Petrosian Played Like Tal

     The 1968 Moscow City Championship was a very strong tournament which included World Champion Tigran Petrosioan. He was, as is well known, a solid positional player and this was his second tournament in a row (the other was an international event in Bamberg, Germany) in which he did not lose a single game.

     He was sometimes criticized for his strictly positional play, but that was simply a matter of preference; you do not get to be World Champion with out being very good at all phases of the game, including tactics. 

     Petrosian's opponent, Yakov Estrin (1923-1987) was an IM, theoretician, writer and World Correspondence Champion who held the Correspondence Grandmaster title. Estrin was an authority on the Two Knights Defense. His game with Hans Berliner in which Berliner played the Two Knights and won is one of the most famous and important games in correspondence chess.
 

     In OTB play, Chessmetrics estimates Estrin's highest ever rating to have been 2595 in 1974 and that placed him at number 90 in the world. At the time this game was played Chessmetrics estimates his rating to have been 2456 which was no where close to even the top 100. 

     As an opening theoretician, Estrin's poor play in the opening is quite surprising and Petrosian took advantage of it and crushed him. 

[Event "Moscow Championship"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1968.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Tigran Petrosian"] [Black "Yakov Estrin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1968.??.??"] {English Opening} 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 d6 4. Nc3 Be6 {Already a poor move as this move has never worked well for black. Best is 4...g6} 5. d3 g6 6. b4 { [%mdl 32]} Qd7 (6... Nxb4 {loses to} 7. Qb3 a5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qxb7 Nd4 10. Rb1 { Black has no good continuation. For example...} Rc8 11. e3 Nf5 12. Nb5 { and there is no satisfactory way to meet Na7}) 7. b5 Nd8 8. Nf3 {Black's poor opening play has resulted in reaching a position where he has no really satisfactory reply.} Bg7 (8... f6 9. a4 Ne7 10. O-O Bg7 11. Ba3 O-O {White is better. Perkins,A (2305)-Tarjan,J (2405) Graz 1972}) (8... Bh3 9. Bxh3 Qxh3 10. d4 Bg7 11. dxe5 Ne6 (11... dxe5 12. Ba3 Qg4 13. O-O {Black's position is very poor. Li,C (2680)-Makka,I (2154) Guben GER 2014}) 12. Nd5 {with the advantage. Li,C (2680)-Makka,I (2154) Guben GER 2014}) (8... h6 {This probably black's best reply.} 9. O-O Bg7 {Here white should play...} 10. Bb2 c5 11. bxc6 Nxc6 12. Nd2 {with the better game.}) 9. Ng5 e4 {Not good. Because white is better developed the opening of the position is unfavorable for black. A developing move like 9...Nf6 or 9....Bf5 was better.} 10. Bb2 {Naturally, Petrosian is not going to fall for taking the e-Pawn.} (10. Ngxe4 f5 {wins the N.}) 10... exd3 11. Qxd3 a6 {This is a serious tactical error.} (11... Qe7 {keeps fighting.} 12. Nxe6 fxe6 {and white is clearly better, but at least black has some hope of defending himself.}) 12. h4 {Petrosian had a number reasonable positional continuations available, but here, especially against Estrin's weak opposition, he prefers to go for the throat. Black has a number of difficulties: his K will not be safe on either wing and trouble is brewing on the a1-h7 diagonal which he carelessly opened on mpve 9.} axb5 13. cxb5 Ne7 14. Qd2 O-O {Castling into trouble, but there weren't any really good options.} ( 14... d5 15. Nce4 d4 (15... dxe4 16. Qxd7+ {wins material.}) 16. a4 Bd5 17. Nc5 Qd6 18. Nge4 Bxe4 19. Nxe4 Qb6 20. a5 Qxb5 21. Bxd4 O-O (21... Bxd4 22. Qxd4 { White is winning.}) 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 23. Qc3+ {with a clear advantage.}) 15. h5 gxh5 {[%mdl 8192] Estrin appears to have a death wish.} (15... h6 {was considerably better.} 16. Nxe6 fxe6 17. a4 {White has a clear positional advantage.}) 16. Rxh5 (16. Nxh7 {is unsound because after} Kxh7 17. Rxh5+ Kg8 18. Ne4 f6 {White's attack is at a standstill and the advantage has shifted to black.}) 16... Bf5 17. Be4 {White is clearly winning.} Bg6 {At first glance it appears that black has managed to shore up his K-side, but white's next move destroys the Ks defenses.} 18. Rxh7 Bxh7 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 20. O-O-O {Bringing the R into play.} Ng8 21. Rh1 Nh6 22. Nd5 {Bring his remaining pieces into play.} f6 (22... Bxb2+ 23. Qxb2+ f6 24. Rxh6 Qg7 25. Rg6 {Black's position is hopeless.}) 23. Ne4 Rxa2 (23... Ndf7 24. Nexf6 Qxb5 25. Ne7 Qc5+ 26. Bc2 { mate is unavoidable.} Qg5 27. Qxg5 Nxg5 (27... Ne5 28. Rxh6+ Bxh6 29. Qxh6#) 28. Ng6#) 24. Rxh6 Bxh6 25. Qxh6 Qg7 26. Qh4 {Black resigned.} (26. Qh4 Qxh7 27. Bxf6+ Rxf6 28. Qxf6+ Qg7 29. Qxd8+ Qg8 30. Qxg8+ Kxg8 31. Nec3 {White wins the ending.}) 1-0

An Impressive Win By Santasiere

     In the last post it was described how President Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last week in November to the 4th week in November. In this post we're still in 1939. 

     That was the year that the New York Times predicted television would fail because the average American family would not have enough time to sit around watching it. Today, on average, 79% of people over the age of 15 spend about 3 hours a day watching television. For those over 65 years old, the average is about an hour more. In 1939, a lot of the over 65 crowd would not have been available to watch television because life expectancy for men was 62.1 years and 65.4 years for women. 

     In 1939 General Motors introduced the first mass-produced, fully automatic transmission as an option for the 1940 model year Oldsmobile. And, Ernest Vincent wrote the book Gadsby which has over 50,000 words in it without containing the letter e, the most common letter in English. The plot revolves around a dying fictional which is revitalized as a result of the efforts of John Gadsby and a youth organizer. 

     In other happenings, Batman made his first appearance in Detective Comics, Amelia Earhart was officially declared dead after her 1937 disappearance. The first Thin Mint cookies were sold by the Girl Scouts and the first Little League Baseball game was played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Also in baseball, the Hall of Fame was dedicated in Cooperstown, New York. 

     One of the popular songs of the day was God Bless America sung by Kate Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986). She was known as The First Lady of Radio and besides the song God Bless America, When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain. She became known as The Songbird of the South because of her tremendous popularity during World War II. 

     I remember Kate Smith from my youth when she appeared on TV shows like The Ed Sullivan Show where she sand her iconic songs. I thought they were awful. 

     For over a year following her death, her remains were stored in a vault at St. Agnes Cemetery in Lake Placid, New York where she regularly attended Sunday Mass and could be heard singing the hymns, while church officials and Smith's executors engaged in a dispute over her request to be buried in a mausoleum on the cemetery's grounds. Her private burial service wasn't held until November 14, 1987. If you can tolerate it, you can listen to her sing HERE.

     The following game was played in the 40th ACF Congress in New York City which ran July 18-29, 1939. This tournament was an important one...at the closing dinner an announcement was made concerning the merger between the American Chess Federation and National Chess Federation. The new organization would be known as the United States Chess Federation.

 

Finals section

     This tournament had a new rule, too. Players had to make 40 moves with two hours and special time clocks were used. 

     Anthony Santasiere's victory in the following game is impressive. His opponent, Boris Blumin (1908-1998), was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, later settled in Canada and in the late 30s was Canadian Champion in two successive years. Later in life, he moved to New Jersey where he won the Hamilton Chess Club Championship at the age of 78. 

[Event "US Open, New York"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1939.07.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Anthony Santasiere"] [Black "Boris Blumin"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "1939.??.??"] {Colle System} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 b6 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. Nbd2 d6 6. b3 { The Colle-Zukertort System where white aims for a K-side attack; it can be very dangerous.} Nbd7 7. Bb2 Be7 (7... g6 {I think this is the safest way to meet the Colle because it blunts the force of white's B on d3.} 8. c4 Bg7 9. Qc2 O-O 10. O-O Re8 11. Ng5 Ng4 12. Ndf3 f5 {with equality. Adly,A (2480) -Dgebuadze,A (2535) Arnhem 2006}) 8. O-O O-O 9. c4 (9. Qe2 c5 10. Rad1 d5 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. f4 {equals. Krueger,P-Moritz,B Frankfurt 1923}) 9... d5 10. Qe2 $14 h6 11. e4 dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Bxe4 14. Qxe4 Nf6 15. Qe2 {What a boring position. What could go wrong?} Nd7 {A bit passive. A more active move was 15.. .c5} 16. Rad1 {[%mdl 32]} Re8 17. Rd3 {Very instructive. Santasiere will use this R as an important part of his K-side attack.} c6 {this passive approach is going to cause black problems. 17...Bd6 was better.} 18. Ne5 Qc7 19. Rg3 Nxe5 20. dxe5 {Don't worry about the P on e5 blocking white's B; it will get into play very soon.} Rad8 (20... g6 21. Qe4 Kh8 (21... Rad8 22. Rxg6+ fxg6 23. Qxg6+ Kh8 24. Qxh6+ Kg8 25. Qxe6+ {wins for white.}) 22. h4 {White has good attacking chances, but with careful play black may be able to ward it off.} ( 22. Rxg6 {is no good here because after} fxg6 23. Qxg6 Bf8 {white's attack is stymied and it's black who is winning.})) 21. Bc1 {As mentioned previously, the B gets into play.} Kh7 22. Qh5 Bf8 23. Bxh6 {[%mdl 512] This vigorous move is by far the best. Even though there is no forced win, black is walking a very fine line.} g6 (23... gxh6 {gets him mated.} 24. Qg4 h5 25. Qg8+ Kh6 26. Qh8#) 24. Qg5 {[%mdl 128]} Qe7 {[%mdl 8192] This meets a clever refutation.} ( 24... Bxh6 {was his best chance. Then after} 25. Rh3 Kg8 26. Rxh6 (26. Qxh6 Qxe5 {leaves white with nothing.}) 26... Qe7 27. Qg4 Kg7 28. Rh3 Rh8 {And all white can brag about is having an extra P. Foir white, the win, if there is one, is a long way off.}) 25. Rh3 Kg8 26. Qf4 Qc5 27. Bg5 Rd4 {This allows a mate in 5, but there was no way to save the game.} (27... f5 28. exf6 Qf5 29. Qc7 Be7 30. fxe7 {is hopeless for black.}) 28. Bf6 {[%mdl 512]} Bg7 {What's the quickess finish?} 29. Qh6 {[%mdl 512] Nice! Black cannot avoid mate.} (29. Qh6 Bxh6 30. Rxh6 Rh4 31. Rxh4 Qxf2+ 32. Rxf2 {mate next move.}) 1-0

Eliskases vs. Bogoljubow Match

     Even though World War II had broken out on September 1, 1939, the big brouhaha in the United States was when Thanksgiving should be held. 

