From: mazzarel@spam.berkeley.edu (Ariel Mazzarelli)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess
Subject: Reshevsky-Boleslavsky,  Zurich 1953
Date: 29 Jul 1992 09:28:20 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley Math. Department.
NNTP-Posting-Host: spam.berkeley.edu

Mark Zabel's comment on the Colle sent me searching unsuccessfully for the
"sneaky" Smyslov game.  But Bronstein's book has so many great games,  that
I soon forgot about that and looked at this one.  It was played in the 22nd
round,  when Reshevsky still entertained hopes of winning.

I copy straight out of Bronstein's book,  hope he doesn't mind. :)

Reshevsky-Boleslavsky, King's Indian Defense.

Chess is infinite, and chess players, in order not to lose their way in its
vastness, are guided in the evaluation of positions and the choosing of
plans by certain signposts, such as weak pawns, open lines, advantage in
development, good and bad Bishops, poor King position, and others. It must
be said, however, that such signposts are not found in every game, so we
cannot always compare the pros and cons of a position as the basis for 
choosing the correct plan. On the one hand, chess theory has not yet 
discovered all the signposts, which if it had would mean the exhaustion
of diversity in chess; and on the other, the signposts are difficult to apply
in positions in which there are certain imbalances. In any case, there are
many games whose course must be based solely on intuition and on calculation
over the board, and these are the most difficult games, even for grandmasters.

1.d4 Nf6  2.c4 g6  3.g3 Bg7  4.Bg2 O-O  5.Nc3 d6  6.Nf3 c5  7.d5 Na6

This move is not in classical style, of course. The piece is developed to one
side and immediately moves a second time, as a result finding itself on c7,
which is not considered a particularly good place for a [Black!] Knight.
However, such ideas are often employed in modern games, and they are 
dangerous because they seem to be illogical whereas actually they have
specific purposes.

The idea behind the maneuver Na6-c7 in connection with QR-b8 is that Black
wishes to prepare b5 without resorting to a6. Why is b5 necessary? Can't 
White simply reply b3? It proves to be not that simple. First, in order to
play b3 he must be able to remove two pieces from the long diagonal; second,
Black will exchange on c4 and then put his Bishop on a6 and his Rook on b4,
and it will be extremely difficult for White to defend his c pawn. This is
the reason--to reserve a6 for his Bishop--that Black does not want to play a6.

8.O-O Nc7  9.Nd2 Rb8  10.a4 e6

Black now sneaks up on the c pawn from the other side. Not wanting to play e4,
which would block the diagonal of his Bishop, White exchanges on e6, and after

11.de6 Be6

he is faced with a choice: to tie his Knight down to the defense of the 
c pawn or...

12.Nde4!

From this point until about move 23 the game follows a long and complex
tactical calculation for which no general rules have yet been found. The two
players are well matched in their ability to calculate complex combinations;
at the time this tournament took place they, along with Geller and Taimanov,
were the best calculative players in the world, which of course is not to
disparage their qualities as positional players.

Let me point out some of the themes of the combination that will arise during
the further course of the game. Black's Rook has left a8 and defends the 
b pawn, but at this moment his Knight and Rook stand on the same diagonal and
are vulnerable to flank attack. White's b pawn will be unprotected after his
QB moves, and Black's KB can take it with tempo; after White's Knight takes
the d pawn, Black's Rooks will be deprived of e8 and c8, and all White's
Bishop has to do to win the Exchange is to go to e7 and attack the Rook on
f8, etc. This is hardly everything, of course; it is only a fraction of the
considerations that rush through a chess player's brain when he has a
choice of continuations.

12. ... Ne4  13.Ne4 Bc4  14.Bg5 Qd7

Boleslavsky temptingly invites his opponent's forces into his fortress, but
Reshevsky staunchly resists the temptation. There is plainly no great
satisfaction in 15.Nf6+ Bf6  16.Bf6 Qe6, while a loss would be in the offing.
If Black played 14. ... f6, White could answer 15.Bf4 g5  16.Nd6.

15.Qd6 Qd6  16.Nd6 Be2  17.Rfe1 Bd3  18.Be7

The likelihood of giving up a Rook for the dark-square Bishop and a couple
of pawns seems not to have bothered Black in the least. But Reshevsky has
noticed an important feature of the coming endgame: the possibility of
concerted action by his two Rooks against the Bishop and the two pawns.
He is a little troubled only by the presence of Black's two powerful Bishops.

18. ... Bb2  19.Ra2 Bg7  20.Bf1

The beautiful concluding move of the game's combinational phase. Black's
reliance on his two Bishops is broken. His Rook on f1 has nowhere to go,
and his Bishop on d3 cannot avoid being exchanged. Now White will be able to
exploit his advantage in development and his favorably placed Rooks. Black's
position is by no means lost, by the way; his undoing comes later, when he
overestimates his chances.

20. ... Bf1  21.Kf1 Nd5

A Knight is doubly strong when it is defended by a pawn. Boleslavsky would
get a safe position by playing 21. ... Ne6 here. White's attempt to win a 
pawn on the Queenside would be prevented by the Knight's moving to d4.

22.Bf8 Bf8  23.Rae2!

Beautiful play! White threatens to exchange the Black Rook and attack the
pawns from behind. If Black's Knight stood on e6, this combination would
obviously be impossible. That is why it was important to close the e-file
with the Knight. Black is now forced to capture, for 23. ... Kg7 would be
followed by 24.Ne8+ and 25.Re5.

23. ... Bd6  24.Rd2 Bf8.

If Black is tempted by the g pawn, he loses after 24. ... Bg3  25.hg3 Nc7
26.Re7 Ne6  27.Rdd7.  It is hard to believe, however, that with two pawns for
the Exchange Black can think of no more active move than Bf8. For example, he
can dare to go for a third pawn by 24. ... Nb6. However, if the author of
this book had been playing Black and lost after 24. ... Nb6, then Boleslavsky
could have written in his annotations that moving the Bishop from d6 to f8
should have been tried, and very likely he would have been right.

25.Rd5 c4

Black plans to advance his pawn to c3 and defend it with his Bishop. If
25. ... a6, Euwe advises 26.Rde5 b5  27.a5 with the intention of winning
the a pawn. In my opinion, 26.a5 would be more comfortable for White.

26.Re4

Frustrating Black's idea. On 26.Rc1 Rc8 Black would have nothing to fear
after... c3 and ... Bg7. But now 26. ... Rc8 would be followed by 
27.Rdd4 c3  28.Rc4, and after the exchange of Rooks the pawn is lost:
28. ... Rc4  29.Rc4 Bg7?  30.Rc1+. The same thing would happen after
26. ... c3  27.Rc4 Bg7  28.Rdc5!, and after the inevitable exchange of Black's
Rook, White wins easily by bringing his King to d3 while his liberated Rook
begins the extermination of Black's undefended a pawn and b pawn.

26. ... a6

Boleslavsky has one chance left--to exchange White's a pawn and to advance
a little farther the one pawn he has for the Exchange.

27.Rc4 b5  28.ab5 ab5  29.Rc7 b4  30.Rdd7 Ra8

Further pawn advances are not possible for the time being because of
30. ... b3?  31.Rb7.

31.Kg2 Ra2  32.Rf7 b3  33.Rb7 Bc5

To understand the following very curious events, it is necessary to keep in
mind that they occurred not only in a brutal time shortage for Reshevsky but
also late at night. Round 22 was played on a Saturday. For religious reasons,
Reshevsky begins his Saturday games only after sundown, a few hours later
than the usual time, and on Fridays he plays in the daytime in order to
finish playing before sundown.

Fearing that anything might happen in time pressure, Reshevsky plans the
maneuver Rf3-d3-d7-f7 in advance, which is playable with Black's pawn on b3
but which gives Black a chance to be saved by the pawn on b2.

34.Rf3 b2  35.Rd3 Bf8

Good enough to win is 36.Rd8, but Reshevsky sticks to his "plan".

36.Rdd7

Now Black can save the game by the sly retreat of his Rook to a7. Boleslavsky
still had a few minutes left, and in the daylight he would undoubtedly have
seen and played that move, but at 2:30 in the morning, after a tense and
fatiguing struggle, he automatically played

36. ... Bc5?

and after

37.Rd8+ Bf8  38.Rbb8  Black resigns.
-----------------

Ariel Mazzarelli