The great St. Petersburg tournament of 1914 featured the joint winners of the 1914 All Russian Championship (Alekhine and Nimzovich) and players who had won at least one major tournament.
The first stage from the 21st April to the 6th of May was a round robin with the first five finishers advancing to the second stage which ran from the 10th to the 22nd of May. This second stage was a double round round robin with the scores from the preliminaries being carried over to the final. The Czar declared the five finalists to be Grand Masters.
It was expected that there would be a great struggle between Lasker, Capablanca and Rubinstein, but the latter failed to make the final, leaving Lasker and Capablanca to battle it out. Lasker was 1.5 points behind Capablanca at the start of the finals but in the end secured first place by a half point by scoring seven points in his last eight games. For the first time ever a player (Lasker) was paid an appearance fee.
Three prominent players passed away in 1914. Constant Ferdinand Burille (August 30, 1866 - October 1914), a member of a group of Boston players and theoreticians who formed a loose chess association they called the Mandarins of the Yellow Button. Burille was also the operator of Ajeeb in the United States. He died in Boston.
Nicolai Jasnogrodsky (August 6, 1859 - April 23, 1914), a Russian–born American master, died at Montefiore Home, Hospital and Country Sanitarium for Chronic Diseases. He was buried in Union Field Cemetery for members of the New York City's Jewish community.
On October 20, 1914, in a far away land called Australia, David Hay died in Melbourne; he was New Zealand co-champion in 1879.
Probably the best known event of 1914 was the 19th congress of the German Chess Federation that was being played in Mannheim when it was interrupted by the the declaration of war and eleven "Russian" players (Alekhine, Bogoljubov, Bohatyrchuk, Flamberg, Koppelman, Maljutin, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, Saburov, Selezniev and Weinstein) were interned in Rastatt, Germany.
In September four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland. Romanovsky was freed and went back to Petrograd in 1915, and a sixth one, Flamberg was allowed to return to Warsaw in 1916.
Returning to the St. Petersburg tournament, the results were:
The following game between Nimzovich and Tarrasch is an excellent and often overlooked example of the double Bishop sacrifice. That’s probably because we usually think of the initial sacrifice as taking place on h7 (or h2). However, the double Bishop sacrifice can also take place in other forms as long as the following criteria are met.
I can highly recommend Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess by Fred Reinfeld. It was one of Reinfeld’s good books written before he discovered the money was in the potboilers. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw one reviewer give the Harding Simpole edition (my book is the old Dover edition) only one star. The reason? It’s in descriptive notation, not algebraic! Tarrasch’s games and Reinfeld’s notes are both enjoyable and they make good study material for classic chess.
Aron Nimzovich - Siegbert Tarrasch
Result: 0-1
Site: St. Petersburg
Date: 1914.04.28
Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch Defense
[...] 1.d4 d5 2.♘f3 c5 3.c4 e6 We have reached the Tarrasch Defense in which he contended the increased mobility black enjoys is well worth the inherent weakness of the weak Ps black may get. Everybody who followed the teachings of Steinitz rejected the Tarrasch Defense, but Tarrasch went so far as to put question marks on routine moves in all variations except his. 4.e3 When this game was played this timid move was considered obligatory by Tarrasch. These days 4.cxd5 is almost always played. 4...♘f6 5.♗d3 ♘c6 6.O-O ♗d6 7.b3 O-O 8.♗b2 b6 9.♘bd2 The purpose of this move is to keep the Bs diagonal clear, but the from d2 the N accomplishes almost nothing for the rest of the game. 9.Nc3 is worth considering. 9...♗b7 10.♖c1 More to the point was 10.Ne5 after which black a a number of reasonable mvoes to consider. 10...♕e7 The idea is to play ...cxd4 and ...Ba3 11.cxd5 Reinfeld was critical of this stating it frees black's game. Engines disagree evaluating the position as equal.
11.♗a1 was recommended by Reinfeld, but after 11...cxd4 12.exd4 ♗a3 13.♖c3 ♖fd8 Black is better.
11...exd5 12.♘h4 Nimzovich's idea is to force black to play ...g6 which weakens the long diagonal. Unfortunately for him, the long diagonal turns out to be of little significance. 12...g6 13.♘hf3 ♖ad8
13...♘e4 This is the move black wants to play. but he can't just yet because after 14.dxc5 He can't recapture with theb P. 14...bxc5 15.♗xe4 dxe4 16.♘xe4 ♕xe4 17.♕xd6 Hence, he first defends against this with the R move.
