Felietony 2022
Alekhine Plays blindfold versus Najdorf
Professor Tadeusz Wolsza, describing the life and sports achievements of Mieczyslaw (Miguel) Najdorf - the idol of Polish and Argentine chess players, noted:
Here is one such case. After the "Match of the Century" was played in Belgrade in 1970, a year later in Moscow, a nice book "Match vyeka" (the author and editor - M.M. Yudovich) was published. It included, in addition to an extensive historical introduction, a description of subsequent rounds, and collection of photographs, all games of the match, annotated either by the players themselves or by the editor. The participants in the match also answered four questions constituting a small questionnaire. One of those questions was: what would you consider the best game you have ever played?
The answers to this standard question were quite different, simple
or paradoxical; Vasily Smyslov distinguished the game from the second
match with Botvinnik, thanks to which he won the world title, Robert
Fischer mentioned his victory over Donald Byrne (New York 1956), Tigran
Petrosian recalled the 7th game of the first match with Spassky, Bent
Larsen, who did not sin with excessive modesty, started with that he
had a lot of great games to his credit, while Mikhail Tal said that the
best game was yet to come, and from those already played he
distinguished the lost game against Nezhmetdinov in 1961.
Najdorf, who has drawn 2:2 his mini-match with Tal, answered:
An ordinary lover of old games will easily find the Gliksberg - Najdorf game in computer databases and will enjoy the game of blacks who, between 13th and 21st moves, sacrificed 6 (!!) pieces and mated the enemy king with a pawn, which the white figures were watching helplessly, included in the set on the chessboard. On the other hand, a person who is seriously interested in the history of chess, especially one who is always looking for a "hole in the whole", will protest: wait a minute, something is wrong here. after all, in 1928 the Polish chess championship did not take place, after all Najdorf made his debut in the Polish championship only in 1935, and no Gliksberg or Glűcksberg played in pre-war Polish tournaments of this rank!
So maybe this game is apocryphal, maybe it was not played at all, but only artificially arranged? Nothing like that, it is a real tournament game, it was printed many times before the II WW, Najdorf had it "written" in his memory and repeated it from memory, on many occasion, on the chessboard, and only forgot when and in which tournament it was played. For those who do not know, it is worth mentioning that (in all likelihood) the game Glűcksberg - Najdorf was played in the tournament of the Warsaw Society of Chess Supporters for players of the 2nd category, in which Najdorf took 4th place, behind J. Jagielski, H. Młynek and M. Klepfisz; Glűcksberg finished in the last 10th place with 1.5 points from 9 games. The tournament ended in 1930 in February, and the text of the "Polish Immortal Party" was first published in the chess column of the "Dzien Polski" newspaper by Leon Tuhan-Baranowski on August 30, 1930 (discovered by Prof. Tadeusz Wolsza).
Similar doubts and questions arose in relation to another part of Najdorf, about which the protagonist himself spoke many times, although with his usual lack of precision with regard to historical details. With many versions of this story to choose from, I first present one that comes from the circle of people closest to Najdorf. Liliana Najdorf from Buenos Aires, the grandmaster's daughter, wrote:
"He never asked for a glass of whiskey," recalled "Old Man," but from right away for the bottle. This time he asked for two bottles. I said:
- Doctor, a glass is enough for me.
"If you don't drink it, I'll finish it," he replied. During the conversation, I said: I have played with you 3 times and I have positive balance with you 2–1.
Alekhin thought for a moment and, looking at the glass, said:
- You are lying, we played twice and tied. You saved yourself in one of these parties.
- No, doctor. We've played three times. In 1929 you played a simultaneous display on 30 boards, plus two blind games, in one of these two, I was playing.
