A Nice Attack

 From La'Merchav, Feb. 14th, 1958, p. 6, sent to us by a dedicated correspondent:

Ido Aviner - Beno Levi 

Sicilian Dragon [B71]

1958? 

Source: see above

Annotator: Eliyahu Fasher

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.f4 Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Ng4 Black chose here a variant which, he said, Euwe recommended. Black forces White to open his KS, but paralyzes his own QS. 9.h3 Nh6 10.g4 To prevent Nf5 after White's next move. e6 11.Be3 d5 12.Bg2 Stops the advance of the pawns on Black's QS. (12.g5? Nf5) 12...Be7 13.O-O Ba6 14.Ne2 Self-pinning the N for a long time, but done to keep the f1 square free for the rooks. 14...Qa5 15.b3! Bc5 16.Bxc5 Qxc5+ 17.Kh2 Better than 17. Kh1, as will be clear in the 21st move. 17... Rd8 18. Qd2 Ng8 White's threat was f5 ad then f6. 19. Rf3? Wants to free the N, but doesn't notice Black's next move, which both frees and attacks. 19...h5! 20.Nd4! Keeps the position intact. 20...Qb6 20...hxg4 21.Rc3 with complications. 21. Kg3! c5 21... h4+ 22. Kh2 22. Ne2 Ne7 23. Nc3 Qc7 Of course not 23...d4? 24.Ne4. 24.Re1 Nc6 25. Bf1 hxg4 26. hxg4 Qe7 Threatening mate never hurts! 27.g5 Qb7 28.Rf2 Nd4 29.Bh3 Qb4 30.Na4! Black avoids a queen exchange in an equal position, i.e., trying to win by force. But this costs the paralyzation of the queen. 30...Nb5? 30... Nxc2? White doesn't fear this, due to 31. Rc1 31.c3 Qa3 

32.f5! gxf5 33.Bxf5! White exploits the black queen's paralysis to break through. The bishop sacrifice cannot be accepted due to e6 with a crushing attack. But Black manages to find a way to defend by opening a way to his queen. 33...c4 34.Bg4! Keeps the material advantage. 34.g6 Qe7 35.gxf7+ Kf8 and Black wins. 34...Bc8 34...cxb3 35.axb3 Qxb3 36.Qf4 wins; 34...Qe7 35.Ref1, followed by 36.Rf6, 37.g6, etc. 35.Ref1 Qe7 36.Rxf7 Qxf7 37.Rxf7 Kxf7 38.Qf2+ Ke8 Best under the circumstances. 38...Kg8 39.Qf6 Re8 40.Qg6+ Kf8 41.Bh5 and wins. 39.Qf6 Kd7 40.Bxe6+! Kc7 41.Bxc8 Simplest. 41...Rxc8 41... Kxc8 42. Qc6+ Nc7 43. Nc5 etc. 42.Qe7+ Kb8 43.Nc5 Nc7 44.Qd6 and Black resigned (1-0) due to mate in a few moves, e.g. 44...Rcd8 45.Na6+ Kb7 46.Qxc7+ Kxa6 47.Qc6+ Ka5 48. b4#. 

The First Palestinian Report of Capablanca

 

In Marmorosh's chess column from Sept. 17th, 1939 (p. 4), brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent, we read two interesting notes. The first is that Kniazer became champion of the Tel Aviv Lasker club with 6.5/9 - two full points ahead of the next player, Weil (who at the time of the report had one more game to play, with Labounsky, 3 pts.) Interesting is also the report of the 'A-level' (secondary) tournament, with 16 players, which gave the first three the right to play in general Tel Aviv Championship. 

More interesting, perhaps, is the note that 'due to the serious international situation' - later known as the second world war - there are 'no telegraph reports' from the Buenos Aires olympiad, so at the moment all Marmorosh can report is Czerniak's draw with Capablanca in the match with Cuba. A pawn down, 'in a losing position', Czerniak sacrificed a pawn 'for a desperate attack' and drew. They note also Porat (then Foerder) drew (with the unmentioned Cuban 2nd board, Acre Lopez). 

Tel Aviv - Jerusalem Match, 1923

 

An earlier item this time: a frequent correspondent notes this report from Doar Ha'Yom (October 10th, 1923, p. 4) of the Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem championship in the "E. L." (Emmanuel Lasker) club in Jerusalem. (It was brought to my attention by a frequent correspondent.) The Jerusalem paper's chess columnist - Mohilever - notes that Tel Aviv won 21.5 - 14.5, and explains that the Jerusalem players didn't prepare well, and some were simply too weak for such a tournament. The author notes in particular Labounsky from Tel Aviv as a promising young player. 

A Day in Palestinian Chess

 

The same column just mentioned in the previous post - brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent - has reports on the Jerusalem championship, Tel Aviv's championship, and (pictures above) reports on the championship of Hadera, and a simultaneous display by Marmorosh in Haifa. This shows the rise in chess activity in Palestine before the "lean years" of WWII and the war of independence. 

The Hadera championship had 20 players, and was won by Menachem Susmann with Aharon Feigenbaum (ph. spelling in both cases) second. The prizes, 'by the culture committee', were books by Ha'Shomer - that is, by the kibbutz-based publishing house which later became one of Israel's largest publishing houses, Sifriyat Poalim (literally 'the workers' library'). 

The simultaneous display ended  +15 =1 -4 in Marmorosh's favor, and lasted two and a half hours.

"Knight Endings are Pawn Endings"

 

The quote from Botvinnik applies well to this game. It is from the 1938 Jerusalem championship, Czerniak (White) playing against Zilberman. (The source is Marmorosh's chess column in Ha'Aretz, March 11th, 1938, p. 11).  The game continued: 

Is left as an exercise in Hebrew.  מ = מלך = king, פ = פרש = knight, and מה = מלכה = queen...