     On November 23, 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt carved the turkey at the Thanksgiving Dinner on his estate in Warm Springs, Georgia and wished all Americans a happy Thanksgiving. All Americans weren't happy though. 

     Many were not observing Thanksgiving on that day...they were waiting to celebrate the holiday the following Thursday because in many states November 30th was the official Thanksgiving Day. 

     In those days, legally, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday; it was up to the President to announce what date it would fall on. By tradition, since 1863, it was always the last Thursday in November because that's when President Lincoln declared it a national holiday. 

     Statistics showed that most people began their Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving and since 1939 had five Thursdays, merchants feared they would lose money because there were only 24 shopping days until Christmas...so they asked Roosevelt to make Thanksgiving a week earlier. Thus, Thanksgiving in 1939 would be held, the President proclaimed, on the 23rd and not the 30th. 

     Changing the date proved to be a contentious move. Thousands of letters poured into the White House opposing the change. Some retailers were pleased to get the extra week of Christmas shopping which would increase profits, but smaller businesses grumbled that they would lose business to larger stores. How is not clear. 

     Calendar makers were enraged because they had already printed calendars for 1940. Most schools had already scheduled vacations and annual Thanksgiving Day football games and the change disrupted everything. 

     And, many were angry because they claimed Roosevelt was trying to alter not only a long-standing tradition, but, also, American values just to help businesses make more money. Some states defied Roosevelt and declared November 30th as Thanksgiving anyway. 

     It wasn't until Congress to passed a law on December 26, 1941, declaring Thanksgiving to be on the fourth Thursday of November every year that the mess was straightened out. 

     In the rest of the world more important issues were at stake because they were at war. In the chess world, the Olympiad in Buenos Aires had been disrupted by the outbreak of the war which happened just after the completion of the preliminaries. 

     The English team returned home immediately and Stuart Milner-Barry, Harry Golombek and C.H.O'D. Alexander went to work at the top-secret code-breaking station at Bletchley Park. 

     Remarkably, the final went ahead, but the French, Polish and Palestinian teams refused to play against Germany. Organizers decided that unplayed matches would be scored as 2-2 draws. Germany won ahead of Poland and Estonia. 

     Many European players remained in Argentina after the Olympiad and eventually settled in South America, rather than return to war torn Europe. 

     After the Nazis annexed Austria in 1938, Austrian players were incorporated into the Greater German Chess Federation. After the annexation the only two players of equal stature were the aging Efim Bogoljubow who was almost almost fifty years old and twenty-five year old Erich Eliskases. 

     On the Chessmetrics January 1939 rating list Eliskases is ranked 9th and Bogoljubow 11th. They played a 20-game match between the 4th of January and the 12th of February 1939 that took place in eleven towns and cities in Germany.

     It was a clash of styles. Bogoljubow, while a player of strong positional skills, was primarily known as a strong tactician. Eliskases was a predominantly positional player and technically proficient in the ending. 

     Halfway through the match Eliskases had lost only the first game and had a huge 3 game lead. But, in the second half Bogoljubow fought back and won two games, but also lost two. 

 

 

How to pronounce Erich Eliskases  

How ow to pronounce Efim Bogoljubov

 

[Event "Match Game 3, Germany"] [Site ""] [Date "1939.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Erich Eliskases"] [Black "Efim Bogoljubow"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A70"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "109"] [EventDate "1939.01.04"] {Modern Benoni} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 {In the previous game, as white, Bogoljubow had played the solid but antiquated Giuoco Pianissimo and Eliskases played energetically and drew the R&P ending. In this game Bogoljubow defends with a Hyper-modern defense. Frank Marshall invented the Modern Benoni in 1927, but his experiments with the opening went largely ignored. Then in the 1950s players in the Soviet Union, especially Mikhail Tal, began using it. It suffered a theoretical crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, but it made a recovery when Vladimir Kramnik used it in the 2004 World Championship.} 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 a6 7. a4 g6 8. e4 Bg7 9. Bd3 O-O 10. O-O {This is the basic P-structure of the Modern Benoni. White has a central P-majority, black a Q-side P-majority. Black aims to counterattack rather than equalize and frequently must resort to tactical play and material sacrifices in order not to be forced into passivity. White's central majority gives him a space advantage on the K-side. However, to make things more complicated, black can place a R on the e-file which restrains white's play. White can play a4 and Nf3-d2-c4 to hinder black's Q-side play. As GM Lev Psakhis once wrote, the Modern Benoni is definitely not an opening for cowards.} Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Nbd7 13. Qe2 Ne5 (13... Qc7 14. f4 Rfe8 15. Qf3 c4 16. Bc2 Qc5+ 17. Kh1 b5 18. Be3 Qb4 {White is better. Pfleger,H (2545)-Filipowicz,A (2405) Tel Aviv 1964}) 14. Bc2 (14. f4 {is interesting.} Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Nd7 16. e5 dxe5 17. f5 Nf6 {Black should have tried a P-sac here with ...c5 and ...Rc8 followed by ... Nc5 with equal chances.} 18. Bg5 h6 {This loses quickly. Again, ...c4 was better.} 19. Bxf6 Qxf6 20. fxg6 {Inviting, but this loses all his advantage and allows black back in the game. Winning was 20.Ne4} Qxg6 21. Ne4 {Now this is wrong; he should have exchanged Qs.} f5 {Even better was 21...c4} 22. Nxc5 e4 23. Qc4 {A good looking move, but it's also a losing move! 23.Qe3 was correct.} Qd6 24. Qb4 {Losing outright. The N belongs on e6 when the chances would be equal.} (24. Nxb7 Qb6+ 25. Nc5 Rac8 26. b4 Bxa1 {Black is better.}) 24... a5 25. Qb5 Bd4+ {White resigned. Rausch,S (2346)-Granabetter,J Vienna 2003. This game illustrates some of the complications involved in the Modern Benoni!}) 14... Nh5 15. g4 Nf6 16. f4 Ned7 17. Be3 Re8 {To hinder the advance e5.} 18. Qg2 b5 {This is a sound move but results in no more than equality. Bogoljubow misses the correct followup though.} 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. g5 {[%mdl 2048] White is more active.} (21. Nxb5 {favors black after} Nxd5 22. Bc1 (22. exd5 Rxe3 {is very much worse for white.}) 22... Qb8 23. e5 Nxf4 24. Rxf4 Bxe5 {in this unbalanced position the chances are about even.}) 21... Nh5 22. Nxb5 {This is playable now that the possibility of ...Nxd5 has been eliminated.} Qb8 {Inhibits Nc7.} 23. Bd3 {b3 is the strong threat.} f5 { This is questionable. 23...Nb6 threatening Nxd5 as well as c4 wins back the P.} 24. gxf6 Ndxf6 25. Nc3 (25. Nxd6 {was playable, but not better.} Qxd6 26. e5 Qb8 27. d6 (27. exf6 {loses to} Rxe3 28. Rf3 (28. fxg7 Rg3) 28... Rxf3 29. Qxf3 Bxf6 {wins}) 27... Nd7 28. Qc6 Nf8 29. Bc4+ Kh8 30. Rd1 {It's doubtful that black can save the game.}) 25... Qb3 {Better was 25...Bh6} 26. Bc1 (26. e5 { is not so clear.} dxe5 27. Bb5 Rb8 28. Ba4 Qxb2 29. Qxb2 Rxb2 30. fxe5 Nxd5 31. Nxd5 Bxe5) 26... Nd7 27. Qc2 Qb4 {This is bad.} (27... Bd4+ 28. Kg2 Rb8 29. Qxb3 Rxb3 {is about equal.}) 28. Nb5 {This is a real gut punch.} Ng3 29. Bd2 Bd4+ {Black's position is not good, but this is probably the worst mover available.} (29... Qxb2 30. Qxb2 Bxb2 31. Re1 {and black's d-Pawn goes and with it the game.}) 30. Kg2 {Even better was 30.Rf2} (30. Rf2 {Black's Q is trapped.} Bxf2+ 31. Kg2 {with an easy win.}) 30... Nxf1 31. Kxf1 Qxb2 32. Qxb2 Bxb2 33. Nxd6 Ra8 34. Nc4 {Inhibits Nb6.} Bc1 35. Bxc1 Ra1 36. e5 Rxc1+ { [%mdl 4096]} 37. Ke2 {The ending is won for white but he needs to exhibit good technique.} Rh1 38. e6 Nf6 39. d6 Rh2+ 40. Ke1 Rxh3 41. Ne5 Rh1+ 42. Kd2 { Threatens to win with d7.} Ra1 43. d7 Ra8 44. Nc6 Kg7 45. d8=Q Rxd8 46. Nxd8 { Stockfish says white is clearly winning, but great care is still required! But, I was curious. A Shootout using an old engine (Fritz 5.32) was stopped because while it evaluated the position as won for white, it was running was too slowly and was making little progress in just the first game, so I stopped it! The ending is actually not so easy!} h5 47. e7 h4 48. Bb5 h3 49. e8=Q Nxe8 50. Bxe8 Kf6 51. Nb7 h2 52. Bc6 c4 53. Nd6 g5 54. fxg5+ Kxg5 55. Nxc4 {Confident in his opponent's ability to mate with a N and B, Bogoljubow resigned. How would white mate? Watch.} (55. Nxc4 h1=Q 56. Bxh1 {The Nalimov Endgame Tablebases show black loses in 27 moves no matter what he plays.} Kf5 57. Bd5 Kg5 58. Ke3 Kf5 59. Kd4 Kg5 60. Ke5 Kg6 61. Nd6 Kg7 62. Be4 Kg8 63. Kf6 Kf8 64. Bd3 Kg8 65. Nf7 Kf8 66. Bh7 Ke8 67. Ne5 Kd8 68. Ke6 Kc7 69. Nd7 Kb7 70. Bd3 Kc6 71. Be2 Kc7 72. Bb5 Kd8 73. Nb6 Kc7 74. Na4 Kd8 75. Kd6 Kc8 76. Nc5 Kd8 77. Ba4 Kc8 78. Bd7+ Kb8 79. Kc6 Ka7 80. Kc7 Ka8 81. Kb6 Kb8 82. Na6+ Ka8 83. Bc6#) 1-0

A Short, Sharp Win by Kimball Nedved

     On Tuesday, January 14, 2020, Kimball Nedved passed away at the age of 91. At the time he was living in Cumberland, Maryland.

     He graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a degree in psychology, a B.S. in 1952 and an M.S. in 1953. 

     In 1953, he was drafted into the Army and at Fort Benning, Georgia he made the rifle team which was the precursor to the elite Marksmanship Unit. Today this unit is made up of fewer than 100 soldiers who are at the top of the marksmanship game. They are the best of the best, not just in the military, but also in the competitive shooting world. These expert marksmen support readiness and recruiting, and train and compete year-round, including for the Olympics. 

     Also, while at Fort Benning Nedved did psychological testing of thousands of paratroopers training at the Airborne School's "Free Towers" which are 250 foot high towers from which students are dropped as part of their training. 

     After his service, Nedved worked in advertising for one of the world's largest ad agencies. His market research lead to employment with Johnson Wax where he helped develop Glade air freshener. Next, he worked for Campbell Soup and then Heinz Ketchup. 

     Eventually, he and a partner founded a company that provided market research for 30 years to most supermarket chains and large retailers in North America. 

     Besides chess, Nedved also loved history, especially studying the strategies used in the US Civil War and he greatly enjoyed visiting historical sites and national parks. 

     Nedved won the 1951 Illinois State Championship and the 1969 US Amateur Championship. His team won the 1986 US Amateur Team Championship. In 1987, his rating was 2321 and in 1988, when Carnegie-Mellon University was developing Deep Thought, they tested it by having Nedved play against it. 

     When Nedved won the 1969 US Amateur Championship held in Philadelphia, he was rated a USCF Expert (2000-2199) and living in New Jersey. He topped an entry 1ist of over 250, including the championship and reserve sections, with a perfect 6-0 score. His win from George Miller, who tied at 5-1 with four others for third place, is the featured game today...and it's a beauty. 

[Event "US Amateur, Philadelphia"] [Site "?"] [Date "1969.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Kimball Nedved"] [Black "George Miller"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "57"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.10.21"] {Ruy Lopez: Schliemann} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 {The rarely seen Schliemann Defense is sharp and the idea is to develop a quick counterattack on the f-file, but at the same time it weakens the K-side, especially the white squares. In this game black's general strategy backfires and it's white who develops a quick K-side attack.} 4. d3 {Rather tame. 4.Nc3 is usual.} fxe4 {Black has enjoyed greater success using 4...Nf6 and not capturing on e4} 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. Nc3 {A poor move that allows the N to be pinned. Correct was 6.O-O} Bb4 7. O-O {He could have ruled out doubled Ps with 7.Qd3} (7. Qd3 d6 8. O-O Bxc3 9. Qxc3 O-O 10. Re1 Bg4 {is completely equal.}) 7... Bxc3 8. bxc3 d6 9. Bg5 O-O 10. Qd3 (10. Nd2 {was played in Byambaa,Z (2279)-Lavrov,M (2397) Moscow 2012 which continued} Be6 11. Bc4 Qe8 12. Qe2 Kh8 13. f3 {with equality. }) 10... Qe8 11. Nd2 a6 12. Ba4 Be6 13. f4 {Launching what turns out to be a dangerous K-side attack, but the move should have allowed black to gain the initiative.} (13. Bb3 Nh5 14. Rfb1 Rb8 15. Be3 Nf4 {While the position is equal, white's position has little promise.}) 13... Qh5 {With this move black fails to take advantage of the opportunity white's last move offered him. In subsequent play the Q turns out to be subject to great harassment which gains white time to build up his attack.} (13... exf4 14. Rxf4 Nd7 15. Rxf8+ Nxf8 16. Rf1 Nd7 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. c4 Ne5 {Black is slightly better.}) 14. Bxf6 Rxf6 { Black may very well have been thinking of a K-side demonstration and in that case this recapture makes sense. However, it's white who is now able to launch a dangerous Kside attack and so the correct move was 14.gxf6 which would have left white with only a minimal advantage.} 15. f5 {This P is destined to exert a great influence on the coming play.} Bf7 16. Rf3 Rh6 17. Rh3 Qg5 18. Rg3 { [%mdl 2048] Keeping black busy.} Qf6 (18... Qh5 {would be very bad.} 19. Nf3 b5 20. Rg5 {snags the Q}) 19. Rb1 {Hoping black will take the a-Pawn and then white gets his R on the 7th.} Na5 (19... Bxa2 20. Rxb7 {with the c-Pawn and the N both attacked black's game is lost.}) 20. Nf3 {With black's b-Pawn defended there is now no reason to allow black to capture the a-Pawn which would leave the position about equal. Therefore, white should have played 21. Bb3} Kh8 {There was no reason to avoid 20...Bxa2 after which even Stockfish and Komodo are left casting about for a viable plan. After the text black has thing under control when it comes to defending his K-side so white must revert to Q-side operations.} 21. Ng5 (21. Bb3 Nxb3 22. cxb3 Rh5 23. c4 {Black has no K-side attacking possibilities and white has a slight positional plus.}) 21... Bg8 {This move is just awful...as will be seen.} (21... Bxa2 22. Ra1 Bc4 { and it's black who can lay claim to the better position.}) 22. Bd7 {White intends to exploit the e6 square. From here on Nedved plays with great precision.} Rh5 {It's hard to find a really good move for black, but this isn't it.} (22... Bxa2 {is no longer even a consideration.} 23. Be6 Bxe6 (23... Bxb1 {is fatal} 24. Nf7+ Kg8 25. Nxh6+ Kf8 26. Ng4) 24. Nxe6 Rg8 25. Nxc7 { and black is lost.}) (22... Qe7 {This seems about the best.} 23. Be6 Rh5 24. Bxg8 Rxg5 25. Rxg5 Qxg5 26. Bd5 {Here white's advantage is not so great and black would have good defensive chances.}) 23. Ne6 b5 (23... Bxe6 24. fxe6 Rg5 25. Rf3 Qe7 (25... Qg6 26. Qf1 h6 27. e7 {wins}) 26. Rf7 {is crushing.}) 24. Nxg7 Rg5 {The saving move...or is it?} 25. Ne8 {Stunning! This is an unusual situation. Often a R on the last rank is a killer; here it's a N!} Rxg3 26. Qxg3 (26. Nxf6 {also works.} Rxd3 27. cxd3 Kg7 28. Nxg8 Rxg8 29. Be6 {with a won ending.}) 26... Qe7 {[%mdl 8192] After this comes the crusher by the f-Pawn as previously noted. Applause to black for allowing white to finish with a bang!} (26... Qh6 {was a stouter defense, but still losing.} 27. Nxc7 Bxa2 28. Ra1 Ra7 29. Be6 Bxe6 30. Nxe6 Nc4 {White will win the ending.}) 27. f6 {[%mdl 32]} Qxd7 28. Qg7+ Qxg7 29. fxg7# {Again, remember the note about this P on move 15!} 1-0

A Complicated Charousek Game

     Rudolf (Rezso) Charousek (September 19, 1873 - April 18, 1900) was a Czech born Hungarian player who was one of the top ten players in the world during the 1890s. On the March 1900 rating list Chessmetrics estimated his rating to be 2734 placing him #6 in the world behind Lasker, Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Maroczy and Janowsky. 

     Charousek had a short career, dying at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. Reuben Fine wrote of him "Playing over his early games...you cannot help feeling a grievous, oppressive sense of loss, of promise unfulfilled". 

     Born near Prague, at the age of five weeks his family moved to Debrecen, Hungary, where he became a naturalized Hungarian citizen. He learned to play chess at the age of 16 while studying law and he is said to have copied out the voluminous Handbuch des Schachspiels by hand, unable to afford his own copy.

     Despite the lack of competition during that time he soon became a strong player and also qualified as a lawyer. In 1893, he entered a correspondence tournament in which he shared first place with another up and coming (and later great) Hungarian player, Geza Maroczy. He joined the Budapest chess club where he frequently played Maroczy and other prominent players of the day. 

     An almost unknown player, his style was between two schools of chess. Way back in 1946, Reinfeld and Horowitz published Chess Strategy and Tactics and in it they made the observation that like the masters of the Morphy-Anderssen period, he often played the King's Gambit. But, unlike them, he rarely won brilliantly with it. Instead, in gambit openings he introduced the concept of positional motifs and playing for the ending. They reached the conclusion that based on a careful examination of his games, he represented a contrast to the popular conception of him as a belated Romanticist. 

     The following game is an exception. Lamentably, the game was superficially annotated as I discovered when going over it with Stockfish and Komodo. The game turned out to be much more complicated than their notes indicated. I don't want to disparage Reinfeld and Horowitz because it's a complicated game and 1) they didn't have engines and 2) if one wanted to dig deeper into the game, it's possible that my notes might not bring to light all of the bountiful possibilities! 

     It should be noted that this was a casual game played during the 11th DSB Kongress held in Cologne in 1898. In that tournament, won by Amos Burn, Charousek tied for second with Chigorin and Cohn. Their individual game was drawn. 

[Event "Casual Game, Cologne"] [Site "Cologne GER"] [Date "1898.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Rudolf Charousek"] [Black "Amos Burn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C39"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "1898.07.31"] {King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Bg7 { In the primitive days of Morphy black played 5...h5. Most modern players, if that's the right term for it since the King's Gambit is so rare, is 5...Nf3} 6. d4 Nf6 7. Nxg4 {White has played 7.Bxf4, 7.Bc4 and 7.Nc3 here all of which are reasonable.} (7. h5 {is an interesting try.} d6 8. h6 Bxh6 9. Rxh6 dxe5 10. Nc3 exd4 {Here white has two plausible moves.} 11. Bxf4 (11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Qxd4 O-O 13. Qxd5 Qxd5 14. exd5 Re8+ 15. Kf2) 11... dxc3 12. Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Bg5) 7... Nxe4 {Not good. Correct was 7...Nxg4 with equal chances.} 8. Bxf4 Qe7 {Besides the discovered check he also threatens 9...Qb4+ But. these threats are easily met so he should have castled.} (8... O-O 9. Nc3 Re8 10. Ne3 d5 11. Ncxd5 Ng3 12. Bxg3 Qxd5 13. Bf4 c5 {with approximate equality.}) 9. Qe2 {Now if 9...Qb4+ 10.c3 and the b-Pawn is defended. In the book both Reinfeld and Horowitz missed the winning move...as did the players!} (9. Ne3 {and there is no good defense against the threatened Nd5} d6 (9... c6 10. Nf5 Qf6 11. Qg4 Bf8 (11... Rg8 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Kxd2 d5 14. Nxg7+ Rxg7 15. Qxc8+ Ke7 16. Re1+ {wins... it's a mate in 7}) 12. Be5 {and white is winning.}) 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Bd3 Nf6 12. Nbc3 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 c6 14. Qe2+ Be6 15. Ne3 Bxd4 16. Nf5 Bxb2 17. Nxd6+ Kf8 18. Rb1 Bc3+ 19. Kd1 {White's position is far superior.}) 9... Bxd4 {An improvement.} (9... d6 10. Ne3 Be6 11. c3 O-O 12. Qf3 d5 13. Bd3 c5 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. Qg3 cxd4 16. Bd6 Qd8 17. cxd4 Re8 18. d5 Bd7 19. Nc3 Na6 20. O-O Rc8 21. Rf2 f6 22. Raf1 Kh8 23. h5 Nc5 24. h6 {Black resigned. Walbrodt,C-Burn,A Vienna 1898}) 10. c3 Bg7 {This looks reasonable, but it's wrong.} (10... Nc6 { allows black to equalize after} 11. Ne3 {This has lost it's punch. Correct is 11.Nd2 with equality.} Ng3 12. Bxg3 Bxe3 13. Bxc7 Bc1 {Black is better.}) 11. Ne3 {[%mdl 1024] A strong move, especially in combination with the following maneuver. White has good compensation.} (11. Bxc7 d5 12. Bxb8 Bxg4 13. Qxg4 Nxc3+ 14. Be2 Qxe2+ 15. Qxe2+ Nxe2 16. Kxe2 Bxb2 {Black is winning.}) 11... Qe6 {Reinfeld and Horowitz claimed that black had no better way of guarding against the threatened invasion of the N, but that's not the case. Apparently they were referring to the "threat" of Nf5. Prevents Nd5.} (11... d6 {prevents Nf5 but loses to} 12. Nd5 Bg4 13. Qxg4 Nf6+ 14. Nxe7 Nxg4 15. Nf5 O-O 16. Be2 { White has won a piece.}) (11... Nf6 {This defense is his best chance.} 12. Nf5 Qxe2+ 13. Bxe2 O-O 14. Bxc7 Re8 15. Bd6 b6 16. Ne7+ Kh8 17. Bf3 Nc6 {Black's position is unattractive, but it's holding together just fine.}) (11... Nf6 12. Na3 {This is the preferable answer to black's last move.} d6 13. O-O-O Nc6 14. g4 Be6 {White has two plausible continuations to maintain the initiative: 15. Bg2 and 15.g5}) 12. g3 (12. Bxc7 {would be a poor choice. After} d5 13. Nd2 O-O 14. Nxe4 Qxe4 {White's pieces are uncoordinated.}) 12... O-O 13. Bh3 {Better was 13.Nd2 getting rid of black's one well placed piece.} f5 {Supporting the N makes sense, but Stockfish found a unique defense.} (13... Qa6 {A most unusual equalizing move!} 14. Nd5 (14. Qf3 d5 15. Bxc8 Rxc8 16. Nd2 Nc5 {with equal chances.}) 14... Qxe2+ 15. Kxe2 Na6 {with equality. Fascinating!}) 14. O-O d6 15. Nd2 {This eliminates the well placed N and at the same times connects his Rs. It also threatens 16.Nxf5 which would win.} Nxd2 (15... a6 {[%mdl 8192] A pass to illustrate the threat.} 16. Nxf5 {Threatens to win with Nh6+!} Nxc3 17. Qxe6+ Bxe6 18. Ne7+ Kh8 19. Bxe6 Ne2+ 20. Kh1 {White has a won position.}) 16. Qxd2 Nc6 17. Rae1 {In return for his Pawn white has obtained vastly superior development and a promising position which he utilizes in impeccable fashion.} Qf7 (17... Qxa2 {This gets complicated, but black can probably hold things together.} 18. Bg2 (18. Nd5 {is unclear. For example...} Bd4+ 19. cxd4 Qxd5 20. Bg2 Qxd4+ 21. Qxd4 Nxd4 22. Bd5+ Kg7 23. Re7+ Kf6 24. Bg5+ Kg6 25. Be3 Nc2 26. Bf4 Nb4 27. Bc4 d5 28. Be2 c5 {Watch this...} 29. h5+ Kf6 30. Rxh7 Re8 { White is slightly better.}) 18... Qf7 19. g4 {White has the initiative, but with careful play black may be able to survive.}) 18. Bg2 {This move was mistakenly praised by Reinfeld and Horowitz, but in reality black now equalizes.} (18. Bg5 {is much more promising.} Ne5 19. Nxf5 Bxf5 20. Bxf5 Qc4 21. h5) 18... Kh8 {It would probably have served black better to have played 18...Be6} 19. Nd5 {[%mdl 32] Preventing the development of the B on c8, but white had a far better alternative.} (19. g4 {was also a good try.} Ne5 20. gxf5 Bf6 21. Bxe5 dxe5 22. Ng4 Bxh4 23. Rxe5 Qg7 {Black can likely hold his position together.}) 19... Ne5 (19... Be6 {[%mdl 8192] fails} 20. Nxc7 Qxc7 21. Rxe6 Be5 22. Bxc6 bxc6 {White is winning and curiously there is no way for black to take advantage of the seemingly stranded R on e6.}) (19... Be5 { This looks quite promising ofr the defense.} 20. g4 Be6 21. gxf5 Bxd5 (21... Bxf5 22. Bxe5+ Nxe5 23. Qg5 Qg6 24. Nxc7 Rad8 25. Qxg6 Bxg6 26. Rxf8+ Rxf8 27. Nb5 Nd3 28. Re2 Rf5 29. Nxd6 Rh5 30. Bxb7 Rxh4 {White is better.}) 22. Bxd5 Qg7+ 23. Bg5 h6 24. Qg2 Bf6 25. Re6 hxg5 26. Rxf6 Qxf6 27. hxg5 {White is much better.}) 20. Bg5 (20. h5 {is much more promising.} h6 21. Bxh6 Be6 22. Bxg7+ Kxg7 23. g4 {with a strong attack.}) 20... c6 {Black should develop by Be6 and Rae8} 21. Nf4 d5 (21... h6 {was no better. After} 22. Be7 Nc4 23. Qd1 Rg8 24. Bxd6 Nxd6 25. Qxd6 {White is clearly better.}) 22. h5 {[%mdl 32]} Bd7 {[%mdl 8192]} (22... Nc4 {was a much better defense.} 23. Qd1 Bf6 24. Bxf6+ Qxf6 25. h6 Bd7 (25... Nxb2 26. Qc1 Nc4 27. Nh5 Qd8 28. Qf4 {favors white}) (25... Qxh6 26. Re7 {This cannot be allowed.}) 26. Nh5 Qg5 27. Qd4+ Kg8 28. b3 Nd6 29. c4 Rf7 (29... Qxh5 30. Qg7#) 30. cxd5 Qxh6 31. Nf4 {Black has equalized}) 23. h6 { Now follows a catastrophe on the long diagonal once the protecting B is removed.} Bf6 24. Bxf6+ Qxf6 25. Nh5 Qd6 26. Rxe5 {[%mdl 512] A crushing finish.} Qxe5 27. Re1 {The Q can no longer guard d4, so black resigns} (27. Re1 Qxe1+ 28. Qxe1 {Intending Qe5+ and mate.} Rfe8 {Black is a piece down and will lose in the long run. It's a long process so if you're interested, here is the finish using Stockfish in a Shootout.} 29. Qd2 Re7 30. c4 Be6 31. Qd4+ Kg8 32. Bf3 Kf8 33. Nf6 f4 34. Qxf4 dxc4 35. Nxh7+ Ke8 36. Qf8+ Kd7 37. Nf6+ Kd6 38. Ne4+ Kc7 39. Qxe7+ Kb6 40. Qb4+ Kc7 41. Qd6+ Kb6 42. Qd4+ Ka5 43. h7 b6 44. Qe5+ Bd5 45. Bg4 Ka6 46. Nd6 b5 47. Bc8+ Ka5 48. h8=Q a6 49. Qe3 b4 50. Nb7+ Ka4 51. Qb6 c3 52. Nc5#) 1-0

Penrose Pummels Barden

     Finally! After three days of a cold, dripping rain (with a few snow flurries in some locations), a 300 mile wide front stretching 1,300 miles from Ontario, Canada to southern Ohio, is finally clearing out and a warm up (maybe near 70 degrees!) is on the way. 

     The gloomy weather meant the last couple of days allowed for some time playing blitz on line, but my play was as wretched as the weather. Ergo, I spent some time looking through Ludek Pachman's old book, Modern Chess Tactics, which was first published in English in 1970. It was a companion to Modern Chess Strategy which I also have. Pachman, I should mention, was an excellent writer.

