Bc7+ Kc8 16. Rc1) 13. dxe6+ fxe6 14. f3 Bd6 {Safest.} (14... Nc2+ 15. Kd2 Nxa1 16. Bb5+ Ke7 17. Rxa1 {White's advantage, if any, is minimal as black should be able to untangle himself.}) 15. Bxd6 Kxd6 16. Rc1 {with about equal chances.}) 12. Be3 {This allows black to equalize.} (12. Bf4 Nxd5 (12... Nc2+ { This is still not playable...compare to the last note.} 13. Kd2 Nxa1 14. Bb5+ Kd8 15. Bc7+ Kc8 16. Rc1) 13. Bb5+ Kd8 14. Bb8 a6) (12. Bb5+ {was also good. After} Kd8 13. O-O Nc2 14. Bd2 Nxa1 15. Rc1 e5 16. Ba5+ b6 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. Bxb6+ Ke7 19. Bc5+ {White wins.}) 12... Nc2+ 13. Kd2 {Here is the critical position. Naturally, black black chooses to capture the big R on a1, but he should have captured the agile B on e3. In that case the chances would have been equal.} Nxa1 {A natural, but losing move.} (13... Nxe3 14. Bb5+ Kd8 15. Kxe3 Nf6 16. Kd4 Kc8 17. Rac1+ Kb8 18. Nc7 g5 {So as to bring his N and R into play. 18...g6 would leave the B on h5 trapped.} 19. h4 gxh4 20. Rxh4 Bg7 { and the chances are equal.}) 14. Bb5+ Kd6 15. Rc1 {Not bad, but both 15.Bxa7 and 15.Rxa1 were better.} Bg6 (15... Nf6 16. Bxa7 Nxd5 17. Bb8+ Ke6 18. Nc7+ Nxc7 19. Bxc7 Bg6 20. Rxa1 {In this line, too, white is better.}) 16. Bc5+ Kxd5 {The K has no safe haven.} 17. Nc7+ Ke5 18. Re1+ Kf4 (18... Be4 {is no better.} 19. Bd3 Nf6 20. Bxe4 Nxe4+ 21. Kd3 {and wins.}) 19. Nd5+ (19. Rxa1 {Unlike earlier when this was quite playable, at this point white doesn't have time to stop and play this.} Nf6 20. Bxa7 e5 21. Be3+ Kg4 22. Rc1 Bd6 23. Be2+ Kf5 { White is still winning, but black can put up a manly defense.}) 19... Kg5 20. Re5+ (20. Rxa1 {would now be a blunder throwing away all of his advantage!} Nf6 21. Be3+ Kf5 {Amazing! There is no way to get to black's K.} 22. Bd3+ Ke5 23. Nxf6 Kxf6 24. Rc1 e6 25. Rc7 Bb4+ 26. Ke2 Bxd3+ 27. Kxd3 b5 28. Rxa7 Rd8+ 29. Ke4 Bd2 {For all practical purposes black has equalized.}) 20... f5 (20... Bf5 {is met by} 21. h4+ Kg6 22. h5+ {winning the B.}) 21. Be3+ Kh5 {21...Kh4 avoids the mate in 4...not that it matters.} 22. Be2+ Kh4 23. f4 {Kane resigned. What a game!} (23. f4 Nb3+ 24. Ke1 a6 25. Bf2#) 1-0

Here a brilliancy! There a brilliancy! Everywhere a brilliancy!

     When Max Euwe's book Strategy and Tactics was published back in 1937 he used as examples seven games that were played in Moscow, 1935. They were: Lasker-Lisitsin, Botvinnik-Spielmann, Capablanca-Kan, Spielmann-Pirc, Lasker-Pirc, Goglidze-Flohr and Lasker-Lisitsin. Over the years I think I have posted all of those games, but this tournament was jammed packed with even more thrilling games.

     After a month of incessant struggle in what at the time was considered the most interesting tournament of the century, Mikhail Botvinnik, the idol of Russia, and Czech star Salo Flohr garnered the top honors by sharing first. 

     The sensation of the tournament, however, was Old Man Lasker's fine showing. Like Flohr, he did not lose a game and finished in third place. His defeat of Capablanca was the high point of the tournament. 

 

     What was sensational was that Lasker, at the age of 66, was by far the oldest player and a long tournament like this was a test of physical stamina as well as mental alertness and the grand old man gave a truly remarkable exhibition. His performance was considered a biological miracle considering, in the United States at least, in 1935 the life expectancy for men was only about 60 and about 64 for women. 

     Here's a riddle for you. In the United States, Social Security was introduced in 1935 and the retirement age was set at 65 which was higher than the life expectancy! What's with that? 

     It looks like Social Security was designed in such a way that people would work for many years paying into it, but would not live long enough to collect benefits. But, it was argued that because infant mortality was high and that pulled down the average life expectancy, a better measure was life expectancy after attainment of adulthood. It was argued that the majority of Americans who made it to adulthood could expect to live to 65 and if they did, they could look forward to collecting benefits for several years. 

     Capablanca's fourth place finish was considered a good performance although his fans had expected him to finish higher. His lack of serious competition told against him at Moscow. After getting off to a poor start by losing to Rjumin in the first round, he buckled down and aside from his loss to Lasker played good chess.

    In spring 1933 Adolf Hitler had started a campaign of discrimination and intimidation against Jews, depriving them of their property and citizenship. Lasker and his wife Martha, who were both Jewish, were forced to leave Germany in the same year. 

     After a short stay in England, in 1935 they were invited to live in the USSR by Nikolai Krylenko, the Commissar of Justice who had been responsible for Show trials and, in his other capacity as Sports Minister, was an enthusiastic supporter of chess. On March 24, 1935, Lasker announced in Moscow that he was renouncing his German citizenship and would make his permanent home in Russia, where he would organize and direct a chess academy. He stated, "There is a great depression in the science of chess abroad," and the philosophy and psychology of chess would be studied at his academy. 

     He was given a post at Moscow's Institute for Mathematics and a post of trainer of the USSR national team. Lasker and his wife didn't stay in Russia long. In August 1937, they decided to leave the Soviet Union and moved, by way of Holland, to first Chicago,then New York in October 1937. They were visiting Mrs. Lasker's daughter, but they may also have been motivated by political upheaval in the Soviet Union. 

