Louis Eisenberg vs Georg Marco (1902)

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Louis Eisenberg vs Georg Marco
Monte Carlo (1902), Monte Carlo MNC, rd 2, Feb-04
Philidor Defense: Hanham. Krause Variation (C41) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

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Apr-27-21		KEG: Not a good game at all. Eisenberg mishandled the White side of a Philidor's Defense and was lost by move 18. Marco, who had resigned in a won position in Round 1, nearly blew this game as well. But some weak endgame play by Eisenberg in the ending eventually handed the win to Marco. Almost as bad as the play was the commentary in the Tournament Book, that completely misunderstood the endgame here. The only real interest was the theme of Bishop vs. Knight domination in the ending Eisenberg allowed Marco to pull this off twice; the second time proving fatal. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 An old variation. It is playable, but Black can get killed quickly, as was proven--for example--in a skittles game Bobby Fischer won against Reuben Fine in 1963. 4. Bc4 c6 "!"--Tournament Book. Fine's move in his above-mentioned loss to Fischer. It is sound, as is 4...exd4. As the Tournament Book points out, 4...Be7 is bad in light of 5. dxe5 Nxe5 (5...Nb6 and Nc5 are perhaps better, but also seem to lose--KEG; and 5...dxe5 gets killed by 6. Qd5 as noted in the Tournament Book) 6. NxN dxN 7. Qh5 and White winsn a pawn. 5. 0-0 Be7 5...exd4 is better (as Fine played against Fischer--but erred shortly after) 6. Nc3 6. dxe5 is better. 6...Ngf6 Why not 6...b5? 7. dxe5? 7. a4 or 7. Re1 give White a clearedge. 7... dxe5 8. Qe2 0-0 click for larger view Chances here were about equal. But from this point Eisenberg's weak play soon handed Marco a winning game: 9. Bg5? 9. a4 or 9. Rd1 or even 9. b3 were much better. 9... Qc7 9...h6 was best. 10. Rad1 Very weak. White should play 10. a4 to anticipate Marco's next move. 10... b5 "!"--(Tournament Book) 11. Bd3? "!"--(Tournament Book) 11. Bb3--given a "?" in the Tournament Book, was in fact best. If then 11...a5 as suggested in the Tournament Book, White should play 12. a4 (and not 12. a3 Ba6 as given in the Tournament Book). 11... Nc5 11...h6 is best. click for larger view Eisenberg's position is constricted, but he was far from lost. But in his next few moves, he ruined any legitimate chances he had. 12. Nh4? A bad plan. White should play 12. h3 or 12. Qe3 or maybe 12. Bh4. 12... Ne6 Hardly the most dynamic for Black. Better were 12...h6 or 12...b4 or even 12...Re8. 13. BxN He should have retreated rather than traded off the Bishop. 13... BxB 14. Nf5 g6 15. Ne3 Bg7 16. Qd2 Bb7 17. Ne2 Rad8 click for larger view Despite all his questionable play to this point, Eisenberg was hardly lost. But in his next several moves, he ruined his already cramped position beyond likely repair.

Apr-28-21		KEG: Post II 18. g3? This lemon should have cost Eisenberg the game He had to play 18. a4 or 18. c4, of maybe 18. Qe1 (to get out of the pin on the e-file). 18... c5 Even better was 18...f5! 19. c4 "The loss of a pawn is unavoidable." (Tournament Book) The Tournament Book, like Eisenberg, overlooked 19. Nd5 after which White has 19...BxN 20. exB Rxd5 21. Nc3 Rdd8 22. Nxb5. White may still be lost, but this line would give him a chance. After the text, the game should have been over, the position now being: click for larger view 19... Bxe4 19...bxc4 would leave Black with what looks like an easy win. 20. Qc2? Just awful. 20. Nd5 was White's only chance. The position was now: click for larger view 20... BxB? "?"--(Tournament Book) "20...B3 was better." (Tournament Book) True enough, but 20...RxB! was better still (21. RxR Nd4). Even after the text, Black still had a won game. 21. RxB RxR 21...bxc4 (or perhaps 21...Nd4) is stronger, but even the weaker text should have been sufficient to win. 22. QxR click for larger view 22... Rd8 23. Nd5 bxc4 24. Qxc4 Qb7 25. Rd1 click for larger view 25... Nd4 Why not 25...Qxb2? It seems to win easily. 26. Nec3 Qxb2 Too late. 27. Qxc5 Qc2 Looking to repeat moves before the move 30 time control. 28. Ne3 Qb2 29. Ned5 Qc2 30. Ne3 Qb2 31. Kg2 Missing the chance to get a draw by repetition with 31. Ned5 (though I am less than certain of the rules for triple repetition as of 1902). 31... Qb7+ 32. Ned5 Bf8 33. Qc7 QxQ 34. NxQ click for larger view The ending was still probably won for Marco. But, as I will discuss in my next post on this game, he soon blundered away his advantage and Eisenberg should have been able to escape with a draw.

