The weather was partly cloudy with a high of 65 and a low of 45.
The front page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle had a story that was a prelude of what was to come.
Halfway around the world in what was then known as Indo-China, it was reported that Communist troops overwhelmed the French fortress at An Xa in the Red River delta and then struck northward toward Hanoi 40 miles away.
The outpost in Quang Nam Province fell after three weeks of bloody fighting when 800 Communist Vietminh regulars overcame the exhausted company of Vietnamese by sheer weight of numbers.
Just 11 years later, on October 3, 1965, 30 men from Company M, 3d Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment were walking across a rice paddy in eastern Quang Nam Province when rifle fire and mortar explosions erupted from three sides.
The ambush was nearly perfect. About 200 Viet Cong had surrounded the Marines. Caught in the open with no cover they were pinned down. The firefight that resulted lasted for almost eight hours and 13 Marines were killed in one of the costliest days since the United States had entered the war.
When relief reached the patrol the firing suddenly ceased and the Viet Cong slipped away into the gathering night. The Marines rescued what was left of the patrol and retrieved the dead and wounded. The firefight had nearly annihilated the patrol and all of them had been wounded and nearly half were dead.
Back to the chess match. By mutual agreement, there were 12 players to a side for this match. The names for the first six for each side were shuffled
and drawn to determine who played whom. By a happy coincidence, US Champion Larry Evans and former Champion Arnold Denker met. The lower six were similarly drawn.
At adjournment, Manhattan led by 4.5-3.5. In the play-offs, however, the match turned out one-sided and Manhattan won 8-4.
In the following game Simonson put up a fierce struggle, but he was unfortunate as the dubious opening variation he chose saddled him with a weaknesses which plagued him throughout all the phases of the game.
[Event "Met League Match, New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1954.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Arthur Bisguier, Manhattan CC"]
[Black "Albert C. Simonson, Marshall CC"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate "1954.??.??"]
{Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer} 1. d4 c5 2. e4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 {Here 3..e5
transposes into Smith-Morra (or, as it was known at the time of the game, the
Morra Gambit). Such positions were not to Simonson's taste because he was a
coffeehouse player who preferred the initiative at all be costs.} 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 {The Richter–Rauzer Attack threatening to double black's Ps
after Bxf6 and forestalling the Dragon by rendering 6...g6 unplayable. After 6.
..e6 Rauzer introduced the modern plan of Qd2 and 0-0-0 in the 1930s. White's
pressure on the d6-pawn often compels black to respond to Bxf6 with ...gxf6,
rather than recapturing with a piece (e.g. the queen on d8) that also has to
defend the d-pawn. This weakens black's K-side P-structure, but in return
black gains the two Bs and a central Pawn majority.} Qa5 {Starting out as a QP
opening it has now transposed and no doubt because of his unfamiliarity with
the latest lines Simonson feared walking into a prepared variation and so
chose the inferior text move deliberately. Usual and better is 6...e6} 7. Bxf6
gxf6 8. Bb5 Bd7 9. Qh5 {With this unusual move Bisguier makes an attempt to
exercise pressure on black's K-side, particularly the f-Pawn.} (9. Nb3 {
first is usual.} Qc7 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Qh5 a6 12. Be2 {Lotero,F (2162)-Panesso
Rivera,H (2368) Medellin 2014}) 9... a6 10. Nb3 Qd8 11. Be2 e6 (11... Rc8 12.
O-O-O Bg7 13. Kb1 f5 14. exf5 Bxc3 15. bxc3 {Black is slightly better.
Blomqvist,E (2454)-Bryntze,S (2155) Stockholm 2012}) (11... Rg8 12. O-O Ne5 13.
f4 Bg4 14. Bxg4 Qb6+ 15. Kh1 Nxg4 {favors white. Perez Candelario,M (2496)
-Korneev,O (2657) Elgoibar 2006}) 12. O-O Qb6 13. Rad1 Be7 14. Kh1 O-O-O 15. a4
(15. Qxf7 h5 {Bisguier avoided this because his Q is in danger. The text is
the consistent continuation and the reason why he castled. on the K-side.} 16.
