The 1941 Reshevsky – Horowitz Match

 

    In 1941, US Champion Samuel Reshevsky defeated I.A. Horowitz in a match for the US Championship by a score of +3 -0 =13. 

    In February 1940, Horowitz had been on an exhibition tour along with a close friend, a Master named Harold Morton, when one night they were traveling by car when they were involved in an accident in which Morton was killed and Horowitz seriously injured. It took a few months, but he fully recovered. 

    In 1940, the next US Championship was two years in the future, so Horowitz decided to challenge Reshevsky to a mtch for the title, Reshevsky was the favorite, but Horowitz had beaten him in the 1936 Championship in what was one of the few games Reshevsky had lost to an American in five years. Also, a healthy prize fund sweetened the pot AND there was a rumor going around that a Reshevsky-Alekhine match might be possible, so Horowitz would be a good warm up. 

    The Reshevsky-Horowitz match was to be a grueling 16 games played in seven venues over the course of three weeks. The schedule was so tight that Reshevsky said it became a matter of endurance rather than chess. This game, the 6th, played on May 13th, 1941 in Philadelphia, was probably the most exciting of the match. 

 

[Event "uS Champ Match, Philadelphia"] [Site "Philadelphia, PA USA"] [Date "1941.05.13"] [Round "6"] [White "I. A. Horowitz"] [Black "Samuel Reshevsky"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C99"] [Annotator "Stockfish/Reuben Fine"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1941.??.??"] {C99: Ruy Lopez: Chigorin Defense} 1. e4 {Except for the 14th game, Horowitz played this every time and succeeded in getting a good game out of the opening. } e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {Black has two main systems here: this and the Open Defense (5...Nxe4).} 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d4 Qc7 11. h3 O-O 12. Nbd2 cxd4 {So far the players have been following what was considered the main line, but now instead of the then popular 12...Nf6, Reshevdsky plays what ha become the main line today.} 13. cxd4 Nc6 14. d5 Nb4 15. Bb1 a5 16. a3 Na6 17. b3 Nc5 18. Nf1 Bd7 19. Ra2 { This rather odd looking move has a point - it gets the R into play.} Rac8 { Threatening 20...Ncxe4} 20. Ng3 (20. Kh1 {A pass to show the thrat.} Ncxe4 21. Bxe4 Nxe4 22. Rxe4 Qxc1 {winning a piece.}) 20... Rfd8 {Just as a reminder of the tremendous amount of theory there is on the Ruy Lopez, this has all been played before! Reuben Fine was of the opinion that this move is proof of the inferiority of black's game and commented that the R serves no useful purpose on d8 and black is just marking time because he is unable to undertake anything constructive. Fine is correct concerning 20...Rfd8, but in a game he may not have been familiar with (thankfully we have huge databases today) Kashdan had found the more active 20...Qa7 in a game played in New York in 1930.} (20... Qb7 {is an alternative.} 21. Kh2 Ne8 22. Ng1 Bh4 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 Nc7 {with equal chances. Steiner,Lajos-Kashdan,Isaac New York 1930}) 21. Bg5 h6 22. Be3 Qb7 23. Rc2 {The point of his 19th move shows up.} Qb8 {He cannot acceot the offered e-Pawn.} (23... Nfxe4 24. Nxe4 Nxe4 25. Rxc8 { Unmasking the B.} Rxc8 26. Bxe4 {White has won a piece.}) 24. Rc1 Bf8 25. Re2 a4 {This and his next move lead to the loss of a P. There is no reason for this sacrifice, so Reshevsky probably played it because he did not want to be reduced to complete passivity. The sound option was 25...Rc7 and doubling Rs on the c-file which would have left white with only a minimal advantage.} 26. b4 Nb3 {Fine gave this moive a ? and suggested 26...Na6 which he thought was good for a draw. Actually, 26...Na6 is slightly inferior to the text which, at least, gives black some play.} 27. Rxc8 Rxc8 28. Ba2 Rc3 29. Rb2 {The N is stuck here and a P will soon be lost.} Qa8 {The point of this wily move will be seen if white plays the immediate 30.Bxb3} 30. Qb1 {Fine gave this move a ? and claimed it would have been better to have won the P at once, but there is little difference in the move played and winning the P immediately.} (30. Bxb3 axb3 31. Rxb3 Qa4 {White is on the defensive and has to find the right moves or see his slight edhe disappear.} 32. Nd2 h5 33. Qb1 Rxb3 34. Qxb3 Qxb3 35. Nxb3 h4 36. Ne2 Nxe4) 30... Qc8 31. Bxb3 axb3 32. Rxb3 Rc2 {Fine notes that now white must constantly be on guard against a possible sacrifice on h3. It's not clear what he had in mind because I tried out several "neutral" moves and the sacrifice never even came close to working. In fact, the Q has to stay on the c-file else the R on c2 is hanging. I think Fine (and othe contemporary annotators) completely misjudged the position based on the fact that it was the invincible Reshevsky who was playing black because engines give Horowitz at least a one P advantage here!} 33. Qd1 g6 34. Qd3 Nh7 35. Bd2 {Horowitz wants to get rid of that annoying R by playing Rc3.} Rc4 36. Rc3 f5 {Black's only chance lies in a counterattack.} 37. Nh4 {This small slip allows black to equalize. Ir was necessary to simplify.} (37. exf5 Rxc3 38. Bxc3 Qc4 39. Qxc4 bxc4 40. fxg6 {with the advantage.}) 37... f4 (37... fxe4 38. Rxc4 bxc4 39. Qxe4 {+is winning for white.}) 38. Ne2 Be7 39. Nf3 Nf6 {Storm clouds appear to be gathering towards white's K.} 40. Rxc4 bxc4 41. Qc2 {Draw Agreed. Reuben Fine wondered about this. He stated that first he was amazed to find "such a complicated position called a draw." He then went on to explain that his subsequent analysis confirmed his first impression that black had enough for his P and white cannot win. He was absolutely correct as engine evaluation is 0.00!} (41. Qc3 Nxe4 42. Qc1 Qa6 43. Be1 Bf5 44. Nd2 Nxd2 45. Bxd2 Qa4 46. Nc3 Qb3 47. Kh2 h5 48. Be1 Bd3 49. b5 Bd8 50. a4 Kf7 51. Qa1 Ba5 52. Ne2 Bxe1 53. Qxe1 Bxe2 54. Qxe2 Qxa4 55. b6 Qb5 56. Qc2 Qxb6 57. Qxc4 Qc5 58. Qa2 Qc7 59. f3 g5 60. Qa8 g4 61. hxg4 hxg4 62. fxg4 Qd7 {This drawn position was reached by Stockfish after about 15 minutes of analysis.}) 1/2-1/2

1963, End of the Line for Botvinnik

 

    After World War II, Alekhine was not invited to tournaments except in Spain and Portugal because of his affiliation with the Nazis. However, a World Championship match between him and Botvinnik was planned, but when Alekhine was found dead at the age of 53 in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal on March 24, 1946 the match was off. 

    The cause of his death is still open to debate...heart attack, choking on a piece of meat or was he was murdered by a French "death squad? Alekhine's son, Alexander, Jr., said that "the hand of Moscow reached his father.” Canadian GMKevin Spraggett, who lives in Portugal, investigated the case and believes the manipulation of the crime scene and the autopsy by the Portuguese secret police indicates that Alekhune was murdered, probably by the Russians, outside his hotel room. 

     With the death of Alekhine FIDE seized the opportunity to invited six players to a tournament to determine the championship; Botvinnik won it and hekd the tutle from 1948 to 1963 with the exception of a couple of interruptions...by Smyslov (1957-58) and Tal (1960-61). The end of the line came in 1963 when he lost to Petrosian. 

     Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995, 83 years old), condisered the Patriarch of Soviet Chess, won the first of his 6 USSR Championships in 1931. Tirgan Petrosian (1929-1984, 55 years old) earned his GM title by finishing in 5th place in the 1953 Zurich Candidates tournament. 

    In this 1963 match there was no provision for a return match which meant that it was the end of the line for Botvinnik’s World Championship reign. Concerning the match, Botvinnik related how it was really hard to play Petrosian because “he had a somewhat different understanding of positional play. He went deeper into it than usual, and myself, a universal player, did not completely understand Tigran's way and depth of judgment, although I was judging all positions well.” 

    Botvinnik’s brother, Igor, believed that one of the reasons for Botvinnik's defeat was his poor realization of advantages. In a number of games, after having obtained an advantage in the opening, he couldn’t put Petrosian away.

 

 

     After the first game of the match it seemed certain that Botvinnik would sweep the match because handled Petrosian so easily.. Botvinnik not only scored an easy win, but it looked like it was a mismatch. The experts were wrong and Petrosian went on to score a decisive victory. 