     One game that I came across was the following fantastic game by Jonathan Penrose (October 7, 1933 - November 30, 2021, 88 years old). He won the British championship a record 10 times, yet he always remained an amateur whose chess career was fitted into vacations at Middlesex University, where he lectured in psychology. 

     In 1960, at the Leipzig Olympiad Penrose defeated Mikhail Tal and Max Euwe then caught Bobby Fischer’s King in the middle of the board, forcing him to settle for an endgame a Pawn down. Short of time, Penrose offered a draw. Fischer replied “Sure!” then demonstrated a forced win for Penrose. 

     By the age of 17, Penrose was acknowledged as a top prospect. At Southsea in 1950, defeated both Efim Bogoljubov and Savielly Tartakower. Playing in Hastings for the first time in 1950/51, he beat the French champion Nicolas Rossolimo and in 1952/1953, he shared the first place at Hastings with Harry Golombek, Antonio Medina and Daniel Yanofsky. 

     Penrose earned the IM title in 1961 and was the leading British player for several years in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was widely considered to be of GM strength, but did not achieve the title during his active playing career. He also held the GM title in correspondence chess. Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2610 on the February 1969 rating list placing him at number 57 in world. 

     One of the primary goals, starting right in the opening, is to invest the pieces with a greater degree of effectiveness. Even moves like 1.e4 and 1.d4 open lines for the pieces while a move like 1.Nf3 brings the N into play. Later, in the middlegame this goal can include such things as the opening of a diagonal for a B, transferring a N to an outpost, the opening of a file for a R, etc. 

     In the following game played at Hastings 1957/58, Penrose's tactical shot 15.Bf4 was played with the realization that at the end of the sequence at move 19 his Queen would be much stronger than the combined forces of his opponent's Rook and two Bishops. So said Pachman. 

     Unfortunately (?), today we live in an age where laptops coupled with chess engines enable any armchair Grandmaster to poke holes in the play of guy's like Nezhmedinov, Tal, Bronstein or any other great player you can name because engines find the defects no matter how small or deeply hidden. 

     That's what happened when analyzing this game...Penrose's 15.Bf4 was found wanting by the engines. It doesn't matter because we humans can still delight in such a move. The concept was brilliant and in practical play it was crowned with success. 

     His opponent, Leonard Barden, is an English master, writer, journalist, organizer and promoter. His weekly Guardian chess column began in September 1955 and continued for sixty-one years. Barden was born on August 20, 1929, and as far as I know he is still among the living and that would make him 93 years old. Chessmetrics estimates his highest rating to have been 2497 on the January 1958 rating list and his best tournament result to have been in this Hastings event. 

[Event "Hastings 1957/58"] [Site "Hastings ENG"] [Date "1958.01.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Jonathan Penrose"] [Black "Leonard W. Barden"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B56"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1957.12.28"] {Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 { [%mdl 32]} g6 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. Bxc6 Bxc6 9. e5 {This is the goal of white's opening strategy, but he has not accomplished much as black has sufficient play.} (9. Qf3 {was the main alternative. In that case black equalizes easily with} Qb6 10. Nb3 Bg7 11. Be3 Qa6 12. Bd4 (12. Nd4 Nxe4 {Instead of this tricky line black could also play 13...O-O or 13...Rc8} 13. Nxe4 f5 14. Nxc6 fxe4 15. Qxe4 bxc6 16. Qe6 Bxb2 {The position is approximately equal.}) 12... O-O {Black is slightly better.}) 9... dxe5 {The correct reply.} (9... Bxg2 { is not so good because after} 10. Rg1 dxe5 11. fxe5 Nd7 {white gain the advantage with} 12. e6 fxe6 13. Rxg2 Qb6 14. Nb3 {Black is a piece down with only two very weak Ps to show for it.}) 10. fxe5 Ne4 {Taking the g-Pawn is still a bad idea.} 11. Nxe4 (11. Nxc6 {was more accurate, but it allows black easy equality.} Qxd1+ 12. Nxd1 bxc6 13. Nf2 Nxf2 14. Kxf2 Bg7 15. Re1) 11... Bxe4 12. O-O {In the book, Pachman wrote that white has come out of the opening with a considerable lead in development (which I am not seeing), but he has a weak pawn at e5 and in addition, black has the two Bishops. White's task, therefore, will consist in creating effective threats as quickly as possible and thereby preventing black from completing his development. Komodo 14 gives black a slight edge here of less than half a Pawn.} Bg7 13. Re1 Qd5 { Pachman was critical of this move because black falls in with his opponent's plan and difficult complications arise. Both Komodo 14 and Stockfish 15 prefer Barden's move and evaluated the position as slightly in black's favor.} (13... Bc6 {was tried in Kavalek,L-Jansa,V Jablonec 1962 and after} 14. Bg5 Qb6 15. c3 Rd8 16. Qe2 Rd5 17. Bf6 O-O 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 {the position is about equal.}) 14. c3 Qxe5 {This is the best here, since other continuations failed to give black a satisfactory game.} (14... Bxe5 {is a mistake because after} 15. Qa4+ Kf8 16. Rxe4 Bxh2+ (16... Qxe4 17. Ne6+ {wins the Q}) 17. Kxh2 Qxe4 18. Bd2 {White's B+N should prove superior to the R. This is one of those positions which theoretically favors white, but in practical play among amateurs, the stronger player is the more likely to win with either side.}) (14... Bxg2 15. c4 Qxc4 16. Kxg2 Rd8 17. Re4 Bxe5 18. Rxe5 Rxd4 {This materially unbalanced position (B vs 3Ps) favors white according to the engines. In practice things probably wouldn't be so clear. That said, in Shootouts Stockfish won 5-0.}) (14... O-O { is reasonable, but after} 15. Qe2 Bf5 16. Nxf5 gxf5 17. Qf2 Bxe5 18. Bf4 Bf6 19. Rad1 {White has equalized.}) 15. Bf4 {A very pretty move even if the engines don't like it! The unprotected position of the black Q and B give white very good practical chances. Black cannot well decline the sacrifice and. indeed, doing to would definitely favor white.} (15. Qe2 {This is hard to evaluate. Komodo thinks the position is ablut equal while Stockfish prefers black by about a P after} f5 16. Nf3 Qc7 17. Ng5 Bd5 18. Bf4 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Bf6 { But even here things are not so clear after} 20. Ne6 Bxe6 21. Qxe6) 15... Qxf4 (15... Qd5 16. Qa4+ Kf8 17. Rad1 {and white has reason to be well satisfied with his position.}) 16. Qa4+ {And this is where Barden starts to go wrong. Without the help of engines the move that keeps the advantage is too hard to find...obviously, or pre-engine annotators would have found it!} Bc6 {After this what's going to happen is that black will get two Bs and a R for his Q, but his situation will be extremely bad owing to the lack of any real co-ordination among his pieces.} (16... Kf8 {was recommended by Pachman who thought the position favored white, but it does not. After} 17. Ne6+ fxe6 18. Rf1 Qxf1+ 19. Rxf1+ Bf5 20. g4 Bf6 21. gxf5 exf5 {Fritz 17, Stockfish, Komodo all have the same 0.00 evaluation...anything can happen!}) (16... b5 {What a move!} 17. Nxb5 {Best.} O-O 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Rxe4 Rab8 20. Nxa7 Rxb2 {There are multitudinous possibilities, but the best line is} 21. Nc6 Bxc3 22. Rc4 Bd2 23. a4 e6 {and black is, theoretically at least, better, scoring +4 -0 =1 in Shootouts.}) 17. Rxe7+ {[%mdl 512] A beautiful move! After this white has equalized, but, and this is important, he has an active position and black must watch his step.} Kf8 {Taking the R would be bad.} (17... Kxe7 18. Nxc6+ bxc6 19. Qxf4) 18. Ne6+ {[%mdl 512] Another terrific move, in fact it's the only move.} fxe6 (18... Kxe7 19. Qxf4 fxe6 20. Qc7+ {favors white}) 19. Qxf4+ Kxe7 20. Qc7+ {This is the same position as in the note to move 18.} Bd7 21. Rd1 Rad8 {Black could not protect the B with the other R because then the R on a8 would be lost.} (21... Rhd8 22. Qxb7 Be5 23. Rxd7+ Rxd7 24. Qxa8) 22. Qxb7 Rhf8 23. Qxa7 {All of a sudden things are looking very gloomy for black.} Rf5 24. a4 {[%mdl 32] The Ps are destined to decide the game.} Be5 25. a5 Ke8 26. a6 Bc6 27. Rxd8+ Kxd8 {Now 28.Qxh7 puts the game away, right?} 28. Qe3 (28. Qxh7 {Wrong!! Things aren't so simple.} Bb5 {Threatening mate.} (28... Bc7 29. Qh4+ (29. Qxg6 Bb6+ 30. Kh1 Rf1#) 29... Kc8 30. Qh8+ Kd7 31. Qd4+ Rd5 32. Qg7+ Kd6 33. c4 Bb6+ 34. Kf1 Rf5+ 35. Ke1 Rf4 36. Qc3 Bf2+ 37. Ke2 Bxg2 {White should be able to squeeze out the win.}) 29. g4 Rf1+ 30. Kg2 Bxa6 31. Qxg6 Re1 32. Qg5+ (32. Qxe6 Bb7+ 33. Kf2 Bg3+ {wins}) 32... Ke8 {and white may or may not win even though he can claim to have the advantage.}) 28... Bc7 29. b4 { [%mdl 1024]} Re5 (29... Bb5 {is more resistant.} 30. g4 Re5 31. Qd4+ Kc8 32. a7 Re1+ 33. Kf2 Re2+ 34. Kf3 Ra2 35. c4 Bc6+ 36. Ke3 {and in a few more moves black can throw in the towel.}) 30. Qd4+ Kc8 31. c4 {The remaining mvoes require no comment.} Re4 32. Qh8+ Kd7 33. Qxh7+ Kd8 34. Qh8+ Kd7 35. Qg7+ Kc8 36. Qf8+ Bd8 37. Qc5 Kd7 38. b5 Ba8 39. Qa7+ {Stockfish, Komodo and Fritz notwithstanding, a brilliant performance by Penrose!} 1-0

The (Not So Great) Vazquez vs. Sterling Matches

     Manuel Marquez Sterling y Loret de Mola (1872-1934) was born in Lima, Peru to Cuban parents and died in Washington, DC. He was a Cuban diplomat and interim President of Cuba for 6 hours on January 18, 1934. At the age of 16 he began a career in journalism writing for publications founded by his father.

