Rothman - Denker...a Real Rip-snorter

    Today through the weekend finds me stuck in a hotel room in Niagara Falls, New York, but there will be no sight seeing because the wife is attending a women’s conference where she is a speaker and beside, the temperature is too cold to get soaked on a Maid of the Mist boat ride. I noticed that the price has skyrocketed from what we paid to ride it 35 years ago! 

    There is also a balloon ride available; the price to go up in it is $135.60 for two people. The balloon is visible from our room and it’s bigger than I thought. The basket of the tethered balloon holds 35 people and it ascents to about 400 feet. Hanburgers cost $25 and I paid $5 for a small cup of coffee. 

    One interesting phenomenon is that even though the day is bright and sunny the chill in the air causes a cloud to for a couple of hundred feet above the falls. 

    While walking around this morning I was challenged to a chess game by a guy standing by one of those big sets that sit on the sidewalk; I lost. The problem was that he was playing by rules that were unfamiliar to me. For example, he played ...Bf8xf4 and moved his King like a Queen. At one point when I played Qd4xh8+ he captured my Q by playing Ke8xh8. Later in the game he escaped mate by playing ...Kh3-d7.  That’s when I admitted defeat and congratulated him on a good game. 

    Once when Samuel Reshevsky was asked why Reuben Fine never won the US Championship his reply was, “Because I was playing.” Because Reshevsky wasn’t playing in the 1944 championship it should have been Fine’s year, but he lost one game...to the undefeated Arnold Denker and so had to settle for second place.

 

    After Fine’s loss to Denker there were still ten rounds to go and several moderately strong players for Denker to face. In the next round he faced Weaver Adams and got a very bad position and offered a draw several times. Adams was unable to find a win and ended up blundering away the game. 

    After that close call Denker reeled off nine straight wins before drawing with George Shainswit. Denker had a close call in the 12th round against one of the lucky qualifiers who was from The Bronx, New York, an amateur named Aron Rothman. Rothman had been massacred in an earlier game by Fine in 15 moves. It was so bad Rothman said the game reminded him of a recent gangland assassination of a mob boss that had taken place in the same hotel. Rothman got a great game against Denker, but had one of those positions with so many good moves he ended up playing none of them and lost. 

     Leading US lady playefr Mary Bain opened her Chess Studio at 145 West 42nd Street in New York City that was sometimes used for tournaments and she eventually sold it to Larry Evans and Rothman. 

    Aaron Rothman (924-961) was active in the mid-1900s and is best remembered, if at all, for his extraordinary memory feat of memorizing the entire opening manual, Modern Chess Openings (MCO). He played in two US Championships, 1944 and the 1946 championship, a Zonal), in which he tied for 13th–16th place with a +5 -9 =3 score. 

 

[Event "US Champ, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1944.04.30"] [Round "12"] [White "Aaron Rothman"] [Black "Arnold Denker"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B50"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "42"] [EventDate "1944.??.??"] {B50: Sicilian: Wing Gambit Delayed} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. b4 {The Wing Gambit is usually played on move two. The idea is to deflect the black P fom c5 in order to gain control of d4. Alekhine recommended playing the delayed variation. He, along with players like Marshall and Spielmann, used to play the Wing Gambit It's a gutsy move by Rothman against a tactician like Denker and it’s bound to lead to some excitement.} cxb4 4. d4 {4. a3 has been tried here, but the text is generally played.} d5 {Black gets better results with 4...Nf6} 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. c4 bxc3 7. Nxc3 Qd8 {Denker has not played the opening especially well and as a result Rothman has obtained a substantial lead in development for his P/} 8. Bc4 (8. Bb5+ {This is an equally good alternative.} Bd7 9. Bxd7+ Nxd7 10. O-O e6 {White is better. Petrekanovic,M (2179)-Lazic,E (2041) 23rd ch-EUR Indiv 2023 Vrnjacka Banja SRB}) 8... Nf6 9. O-O {For his P white has a huge lead in development.} e6 10. d5 exd5 {This is a serious mistake that gives white what should amount to a winning advantage.} (10... Be7 {is best, but after} 11. Qb3 O-O (11... Qb6 12. Bb5+ {White scored a quick win in Adamski,A (2410)-Boensch,U (2455) Bucharest Int 1981}) 12. dxe6 Bxe6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. Qxe6+ {white still has the advantage.}) 11. Re1+ $2 {With such a great position Rothman has too many good moves and chooses the least effective! While this move is not a bad one (white still has the edge), it allows Denker some breathing room. From here Rothman’s play now goes quickly downhill.} (11. Nxd5 {and White stays clearly on top.} Be6 12. Re1 Be7 13. Nxf6+ Bxf6 14. Qb3) 11... Be7 12. Ba3 {He should still play 12.Nxd5 but his position is not nearly as good as it would have been had he played Nxd5 on the previous move. Now Denker is able to get his pieces developed and at the same time blocks the e-file.} (12. Nxd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 O-O 14. Ne5 Nc6 15. Nxf7 Rxf7 16. Bxf7+ Kxf7 17. Qb3+ Kf8 18. Bb2) 12... Nc6 $2 {Missing ther equalizer and allowing Rothman to stay in the driver's seat.} (12... Be6 {and Black has nothing to worry.}) 13. Qe2 $2 {[%mdl 8192] Rothman baits a trap into which Denker falls. Nevertheless, 13.Qe2 is not nearly as effective as 13.Nd4} (13. Nd4 Be6 (13... dxc4 14. Nxc6 Qxd1 15. Raxd1 bxc6 16. Rxe7+ Kf8 17. Rd8+ Ne8 18. Rexe8#) 14. Nxd5 Nxd5 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Rxe6 O-O 17. Bxd5 Kh8 18. Bxe7 {with a decisive advantage.}) 13... dxc4 $4 {[%mdl 8192] This allows Rothman to keep the upper hand. Castling to safety would have left him with the better game.} 14. Rad1 Bd7 15. Bxe7 $2 {This loses the game!} (15. Ne5 {keeps the pressure on.} O-O 16. Nxc6 bxc6 17. Bxe7 Qa5 {White has two good lines. Taking the R would be good, but even better uis} 18. Bxf6 (18. Bxf8 Qxc3 19. Be7 Be6 {White is better, but black has hope of surviving.}) 18... gxf6 19. Ne4 Be6 20. Nxf6+ Kg7 21. Nh5+ Kg8 22. Qf3 Qf5 23. Nf6+ Kg7 24. Nh5+ Kh8 25. Qc3+ {There is no direct winning attack, but white ha a N vs two Ps and a decisive positional advantage.}) 15... Qxe7 16. Qxc4 Be6 {Now black is up a B and a P so should have no trouble scoring the point. Rothman’s next move is desperation.} 17. Rxe6 fxe6 {Not17... Qxe6 after which black will have a hard time scoring the point.} (17... Qxe6 18. Re1 Qxe1+ 19. Nxe1 O-O {with a Q vs. 2Rs and a P.}) 18. Re1 O-O 19. Rxe6 {White is now a whole R down.} Na5 20. Qe2 Qc5 21. Re7 Rae8 {White resigned.} 0-1