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Chess 05 Feb 1959, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
CHESS
The Guardian, Chess, Thursday, February 05, 1959, Greater London, England Problem No. 511 By V. L. Eaton (Silver...
Posted by Bobby Fischer's True History on Thursday, May 5, 2022
Problem No. 511 By V. L. Eaton (Silver Spring, Maryland, United States)
Black (10)
White (11)
White mates in two moves.
FEN n1B2B2/P1p3rr/1pk3NR/7Q/P7/N1P5/1qpb2K1/3R2n1 w - - 0 1
Solution: 1. Nxc2 Bxh6 2. Qd5#
World title prospects
The challengers' tournament for the world championship, to be held in Yugoslavia this autumn, holds out better prospects for the non-Russians than any of the three previous similar events. Fischer has just won the United States championship, Gligoric has been in consistently good form over the last year, and now Olafsson has scored a convincing victory at Beverwijk in Holland, ahead of three other grandmasters.
Olafsson's hyper-subtle positional play has been likened to Nimzovitch; and in the following game from Beverwijk he gives an excellent demonstration of the art of keeping the situation tense until the opponent makes an inaccuracy.
Fridrik Olafsson vs Theo D van Scheltinga
Beverwijk, The Netherlands (1959), Beverwijk NED, rd 8, Jan-17
English Opening: Agincourt Defense (A13) 1-0
1. White's choice of opening is interesting; it is basically a Catalan, but he holds back his QP so as to retain the choice of P-Q3 or P-Q4 according to what formation Black adopts. Many masters who are experts at positional play adopt this technique of masking a definite choice or plan as long as possible.
2. A good reply; Black will gain a tempo by B-K3.
3. Black holds back N-B3 so as to answer 8. P-Q4 with 8. … P-K5; 9. N-N5 P-KB4; when he has a strong centre.
4. Another instructive moment. White's positional threat is P-Q4, which will establish a mobile 4-3 pawn majority on the king's wing. Black can prevent this and at the same time set up a “hole” at White's Q4. but in return White has a hole at Q5, where he hopes the knight will arrive with gain of tempo through the attack on the queen.
5. In an ultra-positional opening like this, in which the centre is closed, traditional development rules are of no great weight. Hence, White can move a piece twice before deciding on the squares for his other pieces: what counts is his plan of attacking the white squares. The reply 11. … P-KN3 would weaken the king's field too much.
6. A little trap: if 13. … BxN; 14. PxB QxP; 15. BxP.
7. Olafsson offered a draw here, which would have ensured him first prize; but Black declined. In fact, Black can force a practically drawn position by 14. … BxN; 15. PxB QxP; 16. BxKN QxB; 17. BxN PxB; 18. N-K4 Q-K2; but he mistakenly believes that White's draw offer is a confession of inferiority. After all, many offers of a draw in the early stages imply just this.
8. A fine move, and much better than 15. NxN BPxN; 16.N-K2 KR-B1; 17. Q-Q1 N-K1; followed by P-B3; after which Black would indeed have a marked initiative on the queen's side.
9. Clearly overlooking White's 19th move, for otherwise he could still maintain an equal game by BxN.
10. Rather better is 18. … K-N2.
11. A deadly stroke, reminiscent of some of Alekhine's combinations. If 19. … BxNP; 20. Q-R6 B-K2; 21. NxPch BxN; 22. B-K4, with unavoidable mate, and if 19. … B-K3: 20. Q-R6 BxN; 21. BxB P-B4; 22. PxP K-R1; 23. K-R1 P-B3; 24. R-KN1, with a winning attack.
12. Threatening to win the bishop by P-R5.
13. For if 24. … PxB; 25. R-N1ch or if 24. … K-R1; 25. BxP (had the white king gone to R1 and not R2. Black would have the resource 25. … QxNch).
The Russian championship is in its closing stages and with four rounds to go Tal is in danger of losing his title. The leading scores are: Petrosian 10 out of 14, Spassky 10 out of 15, Taimanov 9 out of 14, Tal 8½ out of 13.
Soviet Chess Champion 11 Feb 1959, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
SOVIET CHESS CHAMPION
Moscow, February 10. Grandmaster Tigran Petrosyan, of Moscow, won the 1959 Soviet chess championship at Tiflis to-day. A drawn match with M. Korchnoi assured him of victory over Mikhail Tal, of Riga, who won the 1957 and 1958 championships. Tal just beat Petrosian last February.—Associated Press.
