I recently asked this question at Chessgames online:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008293 but I didn't get much
of a response.
[Event "Nottingham"]
[Site "Nottingham"]
[Date "1936.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Capablanca"]
[Black "Reshevsky"]
[ECO "E03"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "116"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nbd7 5. Qxc4 e6 6. g3 a6 7. Bg2
b5 8. Qc6 Ra7 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. Qc1 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Nbd2
Qe7 14. Nb3 Bb6 15. Be3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Ne4 17. Qd3 Ndc5 18. Nxc5 Nxc5
19. Qd1 Ba8 20. Rc1 Rac7 21. b3 Nd7 22. Rxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxb6 Nxb6 24. Qd4
Nd5 25. Rd1 f6 26. Ne1 Bb7 27. Bxd5 exd5

Can anyone give a rational explanation of why Sammy - one of chess's
greatest talents - played this totally bizarre patzer move? There seems to
be no rhyme or reason to it; was
it some sort of touch-piece situation?
"A hardly credible move from a master of Reshevsky's experience! He isolates
the central P, and at the same time practically kills his B without the
slightest necessity. After 27...BxB a draw would be the only normal
result". - Alekhine in the Tournament Book.

28. e3 Qe4 29. h4 a5 30. f3 Qxd4 31. Rxd4 Rc1 32. Kf2 Ra1 33. Rd2 a4 34. Nd3
Rb1 35. Rb2 Rxb2+ 36. Nxb2 Bc6 37. Nd3 g5 38. hxg5 fxg5 39. Nb4 axb3 40.
axb3 Bb7 41. g4
Kg7 42. Ke2 Kg6 43. Kd3 h5 44. gxh5+ Kxh5 45. Kd4 Kh4 46. Nxd5 Kg3
47. f4 g4 48. f5 Bc8 49. Ke5 Bd7 50. e4 Be8 51. Kd4 Kf3 52. e5 g3
53. Ne3 Kf4 54. e6 g2 55. Nxg2+ Kxf5 56. Kd5 Kg4 57. Ne3+ Kf4 58. Kd4
1-0

Alan O'Brien wrote:

I recently asked this question at Chessgames online:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008293 but I didn't get much
of a response.
[Event "Nottingham"]
[Site "Nottingham"]
[Date "1936.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Capablanca"]
[Black "Reshevsky"]
[ECO "E03"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "116"]

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nbd7 5. Qxc4 e6 6. g3 a6 7. Bg2
b5 8. Qc6 Ra7 9. Bf4 Bb7 10. Qc1 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5 12. O-O O-O 13. Nbd2
Qe7 14. Nb3 Bb6 15. Be3 Rc8 16. Qd2 Ne4 17. Qd3 Ndc5 18. Nxc5 Nxc5
19. Qd1 Ba8 20. Rc1 Rac7 21. b3 Nd7 22. Rxc7 Rxc7 23. Bxb6 Nxb6 24. Qd4
Nd5 25. Rd1 f6 26. Ne1 Bb7 27. Bxd5 exd5

Can anyone give a rational explanation of why Sammy - one of chess's
greatest talents - played this totally bizarre patzer move? There seems to
be no rhyme or reason to it; was
it some sort of touch-piece situation?
"A hardly credible move from a master of Reshevsky's experience! He
isolates the central P, and at the same time practically kills his B
without the slightest necessity. After 27...BxB a draw would be the only
normal result". - Alekhine in the Tournament Book.

I'm surprised Alekhine only gave it one question mark (on page 163 of my
Dover reprint). There followed several moves that the Great Russian master
queried, however, any explanation must be speculative without more
information. Reshevsky was known to play better with White than Black, but
I doubt this had any bearing on the howler; perhaps he was in time trouble,
something that was to plague him throughout his career, and would be
consistent with the subsequent errors, although Reshevsky had the
reputation for playing formidably strong moves in a time scramble; or maybe
he hallucinated that there was some tactic on g2 involving pushing his
d-pawn, e.g. by White moving his Queen from d4 to harass Black's Queenside
pawns.


Regards,

Simon.

--
I am pleased to report that I have now found the original blunder: the
blunder being the most decisive of chess tactics, this may be useful to
know. The first blunder was committed in pre-history, or at least before
Herodotus, in the year 720 B.C. when Sharru_kin was king of Assyria and,
indeed, of the four quarters of the world: in that year he was opposed by
the heir to Babylon given by the god Marduk, Marduk-apal-iddina, known as
Merodach-Baladan to biblical hoi polloi. The records show that the Assyrian
claimed complete victory, whereas the Chaldean ruler of Babylonia proudly
boasted that "he smote to overthrow the widespread hosts of Subartu
(Assyria) and smashed their weapons". To further complicate the issue
Humbanigash, a regal player from Elam, also claimed the kudos. So, ours is
not to reason why, ours is but to surmise, someone had blundered badly.