     In the US Lasker tried to support himself by giving chess and bridge lectures and exhibitions, as he was now too old for serious competition. In 1940 he published his last book, The Community of the Future, in which he proposed solutions for serious political problems, including anti-Semitism and unemployment.

     Lasker died of a kidney infection in New York on January 11, 1941, at the age of 72, as a charity patient at the Mount Sinai Hospital. A funeral service for him was held at the Riverside Memorial Chapel and he was buried at historic Beth Olom Cemetery, Queens, New York. His wife Martha and his sister, Mrs. Lotta Hirschberg, survived him. A few years later, Lasker’s sister, Lotta Lasker Hirschberg, died in a Nazi gas chamber. Martha died in Chicago on October 18, 1942. 

     The following game was yet another instructive one from this tournament. It was once superficially annotated by Fred Reinfeld and, as GM Alex Yermolinsky once so astutely observed, looking at old games with today's engines shows that they often were not the one sided thumping the notes would have us believe. This game was hard fought and both sides missed promising continuations.

[Event "Moscow"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1935.02.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Andre Lilienthal"] [Black "Ilia Kan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E94"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "1935.02.15"] {King's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. e4 e5 5. Nf3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. d5 {White has several choices here: 8.Be3, 8.Re1, 8.Qc2 and the text which gives the rest of the game its character: White will attack on the Q-side, black on the K-side. Lilienthal carries out his plan with great skill while Kan is guilty of some questionable play later on.} Nc5 9. Qc2 a5 10. Be3 {Just one of many decent moves available to white. At the time theory on the K-Indian was practically non-existent and it was suggested that a good plan was Nd2-b3 as was played in Flohr-Bogolubow, Bad Sliac, 1932 and Dake-Alexander, Folkeston, 1933.} (10. Nd2 Bg4 11. Nb3 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 Ncd7 13. Be3 h6 14. Nc1 Nh7 15. Nd3 f5 16. exf5 gxf5 17. f4 e4 18. Nf2 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Nhf6 20. g4 Kh7 21. g5 Ng8 22. Kh1 Qe8 23. Rg1 Qg6 24. gxh6 Qxh6 25. Rg3 Ngf6 26. Rh3 {1-0 Flohr,S-Bogoljubow,E/Sliac 1932}) 10... b6 (10... Ng4 {This is a more promising plan; if white move the B black gets a good game.} 11. Bxc5 (11. Bg5 f6 12. Bh4 g5 13. Bg3 f5) 11... dxc5 12. h3 Nh6 {The chances are equal, but black does enjoy the more acrive position.}) 11. Nd2 Ne8 12. a3 f5 13. f3 f4 (13... a4 14. Bxc5 bxc5 15. Nxa4 Bh6 16. Nc3 Qh4 {Black has a promisng attack for his P., but in the game Heissler,J (2435)-Werner,D (2420)/Germany 1997/GER-chT he misplayed the position and lost.}) 14. Bf2 Na6 {Temporarily preventing b4 by white.} (14... a4 {was only slightly better. After} 15. Bxc5 dxc5 16. Nxa4 Bd7 17. Nc3 Nd6 18. b4 Nb7 19. Nb3 {white has the initiative.}) 15. Rab1 Qg5 {This is not entirely satisfactory, but black's position is alreday compromised.} (15... g5 16. b4 h5 17. bxa5 Nc5 18. axb6 cxb6 19. Qb2 Ra6 20. h3 Nf6 {White is better.}) (15... h5 16. b4 (16. h4 Bf6) 16... axb4 17. axb4 h4 18. h3 Qg5 19. Kh2 Nf6 {Here, too, white is better. In fact, white won all five Shootouts.}) 16. Rfc1 h5 17. Kh1 Qh6 $2 {The Q turns out to be badly misplaced here, so the best chance was for black to put his tail between his legs and retreat 17...Qd8.} 18. b4 axb4 19. axb4 g5 20. Na4 {White intends c4-5. Now both sides are ready for the respective P advances which are the goals of the play up to this point. Black intends ...g4} Bd7 (20... g4 { at once is met by} 21. Bxb6 cxb6 22. Nxb6 Rb8 23. c5 Nxb4 (23... Nac7 24. Nxc8 Rxc8 25. c6 {with an easy win. All black's K-side pieces are bystanders.}) 24. Rxb4 dxc5 25. Qxc5 Nd6 26. Rcb1 {White has a winning position.}) 21. c5 { Equally good was 21.Nxb6} Nxc5 {This little interlude in no way alters the course of events. White's pieces are all admirably placed and his attack will be the first to succeed as black's forces still require considerable rearrangement.} 22. Nxc5 bxc5 23. bxc5 g4 24. cxd6 cxd6 25. Nc4 {In spite of his less than stellar play, black's position is only moderately inferior, say not quite the equivalent of a P. However, instead of 25...Rc8, he now makes an instructive mistake.} gxf3 {This is a violation of one of Tarrasch's strategic principles that says when a player has it in his power to open a file by a Pawn exchange, he must not do so until he has made certain that, once he has opened the file, his pieces will have undisputed commanad of it. It will be noticed in the course of this game that white is able to occupy the g-file with both Rs and the Q oniy because of this exchange of Ps.} 26. gxf3 Bh3 27. Bf1 Bxf1 28. Rxf1 h4 29. Rg1 Qh5 30. Nd2 Kh8 31. Rg4 Bf6 32. Rbg1 {The faulty exchange on the 25th move has allowed white to operate simultaneously on both wings.} Rd8 33. Qc6 Qh7 34. Nc4 Qe7 {Black seems to have defended all his weaknesses, but now comes a beautiful surprise move.} 35. Bxh4 {The knockout blow.} Rf7 (35... Bxh4 36. Nxe5 {There is no answer to this. The fork of the K, Q and R at g6 is just one of the threats.}) 36. Rg8+ Kh7 37. Bxf6 Rxf6 38. Qa4 {This gives black excellent defensive opportunities.} (38. Qb6 {was a much harder punch.} Rd7 39. Qb8 Rf8 40. R8g5 Nf6 41. Qb2 Rg8 42. Qg2 Rxg5 43. Qxg5 Kh8 44. Qh6+ Nh7 45. Rg6 {the d-Pawn falls and with it black's whole position.} ) 38... Rh6 {A tougher defense was offered by 38...Qf7. In fact, analyzing with both Stockfish and Komodo was quite tedious! Both engines did a lot of piece shifting without reaching a clear conclusion even though white has a considerable plus. Consequently, I ran a Shootout here using Stockfish and white scored +4 -0 =1 in some lengthy and tricky positions, so we'll leave it at that.} 39. Qa2 Rc8 {This loses instantly.} (39... Rd7 {hangs on for a bit.} 40. Na5 Qf7 41. Qg2 Ng7 42. Ra8 Qh5 43. Nc6 Qh3 44. Qxh3 Rxh3 45. Kg2 Rh6 46. Rb1 {and white wins.}) 40. Qg2 {Black resigned.} (40. Qg2 Qf6 41. Nxd6 Rc1 42. Rxc1 Rg6 43. Nxe8 Rxg2 44. Nxf6+ Kh6 45. Rh8+ Kg7 46. Rc7+ Kxf6 47. Kxg2 Kg5 48. h4+ Kg6 49. d6 Kf6 50. Rh6#) 1-0

