SPRAGGETT ON CHESS: Abe Yanofsky: A Canadian legend

SPRAGGETT ON CHESS

Abe Yanofsky's name was synonymous with Canadian Chess for a good part of the 20th century. Born in Poland in 1925, his parents moved to Canada before Abe was even 1 year old, settling in Winnipeg. When his father taught him to play chess at age 8 he demonstrated an immense natural talent for the game, and by the time he was 11 years old he was already recognized as a prodigy.

Yanofsky soon became Canada's good-will ambassador for chess

At the age of 11 Yanofsky was invited to play at the Canadian National Exhibition (1936), where he achieved great successes. On his return to Winnipeg he was hailed a hero by the media. Soon afterwards he started to collect chess championships, one after the other.

At the age of 14 , in recognition of his enormous promise, he was chosen to be part of the National Team to the 1939 Olympiad to be held in Buenos Aires. Abe exceeded expectations when he achieved the best score on board number 2! This sparkling talent soon attracted the attention of none other than the World Champion, Alexander Alekhine.

Alekhine saw a great chess future for Yanofsky

In particular, Alekhine was impressed with how the 14 year old lad neatly dispatched the Peruvian Champion Dulanto :

The moves leading up to this position were: (Yanofsky, Abe - Dulanto, A).
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nbd7 6. Nf3 Be7 7. Nxf6 Nxf6 8. Bd3 c5 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. c3 Qxc5 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Rd8 13. Ne5 b6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Bxh7 Kf8 16. Qh5 Bxe5 17. Rxe5 Qc7 18. Be4 Bb7 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 20. Qh8 Ke7 21. Qxg7 Rg8 (see above diagram)

It looks like White is in trouble, but Abe had something up his sleeve that his opponent was not going to like: 22. Rxe6!! White sacrifices a rook to draw the enemy King into the open 22... Kxe6 23. Re1 Kd6 24. Qf6! Kc5 25. Re5 Kc4 26. b3! Kd3 27. Qd6 Kc2 28. Re2 Black resigns. It is forced mate.

Alekhine was so impressed, that he included this example in several of his lectures and in atleast one of his books. The final attack was brilliantly executed by the young Canadian!

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Abe's chess ambitions were put into the background. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1944 to 1946. Then for a short period he toured Europe, giving simuls, lectures and playing in tournaments. He achieved great success, quickly establishing himself as the strongest player in the CommonWealth. He even defeated the future World Champion (Botvinnik) in their individual encounter in the 1946 Groningen tournament. Yanofsky soon afterwards returned to his academic studies and became a noted lawyer.

Abe achieved more success than any other Canadian chessplayer had before him.

Mikhail Botvinnik was Abe's most famous victim. It took him almost 20 years before he finally levelled the score (in 1964)!

Yanofsky's efforts to popularize chess were well received wherever he went.

Bobby Fischer found Abe an exceptionally difficult opponent to beat. His personal score was 1.5 points out of 2 games but it took Fischer 120 moves to win!

Although Abe Yanofsky was not interested enough in the game to motivate himself in putting in the dedication necessary to fight to win the World Chess Championship, he remained a top player in the world for a long time. He became a Grandmaster in 1964--the first in the CommonWealth! He won 8 Canadian Chess titles, amongst numerous other championships, and participated on the National Team at the Olympiad 11 times.

Yanofsky was also active in the promotion of chess in Winnipeg, organizing the 1967 Winnipeg International Tournament . He eventually earned the International Arbiter Title (IA). In recognition of Abe's life-long contributions to chess as well as for his civil leadership (Abe was Mayor of a suburb of Winnipeg and an alderman in Winnipeg), he was awarded the Order of Canada in 1972. He remained active in chess right up until his death in 2000, just 3 weeks shy of his 75th birthday.

Abe wrote several excellent books. Apart from the above book, I was impressed with his ''100 years of Canadian Chess'', a wonderful book that I read when I was still in highschool. The book was one of the more popular chess books in the school library.

