One of my favorite books is an old, old copy of Al Horowitz’ Golden Treasury of Chess which first came out in 1943. I got my copy around 1958.
It has over 300 games (in Descriptive Notation, of course) divided into Favorite Games, The Pre-Morphy Period, The Morphy Period, The Age of Steinitz, Modern Chess, Moderns, Hypermoderns an
Eclectics and The Period of Russian Hegemony.
There is a brief introduction to each game, zero to very short notes and an occasional diagram. They are just games to play over for enjoyment and I suspect that quite a few don’t appear in any database.
There is a controversy over the book about who was the true author. Chess historian Edward Winter wrote that the collection was originally published by Francis J. Wellmuth in 1943 and it was revised and printed many times by Horowitz. The 2009 edition was further revised and printed by Sam Sloan.
The size of the book and the games appearing in it have changed over the years.
Recently I’ve been going through the Favorites section. Horowitz (or whoever) wrote in the introduction to the Favorites section, “In the course of the decades which I have devoted to the preparation of this volume, I have had occasion to examine thousands upon thousands of scores. Those that have pleased me most are included in (this book). But even among these favorites, there are some which I have enjoyed so much that I have set them aside in order to attract the reader's attention to these games.”
Let’s take a look at one of them. The game was played between Pillsbiry and Lasker in the St, Petersburg event mentioned in the previous post. At the end, Lasker sacrifices a Rook, then a Pawn and then forces mate with his Queen and Bishop. In the book the game shows Pillsbury getting mated on move 32, but I suspect that the database score where he resigned on move 30 is correct.
The game’s introduction eloquently reads, “There are many attractive settings for a brilliant game; but what is more impressive than an immortal game between two Titans? The man who was able to beat the great Pillsbury in this wonderful game was truly worthy of his title. It is no exaggeration to say that Lasker's combination is one of the greatest feats of the human imagination.” Horowitz did exaggerate a bit, but, it’s still a great game.
[Event "St. Petersburg 1895/96"] [Site "St. Petersburg RUE"] [Date "1896.01.04"] [Round "?"] [White "Harry N. Pillsbury"] [Black "Emanuel Lasker"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D50"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "60"] [EventDate "1895.12.13"] {D50: Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6 7. Qh4 Be7 8. O-O-O {A risky decision that will require careful play.} (8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Qxe7+ Kxe7 11. Rc1 Nxc3 12. Rxc3 {With complete ewuality. Seidemann,U (2075)-Wolf,S (2075) Germany 1998}) 8... Qa5 9. e3 (9. cxd5 {exchanging some material is safer.} Nxd5 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Bxe7 Nxe7 12. Kb1 {with equality.}) 9... Bd7 10. Kb1 h6 11. cxd5 exd5 12. Nd4 O-O 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qh5 Nxd4 15. exd4 Be6 {The calm before the storm.} 16. f4 Rac8 {Black's position look innocent enough, but Pillsbury suspects there is danger lurking. Unfortunately, his defense is not quite up to par. ...Rxc3 is in the air.} 17. f5 {Active defense.} (17. Rc1 {would lose to} Bxd4 18. Bd3 Bxc3 19. bxc3 Rxc3 20. Rxc3 Qxc3 21. Qd1 Rc8 {Black is winning. For example...} 22. Qb3 Qf6 23. g3 Rc3 24. Qd1 Rxd3 25. Qxd3 Bf5) 17... Rxc3 {A move worthy of a World Champion!} 18. fxe6 (18. bxc3 Rc8 19. Rd3 Qb6+ 20. Kc2 Bd7 21. Be2 Ba4+ {The K is caught in a crossfire.} 22. Kd2 Bg5+ 23. Ke1 Qb1+) 18... Ra3 { [%mdl 512] Nice move! Pillsbury now selects the least satisfactory defense. Either way though black's position has excellent prospects.} 19. exf7+ { [%mdl 8192]} (19. bxa3 $18 Qb6+ 20. Bb5 Qxb5+ 21. Ka1 fxe6 {...and white has the possibilty of surviving.} 22. Qh3) 19... Rxf7 {Black now has what amounts tp a decisive advantage.} 20. bxa3 Qb6+ 21. Bb5 (21. Kc2 {is no better.} Rc7+ 22. Kd2 Qxd4+ 23. Ke1 Qc3+ 24. Kf2 Bd4+) 21... Qxb5+ 22. Ka1 Rc7 {Bringing the R into play looks devastating, but it is flawed in that white now equalizes... a fact that annotators in pre-engine days missed.} (22... Qc4 23. Qg4 {Black could maintain a huge advantage with ...Re7-e2, but there is a fancier way.} Be5 24. Qe6 Bxd4+ 25. Rxd4 Qxd4+ 26. Kb1 Qd3+ 27. Ka1 Qd2 28. Qc8+ Kh7 29. Qc1 Qxg2 {with the clearly better position.}) 23. Rd2 Rc4 {[%mdl 128]} (23... Rc2 { would also result in equality after} 24. Rb1 $8 (24. Rxc2 Bxd4+ 25. Rc3 Bxc3#) 24... Qc4 25. Rxc2 Bxd4+ 26. Rcb2 Bxb2+ 27. Kxb2 {and it's doubtful that black can make any progress.}) 24. Rhd1 {A perfectly logical move defending the d-Pawn, but it gives black a decisive advantage.} (24. Re1 {A sruprising hidden resource!} Kf8 (24... Bxd4+ {is met by} 25. Rxd4 Rxd4 26. Re8+ {and it is white who wins.} Kh7 27. Qf5+ g6 28. Qf7#) 25. Red1 Qc5 26. Qf3 Kg8 27. Kb1 Bxd4 28. Rd3 {with equal chances!}) 24... Rc3 {Another innacurate move by Lasker.} (24... Qc6 {Threatens ...Bxd4+ and white cannot capture the B.} 25. Kb1 (25. h3 Bxd4+ 26. Rxd4 Rxd4 27. Qf3 Rxd1+ 28. Qxd1 Qf6+ 29. Kb1 Qg6+ { with a won ending.}) 25... Bg5 26. Qe2 (26. Re2 Rc1+ {mates}) 26... Bxd2 27. Qxd2 Qg6+ 28. Kb2 Qb6+ 29. Ka1 Qc7 {picks up the h-Pawn and leaves black wityh a won ending.}) 25. Qf5 Qc4 26. Kb2 {[%mdl 8192] A tactical mistake that loses the game.} (26. Kb1 Qb5+ (26... Rxa3 {is met by} 27. Rc1 Qb5+ 28. Rb2 Qd3+ 29. Qxd3 Rxd3 30. Rxb7 {and white is superior.}) 27. Rb2 Qc6 {with the better chances.} 28. Rb3) 26... Rxa3 {[%mdl 512] White has no satisfactory answer to the threat is mate with ...Rxa2+} 27. Qe6+ (27. Kxa3 {gets mated.} Qc3+ 28. Ka4 b5+ $1 {[%mdl 512]} 29. Kxb5 Qc4+ 30. Ka5 Bd8#) 27... Kh7 28. Kxa3 (28. Qf5+ Kg8 29. Kb1 Bxd4 30. Qc2 Qb4+ 31. Kc1 Rc3) 28... Qc3+ 29. Ka4 b5+ {[%mdl 512]} 30. Kxb5 Qc4+ $1 {White resigned.} (30... Qc4+ 31. Ka5 Bd8+ 32. Qb6 axb6#) 0-1
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