Monday, June 3, 2019

The Baden Gambit Tournament of 1914

     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.

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