Vladimir Simagin’s Last Tournament

    Kislovodsk is a spa city in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. The tournament that was held there in 1968 was marred by the premature death at the age of 49 of Sovier GM Vladimir Simagin (1919-1968) when he had to withdraw due to illness and died of a heart attack.

    GM Lubomir Kavalek told the story of how on the night of August 21, 1968 his wife met Simagin pacing back and forth in the lobby of a hotel in Polanica Zdroj, repeating, ”Stupid people, stupid people, stupid people.” Simagin explained to her that Soviet tanks had invaded Czechoslovakia over night. 

    Kavalek described Simagin as a philosopher who believed that violence has no place in our lives and it is best to leave it on the chessboard as was evidenced bu his bold and imaginative style and his tactical ability. In this game he defeats the Yugoslav player Milorad Knezzevic (1936-2005, 68 years old) who was awarded ther GM title in 1976. In this In this game jis passive play lead a winning attack by Simagin. 

 

 

[Event "Kislovodsk"] [Site ""] [Date "1968.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Milorad Knezevic"] [Black "Vladimir Simagin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A03"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "68"] [EventDate "1968.??.??"] {A03: Bird's Opening} 1. g3 d5 2. f4 {Transposing into the ancient Bird, but a variation that resembles the Dutch Defense reversed where black plays 2...d6. In practical play there are few draws.} g6 (2... h5 {Is an adventurous try.} 3. Bg2 (3. Nf3 h4 4. Bg2 (4. Nxh4 {leaves white lost after} e5 5. fxe5 (5. Nf3) 5... Rxh4 6. gxh4 Qxh4#) 4... Nc6 {Black is better.}) 3... h4 {White has a number of reasonable moves.}) 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. d3 Nc6 5. Bg2 {Now you would expect either 5...Nf6 or 5...e5, not Simagin's pecular repley.} Nh6 {Not really bad, but the N is destined to remain here for a long time.} 6. c3 {/} O-O 7. O-O Qd6 8. Kh1 {The reason for this passive mive us not clear.} (8. e4 dxe4 9. dxe4 Qc5+ 10. Kh1 Rd8 11. Qe2 Be6 12. Na3 a6 13. Be3 Qh5 14. e5 {with equal chances. Szymczak,R (2102)-Alvarado,C (2203) Warsaw 2011}) 8... Bg4 9. Na3 {The N does not have much of a future here. A strike in the center with eother 8,d4 or 9.e4 would have been better.} Qd7 10. e4 Rad8 11. exd5 Qxd5 12. d4 {[%mdl 32]} Qh5 $1 {[%cal Og7d4]} 13. Qb3 Na5 14. Qb5 Rd5 15. Qe2 c5 $1 {[%mdl 2048] Black has the initiative.} 16. dxc5 Nc6 17. Qf2 Rfd8 {White should now try to bring his offside N into play with 18.Nc2. Instead...} 18. Nh4 $2 {Simagin is not interested in regaining his P with 18...Rxc5. Instead, he begins an ivasion of white's position.} Rd3 (18... Bf6 {was even stronger. White's best option would be tp allow the weakening of his K-side with ...Bxh4 and get the N on a3 into play with 19.Nc2, but he must avoid taking the R...or should he?! The resulting position os something only ann engine could fathom!} 19. Bxd5 Rxd5 20. Ng2 {which allowa black a crushing attack.} Bf5 {Giving the N access to g4.} 21. Nc4 Ng4 22. Qg1 Rd3 23. Nce3 Nd4 {Black's pieces are swarming!} 24. cxd4 Bxd4 {White has no useful moves.} 25. a4 Be4 26. Ra3 {Exchanges offer no relief.} Rxa3 27. bxa3 Qh3 28. Re1 Bf3 29. Rf1 Bc6 {White is a whole r up, but is dead lost. The main engine line runs} 30. Re1 a5 31. Re2 Kf8 32. Rc2 h6 33. Re2 f6 34. Ra2 f5 35. Rb2 Nxe3 36. Bxe3 Bxb2 37. Qf2 Bxa3 38. Kg1 Qg4 39. Qf1 Bb2 40. Ne1 Qd1 41. Nd3 Qb3 42. Qe2 Bf6 43. Ne5 Bxe5 44. fxe5 g5 45. e6 Qxe6 46. Qd3 Bxa4 {Black is winning.}) 19. Be3 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Again, his best try was getting the N into play with 19,Nc2} Bf6 20. Nf3 Bh3 21. Bxh3 Qxh3 22. Bd4 $2 {This loses quickly. Again 22,Nc2 was his best defense.} Bxd4 23. cxd4 Nxd4 24. Ne5 Ng4 25. Nxg4 Qxg4 26. Nc4 {Ne5 is the strong threat.} f6 27. Ne3 Qe6 28. Rfe1 Qc6+ 29. Qg2 Qxg2+ 30. Kxg2 {The exchange of Qs has not lessened the attack.} Rd2+ 31. Kh3 Nf3 32. Nf1 Ng1+ 33. Kh4 R2d5 34. Nd2 Rh5+ {White resigned. It's mate next move} 0-1

A Fischer vs Geller Encounter

    Yefim Geller (1925-1998) was born in Odessa, Ukraine and died in Moscow. From the end of the Second World War until the early 1970s Geller was among the elite group who missed out on the world championship despite the fact that he was undoubtedly among the world's top ten players for over 20 years. 

    Take a look at his record against the world's leading players: Mikhail Botvinnik (+4 -1 =7), David Bronstein (+5 -4 =12), Tigran Petrosian, (+5 -3 =32), Vasily Smyslov (+11 -8 =37). 

    Against Mikhail Tal his record was +6 -6 =23.The only players against whom he did not fare well were Viktor Korchnoi (minus 5), Boris Spassky (minus 4) and Lajos Portisch (minus 2). Among his most interesting encounters were those against Bobby Fischer. Geller scored 5 wins, three losses and only two were drawn. 

    At Skopje, 1967, Fischer lost his third game in a row to Geller prompting Yugoslav GM Bojan Kurajica to write that Fischer just couldn't play against Geller. Yugoslav, GM and journalist Dr. Petar Trifunovic opined that Geller was in no way inferior to Fischer when it came to opening preparation and Fischer chose to play sharp opening variations because he was always playing to win. 

    In this game Fischer succeeded in outplaying Geller in the opening, but his play was tactically flawed and Geller, who was a superb tactician, was quick to take advantage of it. 

    Fischer had just recently come out of hiding and Skopje was an important warm-up for his participation in the Sousse Interzonal later in the year. As it turned out, Sousse was to become famous because of the Fischer Affair. 

    The tournament schedule was modified to fit Fischer and Reshevsky's religious obligations. After a dispute with the organizers over scheduling Fischer walked out while he was leading. 

    After nine rounds at Skopje he was tied for first with Russia’s Ratmir Kholmov. It was at that point Fischer once again revealed himself to be the loathsome snot face he really was. He announced he would withdraw from the tournament unless the chess sets were vhanges and the spectators were removed from further rounds. 

    The organizers could not meet the second demand so Fischer forfeited his tenth round game against Yugoslav master Milorad Knezevic who then showed he was quite a sportsman when he didn't want to accept a free point and allowed the game to be re-scheduled. After that, Fischer found his form and went on to finish first by a half point ahead of Geller and Milan Matulovic. 

 

A Brilliant Attack by Smyslov

    Over the years I have published quite a few of Smyslov’s games, but unfortunately many of them are no longer viewable because they were published on now defunct web sites. 

    Smyslov’s games are very instructive and there is much to be learned from them. Studying Smyslov’s games is valuable because they teach piece harmony, positional precision and endgame mastery. By playing over his games you will learn how to improve piece coordination and convert minor advantages. 

    Smyslov played, as it has been said, “like a dance, prioritizing active piece coordination.” Along with his positional play and endgame artistry we also see flashed of tactical genius. 