Nd4 Rhf8 (16... Nxd4 17. Qxe7 Nxe2 18. Nxe2 Qxb2 19. Nf4 Rhe8 20. Qxd6 {
is good for white.}) 17. Qg7 Rg8 18. Qh7 Rh8 19. Qg7 Rhg8 {with a draw.}) 15...
Be8 16. a5 Qc7 17. f4 Kb8 18. Rd2 {Also good was 18.Bf3} f5 19. exf5 d5 {
An excellent reply.} (19... Nxa5 {is strongly met by} 20. f6 Nxb3 21. fxe7 Nxd2
22. exd8=Q+ Qxd8 23. Rd1 f5 24. Qh6 Ne4 25. Nxe4 fxe4 26. Qxe6 {and white is
better.}) 20. Qh6 d4 {Slightly better would have been 20...Bd7} 21. Nxd4 (21.
Qg7 {was a better try because after} Rf8 22. Ne4 exf5 23. Nf6 Bd7 24. Nd5 Qd6
25. Nxd4 Qxd5 26. Nxc6+ Qxc6 27. Qe5+ {with the initiative.}) 21... Nxd4 22.
Rxd4 Bc6 {Oddly, Bisguier misjudged this move thinking it was inferior to 22...
Rxd4 which is not the case.} (22... Rxd4 23. Qg7 {Bisguier claimed that white
would now emerge with both material and positional superiority, but that is
not the case.} Rxf4 24. Qxh8 Rxf1+ 25. Bxf1 {White is only a P up and the
chances are equal. In Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4.}) 23. Rxd8+ Qxd8 24. Rd1
(24. Qh5 {was slightly better.} Rf8 25. Bf3 Bxf3 26. Qxf3 Qxa5 27. fxe6 fxe6 {
White is better.}) 24... Qg8 25. Qh3 exf5 (25... Qc8 {was only a slight
improvement over the text.} 26. fxe6 fxe6 27. Bf3 Bb4 28. Bxc6 Qxc6) 26. Bf3
Qc8 27. Bxc6 bxc6 {White has clearly established an advantage, but the game is
far from over.} 28. Qe3 Qc7 29. Na4 {[%mdl 32] The N will be repositioned to c4
} Rd8 (29... Qxa5 {loses after} 30. Qxe7 Qxa4 31. Qe5+) 30. Rxd8+ Qxd8 31. Qb6+
{This simplification wins, but the ending is not devoid of problems.} Qxb6 32.
Nxb6 {[%mdl 4096]} Kc7 33. g3 Bf6 34. Nc4 c5 35. Kg2 Kc6 36. Kf3 Kb5 37. b3 Kb4
(37... Bd4 {was called for. White then dare not play 38.Ne3} 38. Ke2 (38. Ne3
Bxe3 39. Kxe3 Kxa5 40. c3 Kb5 {and it's black who is winning. For example...}
41. h3 a5 42. Kd3 h5 43. Kd2 c4 44. Kc2 cxb3+ 45. Kxb3 Kc5 46. h4 a4+ 47. Kxa4
Kc4 {with a won K+P ending.}) 38... Kb4) 38. Ne3 {Threatening Nd5+} Bd4 (38...
Bd8 39. Nd5+ Ka3 40. Ke2 Bxa5 41. Ne3 Kb4 42. Kd3 h5 43. Nxf5 {white wins the
ending.}) (38... Kxa5 39. Ke2 Kb5 40. Nxf5 Kb4 41. Ne3 Bd4 42. Nd5+ Ka3 43. Kd3
Kb2 44. g4 a5 45. g5 Bh8 46. Ne3 Kc1 47. h4 Bg7 48. Nc4 {etc.}) 39. Nxf5 {
White is clearly winning. Bisguier commented that the last few moves were the
only easy part of this difficult struggle. Black never completely recovered
from the effects of his unfortunate opening play.} Kc3 40. Nxd4 Kxd4 41. Ke2
Kc3 42. Kd1 h5 43. f5 f6 44. h3 Kd4 45. Ke2 Ke4 46. c3 {Simonson resigned. In
the auto-annotation Stockfish 15 evaluated Bisguier's play as "very precise."}
1-0
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