The Olympiad witnessed the debut of some strong young players: Paul Keres, Gideon Stahlberg, Jacobo Bolbochan, Andrea Lilienthal, Erich Eliskases, Peter rifunovic, Arthur Dake and Laszlo Szabo, among others.
At the start, the favorites were the United States (Reuben Fine, Frank Marshall, Abraham Kupchik, Arthur Dake and I.A. Horowitz) and Czechoslovakia, mostly because of their board 1 player, Salo Flohr, at the time one of the strongest world players in the world.
The final standings out of 20 teams was 1) United States 2) Sweden and 3) Poland.
The Unites States' third consecutive win of this event was mainly credited to Arthur Dake's outstanding 15.5-2.5 score. An interesting sidelight was that although Dake was born in Portland, Oregon, his father was from Poland and so Dake refused to play against Poland. Kupchik went undefeated and that was also a great help.
It was at this event that Paul Keres (January 7, 1916 - June 5, 1975) was introduced to the world; he met World Champion Alexander Alekhine, Savielly Tartakower and SaloFlohr. He lost to all three of them, but scored a respectable 12-7.
In the following game his opponent, William Winter (September 11, 1898 - December 18, 1955), was an interesting character who was British Champion in 1935 and 1936. Winter spent six months in prison for sedition (conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch) due to his communist activity.
Before castling, the weakest squares on the board are f2 for white and f7 for black. In this game Keres' assault on f7 with a N sacrifice in the opening is not only entertaining, but instructive.
In the game Keres demonstrates the principle that a sacrificial attack on f7 (or f2), whether with a Bishop or a Knight, must be followed up by aggressive action. That's because after ...Kxf7 not only can the King not castle, it is exposed to attack and there is also a weakness on the diagonal d1-h5. Any advantage white gets is generally of a transitory nature and must be energetically exploited before it disappears.
[Event "Warsaw Olympiad"]
[Site "Warsaw POL"]
[Date "1935.08.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul Keres"]
[Black "William Winter"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "1935.??.??"]
{Sicilian: Nimzovich Variation} 1. e4 {[%mdl 32]} c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {The rarely
seen Nimzovich variation is, at least according to my database, a good
surprise as only about a quarter of the games are drawn and the remaining
games equally divided between white and black wins. AA disadvantage is that it
does offer white some nice tactics.} 3. e5 {This advance Variation is the only
ral way to try and exploit black's move. After 3.Nc3 black has at least three
reasonable moves: 3...d6, 3...Nc6 or even 3...d5} Nd5 4. Nc3 (4. c3 {This is
the main line. Play usually continues} Nc6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 c4 7. Bc2 {
but this line has, on the whole, proven very favorable for white.}) 4... e6 5.
Nxd5 exd5 6. d4 d6 7. Bg5 (7. Bb5+ {is a good alternative.} Nc6 8. O-O Be7 {
with a good game.} 9. c4) 7... Qa5+ 8. c3 cxd4 (8... c4 {trying to keep the
position closed is the main alternative, but white is doing well after} 9. Be2
Nc6 10. O-O) 9. Bd3 {Developing.} (9. Qxd4 Nc6 10. Qe3 Be6 11. Nd4 dxe5 12.
Nxe6 fxe6 13. Qh3 {is completely equal. Kelecevic,N-Kozomara,V Sarajevo 1968})
(9. e6 {looks promising, but Keres rightly prefers developing to launching a
premature attack with this move.} dxc3 10. exf7+ Kxf7 11. bxc3 Be7 (11... Qxc3+
12. Bd2 {favors white.}) 12. Be2 h6 13. Be3 Rf8 14. O-O {White is only
slightly better.}) 9... dxc3 10. O-O {Much the best.} (10. bxc3 dxe5 {and
white has no good reply.} 11. Qb3 Bd6 {This, it turns out, is even stronger
than trying to win material with a P fork by ...e4} (11... e4 12. Bb5+ Bd7 13.
