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Samuel Reshevsky vs Gideon Stahlberg
"Creatio ex nihilo" (game of the day Sep-13-2022)
La Plata - New York Radio Match (1947), La Plata ARG / New York USA, rd 1, Nov-02
Neo-Grünfeld Defense: Classical Variation (D77)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-19-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: After <14...Nd6>


click for larger view

White play and win?

Whoever wrote the game introducitons in <Chess Review> (November 1947, p. 6) was impressed:

<"Sammy served notice that his bid for the world championship title is a serious one. He gave an exemplary demonstration of the art of turning nothing into something. Everyone but the U. S. Champion himself was convinced that the symmetrical opening left prospects for nothing more than a dull draw. To win such a game from one of the most successful present-day masters require mores than technique. It demands all the wizardry of a grandmaster.">

Larry Evans was impressed (<Championship Chess And Checkers for All>, p. 63)

<"A superb example of economical technique by Reshevsky, who utilized the initiative of the first move with demonical persistence.">

Anthony Santasiere was not impressed (<American Chess Bulletin>, November / December 1947, p. 122-123:

<"Reshevsky has nothing to be proud of, and Stahlberg has -- a miserable contest between one hopeful super-scientist and one would-be imitator.">

For all his talk of love, Santasiere had some passionate dislikes.

Well, now you can make up your own mind. T

Apr-19-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <PB....For all his talk of love, Santasiere had some passionate dislikes...>

That he did.

Apr-19-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <La Plata - New York Radio Match (1947)>

<Phony Benoni> Sounds like an interesting event, can you tell us anything about it? I guess the La Plata team was accepting ringers.

Apr-19-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: <keypusher>, Stahlberg stayed in South America through the war years, though I have no idea when he returned to Sweden.
Apr-20-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <keypusher> This match goes under various names. La Plata - New York seems to be the most commonly used, but I have also seen Argentina - USA.

However, both these are misleading, and the most accurate name is probably Jockey Club - Manhattan Chess Club.

The "New York" side consisted completely of Manhattan CC members. With nobody from the Marshall CC or anywhere else, it wsn't really a "New York" team, much less a "USA" team.

The Jockey Club was based in La Plata, an important suburb of Buenos Aires. I don't know if all the players were members there.

The team from South America beat the team from North America by 6.5-3.5, Reshevsky's victory being the only one for the boys from above the Mason-Dixon line. Here's a list of the games:

La Plata - New York Radio Match (1947)

It's not hard to see the influence of Europeans who stayed in South America when the Buenos Aires Olympiad ended just as the Second World War was beginning, including Stahlberg, Najdorf, Michel, and Luckis.

Apr-20-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <Phony Benoni> Thanks. Here's a link to the Jockey Club website (spanish).

http://www.jockeyclub.org.ar/Jockey...

I've had some nice times in Argentina, but never been to La Plata.

<perfidious> thanks. According to Wikipedia Stahlberg went back in 1948.

Sep-13-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: White's advantage after 14...Nd6 consists entirely of having the next move. Black probably holds the draw with best play, but Reshevsky had a gift for making it very hard for his opponents to find the best moves. If Stahlberg couldn't find them over the board, almost no carbon-based life form could, short of Petrosian or Lasker.
Sep-13-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  al wazir: I wouldn't say this win was "ex nihilo." From move 24 on, white was up a distant passed pawn enjoying an escort by all his pieces.
Sep-13-22  Czx: Anyone else having troubles downloading games? Some download only once, others multiple times, some not at all. Just started this evening.
Sep-13-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Teyss: <Czx> You mean in PGN? No issue for me. If you have a VPN, try turning it off. Else clear cookies and cache. If it still doesn't work you should post on chessgames.com chessforum
Sep-13-22  nalinw: Historical game and good title (may be stretching it to use the word "pun") ....
Sep-13-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  sakredkow: <Czx> For a while when I was downloading recently they were coming through without an (pgn) extension. Seems like 2 or 3 weeks ago and it lasted about a week.
Sep-13-22  Czx: Thanks <Teyss> and <sakredkow>. It's looking like a Firefox problem.

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