Vintage Reshevsky

     Samuel Reshevsky (November 26, 1911 - April 4, 1992) was always one of my favorite players. For some reason I always found his games easier to understand than those of anybody else. 

     Because of that it was a very enjoyable couple of weeks when I got to observe him in action close up at the 1975 U.S. Championship and it was a chess thrill of a lifetime when, in 1979, I drew a correspondence game with him. 

     Reshevsky's own description of his play was that he was "essentially a positional player, although I can conduct an assault with precision and vigor when the opportunity arises. My style lies between that of Tal and Petrosian. It is neither over-aggressive nor too passive. My strength consists of a fighting spirit, a great desire to win and a stubborn defense whenever in trouble. I rarely become discouraged in an inferior situation and I fear no one." 

     He continued, "By playing slowly during the early phases of a game I am able to grasp the basic requirements of each position. Then, despite being in time pressure, I have no difficulty in finding the best continuation. Incidentally, it is an odd fact that more often than not it is my opponent who gets the jitters when I am compelled to make these hurried moves." 

     Bobby Fischer said that Reshevsky was "like a machine calculating every variation" and he had to "find every move over the board by a process of elimination." Fischer added that REeshevsky could "see more variations in a shorter period of time than most players who ever lived." 

     Though Reshevsky pretty much adhered to the positional concepts of Steinitz and Nimzovich, his play was a rather curious mixture of their positional ideas and tactics. 

     He claimed that chess is basically positional, but tactics was how you obtained those positional advantages. You need a strong position in order to attack and you got those positions through tactics. 

     The following game was played in the 1958 Chess Olympiad that was played in Munich, West Germany. As expected, the Russians (Botvinnik, Smyslov, Keres, Bronstein, Tal and Petrosian) won easily. They were followed by Yugoslavia, Argentina and the United States (Reshevsky, Lombardy, Bisguier, Evans and Rossolimo). 

     Reshevsky's opponent in the following game was the English veteran C.H.O'D. Alexander, a tough, resourceful and dangerous attacker who was a hard player to beat. Over his career ge has wins over the likes of Botvinnik, Bronstein, Pachman and Szabo. 

     The game is pretty boring up to move 17, but then Reshevsky sacrificed a Pawn to reach a complicated position. Alexander was defending very well until time pressure set in. It was a gritty, vintage Reshevsky game. 

     In pre-engine days it's excusable that annotation errors were made, but Reshevsky's annotations to this game were, I hate to say this, appalling! It's almost as if he annotated the game without setting up a board. 