Yanofsky's style of play in chess can be characterized as logical and pragmatic. Much like his personality, actually! He was always calm and measured. He did not give into speculative or risky play, instead preferring to build up his position on solid and sound principles. He possessed really excellent endgame technique. In this way , many of his best games remind me of Capablanca.

However, Abe was also an excellent tactician, capable of calculating many moves ahead and finding cute combinative ideas. Many of opponents found this out to their disadvantage. I give some of my favourite examples:

Yanofsky, Abe - Divinsky, Nathan
Winnipeg 1955.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d6 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. Nbd2 cxd4 13. cxd4 Rd8 14. d5 Bd7 15. Nf1 Rdc8 16. Bd3 Ne8 17. Rb1 b4 18. Bd2 Rcb8 19. Ne3 Qb6 20. b3 Nb7 21. Nc4 Qc7 22. Bxb4 a5 23. Ba3 Nc5 24. Bf1 f5 25. exf5 Bxf5 26. Rc1 Rc8 arriving at the following position:

Black's position seems solid enough at first glance. 27. Nfxe5!! dxe5 28. Rxe5 Bg6

29. d6!! Nxd6 30. Rxc5 Qxc5 31. Bxc5 Rxc5 32. Nxd6 Rxc1 33. Qd5 [1:0] A neat finish!

Dr. Nathan Divinsky, also from Winnipeg and born in the same year as Abe (1925) and a very strong player in his own right, found Yanofsky a very tough adversary. His life-time record in official tournament play is just two draws in 4 games.

In the following example, Ragozin has embarked upon a violent attack against Yanofsky's uncastled king. Black's lack of development is a serious problem, and it is not clear how he will be able to coordinate his forces before white will be able to bring to bear on Abe's king. White has just castled. Yanofsky now comes up with a brilliant tactical solution to the problems in the position:
( The previous moves were Ragozin, Viacheslav - Yanofsky, Abe 1948.
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. h4 c5 7. Nb5 f6 8. Bd3 a6 9. Qh5 Kf8 10. Nh3 cxd4 11. Nf4 Nxe5 12. Nxd4 Qb6 13. O-O-O

Ragozin was one of the leading grandmasters of his day.

13...Qxd4!! This move seems to fall into White's trap, but Yanofsky had seen very deep into the position. 14.Bb5 Threatening mate as well as the Black Queen. Did Abe overlook it?

14...Qxd1!! 15. Rxd1 axb5 The whole point! Black has managed to give up his queen to eliminate the white attack. It seems as though Ragozin has overestimated his attacking chances. Yanofsky went on to win a brilliant victory over the Soviet grandmaster.

16. Nd3 Nbc6 17. Be3 Rxa2 18. Kb1 Ra4 19. b3 Ra8 20. Nxe5 Nxe5 21. f4 Nf7 22. Bd4 Bd7 23. Bb2 Nd6 24. Qf3 Kf7 25. g4 Rhc8 26. g5 Ne4 27. h5 Bb4 28. Rd3 Ba3 29. Ba1 b4 30. h6 g6 31. Bxf6 Bb5 32. f5 Bxd3 33. fxg6 Kxg6 34. Qxd3 Rf8 35. c4 bxc3 36. Bxc3 Rfc8 37. Bb2 Bxb2 38. Kxb2 Kxg5 39. Qe3 Kf6 40. Qb6 Kg5 41. Qxb7 Kxh6 42. Qe7 Kg6 43. b4 [0:1]

One of my all-time favourites is Szabo vs Yanofsky from the Winnipeg 1967 International Chess Tournament. White has just played his move, advancing his a-pawn, threatening to make a new Queen. It seems as though Abe must have overlooked this strong move. But he did not (!) and instead uncorks a brilliant attack against the white king.

36... Rc2!! A brilliant tactical idea. Yanofsky has forseen that the new Queen will be of little use to White, and will not be able to help in the defence of his King. Play continued 37. a8=Q Rxb2 38. Re1 The only move. If he had taken the rook, then black has ...Qc1 with a decisive attack against the King. Now it seems as though everything is inorder in Szabo's position.

38... Bg1!! A very surprising move. The White king finds itself cornered. 39. Kh1 Qf2 !

