The Nutcracker

John Saunders, editor and archivist of BritBase, offered a plausible decipherment of the scoresheet of a game played in the round 14 of the 6th Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament between Vera Frantsevna Menchik and Mary Dinorah Gilchrist, which was handed to Czech chess historian Jan Kalendovský, and forwarded from him to his readers as “one more nut to crack”.

Vera Frantsevna Menchik – Mary Dinorah Gilchrist
6th Women’s World Championship; Stockholm, August 1937
French Defence C00

Notes by John Saunders.

1. c4 e6 2. e4 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Nc3 Ngf6 5. Be3 Be7 6. f3 0-0 7. Qd2 c5 8. Nge2 cxd4 9. Bxd4 Ne5 10. Ng3 Nc6 11. Be3 Bd7 12. Be2 Rc8 13. 0-0 Ne5 14. b3 a6

15. Rfc1. Possible reconstruction, assuming Black recorded the wrong Rook move at this point (she wrote QR-B1).
15. ... Qc7 16. Qe1 Qb8 17. h3. And now we need to interpolate two half-moves which are missing from the score...
17. ... Bc6 18. Qf2. ... And now continue:
18. ... Nfd7

19. Nh5. “N-R4” is written but could be an error.
19. ... Ng6 20. Bd4 f6 21. b4 b5 22. cxb5 axb5

23. Qf1. This is why the f1 Rook has to move on move 15 — to make this square available for the Queen.
23. ... d5 24. exd5 exd5 25. Nxb5 Bxb5 26. Bxb5 Nde5 27. a3 Nf7 28. Bc6 Nf4 29. Nxf4 Qxf4 30. Qf2 Bd6 31. g3 Qh6 32. Kg2 Nd8 1 : 0.

Courtesy Jan Kalendovský.

Sand and Water

Catharina Roodzant – Vera Frantsevna Menchik
6th Women’s World Championship; Stockholm, August 1937
Benoni Defence A56

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. dxc5 e6 4. Nf3 Bxc5 5. g3 Ne4 6. e3 Qc7 7. Nbd2 Bb4 8. a3 Bxd2+ 9. Bxd2 0-0 10. Rc1 b6 11. Bg2 Bb7 12. 0-0 f5 13. Bc3 Nc6 14. Nd4 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 d6 16. Rfd1 e5 17. Qd3 Rad8 18. b3 Ng5 19. Bxb7 Qxb7 20. Qd5+ Qxd5 21. Rxd5 Ne4 22. Bb2 Nf6 23. Rd2 Kf7 24. f3 Ke6 25. Rcd1 Rd7 26. Kf2 Rc8 27. Ke2 a5 28. a4 g5 29. Ba3 Rc6

30. b4? “A mistake, which costs a Pawn at once and eventually the game”, wrote the chess columnist of the Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad of Tuesday, August 17, 1937, p. 3. “Now White should have done nothing but continue 30. Rd5. In that case, with correct play, the Women’s World Champion could not have aspired to more than a draw unless risking defeat”.
The rest is omitted.
0 : 1.

The Eleventh

The renowned Czech chess historian Jan Kalendovský is the author of many books, including “Královna šachu Věra Menčíková” (JAKURA, Prague, 2016), and is constantly engaged in the search for missing games and scoresheets of his objects of desire. The following game, played in the round 11 of the 6th Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament between Vera Frantsevna Menchik and Florence Frankland Thomson, is the most likely decipherment of the original scoresheet — “A gift from Swedish friends”, as he says.

Vera Frantsevna Menchik – Florence Frankland Thomson
6th Women’s World Chess Championship Tournament; Stockholm, August 1937
English Opening A28

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxd4 6. Qxd4 Be7 7. e4 d6 8. Be2 0-0 9. 0-0 Re8

10. f3. Far from any theoretical absolute, it is just worth mentioning here that the distance between past and present may not be as deep as one thinks: 10. Bf4 Nd7 11. Qd2 Nf8 12. Nd5 Ng6 13. Be3 Bf8 14. f3 c6 15. Nc3 Qc7 16. Rad1 Ne5 17. b3 a6 18. Rc1 Qa5 19. b4 Qc7 20. Kh1 f5 21. Rfd1 Kh8 22. Bd4 Qf7 23. c5 Be6 24. Qb2 Rad8 25. Rd2 Nc4 26. Bxc4 Bxc4 27. exf5 Qxf5 28. cxd6 Qg6 29. Bc5 Bxd6 30. Bxd6 Rxd6 31. Ne4 Rxd2 32. Qxd2 Bd5 33. Nc3 Qe6 34. Rd1 h6 35. Nxd5 Qxd5 36. Qxd5 cxd5 37. Kg1 Re2 38. Rxd5 Rxa2 39. b5 Kh7 40. bxa6 bxa6 41. h4 ½ : ½ Goryachkina – Pogonina, 70th Russian Women’s Chess Championship Superfinal, Moscow 2020.
10. ... b6 11. Kh1 Bb7 12. Rd1 Nd7 13. Nd5 Bf6 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Qd2 Re6 16. Qc2 Rae8 17. Bd2 Qg6 18. Bf1 Ne5 19. Be1 h5 20. Qf2 Qh7 21. Bc3 h4 22. h3 Ng6 23. Qd2 Ne5 24. b4 Bc8

25. f4 Nd7 26. Bd3 Qh5 27. Re1 Bb7 28. Be2 Qh7 29. Bg4 R6e7 30. e5 Nf8 31. Bd1 dxe5 32. Ba4 c6 33. fxe5 Qg6 34. Qf4 Nd7 35. Rac1 Qg3 36. Qxg3 hxg3 37. Re3 Nxe5 38. Rxg3

38. ... Nxc4?? A tragic blunder which loses at once a still defensible game (if only Thomson had played 38. ... f6). It is very plausible that Black was terribly short of time.
39. Rxg7+ Kf8 40. Rh7 f5 41. Rh8+ Kf7 42. Bb3 Ba6 43. Rh6 Re6 44. Rh7+ Kg6 45. Rxa7 Re2 46. Rxa6 Ne3 47. Rxb6 1 : 0.