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Podebrady (1936) The 14th Czechoslovak Championship was held at Podebrady (also Podebrad or Bad Podebrad) from July 5-26, 1936. It was organized as an international event with the title going to the top Czech finisher. The 18 combatants included: Alexander Alekhine, Erich Eliskases, Stefan Fazekas, Salomon Flohr, Jan Foltys, Paulino Frydman, Vera Menchik, Karel Opocensky, Jiri Pelikan, Vladimir Petrov, Vasja Pirc, Kurt Richter, Karel Skalicka, Gideon Stahlberg, Lajos Steiner, George Alan Thomas, Karel Treybal, Emil Zinner. Resignation Trap has tracked down several photos of the action, and was also able to fill in some of the historical gaps. Class photo: https://praguechess.cz/foto_galerie.... Vasja Pirc, from the round 7 game K Skalicka vs Pirc, 1936 with Bedrich Thelen observing: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... Flohr and Alekhine, the two world championship candidates, started a bit slowly by drawing each other in round 1 and not setting a torrid pace thereafter. Alekhine did remain undefeated, but Flohr lost to Eliskases in round 6 and spent most ot the tournament making up ground. However, after round 9 they had pulled ahead of the field, Alekhine having 7 points and Flohr 6. The problem was that they still weren't in the lead. Paulin (not yet Paulino) Frydman had scored 8 points, with the help of a six-game winning streak in rounds 2-7. Unfortunately for Frydman, this is where the tough part of his schedule began; he would not win another game for the rest of the event. The trouble started when he lost to Alekhine in round 10. A short draw with Stahlberg was followed by bad losses to Menchik and Petrov. That set up the round 14 game with Flohr, which reached this position with Black (Frydman) to play: click for larger view Frydman was still only one point behind co-leaders Alekhine and Flohr, but 22...Qg5 was a losing error in an inferior, but defensible position, met by 23.Ne4, when Frydman resigned. There have been some tales that he suffered a nervous breakdown after the game with Alekhine, but Edward Winter has debunked that (http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...). In any case, such collapses are not unusual once a player's momentum is broken. Round 14 was nearly disastrous for Alekhine as well, playing Black against Treybal (to play) click for larger view Now 61.Be4! would win for White, the main line being 61...Qa7 62.f6+ Bg6 63.Bxg6+ Kxg6 64.f7+ Kh5 65.Qxh6+! Kxf6 66.f8Q+, and White will be able to protect his king and win with the extra piece. Instead, Treybal played the disastrous <61.f6??>, and was forced to resign after <61...Bg6+>. This left Alekhine and Flohr still tied at 10.5, their nearest competitor being Pirc at 9.5. Round 15 saw Flohr take his first lead by defeating Pelikan, while Alekhine and Stahlberg had a short draw. Alekhine got back on track the next round by defeating Menchik, but Flohr stayed ahead by ending any faint chances Pirc might have had. In the final round, Flohr played it safe with a 17-move draw. Alekhine played it dangerously, but was unable to get anything substantial against Petrov and narrowly avoided losing in the end. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Flohr * ½ ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 13.0 2 Alekhine ½ * 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 ½ 12.5 3 Foltys ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 11.0 4 Stahlberg ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 0 1 1 ½ 10.5 5 Pirc 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 10.5 6 Eliskases 1 0 0 1 ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 0 1 ½ 9.5 7 Frydman 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 9.5 8 Richter ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ * 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 1 1 9.0 9 Pelikan 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 1 0 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 9.0 10 Petrov 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 8.5 11 Steiner 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 * 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 8.5 12 Opocensky ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 8.0 13 Menchik ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 1 1 * 0 1 1 0 1 7.0 14 Zinner 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 1 1 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 * 0 0 0 1 6.5 15 Treybal 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 1 * ½ ½ ½ 6.0 16 Skalicka 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 1 ½ * 1 ½ 6.0 17 Fazekas 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 * 0 4.0 18 Thomas 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 * 4.0 <Cumulative Scores> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1 Flohr 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 8.5 9.5 10.5 11.5 12.5 13.0 2 Alekhine 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.0 4.0 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.0 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5 10.5 11.0 12.0 12.5 3 Foltys 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.0 5.5 6.5 7.0 7.5 8.5 9.0 9.0 10.0 11.0 4 Stahlberg 1.0 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 4.0 5.0 5.5 6.5 7.0 8.0 8.5 9.0 9.5 9.5 10.5 5 Pirc 1.0 1.5 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.5 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.0 8.5 9.5 10.0 10.0 10.5 6 Eliskases 0.5 0.5 1.5 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 8.0 9.0 9.5 7 Frydman 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.5 7.