     Suffering from asthma, part of his adolescence was spent in Mexico because his father believed the climate would help. While there he met Jose Marti, a Cuban poet, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. 

     Sterling was credited with saving the life of Mexican President Francisco I. Madero, when the latter was hiding from the authorities at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Sterling served in the revolution then in 1901 went to Washington as member of the Cuban mission where he unsuccessfully protested against the Platt Amendment, legislation which outlined US policy for its meddling in Cuban affairs. 

     After a journalistic career, he served in diplomatic service for many years as ambassador to Mexico and the United States. 

     Sterling tied for last place in the Paris 1900 tournament (won by Emanuel Lasker) that was held during the world exhibition. As an author, Sterling wrote about 15 books on diverse topics such as politics, history and chess. 

     He played, and lost, two matches against Andres Clemente Vazquez (1844 - 1901), a Cuban-Mexican problem composer who was an attorney by profession. In 1869, he emigrated to Mexico, becoming a naturalized Mexican citizen the next year. 

     In Mexico he collaborated in different periodicals and was a member of various organizations publishing his works such as Mexican Orators, Political Rights and Duties, Minorities Representation in Popular Elections. 

     Vazquez became a distinguished Consul of Mexico in Havana, a position which he held until his death. In that position he was lauded for his outstanding performance in all his endeavors which included diplomacy, literature and in the courts. 

     He was also a first class player and wrote three chess books: Chess by Memory, Masterly Chess and Chess Game Analysis. He also served as the first chess club president of Mexico and composed many direct mates. 

     The first match was held in August of 1894 with Vasquez winning 4.5-0.5. It was supposed to be a ten game match, but Sterling resigned half way through not only because his bad play left him no hope of winning, but also because he wanted to take advantage of the few days of leave that he had been given to visit family in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. 

     They met again in January of 1900 in a match that was to go to the first to win five games, draws not counting. Vazquez was in the process of again trouncing his opponent with a +2 -0 =2 score when the match came to an abrupt end when Sterling was forced to resign the match when he had to leave for Washington. 

     The reason was that he had been appointed private secretary for Gonzalo de Quesada, a key architect (along with Jose Marti) of Cuba's Independence Movement. In that position Sterling was sent to the Universal Exposition of Paris as Cuba's representative. 

     The following was game 3 of their first match and it was a tactical humdinger...one worth playing over with a board and pieces if you want to sharpen your tactical vision and ability to see ahead. 

[Event "First Match"] [Site "Havana CUB"] [Date "1894.08.11"] [Round "3"] [White "Andres Clemente Vazquez"] [Black "Manuel Marquez Sterling"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C13"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "1894.08.09"] [Source "El Ajedrez Magis"] {French: Classical System} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. Nf3 O-O 7. Bd3 h6 {Harmless. Both 7...c5 and the old fashioned 7...b3 are reasonable.} (7... dxe4 8. Nxe4 Bxd4 {This mild looking position can actually get incredibly complicated.} 9. Nfg5 {Wrong N!} (9. Neg5 g6 10. Nxh7 Kxh7 ( 10... Bxf2+ {is not quite sufficient.} 11. Kxf2 Kxh7 12. h4 Kg7 13. Qd2 { white has sufficient compensation for his P minus.}) 11. Nxd4 Kg7 (11... Qxd4 { loses} 12. Bxg6+) 12. Nf3 Qf6 {is completely equal.}) 9... f5 {Wrong P move!} ( 9... h6 {and black wins!} 10. Qh5 Bxb2 11. Rd1 Nd7 {White is at a standstill. Black simply must avoid taking the N.}) 10. Qh5 h6 11. Qg6 Re8 12. Nf7 Qd7 13. Nxh6+ Kf8 14. Ng5 gxh6 15. Nh7+ Ke7 16. O-O-O Qa4 17. Bxf5 Bxb2+ 18. Kxb2 Qb5+ 19. Kc1 Qxf5 20. Qg7+ Qf7 21. Qxh6 Nd7 22. Qg5+ {Black resigned. Naranjo Espinosa,S-Guerra,L Bogota 2004}) 8. Qe2 Nc6 {This mild move blocking the c-Pawn does no real harm, but it's quite passive.} 9. e5 Be7 10. a3 a6 11. g4 f6 12. O-O-O fxe5 13. dxe5 b5 14. h4 Qe8 15. g5 Qh5 16. Rh3 {Best.} (16. Rdg1 { doesn't work out.} Rxf3 17. gxh6 Qxh6+ 18. Kb1 Qf4) 16... Bxg5+ {This is the wrong way to capture the g-Pawn. Now white could have gained the advantage.} ( 16... hxg5 17. Rg1 gxh4 18. Nxh4 Qxe2 19. Bh7+ Kf7 (19... Kxh7 20. Nf5+ Bh4 21. Rxh4+ Qh5 22. Rxh5+ Kg8 23. Rxg7#) 20. Bg6+ Kg8 21. Bh7+ {draw}) 17. Kb1 { [%mdl 8192] Moving out of check seems reasonable, but in this case it loses.} ( 17. Nxg5 {was correct. Then after} Qxe2 18. Bh7+ Kh8 19. Nxe2 Rxf2 20. Nd4 { white has active play.} Nxe5 21. Re1 hxg5 22. hxg5 (22. Rxe5 {allows black to equalize.} g4 23. Rc3 Kxh7 24. Rxc7 Rf6) 22... Nf7 23. Rh5) 17... Bd8 {[%mdl 8192] This meeks retreat costs the game.} (17... Bf4 {Moving forward!} 18. Re1 b4 {Opening lines against white's K gives black excellent attacking chances.} 19. axb4 Rb8) 18. Rg1 {Once the Rs are doubled on the g-file the game will be over.} Ne7 (18... Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Qxe2 20. Nxe2 c5 21. Rhg3 Ra7 22. Nc6 Rb7 23. Nxd8 Rxd8 24. Bg6 {and white should prevail.}) 19. Rhg3 Rf7 20. Nxd5 {[%mdl 512] A nice finishing touch.} Nf5 (20... Nxd5 21. Bg6 {traps the Q}) 21. Bxf5 Qxf5 {The rest of the game is a mopping up exercise.} 22. Nd4 Qh7 23. Nf6+ Bxf6 24. exf6 Rxf6 25. Qe5 Rf7 26. Nxe6 Bxe6 27. Qxe6 Kf8 28. Rg6 Rxf2 29. Qc6 { Black resigned.} (29. Qc6 Rd8 30. Qxc7 Rfd2 31. Rxg7 {and it's over.}) 1-0

Prominent Chessplayer Perishes In Fiery Crash

 

     The German Zeppelin L2 was the second Zeppelin airship to be bought by the Imperial German Navy. It caught fire and crashed with the loss of all aboard on October 17, 1913 before it even entered service. 

     The Zepplin was first flown on September 6th and following a number of trial flights it was flown to Johannisthal in northeastern Germany on September 20th for an acceptance trial by the Navy. 

     This trial flight, the craft's tenth, was to be an altitude trial and was scheduled on October 17th. On the morning of the flight things started badly. Takeoff was delayed because one of the engines wouldn't start. 

     During the two hours it took to repair the engine the airship was sitting in the sun and the heated hydrogen expanded. As a result, on takeoff the airship ascended rapidly to about 650 feet and that's when observers saw flames leaping out of the forward engine car. 

     The flames caused some of the gasbags to explode and the airship began plummeting to the ground. Halfway down there was a second explosion and as the wreckage hit the ground there were more explosions as the fuel tanks ignited.

     Medical personnel were there immediately and shortly thereafter several ambulances arrived. Two crew members were found alive lying outside the debris and severely wounded lieutenant was freed from the wreckage. Of the three survivors one died at the site, the second died during transport to the hospital and the third died in the hospital. The remaining 25 crew members were killed on impact. 

     Among the 28 crew members who died in the crash was one of the strongest members of the Berlin Chess Club (Berlin Scachgegellschaft), Captain Max Behnisch who was in command of the airship. 

     It was determined that the accident had been caused by the rapid ascent leading to venting of hydrogen through the relief valves, which in Zeppelins of the period were placed at the bottom of the bags; there were no vents to convey any hydrogen let off to the top of the ship. As a result, some of the vented gas was then sucked into the forward engine car where it was ignited, the fire then spreading to the gasbags. 

     Korvettenkapitaen Max Behnisch (1873-1913) had been in the German Navy for 15 years originally serving as a corvette captain; a corvette is the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper warship. He had commanded the gunboat Panther when, in 1911, he was appointed to the Reichsmarineamt where he was head of the aviation department. 

     Behnisch was the son of the director of the Gorlitz mechanical engineering and iron foundry corporation. His family (mother and sister) received the news of his death at 1:00pm by telegram from Berlin. 

     Although Behnsich was not a Master, he was a highly esteemed as an amateur player as well as for his personal qualities. He enjoyed the distinction of having been the only player to have defeated Emanuel Lasker in a simultaneous exhibition at the club in 1912. Lasker himself spoke very highly of the brilliant effort by Behnisch, 

     It was very audacious of Behnisch to play the Scandinavian, but it paid off because he obtained good development and fine attacking possibilities. Then, a temporary sacrifice of a N enabled him to make progress and Lasker found it necessary to give up the exchange. 

     In 1912, at the annual congress of the German Chess Association Behnisch participated in one of the minor tournaments at the Breslau International Congress. After the conclusion of the events the Breslau officials arranged an extra quadrangular tournament with the order of finish being 1) Hugo Suechting 2) Walther von Holzhausen 3) Behnisch and 4) Dr. Carl Hartlaub. 

     Unfortunately, I was unable to discover any of Behnisch's games except for his win over Lasker. 

