Wednesday, September 25

Bohemian Championship: More games from Jungbunzlau

We present a selection of fine games from the recent Bohemian Championship at Jungbunzlau (Mladá Boleslav).  Our first offering is a contest of great sporting importance between Reti and new Bohemain Champion Hromadka.  In it, Reti handles the first half of the game quite well, and by the 23rd move enjoys an endgame advantage a clear pawn to the good.  Soon thereafter, however, the young Master misplaces his Knight on the eighth rank, where it later falls victim to the Black Rook.  Reti has been most active in recent months, and is the only Master to have taken part in all four tournaments at Vienna, Budapest, Debrecen, and Jungbunzlau. Perhaps a bit of fatigue has set in, something quite understandable under the circumstances. In any case, had the result of this game been reversed, Reti and not Hromadka would have claimed the Bohemian title.  For the benefit of our younger or less experienced readers, we point out that while in the final position the promotion square of the Black a-pawn is indeed of the color opposite to that on which his Bishop travels, the presence of Rooks on the board alters matters, making the game a theoretical win for the second player.

  


As noted in our original report on the Jungbunzlau tourney, Hromadka, the winner, tallied four victories and one draw from his five games with the Black pieces.  The new Champion's fine win over Pokorny appeared in our earlier entry; here he defeats Schubert via the pretty combinational blow 32...Qxh4+


And here Hromadka makes excellent use of the two Bishops in the endgame to overcome Dobias.  The steady and unhurried means by which Black opens the game on the King-side and secures for himself a winning passed pawn will reward careful study.

 


Second prize winner F. Treybal defeated the Champion in their individual encounter, checkmating Hromadka to round off a fine maneuvering game.


Knowing the preference of many of our readers for King-side attacks, we close with two victories by Oscar Tenner, who shared 3rd-5th places with Reti and L. Prokes.  In the first, Tenner defeats J. Brach, employing the classic Bxh7+ sacrifice in slightly unusual form, as a Black Knight stands on f6.


In our final offering, Tenner infiltrates on the dark squares to defeat Treybal.


The Jungbunzlau Hauptturnier also produced its fair share of top-notch games, and we plan to share the best of them with our readers withinn a few days' time.


    

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