Bamberg 1968, Round 2: Missed opportunities

Bamberg 1968, Round 2

World Champion Tigran Petrosian had started the Bamberg jubilee tournament with a win and in round two he had to play against the German Grandmaster Wolfgang Unzicker. Unzicker is an amateur and a full-time judge by profession but the World Champion failed to get any advantage with White and in the end Petrosian was happy to draw.

15...Bc4?! Stronger was 15...Qb8 e.g. 16.h3 Bc4 with problems for White. After 17.Nc5 Qb5 18.Rb1 a4 19.b4 axb3 20.Nxb3 Qa4 Black is better. After the text the players quickly found a way to repeat moves and to draw: 16.Rb1 Ba2 17.Ra1 Bc4 18.Tb1 La2 19.Ta1 ½-½.

In the final position White is by no means better but Unzicker was probably content to draw with Black against the World Champion while Petrosian did not want to tempt fate.

The final position.

The tournament venue

In the game between Helmut Pfleger and Klaus Klundt, both players were not up to the mark. After mutual inaccuracies they agreed to a draw though Black had good reason to continue the game.

The final position. But after 27...Rxb3 28.Qxb3 Bxd2 Black has two pieces for the rook and good chances to win.

Rudolf Teschner, journalist and editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung, had to defend against a violent attack by Jan Hein Donner who also happens to be a fine journalist. But with a bit of luck Teschner managed to draw this battle of the journalists.

28.Rxb7? Both players were in severe time-trouble. Teschner was lucky that Donner did not play 28.Be3 after which Black has trouble to hold, e.g. 28...Qc2 29.Qxc2 Rxc2 30.Raf1 Ne6 31.Rxb7 and White is winning. 28...Rg6+ 29.Kh1 exd4 Now White has to give a perpetual to avoid being worse. 30.Nf7+ Kg8 31.Nh6+ Kh8 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33.Nh6+ ½–½

In the duel of the Jürgen Teufel and Hans-Günter Kestler, who are both from Bamberg, Kestler had a won endgame but then saw "ghosts".

23... Rxc2 Black is a clear pawn up. 24.Nf6+ Kg7 25.Ne8+ Kg8 26.Nf6+ Kh8 27.g5 Rb8 Threatening mate and forces the exchange of rooks. 28.Re8+ Rxe8 29.Nxe8 Rxa2 30.Nxd6 Kg8 31.Ne8 Kf8 32.Nf6

32... Ra3?! This loses a tempo. More logical was 32...a5 33.Rh4 a4 34.Rxh7 Ke7 35.Rh8 Kd6 and Black should win. 33.h4 Ke7 34.Nxh7 a5 35.Nf6

35... Kd6 Simpler was 35...a4 36.e5 Ra1+ 37.Kf2 a3 38.Ra4 Bb3 (But not 38...a2 39.Ra8 and Black has to be careful. 39...Bd7 (39...Bc4 40.Re8#) 40.Nd5+ Ke6 41.Nc3 and Black's advantage is gone.) 39.Ra7+ Ke6 40.Nd7 Kf5 and Black wins. 36.h5 gxh5 But not 36...Rg3+ 37.Kf2 Rxg5 38.h6 and White wins. 37.Nxh5 a4 38.Ng7 Bb3 39.Ne8+ 

39... Ke5 Simpler was 39...Ke7 40.Nc7 Ra1+ 41.Kh2 a3 42.Nd5+ Kd6 and Black wins. 40.Rf5+ Kd4 41.Nd6 Ra1+ 42.Kf2 a3? Now White can force the draw. After 42...Kc3 Black still has winning chances.

43.Nb5+ Kxe4 44.Nd6+ Kd3 45.Rf3+ Kc2 46.Nb5 Kb2 47.Nxa3 Kxa3 48.g6 Ra2+ 48...fxg6 49.Rg3 leads to the same endgame we see in the game. 49.Kg1 fxg6 50.Rg3 Kb4

51.Rxg6 Bd5 52.Rf6 Kc4 53.Rf2 Ra8 54.Rd2 Rf8 55.Kh2 Rg8 56.Kh3 Kc5 57.Rd3 Kd6 58.Re3 Rg7 59.Kh4 Rg1 60.Kh3 Rg8 61.Kh4 Be6 62.Rg3 Rh8+ 63.Kg5 ½–½

Paul Keres played against Milko Bobotsov, Bulgaria's first Grandmaster, and had to show his class in order not to lose.

13.d5 An unpleasant surprise. 13...exd5 After 13...Qxd5 14.Rad1 Black still has 14...Nd4 15.Nxd4 Bxd4 16.Qb4 (16.Rxd4 Qxd4 17.Rd1 Qg4 18.h3 Qe2 19.Nd6+ Kf8 20.Rc1 Qd2 21.Rd1 Qe2 with a repetition.) 16...Rd8 17.Na5 e5 18.Nxb7 with compensation. 14.Rfe1+ Kf8 14...Be7 15.Nce5 Qc7 16.Rac1 0–0 17.Qxd5 with advantage for White. 15.Nce5 Qc7 16.Qxd5 Rd8 17.Qc5+

17... Kg8 17...Qd6? 18.Rad1 might lead to the nice finish 18...Qxc5 19.Rxd8+ Nxd8 20.Nd7+ Kg8 21.Re8+ Qf8 22.Rxf8#. But after the move in the game White is still better. 18.Rad1 h6 19.Rxd8+ Qxd8 20.Nxc6 bxc6 21.Qxc6 And now White is a pawn up. 21...Kh7 22.b3 Qa5 23.Qc2+ g6 24.g3 Rd8 25.Kg2 Kg7 26.h4 Rd5 By centralising the rook Black repaired all defects of his position – but he is still a pawn down. But White finds no way to exploit his material advantage. 27.Re4 Qb5 28.Qe2 Qd7 29.Rc4 Rd6 30.Qc2 Ra6 31.a4 Rb6 32.Rc7 Qd5

33.Rc4 After 33.Rxa7? Rxb3 34.Qe2 g5 it is Black who is suddenly better. 33...a6 34.b4 ½–½

Milko Bobotsov | Photo: Dutch National Archive

However, one player could win in this round: the Hungarian Laszlo Szabo defeated the Austrian Andreas Dückstein. In a Dutch Stonewall Dückstein tried to attack on the kingside but neglected his queenside and when Dückstein's attack against the king failed he was lost.

23.Bxe4 dxe4 24.Nc5 Bxe3 25.fxe3 Qxe3 26.Rb3 Qxd4 27.Rg3+ Rg6 28.Rxg6+ hxg6 29.Nxe4 Qxe5 30.Nf6+ Kg7 31.Ne8+ Kh7 32.Rf7+ Kh6 33.Nf6 Qa1+ 34.Kxh2 Qe5+ 35.Kh1 Qa1+ 36.Kg2 Qd4 37.Qc1+1–0

Andreas Dückstein has had an eventful life. He was born in Budapest in 1927 where he lived until 1949. Before the war, Dückstein and his family were persecuted by members of the fascist Arrow Cross Party but after the war, in communist Hungary, things were not much better für Dückstein, and he decided to flee to Austria where he studied law and managed to build up a new life.

Results of round 2

Standings after round two

Games

Links

• The International Tournament in Bamberg starts!
• Round 1: Keres wins against Schmid

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer