The Leopold Trebitsch Memorial Tournament was a series of tournaments organized by the family of Austrian silk manufacturer Leopold Trebitsch with twenty tournaments being played in Vienna between 1907 and 1938.
A wealthy industrialist, Leopold Trebitsch (1842–1906) was a chess enthusiast and a patron of chess competitions. His family advanced the considerable sum of 100,000 kronen to the Vienna Chess Club (Wiener Schachklub) to organize a series of tournaments. Because Trebitsch died one month before the start of the first tournament, the competitions were named in his memory.
Six of the first nine events (1907–18) were won by Carl Schlechter, but his death in December 1918, along with the loss of the club's Trebitsch funds in the aftermath of Austria's debacle in World War I, put a temporary halt to the tournament. In 1926, Leopold Trebitsch's son, Oskar, made more funds available, enabling eleven additional competitions to be held until 1938, when Germany's annexation of Austria ended the event.
In the following game Arthur Kaufmann (April 4, 1872 - July 25, 1938) defeated Schlechter in a game that won him the Second Brilliancy Prize.
The little known Kaufmann was an Austrian attorney, philosopher and chess master. He was the second son of a wealthy Jewish merchant family in Iaşi, Romania. In early childhood, he moved with his mother and siblings to Vienna, where he eventually attended university. He studied law and attended lectures on the history of literature and philosophy. He earned his doctorate in 1896. For a short period he worked as a legal apprentice, but his family's prosperous circumstance soon afforded him the means to live independently from his inheritance.
Kaufmann considered himself primarily a philosopher. He worked for decades on a comprehensive philosophical opus, embracing Immanuel Kant and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ideas in particular, but never completed it. His only publication was a piece on Albert Einstein's Theory of relativity.
Kaufmann regularly attended the Viennese chess club and ultimately became an internationally recognized player who scored well in several tournaments in the 1890s through the early 1900s.
In match play he drew a match with Georg Marco (+5 -5 =0) and won matches against Richard Reti (+4 -1 =1) in 1915 and Savielly Tartakower (+2 -0 =2) in 1916.
Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2637 on the January 1917 rating list. On that list he is ranked number 8 in the world behind Lasker, Capablanca, Marshall, Schlechter, Tarrasch, Vidmar and Janowsky.
For reasons that are unknown his chess career seems to have come to an end that year when he was only 44 years old.
Kaufmann was a close friend of the Austrian author, Arthur Schnitzler, who mentioned his encounters with Kaufmann in his diary several times, expressing his appreciation of Kaufmann's personality and character. In his will, Schnitzler appointed Kaufmann, in addition to the Austrian author, Richard Beer-Hofmann, as advisor to his son, Heinrich, in all issues regarding his literary legacy. Schnitzler's literary estate, with its notes and letters, comprises the main source of information on Kaufmann's life and philosophy.
Impoverished, due to World War I, Kaufmann and his younger sister, Malwine, moved from Vienna to Mariazell in 1918, and then to Altaussee in 1920, because life in the countryside was less expensive.
Beginning in 1923, Kaufmann spent the next ten or so years as a guest of the Viennese industrialist, Wilhelm von Gutmann, in the castle of Wurting, near Lambach, in Upper-Austria, before returning to Vienna.
According to the official announcement, Kaufmann died on the July 25, 1938, of “sudden cardiac death and arteriosclerosis”, but various indicators point to suicide.
He was buried in the Jewish section of the Viennese Central Cemetery, where bombing in WW II devastated his grave.
In his last will and testament, he appointed as his heirs, his nieces, Alice Kaufmann and Sophie Kaufmann (daughters of his brother, Ludwig Kaufmann), who at that time, and following WW II, lived in Paris.
In this game, like in Bronstein's loss to Sliwa in the previous post, the game is not over until it's over (as Yogi Berra would have said) because Kaufmann had to avoid a clever Schlechter trap at the end.
According to Reti this game was Schlechter's 100th tournament game since May of 1912 and out of those 100 games, besides this one, he had lost only one other game! That was one against Tartakower in the final round of Vienna in 1913 in a game that had no bearing on the standings. In this game Schlechter saw the equalizing variations on move 20 abd 21, but the usual phlegmatic Schlechter uncharacteristically disdained them and played for a win.
Carl Schlechter - Arthur Kaufmann
Result: 0-1
Site: Leopold Trebitsch Memorial, Vienna
Date: 1914
Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defense
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 a6 4.♗a4 ♘f6 5.O-O d6 6.♖e1 ♗d7 7.c3 g6 Usual here is 7...Be7 which results in a laborious defense for black. On the other hand the text moves draws more often. In either case white scores slightly better against both moves. 8.d3 Quite slow. 8.d4 is more aggressive. 8...♗g7 9.♘bd2 O-O 10.♘f1 ♘h5 This old move preparing ...f5 is worth considering.
16.dxe5 ♘xe5 17.♘xe5 dxe5 18.♗c5 ♖f7 19.♘e7 A tricky move. 19...♕f8 (19...♖xe7 20.♕xd8 ♖xd8 21.♗xe7 and black has lost the exchange.) 20.g4 Oddly, Schlechter saw the move Nf5 both here and on move 21, but elected to play for a win.
24.axb3 ♗f6
10...h6 11.♘g3 ♔h8 12.h3 ♘g8 13.d4 ♕e8 14.dxe5 b5 15.♗c2 ♘xe5 16.♘xe5 dxe5 and white stands better. Losonczi,M (2159)-Saksham,R (2292)/Budapest 2018
10...♖e8 This is the modern treatment. 11.♘g3 h6 12.d4 b5 13.♗c2 exd4 14.♘xd4 d5 15.♘xc6 ♗xc6 16.e5 ♘e4 17.f4 f5 and white is better. Movsesian,S (2555)-Van der Sterren,P (2555)/GER 1997 (19)
11.d4
11.♘g3 ♘xg3 12.hxg3 ♘e7 13.♗xd7 ♕xd7 14.d4 ♖ad8 15.dxe5 dxe5 16.♕xd7 ♖xd7 Draw agreed. Voloshin,L (2449)-Klovans,J (2428)/Mlada Boleslav 2008
11.♘e3 ♖e8 12.♘d5 ♘e7 13.♗g5 ♗xa4 14.♕xa4 f6 15.♕b3 ♔h8 16.♗d2 ♘xd5 17.exd5 ♕c8 18.h3 f5 19.♖e2 h6 20.♖ae1 ♘f6 In this interesting position the players shook hands and called it a day. Efimenko,Z (2632)-Golod,V (2576)/Port Erin 2006
11...h6 (11...exd4 12.cxd4 ♗g4 13.♗xc6 bxc6 is completely equal.)
11...f5 White's last move prevented this because after 12.exf5 ♗xf5 13.dxe5 ♘xe5 14.♘xe5 ♗xe5 15.g4 white is better.
12.♘e3 ♔h7 (12...exd4 leads to equality after 13.cxd4 ♖e8 14.d5)
12...f5 Still fails to 13.exf5 gxf5 14.♘xe5 dxe5 15.♕xh5 and white is much better.
13.♘d5 ♖c8 A wasted move. Better was either 13...b5 or 13...Bg4 14.♗e3 f5 Although not as bad as it was on previous moves this allows white to take the initiative.
14...b5 15.♗c2 ♗g4 This is a better line. White has two moves that keep the balance. The prosaic 16.a4 or the flashy 16.Ng5+ 16.♘g5+ ♕xg5 17.f3 (17.♗xg5 loses a piece 17...♗xd1 18.♖axd1 hxg5) 17...♗xf3 18.♕xf3 ♕d8 is equal after 19.Rad1, but not 19.g4 exd4 20.cxd4 ♘xd4 21.♗xd4 ♗xd4+ and after 22...Ng7 white is two Ps down.
15.exf5 ♗xf5
15...gxf5 is met by 16.dxe5
16.♘xe5 One old time annotator mistakenly claimed that this refuted black's 15th move, but, in fact, it is a serious mistake. 16...dxe5 17.♕xh5 ♗e8 18.♕h3 ♕xd5
16...dxe5 17.♘g5+ ♔g6 18.♘h3 with much the better game. 20.♘xf5 is also good. 20...♕xc5 21.♘e3 ♖cf8 22.♖f1 ♘f4 23.♗b3 with equality.
20...♖d8 21.♕e2 This move fails to follow up his 19th move correctly and hands the advantage over to black.
21.gxh5 would be inferior. 21...♖xd1 22.hxg6+ ♗xg6 23.♖axd1 ♖xe7 24.♗xe7 ♕xe7 and black should win this position. Here's how Stockfish did it in a Shootout. 25.♖e3 b5 26.♗b3 h5 27.♖de1 ♕g5+ 28.♖g3 ♕f4 29.♖ee3 c6 30.♖xg6 ♔xg6 31.♗c2+ ♔f7 32.b3 ♔e6 33.♗e4 ♗h6 34.♗g2 ♕g4 35.♖g3 ♕d1+ 36.♗f1 ♗f4 37.♖d3 ♕b1 38.a4 ♕xb3
21.♘xf5 This is the correct move. After 21...♖xd1 22.♗xf8 ♖xa1 23.♖xa1 ♗xf8 24.♗b3 ♖d7 25.♗e6 ♖d2 26.gxh5 gxf5 27.♗xf5+ the position is equal.
21...♘f4 Kaufmann misses the sharpest reply.
21...♗d3 22.♕e3 ♖f4 with the much better game. Note that white can't take the N. 23.gxh5 ♖g4+ and white is compelled to give up the Q.
22.♕f3 Wrong square as soon becomes obvious.
22.♕e3 ♖d3 23.♘xf5 ♖xe3 24.♗xf8 ♖xe1+ 25.♖xe1 ♗xf8 26.♗b3 ♖f6 27.♘e3 with equal chances.
22...♗e6
22...♖xe7 is wrong as after 23.♗xe7 ♕xe7 24.♕xf4 ♕h4 25.♕g3 white is better after 25...♕xg4 26.♕xg4 ♗xg4
23.♗b3 Laying a final trap. 23...♗xb3 Capturing the N is wrong.
23...♖xe7 24.♗xe6 with the advantage.
24.♗xe7 ♕xe7 25.♗xe6 ♘xe6 is winning for black. (25...♕xe6 26.♕xf4 wins for white.)
24...♗f6 25.♗xe7 ♗xe7 26.♗b3 and white has the advantage. 24...♘d3 was even stronger. 25.♘xg6 ♖xf3 26.♘xf8+ ♗xf8 27.♖e3 ♖xf2 28.♗xf8 ♖fxf8 and black wins.
25.♘c6 ♕xc5 26.♘xd8 ♗xd8 27.♖e4 ♕c6 28.♖d1 ♗h4 Schlechter resigned.
28...♗h4 Play might continue 29.♖xf4 ♕xf3 30.♖xf3 ♖xf3 winning easily.
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