    The following game against Kotov may not be perfect, but it was still brilliant. Brilliancies don’t just happen; they come about as a result of methodical planning andcareful preparation. In the following game Smyslov plays a great game. One that is impressive from beginning to end. It starts in the opening with an innovation thay gave him a slight advantage which he then parlayed into a powerful attacking position. Je then finished up with a pleasing sacrifice.

 

[Event "Moscow Championship 1943/44"] [Site ""] [Date "1943.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Vasily Smyslov"] [Black "Alexander Kotov"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B25"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18/Reuben Fine"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1943.12.??"] [Source ""] [SourceVersion ""] [SourceVersionDate ""] [SourceQuality "1"] {B25: Closed Sicilian: 3 g3, lines without early Be3} 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 {The Closed Sicilian has never been especially popular, but it was a favorite of Smyslov and in this game he had what at the time were considered improvements in mind.} Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 {This is the standard reply, but Reuben Fine recommended 5...e6 which would likelt just transpose.} 6. Nf3 {At the time the customary plan for white was to prepare a K-side attack with 6.Nge2 then h3 and g4 while black counterattacked on the Q-side. Smyslov's 6.Nf3 was a novelty; his plan is still a K-side attack, but first he conducts operations in the center. Nowadays white usually plays 6.Be3} e6 {The main point to white's last move was that 6....Nd4 is not good.} (6... Nd4 7. Nxd4 cxd4 8. Ne2 Bg4 9. O-O Nf6 10. c3 dxc3 11. bxc3 {wiyh a slight advantage/}) (6... e5 {While this blocks the B it has the advantage of shutting down white's operations in the center.} 7. Nd2 Nf6 8. O-O O-O {with equal chances.}) 7. Bg5 (7. O-O Rb8 8. Bg5 Qc7 9. Qd2 b5 10. a4 b4 {Black's position is more active. Gauche,C (2229)-Zini,J (2082) Florianopolis BRA 2015}) 7... Nge7 8. Qd2 h6 {Castling at once would be too risky because of Bh6 and the advance of the h-Pawn.} (8... Nd4 9. h4 h6 10. Be3 e5 11. Nh2 Be6 12. f4 h5 {with equal chances. Norwood,D (2515)-Hulak,K (2560) Marseille 1990}) 9. Be3 {Threatening 10.d4} e5 {Preventing d4} (9... Nd4 {ps the main alternative. After} 10. O-O Rb8 11. Ne1 b5 12. Nd1 b4 13. c3 bxc3 14. bxc3 Ndc6 {the chances are equal. Krasnov,S (2295)-Baikov,V (2470) Moscow 1996}) 10. O-O Be6 11. Ne1 Qd7 {...Nd4 was still a viable alternative.} 12. a3 {The main alternative was 12.Nd5. Reuben Fine called 12.a3 ingenious. He e explained that although it is not actually put to use for 25 moves, the main purpose is a potential Q-side attack. The threat never actually materializes, but threat forces black to change his plans. e.g. castling Q-side is out.} Bh3 {Fine did not like this move claiming that it nerely clears the way for white to cinduct his attack and an attempted break in the centeer would have served him better. Bas advice! After the text the position is equal.} (12... d5 {is, however, quite unsatisfactory.} 13. Bxc5 dxe4 14. Bxe7 Kxe7 15. Nxe4 {and black does not have sufficient compensation for the P.}) (12... Nd4 $1 {This is still his best move, After} 13. Rb1 b5 14. Ne2 Nxe2+ 15. Qxe2 O-O {with full equality.}) 13. f4 $6 {Engines don't like this move, but practically speaking it is a good try because in order to take advantahe of it black will have to play like one! Engines want to commence play on the Q-side with 13.Rb1} Nd4 {This is no longer effective.} (13... exf4 14. gxf4 O-O-O {Black's K is safe and he may even claim a slight advantage.}) 14. Rb1 {Fine explains that the purpose of this move is todefend the b-Pawn after potential exchanges that open the long diagonal, plus there is a potential for the advance of the b-Pawn. Equally good were either 14,Bxh3 or 14,fxe5} exf4 15. Bxf4 Bxg2 16. Qxg2 {Fine made the observation that white must capture with the Q because the prevention of ...d5 is more important than anything else. Here is the problem with pre-engine analysis. The annotations were often cursory and every move of the winner was praised and every move of the loser criticized. In fact, after 16.Qxg2 black gas the opportunity to gain the advantage.} (16. Nxg2 {and now after 16...o-o-o the chances would be equal, but not} d5 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Rbe1+ Ne6 19. Nxd5 Qxd5 20. Ne3 Qd7 21. Nc4 {White is better because black's K is in a precarious position.}) 16... O-O 17. g4 {A safer move would have been 17.Nf3, but Smyslov's idea is to restrict black's K-side Ps.} Rad8 18. Kh1 Ne6 {Even better would have been the more active 18...b5.} 19. Bd2 d5 20. Nf3 d4 {This opens the door for white to begin a K-side attack. The blopckadong 20...g5! was much sager.} 21. Ne2 {[%mdl 32] Joining the attack.} Nc6 {Engines claim that after 21...f6 black is equal, but the analysis is so obscure that it is doubtful humans would ever play it.} 22. Qh3 $1 {Watchj white's attack develop!} Kh7 23. Ng3 $1 f6 {A better defense was 23...Rh8. After the text Smyslov now opens up lines foe attack.} (23... Rh8 24. Nf5 Kg8 25. Nxh6+ {White is better after} Bxh6 26. Bxh6 c4 27. Qh4 Qd6 28. g5 {but black can hope to defend himself.}) 24. Nf5 $1 gxf5 {This loses quickly.} (24... g5 {makes it harder for white to break through.} 25. Rf2 Rh8 26. Re1 b6 {White is better, but there is no clear path to victory.}) 25. gxf5 Nc7 26. Rg1 {[%mdl 32]} Ne8 {Black's position has completely collapsed.} 27. Rg6 (27. Rg4 {was even better.} Rh8 28. Bxh6 {This leads to an amazing finish.} Bxh6 {Black could avoid what's coming with 28...Kg8, but he would still lose.} 29. Qxh6+ Kxh6 30. Rbg1 Ng7 31. Rh4+ Nh5 32. Rg6+ Kh7 33. Rxh5#) 27... Rf7 (27... Rh8 {was a bit better, but after} 28. Bxh6 Kg8 29. Qg4 {black's position isd still hopeless.}) 28. Rbg1 Kg8 29. Rxh6 Kf8 30. Rh7 Ke7 {It may appear that black's K has found safty as it is surrounfed by all his pwn pieces.} 31. Qh5 {The threat is Bh6} Kd6 32. Bf4+ Ne5 33. Bxe5+ fxe5 {A problem-like finish.} 34. f6 Nxf6 35. Qxe5+ Kc6 36. Rhxg7 {[%mdl 512]} Kb5 37. Nxd4+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} Kb6 {He can't capture the N because the Q has to guars the R.} 38. b4 {[%mdl 32]} Rc8 39. Rxf7 Qxf7 40. Qd6+ Rc6 41. Nxc6 Nxe4 $3 {Proving the point that the game is not over until it's over!} 42. bxc5+ {Black resigned.} ({Not} 42. dxe4 $4 Qf3+ {draws.}) 1-0

Interesting Fritz 17 Crash

    After finally purchasing a new laptop last month it took some time to get used to Windows 11. After a lot of tinkering, things like color schemes and especially font sizes were finally made to look “normal.” 

    Then there was the problem of which chess programs to keep and which ones were no longer needed. The decision was made not to keep Fritz 20, not because there were any problems writhg it, but because it’s so bloated when it comes to storage space because of all the features it offers, most of which I never use. 

    Fritz 19 is excellent, but it has a couple of annoying features when it comes to publishing games on the Blog. It’s an easy fix when pasting the games into the HTML page on Blogger, but it’s still a bit annoying. Also, Fritz 19 has a lot of training and playing features I don’t use. 