[Event "World Championship Match, Moscow"] [Site "Moscow URS"] [Date "1963.03.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Tigran Petrosian"] [Black "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E34"] [Annotator "Stockfosh/Botvinnik"] [PlyCount "80"] [EventDate "1963.??.??"] {E35: Nimzo-Indian} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 {This continuation was popular in the 1 9 30s, but then went out of fashion. It offers White a guarantee against any sur prises, but it is hard for him to count on achieving anything real} d5 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bxf6 {It's not surprising that Petrosin avoids the complications that arise after 6.Bh4} Qxf6 8. a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 c6 10. e3 O-O 11. Ne2 {Instead of the far more popular 11.Nf3. With the text move white intends ot place his N on f4 from where it can go to d3, then develop the B to e2, play O-O and then begin a minority attack on the Q-side. Neither Botvinnik nor Keres thought much of the whole idea necause the N is misplaced on f4.} Re8 {This prevents the N from going to f4 and thereby upsetting white's plan.} 12. Ng3 {The N needs to make way for the B.} (12. Nc1 {seems to be a viable way of carrying out the above mentioned plan.} h5 13. Nd3 h4 14. Be2 {with equal chances.}) 12... g6 {An energetic continuation that intends to advance the h-Pawn which, as Botvinnik pointed out, putd white in a difficult situation. Any other move would allow whie to complete his development unhindered.} (12... Nd7 13. Bd3 c5 14. O-O cxd4 15. Qxd4 Qxd4 16. exd4 Nf8 17. Rac1 {was soon drawn. Golod,V (2590)-Filippov, A (2598) Tashkent UZB 2010}) 13. f3 {Played after 20 minutes thought, this move makes sense if white intends to castle Q-side, in which case the P on f2 needs defending. However, castling Q-side turns out not be a good idea and, as a result, the text wastes time and weakens the K-side.} (13. Bd3 {is equal after} h5 14. Qc2 Nd7 15. h3 Nf8 16. O-O h4 17. Ne2 Ne6 18. b4 {Setting up the Minority Attack.} a6 19. a4 {and a draw was soon arrived at in Beliavsky,A (2570)-Balashov,Y (2540) Minsk 1983}) 13... h5 14. Be2 Nd7 {Black does not hurry with the advance of his h-Pawn. White's problem is that if he castles his N only has the horrible h1 as a retreat square. Consequently, Petrosian decides to abandon castling and uses his K to defend the P on e3 and f1 available as a retreat square for the N. Black is now beginning to show just a bit of an advantage.} 15. Kf2 {This plan turns out to be faulty. For better oir for worse he had to try to hold up black with 15.h5} (15. h4 Nb6 16. Kf2 Bf5 17. Nxf5 Qxf5 18. Bd3 {equals}) 15... h4 {This drives the N to a square from which its prospect of finding purpose is zero.} 16. Nf1 Nf8 17. Nd2 {It's obvious that white must bring his R on h1 into play. For his part, black wants to double Rs on the e-file.} Re7 18. Rhe1 Bf5 19. h3 {Obviously white wants to prevent any possibility of ...h3, a possibility he would have to consider at every move. At the sa,e time though the move weakens g3.It would have been safer to eliminate a black attacker with 19.Bd3} Rae8 20. Nf1 {The poor N has to return to defend e3.} (20. Bd3 {would allow him to put up a manly defense.} Bd7 (20... Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Ne6 22. b4 {with a slight advantage for black.}) 21. Nf1 Ne6 22. Nh2 Qg5 23. Kg1 {Black is better, but proving he has a win will be challenging.}) 20... Ne6 {Adding the N to the attack.} 21. Qd2 {Petrosian is sticking to waiting strategy, but again 21.Bd3 was bettetr.} Ng7 {The N retreats when an advance was in order. Botvinnik spent a long time looking 21.. .Ng5 followed by a sacrifice on h3, but he miscalculated the sequence not only duting the game, but in his post game analysis.} (21... Ng5 22. Kg1 (22. Bd3 Bxh3 23. gxh3 Qxf3+ 24. Kg1 Nxh3+ 25. Kh2 Nf2 26. Kg1 Re4 {The addition of the R to the attack wraps it up.}) 22... Bxh3 {Ckearky taking the B would be bad, so...} 23. Bd3 Bf5 24. Bxf5 Qxf5 25. Rad1 h3 26. Ng3 Qf6 27. f4 Ne4 28. Nxe4 Rxe4 29. g3 Qe7 30. Kf2 Qe6 {Black will advance the g-Pawn and meanwhile white can't do anything constructive.}) 22. Rad1 Nh5 23. Rc1 Qd6 24. Rc3 Ng3 25. Kg1 Nh5 26. Bd1 Re6 27. Qf2 {Petrosian's waiting strategy has managed to keep his disadvantage at a minimum and it would probably have worn out a lesser adversary, but not the resolute Botvinnik!} Qe7 {Black has completed preparations for an advance of his K-side Ps as a prelude to digging out white's K. Wite's position is hardly hopeless, but the defense will eveltually take its toll.} 28. Bb3 g5 {Consistent, but perhaps a bit too passive.} 29. Bd1 (29. e4 {This vigorous counterattack in the center offers a much better chance. } Nf4 30. Ne3 Bg6 31. Qd2 {Black will find making headway difficult. In fact, 5 Shootouts from this position were drawn.}) 29... Bg6 {After 30.b4! black is better, but exactly how he can make progress is not clear. Additionally, at some point in the future white has the posibility of finally launching his Q-side Minority Attack.} (29... Nf4 {as in the game comes to nothing because the h-Pawn is defended.} 30. Qd2 {Black has no forceful reply.}) 30. g4 { [%mdl 8192] Petrosin finally cracks. Botvinnik observed that it's interesting that, just at the moment when nothing was threatened, Petrosian, who has conducted the entire game using waiting strategy, suddenly launches into complications. It may have been a purely psychological ploy as Botvinnik was in some time pressure.} hxg3 31. Nxg3 Nf4 {[%mdl 512]} 32. Qh2 c5 {[%mdl 512]} (32... Nd3 {packs a wallop...} 33. Re2 Rxe3 34. Rxe3 Qxe3+ 35. Kh1 Qe1+ 36. Qg1 Qxg1+ 37. Kxg1 Re1+ {wins}) 33. Qd2 c4 34. Ba4 b5 35. Bc2 Nxh3+ 36. Kf1 Qf6 37. Kg2 Nf4+ {[%mdl 512] The N's returns to f4 is even stronger that before.} 38. exf4 Rxe1 39. fxg5 Qe6 40. f4 Re2+ {White resigned.} 0-1

Asleep At the Board

    Several 1.e4 e5 openings have the same tactical motifs, but at higher levels they are rarely seen because the players are quite aware of them. In this game we see one of those unique instances where a strong player wasn’t paying attention and got caught napping. 

    Jacek Bednarski (1939-2008) was a Polish politician and an IM who won the Polish Chess Championship in 1963. Bednarski became interested in chess at the age of eleven. He studied under a professional chess trainer while studying physics at Moscow State University. After returning to Poland, Bednarski quickly became one of the country’s leading players. You know who Robert J. Fischer (1943-2008) was.

 

 

 

 

[Event "Havana Olympiad, Qialifier"] [Site ""] [Date "1966.10.30"] [Round "?"] [White "Robert Fischer"] [Black "Jacek Bednarski"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [Annotator "Stockfosj 17.1"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1966.??.??"] {B86: Sicilian Najdorf} 1. e4 c5 (1... e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. d3 {The usual move here is 5...Nxc3} Qh4+ {This is generally considered inferior, but it it is quite playable.} 6. g3 Nxg3 {Compare this maneuver to the position after white's 12th move in the game.} 7. Nf3 {After 7...Qh5 the position is equal.}) 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. f4 Nc5 {In addition to Fischer's next move, white has a wide choice here: 9.e5, 9.O-O and 9.Qf3} 9. f5 Nfxe4 {Black incorrectly thinks ... Qh4+ is a threat, but in this position it is not!} (9... Be7 {Although black has tried a variety of moves here, this is the Main Line and it is the best.} 10. Qf3 O-O 11. O-O Bd7 {with equal chanxes.}) (9... exf5 {At the time it was considered to be too risky for black to accept the this P offer and its acceptance does not appear in my database. However, it appears that black can safely accept the offer.} 10. exf5 Qe7+ 11. Nde2 Nxb3 12. axb3 Bxf5 13. Bg5 Qe5 {and the position is fully equal.}) 10. fxe6 Qh4+ {Unlike in the above noted Virenna, here this move is very bad.} (10... Nxc3 {isn't any better.} 11. exf7+ Kd7 12. bxc3 Nxb3 13. cxb3 {White is clearly better. Hari,V-Virnik,E (2154) Patras 1999}) (10... Bxe6 {This is his best move, but after} 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe6 fxe6 13. O-O (13. Nxe6 {loses to} Qh4+ 14. g3 Nxg3 {Here white doesn;t have Nf3 available.} 15. Rg1 Ne4+ 16. Ke2 Qe7 {and black is winning.}) 13... Qb6 14. Qf3 {White is better.}) 11. g3 Nxg3 {Black is lost here, but Befnarski has overlooked white's reply. However, even the better 11...Nxc3 was not that much better!} (11... Nxc3 12. gxh4 Nxd1 13. exf7+ Kd8 14. Bd5 Nxb2 15. Bxb2 { Black has a miserable position and is probably lost.}) 12. Nf3 {As noted in the beginning this reply is known from the Vienna.} Qh5 13. exf7+ Kd8 14. Rg1 ( 14. Bg5+ {is also a good move.} Kc7 15. Rg1 h6 16. Be3 Nxb3 17. Nd5+ Kb8 18. axb3 Ne4 {and nobody would want to be playing black.} 19. Qd3) 14... Nf5 { Black's attack has failed and now Fischer blows him off the board.} 15. Nd5 Qxf7 16. Bg5+ Ke8 17. Qe2+ Be6 18. Nf4 Kd7 19. O-O-O Qe8 20. Bxe6+ Nxe6 21. Qe4 g6 22. Nxe6 {Black resigned. Amazingly, The analysis with Fritz and the Stockfish engine assigns Fischer an Accuracy rating of 100%. Poor Bednarsky only got 12%.} (22. Nxe6 Kc8 (22... Qxe6 23. Qxb7+ Ke8 24. Rge1) 23. Nfd4 Nxd4 24. Rxd4 Be7 25. Bf4 Rf8 26. Bxd6 Bxd6 27. Rxd6 Qe7 28. Rgd1 {etc.}) 1-0

Where's the Game?

    Clara Peller (1902-1987) was a manicurist and television personality. Born in Russia, she was one of eight or nine children. She spent most of her early life in Chicago after her father left Russia in 1906 when he was being drafted for the second time. 

    At age 20, she married a local jeweler, William Peller. They later divorced and she never remarried. She worked for 35 years as a manicurist at a Chicago beauty salon, and later moved to the suburban North Shore area to be near her daughter. 

    At age 80, Peller was hired as a temporary manicurist for a television commercial set in a Chicago barbershop. Impressed by her no-nonsense manners and unique voice she appeared in a number of TV spot advertisements, first as a comical cleaning lady in an advertisement for a Massachusetts State Lottery game and in 1984, in Wendy’s national commercials. 

    The Wendy's commercial portrayed a fictional fast-food competitor named Big Bun, where three elderly ladies were served an enormous hamburger bun containing a minuscule hamburger. Two of the women were commenting on the size of the bun, they were interrupted by an irascible Peller, who looked around in vain for customer assistance while asking, "Where's the beef?" Peller died on August 11, 1987, in Chicago, one week after her 85th birthday, from congestive heart failure. 

    Peller's "Where's the beef?" line became a catchphrase across the United States and Canada as a way to express a lack of substance or quality in anything. I recently received an e-mail from a reader who, to paraphrase Peller, asked, “Where’s the game?!” in an old post. 

    For many years the games in this Blog were published using a few different online sites which are now defunct and, as a result, the games do not appear. The ogn and notes to the games are on the Blog post, but they don't show up. When I copy the pgn and paste it into the chess program I use (Fritz) it will not work because of some embedded “symbols” which are difficult to remove because there are so many of them. 

    Some time in 2021, I began posting games using the Aquarium program and all was well, but at some point the games began showing up in the posts with the moves and notes, etc., but no board. Unfortunately, copying the game and pasting it into a chess program does not work. 

    In February of 2022, I began using Fritz 17 to publish games. This program generates HTML which can be pasted directly into the Blog. It also has the option of creating an interactive board that is stored on the ChessBase site which is why I prefer not to use it. If, for any reason, ChessBase would no longer supports this feature then all the games anybody has ever published using this feature would be lost. 

A Group of Pieces on the King Side

    In 1956, Congress passed the Interstate Highway Bill. Before that if you drove anywhere you traveled country roads and navigated through city streets to get wherever it was you were going. While driving you could listen to Elvis Presley crooning Don’t Be Cruel and wail Hound Dog. 

    Minimum wage was $1.00 per hour...almost $12 today and a movie cost 50 cents. Life expectancy for en was a scant 66.7 years, but women did a lot better...72.9 years. Today it’s almost 79 for men and 86 for women.

    Meanwhile, in, Dresden, East Germany they were still grappling with the aftermath of the devastating World War II bombings and grappling with life under communist rule. 

    That was the backdrop fir the chess tournament that was held in Dresden in 1956, but the big chess news stories that year were The Game of the Century when13-year-old Bobby Fischer beat Donald Byrne in the Rosenwald Memorial tournament in New York City and Vasily Smyslov’s victory in the Amsterdam Candidates tournament. 

    In the following game from Dresden, Soviet GM Yuri Averbakh (1922-2022, 100 (!) years old) defeats East Berman Master (later IM) Reinhart Fuchs (1934 – 2017).

 

 

    Averbakh may not be a familiar name to amny readers, but he played in the 1953 Zurich Candidates tournament and won the USSR Championship in 1954 and tied for first in 1956, but lost in the playoff. He was a a highly respected theoretician, author and chess historian. He was also renowned as an opening and endgame theorist. 

    The game is instructive because, as everyone knows, Pawn Majorities make a flank attack possible; however, a piece concentration can do the same thing if they are directed towards a particular area. An important requirement for the use of piece superiority in a particular area is the opening of lines and the goal will always be the the attainment of such superiority in piece strength that the opponent is left powerless to defend himself. 

 

[Event "Dresden"] [Site ""] [Date "1956.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Yuri Averbakh"] [Black "Reinhart Fuchs"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E75"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1956.??.??"] {E75: King's Indian: Averbakh Variation} 1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. d4 Nf6 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 {This came to be known as the Averbakh Variation; it prevents the immediate 6...e5. Black can challenge the B with 6...h6 with the option of a later ...g5, though in practice this is a weakening move.} c5 (6... e5 {is not recommended.} 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 9. Nd5 {with a good position.}) 7. d5 a6 8. a4 e6 9. Qd2 Qa5 {So far the game has proceeded along what could be considered the Main Line. White's most popular move is now 10. Nf3, but Averbakh's next move is a sly one.} 10. Ra3 {This move is more than a defense to the threat 10...b5 which can now be answered by 11 11.axb5. The clever thing is that the move also serves another purpose in that white, who cannot launch a successful attack in the center or on the Q-sid will eventually play this R to the K-side and obtain superiority there.} exd5 11. exd5 Nbd7 {This move interferes with black's development and so better would have been 11...Re8 followed by ...Bg4} (11... Re8 12. Nf3 Bg4 13. O-O Nbd7 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 Qb4 {equals. Kachiani Gersinska,K (2374)-Seps,M (2265) Dresden 2007}) 12. Nf3 Nb6 13. O-O Bg4 {Black's previous maneuvering was probably intended as the prelude to 13...Qb4, but now he realizes it could be answered in a way that would force him to find a way to extricate his Queen from a dangerous situation.} (13... Qb4 14. Qc1 Nbd7 15. a5 Ne4 16. Bh4 Nxc3 ( 16... b5 17. Nxe4 Bxb2 18. Qh6 Bg7 19. Qe3 Re8 20. Rb3 Qxa5 21. Qf4 {Black is facing some serious difficulties.}) 17. bxc3 {Black has trapped jis Q.}) 14. Qf4 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Nfd7 {It was necessary to play the other N to d7 so as to let the Q have an escape route and allow to the potential advance of the b-Pawn. Instead black persists with his ill conceived version of a Q-side attack and as a result weakens his K-side.} 16. Ne4 {[%mdl 32] All of a sudden White has two threats: 17.Bd2 trapping the Q and 17.Nxd6. Black's reply is forced, but white already has a decisive advantage.} Nc8 {This defends the d-Pawn and gives the Q an escape route, but white quickly builds upo a crushing attack.} 17. Qh3 Qc7 18. Qh4 Re8 19. Rh3 {Very pleasing! Note that all of white's pieces, apart from the B on e2, are poised for the decisive attack on black's insufficiently defended K. Even the B on e2 is ready to join the attack by sacrificing itself on h5. All Averbakh has to do is figure out the details of the attack.} h5 20. Ng3 {The B sacrifice at once was possible, but he prefers to add an extra piece before doing so.} (20. Bxh5 Rxe4 (20... gxh5 21. Qxh5 Rxe4 22. Qh7+ {wins}) 21. Qxe4 Nf8 22. Bd1 {White}) 20... Nf8 21. Bxh5 {[%mdl 512]} Bxb2 (21... gxh5 22. Nxh5 f5 23. Bf6 {is copletely hopeless for black.}) 22. Nf5 {[%mdl 512]} gxh5 (22... gxf5 23. Bf6 {and a fatal Q check on the g-file can't be prevented.}) (22... Nh7 {is his best defense. but he is still lost after} 23. Bc1 Bf6 24. Qg3 Ne7 25. Nxd6 Red8 26. Bf4 b5 27. Nxf7 Kxf7 28. Bxg6+ Nxg6 29. Rxh7+ Bg7 30. Bxc7) 23. Bf6 Ng6 24. Qg5 Nce7 25. Nh6+ Kf8 26. Bxb2 {Black resigned.} 1-0

Wild Nezhmetdinov Game

    Do people still buy chess books? If so, and you like attacking chess, then Super Nezh, Rashid Nezhmetdinov, Chess Assassan by Alex Pishkin is a book worth having, but not at the $40-50 I saw it advertised for on the Internet! I bought my copy years ago for a fraction of that price. 

    The Greatest Attacker in Chess: The Enigmatic Rashid Nezhmetdino by Cyrus Lakdawala is available for half that price, but I have not seen it reviewed. 

    Rashid Nezhmetdinov (December 15, 1912–June 3, 1974) was a Soviet player whoe hold the IM title and writer as well as a checker champion. Nezhmetdinov was a fierce, imaginative, attacking player, capable of beating anyone in the world. 

    Nezhmetdinov probably should have had the GM title, but unfortunately the only time he played outside the Soviet Union was at Bucharest in 1954 where he finished 2nd behind Korchnoi. He had a lifetime plus score against Tahl and Spassky but his weakness was that given a position where there were few attacking chances he would often try and complicate in the hopes of attacking even if it was not justified. He served as Tahl’s trainer in the latter’s championship matches against Botvinnik. 

 

      

 

    Vladas Mikėnas (1910 - 1992) was a Lithuanian International Master, an Honorary Grandmaster, and journalist. He was one of the most outstanding players from the Baltic's prior to World War II. After Lithuania was annexed by the USSR in 1940, he continued to play in many Soviet Championships as well. 

    He played for Lithuania at first board in five official and one unofficial Chess Olympiad. In 1930, he won the Estonian Championship and in 1931 tied for 2nd-5th place in the Baltic Championship. In the same year Mikenas emigrated from Estonia to Lithuania. In 1948 he drew a match against Nezhmetdinov with a 7-7 score. The game below was played in that match. I would suggest playing over this game on an actual board so you can better visualize the lines of attack and defense.

 

[Event "Match for Soviet Master Title"] [Site "Kazan URS"] [Date "1948.03.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Rashid Nezhmetdino"] [Black "Vladas Mikenas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B02"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "1948.??.??"] {B02: Alekhine's Defense} 1. e4 Nf6 {A Mikenas specialty.} 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. c5 {An interesting alternative to the usual 4.d4} Nd5 5. Bc4 e6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Nxd5 (7. Qb3 {Theis was the move Mikenas feared, but after} Nxc3 8. dxc3 dxe5 9. Be3 Nd7 {Black has asatisfactory, if somewaht passive, positiom.}) 7... exd5 8. Bxd5 c6 {This move was Mikenas’ invention because he thought 8...exd5 was bad.} (8... dxe5 9. Qb3 {Black should now play 9...Bxc5} Qf6 10. Bxb7 Bxb7 11. Qxb7 Qc6 12. Qc8+ Ke7 {White is better. Roeder,F (2275)-Ruehrig,V (2300) Germany 1982}) 9. Bxf7+ {At the time this game was played this sacrifice was unexpected; today it is the norm.} Kxf7 10. cxd6 Qe8 {In an earlier game in the match 10...B36 was played. Mikenas avoided it here because in the post-game analysis, Nezhmetdinov came up with) 11. Nh3 and obtained the advantage.} 11. Qe2 (11. Qf3+ {is equally good.} Kg8 12. Qe3 Be6 {White is only very slightly better}) 11... c5 12. Nf3 Bxd6 {Excellent! Nezhmetdinov wrote, "A timely sacrifice which can’t be accepted." Actually, it can, but doing so allows black easy euqality.} 13. Ng5+ (13. exd6 Qxe2+ 14. Kxe2 Re8+ 15. Kd1 Bg4 16. d4 Bxf3+ 17. gxf3 cxd4 18. Bf4) 13... Kg6 {Black's K is surprisingly safe here. 13...Kg8 would only gum up his development.} (13... Kg8 14. exd6 Qxe2+ 15. Kxe2 {and white is considerably better.}) 14. Qd3+ {[%mdl 8192] This check is very alluring, but white doesn't have enough attacking pieces left and so the King is surprisingly safe wat out on g4.} (14. f4 Be7 15. e6 Bxg5 16. Qe4+ Kf6 17. fxg5+ Ke7 {This is the only move that avoids mate, but it leaves his K safe plus he has a material advantage.} (17... Kxg5 18. d4+ Kf6 19. O-O+ Ke7 20. Bg5+ Kd6 21. Qe5+ Kc6 22. Qxc5#)) 14... Kxg5 {It looks like the Black K is going on a dangerous journey, but in fact, this move is the best and it is black who has a significant advantage!} 15. Qxd6 Qd8 { This offer to trade Qs is correct, but it's too passive. The more aggressive 15...Qc6 attacking the g-Pawn was much better.} (15... Qc6 16. d4+ Kh5 { It's remaekable, but there is no way white can take advantage of the K's position.} 17. Be3 Qxd6 18. exd6 cxd4 19. Bxd4 Re8+ {Black has a decisive advantage.}) 16. d4+ {A critical position. To what square should the K retreat? There is only one move that avoids loss.} Kf5 {[%mdl 8192] and this is not it!} (16... Kh5 17. Qxc5 Be6 18. O-O Nc6 19. Be3 Ne7 20. f4 Nf5 { The engine's yop three moves (21.Qc3, 21.Bf2 and 21.Qa3 all are evaluated at 0. 00.}) (16... Kh5 17. g4+ {as in the game fails to} Bxg4 18. Qxc5 Qf8 {Black is winning.}) 17. g4+ {[%mdl 512] This wins because with the K on f5 he cannot play ...Bxg4} Ke4 (17... Kxg4 18. Qxc5 Nc6 19. Rg1+ Kf5 20. Qc4 Rf8 21. Rg5+ Ke4 22. f3+ {If 22...Kxf3 then 23.Qe2#} Rxf3 23. Qe2+ Kxd4 24. Qxf3 {Black will get mated.}) 18. Qxc5 Rf8 19. O-O Kf3 20. h3 {White mates.} b6 21. Qc3+ Ke4 22. Qc4 {Black resigned . Mate is unavoidable.} (22. Qc4 Bxg4 23. hxg4 Rxf2 24. Re1+ Kf3 25. Qd3+ Kxg4 26. Qe4+ Kh5 27. Qxh7+ Kg4 28. Re4+ Kg3 29. Qxg7+ Qg5 30. Qxg5+ Kh3 31. Qg4#) 1-0

Blunderfest!

    Today’s game is somewhat akin to the Znosko_Borovsky vs. Euwe game in the previous post. The game has so many mistakes that it’s simply insane! It’s hard to believe that the two players were really quite strong! 

    Pindar got a won position in which the engine assigned him a near 5 Pawn advantage, but he blew it and a seesaw of blunders ensued. At the end, he still had an advantage, albeit a much smaller one of a Pawn and in the final position it was probably not enough to win. Like Znosko-Borovsky, Pindar appears to have also lost on time. 

    Hardman Philips (Phil) Montgomery (September 25,1834 – January 22,1870, 35 years old) was the youngest son of the Postmaster of Phildelphia. After entering the University of Pennsylvania as a Sophomore in 1851, Montgomery's talent for chess and mathematics was soon spotted by one of the professors.

    From 1852 onward, Montgomery quickly rose among the ranks of players at the local chess club. His play was described as brilliant, but nervous and fast. He was a member of the successful Philadelphia team beating New York in two correspondence games in 1855-1856. Montgomery was the sole Philadelphia representative in the 1st American Chess Congress (1857) in New York, beating William S Allison before succumbing to Louis Paulsen. After having lost two games to Paulsen, Montgomery was summoned to Philadelphia, before he could finish the match. 

    When the Philadelphia Chess Club was founded Montgomery was its first president. In 1861, Montgomery lost a match to New York's Theodore Lichtenhein by a score of +2 -7 =1. After that he practically retired from serious chess. After retiring from play, Montgomery practiced law in Philadelphia and New York before moving to Marysville, California where he died. He was stricken with paralysis first on Christmas day and then a second stroke proved fatal. 

    His opponent in this game was Edward Pindar (1828-1892, 63 years old) appears to have been something of a vagabond. He was born in Russia, grew up in what is now Estonia and returned there in later life. 

    A strong, but not very well known player, from 1856, Pindar was a force in the Manchester Chess Club where won the club's championship in 1861, defeating Bernhard Horwitz 3.5-1.5. 

    It's not clear at what time he was living in New York/ Pindar was not very well known but he was a strong player who was active in the mid 19th century. Pindar was a language teacher and in 1877, while acting in that capacity, he attacked and seriously injured a female student who rebuffed his offer of marriage. He was sentenced to five years, and upon release faded into obscurity. 

 

