Today let's talk about George Koltanowski (September 17, 1902 - February 5, 2000, 96 years old). Everybody has heard of him, but aside from his promoting chess, simultaneous and blindfold exhibitions, does anybody know anything about his chess prowess?
He was awarded the International Master title in 1950 when the title was first officially established by FIDE and he was awarded an honorary Grandmaster title in 1988. He was also an International Arbiter.
His tournament record was not especially distinguished and Chessmetrics has him listed on their retro-rating list from June of 1924 (2477 ranking him number 65 in the world) to June of 1954 (2503, number 153 in the world). His highest estimated rating was 2628 on the March 1936 list, placing him at number 19 in the world.
Based upon his results during the period 1932–37, Professor Arpad Elo gave Koltanowski a rating of 2450 in his book, The Rating of Chess Players, Past and Present.
Born into a Polish Jewish family in Antwerp in 1903, he learned chess by watching his father and brother play and began serious play at the age of 14 and when Edgar Colle died in 1932, Koltanowski became Belgium's top player.
He got his first big break in 1924 at the age of 21 when he visited an international tournament in Meran and was planning to play in one of the reserve sections. The organizers asked him to play in the Grandmaster section to replace a no show. Koltanowski accepted and finished near the bottom, but drew with Tarrasch. He won the Belgian Championship in 1923, 1927, 1930 and 1936.
Many of Koltanowski's relatives perished in the Holocaust, but he survived because he happened to be on a chess tour of South America and was in Guatemala when the war broke out. In 1940, the United States Consul in Cuba saw him giving an exhibition in Havana and decided to grant him a US visa.
Koltanowski settled in New York City where he met his wife in 1944. In 1947 they moved to California where he became the chess columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, a job he held until his death.
In 1963, he conducted a correspondence game which pitted himself and his readers against Paul Keres. He had hoped to play against World Champion Botvinnik, but was turned down. Keres was his second choice. Readers would vote on moves and send them to Koltanowski who would then select the move and award points and prizes to his readers for their selections.
After 41 moves Keres stopped playing and declared that he had won. Although Koltanowski felt his position was still playable, he accepted Keres' decision.
Letters:
Koltanowski had his own organization, the Chess Friends of Northern California, which resisted the USCF rating system and dominated Northern California Chess through the mid-1960s. He eventually gave in and won election as President of the USCF in 1974.
Koltanowski wrote many books, including one on the Colle System which he claimed would enable even lower rated players to get out of the opening with a playable game. It's interesting that he never played the opening himself against strong opponents.
His books were often poorly written and, like a lot of authors contained statements and anecdotes which were factually incorrect. But, like Larry Evans once said of his published gaffes, they made a good story.
Koltanowski died of congestive heart failure in San Francisco in 2000 at the age of 96.
The following game was played in the 1936 Belgian Championship that was held in Ghent. The game looks like it could have been played in one of his simultaneous exhibitions, but Koltanowski's double Bishop sacrifice was flawless.
His opponent was Marcel DeFosse which was the pseudonym of Denis Marion (1906 - 2000), a literary person who had a passion for chess. He co-authored with Frits van Seters a book titled Le Jeu d’Echecs. Manuel du Débutant (The Game of Chess: Guide for Beginners) published in 1945. He played for Belgium in the 1937 Olympiad.
[Event "Belgian Championship, Ghent"]
[Site "Ghent BEL"]
[Date "1936.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Georges Koltanowski"]
[Black "Marcel Defosse"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D05"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1936.??.??"]
{Colle System} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e3 e6 (3... g6 {It's my opinion that if
one suspects white is going to open with the Colle then the fianchetto is the
best idea because it eliminates all danger of facing a potentially wicked
K-side attack.} 4. c4 {Another advantage of the fianchetto is that white is
practically forced to abandon the Colle and play this.} (4. Bd3 {is rather
pointless now.} Bg7 5. c3 O-O {is equal.}) 4... c6 5. Nc3 Bg7 {etc.}) (3... Bf5
{Sometimes called the Anti-Colle, this move has also been played.} 4. c4 c6 5.
Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 7. f3 Bg6 8. Qb3 Qc7 9. Bd2 Be7 10. cxd5 cxd5 11. Bb5+ Nc6
12. O-O O-O {is equal. Karjakin,S (2754)-Giri,A (2776) Bucharest 2019}) 4. Bd3
c5 5. c3 {The Colle System is not a fixed order of moves, but a system for
white where he sets up Ps on c3 and e3, a B ond d3, Ns on f3 and d2 and
usually a R on e1. After achieving this setup white usually plays e4.} (5. b3 {
This sets up the Colle–Zukertort System which is characterized by developing
the B on b2} Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. Bb2 b6 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Nbd2 Bb7 10. Qe2 Nbd7 11.
c4 {with equal chances. Carlsen,M (2853)-Karjakin,S (2772) New York 2016}) 5...
Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. O-O {A typical Colle setup. GM John Nunn and others. regard
the Colle as innocuous, but it is slow and solid. It is, however, a good
opening for players looking for a simple opening. That said, it can turn
violent if black gets careless.} O-O 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. e4 {The classic Colle
break.} Qc7 10. Qe2 Bd6 (10... h6 11. Bc2 Bb6 12. a4 a6 13. g3 Bd7 14. Kg2 Rad8
15. h3 e5 16. exd5 Nxd5 {Black is slightly better. Mamedyarov,S (2660)
-Volokitin,A (2652) Mallorca 2004}) 11. Re1 Ng4 12. h3 Nge5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14.
exd5 exd5 15. Nf3 {[%cal Rf3e5] Black should now eliminate the B with 15...Nxd3
} Nxf3+ (15... Re8 16. Nxe5 Rxe5 17. Be3 Bc5 18. Qd2 Bxe3 19. Rxe3 Bd7 20. Rxe5
Qxe5 {White has the better endgame, but in Root,D (2460)-Rachels,S (2485) Los
Angeles Open 1991, it was insufficient to win.}) 16. Qxf3 Be6 17. Be3 {[%cal
Bc1e3,Be3d4,Bd4e5][%mdl 32]} Rad8 (17... a6 18. Bd4 Bc5 19. Be5 Bd6 20. Bxh7+ {
This only draws. White maintains a slight advantage after 20.Bxd6 and 20.Rad1
with pressure on black's isolated d-Pawn.} Kxh7 21. Qh5+ Kg8 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23.
Qg5+ {Draw. Weisker,M (1800)-Medunova,V (2209) Passau 2000}) 18. Bc2 b5 (18...
Bh2+ 19. Kh1 Be5 {covering the dark squares on the K-side was a safer plan.})
19. Bd4 Bc5 {White must now prevent ...Bxd4.} 20. Rad1 b4 {Black is completely
oblivious to the danger or he would have played 20...Bxd4. He may have felt
complacent becaus ewhite does not have a N to assist in the K-side attack
which is usually the case.} 21. Be5 {[%mdl 128] White wants a kill.} Bd6 {
And his opponent obliges.} (21... Qb6 {is his best chance because then the
sacrifice does not work.} 22. Bxh7+ Kxh7 23. Qh5+ Kg8 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Qg5+
Kh7 {and because of the B on c5 white cannot bring a R into play via d4 and so
must accept the draw by repeating moves.}) 22. Bxh7+ {[%mdl 512]} Kxh7 {
Declining the sacrifice is not an option.} (22... Kh8 23. Qh5 Rfe8 24. Bf5+ Kg8
25. Qh7+ Kf8 26. Bxg7+ Ke7 27. Rxe6+ {and wins. Taking the R allows a mate in
3...} fxe6 28. Be5+ Kf8 29. Qh8+ Ke7 30. Qg7#) 23. Qh5+ Kg8 {White has only
one winning continuation.} 24. Bxg7 {[%mdl 512]} (24. Rd4 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Rfe8
26. Rh4 Kf8 {and white does not have enough compensation for the piece.}) 24...
Kxg7 25. Qg5+ Kh7 26. Rd4 {[%cal Rd4h4] Black can offer only token resistance.}
Bh2+ 27. Kh1 {[%cal Rd4h4]} Qf4 28. Rxf4 Bxf4 29. Qxf4 Rg8 30. Re5 {Black
resigned. According to Fritz 17's auto-analysis Koltanowski's play was
"flawless."} (30. Re5 Rg6 31. Qh4+ Rh6 32. Qxd8 bxc3 33. bxc3 Kg7 34. Rg5+ Rg6
35. Rh5 Rh6 36. Qg5+ Rg6 37. Qe5+ Kf8 38. Qb8+ Ke7 39. Qc7+ Bd7 40. Rxd5 Rb6
41. Rxd7+ Ke6 42. Qd8 Rb1+ 43. Kh2 Ke5 44. Rd6 Ke4 45. Qg5 Rh1+ 46. Kxh1 f6 47.
Rd4# {[%eval 32734,70]}) 1-0
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