Brilliancy Prize for Nicolau

     The women's annual event in Belgrade did not favor Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili. In the 1966 tournament she shared first with Alexandra Nicolau of Romania and in 1967 tournament she was surpassed by her fellow Soviet player Tatjana Zatulovska. 

     Gaprindashvili's results were surprising because at the time she was considered absolutely the strongest female player in the world. In this tournament her result was passed off as a merely temporary and a passing relapse from her earlier fine form. Indeed, she didn't lose her crown until 1978 when she was defeated by 17-year-old Maia Chiburdanidze, 

     The top two places were again secured by representatives of the Soviet Union. Tatiana Zatulovskaya (1935-2017), who had been left in the shadow of Gaprindashvili, revived her reputation and scored a major success. However, after the tournament Zatulovska announced that, although she finished first, she was not satisfied with her play and her result was a matter of Gaprindashvili's bad luck. Zatulovskaya emigrated to Israel in 2000. 

     The greatest surprise of the tournament were the results of the young master candidate, 25-year-old Tatjana Belamarich of Zagreb and the veteran Vera Nedeljkovich (born 1929), several times Yugoslavian Champion. So far as I have been able to determine Nedeljkovich is still with us and she would be 92 or 93 years old. Tatjana Belamarich was an unknown in this event and apparently she still is. 

     The following game was awarded the Brilliancy Prize. In it Romanian Alexandra Nicolau (1940-2013), who studied the Chinese language, showed that she could sometimes play like a GM. 

     Born in Bucharest, she was awarded the WIM title in 1960 and the WGM title in 1976. She was Romanian Women's Champion in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973. She was also Dutch Women's Champion, in 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. 

     She was the daughter of Ștefan Nicolau, a Romanian virology expert. She was introduced to chess at the age of six by one of her brothers, who taught her how to play. 

     Following her participation in a Dutch tournament in 1974, she stayed in the country to further her studies and began playing for the Netherlands. She was awarded permanent residency and later Dutch nationality when she married Kees van der Mije. 

     Previously Nicolau had been involved in some political maneuvering. Earlier she had lived in Holland for several months after a tournament even though she lacked permission from the Romanian government to do so. In 1969 she wanted to study at Leiden University, but she was not allowed to return to the Netherlands and was banned from playing international tournaments. Her ban was removed after pressure from FIDE president Max Euwe. 

     After that she was forced to promise the Romanian secret police that she would return after playing in any international tournaments until 1974. The 1974 Dutch tournament was the first one she played in after her promise to return had expired and she immediately chose to remain in the Netherlands. She won the Dutch Women's Championship in 1974 and again from 1976 to 1979. 

     From the end of the 1950s to the 1960s WIM Edith Bilek (born 1938) was one of the leading Hungarian women's players. Also a correspondence chess player, she played for Hungary in the 2nd Women's Correspondence Olympiad (1980-1982). She was married to the Hungarian GM Istvan Bilek. Her second marriage was to Dr. Krizsan Gyula.

[Event "Women's Tourament, Belgrade"] [Site "Belgrade YUG"] [Date "1967.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Alexandra Nicolau"] [Black "Edith Bilek"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1967.??.??"] [Source "http://uscf1-ny"] {Modern Defense} 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bc4 c5 {This move is riskier than the more usual 3...d6. Statistically the most solid move appears to be 3...c6} 4. dxc5 Qa5+ 5. c3 Qxc5 6. Qb3 {Here white begins gaining time owing by attacking black's vulnerable point b7 and f7, plus the Q is exposed on c5.} e6 7. Be3 Qc7 8. Na3 {This wins a tempo by virtue of the threat 9.Nb5} a6 {While this prevents 9.Nb5 it permits 9.Bb6 which ties up black's entire Q-side.} 9. Bb6 ( 9. Qb6 {is the wrong way to occupy b6 because black profits from the exchange of Qs.} Qxb6 10. Bxb6 Nc6 11. O-O-O Nf6 12. f3 d5 {and black has equalized. Machulsky,A (2495)-Mohr,S (2425)/New York 1990}) 9... Qf4 10. Ne2 {Technically white should defend the e-Pawn with the prosaic 10.Bd3. Instead, she plays a move that black likely did not expect. No doubt white believed this is one of those position where Ps don't count. Needless to say materialistic engines aren't impressed with 10.Ne2 and assign the advantage to black.} (10. Be2 $142 Nc6 11. Bf3 $16) 10... Qxe4 11. O-O {Black can't win a piece by playing 11...d5 } Nc6 {A natural developing move which in this case leads to disaster.} (11... d5 12. Rad1 {In pre-engines days this line was given by one analyst. It's pretty, but faulty as the position actually favors black after 12...Nc6} dxc4 13. Rd8+ Ke7 14. Qb4+ Kf6 15. Ng3 Qc6 16. Bd4+ e5 17. Rd6+ {wins.}) (11... d5 { White's correct continuation is now} 12. Rfe1 Nf6 13. Nd4 Qg4 14. Bxd5 Nxd5 15. Qxd5 O-O 16. Qd6 {and white is slightly better because of his more active pieces.}) (11... Nf6 {Now, this is a move that keeps black's slight advantage! The original analyst of this game (GM Trifunovic) made no comment on black's 11th move, but without an engine threading through the complications is a harrowing task!} 12. Rad1 d5 {Note that the B doesn't have to move as long as white has Rd8+ available.} 13. f4 Bd7 14. Nd4 dxc4 15. Nxc4 O-O 16. Rde1 Qd5 17. Re5 Ba4 (17... Bb5 {Black could surrender the Q with this, but white comes out slightly better after} 18. Rxd5 exd5 19. Ne5 Bxf1 20. Kxf1) 18. Qxa4 Qd7 19. Qb3 Nd5 {and black is slightly better.}) 12. f4 {Was black aware that now her Q does not have any retreat squares?} d5 (12... Nce7 {was a better defense. } 13. Nd4 Bxd4+ 14. Bxd4 f6 15. Rae1 Qc6 {And at least black can play on.}) 13. Ng3 dxc4 {...or did she lay a trap?} 14. Nxc4 (14. Nxe4 cxb3 {Now it's black who is winning!} 15. Nd6+ Kf8 16. Bc5 b6 17. Bxb6 bxa2 18. Bc5 Nge7 19. Rxa2 { And black is a piece up!}) 14... Qd5 15. Rad1 {The Q still has nowhere to go.} Nd4 16. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 17. Rxd4 Qc6 {At last, a safe square. Even though material is equal, black is lost because the only piece she has developed is her Q and look at the activity of white's pieces. Nicolau finishes up the game nicely.} 18. Rfd1 Kf8 (18... Bd7 {does not save the day} 19. Rxd7 Qxd7 20. Rxd7 Kxd7 21. Qxb7+ Ke8 22. Nd6+ Kd8 23. Nge4 {is mate in 3.}) 19. Nb6 (19. Rd8+ {was even more forceful.} Kg7 20. Qb4 Ne7 21. Qxe7 {Black is helpless.}) 19... Rb8 20. Rc4 Qe8 21. Qb4+ Kg7 22. Qd6 Qb5 23. Rb4 {Bilek resigned.} 1-0