[Event "possibly Philadelphia"] [Site "USA"] [Date "1854.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Edward Pindar"] [Black "H. Philips Montgomery"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C01"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "66"] [EventDate "1854.??.??"] [Source "The Chess Handbo"] {C10: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 {The Exchange Variation makes no effort to achieve more than equality and is sometimes played with the hopes of obtaining an early draw. Black usually prefers the more solid 3...exd5, but the text, while riskier, is not as drawish.} Qxd5 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 c5 {This is risky; 6...b6 is usual.} (6... b6 7. O-O Bxc3 8. bxc3 O-O 9. Re1 Nbd7 10. Bg5 Bb7 {Ziatdinov,R (2460)-Rogers,I (2565) Biel 1992. White is only very slightly better.}) 7. Bd2 Bxc3 8. Bxc3 c4 9. Be2 Ne4 10. O-O Nxc3 11. bxc3 Nd7 12. Nd2 Nb6 13. a4 a5 14. Rb1 {White can claim a modest advantage here owing to black's weakened c-Pawm and his difficulty in getting his remaining pieces into play as well as his bad B.} Qc6 15. Bf3 Qc7 16. Ne4 {This P offer is not bad because white gets active piece play. There is no harm in black's taking it. but 14...O_o was probably more prudent.} Nxa4 17. Qd2 O-O 18. Rb5 f5 19. Ng3 Rb8 {In returning the a-Pawn, black hopes to generate play on the b-file by the advance of his b-Pawn.} 20. d5 Qd7 21. Rxa5 b5 {This is understandable as it isolates the R, but it allowsd white a free hand to generate play on the K-side/} (21... b6 {keeps things equal.} 22. Rb1 bxa5 23. Rxb8 Bb7 24. Rxf8+ Kxf8) 22. Qf4 Qb7 {[%mdl 8192] Placing his Q on the B's diagonal is an obvious mistake. 22...Rb6 was est.} 23. dxe6 Qb6 24. e7 { White has a huge advantage, even winning according to Stockfiss, but it's not so simple for humans.} Re8 25. Re1 Be6 26. Rxa4 {There was absolutely no reason to play this as it loses all of his advantage.} (26. Nxf5 Bxf5 27. Bd5+ Kh8 28. Qxf5 {is winning. Black has to play 28...Qf6, but not} Qxa5 29. Be4 Kg8 (29... g6 30. Qf6+ Kg8 31. Bd5#) 30. Qxh7+ Kf7 31. Qg6+ Kxe7 32. Bc6+ Kd8 ( 32... Kf8 33. Rxe8+ Rxe8 34. Qxe8#) 33. Qd6+ Kc8 34. Qd7#) 26... Rxe7 {[%mdl 8192] A huge counter-blunder! The P is not worth more than the R!} (26... bxa4 {leads to a draw after} 27. Kf1 (27. Nxf5 Bxf5 28. Qxf5 Rxe7 {favors black.}) 27... a3 28. Nxf5 Bxf5 29. Qxf5 a2 30. Be4 Rxe7 (30... Qh6 {avoids the draw and offers equal chances after} 31. Qa5 Qxh2 32. Qxa2) 31. Qxh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Kf7 33. Qh5+ {draws}) 27. Nxf5 Rf7 {This pin in the N looks powerful, but white can establish a wimnning position if he funds 28.Rxe8 or 28.Ra6 or even 28.Qxb8} 28. Nd6 {[%mdl 8192] A gross blunder that hands black the win.} (28. Ra6 Qc7 (28... Qxa6 29. Qxb8+ Rf8 30. Ne7+ Kf7 31. Qc7 {White is winning.}) 29. Qxc7 Rxc7 30. Raxe6) (28. Rxe6 Qd8 (28... Qc7 29. Ra8 Qxf4 30. Re8+ Rf8 31. Bd5+ Kh8 32. Rxf8+ Rxf8 33. Rxf8#) 29. Bd5 Kh8 30. Qxb8 Qxb8 31. Ra8) (28. Qxb8+ Qxb8 29. Ra8) 28... Rf6 {...but black didn't find it and now it's back to equal chances!} (28... Rxf4 {What kind of hallucination caused black (and probably white) to miss this?!} 29. Nxb5 Qxb5 30. Rb4 Rxf3 31. Rxb5 (31. gxf3 Qg5+) 31... Rxb5 32. gxf3 Rg5+ 33. Kh1 Bh3 {is hopeless for white.}) 29. Ne4 { [%mdl 8192] What? Again? Both players have missed that ...Rxf4 wins.} Rf5 { The only possible explanations for both players missing ...Rxf4 is severe time pressure ot some kind of he idée fixe that it can't be played.} 30. Qg3 { Yet another bad move!} (30. Qxb8+ Qxb8 31. Ra8 Qxa8 32. Nf6+ Rxf6 33. Bxa8 { equals}) 30... Rd8 {[%mdl 8192] Guess what? This is a game losing blunder.} ( 30... bxa4 31. Nd6 Rf6 {and white simply does not have any compensation so black should win.}) 31. Ng5 {Very weak...retreating the R to any safe square keeps the win in hand.} Bd5 {Slap a question mark on this move, too. 21...Rxg5 probably would not save the game, but it was better that the text.} (31... Rxg5 32. Ra6 (32. Qxg5 {gives black some play after} bxa4 33. h4 Bf7 34. Re7 Re8) 32... Qxa6 33. Qxg5 Rf8 34. h4 {with a strong initiative.}) 32. Bxd5+ Rdxd5 33. Ne6 {Question mark!} (33. Ra8+ Rd8 34. Re8+ {AS familiar pattern, see the note to move 28} Rf8 35. Qf3 Rdxe8 36. Rxe8 Qf6 37. Qd5+ Kh8 38. Nf7+ Qxf7 39. Qxf7) 33... Qxe6 {[%mdl 32768] Loss on time!?} (33... Qxe6 34. Ra8+ Rf8 35. Rxf8+ Kxf8 36. Qf3+ Qf5 {It;s unlikely that white's extra P will be enough to win/}) 0-1

Ever Had a Bad Position?

    If so, what can you do about it? Not all inferior positions are lost. In many cases the position might be bad enough that defeat is assured and it’s safe to resign, but sometimes a disadvantage does not spell defeat. 

    In the following game Znosko-Borovsky has a dangerous K-side attack looming and Euwe’s 21...Bc5? lead to a lost position. But, then on move 28 Znosko-Borovsky tried to squeeze more out of his position than it was worth and in doing so his advantage completely disappeared. As part of his plan to do better, on move 31 it was his turn to make a game losing blunder and Euwe didn’t let the opportunity get away.

    White lost the game on time and according to engine output he was clearly lost with an almost fivr Pawn disadvantage, so you would think that Euwe would have an easy win. However, when I looked at the position it wasn't so clear how black would accomplish it. After letting Stockfish analyze the final position for about 30 minutes it took another 30 moves to reach a clear win. Exceeding the time control was an unfortunate happening for Znosko-Borovsky because in those 30 moves anything could have happened.

 

 

[Event "Broadstairs"] [Site ""] [Date "1921.03.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Eugene Znosko-Borovsky"] [Black "Max Euwe"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C83"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "1921.??.??"] {C83: Open Ruy Lopez: 9 c3 Be7} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 {The Open Ruy Lopez was a favorite of Euwe. Black tries to make use of the time white will take to regain the Pawn to gain a foothold in the center.} 6. d4 b5 {Euwe has no interest in the risky Riga Variation (6...exd4)} 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Qe2 Nc5 12. Nd4 Nxd4 13. cxd4 Nd7 { By eschewing the usual 13...Nxb3 black concedes the advantage to his opponent. In 1921, the 20 year old Euwe was good, but not the mighty player and great opening theoretician he was to become.} 14. f4 {Seizing his chance.} f5 { He cannot prevent the advance of white's f-Pawn.} 15. exf6 Rxf6 16. f5 Bf7 17. g4 c5 18. g5 {[%mdl 2048] Obviously white has a very dangerous attack.} Rc6 19. Nf3 {Bringing up another attacker.} cxd4 20. Qg2 d3 21. Kh1 {This excellent move brings about an important moment for black. He is facing numerous threats from white, the most dangerous being the advance of the g-Pawn. He could parry this attack by giving up the exchange with 21...Rc5, but this sacrifice would only cause a delay in whites's attack and still leave black in dire straits.} Bc5 {This is no help at all. Offering to sacrifice the exchange is still his best option.} (21... Rc4 22. Bxc4 {Taking the bait only allows black to equalize.} dxc4 23. f6 Bd6 24. g6 hxg6 25. Ng5 Nxf6 26. Nxf7 Kxf7 {White's attack is over with no damage to black.}) (21... Rc4 22. Bd2 {In order to bring the other R into play.} Rac8 23. Rae1 {Black has a number of defensive tries, but nothing that manages to equalize' all he can do is just try to hold on.}) 22. g6 {[%mdl 512] Well playted! This breaks up black's K-side.} hxg6 23. Ng5 Nf6 24. Nxf7 Kxf7 25. fxg6+ Kg8 26. Rxf6 $1 {[%mdl 512]} Rxf6 27. Bxd5+ Kf8 {How good is white's position? Engines put his advantage at 5 Pawns and a clear win after the obvious 28.Bxa8} 28. Bg5 {After this white's advantage disappears. Znosko-Borovsky hopes to do better by a direct attack on black's K, but Euwe defense is sufficient to hold off the attack.} (28. Bxa8 Rf2 29. Bg5 Rxg2 30. Rf1+ Kg8 31. Bxd8 Rxg6 32. Bd5+ Kh8 33. Be4) 28... Ra7 {The idea of this clever move is not to save the R, but that it commands the second rank and prevents white from playing g7 (after 29.Bxf6 gxf6).} 29. Bxf6 gxf6 { The defence has succeeded brilliantly and it's now a whole new game.} 30. Re1 { Even though this brings the R into play it is a tiny slip works to black's advantage.} (30. Qf3 {keeps things even after} Kg7 31. Qh5 Qh8 32. Qxh8+ Kxh8 33. Rd1 Re7) 30... Re7 {White should exchange Rs when Qs and Bs of the opposite color make a draw highly likely/ As is often the case, it's hard for the former attacker to adjust psychologocally to the changes circumstances.} 31. Rf1 Kg7 32. Qf3 Re5 {Active defense of the f-Pawn.} 33. Be4 d2 {A little tactical finrssr; the threat is ...Rxe4!} 34. Qh3 {White threatens Qh7+ and mate. When black defends against that threat the Q will go to d7 with check and pick off the P onm d2. Hiw clever is that?!} Qh8 35. Qd7+ Re7 36. Qxd2 Rxe4 {Now white has a Q fork.} 37. Qd5 Re5 {Both pieces are defended.} 38. Qf7+ Kh6 {The only move and here white lost on time. Does he have anything that saves the game? The answer is no, but black's win is going toi be quite laborious! The ending given here is after about 30 minutes analysis by Stockfish.} (38... Kh6 39. Qh7+ Qxh7 40. gxh7 Kxh7 41. Rxf6 Re1+ 42. Kg2 Rg1+ 43. Kh3 Rg6 44. Rf7+ Kh6 {Black has some worl to do, but the ending is won...} 45. b3 Kg5 46. Kg3 Bd6+ 47. Kg2 Rf6 48. h4+ Kf5 49. Ra7 Bc5 50. Rc7 Bb6 51. Rg7 Bd4 52. Rd7 Ke4 53. Re7+ Be5 54. Kh3 Rf2 55. h5 b4 56. Kg4 Rg2+ 57. Kh4 Rxa2 58. h6 Rh2+ 59. Kg5 Rg2+ 60. Kh4 Rh2+ 61. Kg5 a5 62. Rf7 Bc3 63. Kg6 Kd3 64. Rf5 Kc2 65. Rxa5 Kxb3 66. Ra8 Kb2 67. Rb8 Kc2 68. Kf7 b3 69. Rb6 b2 {The win is obvious.}) 0-1

Umansky’s King Takes a Walk

 

    Mikhail Umansky (1952 - 2010) was a Soviet Master and a Correspondence Grandmaster. He was the 13th ICCF World Corrrespondence Champion between 1989 and 1998. He was also USSR Correspondence Champion in 1978. He was living in Germany at the time of his death due to heart disease. 

    In over the board play he placed 2nd in the Russian Junior Championships of 1965 and 1966 and in 1968 was awarded the title of National Master. In 1997 he was awarded the IM title. 

    He placed first in the ICCF 50 Years World Champion Jubilee, a special invitational correspondence tournament involving all living former ICCF World Champions. It was this result that made him one of the most respected correspondence World champions. 

    When this game was played in 1977, a major advancement in chess computers was developed by IBM; its computer defeating the world champion, Garry Kasparov. It’s victory was viewed as a sign of the rise of chess programs. 

    In 1978, SARGON won the first tournament for microcomputers, held in San Jose, California and IM David Levy of Scotland collected his 10 year bet by defeating CHESS 4.7 in Toronto with the score of 3 wins and one draw. The drawn game was the first time a computer drew an IM. While commercially available chess computers were beginning to fles their muscles, they could not defeat strong players, so it’s safe to assume that computers played little part in this game. 

    What drew my attention to this game was Umansky’s King walk. When white resigned it looks pretty obvious that black has an easy win, but when I started analyzing, things weren’t so clear! Black has a huge advantage when it comes to Centipawns, but reaching a forced win is a long way off! Because humans don’t plat at Stickfish’s level it’s clear that white’s resignation was premature!

 

[Event "USSR Correspondence Championship"] [Site ""] [Date "1977.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Lev Aronson"] [Black "Mikhail Umansky"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C51"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "1977.??.??"] {C51: Evans Gambit: Declined} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 {Yes, this game was played in 1977, not 1877! White offers a P to divert the black B. If Black accepts, white can follow up with c3 and d4 establishing a strong center. } Bxb4 {The usual response although statistically black does ever so slightly better by declining the P with 4... Bb6} 5. c3 Be7 {The main alternative is 6.. .Ba4, but in my database it doesn;t make much difference in the outcome which move blavk chooses.} 6. Qb3 Nh6 {This counter-intuitive move is the main line and is definitely best.} 7. d4 Na5 8. Qa4 Nxc4 9. Qxc4 {Black's main options are 9...exd4, 9...Ng4 and 9...d6} d5 {There appears to be no known examples of this move, but it is not at all bad. White has a bewildering array of possible capture and chooses the only one that maintains equality.} (9... Ng4 {is the most interesting move.} 10. h3 Nf6 {White has two ways to capture on e5 when in either case black stands well.}) 10. exd5 e4 11. Ne5 {Oddly, playing Bxh6 does not yield any advantage.} (11. Bxh6 exf3 12. Bxg7 Rg8 13. Be5 fxg2 14. Rg1 Bf5 {Black stands very well.}) 11... f6 12. Bxh6 gxh6 {The N has no retreat.} 13. d6 (13. Nc6 bxc6 14. Qxc6+ Bd7 15. Qa6 Rg8 {and white is facing serious difficulties.} 16. g3 Kf7 17. O-O Bh3 18. Re1 Qxd5 19. Re3 f5 {Black has a winning attack.}) 13... fxe5 14. dxe7 Qxe7 15. Qb5+ c6 16. Qxe5 Qxe5 {The series of exchanges have resulted in an ending in which the chances are equal. Five Shootouts from this position were drawn.} 17. dxe5 Rg8 18. Nd2 Bf5 19. Rg1 Rd8 20. Nc4 {The N will be strongly posted at d6} Ke7 {The beginning of an amazing journey.} 21. Nd6 Ke6 22. Nxb7 (22. Nxf5 Kxf5 {and after the white's e-Pawn goes black will have the advantage.}) 22... Rd5 23. Rb1 {This slip results in the loss of the game.} (23. c4 Rd4 {Black wants to keep control of the d-file so not 23...Rxe5} 24. Rc1 Rb8 25. Nc5+ Kxe5 26. Nb3 Rd3 {Black has only a small advantage, but in Shootoutd he scored two wins and three draws.}) 23... Kxe5 24. c4 {Black's centralized pieces are more active than white's who has to get his N back into play and, also, get the R on h1 into play.} Rd3 25. Na5 c5 26. Rb5 Bg4 27. Rxc5+ {White picks up a P, but at the same time black;s K gets to see some action.} Kd4 {White is still facing a mate threat with ... Rd1} 28. Rd5+ Kc3 29. f3 {In his rush to eliminate black's e-Pawnb white makes an elementary tactical mistake...surprising from a strong player in correspondence play.} (29. Nb3 Kxc4 30. Rxd3 Kxd3 {Capturing with the P actually slightly favors white.} 31. Nc5+ Kd4 32. Nb3+ Kc3 33. f3 {Now is the time for this.} Bxf3 34. Kf2 Kb2 {Black is slightly better after 35.h3, but NOT } 35. gxf3 e3+ 36. Kf1 e2+ {and black wins.}) 29... Bxf3 {Black bow has a decisive advantage.} 30. Kf2 Bg4 31. Rc1+ Kb2 32. Re1 {Black is winning, but only if he finds the right move!} e3+ {[%mdl 512] ...which he does. This move drives the K back where it's can;t be of any assistance.} 33. Kg1 (33. Rxe3 Rf8+ {wins material.} 34. Kg3 (34. Rf3 Bxf3 35. Rxd3 Be4+ 36. Ke3 Bxd3 37. Kxd3 ) 34... Rxe3+ 35. Kxg4 Re2 {etc.}) 33... Kc2 34. Nb3 {Black must prevent Rc1+.} Rxd5 35. cxd5 Kd3 {White resigned. He probably shouldn't have. Engines piut black's advantage at nearly four Ps, but the win still looks tedious and very long. Stockfish's solution after about 15 minutes of calculation...} (35... Kd3 36. d6 e2 37. Kf2 Rf8+ 38. Kg3 Bh5 39. Kh4 Bg6 40. Nc1+ Kd2 41. Rxe2+ Kxc1 42. Re7 a5 43. Ra7 Rf4+ 44. g4 a4 45. d7 Rd4 46. Rxa4 Rxd7 47. h3 Kc2 48. Rc4+ Kd3 49. Ra4 Kd2 50. Ra6 Rd3 51. a4 Ra3 52. a5 Kd3 53. Rd6+ Kc3 54. Rc6+ Kb4 55. Rb6+ Kc5 56. Ra6 Kb5 57. Ra8 Rxa5 {...and the evaluation remains about the same. How much longer it woulf take Stockfish to force the win I did not bother with. Between humans the result does not seem at all obvious.}) 0-1

Nimzovich on Centralization

    One of the old books in my possession is Nimzovich’s Chess Praxis which, I confess, I had never read. With the abominable weather we have been having of late it’s been a good opportunity to check it out. I don’t like it! 

    It is loaded with examples (109 Nimzo games) and explanations for different themes: breakthrough, centralization, discovered checks, files, firm and loose formations, isolated Pawns, etc. It’s all good stuff, but I just do not like Nizovich’s writing style which I find difficult to understand sometimes. I liked the games, but not the writing style. 

    The following game that appeared under the heading Centralization in a good example. He devotes on a little over two columns to the subject, but there are 23 games given as examples. Here is an example that was given by one reviewer:

 

“The mechanics of centralization can be seen in the way that, after the necessary restraint of a possibly mobile opposing pawn center, we draw the noose tighter and tighter around the central squares...But if we manage to make this long-range action effective and establish some of our pieces in the center, then we should be really pleased with the success of our policy of centralization.” 

 

    In his brief discussion of the subject, Nimzovich pointed out that centralization of one’s pieces leads to excellent results most of the time because control of the center squares is a strategic necessity. Even so, sometimes even experienced players do not adhere to the correct strategy as will be seen in the following game. 

    Nimzovich’s opponent, Carl Ahues (1883-1968, 85 years old), was born in Bremen, a city in northwestern Germany. He was awarded the IM title in 1950 at the age of 66. He was on the German Olympiad team in 1930, 1931 and 1936. His son Herbert (1922-2015) was a Grandmaster of Chess Composition. 

 

    This game shows how neglect of the center can lead to quick punishment. When Ahues neglected this elementary principle, Nimzovich was able to launch a quick and decisive attack on his King. Even so, Nimzovich pointed out that having one’s pieces centralized is not necessarily free from all danger. For example, the opponent might dissolve the center by exchanges or he might be able to launch a dangerous counterattack on the wing. In this game Ahues neglected the center and managed to get a lost game by move 9!

 

[Event "Berlin"] [Site ""] [Date "1928.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Aron Nimzovich"] [Black "Carl Ahues"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A16"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1928.??.??"] {A16: English Opening} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c6 3. e4 d5 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 { White is faced with a confusing array of P captures. Which is best?! Stockfish does not think it matters much as all lead to equality.} 6. bxc3 gxf6 { Nimzovich was skeptical of this saying that blavk gets a "proud" P-center, but he thought "it is doubtful whether there is a good reason to be proud of this Pawn center at all." Statistics indicate that he was correct because black gets more draws and fewer losses after 6...exf6 because the P mask helps defend his K.} 7. Nf3 (7. d4 e5 {Another try is 7...Bf5} 8. Nf3 Bg4 9. Be2 Rg8 10. Rb1 Qc7 11. Nh4 Be6 {Wgite is better. Vitiugov,N (2709)-Bromberger,S (2530) Germany 2011}) 7... c5 {Nimzovich though 7...eб was positionally more correct, but it was worth considering the more challenging 7...e5} 8. d4 Nc6 9. Be2 f5 { This is a serious positional mistake because surrenders contril over the dark squares on the K-side...watch what happens. Either 9...Bg7 or 9...e5 were correct.} 10. d5 {Forcing the N away from guarding e5.} Na5 11. Ne5 {This decides matters. (Nimzovich)} Bd7 {[%mdl 8192] This, however, is where black actually loses the game. 11...Bg7 would have at least given him a fighting chance.} (11... Bg7 12. Qa4+ Kf8 13. f4 h5 14. Qc2 b6 15. Bd3 e6 {White is clearly better, but black can, at least, play on with some faint hope.}) 12. Bh5 {This would not have been possible had black played 11...Bg7 because the N would be hanging.} Bg7 13. Nxf7 Qb6 14. Nxh8+ Kf8 15. Nf7 {Now Nimzovich returns his extra material, but obtains a very powerful N on e6. As Nimzovich observed, sometines hanging onto extra naterial is not the best option..} Be8 16. Ng5 (16. Qd3 Bxf7 17. Bxf7 Kxf7 18. Qxf5+ Qf6 19. Qxf6+ Bxf6 {is an equally good, if not better, route to victory for white.}) 16... Bxc3+ 17. Kf1 Bxa1 18. Ne6+ Kg8 19. Bxe8 Rxe8 20. Qh5 Ra8 {It matters not where the R goes.} 21. Qxf5 Qb4 22. g3 Qxc4+ {Material is now completely equal, but it doesn't matter; white has a completely won position.} 23. Kg2 Qe2 24. Bd2 {[%mdl 512] Clever, but 24.Re1 was even stronger.} Nc4 (24... Qxd2 25. Ng5 {There is no way to meet the threat of Qxh7}) 25. Re1 Qxd2 26. Ng5 {[%mdl 512]} Nd6 { It's mate in 9} 27. Qxh7+ Kf8 28. Qxe7+ {He mates a move sooner with 28.Ne6+} Kg8 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Qh6+ {Again, Ne6+ is a move quicker.} Kg8 31. Qg6+ Bg7 32. Qh7+ Kf8 33. Ne6+ Ke8 34. Nxg7+ Kd8 35. Ne6+ Ke8 36. Re5 {Black resigned.} (36. Re5 Qb2 37. Nc7+ Kd8 38. Qe7+ Kc8 39. Nxa8 Qb6 40. Nxb6+ axb6 41. Qxd6 b5 42. Re8#) 1-0

Castling On Opposite Sides

    One advantage of castling on opposite sides is that the attacker does not expose his own King when advancing Pawns against the enemy’s King. Even so, there are dangers. If your opponent, as is often the case, does not castle on the opposite side immediately your own King may find itself exposed. Your own King may come under attack or your opponent may initiate a successful counterattack in the center. 

     Anyone familiar with the writings of Nimzovich will recall that he called castling on opposite sides and attacking on th other flank "an amateurish conception.” Nevertheless, such games can be exciting as the following game shows. Curiously, I recently made a couple of posts on the Lolli Theme and this game also ends with the theme. 

[Event "London"] [Site ""] [Date "1932.02.04"] [Round "?"] [White "Vera Menchik"] [Black "George Thomas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E85"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "47"] [EventDate "1932.02.01"] {[%evp 12,47,79,51,115,103,111,123,136,128,190,134,164,156,206,178,204,205,236, 232,313,184,242,241,274,253,287,281,29991,29992,29992,29993,29993,29994,29994, 29995,29997,29998] E85: King's Indian: Saemisch} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 {At the time this game was played the K-Indian did not enjoy great popularity. Until the mid-1930s, it was generally regarded as highly suspec, but after strong Soviet players begam analyzing and playing it things changed and it became very popular. Then in the early 2000s its popularity took a nose dive when Kramnik began scoring well against it.} 4. e4 d6 {Although the K-Indian was not generally popular, in England F.D. Yates had played it with success and so many English players followed suit.} 5. f3 {The Saemisch Sämisch is the prelude to a sharp K-side attack by white. Saemisch developed the system in the 1920s. With 5.f3 white fortifies the e-Pawn and prepares a K-side P advance.} O-O 6. Be3 e5 7. Nge2 b6 {This is not an especially effective strategy. Normal is 7...c6 directing his attention toward the center.} 8. Qd2 { A natural move that prepares O-O-O and to eliminate black's B on g7.} Nc6 { This looks rather awkward. 8...Ba6 or 8...Nbd7 seem better.} 9. d5 {An excellent move closing the center which black has deliberately allowed, but it was a strategic error. With 9.d5 white prepares for a K-dsie advance. Note that black's setup on the Q-side does not allow for an equally easy advance there.} Ne7 {Strategically white has a significant advantage.} 10. g4 {White will castle Q side with little danger and then proceed to overrun black's K.} Nd7 11. Rg1 a5 {Black is not well placed for Q-side operations and truthfully they have little chance of success. Therefore, perhaps he should be thinking about how to shore up his K-side defenses.} (11... f5 12. gxf5 gxf5 13. Bh6 Ng6 14. Bg5 (14. exf5 Qh4+) (14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exf5 Rxf5 {Black has some hope of defending himself.}) 14... Nf6 15. exf5 Bxf5 {Here, too,with all his pieces defending his K survival is a poossibility although a remote one. In Shootouts white score +4 -0 =1.}) 12. O-O-O Nc5 13. Ng3 Bd7 14. h4 a4 15. h5 Qb8 { Both players have been following thier plans for attack, but black is way behind in the race to see who can, as Frank Marsahll put it, get there the fastest with the mostest.} 16. Bh6 {This is more than good enough, but 16.Nf5 would have been a great shot!} (16. Nf5 gxf5 {os completely out as a defense!} (16... Bxf5 17. gxf5 Qd8 18. Bh6 {This is black's best line, but white has a deisive advantage.}) 17. gxf5 Re8 18. Rxg7+ Kxg7 19. Bh6+ Kh8 20. Qg5 {mates}) 16... Qa7 {Black's position is beyond saving.} 17. Bxg7 Kxg7 18. Nf5+ {[%mdl 512] Menchik doesn't miss it this time! The g-file is opened.} Nxf5 (18... Kf6 {trying to keep the g-file closed runs into an unusual mate by a P.} 19. g5#) 19. gxf5 a3 {Black was dead lost, but this move forcing open a file on the Q-side comes way too late not to mention that white has a mate in 9.} 20. f6+ $1 {Setting up a Lolli theme.White mates.} Kh8 21. Qh6 axb2+ 22. Kb1 Rg8 23. hxg6 fxg6 24. Qxh7+ {[%mdl 512] Nice! Black resigned.} (24. Qxh7+ Kxh7 25. Rh1+ Bh3 26. Rxh3#) 1-0

Robin Smith Talks About Intuition

    Robin Smith (1952-2009) is largely unknown, but he was an American correspondence player who held the ICCF title of Correspondence Grandmaster and was a two-time US Correspondence Champion (1995 and 1999). His last ICCF rating was 2642, which he achieved in only 64 games from 1997 to 2008. He also authored the book Modern Chess Analysis which was published in 2004. 

    In the book he told how to use engines to analyze. In those days strong players could still defeat engines. in fact, Smith called them “stupid.” 

    In those days engine use was allowed on some sites and not on others. On those where they weren’t, more than a few prominent players got kicked off after they were caught using engines. 

    Needless to say, the book (and most of Smith’s advice) is badly outdated today, but it still has some usable advice. I was astonished to read one review of the book where the reviewer gave it only one star calling the book a joke and claiming that using engines is cheating. He added that just because the International Correspondence Chess Federation allows their use it is still unethical and cheating. He then belittled Smith’s skill as a player. 

    First of all, if engine use is NOT against the rules then it is not cheating if you use one. Second of all, top level correspondence players, while they may not be Grandmasters over the board, they do have a good understanding of chess plus they know the limitations of engines. 

    One interesting chapter is on intuition. He wrote, “the more complex the position, the more you will need to rely on intuition to make a decision.” While that was true of correspondence play using engine in 2004, it’s not so much the case today because engines like Stockfish are pretty much unbeatable. The advice probably holds true in OTB play though. 

    What about intuition? Smith wrote that after playing and observing enough games one develops a feel for which moves are good, which plans might work and which ideas should be investigated further. 

    Regarding intuition and engines he added that some people had proposed the idea of using “exotic" neural network engines, but at that time they had not worked very well because in most chess positions exact calculation is more important than intuition. 

    Smith was quick to point out that intuition is not a substitute for analysis even though in OTB play intuition might work. In the following game against the Spanish player Francisco Bisquert, a Senior Correspondence Master, Smith describes how he used both intuition and an engine to his advantage. Of course the ancient Fritz engine he used doesn’t even remotely compare to the output of today’s engines and what took Smith many hours of analysis both on his own and with Fritz we can get in seconds today...plus the output from the engine is much more accurate. Let’s take a look

.

