A Fighting Draw

     Games ending in draws are generally not highly regarded and we often just skip over them. In fact, most of the time when we think of draws we usually think of either short Grandmaster draws or long, boring endings. Games of both types lose much of their aesthetic value for us. 

     But, there are also fighting draws. Games in which both players attack each other like wild animals; these are exciting battles leading to bloodshed. Sometimes these games continue until the players are exhausted, but not beaten...like in the following game. 

     It was played in Bucharest in 1953, an interesting tournament in that it involved cheating by the Russians...nothing new really! The tournament was a big deal in Bucharest. Twenty contestants were invited and it drew more than 700 spectators every day! Gosta Stoltz, the Swedish Grandmaster, was in his late forties and was the oldest player and the youngest was 16-year-old Boris Spassky. 

     Years later Spassky wrote about his experience in Bucharest. "It sounds funny, but the Soviet authorities helped me. The tournament began with a clash between Soviet players, as a result of which the Hungarian, Laszlo Szabo gained the lead. We then got a telegram from Moscow: 'Put an end to this nonsense and agree draws among yourselves!' Well it was convenient that I'd already scored a full point against Smyslov, but given my youth and inexperience I think it would have been difficult for me to achieve draws against Boleslavsky and Petrosian as well. Yet here was everybody obeying the order from Moscow, and as a result I became an International Master." 

     Note that there were two players named Szabo participating. The great Hungarian GM Laszlo Szabo (1917-1998) and the lesser known Romanian master, Stefan Szabo (1911-1954). 

     Writing about Hastings 1954/55 My Best Games of Chess, Laszlo Szabo said, "An excellent performance by a dead man', remarked a London friend of mine. Well, it turned out that many people believed me dead and buried in England. When Stefan Szabo died, the press agencies announced me dead by mistake. The outstanding English chess player, Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, had already written my obituary for his column, when I turned up in Hastings. I was not sorry that the obituary was unpublished, but I still think I should have asked Alexander to give me the proof. It must be terribly interesting to read how people think of one after one's death." 

     Laszlo Szabo was born in Budapest and burst onto the international chess scene in 1935, at the age of 18, winning the Hungarian Championship, an international tournament in Tatatovaros and he was on the Hungarian team at the Warsaw Chess Olympiad. 

     Prior to World War II he had a number of successes before beginning career as a banker, dealing in foreign exchange. At the outbreak of war he was attached to a Forced Labor Unit and was later captured by Russian troops who held him as a prisoner of war. 

     After the war, he returned to chess and played many major international events. including the Interzonals and Candidates' tournaments. He continued to enjoy success into the 1960s and 1970s. He was known for his uncompromising attacking style. 

     His opponent Victor Ciocaltea (January 16, 1932 – September 10, 1983) was a Romanian GM (awarded in 1978) who won the Romanian Championship in 1952, 1959, 1961, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1975 and 1979. He played in eleven Chess Olympiads from 1956 to 1982. Ciocaltea was a participant of four zonal FIDE tournaments between 1954 and 1982. He died at the board while playing a in a Spanish tournament in September, 1983.

[Event "Bucharest"] [Site "?"] [Date "1953.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Laszlo Szabo"] [Black "Victor Ciocaltea"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B95"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "1953.??.??"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.05.07"] {Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Be2 Be7 8. O-O Qc7 9. Qd3 {White chooses a sharp continuation that was used quite often by Paul Keres.} Nbd7 (9... Nc6 10. Rad1 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bd7 12. Rd3 Bc6 13. Rfd1 b5 14. a3 {with equal chances. Yurtaev,L (2505)-Dzyuban,O (2440) Alma Ata KAZ 1995}) 10. Qg3 {White might now consider 10.a4 hindering .. .b5} (10. f4 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. fxg5 hxg5 13. Bg3 Ne5 14. Bxe5 dxe5 15. Nb3 { Rysbayeva,K (1983)-Sukhov,M (2128) Alma-Ata 2008}) 10... Ne5 {After this white secures the advantage. Correct was either launching a Q-side demonstration with 10...b5 or putting pressure on the e-Pawn with 10...Nc5} 11. Rad1 O-O { Castling at this moment is looking for trouble.} (11... h6 {would have eliminated much of the danger to his K-side.} 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. f4 Ng6 { White has two reasonable continuations in 14.f5 and 14.Bh5, both of which are designed to weaken black's K-side, but black appears to have adequate resources to defend himself.}) 12. f4 Ng6 13. f5 Ne5 {As will now be clear, black's failure to force a decision on white's B on move 11 now makes itself felt.} 14. Bh6 {[%csl Gh6][%cal Rg3g7]} Ng6 {Black may have realized too late that 14..Ne8 is not good. There would follow: 15. P-B6, BxP; 16. RxB, N-N3; 17. RxN, etc.} (14... Ne8 15. f6 Bxf6 16. Rxf6 Ng6 (16... Kh8 {is no better.} 17. Bxg7+ Nxg7 18. Rh6 Ne8 19. Qh3 f6 {Material is equal, but white's position is superior.}) 17. Rxg6 hxg6 18. Bc1 {Material-wise white has a B+B vs R+P, but he has a free hand on the K-side and black's position is a losing one.}) 15. fxg6 gxh6 {White has a number of reason able moves. The move played, 16.gxf7+, 16.e5 and 16.gxh7+} 16. g7 (16. gxf7+ {This is the most forceful.} Kh8 (16... Kxf7 17. Bh5#) 17. Bg4 Nxg4 18. Qxg4 Bg5 19. Qg3 Rxf7 20. Rxf7 Qxf7 21. Qxd6 { with a winning position.}) 16... Re8 {Though there is no forced win white is clearly better, but on his next move it would have been best to add a R to the fray with 17.Rd3 and then place his N on f5.} 17. Kh1 {[%mdl 128]} b5 {[%mdl 8192]} 18. a3 {Stifling black's counterplay, but it was not strictly necessary. } (18. e5 {is a winning punch.} dxe5 19. Rxf6 Bxf6 20. Ne4 Be7 21. Bh5 f5 22. Nxb5 axb5 23. Bxe8 Bg5 (23... fxe4 24. Bf7+ Kxf7 25. g8=Q+ Kf6 26. Rf1#) 24. Nxg5 hxg5 25. Qxg5 Qxg7 26. Qd8 {At first glance it may look like black has survived, but he is actually quite lost.} Qf8 27. Bc6 Rxa2 28. Qc7 Ra6 29. Bxb5 {White's Q-side Ps will assure a won ending.}) 18... Bb7 {Better was 18...Qc5 as will be seen next move.} (18... Qc5 19. Nd5 {fails} exd5 20. exd5 Qxd5 21. Nxb5 Qb7 22. Bf3 Qxb5 23. Bxa8 Be6 {In this very messy situation Stockfish states black is clearly winning. Over the board things might not be so clear.