The Obscure Edward Tenenwurzel

    By winning his game against Leon Rosen, the reigning champion, Edward Tenenwurzel became the 1910 champion of of the Rice Chess Club in New York. His win assured him of the championship and even though there were two rounds left he couldn’t be caught. 

    The new 27-year old champion was a native of Warsaw, Poland which at the time was part of the Russian Empire, but he learned to play chess after arriving in the US. Born on September 5, 1867. Tenenwurzel passed away at the early age of 45 on October 16, 1921.Chessmetrics assigned him a high rating of 2476 in 1911. 

    Not much information is available on him, but his name appears in the New York newspapers of the day hundreds of times with variations in the spelling of his last name and sometimes with the initial of his first name as “I.” 

    According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Tuesday, November 21, 1922, page 27, several members of the Rice club attended the dedication of a memorial om his grave. The article gives his name as “Edward Tennen” adding that he was better known as Edward Tenenwurzel.The burial site was the Riverside Cemetery, Rochelle Park, New Jersey. A search in the cemetery’s website did not turn up any information. 

     His opponent was Leon Rosen (1865-1942, 73 years old) Born inPoland, he was an insurance broker who was a leading member of the Manhattan Chess Club for 38 years. While completing jis education in Paris he won the city championship. He took up residence in New York in 1904. 

 

[Event "Rice CC Chp, New York"] [Site ""] [Date "1910.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Leon Rosen"] [Black "Edward Tenenwurzel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Stockfish 19"] [PlyCount "62"] [EventDate "1910.??.??"] [Source "American Chess B"] {A00: Polish Openings} 1. b4 {This innocuous opening is known as the Polish Opening, the Sokolsky Opening or the Orangutan. It's only advantage is its psychological surprise value.} e6 {The most popular move is by far 1.e5 with 1.d5 a distant second.} 2. Bb2 Nf6 {How is white to defend the b-Pawn? Neither 3.a3 nor 3.b5 accomplish anything positive,} 3. a3 c5 {White usually plays 3...d5, but the text makes a valid point. White's next move is pretty much forced so black is able to develop his B to its most active square.} 4. bxc5 Bxc5 5. e3 d5 6. d4 Bd6 7. Nd2 (7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Ne5 Bd7 9. Bd3 Qc7 10. f4 Ne4 11. Nd2 {is equal. Anantharam,R (1782)-Prasad,A Commonwealth-ch Nagpur 2008}) 7... Nc6 8. Ngf3 O-O 9. Bd3 Qe7 {Hoping to play ...e5} (9... Qc7 10. c4 Bd7 11. O-O Rac8 12. c5 Be7 {is equal. Dergatschova Daus,A (2220)-Kovalevskaya,E (2390) RUS-ch (Women) Elista 1998}) 10. Ne5 Nd7 11. Ndf3 f6 12. Nxd7 Bxd7 13. c4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 {Black can now play the solid 14...Rfc8. Instead he plays a bluff that works.} Bb4+ 15. Kf1 {This is not a serious mistake, but ot hands over the initiative.} (15. axb4 Qxb4+ 16. Nd2 Qxb2 17. Rb1 {[%mdl 64]} Qc3 18. Rb3 (18. Rxb7 Na5) 18... Qa5 19. Rxb7 {White is slightly better. Black's a-Pawn is a potential target. In Shootouts white scored _3 -1 =1.}) 15... Na5 16. Bd3 Bd6 17. h4 {[%mdl 32] Ratherthan sit passively by Rosen correctly elects to play aggressively.} Rac8 18. h5 Nc4 {This crafty move offers the a-Pawn as bait.} 19. Bc1 f5 (19... Nxa3 20. Qb3 {snags the N. Black's best is} Rxc1+ 21. Rxc1 b5 22. e4 {and white's advantage should prove decisive.}) 20. h6 g6 {White's demonstration has turned out to be harmless, but he his positionhas suffered no damage ans the chances for both sides are equal.} 21. Nd2 Nxd2+ (21... Nxa3 {is now playable. After} 22. Bxa3 Bxa3 23. Nc4 Bb4 24. Rxa7 Bc6 {The chances are equl.}) 22. Qxd2 e5 23. Bb2 e4 {Black has taken command with a K-side attack, but if white plays 24.Bc2! the B keeps an eye on the K-side and white should be able to hold the position. Instead, he retreats the B to a passive swuare.} 24. Be2 {White does not recover from this. It's hard to believe how quickly black's attack develops.} f4 {Launching a decisive attack.} 25. d5 {This opens up the diagonal for the B, but nothing comes of it.} fxe3 26. Qd4 {Rosen recognizes that he cannot take the P.} (26. Qxe3 Rf7 27. Rd1 Rcf8 28. Ke1 Rxf2 29. Qxf2 Rxf2 30. Kxf2 Qf8+ 31. Kg1 Bc5+ 32. Bd4 Bxd4+ 33. Rxd4 Qc5 {wins}) 26... Rxf2+ 27. Ke1 {Now comes the final onslaught.} Rxe2+ $1 28. Kxe2 Bg4+ {Not that ot matters, but black missed a mate in 11.} (28... Bb5+ 29. Kd1 e2+ 30. Ke1 Bg3+ 31. Kd2 Qg5+ 32. Qe3 Bf4 33. Bc3 Bxe3+ 34. Kc2 Qe5 35. Rad1 Qxc3+ 36. Kb1 Qb3+ 37. Ka1 Rc2 {mate next move.}) 29. Kf1 e2+ 30. Ke1 Bg3+ 31. Kd2 Qg5+ {White resigned.} 0-1