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 9.0 9.0 9.5 8 Richter 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 8.5 9.0 9 Pelikan 1.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.5 5.0 6.0 6.5 6.5 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 9.0 10 Petrov 0.0 1.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 3.0 4.0 4.5 5.5 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.5 8.0 8.5 11 Steiner 0.5 1.5 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.0 7.0 7.5 7.5 8.5 12 Opocensky 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.5 7.0 7.0 7.5 8.0 13 Menchik 1.0 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 14 Zinner 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 4.5 5.0 5.0 6.0 6.5 15 Treybal 0.0 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 4.0 4.0 4.5 5.5 6.0 16 Skalicka 0.5 1.5 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 3.5 4.5 5.5 6.0 6.0 17 Fazekas 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 3.0 3.0 3.5 3.5 4.0 18 Thomas 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.5 2.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.0 4.0 4.0 If you're looking for an interesting game from this tournament that you probably haven't seen before, try Opocensky vs K Skalicka, 1936 from round 8. Original collection: Game Collection: Podebrady 1936, by User: Phony Benoni.  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Flohr vs Alekhine   ½-½ 35 1936 Podebrady A92 Dutch 2. Menchik vs K Treybal 1-0 52 1936 Podebrady D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 3. E Zinner vs Pirc   0-1 42 1936 Podebrady D51 Queen's Gambit Declined 4. Eliskases vs Opocensky ½-½ 35 1936 Podebrady B17 Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation 5. Fazekas vs Foltys   0-1 32 1936 Podebrady C11 French 6. L Steiner vs P Frydman   ½-½ 31 1936 Podebrady B40 Sicilian 7. K Richter vs Pelikan   0-1 78 1936 Podebrady B63 Sicilian, Richter-Rauzer Attack 8. Petrov vs Stahlberg   0-1 62 1936 Podebrady D04 Queen's Pawn Game 9. G A Thomas vs K Skalicka   ½-½ 51 1936 Podebrady A13 English 10. Alekhine vs Eliskases 1-0 25 1936 Podebrady C84 Ruy Lopez, Closed 11. K Treybal vs Foltys 0-1 9 1936 Podebrady C02 French, Advance 12. Menchik vs Petrov 0-1 32 1936 Podebrady D13 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, Exchange Variation 13. Pelikan vs L Steiner 0-1 45 1936 Podebrady A06 Reti Opening 14. K Skalicka vs Fazekas   1-0 33 1936 Podebrady A04 Reti Opening 15. Stahlberg vs Flohr   ½-½ 23 1936 Podebrady D17 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav 16. P Frydman vs G A Thomas   1-0 70 1936 Podebrady D50 Queen's Gambit Declined 17. Opocensky vs E Zinner ½-½ 56 1936 Podebrady A09 Reti Opening 18. Pirc vs K Richter   ½-½ 25 1936 Podebrady E10 Queen's Pawn Game 19. E Zinner vs Alekhine 0-1 45 1936 Podebrady D22 Queen's Gambit Accepted 20. Flohr vs Menchik   ½-½ 52 1936 Podebrady D02 Queen's Pawn Game 21. Petrov vs K Treybal   ½-½ 44 1936 Podebrady D05 Queen's Pawn Game 22. Eliskases vs Stahlberg 1-0 33 1936 Podebrady C14 French, Classical 23. Fazekas vs P Frydman   0-1 36 1936 Podebrady B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 24. Foltys vs K Skalicka   1-0 66 1936 Podebrady B32 Sicilian 25. K Richter vs Opocensky ½-½ 58 1936 Podebrady A45 Queen's Pawn Game  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Feb-02-14    whiteshark: Vasja Pirc @ Podebrady 1936: http://soloscacchi.altervista.org/w... Sep-27-17    Tabanus: I replaced the "Class photo" picture here (the old link was dead). Nov-03-17    JimNorCal: A number of new inductees to the "Vera Menchik Club", she won six games. Aug-13-18    thegoodanarchist: < The 18 combatants included: Alexander Alekhine, Erich Eliskases, Stefan Fazekas, Salomon Flohr, Jan Foltys, Paulino Frydman, Vera Menchik, Karel Opocensky, Jiri Pelikan, Vladimir Petrov, Vasja Pirc, Kurt Paul Otto Joseph Richter, Karel Skalicka, Gideon Stahlberg, Lajos Steiner, George Alan Thomas, Karel Treybal, Emil Zinner.> The Podebrady Bunch! Aug-13-18    JimNorCal: <tga>: The Podebrady Bunch! THAT's funny! Aug-13-18    thegoodanarchist: Thanks, <JNC> May-07-21    login: Poděbrady 1936 https://jmss.chess.cz/data/jmss_doc... from JMSS, South Moravian Chess Association (in Czech) The document contains e.g. annotations by famous Czech chess writer Jiri Vesely . May-08-21    unferth: according to the kibitzing on the game page, the above anecdote about Flohr v. Frydman is apocryphal. Flohr's actual move was 23 Nxe5, not Bxe5, making Frydman's resignation perfectly appropriate: Flohr vs P Frydman, 1936 May-08-21    perfidious: <unferth>, it appears the same error was in the PGN once, but has been corrected due to the efforts of <Retireborn>. NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. 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