A Quantum Leap

We have already seen the rather low quality of chess problems by Israeli (or Palestinian) composers from the 1920s until the 1940s. By the 1950s, however, things have changed. Perhaps it was precisely the lack of "regular" chess activity in that time of war and scarcity in Palestine and Israel that made chess problems so popular: one can compose on one's own, and there is no need to travel to tournaments (let alone organize them).

In any case, by the mid-1950s Israeli problemists were among the best in the world. Above are two problems, which, in Eliyahu Fasher's words:

"...demonstrate the high level of the Israeli problemists. The old-timer Itzhak Neuman was already known in Hungary, but reached his peak only in Israel. His two-mover won the first prize in a tourney arranged by the British Chess Association, one of the strongest in the world, in which the greatest problemists compete.

"The British judge Matthews [my transliteration from the Hebrew -- presumably R. C. Matthews who was an IM of chess compositions, see Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia: a Biobibliography, Jefferson: McFarland, 1987] added: 'The Rukhlis theme is performed here in a most original way. The economy of white pieces is maximal. The key move passes over four critical squares, over which each of whom the thematic try can occur.'

"The second problem won the first prize in our own chess association's yearly composition tourney. The author [Uri Gruenblatt - A. P.] is a member of Ma'abrot kibbutz [agricultural commune] and an 'alumnus' of Al ha'Mishmar's chess column [which dealt at the time mostly with problems - A. P.]. It is a pity he had temporarily deserted chess composition for his work as a teacher in the kibbutz. We are sure his four children will, in the near future, allow him to return to the field."

Source: Eliyahu Fasher's Ha'Problemai ha'Israeli: Yesodot ha'Kompositziya ha'Sachmetait [The Israeli Problemist: the Fundamentals of Chess Composition] (Tel Aviv: Mofet, 1964), p. 58.

Solutions (Highlight below):

Neuman:
1. Bg7!

Gruenblatt:
1. Qb1!
1... e3 2. Sf5!
1... f5 2. Se3!

Chess and Stamps, Part V

This time, from Eliyahu Fashcer's collection (see previous blog entry), a personal letter he got some time before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. How can we tell? Because the stamp used says, "Palestine" (that is, the British Mandate of Palestine). The "printed matter" inside was a chess problems journal -- Fascher was already an active problemist.

Reshevsky's Visit to Israel, 1958 -- an Insider's View

In Eliyahu Fascher's archives (currently in the Yad Tabenkin Institute, http://www.yadtabenkin.org.il/) I have found the following interesting note. My translation from the Hebrew:

Reshevsky's First Visit to Israel

In 1958 the first international tournament took place in Israel. Its first part was in Haifa, in the Rothschild house on the Carmel mountain, and the second part in the Helen Keller house in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood, Tel Aviv.

As the Israeli Chess Organization's secretary at the time I was given the task of bringing famous Jewish chess players to the tournament. The Israeli team had traveled to the Munich Olympiad -- then travel was still by ship, and tournaments sometimes took two weeks or more. At the same time the first problemists' conference took place in the Piran, Yugoslavia, and, in neighboring Portoroz -- the large international tournament with Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal. As a correspondent of "LaMerhav" newspaper I got funding for the trip and there could meet the world's chess greats. I wasn't too successful, since the Russians already were boycotting us, and only the Jewish grandmaster Laszlo Szabo agreed to come. In Munich we managed to recruit to the tournament grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky and a few players of lesser rank.

We sailed to Israel on the ship "Jerusalem". In the evening Yosef Porat comes to me and says that, when walking with his wife on the deck, he met the Dutch master Van den Bergh who told him an interesting take. Reshevsky evicted him from their cabin, since the moment he set foot on a ship named "Jerusalem" he cannot stay in the same room with a gentile (there were two gentiles among the guests: Wade from England and Van den Bergh from Holland.) When I went to Reshevsky's cabin I found him studying a page of the Talmud and we had to wait a long time for him to finish. The problem was that all the players were in cabins for 4 or 6, and only the two most important players had a dual cabin. After persuasion talks that lasted into the small hours, Sammy Reshevsky agreed to accept the gentile, on the condition that he must leave the cabin during prayer times. By the end of the trip it turned out the Dutch player got a few lessons about Judaism from Reshevsky and they parted as friends.

During the long sail there were numerous blitz games played, and we even had an official tournament with a large party at its end. The MC was Yosef ("Tommy") Lapid, which hanged around between the masters and got free chess lessons.