- Thirty simultaneous, ...two blind games ...! You have sacrificed a rook on the seventh line? It's you! You are right! 2
Il. 1 Liliana Najdorf (le ) and translator Mrs. Krystyna Woysław, Warsaw 2014; i n the background - the gigantic "Palace of Culture and Science", built in the early 1950s
The "core" of Najdorf's story (who had a lot of similarly intriguing stories for his listeners) is as follows: during the Alekhine's simultaneous display in Warsaw in the late 1920s, the young and inexperienced Najdorf won the game against the world champion, who played this board in his memory, that is blindfold. As an Argentine citizen, Najdorf participated in the 1956 Alekhine Memorial Tournament in Moscow and it was then that for the first time he gave a longer interview entitled "From the memories of Alekhine" 3 to the tournament bulletin, he told about his success. Over time, the story appeared in many sources, changed its length, various secondary elements appeared and disappeared in it: the number of games played simultaneously (20, 30, 32 or 40), date (1927 or 1929), the total number of games by Najdorf against Alekhine (2 or 3).
And, as was the case with the "Polish Immortal", skeptics quickly
appeared and asked: how is it possible for Alekhine to play blindfold a
game with Najdorf and lose it if:
- no pre-war source mentions the Alekhine - Najdorf game from the simul;
- neither in 1927 nor in 1929 Alekhine gave a simultaneous performance in Warsaw;
- Alekhine gave two simultaneous displays in Warsaw in 1928; during the first on
December 2, the world champion played 29 games, of which 2 were "blind" and both the champion "elegantly won" 4; the second simul on December 11 was played with clocks, but the name "Najdorf" was not on the list of Alekhin's opponents. For a comprehensive list of publications on this episode, read the article by Edward Winter, "Confusion over Alekhine v Najdorf" from 2004 on the website "Chess Notes", known to all lovers of chess history.
(https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/alekhinenajdorf.html)
From this article I would like to quote the account of the American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan:
Concerning his own game, Najdorf told me he was on the black side of a Sicilian in which the players had castled on opposite wings. Alekhine was breaking through when Najdorf uncorked the standard ...Rc8xc3 exchange sacrifice. Alekhine had seen that shot and did not bother to recapture the rook, pursuing his own attack instead. The move he had missed was the follow- up ...Rc3xa3, and Najdorf’s attack was first and decisive.
Najdorf added that many years later he had hosted Alekhine in a drinking bout in Buenos Aires. They both got thoroughly drunk. In a toast Najdorf declared Alekhine the greatest chessplayer ever but added, “Just remember: our score is one draw and one win in my favor”. Alekhine maintained that even if drunk he knew that their score was one draw. Najdorf then reminded Alekhine of the Polish display, and Alekhine said, “Are you the one who gave me ...Rxa3?” Najdorf was astounded at Alekhine’s memory, even when he was intoxicated.
Il. 2 Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan (wikipedia)
Seirawan concluded his recollections by calling:
To answer this question, we must go back to 1928. The city of Lodz (actually - Łódź) in central Poland was then a great center of the textile industry, sometimes called "Polish Manchester". Having been granted municipal rights from 1423, Lodz experienced a period of rapid development in the 19th century: in 1820 it was inhabited by 800 people, at the beginning of the 20th century it was a city of a quarter of a million, and in 1915 it reached 600,000 inhabitants. Until 1914, a large part of the production of Lodz factories was exported to Russia - because central Poland, with the main cities of Warsaw, Lublin and Lodz, was part of the Russian Empire (therefore M. Najdorf was born as a subject of the Russian Tsar).
Il. 3 Lodz on the beginning of XX century - the city of one
thousand camins (photo - NAC Poland) Lodz was characterized by an
atypical ethnic structure; in 1914, half of the inhabitants were Poles,
30% - Jews, 12% - Germans, the rest were Russians, Czechs and other
nationalities.
Until 1939, Lodz was a city of not only social contrasts - the
palaces of factory owners and bankers were adjacent to hundreds of
smaller or larger factories and manufactories as well as gloomy slums
where the poorest families lived. Until 1927, the city did not have a
sewage system. With no access to clean water and a huge population
density, it resulted in repeated epidemics and high mortality.
Il. 4
Il. 5 Bazaar - a typical form of trade for ci es and towns in central Poland un l the first half of the 20th century.
