| Nov-15-04 | | vonKrolock: Once I was going to face him in the so called "Brazilian Interzonal" (Swiss previous to a National Ch), and a kibitzer warned me: "You're Black... Fernando will play his own Opening, 1.Nf3 followed by 2.a4,,, Its dangerous, he considers the best for Black 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.a4 a5) I played thus and the game drew...Remembered perhaps mostly as the loser in Reshevsky vs F Vasconcellos, 1944 IF that Vasconcellos was him?! - He's the author of some Chess books (like one about the Budapest Gambit), played in Helsinki Ol 1952, and also in a great International T in Rio de Janeiro 1952 - complete table here http://www.textfiles.com/games/CHES... |
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| Jul-22-08 | | Gejewe: <vonKrolock> Very interesting to read. In the 1970ties I heard about a book "Teoria e Prática do Gambito Budapeste" (1966) by Fernando de Almeida Vasconcellos. Hugh Myers told me that he based his suggested white opening -in his book "New strategy in the chess openings" published in 1968- on a bright idea that Vasconcellos mentioned in his Budapest gambit book from 1966. That is 1.Nf3 d5 2.a4!? when 2..c5 3.e4 is a Budapest gambit with colours reversed. In the main lines the extra move a4.. comes in handy. I do not know if Vasconcellos gave any detail, but Myers played it in 1967, when he lived in the Dominican Republic. Then after 1..d5 2.a4 Nf6 he intended to play 3.b4 with a reversed Polish, and that is what he also did after 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.a4!? g6 3.b4. It seems that Vasconcellos has played it (more)often, is there anyone who has seen his games with 2.a4.. buried in Brazilian chess history ? |
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| Jun-10-09 | | vonKrolock: <Gejewe> Believe me, only today I'm seeing Your post! Since 2004, a lot of material arrived online, including the games of that National ch sf http://www.brasilbase.pro.br/br1977...
Vasconcellos was champion of the Federal District (Brasília) in that same year http://www.bcx.com.br/galeria.htm
Much more material and games scattered in the brasilbase site, including photos: http://www.brasilbase.pro.br/foto04... In the first photo, he appears standing behind Gligoric, also a group photo |
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| Jun-20-09 | | Gejewe: <vonKrolock> Most of the time when I notice reactions to my own posts it is by accident. It is a coincidence that I looked today, and found yours.. So it is more than understandable that you did not see mine before.
Thanks for your reaction and the interesting links. Three 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.a4 Vasconcellos games in that national ch. sf from 1977, that is a good start ! It is a pity that I did not notice your first post before Summer 2008, because a year earlier I had the opportunity to discuss Brazilian chess with Herman van Riemsdijk who was visiting the Netherlands. For example Washington d'Oliveira and his habit of playing the 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7 opening (and 1.e4 c5 2.Qe2 against van Riemsdijk as well). |
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| Jun-22-09 | | vonKrolock: <Gejewe> The page for the BRA-chs http://www.brasilbase.pro.br/b.htm and links for Ol, Ty, States etc may present already more games... He played still in other ch sf in the early 80s, but that in 77 was our only game <Remembered perhaps mostly as the loser in Reshevsky vs F Vasconcellos, 1944 IF that Vasconcellos was him?! > Well, the old sources said just <Vasconcellos> and <Boston> - as this is a quite familiar sounding surname here (as many of Portuguese extraction), I could imagine that another Vasconcellos had played that game - My doubt had nothing to do with knowing him personally - I never asked on that game, and he never talked about himself - He was proud of his book on the "Budapest", that for sure |
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| Jun-22-09 | | Gejewe: <vonKrolock> Thanks for pointing this out. Besides the tournament where the two of you played together, I found Vasconcellos in the tables of sF's in 1978,1981,1982,1983,1986 and 1988 (1987 was incomplete). Two games played from the black side of a Skandinavian and a Dutch defence.
