Bogoljubow told him, “That is just the way you play chess. You maneuver and stall endlessly, until your opponent finally comes along with a herring (i.e. a mistake). Then you leap like lightning on your miserable victim and gobble him up.”
The following game is an example. It was played in the 1923 Carlsbad, Czechoslovakia tournament. Twenty-two masters were invited, but only seventeen were able to accept. Friedrich Saemisch was brought in to create an even number of players.
Alekhine dominated for much of the tournament until the penultimate round, where his loss to Rudolf Spielmann allowed Geza Maroczy to catch up. Ewfim Bogoljubow also managed to tie when in the final round he defeated Karel Treybal.
Dr. Savielly Tartalower (1887-1956) was born in Russia and moved to Vienna at age 17. He became a doctor of law in 1909, but he never practiced it.
During World War I, he served in the Austro-Hungarian army. In 1918, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I, he became a Polish citizen (although he did not speak Polish).
During World War II, he served in the Free French Army under General Charles de Gaulle. His French colleagues found his name too difficult to pronounce, so he changed it to Lieutenant Dr. Georges Cartier. He became a French citizen after World War II.
British IM and chess author once called Tartakower the “hero of a hundred tournaments.”
In addition to chess books, he also wrote a screenplay and a collection of poems. He worked for more than 30 chess magazines in multiple countries and his newspaper correspondence appeared in 11 languages.
His opponent, Sir George Thomas (188101972), was born near Istanbul, Turkey. He learned chess from his mother, Lady Edith Thomas, who won one of the first women's tournaments, held in Hastings in 1895.
Thomas was the City of London Chess Club champion in 1911 and played in his first British chess championship in 1920, taking second place. He won the title in 1923.
Thomas' greatest achievement was his tie for first place at Hastings, 1934/35 with Max Euwe and Salo Flohr, finishing ahead of and defeating both Jose Raul Capablanca and Mikhail Botvinnik. He retired from competitive chess in 1950.
In the following game things were pretty even, let’s say boring, until Thomas slipped up at move 27 then Tartakower mercilessly gobbled up the point in a unique ending. Tartakower had a R+B+P vs. R+4Ps that eventually ended up with a R vs. 3Ps.
[Event "Carlsbad"]
[Site "Carlsbad CSR"]
[Date "1923.05.09"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Savielly Tartakower"]
[Black "George Thomas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A45"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 16"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "1923.04.28"]
{D01: Veresov Opening} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 {This rarely played opening, the
invention of Julius Breyer, wa favorite with a few adventurous spirits of the
day...besides Tartakover, JacquesMieses sometimes played it.} d5 3. Bg5 {
The opening is sometimes ca;;ed the Richter-Veresov Attack after the named
after the German Kurt Richter and later the Soviet master Gavriil Veresov, who
played it frequently and developed its theory. Gowever, in the early days
Tartakower played it regularly in the 1920s. The way he played it generally
led to a closed, maoeuvring game.} Nbd7 {Rather tame' 3...Bf5 is commonly
played.} 4. f3 {The idea is to build up a P-center with e4. The alternative is
4.Nf3.} (4. Nf3 e6 5. e4 h6 6. Bxf6 Nxf6 7. e5 Nd7 {with a fully equal
position.}) 4... c6 {A solid move. Black prepares a counterattack with ...Qa5}
5. e4 dxe4 6. fxe4 Qa5 (6... Qb6 {can be safely met by} 7. e5 Nd5 8. Nf3 {
wutg a good position. Note that black should avoid...} Qxb2 9. Nxd5 cxd5 10.
Rb1 Qa3 (10... Qxa2 {Black's Q is in grave danger.} 11. Bd3 e6 12. O-O Be7 13.
Bxe7 Kxe7 14. Qd2 {The black Q is trapped.}) 11. Bd3 e6 12. O-O {White's
development and black's camped position are well worth the P he has givem up.})
7. Qd2 (7. e5 {is met by} Ne4 8. Bd2 Nxd2 9. Qxd2 g6 {with a satisfactory game.
}) 7... e5 {White's center is under strong pressure.} 8. Nf3 (8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9.
dxe5 Ng4 10. Nf3 Be6 11. Nd1 Bb4 12. c3 Be7 {Black has the more active
position. Chernyshov,K (2536)-Rogic,D (2457) Ohrid 2001}) (8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. Bxf6
gxf6 10. Bd3 Ng4 11. Nge2 Bc5 12. Nd1 Qb6 {Un spite of the situation of his Ps
on the K-side black has excellent prospects here. Ekdyshman,M (2351)-Nemeth,M
(2492) Zalakaros HUN 2014}) 8... Be7 (8... exd4 9. Nxd4 Bb4 10. Bd3 O-O {
with equality. Shkurikhin,I (2371)-Bragin,A (2281) Tomsk 2007}) 9. Bc4 exd4 10.
Qxd4 Qb6 (10... Bc5 {was suggest by Reinfeld as leading to interesting
complications which sounds about right. For example...} 11. Qd2 Bb4 12. O-O-O
h6 13. e5) 11. Qd2 Qc5 {The capture of theb- Pawn would not be to black's
advantage.} (11... Qxb2 12. Rb1 Qa3 13. e5 Nb6 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15. exf6 gxf6 16.
O-O {with a danferous attack. Black cannot play...} fxg5 17. Nxg5+ Kg8 (17...
Ke8 18. Rbe1 Qc5+ 19. Kh1 Rf8 {White has a snappy finish...} 20. Rxe7+ Qxe7 21.
Re1 {White is winning.}) 18. Nf7) 12. Bb3 Ne5 13. Be3 Nc4 14. Bxc5 Nxd2 15.
Bxe7 Nxb3 16. axb3 Kxe7 {The simplifications indicate that Thomas would be
content with a draw and it appears that Tartakower does not have any chance of
winning especially in view of his weak e-Pawn. However, in 1923, Tartakower
was one of the best players in the world in a group of players behine
Capablanca, Alekhine, Lasjer and Rubinstein, Holding a draw agsainst him is
going to be very difficult. It should be noted that when this game was played
Thomas was pretty good himself...Chessmetrics puts him in the world's top 25
best players.} 17. e5 Ng4 18. O-O Bf5 (18... f6 {looks plausible, but it
favors white after} 19. Rae1 f5 (19... Nxe5 20. Nxe5 fxe5 21. Rxe5+) 20. h3 Nh6
21. e6 {and white is better.}) 19. Nd4 Bg6 {It's a small thing, but an
important point in Tartakower's hands, that black's minor pieces are nit well
placed.} 20. Rae1 Rhd8 21. Rf4 h5 22. h3 {[%mdl 32]} Nh6 23. g4 {Tartakower
makes a small slip hwith this move.} (23. Na4 {brings the N to a strong
position.} Rac8 24. Nc5 b6 25. Nb7 {followed by Nd6}) 23... hxg4 24. hxg4 c5
25. Nf5+ Bxf5 26. gxf5 {Thomas has eliminated one of his poorly placed pieces.}
Rd2 {Black hopes for further simplification by exchanging Rs after 27.Re2} 27.