[Event "Simultaneous, Berlin"] [Site "Berlin GER"] [Date "1912.11.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Max Behnisch"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "1912.??.??"] {Scandinavian Defense} 1. e4 d5 {This used to be known as the Center Counter Defense. It's the oldest black defense recorded in modern chess. The general goal is to prevent white from controlling the center with Pawns and forcing an open game. It's played only occasionally today.} 2. exd5 Nf6 {This the more modern way, but at the time it would have been more usual to play 2...Qxa4. The rare Blackburne-Kloosterboer Gambit is 2...c6.} 3. c4 {This attempt at holding the P allows black to obtain full compensation for the P because he rapidly gets his pieces into play. White does better playing 3.d4} c6 4. dxc6 { The best move is still 4.d4} Nxc6 5. Nc3 e5 6. d3 Bc5 (6... Bf5 7. Nf3 e4 8. dxe4 Nxe4 9. Be2 Bb4 {Black has slightly the better of it. Savchenko,B (2562) -Asrian,K (2634) Moscow 2007}) 7. Be3 {White's safest moves is the uninspired 7.Be2} (7. Nf3 Bf5 8. Be2 O-O 9. O-O {is equal. Blondel,J (1626)-Andrieu,P (1914) Bagnoles de l'Orne 2009}) 7... Nd4 8. Nf3 {Here black should probably either play 8...O-O or 8...Bf5. but instead he plays for the attack.} Ng4 { White should get a slight advantage after this, but in a simul where Lasker is moving quickly and not expecting master level competition the text proved to be worth the risk.} (8... O-O 9. Be2 Bf5 10. Bxd4 exd4 11. Nb1 b5 12. Nbd2 bxc4 13. Nxc4 Nd5 14. O-O Re8 15. a3 Nf4 16. Re1 Qf6 17. Bf1 Bg4 {and the players agreed toi a draw. Trifunovic,P-Maric,R Zagreb 1953}) 9. Bxd4 exd4 10. Ne4 Bb4+ 11. Nfd2 {It would have been safer to play the other N to d2.} O-O {[%mdl 2048] Black threatens ...f5 putting white under pressure and causing him to have to lose time retreating the N which would not have been the case had white played 11.Ned2} 12. Be2 Ne3 {As forceful as this looks, black's advantage, if any, is only a positional one as he obtains the open d-file and what amounts to no more than potential threats.} 13. fxe3 dxe3 14. O-O exd2 15. Nxd2 (15. a3 { was safer.} Ba5 16. b4 Bc7 17. Qxd2 {Neither side can claim any advantage.}) 15... Qd4+ 16. Kh1 Qxb2 17. Ne4 {Rb1 is the strong threat.} Qd4 (17... Rd8 18. Rb1 Qa3 19. Bh5 Be6 20. Qf3 {and it's white who has the better chances.}) 18. Rb1 a5 19. Rf4 {[%mdl 8192] The very transparent threat is Nf6+ It's rather odd that in his brief notes to this game that appeared in the American Chess Bulletin, Isadore Gunsberg made no comment on this, the losing move.} (19. Qc1 {would have kept black's advantage to a bare minimum.} Ra6 20. c5 Rc6 21. Rf4 Kh8 22. a3 Bxc5 23. Nxc5 Qxc5 24. Qxc5 Rxc5) 19... f5 20. Qb3 {Hoping black takes the N!} Be6 (20... fxe4 21. c5+ Be6 22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Qxe4 Qxe4 25. dxe4 Rc8) 21. Ng5 (21. a3 {was hardly any better.} Bd6 22. Nxd6 Qxf4 23. Nb5 Rae8 {Black is still winning.}) 21... Qxf4 22. Nxe6 Qe5 {This should have left Lasker off the hook!} (22... Qe3 {stays on track.} 23. c5 Kh8 24. Nxf8 Qxe2 (24... Rxf8 25. Bf3 Re8 {Threat ...Qe1+} 26. Rf1 Qf2 27. Qd1 Qxa2 { White is very close to equalizing.}) 25. Qf7 Re8 26. h3 Qe7 27. Qxe7 Rxe7 28. Rf1 g6 {White's N goes leaving black with a won ending.}) 23. Nxf8 {[%mdl 8192] This hasty material grab is wrong.} (23. Bf3 {solves white's defensive problems as after} Rfe8 24. d4 Qf6 25. Bxb7 Rab8 26. Nc7 {Black's attack has been beten back and the chances are equal after, say} Rf8 27. c5+ Kh8 28. c6 Qh4 29. Nb5 Rbe8 30. Qg3 Qe4) 23... Qxe2 24. Nd7 Be1 {Not bad as black is ambitious and wants to force mate, but 24...Rd8 was even stronger.} (24... Rd8 25. c5+ Kh8 26. Qd5 Qe7 {winning the N.}) 25. c5+ Kh8 26. h3 Qf1+ 27. Kh2 f4 { Threatening ...Bg3#} 28. Rxe1 Qxe1 29. d4 {Avoiding the exchange of Qs with 29. Qf7 still loses after 29...Qe3! and white has run out of reasonable moves.} Qg3+ 30. Qxg3 fxg3+ 31. Kxg3 Rd8 {The ending is lost.} (31... Rd8 32. Nb6 Rxd4 33. Kf3 Rd2 34. a4 Rc2 35. Nd7 Rc4 {etc.}) 0-1

Roos Routs Gresser

     I remember 1955 because as a ten-year old I was a fan of the television program Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Canadian Mountie Sgt. Preston was played by Richard Simmons (1912-2003) and he was supported by his dog King and his horse Rex. I should mention that Simmons was NOT the Richard Simmons of exercise fame! The show was sponsored by Quaker Oats so naturally, tasteless as it was, I ate Quaker Puffed Rice cereal.

     In 1955 Quaker Oats bought bought about 19 acres of land in the Yukon Territory for $1, 000 and printed up 21 million deeds for one square inch of land. They set up and transferred the land to the Great Klondike Big Inch Land Company to make the company the registered owner and manager of the deeds.

     Starting in January 1955, the promotion instructed people to mail a form along with a box top from a Quaker Oats cereal. In turn, you got a 5 by 8 inch deed to one square inch of land in the Klondike. Of course, I got one.
    Then in February Quaker Oats was blocked from trading the deed for a box top by the Ohio Securities Division until it received a state license for the "sale" of foreign land. Sounds like a politician trying to make a name for himself and so making a big deal out of nothing.

     To get around the stupid injunction, the company stopped the trade-in offer and instead put one of the deeds in each box of cereal. 

     Of course it was all a bit of advertising bosh. Since none of the deeds, which excluded mineral rights, were registered, they were not legally binding and owners of the deeds never owned the land. 

     In 1965 all of the land was repossessed by the Canadian government due to $37.20 in unpaid back taxes. To this day officials still get inquiries from people inquiring if they really own a square inch of land which today is part of the Dawson City Golf Course. 

     I didn't play chess in those days and so was oblivious to the 1955 U.S. Women's Championship which was probably the strongest women's championship event up to that time even after the withdrawals of Mary Bain, Sonja Graf Stevenson and Eva Aronson. 

     Other top rated women players who declined invitations were Adele (Rivero) Belcher, Dr. Helen Weissenstein, Edith Weart, Kathryn Slater and Dorothy Williams. Among the participants however were defending champion Mona M. Karff and former champion Gisela K. Gresser. 

 

 

     It was an exciting battle with Irene Vines leading for six rounds, but she collapsed and the tournament ended in a tie between the former champion Gisela Gresser and Nancy Roos who were declared co-Champions. 

     Third place went to defending champion Mona Karff who began badly with only 2 points lost in the early rounds, but playing vigorous and aggressive chess, she won six consecutive games after the fifth round in a nearly successful attempt to overtake the leaders. 

     In the following game Roos seems to be lost, but when Gresser suddenly begins to play very passively, Roos seizes her chance and commences an irresistible K-side attack. There is an excellent article on Nancy Roos by Batgirl on Chess.com HERE 

