Donald MacMurray vs Isaac Kashdan (1934) Kashdan Carried

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Donald MacMurray vs Isaac Kashdan
"Kashdan Carried" (game of the day Jun-03-2014)
35th Western Championship. Final (1934), Chicago, IL USA, rd 7, Jul-31
Caro-Kann Defense: Maroczy Variation. Maroczy Gambit (B12) · 0-1

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Aug-26-12		perfidious: A remarkable game, full of vicissitudes. One can do no better than reproduce the post from Kashdan's page: < Phony Benoni: ....This one gets crazy around move three and never does leave the asylum. <1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 dxe4 4.fxe4 e5 5.Nf3 exd4 6.Bc4 Bb4+ 7.c3 dxc3 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 9.Qb3> Still book at this point. Well, we can fix that. <9...cxb2+ 10.Qxb4+ Kxf7 11.Bxb2 Nf6 12.Qb3+ Ke8 13.Nbd2 Na6 14.Ng5> The beginning of many, many adventures. <14...Qe7 15.Ba3 c5 16.0-0 Ng4 17.Nf7 Rf8 18.Nc4 Qe6 19.Rad1 Ke7 20.Rd6 Qxe4 21.Rdd1 Be6 22.Rfe1 Qf4> Now 23.Rxe6+! wins briliantly; for instance, 23...Kxe6 24.Rd6+ Kxf7 25.Ne5+ Ke8 26.Qe6#. White's choice should also win, though. <23.Qxb7+ Qc7 24.Ng5> Once again 24.Rxe6+ was the move. But how does Black get out of this mess? <25...Rf1+ 25.Kxf1 Qxb7 26.Nxe6 Kf6 27.Rd6 Kf7 28.Rd8 Qb5 29.Rxa8 Qxc4+ 30.Kg1 Qc3 31.Rxa7+ Kf6 32.Rf1+ Ke5 33.Bc1 Nb4 34.Ra3 Qc2 35.Re1+ Kd5 36.Rf3 Kc6 37.Ba3 Nd3> Once again, my computer (are you kidding? I value my sanity too much to try and analyze this stuff) indicates a winning game for White with 38.Bxc5! Nxe1 39.Nd4+ Kxc5 40.Nxc2 Nxf3+ 41.gxf3, with a pawn up ending. However, it's likely the time control was at move 40, and I'm sure both flags had been hanging by a proton for quite a while. Not that it would have mattered, since any tournament officials would have been paying too much attention to the game to notice a flag fall. <38.Ref1 Nge5 39.Rf5 Qxa2 40.Nxc5 Qxa3 41.Nxd3 Qxd3> 0-1 White could argue the point for a while, but he probably didn't have any nerves left....>

Jun-03-14		Phony Benoni: I freely confess this was a case of forcing any sort of pun to get the game into the mix. So please don't fixate on the pun, and I hope you enjoy the game.

Jun-03-14		An Englishman: Good Evening: I feel like those guys on Monty Python's Flying Circus saying, "Oooh, me brain hurts!"

Jun-03-14		RookFile: As perfidious point out, in the game's final position, white could argue the point for a while. What does he have to lose? Let's say he plays something like 42. h3. If for any reason white is able to get rid of one of those black pawns, he might be able to set up a fortress even if later he white has to give up rook for knight. Surely it was worth a few more moves, you only resign once per game.

Jun-03-14		Once: A crazy game. White attacks like a madman using the fantasy variation of the Caro-Kann, but then resigns meekly when there still seems to be a little play left. Why the resignation when he did? Possibly because he will spend the rest of the game grimly defending a position which is almost certainly lost. Some attackers hate defending. Or possibly the shock and disappointment of spotting that 42...Rxe5 loses to 43. Qd4+. Or that both players were in such pressure to meet the time control at move 40 that they accidentally skidded past it ... and only then realised that black has a winning material advantage. Great game to play through. Respect to Phony for finding it.

Jun-03-14		morfishine: Wonderful to see Macmurray play with such free abandon against the redoubtable Kashdan. A pity he couldn't pull it off. A greater pity was his passing at such an early age

Jun-03-14		kevin86: A really insane game. White does seem to resign while there was still play left.

Jun-03-14		drnooo: one of the wildest I have ever seen like riding a Brahma bull for 20 seconds if that is possible it, hate to say it, almost makes a lot of Tal's games seem utterly sane and comprehensible the first game that it summoned up for me was the famous Lasker Napier immortal Benoni did himself proud in digging this one from the sands and tombs of Eqypt

Jun-03-14		perfidious: <RookFile: As perfidious point out, in the game's final position, white could argue the point for a while.> Credit where it is due: I merely reposted <Phony Benoni>'s comments from Kashdan's page.

Jun-03-14		Castleinthesky: A fun game, although I agree with <Kevin86>, it does seem too early to resign (wouldn't a draw be possible?).

Jun-03-14		Phony Benoni: On its merits, the final position does seem like a draw with all the action on one side of the board. But when I fed it to a tablebase, without the pawns, it's mate in 50 for Black. I can't imagine who would be favored by having the pawns, but one thing for sure--if anybody at the time could win it as black, it would be Kashdan. Double checking my records, I'm not sure what the time control was after all, so a forfeit remains possible. But I don't recall that being specially mentioned either. Here's another possibility. This game was from round 7, played the afternoon of July 31st. Round 8 was scheduled that night, and the final round the next day, ending a stretch of 18 games in 12 games. Neither player was in contention. If there game was adjourned, MacMurray just might not have wanted to squeeze in what likely would have been a long and futile resumption. Or maybe MacMurray, in his haste, touched the knight and resigned without moving. We just don't know.

Jun-04-14		Moszkowski012273: Good lord black was lucky here...

Aug-22-20		MissScarlett: MacMurray beat Kashdan a few months later in the Manhattan CC championship, but the game hasn't (yet) been found.

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