Nd4 {black is clearly better.}) 12. O-O O-O 13. Be2 Nc6 14. Rfd1 Be6 {and
black stands very well.}) 10... cxb2 {This runs into a snappy refutation. In
spite of his somewhat questionable move selection black would have been doing
reasonably well after 10...Nc6.} (10... Nc6 11. Re1 Be6 12. bxc3 Qc7 13. exd6
Bxd6 14. Bf5 Qd7) 11. Rb1 {Curiously, after this according to Stockfish black
is pretty much helpless (evaluation 2.5 Ps in white's favor; generally halving
Stockfish's evaluation is more accurate). Komodo 14 puts white's advantage at
a scant half of a P. Fritz 17 at about a quarter of a P.} (11. Qc2 {
Threatening to win at once with Qxc8} Nc6 (11... Be6 12. Qxb2 Qb6 13. Bb5+ Nc6
14. exd6 Bxd6 15. Qxg7 {and white is winning.}) 12. Qxb2 dxe5 13. Nxe5 Qa3 {
and black has equalized as there is no way to take advantage of the seemingly
precarious position of his K.} 14. Qe2 Be7 15. Rae1 Be6) 11... dxe5 (11... h6 {
The first choice of both engines.} 12. Bf4 Qb4 {Black dare not open the e-file
by playing ...dxe5} 13. Bd2 Qb6 14. Qc2) (11... Qxa2 {is met by} 12. Qc2 Nc6
13. Bb5 Bd7 14. Rfe1 Be7 15. exd6 {and wins}) 12. Nxe5 Bd6 {Losing instantly.}
(12... Be6 {was a tad better.} 13. Nxf7 Kxf7 14. Re1 Nd7 15. Qf3+ Nf6 16. Bxf6
gxf6 17. Qh5+ {This move is often seen often seen in conjunction with the
Bxf7+ sacrifice and the same applies here with the N.} Kg7 (17... Ke7 18. Bf5)
18. Rxe6 {White is winning.} Rc8 19. Rxb2 Rc1+ 20. Bf1 Qc7 {Black is actually
a P up, but he is dead lost. The reason is white's pieces are more active and
black's K is exposed, to wit...} 21. Qg4+ Kf7 22. Rbe2 Rc6 23. g3 h5 (23...
Rxe6 24. Qxe6+ Kg6 25. Qg4+ Kf7 26. Qh5+ Kg7 27. Re8 Qc2 28. Qg4+ Kf7 29. Qe6+
Kg7 30. Rc8 Qxa2 31. Rc7+ Be7 32. Rxe7+ Kg6 33. Bd3+ Kh6 34. Qh3+ Kg5 35. f4#)
24. Qf5 Rh6 25. h4 Rc1 26. Re8 Qd6 27. R2e6 Qc5 28. Re1 Rc3 29. Bd3 Qd6 30.
R1e6 Qc5 31. Rd8 d4 {White now has a pretty win as follows...} 32. Rxf6+ Rxf6
33. Qh7+ Ke6 (33... Bg7 34. Qg8+ Ke7 35. Qe8#) 34. Qd7+ Ke5 35. f4+ {and wins.
Stockfish points out a mate in 22 moves!} Rxf4 36. Re8+ (36. gxf4+ Kxf4 {
Black is lost, but he can still resist a bit.}) 36... Be7 37. Rxe7+ Qxe7 38.
Qxe7+ Kd5 39. Qxb7+ Kc5 40. Qb5+ Kd6 41. gxf4 Rc5 42. Qa6+ Rc6 43. Qxa7 Rc5 44.
Qb6+ Kd5 45. Kf2 Rc3 46. Qb5+ Ke6 47. Bf5+ Kd6 48. Qe5+ Kc6 49. Be4+ Kd7 50.
Qxd4+ Ke6 51. Qxc3 Kd6 52. Qe5+ Kd7 53. Kg1 Kd8 54. Qd6+ Kc8 55. Qe7 Kb8 56.
Qb7#) 13. Nxf7 {[%mdl 512]} Kxf7 14. Qh5+ {As noted, with a sac on f7 this
move often plays an important part.} g6 {There is nothing better.} 15. Bxg6+ {
[%mdl 512]} hxg6 16. Qxh8 {Threatening mate with Rfe1.} Bf5 17. Rfe1 {White
wants to mate with Qh7+.} Be4 18. Rxe4 {[%mdl 512] This mates in 11 whereas 18.
Qf6+ mates in 8.} (18. Qf6+ Kg8 19. Qe6+ Kg7 20. Bf6+ Kh7 21. Qf7+ Kh6 22. Qg7+
Kh5 23. Qh7+ Kg4 24. Qh3+ Kf4 25. g3+ Kf3 26. Re3#) 18... dxe4 19. Qf6+ {
Flawless play by Keres in this model game!} (19. Qf6+ Kg8 20. Qxg6+ Kf8 21.
Qxd6+ Kg8 22. Qe6+ Kg7 23. Qe7+ Kg8 24. Bf6 Qg5 25. Bxg5 Nc6 26. Qe6+ Kg7 27.
Qf6+ Kg8 28. Bh6 {mate next move.}) 1-0
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