8/13/2019 The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories-5 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-bobby-fischer-i-knew-and-other-stories-5 1/41 8 With a Frnd Lik M In th aly yas of ou chss cas, Ruby and I playd a match fo th thn hug sum of 50 which was put up by Jams Nwman. My opponnt got off to a flying stat by winning th fist two gams, and all h ndd was a thid win to finish th match. But th followd two daws, and I won th st to tak th 50. I thnk that this match put a hx on Rubyth sam kind of ndian sign that Sammy Rshvsky had on m unti I bat him two zip in a taining match fo th 1948 wold championship touna mnt I had a facility fo dawing with Ruby and losing to Sammy in US Championships and in th pocss, waking havoc on th foms ca plans. hat was why Ruby inscibd my copy of his Baic Che Ending with th qust to Pas look this ov b fo playing Rshvsky." On momnt that I will nv fogt is whn w dov hom aft I won th 1944 US Championshipin lag pat bcaus of dfating Ruby in ou individual gam. You know" h said with out bittnss, you'v always stood in my way." H was ight, and th thought saddnd m. h phas With a find lik m," cam to mind My wif was gnuinly fond of Ruby, and unlk myslf sh was in no kind of comptition with him. Aft h and Emmy got divocd in 1944 Nina could not ba to s him so dpssd and oftn invitd him to dinn, wh sh tid to fix him up with dats H vntually covd and maid Sonya Lbaux who bo him his only son Bnjamin. Sonya fgud in a small incidnt that occud duing my 1946 match in Holywood against Hman Stin On vning, Ruby and his nw wif cam to s us play Whn th gam was ov, h and I wandd off discussing its manifold and condit complica tions nv alizing that w lft his wif waiting outsid th paying oom Luckly sh was stil th whn w doubld back som 40 minuts lat How's that fo a coup of absntmindd pofssos? On Januay 25 1993 Ruby ntd St LuksRoosvlt Mdical Cnt in Manhattan H had suffd a stok and on Mach 26 h did fom pnumonia h loss of this old find, an uncownd wold champion if v th was on, haunts th vy) fw of us who main fom th gloy days of th 1930s whn th Unitd Stats adiant victo in fou conscutiv Olympiads, uld th oost of wold chss.
Transcript
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In th aly yas of ou chss cas, Ruby and I playd a matchfo th thn hug sum of 50 which was put up by Jams Nwman.My opponnt got off to a flying stat by winning th fist twogams, and all h ndd was a thid win to finish th match. But
th followd two daws, and I won th st to tak th 50.I thnk that this match put a hx on Rubyth sam kind of
ndian sign that Sammy Rshvsky had on m unti I bat him twozip in a taining match fo th 1948 wold championship tounamnt I had a facility fo dawing with Ruby and losing to Sammyin US Championships and in th pocss, waking havoc on thfoms ca plans. hat was why Ruby inscibd my copy of hisBaic Che Ending with th qust to Pas look this ov bfo playing Rshvsky."
On momnt that I will nv fogt is whn w dov hom aftI won th 1944 US Championshipin lag pat bcaus ofdfating Ruby in ou individual gam. You know" h said without bittnss, you'v always stood in my way." H was ight, andth thought saddnd m. h phas With a find lik m,"cam to mind
My wif was gnuinly fond of Ruby, and unlk myslf sh wasin no kind of comptition with him. Aft h and Emmy gotdivocd in 1944 Nina could not ba to s him so dpssd andoftn invitd him to dinn, wh sh tid to fix him up withdats H vntually covd and maid Sonya Lbaux whobo him his only son Bnjamin.
Sonya fgud in a small incidnt that occud duing my 1946match in Holywood against Hman Stin On vning, Rubyand his nw wif cam to s us play Whn th gam was ov, hand I wandd off discussing its manifold and condit complica
tions nv alizing that w lft his wif waiting outsid thpaying oom Luckly sh was stil th whn w doubld backsom 40 minuts lat
How's that fo a coup of absntmindd pofssos?
On Januay 25 1993 Ruby ntd St LuksRoosvlt MdicalCnt in Manhattan H had suffd a stok and on Mach 26 hdid fom pnumonia h loss of this old find, an uncowndwold champion if v th was on, haunts th vy) fw of us
who main fom th gloy days of th 1930s whn th UnitdStats adiant victo in fou conscutiv Olympiads, uld th oostof wold chss.
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RUBN FINJ. RAPPAPOR (C.C.N.Y. vs. Penn tate Intercolegate ChessChamponshp Match 1 93 1 32) I . PKB3? P-4 2. P-K4 P-K4 3. NB3 P-B3
4 P-4 PxP S. PxP xch 6. Nx PxP 7. PxP B-K3 8. B-R3 B-4 9NK3 B-B4 I 0 P-B4 BxN I I . PxB BxB 2. RxB 2 I 3. PB4 PxP 1 4. RB7 N-N3 I S. RxNP NK2 1 6. NK2 NB3 7. RN I PN3 1 8. KB2 NK2 9.RB I NBS 20 PN3 NR4 2 1 RxNch KxR 22. RBS NxP 23. PxN P-R424 R-B7ch KK I 2S. N-B3 R-N I 26. NxP KB 27. P-K6 P-B4 28. -B6chBlack resgns ne completely otclasses hs opponent n a esser BrdsOpenng that s publshed here for the fr tme n book fo.
RUB FINAL I MONON (Mahall CC Champonshp 1 932-33) P-KR3? (The socaled tck-It-nYourye Openng The amazng thng s thatne would venture ths move aganst a great master such as monson whogot revenge on hs toentor n the 1 936 U.. Champonshp.) I . . . P-4 2.P4 P-B4 3 P-B3 N-B3 4 P-K3 PK3 S. NB3 -B2 6. N-2 N-B37. B3 B3 8. 00 00 9 K2 R-K I 0. P-K4 PK4 I I . KPxP KPxP 1 2 NK4 NxP I 3. PB4 N/4K2 1 4 R-K B-2 I S. N/3-NS N-N3 6. RS P-KR31 7. NxKBP KxN 1 8. BxP RxN 9 BxR /B3-K4 20 PB4 R-R I 2 PxN RxB22. B-Sch Black resgns Ths game s pblshed here for the fr tmebeyond the connes o a newspaper column.
RUBN A OROW (Match Game New ork 1 934) I . P-4 P4 2. P-B4 PB3 3. N-B3 N-B3 4. N-B3 PxP S. PR4 BB4 6. PK3N-R3 7. BxP NNS 8. 00 PK3 9. K2 B-K2 0 R I 0-0 . P-K4 B-NS1 2 BN3 R4 I 3. PR3 BxN 1 4. xB R- I S B-K3 R-2 1 6 P-N4KR I 1 7. P-NS N-K I 8 P-R4 PB4 1 9. PS PK4 20. PRS B3 2 1 . KN2 P-R3 22. R-R I N-6 23. PN6 PBS 24. BB2 N-BSch 2S. BxN PxB 26.PKS BxP 27. BBS RK2 28. PxBPch KxP 29. RK I BxN 30 B-K6ch K-B 3 1 . PxB N-B3 32. RR4 RxP 33 . RxP RN4ch 34. KB I KK I 3S . RxN PxR 36xBP R/4N2 37. PR6 Back resgns Ths game and the half dozen or so that
follow are not among nes beer nown eos. They are selected toprovde the reader wth a gl mpse of how dly ths chess mmora dsmanted Amercan masters durng the 1 930s and 1 940s. ne never n shedsecond n an open touament
GORG TRYMANRUB IN (U. Champonshp 936) I . P-K4 NB3 2 NKB3 PK4 3. BNS P-R3 4.B-R4 N-B3 S. 00 BK2 6. K2 PN4 7 B-N3 00 8. P-B3 P-4 9 PxP xP I 0. P3? (T reysman neversuded openngs and he was wse to avod the Marshal Gambt) I 0 . . . . BB3
I I . N-NS N-BS 2 BxN PxB I 3. NxRP KxN 1 4. -K4ch P-N3 I S xN RN 1 6. -S x 7. Bx R- 1 8. B-K4 PB4 1 9. N2 BKN2 20.N-N3 P-B4 2 1 . BB3 P-BS 22. PxP PxP 23. NRS RxP 24. NxP RB7 2S. KRB I RxBP 26. RxR BxR 27. RB BKN2 28. KB I BK3 29. B-N7 P-R4 30P-R4 RS 3 . BR6 BKB I 32. BNS B-NS 33 . NKS K-N2 34 P-R4 K-B3
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35. NB3 R3 36. - BN6 37. B3 R8ch 38. RxR BxR 39. B-B6 BB6 40. B-K8 KK2 4 1 . B5 K-3 42. K BB3 43. N3 PB6 44. PxPBxKRP 4. N-2 BxP/6 46 N-B4c KB4 47. NxP B4 48 BR6 B 49.N-N7c K3 Wte resgs he theme of domato of the same pece otwo separate sqares by the same pece o the same sqae s probablyqe over-theboard acto.
KR3 27. PxP KxP 28. -3ch K-R3 29 PRS P-KN4 30. -R R/6-B6 3 1 .R/22 RK I 32. -B2 KxP 33 4 -N3 34. R-R2ch NRS 3S . -B2R/ 1 -KB 36. NR I 1 -BS 37. -N3ch K-3 38. N-K2 R-B7 39 RxR andWhe ost on tme The derence between Fne and Reshevsky at ther peakwas that he forme made wnnng look easy and he later loved to make took dclt.
AON ANA I RRUB (ew Yok 94 ) I . N-KB3 P4 2. P-K3 NKB3 3. B-2 B-B4 4. PB4 PB3 S. P3 PK3 6. B-2 B3
7 0-0 00 8 P-3 -K2 9 B3 PxP I 0. PK4? BKNS I I . PxP P-K4 2.B2 P-R4 1 3 . PKR3 BxN 4. BxB R3 I S . R KR- I 1 6. -B N-4 1 7 R-2 -K3 8. K-N2 -S 1 9. KR B-S 20. R-3 N-2 2 1 .-K2 (Whte had to t 2 1 . -R4) 2 1 . . . . N-B4 22 R-K3 NxB 23 RxxKP 24 R/3-3 RxR 2S. RxR B-B4 26. P4 PxP 27. xP N-B7 28. RKB3-6 29. -2 R-K 30. K-B I xB 3 xN KS Whe resgns. n the 938 U. Champonshp anasere defeated Fne wth the Ret Openng. hesecond tme around he was not so forunae Blacks nnh move was new atthe tme.
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Nothing is more responsible or the good old days than a bad memory. I know that But I still say that 1934the year Adol Hitlerconsolidated power, the year Joseph Stalin ordered a law to execute millions o orphaned chidren cluttering Soviet cities, and theyear dry winds stirred up a Dust Bowl in the Middle Westwas agreat year or American chess. What better way to orget onestroubles than by playing the royal game?
The Western Open or as it later became known, the U.S Openwas being held in Chicago at the newly built Lawson YMCA. travelled to Chicago aboard a Greyhound bus and snared one o theYMCAs better rooms or a dollar a night. There were some 75-centrooms, but I always liked going irst class. As Evalyn Walsh McLean,a abulously wealthy Washington socialite o the period put thematter My own preerence generally is or show."
Little did I realize that Sammy Reshevsky, the amous ndekind o the early 1920s would also be at the tournament. Although
only 22 or 23 at the time he was emerging rom semiretirementhaving devoted the previous ew years to studying accounting underthe watchul eye o Julius Rosenwald, his beneactor. Lest you ailto recognize this name Rosenwad was at that time the head oSears & Roebuck.
Beore meeting Sammy in Chicago I had ony seen pictures ohim in the American Che pictures in which he wasplaying a simultaneous against 20 U.S. congressmen or posing with
Edward Lasker and Geza Maroczy. He appeared to be a cute littleboy with ringlets a sailors suit and highbutton shoes. Imagine mysurise thereore when I shook hands with a rapidly balding andshy young man who had the most delicate eatures that I had everseen. As the tournament draw would have it we played early onand elt sure o victory until Sammy essayed one o his nowamous ight maneuvers. He proved that my optimism was totallyunwarranted and the game ended in a draw.
did not know then but learned later, that Sammy handed
Knights like David Janowski shited Bishops or Geza Maroczy13
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I 62. K-K, Black marchs in th P, bginning with 62 . . . . NB .
Sammys acility with Knights was no mystry. Indd i t was anxprssion o his gratst chss strngthth ability to calculat
tactics lik an adding machin Tchnically," wrot Rubn Fin inThe World' Great Che Game Rshvsky is charactrizd abovall by suprb tactical skill . Unik [Mikhail Botvinnik h is littlconcrnd with th stratgical backbon o th gam. What h carsabout ar tactica combinations, and ths h handls to prction."
Fin's dscription which runs countr to th popular notion oSammy as a positiona playr is instanty rcognizabl to thos ous who had to pay this pocktsizd computr Th discrpancybtwn th common and insidr viws has its sourc in howSammy applid his tactical gnius I Mikhail Tal usd his talnt toattack nmy Kings, Sammy xrcisd his ingnuity to ind uniklydnss or win diicult ndings. His gams had th apparanc opositional chss but not th substanc. Th olowing positional"gam is a cas in pointa struggl in which Sammy spnds his timnot wighing positional abstractions but wnding his way through amaz o lngthy xchanging combinations:
mue eshevsky-Gden thbegUnted ttes vs. Argentn Tem Mth 1 94 7
On 34 . . . . P-K3, Whit plays 3 PR7 PxB 36. R-Q8ch K-B2 3 7 .
PR8Q
Bowser on My Trousers
Playing a chss gam with Sammy Rshvsky was lik trying toshak off a pitbull that clampd its tth on th lg of your trousrs.No mattr how you thrashd your lg or chss pics about, hwould not lt go During th 1930s and 1940s was 0 - againsthim in US Championship play. No on was toughr on m, and at
on tim or anothr I fought 'm all.Our gam in th 1936 U.S. Championship was typical of what h
did to m and for that mattr, to almost vryon ls. Bfor thtournamnt Al Horowitz and I workd out som intrsting pawn
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sacrific variations in th Tarrasch Dfns on of which I sprang onSammy. H could nvr rsist a pawn, trusting in brut calculationto ngotiat th hazards. Bfor long, I had a far suprior position,but Sammy did not collaps. H hung tough hld his gam togthr and put m away with a prtty combination th momntmy guard cam down. And h did all of this with only sconds on
th clock Such was my admiration for Sammys prformanc that Iincludd th loss in o Mu Play s a collction of my bstgams.
If youv vr gon fishing and xprincd a havy tug on yourlin" I wrot in o Mu Play s, thn you know how Iflt"
I 0. -QR B-B I . -K
Th first wak mov. Instad, it ought to play 11. BB4.
I . BKS I 2 BxB
Th altrnativ was to play 2. P-B3, burying th King Bishop.
1 2. . . . xB 3. Q-B2 Q-Q 1 . Q3 QRB I I S . PB3
Th bst mov may b 5. P4.
I S - 1 6 Q-3?
Th logical continuation is 16 P-4, if only bcaus Black hasno intntion of trading Quns.
6. . . . Q-Q2 7. B-Q2 KRK I 8. QR-K I B-B3 1 9. B QR-Q I
Black is bautifuly dvlopd, and Whit is bnt doubl HisQun Knight dos not hav a singl mov Givn that Whit wasalso in svr tim prssur h appard to hav an impossibl taskahad But as I wrot about my opponnt n thos days w didnot raliz that his gratst asst is a diabolical ability to sav himslf in harrowing tim prssur in vn th most dlicat positions."
20. K-R I B-K 2 1 -RS -R6!
Black thratns to forc a srious wakning of Whits pawnstructur by playing 22 . . . . P-3.
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By now Sammy was whipping out flawless moves while spendingno time for reflection
22 BB2 23 KB3
Sammy sidesteps 23. ?? QQ4ch 24. RB3 Rx, and Blackwins.
23 BR4 24 R- I -B4
Black intends a powerful invasion at 7
25 PKN4 -B7 26 xN
26 xN?nstead of this risky capture, the safe 26 . . . . BxB leads to a win
ning position after 27. Q-Q3 N 28. B 29 -B Q-Q4ch.
27 PBS RxP 28. B-NS
Another move played automaticallyas if by reflex.
28 RK ?
Once again, I falter ith 28 . 29. BxR BxB, Black keepsthe initiative with such threats as 30 . . B-B2 and 30 . . . . QQ4chand 30 . . Qx. I've always been able to stand adversity it's prosperity that does me in.
