Another Fine Win at New York 1948/49

Reuben Fine

    A Chess Life article on the 1948/49 New York international tournament caught my attention because Fred Reinfeld labeled Arnold Denke’s 9th place finish with a +0 -5 =4 score as greatly disappointing. He then lambasted Denker saying that while Denker’s play was rich in (tactical) ideas, he lacked “staying power and a serious attitude. His play is fundamentally frivolous: he lacks the self-discipline to stick to a logical line of play and will always cast it aside for the gaudy bauble of a scintillating sacrifice which may or may not be sound.” 

     Harsh criticism! Fred Reinfeld was a very strong player, stronger than most people give him credit for, but he never accomplished as much as Denker did. Reinfeld also chastised Denker for having time trouble “again and again.” In this tournament the time limit was 40 moves in two hours. 

    A grumpy Reinfeld was also critical of the play of the then U.S. Champion Herman Steiner saying, “He is a happy-go-lucky player whose performances are extremely uneven. Aside from the fact that the time limit plagued him, his play was much too superficial to carry weight in such company.” 

    Reinfeld’s blathering about the course of the following Denker vs. Fine game was way off, but then he didn’t have an engine, so we can forgive him. That said, it was those very comments that caused me to ferret out the unpublished game and take a look at it! The game turned out to be a bit disappointing. It was boring up until the point where Denker’s rambunctious attempt to attack backfired and he lost quickly. But, since I bothered to look it up and run it through Fritz for analysis here it is. 

 

[Event "New York 1948/49"] [Site ""] [Date "1948.12.26"] [Round "4"] [White "Arnold Denker"] [Black "Reuben Fine"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E33"] [Annotator "Dragon by Komodo"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "1948.??.??"] {E33: Nimzo-Indian: Classical} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. e3 O-O 6. Nge2 {A departure from the usual 6.Nf3 or 6.Bd3, but not bad. White wants to avoid doubled c-Pawns.} d5 7. cxd5 (7. a3 Bxc3+ 8. Nxc3 e5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. cxd5 Nxd5 11. Be2 Nxc3 12. Qxc3 {with a boring position. Bernasek,J (2506)-Boensch,U (2528) Austria 2013}) 7... exd5 8. a3 Bd6 9. Ng3 {White makes room for the B to develop plus on g3 the N has some potential for supporting a K-side attack.} g6 {Shielding h7 and preventing a potential Nf5 by white.} 10. Bd3 a6 11. Bd2 Be6 12. Nce2 Qd7 13. O-O Ne8 {Preparing the advance of the f-Pawn in order to challenge the advance of white's e-Pawn/} 14. f3 f5 15. e4 { Denker wants to open up the position so he can use his two Bs and active piece in an attack on Fine's K which at the moment is quite safe.} Bxg3 16. hxg3 dxe4 17. fxe4 Nxd4 18. Nxd4 Qxd4+ 19. Kh2 Rd8 20. Rf3 Nf6 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. Qb3+ Rf7 23. Bc3 Ng4+ {Opening up the position has allowed black's pieces, not white's, to spring into life.} 24. Kh1 Qc5 {[%mdl 2048] A clever move that leaves his Q well placed...it supports a potential ...Nc2+ and the Q has access to the h-file. White is now in a precarious situation...one wrong move and he is done for.} 25. Bxf5 {Superficially this looks reasonable because it appears to weaken black's K-side, but what ot does us, it allows} (25. Bc4 {get him mated. } Be6 {[%mdl 512]} 26. Bxe6 Qh5+ 27. Kg1 Qh2+ 28. Kf1 Qh1+ 29. Ke2 Qxg2+ 30. Ke1 Qh1+ 31. Ke2 Qxf3+ 32. Ke1 Qe3#) (25. Bb4 {This is his best reply.} Be6 26. Bxc5 {Trading Qs eliminates black's attack.} (26. Qxe6 {allows black a mating attack.} Qh5+ 27. Kg1 Qh2+ 28. Kf1 Qh1+ 29. Ke2 Qxg2+ 30. Ke1 Qxf3 31. Qe2 Qxg3+ 32. Kd2 Rf2 33. Kc1 Rxe2 34. Bc4+ Kg7 35. Bc3+ Kh6 36. Bxe2 Qe3+ 37. Kc2 Qxe2+ 38. Kb3 Qe6+ 39. Ka4 Qc6+ 40. Kb3 Qd5+ 41. Kc2 Ne3+ 42. Kb1 Qb3 43. Bg7+ Kxg7 44. Kc1 Rd1#) 26... Bxb3 27. Be2 {with equal chances.}) 25... gxf5 26. Rd1 Rd6 27. Rxd6 Qxd6 28. Kg1 Qh6 {White lost on time. It's a pity because even though he is technically lost, white could have put up a stiff defense.} (28... Qh6 {Here is a possible continuation...} 29. Rd3 Qc1+ 30. Qd1 Qxd1+ 31. Rxd1 Kf8 32. Rd8+ Ke7 33. Ra8 Kd6 34. Kf1 Kc5 35. Ke2 Kc4 36. Rd8 c5 37. Rd3 Re7+ 38. Kd2 Nf2 39. Rf3 Ne4+ 40. Kd1 Re8 41. Kc2 Nd6 {This ending is won for black who scored +4 -0 =1 in Shootyouts, but the games were long indicating that in practice white has some hope of drawing.}) 0-1