Monday, February 10, 2014

Mieses's Recollections from Palestine -- Translation

As promised, here is a (partial) translation of the article by Mieses posted here -- see original post for complete credit and sources. 

The article notes, first, the Palestinian team's achievement in the 1935 Olympiad. It notes the team in the Olympiad and other strong players – most of them, as we have seen, recent immigrants: Enoch, Dobkin, Winz, Czerniak – who played in the Olympiad of 1935 – and, 'for example', Macht, Glass, Mohilever and Marmorosh as additional strong players, once more showing how chess improved since the German (or rather, European) invasion (for some reason Mieses does not mention Porat as the player on the 1st board). Expecting a high level of competition, however, he found out that his expectations were only in a few cases fulfilled, due to the 'unfortunate fact' that, 'Jerusalem excepted', chess in Palestine 'lacks overall organization', despite the fact that hundreds of chess fans play in cafes in Tel Aviv and Haifa every day. The Palestine Chess Federation, notes Mieses, exists, but due to constant lack of funds, seems 'doomed to a shadowy existence', and the game he gave in their 'hardly suitable' club (+3 =2 -1) 'was terribly weak'. Similarly in Haifa there could only be arranged a 14-game simul (+12 =1 -1).

On the other hand, the Tel Aviv chess powerhouse organizer – Marmorosh – who had the chess columns in Davar and also (since the mid-30s) Ha'aretz arranged for a 33 board match (+21 -4 =8). Marmorosh tried to arranged further events but couldn't do it 'by himself'. Politics enter the issue: a few strong players live in smaller towns far from the center, but due to the 'unrest on the ways' – i.e., the Arab revolt, then nearly at its height, which made travel there dangerous – this was not done.

On the positive side, Mieses is full of praise for chess in Jerusalem, where the local chess club belongs 'as a special section to the comfortable Menorah club', with president (at the time) Prof. (in the Hebrew University) Torczyner – whom we have encountered before as a fearless fighter for the purity of the Hebrew language, in particular when it comes to chess terms (he was Shaul Hon's mentor).  and players such as Cherniak and Mohilever. The club benefited from another "new acquisition" – the 'chess patron' M. Weitz, who lived in Berlin until 'two years ago', and arranged many events. He played, first, two 'interesting' games (simultaneously) against two groups of three consulting players (=2), a blindfold simul against 'strong players' (+3 =2), and a simultanrous display against 24 with 'some of the best players' (+17 =4 -3), and ending with the following 'serious game' against Mohilever:

Mohilever,Ariah Lev - Mieses,Jacques [C44]
Jerusalem, 11.05.1936
Annotations: J. Mieses
Source: Jüdische Rundschau, vol. 41, no. 51, 26.6.1936, p. 18.
1.Nf3 Nc6 2.d4 d6 3.e4 Bg4 4.c3
Better is  4.Be3 , answering  4...Nf6 with  5.Nfd2.
4...Nf6 5.Bd3 e5! 6.Be3 d5!
As one can see, the initiative passed to the second player. 
7.Nbd2 exd4 8.cxd4 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bb4+ 10.Nc3 Nd5 11.Rc1 0–0 12.0–0 Re8 13.Re1

This is a mistake, which determines the further course of the game. Correct is 13.Nxd5 Qxd5 14.Bc4 followed by Be2.
13...Nxe3 14.fxe3 Nxd4!
winning an important pawn.
15.exd4 Rxe1+ 16.Qxe1 Bxf3 17.Qf2
17.gxf3 Qxd4+ followed by Qxd3 is bad for White, but the text move is no better.
17...Bxg2! 18.Re1
18.Kxg2 Qg5+ and Qxc1;
18.Qxg2 Qxd4+ and Qxd3
18...Bc6 19.Re5 Bd6
White's attack is repulsed with little effort. 
20.Rh5 g6 21.d5
despair.
21...gxh5 22.Qg2+ Kh8 23.dxc6 Bc5+ 
White resigns (0–1)

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