Chess Room Newsletter #475

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1) Mechanics Institute Chess Club News
2) Bobby Fischer 1957-58
3) Robert Cromwell
4) Here and There

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Note due to upcoming the World Team Championship in Bursa, Turkey, the Newsletter will not appear again until January 19. The Winter Tuesday Night Marathon starts on January 5.

Los Gatos high school student and Senior Master Steven Zierk is the 2010 Falconer Award. The cash award, given by former US Senior Champion and longtime MI Trustee Neil Falconer to the highest rated Bay Area player under 18 on the December rating supplement, is equal to the youngster's rating - in Steven's case 2387.

Previous winners:

2000 SM Vinay Bhat
2001 IM Vinay Bhat
2002 IM Vinay Bhat
2003 NM Michael Pearson
2004 NM Nicholas Yap
2005 NM Matthew Ho
2006 NM Matthew Ho
2007 NM Nicholas Yap
2008 NM Sam Shankland
2009 IM Sam Shankland

NM Michael Aigner notes the fight for the Falconer came down to the final tournament in Reno (The Western States Open), with FM Daniel Naroditsky ahead by 45 points. Steven literally needed to pull off a 2700 level performance, which is exactly what he did defeating among others super GM Loek Van Wely (with Black). The Mechanics' Institute Chess Club played many matches by telegraph from the 1890s to the mid 1920s when the growing popularity of automobiles had led to more face to face meetings against long distance opponents.

Until recently the only match we were aware of was covered in the following account from the American Chess Bulletin (Page 192, November 1921). The team of the Mechanics' Institute Chess, representing San Francisco, earned another splendid victory in the intercity match by telegraph with Portland, Oregon, on October 12, winning to the tune of 9½ - 2½ . It was considered the strongest side that had ever played for the Golden Gate and the Oregonians knew they had been in a real fight when all was over.

Portland did have the consolation of the following victory over the well-known problem composer A.J. Fink. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd3 c5 5.a3 cxd4 6.axb4 dxc3 7.bxc3 dxe4 8.Bxe4 Qxd1+ 9.Kxd1 Nf6 10.Bf3 0-0 11.Be3 Rd8+ 12.Kc1 a6 13.Kb2 e5 14.Bb6 Re8 15.Rd1 e4 16.Be2 Be6 17.h4 Nbd7 18.Bd4 Rac8 19.Nh3 Bc4 20.Rhe1 Bxe2 21.Rxe2 h6 22.Nf4 Ne5 23.f3 Nc4+ 24.Kb3 exf3 25.Rxe8+ Nxe8 26.Nd5 Kf8 27.Bc5+ Ned6 28.gxf3 Ke8 29.Rd4 b5 30.Nf4 Nf5 31.Rd5 Nxh4 32.Nh5 f6 33.Nxg7+ Kf7 34.Rd7+ Kg6 35.f4 Rc6 36.Ne8 Nf5 37.Bd4 h5 38.Bxf6 Rxf6 39.Nxf6 Kxf6 40.Ra7 h4 41.Rxa6+ Nfd6 42.Ra8 Kf5 43.Ka2 Kxf4 44.Kb1 Ne4 45.Kc1 h3 46.Kd1 h2 0-1It turns out this was not the only match held between the two cities nor was it the first.

The American Chess Bulletin for 1919 (May-June issue, page 156) writes the MI accepted an invitation to play a telegraphic match on 12 boards with the Portland Chess and Checker Club on May 30. Unfortunately the ACB carried no further report but luckily Casey Bush's column in the Portland Chess Club Newsletter (May 1985, page) quotes W. H. Bryant's column in the Oregonian where the date of May 30, 1919, is given for the match and the following details are provided.

"Coast Chess Title is Clinched".

"Since Portland had already beaten Seattle and San Francisco had trimmed Los Angeles, this win for Portland gives her unquestioned supremacy on the West Coast. On the top boards the attacks of California's strongest chess players could make no dent on the defense of A.G. Johnson, E.G. Short and W. G. Ringler. O.B. Goldman gave Portland her first win but J. vanZante on board 5 lost. Then disaster struck San Francisco for F.S. Meyer, Portland's Postmaster, annihilated his opponent and was followed by an avalanche of wins for the local club." Mr. Bryant justly gloats over the defeat of the "Seal Rocks City Men of the Mechanics'".

Details of the 1920 match are sketchy but it would appear San Francisco won. Mr. E.G. Short in his recollections many years later remembers that no such publicity followed the disastrous return match, one year later, when San Francisco beefed up their lower boards and reclaimed the title. Also the ACB report of 1921 writes of "another splendid victory" for the MI.

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Interest in the life of Bobby Fischer continues despite his death almost two years ago. Such a basic question as to whether he ever received the International Master title is not completely clear (see Edward Winter's Chess Notes (#6423) - http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/).

