Luxembourg's First International Tournament

Peter Dely

     In 1971, the first international tournament ever held in Luxembourg concluded with Yugoslav GM Aleksandar Matanovic and Hungarian IM Peter Dely tying for first. 

     In a NY Times article Al Horowitz complained that the IM and GM titles “must sound to the uninitiated much like those accorded the officers in secret fraternal organizations." 

     Horowitz added that it used to be easier to become an international GM, but in recent years FIDE had changed its criteria so often that the awarding of the title had "taken on something of the nature of secret rite." 

     GM titles were awarded based on performance where a player had to make a certain score in a tournament with so many GMs playing in order to achieve what FIDE called a grandmaster result (now referred to as a norm). After making two such results one became a GM although not officially until the next federation congress confirmed the title by vote. 

     To achieve a GM result at Luxembourg, one needed to score 7.0 points which Dely did. The only problem was that after the tournament he was informed that the rules had been changed. The new rules had the proviso that a grandmaster result could be made only in a tournament in which at least three GMs were playing. Since Matanovich and Bruno Parma were the only GMs in the tournament Dely was not credited with a grandmaster result. 

 

     Peter Dely (July 5, 1934 - December 29, 2012, 78 years old) was one of the strongest Hungarian players in the 1960s and 1970s and won the Hungarian National Championship in 1969. 

     Oddly, in spite of several fine international results he did not receive the IM title until 1982 and it was not until 1999 that he was awarded the GM title, and then it was the Honorary Grandmaster title. 

     In the following game Dely pulled off some thrilling tactical play against West German IM Mathias Gerusel. His imprecise followup could have lead to some uncommonly difficult endings.

 

 

[Event "Luxembourg"] [Site "Luxembourg"] [Date "1971.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Mathias Gerusel"] [Black "Peter Dely"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E60"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "1971.??.??"] {King's Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Ne2 c5 { More popular is 6...e5} 7. d5 e6 (7... b5 {The Benko Gambit} 8. cxb5 a6 9. bxa6 Bxa6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Qc2 Qb6 12. Rd1 Rfb8 {Agdestein,S (2600)-Polgar,J (2630) Isle of Lewis 1995}) 8. h3 {This move seems unnecessary. Gerusel was familiar with this position and in the furure was to try a couple of different moves here.} (8. O-O exd5 9. cxd5 a6 10. a4 Nbd7 11. Nbc3 {equals. Slipak,S (2521) -Giaccio,A (2505) Buenos Aires 1999}) (8. Nbc3 exd5 9. exd5 Nbd7 (9... Na6 { was played in Gerusel,M (2390)-Schuh,H (2300) Germany 1985} 10. O-O Bf5 11. h3 h5 12. Bf4 Qd7 13. Kh2 Nb4 {Here, too, black is better and went on to win.}) 10. f4 Nb6 11. b3 Bg4 {Black us better and went on to win. Gerusel,M (2425) -Ghinda,M (2455) Dortmund 1979}) 8... exd5 9. exd5 (9. cxd5 {White would love to have c4 available with Nd2-c4, but it's not possible.} b5 10. a4 b4 11. Nd2 Re8 12. O-O a5 {and his N is needed on d2 to guard the e-Pawn and his pieces are uncoordinated. Black is clearly better.}) 9... b5 {As in the Benko Gambit, but as far as I know, in the Benko black does not play ...e6. After 9...Nbd7 it's a Benoni-type setup.} 10. cxb5 (10. b3 {Declining to capture is not possible.} Ne8 11. Nbc3 b4 {wins material.}) 10... a6 11. bxa6 Bxa6 {In Fritz' auto-annotation the opening was classified as a K-Indian, but it has transposed (I think) into a Benko Gambit. Black has sacrificed a P and for it he has two open files and the a- and b-Pawns are targets, plus his dark squared B is very strong.} 12. O-O Nbd7 {[%mdl 1056] Black has more than enough compensation for his sacrificed P.} 13. Qc2 Re8 14. Nbc3 Ne5 15. Rd1 Ra7 {Intending to double Rs on the e-file. Another good plan was ...Bc8-f5} 16. b3 {Getting the B into play with 16.Bf4 was better.} Rae7 17. Be3 {Again, 17.Bf4 was better.} (17. Bf4 Neg4 {In this position this only results in equality.} 18. hxg4 Bxe2 19. Nxe2 Rxe2 20. Qc4 Nxg4 21. Bf3 Bxa1 22. Bxe2 Ne5 23. Qc2 Bd4 {with an unclear position.}) 17... Neg4 {[%mdl 512] A nifty tactical shot!} 18. hxg4 {Threatens to win with Bf3.} Nxg4 {Dely suggested that he missed a quick victory here and correctly said he ought to have played 18...Rxe3} (18... Rxe3 19. fxe3 Nxg4 20. Bf3 {This is a much better defense than Dely's 20.e4? whis loses rather quickly.} Bxc3 21. Nxc3 Rxe3 22. Rf1 (22. Bxg4 {loses outright.} Rxg3+) 22... Qf6 23. Ne4 Qd4 {Black has a decisive advantage.}) 19. Bg5 { [%mdl 32] After this blak's advantage is minimal.} Rxe2 20. Qxe2 Bxe2 21. Bxd8 Bxc3 22. Bc7 {White has managed to completely equalize.} Be5 (22... Bxd1 23. Rxd1 Bd4 24. Rd2 {This position is especially difficult for black to defend, but he does have drawing chances. In five Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =3, but the endgames were long and at 17 plies white had a R+ light squared B vs a dark squared B...a difficult theoretical win.}) 23. Bh3 f5 {A error that hands over the advantage!} (23... Bxd1 24. Rxd1 f5 25. Bxg4 fxg4 {Again, a very difficult ending in which black would be on the defensive...a difficult task.}) (23... Rc8 {is his best choice, but a draw, apparently not an agreeable outcome to Dely, is likely after} 24. Bxd6 Bxd6 25. Rd2 Bf3 26. Rd3 Be2 27. Rd2 (27. Rc3 Be5 {wins}) 27... Bf3 28. Rd3 Be2 29. Rd2 {Draw.}) (23... Re7 { also draws.} 24. Bd8 Re8 25. Bc7 Re7 26. Bd8 {with a repetition because after} Bxd1 27. Rxd1 Re8 28. Bxg4 Rxd8 {with a draw owing to opposite color Bs. That was, in fact, the result of 5 Shooutouts.}) 24. Re1 Bxa1 {To avoid a disadvantage white must now play 25.Rxa1} 25. Bxg4 (25. Rxa1 c4 26. Bxd6 cxb3 27. axb3 Rd8 28. Bf4 Rxd5 {white is only slightly better.}) 25... fxg4 26. Rxa1 {[%mdl 4096]} Bf3 {Superficially it may appear that white has the advantage in the ending, but, in fact, black is slightly better because of the compromised position of white's K. Watch!} 27. Bxd6 Rd8 28. Be7 {[%mdl 8192]} (28. Be5 { is the only correct defense.} Rxd5 29. Re1 {White's R is curiously confined to the first rank.} Kf7 30. Kf1 c4 31. bxc4 Rc5 32. a4 Ra5 33. Kg1 (33. Bf4 Rh5 { wins}) 33... Rxa4 34. Rc1 h5 35. c5 Ke6 36. Bb8 Bc6 {and a draw would be a reasonable outcome.}) 28... Rxd5 {Black is clearly winning. Note that he can generate mate threats and defending against them renders white helpless to undertake anything else.} 29. Re1 Kf7 30. Kf1 Rh5 31. Bh4 g5 32. Re5 Kg6 33. Rxc5 gxh4 34. Rxh5 Kxh5 35. gxh4 Kxh4 36. b4 {The Ps are easily stopped by the B.} Bc6 37. Ke2 Kg5 38. Ke3 h5 {White resigned} (38... h5 39. Ke2 Bb5+ { This is the quickest way because it stops white's K from hindering the advance of the h-Pawn.} 40. Ke3 h4 41. f3 g3 {etc.}) 0-1