I celebrated my 12th birthday there and my brother bought me a renaissance chess set and a few chess books, one of which was The Golden Treasury of Chess compiled by Al Horowitz and the editors of Chess Review.
The book was first copyrighted in 1943 by Horowitz and Kenneth Harkness, a chess organizer and the creator of the Harkness rating system that was used by the USCF from 1950 to 1960. He was also responsible for introducing Swiss system tournaments to the United States. The book was reprinted in 1956, 1961 and 1969. The latest edition has over 300 games, each with a very short introduction and no notes (a few are very lightly annotated).
The book was controversial. The controversy arises over the question of who was the true author. Chess historian Edward Winter addressed the controversy in The Horowitz-Wellmuth Affair HERE.
The book is packed with games by everyone from obscure players to famous masters and they are all unusual, brilliant or just entertaining. The last edition includes games up to 1966 by players of that era, like Fischer, et al.
Horowitz divided the games into chapters of Favorites and periods: Pre-Morphy, Morphy, Steinitz, Modern, Hypermodern and Eclectics, Russian Hegemony.
Horowitz wrote how in the course of the decades which he devoted to the preparation of this book he examined thousands of games and those that pleased him the most were included in the book. But even among those games there were some that he enjoyed so much he set them aside in order to attract the reader's attention to them.
Off and on over the last several days I played through those favorite games, there are only nine of them, just to see what impressed a great player like Horowitz.
Spielmann's opponent in the following game from Carlsbad 1911, was Russian master Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky (1879-1965) who competed in several notable international tournaments, including St. Petersburg 1909, where he defeated both the first-prize winners, Akiba Rubinstein and World Champion Emanuel Lasker. He continued to compete after World War II.
In his autobiography, he claimed to have invented the name Dragon Sicilian after his astronomy courses led him, in 1901, to see a resemblance between the black pawn formation and the pattern of Draco the Dragon.
The 1911 Carlsbad tournament was the scene of three events held in the health resort of Carlsbad which is located in present day Czech Republic.
Richard Teichmann's result was certainly a surprise.
After returning to international play in 1902 (after having lost the use of his right eye to an infection) to 1910 he had finished in 5th place so many thines that he was known as Richard the Fifth.
In 1911, he received a small inheritance from his mother that allowed him to afford to become a professional player and this was his greatest international achievement.
In the introduction to this game Horowitz wrote: One of the marks of a great master is the ability to conjure up murderous attacks out of seemingly harmless positions. You will like the way that Spielmann commences an unexpected attack at move 22 and drives it home with sledgehammer blows. Every move tells, and black's helplessness becomes ever more apparent.
A game that I liked (Komodo 14)
[Event "Carlsbad"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1911.08.31"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rudolf Spielmann"]
[Black "Fyodor Duz Chotimirsky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C84"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "1911.08.21"]
{Ruy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {[%cal Bf1b5,Bb5a4,Ba4b3][%mdl 32]} a6
4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 Na5 9. Bc2 c5 10. d3 O-O 11.
Nbd2 {[%cal Bb1d2,Bd2f1,Bf1g3][%mdl 32]} Qc7 12. Nf1 Rb8 (12... Kh8 {did not
work out well for black in Davletbayeva,M (2289)-Kulon,K (2301) Tromso NOR 2014
} 13. h3 Ng8 14. d4 Bf6 15. Ne3 Be6 16. Ng4 Bxg4 17. hxg4 exd4 18. cxd4 cxd4
19. g5 {with a promising attack.}) (12... g6 {was also tried in Davletbayeva,M
(2289)-Kulon,K (2301) Tromso NOR 2014 without success.} 13. Bg5 Nh5 14. Bh6 Re8
15. Ne3 Be6 16. a3 Nb7 {White's position is the more promising.}) (12... Nd7
13. Bg5 f6 14. Bd2 Nb6 15. Ne3 g6 16. b4 Nb7 {Now with 17.a4 white would have
had an excellent position. Levenfish,G-Ragozin,V Moscow 1936}) 13. h3 Be6 14.
Qe2 b4 15. N3h2 Nd7 {Black begin a counterattack with 15...b3} (15... bxc3 16.
bxc3 c4 (16... d5 {is also plausible.} 17. exd5 Nxd5 18. Bd2 Rb2 {with equal
chances}) 17. d4 exd4 18. cxd4 d5 19. e5 Ne4 20. Bxe4 dxe4 21. Qxe4 Rfd8 {
Black has pressure on the d-Pawn, a passed P and the two Bs so he has adequate
compensation for his P minus.}) 16. Ng3 Rfc8 17. Ng4 Rb7 18. Ne3 Bg5 {The
defensive 18...Bf8 would have been somewhat better, but it was, perhaps, too
passive for Duz-Chotimitsky.} 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. exd5 Bxc1 21. Raxc1 {[%mdl 32]}
Nf6 {After this black's position is very dicey.} (21... g6 {With the dark
squared Bs absent this move is not as weakening as it appears.} 22. f4 (22. d4
bxc3 23. bxc3 cxd4 24. cxd4 Rb2 {with equal chances.}) 22... bxc3 23. bxc3 f5
24. fxe5 dxe5 {is completely equal.}) 22. d4 {[%cal Rd4e5]} exd4 {This unmasks
white's B and gives his pieces access to the black K. The game is practically
over!} (22... g6 23. dxe5 dxe5 24. Rcd1 Qd6 {White is better, but black can
still put forth a defensive effort.}) 23. Nh5 Nd7 24. Qg4 {[%csl Gh5][%cal
Rg4g7]} g6 25. Re7 {[%cal Og4f4] All five of black's pieces are helpless
bystanders.} Kf8 26. Rce1 {[%cal Oe7f7] Threatening mate with Rxf7+ and Qe6}
Qd8 27. Qg5 (27. Rxf7+ {was prettier.} Kxf7 28. Bxg6+ {Even better than 28,
Qe6+ which should also win. In this position Stockfish announces a mate in 18!}
hxg6 29. Qe6+ Kf8 30. Qxd6+ Kf7 31. Qe6+ Kf8 32. Qxg6 Ne5 33. Rxe5 Rf7 34. Qh6+
Kg8 35. Re4 Qd7 36. Qg6+ Kf8 37. Nf6 Rxf6 38. Qxf6+ Kg8 39. Rf4 d3 40. Qg6+ Qg7
41. Qe6+ Kh8 42. Rh4+ Qh7 43. Qf6+ Kg8 44. Rg4+ Qg6 45. Rxg6+ Kh7 46. Qg7#)
27... Ne5 28. Qf6 {[%mdl 512] White mates in 6} Nac4 29. f4 {[%mdl 512]} gxh5 (
29... Qxe7 30. Qh8#) 30. fxe5 Nxe5 31. R1xe5 {Black resigned; it's mate in 2.}
1-0
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