I celebrated my 12th birthday there and my brother bought me a renaissance chess set and a few chess books, one of which was The Golden Treasury of Chess compiled by Al Horowitz and the editors of Chess Review.
The book was first copyrighted in 1943 by Horowitz and Kenneth Harkness, a chess organizer and the creator of the Harkness rating system that was used by the USCF from 1950 to 1960. He was also responsible for introducing Swiss system tournaments to the United States. The book was reprinted in 1956, 1961 and 1969. The latest edition has over 300 games, each with a very short introduction and no notes (a few are very lightly annotated).
The book was controversial. The controversy arises over the question of who was the true author. Chess historian Edward Winter addressed the controversy in The Horowitz-Wellmuth Affair HERE.
The book is packed with games by everyone from obscure players to famous masters and they are all unusual, brilliant or just entertaining. The last edition includes games up to 1966 by players of that era, like Fischer, et al.
Horowitz divided the games into chapters of Favorites and periods: Pre-Morphy, Morphy, Steinitz, Modern, Hypermodern and Eclectics, Russian Hegemony.
Horowitz wrote how in the course of the decades which he devoted to the preparation of this book he examined thousands of games and those that pleased him the most were included in the book. But even among those games there were some that he enjoyed so much he set them aside in order to attract the reader's attention to them.
Off and on over the last several days I played through those favorite games, there are only nine of them, just to see what impressed a great player like Horowitz.
Spielmann's opponent in the following game from Carlsbad 1911, was Russian master Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky (1879-1965) who competed in several notable international tournaments, including St. Petersburg 1909, where he defeated both the first-prize winners, Akiba Rubinstein and World Champion Emanuel Lasker. He continued to compete after World War II.
In his autobiography, he claimed to have invented the name Dragon Sicilian after his astronomy courses led him, in 1901, to see a resemblance between the black pawn formation and the pattern of Draco the Dragon.
The 1911 Carlsbad tournament was the scene of three events held in the health resort of Carlsbad which is located in present day Czech Republic.
Richard Teichmann's result was certainly a surprise.
After returning to international play in 1902 (after having lost the use of his right eye to an infection) to 1910 he had finished in 5th place so many thines that he was known as Richard the Fifth.
In 1911, he received a small inheritance from his mother that allowed him to afford to become a professional player and this was his greatest international achievement.
In the introduction to this game Horowitz wrote: One of the marks of a great master is the ability to conjure up murderous attacks out of seemingly harmless positions. You will like the way that Spielmann commences an unexpected attack at move 22 and drives it home with sledgehammer blows. Every move tells, and black's helplessness becomes ever more apparent.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
Rudolf Spielmann–Fyodor Duz Chotimirsky1–0C84Carlsbad31.08.1911Stockfish 15
Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.a4 f6 5.0-0 e7 6.e1 b5 7.b3 d6 8.c3 a5 9.c2 c5 10.d3 0-0 11.bd2 c7 12.f1 b8 12...h8 did not
work out well for black in Davletbayeva,M (2289)-Kulon,K (2301) Tromso NOR 2014
13.h3 g8 14.d4 f6 15.e3 e6 16.g4 xg4 17.hxg4 exd4 18.cxd4 cxd4 19.g5 with a promising attack. 12...g6 was also tried in Davletbayeva,M
(2289)-Kulon,K (2301) Tromso NOR 2014 without success. 13.g5 h5 14.h6 e8 15.e3 e6 16.a3 b7 White's position is the more promising. 12...d7 13.g5 f6 14.d2 b6 15.e3 g6 16.b4 b7 Now with 17.a4 white would have
had an excellent position. Levenfish,G-Ragozin,V Moscow 1936 13.h3 e6 14.e2 b4 15.3h2 d7 Black begin a counterattack with 15...b3 15...bxc3 16.bxc3 c4 16...d5 is also plausible. 17.exd5 xd5 18.d2 b2 with equal
chances 17.d4 exd4 18.cxd4 d5 19.e5 e4 20.xe4 dxe4 21.xe4 fd8
Black has pressure on the d-Pawn, a passed P and the two Bs so he has adequate
compensation for his P minus. 16.g3 fc8 17.g4 b7 18.e3 g5 The
defensive 18...Bf8 would have been somewhat better, but it was, perhaps, too
passive for Duz-Chotimitsky. 19.d5 xd5 20.exd5 xc1 21.axc1 f6 After this black's position is very dicey. 21...g6 With the dark
squared Bs absent this move is not as weakening as it appears. 22.f4 22.d4 bxc3 23.bxc3 cxd4 24.cxd4 b2 with equal chances. 22...bxc3 23.bxc3 f5 24.fxe5 dxe5 is completely equal. 22.d4 exd4 This unmasks
white's B and gives his pieces access to the black K. The game is practically
over! 22...g6 23.dxe5 dxe5 24.cd1 d6 White is better, but black can
still put forth a defensive effort. 23.h5 d7 24.g4 g6 25.e7 All five of black's pieces are helpless
bystanders. f8 26.ce1 Threatening mate with Rxf7+ and Qe6 d8 27.g5 27.xf7+ was prettier. xf7 28.xg6+ Even better than 28,
Qe6+ which should also win. In this position Stockfish announces a mate in 18! hxg6 29.e6+ f8 30.xd6+ f7 31.e6+ f8 32.xg6 e5 33.xe5 f7 34.h6+ g8 35.e4 d7 36.g6+ f8 37.f6 xf6 38.xf6+ g8 39.f4 d3 40.g6+ g7 41.e6+ h8 42.h4+ h7 43.f6+ g8 44.g4+ g6 45.xg6+ h7 46.g7# 27...e5 28.f6 White mates in 6 ac4 29.f4 gxh5 29...xe7 30.h8# 30.fxe5 xe5 31.1xe5 Black resigned; it's mate in 2. 1–0
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