Phony Benoni: If you've been Random Gamed here or something, you might wonder about the unusual sequence from moves 35-55. It could only have happened in the Wild and Wacky World of Adjournment Analysis.The general, and incorrect impression, is that a game would be adjourned after 40 moves. In reality, they were adjourned after five hours of play. Since both players would generally use most of their allotted time (2.5 hours for the first forty moves, 16 moves per hour thereafter), adjournments would generally occur at around move 40.
When Smejkal started stalling with his king moves, he was just trying to reach the time control and then adjourn. This was common technique at the time.
However, as Kavalek explains in the tournament book, Donner had been playing so quickly the entire game that they reached move forty in less than four hours. This meant Smejkal couldn't just sit and let the time run, since he would lose on time before the next time control.
So the game continued, and Smejkal spent so much time stalling and watching for triple repetitions that he was in danger of losing on time before move 56. However, he did get the adjournment, and wrapped up the point easily upon resumption.
Kavalek expressed surprise that the Black king didn't have a heart attack.
Kibitzing
