Hamburg - Round 1

The first round of the Master Tournament at the Hamburg Congress was played today. Caution was the watchword, with several contests ending in quiet draws. Only three of the nine games finished decisively.

Jacob opened with the Queen's Pawn vs. John and the game soon developed along the Stonewall lines of the Dutch Defense. Some imprecise opening play by John allowed Jacob to press his advantage, and ultimately led to a two-pawn surplus in the endgame for the first player. But Jacob later went astray, and the draw was recorded.

Tartakower vs. Tarrasch saw the opening 1.c4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.d4, which we are unsure whether to christen a Queen's Gambit or a French Defense. Quick exchanges brought about an endgame with Bishops of opposite colors on the 29th move, and the game was agreed drawn 8 moves later.

Speyer vs. Teichmann featured the Exchnge Variation of the Ruy Lopez. Teichmann blundered a pawn on move 17, but nevertheless held on to draw.

Leonhardt defeated Spielmann in a French Defence highlighted by a pretty Knight sacrifice. Some members of this forum have requested that we provide a board and pieces so that they may play through any particularly interesting game. We are nothing if not solicitous of our readers' concerns:

Dus-Chotimirsky vs. Duras saw another draw. Duras as Black seemed to develop some pressure in a Queen's Gambit Accepted, but general exchanges soon eased the tension, and peace was agreed.

In Marshall vs. Forgacs, another Queen's Gambit led, after several exchanges and 32 moves, to an equal Queen-and-Knight endgame and the halving of the point.

Schlechter, with the move, defeated Alekhine in a Philidor Defense.

In the diagrammed position, Schlechter won two pieces for a Rook via 21.Qh5 Qxh5 22.Bxh5 Rxd8 23.Rxd8 Bf7 24.Rxe8+ Bxe8 25.Bxe8, and smoothly brought the game to victory. But Alekhine pointed out afterward that 21.Qg3 might have been even stronger; after 21...Qxg3 (forced, the threat being Bxb6, leaving Black's Queen's Rook unprotected) 22.hxg3 Rxd8 23.Rxd8 Rf8 24.Nxe4, White will emerge a full exchange ahead.



Salwe defeated Yates in a Queen's Pawn Game. The finish was particularly fine.

Here Salwe played 36.h6 gxh6 37.d5 hxg5 (The time for the adjournament having come, Yates sealed this move, writing the ambiguous "37...PxP" on his scoresheet. Upon resumption, the tournament director, who might well have imposed the stricter sanction of forfeit, accepted Yates' explanation that 37...RPxP was his intended move, and allowed the English representative to continue with only a warning. The contest in any case came to a speedy end.) 38.Bxg5 h5 39.Qf6+ Kg8 40.d6 e5 41.Qg6+ Qg7 42.Qe8+ Qf8 43.d7 Bxd7 44.Qxd7 Qc5+ 45.Be3 Qc2+ 46.Bd2 and Yates resigned. 1-0

Finally, Kohnlein vs. Niemzowitsch saw a Caro-Kann Defense lead to a level Rook ending in 24 moves, a level Pawn ending in 28, and a draw 2 moves later.

Scores after Round 1: Schlechter, Salwe, Leonhardt 1; Jacob, John, Tartakower, Tarrasch, Speyer, Teichmann, Dus-Chotimirsky, Duras, Marshall, Forgacs, Kohnlein, Niemzowitsch 1/2; Alekhine, Spielmann, Yates 0.