Apr-30-21		KEG: Post III 34... Rc8? Weak. 34...f5 was the way to press forward. Even 34...Rb8 was better than the text. But even with the text, Black still likely had a theoretical win. But not for long: 35. N7d5 click for larger view Here, Marco--usually a reliable endgame player, completely blew the win, falling into a simple Knight fork: 35... Rb8? "??"--(Tournament Book) Just awful. Now the Black pawn on e5 falls and the game should have ended in a draw: 36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. Nd7 One would expect even an amateur to see this coming. 37... Rc8 If 37...Re8, Black still wins the pawn after 38. Nxe5 RxN 39. RxN. 38. Nxe5 RxN 39. RxN Rc7 click for larger view This sure looks like a draw. But Eisenberg made life difficult for himself with his next move, which allowed Marco to exploit the way in which a Bishop can dominate a Knight: 40. Rd7 "?"--(Tournament Book) In fact, and contrary to the mistaken analysis in the Tournament Book, this should not lose. 40... RxR 41. NxR Bd6 click for larger view The White Knight is indeed temporarily trapped by the dominating power of the Black Bishop. But this position is all about counting. Since the only way to get at the Knight is with the Black King which needs to guard f6. Thus, Black has to play f5 to get at the Knight thereby giving White's King time to save the day: 42. Kf3 (the only saving move) f5 43. Ke3 Kf7 44. Kd4 Ke6 45. Nc5+ But Eisenberg overlooked all of this (as did the Tournament Book) and hatched a plan to save the day with a clever (but flawed) Knight sacrifice. 42. a4? "!"--(Tournament Book) Once again, the Tournament Book is out to lunch. The text--with best play--ultimately loses a pawn, and the game: click for larger view

Apr-30-21		KEG: Post IV 42... f6 This almost certainly wins, but far stronger was 42...f5. Now, Eisenberg tried his (doomed) plan: 43. a5 Kf7 44. a6 Ke6 45. Nb6 click for larger view So this was Eisenberg's idea. The Knight obviously cannot be captured, so the Knight escapes. But Black wins a pawn and could have won the game even with best play by Eisenberg. 45... Bc5 click for larger view 46. Na4? "??"--(Tournament Book) White obviously had to play 46. Nc4, but Black could still ultimately win: e.g. 46. Nc4 Kd5 (gaining time to get after the White a-pawn) 47. Nd2 Bb4 48. Nf3 Kc5 49. Kf1 Kb5 50. Ke2 Kxa6 51. Kd3 Bc5 etc. After the text, the win for Black was elementary: 46... Bd4 "!!"--(Tournament Book) click for larger view Talk about a Bishop dominating a Knight! 47. Kf3 Kd5 48. g4 Kc4 49. Ke4 click for larger view 49... Bxf2 This was certainly sufficient to win. But the real crusher was 49...f5+ (50. gxf5 gxf5+ 51. Kxf5 Kb5 (or 51...Kb3) 52. Ke4 Bh8 is the line in the Tournament Book) and Black finally wins the White Knight. 50. Nb2+ Now the White Knight escapes, but the extra pawn (and soon extra two pawns) still allows Black to prevail. 50... Kb5 51. Nd3 click for larger view 51... Bh4 This wins, but strongest was 51...Bg1! 0-1

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