    Fritz 17 takes up a bit less storage space and it doesn’t have the copy and paste issue that Fritz 19 has, so simply because of that reason the decision was made to go with Fritz 17.  However, there turned out to be a problem with the Tactical Analysis that I had never encountered before. 

    On the old laptop I had 4 cores and did Infinite Analysis and Tactical Analysis using 2 cores and there was never a problem, With the new laptop IA works fine on 10 cores, but when doing a Tactical Analysis it crashes. 

    I discovered that users of Fritz 17 reported similar crashes. The program can freeze or close on its own after running for a few minutes. This happens on high core processors because of technical reasons which I don’t really understand, but using 10 cores for Tactical Analysis just doesn’t work! The solution is simple, just do the Tactical Analysis using fewer cores. The truth is, the output between using 4 cores and 10 cores is of little practical value.

An Easy Win for Fischer

    A 15-year-old Bobby Fischer dominated the 1958/59 US Championship that was held in New York City and in the process played some remarkable games including a win over Samuel Reshevsky. 

    In US Championships Fischer had already pulled off his “Game of the Century” against Donald Byrne and in this event his game with Reshevsky was the attention grabber. 

    This game was different though because it was less Fischer’s brilliant play and more Reshevsky’s blunderfest in the opening. Openings were never Reshevsky’s strong suit. I remember Pal Benko writing about the time he was working with Reshevsky and in the mornings they worked on Reshevsky's openings. After a lunch break they returned to their studies and Reshevsjy had already forgotten what they had covered that morning. 

    Fischer was up on all the latest opening analysis in this game.. Later Reshevsly claimed he had seen it, but forgot about it. Maybe he had seen it, but his statement just confirmed what Benko was to observe 20 years later! 

 

 

[Event "19558/59 USChampionship,, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1958.12.??"] [Round "6"] [White "Bobby Fischer"] [Black "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B35"] [WhiteElo "2636"] [BlackElo "2693"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1958.12.??"] [Source ""] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"] [SourceQuality "1"] { B35: Sicilian: Accelerated Dragon} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 {At the time Reshevsky was experimenting with the Dragom. As soon becomes clear, he was not totally familiar with it.} 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 {Fischer had no interest in playing the Maroczy Bind (5...c4).} Nf6 7. Bc4 {At the time this was Fischer's trademark move and today it is the most common.} O-O 8. Bb3 {At the time this move was being heavily analyzed. The Fischer-Pa nno gamr in the 1958 Interzonal went 8.f3 Qb6 and then Fischer took an hour and a half (!) before playing 9.Bb3.} Na5 $2 {In a sensational case of chess blindness Reshevsky thought for several minutes before making this losing move. With it he walks into a nifty, but for a GM of his caliber, simple trap. Analysis in several chess magazines has warned readers about the trap. Black should play either 8...d5 or 8...Re8} 9. e5 Ne8 {This is also a very poor move.move. It's possible that Reshevsky was not ye t aware that he had blundered because otherwise he woulf have tried 9...Nxb3 which is the lesser evil.} (9... Nxb3 {this at least prevents the sacrifice on f7, but after} 10. exf6 Nxa1 11. fxg7 Re8 (11... Kxg7 12. Qd2 Kg8 13. O-O {white is winning, but he still has some wotk to do.}) 12. f4 {Here, too, white has a decisive advantage, but the win is hardly forced.}) 10. Bxf7+ {[%mdl 512] White is clearly winning. Either way black captures the B leads to a lost position.} Kxf7 (10... Rxf7 11. Ne6 {Black still loses the Q.}) 11. Ne6 {[%mdl 512] Thiis trap (including this move) had been published in both Russian and British chess magazines and Fischer as well as several Master spectators were aware of it. Later, Reshevsky told a New York newpaper that he had seen the nalysis, but forgot about it. Black could resign here as engines put him over 7 Pawns down, but apparently to resign after 11 moves was unthinkable, so he played on until adjournment.} dxe6 12. Qxd8 Nc6 13. Qd2 Bxe5 14. O-O {Fifty yeard later this same position was reached on a game between teo strong masters and white played 14.O-O-O and also won.} Nd6 {The trap Reshevsky fell for in this game is still catching people! In 2025 in a tournament in Spain black played 14...b6...and lost.} 15. Bf4 {Exchanges accentuat e white's matcrlal advantage.} Nc4 {Fischer has a Q vs. 2Bs, a technical win, but some technique is still required.} 16. Qe2 Bxf4 17. Qxc4 Kg7 18. Ne4 {[%mdl 32]} Bc7 19. Nc5 Rf6 20. c3 e5 21. Rad1 Nd8 22. Nd7 Rc6 23. Qh4 Re6 {[%mdl 32]} 24. Nc5 Rf6 25. Ne4 Rf4 26. Qxe7+ Rf7 27. Qa3 {Fischer now switches his attention to the -side where he gets his P majority underway.} Nc6 28. Nd6 Bxd6 29. Rxd6 Bf5 30. b4 {[%mdl 32]} Rff8 31. b5 Nd8 32. Rd5 Nf7 33. Rc5 a6 34. b6 Be4 35. Re1 Bc6 {In spite of his material infeiority Reshevsky has been putting up a manly defense.} 36. Rxc6 $1 {This sacrifice of the exchange is the most efficient way to win, White gets a passed P and an easy enging.} bxc6 37. b7 Rab8 38. Qxa6 {The rest is simple.} Nd8 39. Rb1 Rf7 40. h3 Rfxb7 41. Rxb7+ Rxb7 42. Qa8 {Black resigned.} 1-0

Entertaining Video On Reshevsky

Ion Gudju

    Ion Gudju (1897 – 1988) was a Romanian master. He was the son of Hercules Anton Gudju (1846-1920), one of the early promoters of Romanian chess. 

    Ion was a gifted player and promoter of chess in Romania, mainly between 1914 and 1932; in 1914 he founded and edited the first Romanian chess magazine. He represented Romania in the 1st unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris, where he became one of 15 founders of FIDE. He served as Honorary Vice President of FIDE from 1982 to 1988. 

    He played in Chess Olympiads at The Hague 1928, Hamburg 1930, and Prague 1931. In 1971, he was elected honorary president of the Romanian Chess Federation and was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports. According to Chessmetrics, Gudju's highest rating was only 2276, but that rating was obtained on a very small number of games. 

    In 1984 at the age of 87, Gudju was invited to the Chess Olympics by the then president, Florencio Campomanes, where he served on the appeals committee, but he did not play any games. 

    As an interesting aside, the book The Story of the Olympic Torch recounts how prior to the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, when the Olympic torch arrived in Romania and was handed off to Dumitru Pyrvulescu Roman, a fly-weight Greco0Roman wrestling gold medallist from 1960, that when it arrived at the Dynamo Stadium in Bucharest filled with 40,000 people inside and thousands more outside, Roman passed the torch off to the 83 year old Gudju who was serving as president of the Romanian Chess Federation who then passed it off to Leon Rotman, a double canoeing gold medalist from 1956. 

    In the real world Gudju held a PhD in Chemistry from the Sorbonne.As promised, here is a nice win of his from the 1924 Olympics. 