[Event "World Correspi\ondence Champ (via e-mail)"] [Site "ICCF"] [Date "2000.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Robin Smith"] [Black "Francisco Bisquert"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C10"] [Annotator "Robin Smith/Stockfish"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2000.03.30"] {C10: French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7. c3 Be7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Bf4 b6 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. O-O-O Qc8 (11... Nh5 {turned out poorly in Kobalia,M (2632)-Stupak,K (2567) Moscow RUS 2015} 12. Be3 Nf6 13. h4 Qd5 14. Kb1 Qh5 15. Rh3 {with the better gane.}) 12. h4 c5 13. h5 { Smith did not comment on this move, probably because it has been played befpre, but engines find it neither better nor worse than their preferred 13.Be5 or 13. Kb1 forst.} h6 {Smith gave this a ? stating that black has entered a line that ECO gives as +/-, buthe did not think black's position is probably not quite that bad. He did ask the question why would black want to ply this line considering books evaluate white as beong better? His answer was that most engones (of the day, of course) evaluated black's position as fully equal. Smith's opinion was, " In reality it just creates a target - either for a g4-g5 P push or for a B sacrifice on h6." That's what happens in the game, but Stockfish says white is only slightly better (his initial slight starting advantage). Stockfish actually likes 13...h6 or perhaps 13...Rd8 first.} (13... cxd4 {is a reasonable move that has been played before.} 14. Nxd4 {Blacs two good replies: 14...Rd8 and 14...Nd5}) 14. Kb1 Rd8 {Stockfish now prefers the routine 15.Rhe1 or the neutral 15.Kb1 with about a half a P advantage. After his next move Smith discusses how he made his intuitive decision to play it.} 15. Rhg1 {Engines fond no fault with this evaluating it at about 1/4 of a P in white's favor instead of the half P after 15.Rhe1. When it comes to intuition Smith commented that in many ways this move is obvious. The point is that white supporst the advance of his g-Pawn and at the same time gets his R off the long diagonal and unpins the N on f3. The question is what if black just tales the h-Pawn? At the time the game was played no engine liked 15. Rhg1 thinking that it just lost the h-Pawn. He added that wen he analyzed the position after 15...Nxh45 black seemed to br equal.} Nxh5 {Smith comments that after this black not only picks up a P, but gains a crucial tempo by by attacking the B. Smith stated that every retreat he looked at allowed black to survive, but at this point he was looking for a quick win. His intuition told him that instead of retreating the B the position must offer something more. However, he observed tha when examing a position objectively intuition is often wrong. So he set up the position and let Fritz think for a day and it came up with the interesting 16.Bxh6 and evaluated the position as equal. Still. he decided to analyze the position more deeply and the more he did, the more he liked 16.Bxh6. That's the way it was 25 years ago, but what about today? The oldest engine I have is Fritz 5.32 and it favors black by about 3/4 of a P and thinks white should now play 16.Be5. What does Stockfish think? It see white's next move instantly and puts white's advantage at a bit over two Ps, so Smith's intuition was correct. Dragon by Komodo, Fritz 19 and Berserk 13 all like the B sacrifice.} (15... cxd4 {is Stockfish's equalizing suggestion.} 16. Nxd4 Nd5 17. Bc1 Bf6 {equals.}) 16. Bxh6 {[%mdl 512] Smith points out that this is the other point of 15.Rhg1 and it's the best way to secure an advantage because the opening of the h-file and in some lines also the g-file create big problems for black. As far as Fritz 5.32 is concerned there isn't much difference between 16.Be4 and this sacrifice.} Nf6 {Smith gave this a ? Black is better off taking the B. Now his podition quickly deteriorates.} (16... gxh6 {was no better defense.} 17. Qe3 {Black has no good answer to this.}) 17. Rh1 {This move was rightly given a ! by Smith. According to Smith, 16.Bg1!? was also possibly good enough to give white a winning advantage, but the text move is more forcing and thus easier to analyze. nTo quote Stockfish,white is clearly winning.} cxd4 {Now it's too lte to take the B.} (17... gxh6 18. Rxh6 Bf8 19. Rxf6 Bg7 20. Rf4 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Qd7 22. Rg4 { is utterly hopeless for black. Here's the best line after a couple of minutes thinking time by the engine...} f5 23. Rg6 Qf7 24. Qh5 cxd4 25. Rh1 Kf8 26. Qg5 Rd7 27. c4 Rc8 28. a3 Re8 29. Rh7 Qg8 30. Qh4 Ree7 31. Rgxg7 Rxg7 32. Rh8 { Even after winning the Q white has no forced win and it will take some technique to sevure the win. Whote's advantager is 5.5 Ps.}) 18. Bxg7 {[%mdl 512] White would still have a winning position if he recaptured on d4, but the B sacrifice leaves black;s K completely naked.} Kxg7 19. Qd2 {The Q joins the attack.} Ng8 20. Rh7+ Kf8 21. Ne5 {Black resigned. He has to give up a huge amounbt of material to avoid mate.} 1-0

An (Almost) Perfect Botvinnik Game

    After the miniatures of the recent posts it’s time to get serious. The following game, Botvinnik vs. Portisch, Monte Carlo, 1968, is interesting. Portisch miscalculated when he laid a trap. Botvinnik fell for it, but he had seen the flaw and finished up the game in brilliant fashion. 

     The game appears with light notes in Andrew Soltis’ excellent book, Mikhail Botvinnik, The Life and Games of a World Chess Champion. When I looked at it with Stockfish it turned out to be a lot more complicated than it appeared during a casual play through! As you can see from Fritz 19’s “Blunder Chart” Botvinnik’s play was nearly perfect.

    The game was played in Monte Carlo in 1968 which was one of Botvinnik’s last good performances.. The event was organized by the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. British player/writer Harry Golombek complained about the inclusion of the two untitled French players, calling it as absurd and a waste of valuable places. 

    Fischer, the previous year’s winner, was invited, but due to his outrageous demands the organizers were adamant...his demands would not be met and he could stay home. Fischer, the previous year’s winner, was invited, but due to his outrageous demands the organizers were adamant...his demands would not be met and he could stay home. 

    The name of the Hungaroan GM Lajos Portisch (born 1937) may not be familiar to younger readers, but he was a nine time Hungarian champion and played in every Interzonal from 1962 to 1993, twelve in total and he qualified for the next stage, the Candidates Tournament, eight times. 

 

 

[Event "Monte Carlo"] [Site ""] [Date "1968.04.10"] [Round "?"] [White "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Black "Lajos Portisch"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A22"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "1968.04.03"] {A29: English Opening: Four Knights Variation} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Be6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Nb6 8. d3 Be7 9. a3 a5 10. Be3 O-O 11. Na4 {This move results in a position with colors reversed as seen in the Sicilian Dragon, something with which Botvinnik was very familiar. 11.Rc1 is the most frequently seem ,ove.} Nxa4 12. Qxa4 Bd5 13. Rfc1 Re8 14. Rc2 Bf8 { Black needs to start thinking about how he will defend his b- and c-Pawns.} ( 14... Bd6 {This move was suggested by Smyslov in the post-mortem and all roads seem to lead to equality.} 15. Ng5 Be7 16. Nf3 {would draw.}) 15. Rac1 Nb8 { As he prepares the defense of his Q-side Ps with ...c6 at the same time Portisch sets a trap, but he has miscalculated and instead of being a good defense, 15...Nb8 loses the game.} (15... h6 16. Bc5 e4 17. dxe4 Bxe4 {White has slightly the better position. Lombaers,P (2255)-Kenney,D (2000) Caleta ENG 2014}) (15... Rb8 {This is also a reasonable move. After} 16. Qb5 g6 (16... e4 17. Ng5 {favors white.}) 17. Bg5 Qd6 {White is only slightly better.}) 16. Rxc7 {Appraently Portisch did not think this was possible because of...} Bc6 { ...and the R is trapped. But, Botvinnik has a surprise.} 17. R1xc6 {Botvinnik wrote that Portisch had seen this move, but underestimated it.} (17. R7xc6 { This would be the wrong capture because he needs the R to be on the 7th rank.} Nxc6 18. Rc4 {followed by 19.h4 black's disadvantage is only very slight.}) 17... bxc6 (17... Nxc6 {fails miserably.} 18. Rxf7 Kxf7 (18... Re7 19. Qc4 Kh8 20. Ng5 {leaves black in a heap of trouble.}) 19. Qc4+ Ke7 20. Bg5+) 18. Rxf7 { [%mdl 512] This is just as good as if black had played 17...Nxc6} h6 (18... Kxf7 {This results in, as one annotator put it, "a 19th century finish."} 19. Qc4+ Kg6 20. Qg4+ Kf7 21. Ng5+ Kg8 {Capturing he N only avoids immediate disaster.} 22. Qc4+ Kh8 23. Nf7+ Kg8 24. Nh6+ Kh8 25. Qg8#) 19. Rb7 Qc8 20. Qc4+ Kh8 {Botvinnik didn't think 20. ... Qe6 was worth analyzing. White would wim another P..} (20... Qe6 21. Nxe5 Qxc4 22. Nxc4) 21. Nh4 Qxb7 {Botvinnik now finished up forcefully.} 22. Ng6+ {This position is much more complicated than it might look. This is the only winning move he has!} (22. f4 {...for example.} g5 23. Ng6+ Kg7 24. Nxe5 Bd6 25. Ng4 Rxe3 26. Qd4+ Kf7 27. Qf6+ (27. Qxe3 Qe7 {Black is up a R.}) 27... Ke8 28. Qxd6 Rxe2 29. Bf3 Qe7 (29... Rxb2 30. Nf6+ Kf7 31. Bh5+ Kg7 32. Ne8+ Kh7 33. Qg6+ Kh8 34. Qxh6+ Qh7 35. Qf6+ Kg8 36. Qxg5+ Kf8 37. Qc5+ Qe7 38. Qf5+ Kg8 39. Nf6+ Kh8 40. Qc8+ Qd8 41. Qxd8+ Kg7 42. Qe7+ {mate next move.}) 30. Bxc6+ Kf7 31. Qd5+ Kf8 {The position is very complicated with a material imbalance where white has a B+3Ps vs. 2Rs, but theoretically at least neither side can win! Five Shootouts ended in draws.}) 22... Kh7 23. Be4 Bd6 24. Nxe5+ g6 25. Bxg6+ Kg7 {Of course 26.Bxe8 would win, but there is a flasky finish to be had...} 26. Bxh6+ $1 {[%mdl 512] Black resigned} (26. Bxh6+ Kxh6 (26... Kf6 27. Qf4+ Ke7 28. Bg5+ Ke6 29. Qc4+ Kxe5 30. d4#) (26... Kh8 27. Nf7+ Kg8 28. Nxd6+ Kh8 {There is a mate in 4 with either 29.Qd4+ or 29.Nxb7}) 27. Qh4+ Kg7 28. Qh7+ {wins the Q}) 1-0