Another "Wunderkind" in Chess?

 

The above is a short article by Dov Goldstein, sent to us by a frequent correspondent. The source is Ma'ariv, Feb. 10th, 1955, p. 3. It is about a "Wunderking" in chess - six year old Gideon Ratanovsky (ph. spelling.) It is noted that 'nobody knows how he learned the rules of the game' - or that he knows how to play at all - until he told his mother. The child is being trained by Dyner, the Israeli master, in his optician's shop, where he always have a board set up. It is (as usual in such reports) added that the little child will surely be a strong master, although this seems not to have happened. His life ended tragically: he fell in 1970 in the Israel "War of Attrition" (1967-1970). His memorial page (in Hebrew) notes he was known as a chess "Wunderkind". 

The "Old Timers' Club"

Source: Shachmat vol. 17 no. 6-7 (June-July 1978), no p. #

A frequent correspondent noted that in 1978, there was an 'Old Timer's Get Together' with the following photo. It is one of the photos which has the most of the Israeli players and organizers in one photo. Included are among those who were active in the 60s or before: 

Standing: 1st from right: Yosha; 2nd: Wolfinger; 3rd: Itzchak Aloni ('previous champion'); 4th: Rabinovich-Barav ('previous secretary');6th: Smiltiner; 10th: Mohilever ('previous secretary'); 14th: Rauch; 17th: van Amerongen; 19th: Porat ('champion'); 21st: Gelfer; 23rd: Kagan ('champion'); 24th: Luba Kristol ('hidden'); 25th: Rivka Lichtenfeld ('championess'); 26th: Avner; 30th: Czerniak.

Sitting: 1st from right: Dyner; 6th: Peretz; 7th: Levant; 9th: Bleiman.

Candid Photos from the Tel-Aviv / Haifa 1958 International Tournament

Details: see below

Ami Barav, Israel Rabinovich-Barav's son, kindly provided us with the following photos he took, as a young boy, of the players in the international tournament that took place in Tel Aviv and Haifa in 1958. They are from the 13th round. The photos show, from top to bottom, White mentioned first:

Arie Rosenberg thinking in his game against Sylvain Burstein (who later changed his name, as noted by a correpondent below, to Inbar). 

Israel Dyner playing Itzchak Aloni

Laslo Szabo playing Samuel Reshevsky

Carel Van den Berg playing Yosef Porat.

Rabinobvich-Barav - Tziner, 1956

In our update of Israel Rabinovich-Barav's web page, we have been generously given another game score by his son, Ami Barav. It is of a game between him and Tziner.

Correction: Ami Barav informs us that the player was Tziner, not Israel Dyner as we previously reported. The two names appear quite similar in Hebrew script!

Rabinovich-Barav, Israel -- Tziner

"Reti" club, 18/4/1956

Queen's Gambit Declined (D36)

Annotations: Fritz 13 and Avital Pilpel

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 6.Qc2 c6 7.Nf3 0–0 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bd3 Re8 10.0–0 Ne4 11.Bf4 f5? 

A tactical error which Barav exploits immediately. 

12.Nxd5! Bd6 12...cxd5? 13.Bc7 wins the queen.

13.Bxd6 Nxd6 14.Nf4 Nf6 15.Qb3+ Kh8 16.Rfd1 Qe7 17.Ne5 Be6 18.Qa3 Bf7? the final mistake in a lost position.

19.Qxd6! and Black resigned (1-0) due to 19...Qxd6 20.Nxf7+.

Israeli Championship. 1951 -- an Unusual View

Credit: Ami Barav's collection

Above is an unusual view of the Israeli 1951 championship's concluding ceremonies. We see on stage the back of the head of Pinchas Rosen (left) and David Ben Gurion (right), and the players and their wives in the first and second row. The audience seems to be enjoying Tur-Sinai's speech. 

The players in the front row include among others Kniazer (2nd from left), Dyner (3rd from left)), Porat (5th from left), Smiltiner (7th from left) and Czerniak (in dark suit, extreme right, next to Smiltiner). Can anybody identify the rest with certainty? 

More Chess Signatures

Source: ebay (click on image for larger picture)

The above is the program of the Israeli 1957 chess championship. The seller wants $350 for it, which seems a rather high price. But at least it does have the signature of most (not all) of the participants, including, e.g., on the right page of the last image, Czerniak (top right), Porat (top left), Itzchak Aloni (bottom right), and Dyner (bottom left).

Still, we are beginning to see here some challenges to the "old guard", e.g., Yair Kraidman (top right, second image), Rudy Blumfeld (to left, second image) and others. 

A Snapshot

Who, exactly, were the masters, or international masters, or gradnmasters, etc. in Israel in the 1950s? Wonder no more: the complete list was, helpfully, given by Moshe Czerniak in first issue of 64 Mishbatzot (Feb. 1956, p. 17):

Source: see above

It is noted how these include the "old guard" who was in Palestine before the war (Porat, Czerniak, Barav, Knaizer, Mandelbaum, Macht, Fischer, Dobkin, Beutum, and Smiltiner and Blass-- we are using Gaige's spelling), but also the new arrivals, Aloni, Dyner, and Oren, as well as new blood, in particular, Perstiz. This did not mean other talented players did not exist; only they didn't yet have time to gain titles.

This is listed in the same page has an article by a visitor, Saul Wachs (USA), who notes how chess advanced in Israel and, in particular, its popularity in the kibbutzim and other agricultural communes, not just in the large cities.

Chess, Beer, and "In Memoriam" Walls

Image credit: Gdali Roizman

This photo of the memorial wall in Rishon Le'Tziyon Chess Club (link in Hebrew, with -- incidentally -- much history under the "history" tab on the web site) is interesting for many reasons. First, it has some of the historical figures we have met before, such as the problem composer Yosef Goldschmidt (bottom row, second from right) and the player Israel Dyner (top row, right), as well as two young men, Shlomo Zlil and Erez Levanon (bottom row, extreme left and second from left, respectively) in uniform, who were killed in their army service.

Mr. Roizman, who sent us this photo, points our another curiosity: Yitzhak Schwartz (second row, second from left), a founding member, was the head of the workers' union in a large local brewery. and that the club's first location was the workers' cafeteria on the brewery's grounds.

Chess by Phone

Source: Davar, Jan. 4th, 1952, p. 22

We have previously noted in this blog that chess was occasionally on the radio in Palestine (possibly) and (the early years of) the state of Israel. As the article in Davar notes (in Hebrew), another version of "distance" chess was a match by telephone, which took place on Dec. 27th, 1951, and arranged by Kol Israel, where, as we saw before, Hon was employed at the time.

The games are reported (verbally) in the article. The summary is (from first to fourth board):

Jerusalem                      Tel Aviv

Czerniak        0            Aloni                1

Dyner                           Kniazer            'Adjourned with Kniazer a piece up'

Porat             0.5          Mandelbaum   0.5

Glass                            Hon                   'Adjourned in a drawn position'

Hon, who wrote the article, adds that the success of the telephone match means also that one should arrange "pure" radio matches between Israeli and other teams abroad. He adds the interesting point that such matches are difficult for the players since they cannot see the opponent's expression, which is often very important.

Another interesting point is that the photographs of the players are arranged by board and team as in the list -- i.e., Czerniak's photo is at the top left, Kniazer's second from the top on the right, etc. The two bottom photographs show Yochanan Maroz (l.) and Y. Ish-Horowitz (ph. spelling), who were the communication men in Tel Aviv, and David Carmeli (ph. spelling) who received and sent moves in Jerusalem.

Finally, these photographs were taken (notes the article) in Tel Aviv by S. Frank (ph. spelling) and in Jerusalem by W. Brown (ph. spelling). It is of some importance that these very same photographs were often re-printed in numerous Israeli-printed articles and books for years afterwards.

The First Israeli Telephone Match

L. to R.: D. Carmeli, Y. Maroz and Y. Ish-Horowitz, the "Kol Israel" operators of the special phone line during the match. Source: Shaul Hon's Davar chess column, 4.1.1952.