The "Black Square in Lower Right Corner" Mafia Strikes Again

Okay, so the image above shows a chess board with a dark square in the lower right corner. This in itself is not too remarkable, of course. It is, however, a bit more remarkable when the image in question is on the cover of the Israeli Chess Association's Official Magazine. (Feb. 2008 issue.)

Perhaps the whole thing is an inside joke: the issue is coming out during purim, a holiday when one is supposed to dress in silly costumes. The cover shows children dressed up in such chess-related (imaginary) costumes; perhaps the dark square in the lower right corner is deliberately to add to the silliness.

More likely, however, is that the artist commissioned to draw the cover doesn't play chess.

Chess and Stamps (Part IV)

"First Day" signed envelope, from Itzhak bar-Ziv's collection. Photo credit: Avital Pilpel.

The above envelope is a "first day" envelope issued by the Israeli Postage Service to commemorate the 16th chess olympiad, on Nov. 2nd, 1964, with the Olympiad's cancellation mark and one of the two stamps printed by the IPS to mark the occassion. Prices have changed, by the way: the stamp is for 0.12 Israeli pounds, which today would be 0.000012 new Israeli shekels, or about 0.000003 US dollars...

On the front, the signatures of: Tigran Petrosian, Mikhail Botvinnik, Vassily Smyslov, Efim Geller, Paul Keres (all USSR), Miguel Najdorf, Shlomo (Samuel) Shweber (signed in Hebrew; both Argentina), Isaac Kashdan, Samuel Herman Reshevsky (USA), Hoshang Mashian (Iran -- he signed in Hebrew(!)), Klaus Darga (West Germany), Kenneth Kirby (South Africa), Bruno Parma (Yugoslavia), and Zvonko Vransic (Canada).

On the back: Rene Letelier (Chile), "Garcia" (either Gilberto Garcia of Cuba or Raimundo Garcia of Argentina -- probably the latter, since both Najdorf and Schweber, his teammates, signed), Smyslov and Geller (again), Milan Matulovic and Mijo Udovcic (Yugoslavia), Bent Kolvig and Borge Andersen (Denmark), Franciscus Kuijpers and Christian Langeweg (Netherlands), Erling Kristiansen (Norway), Silvain Zinser (France), Trausti Bjornsson (Iceland), Miroslav Filip (Czechoslovakia), Gideon Stahlberg (Sweden), Wolfgang Unzicker (West Germany), the captain of the Swiss team (presumably not a player, as the signature doesn't fit any of them -- does anybody know who he was?), Nevzat Suer and another unidentified player (Turkey).

P.S.

Thanks very much to www.olimpbase.org for much of this data (e.g., precise English spelling, teams, and so on.) Some of the players who signed (e.g., Geller and Najdorf) do not appear in olimpbase's web site for the 1964 olympiad since they were formally non-playing team captains.

A Rafee Persitz "Swindle"

In the following game (Rafee Persitz [Israel] - Julio Salas Romo, [Chile], Leipzig Olympiad, 1960, 2nd final), Rafee Persitz, who had recently passed away, showed his natural talent for endgames. This version of the game (slightly different from the game given in Chessbase 9's databases, incidentally) is given in Moshe Czerniak's book, Israel be'Olympiadot ha'Sachmat ['Israel in the Chess Olympiads'] (Tel Aviv: Rotem Press, 1979), p. 68. The annotations are Czerniak's.

On the previous page of that book Czerniak notes that it's a pity Persitz doesn't spend more time on chess -- he could have become 'a strong international master'. Like others, Czerniak was very impressed, not only with Persitz's play, but with the fact that it was a natural talent. For Persitz, chess was always a hobby, something he did in his spare time. To play this well when spending so little on the game is surely a sign of genius.



White is in a difficult position. He has no sufficient defense against Rd6-h6 or Bh6-e3.

30. f4 Rd6

Here Black missed an interesting possibility: 30. ... exf4 31. gxf4 Rxf4! 32. Qxf4 Bh5 33. Qf5 Qh2+ 34. Kf2 Bg3+ (or 34. ... Rf8) 35. Ke2 Qxg2+ 36. Rf2 Qxf2+ and Black has a superior rook ending. [I'd say. Black is a piece up for nothing -- A.P.]

31. f5

Coming to terms with the loss of the exchange (31. ...Bh6 32. Rfe1).

31. ... Rh6 32. Qc2?

Better is 32. Qe2, to keep the black queen defending g4.

32. ... Qh2+ 33. Kf2 Rh3 34. Rd3 Bh6! 35. Qe2 Be3+ 36. Rxe3 dxe3+ 37. Qxe3 Rc8!