World Politics and a Chess Tournament

 

     On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, the British and French company that owned and operated the Suez Canal since its construction in 1869. 

    Nasser’s announcement came about following months of mounting political tensions between Egypt, Britain, and France. Although Nasser offered full economic compensation, the British and French were suspicious of Nasser who was opposed to their political influence and efforts to perpetuate their colonial domination. 

     In the United States President Eisenhower was worried by the prospect of the outbreak of hostilities as well as possible intervention by the Soviet Union. Consequently, on September 9, 1956, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles proposed a consortium of 18 of the world’s leading maritime nations to operate the Canal. This and international mediation efforts failed. 

     Additionally, in discussions with the United States that took place between August and October, the British hinted that they might resort to force. At the same time in some political intrigue, the British and French were holding secret military consultations with Israel who regarded Nasser as a threat to its security. The result of those meetings was a plan to invade Egypt and overthrow Nasser. 

     As a result, Israel attacked on October 29, 1956, advancing to within 10 miles of the Suez Canal. Under the pretext of protecting the Canal from Egypt and Israel, Britain and France landed troops a few days later. 

     This left Eisenhower deeply concerned about the Soviet Union's intervention just like they had done in Hungary. The Hungarian Revolution which began on October 23, 1956 was a countrywide revolution against the Stalinist government and it was ruthlessly suppressed. It was also the reason a number of Hungarian chess players, including Pal Benko, ended up in the United States. 

     Under pressure from the United Nations Britain and France withdrew in December and Israeli forces departed in March 1957. That month, Egypt took over control of the canal and reopened it to commercial shipping. 

     What did that have to do with chess? It meant the annual traditional Hastings Christmas tournament had been called off in view of the unsettled international situation. 

     Eventually it was rescheduled and it was a four-way fight for first between Svetozar Gligoric of Yugoslavia, Bent Larsen of Denmark, Alberic O'Kelly of Belgium and Fridrik Olafsson of Iceland. 

     Today, O'Kelly is mostly remembered for his contributions to the Sicilian Defense, but at the time he had been collecting a string of first prizes in tournaments and on the January 1957 rating list Chessmetrics puts his rating at 2644, placing him at number 31 in the world. That placed him in a group of better known players like Pal Benko, Wolfgang Unzicker, Oscar Panno and Alexander Kotov.

     In this Hastings tournament, as a result of a loss to Gligoric, he failed to capture first. Gligoric had been playing under par recently, but at Hastings he was in top form. 

     Olafsson, despite personal victory over Larsen, his bete noire to whom he had lost a match for the Scandinavian title, was relegated to a tie for third when he lost to Gligoric in the last round. 

 

     There is little doubt that when you look at the the crosstable the question springs to mind, "Who was Derek G. Horseman?" I posted about him last year and gave his game with Szabo from this tournament HERE. 

     The following short, sharp encounter features a nice combination by Peter Clarke against Roman Toran. FM Peter Clarke (March 18, 1933 - December 11, 2014, 81 years old) was born in London, England. He was a ICGM and in 1977 he won the British Correspondence Championship. Over the board he finished 2nd on five occasions in the British Championship. 

     Clarke was also a writer and chess correspondent for the London Sunday Times and is best known for his biographies of Mikhail Tal and Tigran Petrosian. Clarke was also an International Arbiter. 

     In the early 1950s, Roman Toran (October 8, 1931 - October 1, 2005, 73 years old) was among the best Spanish players. In 1951 and 1953, he won the Spanish Championship. He won the Gijon International Tournament seven times: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1954. He also qualified for two Zonal Chess tournaments (1954, 1962). 

     Toran retired from competition in the mid-1970s and devoted himself to journalistic work and chess activism. From 1982 to 1990 he was the FIDE Vice President for Europe, between 1988 and 2000 the president of the Spanish Chess Federation. He published dozens of books on chess, was the founder of several Spanish chess magazines.

[Event "Hastings 1956/57"] [Site "Hastings"] [Date "1956.12.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Peter Clarke"] [Black "Roman Toran"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B93"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1956.12.27"] {Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e5 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. Bc4 Be7 9. a4 O-O 10. Qe2 b6 {At the time this game was played theory on the Najdorf was in its infancy. The text move gives far worse results for black than today's standard reply of 10...Qa5} (10... Qa5 11. Bd2 exf4 12. Nd5 Qd8 13. Bxf4 Nxd5 14. Bxd5 Bf6 15. Bxd6 Bxb2 16. Rb1 Bc3+ { with equal chances. Ljubojevic,L (2605)-Ribli,Z (2585)/Amsterdam 1978}) 11. O-O Bb7 12. fxe5 {Not bad, but 12.Kh1 Qc7 13.Nh4 has proven more effective.} dxe5 13. Bg5 {Now black can keep the position even with either 13...h6 or 13...Qc7} Nh5 {Black was probably expecting to place a N on f4 afetr white exchanged Bs. In that case white would have gained the advantage though.} 14. Rad1 {Putting black in an uncomfortable pin and forcing him into a cramped position to get out of it.} (14. Bxe7 Qxe7 15. Rad1 Nf4 {This is a mistake.} (15... Ndf6 { keeps the game even, but black's Ns are rather poorly positioned.} 16. Qe3 Qc7 17. Bd5 Nxd5 18. Nxd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 {with equal chances.}) 16. Qd2 Nf6 17. Qd6 {with an excellent position.}) 14... Bc5+ {This natural check is in reality a blunder in a bad position.} (14... Qe8 {wasn't any real improvement. After} 15. Nh4 Nf4 (15... g6 16. Nf5 Bxg5 17. Nd6 Qe7 18. Nxf7 {and white is practically winning.}) 16. Bxf4 exf4 17. Nf5 Ne5 18. Bd5 Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Bd8 {Here, too, white has an excellent position.}) 15. Kh1 Qc7 16. Rxd7 {Decisive.} Qxd7 17. Nxe5 Qc7 18. Nxf7 {He could also win with 18.Rxf7, but this is even more forceful.} g6 (18... Rxf7 19. Rxf7 {and the discovered check will prove deadly. }) 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Bxd5 Ra7 21. Nd6+ Kg7 22. Rxf8 {Black resigned.} (22. Rxf8 h6 (22... Bxd6 23. Rg8#) 23. Ne8+ {ends the game.}) 1-0

Flummoxed By The Borg Defense

     On February 27th of last year I posted about how depressing the last few days had been. It started out drizzling rain before changing over to snow and it was dark, overcast, windy, cold and there was a fine, almost invisible, lake effect snow blowing around outside. It was a good day to say in and play a little chess online.

     Here's a video from a couple of days ago of the ice flowing from a nearby River into Lake Erie:

 

      Things have not changed much from last year, so playing online is what I have been doing the last few days. It's been fun playing one appalling opening and one horrid defense. 

     The opening of choice has been the Desprez Opening (1.h4), an opening that does nothing in either the fight for the center or for white’s development, plus it weakens the K-side. 

     With black my favorite defense has been the Borg Defense (1...g5). That’s Grob (1.g4) spelled backwards. It’s also known as the Basman Defense, after British IM Michael Basman. The move severely weakens the K-side, but according to Modern Chess Openings (MCO), black is only somewhat worse. I'm convinced that against average players it's not all that bad because they often seem to get totally bewildered! 

     In the following game I gave up the Q for not nearly enough compensation according to the engines, but when two average players are playing a 10 minute game things aren't so clear cut!

