The great Dr. Savielly Tartakower (born February 1887) passed away on February 4, 1956, and in Detroit, Michigan a Tartakower Memorial Tournament was held from August 31 to September 3 at Wayne (State) University, a public research university.
It was an 8 round Swiss and first prize was a staggering $500, which had the buying power of nearly $5,500 today. Back in those days the average yearly salary was $4,450. A new Ford car cost between $1,748-$3,151 and gas to put in it cost $0.23 a gallon.
The entry fee was a little stiff, $8.00 which was about a week's pay if you were making the average salary.
Second prize was $175 ($1,900 today) and third prize was $75 ($800 today). There were also prizes for Classes A, B and C, unrated players and Juniors.
No mention was made of a prize for women, but in those days very few women played chess. The top female player was Lucille Kellner of Lima, Ohio, who finished with 5-3 (+4 -2 +2); she was rated 1782 placing her 9th on the women's rating list.
Eva Aronson of Chicago, had returned to play after a two year layoff due to illness and finished with +3 -3 =2. She was not rated because she had not played before the rating list was published.
The tournament was a strong one and Donald Byrne tallied 7-4 to win the event, drawing with runner-up Arthur Bisguier who tied for second with National Master Povilas Tautvaisas. Fourth to sixth with 6-2 scores were Stephan Popel, Walter Shipman and Dr. Ariel Mengarini. Seventh to ninth with 5.5-2.5 scores were Dr. Erich Marchand, Kazys Skema and Kazimieras Jakstas.
Obviously, in the opening black has to be much more careful than white because white, having the first move, has a slight but definite advantage. Black usually finds himself on the defensive in the opening and sometimes he even has to continue playing a defensive game into the middlegame or even the ending.
Defensive play requires nerves of steel and one of white's advantages is that in the opening his superior center can cause black problems in developing his pieces. Consequently, black must be alert for every opportunity to seize his share of the center or, at least, to control as much of it as he can.
Another opening advantage white has is the "initiative" so he can generally play whatever type of middlegame plan that looks the
most promising.
Generally black has two basic plans: 1) He can try for complications, hoping to wrest the initiative or cause white to go astray...a difficult and risky option! Or, 2) play simple chess, close the position, exchanges pieces and avoid the opening attacking lines.
The idea is to meet each threat as it arises and by gradual positional means build up a strong position and maybe even develop an attack.
The following game by US Master Dr. Erich Marchand, who at he time was rated a class below Master at Expert, illustrates some of these defensive procedures.
His opponent was given as "K. Pleskacz", but I believe that is incorrect. I found an obituary for Bazyli Pleskacz (February 12, 1916 - March 17, 2006) who was originally from Belarus and after many hardships and adventures ended up in Detroit in 1950. The obituary added that he was an accomplished chess player and the May 1957 issue of Chess Life's rating list had a "B. Pleskacz" from Detroit who was rated 1887. I also discovered an obituary for his son, Peter Victor Pleskacz (1948-2021), and it mentioned that he had enjoyed playing bridge and chess with his father.
[Event "Tartakower Memorial, Detroit"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bazyli Pleskacz"]
[Black "Dr. Erich Marchand"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B40"]
[Annotator "Komodo 14"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "1956.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2023.03.28"]
{Sicilian Defense} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 {Marchand purposely avoided the Dragon
Variation which was extremely popular at the time.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5.
Nc3 Bb4 {This move is somewhat risky to play early because of the possible
reply 6.e5 which can lead to unclear complications.} 6. Bd3 (6. e5 Nd5 7. Bd2
Nxc3 8. bxc3 Be7 9. Qg4 {and already white has a dangerous attack and black
must proceed with caution.}) 6... e5 {Again somewhat risky, but Marchand
played it thinking that Pleskacz would not know the best reply. Actually,
Marchand was mistaken about what is the best reply!} 7. Nb3 {Certainly not bad,
but at the time the star move was thought to be 7.Nf5} (7. Nf5 d5 {This move
loses, but it does show the practical advantage of 7.Nf5} 8. Nxg7+ Kf8 9. Bh6
Kg8 10. Nf5 Bxf5 11. exf5 Bf8 12. Bg5 Nbd7 13. Nxd5 Qa5+ 14. Nc3 e4 15. Bb5 h6
16. Bh4 Bb4 {White has a decisive advantage, but managed to throw it away and
ended up drawing in the ending. Jablonski,N (2266)-Shirazi,K (2401) Paris 2007}
) (7. Nf5 {is correctly met by} O-O 8. O-O {and black can try either 6...Bxc3
ot 6...d6}) (7. Nde2 {This is the most solid move after which the position is
even after} O-O 8. a3 Be7 9. O-O) 7... d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 {Here Marchand avoided
8...Bxc3+ and 9...Qxd5 doubling white's Ps because he thought that in the
resulting open position white's teo Bs could end up being quite powerful.