29 NxP I -K6 30 BxR RxB
This move loses more uickly than 30 . xB 31 . NR BB2 3 2 NB6ch KB 33 QR6ch KK2 34 NQch, when hite aso wins
3 R6 B-B2 32 N-RS BK4 33 P-B6, Black resgs
Dvastatingly unny
At the 1942 U.S. Championship, my relations with Sammy hit a
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snag because of the funniest and most devastating game that we everplayed e met in round sx, when my score stood at 4. Ourgame was crucial In the position below I played 45 RN:
Sammy Reshevsky-Aod DenkerUS. Championship, 942
Not only can I draw easly with lateral checks, Sammys flag hadfallen At least 40 to 50 spectators saw it drop hereupon tournament director L alter Stephens rushed to our table, picked up theclock from behnd, and turned it around so that Sammys clock wasnow on my side He instantly declared me forfeited I appealed toSammy, who would only say that he was not the tournament director Then, along with several spectators, I appealed to StephensBut to no aval He announced archly, Does Kenesaw MountainLands ever reverse himself?" The reference was to udge Landis, thecommssioner of baseball installed after the hite/Black Sox scandalof 1919, who was renowned for ruling with an iron fist
In the early part of 1948 a second incident occurred that testedour friendship Sammy was preparing for the world championshiptournament of that year to determine a successor to the deceasedAlekhne, and I agreed to a training match on condtion that weplayed no more than three games a week Sammy stipulated that
the games not be published In game one I aught my opponent n aprepared variaton of the Two Knights Defense, weathered a fiercecounterattack and hung on to win Frankly, I astonished myself bybreaking Sammys inx The next game was a Gruenfeld Defense inwhich I fatly outplayed my fearsome opponent A uniue event inthe many encounters between us
I was leading 20 At which pont, New o Pot chess columnist Horace Bigelow published the first game Although I had absolutely nothing to do with this breach of trust and, for the recordhave published neither game to this very day Sammy blamed meand refused to continue the match Such behavior on his part wasmost unusual, as he had htherto honored all of his commitmentsBecause Sammy is no longer with us I feel released from my non
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At about this point both players ere in frantic time pressure.Santasiere terms the text obviously suicida" and recommends 3 1 .R4 ith the idea of RQR3.
3 I . . . R-KN I 32. NxP
Typical of the traps that hite must avoid is 32. xB RxB 33 NB6ch KR 34. NxR RR7ch.
32 . . BxP 33 NxB Rch 34. N-R3 RxN/N6 3S. RK3 RxR
s this exchange a mistake? Santasiere thinks so and gives as inning 35 . . 6xNch 36. KN (if 36 . xR, then Black replies 36 .
BxR 37. BxB RxBch ith much the better position) 3 6 . . BK5 3 7BxR RxB. hites best chance appears to be 36 BxR BxB 37 QR2BN7ch 38 KxB Qch 39 KxR NQ
36 xR x 37 Bx BxN 38. BB2 BxBch 39. KxB R-KS 40. R I NR4
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As in KramerNajdorf, a game played later in 1948 at the NewYok Intenational. The correct move is 9. Q with good prospects for hite
9 . . . PxP 0. R I PK4Also played by Najdorf, who is given credit for this discovery in
the textbooks. hite is now fighting for a draw.
I I . xKP 2 1 2. x Bx 3. S R-B I 1 4. -3 B4 I S. -R3R-K I 1 6 PB3
1 6. . B-B3?
A surprsing and uite tricky move that I simply coud not resistamerNajdorf continued 16 B4 ! 17 . x 18 x Nx9. BB3 B-QB3 20. N-N4 N-B7 ! (in Chapter XV on Max Euwe, thisdecoy sacrifice appears in two games) 21 NxB (on 21 KxB? Black
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wins immediately by 21. . . QR5ch 22. KB1 BN4ch) 21. . . . NxR and Black won on move 35.
1 . x BxN 1 8. xRP R-R 1 9 -BS B-6 20 R-2 RxRP 2 RxR BxR22. -R3 B-K3 23. B-3 B-R3 24. R-B2 BxB 25. RxB 4 26. RB2 K6ch 2. K-B I R- 28 . RK2 BS 29 . K I RB I 30. RK I 3 1 . R
KB -K6ch 32. KR I RB8 33 . B-S RB 34. B3 R 35. BNS P636. 6 K 3. N8ch K-2 38. KSch PB3 39. Bch BB2 40. RKN I R8 4 . PR3 RxRch 42. KxR -B 43 - P 44 BK2 xP45 KB2 PN4 and Black won on move 56
Unfortunately the scoresheet is indecipherable after move 45
The second storm in our personal relations passed Sammy'schess stature was too immense and the episode too minor for him
to remain angry. And while on the subject of Sammys stature both Horowitz and Bobby Fischer believed that in a title match hewould have beaten Mikhail Botvinnik during the early and mid1950s rote Bobby on one occasion For a period of ten yearsbetween 1946 and 1956Reshevsky was probably the best chessplayer in the world feel sure that had he played a match withBotvinnik during that time he would have won." As for myself Icannot say who would have won such a match but can say whodid win a short match between the two in 1955. Sammy triumphed
21 Like the great Capablanca Sammy was lazy rarely studiedopenings or prepared for specific opponents; but also like the immortal Cuban he more than held his own with the giants of thetime by relying on his natural giftsin Sammy's case, gifts for calculating defensive tactics and endgame variations
By the time Sammy turned 80 in 1991 he was long past his bestyears Yet this seventime US. champion was still the little big manof chess and remained too hot to handle for many players ust takea look at some of his nice wins from recent events. Or take a look atthe following dour sueeze from a half century past. Mind you it isnot one of Sammys great technical efforts (for one of those see hisvictory over Fischer in the first game of their 1961 match) but ahardscrabble affair that provides a fair idea of what we had to faceon a o day.
Over the years, my ife, Nina, and gre inceasingly fond ofSammy and his ife Norma e respected Sammys strong religiousfeelings, and on many a Saturday, hen he as not alloed to usemechanical transport, alked him home from the Manhattan
Chess Club don to his apartment at about 12th and Madison Myife and often ent to dinner ith him and observed ho hecross-examined restaurant oners as ell as chefs to assure himselfthat the food ould be strictly kosher. During tournaments, he often travelled great distances in order to obsere the eish Sabbath.
The above, and much more, have seen But not until the.SA.S.SR match of 1946 did atch him starve himself ratherthan eat unkosher food. e ere staying in Stockholm, and had itnot been for my ife, think he might have become very ill. Ninaspoke to a hotel maid in Yiddish and managed to strike a responsivechord. Sammy as soon served to hardboiled es, toast andteaand all in glass dishes. t as the first food he had tasted innearly three days
For many people, the strict observation of rituals in their respective churches presents problems. But not for Sammy. Never did hear him complain about hardships during a tournament Never did hear him complain about his lot hen Norma became violently ill
He simply accepted the situation and took excellent care of her fthats hat religion did for Sammy, then more of us ought to give ita chance.
Sammy has gone to his God no, having passed aay from aheart attack on April 4, 1992.
Slctd Gams
Samel Reshevsky: Wnnng Mode Hard
NORMAN WHITAKRAMUL RVKY (Wee Ope 1 93 1 ) .PK4 PK4 2. P-4 PxP 3 xP N-B3 4 K3 N-B3 5. B-2 P-3 6.NB3 B-K2 7 00-0 0-0 8. P-KR3 RK I 9 P-B4 B-B I 0. -B3 N-S I I B2 P-B4 2 B-3 P-N4 1 3. B-K3 P-NS 1 4. BxN PxN I S BxP/3 NxP 1 6.BxN RxB 1 7 N-K2 RK I 8 PKN4 -K2 1 9 KR-K I K6ch 20 x Rx2 1 . NN I RxR 22. RxR BN2 23. PBS PB3 24. NK2 RK I 25 N-B4 RxRch26. BxR KB2 27. NK6 B-K2 28. B-N3 BKS 29 N-B4 PN3 30 PxPch PxP3 1 . K-2 P-B4 32. PxP BxKBP 33. P-KR4 B-KS 34. P-B4 B-B I 35 P-R3 P-R4
45. N-B6ch K-B I 46. N-R7ch KN I 47 NB6ch K-R 48 RR7 PRS 49 PR3R-B6 50 K-R2 R-B3 5 I N-7 K-N 52. NxP RK3 53. N-7 R-3 54 P-R4PxP 55 N-KS R-K3 daw A wodeul example of Reshevsky holdg a dwthaks to hs tactcal acuty wth the Kghts hs game appea hee bookfom fo the st tme.
AMUL RHVKYAL OROWITZ (Mashall CC. vs. Mahaa C.C.Metopolta League Match 1 935) I . P-4 P4 2. PB4 P-K3 3. N-B3N-KB3 4 NB3 P-B4 5. BPxP NxP 6. P-K4 NxN 7. PxN PxP 8. PxP B-NSch 9.
B-2 BxBch 0 xB 00 I I . B-NS PN3 1 2. R-B BN2 3. -K3 N2 1 4. 0-0 (Reshevsky seldom ted to w games the opeg, ad he wasobvously uteested the pomsg though commal l e of 1 4. P-KS PR3 5 B3 R-K 1 6. NNS NB I 1 7 N-K4) 4 . . N-B3 5 B-3 K21 6 NKS KRB I 1 7 N-B4 R-B2 1 8 PKS N-K I 1 9. N-2 RB I 20. RxRR 2 1 B-K4 BxB 22. NxB 2 23. PKR4 P-KR3 24. R I -RS 25. R2 R-B7 26. NB3 R-B8ch 27 K-R2 BS 28 R-3 RB7 29 N-K4 B330 . P-R3 N-B2 3 1 -B4 N-4 32. N4 NK2 33 . R-KN3 NB4 34. P-SBS 35. RKB3 K-R I ? (Black ally wlts ude pessue, mss g the bete
35 . . . . KB ) 36. P-6 -S 37 N! PxR 38. xP RB8 39 P-7 R840 N-6 xRPch 4 1 R3 xP (Black s pg up temedousesstace a posto that may playes would have abadoed) 42 P8=ch K-R2 43. -KN3 N8ch? (Black woud have had moe pacalchaces wth 43 . . R-R8ch 44. KxR x 45. NxP B7) 44 K-R3 -R8ch45. R2 -B8 46 R4 R-6ch 47. /R4N3 P-N4 48. xR xch49. N3 -K7 50. -B4 -R4ch 5 1 K-N3 N3ch 52 -N4 N8 53 .NxBP K8ch 54. KR2 P-R4 55. P-K6 P-NS 56 . PxP PxP 57. BSch K-N I58 . NxPch PxN 59 -B7ch K-R I 60. -B6ch Black esgs The ma wth
tue gt wo.AMUL RHVKABRAHAM KUPCHI K (U. Champoshp 1 940) I P-4 P-K3 2. NKB3 P4 3 PB4 N-KB3 4 P-KN3 BK2 5. B-N2 0-0 6. 0-0P-B3 7. -B2 P-N3 8. N-2 B-N2 9 R I N-2 I 0. PK4 PxKP I .
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AMUE REEVKYROBER FICER (os Agees, 1 96 Match GaeNo ) I P-4 N-KB3 2. P-B4 PK3 3. B3 BN2 4. P-K4 P-3 5 BK2 0-0 6. NB3 PK4 7 0-0 N-B3 8. B-K3 -KS 9. BNS BB3 0. BxB xBI I . P-S -K2 1 2. N- K -2 3. N3 P-KB4 1 4. PxP PxP (Backs ldpaw cete wl l ack dyac pch wthot the Kg's Bshop as backpscle; he preed ove ths posto s 1 4. . . . NxBP) 5 . P-B4 -3 6. 2 R-K I 7. PxP /2xP 1 8. NxN RxN 1 9. -NS B-2 20. B- 3Bx 2 1 . PxB 2 22. -KB2 P-BS 23. BxN PxB 24. xBP RK I 25.
R- -N2 26 P-KR3 R/4-K2 27. R2 RKS 28. B2 P-3 29 P-R3R/ I K4 30 -B6 x 3 1 . Rx KN2 32. R/6B2 K-R3 33 . K-R2 R-BS 34RB2 RxR 35. RxR RxP 36. PR4! (Reshevsky reletlessly jockeys forposo wote Gradaster Lar Evas Chess ife "pcks p a Paw thedeostrates a tg dspay of techqe the edg) 36. . . . R-S(Evas oes that Black caot aord to exchage Rooks by 36. . R-B4becase of 37. RxR PxR 38 K3 P4 39. K-B4 P-S 40 K-K4 K-N4 4 1 PKN3 K-B3 42. PN4 PxP 43. KxP) 37. P-3 R-6 38 RxP P 39. RxPP4 40 R7 R6 4 R-6 R-S 42. RxP RxP 43. K-N3 R-NS (Wroe
Evas "ere the gae was adjoed. Reshevs ow dsplays hs vrosty a edgae whch shod ake the e edto of Basi Chess EdgsMay expes beleved Black had a good chace o draw the gae.) 44 R-8P-S 45. KB3 RN6ch 46. K-K4 P-6 47 K-K3 P-N4 48. R-N6ch K-2 49.K-2 K-B2 50 P-3 R-N7ch 5 . KxP RN6ch 52. KB4 KP 53 R-KR6 K2 54. R-B6 RxP 55. P6 RR8 56 K-NS R-8ch 57 K-R6 R-R8ch 8. K7 P-NS 59. KB8 RR3 60 K-B7 Black resgs O 60. . . P-N6, Whte pcksp Backs Kght paw va 6 1 . R-B3 P-N7 62 R-N3ch. he od aster,wroe Evas of Reshevs, otplays the braze yogter wha st have
bee a ve sasg vcto Ideed Reshevs exercsed a cotolledtechqe tha was loy eve by hs ratospherc tadads
3 PxP 8 B-N2 B-KB4 9. P3 B-NS I 0. 0-0 Bx I I . PxB 0-0 1 2. B-K3-B2 3 R-B -B3 4. PB4 R ? (GM Larry Evas believes tha Blackca probaby eqaze via 1 4. . . . PxP S. RxP PxP 1 6. PxP B-K3 1 7. R-B IB-4) I S. -4 x 6 Bx KPxP 7. BPxP -2 1 8. Bx PxP 1 9. xPPxB (At this poit wrote Reshevsky i the oamet book "White has adistc advatage Black's Kig is exposed; White has a strog passed paw.everheless some patiet tactical maeverig is reqired i order to makesbstatial progress. Wite is faced with the diiclt decisio whether toach a assalt agaist Blacks Kig [sce it is precariosly exposed] or to at
tempt to advace his passed paw) 20 2 K2 2 1 4 BR6 22. KR I BxB 23 KxB PR3 24. P6 R-B I 25. -S R-B3 26. RxR PxR 27. RS R-R I 28. R-4 (oth Reshevsky Blacks peces beig bady ot ofplay Whie wisely prepares a assalt agaist the Kig) 28 . . . R-R2 29. RSK3 30. 4ch x 3 I . Rxch K-B I 32 R-B4 KK I 33 P R-R 34.P-R4 PR4 35. R-6 RB I 36 P7 ch KxP 37. RP KK2 38. R-BS R-R I39. R-RS K-K3 40 RxKRP R I 4 . RRS PB4 42. R-R6ch Black resigsKeres made o disceible los ig move yet he lost. As for Reshevsky heplayed the etire game with brtal acccy. Perec chess.
AMUEL RE EVKLARRY EVAN (Amsterdam 1 964): I . P4 N-KB32. P-B4 PK3 3 NB3 B-NS 4. PK3 PB4 5. B3 0-0 6. -B3 P-4 700 PxP 8. BxP P3 9. PR3 PxP I 0 PxB PxN I I x R 1 2. PxPBN2 I 3. BK2 -KS 1 4. B-N2 N-B3 I S. KR- I RRch 6. R R- I 1 7.RxRch xR 8. N4 NB3 9. NB2 PB3 20. P-B3 N-3 2 . P-B4 KB2 22 KB2 PR3 23. P-K4 KK2 24. K-K3 K2 25. K2 BB 26 P-4PR3 27 PR4 P4 28. P-BS N-2 29. PB4 KK2 30 KB3 B-2 3 BR3PN4 32. RPxP RPxP 33 . P-BS -K4 34. N-K3 B-B3 35. K4 - I 36. B
If you were lookig for someone to play the role of a Russian genera in His Imperial Majestys Army" and if Emil Jannings or Erichvon Stroheim wer unavailable then you cou not have done better than hire Alexnder Aexandrovich Aekhine. Chess champion ofthe world from 27 to 1935 and from 937 to 1946, he commanded every bit of attention that his imposing name suests
By birth the so of a landowning Marshal of Nobility (his father
was privy councillor to the conservative
Fourth Duma) Alekhinecreated the impresion in his bearing and attitude of royal powerprogressivey collasing into total decadence. Having arrived in theWest in 1921, this dispossessed nobleman was blond in hair and fairin complexion, cuelly handsome and always ramrod straightthanks largey to a corset that he was seldom without. Given towearing suits with striped pants and shirts with oldfashioned wingcollars, he looked ike a diplomat on his way to present credentialsat the Court of St. ames.