Back in the 1960ties the semifinals give more of his games, but generally mainstream openings such a Caro Kann, Queens gambit declined and 1.d4 & 2.c4 with the white pieces. Except for 1969 when he played 2.a4!?, the Brasilbase providing the next two games:
[Event "TNA"]
[Site "Sao Paulo"]
[Date "1969.07.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Vasconcellos, Fernando"]
[Black "Achcar, Nelson"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. a4 g6 3. b4 Bg7 4. Bb2 d6 5. e3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. d4 exd4 8. exd4 d5 9. O-O Re8 10. Nc3 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Bxf3 Nc6 13. Na2 Ne4 14. c3 Qh4 15.Nc1 Re7 16. Nb3 Rae8 17. b5 Nd8 18. Ba3 Re6 19. Qd3 b6 20. Ra2 f5 21. c4 g5 22. cxd5 Rh6 23. Re1 Nf7 24. Bxe4 fxe4 25. Qd1 Qf4 26. Qg4 Nd6 27. Rc2 Re7 28. Bc1 Qxg4 29. hxg4 Rg6 30. f3 h6 31. fxe4 Rxe4 32. Rxe4 Nxe4 33. Rxc7 Rd6 34. Rxa7 Rxd5 35. Bb2 Nf6 36. Rb7 Rd6 37. d5 Rxd5 38. Bxf6 Bxf6 39. Rxb6 Rd3 40. Rxf6 Rxb3 41. Rxh6 Rb4 42. Ra6 1-0[Event "TNA"]
[Site "Sao Paulo"]
[Date "1969.07.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vasconcellos, Fernando"]
[Black "Ladeira Filho, Jarbas"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A05"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. a4 d5 3. g3 Bf5 4. d3 h6 5. Bg2 e6 6. O-O Be7 7. Nbd2 c6 8. c3 O-O 9. a5 Nbd7 10. Nd4 Bh7 11. a6 Qc8 12. axb7 Qxb7 13. Qa4 Rfc8 14. N2b3 Nc5 15. Nxc5 Bxc5 16. Nb3 Bb6 17. Na5 Qc7 18. c4 Rab8 19. Bd2 Bd4 20. cxd5 Bxb2 21.dxe6 Bxa1 22. exf7+ Qxf7 23. Rxa1 c5 24. Nc6 Rb2 25. Ne5 Qe6 26. Qc4 Bf5 27. g4 Rxd2 28. gxf5 Qxc4 29. dxc4 Rxe2 30. Nc6 Rc7 31. Nxa7 Rd7 32. Bf3 Re5 33. Nb5 Rxf5 34. Ra8+ Kh7 35. Bc6 Rd2 36. Nc3 Rdxf2 37. Ne4 R2f4 38. Nxf6+ Rxf6 39. Bd5
Rg4+ 40. Bg2 Rfg6 41. Ra2 Rxg2+ 42. Rxg2 Rxg2+ 43. Kxg2 Kg6 44. Kf3 Kf5 45. Ke3 g5 46. Kf3 h5 47. Ke3 g4 48. Kf2 Kf4 0-1 It is quite logical that Vasconcellos played 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.a4!? g6 and now 3.b4!? as he had 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 b5 in his black repertoire. The other game looked quite interesting, and certainly not bad for white until he starts to force matters.. |
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Sep-11-10
 | | GrahamClayton: These games are all by the same player, whose full name is Fernando De Almeida Vasconcellos. At the time of the 1944 US championship, Vasconcellos was a resident of Montreal, Canada. After winning the 1945 Montreal Chess Club championship, he moved to Brazil. |
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Sep-11-10
| | GrahamClayton: Here is a translated biography:
Fernando Vasconcelos de Almeida was born in Rio de Janeiro, the then capital of the Republic, on December 29, 1919. He died in Brasília (DF) in November 1996. He began playing chess competition in 1941. Attended twelve times the final phase of the Brazilian Championship from 1948 to 1985. Was runner-up in Rio in 1953 (JT Mangini was the champion), integrated teams of the Intercontinental champion of Rio de Janeiro in 1947 (Olympic Club, 1952 (Fluminense), 1953 (Fluminense) and 1958 (Olympic Club). He was part of Brazilian team (Eugene German, Souza Mendes, JT Mangini, Flávio de Carvalho, Oswaldo Cruz Filho and Fernando Vasconcelos) in the World