[Event "US Women's Champ, New York"] [Site "?"] [Date "1955.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Nancy Roos"] [Black "Gisela Gresser"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1955.??.??"] {Polish Opening} 1. b4 {A rare guest in tournament play, but it was a favorite of Roos.} e6 2. Bb2 Nf6 3. a3 {An attempt at preventing ...Nc6 by playing 3.b5 does not confer any advantage on white and it can be satisfactorily met in any number of ways.} d5 4. e3 a5 5. b5 c5 6. c4 (6. bxc6 bxc6 7. Nf3 Nbd7 8. Be2 Rb8 9. Qc1 {favors black. Poley,V (2326)-Sukhareva,E (2248) Taganrog RUS 2013}) 6... Nbd7 7. cxd5 (7. Nf3 Nb6 8. cxd5 exd5 9. a4 (9. d4 c4 10. Nc3 Bd6 11. Be2 O-O 12. O-O Qe7 13. Nd2 Bf5 {and a draw was agreed even though black stands well. Christensen,T (2280)-Hansen,C (2310) Gausdal 1990}) 9... Bd6 10. Qc2 Qe7 11. Bd3 {Black is slightly better. Donguines,F (2380)-Nadera,B (2405) Genting 1995 1-0 (46)}) 7... exd5 8. a4 Be7 {In annotating this game IM Hans Kmoch claimed that because the e-file is semi-open and white has no chance of getting anywhere with an early e2-e4 a natural plan would have been 8...Bd6, .. .Re8 and then bring the N oin d2 into action with ...Ne4 or ...Nf8. Gresser's move is quite playable, too. However, 8...c4! puts white in an uncomfortable bind.} 9. Nf3 O-O 10. Be2 Nb6 11. O-O Bf5 12. d3 Rc8 13. Nbd2 {The position is equal and now both sides begin shifting pieces around in an attempt to come up with a workable plan. Even engines don't come up with anything clear and five Shootouts all resulted in drawn endings.} Nfd7 14. Rc1 Bf6 15. Ba3 Re8 16. h3 Na8 {Kmoch thought perhaps black's idea was to protect the c-Pawn with ... Nc7-e6. This is time consuming, but white's position is quite passive so there is not much she can do. Or, perhaps she was thinking of defending the c-Pawn by ...b6. Who knows?} (16... g5 {is an interesting idea.} 17. Nh2 h5 {but white has an equalizing counter in} 18. e4 {Here things get interesting.} dxe4 19. dxe4 Be6 20. Bxh5 c4 21. Ng4 c3 22. Nf3 Rc4 23. Bd6 Bxg4 24. Bxg4 Rcxe4 { with equal chances.}) 17. Qb3 d4 {Kmoch claimed that Gresser changed her mind about the aforementioned maneuver with her N and with this move the game becomes a struggle between two P majorities. He added that the change is brought about by the importance of the c4 square and in order to have sufficient influence on that square, black needs a N on b6 and so ...b7-b6 is ruled out.} 18. e4 Be6 19. Nc4 {White would have fared better by retreating the Q. In that case, it's hard to suggest a productive plan of action for either side. What can be said of this position is that as is almost always the case, it's a bad idea to voluntarily walk into a pin as white does with this move.} Nab6 20. Qd1 {Safer was adding additional support to the N with 20.Nfd2} Nxc4 (20... Bxc4 21. dxc4 Rxe4 {As pointed out by Kmoch, black is ahead by a protected passed P and ought to win rather easily. In reality things aren't so simple! Five Shootouts from this position were drawn mostly because in the ensuing endings black did not have a light squared B and so was unable to do anything when white blockaded the P with a piece on d3.}) 21. dxc4 Qc7 22. Bd3 b6 23. Rc2 {Roos realizes that she must try to advance her f-Pawn and this move aims to support its further advance. Black is better here, but fortunately for Roos, Gresser cooperates with her!} Nf8 {A strange retreat. Better was 23...Ne5} 24. Bc1 h6 {Preventing Ng5, but she is seeing ghosts. 24.. .Ng6 was solid.} 25. Ne1 Rcd8 {Another passive move and now it's white who has the initiative, but black is not yet lost as Kmoch declared.} (25... Bh4 { To meet 26.f4 with 26.Bxe1 is met by} 26. Qh5 Be7 27. f4 {and black can maintain an equal position by defending her K-side with} f6 28. e5 Qd7 { after which she can put up stout resistance.}) 26. f4 Bc8 27. Qh5 Bb7 {This time wasting maneuver repositioning the B has accomplished nothing and has resulted in white's position being even better. As ugly as it is, the defensive plan of ...Be7, ...Nd7 and ...Bf8 would have made things harder for white.} 28. e5 Be7 29. Re2 {Defending the e-Pawn so she can play f5} Rc8 { [%mdl 8192] This loses quickly, but there is not much fight left in her position.} (29... Nd7 {This hinders the dreaded advance of the f-Pawn} 30. e6 { But white has the advance of the e-Pawn as an alternative.} fxe6 31. Rxe6 Nf6 32. Qg6 Rf8 33. Nf3 {Resigning time is drawing nigh for black.} Bxf3 34. Rxf3 Rd6 35. f5 Qd7 36. Bxh6 Rf7 37. g4 Rxe6 38. fxe6 Qxe6 39. g5 Qe1+ 40. Kg2 Qh4 41. gxf6 Qxh6 42. fxe7 Qxg6+ 43. Bxg6 Rxe7 {and this ending is lost.}) 30. f5 Bg5 31. Bxg5 hxg5 (31... f6 {is no better.} 32. Bf4 fxe5 33. f6 Qf7 34. Qxf7+ Kxf7 35. fxg7 exf4 36. gxf8=Q+ Kxf8 37. Rxf4+ {and wins}) 32. f6 gxf6 33. Rxf6 {[%mdl 32]} Ne6 34. Qh7+ Kf8 35. Ref2 (35. Bg6 {Not that it matters, but this forces mate.} Ng7 36. e6 Be4 37. Rxe4 Ke7 38. Qxg7 Kd8 39. exf7 Qh2+ 40. Kxh2 Rf8 41. Qxf8+ Kc7 42. Re7+ Kb8 43. Rxb6+ Ka8 44. Qxc8#) 35... Nd8 {Avoiding immediate mate, but equally fruitless was 35...Ke7} 36. Qh6+ Ke7 37. Qxg5 Kf8 38. Rg6 Qxe5 (38... f6 39. Rfxf6+ Nf7 40. Rf3 {The Q covers e7 and Rg8# cannot be stopped.}) 39. Rg8# {This game was first auto-annotated at 12 seconds per move using Fritz 17 and Stockfish 15. It's interesting that for a player rated 1888 that Roos' play was evaluated as having a weighted error value of 0.10 (very precise). If a player's moves exactly match the engine the score would be a perfect 0.0, so a WEV of 0.10 is quite impressive.} 1-0

Stearns Smashed by Hahlbohm

     A far reaching law that had a personal impact on me almost 30 years later was passed in Ohio on April 29, 1921; it was the Bing Act. 

     With two major exceptions the law required children between the ages of six and eighteen to attend school. The two exceptions were a child who had already graduated from high school did not have to stay in school until turning eighteen; and a child who was sixteen and had passed the seventh grade was allowed to work as a farmer instead of attending school. 

     The law's intent was created to stop child labor, but it also caused problems and, naturally, there were those who opposed the bill...farmers and the Amish. They didn't want to take their children off the farm to continue in school. Plus they knew it meant they were going to take a financial hit...more taxes would have to be raised to run the schools. 

     Some also thought school would be a training ground that would teach children to be delinquents and learn bad behavior. When children were forced to attend school some families faced financial troubles because they relied on their children's income to help pay the bills. 

     To meet the schools needs the Legislature adopted a 3 percent sales tax that gave half of the funds to the schools for education purposes and operating costs. Question...what happened to the other half?!

     1921 was the last season for the Cleveland Tigers, the first Cleveland team franchise in what became the National Football League. For the 1921 season, the name of the team was changed to the Indians, partly because it was a stock name in Cleveland. A baseball team had also used the name since 1915, additionally, the football team had three Native Americans who had been signed away from the Canton, Ohio Bulldogs. 

     In October of 1921, the 22nd Western Championship (forerunner of the U.S. Open) was played at the Hotel Hollenden in Cleveland, Ohio. Edward Lasker won his third title in a row and fifth in six years. Hermann Helms served as referee and tournament director. 

 

     In the following game the well known Clevelander Elliott E. Stearns (1891-1969), a corporate attorney by profession, got clobbered by the prominent Chicago master Herman Hahlbohm (1886-1963). 

[Event "22nd Western Champ, Cleveland Ohio"] [Site ""] [Date "1921.10.05"] [Round "?"] [White "Elliott E. Stearns"] [Black "Herman H. Hahlbohm"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "1921.??.??"] {Symmetrical English} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 { This is the reason the auto-annotation using Fritz has classified this slippery opening sequence as the Symmetrical English.} e5 6. Nf3 d4 7. Nxe5 { Already a losing move!} (7. Nb1 Nc6 8. a3 {and here in the game Poliakov,Y (2249)-Rakhmangulov,A (2401) Pavlograd 2000 black erred with the passive 8... Be7, but he could have gotten an overwhelming edge with 8...e4 or even 8... Qa5+}) (7. Nb5 Bb4+ {Also good was 7...Nc6} 8. Bd2 Bxd2+ 9. Qxd2 a6 10. Na3 Ne4 11. Qd1 Qa5+ {Black has a significant advantage. Poliakov,Y (2249) -Rakhmangulov,A (2401) Pavlograd 2000}) 7... dxc3 {This move is faulty in that it allows white to equalize.} (7... Qd6 {attacking both Ns would have been much better.} 8. Qa4+ Nbd7 9. Nxd7 Bxd7 10. Nb5 Qb6 {Black will regain the piece and be left with an excellent position.}) 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. Nxf7+ Ke8 10. Nxh8 Bb4 {[%mdl 128] Black has enough compensation for the exchange in the form of active play. The text move threatening a discovered check also sets a trap.} 11. Kd1 {[%mdl 8192] ...into which white falls.} (11. b3 {renders the discovered check harmless.} c2+ 12. Bd2 Ba3 13. e4 {Tricky!} Nxe4 (13... Bb2 { is the correct move.} 14. Rc1 Bxc1 15. Bxc1 Nc6 16. Bd3 {In this highly unbalanced material situation the chance would be approximately equal. In Shootouts five games were drawn, but with humans I suspect the game could go either way.}) 14. Bd3 Nxd2 15. Kxd2 {and white is better.}) 11... Bf5 {With the obvious threat of 12...c2#} 12. e3 (12. e4 {This surprising move giving up a P would have kept his disadvantage at a minimum. The reason is clear next move.} Nxe4 13. Ke2 Nc6 (13... cxb2 {is inferior.} 14. Bxb2 Nc6 15. g4 Be6 16. Bxg7 {Black's advantage has mostly disappeared.}) 14. f3 Nd2 15. g4 Be6 16. a3 Nd4+ 17. Kf2 Bc5 18. b4 N2b3 19. Bd3 Nxa1 20. bxc5 {Black is better, but white can at least play on.}) 12... Nc6 {Getting his R into play.} 13. a3 Rd8+ { [%mdl 32] Here is the reason 12.e4 would have been better; in those lines black was not able tp get his R into play with a gain of time; a subtle difference.} 14. Ke2 cxb2 {Much the best as it brings the R into a dominating position.} (14... Bd3+ {This is not bad. White's K can skitter away, but it is still subject to a devastating attack.} 15. Kf3 Ne5+ 16. Kg3 Nh5+ 17. Kh3 Bf5+ 18. g4 Bxg4+ 19. Kg2 Bf3+ {Black is winning.}) 15. Bxb2 Rd2+ 16. Ke1 Ba5 { White is out of any meaningful moves...everything he plays will lose.} 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Rc1 {This allows a mate in 13, but he was hopelessly lost anyway.} Rb2+ 19. Kd1 Bg4+ 20. f3 Rd2+ 21. Ke1 Rxg2+ 22. Kd1 Bxf3+ 23. Be2 Rxe2 { White resigned. A crushing defeat.} (23... Rxe2 24. Rc3 Bxc3 25. Rg1 Rb2+ 26. Kc1 Na5 27. Rg8+ Kd7 28. Rg7+ Kc6 29. Rxb7 Kxb7 30. Nf7 Nb3#) 0-1