Ljubojevic Smashes Durao

    Fifty years ago, in 1974, players lost that year were former British Champion C.H.O'D. Alexander who died in Cheltenham, England at the age of 64. Josef Lokvenc (1899-1974) died in Sankt Polten, Austria. He was German Champion in 1943 and Austrian Champion in 1951. Soviet attacking genius Rashid Nezhmetdinov (1912-1974) died in Kazan, Tatarstan, at the age of 61. Former Swiss Champions Henri Grob (1904-1974) died in Zurich at the age of 70. 

    Pal Benko and Vastimil Hort tied for 1st in the US Open, held in New York. The first World Cadet (under 16) Championship was won by England’s Jonathan Mestel. Mikhail Tal and Alexander Beliavsky won the Soviet Championship, held in Leningrad. In Chicago, Walter Browne won the first of his six US Championships. Kaissa, a Russina computer, won the first computer world championship that was held in Stockholm.  

    Convicted murderer Claude F. Bloodgood III (1937-2001) escaped from a chess tournament after he and another fellow inmate player named Lewis Carpenter overpowered their fusrd. They was captured a few days later. 

    While in the Virginia State Penitentiary Bloodgood gained notoriety for for artificially pumping up his rating to the point that he was rated number two, at Elo 2700, in the US behind Gata Kamsky. 

    At that time players were complaining of rating deflation...everybody's rating was drifting down, something that’s anathema to chess players! The cause of the deflation was an influx of rapidly improving young players. The rating system was like a poker game where a player sits down at the table with no money and wins from those already in the game. 

    In order to “fix” the problem, officials (who were not mathematicians) introduced bonus points, feedback points and fiddle points. You were awarded points just for entering a tournament and in some cases could even gain points with a minus score! 

    Bloodgood warned the USCF what was happening and pumped up his rating by playing against fellow prisoners. The USCF hurled charges of rating fraud, erased his rating, kicked him out of the USCF and changed the system. In the process the chess program at the Virginia Penitentiary was destroyed. 

     On the international scene Walter Browne won at Wijk aan Zee. At the Olympiad held in Nice, France it was no surprise that the oviets (Karpov, Korchnoi, Spassky, Petrosian, Tal and Kuzmin) took first. Yugoslavia was second and the United States (Kavalek, Byrne, Browne, Reshevsky, Lombardy and Tarjan) was third.

    The really big news happened on May 10th when Anatoly Karpov defeated Boris Spassky in Moscow, eliminating Spassky from the world challengers’ competition. Karpov went on to beat Viktor Korchnoi to become Bobby Fischer’s challenger. Fischer hemmed and hawed, made excuses and chickened out of meeting Karpov who was then awarded the title. 

    You’ve probably never heard of Ourense, a city in northwestern Spain that’s known for its hot springs; they held an international tournament there in 1974 that was won by Yugoslavia’s Ljubomir Ljubojevic (born 1950). 

 

    Ljubojevic was awarded the IM title in 1970 and the GM title in 1971. He was Yugoslav Champion in 1977 (jointly) and 1982. By the early 1980's he was ranked third in the world, but he never succeeded in reaching the Candidates stage of the World Championship. He was always dangerous, he lack consistency. 

    His opponent in the following game was IM and International Arbiter Joaquim Durao (1930-2015) who won the Portuguese championship 13 times. 

    The game was well played by both players and it only took one small slip for Durao to quickly find himself in a hopeless position. 

[Event "Orense"] [Site "Ourense ESP"] [Date "1974.01.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Ljubomir Ljubojevic"] [Black "Joaquim Durao"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C64"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1974.01.14"] {C64: Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 {This is the Classical (or Cordel) Defense which is the oldest defence to the Ruy Lopez, and has been played occasionally by Boris Spassky and Boris Gulko.} 4. O-O {White's most common reply is 4.c3,} (4. Nxe5 {This old fork trick does ot offer white amy advantage.} Nxe5 5. d4 c6 6. Be2 Bd6 (6... Bxd4 {is inferior...} 7. Qxd4 d6 8. Bf4 {with the advantage.}) 7. dxe5 Bxe5) 4... Nd4 5. Nxd4 Bxd4 6. c3 Bb6 7. d4 c6 8. Ba4 d6 9. Na3 Bc7 10. d5 (10. Nc2 Nf6 11. Qe2 Bd7 12. Ne3 O-O 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. Nf5 Bxf5 15. exf5 {is equal. Shirov,A (2719)-Fedorchuk,S (2619) Khanty-Mansiysk RUS 2009}) 10... Bd7 (10... Ne7 {was preferrable.} 11. Bg5 Bd7 12. dxc6 bxc6 13. Nc4 {equals. Volokitin,A (2627)-Musat,A (2398) Calimanesti-Caciulata ROU 2014}) 11. dxc6 bxc6 12. Nc4 Qe7 13. f4 Nf6 14. fxe5 dxe5 15. b3 Bb6+ (15... Nxe4 {at once was better.} 16. Ba3 {is adequately met by} Qe6 17. Qf3 f5 18. Rad1 O-O-O {Black is at least equal.}) 16. Kh1 (16. Nxb6 axb6 {The B on a4 in danger so...} 17. b4 Nxe4 {Black is ever so slightly better.}) 16... Nxe4 17. Ba3 {[%mdl 2048] White has strong initiative.} Qe6 18. Qd3 {Prevents ...Ng3+. It also sets a trap which Durao does not fall for.} (18. Bb2 {A pass to demonstrate the threat.} Ng3+ 19. hxg3 Qh6+ 20. Qh5 Qxh5#) 18... f5 (18... Nf2+ {This juicy looing check loses.} 19. Rxf2 $1 Bxf2 20. Nd6+ Kd8 21. Qa6 f6 (21... c5 22. Bxd7 Qxd7 23. Rf1 Be3 24. Rxf7 {wins}) 22. Rf1 Bb6 ( 22... Be3 23. Bxc6 Bxc6 24. Qxc6 Rb8 25. Rd1 {is fatal for black.}) 23. Qb7 Rc8 24. Nxc8 Bxc8 25. Rd1+ Bd4 26. Qb4 Ke8 27. cxd4 {White is winning.}) 19. Rae1 Bc7 {A measure against Nd6+} (19... Kd8 {is actually a better defense. White's best continuation is then} 20. Rxe4 fxe4 21. Qxe4 Kc7 22. Bd6+ Kb7 {and it's going to be nearly impossible to get at black's K.}) 20. Rxf5 {Although this works out well in the end, it actually allows black equality.} (20. Rxe4 { leaves white slightly better after} fxe4 21. Qe3 (21. Qxe4 O-O-O {and it's black that is better.}) 21... c5 (21... O-O-O 22. Qxa7 {wins for white}) 22. Qxe4 Rd8 (22... O-O-O 23. Qa8+ Bb8 24. Bxc5 {White is winning.}) 23. Bxd7+ Rxd7 24. Bxc5 {White is better.}) 20... Qxf5 (20... Nf6 21. Rfxe5 Bxe5 22. Rxe5) ( 20... Ng3+ {might have been worth a try, but with best play it leads to a lost ending.} 21. hxg3 Qxf5 22. Qxf5 Bxf5 23. Bxc6+ Kf7 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. Bd6 Bxd6 26. Nxd6+ Kf6 27. Rf1 g6 28. g4 Ke6 29. Nxf5 gxf5 30. Rxf5) 21. Rxe4 {Black's position looks precarious (and it is), but he has an aderquate defense in 21... Rf8} O-O-O {[%mdl 8192] Whereas this move was satisfactory in the past, at this time it loses quickly.} (21... Rf8 $1 $11 22. Bxf8 Kxf8 23. Qf3 Qxf3 24. gxf3 {with equal chances.} Re8) 22. Nd6+ Bxd6 23. Qa6+ {Obviously overlloed by Durao, this move wins.} (23. Bxd6 {This is probably what Durao expected. Then after} Be8 24. Qa6+ Kd7 25. Bc5 (25. Qxc6+ {loses} Ke6 26. Qc4+ Kxd6 {Black is winning.}) 25... Qxe4 26. Qxa7+ Kc8 (26... Ke6 27. Qe7+ Kf5 28. Qxd8 Qe1+ 29. Bg1 {with an unclear position. Shootouts from this position resulted in white scoring +2 -0 =3} h5) 27. Qa8+ {White is forced to take the draw byu repeating moves.}) 23... Kc7 (23... Kb8 24. Bxd6+ Ka8 25. Bxc6+ Bxc6 26. Qxc6#) 24. Qxa7+ Kc8 25. Bb5 {[%mdl 512] Black resigned. Stockfish inforns us that it's mate in 32.} (25. Bb5 Rdf8 (25... Qf1+ 26. Bxf1 Rdf8 27. Ba6+ Kd8 28. Bxd6 Rf1+ 29. Bxf1 Ke8 30. Rxe5+ Kf7 31. Qxd7+ Kg6 32. Qe6#) 26. Qa8+ Bb8 27. Ba6+ Kc7 28. Qb7+ Kd8 29. Qxb8+ Bc8 30. Bc5 Qf1+ 31. Bxf1 Rxf1+ 32. Bg1 Ke7 33. Rxe5+ Kf7 34. Qc7+ Kg6 35. Qxc6+ Rf6 36. Qe4+ Bf5 37. Rxf5 Rxf5 38. Qg4+ Kf6 39. Bd4+ Ke6 40. Qe4+ Kd6 41. Qxf5 Re8 42. Qc5+ Ke6 43. Qe5+ Kf7 44. Qxg7+ Ke6 45. Qe5+ Kd7 46. Qb5+ Ke7 47. Bc5+ Kd8 48. Qb8+ Kd7 49. Qb7+ Ke6 50. Qc6+ Kf7 51. Qd7+ Kf6 52. Qxe8 Kg7 53. Bd4+ Kh6 54. Qe6+ Kh5 55. Be3 h6 56. Qxh6+ Kg4 57. Qg5#) 1-0