f6+ {Tricky! Exchanging Ps looks uninviting, but that's exactly what black
should do.} Ke6 {[%mdl 8192] This loses...a surprising lapse by Thomas! The
sea lion now comes wide awake.} (27... gxf6 $11 {and Black has nothing to
worry.} 28. exf6+ Kd7 29. Re7+ Kc6 {and there is no way for white to make any
headway.}) 28. fxg7 Ke7 (28... Ng8 29. Ne4 Rxc2 30. Ng5+ Ke7 31. Rxf7+ {
and wins.}) 29. Ne4 {Gaining valuable time.} Rxc2 30. Rh4 {Tartakover thought
this was more forceful than 30.Nf6} Rg8 {Black has hope that as white's Ps
disappear his chances of saving the gamne increase, but, in fact, white has a
decisive advantage.} (30... Ng8 31. Rh8 Ke6 32. Nf6 Rxb2 33. Nxg8 Rxb3 34. Nf6
Rg3+ 35. Kf2 {and black is lost after} Rxg7 36. Rxa8 Rg6 37. Re8+ Kf5 38. Rf1
Kf4 39. Ke2+ Kg5 40. Ke3 a6 41. Rh8 Rh6 42. Ne4+ Kg6 43. Rf6+ Kg7 44. Rfxh6 c4
45. Nf6 c3 46. Ne8#) 31. Rxh6 Rxg7+ 32. Kh1 Rxb2 33. Nd6 Rg6 (33... Rgg2 {
makes it more difficult for white. The win is there...theoretically at least!}
34. Nxb7 Rgf2 35. Ra1 Ra2 36. Rxa2 Rxa2 37. Rc6 c4 38. Rxc4 f6 39. exf6+ Kxf6
40. Nc5 Ke5 41. Kg1 (41. Ra4 Rxa4 42. Nxa4 Kd5 {is a draw...} 43. Kg2 Kc6 44.
Nc3 Kc5 45. Na2 Kd4 46. Kf3 Kd3 47. Nc1+ Kc3 48. Ke4 Kb2 49. Kd5 Kxc1 50. b4
Kb2 51. Kc4 Ka3 52. Kc5 Kb3 53. Kb5 a6+ 54. Kxa6 Kxb4) 41... Kd6 42. Ne4+ Ke5
43. Kf1 Rh2 44. Ke1 Rb2 45. Nc5 Kd5 46. Rc3 Rb1+ (46... Rh2 47. Na4 Rg2 48. Kd1
Rh2 49. Kc1 Rg2 50. Rc2 {and the K escapes the first rank.}) 47. Ke2 Kc6 48.
Nd3+ Kb5 49. Kd2 Kb6 50. Rc8 Rh1 51. Kc3 Rh5 52. Rf8 Kb5 53. Rf4 a5 54. Re4 Rh3
55. Re5+ Kb6 56. Rf5 Re3 57. Rd5 Re2 58. Re5 Rg2 59. Rf5 Rh2 60. Nc5 Kb5 61.
Na4+ Ka6 62. Rf6+ Kb7 63. Nc5+ Kb8 64. Kc4 Kc7 65. Kb5 Ra2 66. Re6 Ra1 67. Rc6+
Kd8 68. Ra6 Ke7 69. Rxa5 {etc.}) 34. Rxg6 fxg6 {[%mdl 4096] The ending is most
difficult, but being one of the world;s top players, Tartakower is up to the
task.} 35. e6 {[%mdl 32]} Rxb3 36. Nc8+ Ke8 37. e7 {Rememebr back in the
opening when the e-Pawn was looking rather sickly? Now it has been transformed.
White threatens Nd6+ and mate.} Rd3 38. Rf1 Rh3+ (38... Re3 39. Rf8+ Kd7 40.
Rd8+ Kc7 41. e8=Q) 39. Kg2 Rh8 40. Rd1 {Intending Rd8+ and mate.} Kf7 41. Kf3 {
The idea is to bring the K to the Q-side.} (41. Rd8 {also wins.} Re8 42. Kf3 c4
43. Ke4 {Black is lost here. Just as an example...} b5 44. Ke5 c3 45. Rxe8 Kxe8
46. Ke6 {mate enxt move}) 41... Rxc8 42. Rd8 Kxe7 43. Rxc8 {The Ps are no
match for the R...at least not in Grandmaster's hands.} Kd6 44. Ke4 {The
ending is easily won for white because the Ps are not sufficiently advanced to
give him any difficulty. Tartakower's play is very instructive though.} b6 45.
Rg8 Kc6 46. Rxg6+ Kb5 47. Kd3 Kb4 48. Rg1 b5 49. Ra1 c4+ 50. Kd4 Kb3 51. Rb1+
Ka4 52. Kc3 Ka5 53. Rh1 Kb6 54. Rh6+ {Black resigned} (54. Rh6+ {Stockfish is
announcing mate in 24.} Kc5 55. Rh5+ Kb6 56. Kd4 Kc6 57. Rh6+ Kb7 58. Kc5 c3
59. Kxb5 c2 60. Rh1 Kc7 61. Kc5 Kd7 62. Rc1 Ke6 63. Kd4 Kf5 64. Rxc2 a6 65. Ra2
a5 66. Ra4 {This mates one move quicker than taking the P.} Kg4 67. Ke4 Kg5 68.
Ke5 Kg6 69. Rxa5 Kg5 70. Ra4 Kg6 71. Ke6 Kg5 72. Rb4 Kg6 73. Rg4+ Kh5 74. Kf5
Kh6 75. Kf6 Kh7 76. Rh4+ Kg8 77. Rh3 Kf8 78. Rh8#) 1-0
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