 

[Event "Paris Unofficial Olympiad"] [Site ""] [Date "1924.07.??"] [Round ""] [White "Ion Gudju"] [Black "Stanislaw Kohn"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "1924.??.??"] {B73: Sicilian Dragon: Classical} 1. e4 c5 (1... c6 {This disaster is Gudju's best known game.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nf3 e6 7. h4 h6 8. Ne5 Bh7 9. Bc4 Nd7 10. Qe2 Ngf6 {Eliminatuing the N on e5 with 10...Nxe5 was an absolute must!} 11. Nxf7 Bb4+ 12. c3 Qa5 13. Qxe6+ Kf8 14. cxb4 Qxb4+ 15. Bd2 {1-0 I, A. Horowitz-Ion Gudju Prague 1931}) 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 {Today 7.Bc4 is far more popular.} O-O 8. O-O d6 9. f4 {This move has mostly been replaced by 9.Nb3.} Ng4 {This move, which forces the trade of white’s B pair isso mewhat inferior to 9...Qb6} 10. Bxg4 Bxd4 {Black is going to feel the absence of his dark squared B.} 11. Bxd4 Bxg4 12. Qd2 Nxd4 {Naturally, with his own dark squared B missing, black wants to trade off white’s.} (12... e5 {is inderior.} 13. Be3 exf4 14. Rxf4 Be6 15. Rd1 {White is better. Zutobradic,T (1732)-Gvozden,N (1951) Belgrade 2025}) 13. Qxd4 Bd7 {Played with the intention of playing ...Bc6 pressuring white’s e-Pawn} 14. f5 ({exf5} 14. Rad1 {[%eval 57,21] [%wdl 72,928,0] [%emt 0:00:02]} Bc6 15. h4 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. a3 {is equal. Mitkov,N (2481)-Smirnov,A (2567) chess.com INT 2019 (1)}) 14... f6 {Weakening the K-side in this manner is risky, but not fatal.} (14... Bc6 15. f6 Qb6 16. Qxb6 axb6 17. fxe7 {White has a promising position. Honfi,K-Kluger,G, Budapest 1950}) 15. Rf3 gxf5 {More consistant would have been 15...Bc6, but black gets sidetracked.} 16. exf5 Kh8 17. Re1 {[%mdl 32]} Rg8 {[%mdl 8192] This seems logical, placing the R on the semi-open file. But his e-Pawn is exposed to attack. Watch how Gudju does it; it’s very instructive. His best defense was 17...Rf7 guarding the e-Pawn.} 18. Nd5 Rg7 {Black is weak on the dark squares} 19. Rg3 Rf7 {Just a couple of moves too late} 20. Rxe7 $3 {[%mdl 512] A nasty surprise.} Qa5 (20... Rxe7 21. Qxf6+ Rg7 22. Qxg7#) 21. b4 (21. Rxf7 $4 Qe1#) 21... Qxa2 22. Rxf7 Qb1+ 23. Kf2 {[%mdl 32]} Qxc2+ 24. Ke1 Qb1+ 25. Kd2 Qa2+ 26. Ke3 {[%cal Rd4f6]} Qa3+ 27. Qc3 {Black resigned. White took control after the opening and played very precisely.} 1-0

Meaning of Engine Output Numbers

    Fourteen years ago Steve Lopez did a YouTube review for USCF sales in which he explained what all the numbers associated with the engine output window in Fritz 13 meant. In the process he used the position after 11.dxe6 as his example.  WATCH

    In those days the analysis wasn’t so clear, so I was curious to see what today’s engine analysis would reveal. I used Stockfish 18 running with 10 cores and gave it 30 minutes and got the following results. It seems that either of the moves that come under consideration for black are good and result in equality. 

 

 

Anti-Dutch Defense: Ulvestad Variation

    Yesterday and today we are having an interesting day! Smoke from Canadian wildfires in Ontario, roughly 500 to 700 miles away, have made the days appear cloudy and there is a strong smell of smoke outside. Looking out my back window I can see a haze of smoke across a nearby church’s parking lot. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued an air quality advisory because of very unhealthy to hazardous particle pollution. 

    Recently I was debating whether or not to enter a Lechenicher SchachServer theme tournament in which 1.d4 f5 2.Qd3 was mandatory, but waited too long and the tournament filled up. 

    This line looks fascinating and I had an idea I wanted to try. My database turned up 197 games where white played 2.Qd3 and white’s scored +77 -72 =48, so it’s certainly not a drawing variation! 

    My idea while taking a quick look at it was to play 3.g4?!, but it’s been done before! In my database white has scored +23 -22 =14. In today’s game white used it to defeat the redoubtable Gata Kamsky. It makes me sorry I didn’t get to enter the tournament.

    The move 2.Qd3 is an unusual response often played to throw an opponent’s preparation off. The 365Chess Opening Explorer calls it the Manhattan or Ulvestad Variation.Aside from surprising an opponent the move does have a purpose. It’s immediate aim is to control e4 and discourage black from playing the ...e6 setup. On d3 the Queen also has some potential tactical possibilities because it prepares for a quick Pawn advance to e4, or maybe even a K-side Pawn rush. It delays development though and so allows black several ways to equalize by taking control of the center and developing naturally. 

 

[Event "Karlsruhe Grenke Open"] [Site ""] [Date "2016.03.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Bilel Bellahcene"] [Black "Gata Kamsky"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A80"] [WhiteElo "2461"] [BlackElo "2673"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2016.03.24"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds ""] [EventCountry ""] [Source "] [SourceVersion ""] [SourceVersionDate "2016.04.26"] [SourceQuality ""] {Dutch Defense: Ulvestad Vaiation} 1. d4 f5 2. Qd3 {Black’s main replies are 2...d5, 2... Nf6 (A highly flexible developing move. It attacks the d4 pawn and prepares for castling while keeping options open regarding whether to play ...e6 or ...g6. And 2... e6 (Black cam, if he wishes, set up a Stonewall formation. It’s a solid choice as it restricts white's dark-squared Bishop.} d5 {This immediately contests the center and stops white from playing a quick e4.} 3. g4 {My idea! Unfortunately I was decades too late,} (3. Qg3 {This was another idea. It's never been played begore so perhaps it can be called the Tartajubow Variation. Stockfish analysis runs} c5 4. e3 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bd2 Nc6 7. Nf3 a6 8. O-O-O {Black is slightly better.}) 3... g6 4. g5 {White has mistakenly played 4.gxf5 in several games. Opening up the position highly favors black.} (4. gxf5 Bxf5 {Black's light squared B is no longer bad and white loses time with his Q.}) 4... e6 5. h4 {White is clearly in an aggressive mood.} Bg7 6. h5 Nc6 {A surprising lapse by Kamsky. Striving for counterplay with 6...c5 was indicated.} 7. Nf3 Qd6 8. a3 {Preventing ...Nb4} Nge7 9. h6 $18 Bf8 10. Rh4 {So as to play Bf4} b6 11. Bf4 Qd7 12. b4 {With things at a standstill on the K-side white now begins operations on the Q-side. For his part, black is reduced to a defensive posture.} a6 13. Nbd2 Bb7 14. Qe3 Rg8 15. Rb1 Nc8 16. c4 dxc4 17. Nxc4 Be7 {A better plan was ...N8e7-d5} 18. Nce5 Nxe5 19. Nxe5 Qa4 20. Qc1 Bd5 21. Bg2 {A miscalculation that allows black to equalize.} (21. Qxc7 {keeps a einning position.} Nd6 22. Rc1 {and black is under tremendous pressure.} Rd8 {defending against Qd7#} 23. Bg2 {Now is the time for this.} Bxg2 24. f3 {The B is shut out making black's extra piece meaningless.} Rc8 25. Qxb6 Rxc1+ 26. Bxc1 Qc2 27. Qc5 Qxc5 28. bxc5 {White has teo Ps for the B and black's pieces are limited in mobility. White's advantage is decisive.}) 21... Bd6 {Missing his chance/} (21... Bxg2) 22. Nd3 $2 Na7 {[%mdl 8192]} (22... Bxg2 {and black equalizes.} 23. f3 Ne7 24. Bxd6 cxd6 25. Qe3 Qd7 26. Nf4 Kf7 27. Kf2 {White regains the piece, but black has consolidated his defense.}) 23. Rh3 {[%mdl 8192] This should have been a losing blunder. One wonders if both players were in time trouble.} (23. Bxd5 {was correct.} exd5 24. Bxd6 cxd6 25. Qc7 Qd7 26. Qxd7+ Kxd7 27. Nf4 Nb5 28. Nxd5 Kc6 29. Ne7+ {wins}) 23... Rb8 {[%mdl 8192] Missing his last opportunity.} (23... Bxg2 {This leaves black with a won position. There may have been a psychological factor at play here...a move that was previously questionable has suddenly become a winning one.} 24. Bxd6 cxd6 25. Re3 Bd5 26. Qc7 Qd7 27. Qxd7+ Kxd7 28. Nf4) 24. Bxd5 {Back on the winning track!} exd5 25. Ne5 Bxe5 26. Bxe5 Rb7 27. Rc3 c6 28. f3 Rf8 29. Qf4 b5 $2 30. Bd6 Rff7 31. Rbc1 Kd8 32. Rc5 {Black resigned.} (32. Rxc6 Nxc6 33. Rxc6 {White has a B+P for a R, but black cannot avpid mate.} Qc2 34. Rxc2 Rbc7 35. Bxc7+ Ke8 36. Bb6 Re7 37. Qd6 Rxe2+ 38. Rxe2+ Kf7 39. Qxd5+ Kf8 40. Bc5#) 1-0

No Captures fo 53 Plies

    Even during WWII chess was being played. The German military command included chess in its Truppenbetreuung (Pastimes for soldiers) program. Master made the rounds of field hospitals or anywhere there were soldiers playing exhibition tournaments and giving simultaneous displays. 

     It’s well known that Alekhine participated in a number of the Nazi sponsored tournaments, but he was not the only one. Among others, Paul Keres also participated in many of them. For his part, his participation was a matter of survival, not politics. His homeland of Estonia had bee repeatedly invaded and occupied, first by the Soviet Union in 1940, then Nazi Germany in 1941, and again by the USSR, so he had to play out of “geographical entrapment” and the need to survive and support his family. 

    Keres relied on chess as his primary source of income and during the German occupation, he published chess columns and played in tournaments in Salzburg, Munich, and Prague. Because of this and because he was Estonian Keres was viewed with deep suspicion by the Soviets after the war. As a result the Soviets restricted his travel and prevented him from playing for the World Championship. 

    The following game from Munich 1942 is unusual un that no captures were made until black played 27...exf4. Keres’ opponent was Ludwig Rerllstab (1904-1983) who was born in Berlin and was awarded the IM title at its inception in 1950 and the International Arbiter title in 1951. Hewas German Champion in 1942.

 

[Event "Munich"] [Site "Munich GER"] [Date "1942.09.19"] [Round "5"] [White "Paul Keres"] [Black "Ludwig Rellstab"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C41"] [Annotator "Stockfish 186.4"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "1942.??.??"] {C41: Philidor Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 {While this defense is solid, it is considered passive, Black does not develop a piece plus the P on d6 hinders the active developing their dark square Bishop.} 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 (5... g6 {loses to} 6. Ng5 Nb6 7. Bxf7+) 6. O-O O-O 7. a4 c6 8. Bb3 b6 9. Qe2 (9. Re1 a6 10. Ng5 Bb7 11. f4 exd4 12. Qxd4 d5 {0-1 Rendboe,J (2259)-Neuman,P (2428) Pardubice op-A 2005 (3) Black gas a good game.}) 9... a6 10. d5 (10. Rd1 {was preferable.} Qc7 11. Bg5 Bb7 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Nh4 {Varnam,L (2050)-Curtis,J (2123) e2e4 Sunningdale Autumn Sunningdale ENG 2011 with equal chances.}) 10... c5 11. h3 {White is better.} Ne8 12. g4 g6 {This creates a slight weakening of black's position, The restraining 12...h6 would have been slightly better.} 13. Bh6 Ng7 14. Kh2 {White has more active pieces.} Nf6 {White must now prevent ...Bxg4!} 15. Rg1 (15. Rab1 {A pass to demonstrate black's threat.} Bxg4 16. hxg4 Nxg4+ 17. Kg2 Nxh6 18. Rh1 Nh5 {Black is up two Ps and has a winning attack.}) 15... Kh8 16. Rg3 Ng8 17. Qd2 Ra7 {It would have been wiser to play 17...Nxh6 eliminating the threat to his dark squares.} 18. Rh1 Bd7 19. Bc4 Be8 20. h4 {Rellstab can't do anything constructive here except try to maintain a solid defense. Keres, on the other hand, will try to build up an attack.} f6 {This further weakens his K-side. Either 20...Nxh6 or a neutral move like 20...Bd7 would have been more appropriate.} 21. Kg2 Bd7 {He should still have played 21...Nxh6} 22. b3 {It may look like Keres is over preparting and instead he could just as well launch K-side operations wothj the advance of the h-Pawn. Technically that may be correct, but if he does black would get counterplay against his g-Pawn, so he decides to wait.} ({Better is} 22. h5 {Hoping for hxg6.} g5 23. Bxg7+ Kxg7 24. Qe2 Qc8 25. Nh2 Nh6 26. Kh3 {Further progress by white will be difficult.}) 22... Rf7 23. Bd3 Bc8 {Again, black unwisely avoids capturing the B on h6.} 24. Ne2 Bf8 25. Be3 {[%mdl 128] Here Keres mounts an attack.} Be7 {Rellstab is unaware of the lurking danger.} (25... h5 {was a must play, Adtef} 26. gxh5 Nxh5 27. Rxg6 Ne7 {and black has managed to equalize.}) 26. Nfg1 {Once again both sides missed the importance of advancing their h-Pawns.} Ne8 27. f4 exf4 $2 {The first exchange in the game and it is a losing one.} (27... f5 {would at least enable him to keep fighting.} 28. exf5 gxf5 29. g5 Bf8 30. h5 h6 {White is clearly better, but black is still in the game.}) 28. Nxf4 $18 Ng7 29. Nf3 Ne8 {There is nothing constructive for black to do so all he can do is shift his pieces around.} 30. g5 fxg5 (30... Ng7 31. h5 Nxh5 32. Nxh5 gxh5 33. g6 Rg7 34. Rxh5 {is hopeless for black.}) 31. hxg5 Kg7 32. Ne6+ Bxe6 33. dxe6 Rxf3 (33... Rf8 34. Rgh3 h5 35. Qc3+ Bf6 36. gxf6+ {is an easy win.}) 34. Rxf3 {Black resigned.} 1-0

Reshevsky Plays Nearly Perfectly...and Loses

Historically 1935 was a year with some far-reaching consequences. In international headlines, the Nazis repudiated the Versailles Treaty and introduced compulsory military service. The Nazis also enacted the Nuremberg Laws against Jews to prevent what they called racial pollution and, at the same time, Heinrich Himmler started a breeding program to produce an Aryan super race. And, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia.

    In the U.S., President Roosevelt opened the second phase of his New Deal calling for Social Security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm assistance. 

    In the chess world C.J.S. Purdy won the Australian Chess Championship, scoring an amazing 12-1. In the Hungarian championship 18-year old Laszlo Szabo won the first Championship with a score of +10 -1 =6. 

    On January 5, 1935, the Hastings Christmas Congress ended. The Premier section saw a three-way tie between Salo Flohr, Max Euwe, and Sir George Thomas.  Capablanca finished 4th with Botvinnik and Lilienthal tied for 5th-6th place. In the Soviet Union, the GM title was re-created for the benefit of Mikhail Botvinnik. 

    Jackson W. Showalter (born 1859) died on his 76th birthday at his home in Georgetown, Kentucky on February 5, 1935. On March 16, 1935, Aron Nimzovich (born 1886) died of pneumonia in Copenhagen. Soviet Master Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942) was ordered to lose to Botvinnik (1911-1995), to ensure that Botvinnik would finish first in a tournament in Moscow, but Botvinnik got wind of it and refused to go along and so the plan was aborted. The game was drawn and Botvinnik shared first with Salo Flohr (1908-1983) of Czechoslovakia. Earlier, Flohr had proposed to Botvinnik that they both draw their final game and share first. Apparently Botvinnik had no objection to that arrangement. 

    In August 1935, Agnes Lawson-Stevenson, age 52, was on her way to Warsaw to play for England in the ladies’ world championship. She had arrived at the Posen, Poland airport from Berlin and after completing passport formalities she was rushing back to her plane and walked into the propeller which split her head open, killing her instantaneously. Her widower, Rufus Henry Streatfeild Stevenson, married Vera Menchik in October of 1937. 

    The 6th International Team Tournament was held in Warsaw and was won the USA team (Fine, Marshall, Kupchik, Dake, Horowitz) for the third consecutive time. Alekhine attended the FIDE Congress in Warsaw as part of a commission to make a list of challengers for the next world championship match. Capablanca was first choice, Botvinnik the second. 

    From October 3 to December 15, the world championship match was held in 13 cities in Holland and Euwe defeated Alekhine. After the international tournament at Margate (won by Reshevsky ahead of Capablanca and Thomas), Reshevsky stayed in England to participate in the Major Open which was held at Yarmouth in conjunction with the British Championship. 

    The two notable events of Yarmouth were Menchik's win against Reshevsky and it was the only t me Menchik played Sonja Graf in a mixed gender event. Menchik was not allowed to play in the British Championship because she did not obtain her British citizenship in 1937. In addition to the British Championship (won by William Winter) the British Women's Championship was held as well as a number of other sections which were open to foreign players.

 

Final Standings :

1) Samuel Reshevsky 10.0 

2) Jakob Seitz 8.5 

3) Vera Menchik 7.0 

4-5) Adrian Conde and Sammi Fajarowicz 6.5 

6) Ernst Klein 5.5 

7-8) Sonja Graf and Baruch H. Wood 5.0 

9-10) A.J.G. Butcher and Lodewijk Prins 4.0 

11) V. Ivanoff 2.5 

12) Francis Kitto 1.5 

 

     There was one amusing incident. In the adjourned game between Graf and Fajarowicz the position was incorrectly recorded in the sealed envelope. Neither player not iced the error when the game was resumed and it ended in a draw. 

    In the meantime some spectators had set up the correct position and after their game was finished even Graf and Fajarowicz joined the analysis and it was discovered that it was a dead win for Graf. Under FIDE Rules she could have demanded a replay from the correct position, but she elected to abide by the drawn result because to have replayed it would have been unfair to Fajarowitz who was a major contributor to finding the winning line for Graf. Miss Graf, who lost in the first three rounds and had not been defeated in the next six, did not display the best form against Reshevsky. The latter, adopting the King's Indian defense, succeeded in scoring the game after 31 moves. 

    In the following game Women’s World Champion Ver a Menchik handed Samuel Reshevsky his only defeat when Reshevsky overstepped the time limit. He habitually spent most of his time on the opening and middlegame and often found himself in a hair-raising time scramble, but his incredible skill as a blitz player enabled him to survive, but not this time. As the last seconds ticked off Reshevsky had not made his thirty-sixth move in two hours and his flag fell. Post game analysis showed his position was good enough that he probably could have won, but rnhinr analysis indicated that the position was about equal. 

 

ChessBase 18 Style Report

    Since returning from vacation a while back I have been busy with non-chess stuff and getting a new laptop with Windows 11, which I don’t like, set up. After deciding which chess programs to keep I had to consolidate databases because all I really need are two: one for my games and a big one which now has 5 million games.

    ChessBase 18 made the whole process rather easy and converting the databases from pgn files to the ChessBase format was painless and saved a huge amount of storage space. 

    In the process I discovered an interesting feature in ChessBase 18...the Style Report. This report evaluates a player's statistical tendencies, breaking down how they play. In this case, the report was on a database containing 783 of my games with the following results. 

 

 

Score 

Points scored in the analyzed games. 

 

Theory 

Factors include the average evaluation after the opening, the average length of theoretical lines and the breadth of the repertoire. Main lines are preferred. 

 

Decided Games 

Games that were not drawn. 

 

Tenacity 

A psychological evaluation. The draw rate plays a role, but more important is the frequency of short draws. Another factor is the willingness to exchange pieces; a high score indicates a willingness to go into and endgame. 

 

Aggressiveness 

Frequency of strong attacks on the King, successful sacrifices, early Pawn sacrifices or gambits and avoidance of Queen exchanges. 

 

Risk 

Measured by sharpness and complexity in games, use of sharp openings or gambits, asymmetrical structures and asymmetrical material configurations. 

 

Positional Play 

Active piece play, strong pieces and squares, Bishop pair, avodance of Pawn weaknesses, provocation of opponent's Pawn weaknesses, play for space advantage, play on the Q-side or in the center, and siege of weaknesses. Use of a fianchettoed white Bishop and openness to closed or quiet positions are also factors.

 

Endgame Skill 

Frequency of endgames in analyzed games, above-average success across various endgame phases, resistance in endgames with material disadvantage, and successful conversion of material advantage. No tendency to avoid exchanges. 

 

    Also included in the report with following “observations” of my play: 

 

    I am not really sure how we amateurs could use this information, but supposedly the value of the Style Report lies in its ability to map out a player’s “strategic DNA” strengths and weaknesses. It uses an algorithms to identify over 30 distinct positional and tactical themes. Here is one of the games the report singled out as an example of a K-side attack with a sacrifice. 

  

[Event "Golden Knights Semi-Finals (Postal)"] [Site "?"] [Date "1971.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Opponent"] [Black "Tartajubow"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E97"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "1971.??.??"] {E97: King's Indian: Classical Main Line} 1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. b4 {This move, at the time cutting edge and mow along wiyh 9.Ne1 standard, was introduced by Korchnoi and at the time it discouraged top players from playing this line as black.} Nh5 { Intending ...f5. Another frequently played move is 9///a5} 10. g3 {Evidently the purpose of this seldom played move is a safety precaution to hinder an eventual ...f4 by black, but it is not effective. White does better to strengthen the e-Pawn with 10.Re1.} f5 {White now has two main lines. the routine 11.a4 or the interesting idea of 11.Ng5 and after 11...Nf6 then repositioning the B on g2 by 12.Bf3} 11. Nh4 {I don't like this move which leaves the N misplaced on h4. The threat is to capture on h5 destroying black's K-side P-formation.} (11. Nd2 Nf6 12. c5 f4 13. Nc4 Bh3 14. Re1 Nc8 15. a4 h5 {Sosonko,G (2535)-Kavalek,L (2590) Waddinxveen 1979. White's positiion is solid, but black has attacking potential.}) 11... Nf6 12. Qc2 {This is a bit passive. Either 12.exf4 or returning the N to f3 would have been a bit better.} f4 13. Ng2 {This is a poor square for the N. 13.Nf3 was better.} f3 { The positionally correct move was 13...g5. This little tactical demonstration does not really accomplish anything.} 14. Bxf3 Nfxd5 {The not so clever point.} 15. cxd5 {Black must now prevent Qe2.} Rxf3 {White should now commence operations on the Q-side with 16.b5. Instead, the N returns to its favorite square.} 16. Nh4 {Now after 16...Rf7 17.b5 black's advantage would be minimal.} Qf8 {This is the result of a positional miscalculation, but white gets bluffed. } 17. Kg2 (17. Nxf3 Qxf3 18. Qe2 Qxc3 19. Bg5 {Black has a B+N vs R, but white's Rs have play whuile black's R is undeveloped and his pieces lack scope, so white stands quite well.}) 17... Rf7 18. Bg5 {A better alternative was 18. b5 with play on the Q-side. The text allows black to eliminate his bad B.} Bf6 19. Qd2 {This is a tactical error. Better would have been 19.Nf3 after which black would be only slightly better,} Bxg5 20. Qxg5 h6 $1 21. Qd2 g5 {Black has gotten his K-side Ps on a roll for free thanks to the threats to white's Q. } 22. Nf5 Bxf5 23. exf5 Nxf5 {[%mdl 32] Thanks to white's faulty 19th move black gas won a P and has a very strong attack.} 24. Ne2 Qe7 25. Rae1 {This is rather pointless. Why not 25.Rac1 which at least reminds black that he has a P on the semi-open file that may require attention?} Raf8 26. Qc2 h5 27. h3 g4 28. Nf4 {So...this was white's idea; the N is immune and the h-Pawn is attacked. He can also plunge the N into black's position with Ne6, right?} Nh4+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} 29. Kh1 (29. gxh4 Rxf4 30. Qg6+ Qg7 31. Qxg7+ Kxg7 {leaves black with a won ending.}) 29... Qf6 30. Ng2 Nf3 31. h4 {There was no reason to sac the exchange just to eliminate the N, but there really was not anything better either. White was hoping to keep the K-side blocked up.} Nxe1 32. Nxe1 Qf5 {Black now faces the problem of finding a way to mop up, but beibg the exchange and a P up helps.} 33. Qd2 Rf6 34. Kg1 c6 {White can't afford to trade Ps and give me mobile center Ps.} 35. Ng2 Qe4 36. Ne3 Rf3 {White is now compelled to capture on c6.} 37. dxc6 bxc6 38. Nd1 Qf5 39. Ne3 Qf6 40. Nd1 { The N makes one hop too many and allows a mate in 4, but the game was lost in any case.} Rxg3+ {[%mdl 512] White resigned.} (40... Rxg3+ 41. fxg3 Qxf1+ 42. Kh2 Qh3+ 43. Kg1 Rf1#) 0-1

