A frequent correspondent had generously given us some games from Czerniak's 64 Mishbatzot (64 Squares) which we have been missing. One, from pp. 329-330 (date?) between Cordonsky (Czerniak's spelling) and Zalman, shows some example of the nice treasures one can find about theory in old magazines.
Surely no modern player will go to old reports of the IDF's 1957 championship, of all places, looking for theoretical novelties. And yet Czerniak notes that Black, due to one inaccurate early move, is lost after the 8th move in an extremely popular opening variation - but that, this opportunity being missed, White executing the very idea two moves later already loses!
Czerniak - somewhat tongue in cheek - dubs this combination the "Cordonsky Attack."
Cordonsky - Zalman
Sicilian Paulsen [B94]
IDF Championship, Israel, 1957
Source & Annotator: see above
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 White threatens to take on f6, prevents the Dragon setup, and forces e6 or Nbd7. 6... Nbd7 7. Qd2 Qc7 The Paulsen variation. The idea is to develop counterchanges on the QS, even without solving the KS issues. 8. O-O-O b5?
Instead of this careless move, better is to first secure the KS with, e.g., 8... h6 9. Bh4 g6 and 10. Bg7. 9.g3? White missed an opportunity to win immediately. The combination he executed in the 11th move should have been done at once: 9. Bxf6 Nxf6 10. e5! dxe5 11. Ndxb5! axb5 12. Nxb5 Qb6 13. Qc3! and wins.
9... Bb7 10. Kb1 White needs to move the king from c1 for his planned combination. 10... g6! Did Black realize this moves saves him? 11. Bxf6 The beginning of a nice combination, which came too late. 11... Nxf6 12. e5!? dxe5 13. Ndxb5!? axb5 14.Nxb5 Qb6 14... Qc8 (or Qc6) 15. Na7! and 16. Bb5+; 14... Qc5 15. Qb4! 15. Qe3 Now it is clear why the White king had to move from c1. 15... Qa5 16. Qa3
This move should have been - according to White's calculations - the winning move. He threatens a queen exchange and immediate mate. For example:
16... Qxa3 17. Nc7#
16... Qb6 17. Nc7+! Qxc7 18. Bb5+
16... e6 (still) 17. Nc7+!
16... Bh6! A surprising save. 16...Re8! also puts White's victory in question as well, but now, when Black's king has an escape square at g7, White has no way to continue the attack, especially as Black is threatening mate on a2. 17. Qxa5 Rxa5 Black is now safe, and won due to his material advantage (0-1).
The above is a cut from the Israeli Film Archive (requires registration, but it is free) search for the term "Chess" (in English). There are quite a few newsreels of many Israeli tournaments, in particular the 1964 Olympiad held in Tel Aviv, naturally featuring many well-known players (the USSR team, in particular). There is also a 1935 Marmorosh Simul already posted on this blog, Najdorf's visit (1961), and much more.
A frequent correspondent reminds us that Moshe Czerniak's 64 Mishbatzot (you guessed it - "64 Square") had strong opinions expressed in the editorials. One particular one is Czerniak's dislike of avoiding battle - either by not joining a tournament at all or by early draws. As one of his pupils told us, he would tell younger players who agreed to such a draw: 'why did you agree to a draw? Don't you like playing chess?'.
Another example of this in an editorial in the May-June, 1957, editorial (p. 225). Czerniak notes that:
The fact that only one master played in the semi-final [of the Israel 1957 championship] is no coincidence. It is true that some were abroad, some could not leave work, and some are no longer, due to their age, able to stand the stress of such a tournament. But still is no justification for the absence of some of our masters. Could their regretful distancing form combative chess be seen as fear of defeat? If so, are they worthy of bearing the title of 'master'?
Indeed!
By the way, 64 Mishbatzot came out regularly for about 3 years, and had as editors, apart from Czerniak, also the masters Porat, van Amerongen, and Dr. Oren, as well as Zehavi. It was a great leap in both quality and quantity from previous Israeli, or Palestinian, chess magazines.
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 same column by Marmorosh (Davar, Feb. 8th, 1935, p. 5) has the following game between Vogel and Czerniak, with Marmorosh's annotations:
1). A problem (mate in 3)
2). A study (White wins)
3). A game (Vogel - Czerniak, 0-1, Jerusalem championship, 1935)
4). Local news (Jerusalem championship results, upcoming Jerusalem-Tel Aviv match, Ra'anana club founded.)
5). International news (Capablanca wins simultaneous games.)
6). Answers to correspondents.
7). A long lesson for beginners (the goal of the game, the movement of the king, the meaning of 'mate'.)
That said, the definition of 'mate' is somewhat mysterious:
'If the king is attacked on the square it is on and it is surrounded by friends and enemies to such a degree that it has no other square to escape to, and no other defense, it is mated.'
This seems to imply that the king is mated only when surrounded by other pieces, which is in fact rarely the case, and is unclear about what 'other defense' can there be against the attack on the king except for 'a square to escape to'.
The above note, from Marmorosh's column in Davar (Feb. 8th, 1935, p. 5), brought to our attention by a frequent correspondent, notes among many other things about the founding of a chess club in Ra'anana, which was decided upon after 'a general meeting of all chess fans in Ra'anana'. They selected a committee to run the club and decided to buy sets, start lessons for beginners, and start a tournament for the championship of Ra'anana. This is another example of the rise in chess activity in the country in the mid-1930s, as Czerniak, Porat, and many other strong players arrived in the country, and visits by Rubinstein, Flohr, and Mieses took place.