Il. 5b Piotrkowska Street in Lodz on the old post-card from ca 1890 - till today one the longest shopping streets in Europe, approx. 4.2 km long, running longitudinally in a straight line.
From 1903, Lodz had a chess club - the Lodz Society of Chess Amateurs. For a long time, the strongest player in the club was Hersz Salwe (1860-1920), born in Warsaw. Akiva Rubinstein's talent exploded under his supervision in Lodz. The club quickly made a few master-class chess players: Dawid Daniuszewski, Hersz Rotlewi, Salomon Szapiro, later the younger ones: Teodor Regedziński, Jakub Kolski, Izaak Appel, Achilles Frydman and Abram Szpiro. In addition to Warsaw, Lodz was the strongest chess center on Polish soil, important events were held regularly in the city.
Regedzinski quickly defeated his opponent, Landau, as the game lasted only three-quarters of an hour. Master Regedzinski developed a strong attack and forced Landau to surrender on move 15. Rozenbaum also easily won with Szestakowski, who is in fact too weak for such a tournament.
Najdorf 6 defeated Szpiro in a nice and elegant style. Frenkiel won after a long fight with Zajd. The game Frydman - Hirszbajn ended after a four-hour fight with a draw. Since Kremer did not accept his opponent, Mund, draw proposal, the game was adjourned in a more or less equal position. Appel was free.
The second round of the tournament will be held on Saturday at 6 PM. 7
Il. 6 Young Teodor Regedzinski
The tournament took place at a slow pace - two rounds a week, because almost all participants worked normally, and in the meantime, two other important events took place in Lodz, which we will return to in a moment.
Il. 7 1 Moniuszki Str. - the seat of the Lodz chess club and the venue of the tournament 1928
Il. 8 In the building at Pasaż Meyera 11 (former name of Moniuszki Str.) in 1903, the first seat of Lodz Society of Chess Supporters was located. In 2009 Lodz was visited by a Swiss chess historian Toni Preziuso, an expert of life and games of Akiva Rubinstein
The last round was played only on December 28, 1928. As two Lodz newspapers: "Ilustrowana Republika" and "Glos Polski" published the results of each round and adjourned games, I was able to recreate the complete tournament table; Until now, sports statistics enthusiasts knew only the final order and points scores of individual players.
| Miejsce | Nr startowy | Nazwisko | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pkt. |
| 1 | 2 | Regedziński | X | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9,5 |
| 2 | 1 | Appel | 1/2 | X | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9,0 |
| 3 | 3 | Rozenbaum | 0 | 1/2 | X | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 8.0 |
| 4 | 9 | Kremer | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | X | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 7,5 |
| 5 | 4 | Frydman A. | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 1/2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7,5 |
| 6 | 6 | Mund | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | X | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1 | 7.0 |
| 7 | 13 | Landau | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | X | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 6,5 |
| 8 | 10 | Najdorf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | X | 1 | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5,5 |
| 9 | 8 | Frenkiel | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | X | 1/2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5,5 |
| 10 | 11 | Hirszbajn | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | X | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 4,5 |
| 11 | 5 | Szpiro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 1 | 3,5 |
| 12 | 7 | Zajde | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 1 | 3,5 |
| 13 | 12 | Szestakowski | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 0 | 0 | X | 0,5 |
| pauzował | 2 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 |
(tournament table)
It is interesting that although Najdorf, who made there his debut in a serious tournament, did not take a particularly high place and it was difficult to consider his performance as a revelation, the records of as many as five of his games were preserved, while the games of players who belonged to the Lodz chess elite and with a large margin of points overtook him, were not recorded by chroniclers. This is Najdorf's most valuable achievement - a devasting win against the two-time finalist of the Polish chess championship (Warsaw 1926 and Lodz 1927) and the olympionic from The Hague 1928.
Najdorf, Mieczyslaw - Regedzinski,Teodor [B84]
Lodz (city championship) (r. 11), 14.11.1928
1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 Sf6 3.Sc3 d6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Sxd4 a6
Teodor Regedzinski adopted (with moves replacement, however) the line
20 years later called "Najdorf variation". 6.Ge2
7.0–0 e6 8.Ge3 Sbd7 9.f4 b5 10.Gf3 Gb7 11.a3 Ge7 12.He1 0–0 13.Hg3 Wfd8 Master Kolski recognised 13...Sc5 14.e5 Sfe4 as better.
