The preliminary event consisted of Emanuel Lasker, Jose Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, Frank Marshall, Ossip Bernstein, Akiba Rubinstein, Aron Nimzovich, David Janowski, Joseph Blackburne and Isidor Gunsberg.
The top five qualified for the final with their preliminary scores carrying over.
It was expected that Lasker, Capablanca and Rubinstein would be the main contenders, but Rubinstien failed to qualify.
In the finals Lasker and Capablanca battled it out for first.
Lasker was a point and a half behind Capablanca at the start of the finals, but in the end Lasker emerged victorious in part due to his win over Marshall in the following last round game.
I found this game in two books and in neither one of them did the authors make mention of the fact that Marshal missed the best defense at move 17. Perhaps it was the mindset that sacrifices have to be accepted. What the game does prove is that any patzer with an engine can produce better analysis than even the strongest players of yesteryear.
[Event "St Petersburg Final"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1914.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Frank Marshall"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C42"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "57"]
[EventDate "1914"]
[EventType ""]
[EventRounds ""]
[EventCountry ""]
[SourceTitle ""]
[Source ""]
[SourceDate ""]
[SourceVersion ""]
[SourceVersionDate ""]
[SourceQuality ""]
{C42: Petrov Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3
Nxe4 5. Qe2 {An old move favored by Paul Morphy. It's quite drawish and so 5.
d4 is generally preferred. However, this game was played in the last round and
Lasker had a half point lead iver Capablanca and so this line keves him slim
chances of losing, There was also a psychological factor involved, Marshahall
was not the type of player who acquiesced to a draw si easilt, so he kight
take rusk to avoid one.} Qe7 6. d3 Nf6 7. Bg5 Be6 {Black generally prefers to
exchange Qs when a draw is almost assured. By avoiding the exchange Marshall
is taking a bit of a risk because white is better developed.} 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9.
O-O-O {This is the correct side on whicj to castle because the B on f1 is
blocked in making O-O difficult to achieve, Also, the R on d1 supports a
potential advance of the d-Pawn.} h6 {The immediate 9...O-O-O was playable,
Marshall first plays to eliminated white's B.} 10. Bh4 g5 11. Bg3 Nh5 12. d4
Nxg3 13. hxg3 g4 14. Nh4 {Not bad as he may be able to follow up with f4.
Equally good would have been 14.Nd2.} d5 {Two authors called this move a
decisive mistake and suggested 14...Nb6 which, in fact, is a bit better, but
14...d5 is hardly decisive or even a mistake because the position is equal.}
15. Qb5 O-O-O {The same author claimed that this move is practically forced.
It's not, but now white's advantage is only minimal, about hals a Pawn.
Black's absolute best line is simply beyond human ability to calculate.} (15...
c5 {It is no wonder this move escaped human attention; it looks wrong because
it seems to leave black's K stuck in the center. The best continuation now is..
.} 16. dxc5 O-O-O $1 {Surprise! Castking Q-side is playable.} 17. c6 {[%csl
Gc6][%cal Rb5b7]} Nc5 18. Ne2 Ne4 19. Nd4 Nxf2 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Ng6 Qc7 $1 22.
cxb7+ Kb8 $1 23. Rh5 Nxd1 24. Kxd1 Rh7 25. Ne5 $1 {[%cal Re5c6]} Qxb7 26. Nc6+
Kc8 27. Qxb7+ Rxb7 28. Ba6 Rd6 $1 29. Bxb7+ Kxb7 {With complete equality.}) 16.
Qa5 a6 {Marshall surely saw what was coming.} (16... Kb8 {favors white after}
17. Nb5 a6 18. Nxc7) (16... c6 {This leaves white with only a slim advantage
after} 17. Qxa7 Kc7 18. Qa5+ Kb8 19. Bd3 {White is a P up, but for all
practical purposes he can claim no more than abour half a P advantage.}) 17.
Bxa6 {[%mdl 640] This is absolutely correct, but white gains the advantage
only if black accepts the B.} bxa6 {There wasn't much Marshall could have done
about white's move. but it seems incredible that he took the B. If Lasker saw
what was going to happen next, it is certain that so did Marshall and so one
wonders why he played this move. It's also surprising that the authors of two
books make no comment on 17...bxa6. I checked this position with multiple
engines and they all quickly settled on 17...c6.} (17... c6 18. Bd3 {White has
won a P, but black is not without some compensation.} Qf6 {Attacking two Ps.}
19. Ne2 {He can;t afford to lose the d-Pawn and now it would be too risky fir
black to play ...Qxf2, so...} Bd6 {and white is only slightly better.}) (17...
Bg7 {This was a possibilty first looked at, but quickly discarded, by a couple
of engines.} 18. Rhe1 Kb8 19. Nf5 {At long last this N gets into play.} Qg5+
20. Ne3 Nb6 21. Be2 {White is better, but black is far from lost.}) 18. Qxa6+
Kb8 19. Nb5 {Now it is clear that white has the makings of a decisive attack
on black's K. An important factor is, as mentioned in the note to 9.O-O-O, the
R on d1 has supported the advance of the d-(awn and white is now able to play
the R to d3 from where it can hoin the attack. White has a decisive advantage
adnd the win is routine. White wants to mate with Qa7+.} Nb6 20. Rd3 Qg5+ {
This removes the Q from helping defend the Q-side and so only results in q
quicker defeat.} (20... Rd7 {was only a bit better.} 21. Rb3 c5 22. Nc3 Rb7 {
and white finishes up with} 23. Rxb6 Rxb6 24. Qxb6+ Qb7 25. Qd8+ Qc8 26. Qf6
Rg8 27. Rd1 {White is two Ps up and now adding the R to the attack assures the
win.}) 21. Kb1 Bd6 22. Rb3 {Pretty much ending the game.} Rhe8 23. a4 {[%mdl
32]} Bf5 24. Na7 Bd7 25. a5 Qd2 26. axb6 Re1+ 27. Ka2 c6 28. Nb5 $1 {[%mdl 512]
} cxb5 29. Qa7+ {Black resigned It's mate in 2.} 1-0
No comments:
Post a Comment