Probably the most famous tournament of 1914 was Mannheim (the 19th DSB Congress). Alekhine was leading the Master tournament with nine wins, one draw and one loss, when World War I broke out. German organizers of the tournament decided that the players should be "indemnified" according to their score, but not paid the total prize money. Thus Alekhine got 1100 marks or about 11,000 Euros in today’s purchasing power.
Everybody knows this, but Mannheim also consisted of the lesser known Hauptturnier A and Hauptturnier B events.
The A event was won by the unknown Turkish player B. Hallegua...does anyone even know his first name?! He was followed by better known players: Ilya Rabinovich (Russia), Oscar Tenner (Germany and later the US), Carl Ahues (Germany), Lajos Asztalos (Austria-Hungary) and Fedor Bogatyrchuk (Russia, later Canada). There were 17 players. The B event consisted of 9 players in two groups. Winners were the Czech player Julius Brach and Nikoly Rudnev of the Ukraine.
Before Mannheim, to celebrate the opening of the Kasino Klub, February 23, 1914, it was decided to sponsor an international tournament. George Marco, publisher of the Wiener Schachzeitung, was authorized to organize and direct this event.
Marco decided to hold a Gambit tournament because he was bored with the usual tedious repertoire of most masters.
But, because this tournament clashed with St Petersburg 1914, the best players in the world were unavailable.
Nevertheless, a number of good players participated.
Marco had a great concept for this tournament...in order to make the games more interesting and original he declared that only gambit openings would be allowed because it would force the participants to play fighting chess.
Schlechter, the Drawing Master, was an exception, but his participation was uncertain and resulted in some snide comments. At first his participation was doubtful because of his obligation to complete the latest edition of the Bilguer Handbook, but in the end he was entered. Deutsches Schachzeitung commented that the rumor that he preferred to play in Baden because it was a weaker tournament than St. Petersburg were “probably” false and unfair. As it turned out Schlechter was undefeated and though he only won four games, it was good enough to take third place.
There was a provision that the acceptance of the gambit was not mandatory. A player could decline a gambit, but in order to do so he had to obtain permission from the tournament committee and specify the variation he intended to play. The Queen’s Gambit Declined was disallowed because it was too drawish. Thus, the tournament was more of a "semi-gambit tournament!"
The Year-Book of Chess voiced the complaint that a large percentage of drawn games is probably due to the fact that the competitors were allowed to decline any gambit offered. A glance at the crosstable does not suggest that the number of draws was excessive.
Even though the gambit could be declined there were still a fair share of them played. One interesting game was the following Brilliancy Prize game by Reti which features an unsound Queen sacrifice and some messy positions. True, engines ripped the games to shreds, but no matter…the resulting position was, according to the rather amusing Hotness meter supplied with Fritz 12 sitting in the red zone, a lot of fun.
[Event "Baden"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1914.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Richard Reti"]
[Black "Gustaf Nyholm"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
{C36: King's Gambit Accepted: 3 Nf3 d5} 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3
d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxd5 Qxd5 7. d4 Bd6 8. c4 Qe6+ {Best.} 9. Kf2 c5 {Black
keeps a slight advantage with 9...Qf6} 10. Bd3 {In his booklet on Baden, the
late James R. Schroeder wrote that now 10...O-O is a mistake that is refuted
by 11.Bxh7+ In reality the chances would be about equal as white has no
followup that would convey him any advantage. Therefore, 10...is in fact
black's best move.} 10... Qh6 {This is a mistake. Years later in the game
Guimard-Maderna, La Plata 1941 black played the better 10...Qf6, but failed to
follow it up correctly, preferring instead to rashly begin advancing his
K-side Ps.} 11. Re1+ {White now has a distinct advantage.} 11... Kf8 12. Qe2
Bd7 { Black errs in not offering a trade of Qs with 12...Qe6. In that case
white's advantage would have been much more modest.} 13. b4 b6 {Opening the
diagonal is disasterous. Best was 13...Nc6.} 14. Be4 Nc6 {Schroeder now
recommended 15. bxc5 as better which is true, but even better that that is
15.dxc5! and white is winning.} 15. b5 Nxd4 16. Nxd4 Re8 17. Nf3 f5 18. Bd5
{Reti won the Brilliance Prize, probably because of this Q sacrifice combined
with the fact that he won the game. It is unsound, but I had Fritz 12s
"Measurement" meters turned on. The Mate-O-Meter was sitting at 1, meaning
the possibility of mate is, well, almost zero. But, the "Hotness" meter was
resting on 8 (out of 10) meaning there are very complex tactical and
strategical problems in the position. Naturally as the stronger player this
situation would favor Reti.} 18... Rxe2+ 19. Rxe2 Be7 {This passive move
allows white right back in the game. Black needed to go all out with 19...g5
even though it means giving up the exchange after 20.Bb2.} 20. Bb2 Bf6 21.
Be5 g5 {Here black plays ...g4 and has avoided giving up the exchange, but the
price has been that white's pieces are now actively placed and that make all
the difference.} 22. Rae1 Bxe5 23. Nxe5 Qh4+ {After this pointless check white
gets the advantage. 23...Be6 would have been better.} 24. Kg1 Be8 25. Nf3
Qh5 {Now white might be tempted to trade the two Rs for a Q and B with
26.Rxe8+ followed by Nxg5. In that case the ending with B+N+5 Ps vs. R+6 Ps
would be much more difficult for white.} 26. Nxg5 {The right decision.} 26...
Kg7 27. Re7+ Kh6 28. Bf7 {Actually, 28.Nf3 was better, but this is prettier
and white is winning anyway, so why not play it?} 28... Kxg5 29. Bxh5 Bxh5
{The rest of the game is a matter of technique and Nyholm was beginning to
suffer from time pressure.} 30. Rxa7 f3 31. Ree7 fxg2 32. Kxg2 h6 33. Kg3 f4+
34. Kf2 Rd8 35. Rad7 Ra8 36. Re5+ Kh4 37. Rd2 Ra4 38. Re6 Rxc4 39. Rxh6 Rb4
40. Rxb6 c4 41. a3 Rb3 42. Rc6 Rf3+ 43. Kg2 Rxa3 44. Rxc4 {Nyholm lost on
time, but his position is quite lost anyway.} 1-0
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