The following game was annotated by Fischer for the Israeli magazine Shamat. Notes by Bobby Fischer - Shamat, August 1968, pages 1–2. 1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.g3 Nf6 5.Bg2 Be7 6.Ngf3 0–0 7.0–0 These first few moves needed no comment since all this has been played many times before. White is playing a King's Indian with a tempo in hand and against a rather passive setup of the Black pieces. 7...Nc6 8.Re1 Qc7! This is better than 8...b5 9.e5 Nd7 10.Nf1 as in the game Fischer-Mjagmarsuren, Sousse 1967. 9.e5 Nd7 10.Qe2 Now White's queen may become subject to threats on this square, for example ...Nd4. 10...b5 11.h4 a5 12.Nf1 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 Now both sides have weaknesses: White a backward pawn on the c-file, Black an artificially isolated pawn on d4. White, with latent kingside attacking chances, however, still has an edge. 14.Bf4 Ra6!? Black decides to bring immediate pressure on White's helpless pawn c2, ignoring or overlooking, White's threat of 15.Bxd5. But after some consideration I rejected this combination because after 15.Bxd5 Bb4! 16.Rc1? (16.Reb1 is better) 16...exd5 17.e6 Rxe6 18.Qxe6 Qxf4 19.Qxd7 Qxc1 and wins. 15.Nh2 15.Bxd5 Bb4 16.Rec1 exd5 17.e6 Rxe6 18.Qxe6 Qxf4 19.Qxd7 Qxc1. 15...Rc6 16.Rac1 Ba6? It turns out Black was not ware of White's tactical possibilities on d5. Correct was 16...Qb6. 17.Bxd5 exd5? Makes it easy, 17...Rc5! followed by 18...Rfc8 still offered chances of saving the game. 18.e6 Qd8 19.exd7 Re6 20.Qg4 f5 After 20...Qxd7 21.Be5 wins a pawn and eventually the game. Now the weakened "e" file proves Black's downfall. 21.Qh5 Qxd7 22.Nf3 g6 23.Qh6 Bf6 24.Rxe6 Qxe6 25.Be5! Forcing by a little combination the exchange of Bishops, creating numerous holes on Black's dark squares. This factor is decisive. Geller's last hope was 25.Re1? Qxe1+!! 26.Nxe1 Bg7 27.Qg5 Bf6 and draws. 25...Bxe5 26.Re1 f4 27.Rxe5 Qd7 28.h5! Cracks Black wide open. If 28...gxh5 then 29.Rg5+. 28...fxg3 29.hxg6! gxf2+ Or 29...Rxf3 30.Re8+!! and the g-pawn queens. 30.Kxf2 hxg6 31.Qxg6+ Qg7 32.Rg5 The finishing touch: exchanging Queen's costs Black his Bishop on a6.(Editor's note - ChessBase Mega 2009 has the game ending here). 32...Rf7 And here, while I was trying to decide on 33.Qh6 or 33.Qh5 Black resigned. 1–0 This period where Fischer went from a newly minted national master to a world class player is not fully documented. One unresolved question is when Fischer considered himself to be the best player in the United States. It is definitely was not after the 1957-58 US Championship. In an interview shortly after the event Fischer was asked point blank if he was the best player in the United States. "No," he said humbly, "one tournament doesn't mean that much. Maybe," he paused, "maybe Reshevsky is better." (Profile of a Prodigy (2nd edition, page 21). This question becomes relevant in the fall of 1958 when Bobby doesn't play on the US team at the Munich Olympiad (in fact Reshevsky and Fischer were never to be teammates). One wants to know why Bobby did not play.

Recently Larry Evans attempts to answer this question on page 7 of his introduction to Bobby Fischer: The Complete Games of the American World Chess Champion by Karsten Mueller (Russell Enterprises. Inc. 2009). He writes:

       In 1958, Bobby insisted on his rights as U.S. Champion to play first board ahead of Reshevsky, disappointing his fans refusing to play on our team at the Munich Olympiad. "

It's not clear if what Evan's wrote was from memory or from Frank Brady's Profile of a Prodigy, (2nd edition; page 43) where Brady writes:

       Bobby had pulled rank on the displaced sovereign almost immediately after winning the Championship, refusing to participate in the 1958 Olympiad unless he, rather than Reshevsky, played first board.

One wonders did Bobby change his mind some months after the US Championship. It certainly could not have been as a result of any tournament successes - Fischer played no tournament games from the end of the 1957/58 US Championship to the practice matches with Janosevic and Matulovic in July. Bobby explains one of the reasons for this sabbatical in his book of collected games (Bobby Fischer's Games of Chess (Simon and Schuster, 1958), "Writing this book was a big job, the annotations required practically every weekend from February to June and some time in between."