[Event "Chess Hotel"] [Site "?"] [Date "2022.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Guest"] [Black "Tartajubow"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "72"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] {Borg Defense} 1. e4 g5 2. d4 {White almost always plays this. The only other move that seems worth considering is 2.Bc4} (2. Bc4 d6 3. d4 h6 4. Nc3 c6 5. a4 Nf6 6. Nge2 Bg4 {White is better. Braun,G (2330)-Lang,S (2275)/Germany 1996/ GER-chT2}) 2... Bg7 {I always play this instead of defending the P with 2...h6 because if white plays 3.Bxg5 then after ...c5 and ...Qc6 white invariably goes into a long think about how to defend himself against threat of ...Qxb2 and threats on the long diagonal, plus black also threatens to regain the P.} ( 2... h6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Be3 d6 5. Qd2 Nc6 6. O-O-O a6 7. Nge2 b5 {White is better and went on to win the game. Collins,S (2387)-Williams,S (2427) West Bromwich 2004}) 3. Bxg5 c5 4. Be3 Qb6 {As recommended by Komodo 14.} 5. Nf3 (5. Nc3 { can get messy!} Qxb2 6. Nd5 Kd8 7. Rb1 Qxa2 8. Ra1 Qb2 9. Bc4 cxd4 10. Ra2 dxe3 11. Rxb2 exf2+ 12. Kxf2 Bxb2 13. c3 {Petrienko,V (2450)-Svatos,J (2370) Pardubice 1992. This looks unclear perhaps, but white is better and in the game he went on to win.}) 5... Qxb2 6. Nbd2 cxd4 7. Nc4 {Now, after 7...Qb4+ white has no more than a slight advantage, but this was an online game being played anonymously and once you sign out your rating points disappear. That's why I simply cannot understand people with terribly fragile egos who, when the game is lost, refuse to move or resign or just abandon the game. But, enough pontificating! Why not sacrifice the Q?!} dxe3 {Probably because Komodo says black is minus 2.5 Ps and is losing. Of course, Stockfish puts white's advantage even higher...a whopping 4 Ps.} 8. Nxb2 {White is clearly winning...says Fritz' auto-analysis.} Bxb2 9. Rb1 {Of course he wants to save the exchange, but this may not have been best.} (9. Bc4 exf2+ 10. Kxf2 Bxa1 11. Qxa1 Nf6 12. Re1 {and black is up the creek.}) 9... Bc3+ 10. Ke2 exf2 11. Kxf2 Nf6 12. Bd3 Ng4+ 13. Ke2 Nc6 14. h3 Nf6 15. Kf2 {His intention is to castle artificially.} d6 16. Rf1 Rg8 { White should now play 17.Qc1 or 17.g4, Stockfish doesn't care which. Instead, in his haste to get artificially castled, he blunders.} 17. Kg1 Bxh3 {After this white still can claim a slight advantage, but his K is exposed and he will have to play very carefully.} 18. Nh4 (18. Rxb7 {Gets him mated. At least he was alert to that threat!} Rxg2+ 19. Kh1 Nh5 {There is no defense against .. .Ng3 mate.}) (18. Kh2 {Getting out of the pin would have kept a small advantage.} Bc8 {Black really can't afford to allow Rxb2 so undeveloping the B is the best option.} 19. Rb3 Ba5 {Preserving the B rather than playing 19...Be5+ seems the best option.} 20. Qb1 Bb6 21. Rxb6 {Best!} axb6 22. Qxb6 Nd7 { If 22.. .Rxa2 23.e5 gives white a strong initiative.} 23. Qc7 Nc5 24. e5 Nxd3 25. exd6 Ndb4 26. Ne5 Be6 27. d7+ Kf8 28. Qxb7 Rd8 29. Nxc6 Nxc6 30. Qxc6 { wins for white.}) 18... Bd4+ 19. Kh1 Bg4 20. Qd2 Nh5 {With the obvious threat of ... Ng3+, but...} 21. Rxb7 {White played this instantly and I thought he had just overlooked the fork on his K and R. It was a surprise to find out that Stockfish finds absolutely nothing wrong with white's move!} Ng3+ 22. Kh2 Nxf1+ 23. Bxf1 {Bb5 is a serious threat, but black can equalize.} Be5+ 24. Kh1 Nd4 {This was not the best way to avoid the threatened Bb5.} (24... Kf8 25. Bb5 Nd8 26. Rc7 Rb8 27. c4 a6 28. Qh6+ Rg7 {and it's black who is winning because of the mate threat if the B moves.} 29. Qe3 d5 {Attacking the R.} (29... axb5 30. Qa7 {and white's occupation of the 7th rank with his Q and R would win.}) 30. Rc5 axb5 {and black has more than enough compensation for the Q.}) 25. Qb4 (25. c3 {keeps the advantage.} Ne6 26. Nf5 Bxf5 27. exf5 Nc5 28. Rc7 {White is slightly better.}) 25... Rc8 {This hands the advantage back to white.} (25... Kf8 26. Rb8+ Rxb8 27. Qxb8+ Kg7 28. Qxa7 Rc8 29. Bd3 Bf6 30. g3 e6 {A most interesting position that Stockfish evaluates at dead even. In Shootouts all five games were drawn.}) 26. Rb8 {There is no good answer to this move...I am lost.} d5 (26... Nxc2 {loses quickly to} 27. Rxc8+ Bxc8 28. Qb8 Kd8 29. Ba6) ( 26... Kf8 {was worth a try.} 27. Rxc8+ Bxc8 28. Qb8 Kg7 29. Qxa7 Bf6 30. Nf3 Nxc2 {In Shootouts white won all five games, but as you can see it's unlikely the results would have been so cut and dried in the actual game!!} 31. a4 Bg4 32. a5 Rc8 33. a6 h6 34. Qf2 Nb4 35. Qg3 h5 36. e5 dxe5 37. Nh2 Rh8 38. Kg1 e4 39. Nxg4 hxg4 40. Qxg4+ Kf8 41. Qxe4 Nxa6 42. Bxa6 Rh4 43. g4 e6 44. Kg2 Kg7 45. Bd3 Rh8 46. Qf4 Be7 47. Qe5+ Bf6 48. Qc5 Kh6 49. Be4 Bg5 50. Qc7 Kg7 51. Qe5+ Bf6 52. Qc5 Kh6 53. Kf3 Bg5 54. Qc7 Kg7 55. Qe5+ Bf6 56. Qc5 Ba1 57. Qg5+ Kf8 58. Kg3 Rg8 59. Qc5+ Kg7 60. g5 Rb8 61. g6 Rf8 62. Qe7 Bf6 63. Qd7 Be5+ 64. Kg4 Bf6 65. gxf7 Rxf7 66. Qxe6 Re7 67. Qf5 Bc3 68. Bd5 Bf6 69. Qc8 Re5 70. Qg8+ Kh6 71. Qf8+ Bg7 72. Qf4+ Kh7 73. Be4+ Kg8 74. Bg6 Bf6 75. Qxf6 Re4+ 76. Kh5 Rh4+ 77. Qxh4 {It's mate in 3.}) 27. Rxc8+ {Best. 27.Rb7 Nc6 and black hangs on.} Bxc8 28. c3 (28. Qc5 Be6 29. Nf5 Nxf5 30. exf5 {was more precise.}) 28... Rg4 29. cxd4 {This time pressure slip allows black to equalize.} Rxh4+ { Even though black has picked up a free N the chances are equal.} 30. Kg1 Bh2+ ( 30... Rxe4 {is also unclear after} 31. Qb5+ Bd7 32. Qxd5 Bxd4+ 33. Kh2 Rh4+ 34. Kg3 Rg4+) 31. Kf2 Rf4+ {By luck black follows the old saying patzer sees a check, patzer gives a check.} (31... Rxe4 {gains a P, but gives white the advantage after} 32. g3 Rg4 33. Qb5+ Kf8 34. Bh3 Bxg3+ 35. Kf3 Rg5 36. Bxc8) 32. Ke1 Rxe4+ {Now by moving his K out of check to either d2 or f2 white would have kept the outcome unclear. Instead he walks into a fatal pin.} 33. Be2 { Fatal. Not only is the B pinned, but black's Bs spring into life.} Bg4 34. Qb5+ Kf8 35. Qxd5 Rxe2+ 36. Kf1 Bg3 {White resigned.} (36... Bg3 37. Qd8+ Kg7 38. Qa5 Re1+ 39. Qxe1 Bxe1) 0-1

Same Player, Different Luck

     Here it is Friday and we were blessed to have survived another ugly winter storm that moved from the SW to the NE and stretched 2,180 miles from Maine to Texas. In places it was over 750 miles wide. I think it was a variation of a Panhandle Hook. Shades of the February 2nd storm! 

     As temperatures rose to 55 degrees this one brought, fortunately, only 1 inch of rain, not the 1-1/2 to 2 inches predicted, but it came on top of 10-12 inches of melting snow. Later in the day the temperature began dropping into the teens and the rain changed to freezing rain and then snow. We woke up this morning with 2-3 inches of snow on top of a layer of ice.   

     Thankfully, it was not as bad as what happened to the people in Petropolis, Brazil. Just over 10 inches of rain fell within three hours on Tuesday (almost as much as during the previous 30 days combined) and set off mudslides and floods in a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, killing multiple people, washing away homes, cars and everything else in their path. 

     Petropolis was the site of the 1973 Interzonal tournament that was won by Henrique Meking. Second place was a tie between Lajos Portisch, Lev Polugayevsky and Ewfim Geller. Portisch and Polugayevsky qualified for the Zonal when they eliminated Geller in the playoff in Portoroz. 