Beside, the figured he could double the Ps without yielding the two Bs.} 9. Bd2
{Castling at once was also worth considering.} Nc6 {This developing move
cannot be bad, but 9... Bxc3 was more precise.} (9... Bxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. O-O
Nc6 12. Qh5 f5 {Shleimovitch,V-Lelumees,B (2110) Tallinn 2001 with equal
chances.}) (9... Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bd6 11. Qh5 {He could also castle.} g6 12. Qh6
Bf8 13. Qe3 Bg7 14. Qc5 {Cirkovic,R-Meister,Y (2503) Berlin 2005 with equal
chances.}) 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Be7 {More exact was 11...Bd6 rendering
white's next move totally harmless.} 12. f4 exf4 {Played to prevent white from
gaining space with 13.f5. White's weakness is his doubled Ps, but as
compensation he has a lead in development because black still needs to castle
and develop his other B. One important factor to take inot consideration
though is that white has opened a disgonal toward his own K and this is
something black needs to keep in mind.} 13. Bxf4 Be6 14. Kh1 {White plays with
caution...he yields a tempo in order to get his K off the diagonal. The
alternative was 14.Qf3 and then Rad1.} O-O 15. Nd4 {Both sides having
completed their development and the position is quite equal. White intends to
bring his N into play and invite white to undoubling the c-Pawns and, this is
important, he is setting a trap for black's Q,} Nxd4 {While undoubling the Ps
may appear surprising, it's actually the best move. The idea is to exchange
one small advantage for another. White now gets a weak c-Pawn, but more
importantly black exchanges off white's pieces before they can be used to
launch a full scale attack.} 16. cxd4 Bf6 {Avoiding the trap. With this move
black slows down his opponent's attack. Note that black is still on the
defensive because white has control of the center and the semi-open f-file
might prove handy. Black must continue to be cautious.} (16... Qxd4 17. Bxh7+ {
wins easily.,}) 17. c3 (17. Qh5 {There is nothing to be gained by this
seemingly aggressive move because after} g6 18. Qf3 Bxd4 {black has the upper
hand.}) 17... Rc8 {Development combined with a threat, thus keeping the
balance. Practically speaking it seems that black is gradually taking over the
initiative without white having made any mistakes.} 18. Bd2 Bc4 {Forcing the
exchange of one of white's Bs.} 19. Bxc4 Rxc4 20. Rf3 Bg5 {Forcing the
exchange of the other B or else white has to make a time losing and pointless
retreat} 21. Bxg5 Qxg5 22. Qe2 Rc6 {Black has a number of reasonable
alternatives, but Marchand felt that the coming action on the e- and f-files
was going to play an important role and from c6 his R can defend his K by
going to g6 or h6.} 23. Raf1 Qd5 (23... Qd8 {Would have avoided the
possibility of white taking on f7, but not safer.} 24. c4 (24. Rxf7 {is, of
course, no longer a possibility.} Rxf7 25. Rxf7 Kxf7) 24... Re8 25. Qd3 {
Technically the position is equal, but practically black is clearly going to
be defending.}) 24. Rf5 (24. Rxf7 {leads to tricky play after} Qxf7 (24... Rxf7
25. Qe8+ Rf8 26. Qxf8#) 25. Rxf7 Rxf7 26. c4 {Theoretically the chances would
be equal, but this is one of those position where the win is likely going to
go to the stronger player. In any case, the ending is going to be a tough one!}
) 24... Qc4 25. Qxc4 (25. Rxf7 {Again, this was playable.} Qxf7 26. Rxf7 Rxf7
27. c4 {as noted before.}) 25... Rxc4 26. R5f3 (26. Re5 {was an interesting
possibility, but after} Rxc3 27. Re7 Ra3 28. Rxb7 Rxa2 29. h3 h6 30. d5 Rd2 31.
Rxa7 Rxd5 {it's a draw}) 26... f6 27. Re1 {Marchand mistakenly called this an
error. It's not at all; in fact the position is dead equal.} (27. Rd1 {
Marchanbd. It ties up white's pieces after} Rfc8 28. Rdd3 Ra4 29. Rd2 Ra3 30.
Rc2 {It's unlikely that black could win this, but it is he who has all the
play.}) 27... Rfc8 28. Ree3 {This move. leaving his first rank undefended, is
the fatal mistake.} (28. Re7 Rxd4 29. h3 Rdc4 30. Rxb7 {with a draw.}) (28. Kg1
{was also quite playable as after} R8c7 29. Rb1 Ra4 30. Rb2 {it's not likely
that either side can squeeze out an advantage.}) 28... Rxd4 {Pleskacz has made
an elemenrary mistake! With R's and Q's on the board one must protect the 1st
or 8th rank or give the K an escape square for escaping checks on the rank!}
29. Rd3 {[%mdl 8192] This allows a cute finish.} (29. h3 {would have made
black's task more difficult.} Rdc4 30. Rd3 R8c7 31. Kg1 Kf7 32. Kf2 b5 33. Ke2
Ra4 34. Rd2 a6 35. Rfd3 Ra3 36. Rc2 Rc4 {and with white's pieces tied up black
can patiently turn his attention to using hsi K-side P-majority.}) (29. Kg1 {
was also a reasonable try.} Rdc4 30. Re7 R8c7 31. Rxc7 Rxc7 {with care black
should be able to squeeze out the win.}) 29... Rxc3 {[%mdl 512] White resigned.
He has to give up a R to avoid mate. A fine defensive example by Marchand.} 0-1
No comments:
Post a Comment