With that kind of money they were surprised that the tournament did not draw better talent than it did. Perhaps, they thought, it was because it was too soon after the two week long US Open that was held in nearby (107 miles away) Long Beach.
As it turned out 53 players entered for the two tournaments, directed by Imre Konig of San Francisco, one of four rounds and one of eight rounds.
The four rounder was won by 23-year old Larry Evans of New York City with Victor Pupols of Tacoma, Washington finishing second. Sven Almgren, Don Robey and Robert Brieger tied for third.
In the Major (8-round tournament) William Lombardy was in the lead at the end of seven rounds, but in the last round he drew with Anthony Saidy which allowed James T. Sherwin, who defeated Albert Sandrin and, Abe Turner, who defeated Vladimir Pafnutieff, to tie him.
It was lamented that the leading players elected to draw their games among themselves in very few moves, evidently because they were reluctant to take any unnecessary chances which would spoil their
bid for the big $l000 ($10,586.42 today) first place money. As a result the games of the leading players were of little interest.
There were 53 players in the top section and the leading scores were:
Here is James T. Sherwin's sixth round win over Vladimir Pafnutieff. Sherwin is pretty well known, but his opponent is not.
Vladimir Pafnutieff (September 4, 1912 - May 12, 1999, 86 years old) was one of the strongest players in Northern California from the 1930s until the 1970s. He was a sharp attacking player with good tactical skills and had a number of GM scalps on his resume. It wasn't very evident in the following game though.
[Event "San Diego Major Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1955.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "James T. Sherwin"]
[Black "Vladimir Pafnutieff"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E87"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"]
[PlyCount "43"]
{King's Indian: Saemisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 {
The Saemisch is a subtle blockading system and a critical challenge to the
King's Indian and it continues to be one of the fiercely contested openings.
White's play is based around an extremely solid center and possibility of
launching a direct attack against black's King. But it's also flexible because
if he chooses white can instead try to squeeze black with his space advantage.}
O-O 6. Be3 e5 {The classical reply. It locks in black's B on g7, however, if
the B later gets unlocked it may become very powerful. White has the choice
between closing the center or maintaining the central tension.} 7. d5 {
Maintaining the tension with 7.Nge2 is considered less promising. According to
the theory closing the center with this move gives white good chances for an
opening advantage. White's typical plan is to castle Q-side then launch an
attack on the K-side with moves like g4 and/or h4. Main lines include 1) an
immediate break with 7...c6 by lack, or2) preparing the ...f5 break with 7...
Nh5 or 7...Ne8 or 3) closing up the c-file with 7...c5 and eventually play for
breaks with ...b5 or ...f5} c5 {This does not turn out well as will soon be
seen. He should have played either 7...c6 or 7...Nh5} 8. Qd2 Re8 (8... h5 {
didn't lead anywhere in Chu,W (2329)-Lin,Y (2093) Shenzhen CHN 2016} 9. Bd3 Nh7
10. Nge2 a6 11. h4 Nd7 12. O-O-O Ndf6 {with equality.}) 9. g4 a6 10. a4 Nbd7
11. Bd3 {Black would like to get some Q-side counterplay, but getting in ...b5
is proving problematic. It would appear that his strategy of obtaining Q-dise
counterplay has gone wrong. Probably 7...c5 was the culprit.} Nf8 {Part of his
plan to enforce ...b5} 12. Nge2 Bd7 13. Ng3 Qa5 14. Ra2 {The immediate 14.h4
was a possibility.} Reb8 15. h4 {[%cal Bh2h4,Bh4h5][%mdl 32]} Qb4 {It would
have been better to take a move to prevent the further advance of white's
h-Pawn.} (15... h5 16. gxh5 Nxh5 17. Nce2 (17. Nxh5 gxh5 18. Bh6 Ng6 {is
roughly equal.}) 17... Qxd2+ 18. Kxd2 Nxg3 19. Nxg3 {and white's advantage is
minimal.}) 16. a5 {Stifling black's -side play. Also good was 16.h5} b6 17.
axb6 Qxb6 18. h5 a5 19. Bh6 Ne8 {[%mdl 8192]} (19... Bxh6 {is more resistant.}
20. Qxh6 Qd8 {Black's demonstration on the Q-side has to be put on hold and he
must instead tend to the defense of his K-side.} 21. g5 Ne8 22. hxg6 fxg6 {
and black's defense holds.}) 20. Bxg7 Nxg7 21. Qh6 (21. hxg6 {gives better
winning chances. Here is just one of many possibilities.} fxg6 22. Nf5 gxf5 {
Best because the N is just too strong.} (22... Qb3 {Black persists in his
Q-side counterplay.} 23. Nh6+ Kh8 24. f4 a4 25. O-O a3 26. fxe5 axb2 27. Rxb2
Qxb2 28. Rxf8+) 23. exf5 {This is the correct recapture because white needs
the g-Pawn to continue his attack.} Qd8 24. Qh6 Ne8 25. g5 {with a winning
attack. For example...} Qe7 26. f6 Qf7 27. g6 Nxg6 28. Rg1 e4 29. Nxe4 Ng7 (
29... Bf5 30. Ng5 {wins}) 30. fxg7 {wins easily.}) 21... Rb7 {Still dreaming
of Q-side play, but now retreating the Q and hoping to defend his K would
prove insufficient.} 22. Nf5 {[%mdl 512] A nice finishing touch after which
Pafnitieff decided to resign.} (22. Nf5 gxf5 23. exf5 {The gob of K-side Ps
will prove deadly.}) 1-0
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