Chess Olympiad in Helsinki (Finland) in 1952. Champion of Juiz de Fora (MG) in 1966 and 1967 . Champion Brasília (DF) in 1977. Brazilian champion of veterans in 1989. He wrote an excellent column on chess defunct newspaper Diário de Notícias (RJ) from 1952 to 1954. With Francis and Rosa Silva Neto, Fernando Vasconcelos edited from 1952 to 1954 magazine Chess Carioca. Vasconcelos wrote two books about chess: Theory and Practice of Budapest Gambit (1966) and Notes for a history of chess (1991). This raises an interesting question. How did a Brazilian living in Montreal get invited to compete in the 1944 US Championship? |
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| Sep-11-10 | | AnalyzeThis: It was the US open, not closed. Reshevsky beat him spectacular fashion in the last round. However, the point is, if you're playing Reshevsky in the last round of the US open, you must be a strong player and have an excellent score. Reshevsky vs F Vasconcellos, 1944 |
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Sep-11-10
 | | Phony Benoni: <AnalyzeThis: It was the US open, not closed. Reshevsky beat him spectacular fashion in the last round. However, the point is, if you're playing Reshevsky in the last round of the US open, you must be a strong player and have an excellent score.> That's true in a Swiss System tournament, but the 1944 U.S. Open was an 18-player round robin. Vasconcellos tied for 8-11 places with a score of 10-7. Here's the full results, from <Chess Review>, October 1944, p.10: 1. S. Reshevsky 15.5
2. A. Santasiere 12.5
3-4. E.S. Jackson, R. Steinmeyer 12.0
5. R. Johnson 11.0
6-7. W.W. Adams, W. Suesman 10.5
8-11. M. Barzin, H.B. Daly, M. Hamermesh, <A. Vasconcellos> 10.0 12. M. Kagan 9.5
13. N. Bernstein 6.0
14. L.W. Stephens 4.0
15-16. W. Bellaire, W.M.P. Mitchell 3.5
17. J. Magri 2.5
18. Dr. J.B. McCord 0.0
Note that the name is given as <A. Vasconcellos>. The article in <Chess Review> definitely identifies him as <"Arnaldo Vasconcellos, of the Brazilian Consulate at Montreal."> Jeremy Gaige's <Chess Personalia> gives data for two different people: Arnaldo Vasconcellos, b. 6.27.1912
Fernando de Almeida Vasconcellos, b. 12.29.1919
Gaige gives as authorization a letter from Dr. Idel Becker, which was apparently sent to verify that the two were different people. So it looks certain that the Vasconcellos of the Reshevsky game was not Fernando Vasconcellos. I have no idea what happened to Arnauldo later. From his results here, I would put him right around Master strength; sharing a spot with Harlow B. Daly seems about right. He did draw Santasiere and defeat Weaver Adams. |
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| Sep-11-10 | | AnalyzeThis: Interesting info... thanks. |
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| Sep-11-10 | | vonKrolock: <Phony Benoni> ><A. Vasconcellos>. The article in <Chess Review> definitely identifies him as <"Arnaldo Vasconcellos, of the Brazilian Consulate at Montreal.">> Great! Therefore, Fernando never lost that game... |
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Sep-12-10
| | Phony Benoni: <vonKrolock> Now, aren't you glad you never asked him about the Reshevsky game? |
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| Sep-12-10 | | vonKrolock: Sure...
