Reshevsky — Euwe

Candidates TournamentZurich, 1953

• Samuel Reshevsky (1911–1992)American grandmaster and former child prodigy who was a world-title contender from the 1930s to the 1950s while earning his living as an accountant.
• Max Euwe (1901–1981)The fifth World Champion, who held the title from 1935 to 1937 and later led FIDE for eight years.

How should you assess this position? Black can slowly build up the pressure on White's hanging pawns, with maneuvers like ♖e8-d8, ♘f6-e8-d6, ♗b7-a6 and others at hand. What can White set against that? White should probably bring more pieces behind the central pawns, with the idea of pushing one of them at a good moment. But Euwe decided to play "actively" and only drew the pieces off to the flank for nothing:

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1. 20.
2. White is planning to attack on the h-file
3. This looked entirely safe for White
4. 20.
5. 21.
6. 22.
7. This rook maneuver serves no purpose at all
8. 22.
9. 23.
10. 24.
11. 25.
12. 26.
13. 27.
14. 28.
15. 29.
16. 30.
17. If White tries to bring the bishop through c1 to f4 and then to e5, then afterBlack wins a pawn
18. 30.
19. 31.
20. 32.
21. White was apparently still planning to bring the bishop to f4, which overlooks the reply. But on other continuations too, Black can build up the pressure without hindrance (♘f6-e8-d6, for example)
22. 32.
23. Material losses are unavoidable now
24. 33.
25. 34.
26. 35.
27. 36.
28. 37.
29. 38.
30. 39.
31. White resigned