Transposing into historic tabiyas

Roger de Coverly · Post by **Roger de Coverly** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 11:27 pm

A game today in the Chiltern competition against Nick Burrows of Oxfordshire reached this position

I wondered at the time whether we had transposed into an old Bronstein game. It turns out that we had. Amongst others, it was the game William Winter v Bronstein in the 1946 Radio match against the Soviet Union. Winter played Nd4-e2. Euwe played Ba3 in 1950 and his choice is endorsed by contemporary engines. I even had something similar myself back in 1970 against Louis de Veauce, but I had played .. Ng4 instead of .. Re8.

Nick Burrows · Post by **Nick Burrows** » Mon Apr 01, 2019 3:52 pm

Hi Roger,

I was out of book by about move 9. I was very impressed that you were able to (correctly) identify it as a transposition to a Bronstein game. I felt immediately after the game that 14.Kh1 was a mistake as it did not solve the problem of ..a4, leaving me with a seriously weakened queenside. I don't think I would have ever found 14.Ba3, though was considering 14.Nde2.

Congratulations on a well played game, and a good team performance from Bucks considering the rating disparity..

John McKenna · Post by **John McKenna** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:48 am

The famous Hungarian Champion and GM Gedeon Barcza played 14.Kh1 v. Eldis Cobo Arteaga in 1967 at the 10th Asztalos Mem.

Burrows,N-de Coverly,R followed that game until 19.Bd4!? Barcza played 19.Bc1, instead, and went on to win in 38 moves.

Roger de Coverly · Post by **Roger de Coverly** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:06 am

John McKenna wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:48 am
Barcza played 19.Bc1, instead, and went on to win in 38 moves.

It looks as if Barcza outplayed his opponent a bit in the ensuing melee ( White took the d6 pawn, Black took the c4 pawn), but the final win was a tactical collapse by Black, time trouble presumably. An engine unstressed by time pressure reckons the game is level with correct defence very near the end.

John McKenna · Post by **John McKenna** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 11:12 am

Yes, that goes some way to summing it up, Roger.

Nick lost - a more exciting game in my opinion - and so was a bit pessimistic about 14.Kh1...

Not sure if his 19.Bd4 is any better or worse than Barcza's 19.Bc1!? The latter looks a tad unnatural and the bishop didn't get out (by pivoting it to e3) for some moves.

(Nick managed to swap the bishops on g7.)

Barcza slowly engineered a position where he had the better black-square bishop - by advancing his K-side pawns to form a diagonal chain with its head at e5 - blocking out the g7 bishop of the Cuban(?), Cobo Arteaga.

The instantaneous collapse by Black on move 37 even involved the Black queen being lost due to a pin on the g7 bishop, which was never much use and proved to be a liability in the end.

Nick Burrows · Post by **Nick Burrows** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:27 pm

I was getting a bit low on time, but as I knew I was in trouble after 37.Qc8+, should have at least checked 37.Nxg6+ which is quite an easy draw. It escaped me completely.

Roger de Coverly · Post by **Roger de Coverly** » Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:42 pm

Nick Burrows wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 02, 2019 7:27 pm
should have at least checked 37.Nxg6+ which is quite an easy draw.

You have to spot the follow up idea 38. Qh3 Kg7 39. Rf1, forcing 39. .. Qxf1 after which Black has Rook, Knight and several pawns for the Queen. White can take a repetition draw though as Black has no King shelter.

Roger de Coverly · Post by **Roger de Coverly** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 9:17 pm

I managed the 1946 Zita-Bronstein game at the weekend, albeit from a round the houses move order.

Instead of Bronstein's .. a4, I played the plausible .. Ng4, taking advantage of the point that h3 hadn't been played. My opponent's next move 15. Kh1 was a serious blunder, losing instantly, had I spotted (or even remembered) the tactical trick.

John Moore · Post by **John Moore** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:36 am

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:06 am

John McKenna wrote: ↑
Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:48 am
Barcza played 19.Bc1, instead, and went on to win in 38 moves.
It looks as if Barcza outplayed his opponent a bit in the ensuing melee ( White took the d6 pawn, Black took the c4 pawn), but the final win was a tactical collapse by Black, time trouble presumably. An engine unstressed by time pressure reckons the game is level with correct defence very near the end.

Eldis Cobo, who played Black against Barcza, was a notorious time trouble addict in the days long before increments. So it's almost certain he would have been in time trouble in this game.

John McKenna · Post by **John McKenna** » Wed Aug 28, 2019 10:33 am

It has been said that a game without clock times is incomplete.

Back to 1946 -

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Transposing into historic tabiyas

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