14.dxc5 bxc5 Nimzovich has played to give black Hanging Pawns in the hope of getting play against them. When it come to Hanging Pawns, sometimes you get play against them and sometimes they get play against you. In Modern Chess Strategy, Pachman devoted a whole chapter to them. They are a very complex formation. 15.♗b5 ♘e4 16.♗xc6 ♗xc6 Had Nimzovich seen what was coming he would have played 17.Re1 which would have given his K an escape route on the f-file (see condition 3). 17.♕c2 He still has ideas of proving the Hanging Pawns to be weak.
17.♖e1 ♘xd2 Something like 17...f5 is better. 18.♘xd2 d4 19.exd4 leaves white with the better game. Note that a B sac doesn't work here. 19...♗xh2 20.♔xh2 ♕h4 21.♔g1 ♕g5 22.f3 Black has no way to continue the attack and so white has an easily won game.
17...♘xd2 Played in order to entice the N away from f3 and thereby set up the conditions for the double B sacrifice. 18.♘xd2 The guardian of the king's field leaves his post for a moment, assuming wrongly that 19.Qc3 is a major threat. (Tartakower)
18.♕xd2 This is better, but black still gets a very promising attack after 18...d4 19.♕d1 dxe3 20.♕c2 e2 21.♖fe1 ♗b5 and black stands well.
18...d4 This clears the way for black's B and makes black's position ripe for the double B sacrifice. In order to prove his point, writing in Strategy and Tactics in Chess, Euwe incorrectly stated that the threat of ...dxe3 means white has no satisfactory defense to the threatened sacrifice. In face, white does have a defense, but on wonders if Nimzovich suspected anything. This has to be classed as an outruight blunder that loses immediately. 19.exd4
19.g3 Stops the whole thing and is a move not considered by Euwe. Now if black takes on e3... 19...dxe3 20.♕c3 Threatening mate. 20...f6
20...exf2 21.♖xf2 f6 22.♕c4 ♔h8 23.♖e2 ♗d5 and white is at least equal.
21.♕xe3 ♕xe3 22.fxe3 ♗e7 23.♖f2 with a roughly equal position. 19.e4 was suggested by Reinfeld. It's playable but after 19...♖fe8 Better than Reinfeld's 19...Qh4 (19...♕h4 Reinfeld 20.g3 ♕g4 21.b4 with equal chances.) 20.b4 c4 21.♕xc4 ♗xb4 22.♕xc6 ♗xd2 black is better.
19...♗xh2
19...♗xg2 Oddly, this move also wins, but does not involve the double B sacrifice. 20.f4 (20.♔xg2 ♕g5 21.♔h1 ♕f4 wins.) 20...♗xf1 21.♖xf1 ♗xf4 with a winning attack.
20.♔xh2 ♕h4 21.♔g1 ♗xg2 Point 3, the K cannot escape to the f-file. Here if white takes the second B we see the other points. 22.f3 Opting to suffer the consequences of point 4...be left with a serious disadvantage.
22.♔xg2 ♕g4 23.♔h2 ♖d5 Point 1, a R is immediately available to join the attack and Point 2, the white pieces cannot defend the K. 24.♕xc5 ♖h5 25.♕xh5 ♕xh5 26.♔g3 ♕g5 27.♔h2 ♕xd2 and wins.
22...♖fe8 Threatening ...Re2 with mate to follow. Of course white can't now play 23.Kxg2 Re2+ mates 23.♘e4 ♕h1 24.♔f2 ♗xf1 Hefre we see point 5, the position at the end of the combination is advantageous for black, ot in this case totally won. 25.d5 (25.♖xf1 loses at least the Q 25...♕h2) 25...f5 Black has a mate in 14 moves after 26.Rxf1 Qh2+, again, winning the Q. 26.♕c3 Nimzovich has at long last succeeded at carrying out his strategy of an attack on the long diagonal, but by by now he has a lost game!
26.♘f6 is no better because black has a mate in 10 after 26...Kf7 27.Ne4 Rxd5. 26...♔f7 27.♘xe8 ♖xe8 mates in 5
26...♕g2 27.♔e3 ♖xe4 A murderous blow. 28.fxe4 f4 Black has a mate in 3 with 28...Qg3+. No matter. Now he has a mate in 8. 29.♔xf4 ♖f8 30.♔e5
30.♕f6 ♖xf6 31.♗xf6 ♕f2 32.♔g4 ♗e2 33.♔h3 h5 34.♖g1 ♕xg1 35.a3 ♗f1 36.♔h4 ♕g4#
30...♕h2 31.♔e6 (31.♕g3 ♕xg3 32.♔e6 ♗h3 33.♔e7 ♕c7#) 31...♖e8 32.♔d7 ♗b5# A beautiful game by Tarrasch. Powered by Aquarium
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