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Thursday, August 8, 2019

National Tournament of 1911

     The Cafe Boulevard located at 156 Second Avenue in New York City was the venue for a “National Tournament” that was sponsored by the American Chess Bulletin. The 13-player event was held from January 22 to February 3 in 1911. See the Google street view for a the location today. It was interesting that recently a 3 bedroom, one bath apartment in the building rented for $4,450 a month. 

     A few of the players had international experience: Marshall, Hodges, Johner, Baird while at the time Capablanca had made his mark by winning a match against Marshall. And, it was for the convenience of Capa and Marshall that the dates were selected because both of them sailed for San Sebastian on February 4th, the day after the tournament ended. Capa won San Sebastian a half point ahead of Rubinstein and Vidmar. Marshall finished 4th. 
     In this tournament Marshall, the current US champion, finished ahead of Cuba’s phenomenon thanks to his steady play as he was undefeated. Capa arrived in New York from Cuba in the early morning hours the same day that the first round was played and so by unanimous consent was given a bye for that round.
     In the 4th round Capa lost to Roy T. Black in the 4th round when he played an unsound gambit and at the end of six rounds Capa’s score stood at a surprising 3.5-2.5. Six successive wins remedied the situation. Altogether it was felt Capa didn’t quite come up to expectations, btu that the tournament was good preparation for San Sebastion. 
     Oscar Chajes of Chicago got off to an impressive start with five straight wins before losin g to Johner in round six. Chajes had the bye in the last round and could only watch as Capa nosed him out of second place. His result in the tournament placed Chajes as one of the best players in the country. Charles Jaffe had been long regarded as one of the best players in New York and proved to be dangerous from the start when he drew nwith Capa in round 3 and was undefeated until the 7th round when he was defeated by Marshall. 
     From the start Paul Johner was expected to be a prize winner, but could do no better that share fifth place with George Walcott (born May 4, 1870 - December 29, 1940) of Boston was the founder of the American Chess Monthly in 1892. Walcott got off to a bad start by losing his first three games, but gradually improved. Albert Hodges of Staten Island was a disappointment, but it was his first tournament in a long time and he was out of practice.  Edward Winter has some interesting material on Alfred Kreymbourg HERE.

1) Marshall X = = 1 = 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 10.0 
2) Capablanca = X = = 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 9.5 
3) Chajes = = X 1 0 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 = 9.0 
4) Jaffe 0 = 0 X 1 1 1 1 1 = 1 1 1 9.0 
5) Johner = 0 1 0 X 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 6.5 
6) Walcott 0 0 0 0 1 X 1 1 0 = 1 1 1 6.5 
7) Black 0 1 0 0 0 0 X 1 0 0 1 1 1 5.0 
8) Smith 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 1 1 1 1 1 5.0 
9) Hodges 0 0 = 0 1 1 1 0 X = = 0 0 4.5 
10) Tennenwurzel 0 0 0 = 1 = 1 0 = X 0 = = 4.5 
11) Kreymbourg = 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 X 0 1 3.0 
12) Baird 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 1 X = 3.0 
13) Morris 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 0 = X 2.5

     In the following game Paul F. Johner defeats Roy. T. Black. Paul Johner (September 10, 1887 – October 25, 1938) was the older brother of Hans Johner. Paul was born in Zürich and was a noted musician. He was Nordic Champion in 1916 and won or tied for the Swiss Championship six times: 1907 (joint), 1908 (joint), 1925, 1928 (joint), 1930 and 1932 (joint). His greatest success was Berlin in 1924, when he won a four-way round robin ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Richard Teichmann, and Jacques Mieses. He won the Manhattan Chess Club championship in 1907. He passed away in Berlin, Germany in 1938. 

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