| Sep-07-05 | | Helios727: Sammy got whopped in this one. |
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| Mar-22-07 | | Resignation Trap: Botvinnik had already clinched first place and the World Championship earlier in this tournament, and was probably content with a draw, hence the normally placid opening. Second place was still up for grabs, and Reshevsky wanted it, but his winning attempts backfired on him and he lost instead. |
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| Mar-23-07 | | RookFile: Yes, that is the feeling, that Reshevsky overpressed with black. He probably could have offered a draw after 11...Rd8 and Botvinnik would have accepted. However, one point about Fine and Reshevsky during these days was, they came to win... period. Damn the consequences. |
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| May-24-08 | | Wone Jone: <RookFile> That is, when they showed up at all! |
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May-30-09
 | | Jonathan Sarfati: Actually very shrewd psychology on Botvinnik's part: he knew Reshevsky wanted to win at all costs, so played a drawish opening where it's quite risky for Black to try that. But he would have also been disappointed if Reshevky had played for an easy draw, because on the previous round, Smyslov had agreed a quick draw and ask, with a view to second place, "will you try to beat Reshevsky tomorrow?" Reshevsky's pseudo-active moves 13...  g4, 14...  f6 just resulted in misplacing these pieces in the face of White's accurate defence. Later activity like 20... d5, 24... h5, 25... b5 hastened defeat by opening the game for White's  s, while his s couldn't find a safe square. |
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| May-30-09 | | AnalyzeThis: I was looking at Reshevsky's openings, and saw something interesting. Before this tournament in 1948, he only played the Sicilian a handful of times - maybe like 4 or 5. Starting around 1950 or so, going forward, the Sicilian became a regular part of his repetoire. Games like this, where white could employ the strategy <Jonathan Sarfati> is referring too, must have convinced him that when he was playing for the win with black, it needed to be 1...c5, not 1...e5. |
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