 |
| 20-year old Reuben Fine |
The Manhattan Chess Club won the Metropolitan Chess League with a perfect 11-0 score, and Robert Willman won the club championship.
According to Chess metrics in 1934, 20-year old Reuben Fine (1914-1993) was ranked #25 in the world with a 2604 rating. Israel A. Hororwitz (1907-1993), age ge 27, was ranked #92 with a 2469 rating.
In their natch that year, as the ratings suggest, Fine won by the score of +4 -1 =3.
Since appearing on the chess scene a few years earlier Fine
quickly developed the steadiness of a seasoned veteran as the match score indicates and he was already recognized as one of the country’s leading players.
[Event "Match"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1934.06.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Reuben Fine"]
[Black "Israel A. Horowitz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D18"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "1934.??.??"]
{D16: Slav Defense} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 {Best. This
move serves a double purpose. It prevents black from protecting the P on c4
and, also, limits black's counterplay in the Q-side.} Bf5 6. e3 Na6 {Black has
never had very good results with this move. Better was the routing 6...e6} 7.
Bxc4 Nb4 8. O-O e6 9. Qe2 Be7 10. Rd1 {Usual, but not necessarily better, is
10.Ne5/ White has had excellent results with 10.e4} O-O 11. e4 Bg4 12. Bb3 {
An excellent move! It's odd looking, but it prevents ...Bxf3 and ...Nc2xd5. In
the ensuing middlegame whitehas contro; of the center and better mobility and
he is in a position to initiate a K-side attack. Black, on the other hand has
no definite objective and his pieces are not very active. As a result, all he
can do is matr time while hoping that Fine mishandles the attack.} Qa5 13. h3
Bxf3 14. Qxf3 Rad8 15. Be3 Rd7 {The advance ...c5 is the move black would like
to play, but white can always meet it with the advance of the P to d5. Ni\or
can he safely play ...e5 because it opens up a path for white's B to the
potentially vulnerable f7.} 16. g4 Rfd8 {Black does not want to voluntarily
make a P move on the K-side, but holding up the advance of white's g-Pawn with
16...h6 weas actually a better line.} (16... h6 17. Rd2 Nh7 18. Rad1 {Even
here white has a very active position with pressure both in the center and on
the K-side.}) 17. g5 Ne8 18. h4 c5 {Horowitz likely felt he had to do
something because playing defensively with ...g6 and ...Ng7 looks gloomy,} 19.
d5 e5 20. h5 Bd6 21. Kg2 a6 22. Rh1 Nd3 23. g6 {Black cannot afford to capture
the this P nor can he afford to advance either one of his K-side Ps, but he
has a decent defensive try with 13...c4 followed by ...Nf4} c4 (23... hxg6 24.
hxg6 Nf6 25. Bg5 Nf4+ 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. e5) (23... fxg6 24. hxg6 Nf6 25. Bg5
Nf4+ 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. e5) (23... h6 24. Bxh6 gxh6 25. Qxd3) (23... f6 24. Ne2
Qb4 25. Bc2 Nf4+ 26. Bxf4 exf4 27. Qc3 Qxc3 28. bxc3 h6 29. Kf3 {White has a
decisive advantage.}) 24. Bc2 Nf4+ 25. Bxf4 exf4 26. e5 {This nifty P
sacrifice make room for his light squared B to get into the action.} Bxe5 27.
Bf5 Re7 28. gxf7+ Kxf7 29. Rae1 Bxc3 30. Be6+ Kf8 31. bxc3 Nf6 {It looks like
Horowitz has weathered the storm, but white has a decisive advantage. However..
.after Fine’s next move Horowitz though his position was defenseless, but 32.
Rh4 was, in fact, a mistake.} 32. Rh4 (32. Qxf4 {secures the win, The best
line is} Rxd5 33. Bxd5 Qxd5+ 34. f3 Rxe1 35. Rxe1 {and white has a decisive
advantage.}) 32... Rxd5 {Capturing on d5 is correct, but not with the R!} (
32... Nxd5 33. Re5 Qb6 34. Rf5+ Nf6 35. Bxc4 Ke8 36. Rfxf4 Rd6 {incredible as
it seems, black has survived and is right back in the game.}) 33. Rxf4 Rg5+ 34.
Kf1 Ke8 35. Rxf6 gxf6 36. Qxf6 Rgg7 {This results in the R getting trapped,
but there was nothing better.} 37. h6 {Black resigned, Except for his hiccup
on move 32, a smooth performance by Fine.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment