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