Thursday, February 15, 2024

Marshall’s Worst Tournament?

    
It came as no surprise when Jose R. Capablanca in win the international tournament at the Hotel Alamac located at 71st and Broadway in New York City. From the beginning Capa was a strong favorite and in the opinion of many it was merely a question as to how far ahead of the field he would finish. He fulfilled predictions by scoring +9 -0 =2. 
    The score doesn’t tell the whole story though because three players could have nicked him for a point! 
    Alexander Kevitz was up a Pawn, but managed to lose. Like a lot of champions Capa was really dangerous when he found himself in a tight place. Dake found this out when he outplayed him, but by a miracle Capa managed to escape. Then in the semi-final round I.S. Turover had a book draw in a R and P ending, but Turover missed the drawing and lost in 75 moves. 
    Isaac Kashdan fulfilled expectations and acquitted himself well by winning six games and drawing five, including one with Capablanca in the last round.
    Although he lost three games, Alexander Kevitz had every reason to be pleased with his score and third place. 
 

    As for the legendary Frank Marshall, he was lo longer the Frank Marshall of old. The Chessmetrics April 1931 rating list estimates his rating to have been 2596 ranking him number 23 in the world. Capa, at 2775, was number 2 behind Alekhine (2857). Marshall’s highest ever rating is estimated to have been 2762 in 1917 placing him at number 3 behind Lasker and Caoablance. 
    In the following snappy little game Marshal showed his old form when Dake blundered at move 18 and it was all over. A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
[Event "New York Masters Tournament"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1931.04.28"] [Round "?"] [White "Frank Marshall"] [Black "Arthur Dake"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D43"] [Annotator "Stockfish 16"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1931.04.18"] {D36: Queen's Gambit Declined: Exchange Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. cxd5 {The Exchange Variation strategy is: white has a P-majority in the center and black on the Q-side. Therefore, white can either advance his center Ps by means of Nge2, f2–f3, followed by e2–e4, or play for a minority attack by playing Rb1, followed by b2–b4–b5, then bxc6. This latter plan has the goal of creating wesk Q-side Ps in black's camp. For Black, exchanging at d5 has released his light-squared B and opened the e-file, giving him the use of e4 as a springboard for central and K--side play. Black can use his piece activity to launch a piece attack against white's K.} exd5 7. e3 Be7 8. Qc2 O-O 9. Bd3 Re8 10. O-O h6 11. Bf4 Nf8 12. Rae1 (12. Rfe1 Nh5 13. Be5 Be6 14. h3 Rc8 15. Rad1 {equals. Arutunian,D (2446)-Lagowski,P (2395) Olomouc 2005}) (12. a3 a5 13. Rab1 Bd6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Na4 N8d7 16. Rbc1 Ne4 17. Bxe4 dxe4 18. Nd2 Qg6 19. f3 Nf6 20. Nb6 Nd5 21. Ndc4 Nxb6 22. Nxb6 { A draw was soon agreed. Foisor,S (2235)-Katz,A (2429) Dulles USA 2019}) 12... Nh5 {Other reasonable moves are 12...a6, 12...Be6 or 12...Ne6} 13. Bg3 Nxg3 $11 14. hxg3 {The position is equal and, truth be told, pretty boring.} Bf6 15. a3 Ne6 16. Ne2 Ng5 {This is not really a bad move, but the N serves little purpose here.} (16... g6 {should be considered.} 17. Nf4 Qd6 {And now white's best idea is to revert to the minority attack with either 18.b4 or 18.Rb1} 18. Bxg6 {as in the game is certainly a possibility, but it's less effective because black's N is not misplaced on g5/} fxg6 19. Qxg6+ Ng7 20. Qxh6) 17. Nd2 Qd6 18. Nf4 {Another option is 18.f5 and the N would have a good post on e5.} g6 {This us nw a fatal error because his N in in a bad position, Both 18...a5 or 18...Bd7 are solid replies.} 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Qxg6+ {The difference between this position and the one after 10.Qxg6+ in the note to black's 16th move is that here the N cannot go to g7 which makes all the difference.} Kf8 21. Qxh6+ Ke7 22. e4 {Exposing black's K.} Rh8 (22... dxe4 {was no better.} 23. Nxe4 Nxe4 24. Rxe4+ Kd8 25. Rxe8+ Kxe8 26. Re1+ Kd8 27. d5 {This further exposes the K and there is nothing black can do but await the end.} Be5 28. Qg5+ Bf6 29. Qg6 Be5 30. Qf7 Qf6 (30... Bxf4 31. Re8#) 31. Ne6+ Bxe6 32. dxe6 Qxf7 33. exf7 Ke7 34. Rxe5+ {White has an easy win.} Kxf7) 23. Ng6+ {Dake resigned.} (23. Ng6+ Kd8 24. Nxh8 Qe7 25. e5 Bxh8 26. Qxh8+ Kc7 27. f4 Ne6 28. Nf3 {Black's position is hopeless.}) 1-0

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