 

     Chess Life editor Burt Hochberg was there and wrote that while he and his wife were in Rio de Janeiro he was reading a newspaper chess article and noticed the name of a participant he had never heard of...somebody the article referred to as Mequinho when the headlines screamed MEQUINHO BEATS RESHEVSKY! 

     Mequinho was Henrique Mecking, Brazil's boy wonder, the strongest player on the South American continent and likely the best player South America ever produced. Mecking won the tournament, as Hochberg put it, "...al1 by himself. He did it cleanly, simply by playing better than anyone else." 

     It was a different story for old timers like Smyslov, Bronstein, Reshevsky and Keres; sadly, their star was fading. 

     Poor Reshevsky! Against Soviet player Vladimir Savon, Reshevsky had a forced mate when, in his usual time pressure, he played the last move of the time control, 40.Qxg6 mate...or it would have been a mate, but, alas Reshevsky simply forgot that Savon had a B lurking on b1 and so after Savon snapped off the Queen it wasn't mate at all...Reshevsky had simply blundered away his Q and so he resigned.

     However, in his game against Yugoslav (now Serbian) GM Ljubomir Ljubojevic, Reshevsky didn't miss the mate. Ljubojevic (born 1950) won the Yugoslav Championship in 1977 (tied) and 1982. During his career he defeated just about every top player there was.

[Event "Petropolis Interzonal"] [Site "Petropolis Interzonal"] [Date "1973.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "Ljubomir Ljubojevic"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "1973.07.23"] {Modern Defence: Averbakh Variation} 1. d4 g6 {In the Modern Defense, or the Robatsch Defense, white is allowed to occupy the center with Ps on d4 and e4 and then black will try to undermine this ideal center without attempting to occupy it.} 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. Nc3 {The Averbakh System.} Nd7 {It's a King's Indian after 4...Nf6} 5. Nf3 e5 6. Be2 c6 7. O-O Nh6 8. Rb1 (8. d5 c5 9. Bd2 f6 10. b4 Nf7 11. Ne1 cxb4 12. Na4 a5 13. a3 bxa3 14. Nd3 {is equal. Janssen,R (2503)-Martens,M (2377)/Netherlands 2019}) 8... O-O 9. b4 f5 { Energetic, but risky.} (9... a6 10. d5 c5 11. a3 f6 12. Bd3 Nf7 {and black is badly cramped. Korotylev,A (2603)-Lanchava,T (2366)/Wijk aan Zee 2005}) (9... exd4 10. Nxd4 Ne5 11. b5 Qh4 12. bxc6 bxc6 13. Rb3 Bg4 14. f3 Be6 {and white is much better, but in Portisch,L (2640)-Meleghegyi,C (2355)/Hungary 1979 black managed to survive and hold on for a draw.}) 10. Bg5 Qe8 11. d5 Nf7 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Bc1 Bb7 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Nh4 e4 16. Rb3 Qe6 {Obviously defending the f-Pawn, but Rershevsky's next move is a surprise.} 17. Nxf5 Qxf5 {The win of the piece is very temporary.} 18. Bg4 Qg6 19. Bxd7 {So, white has won a P.} Ne5 20. Bh3 Rf3 21. Ne2 Nd3 22. Nf4 {A cute little tactical shot.} Rxf4 23. Rxd3 exd3 24. Bxf4 Bc8 25. Bxc8 Rxc8 {The exchanges have left white with an excellent ending because the P on d3 will eventually fall.} 26. Re1 Rf8 27. Qd2 Qf5 28. g3 d5 {Wrong P push!} (28... c5 29. bxc5 dxc5 {Even here white is considerably better.}) 29. c5 h5 30. h4 {Preventing even the hint of counterplay by ...h4} Bd4 31. Kg2 {Here or on the next few moves Reshevsky could have reached an even more favorable ending with b5 followed by the advance of his d-Pawn. Instead, he spends considerable time shuffling his pieces around gradually improving their position.} Rf7 32. f3 Kh7 {This turns out to be a bad position for the K, but even a better move would not have saved the game} 33. Rd1 Be5 34. Bxe5 Qxe5 35. Qxd3+ Kg8 36. f4 Qb2+ 37. Rd2 Qxb4 {The gme is over after Reshevsky's next move.} 38. Qg6+ Kf8 39. Qh6+ Rg7 40. Re2 Qxc5 41. Qh8+ Kf7 42. Qe8+ Kf6 43. Qe6# 1-0

The Intriguing Henschel Twins

     The last post was about a virtually unknown player from the Civil War era. Today's is about a couple of virtually unknown twin sisters that participated in the 1944 U.S. Women's Championship: Wally and Kathe (Kate) Henschel. 

     The November 5, 1946 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called them "intriguing" and stated that they were in their 40s and arrived in the U.S. from Germany "several years ago." 

     The article also stated that Wally Henschel was the champion woman player in Germany and that the sisters, who had been taught chess by their father, had played chess since childhood. In the article Kate conceded that Wally was the better player.

 

     Not a lot of information is available on the sisters, but it is known that they were born in Hamburg in 1893. Wally participated in two Women's World Championships. In Hamburg 1930, she placed 3rd out of 5 players, scoring +4 -3 =1, defeating Vera Menchik in one of their two their individual games. Then in Prague 1931, she placed last with a score of +2 -6 =0. 

 

 

 

     More information seems to be available on Wally than Kate. Wally Henschel attended a high school for girls in Hamburg and began studying music at t at the age of 16. From 1909 to 1914 she studied piano as her first major and singing as her second major. 

     As part of her exam concerts, she played Beethoven and sang Mozart. According to her diploma, her performance in piano playing was consistently rated "very good." 

     After her studies, Wally most likely continued her musical education and passed further qualifying exams years later. In 1927 she received state recognition as a singing teacher and in 1929 she passed the aptitude test for the stage profession in the opera genre. She appeared in public mainly as a singer and when asked about her professional activity and her income before 1933, she stated that she had given a number of recitals in Hamburg. 

     Wally had a position at the Hamburger Tempel on Oberstrasse. where she sang regularly in church services, at weddings, funerals and on holidays and also conducted the children's choir. She earned her main income giving piano and singing lessons.

     Meanwhile, her sister Kathe worked until 1939 in a secretarial position as a secretary at the company Axel Dahlstrom and Co., There, even though she was Jewish, the company not only did not fire her, but even paid her a higher salary.

