In 1938 Pytlakowski joined Bratnia Pomoc (Brotherly Help), a popular Polish students’ mutual aid organization. Starting in the 1930s, most branches were dominated by the nationalist Academic Union All Polish Youth. During the Second World War, under the Nazi German occupation, Bratniak branches functioned at the illegal, underground Polish universities.
Bratnia Pomoc existed until the early 1950s when it was first politicized and subsequently dissolved and replaced by the communist Zrzeszenie Studentow Polskich (Association of Polish Students). Bratnia Pomoc in its traditional, non-communist form was recreated after 1989.
In September of 1939 Pytlakowski managed to get to Lviv where he briefly studied at the Polytechnic before going to work in a radio plant. In 1942 he returned to Warsaw and worked at the State Radio and Telecommunication Works.
In 1943, with the war in full swing and Germany occupying Poland, he became a partisan Gwardia Ludowa (People's Guard) and used the pseudonym "Adam".
Gwardia Ludowa was a communist underground armed organization created by the communist Polish Workers' Party in German occupied Poland, with sponsorship from the Soviet Union.
Formed in early 1942, it quickly became the largest clandestine fighting force in Poland which refused to join the Polish Underground State loyal to the London-based government-in-exile. In January of 1944 the organization was incorporated into the communist Armia Ludowa (People's Army).
Gwardia Ludowa was connected to the NKVD intelligence services of the Soviet Union with NKVD colonels commanding. It was tasked with fighting against Germany by means of partisan warfare, sabotage, and reprisal actions.
In August 1944, Pytlakowski left Warsaw and worked as a teacher in the village of Polany, a small village in southern Poland.
At the beginning of 1945 Pytlakowski became Civil service officer of the Ministry of Public Security in Poland where he was the head of the section in Municipal Office of Public Security in Radom, a city in east-central Poland. Later be was appointed deputy head of Faculty IV of Department I Ministry of Public Security; he left the service at his own request in October 1945 as a captain.
After the war Pytlakowski continued his studies in Lodz and after graduating, in 1947 he joined the Polish People's Army. The communist-led Polish armed forces were permitted and aided by Joseph Stalin. In the following years he worked as a chess journalist and in for Institute of Mathematical Machines, a research institute in Warsaw.
Pytlakowski started playing in tournaments before World War II, including starting in 1938 in the championship of the Warsaw Society of Chess Game Supporters.
In late 1943 and early 1944 he won the underground championship in Warsaw. In 1946 he finished second in the city of Lodz championship. Between 1946 and 1956 he participated in the Polish Championship finals six times. His best result was in 1955 when he finished third.
After the communist authorities liquidated sports associations, including the Polish Chess Federation, in 1951 Pytlakowski became vice president of the Chess Section Main Committee of Physical Culture for training.
In the 1950s he competed in international tournaments and in 1952 he was a member of the Polish team in the Olympiad in Helsinki. The Polish team consisted of Tarnowski, Pytlakowski, Plater, Sliwa, Litmanowicz and Gruenfeld.
For political reasons Pytlakowski was chosen to play on second board, a position well above his real strength, and as a result he scored a miserable +0 -6 =1.
In 1955, in Lodz, he played in a match against USSR and scored 1-1 against Semyon Furman. In the years 1951–1957 he won the Polish Armed Forces Championship five times.
Pytlakowski also worked as chess journalism with columns in the Polish chess magazine Szachy as well as other other magazines.
Besides chess, for over 50 years Pytlakowski was a mountaineer and participated in many expeditions in Himalayas and Hindu Kush. For his achievements in that area he was awarded an Honorary Membership in the Capital Tatra Club in Warsaw.
He died at the age of 91 on November 15, 2010 and was buried in Powazki Cemetery in Warsaw.
The following game, played in the 1951 Marianske Lazne-Praha, 1951 Zonal has a very pretty problem-lke finish.
The tournament was won by Ludek Pachman with the impressive undefeated score of 13-3. Together with Szabo, Barcza and Stoltz he qualified for the following year's Interzonal at Stockholm.
Jan Foltys and Pal Benko were tied for the final qualification spot at Stockholm. Foltys had the better tie breaks, but there was a possibility of a play-off match taking place. However, it appears that the idea was discarded and Foltys was awarded the spot. Unfortunately, he died of leukemia on March 11, 1952 before the Interzonal started.
Benko was next in line, but he could not play because he was otherwise occupied; he was in prison for trying to defect to the West.
