Saturday, September 28, 2013

Dobkin - Kniazer, 1929

In one of the relatively few games recorded in Palestine in the 1920s, we find the following, given in Raafi Persitz's excellent book Ha'Derech Le'Nitzachon Be'Sachmat [The Way to Victory in Chess], a collection of games by Kniazer.

The book, apart from its historical value -- the majority of the games there do not appear in commercial databases -- is deeply annotated by Persitz, in a style that is both knowledgeable and witty (especially in Hebrew). I am only giving here a few smatterings of Persitz's annotations -- ignoring, for example, his deep opening analysis and his reference to numerous other games. The total annotations take eight pages of small type.

Event: Tel Aviv Championship?
Site: Tel Aviv
Date: 1929
White: Dobkin
Black: Kniazer
ECO: C10 (French, Rubinstein variation).
Annotator: Raafi Persitz.
Source: Persitz, Ha'Derech Le'Nitzchon Be'Sachmat [The Way to Victory in Chess]. Tel Aviv: Mofet, 1959, pp. 17-24.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Nxf6+ Nxf6 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O?! 9. Qe2 9... c5?! 9... b6 10. Re1?

If White had correctly assessed the position after Black's 13th move, he would have found that despite winning the Black queen, the position isn't in his favor.

10... cxd4! 11. Nxd4


11... Qxd4! 12. Bxh7+ Nxh7 13. Qxd4 Bxg5

Other things being equal, experience shows that the queen and pawn are inferior to three pieces when there are two pairs of rooks on the board, equal when there is a rook each, and superior when there are none. White should defend by a 'wait and see' attitude and preventing, at any price, the penetration of Black's rooks into his position. But he prefers a 'do or die' ill-timed king side attack.

14. Rad1 b6 15. Rd3?! Bb7 16. Rg3? Bf6 17. Qg4 Rac8 17... Bxb2? 18. c3 g6 19. Qb4! traps the bishop. 18. Rh3? White continues in his wrong-headed plan. Rc5 19. f4 Rxc2 20. Qh5 The first threat, which is also the last gasp. 20... Bd4+ White resigns (0-1).

No comments:

Post a Comment