On 14.12.1951, Shaul Hon's chess column in Davar declared there will be a "chess duel" between Tel Aviv and the rest of the country. The gimmick -- the match will be transmitted on a special phone line between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The match took place over Hannukah 5712 (last week of December 1951). According to the 4.1.1952 report in Hon's chess column, the result was (Tel Aviv's team on the left):

1). Aloni (W)- Czerniak (B) 1:0 (White won)
2). Mandelboim (ph. spelling) (B)- Porat  (W) 0.5:0.5
3). Hon (B)- Glass (W) : "Game stopped where Hon has chances of a draw".
4). Keniazer  (W) - Dyner (B) : "Game stopped with Keniazer a piece up and with winning chances".

So Tel Aviv showed its superiority over "the rest of the country". Hon gives the sharpest game -- Aloni - Czerniak -- in his 18.1.1952 column. As usual, a computer check finds some oversights but on the whole Hon's analysis is quite good.

Aloni, Itzchak - Czerniak, Moshe

Tel Aviv - "Rest of Country" Telephone Match, 12.1951

[Comments: Shaul Hon and (when noted) Rybka 2.3.2]

E71: King's Indian: 4 e4 d6 5 h3  

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 

To prevent Ng4 after Be3. 

5...0–0 6.Be3 e5 7.d5 Ne8  

This defense's problems are seen in the cramping of the c8 Bishop and the entire Queen side.  

8.g4 f5 9.gxf5 gxf5 10.Nf3  

White has more space and attacking chances on the King's side.  

 10...f4? 

 Now the c8 Bishop is completely paralyzed. 

11.Bd2 Rf6 12.Qc2 Rh6  

A rook with no future. 

13.0–0–0 a6  

Better is  13...a5 with the idea of Nd7-c5 since there's no White Bishop on e3. 

14.Kb1 c5 15.dxc6  

(Rybka prefers 15.Qb3 immediately.)
 
15...Nxc6 16.c5! 

Activating White's King's Bishop.  

16...b5 17.cxb6 Be6?  

Better is  17...Qxb6 18.Nd5 Qb7 19.Qxc6 Qxc6 20.Ne7+ Kf8 21.Nxc6 Bb7 22.Rc1 Rc8 And Black recovers the piece. (Rybka quite agrees...) 

18.b7 The winning pawn. (Here Rybka prefers 18.Nd5.)

18...Rb8 19.Nd5 Ne7 20.Bxa6 Nxd5 21.exd5 Bf7? 

Better is 21...Bxd5 22.Bxf4 Bxf3 23.Qb3+ Kh8 24.Bxh6 Bxd1 25.Bxg7+ and wins the Bishop on d1. (Rybka believes 21...Qb6 as the best chance).

22.Ka1 22...Bh5 23.Qb3  

(Rybka prefers 23.Qc8 Bxf3 24.Ba5 Rxc8 25.bxc8Q Qxc8 26.Bxc8. But this move does set a trap...)

23...e4 ('??' -Rybka, since it allows the following combination.)

24.Rc1

A deliberate sacrifice to allow Rc8. 

24...Bxf3 25.Rhg1 Rg6 26.Rxg6 hxg6 27.Rc8 Qg5 

 Desperation. 

28.a4 e3 29.fxe3 Bxd5 30.Bc4 Bxc4 31.Qxc4+ d5 

32.Rxb8

Generosity!

32...dxc4 33.Rxe8+ Kf7 34.b8=Q Qg1+ 35.Ka2 Qd1 36.Rd8 Qxa4+ 37.Kb1 And Czerniak resigned on the next move. (1–0).

The S. R. Wolf Cup

Tel Aviv and Rishon Le'Tziyon teams with the S. R. Wolf cup, 1950. Sitting (L. to R.): I. Dyner, L. Braun, J. Hajtun, Dr. A. Adler, L. Shatner. Standing (L. to R.): Y. Dobkin, A. Labunski, I. Aloni,  Dr. M. Oren (then Chwojnik),  Y. Schwartz (Rishon Le'Tziyon club secretary). Source: Davar, 27.1.1950. Spelling of some names helped by Jeremy Gaige's indispensable Chess Personalia: A Biobibliography.

