Friday, May 21

Spielmann-Mieses match (final)

The match between Spielmann and Mieses is now concluded. After a drawn seventh game, the young Austrian master capped his overall victory with an excellent win in the eighth encounter. The final tally was 6 - 2, with 5 wins for Spielmann, one for Mieses, and two games drawn. While it is to be regretted that a veteran master of Mieses's caliber and experience proved unable to give a better account of himself, all credit is nevertheless due to Spielmann for his own excellent showing. Spielmann has risen quite quickly in the chess world of late, and, in our estimation, may well now claim to stand no more than a short step below the very greatest exponents of our game. Whether he will succeed in taking that last step and joining the ranks of the immortals is a question only time can answer. For the present, we are grateful to him for beautiful productions such as the game below, for which the winner has most graciously provided the annotations. In our opinion it is the finest win of the match:

Spielmann-Mieses, Match (8), Regensburg 1910 Queen's Gambit Declined
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.Nf3 c6 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Nxc4 Qc7 11.Bd3 Bd7 12.a3 Bd6 (Quite bad. 12...Be7 had to be played.) 13.e4 e5 14.f4 (This threatens to win a piece, wherefore the reply is compulsory.) 14...exd4 15.e5 Bf8 (If 15...dxc3, 16.Nxd6+, and White has prevented Black's castling.) 16.exf6 dxc3 17.Qe2+ Kd8 18.O-O-O Qxf4+ 19.Kb1 Kc7 (If 19...Qxf6 20.Rhf1 Qe6 - to prevent Bf5 - 21.Ne5 and wins.) 20.Rhf1 Qg5 21.h4 Qc5 (If 21...Qxh4 22.Qe5+ Kc8 23.Bf5 wins.) 22.fxg7 Bxg7 23.Rxf7 Bd4 (Diagram) 24.Rxd7+ (A decisive sacrifice.) 24...Kxd7 25.Qg4+ Kc7 (If 25...Kd8, 26.Bc2 wins. Or 25...Ke7 26.Qe4+ Kf7 27.Rf1+ Bf6 28.Ne5+ wins the Queen or mates in a few moves.) 26.Qf4+ Be5 27.Nxe5 Raf8 28.Qh2 Qf2 29.Bc2 Rhg8 (If 29...Qf4 30.Rd7+ and now A.30...Kb8 31.Rd8+ followed by 32.Qxf4 and 33.Rxh8; or B.30...Kc8 31.Qh3 Kb8 32.Rxb7+ Kxb7 [32...Ka8 33.Rxa7+] 33.Qd7+ and mates; or C.30...Kb6 31.Nc4+ and wins as in the game.) 30.Rd7+ Kb6 31.Nc4+ Ka6 32.Qc7 Qf1+ 33.Ka2 Qxc4+ 34.b3 Qb5 35.a4 Qb6 36.Bd3+ Ka5 37.Qe5+ c5 38.Rxb7 Rxg2+ 39.Ka3 (If now 39...c2, then not 40.Qe1+ Qb4+41.Rxb4 c1=Q+ 42.Qxc1 cxb4 mate, but rather 40.Bxc2 Rxc2 41.Rxb6 axb6 42.Qe7 Ra8 43.Qb7 Ra6 44.Qc6 and wins.) 39...Rg4 40.Rxb6 axb6 41.Qc7 Black resigns 1-0. (Notes by Herr Spielmann)

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