Another Lolli’s Theme

    If you ever worked in an office then the year 1932 was an important one for you; it was the year the staple remover was invented. It was also the year The Crime of the Century, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of Charles and Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey.

    Chessplayer Norman T Whitaker and his partner in crime tried to cash in on it and extort money from a wealthy heiress. Speaking of crime, most infamous person in America was probably Chicago gangster Al Capone 

    The text “This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental” is at the end of film came about because the Russian prince who killed Rasputin sued MGM for not accurately depicting Rasputin’s murder in their 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress. 

    In the Marshall Chess Club Championship an 18 year old college student at the City College of New York named Reuben Fine retained the Marshall Chess Club Championship, winning the tournament in brilliant style, without the loss of a game. 

    In the post of April 14, 2025, I gave an example of Lolli’s Theme. Here is another one. The white pieces were manipulated by Robert Levenstein (May 26, 1914 - May 1, 2009, 94 years old) who was the New York state champion in 1934. Levenstein was an accomplished pianist and performed for the New York Pro Musica for many years. He was a music educator before he retired. 

    The black pieces were handled by Rudolf Smirka (1887-1947) who was born in Vienna. He won the New York State championship in 1923 and 1927. He was one of the strongest members of the Marshall club in in the 1920s, winning the club championship in 1929-1930 after a playoff with Sidney Bernstein. 

 

[Event "Marshall Chess Club Championship"] [Site "New York, NY"] [Date "1932.11.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Levenstein"] [Black "Rudolph Smirka"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E43"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "1932.??.??"] {E43: Nimzo-Indian: Rubinstein Variation} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 b6 {White does not mind the doubled Ps afte because it would leave him with the two Bs and an easily developed attack on the K-side.} 5. Qf3 {A fine move. the point of which is to take advantage of the deployment of the black pieces on the Q-side.} d5 6. Bd3 Bb7 {A good alternative is 6...Ba6} 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. cxd5 {This is a good positional move, the idea of which is to block the diagonal of the N on b7.} exd5 9. O-O Qe7 {Black should have castled, but he was afraid that the ensuing attack on the K-side would be too strong, The disadvantage of the move played is that it allows white to eliminate black's dark squared B.} 10. Nb5 Nf8 11. a3 Bd6 12. Nxd6+ Qxd6 13. Ng3 {Aiming for Nf5} Ne6 (13... g6 {This followed by ...O-O-O was suggested by Reuben FIne as being slightly better, but actually it's much worse!} 14. e4 Qe6 15. Re1 N8d7 16. e5 Ne4 17. Bh6 O-O-O 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Bxe4 Bxe4 20. Rxe4 {Black has a miserable, and likely lost, position.}) 14. Nf5 Qd8 (14... Qd7 {loses to} 15. Nxg7+ Nxg7 16. Qxf6) 15. Qg3 O-O 16. f4 g6 {Black, already in a difficult position, unwittingly voluntarily sets up the Lolli's Theme formation. For beeter or worse he had to try 16...Ne4} 17. Nh6+ Kh8 18. f5 Ng7 19. Qh4 Ng8 (19... gxf5 { This can't possibly be good, but how does white proceed? There is no obvious tactical sequence to force the win, so I let the engine work on the position for about 20 minutes and this was the result...} 20. Bxf5 Ba6 21. e4 Nfh5 22. Qxd8 Raxd8 23. Rf2 dxe4 24. Bxe4 f5 25. Bc2 Bc4 26. Bd2 Bd5 27. Raf1 f4 28. Bxf4 Nxf4 29. Rxf4 Rxf4 30. Rxf4 Rc8 31. Nf7+ Kg8 32. Ne5 Rd8 33. Rh4 h5 34. Rf4 Rd6 35. Kf2 Ne8 36. Rf5 Nf6 37. Ke3 c5 38. dxc5 {Stockfish says white has a decisive advantage. The ancient (10 year old) Rybka 2.3.2a puts white's advantage at a more modest "clearly better." For himans things probably aren;y that clear.} bxc5 39. b3 h4 40. Kf4 Kf8 41. Kg5 h3 42. g3) 20. f6 Ne8 21. Nxg8 Rxg8 {Black has no longer any adequate defense.} (21... Kxg8 22. Rf3 h5 23. Bd2 (23. Qg5 Qd7 24. Rh3 Qg4 {equalizes}) 23... Qd7 24. Qg5 Qg4 25. Qh6 Bc8 26. Raf1 Bb7 27. h3 Qd7 28. Bxg6 fxg6 29. Qxg6+ {White has a mate...} Kh8 30. f7 Qd6 31. Qxh5+ Kg7 32. fxe8=N+ Raxe8 33. Rf7+ Rxf7 34. Rxf7+ Kg8 35. Qh7#) 22. Rf4 {Threatening mate with Qxh7+!} Rf8 23. Bd2 Qd6 24. Raf1 {This defends the P on f6/ White's Qh6 followed by Rh4 was not been possible up until now because of ...Nxg6.} h5 25. Qg5 {Black resigned. There is a forced mate.} (25. Qg5 c6 26. Qh6+ Kg8 27. Bxg6 Nxf6 28. Rxf6 fxg6 29. Qxg6+ Kh8 30. R1f5 Qxh2+ 31. Kxh2 Rf7 32. Rxh5+ Rh7 33. Rxh7#) 1-0