Two Bees or Not Two Bees: Bisguier-Bronstein Staunton Gambit

From the Interzonal Tournament in Gothenburg 1955, the game between Arthur Bisguier and David Bronstein (pictured) will be presented. The American citizen, Bisguier, and the Soviet subject, Bronstein, met at the Helsinki Olympiad in 1952 and became friends. In 1955, they were competing for a path to a match for the world championship against Botvinnik scheduled for 1957. Bronstein won the event with 15/20, 1.5 points ahead of Paul Keres. Bisguier scored only 8/20 which left him tied for places 17-18 (out of 21). However, Bisguier did well against the future world champions. He drew with Petrosian and defeated Spassky. Only Keres, Panno, and Pachman did as well (the same, not better) against them. The top nine finishers in the Interzonal went into the Amsterdam Candidates Tournament (1956) along with Vasily Smyslov, who was seeded in without having to qualify as his reward for reaching the title match in 1954. Smyslov won with 11.5/18. Keres was in his frequent second place with 10/18. Bronstein and four others were next with 9.5/18. Smyslov had reached a title match with Botvinnik and achieved a losing tie in 1954, just as Bronstein had in 1951. The difference was that now Smyslov was on his way to a win in 1957, while Bronstein's goal of a B-B rematch was not to be.

In the Bisguier-Bronstein game, Black played the Dutch Defense and White responded with the Staunton Gambit. Bisguier's third move, Nd2 is unusual, but not a novelty as the players believed. Both players were at home with tactics and experimentation. Their stylistic mesh in this game required the calculation of captures and move orders, while remembering development.