38. d6?!

Both players are very short of time. White, having no sufficient defense to Black's threats (38. Qd3 Rxg3+! or 38. Qg5+ Kf7) decides to pose a problem to his opponent.

38. ... Rxg3?

A natural move, but at the same time a decisive mistake. Correct was 38. ... Rc2+ 39. Ke1 Qxe3+ (39. ... Qxg2? 40. Qg5+) and Black wins.

39. Qg5+ Kh8 40. Qf6+ Kg8 41. Qe6+ Kg7 42. f6+ Kh6 43. f7+ Kg7

43. ... Kh5 44. Qf5+ Kh6 45. f8=Q also loses.

44. Qxe5+ Kg6 45. Qf5+ Kg7 46. Qg5+! Kxf7 47. Ke1+

And White wins. [According to Chessbase 9's database, Black resigned a few moves -- A.P.]

Keniazer about Amsterdam, 1954

Israel Yosef Keniazer was one of the stronger players in Palestine and Israel, strong enough to play on the Israeli (or Palestinian) team in the Amsterdam Olympiad (1954) and in other top events, such as the 1952 Israel Masters' tourament.

His poor showing in that tournament (2.5/9) was the reason he was not chosen for the 1952 Olympiad team. Zvi Bar-Shira had told me that that Keniazer claimed he was misled into thinking it was a training tournament (tacharut imunim) and not a masters' tournament (i.e., informal qualifying event -- tacharut amanim). If he had known, he would not have played experimental opening lines!

(How seriously to take this story, I do not know. Bar-Shira is a witness, but another interviewee who knew Keniazer well and wishes to remain anonymous told me that Keniazer was a very gentle man -- this story doesn't seem to fit with his character.)

Keniazer was older than even the "old guard" -- he was born in 1895 or 1896: Jeremy Gaige's Chess Personalia gives no birth date, but Raafi Persitz's book about Keniazer (see the post about Persitz for details) mentions (p. 9) that he was "a youth of 15" in 1911.

In any case, Keniazer's diary -- quoted (pp. 94-96) in the same book -- gives a fascinating picture about what it was like, to be a Jew from Israel in Europe so soon after the end of the second world war -- and the beginning of the cold war. After much praise of the event, its organizers, and the general positive attitude of the press and the populace, he adds:

'There were unpleasant moments. We didn't shake the Germans' hands, despite the fact that they kept wanting to make friends. There was one player, an assimilated Jew, who explicitly asked us not to get close to him, lest his Jewishness -- which everybody actually knew about -- be emphasized; a tragi-comic situation. I had a conversation with a Dutch lady who could did not believe I have a daughter and granddaughters, because she was under the impression "Israel is one large kibbutz [agricultural commune--A.P.] where children are kept separated from their parents. I told her that in Holland, too, not everybody walks in wooden shoes, nor do windmills take up all the space. We felt the Russian Jews are dying to speak with us, but self-preservation stopped them.'

"Plays Like Morphy"

Yosef Dobkin playing Moshe Czerniak, probably in the first round of the 1952 Masters' tournament. Photo credit: Yochanan Afek.

Shaul Hon's opening manual (mentioned in the previous post), while not as good in analysis as Raafi Persitz's work, certainly has its strengths. Its most important role, for the historian, is saving many obscure -- but interesting -- games played in Israel (or mandatory Palestine), which do not appear in most databases or other sources.

One example is the following beautiful game, which (says Hon) Irving Chernev had said has White "playing like Morphy".

Dobkin,Yosef - Greenberg,M. [B18]
Taharut Hayovel ("Lasker" club anniversary tournament), Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine, 1944
[Annotations (including comments after the game): Shaul Hon]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 [4...Nf6 5.Nxf6+ gxf6 (analysis by Flohr)] 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Nf3 Nd7 7.Bd3 [It is better to first play 7.h4 to cause a weakness on Black's kingside (7...h6 )] 7...Qc7 8.0–0 Ngf6 9.Re1 e6 10.Ng5 Bxd3? 11.Qxd3 h6?



12.Rxe6+!! A bolt from the blue! 12...Be7 [12...fxe6 13.Qg6+ Ke7 (13...Kd8 14.Nxe6+) 14.Qf7+ wins the queen or mates on e6.] 13.Nf5! hxg5 [The rook is still immune due to 13...fxe6 14.Nxg7+, winning the queen.] 14.Rxe7+ Kf8 15.g3 Nd5 [15...g6 16.Bxg5] 16.Bxg5 Rh5 [The rook is yet again untouchable, since 16...Nxe7 17.Bxe7+ Kg8 18.Bd6 Qd8 (for example) 19.Ne7+ Kf8 20.Nxc6+ (or a different discovered check depending on Black's 18th move) wins the queen.] 17.Qa3! Kg8 18.h4 Nxe7 19.Nxe7+ Kh8 20.Qf3



White does not give Black a moment's rest. 20...Nf6 [20...Rh7 is answered by 21.Qxf7 with the threat of 22. Ng6# or else 22. Qg8+ Rxg8 23. Ng6#] 21.Bxf6 Rh7 22.Bg5 f6 23.Re1! Rd8 [If 23...fxg5 24.Qf7!] 24.Qb3!



Forcing Black to sacrifice his queen, due to White's threat of sacrificing his own queen. 24...Qxe7 25.Rxe7 fxg5 26.Qf7 Forcing mate in two. Black resigns (1-0).

This games reminds us of Cherniak's saying: 'Dubkin doesn't know the source of his own strength'. Chernev the famous American analyst, was correct when he said about this game: 'Dubkin plays in Morphy's style.'

Raphael Joseph Arie "Rafee" Persitz, 26.5.1934 - 5.2.2009

Rafee Persitz, who died last Thursday, was perhaps the greatest natural chess talent in Israel. As a 20-year-old, he made an excellent 7.5/9 score in the 1954 students' Olympaid (playing second board) and made a very respectable show in the famous Hastings tournament in the mid-1950s. He was also Israel's first blitz champion. From 1958 to 1962, as the obituary (by Israel Gelfer, in Hebrew) on the Israeli Chess Association's web site says, he was probably the strongest Israeli player -- defeating, to name a few, Czerniak, Porat, Aloni, and others, and representing Israel in the Leipzig (1960) Olympiad, making a very respectable 60% score, the second-best on the team. As a student in Oxford, he defeated C. H. O'D. Alexander, the former British champion, as the chessbase obituary (with a photo) notes.

What's more, he did all this when an amateur who only spent a little time on chess. As Moshe Czerniak noted in his book Israel be'Olympiadot ha'Shachmat [Israel in the Chess Olympiads] (Tel Aviv: Rotem Press, 1979), p. 67: 'It's a pity Rafee Persitz doesn't devote more time to chess. He should have been an excellent International Master by now.' Persitz probably never considered making chess a serious career -- he studied economics and became a well-known financial analyst. Perhaps his fights with the Israeli Chess Association's administration had something to do with it. As is well known in Israeli chess circles, he once sent a letter to the ICA which began, "Dear honorable gangsters, ...".

His over-the-board achievements notwithstanding, he would probably be remembered not only for his natural talent, but for his for his excellent written analysis. As the chessbase obituary (with a photo) notes, he contributed for a long time to the British Chess Magazine's 'The Student Corner'. Yochanan Afek adds in this obituary that Persitz wrote 'a couple of Hebrew chess books'. That is slightly inaccurate -- there were three, in fact:

1. Tacharut Amanim Be'Sachmat: Yerushalaim - Tel Aviv - Heyfa 1952 [Masters' Chess Tournament: Jerusalem - Tel Aviv - Haifa 1952] (Tel Aviv: Amanut Press, 1953).

2. Israel ba'Olympiadot: Helsinki - Amsterdam - Moskva: Skirat ha'Pticot u'Mivchar Siyumim [Israel in the Chess Olmypiades [sic] Helsinki - Amsterdam - Moscow : A Review of the Openings and Selected Endings] (Tel Aviv: Mofet Press, 1958).

- both with co-author E. A. Mandelbaum; and

3. Ha'Derech ke'Nitzachon be'Shachmat: Mivchar Kravotav shel I. Y. Keniazer [The Way to Victory in Chess: Selected Games of I. Y. Keniazer] (Tel Aviv: Torat ha'Sachmat Press, 1959).

All these books show deep analysis -- especially opening theory -- that is not only objectively very good, but, more importantly, far above what was then common in the Hebrew chess literature. For example, the last book typically has three or four pages of analysis concerning the first ten moves. Compare to a typical Hebrew-language book from that period -- Shaul Hon's Petichot be'Shachmat [Chess Openings] (Tel Aviv: Magen Press, 1957, 1958, 1964). Hon's book -- despite being an opening manual and popular enough to be reprinted twice -- usually only gives a page, or half a page, to the same number of moves.

Requiscat in Pace.