With the financial support of Albert Rothschild, an Austrian banker, and Leopold Trebitsch, an Austrian industrialist and chess patron, the Vienna Chess Club invited ten masters who played a double-round event.
The positional players (Schlechter, Maroczy and Teichmann) found it tough going; the wild tactical positions resulting from the King’s Gambit were anathema to them!
Thee Russian Chigorin, known as King of the Gambiteers, was in his element as was Marshall. He got lucky in the following game, a titanic struggle, against Pillsbury. This tournament turned out to be Pillsbury’s last European tournament. He died of syphilis in Philadelphia in 1906. The first effective cure for the disease came in 1910, but it was an arsenic-based compound that was toxic and hard to use; the real and safe cure, penicillin, began its widespread use in the 1940s.
[Event "Vienna"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1903.05.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Frank Marshall"]
[Black "Harry Pillsbury"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C38"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "1903.05.02"]
{C38: King's Gambit Accepted} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 {The Kimg's Gambit Acce[ted was
obligatory in this tournament.} exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. h4 h6 6. d4 d6 7.
Qd3 g4 {Safer is 7...Nc5. While the the text is risky, danger lurks for both
sides.} 8. Ng1 $1 Qf6 $1 (8... Nc6 9. Ne2 Nge7 10. Nbc3 Nb4 11. Bxf7+ Kxf7 12.
Qc4+ Be6 13. Qxb4 {with equal chances. Pavlovic,M (2345)-Tukmakov,V (2570)
Lugano 1986}) 9. c3 h5 (9... Ne7 10. h5 d5 11. exd5 Bf5 12. Qf1 Nd7 13. Bxf4
O-O-O {with equal chances. Cortlever,N-Euwe,M Amsterdam 1939}) 10. Na3 {
The N remains out of play for a long time, so 10.Ne2 was better.} Ne7 11. Ne2
Ng6 {White gains the advantage after this. The aggressive 11..f3! was much
better.} (11... f3 12. gxf3 Qxf3 13. Ng3 Be6 {offers equal chances.}) 12. g3 {
This move looks very risky, but white is in cotrol.} (12. Nb5 {This is even
better. The threat of Nxc7+ forces black into a passive position.} Na6 13. O-O
Qxh4 14. Nxf4 {The position is rife with dizzying tactical complications, but
they favor white.} g3 (14... d5 15. Nxg6 fxg6 16. exd5 Bf5 17. Rxf5 gxf5 18.
Bf4 O-O 19. d6+ Kh8 20. dxc7 Qf6 21. Rf1 {White is winning.}) 15. Bxf7+ Kd8 16.
Nh3 Bxh3 17. gxh3 Qxh3 18. Qe2 {White has a decisive advantage.}) 12... fxg3
13. Rf1 {Excellent! This looks questionable because of 13...Qh4+, but Marshall
played 13.Rf1 in order to keep his attack alive even at a considerable
material cost.} Qxh4 14. Bxf7+ Kd8 {White should now capture on ge (with
either piece) which would leave him with a significant advantage. Instead, he
plays a nove that leats his opponent right back in the game.} 15. Bxg6 g2+ 16.
Rf2 Rf8 {It would have been slightly better to get more pieces into play with
16...Be6} 17. Be3 Bh6 {[%mdl 512] aiming for ...Rf3.} 18. Bxh6 {[%mdl 8192] A
miscalculation that lands white in serious trouble.} (18. Bf5 {keeps a slim
edge after} Bxf5 19. Bxh6 Re8 20. Be3 Bxe4 21. Qb5 c5 22. O-O-O Bf3 23. Qd3 Qe7
24. Nc2 {The N finally finds somrthing to do.} Qe4 25. Qd2 {and as odd as it
may appear, black cannot find a way to utilizr his K-side Ps. However, that's
not to say black is totally without hope. In Shootouts white scored +3 -0 =2,
so black does have some slight chance of avoiding defeat.} g3) 18... g1=Q+ {
[%mdl 512]} 19. Nxg1 Qxf2+ 20. Kd1 Qxg1+ 21. Kc2 Rf2+ {Keeping up the pressure.