White resigns. If he takes the Bishop with his Rook, then Yanofsky takes the Bishop with his own Rook and mate will shortly follow. A beautiful and surprising finish. Note the white Queen on a8, a sad spectator to the events.

Laszlo Szabo was one of the top European grandmasters during the 50's and 60's.

This position is from the game O'Kelly vs Yanofsky, played at the Lugano Olympiad in 1968. White seems to have an excellent position. When Yanofsky played his next move, it must have been like a cold shower to White, for he immediately resigned. Can you find black's move?

Grandmaster O'Kelly resigned on the spot!

I have always been impressed with Abe's knowledge of the French Defence. And especially his skill in handling the delicate positions that often arise and oblige the black player to find hidden counterattacking resources to hold back white's constant attempts to seize the initiative. In my opinion, Abe's finest qualities came to the fore in this opening. The following game against the english master Jonathon Penrose is an excellent example of his skill in counterattack.

Jonathon Penrose , 10 times Champion of England, was the brother of Oliver. Neither scored very well against the Canadian!

Penrose, Oliver - Yanofsky, Abe
England 1952.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6

Abe never seemed very interested in the Winawar Variation (...Bb4) preferring this classical line. Today it is growing in popularity.

4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. f4 O-O! In my opinion, the best move. Black tucks his king away and prepares to counterattack with c5

8. Nf3 c5 9. g3 cxd4! A clear solution to the position. Most masters would play ...Nc6 first.

10. Qxd4!? Nc6 11. Qd2 a6 12. Bg2 Nb6 ! This move has become a key idea in modern praxis. Black prepares to use the c-file and the threat to play ...Nc4 requires white to be careful.

13. Bf1 Bd7 14. Bd3 Qc5 ! I like this move very much. It is almost as if Abe wants White to castle queenside and attack him over on the kingside.

15. g4 Nc4 16. Bxc4 Qxc4 17. O-O-O b5 Counterplay is the spice of chess

18. Kb1 Rad8 19. Rhg1 f6 ! This is a masterly move. Yanofsky opens up a second front and creates new opportunities. It is important, in these tricky positions, to know when you can put all you apples into one basket (here, black's queenside attack) and when you have to take some precautionary measures (here, against white's kingside attack). Abe had exceptional feel in this type of position.

20. exf6 Rxf6 21. f5!? I do not know if this was designed to grab the initiative or to simply distract black from his attack. In either case, it seems to fail miserably. 21... b4 22. Ne2 exf5 23. gxf5 Bxf5 24. Ned4 Nxd4 25. Nxd4 Bg6 26. Rde1 Rdf8 27. Rg2 Be4 28. Rge2 a5 29. Rg1? White is lost anyway, but this move makes it easy for black.

A serious mistake. Immediately upon realizing what he had done, Penrose extended his hand to Yanofsky and resigned. Had the game continued, it would likely have continued as follows:

29... Rf1! 30. Re1 R8f2!! 31. Qd1 Rxg1 32. Rxg1 a4 33. Ka1 b3! 34. cxb3 a3!!

Abe Yanofsky was a great chessplayer. For his many fans, and I include myself in this category, we can only regret that Abe did not try to fight for the World Title. Never the less , his best games are a wonderful collection for any student of the game to study and learn from. Abe's talent and insight into the game was profound. His games showed great skill in playing dynamic and complex positions. His pragamatic style of play and his ability to keep the game clear and logical are characteristic of the greatest champions.

Abe, for Canadians of my generation, bridged the golden age of chess to the present. He met with Capablanca and Alekhine. He conversed with the great Akiba Rubinstein at the latter's home. He played Botvinnik, Spassky and Fischer.

When I first met Abe at the Canadian Championship in Calgary 1975, I enjoyed discussing chess history with him. Abe was able to give first hand accounts of personalities that I previously could only read of in texts. His pleasant personality and natural friendliness will always be remembered fondly by this writer. He encouraged me. Over the following 25 years we dueled several times at national championships and maintained a warm and cordial relationship. He will be missed.

Abe played an offhand game with the great Rubinstein when he first travelled to Europe