Kemeri (1937) |
Kemeri 1937 was Alexander Alekhine's penultimate tune up for his impending rematch with World Champion Max Euwe. In a result that augured poorly for his prospects in the rematch, Alekhine finished only equal 4th with Paul Keres. His misfortunes began as early as Round 4, in which he lost with the white pieces against Vladas Mikenas. As it turned out, this lost point made the difference between clear first and a share of fourth place. In the end, however this tournament was most notable for the career-best performance of Latvian home town favorite Vladimir Petrov, who shared first with Samuel Reshevsky and Salomon Flohr. An understandably buoyant Petrov, who was awarded the Latvian Grandmaster title on the strength of his achievement, shared his post-event thoughts in an interview with the chess journal Sacha Maksla, July 24, 1937: "Of course I am very happy about my result. I did a lot of preparations for the tournament... I studied the <e4> openings because I knew that playing the Queens Gambit against such positional players as Flohr and Fine is pretty useless. For the middle game and endgame I feel... that even the top players cannot take me lightly, particularly in the strategic phases of the game. Alekhine did not impress me in this tournament. His play displayed a lot of nervousness about the forthcoming Second World Championship Match between him and Dr. Max Euwe." Photograph of the Tournament Book: http://www.chesspro.ru/_images/mate... Kemeri, Latvia, 16 June - 8 July 1937 R P F A K S T F S M R B A B F L H O
1 Reshevsky X 1 = 0 1 1 = 1 = 1 0 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 12.0
2 Petrov 0 X = = = = = 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 = 12.0
3 Flohr = = X = = = = = = = 1 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 12.0
4 Alekhine 1 = = X = 1 = 1 = 0 = = = = 1 1 1 1 11.5
5 Keres 0 = = = X 1 = = 0 1 1 1 = 1 = 1 1 1 11.5
6 Steiner 0 = = 0 0 X 1 1 0 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 11.0
7 Tartakower = = = = = 0 X 1 = 0 1 1 1 = = 1 = 1 10.5
8 Fine 0 0 = 0 = 0 0 X = = = 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 9.0
9 Stahlberg = 0 = = 1 1 = = X 0 0 1 = = 0 1 = = 8.5
10 Mikenas 0 1 = 1 0 0 1 = 1 X 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 8.0
11 Rellstab 1 0 0 = 0 = 0 = 1 1 X 0 = 1 0 0 1 = 7.5
12 Böök 1 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 X = 1 1 0 1 = 7.5
13 Apsenieks 0 0 = = = 0 0 0 = 1 = = X 0 1 1 = 1 7.5
14 Bergs = 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 = 1 0 0 1 X 0 1 1 = 6.5
15 Feigin 0 0 0 0 = 0 = 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 X 0 = 1 5.5
16 Landau 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 X 1 1 5.5
17 Hazenfuss 0 0 0 0 0 = = 0 = 1 0 0 = 0 = 0 X 0 3.5
18 Ozols 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 = = 0 = 0 0 1 X 3.5 Sources: Vladimirs Petrovs: a Chessplayer's Story From Greatness to the Gulags, by Andris Fride. Caissa editions 2004, pp. 14-15.Wikipedia article: 1. %C4%B6emeru starptautiskais %C5%A1aha turn%C4%ABrs Original collection: Game Collection: Kemeri 1937 International Tournament, by User: Resignation Trap; Introduction written and sourced by User: WCC Editing Project. Next: Kemeri (1939)
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page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 153 |
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Dec-06-12 | | Chessdreamer: the correct result of the game V Mikenas vs S Landau, 1937 is 1-0. time-loss for Black. Mikenas scored 8/17, Landau 5.5/17. |
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Dec-06-12
 | | Phony Benoni: <Chessdreamer> I've sent in a correction slip. When the change is made, the charts above will be updated accordingly. |
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Dec-10-12 | | USSR Championships: <Chessdreamer> wonderful catch! The crosstable from Andris Fride's biography of Petrovs confirms your correction as well. -<Vladimirs Petrovs: A chessplayer's story from Greatness to the Gulag> Andris Fride. Caissa Editions 2004, p14. <Phony Benoni> thanks, fast work on sending in the slip. Let's keep track to make sure they make the correction. |
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Dec-10-12 | | USSR Championships: Excerpt from the memoirs of <Galina Petrovs>, <Vladimirs Petrovs'> wife: "The tournament directors only had one prize to give because they had expected <Alekhine> to win. Since there were three winners, <Flohr> suggested to <Reshevsky> "Sammy, let's let <Petrov> take the rap for us." In this way, <Petrovs> was awarded the victory prize. He also won a silver cup for the "Most Brilliant Game by a Latvian against a Foreigner" for his match against <Rellstab>: Rellstab vs V Petrov, 1937 -"Refugee: Centenary of Salo Flohr" by Vladimir Moshchenko (in Russian)
http://www.chesspro.ru/_events/2009... |
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Sep-29-13
 | | GrahamClayton: On the basis of his performance in this tournament, Petrov was given an invitation to the Semmering/Baden (1937) tournament. |
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Mar-26-15
 | | MissScarlett: According to Golombek, Book intended to become a chess professional, but his relative failure in this event persuaded him otherwise. |
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Feb-05-17
 | | Stonehenge: Some info in Latvian:
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/1._%C... |
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Feb-05-17 | | JimNorCal: What happened to Reuben Fine?
Disappointing result |
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Feb-23-17 | | thegoodanarchist: < JimNorCal: What happened to Reuben Fine?> Eventually, he got psyched out of chess... |
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Sep-14-21 | | sudoplatov: Fine made his comeback during the next couple of years. |
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Sep-14-21
 | | offramp: Kemeri has for a long time had a railway station, and it is a beautiful Latvian town with a spa and a mud-bath. One of Latvia's many lovely spots for visitors. |
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