[Event "Final Olympiad, Munich"] [Site "Munich FRG"] [Date "1958.10.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "C.H.O'D. Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A10"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "1958.09.30"] {English Opening} 1. c4 {At the time this game was played the English had become quite fashionable because it was thought that it was less committing than 1.d4. On the other hand, as Reshevsky pointed out, it gives black a wider choice of defenses.} g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 e5 {Black's intention is to play an early ...f5 which was a favorite setup of Alexander. The idea is to obtain immediate control of e4 and then launch a K-side attack.} 4. Nc3 d6 5. d3 f5 6. e4 Ne7 {Black wants to be aboe to recapture with the N if white plays exf5. Other options are 6...Nc6 and 6...Nf6} 7. Nge2 O-O 8. O-O Nbc6 9. f4 {In this nearly symmetrical position white's P on c4 does not give him any particular advantage and so the position is quite equal.} fxe4 (9... Rb8 10. Nd5 fxe4 11. dxe4 Bg4 {is equal. Kurosaki,T (2131)-Duckworth,W (2352) Los Angeles 2011}) 10. dxe4 Be6 (10... Bg4 11. h3 Be6 12. Nd5 Qd7 {White's position is slightly more active, but black's is solid and in Habibi,A (2343)-Fierz,M (2201) Mendrisio SUI 1999 the game was eventually drawn.}) 11. Nd5 (11. b3 {would have been too passive for Reshevsky's taste.} exf4 12. gxf4 Bg4 13. Bb2 Nd4 14. Qd2 Nxe2+ 15. Nxe2 Bxb2 16. Qxb2 Bxe2 17. Qxe2 {and black has simplified too much.}) 11... Qd7 {In his notes to this game Reshevsky made some incredibly bad observations!! He claimed that this a natural move that was aparently played with the intention of playing ...Bh3. In fact, in this position ...Bh3 would be horrible.} (11... Nd4 {was also possible.} 12. f5 (12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Bd2 c6 14. Nxe7+ Qxe7 15. Qc2 c5 {is equal, but not very promising for white.}) 12... Bxd5 13. cxd5 gxf5 14. Bg5 {with equal chances.}) 12. Rb1 {Reshevsky was expecting 12...Bh3 to which he would have then played 13.b4. Honest! That's what he wrote.} Bg4 {Here Reshevsky wrote some fiddle-faddle about how Alexander apparently concluded that white's B on g2 was weak so he avoided exchanging it, preferring to give up his B for a N, but that was a wrong assumption because later in the game the B on g2 became very active.} (12... Bh3 {turns out to be a mistake.} 13. Bxh3 Qxh3 14. Nxc7 Rac8 15. Nb5 {White has snagged a P.} Rcd8 16. Be3 {Somewhat better than taking on d6.} (16. Nxd6 Nc8 17. c5 Nxd6 18. cxd6 Qe6 19. Qd5 Rxd6 20. Qxe6+ Rxe6 21. f5 gxf5 22. exf5) 16... Qe6 17. Qd3 {with good position.}) 13. Ne3 Bxe2 {Reshevsky preferred 13.. .Bh5, but wrote that Alexander probably feared that the B would get into trouble there, but the fact is that there is no way white can endanger the B. Alexander was a very strong player and I think he, too, would have known that. He probably played 13...Bxe2 as part of a plan to exchange pieces and simplify the position.} (13... Bh5 14. f5 gxf5 15. exf5 Bh6 16. f6 Bxe3+ 17. Bxe3 Nf5 { The chances are completely equal, but that does not equate to a draw!}) (13... Be6 {leads to more routine play.} 14. b4 Nd4 15. Bb2 c5 {with equal chances.}) 14. Qxe2 Nd4 {A very fine move. White has two Bs vs black's well posted N and now white needs to find a way to use the two Bs.} 15. Qd3 exf4 {Another nice move. The idea is to increase the scope of the B on g7.} 16. gxf4 a5 17. Bd2 c5 18. f5 {With his Q-side prospects shut down it's time for white to undertake some aggressive action elsewhere.} Nec6 {This natural move is an imperceptible error!} (18... Rae8 19. Bxa5 gxf5 20. exf5 Nexf5 21. Nxf5 Nxf5 22. Bc3 Ne3 { with complications.}) 19. Nd5 {Here's the flaw with black's last move...the threat is 20.f6 and black has no good defense against it.} Ne5 20. Qh3 Nxc4 ( 20... gxf5 21. exf5 Rae8 22. Ne3 {favors white}) 21. Bg5 {Black is confronted with the serious threat of Ne7+} Rae8 {Meeting the threat.} 22. f6 {In thgis case the threat was stronger than the execution because after this black can equalize.} (22. Kh1 Ne5 23. Rbd1 Rf7 24. Rf4 b5 25. Rdf1 {keeps up the pressure.}) 22... Qxh3 23. Bxh3 {Black now has complete equality if he finds the best move. Even if he plays the expected retreat of the B to h8 he should be able to defend himself.} Re5 {A terrific rejoinder that was overlooked by Reshevsky.} (23... Bh8 24. Bh6 Kf7 {Best!} (24... Rf7 25. Rbd1 Ne5 26. Ne7+ { favors white.}) 25. Bxf8 Rxf8 26. Rbd1 b5 {with adequate defensive resources.}) 24. Bc1 {[%mdl 128] Here Reshevsky stated that after black retreats the B he will lose material. True, but it's hardly relevant.} (24. Bf4 {can be met by} Rxd5 25. exd5 Bxf6 26. Bh6 Bg7 {Here, too, black has sufficient defensive resources so that the game must be called even.}) (24. Ne7+ {is not nearly as good as it looks at first glance. After} Kf7 25. fxg7+ Kxg7 26. Bh6+ Kxh6 27. Rxf8 Rxe7 {black is clearly better.}) 24... Ne2+ {Here is where Alexander begins going down the path to destruction. Most likely he was beginning to feel the effects of time pressure.} (24... Bh8 25. b3 {The N is trapped so} Rxd5 26. exd5 Ne5 {and white has the advantage.}) (24... Rxd5 {This excellent move was missed by both players.} 25. exd5 Rxf6 {and the chances are equal.}) 25. Kh1 Rxe4 {Best under the circumstances according to Reshevsky. Engines slap a ? on it!} (25... Nxc1 {The logical followup.} 26. Rbxc1 Nd2 27. Ne7+ Kh8 28. fxg7+ Kxg7 29. Rxf8 Kxf8 30. Nc8 Nxe4 {White is better, but proving it might be difficult!}) 26. fxg7 Rxf1+ 27. Bxf1 Kxg7 {Black has 3 Ps for the piece which is usually sufficient compensation, but here white's two powerful Bs vs black's uncoordinated Ns make the defense next to impossible.} 28. Bg5 h6 29. Bd8 Nd2 30. Bg2 Ra4 31. Ra1 (31. Rd1 {looks tempting, but things get tricky after} Rxa2 32. Rxd2 Ra1+ 33. Bf1 Rxf1+ 34. Kg2 Rf5 35. Ne3 Nf4+ 36. Kf3 Rf7 37. Ke4 {and white should be able to win.}) 31... Kf7 32. a3 Rh4 { Alexander was in terrific time trouble, but his position was helpless... theoretically at least!} (32... Rd4 33. Re1 Nc4 34. b3 (34. Rxe2 {makes things more difficult...for white.} Rd1+ 35. Bf1 Rxf1+ 36. Kg2 Rb1) 34... Nxa3 35. Bf3 Rd3 36. Be4 Rd2 37. Bxa5 Rb2 38. Bd3 b6 39. Bxb6 Rd2 40. Rf1+ Kg7 41. Be4 Rd4 42. Nf6 {White is theoretically winning...OTB things wouldn't be so clear.}) 33. Bxh4 {Black resigned.} 1-0