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Chess Notebook 02 Aug 1959, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com
Chess Notebook By Lyman Burgess
Dr. Frank C Lituri of Maynard has come up with what appears to be the key moves of the Zukertort “win” on the Sam Loyd-Golmayo ending discussed here July 5.
The position: White: K at KN; Q at Q; R at KB; R at QR7; N at KB6; P's at QB2, Q3, KB2, KN2 and KR3. Black: K at QB; Q at QN5; R at KR; R at QR3; N at Q5; P's at QN2, QB2, KN4 and KR5. At this point, you may remember Loyd announced mate in 8 moves.
The brilliancy was cooked by Black's being able to play 5. … K-R2 instead of RxQ.
The amended solution: 1. R-R8ch!, RxR; 2. Q-N4ch. K-N; 3. N-Q7ch, K-B; 4. N-N6d.ch, K-N; 5. Q-B8ch (so far, Loyd; the rest is Dr. Lituri), K-R2; 6. QxP, NxP; 7. NxR, RxN; 8. QxN, next the exchange of Queens cannot be avoided and from there on White's pawn majority should prove decisive.
The Doctor offers this postscript of amplication: “After 6. QxP any R or P move obviously loses. Any N move, except 6 … NxP also loses. Finally, against the four plausible Q moves analysis shows that White either wins outright or the resulting end games are more to White's favor than that results from NxP. Therefore 6 … NxP must be Black's best move.”
The tournament in honor of the silver anniversary of the Log Cabin Chess Club will begin Aug. 7. E. Forry Laucks, founder of the club, has donated a large prize fund and hopes to lure most of the top ten players in the country to Orange, N.J., for the event.
The ten-man round-robin will be a welcome relief from the Swiss System which sometimes seems to have more holes than another product of the parent country. Bisguier, James Sherwin, William Lombardy and James Cross have accepted invitations. Others, including Reshevsky and Robert Byrne, have not yet decided. Attempts are being made to lure Bobby Fischer back from Europe.
B. H. Wood had this to say about Fischer at Zurich: “It was rather amusing to observe this boy annoying grand masters intensely by subjecting them, in drawish endgames to the same wearing-down tactics by which they themselves gain many a point against lesser lights. He went on and on against Keres in an apparently unwinnable position and finally won in 81 moves. He took Barcza to 95 moves before ‘conceding’ a draw.”
Kazys Merkis of South Boston met Russell Chauvenet newly crowned U.S. amateur champion, in a pair of games in the 1957-8 “Chess Review” postal tournament Results: A quick win for Kazys in Game “B” and a slashing draw in Game “A.” Chauvenet's sacrifices seemed to backfire on him and Merkis seemed to have a win by move 23. However, Black slipped on move 26 and White saved half his skin.
Louis Russell Chauvenet (white) vs. Kazys Merkis (black)
Sicilian Defense: Smith-Morra Gambit Accepted, Scheveningen Formation
