March 16, 1962 Chessically Yours by Henry Overeem Paterson, New Jersey

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Chessically Yours 16 Mar 1962, Fri The News (Paterson, New Jersey) Newspapers.com

The News, Paterson, New Jersey, Friday, March 16, 1962

Chessically Yours by Henry Overeem
An intense and friendly rivalry was automatically created between Robin Ault, of Cranford and Peter Irwin, of Summit, in the Junior age chess tournaments. Peter, younger than Robin, is another young New Jersey chess product with tremendous potential. He soon emerged as a consistant if unsuccessful challenger to Robin's domination of Junior chess events. His destiny became his frustration, yet even in the shadow of defeat he won much glory and renown.
In the New Jersey Junior championship tournament of 1959 Robin played one of his wild and fantastic games, a King Bishops gambit, with which Peter could not cope. This game must have been played after Robin had begun the translation of “300 Chess Games” for shades of Tarrasch are clearly evident. Of the game itself Robin later wrote, “My most enjoyable victory against my favorite victim.”

Robin Ault (white) vs. Peter Irwin (black)
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Cozio Variation

Descriptive 1. P-K4 P-K4 2. P-KB4 PxP 3. B-B4 Q-R5ch 4. K-B P-Q3 5. N-KB3 Q-K2 6. P-Q4 P-KN4 7. P-KR4 P-KB3 8. N-B3 B-K3 9. BxB QxB 10. PxP N-Q2 11. BxP B-K2 12. P-N6 P-KR3 13. N-KR4 Q-B5 14. Q-Q3 QxQch 15. PxQ P-KR4 16. N-Q5 B-Q 17. N-B5 P-B3 18. P-N7 B-L2 19. NxQPch 1-0

Algebraic 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ 4. Kf1 d6 5. Nf3 Qe7 6. d4 g5 7. h4 f6 8. Nc3 Be6 9. Bxe6 Qxe6 10. hxg5 Nd7 11. Bxf4 Be7 12. g6 h6 13. Nh4 Qc4+ 14. Qd3 Qxd3+ 15. cxd3 h5 16. Nd5 Bd8 17. Nf5 c6 18. g7 Be7 19. Nxf6+ 1-0

Notes by Robin Ault: Q-R3 is more usual for black's 5th and better than the text. Black's 6th is weakening, P-KN4, but QxP would have allowed 7. BxPch. On 13…Q-B5ch black hopes to relieve some of the threats by exchanging queens; but white's minor pieces cooperate beautifully, aided by Black's suicidal impulses.
The second game is from the 1961-62 Columbia College Championship. This is the era of stodginess, the lack of fire and daring when the effect of Tarrasch has worn off. Here stands Robin exposed, now let's see how stodgy this game really is.

Jerome Lee Finkelstein (white) vs. Robin Ault (black)
Indian Defense: Budapest Defense, Adler Variation

Descriptive 1. P-Q4 N-KB3 2. P-QB4 P-K4 3. PxP N-N5 4. N-KB3 B-B4 5. P-K3 N-QB3 6. P-QN3 KNxP4 7. NxN NxN 8. N-Q2 P-Q3 9. B-K2 B-B4 10. B-N2 O-O 11. N-B3 B-N5ch 12. N-Q2 Q-N4 13. P-N3 N-Q6ch 14. BxN BxB 15. P-R4 Q-N3 16. P-R3 KR-K 17. B-Q4 B-B6 18. Q-B3 B-K5 19. QxB QxQ 20. BxB QxRch 0-1

Algebraic 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nf3 Bc5 5. e3 Nc6 6. b3 Nxe5 7. Nxe5 Nxe5 8. Nd2 d6 9. Be2 Bf5 10. Bb2 0-0 11. Nf3 Bb4+ 12. Nd2 Qg5 13. g3 Nd3+ 14. Bxd3 Bxd3 15. a4 Qg6 16. h3 Rfe8 17. Bd4 Bc3 18. Qf3 Be4 19. Qxe4 Qxe4 20. Bxc3 Qxh1+ 0-1

6. A questionable idea.
8. And another.
9. Q-B2 was preferable to prevent black's next move.
11. There is no question about this idea—it is definitely bad.
12. White dare not castle, either immediately or after 13. BxN, PxB. In view of this, it might have been better for white to renounce castling on move 12, with King-B1. Even here the move would not be so bad. However, white indescreetly weakens his king-side.
15. Much better than Q-R3, which fits in with black's intention of R-K. Black must prevent the white queen from leaving the first rank, else white could castle queen-side and relieve the pressure.
17. Not 17. PxB, mate in 2. After the text the threat is PxB. 17. R-KN fails against RxPch. But, 17. R-KN would get white off rather cheaply. However, with the text move, white clearly did not see black's pretty and ingenious reply.
19. Born of desperation.
21. Resigns.
A pretty stodgy game. I wonder where I can buy a book on “How to Play Stodgy Chess.”