Wednesday, November 27

Bologna tournament, Round 2: Reggio, Rosselli tied for lead at 2-0

Arturo Reggio and Stefano Rosselli del Turco share the lead with perfect 2-0 scores after the second round of the Italian national tournament at Bologna.  Reggio maintained his place atop the score table by besting Pietro Belli in a hard-fought French Defense, while Rosselli as first player in a Vienna Gambit weathered an early piece sacrifice by his opponent to defeat Alberto Batori.  In other games Giuseppe Benini topped Corrado Buono, Giovanni Cenni took the full point from Camillo D'Amelio, and Gastone Montessori and Efrem Ferraris played the tourney's first draw. Opening-round winner Guido Matteucci had the bye.

Scores after 2 rounds:  Rosselli, Reggio 2; Batori, Benini, Buono, Cenni, Matteucci* 1; Montessori, Ferraris 1/2; D'Amelio*, Belli 0.
Players marked with an asterisk * have already had the bye.

Two games from the second round have reached us, they being the victories by the tourney's current leaders.  In the first, Belli as Black adopts the French Defense against Reggio and seems at first to obtain a most promising position; the move 23...Rc6?, however, allowing the advance of White's central pawns after 24.Bxe4 dxe4 25.d5, definitely spoils Black's chances.

  


Batori ventured the surprising 9...Nxd4 vs. Rosselli, initially gaining three pawns for the piece but finding the development of his forces somewhat in arrears.  Black's later efforts to profit from the position of the wayward White Rook on b7 proved insufficient, and Rosselli, still in possession of his extra piece, scored the game to his credit at the 35th move.

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