I got my first pek at Alekhine in 1929 during a simultaneous exhibition that he gve at the Manhattan Chess Club. My good friendIrving Kande wa lucky nough to procure a boad and kindenough o let me oin him in consultation. I can still see ekhine'sfamous piercing look when approaching a board for the first time.He stared at you if his eyes were snapping your picture. Monthslater, when I agai played against him in a simul at the HungariaInternational Che Club, he repeated the same procedure, only thistime he stopped ad said, Oh you again." Both games were drawn.
The following aternoon (or was it the folowing year?) Alekhineplayed a 20boar blindfold simultaneous at the Manhattan though not a recod-setter it was the greatest such exhibition that Ihave ever seen or ead about. Just imagine, the man played 20 topmasters some in consultation scored well and produced somebeautiful games
Alekhines meory was legendary. Just as those eyes photographed your imge and that brain effortlessly conducted huge
blindfold exhibitios so his memo stored all that passed before it.148
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My friend Mendel Najdorf claims that during the Margate tournament of 1938, he mentioned to ekhine that they had crossedswords 11 years earlier in a simultaneous in arsaw oland.
won our game," said Najdorf.
So, you're the one who gave me the Rook," replied the world
champion who played blindfolded against Najdorf.
A Chss Suprman
In 1932, Alekhine returned to New York and stayed for severalmonths But this time he was no longer the fastidious, yet vibrantpowerhouse of 1929. Gone was the regal bearing and that fresh,young and eager look. He smoked incessantly and was carelessabout dropping ashes on his clothes. Something had happened, and
my guess is that chess success and public adulation failed to satisfyhis restless nature In a newspaper interview from 944, he said, f,sometime, I write my memoirswhich is very possiblepeople willrealize that chess has been a minor factor in my life. t gave me theopportunity to further an ambition and at the same time convincedme of the futility of the ambition" Or as the composer Felix Mendelssohn, once observed, Chess is too earnest for a game too muchof a game to be earnest about."
Alekhine still played great chess, though I noticed a certain nervousness and uncertainty in his manner He came to the Manhattandaily, played 10second chess with us Young Turks and would keepus up most of the night because he never wanted to go to bed.During this period, he seemed to have no life other than chess, andthat life appeared to be going to pieces
A chess Superman osing his mental pawns? I dont want to exaggerate ekhines breakdown. ter all, he remained a colossus.ake, for example, his famous simultaneous exhibition at the old
Seventh Regiment Armory on ark and 66th. he event took placeon election day, November 8 1932, and pitted Alekhine against 50fourman consultation teams made up of most of the top masters onthe East Coast. A thousand spectators attended, and the openingceremonies featured music from a brass band. lay lasted more than12 hours, beginning at 3:30 p.m and continuing past 4 a.m the following morning Aekhine scored a phenomenal +30 6 14, eclipsing Jose Capablancas total of 28 6 6 of the year before. Butbefore Capaphiles lynch me, the other side of the coin is that the
Cuban finished his exhibition at midnight or four hours earlier thanAlekhine By midnight, Aekhine had completed only 10 games
he sha strule below shows both the uality of oppositionfaced by Alekhine and the brute chess strength that he could exert
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Aexane Aekhne-Dona MacMuy Ao Denke et aaNew Yok Amo xhton 932
Queens Gamt Decne
I . P-4 N-KB3 2. NKB3 P-4 3. PB4 PK3 4. B-NS B-K2 S P-K3 0-0 6. N
B3 N-2 7. RB I PB3 8. P-R3 N-KS 9 BxB xB 0. NxN PxN I . N2 P-KB4 1 2. PBS PK4 1 3. N-B4 PxP 1 4. PxP N-B3 I S N-6 P-N4
White did not pay the opening in very distinguished fashion, andBlack could have gotten the better game by playing the sensible 1 5 .. . . B-K3, followed by . . BQ4. The point behind the text move is tolock up Whites Bishop But
1 6. PS P-K6?
Alekhine throws down the gauntlet and we respond by going forthe throat If 17 Bx Qxch 18 BK2 Nx Black has chances towin.
tough consutation teams amazed us. Both the Manhattan andMarshal chess cubs fielded numerous teams stuffed with masters.Other suads came from the Brooklyn Chess Club the FlatbushChess Club, the Hungaria Inteational Chess Cub, the ark AvenueChess Club, the Jewish Moing Joual the Young Mens HebrewAssociation, City College, Coumbia University New York Univer
sity and so on Members of the teams included Fritz Brieger,Matthew Green, Miton Hanauer, Donald MacMurray, ackMoskowitz, Julius artos, Max avey, David olland, A Simonson,Rudolph Smirka, Oscar enner, this writer and several moremasters. A young aul H. Nitze, who woud later gain fame as anarms negotiator, aso played.
e are often told that if chess is an art, then ekhine is thegreatest player ever. He studied chess eight hours a day on
principle" and sank himself into what Vladimir Nabokov called itsabysma depths" as no other grandmaster before him. During theLondon Congress of 1922, a chess patron took Capablanca andAekhine to a music hall show. Capablanca never took his eyes offthe chorus," testified the patron later, and Alekhine never lookedup from his pocket chess set" Certainly, Aekhine consciouslyviewed himself as a chess artist, striving for and achieving aestheticay peasing effects even in simuls. he folowing flawed diamondwas payed in an exhibition at the 1933 orlds Fair in Chicago:
Alekhine was very nice to me in both personal and chess terms. Onnumerous occasions, he treated me to dinner which was no smaldeal in the days of the Great Depression One evening Bert Kadish,a young newspaperman, invited us to a speakeasy housed in a localDemocratic arty headuarters. Against the backdrop of a huge
American flag that covered an entire wal we had dinner. Or at leastBert and I did. ekhine hardly touched his food. Chain smokingthe entire time he polished off two bottles of wine. He loved thegrape and in keeping with my image of a true Cossack he couldhold uite a bit.
lekhine chose me as his partner in two consultation gamesagainst saac Kashdan and chard arburg (of the bankingarburgs) e won the two games fairly easily, but more impor
tantly, I learned a lot about how the world champion analyzedchess positions Alekhine taught me to sit on my hands and not toplay the first move that came to mind no matter how good itlooked. He examined everything, whipping through an astonishingnumber of variations. hen offered a suggestion, he took it seriously and ran it through the wringer of detailed analysis. And if myidea survived this logiccrunching he cheerfully adopted it.
nalyze analyze analyze " was Alekhine's motto Moreover hedid not confine himself to logical moves. Any move no matter how
silly it appeared merited attention. And not infreuently he discovered sparking ideas at the end of seemingly awful continuations.
My dear friend Arthur Dake a great American master of the1930s was uite chummy with Alekhine even though Arthur nailed
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him repeatedly in rapid transit play. Arthur believes that ekhine'sdistst of intuitive moves and his penchant for analyzing positionsto death accounted for his relative weakness in speed games Thatmakes sense because otherwise there is no explanation for how thevastly talented ekhine could perform so poorly in this variety ofchess
An Unhappy Gnius
I am sure that there are plenty of happy geniuses, but Alekhine wasnot one of them. hat I saw was a very unhappy man, who drankprodigiously and smoked constantly and seemed bent on selfdestruction
The excesses that I observed in New York eventually underminedekhine's practical chess strength. In 1935 he narrowly lost a titlematch to Max Euwe an upset that no one predicted. To appreciatethe shock attendant on ekhine's defeat one need only examinethe great man's tournament and Olympiad record from Kecskemetin 1927 through the arsaw Olympiad in 1935. He participated in19 events, playing 224 games Of this number, he won 15, drew 67and lost only six That's about one loss every two years. In a periodof nine years, he finished second but once in a tournament.
ekhine's shock at defeat doubtlessly eclipsed even that of the
chess world. He suddenly discovered that he loved the world chesstitle more than alcohol and tobacco and dropped both vices untilafter defeating Euwe rather easily in the 193 7 return match.
e tend to forget that Alekhine was only 45 when he recoveredhis titlea man in early middle age He needed only to keepcontrol of himself to maintain his chess strength for many years tocome But he returned to the bottle with a vengeance, though for aperiod his results suffered little As late as 1943, he could shattertournament fields. I am thinking about his victory at rague with ascore of 172, which was 2% points ahead of aul Keres.
Shortly thereafter however Alekhine collapsed as a chess forceBy late 1944, he could barely defeat a Spanish master, Ramon ReyArdid, in a match and by 1945, he was routinely drawing andlosing games against justifiably obscure Spanish and ortuguesemasters. His play was unrecognizable
On March 24, 1946 at age 53, ekhine was found dead in a
shabby hotel room in Estoril, ortugal. He choked to death on apiece of meat. A police photograph shows a portly, mostly bald man dressed in an overcoat to keep warm and slumped back in aratty armchair Today, while staring at this grisly picture, I try invain to recognize the man of martial mien whom I once knew so
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Jlexander JlekhineHe paused for just a moment at the top of the starway leadng fromthe arplaneand then all sx feet four nches of the man cameboundng down the steps wth the ease of someone half hs age. Iwatched n admraton as my 80yearold frend, stll handsome andstll ramrod straght, took long, purposeful strdes across the tarmacto the ar termnal.
Dr. Max Euwe, world chess champon from 1935 to 1937, hadjust arrved n Atlanta, Georga, for the 52nd meetng of the IDEGeneral Assembly. The tme was August 1981
As Dr. E came through customs, I walked up to hm and shookhs hand. Then we embraced. It was a warm and wonderful reunonwth a man I had grown very fond of over the years. A knd andthoughtful human beng, he never permtted hmself the luxury oflosng hs temper, always weghng every word carefully lest he gveoffense
And whle on the subject of words, hs own word was hs bond.Once you had t, you could sleep soundly.
As Max and I wated for hs luage and chatted about the latestnews, thoughts from somewhere far back and deep down began tosurface n my mnd Thoughts from what seemed lke another age.Thoughts that had nothng to do wth sleek and shny Atlantabathed n warmth and prosperty. Thoughts about early postwarEurope and all those sadeyed people n alleyways handng overther few belongngs to furtve, sharp-eyed black marketeers forfood. And, of course, thoughts about my frst meetng wth Dr. Eshortly before Chrstmas n the cold, bombed out London of 1945
An nnocnt Abroad
Smply gettng to London n December 1945, proved to be a ttancstrule. It provded me wth my frst drect confrmaton that all
was not shpshape n Europe followng sx years of war I had been155
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invited to play in the annual Hastings fixture over the Christmasand New Years holidays of 194546 and in the London Victory"International set to start about two weeks later in midanuary, andwas desperately attempting to book passage. But to no avai.
Enter Maurice ertheim, the immensely wealthy investment
banker and chess angel, who bankrolled much of American chessduring the 1940s. Maurice managed to sueeze me into a berth onthe Queen Mary, which was making its final voyage as a troopcarriera voyage so rough that I clearly remember walking up anddown hill on heaving decks in a grim battle to stave off seasickness
ter reaching London, I immediately hooked up with HermanSteiner, the chess teacher of Hollywood stars, who had arrived firstaboard one of the od an-Am Clippers and who had thoughtfullyarranged for our rooms at the fourstar Savoy arking my bags, I
set off wideeyed through streets filled with the debris of bombedbuildings to perform all the chores given me by Mrs ertheim, theformer wife of Gene Seiberling of auto-tire fame. Many of her auntsand uncles from Sweden, most of them old and frail, had sat out thewar in England and I spent a long day playing the role of SantaClaus by dispensing Mrs. s much-needed medicines and goodies toher overjoyed relatives.
Back at the hotel, I found the following note from Dr Euwe
ould you and Herman be my guests for dinner this evening?lease phone my room if you can make it."
Make it?" as he kidding? Nimzovich himself could not havebuilt a blockade that would have kept me from dining with the manwho beat Alexander Alekhine
Amatur World Champon
Born in a suburb of Amsterdam on May 20, 1901, Machgielis or Max
Euwe played in his first chess tournament at age 10, a onedayevent in which he won every game In 192 at age 20, he capturedthe first of his 13 Dutch national titles and drew a match with GezaMaroczy ( +2 2 =8) , one of the worlds leading grandmasters
Here, then, was a young comer who would soon be a major contender, right?
rong Max, you see, discovered a positional law of life thatevery veteran chess master knows all too well: If you expend too
many tempos on work and love, then your chess development willlag Majoring in mathematics at the University of Amsterdam, Maxgraduated m laude in 1923, took a teaching position in 1924,and earned a doctorate in 1926. Still worse from the chess angle, he
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acuire a teaching license in bookkeeping, passe an actuarial examination took up flying, boxing an swimming, an got marriein 1926 He eventually fathere three aughters. ·
Although Max compete in some 60 tournaments an conteste20 matches uring the 1920s, most of these competitions were
small, local affairs He average only one strong tournament a year,an he i not garner a maor first prize until Hastings 193031 when h e finishe ahea of ose Capablanca. Instea, Max mae itinto the pantheon of great masters via the novel route of anoccasionally rawing matches.
Max's ploy was to select famous opponents, lose narrowly, annot become a efeatist. Over his Christmas an New Year's holiayof 92627, he lost an exhibition match to Alexaner Alekhine ( +23 =5); uring the Easter break of 1928 an the ChristmasNew
Year's vacation of 192829, he lost two 10-game matches to EfimBogolyubov by a single point each. Then, in 1931, he continue hismerry ways by ropping a har-fought match to Capablanca ( +0 28), but the following year he beat Ruolf Spielmann an rewwith Salo lohr.
n aversity, Max flourishe He began to make a mark in topfight tournament play, thereby becoming a living avertisement forCapablancas claim that one learns more through efeat than
victory ollowing the win at Hastings he share secon prize atBerne 932 an Zurich 1934, both times behin ekhine, an thenfinishe first eual at Hastings 193435, ahea of Capablanca anMikhai Botvinnik
As the eventful year of 1935 awne, an after some 15 years inthe international arena, Max enoye a status among masters roughy eual to that possesse by Alekhine in 1924, after that immortalha also spent a ecae an a lustrum in top competition But therethe similarity ene. or lekhine was a professional an Euwe anamateur Maxs victory in the Olympic Amateur Championship atThe Hague in 1928 was emblematic of the fact that this worl amateur champion was also an amateur worl championthe lastplayer who was able to scale the Everest of chess in his spare time
An not by luck, either
'Th Wakst of World Champions"
Nothing infuriates me more than to hear Max Euwe escribe
the weakest of worl champions" an as someone who mae it tothe top only because of Alekhine's alcoholism. irst of all, the lifetime score between these two rivals is only narrowly in Alekhine'sfavor 4438. n aition, Dr E, who capture 102 first prizes
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during his tournament career, won a halfdozen match games fromAlekhine that have never been surpassed for their sheer wondrousaccuracy ust take a look at game eight of their first match in192627, or game 20 in 1935, or games one, five, 17 and 29 in1937. he latter game, just like the famous FischerKeres Ruy atCuraao 1962, is one of those rare battles in which Back's losing
move remains unclear to this very day
Max Euwe-Aexaner AlekhneWo Chamionshi Mah 97 (Game 29)
Annotators of this game" wrote Euwe in From My Game
have been unable to discover precisely which move is the ultimatecause of Blacks downfall. he trail ed to the opening, but therethey lost their way. he fault probably ies with the text move"
Instead, Euwe recommends 8 . . . . B-K2.
9. PK4 B-K2 I 0. BxN BxB I PN4
rote Euwe, Now White obtains a clear advantage, and it is notdifficult for him to better his position from move to move Although
Black makes no mistakes his game is always difficut"I I . . 0-0 1 2. B3 P-R4 1 3. P-R3 B-K3 1 4. RN I PxP S. PxP B-K21 6 . 0-0 P-B3 7 -B2 KR 8 P-BS R-R6 1 9. B-B4 P-B4 20 NxB xN 2 1 B-S RB6 22. 2 PxP 23 BxP B-B4 24. BxB RxB 2S. KRK I
White threatens either 26 NxQ or 26. -N followed by 27.NxQ. herefore, Back sacrifices the exchange.
30. R-R I PR3 3 . PNS N-K2 32. PB6 RB I 33 . N4 RK I 34 PB7 N43S. -6 N-BS 36. -8
It is a measure of Euwe's relentess objectivity that he criticizesthis strong move and gives 36. Q-Q7 as a bit more precise." hy?Because at move 40, Black could not play Q-B2
36. . NK7ch 37. K-B I NxRch 38. RPxN R8ch 39 KK2 R4ch 40. K B2 4 K-K Black resgns
For if 41 . QB1, White finishes with 42 R-R8 Q-Nch 43. KB. Euwe's] best game of the whole series"Alekhine
here can be no doubt that Dr E was in Alekhine's league. Butmre important than their overall ifetime score and the conduct of
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individua games is a crucia fact that has never so far as I know,been remarked upon: A late a game 56 in the lfetime competitionbetween Alekhine and Euwe the core wa dead even! Only whenAlekhine won game seven of their second title match did he goahead for keeps Oh yes Aekhine never won a tournament game
Black against Euwe.
So while I cannot deny the intellectual validity of making comparisons among the 13 world champons I can state that it is moreenlightening to argue about who is the strongest among thesedistinguished chess minds than about who is the weakest.
Having said that, let me lay my cards on the chess tabe: hileMax Euwe was a first-class human being whose friendship I treasured I never warmed up to his style. It seemed dry and uninspiredwhen compared with Aekhine's danger-is-my-business approach.
None of us reaized it at the time, but Euwes play, for all of its occasiona briliance, was a harbinger of the chess computer. Thusheaven help the player who launched an ill-prepared attack or evena wel-prepared attack against Euwe!
What Fred Reinfeld wrote of the following sedom-publishedgame applies to a lot of the chess played between these two giants:In this titanic struggle, Euwe successfully withstands the witheringfire of a characteristic Aekhine attack. Athough Alekhine ulti
mately succumbs because he tries to force the game at all costs thisshoud by no means minimize our appreciation of Euwes cool andresourceful defensive play in a very trying position."
Aexande Aehineax EueAmstedam 936Fou Knights Game
I P-K4 P-K4 2. KB3 -B3 3. -B3 -B3 4. B-S B-S 5. 0-0 00 6.P3 P-3 7. -K2 K2 8. P-B3 BR4 9 -3 PB3 I 0. BR4 -3 I I .
P4 RK I 1 2. B-3 PxP I 3. PxP BK3 1 4 S BxB I S. xB -2 1 6.PB3
rites Euwe hite has now obtained a genuinely promisingposition his center is secure his pieces move comfortaby intostrong positions and Black has to reckon with the continual possibility of a thrust on the ng side"
1 6. . . . PKR3 1 7. R3 R-K3
Euwe preferred 17 B-N3 to avoid the coming attack, thoughthe text is not necessarily an error
1 8. B4 x 1 9. Bx B3 20. R RK I 2 . K-R I P-4 22. P-KSR2
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Euwes position is dificult but not weak. That's the good newsThe bad news is that he wi have to face an ekhine assault againsthis ing.
23. BS B3 24 -4 x 25 BxK -B3 26. -3 K-R I 27. R-K I
Euwe states that 27 N would have led to an extremelycomplicated game with possibilities difficult to fathom . . . .Unlesshite clinches matters speedily with his attack, howeverand itmight easily faihe would be faced with a lost ending."
27. . . . BB2 28. B4 -B2
29. RKB
Black's game is just holding together. ekhine wants to pay 29.NxN but Black can refute it decisively with 29. . . . RxB 30. BxRN-K .
29 . . . . BxB 30. BxB KS 3 1 . -S?
ekhine tries to keep the attack going. On 3 1 . NQ6 Blackreaches a drawn ending after 31 . . . QN3 32. NxN Nch 33. QxQxQ 34 RK B4 Of course White would like to play 31. NxR,but this move is met by 31 . . NB7ch 32. KN2 RxN 33. RxN
Rxch 34. KxR Rch.3 . . x 32. 6 B7ch 33 K-2 x 34 xch KN I 35 xRN3
Now hite's attack is seen to have overshot the mark" writesEuwe By which he means that the onus of holding a draw haspassed from Black to White.
36. -KR4
This bold move is probably inferior to KB3 and KN4.
36 . . . . B4 37. x Rx 38. KR3 xB 39. RB RB3 40. KR-K I N-KS4 1 . RxR xR 42. RB I ?
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52 RK8ch KS 53. R-Alekhine defends ferociously and threatens to force a draw with
N4 and -R.
53. . . . P-B4 54. P4?
Euwe says that the best defense is 54. R, which woud,however, lose in the long run, eg 54 . . R-K 5 5. R6 R-8 5 6.R-QR B 57 R7 KQ6 58 KN4 Q 59 Kx KB7 60 RQB
Rx 61. xch KQ654 . . . P-BS 55 P-RS R-K6ch 56. KB2 R-R6 57. R- P-B6 58. P R-R7ch59 KB3 PB7 60. R-N I ad Whte resgs
As in so many of their games, lekhine forced the pace but wasmet by mathematically perfect defense from Euwe.
Wnning th World Titl
At Zurich 1934, Euwe defeated lekhine in a brilliancy prize gamethat ought to have served as a wakeupandsmellthecoffee call forthe world champion and his fawning critics
It did not. Alekines record was simply too overwhelming foranyone to give the young Dutchman much chance to win the titlematch scheduled for late 193 5 From Kecskemet in 1927 throughthe arsaw Olympiad in 1935, Alekhine competed in 19 events,played 224 games, won 151, drew 67 and lost only six hatsabout one loss eve two years. Over a period of nine years, he
missed first prize in precisely one tournament
Yet in Maxs brilliant win at Zurich one sees the reasons for histitle victory the folowing year. Not only did my friend level hisscore with the champion over their previous 12 encounters, he alsoconceived a combination that epitomized his tacical acuity At thetime, lekhine dismissed the brilliancy as a tactical cheapo later,after regaining the title in 1937 (by a score of 15%9%), he sanganother tune. Does the general public, do even our friends the crit
cs," he wrote, realize that Euwe virtually never made an unsoundcombination? He may, of course, occasionally fail to take account . . . of an opponents combination, but when he has the initiative in a tactical operation his calculation is . . impeccable."
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native 28 . x 29 NxK NQ4 30. N3 B3 31 . N-Q3 Q-K2. nthat event however, hite has a demonstrably won position after32 QxQ and now 32 . . /3xQ 33. N/4-B5 R-R2 34. N-K6 winninga awn by force."
29. NxN PxN 30 xP P-B3?
Too optimistic. Decidedly better was 30 . . . NK2"
3 1 . N-B!!
It is this surising move which establishes the soundness of 28.K4 ." t may also be the reason why Alekhine harshly criticizedthis beautiful combination For hite's 31st move is a oud echo ofa famous ekhine brilliancy Here is how ekhine defeated M. von
Feldt (Dr. Martin Fischer) in a blindfold exhibition at Tarnopol inSeptember 1916 1 K4 K3 2 Q4 Q4 3 N-QB3 N-KB3 4 .x Nx 5 NK4 KB4 6 NN5 BK2 7 . N/5-B -B3 8 . N-K500 9 N/1B 3 10. BQ3 BN2 11. 0-0 R-K 12. -B4 NB3 13.B-B4 -Q2 14 . QK2 B4 15 . NB7 xN 16 Qxch KN3 andhite announced mate in two by 17 KN4 BK5 18. N-R4.
3 1 . . . . QK
On 31 . . KxN hite forces mate after 32 Q-R5ch KK2 3 3
RxRch KxR 34. R-Kch.
32. x Qx 33. NQ QK 3. NxP P3 3. PQ! Q-Q 3. P3 QQ7 3. P-N3 K 3. KN2 QQ 39 . -K K2 0 -K3 Q-Q7 1 . -KQQ 2 Q-Q Q-B 3. Q-Kch QxQch . RxQ K-N NN KB2. NxP -Q2 7. -Q NK2 . PQ NB 9. Q NxQP 0 N-B Q . NK NN2 2. P! KK3 3. x Back resgs
Dinnr at Eight
After returning to my hotel and receiving Max's invitation to dinner,I went upstairs to dress for the occasion For dinner was at eightatthe Savoy And with champagne flowing what a gala occasion itturned out to be Here was the great Dr Max Euwe, about whom
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Herman and I had read so much, playing the role of polishedraconteur
In answer to one of our uestions, Max said, Aekhines weakness was that he could not sit on his hands during a game. He hadto be doing something to satisfy his restless imagination and ap
pease his forceful personality hat he did was usually brilliant andfreuently surprising but for me at least, it was not shocking Mypractice was to search positions in advance for ideas that Alekhinemight employ to upset the status uo. Of course, his ideas were noless strong even when they were predictable."
That evening, I must have listened with mouth agape. And evenHerman, my blackhaired Magyar friend who usually dominatedevery occasion by virtue of sheer volume alone, appeared subduedor once, this child of nature controlled his animal exuberance and
could be found guilty of listening Though, to be sure, not for long,as he soon departed on a date. (omen were everywhere in Herman's life, and I have to admit he had excellent taste)
As for Dr. E and me, we took an evening stroll and soon got lostin one of those Holmesian London fogs that roll in so suddenly. Aswe wandered blindly through streets made unrecognizable by thewreckage of war, our conversation got around to the uestion agitating every chess person just then hat should be done to
Alekhine for apparently authoring several antiSemitic articles in theNazi press?
Max believed that Alekhine had been drinking heavily at the timeand was coerced by a logic of promises and unpleasant possibilitiesThe unpleasant possibilities did not, however, constitute an excuseAnd the late Reuben ine headed up a successful effort in the UnitedStates to pressure the British organizers of the Victory" International to withdraw their invitation to Alekhine
About a month after our long walk in the fog, near the end of theVictory" International, Dr Euwe was unanimously elected chairman of a players committee to take up the uestion of ekhinesalleged collaboration with the Nazis.
I found myself in anguish Back in the Depression years of theearly 1930s, Aekhine lavished me with kindnessesfree dinners,superb analysis sessions, instructive practice games and so on Heeven chose me as his partner in consultation games This king ofchess treated a young, unknown player like a prince He became myhero and chessic guiding light And now, I found myself going alongwith the condemnatory herd, repaying the currency of kindnesswith the coin of unproved accusation
To this day, nearly a half century past, I regret that more of us
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did not act ike a certain officer in De Gaulles Free French army,whose parents had been murdered in 1911 at Rostovon-Don in aUkrainian pogrom Im speaking about Dr. Savielly Tartakower, whopublicly pleaded Alekhines case and then, facing down the entiregroup, proceeded to take up a collection for the stricken champion,who was penniess in ortugal. As Dr. E later wrote, Tartakower
was never a joiner,' and he hated mass demonstrations"
Im not sure how long Max and I stumbled that night through thefreezing fog. Our adventure, which marked the beginning of a longfriendship, ended ony after we asked a bobby for the way back tothe Savoy
Dr. E, I had discovered, was easy to be around and easy to talkwith He also possessed a fascinating uality He was the firstgrandmaster I had ever met who was genuinely concerned about the
plight of his fellow masters Although his years as president of FIDEwere still only a gimmer far ahead in historys tunne, he spokepassionately about promoting chess worldwide so as to improve thelot of grandasters.
Th Summr of '46
In 1945 and 1946, I played chess virtually non-stop. Following mywinter campaign in Hastings and London, I returned to the United
States to prepare for an upcoming U.S Championship match againstSteiner, which was played from May 4 to 8. After winning thatcontest, I launched my summer campaign in Europe, which included doing battle at Groningen, Holland, in August and September in the first major tournament after orld ar I A few daysfollowing that event, I departed for Moscow to participate in thesecond U.S.A.US.SR. Team Match.
Since arrived in Amsterdam a week or so before the Groningen
tournament was to begin, Dr. E invited me to stay at his home,where I got to know his wife and three beautiful daughters Familydinners, chess talk and analysis, and oldfashioned socializing filledseveral delightful days until our departure for the tournament.
In the great Groningen International, Dr. E scored his last majortriumph, tallying 45 to finish only a half point behind Botvinnikin a tournament that had al of the worlds top players except forReuben Fine aul Keres and Samuel Reshevsky My showing was arespectable and deeply disappointing 9%9, which was good
enough to share 10th12th with Alexander Kotov and Dr. Tartakower. I say disappointing" because in round 11 against Dr E, Iexperienced the worst mental blackout of my career. Tied for thirdat the time with Vassily Smyslov at 73 and having already drawn
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BotvinnikAexander (U.SSR vs Great Britain Radio Match,1946) contnued . . QR4 in this position, when White was able t owork up a winning attack The text was my attempt to improve onBlack's play.
20. PK N-Q2 2 P-B4 P-B4 22 PPe NBP
Soviet sources suest 22 . . . . RxR , followed by 23 . NxB.
23 P-B?
In some long-forgotten analysis, IM Hans Mueller suggested abeautiful win for White by 23 BK7 K-B2 24. -B ! ! B 25 . xchx 26 RxNch KxR 27 QB2ch
After playing 47 . B6? ! (still better was 47 . . . Q-K3), I was
told that there was a Transatlantic telephone call from my wifeback in New York ith plenty of time on my clock, I took the call.The news was bad In my absence, Fine and Reshevsky convincedMaurice ertheim, captain of the U.S. team that they shouldoccupy the top boards in the upcoming match against the Soviet
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Union. But as US. champion, I had a claim to the top board, and a
I pondered the injustice of this sneaky action, I began to see red.Here's the result.
B-Q PB7???
A line with winning chances for Black is 48 . . . . QN8ch, followedby QR7ch and Q-B2.
49. QNch KQ 0 PKQdisch K-N2 1 QQ P-B=Qch 2 KB2 QQ7ch and Black resigns
So demoralized was I by this defeat that even though I hadaready drawn as Black wth Botvinnik and Smyslov, I managed toscore only 2 in the remaining eight rounds To his credit Dr. Ewas eually upset about the outcome of the game, especially since
he had offered a draw a few moves earlier. As for the Soviets, theyeyed my loss askance doubtlessly ascribing to us the same motivesthat influenced the outcome of key games among themselves.
During the Groningen tournament, Dr. E uietly demonstratedthat he was firmly on the American side in the turbulent early yearsof the Cold ar in Europe. He wrote a speech in Dutch for me todeliver over radio, and eveone remarked on how wel I represented the United States.
This tiny success, along with thousands of other little victories,were crucial for tamping down anti-Americanism And speaking ofanti-Amercanism, I will never forget the banuet following theGroningen event, when the Swedish player Erik Lundin received around of applause because his country sent a shipload of wheat toHolland, while the United States received no similar appreciation,even though it was sending far more food and clothing The problem," Dr. E told me, is that you do not superintend the distribution of your goods, and they land up on the black market."
Indeed, when my wife was at tea with a Dutch family one afternoon, the lady of the house found herself without sugar. Sheuicky telephoned her blackmarket man," and the sugar (markedfrom America) arrived a few minutes later
M th Mum
hen Max visited New York briefly in mid1947, I had the opportunity to repay a few of his many favors. e went on a boat trip
around Manhattan and the former world chess champion wasa
pleased as a child by the Statue of Liberty e dined at CabanaCarioca, a lively Brazilian restaurant known for its lightly claddancers and delicious food and when we went over to the Yorkvillesection of Manhattan on East 86th, Max surprised me by being one
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Dutchman ho did not drink beer. He also surprised my ife Ninaby shoing up ith floers at the Lenox Hill Hospita ust beforeshe gave birth to my son Mitchell. I hadnt said peep but he had hisuiet ays of finding out.
Max as uiet in another ay. He never discussed his heroism
during the Nazi occupation. Yet not only did he rite letters toAlekhine asking the latter to intercede on behalf of the Dutchmartyrs Dr Gerard Oskam and Salo Landau he also put his life orat least his liberty on the line for several others.
learned of one instance from Maxs friend Hans Kmoch, thefamous in-house annotator at Horoitzs Che Review. Hansas living at the time on Central ark est somehere in theEighties. His ife Trudy a e had constant nightmares about herinterrogations and beatings in Holland by the Nazis Hans had little
money and Trudy spent much of the day in bed screaming.
Enter Nina My ife as orking in the Ne York City elfaresystem and managed to get them part-time assistance Hans thenconfided in me about ho Dr. E greased palms and used his influence to save Trudy's life by keeping her out of a concentrationcamp. But mind you I heard this from Hans not from Dr E hoas alays Max the mum about his good deeds.
Mr. PrsidntIn 1970 Max Eue as elected president of FIDE a position heheld until 1978. His efforts in that post to hold together bothFischerSpassky in 1972 and KorchnoiKarpov I in 1978, thoughidely reviled at the time are universally acclaimed today He alsopresided over a massive expansion of FIDE from 72 countries to106. And no onder: he visited more than 100 countries as FIDEpresident tirelessly promoting chess. A ournalist fittingly dubbed
him The High-Flying Dutchman"There is a lot about Maxs life in chess that could be discussed at
great length. As a theorist he introduced the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense and edited Che Archive hichserved for nearly to decades as the pacesetter in opening analysisAs an author he rote far more voluminously than any other orldchampion including ekhine ho published 17 volumes.