     Facing the growing restrictions of Jews in Nazi Germany, the sisters began planning their escape. In August 1938, a cousin sponsored their immigration to the United States and by the end of December they had all the necessary papers together. 

     They left Germany on March 25, 1939 with little or no assets. Six days later their passports were blocked because of visa and transport difficulties and it took them several months to get to New York via the Netherlands, England, the West Indies, Central America and Haiti! 

     After relocating to the United States the sisters still faced immense hardships. Wally found it impossible to establish herself as musician or music teacher and the sisters were reduced to being supported by their cousin for four years. Kate eventually found secretarial work while Wally opened a boarding house. By 1944 they were somewhat established and found time to explore the New York City chess scene. 

     Over time Wally had become almost blind in one eye and severely visually impaired in the other and by the mid-1950s she was badly restricted in her ability to work and lived on a disability pension. 

     In 1986, at the age 93, the sisters moved to Miami, Florida to be close to a nephew. Wally died in 1988 and Kate lived until 1990. 

     I was unable to locate any of Kate's games and only two of Wally's. Here is her win over Vera Menchik in the 1930 Women's World Championship.

[Event "Women's World Champ, Hamburg"] [Site "Hamburg GER"] [Date "1930.07.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Wally Henschel"] [Black "Vera Menchik"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E94"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1930.??.??"] {King's Indian Defense} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. O-O e5 8. Bg5 h6 {This game was played decades before the K-Indian became popular and so the best book line were unknown tot he players. White's correct move is 9.Bh4 although 8.Be3 has also been tried on occasion.} 9. dxe5 {This should hav lost a P with no compensation.} dxe5 {White's last move has resulted in her getting a very slight advantage, but only because black missed the correct continuation.} (9... hxg5 10. exf6 Bxf6 {Black has won a P and is now in a position to pile up on white's e-Pawn.} 11. h3 Re8 12. Qc2 Nc5 13. Rae1 g4 14. hxg4 Bxg4 {and white is under considerable pressure.}) 10. Bh4 c6 { White won't be placing a N on d5.} 11. Qd2 Re8 12. Rfd1 Qb6 13. Bf1 {Much too passive. Either 13.Rab1 or 13.Qc2 were better.} Nh5 14. b3 Nf4 {Better was 14.. .g5} 15. Na4 Qc7 16. Rac1 {Better was 16.c5} Ne6 17. Nc3 Nd4 18. Ne1 Nf8 19. f3 Be6 20. Nc2 Kh7 {After this white seizes the initiative.} (20... g5 21. Bg3 Qe7 22. Ne2 Nxc2 23. Qxc2 g4 {Black looks to have the better of it, but at the same time, white's defensive resources look to be adequate, so the position must be considered equal.}) 21. Nxd4 exd4 22. Ne2 (22. Nd5 {was also good as after} cxd5 23. cxd5 {White has a good game.}) 22... c5 {Black has a protected passed P, but white's position is more active.} 23. Nf4 Be5 24. Bg3 Qd6 25. Bd3 {This B looks very bad and it's hard to believe that in the future it will play a strong role in white's game!} b6 26. Ne2 Bxg3 {Black had a better defense with 26...g6 and 27...Ng3} 27. Nxg3 a5 {This is too slow. It would have been better to tend to the defense of her Q-side with 27...f6} 28. a4 { White dawdles. The direct 28.f4 was better.} (28. f4 Qe7 29. e5 f5 30. exf6 Qxf6 31. f5 Bxf5 32. Nxf5 gxf5 33. Rf1 {White stands very well.}) 28... Bc8 29. Rf1 {White dawdles. Better was 29.f4} Ra7 30. Rce1 {White dawdles. Better was 30..f4} Rae7 {SHe still needed to play ...f6 as a precaution against the advance of white's e-Pawn.} 31. f4 {FInally!} Bb7 {Menchik was unaware of the lurking danger.} (31... f6 32. e5 {Anyway!} fxe5 33. f5 gxf5 34. Rxf5 Kh8 35. Ne4 Qd8 36. Rf6 Rh7 37. Ref1 Ne6 38. Nd6 {with a decisive attack.}) (31... Qc6 {offers black new life after} 32. h4 (32. f5 {This move can be met successfully with} Nd7 33. e5 Nxe5 34. Be4 Qd6 35. Qf4 {with equal chances.}) 32... h5 33. f5 Re5 34. Re2 {White has the initiative, but black should be able to defend his K-side. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4 so black can be considered to have excellent drawing chances.}) 32. e5 {The beginning of a decisive onslaught.} Qb8 33. Nh5 {Equally good was 33,f5} Nd7 (33... f5 34. exf6 Rf7 35. Re7 Rfxe7 36. fxe7 Rxe7 37. f5 gxh5 38. f6+ Re4 39. Re1 {wins.}) 34. f5 Rf8 (34... Nxe5 {loses to} 35. fxg6+ fxg6 36. Qf4 {and black is helpless.}) 35. fxg6+ fxg6 36. e6 (36. Bxg6+ {is crushing.} Kxg6 37. Qd3+ Kxh5 (37... Kg5 38. Nf6 Rxf6 39. exf6 Rxe1 40. Qf5+ Kh4 41. g3+ Qxg3+ 42. hxg3+ Kxg3 43. Qf4+ Kh3 44. Rxe1 {[%emt 0:00:04] mates in}) 38. Rf5+ Kg6 39. Rxf8+) 36... Ne5 37. Rxf8 Qxf8 38. Rxe5 Bc8 39. Nf4 (39. Bxg6+ Kg8 40. Bf7+ Rxf7 41. exf7+ Kxf7 42. Qd3 Qh8 43. Qf3+ Kg6 44. Qc6+ Kf7 45. Qc7+ Kf8 46. Qxc8+ Kf7 47. Qe6+ Kf8 48. Qe8#) 39... Qf6 40. Nxg6 Rg7 41. Rh5 {Menchik resigned. Nice game by Henschel.} (41. Rh5 Rxg6 42. Qxh6+ Kg8 43. Bxg6 Bxe6 44. Rg5 d3 45. Bh5+ Qxg5 46. Qxg5+ Kh8 47. Qh6+ Kg8 48. Qxe6+ Kh8 49. Qf6+ Kg8 50. Bf7+ Kf8 51. Bd5+ Ke8 52. Bc6#) 1-0