CWAP Game 5: Raclauskiene-Menchik, Buenos Aires 1939

      Vera Menchik (1906-1944) won the world championship every time she competed for it. Between 1929 and 1939, Menchik won the round-robin tournament seven times, winning 78 games, losing one, drawing four. Menchik was so dominant that the other world champion, Alekhine, said “it is totally unfair to persuade a player of an acknowledged superclass like [Menchik] to defend her title year after year in tournaments composed of very inferior players.”
      Not to mention that FIDE conducted the women’s championship alongside the Olympiad. Take 1933, for instance: Menchik won the women’s tournament 14-0-0, while Czechoslovakia won silver in the Olympiad. Against the men who played boards #2-4 for Czechoslovakia, Menchik was 4-1. Had the Czech federation the sense to put Menchik on their Olympiad team, that well could’ve been sufficient for gold.
      Among the players Menchik defeated in her career: British champions Khan and Alexander, French champion Lazard, Dutch and world champion Euwe, American champion Reshevsky, Australian champion Steiner.

[Event "Women's world championship tournament "] [Site "Buenos Aires"] [Date "1939.08.??"] [Round "15"] [White "E. Raclauskiene"] [Black "V. Menchik"] [FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]{ Click or tap on a move in the game text for a popout display board.[#]} 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3 { Suggesting the Stonewall Attack: 4. f4, 5. Nf3. } 3... Bg4 4. Be2 ( { Giving in. } 4. f3 Bh5 5. Ne2 { plus Ne2-f4 could exploit Black’s fast bishop development on the kingside.} ) 4... Bf5 { Against an equal, Black probably would’ve swapped “bad bishop” (same color squares as the center pawn) for “good bishop (unhindered by center pawns). Against the Lithuanian champion, Black kept the pieces on. } 5. Nf3 { I’m not joking when I say White should’ve considered 5. Bd3 (transposing to this reversed London System: 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 Bd6). Black (and the London players) would drop the bishop back to KN3 rather than swap bishops to lend White some breathing room and to develop the enemy queen (while since Black has already demonstrated her reluctance to trade pieces), and the active diagonal is a contest. Instead, we get a reversed London in which the e2-bishop is more passively placed. } 5... e6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. O-O Nbd7 8. c3 { If the f5-bishop were on c8, and the e2-bishop on d3, then by all means c2-c3 as a prelude to e3-e4. Here Black is locked down on e4, so e3-e4 isn’t happening, and White should develop the queen bishop on b2, which in turn indicates 8. c4.} 8... Qe7 { The master A. Levitan, who won the championship at the Koltanowski Chess Club in Campbell, Calif., multiple times, played the London exclusively. Depending on how much he respected you, he’d play P-KR3 to give that London bishop some luft in case of N-KR4. Against people he thought he’d surely outplay, he’d play P-KR3 in a position like this one. Against equals, he might play P-KR3 as early as move 3 (when it’s actually a worse idea, technically speaking; his notion was to delay Bc1-f4 until Black committed the f8-bishop so Bc1-f4 could go unbothered by …Bf8-d6). If Levitan had the black pieces here at move 8, he would’ve played 8…h7-h6. Menchik, on the other hand, is confident of blowing her opponent out of the water, and prepares for opposite-side castling, followed by …e6-e5, culminating in a queen capture on e5 to form a battery.} 9. Nb3 { This isn’t how a national champion plays, this is how a 1500 player plays when facing a master (which is quite OK with me, since the project is gathering world champions crushing amateurs who set up that rickety pawn structure). You can see her difficulty in developing the pieces. Rf1-e1, Nd2-f1-g3 heads in the right direction, but uses more time. b2-b3, Bc1-b2 looks dumb in view of c2-c3. Had White played Be2-d3 when she had the chance, there would be more space in which to untangle the pieces. } 9... Ne4 { Also how Black would’ve answered Nd2-f1.} 10. Bd3 O-O-O { Games of opposite-side castling don’t follow the normal rules of engagement. The scales of force, space, and time are recalibrated so that time is very much one’s primary concern. That makes it easier for weak players, though, since it can be hard to distinguish a 1500 from 2500 when both sides are in an all-or-nothing rush. Black isn’t expecting a counterattack, or much of any sort of resistance. } 11. c4 { White used five moves to get to c4 and Bd3, when it should’ve been two.} 11... c6 12. cxd5 { Saves Black the trouble of …e6-e5 by giving the e-pawn a recapture. } 12... exd5 13. Na5 Bc7 14. Nb3 ({ }14. Bd2 Nxd2 15. Qxd2 Bxd3{.}) 14... Bg4 { This illustrates my chief objection to the London: If you know you’re working toward P-K4 eventually, leave that bishop on QB1, and after the king pawn gets out of the way, the position should provide some clue as to where that bishop belongs. These London players develop B-B4 on move 2 or move 3, which is OK for masters, who can make anything work in the first dozen moves (Black will spend a third bishop move on …Bf5, g4, but it’s directed at checkmate), but average players should plan to rely on positional features to help them place their pieces. } 15. Be2 { If any piece is to move backward to relieve the pressure on that knight, it should be 15. Nbd2, leaving the bishop on its best diagonal, and pulling the knight back from that trip to nowhere.} 15... h5 16. h3 Qd6 $1 17. Ne5 Bxe2 18. Qxe2 f6 19. Nf3 g5 20. g3 {[#] Here are are again.} 20... g4 21. Nh4 { On almost ay other move, Black plays …h5-h4 and …Rd8-g8.} 21... Nxg3 22. fxg3 Qxg3+ 0-1 * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

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