Still One of the Best in the Country

    In 1969, Robert Fischer had a USCF rating of 2755 which placed him well over 100 points ahead of the 58-year-old Samuel Reshevsky who was followed by Pal Benko, Larry Evans, Lubomir Kavalek, William Lombardy, Robert Byrne, William Addison, Arthur Bisguier and Walter Browne. 

    In the absence of Fischer, Reshevsky’s undefeated victory in the 1969 US Championship, which was also a Zonal, showed that the old veteran was still one of the best players in the country. 

    If it was a Zonal, why wasn’t Fischer playing even though it meant he would not have a shot at the World Championship again until 1975? The short answer is that he was being a snot. 

    In a letter to Ed Edmondson, the Executive Director of the USCF, in which Fischer declined his invitation, he accused Edmondson of lying about the previous championship and, also, he (Fischer) believed the championship had to be 22 rounds just like the Soviet, Hungarian and other East European countries. They took chess seriously over there plus the small number of players in the US Championship made it too risky...one loss could cost you the title or you could miss qualifying. 

    It had been a long dry spell for Reshevsky who had last won the championship in 1946! Second place finisher William Addison and third-place finisher Pal Benko also qualified for the Interzonal. Nevertheless, thanks to Edmondson’s negotiations Benko stepped aside and Fischer was allowed to take his place and the rest was history.

 

    The following game is Reshevsky’s snappy first round win over Dr. Karl Burger. Owing to Addison’s surprising play, Reshevsky didn’t take the lead until round 9 and then held on to it. Going into the last round he was a half point ahead of Addison so to make sure he got a spot in the Zonal, he offered his opponent, Larry Evans a quick draw. Evans declined and ended up losing while Addison defeated William Lombardy to take second. 

     Reshevsky's first round opponent was Karl Burger (1933-2000, 67 years old), a physician and an IM who also had two GM norms (three were required for the title). This was his only US Championship appearance, but at one time he had been Bobby Fischer’s teacher at the Manhattan Chess Club. 

    The game feature an oft-played variation that poses problems for black starting at move 12! Burger lost because he failed to activate his Q-side pieces. In the last 12 moves of the game Burger had to make 6 Queen moves. 

[Event "US Champ/Zonal, New York, 1969"] [Site ""] [Date "1969"] [Round "?"] [White "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Black "Dr. Karl Burger"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E56"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1969.??.??"] {E56: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Nf3 d5 7. O-O Nc6 8. a3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 Ba5 10. Bd3 {Reshecsjy often played 10.Qd3} Qe7 {Here 10...cxd4 is better} (10... h6 {This is probably black's best move.} 11. Bc2 cxd4 12. exd4 Bc7 13. Qd3 e5 {equals. Almasi,Z (2689) -Quesada Perez,Y (2608) Havana CUB 2013}) 11. Ne4 Nxe4 (11... cxd4 12. exd4 h6 13. Be3 Rd8 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 {was soon drawn in Balashov,Y (2470)-Uddenfeldt,D (2339) Rhodes GRE 2019}) 12. Bxe4 Bb6 (12... Rd8 13. Qa4 Bb6 14. dxc5 Qxc5 15. b4 Qc4 16. Qc2 Qxc2 17. Bxc2 f6 18. Bb2 e5 19. Bb3+ {½-½ Lukacs,P (2420) -Luczak,A (2440) Lodz 1979}) (12... cxd4 13. exd4 {is OK, but black must keep an eye on the possibility of Bxh7+} Bd7 {White is better after 14.b4 and 15.b5, but the time is not quite ripe for the B sacrifice although it is playable.} 14. Bxh7+ Kxh7 15. Ng5+ {and black has only one equalizing defense which has been pointed out in similar positions by Vladimir Vukovic in his excellent book Art of Attack in Chess.} Kg6 (15... Kg8 16. Qh5 Qxg5 17. Bxg5) 16. Qd3+ f5 17. Qg3 {with roughly equal chances.}) 13. dxc5 Qxc5 {It would have been safer to play 13...Bxc5. Now black's Q is harassed. In either case though white has a strong iitiative.} 14. b4 Qc4 {The text loses time so 14...Qg5 was probably a better choice.} 15. Nd2 Qc3 16. Ra2 {This threatens to win with Bb2.} Rd8 17. Rc2 {[%mdl 2048] White is really pushing.} Qe5 18. Bb2 Qg5 19. Qe2 Ne7 { Closing off the Bs diagpnal with 19...e5 was worth considering.} (19... e5 20. Nf3 Qh5 {and, at least, black has defensive possibilities.}) 20. f4 {At this point white's position can be considered a winning one.} Qh6 21. Nc4 f5 { A desperate attempt to block the B, but now black loses by force. It males little difference because he is lost no matter when he plays.} 22. Nxb6 axb6 23. Rc7 {[%mdl 32]} fxe4 24. Rxe7 Rd7 25. Re8+ Kf7 26. Rh8 {Black resigned. The main threat from this curious move is the infiltration into his position bt white's Rs.} (26. Rh8 Re7 27. Rc1 Qh4 28. Rcxc8 Rxc8 29. Rxc8 Rd7 30. Bd4 { with an easy win.}) 1-0