It's black who has energed from the last few moves with a winning attack.} 22.
Bd2 Qxa1 {A fascinating position! Black has an enormous material plus (2Rs+2Ps
vs a B and so has a theoretical win. Even so, his position is difficult to
play becaise his lack of development tell against him.} 23. Qe3 Rxd2+ {Black
still has the upper hand after this, but he missed the sockdolager.} (23... Qf1
24. Qg5+ Rf6 25. Nc4 Nd7 26. Qxh5 c6 27. Ne3 {The N has finally reached a
decent square, but black is beginning to get his pieces developed and he still
has 2Rs vs. a B.}) 24. Qxd2 Bd7 25. Qg5+ {[%mdl 8192] This juicy looking check
should have lost because black can get away.} (25. Qh6 {Threatening Qf8+ is a
different story.} Ba4+ 26. b3 Qxa2+ 27. Kd3 c6 28. Qf8+ Kc7 29. Nc4 b5 30.
Qxd6+ Kb7 31. Na5+ Kb6 {The line leading to this messy position would be
nearly impossible to calculate OTB and this position difficult to play, but
the chances are now equal.}) 25... Kc8 $18 26. Bf5 b6 {Pillsbury is rightly
playing to win. One old annotation suggested that he should have taken the
draw.} (26... Bxf5 27. Qg8+ Kd7 28. Qf7+ Kc6 29. Qd5+ Kd7 30. Qf7+ {draws}) (
26... Qxa2 {This is also good. It prevents Qg8+ and so white has to try and
find some way to keep up the pressure.} 27. Qxh5 Qg8 {It's black's Q that
lands on g8 and the g-Pawn cannot be stopped.} 28. e5 g3 29. e6 g2 30. exd7+
Nxd7 31. Be6 g1=Q 32. Bxg8 Qxg8 {Black is a R+P up and has a won game.}) 27.
Qg8+ Kb7 28. Bxd7 Nxd7 29. Qd5+ c6 30. Qxd6 Rd8 {It's logical to defend the N,
but, ironically, it's one square too far and now the chances are back to equal!
} (30... Rc8 31. Qxd7+ Rc7 32. Qe6 (32. Qf5 Qe1 33. Qxh5 Qxe4+ 34. Kd2 Re7 {
with a winning position.}) 32... Qe1 33. Nc4 Qf2+ 34. Kb3 Qf8 35. Nd6+ Kb8 36.
d5 g3 37. dxc6 g2 38. Qg6 Rg7 {wins}) 31. d5 {This keeps things complicated
and, as a result, Pillsbury soon slips up.} Rf8 {[%mdl 8192] This plausible
move loses! Stockfish is announcing a mate in 20 for white.} (31... Nc5 {
Returning the extra R is more clear than 31...Ka6.} 32. Qxd8 Qxa2 33. dxc6+
Kxc6 34. Qc8+ Kd6 35. Nb5+ Ke7 36. Qc7+ Kf8 {White has to take the draw by
keeping up the Q checks otherwise ...Qcb2+ ;eaves b;ack with too many Ps.}) (
31... Ka6 32. dxc6 Qf1 33. cxd7 Qf2+ 34. Kb3 Qf7+ {After the d-Pawn falls
black's K-side Ps will be unstoppable.}) 32. dxc6+ Ka8 33. cxd7 Rf2+ 34. Kb3
Qxb2+ 35. Ka4 {Black resigned. A titanic struggle with a surprising turnaround.
} (35. Ka4 b5+ 36. Nxb5 Qxa2+ 37. Na3 Qg8 38. d8=Q+ Qxd8 39. Qxd8+ Kb7 40. Qd7+
Kb8 41. Nb5 Ra2+ 42. Kb3 Ra3+ 43. Kxa3 a5 44. Qc7+ Ka8 45. Qa7#) 1-0
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