At one time Stark worked in Washington, DC as traffic engineer and project manager, overseeing and implementing the facilitation of traffic flow along the major DC roadway.
In 1956, he left that job to work for the former National Bureau of Standards in Washington (known today as the National Institute of Standards and Technology) as an operations research analyst, until he retired in 1973.
He was a member of the Harvard champion chess team and in the 1937-39 he won the championships of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.
Besides being a rated chess master he enjoyed playing the piano, playing in duplicate tournament bridge, word games and nationally sponsored number contests.
The following game was played in Ventnor City in 1943. Weaver Adams played one of his specialty defenses, the Albin Counter Gambit which all the books say is bad, but in days long gone players like Alekhine, Spielmann and Tartakower used it. It has not been extensively analyzed and so because theory is not exhaustive there remains some wiggle room for black.
Stark's win in this game was awarded the Best Played Game prize which makes it especially unique because Adams was renowned for his expertise with the gambit. Stark chose a relatively unknown line and handled it quite well and concluded the game in jaunty fashion.
[Event "Ventnor City"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1943.??.22"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Martin C. Stark"]
[Black "Weaver Adams"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D09"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[SourceVersionDate "2022.11.22"]
{Albin Counter Gambit} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 {Reuben Fine warned Chess
Review readers that white must choose his next move carefully because there
are hidden traps! That's absurdity.} 4. Nf3 (4. e3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 dxe3 {A move
not considered by Fine, The chances are equal after} 6. fxe3 (6. Bxb4 {as
given by Fine.} exf2+ 7. Ke2 fxg1=N+ {ripping through white's position.}) 6...
Qh4+ 7. g3 Qe4 8. Nf3 Qxe3+ 9. Qe2) 4... Nc6 {Black wants to defend his d-Pawn,
but he should not do so by blocking his B with 4...c5} 5. g3 {FIne wrote:
white's strategy is to concentrate on development and the Q-side. If the
e-Pawn falls in the process, it does not matter since the better placement of
his pieces will be more than enough compensation. The order of moves is of no
great consequence. White often plays either 5.a3 or 5.Nbd2 with the idea of
putting pressure on the e-Pawn. Stark pursues a different plan: to defend his
own e-Pawn not in order to hold it because that is impossible, but to
disorganize black's development} Bc5 6. Bf4 {The point. While the idea is
unusual, there is in fact no no good reason why the B is not better here than
(elsewhere) - Fine} (6. Bg2 a5 7. O-O Nge7 8. Nbd2 Ba7 9. a3 O-O 10. b4 {
White is better. Ligterink,G (2391)-Brenninkmeijer,J (2499) Groningen 2001}) (
6. a3 a5 7. Bg2 (7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. Bg2 Ba7 9. O-O {Schlechter,C-Cohn,W Munich 1900
}) 7... Nge7 8. Nbd2 Bg4 9. O-O {Here, too, white is slightly better.
Schlechter,C-Marshall,F Paris 1900}) 6... Nge7 {[%mdl 32]} 7. Bg2 Ng6 8. Nbd2 {
Black is faced with a dilemma here as moves like 8...O-O and 8...Qe7 prove
unsatisfactory. So, Adams decide to offer a P sacrifice in the hopes of
gaining the initiative.} f6 {The engine's recommendation!} 9. exf6 Nxf4 10. f7+
{An unpleasant surprise. After this black's position is disrupted.} (10. gxf4 {
This is the move Adams was hoping for because he could then equalize with} Qxf6
11. O-O Qxf4) 10... Kxf7 11. gxf4 h6 {A loss of time to prevent Ng5+} (11...
Rf8 {This is his best try.} 12. Ng5+ (12. Nb3 Bb4+ 13. Kf1 (13. Nfd2 Kg8 {
Here black is quite well off.}) 13... Kg8 14. c5 Qe7 15. Rc1 {and white is
slightly better.}) 12... Kg8 {and white has allowed black to equalize!}) 12.
Nb3 Qd6 {While his position was not very promising, black could have offered
stout resistance after 12...Bb4+} (12... Bb4+ 13. Kf1 Qf6 14. c5 d3 {White can
now initiate favorable exchanges.} 15. Ne5+ Nxe5 16. fxe5 Qxe5 17. Qxd3) 13.
Ne5+ {This is not the best move as it should have allowed black full equality.}
(13. O-O Rd8 14. Qd3 {Black has nothing to show for his P minus.} Kg8 (14...
Bb4 15. a3 Ba5 16. Ne5+ Nxe5 17. fxe5 Qxe5 18. c5 {White is winning.}) 15. f5
a5 {White is better.}) 13... Nxe5 14. fxe5 Qb6 {[%mdl 8192] To quote Fine -
After the text black is mercilessly slugged into unconsciousness.} (14... Bb4+
{equalizes!} 15. Kf1 Qxe5 16. Qxd4 {White's advantage is minimal.}) 15. Bd5+
Ke7 16. Qd3 Rf8 (16... c6 17. Qg6 Bb4+ (17... cxd5 18. Qxg7+ {wins}) 18. Kd1
Rf8 19. Qxg7+ Kd8 20. Be4 {with a decisive advantage.}) 17. Rg1 Bf5 18. Rxg7+
Ke8 19. Be4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 d3 21. O-O-O Bxf2 22. Kb1 Rd8 23. e6 {Black resigned.
} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment