Martin C. Stark

    Martin C. Stark was born on December 20, 1912 and passed away comfortably in his sleep at the age of 98 on Thursday, February 17, 2011, surrounded by his family. 

    He lived in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania and formerly had lived in Bethesda, Maryland and New York City. 

    Stark was a 1933 graduate of Harvard University with a degree in civil engineering. He worked in Washington, D.C., for the Capital Transit Company as a traffic engineer and project manager, overseeing and implementing the facilitation of traffic flow along the city’s major roadways. In 1956, he went to work for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington as an operations research analyst; a position he held until he retired in 1973. 

    While at Harvard he was a member of the chess team during his four years there and after graduation he won the Maryland and Virginia state championships. He was also the many time winner of the Washington D.C. championship. The USCF awarded him the Life Master title in 1984. His other interests included playing the piano and duplicate tournament bridge.

Stark in 1943

    In 1943, the Ventnor City, New Jersey tournament was won by the then Marshall CC Champion Anthony Santasiere who although he was known for his sacrificial play achieved success by avoiding losses rather than by w inning games; his score was +2 -0 =5. Shainswit's loss to Santasiere cost him undisputed first place.

     In the following game Adams used the Albin Counter Gambit which was one of his longstanding defenses. Black has a central wedge at d4 and gets some chances for an attack, but it’s generally considered to be unsound This game was awarded the Best Played Game prize.

 

    At the time, Adams was renowned for his expert acquaintance with the defense and when Stark played a relatively unknown line and very quickly established a superior position. After that Adams never knew what hit him. 

[Event "Ventnor City"] [Site "Ventnor City, NJ USA"] [Date "1943.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Martin C. Stark"] [Black "Weaver W. Adams"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D09"] [Annotator "Komofo Dragon 3"] [PlyCount "45"] [EventDate "1943.??.??"] {D09: Albin Counter Gambit} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 4. Nf3 {There are already a few plausible moves white should avoid: 4.a3, 4.e4, 4.Bd3, 4.e3 and 4.Bf4} Nc6 {Black would like to defend his Om which is the foundation of his pkay with the c-Pawn, but that is not a good idea because it shuts in his B.} ( 4... c5 5. e3 Nc6 6. Bd3 {and black has difficulty developing his K-side.}) ( 4... Bc5 5. Nbd2 Nc6 6. Nb3 {is also unsatisfactory for black.}) 5. g3 { With this move white concentrates on development and on Q-side play. If he loses the e-Pawn the better placement of his pieces would be sufficient compensation.} Bc5 6. Bf4 {Rather unusual at this point, but Reuben Fine observed that there is no reason why the move should be considered inferior to the usual 6.a3 or 6.Bg2} Nge7 7. Bg2 Ng6 8. Nbd2 {Well played as it leaves black with a difficult choice. Adams decided to offer a P in orfer to gain some play.} f6 {Practically speaking this is probably his best try.} (8... O-O 9. Nb3 Qe7 (9... Bb6 10. c5 Ba5+ 11. Nxa5 Nxa5 {White is much better.} 12. Qxd4 ) 10. Bg5 Bb4+ 11. Kf1 Qe8 12. Nfxd4 {White has an advantage.}) (8... Nxf4 9. gxf4 O-O 10. Nb3 Qe7 11. O-O Bg4 12. Ng5 h6 13. Ne4 {Here, too, white is much better.}) 9. exf6 Nxf4 10. f7+ {Another well played move as it disrupts black's position.} (10. gxf4 {followed by ...Qxf4 would leave black with an equal position.} Qxf6) 10... Kxf7 11. gxf4 h6 {Black wants to prevent Ng5+ but it would have been better to play 11...Rf8 and then ...Kg8} 12. Nb3 Qd6 13. Ne5+ {This move results in a nice win, but only because Adams does not findf the best defense. Technically white's best plan of action would have been the positional approach of 13.a3.} Nxe5 $16 14. fxe5 Qb6 {An ill fated move!} ( 14... Bb4+ $16 15. Kf1 Qxe5 16. Qxd4 Qxd4 17. Nxd4 Rd8 {and white can't claim much of an advantage in spite of having an extra P.}) 15. Bd5+ Ke7 16. Qd3 { Hindering ...Bf5} Rf8 (16... c6 {Hoping to drive back the B looks reasonable, but white can simply sacrifice it and black's pieces simply cannot het into plsy and white just builds up his position.} 17. Rg1 cxd5 18. cxd5 Bb4+ 19. Kf1 g5 20. Rg3 Bd7 21. d6+ Kd8 22. Qg6 Re8 23. Qxh6 Qb5 24. Qxg5+ Kc8 25. Rc1+ Kb8 26. Qg7 Rd8 27. Nxd4 Qd5 {The ps are simply too strong for black to handle.} 28. e6) 17. Rg1 Bf5 {This meets a quicj end, but all 12...Bb4+ would do is drive thw K to f1 where it's just as safe as it is on e1 and black would still not be able to find a reasonable move.} 18. Rxg7+ Ke8 19. Be4 Bxe4 20. Qxe4 d3 21. O-O-O Bxf2 {It only looks like black has some play! In fact, he is lost.} 22. Kb1 {Not really necessary.} Rd8 23. e6 {Black resigned.} (23. e6 Rf6 24. e7 Qe6 25. Qh7 Kd7 26. Rxd3+ Bd4 27. Rxd4+ Kc6 28. e8=Q+ Rd7 29. Qxe6+ Rxe6 30. Qf5 Re5 31. Qxd7+ Kb6 32. Qxc7+ Ka6 33. Qxb7#) 1-0