<Gaige gives as authorization a letter from Dr. Idel Becker, which was apparently sent to verify that the two were different people.> Yes, my own edition of Becker's <Manual de Xadrez> (everyone's vademecum here) was certainly older than that letter ... |
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Sep-12-10
| | GrahamClayton: I can definitely confirm that Arnaldo Vasconcellos was a Brazilian diplomat. The following FAO conference from 1975 shows him as the Brazilian Ambassador to the European Community, based in Brussels: http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5589e/x5... |
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| Jul-13-12 | | Antiochus: Fernando de Almeida Vasconcellos |
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| Mar-10-16 | | luftforlife: To amplify <vonKrolock's> point made above, BrasilBase lists Fernando Vasconcellos as 1977 Brazilian champion: http://www.brasilbase.pro.br/uedfm.... |
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| Mar-11-16 | | luftforlife: Here is a link to a Brazilian blog entry featuring a photograph of, and worthwhile biographical information about, "Mestre Fernando de Almeida Vasconcelos [sic]": http://xadreznoticiasrn.blogspot.co... The blog entry was augmented by information provided by FIDE Lecturer IA Antonio Bento, who has served as the Technical Vice-President of the Brazilian Chess Federation. (IA Bento's credentials may be found on the FIDE website.) This blog entry does augment, and does overlap and dovetail with, the biographical entry above so helpfully translated by <GrahamClayton> and posted on September 11, 2010. Having grown up with Continental Portuguese spoken in my extended family, and having learned some Brazilian Portuguese, I've come to understand that the latter language does feature alternate spellings for some nouns, including proper nouns and names. It seems "Vasconcelos" and "Vasconcellos" might be such alternate spellings. |
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| Mar-14-16 | | Gejewe: Better late than never. In 2009 I posted some games with 2.a4.. found with Mr. von Krolock's help, but did not add these ones. So here they are ! [Event "BRA sf"]
[Site "Curitiba"]
[Date "1977.07.??"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vasconcellos, Fernando"]
[Black "Rocha, Antonio"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. a4 a5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. d3 d5 7. Nc3 Nbd7 8. e4
dxe4 9. Ng5 Nc5 10. Ngxe4 Ncxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. dxe4 Qxd1 13. Rxd1 1/2-1/2 [Event "BRA sf"]
[Site "Curitiba"]
[Date "1977.07.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Vasconcellos, Fernando"]
[Black "Kornin, Zalmen"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A05"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. a4 a5 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O e6 6. b3 g6 7. Ba3 Bg7 8. Nc3
d6 9. Nb5 O-O 10. Rc1 Na6 11. c3 Ne8 12. b4 e5 13. bxa5 c6 14. c4 cxb5 15.
axb5 Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. a6 Be4 18. d3 Bxf3 19. Bxf3 Ra7 20. Bd5 Nc7 21.
Bb7 Ne6 22. e3 Qd6 23. Qe2 f5 24. f4 exf4 25. gxf4 Re8 26. Bd5 Kh8 27. Qg2
Rf8 28. Rcd1 Nc7 29. Bb7 Ne6 1/2-1/2
[Event "BRA sf"]
[Site "Curitiba"]
[Date "1977.07.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Vasconcellos, Fernando"]
[Black "Ticianeli, Etenio"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. a4 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O g6 6. d3 Bg7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8.
c3 b6 9. e4 dxe4 10. dxe4 Qc7 11. Re1 e5 12. Nc4 Rd8 13. Nfd2 Be6 14. Qc2
Rd7 15. Ne3 Rad8 16. Ndc4 Rc8 17. Na3 Na5 18. c4 Nc6 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. cxd5
Nd4 21. Qc4 Ne8 22. Nb5 Qd8 23. Rd1 Nd6 24. Nxd6 Rxd6 25. Be3 a5 26. Rac1
Rb8 27. Bxd4 exd4 28. Rd3 Qe7 29. f4 f6 30. Rb3 Kh8 31. Re1 Rdd8 32. Bh3 Qd6
33. Rf3 Rf8 34. Be6 Rfe8 35. Kg2 Re7 36. Re2 Rbe8 37. f5 gxf5 38. exf5 Bh6
39. Re4 Bg5 40. Rb3 Rb8 41. Rf3 Rg7 42. Qb5 Rc7 43. h4 Bh6 44. Qc4 Rf8 45.
b3 Rg7 46. Qb5 Rc7 47. Kh3 Bd2 48. g4 Bh6 49. Qe2 Qd8 50. Qh2 Rg7 51. d6 b5
52. Bd5 Rd7 53. Re6 bxa4 54. bxa4 Be3 55. g5 fxg5 56. Qe5+ Rg7 57. Rxe3 dxe3
58. Re7 g4+ 59. Kg3 Rg8 60. Bxg8 1-0
An attentive reader will notice von Krolock's game ! |
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| Mar-14-16 | | luftforlife: <Gejewe>: Thank you! vonKrolock's fourth-round draw and Fernando Vasconcellos's fifth-round win look interesting at first glance. Always a pleasure to learn more about Brazilian chess and its players -- especially from those in the know, such as you and vonKrolock (who has first-hand over-the-board tournament experience in Brazil), and others here. Kind regards. |
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Kibitzing
