CHESS
The British Chess Magazine has a reputation for the publication of artistic books, rather than sure-fire commercial successes. Such were Coles's anthology of Sultan Khan's games, my own book on Staunton and now W. H. Cozens on the Lost Olympiad, Stockholm 1937.
It is a book which deserves to succeed, beautifully and clearly produced, with highly readable notes and a mass of in- teresting facts and statistics. If there are problems, it is that the commentary tends to be discursive rather than analytical and the author is too easily impressed by good moves and awards the accolade `!!' too liberally.
Stockholm was packed with outstanding players, Fine, Flohr, Lilenthal Najdorf, Marshall, Reshevsky, Tartakower, Golom- bek, Alexander, Milner-Barry and, of course, the reigning world champion, Max Euwe. Here is one of his most impressive performances. Notes are based on those by Cozens: `This is clearly going to be one of the set pieces of the Olympiad. Max Euwe, world champion, conqueror of Alekhine, meets Paul Keres, whose sparkling aggression has already made him one of the likeliest claimants to be the new Alekhine — and Keres has the white pieces.'
Keres — Euwe: Ruy Lopez.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6
Ideals
Raymond Keene
d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Be7 10 Be3 Na5 11 Nd4 0-0 12 f3 Nc5 13 f4 And here comes the attack; the threatened further advance of this pawn will demand all of Euwe's defensive skill. 13 . . . Ncxb3 14 Nxb3 Nc4 15 Bd4! Keres offers the b pawn. To take it would be playing right into his hands: 15 . . . Nxb2 16 Qc2 Nc4 17 f5, and Black could hardly hope to survive. Instead Euwe quietly blockades the f pawn. Later on Euwe pointed out another excellent move in 15 . . . Qc8! which combines control of f5 with the counter-threat of . . . c5. 15 . . . Bf5 16 Rf2 a5 17 Nc5 a4! Securing his knight on c4. As long as it stays there White will have difficulty in developing his Q-side pieces. Black's counter- initiative is now very real. 18 Qcl Qe8 19 Nd2
Position after 21 . . . Ra3!
Qc6 20 b4 axb3 21 N2xb3 Ra3! (Diagram) The counter-attack grows. Every Black piece is available for action on the Q-side and the whole of White's left hand sector, though containing no King, begins to look fragile. 22 g4!? Typical Keres. Euwe refuses the offer, and one wonders what Keres intended to play had it been accepted; not 23 f5 because of 23 . . . Bxf5 24 Rxf5 Qg6+. It is unlikely that Keres and Euwe both overlooked this possibility. Was it a bluff that succeeded? Or did Euwe object on principle to giving White an open g-file? Either way White's attack now gains momentum and the two attacks look finely balanced. 22 . . . Be4 23 f5 Bh4 24 Nxe4 dxe4 25 Rg2 RfaS 26 Nc5 Nxe5 27 BxeS Qxc5+ 28 Bd4 Qd5 29 Qf4 c5 30 Bxg7 Kxg7 31 g5 Rxc3 32 Qxh4 Keres could have retained the powerful f-pawn by checking with it first, but it would not have saved him, for Euwe's analysis ran: 32 f6+ Kh8 33 Qxh4 Rh3 34 Qxh3 Qd4+ and 35 . . . Qxal. 32 . . . QxfS 33 Qh6+ Kg8 34 Qc6 Rd8 35 QxbS Rcd3 36 Rfl Rdl 37 Rf2 Qg4+ 38 Khl e3 39 Rxf7 e2 40 Qb3 Rxfl+ 41 Rxf1÷ c4! White resigns.
`Euwe began playing like a machine, winning six games off the reel, the victims, including Keres, Stahlberg and Mikenas. Stockholm 1937 (price £10.95) can be ordered from the BCM, 9 Market St., St Leonatds-on-Sea, Sussex.
The Alburt-Speelman and Miles- Kasparov matches are currently in prog- ress, the former at the Great Eastern Hotel and the latter in Basel. This week's article goes to press too early to include any of the play, but next week I hope to bring you some of the most brilliant games, perhaps with comments based on those by the players.
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