August 30, 1959 Boston Globe, Chess Notebook by Lyman Burgess

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Chess Notebook 30 Aug 1959, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

Chess Notebook By Lyman Burgess
Last call for the New England championship — play begins Friday Sept 4, at 7:33 p.m. Class A entry fee is $12 and Class B. $7. Write to Richard Tirrell, 30 Mercer St., South Boston, for information and reservations. If you can't commit yourself this far in advance then just show up at the Cotuit Room of the Hotel Touraine, Boston, at the hour set.
Capablanca, after losing the world chess championship in 1927, bemoaned the state of the game and predicted the “death of the draw.” Of the 34 games in the Alekhine-Capablanca match 25 were drawn truly a formidable percentage of dead heats.
Other happenings seemed to lend an air of authenticity to Capa's dire prediction. Many of the young up-and-coming masters aped the Cuban's crystal clear, but draw prone, style. In fact, Salo-Flohr built a substantial reputation by consistently drawing with his peers and thumping the field.
Alekhine, except for his adopting Capablanca's style in the 1927 match, stood throughout the draw-happy period as the major protagonist of the dynamic school. Soon he was joined (in spirit) by the rapidly rising Soviet school.
The Russians soon rose to pre-eminence and dominated the chess world. Their dynamic style smothered the remnants of the effects of Capablanca's classic clarity and Flohr's quiet game. The threat of death by draw was forgotten.
But I notice a sad trend. In the recent Log Cabin tournament (ten of the country's top 16 competed) Walter Shipman drew his first seven games and Larry Evans drew his first six! In Moscow a short time ago in a tournament of 12 (including Bronstein, Smyslov, Spassky, Olafsson, Larsen, Portisch and Filip) 43 of the 66 games were drawn. Is this just a temporary relapse? Has Capa's Cassandra-like vision a delayed validity? If the answers to these questions are no and yes respectively then we stand in need of a new Alekhine.
Larry Evans defeated James Cross in the eighth round of the Log Cabin invitational tournament. My old-fashioned soul quakes at the sight of White's King-side pawn play.

James Cross (white) vs. Larry Evans (black)
English Opening: Great Snake Variation

Descriptive 1. P-QB4 P-KN3 2. N-QB3 B-N2 3. P-KN3 N-KB3 4. B-N2 O-O 5. P-K4 P-B4 6. KN-K2 N-B3 7. P-B4 P-Q3 8. P-KR3 P-K4 9. O-O PxP 10. PxP N-KR4 11. P-Q3 N-Q5 12. R-N P-QR3 13. B-K3 R-N 14. Q-Q2 P-QN4 15. PxP PxP 16. BxN PxB 17. N-Q5 P-B4 18. QR-B K-R 19. Q-N4 PxP 20. PxP B-K3 21. R-B6 BxN 22. PxB P-Q6 23. N-B Q-K2 24. R-K Q-R2ch 25. K-R NxP 26. B-K4 Q-B7 27. R-Q Q-N6 28. Q-Q2 NxRP Resigns

Algebraic 1. c4 g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 0-0 5. e4 c5 6. Ne2 Nc6 7. f4 d6 8. h3 e5 9. 0-0 exf4 10. gxf4 Nh5 11. d3 Nd4 12. Rb1 a6 13. Be3 Rb8 14. Qd2 b5 15. cxb5 axb5 16. Bxd4 cxd4 17. Nd5 f5 18. Rbc1 Kh8 19. Qb4 fxe4 20. dxe4 Be6 21. Rc6 Bxd5 22. exd5 d3 23. Nc1 Qe7 24. Re1 Qa7+ 25. Kh1 Nxf4 26. Be4 Qf2 27. Rd1 Qg3 28. Qd2 Nxh3 0-1