Fine Wins 1940 Marshall Chess Club Championship

 

   If you were living in Brooklyn on Thursday, March 28, 1940 and picked up your copy of the Daily Eagle you would have seen the front page headlines informing you that in his crusade to clean up the city New York’s District Attorney William O'Dwyer had obtained his first murder indictment since he cracked the Murder-for-Money Ring. Two members of the gang, Frank (the Dasher) Abbandando and Max (the Jerk) Golog, were charged with the murder of John (Spider) Murtha five years previously. 

     A petition by Brooklyn housewife Mrs. Jean Kay to throw the British philosopher Bertrand Russell’s writings out of the City College of New York was being considered by Supreme Court Justice John F. McGeehan in Manhattan. 

     Also on the front page was the news that former Brooklyn debutante and socialite Mrs. Madeleine Force Astor Fiermonte had died of a heart ailment in her mansion in Palm Beach, Florida. Mrs. Fiermonte (June 19, 1893 – March 27, 1940), who had been married three times and divorced twice, was a survivor of the Titanic. She was the second wife and widow of John Jacob Astor IV. 

     Turning to the sports section, in the world of golf Ben Hogan was being touted as “the golfer’s golfer.” Matty Begovich, head basketball coach of John Marshall College, was resting at home after he suffered injuries in an auto accident. The night before he was driving to a pro game in which he was to serve as a referee when his car skidded on ice and snow and hit a pole. The pole saved him from dropping 25 feet into a ravine. The coach suffered minor bruises, cuts on his hands and a jaw injury. His passenger got a deep cut on his right arm that required five stitches. They left the car and returned home on an Erie railroad train. 

     In baseball the St. Louis Cardinals were in Havana for a four game series against the Havana All Stars. Their Vice President, Branch Rickey, said he was looking for a third baseman, but didn’t know where to find and and so he may have to let the matter drop. 

     There was also an article about Reuben Fine winning the Marshall Chess Club Championship. From the mid-1930s through the late 1940s Fine was one of the world's greatest players. Unfortunately for chess he retired from the game at an early age to pursue a Ph.D. in psychology and went on to a successful career in that field. During his career Fine produced many high-quality games that are still worthy of study. 

     After Fine's victory Hermann Helms was moved to write an article in the Daily Eagle under the headline, “Outstanding Choice of Those Who Are Not Completely Sold on Reshevsky’s Chances.” 

     Helms was referring to the upcoming biennial US Championship and many were wondering “not without good reason” if Fine was going to be the next champion. “Fine is the one outstanding favorite fancied by those who are not completely sold on the present incumbent.” 

     As it turned out the Championship's 17-player field was won by Reshevsky by a half-point ahead of Fine. It all came down to the last round. Reshevsky had been undefeated whereas Fine had lost a game to the dull, but rock solid, Abraham Kupchik in round five. Reshevsky needed only a draw against Fine to take clear first. Fine was winning, but threw away most of his advantage with a serious mistake on move 27 and Reshevsky got his draw and so remained champion. 

     Back to the Marshall club championship. It was also decided in the last round. Going into the last round Fine was tied with Milton Hanauer, the defending champion, with 13 points. Both players had lost one game; Fine to Matthew Green and Hanauer to David Polland. As fate would have it, Fine and Hanauer met in the last round and their game would decide the championship.

Reuben Fine - Milton Hanauer
Result: 1-0
Site: Marshall CCC, New York
Date: 1948
Classical Caro-Kann

[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 dxe4 4.♘xe4 ♗f5 The most common way of handling the Caro-Kann, the Classical Variation was favored by Capablanca. Also popular is 4...Nd7. 5.♘g3 ♗g6 6.h4 h6 7.♘f3 ♘d7 8.♗d3

8.♗c4 has an interesting trap if black gets careless. 8...♘gf6 9.♕e2 e6 10.♘e5 ♗h7 orrect is 10...Nxe5. 11.♘xf7 and black soon breaths his last.

8...♗xd3 9.♕xd3 ♘gf6 10.♗d2 e6 11.O-O-O ♕c7 12.♔b1 At the time 12.Rhe1 was the usual move, but Fine's move is superior and eventually became the main line. 12...O-O-O 13.c4 ♗d6 This natural appearing developing move turns out to be premature and black should retain the option of playing it to c5. Best is 13...c5 and then exchanging on d4 clearing the way for the B to go to c5. 14.♘e4 ♘xe4 15.♕xe4 c5

15...♘f6 16.♕e2 ♕e7 17.a3 ♔b8 18.♔a2 ♖he8 is equal. Nikolova,A (2286)-Melia,S (2392)/Porto Carras GRE 2011

16.♗c3 ♘f6 17.♕e2 Black is facing a critical choice. 17...a6

17...cxd4 leads to some intriguing possibilities. 18.♘xd4 This is better than Fine's suggestion of 18.Bxd5. 18...♗c5

18...a6 19.♘b3 ♕c6 20.♗xf6 gxf6 is equal. Ilyin Zhenevsky,A-Budo,A/ Leningrad 1936

19.♘b5 Best is 19.Nb3, but this is more interesting. 19...♕f4

19...♕b6 is also unsatisfactory. 20.b4 ♗xb4 21.♗xb4 a6 22.♖c1 axb5 23.cxb5 with an easy win. Stulik,V-Zita,F/Zlin 1943

20.b4 ♗xf2 (20...♕xf2 21.♕e5 ♗b6 22.c5 with a winning attack.) 21.c5 (21.♖hf1 ♖xd1 22.♕xd1 ♘e4 favors black.) 21...♘e4 22.♗xg7 ♖hg8 23.♗xh6 ♕f5 with an interesting position.

17...♖he8 18.♖he1 cxd4 19.♘xd4 a6 20.g4 ♗f4 is equal. Radulski,J (2494)-Burmakin,V (2559)/Le Touquet FRA 2006

18.♘e5 ♗xe5 This leads to a difficult position for black, but it's hard to find a plausible alternative.

18...cxd4 first doesn't seem to be any better. 19.♗xd4 ♗xe5 20.♗xe5 ♖xd1 21.♖xd1 ♕a5

19.dxe5 ♘d7 20.♖d6 ♘b8 21.♖hd1 ♘c6 22.h5 ♖hg8 23.♕e3 ♘d4 Calling this move panicky, Fine gave it a ? and commented that the first rule of defense in cramped positions is to react only to specific threats. Consequently, despite its unappetizing appearance 23...b6 should have been played. Actually, 23...Nd4 gets the nod from Stockfish as being the best choice here.

23...b6 was recommended by Fine as being better, but it is, in fact, worse. 24.♕e4 ♔b7 25.♕f3 ♖xd6 26.♖xd6 and Fine says black is worse, but he has reasonable defensive chances. I ran a Shootout from this position and white scored +3 -0 =2.

24.♖xd8 ♖xd8 25.♗xd4 There is no way for black to take advantage of the pin on the B. 25...cxd4

25...♕b6 Trying to utilize the pin. 26.♗xc5 ♖xd1 27.♔c2 ♕d8 28.♗b6 ♖d2 (28...♕d7 29.♕c5 ♔b8 30.♕f8 ♕c8 31.♕xc8 ♔xc8 32.♔xd1) 29.♔c3 ♖d3 30.♕xd3 ♕xb6 31.♕d4 ♕a5 32.♔b3 ♕e1 33.g4 and white will win in the long run.

26.♖xd4 ♖xd4 27.♕xd4 ♕a5 28.g4 The key move to Fine's plan. He now has all his Ps defended by the centralized Q and will proceed to get his K into the game. 28...♕e1 29.♔c2 ♕e2 30.♔b3 ♔b8 31.♔b4 A fine move (chuckle). the threat is to march the K to b6 which black can hardly prevent. 31...♕e1 32.♔a4 ♕e2 33.♔a5 ♕f3 Preventing for the moment Kb6 because of ...Qc6+ 34.♕c5 Decisive as it stops ...Qc6+ 34...♕e2 35.b4 ♕d3 A last little trick. (35...♕xa2 36.♔b6 and black can't avoid mate.) 36.♕d6 (36.♔b6 ♕d8 and white gets mated next move.) 36...♕xd6 37.exd6 g6 38.♔b6 ♔c8 39.c5 gxh5 40.gxh5 e5 41.d7 Black resigned.

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Fischer Wins 1957 New Jersey Open

 

     The 1957 New Jersey Open was where one of Bobby Fischer’s 60 Memorable Games was played...his game against James T. Sherwin. 

     There were 81 players. Fischer scored 6 wins and 1 draw (with Dr. Ariel Mengarini) and and pocketed $125, or about $1,125 today. 

     This made three tournaments in a row Fischer had won: the US Junior Championship and now the New Jersey Open. Shortly after the New Jersey Open Fischer would defeat 19-year old Rodolfo Cardoso of Manila is a match sponsored by Pepsi-Cola by a convincing score of +5 -1 =2. 

     Anthony Saidy (6.0-1.0), who lost to Fischer in the 5th round, was runner up a half point behind. Next came Arthur Feuerstein of New York and Robert Sobel of Philadelphia with 5.5-1.5. As the highest scoring New Jersey resident Matthew Green won the State title and Leroy Dubeck won the Junior Championship.  

     The 7-round Swiss tournament was held over the Labor Day weekend and started on Friday evening, August 30, 1957 and ended on Monday, September 2nd. 

     Some sources say the tournament was played at the Independent Chess Club which had recently been opened by the well known Master Edgar T. McCormick. The club had an advertisement in Chess Review stating it was always open. When I Googled the address I discovered that it is a private residence on a residential street. The house hardly looks like it could have accommodated 80 players! There was a preliminary ad in Chess Life stating that the tournament was to be held at a location to be announced and for details, write Leroy Dubeck in Maplewood, New Jersey. A later ad stated that the New Jersey Open was at the Independent Chess Center in conjunction with the East Orange Hotel. It would seem the hotel was a more likely venue. 

     Dr. Leroy Dubeck (born March 1, 1939, in Orange, NJ) is a master and a chess politician and a retired Professor of Physics. He was president of the USCF from 1969-1972. Dubeck also writes science fiction. 

    The entry fee was $8.00 and $4.00 for juniors. That may seen cheap, but it was a hefty $73.00 and $36.50 in today’s dollars. In addition you had to be a USCF and NJSCF member which cost $5.00 (about $46.00 today) and $2.00 (about $18.00 today), respectively. Prize money was offered for the first five places as well as the highest scoring Expert and Class A, B anc C players (in those days Class C was as low as you could go). The top three juniors were also awarded a cash prize. 

     The next USCF rating list after the tournament was published in March of 1958 and Fischer’s rating was 2626 placing him number two behind Reshevsky at 2713. Except for Fischer’s games, games from this long forgotten tournament are scarce, but here’s Fischer’s interesting win over Master Attlio Di Camillo, rated 2319. 

     A word about the opening, the King’s Indian Attack. Some authors are unscrupulous. They dupe readers into buying their book by stating this opening can be played against anything black plays and insinuating that you can play it, as one author put it, without the need to waste your time learning separate lines against different black defenses because the K-Indian Attack is playable against all of them. 

     Don’t believe everything the authors say! The part about it being playable against any black setup is true, but NOT the part about your not needing to waste your time learning separate lines. If that was true he would not have broken his book down into chapters on playing the KIA against various black setups: Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, black plays ...d5 and ...Bg4, black plays ...d5 and ...Bf5, K-Indian Reversed and other defensive setups. 

     Why did he do that? Because to play the KID correctly, you must adapt a different strategy against each different black setup and that is going to require you to spend your time learning separate lines.

Bobby Fischer - Attilio Di Camillo
Result: 1-0
Site: ?
Date: 1957
A08: King's Indian Attack

[...] 1.e4 e6 2.d3 The K-Indian Attack was an early favorite of Fischer. 2...d5 3.♘d2 ♗d6 (3...c5 4.♘gf3 ♘c6 5.g3 ♘f6 6.♗g2 ♗e7 7.O-O O-O 8.♖e1) 4.♘gf3 c5 5.g3 ♘c6 6.♗g2 ♘ge7 7.O-O O-O 8.♖e1 What we have here is similar to the standard variation of the KIA against a French setup with the differences being: instead of black's N being on f6, it's on e7 and his B is on d6 instead of e7. These differences alter basic strategy of this setup. Normally white would play e4-45 and attack K-side while black would hope to weather the storm and advance his Q-side Ps. 8...♕c7 Rendering e5 unplayable. 9.c3 ♗d7 10.♕e2 Again threatening e5. 10...f6 Parrying the threat of e5. 11.a3 With the advance of the e-Pawn no longer possible and slim prospects of a K-side attack being successful Fischer seeks play on the Q-side. 11...♖ae8

11...a5 12.a4 ♖ae8 13.♘f1 d4 14.♘1d2 e5 is equal. Gurgenidze, B-Khasin,A/Moscow 1957/URS-ch

11...♖ac8 12.♘b3 ♕b6 13.♘bd2 ♔h8 14.♗h3 ♕c7 is about equal. Zapata,A (2545)-Lautier,J (2570)/Novi Sad 1990

12.b4 b6 13.d4 The threat of e5 is renewed. 13...cxd4 14.cxd4 dxe4 15.♘xe4 All the central exchanges have altered the position to the point that basic KIA strategy no longer applies. 15...♘d5 White is better here because of black's weak e-Pawn and his Q is sitting on the c-file where white will be able gain time to control the file. Black cannot eliminate his weak e-Pawn with 15...e5. (15...e5 16.dxe5 ♘xe5 17.♘xd6 ♕xd6 18.♘xe5 fxe5 19.♕xe5 winning a P.) 16.♗b2 ♕b8 Too passive. Better was 16...Rc8. 17.♘fd2 (17.♘xd6 ♕xd6 18.b5 ♘ce7 19.a4 and after Ba3 white is better.) 17...♘d8 Not a good idea; he should keep the two Bs and so withdraw to e7. 18.♘xd6 ♕xd6 19.b5 ♗c8 20.a4 ♕d7 21.♗a3 Suddenly white has seized complete control of the position. 21...♖f7 22.♘c4 ♘b7 23.♕d3 ♖d8 24.♗e4 g5 Mengarini was not a player to sit passively by and be content to just weaken his K's position by 24...g6. instead, he weakens it with a purpose...counterattack. 25.♖ac1 ♘e7 26.♗xb7 This trade appears to leave him vulnerable on the light squares around his K, but it's not as bad as it looks because of the uncoordinated state of black's pieces.

26.♘e3 This is much better though because white threatens Ng4 with a very strong attack. 26...♘c5

26...♔h8 A pass to demonstrate the threat. 27.♘g4 ♘d6 28.♘h6 ♖ff8 29.♗c6 ♕c7 30.♗d5 ♕b8 31.♗xe6 with a crushing position.

27.♗xc5 bxc5 28.♖xc5 and white is winning.

26...♗xb7 27.♘d6 ♘f5 28.♘xf7 Black now has only one good move here. 28...♕d5 How does Fischer meet the awful threat to his K? (28...♔xf7 loses after 29.g4 ♘g7 30.♕xh7 ♕xd4 31.♖c7)

28...♕xf7 Only this offers black any chance at all. 29.♗b2 h5 30.h3 ♖d7 31.♖c6 ♗xc6 A clever tactic. 32.bxc6 ♖c7 33.d5 wins.

29.♕e4 ♕d7

29...♕xe4 30.♖xe4 ♖xd4 (30...♗xe4 31.♘xd8 a Zwischenzug winning the R.) 31.♖xd4 ♘xd4 32.♖c7 ♘f3 33.♔f1 ♘xh2 34.♔e1 and wins.

30.♕xe6 Stockfish says he could take the B and still be winning. (30.♕xb7 ♕xb7 31.♘xd8 but few, if any, humans would take this course.) 30...♕xe6 31.♖xe6 ♔xf7 32.♖ee1 ♔g6 Fischer has a R and a P vs a N, but does the kid have enough technique to win the game? 33.♖c7 ♗f3 One must admire Mengarini's tenacity. He is not going to resign until there is absolutely no hope of his K-side demonstration accomplishing anything! 34.♗b2 h5 35.♖xa7 ♖c8 36.♖c1 ♖e8 37.♖a6 h4 38.g4 Even better was 38. Rxg6. 38...♗xg4 39.♖xb6 ♖e2 40.♗c3 h3 41.d5 ♘h4 42.♖xf6 ♔h5 43.b6 ♘f3 44.♖xf3!44...♗xf3 45.b7 ♖e8 46.♗e5!46...♖xe5 47.b8=♕ ♖e4 48.♕g3 ♖g4 49.d6 Black resigned.

49.d6 ♖xg3 50.fxg3 ♗g4 51.♖c7 ♗f5 52.d7 ♗xd7 53.♖xd7 ♔g6 54.a5 ♔f6 55.a6 ♔f5 56.a7 ♔e6 57.♖d2 ♔f6 58.a8=♕ ♔e5 59.♕c6 ♔f5 60.♖d5 ♔e4 61.♕e6 ♔f3 62.♖d3#

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Double Bishop Sacrifice

     Whenever you think of a double Bishop sacrifice the classic game Lasker vs. Bauer from Amsterdam 1889 probably comes to mind, but there are other circumstances under which it can be played. More on that anon. 

     The great St. Petersburg tournament of 1914 featured the joint winners of the 1914 All Russian Championship (Alekhine and Nimzovich) and players who had won at least one major tournament. 

     The first stage from the 21st April to the 6th of May was a round robin with the first five finishers advancing to the second stage which ran from the 10th to the 22nd of May. This second stage was a double round round robin with the scores from the preliminaries being carried over to the final. The Czar declared the five finalists to be Grand Masters. 

     It was expected that there would be a great struggle between Lasker, Capablanca and Rubinstein, but the latter failed to make the final, leaving Lasker and Capablanca to battle it out. Lasker was 1.5 points behind Capablanca at the start of the finals but in the end secured first place by a half point by scoring seven points in his last eight games. For the first time ever a player (Lasker) was paid an appearance fee. 

     Three prominent players passed away in 1914. Constant Ferdinand Burille (August 30, 1866 - October 1914), a member of a group of Boston players and theoreticians who formed a loose chess association they called the Mandarins of the Yellow Button. Burille was also the operator of Ajeeb in the United States. He died in Boston. 

     Nicolai Jasnogrodsky (August 6, 1859 - April 23, 1914), a Russian–born American master, died at Montefiore Home, Hospital and Country Sanitarium for Chronic Diseases. He was buried in Union Field Cemetery for members of the New York City's Jewish community. 

     On October 20, 1914, in a far away land called Australia, David Hay died in Melbourne; he was New Zealand co-champion in 1879. 

     Probably the best known event of 1914 was the 19th congress of the German Chess Federation that was being played in Mannheim when it was interrupted by the the declaration of war and eleven "Russian" players (Alekhine, Bogoljubov, Bohatyrchuk, Flamberg, Koppelman, Maljutin, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, Saburov, Selezniev and Weinstein) were interned in Rastatt, Germany. 

     In September four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland. Romanovsky was freed and went back to Petrograd in 1915, and a sixth one, Flamberg was allowed to return to Warsaw in 1916. 

     Returning to the St. Petersburg tournament, the results were: 

     The following game between Nimzovich and Tarrasch is an excellent and often overlooked example of the double Bishop sacrifice. That’s probably because we usually think of the initial sacrifice as taking place on h7 (or h2). However, the double Bishop sacrifice can also take place in other forms as long as the following criteria are met. 

     I can highly recommend Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess by Fred Reinfeld. It was one of Reinfeld’s good books written before he discovered the money was in the potboilers. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw one reviewer give the Harding Simpole edition (my book is the old Dover edition) only one star. The reason? It’s in descriptive notation, not algebraic! Tarrasch’s games and Reinfeld’s notes are both enjoyable and they make good study material for classic chess.

Aron Nimzovich - Siegbert Tarrasch
Result: 0-1
Site: St. Petersburg 
Date: 1914.04.28
Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch Defense

[...] 1.d4 d5 2.♘f3 c5 3.c4 e6 We have reached the Tarrasch Defense in which he contended the increased mobility black enjoys is well worth the inherent weakness of the weak Ps black may get. Everybody who followed the teachings of Steinitz rejected the Tarrasch Defense, but Tarrasch went so far as to put question marks on routine moves in all variations except his. 4.e3 When this game was played this timid move was considered obligatory by Tarrasch. These days 4.cxd5 is almost always played. 4...♘f6 5.♗d3 ♘c6 6.O-O ♗d6 7.b3 O-O 8.♗b2 b6 9.♘bd2 The purpose of this move is to keep the Bs diagonal clear, but the from d2 the N accomplishes almost nothing for the rest of the game. 9.Nc3 is worth considering. 9...♗b7 10.♖c1 More to the point was 10.Ne5 after which black a a number of reasonable mvoes to consider. 10...♕e7 The idea is to play ...cxd4 and ...Ba3 11.cxd5 Reinfeld was critical of this stating it frees black's game. Engines disagree evaluating the position as equal.

11.♗a1 was recommended by Reinfeld, but after 11...cxd4 12.exd4 ♗a3 13.♖c3 ♖fd8 Black is better.

11...exd5 12.♘h4 Nimzovich's idea is to force black to play ...g6 which weakens the long diagonal. Unfortunately for him, the long diagonal turns out to be of little significance. 12...g6 13.♘hf3 ♖ad8

13...♘e4 This is the move black wants to play. but he can't just yet because after 14.dxc5 He can't recapture with theb P. 14...bxc5 15.♗xe4 dxe4 16.♘xe4 ♕xe4 17.♕xd6 Hence, he first defends against this with the R move.

14.dxc5 bxc5 Nimzovich has played to give black Hanging Pawns in the hope of getting play against them. When it come to Hanging Pawns, sometimes you get play against them and sometimes they get play against you. In Modern Chess Strategy, Pachman devoted a whole chapter to them. They are a very complex formation. 15.♗b5 ♘e4 16.♗xc6 ♗xc6 Had Nimzovich seen what was coming he would have played 17.Re1 which would have given his K an escape route on the f-file (see condition 3). 17.♕c2 He still has ideas of proving the Hanging Pawns to be weak.

17.♖e1 ♘xd2 Something like 17...f5 is better. 18.♘xd2 d4 19.exd4 leaves white with the better game. Note that a B sac doesn't work here. 19...♗xh2 20.♔xh2 ♕h4 21.♔g1 ♕g5 22.f3 Black has no way to continue the attack and so white has an easily won game.

17...♘xd2 Played in order to entice the N away from f3 and thereby set up the conditions for the double B sacrifice. 18.♘xd2 The guardian of the king's field leaves his post for a moment, assuming wrongly that 19.Qc3 is a major threat. (Tartakower)

18.♕xd2 This is better, but black still gets a very promising attack after 18...d4 19.♕d1 dxe3 20.♕c2 e2 21.♖fe1 ♗b5 and black stands well.

18...d4 This clears the way for black's B and makes black's position ripe for the double B sacrifice. In order to prove his point, writing in Strategy and Tactics in Chess, Euwe incorrectly stated that the threat of ...dxe3 means white has no satisfactory defense to the threatened sacrifice. In face, white does have a defense, but on wonders if Nimzovich suspected anything. This has to be classed as an outruight blunder that loses immediately. 19.exd4

19.g3 Stops the whole thing and is a move not considered by Euwe. Now if black takes on e3... 19...dxe3 20.♕c3 Threatening mate. 20...f6

20...exf2 21.♖xf2 f6 22.♕c4 ♔h8 23.♖e2 ♗d5 and white is at least equal.

21.♕xe3 ♕xe3 22.fxe3 ♗e7 23.♖f2 with a roughly equal position.

19.e4 was suggested by Reinfeld. It's playable but after 19...♖fe8 Better than Reinfeld's 19...Qh4 (19...♕h4 Reinfeld 20.g3 ♕g4 21.b4 with equal chances.) 20.b4 c4 21.♕xc4 ♗xb4 22.♕xc6 ♗xd2 black is better.

19...♗xh2

19...♗xg2 Oddly, this move also wins, but does not involve the double B sacrifice. 20.f4 (20.♔xg2 ♕g5 21.♔h1 ♕f4 wins.) 20...♗xf1 21.♖xf1 ♗xf4 with a winning attack.

20.♔xh2 ♕h4 21.♔g1 ♗xg2 Point 3, the K cannot escape to the f-file. Here if white takes the second B we see the other points. 22.f3 Opting to suffer the consequences of point 4...be left with a serious disadvantage.

22.♔xg2 ♕g4 23.♔h2 ♖d5 Point 1, a R is immediately available to join the attack and Point 2, the white pieces cannot defend the K. 24.♕xc5 ♖h5 25.♕xh5 ♕xh5 26.♔g3 ♕g5 27.♔h2 ♕xd2 and wins.

22...♖fe8 Threatening ...Re2 with mate to follow. Of course white can't now play 23.Kxg2 Re2+ mates 23.♘e4 ♕h1 24.♔f2 ♗xf1 Hefre we see point 5, the position at the end of the combination is advantageous for black, ot in this case totally won. 25.d5 (25.♖xf1 loses at least the Q 25...♕h2) 25...f5 Black has a mate in 14 moves after 26.Rxf1 Qh2+, again, winning the Q. 26.♕c3 Nimzovich has at long last succeeded at carrying out his strategy of an attack on the long diagonal, but by by now he has a lost game!

26.♘f6 is no better because black has a mate in 10 after 26...Kf7 27.Ne4 Rxd5. 26...♔f7 27.♘xe8 ♖xe8 mates in 5

26...♕g2 27.♔e3 ♖xe4 A murderous blow. 28.fxe4 f4 Black has a mate in 3 with 28...Qg3+. No matter. Now he has a mate in 8. 29.♔xf4 ♖f8 30.♔e5

30.♕f6 ♖xf6 31.♗xf6 ♕f2 32.♔g4 ♗e2 33.♔h3 h5 34.♖g1 ♕xg1 35.a3 ♗f1 36.♔h4 ♕g4#

30...♕h2 31.♔e6 (31.♕g3 ♕xg3 32.♔e6 ♗h3 33.♔e7 ♕c7#) 31...♖e8 32.♔d7 ♗b5# A beautiful game by Tarrasch.

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