14.e5 Se8? After week 14...Sd5? 15.Sxd5 Gxd5 16.Gxd5 exd5 17.Sf5 Gf8 18.Sh6+ Kh8 19.Sxf7+ White has a big advantage.
Stockfish recommends 14...dxe5! 15.fxe5 Sxe5! 16.Gxb7 Hxb7 17.Hxe5 Sg4 18.Hf4 Sxe3 19.Hxe3 Gc5 20.Wad1 Ha7 21.Wf4 Wd6 22.Sce2 f6 23.b4 Gxd4 24.Sxd4 e5 25.We4 Wad8 26.c3 h6 27.h3 exd4 28.cxd4 with equal game.
15.f5+- Sxe5 Not 15...dxe5 16.fxe6 exd4 17.exf7+ Kxf7 18.Gd5 mate.
16.Gxb7 Hxb7 17.fxe6 f6 After 17...fxe6 it follows 18.Sxe6.
18.Sf5 d5 19.Wad1 Kh8 It threatened 20.Wd1xd5.
20.Wf4 g6 21.Sd4 Better 21.Sxe7 Hxe7 22.Gb6 Hxe6 23.Gxd8 Wxd8 24.He3.
21...Sc4? Better 21...Wac8.
22.Wh4 Gc5 23.Gf2 Hg7 24.We1
25.e7! Wd7 26.Se6 Gxf2+ 27.Hxf2 Hg8 It looses 27...Hxe7 28.Sc5 Hf7 29.Sxd7 Hxd7 30.Hd4 Sc4 31.Sxd5 +-.
28.Sf8! Stronger than 28.Wxh7+ Hxh7 29.Sf8 Hh5 30.Sxd7.
28...Waa7 29.Wxh7+ Hxh7 30.Sxh7 Kxh7 31.Sxd5 Kg7 32.We6 Sd1 33.Hd4 Sc3 34.Hxc3 Wxd5 35.Wxf6 Sxf6 36.e8H Wd1+ 37.Kf2 1–0 8
It's a time to explain what chess events in Lodz were so important that they forced the stoppage of the city championship tournament? The thing is that the Lodz club has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. On this occasion, on November 24 - 25, a traditional match was held between the teams of Lodz and Warsaw, which gathered (if we exclude the grandmasters Rubinstein and Tartakower, who did not live in Poland at that time) about 80% of the players from the national elite. Warsaw was represented by: Moshe Blass, Paulin Frydman, Rafal Feinmesser, Dr. Stanislaw Kohn, Jan Kleczyński, Moishe Lowcki, Kazimierz Makarczyk, Dawid Przepiórka, Henryk Pogorieły, Karol Piltz and Leon Tuhan-Baranowski, while the honor of Lodz was defended by: Sz. Rozenbaum, Jakub Kolski, Vladimir Goldfarb, Leon Kremer, S. Rozenblat, Motel Hirszbajn, Teodor Regedzinski, Dawid Daniuszewski, Izrael Appel, Achilles Frydman and August Mund.
Il. 9 The par cipants and organisers of the match Lodz -Warsaw in November 1928. On the board: Dawid Przepiórka (le ) and S. Rozenblat (LTZGSz), in the first row (from le ): Dr. Stanislaw Kohn, NN, Paulin Frydman, Jan Kleczynski, Kazimierz Makarczyk i Leon Tuhan-Baranowski.
On Sunday, November 25, at noon, a ceremonial academy was held, during which many witty and informative speeches were delivered, devoted to the achievements of the Lodz club and the art of chess in general. After the academy, the rematch round of the match began. The whole event ended with the victory of the Warsaw team by 14.5: 7.5.
