Weinstein Upsets Shamkovich

    It doesn’t seem that long ago, but 1975 was 50 years ago. I wasn’t into music, but the disco craze was in full swing, mood rings became a popular fad and at the age of 19, Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft. 

    The world’s top rated players were 1) Bobby Fischer (2780), 2) Anatoly Karpov (2705), Vikto Korchnoi (2665), 4-6) Tigran Petrosian, Lev Poligayevsky (2645), and Mikhail Tal (2645), 7) Lajos Portisch (2635), 8-9) Bent Larsen and Boris Spassky (2625), Robert Huebner and Ljubomir Ljubojevi (2615).

    Bobby Fischer and FIDE failed to agree on the terms, some of which were quite radical, for Fischer’s defense of his world title. It’s just my opinion, but I believe he had a fear of losing to Karpov. 

    Fischer did not play from 1973 to 1991. He re-emerged to play a match against Boris Spassky in 1992, making the ridiculous claim he was still the World Champion and he was defending his title. He then retired from chess permanently. By that time chess had moved on, Fischer was a washed up champion and it was no great loss. 

 A number of players died that year. The best known being Paul Keres, Friedrich Samisch, Lajos Steiner, Nicolas Rossolimo, Karel Opocensky, Hans Johner, Vladimir Vukovic, Georg Kieninger, Abraham Baratz, Norman T/ Whitaker and John Morrison. 

    In US chess news, the US Championship and World Championship Zonal tournament took place in the small college town of Oberlin, Ohio. Walter Browne won with a score of 8.5-4.5. Also qualifying for the Interzonal was Kenneth Rogoff. Local favorite, Dr. Milan Vukcevich of Mentor, Ohio, just missed qualifying; he finished 3rd with 7.5-5.5, a half point behind Rogoff. 

    Today’s game comes from the Louis D. Statham Masters-Plus Championship (aka Lome Pine) that was won by Vladimir Liberzon. This was the fifth annual Lone Pine tournament and it set a world record in the number of International Grandmasters participating. . 

    Statham had invited literally every Grandmaster in the world to compete and guaranteed them that their air fare would be paid even if they failed to win a prize. It was unfortunate that the number of GMs was reduced due to politics. For example, three string Czech players were forced to withdraw: Jan Smejkal, Vastimil Jansa and Miroslav Filip. The reason? Their federation could not be given a guarantee that dissident Czech GM Ludek Pachman, who at the time was Stateless, would not be playing. 

    For those not familiar with Jansa, he had won the strong Atlantic Open on tiebreaks ahead of Matanovic, Bisguier. Zuckerman and 8almazi in New York City the previous November and his 2540 rating tied him for places 36-41 in the world. As for Pachman, he did not play at Lone Pine. 

    The surprise winner of this game was Norman Weinstein (born in 1950) who was awarded the IM title in 1973, the same year he won the US Open Championship. His opponent was GM Leonid Shamkovich ( 1923-2005) who was originally a Soviet player, but in 1965 he emigrated to the US by way of Israel and Canada. He lived in Brooklyn. 

 

[Event "Lone Pine"] [Site ""] [Date "1975.04.13"] [Round "1.11"] [White "Norman Weinstein"] [Black "Leonid Shamkovic"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B56"] [Annotator "Stickfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "1975.04.13"] {B71: Sicilian Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. f4 g6 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. e5 Nd7 9. exd6 exd6 10. Be3 Be7 {Best. At the time 10... Qe7 had often been played, but it was eventually realized that white obtained a lasting advantage after 11.Qd4 Bg7 12.Qxg7 Qxe3+} 11. Qd2 O-O 12. O-O-O Nf6 { One annotator gave this a question mark amd called it a fatal mistake, but that is hardly the case. The most precise is 12...d5 with good play.} 13. h3 Be6 14. Kb1 {Also good was 14.g4 at once, but Weinstein plays to limit black's opportinity counterplay before commencing his own attack.} Qa5 {In a later round Austrian GM Karl Robatsch played the equally good 14...d5, but black lost that game also.} (14... d5 15. g4 Bb4 16. Bg2 Qa5 17. a3 Ne4 18. Bxe4 Bxc3 19. Qxc3 Qxc3 20. bxc3 dxe4 {Weinstein,N (2465)-Robatsch,K (2455) Lone Pine 1975. The position is equal, but black lost in the ending.}) 15. b3 Qa3 { After this move black begins experiencing difficulties. Better was 15...d5 with equal chances} 16. g4 {White now launches a very strong attack. Another good plan was supporting the advance of the f-Pawn with 16.Bd3} Rab8 17. f5 { [%mdl 512]} gxf5 {This loses quickly, but even a better move, say 17...Bd5 would, not have helped much.} 18. Bd4 Nd7 19. Qh6 {White is clearly winning.} Ne5 20. Bd3 Kh8 21. gxf5 Bxb3 22. cxb3 {Threatening mate with f6.} f6 23. Rhg1 Rf7 24. Rg2 Qb4 25. Qe3 Rff8 26. Rdg1 Rg8 27. Kb2 Qa5 {At forst glance it may appear that black has been able to consolidate his position a bit, but Weinstein finisjes him off in an efficient manner.} 28. Rxg8+ Rxg8 29. Rxg8+ Kxg8 30. Bxe5 dxe5 31. Bc4+ Kf8 32. Qg3 Ke8 {Black could have prolonged the game a bit with 32...Ba3+, but the outcome would have been the same.} 33. Qg8+ {Putting vlack out of his misery.} Bf8 {Black lost on time.} (33... Bf8 34. Qf7+ Kd8 35. Qxf8+ {White mates...} Kc7 36. b4 Qb6 37. Be6 Qf2+ 38. Kb3 Qb2+ 39. Kxb2 e4 40. Qc8+ Kd6 41. Qd7+ Ke5 42. Ne2 e3 43. Qd4#) 1-0