More Short Games (Vol. III)

Tuesday / September 8th, 2009: A new page ... that will contain lightly annotated miniatures.

This game is an example of really unusual chess. It is ... a very fine combination, and it was played by two players who were very good in their time. (Most youngsters today know nothing about either of these fellows.) Additionally, I went through several books, and I did NOT find this contest in ANY book. (Just in the database.)

Click HERE to see a detailed explanation of the symbols that I use when annotating a chess game.

IM Karel Opocensky (2575) - GM Ludek Pachman (2350)

[A32]
ICT / Masters (Freedom)
Prague, Czechoslovakia; (3), 1945.

[A.J.G.]

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This is a game I found when annotating a training game ... although I have a vague sense I might have seen it somewhere before.

'Opo' (Born Feb. 07, 1892 / deceased: 16,11,1975.) was already an established Master when this game was played. Pachman, (Born: 11,05,1924.); was very young, only 20 or 21 years old.

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The ratings are simply estimates. {Sonas gives a rating of 2451 for Karel Opocensky for the end of the year, 1944. He gives Ludek Pachman a rating of 2374.)

1.d4 Nf6; 2.c4 e6; 3.g3 c5; 4.Nf3 cxd4; 5.Nxd4 Qc7!?;
A tricky move ... not uncommon for this type of position.

(Note that most opening books give this line as starting with 1.c4, c5.)

     [ Maybe slightly better is:   >/= 6.Nc3! a6; 7.Bg5 Bb4!?; {D?}
       I prefer the simple ...Be7; here.
       8.Bxf6 Bxc3+; 9.bxc3 gxf6; 10.Bg2 Qxc4; 11.0-0!; "~" {D?}
       White has very good play. (Space does not permit any deep analysis.)

6...Bb4+!?; 7.Nc3 Qxc4!?;
A somewhat risky Pawn grab ... but not altogether unsound.

8.0-0 0-0; 9.Bg5 Bxc3; 10.bxc3,
This position occurred in a correspondence game in 1975.
(K. Hohm - Meyer; FRG Championships, M-683). White won that game as well.

10...Nd5!?;
Black needs to try and develop, it is not good to have to move the same piece twice in the opening.

11.Re1!? Nc6; 12.Nxc6!? dxc6; 13.e4 Nb6!?;
Black chickens out - this tame move does not meet all the requirements for this position.

[ Better was: >/= 13...Nxc3; ('!') 14.Qc2, "~" 14...b5!; "=/+" {Diag?}
when the box prefers to play the Black pieces from here. ]

14.e5! h6?!; {See the diagram - - - just below.}
This looks like a good idea, but White refutes this move with a very attractive and
stunning reply. (Do you see it?)

White's next move is truly great ... and completely unexpected here.
15.Bxh6!! gxh6?; (Urgh)
At first glance ... it looks like Black must capture, but now the second player loses by force.
(Black had to wimp out and play something gross like ...f5; but White would have remained
with a VERY substantial edge in that continuation.)

[ The only chance was: >/= 15...f5[]; 16.Bd2, '±' {D?}
White is clearly much better here. ]

16.Re4! Qxc3; 17.Rc1! Qb2; 18.Rc2! Qb5!?;
If White does not want to be mated ... he must resign or play the move, ...QxR/c2.

19.Rg4+ Kh8; ('?')   {Diagram?}
After this move, Black cannot avoid mate, playing the King to h7 was completely forced.
(But this would not have changed the final result.)

[ After the moves: >/= 19...Kh7[]; 20.Be4+ f5; 21.exf6+ Kh8;
22.Qd6!, ("+/-") {Diagram?} Fritz says it is mate in 7. ]

20.Qc1, ('!') ("+/-") {Diagram?}
Mate cannot be avoided, therefore Black resigned. (1-0)

An extremely nice game by Karel Opocensky, shocking a future Super-star of chess.

1 - 0

Postscript: Apparently my use of the FIDE titles - at the start of the game might create the impression that both players were possessors of such titles at the time of the game. This was NOT the case! I used the FIDE titles ONLY in the overall sense of a life-time achievement. Hopefully a friend is sending the info ... and I will add it here.

(E-mail ... Saturday, August 21, 2004 9:47 PM; sent to my "Hotmail" e-mail address.)

A.J.:

The 20th FIDE congress in 1949 decided to give grandmaster and international master titles in 1950. The titles were published in the Golden Book of FIDE.

The FIDE chess congress met in July, 1950 in Amsterdam to award the grandmaster and international master titles.

In 1950 FIDE awarded 27 players the first official International Grandmaster (IGM) title. These players were: Bernstein, Boleslavsky, Bondarevsky, Botvinnik, Bronstein, Duras, Euwe, Fine, Flohr, Gruenfeld, Keres, Kostic, Kotov, Levenfish, Lilienthal, Maroczy, Mieses, Najdorf, Ragozin, Reshevsky, Rubinstein, Samisch, Smyslov, Stahlberg, Szabo, Tartakower, and Vidmar.

In 1950 FIDE awarded 94 players the International Master (IM) title.
Included on that list was Karl Opocensky and Ludek Pachman. (My emphasis.)

In 1954 Pachman was awarded the Grandmaster title (along with Gosta Stoltz, Isaac Kashdan, Gedeon Barcza, and Wolfgang Unzicker).

There are over 600 grandmasters today.

BILL WALL

More Chess Miniatures (Vol. III)

IM Karel Opocensky (2575) - GM Ludek Pachman (2350)

[A32] ICT / Masters (Freedom) Prague, Czechoslovakia; (3), 1945.

[A.J.G.]

1 - 0

[A32]
ICT / Masters (Freedom)
Prague, Czechoslovakia; (3), 1945.