Il. 10 "Tivoli" restaurant operated in this building
Announcing the still postponed completion of the tournament for the championship of Lodz, an anonymous journalist from "Ilustrowana Republika" warned that earlier the Lodz chess fans would experience much greater emotions:
(...)
In addition, there should be a sensation: this Saturday world champion Dr. Alekhine will give the only evening of a simultaneous games with 30 opponents, with 2 blind games. Registrations to participate in the game are accepted by the secretariat of Lodz. Society of Chess Amateurs every day until Friday from 5-8 pm 11.
Announcements of Alekhine's show were also published in several other Lodz newspapers and magazines: "Glos Polski", "Echo", "Nowa Panorama".
IL. 11 Alekhine portrait from the newspaper "Echo" 3. 12. 1928, p. 5
Il. 12. Announcement in the newspaper "Glos Polski" 11.12.1928 , p. 8
The "Głos Polski" was also the first to inform readers about the course and indicative results:
Il. 13 Clipping from "Glos Polski" 18.12.1928, p. 3
The king of chess - Alekhine in Lodz
Our city did a great job
The Lodz chess players had their big day. Last Saturday, the greatest contemporary chess player, the conqueror of the invincible Capablanca, the famous world champion Alekhine, visited Lodz. Already at 5 o'clock in the halls of the club swarmed like in a hive.
Champion Alekhine was supposed to play against the Lodz chess players and, at the same time, he was playing against 27 best opponents, while against 2 of them he was supposed to play blindly, i.e. from memory. Upon entering the hall the champion received a storm of applause. Occasional photos, speeches — and the fight begins, which lasted until 4 am. So 10 hours without a break, the war, sometimes for the whole, and sometimes for a slightly more advantageous placement of the pawn. Yet the face of the champion is always cheerful and happy, not to be tired. On the other hand, the opponents do not hide their nervousness and uncertainty. However, Lodz did a great job and achieved the best result not only from the entire tour around Poland, so much better than Warsaw, Lviv, etc. but better than the big centers abroad.
The hastily recorded result of the game (not final) is as follows: Najdorf and Goldfarb won in blindfold games , besides Winawer, Szpiro and others. They tied and left with honor: Kolski, Ing. Abramson, Landau, Frydman and others. However, the outstanding aces of Lodz, incl. Regedzinski, Rozenbaum, Appel, Hirszbajn, Kremer and many others have lost. The Polish champion, Przepiorka, specially delegated to Lodz, assisted during the game 12.
Much later, after the end of the Lodz championships, additional information appeared on the subject:
Il. 14. Clipping from "Ilustrowana Republika" 29.12.1928, p. 7
World Champion
Dr. Alekhine
lost 8 games in Lodz and drew - 9
The first one, who won against the world champion, was Follman, one of the founders of the Lodz Chess Club, later won - young Konarski, giving the world champion the problem mate, S. Winawer, Michalec, Szpiro, Rozenowicz 13 and Goldfarb and Najdorf (blindfold games); Frydman, Szestakowski, Landau, Mund, Kolski, Ing. M. Abramson, Lejzerowicz, Col. Pietruszka have drawn.
Until now, no world champion has had such a result in simultaneous play. Lodz can be proud of breaking the world record! Therefore, Dr. Alekhin expressed the view that the strongest chess players from all over Poland are in Lodz 14.
In this way, we reached the end of a long and multi-threaded history. Yasser Seirawan, after many years, receives an answer to his question: dear grandmaster, this particular story is not a myth - the young Najdorf won a simultaneous game in the city of Lodz against Alekhine, who led the duel blindly.
Il. 15. Miguel Najdorf visited the club "Gambit - Polonia" in Warsaw 1992. Najdorf plays 7-minutes game against the future grandmaster Bartek Macieja; Tomasz Lissowski writes the moves down, with 2 eminent members of the board of Polish Chess Federation behing him: Jacek Zemantowski and Zbigniew Czajka. In the background - future grandmaster Iweta Radziewicz (Rajlich)
Tomasz Lissowski
We include a link to the article am. Zenon Franco https://www.zenonchessediciones.com/najdorf-y-su-victoria-sobre-alekhine/
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