Olympiads team invitations usually are sent out four months before the event - well before Fischer's success at the Interzonal (Portoroz was held, August 5 - September 12, 1958 and the Munich Olympiad September 30-October 23). Accounts in Chess Review never mention Fischer as a potential participant at Munich until after Portoroz.

Chess Review, August 1958, page 227

       Though the full membership of the team has not yet been settled, it is expected to include international grandmasters Sammy Reshevsky, Arthur Bisguier and Larry Evans, and William Lombardy, World Junior Champion, and Robert Byrne, international master and fourth ranking U.S. player.

Chess Review, November 1958, page 328.

       ....Bobby Fischer, really on merit, should be on the team but says he can not spare the time from school.

Dr. Frank Brady, who is working on a third edition of Profile of a Prodigy and who likely knows the first half of Fischer's life better than anyone else, solves the mystery in the following paragraph which he very generously e-mailed to your editor.

       Briefly, Bobby could have taken a month off from Erasmus, but he would have gotten in trouble, and at that point in his life, believe it or not, he was not thinking of dropping out of school. He was a full week late in starting school after Portoroz, and he had a number of Regents exams with which to contend. After that grueling semester, and then the US Championship, he began to have doubts whether he should finish high school. As soon as he reached 16, March 1959, he dropped out (much to the rue of Regina). When he was in Mar Del Plata, Regina was trying to get him to enter an Argentinean school, but to no avail.

He did not spend a great deal of time working on the book: everyone was helping him: Collins, his mother, Joan and Ethel Collins helping him with the typing, etc.

So we now know that the quarrels between Fischer and Reshevsky did not start with the selection process for board one for the Munich Olympiad but sometime later.

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Robert J. Cromwell, a USCF life member from Millbrae, California, died September 9, 2009 in Burlingame, California. He was 79. He was born July 2, 1930 in San Francisco and had been a longtime resident of Millbrae. Mr. Cromwell owned the Candle Factory in South San Francisco for 35 years. An avid chess player, his USCF rating peaked at over 1900 more than 20 years ago and he maintained a Class A rating up until the late spring of 1997. He was a founding member of the San Mateo-Burlingame Chess Club and a life member of the Mechanics Institute Chess Club in San Francisco. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Betty Cromwell; a son, Peter Cromwell; a brother, Emmett Cromwell of Seattle, Washington; a sister, Joyce Ross of Acme, Washington; nephews and nieces.

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The 4th Edmonton International took place December 17-21 and ended in a fine success for MI member GM Josh Friedel.

1. GM Friedel (USA, 2551) - 7 (winner on tiebreak).
2. GM Mikhalevski (ISR, 2607) - 7
3. IM Esserman (USA, 2408) - 6½
4. IM Antal (HUN, 2495) - 6
5. GM Kraai (USA, 2509) - 5
6. E.Hansen (CAN, 2409) - 4
7. Porper (CAN, 2445) - 3½
8. Haessel (CAN, 2201) - 2½
9. MacKinnon (CAN, 2125) - 2
10. FM Pechenkin (CAN, 2372) - 1½

US Chess online (www.uschess.org) has a fine report on Alex Lenderman's outstanding performance in the recent Marshall Chess Club Championship. Here is a brief excerpt.

The snowstorm did not stop the action at the 93rd Marshall Chess Club Championship & Edward Lasker Memorial. GM-elect Alex Lenderman dominated the event, held over two weekends, Dec.11-13 and Dec.19-20. He scored 7.5/9, a full point and a half ahead of the rest of the field. Lenderman's result was all the more remarkable since he encountered a round six pitfall, losing to GM Michael Rohde. (making for seven wins, one loss and one draw!) Lenderman took the Marshall Chess Championship title, $2000 as well as his fourth GM norm. Lenderman was expected to get the GM title earlier this year, but due to a technicality with one of his norms, his title was delayed.

Here are two flashy wins.

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 Bg7 4.Bb2 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.c4 c5 7.Nc3 O-O 8.O-O Nc6 9.d4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 cxd4 12.Qxd4 d5 13.cxd5 e6 14.Rfd1 Nxd5 15.Qxg7+ Kxg7 16.Nxd5+ Kh6 17.Nf6 Qc7 18.Be5 Qc6+ 19.f3 Rfd8 20.Ng4+ Kh5 21.Bg7 g5 22.Ne5 Qc2 23.Kh3 g4+ 24.fxg4+ Kg5 25.Nxf7+ Kg6 26.Nxd8 Kxg7 27.Nxe6+ Kg8 28.Nf4 Qb2 29.Rac1 Rf8 30.Rc7 Rf7 31.Rd8+ 1-0