The Budapest - Moscow Team Match, 1949. Part One.

Good afternoon everyone. A big bag of games and some pictures to enjoy.

In 1949 Moscow and Budapest contested a team match in two parts - one in each city. It produced an absolute mass of wonderful chess! I have games in at least a dozen books. At one time I owned a small book of the games, but that went in one of my clear-outs!

Before I forget, Douglas Griffin has produced a fine selection of games and material from the original bulletins ( which can be found online) which you can find here.

https://dgriffinchess.wordpress.com/2019/01/20/the-budapest-moscow-match-tournament-1949/  I have taken the liberty of taking two photos from the article - with humble thanks and appropriate credit. ( He always asks me to quote the original source so I will do that with giving him finders credit!!)

Well, the cross-table tells the story. This is with results from the Budapest perspective - from Barcza's Elite es Jatsmai, one of my favourite books. You get some free game notes!

Look at that result in Moscow!! Smyslov 100% and Simagin conceding just 2 draws!
Let's quote Szabo, from his wonderful Best Games volume.

''But in March 1949 another test of strength awaited me. The all-Moscow team visited
Budapest to match its strength with the chess players of Budapest on eight boards under the
Scheveningen system. This was the first meeting between sportsmen of the two countries
after the war.
The hall was filled to capacity with chess enthusiasts. In the first rounds we succeeded
in surprising our famous opponents. I won against Ragozin, and in the third round I got
the No. 2 Soviet player, Smyslov, the future world champion into a mating position with
a piece sacrifice. But with that I had shot my bolt.
The Soviet team slowly got the better of us, and was already leading after eight rounds in
Budapest. I finished the Budapest phase after the flying start with a 50 percent result.

But the worst was still to come. The team did not give its best in Moscow either.
Perhaps we could have returned with a better score, had we not let ourselves drown
in the hospitality extended to us by our hosts.
But who could resist caviar, salmon, fruit puddings and other delicacies heaped up in
front of him. Every member of the Hungarian team put on 4-5 kilograms in Moscow!''

The Budapest team from the home leg - via Barcza's book mentioned - I doubt you will find it elsewhere else!

O.K. Some games and pictures. As said, there are a mass to choose from, and this is a large selection - I could have added more! No notes this time round.

Best start with Smyslov's stunning performance mentioned above. I have this from my dear friend Andrey Terekov, who we were lucky enough to meet up with in Paris recently.

''Grandmaster Smyslov only scored 2½ points in the first six rounds... He had the worst result in the team, and he could not stand that.
Usually Smyslov woke up early in the morning and charmed his hotel neighbours with the sounds of piano and his pleasant baritone. On the day of the seventh round there was no music. The grandmaster locked himself in the room and did not go out the whole day. The neighbours only heard the thump of the chess pieces. The teammates were saying “Smyslov is analysing variations, preparing for the game with Barcza”.
In the evening, during the round the usually calm Muscovite was barely recognizable. He was making his moves with a bang, then energetically closing his automatic pen and pacing the scene, not noticing anyone or anything. “Now he is getting serious,” said the experts.
And indeed, Smyslov quickly defeated master Barcza, and next day master Gereben too. However, Smyslov did not settle and won all his eight games in Moscow too, not conceding a single draw and sharing the first place in the end. “Better late than never” clearly applies to the rules of the tournament struggle.''

Kotov. Match-turnir Moskva-Budapesht (Match-tournament Moscow-Budapest, #15/1949, p. 2)

Smyslov was in absolute beast mode. Two attacking gems. The first is well known - actually one of the first Smyslov games I ever saw, around 50 years ago.

The second is less well known. His opponent, Erno Gereben, 

was a fascinating chess figure in his own right. He also poses a little puzzle for those of us who dig into the side roads of chess history, because early in his career he used the Austrian version of his name - Ernst Grunfeld. Yep, the same as another player, more famous, and 'inventor' - it was much older - of the 'Grunfeld Defence'.

With colours reversed in the Moscow leg it was a tougher battle, but the same result.

Gereben, Pilnik, De Graaf, Averbakh, Bronstein, van Scheltinga, Tan, Van de Berg. Hoogovens 1963. This version via Alarmy.

On to Simagin. He played some wonderful chess. I have always found this next game, against Benko

a particularly fascinating game - perhaps I will annotate it one day, but Keres' notes are in the Griffin article.

His opponent in this next game features in one of the most famous chess photographs of them all!

I have posted this endgame a couple of times before.

Another loss for Gereben.

And one more. Sorry mate. This match must have had mixed feelings for the wonderful Andor Lilienthal. He was Hungarian and then became a Soviet citizen and a Moscow champion.

It gets worse.

While we are there, another nice Flohr win - notes in the Griffin article as I recall. Flohr with the Bishop pair.

O.K. I have decided that I just have too much for one blog, so will stop there and come back with a 'Part Two'. Will see you there if you enjoyed this one. Take care guys, and thanks for indulging me. Cheers