}) 19. Bf3 {Again, Szabo misses a knockout, but the complications are abstruse.} ( 19. Nd5 {Attacking the Q which would be the case if it was on c5} Bxd5 (19... exd5 20. Nf5 {This cannot be allowed. 21.Nxh6 mate is threatened.} Ng4 21. Bxg4 Bg5 22. h4 {wins}) 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Bf3 Bf6 22. Bxd5 Be5 23. Nxe6 Rxe6 24. Qf3 Rae8 25. Bxe6 Rxe6 26. Qa8+ Kxg7 27. Qxa6 Bxh2 28. Qxb5 {and white is winning.} ) 19... Nd7 {It would have been somewhat better to drive the Q off with ... h5-h4} 20. Nd5 {[%mdl 512] Szabo doesn't miss it a second time. Black is lost.} exd5 21. Nf5 {[%cal Rf5h6] To repeat, the threat is 22.Nxh6 mate} Bg5 22. h4 { [%cal Bh2h4,Bh4g5][%mdl 32] Relentless.} dxe4 23. Bh5 {With multitudinous threats! Black's answer is the only way of trying to save face.} Nf6 24. hxg5 Nxh5 25. Nxh6+ Kxg7 26. Qh4 {With this imprecise move, white loses much of his advantage, but he remains clearly better.} (26. Qh2 Rf8 (26... Kg6 {is now met by} 27. Rxd6+) {White wins.} 27. Qxh5) 26... Kg6 {A great defensive resource!} 27. g4 (27. Rxf7 {hands over the advantage after} Re7 28. Rdf1 Rxf7 29. Rxf7 Qxc2 30. Rxb7 Qc1+ 31. Kh2 Re8 {and the threat of the advance of the e-Pawn cannot be met.}) (27. Ng4 {This, however, keeps a significant advantage.} f5 ( 27... e3 28. Nf6 Bxg2+ (28... e2 29. Qxh5+ Kg7 30. Qh6+ {mate next move.}) 29. Kxg2 Qxc2+ 30. Kg1 e2 31. Qxh5+ Kg7 32. Nxe8+ Kh8 (32... Rxe8 33. Qxf7+ { mates in 3}) 33. Qf3 Qc5+ 34. Kh1 Qxg5 35. Qxe2 {and wins}) 28. Nf6 Nxf6 29. Qh6+ Kf7 30. Rxf5 {White has a decisive advantage.}) 27... Ng3+ {With this move Ciocaltea finds a way out of his trouble.} 28. Qxg3 e3+ 29. Kg1 e2 30. Rxd6+ Kg7 31. Rg6+ {Clever, but insufficient; his advantage has disappeared.} ( 31. Re1 Qc5+ 32. Qf2 Qxf2+ 33. Kxf2 Bc8 34. Rxe2 Rxe2+ 35. Kxe2 Be6 {with a likely draw.}) 31... hxg6 {[%cal Rc7g3]} 32. Qxc7 exf1=Q+ 33. Kxf1 {The storm is over and the Q has no advantage over the two Rs.} Bd5 34. Qc3+ Kh7 35. b3 Rac8 36. Qh3 {[%mdl 8192] After the correct 36.Qd2 the position is equal, but this move offers black a chance at gaining a winning advantage!} Kg7 {Which Ciocaltea grabs.} (36... Rxc2 {is inferior.} 37. Nxf7+ Kg7 38. Qh6+ Kxf7 39. Qh7+ Kf8 40. Qh8+ (40. Qxg6 {loses outright after} Bg2+ 41. Kg1 Re1+ 42. Kh2 Be4+) 40... Bg8 41. Qf6+ {draws.}) 37. Qd3 Rcd8 {Missing his chance to turn the tables and establish a winning position. Understandable after the defensive ordeal he has been through.} (37... Re5 38. Qd4 Rce8 39. c4 bxc4 40. bxc4 Bc6 {and white is in serious difficulty. For example...} 41. Qf2 Rxg5 42. Qxf7+ Kxh6 43. Qf4 Bd7 44. c5 Bxg4 45. c6 Re7 46. Qf8+ Rg7 47. c7 (47. Qh8+ Rh7 48. Qf8+ Kh5 49. Qd6 Rf7+ 50. Ke1 Rgf5 {and after white runs out of Q checks he will be left with a lost position.} 51. Qh2+ Kg5 52. Qd2+ Kh4 53. Qh2+ Bh3 54. Qb8 g5 55. c7 Re5+ 56. Kd2 Rd7+ 57. Kc2 Rc5+ 58. Kb1 Rd1+ 59. Kb2 Rd2+ 60. Kb3 Be6+ 61. Kb4 Rdc2 {and black has a mate in 12. It's impossible to fault black for not seeing all this!}) 47... Rf5+) 38. Qc3+ {The position is equal.} Kh7 39. Qf6 Rc8 40. Nf5 gxf5 41. Qxf5+ Kg7 {Draw agreed. A fitting end to an amazing game.} 1/2-1/2