There were three international tournaments at Carlsbad: 1907, 1911 and 1923. The 1923 event was held in the Helenenhof Imperial Hotel, from April 27 to May 22, 1923.
Alekhine, who arrived late due to passport problems, was in the lead, but tailender Spielmann defeated him in the penultimate round which allowed Maróczy catch up and Bogoljubow join the lead in the last round.
Twenty-two players were invited, but only seventeen were able to accept. Dr. Milan Vidmar, David Janowski and Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky were unable to play so Friedrich Saemisch was brought in as a reserve to create an even number of players. The world champion Capablanca, former world champion Lasker, and Frank Marshall were not invited.
The three winners earned 3,505 Czech Crowns with Alekhine earning an additional "Prize of Honor," a crystal goblet worth 1,000 Crowns. Bogoljubov received a cash prize worth half Alekhine's prize. The tournament also saw the distribution of ten brilliancy prizes, including three "first prizes" which went to Alekhine for his win against Gruenfeld, Nimzovich for his win against Yates and Yates for his win against Alekhine.
Although there was a three way tie for first, Alekhine defeated Bogoljubow, Maroczy and Gruenfeld, but was upset by Treybal and Yates. Alekhine also took two of the three first Brilliancy Prizes.
Final standings:
1-3) Alekhine, Bogoljubov and Maroczy 11.5
4-5) Reti and Gruenfeld 10.5
6-7) Nimzovich and Treybal 10.0
8) Yates 9.5
9) Teichmann 9.0
10)Tartakower 8.5
11) Tarrasch 8.0
12) Rubinstein 7.5
13) Bernstein 7.0
14) Wolf 6.5
15) Saemisch 6.0
16) Thomas 5.5
17-18) Spielmann and Chajes 5.0
One of my most valuable books is the 1937 edition of Euwe’s Strategy and Tactics in Chess which has been reprinted by Ishi Press.
The value of the book is that in 1959 (I think it was) Euwe visited Cleveland, Ohio on a business trip and gave a simul. I didn’t play, but my dad took me to watch and Euwe signed my book.
In the chapter on Mating Combinations he lists 4 types:
* Direct Mate – The King is already in an dangerous position and a combination must be found that makes decisive use of its position.
* Break up – The King is deprived of its Pawn protection. These combinations are successful only if the attacking pieces greatly surpass the defending pieces. After the sacrifice enough pieces must be left to deliver mate.
* Penetrative – These combinations have a purpose of disturbing the K-side Pawn formation by threats that will allow the attacker’s pieces to penetrate the King’s position.
* Lateral – One evades the Pawns defending the King by attacking along the 7th and 8th rank (or 1st and 2nd).
In the following game Alekhine demolished Rubinstein with a direct mate combination.
Although Rubinstein peaked between 1907 and 1914 he was still among the world’s best at Carlsbad. During World War I (1914-1918), he was confined to Poland. He played in a few events during that time then traveled to Berlin in early 1918 for a tournament.
In 1918, toward the end of the war, several chess events were organized in Berlin, among them a double round Quad tournament with world champion Emanuel Lasker, his former challenger Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch, a potential world challenger Akiba Rubinstein and another former former challenger, Carl Schlechter.
Lasker had managed to do well during the war and was in good shape for the tournament. Rubinstein had arrived in Berlin earlier in the spring and had improved his form. Things hadn't gone so well for the other two. Tarrasch had lost three of his sons in the war and Schlechter arrived sick and malnourished.
It showed in the results. Lasker and Rubinstein went undefeated while Schlechter and Tarrasch had terrible results. It proved to be Schlechter's last major competition...he died of malnutrition two months later on December 27th, 1918.
After the war Rubinstein never regained the same consistency that he had before it although he remained quite strong through the 1920s. He and his family moved to Sweden following the Armistice in November 1918, where they stayed until 1922, and then moved to Germany.
The year before Carlsbad, Rubinstein won at Vienna in 1922, ahead of Alekhine. It was at Carlsbad in 1923 that Alekhine explained to a journalist, “I do not play chess, I fight at chess. Therefore, I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position...” And that is why his games hold an appeal for us even today
[Event "Carlsbad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1923.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Black "Akiba Rubinstein"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{Queen's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6
4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 Nbd7 6. e3 O-O 7. Rc1 c6 8. Qc2 a6 9. a4 {There is a
struggle for a tempo going on here. In the 1927 Capaablanca-Alekhine match it
was to be shown that 9.cxd5 was the best move. Here Alekhine (playing black)
had won his game the day before against Gruenfeld who played 9.a3. Alekhine
wrote that he didnt want op play against the variation he considered best so
he decided to play 9.a4, a move that Rubinstein himself had played against
him, though without success, in a similar position at Hastings, 1922.
According to Alekhine 9.a4 yields no advantage because black can answer it
with 9...Ne5. Today 9.a3 is seen more often than 9.cxd5, but the latter yields
better results.} 9... Re8 {In Megaranto,S (2545)-Fang,Y (2424)/Changsha CHN
2019 black fianchettoed his B with 9...b6 and achieved equality. Alekhine's
suggestion of 9...Ne4 is untested as far as I know.} 10. Bd3 dxc4 11. Bxc4
Nd5 {Rubinstein is combining two defensive systems: ...a7-a6 with ...dxc4 and
... Nd5 in the hope of profiting by the weakening of the square b4 created by
the advance of white's a-Pawn (Alekhine)} 12. Bf4 {In Novikov,I
(2601)-Ziatdinov,R (2511)/ Philadelphia 1999 white played 12.Bxe7 and had
equality, but no more. Kotov gave this move an exclamation and stated that it
characterizes Alekhine's understanding of the problem of the center. For the
sake of opening lines and including another P in the battle for the e5 square,
he is ready to spoil his P-structure. Alekhine explained that he was willing
to give up his B on f4 for the N which would ruin his P-formation and give
black the two Bs, but as compensation he has a considerable lead in
development and the chance for play in the center, both of which outweigh the
other considerations.} 12... Nxf4 13. exf4 c5 {Alekhine observed that this
move is against the axiom that you shouldn't open up lines to a better
developed opponent, but here he wishes to eliminate white's troublesome P on
f4.} 14. dxc5 Qc7 15. O-O {Guarding the f-Pawn with 15.g3 only weakens his
K-side.} 15... Qxf4 {Alekhine wrote that capturing the c-Pawn was also
insufficient for equality. Engines disagree...capturing either P results in
near equality, but just like some pigs are more equal than others, the
position after Rubinstein's move is more equal.} 16. Ne4 {Alekhine says this
Q-sac is the only way for white to maintain his initiative and exploit his
lead in development. He reads more into his position than engines do; they see
the position as just a teeny, tiny bit in black's favor.} 16... Nxc5 {Kotov
thought black should have played 16...Nf8 leaving f6 for the Q and in that
case black would have had a perfectly defensible position. Again, engines
aren't seeing any such thing...either way the position is equal.} 17. Nxc5
Bxc5 18. Bd3 {Nobody (Alekhine, Kotov or Kasparov) commented on black's next
move which is the one Stockfish pinpoints as the fatal error! With either
18...Be7 or 18...Ba7 black maintains the balance. Why? Either move gets the B
out of harm's way and prevents white from gaining a vital tempo with 21.b4 as
we are about to see in the game.} 18... b6 19. Bxh7+ Kh8 {Alekhine observed
that after 19... Kf8 it would have been very difficult to show how he could
win despite his positional superiority. I ran five Shootouts with Stockfish
after 19...Kf8 and white scored +3 -0 =2, so it's likely Alekhine would have
figured out a way to win.} 20. Be4 Ra7 {Things get confusing here. Alekhine
wrote "of course 20...Rb8 was better" and gave some analysis which was faulty,
but his basic premise was also incorrect...a point which neither Kotov nor
Kasparov noticed. Stockfish favors Rubinstein's move which it evaluates as a
little over two Ps in white's favor (20...Rb8 is 4 Ps in white's favor!).}
21. b4 { Very nice...white wins by force to quote Alekhine.} 21... Bf8 22.
Qc6 Rd7 23. g3 Qb8 {This loses in quick fashion, but even after the better
23...Qf6 or 23...Qd6 black is lost.} 24. Ng5 {Threatening 25.Nxf7+} 24...
Red8 {Euwe explains: black's K is exposed as his h-Pawn is missing. If white
now succeeds in bring his Q to the h-file a decisive maneuver would perhaps be
possible. Speed is one of the principal requirements for after moves like
25.Bb1 threatening Qe4 and Qh7+ black has time to defend himself by Qe5.} 25.
Bg6 {Beautiful. This is the quickest way of getting his Q to the h-file. If
25...fxg6 white has a mate in 11 beginning with 26.Qg2.} 25... Qe5 26. Nxf7+
Rxf7 27. Bxf7 Qf5 28. Rfd1 Rxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Qxf7 30. Qxc8 Kh7 31. Qxa6 Qf3 32.
Qd3+ 1-0
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