Bad Kissengen 1928

     Bad Kissengen 1928 brought together twelve of the best masters of the day. Capablanca was smarting because of his lost world championship match to Alekhine the year before and this was his chance to regain some of his luster. The somewhat surprising winner turned out to be Bogoljubow. Even though he lost his individual game game to Capa in round nine, Bogoljubow still managed to finish first by a full point. Capablanca suffered one defeat at the hands of Spielmann who scored only that one win. 
     After World War One Bogoljubow won many international tournaments: Berlin 1919, Stockholm 1919, Kiel 1921, and Pistyan 1922, a tie for first at Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) 1923. He won the Soviet championship in 1924 and 1925 and finished first at Breslau 1925 and Moscow 1925. In 1926 he won a tournament in Berlin and then in 1928 he won this event at Bad Kissingen. Plus, he had twice defeated Euwe in matches. As a result it was no wonder that Alekhine chose him as an opponent for world championship matches in 1928 and 1929.
     This following brilliancy prize game between Nimzovich and Marshall demonstrates their clash in styles. For some reason Marshall had little respect for Nimzovich. Perhaps it was due to their different styles. Nimzo was sometimes very dogmatic in his approach with his Hypermodern style and sometimes overlooked tactical blows that allowed his opponents to win brilliantly as the following game illustrtes. Personality-wise, Nimzo was also somewhat arrogant and stuffy. Marshall, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He cared little for positional nuances of a position and was a gregarious sort who enjoyed kibitzing and analyzing with just about anybody. 
     This event was one of the last tournaments by Tarrasch.  In 1928 he also played in a double round 8-player tournament in Berlin, but after losing three games (to Capa, Tartakower and Rubinstein) he withdrew due to illness and his games were not counted.  Capa won ahead of Nimzovich, Spielmann, Tartakower, Rubinstein and Reti (tied) and Marshall.  Tarrasch died at the age of 71 in 1934.


1) Bogoljubov 8.0 
2) Capablanca 7.0 
3-4) Euwe and Rubinstein 6.5 
5) Nimzovich 6.0 
6) Reti 5.5 
7-9) Tartakower, Marshall and Yates 5.0 
10) Spielmann 4.5 
11) Tarrasch 4.0 
12) Mieses 3.0