Today, few people have herd of Siegfried Reginald Wolf. But, in his old age in Haifa, he was honored by the Israeli chess establishment (such as it was) at the time. One example is reported in Davar chess column (Ed. Shaul Hon) on 13, 20, and 27/1/1950.

Davar reports on these dates that the "Shemen" corporation had donated an "S. R. Wolf cup", and that various cities' teams played in the "Inter-city championship for the S. R. Wolf Cup" for it. On 14/1 and on 21/1, the Tel Aviv team won both its meetings with Rishon Le'Tziyon's team (3:2 at the Rishon Le'Tziyon club, 4.5:0.5 in the return match in Tel Aviv), winning(*) the championship (and the cup).  

Davar mentions that in another match "three weeks ago" (20/1 column) Rishol Le'Tziyon's team defeated Jerusalem's team  "9:3" -- from the score, although it is not explicitly stated, it seems likely this too was a double match, part of this inter-city championship.

(*) or retaining -- the 13/1 column claims Tel Aviv already "holds" the cup, the 20/1 column that the match between the two teams is "part of" the inter-city tournament for the cup. It is not clear from the reports if the cup was offered in previous years.

Chess Envelope (and the Identity of a "Mystery Player")

The above envelope, which was given to the ICA's chess house by Eliezer Pe'er, has the signatures of (most of) the players who participated in the 1958 international tournament in Israel--the first of its kind held in the country.

The signatures include those of Samuel "Sammy" Reshevsky, Arthur Dunkelblum, Robert Wade, Itzchak Aloni, Arie Rosenberg, Ignacy Branicki, Moshe Czerniak, Carel van der Berg, Rudy Blumfeld, Yosef Porat, Israel Dyner, and Silvan Burstein. Laszlo Szabo and Raphael Persitz did not sign.

Burstein--a "young master from France", who "played in the 1954 and 1956 Olympiads" (as Dan Klein reprts in Al Ha'Mishmar, Nov. 10th, 1958), is, for some reason, not mentioned at all in Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia, while chessbase's 3-million-strong 2005 database only has "S. Burstein". Klein also reports that Branicki's second surname was Grunfeld (not mentioned in Gaige or chessbase's database) and that he spoke fluent Hebrew, which he learned as a child in the cheder (Judaism's equivalent of primary school.)

Tomasz Lissowski adds (6/9/2012): 

Izaak GRYNFELD was a strong chess player in Lodz in 1930s. Nobody knows where Grynfeld spent the years of WWII. He participated several times in the championship of Poland (see wikipedia in English).
The official in Polish chess organisation in the 1950s. He translated one chess book from Russian into Polish (as I remember, it was Keres' openings manual). Ca. 1955 he changed his family name - one day he became Ignacy Branicki. It was not such a rare case, many Poles (not only of Jewish roots) did the same after the WWII, from various reasons.

Grynfeld adopted the name of aristocratic family, the prince (!) family, which produced a line of marshals, archbishops and senators. Also first name "Ignacy" was obsolete and rather typical for wealthy noble families (remember Ignacio Loyola!). His biography has many "white spots". Even his date of birth is doubtful. According to some sources Branicki was much younger than Grynfeld - but it is one person!
Mr. Lissowski describes Grynfeld's life and chess career in a two-part article, "Zapomniany Polski Olimpijczyk - Pogromca Donnera"  [Forgotten Polish Olympic Player - Donner's "Crusher"] in Vistula Chess Monthly. 

I add that changing one's name to a aristocratic one happens also in other places. There is the famous case of a Jewish immigrant in Boston, related by Isaac Asimov in Asimov Laughs Again, originally named Kabotinsky or something similar, who changed his named legally to Cabot -- a name of a very aristocratic Boston family. The Cabot family appealed, but the judge ruled that so long as he does not say or imply he is part of the famous family, he can be called by any name he wishes...