A Fine Game

    In1936, there were major tournaments held. One in Moscow where Cpablanca’s near flawless play yielded him firdt place ahead of Botvinnik and Nottingham where Capablanca and Botvinnik tied for first a half point ahead of Euwe, Reshevsky and Fine. 

    In between those two great tournaments there was Zandvoort in The Netherlands. It was pretty strong, bit perhaps not as strong as the other two. In addition to World Champion Max, former challenger for the world championship Efim Bogoljubov was participating along with the upcoming Reuben Fine. The stronger Veteran Tartakower and the 66 year old Geza Maroczy who had once been considered as a possible challenger for Lasker were also there.

    It turned out that the star of the tournament was the 21-year old Fine who was undefeated. This was his first major successes. Unfortunately, World War Two interrupted his career. After the war he remained very strong, but was never again considered a potential challenger for the World Championship.

 

 

    At Zandvoot, Fine’s game against Maroczy was notable. It was a positional battle that ended with an amusing incident. After Maroczy resigned Bogoljubow came over and suggested a move for Maroczy that contained a rudimentary trap that had Fine fallen for, it would have allowed Maroxzy to escape with a draw. Maroczy said he was sure Fine would have seen such an elementary trap. Fine later admitted that he hadn’t. 

    This game is a good example of Fine’s precise, logical and highly technical positional style. That’s not to say he couldn’t plat tactical chess. He was an outstanding speed player and he dominating the U.S. Speed Championships in the 1940s. Also, for many years his Basic Chess Endings was THE reference book om endings.

[Event "Zandvoort"] [Site ""] [Date "1936.07.18"] [Round "1"] [White "Reuben Fine"] [Black "Geza Maroczy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D66"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "1936.07.18"] {D66: Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical: Main Line} 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 c6 8. Bd3 {This is the way they played the opening in those days.} h6 9. Bf4 dxc4 {Somewhat unusual as 9.Bh4 is far more popular.} 10. Bxc4 {Here black usually plays 10...Nd5} Nh5 {This is dubious even though it gains the B pair. One would expect 11.Bf3, but instead Fine comes up with a brolliant way of letting black have the two Bs.} 11. Be5 Nxe5 {This is tempting because it gains the B pair and doubles white's Ps, but Returning the stranded N to a useful square with 11...Nhf6 is better.} 12. dxe5 Qxd1+ {Removing Qs from the board only results in white getting a better game positionally. His best try was 12...g6 which would enable him to reposition his awkwardly placed N on h5 by playing ...Ng7. White would not want to trade Qs himself because black's R would then be in a good position on the open d-file.} 13. Rxd1 {White has an open file for his R and the P on e5 is a bone in black's throat.} g6 14. g4 Ng7 15. Ne4 {Optimizing the position of the N. This is the interesting thing about positional play. White has no particular target at the moment, but he has more space, black is cramped and white's pieces are actively positioned. You just know that something is going to turn up for white.} a6 16. h4 {This is more than just a gesture. It is part of Fine's plan of expanding on the K-side. It may not lead to a winning attack, but it will leavre black with even less room to maneuver.} b5 17. Be2 c5 18. O-O (18. Nf6+ {at once was even better.} Kh8 19. Ng5 Bxf6 (19... hxg5 20. hxg5+) 20. exf6 Ne8 21. Bf3 Rb8 22. Ne4 Bb7 23. g5 {with a winning attack.}) 18... Bb7 $2 {[%mdl 8192] This is tactically faulty because it places both Bs in a position to be attacked by white's Rd7 which means that after white's next move he has to capture the N. Therefore, 18...Kh8 was correct.} 19. Nf6+ Bxf6 (19... Kh8 20. Rd7 {Black loses a piece.}) 20. exf6 Ne8 21. g5 {White's dominance is clear.} Bd5 22. Ne5 Nd6 {Black has succeeded in optimizing the position of his minor pieces and he susequently exchanges them, but white's control of the d-file is the deciding factor.} 23. f3 (23. f3 Rfd8 24. b3 Rac8 25. e4 Ba8 26. Rd2 Nb7 27. Rfd1 Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Rd8 {Fascinating. Black has successfully challenged white's control of the d-file, but white has a trick to regain control..} 29. Rc2 hxg5 (29... Rd4 30. gxh6 Nd6 31. Rxc5 Bb7 (31... a5 32. Bd3 {followed by Rc7}) 32. Bd3 {The deadly threat is Rc7} Ne8 33. Kf2 {Black is without a useful move. Any move he makes allows white to penetrate into his position.}) 30. hxg5 Rc8 31. Rd2 Nd8 32. Rd7 Bc6 33. Rd6 Bb7 34. Kf2 Nc6 35. Nxf7 Kxf7 36. Rd7+ Kg8 37. Rxb7 {The win is only a matter of time.}) 23... Nc4 24. Bxc4 Bxc4 25. Nxc4 bxc4 {[%mdl 4096] This ending is a routine win for white/} 26. Rc1 Rab8 27. Rf2 Rb4 28. a3 Ra4 29. Rc3 Rd8 {White has surrendered control of the d-file in exchange for the two c-Pawns.} 30. Rfc2 Rd5 31. f4 e5 32. Rxc4 Rxc4 33. Rxc4 exf4 34. exf4 hxg5 35. hxg5 Rd2 {A cursory glance may suggest that black can hold the position because now his own R confines white's K to the first rank.} (35... Kf8 {Holds on to the (, but white wins by bringing up his K.} 36. Kg2 Ke8 37. Kf3 Kd8 38. Ke4 Rd1 39. Rxc5 {White has a routine win.}) 36. Rxc5 {This ends any drawing chances black may have hoped fot.} Rxb2 37. Rc8+ Kh7 {This the key...black cannot hold both of his weak Ps.} 38. Rf8 Rb7 39. Kh2 {Black resigned.} (39. Kh2 a5 {After the game Bogoljubow suggested this after the game. There was a faint hope that instead of 40.Ra8 Fine migh play} 40. a4 $4 Rb2+ {and the game is drawn because black has a perpetual check...white can never take the R because black's K is stalemated. Maroczy said he doubted Fine would fall for such an elementary trap. Fine admitted to not seeing it, but why would he ever consider playing 40.a4 when 40...Ra8 wins?}) (39. Kh2 a5 40. Ra8 Rb2+ 41. Kh3 Rb3+ 42. Kh4 Rxa3 43. Rf8 a4 44. Rxf7+ Kg8 45. Rg7+ Kf8 46. Rxg6 Ra1 47. Rg7 Rh1+ 48. Kg4 Rg1+ 49. Kf5 a3 50. Rc7 a2 51. g6 {Black gets mated in 6 moves at most.} Rxg6 52. Kxg6 Ke8 53. f7+ Kf8 54. Rc8+ Ke7 55. f8=Q+ Kd7 56. f5 a1=Q 57. Qd8#) (39. Kh2 Rd7 (39... Rb2+ 40. Kg3 Rb3+ 41. Kg4 Rxa3 42. Rxf7+ Kg8 43. Rg7+) 40. Ra8 Rd6 41. Ra7 Kg8 42. Ra8+ Kh7 43. Kg3 Rd3+ 44. Kg4 Rxa3 45. Ra7 Kg8 46. Ra8+ Kh7 47. Rf8 {wins. Fio example...} a5 48. Rxf7+ Kh8 49. Rf8+ Kh7 50. Ra8 {ans sooner or later the P Queens.}) 1-0