Lisa Lane

    Marianne Elizabeth Lane Hickey (1933-2024), also known as Lisa Lane, was the U.S. Women's Champion in 1959. She appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the August 7, 1961 edition, making her the first chess player to appear on its cover; Bobby Fischer didn’t mke the cover until 1972. 

    Born in Philadelphia, it was there she met the local master Arnold Chertkof around 1957 or ‘58 at a coffeehouse they both frequented. Chertkof was a member of the Franklin-Mercantile Chess Club and took her to the club and eventually got the strong master Attilio Di Camillo to work with her. 

    Her father was a skilled laborer who was more interested in horse racing than in his family and disappeared before she was two. Her mother had a great deal of difficulty raising two children alone and Lisa and her sister spent much of their childhood boarding with different families and their grandmother. She was a good student, but exhibited “strange behavior” at school and dropped out of high school, a year before graduating. A few years later she became a special student at Temple University trying to complete her high school curriculum while taking some college level courses. During that time she was involved in an accident in which the car she was driving struck and killed an elderly pedestrian who stepped out in front of her. She was never charged, but shortly after she dropped out of college and started hanging around coffee shops all night playing chess. 

    Around that time she invested her savings with a partner and opened a bookstore that specialized in poetry; it soon went out of business. It was after that she met Di Camillo and worked 8 to 12 hours a day on chess. She studied with Di Camillo mornings and played at the club all afternoon and evening then the next morning Di Camillo would go over the games and he would point out her mistakes. 

    Lane, accompanied by Chertkof and Di Camillo, went to New York to visit the US Championship where she witnessed 14-year-old Bobby Fischer win the US championship. Inspired by Fischer, she won the Philadelphia women's championship a few months later and the following year in the US Amateur Championship, she captured the women’s championship. Two years later, in 1959, she won the US Women's title. 

    A few days after winning the championship she married Walter Rich, a Philadelphia designer whom she had met in a coffeehouse. They were married less than two years and during that time she abandoned chess, but after their separation, went into full-time training. 

    To support herself she started giving simuls and moved from Philadelphia to New York to prepare for the World Women's Candidates Tournament. She practically became a recluse, living in a small apartment with minimal furniture, no television or radio, two cats and a lot of chess books. 

    Lane, along with Gisela Gresser (former US women's champion), had been invited to participate in the women’s world championship to determine who would challenge Elizabeta Bykova. The tournament was in Vrnjacka Banja, Yugoslavia and her performance was disappointing. She tied for 13th-14th place (out of 18) along with Gresser. 

    At the end of 1961 she participated in the Hastings Reserve tournament and withdrew after scoring +0 -2 =1 with one adjournment. She was, it was claimed, homesick and in love with her future husband, Neil Hickey. More likely it was her poor performance. In 1962 she married Hickey, editor-at-large of the Columbia Journalism Review. 

    Her misfortune continued. In 1964 she lost the US Women's Championship to Sonja Graf-Stevenson (who died the next year ). Then she came in 12th out of 18 in the next women’s candidate tournament but finished a half point ahead of Gresser. 

    In 1964, Lane opened her own chess studio, the Queen's Pawn Chess Emporium, in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Chess lessons were given by Sonja Graf who at the time was United States women's champion. While in New York Lisa played at the Marshall Club or Rossolimo's Chess Studio. 

    Finally, in 1966, she became co-US women's champion, sharing the title with Gisela Gresser. Booby Fischer said of Lisa Lane, “Lisa, you might say, is the best of the American fish." That was Booby...Lisa and her husband were friends of Fischer and assisted him in writing some chess articles. Despite their friendship Fischer was still snide and condescending. 

     And so ended her chess career. She and her husband opened a shop in Carmel, New York, called Amber Waves of Grain that specialized in vitamins, Yoga and meditation, etc. The store was later renamed Earth Love and was located in Pawling, New York.      

    Jennifer Shahade in her book Chess Bitch, says Lane quit partly because she was annoyed with being identified as a chess player. Lane died from cancer on February 28, 2024, at her home in Carmel, New York. 

    The following game against Alexandra Nicolau,later Van der Mije, (1940-2013, 73 years old,) features a nice back rank mate. She was born in Bucharest and was awarded the WIM title in 1960 and the WGM title in 1976. She was Romanian Women's Champion in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1973. She was also Dutch Women's Champion, in 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.  

 

 

A Robert Byrne Brilliancy

 

    I met Robert Byrne (1928-2013) in the mid-1970s and can best describe him as dignified, but affable. Byrne was awarded the GM title in 1964 and the 1972 US Championship in which he tied for first earned him a place in the 1973 Interzonal in Leningrad. In the Interzonal he finished one point behind Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. He lost his 1974 quarter final candidates match against Boris Spassky. 

    The following game was awarded the first brilliancy prize. In it Byrne conducted an overwhelming K-side attack featuring some spectacular sacrifices against Larry Evans (1932-2010). He was awarded the GM title in 1957 ans was known for his long association with Bobby Fischer. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Event "U.S. Championship, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1965.12.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Byrne"] [Black "Larry Evans"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B97"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1965.12.12"] { B97: Najdorf Sicilian} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 a6 {This cane as a surprise to Byrne who was expecting to see Evans' favorite Taimanov Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6). Instead, he transposes into another favorite, the Najdorf Sicilian.} 3. Nc3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 {[%mdl 32]} Qb6 {The other main choice is the less aggressive. 7...Be7. The point of ...Qb6 is to force white to choose either the tame retreat 8.Nb3 or play the following speculative P sacrifice.} 8. Qd2 Qxb2 {This move is still more popular than 8...Nc6, but at the time this game was played this P grab had heavily favored black.} 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 {Very aggressive and yielding better results than the more passive 10.f5 or 10.Bxf6.} dxe5 11. fxe5 Nfd7 12. Bc4 {This move prepares to to sacrifice on e6, but today ot is known that white should play 12.Ne4!.} (12. Ne4 h6 13. Bh4 Qxa2 14. Rd1 {The chances are equal.}) 12... Bb4 {At the time this was cutting edge theory. The move's purpose is to us this annoying pin to keep the white pieces tied up. Prior to this move, which is still considered best today, black had tried 12...Be7 with little success because white plays Bxe6! with complete equality.} (12... Nxe5 {is a serious mistake.} 13. Nxe6 { Black is threatened with mate on d8.} Qa5 14. Bd8 Nxc4 15. Bxa5 Nxd2 16. Nc7+ Kd7 17. Kxd2 {White is better.}) (12... Be7 13. Bxe6 O-O {Now white should play either 14.O-O or matbe 14.Nd5, but not} 14. Bb3 Bxg5 15. Qxg5 Qc5 { and pressure on the e-Pawn gives black the advantage.}) 13. Rb3 Qa5 14. O-O O-O {This very complicated position was reached in the then well known game Tringov-Fischer, Havana 1965 in which Fischer (with his opponent's help) scored a convincing win.} 15. Bf6 {This is Byrne's prepared analysis, but against correct play it should also come up short.} (15. Nxe6 $4 fxe6 16. Bxe6+ Kh8 17. Rxf8+ Bxf8 18. Qf4 Nc6 19. Qf7 Qc5+ 20. Kh1 Nf6 21. Bxc8 Nxe5 22. Qe6 Neg4 {0–1 Georgi Tringov-Robert Fischer Havana 1965}) (15. Qf2 $3 {This obscure move is the only way white can maintain equal chances.} Bc5 $1 16. Ne4 Bxd4 17. Qxd4 Qxe5 18. Qe3 Nc6 19. Rd3 {with unclear complication.}) 15... gxf6 $2 {[%mdl 8192] This loses.} (15... Nxf6 $1 {This move maintains the upper hand after} 16. exf6 Rd8 {White's most aggressive continuation is} 17. Rxb4 Qxb4 18. Qg5 g6 19. Rf4 $1 Rxd4 20. Rxd4 Qb6 21. Qe3 {Black is a solid P up.}) 16. Qh6 $1 Qxe5 {Desperately trying to get some pieces to the defense of the K-side.} (16... fxe5 17. Rf3 {[%emt 0:00:04] mates in} f6 18. Bxe6+ Rf7 19. Rg3+ Kh8 20. Bxf7 exd4 21. Rg8#) 17. Nf5 exf5 {Of course 18...Qxe4 loses the Q to 19.Rg3+} 18. Ne4 {[%mdl 32]} Bd2 19. Nxd2 Qd4+ 20. Kh1 Ne5 {By returning a piece Evams he has forced white to retreat the N from attacking f6. This allows black's own N to reach the defense of the K-side. Even so, white is still winning.} 21. Rg3+ Ng4 22. h3 {[%mdl 96]} Qe5 23. Rf4 {[%mdl 64]} Qe1+ 24. Nf1 Qxg3 25. Rxg4+ Qxg4 26. hxg4 {Evans' clever defensive strategy has been to give up his Q for two Rs in the hope that white's attack would come to an end, that's not the case. White is now threatening to bring his N up (Ng3-h5) which leads to mate.} Nd7 27. Ng3 Kh8 28. Bd3 Rg8 29. Bxf5 Rg6 30. Bxg6 fxg6 {Byrne now finishes off his opponent in the fashion of a top level GM!} 31. Ne4 $1 b5 32. g5 {Still attacking!} Bb7 {This allows a mate in 4, so he should have defended the 7th rank with 32...Ra7} 33. Nxf6 {Now instead of a mate in 4, according to the engine it's a mate in 19.} (33. gxf6 Rg8 34. Ng5 Bxg2+ 35. Kxg2 Nxf6 36. Nf7#) 33... Nf8 34. Qh2 Bc8 35. Qe5 {Intending Ng4+ and mate.} Ne6 36. Nd7+ {Black resigned. He is facing loss of more materia; after 36.Nb6} 1-0

Geza Fuster

    Geza Fuster (1910 in Budapest, Hungary – 1990 in Toronto, Canada) was a Hungarian-Canadian IM. He won his first of many Budapest Championships in 1936 and during World War II he played in several strong tournaments with modest results. In 1941, although he only finished 11th out of 16 at Munich, he managed to hold World Champion Alekhine to a draw. 

    He defected after the war. Along with Pal Pal Benko, he crossed the border in East Berlin. Fuster made it, but Benko was apprehended and sent to prison for nearly three years. Fuster made his way to Canada in 1953, settling in Toronto. He won the Toronto City Championship in 1954,1955, 1956, 1962, 1969, and shared it in 1971.

    Fuster played in many Canadian championships and in 1955 he was Canadian Speed Champion. In 1957, he won the U.S. Speed Championship. He represented Canada in two Chess Olympiads, in 1958 at Munich and in 1970 at Siegen.He was awarded the IM title in 1969, following his strong performance in the Closed Canadian Championship. A fixture at the YMCA Chess Club and later the Toronto Chess Club, he loved to play speed chess and was known for his willingness of offer advice and encouragement to young players. 

    In the following game he demonstrates the power fo a fianchettoed B and control of the c-file with some strong tactical play against an opponent who, at the time, was one of the top 10 players in the world. 

 

[Event "Hungarian Champ, Budapest"] [Site ""] [Date "1947.09.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Geza Fuster"] [Black "Laszlo Szabo"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 18"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1947.09.11"] {E01: Catalan} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 {Black has two main options. He can play ...dxc4 and either try to hold on to the Paw with ...b5 or return it for time to free his position. In the Closed Catalan black doesn’t capture on c4 which leaves his position somewhat cramped, but solid.} d5 4. Bg2 {Here black usually plays either 4...Be7 or 4...dxc4, or sometimes 4...Bb4.} c5 {This is a seldom used sideline that is not particularly effective.} 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Nf3 Be7 (6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8. O-O O-O 9. Nc3 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Nd7 11. Rb1 Nb6 12. Nb3 Be7 13. Qxd8 Rxd8 14. Na5 {Dlugy,M (2485)-Taylor,T (2480) New York 1985. White used his slight advantage to squeeze out a win.}) 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. O-O O-O 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. a3 Qc7 11. e4 Bb6 12. Qe2 Ne7 13. Nc3 a6 14. Bd2 {White has a clear lead in development and black is a bit cramped. Here or on the next move black should remove his Q from the c-file with ...Qb8 even though that helps neither his development nor his cramp.} Nc6 15. Rac1 {Planting the seed of victory.} Nde5 16. Nxe5 $1 {A brilliant tactical shot.} Qxe5 (16... Nxe5 { is not rea;lly better, but it is probably his best practical chance.} 17. Na4 Nc6 18. Bb4 Rd8 {At first glance black seems to have defended himself, but white steps up the pressure with} 19. e5 Ba7 20. Bd6 Qd7 21. Qg4 {Black is at a loss for a decent continuation.} f6 (21... Ne7 22. Rc7) 22. exf6 Qf7 23. Rfd1 {with a decisive advantage. For example} Qxf6 24. Bc5 Bxc5 25. Rxd8+ Qxd8 26. Nxc5 {White's positional advantage should prove decisive.}) 17. Bf4 $1 { An important followup to his last move.} Qa5 18. Bd6 $1 {Another strong followup.} Rd8 19. e5 $1 {Unleashing the power of the B on g2. Black underestimates the strength of the threat of 20.Bxc6 or else he would have played 19...Nd4 which was his best practical chance.} f5 $2 (19... Nd4 20. Qe4 f6 21. Be7 Qxe5 22. Qxe5 fxe5 23. Bxd8 Bxd8 24. Rfe1 Bd7 25. Rxe5 {This is Stockfish's top line and white is the exchange up.}) 20. Bxc6 bxc6 21. Bb4 { The Q is trapped and there is only one way to save it.} Bxf2+ 22. Rxf2 Qc7 23. Bd6 Qa5 24. Qc4 {Black resigned. There is no forced win for white, but further play os a waste of time.} (24. Qc4 {and now the top engine line is} Kh8 25. Ne2 Qb5 26. Nd4 Qxc4 27. Rxc4 {White has won a piece and black is completely tied yp.}) 1-0