It was a notable performance by the American champion Samuel Reshevsky. He often started badly and finished strongly, but this time it was the other way around; he started off with a rush and had a big lead, but it gradually diminished. One would have expected him to beat players like Rellstab and Book, but he was upset by both and it cost him a clear first.
It was expected that Salo Flor would be among the leaders and true to form, he played his usual boring chess and scored a point here and a half-point there and was the only one to go through this grueling tournament undefeated. As an example of his play, he tried to bore Paul Keres to death by playing on for 104 moves in a barren position.
The excellent showing of the Latvian Vladimirs Petrov came as a great surprise and he might have done even better had he not blundered away a won game against Reshevsky in the very first round. Petrovs was one of the world's leading players in the late 1930s and was a victim of the Soviet oppression. He died in a Russian gulag in 1943
Alekhine recovered somewhat after his relatively poor showing at Margate 1937 where he finished 3rd with a 6-3 score behind Keres and Fine. Alekhine lost to both of them plus he was upset by the 9th place finisher Victor Berger, a minor British master. In one of his games Alekhine plated two moves in succession, but the TD, Hans Kmoch, was unable to invoke any penalty because the rules didn’t cover such a possibility.
Some people thought the young Keres’ play was disappointing and he should have finished higher.
Endre Steiner, the younger and less well-known brother of Lajos Steiner, scored the best performance of his career. He loved complications and avoided simplifications, but was always getting into time trouble and loses on time were a common occurrence. Steiner died at the age of 43 in a Nazi concentration camp near Budapest on December 29, 1944.
Tartakower’s play was a bit of a disappointment after his first place finish in the 1937 Polish Championship at Jurata where he went undefeated through the entire 21 rounds.
Reuben Fine’s showing was a great disappointment. One newspaper blamed it on the almost tropical heat. Normally July is the warmest month and the temperatures are pleasant with an average high of around 72 degrees. The hot spell proved particularly disastrous for Fine who was fatigued and stale from his many travels for tournaments and exhibitions during the year.
The following game between Salo Landau Movsa Feigin was, in the opinion of most of the players, one of the finest game played in the tournament and a likely candidate for the brilliancy prize. There is no record of whether or not it actually received the prize.
[Event "Kemeri"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1937.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Salo Landau"]
[Black "Movsa Feigin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D46"]
[Annotator "()tockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1937.06.16"]
{QGD, Semi-Slav} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nc3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 Be7 {
Black usually plays 6...dxc4. This move has a double purpose: it avoids the
complications resulting from the Meran Defense (6,,,dxc4) and it is superior
to the symmetrical line of play that occurs after 6...Bd6} 7. O-O O-O 8. b3 {
Usually white plays either 8.b3 or 8.e4, but Fine follows a different course
which, despite its harmless appearance, gives black some difficulty.} b6 9. Bb2
Bb7 10. Qe2 Rc8 (10... c5 {This is the usual move here, but despite
appearances black does not have an easy game. Black would pretty much be
limited to defensive play and at the same time white has attacking chances.}
11. Rad1 Qc7 12. Ne5 {with a good game. Note that black must avoid capturing
the N.} Nxe5 13. dxe5 dxc4 (13... Qxe5 14. Nxd5 {wins}) 14. bxc4 Nd7 15. f4 a6
16. Qh5 g6 17. Qh6 Rad8 {White gets tactical with} 18. Nd5 exd5 19. Rf3 f5 20.
Rh3 Nf6 {Watch! More tactics...} 21. Bxf5 dxc4 (21... gxf5 22. exf6 Bxf6 23.
Rg3+ Kf7 24. Qxh7+ Ke8 25. Qxc7) 22. exf6 Rxd1+ 23. Kf2 Rd2+ 24. Ke1 Rf7 25.
Bxg6 Rxg2 26. Bxf7+ Kxf7 27. Qxh7+ Ke8 28. f7+ Kd7 29. f8=Q) 11. Rad1 Qc7 12.
Ne5 Nxe5 (12... Rfd8 13. f4 Bb4 14. f5 {with a strong attack.}) 13. dxe5 Nd7
14. f4 (14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Nb5 Qb8 16. f4 Ba6 (16... g6 17. Bb1 Nc5 18. Qg4 Ba6
19. a4 Nxb3 20. f5 {White has a dangerous attack. Pinter,J (2526) -Rogic,D
(2513) Baden 2019}) 17. a4 g6 18. Bc2 Rfd8 19. Qf2 Bxb5 20. axb5 f5 21. g4 {
The chances are about equal. Jakovenko,D (2730)-Buhmann,R (2579) Saint Quentin
FRA 2014}) 14... Rfd8 {Played in order to bring the N to f8 in the hope of
avoiding the weakening advance of one of the Ps in front of his K.} 15. Rf3 {
This works out well for white, but many years later an even stronger
continuation was found.} (15. cxd5 cxd5 16. Nb5 Qb8 17. f5 g6 18. fxe6 fxe6 19.
Qg4 Nf8 20. Qf4 Rd7 21. Qf7+ Kh8 22. Nd6 {White is winning. Galyas,M (2458)
-Koczo,K (2221) Budapest 2011}) 15... Nf8 16. Rh3 {The threat is `7.Bxh7+} f5 (
16... a6 {A pass to demonstrate the threat.} 17. Bxh7+ Nxh7 18. Qh5 Kf8 19.
Qxh7 Ke8 20. Qg8+ Kd7 21. Qxf7 {and white is winning.}) (16... dxc4 {This is
slightly better than 15...f5} 17. Bxh7+ Nxh7 18. Qh5 Rxd1+ 19. Nxd1 Kf8 20.
Qxh7 Bb4 21. Qh8+ Ke7 22. Qxg7 Rf8 {Black will grab the d-file with his Q and
he should then have enough counterplay to claim equality.}) 17. exf6 Bxf6 18.
cxd5 exd5 19. Qc2 h6 {This avoid Bxh7+, but white has another way of
continuing that is equally strong.} (19... g6 {It's been claimed by old
annotators that this move was absolutely essential, but, in fact, it's
absolutely worse!} 20. f5 (20. Nxd5 {This pretty nifty move works out very
well also.} cxd5 21. Qxc7 Rxc7 22. Bxf6 Re8 23. Be5 Rf7 24. Bb1 {White's
advantage should prove decisive.}) 20... Qg7 21. fxg6 hxg6 22. Rg3 Be5 23. Ne2
Bxb2 24. Bxg6 Be5 (24... Nxg6 25. Rxg6) 25. Nf4 Bxf4 26. exf4 Qf6 27. Re1 {
Black has run out of moves.} Kh8 28. Qe2 Rd7 29. Qh5+ Rh7 (29... Nh7 30. Bxh7
Rg7 31. Bd3+ Kg8 32. Re8+ Rxe8 33. Qxe8+ Qf8 34. Rxg7+ Kxg7 35. Qg6+ Kh8 36.
Qh7#) 30. Bxh7 Nxh7 31. Rh3 Qg7 32. Re8+ Rxe8 33. Qxe8+ Qg8 34. Qe5+ Qg7 35.
Qb8+ {and wins}) 20. Bf5 {This is the first move of a nicely calculated
combination by Landau. Its point is to force the R on c8 to move, thus leaving
the Q unprotected.} Ra8 21. Nxd5 Rxd5 22. Bxf6 {Black has a choice of captures,
but none offer him any hope of saving the game.} Rxd1+ (22... gxf6 23. Rxd5 {
is obviously bad.}) (22... Rxf5 23. Bxg7 Qxg7 24. Rg3) 23. Qxd1 Qf7 (23... gxf6
{is met by} 24. Rg3+ Kh8 25. Qh5 {and wins}) 24. Rxh6 {This far from obvious
move is the real point of the combination. Neither of the pieces which are en
prise can very well be taken.} (24. Bxg7 {White's position is so strong that
this, too, works.} Qxf5 25. Bxh6 Ng6 26. Rh5 Qf7 27. Rg5 Bc8 28. Qh5 {and a
slaughter follows...} Bf5 29. Rxf5 Qe8 30. e4) 24... Bc8 (24... gxh6 25. Qg4+
Ng6 26. Be6) (24... gxf6 25. Qg4+ Qg7 26. Be6+ Nxe6 27. Qxe6+ Qf7 28. Rg6+ Kf8
29. Rxf6) 25. Bxc8 gxh6 26. Qg4+ Kh7 27. Bd4 {A slight aesthetic flaw .} (27.
Bf5+ Ng6 28. Be5 Re8 29. h4 {and the game is over.}) 27... Qg8 28. Bf5+ Ng6 29.
h4 c5 30. Be5 {Black resigned as there is no way tp meet the coming h5.} 1-0
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