Gideon Stahlberg ended up getting the place vacated by first Foltys then Benko.
Pytlakowski's opponent was the enigmatic Romanian IM Ion Balanel. He was born in Bucharest on June 7, 1926 and was Romanian Champion in 1950, 1953, 1955 and 1958. He twice qualified for the Zonal tournaments: 1951 in MarianskeLazne and Prague, 1954.
For unknown reason he was In 1958 he was excommunicated from his club, Dinamo, and committed to a lunatic asylum by the Communist regime in 1958 and virtually disappeared.
A Romanian site I visited stated that he retired prematurely because of health reasons and died under unexplained conditions, but no date was given. The same site had a pencil sketch of WIM Rodica Reicher that was claimed to have been drawn by Balanel in 1961.
[Event "Marianske Lazne / Prague Zonal"]
[Site "Marianske Lazne CSR"]
[Date "1951.08.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ion Balanel"]
[Black "Andrzej Pytlakowski"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E32"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "1951.??.??"]
{Nimzo-Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 (6. a3
{is the alternative.} Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 b6 8. Nf3 Ba6 9. Bd3 Nc6 10. e4 {
Mamedjarova,T (2267)-Safarli,E (2680) Sharjah UAE 2017}) 6... Na6 7. Nge2 Nxc5
(7... Bxc5 8. a3 b6 9. b4 Be7 10. Bb2 Bb7 11. Rd1 Rc8 12. Nf4 {Maghsoodloo,P
(2584)-Ganguly,S (2668) Doha QAT 2016}) 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Nxc3 {b4 is the strong
threat.} d5 (9... a5 {preventing b4 is a viable alternative.} 10. e4 d5 11.
exd5 exd5 {with a fully equal position.}) 10. b4 Ncd7 {[%cal Bc5d7,Bd7b6,Bb6c4]
[%mdl 32]} 11. cxd5 exd5 {[%cal Od5d4]} 12. Bb2 Nb6 13. Rd1 Qe7 14. Be2 Be6 15.
O-O Rac8 16. Qb1 Nc4 17. Nb5 a6 18. Nd4 b5 19. Nb3 {White has little play
against the isolated d-Pawn whereas black has some prospects of a successful
K-side attack.} Ne4 {Intending ...Qg5.} 20. Qa1 {Threats against g7 are not
going to amount to much and this move gives black excellent prospects on the
K-side.} (20. f3 {Either eliminating or driving back the N would maintain
equality.} Qg5 (20... Ned6 21. Bxc4 Nxc4 {with equal chances.}) 21. fxe4 Qxe3+
22. Rf2 Qxb3 23. exd5 Qxb2 24. dxe6 Qxb1 25. exf7+ Rxf7 26. Rxb1 Rxf2 27. Kxf2
Nxa3 28. Ra1 Nc2 29. Rxa6 {with a draw.}) 20... Qg5 {[%mdl 2048] Black is more
active. And, this move sets up an incredible finish.} 21. Bd4 {[%mdl 8192] A
fatal error.} (21. Kh1 {was absolutely essential. Black would still be better,
but there is no forced win.} Rfe8 22. Bxc4 dxc4 23. Nd2 Bf5 {Black is better.})
21... Bh3 {[%csl Gh3][%cal Rg5g2] There is no satisfactory answer to this.} 22.
Bf3 {[%cal Od4g7]} (22. g3 h5 {Even better than taking the R.} 23. Nc5 (23.
Rfe1 h4 24. Bf3 Qf5 25. Bxe4 Qxe4 26. f3 Qc2 {wraps it up.}) 23... h4 24. Nxe4
dxe4 25. Rfe1 hxg3 26. hxg3 Rc6 {followed by ...Rg6 with a winning attack.})
22... Rc6 {The R joins in on the attack.} 23. Kh1 Rg6 {[%cal Rh3g2]} 24. gxh3 {
This allows black a really nice finish.} (24. g3 Qf5 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26. f4 exf3
27. Rf2 Bg2+ 28. Rxg2 (28. Kg1 Qh3 {wins}) 28... fxg2+ 29. Kxg2 Qc2+ 30. Kh1
Rh6 31. h4 Qf5 32. Kg2 Qg4 33. Rf1 Rxh4 {Black is clearly winning.}) 24... Qg1+
{[%mdl 512] Surprise! White resigned. A nearly flawless game by Pytlakowski.} (
24... Qg1+ 25. Rxg1 Nxf2#) 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment