Budapest tournament, Round 12: Spielmann takes lead; Forgacs 2nd, Tartakower 3rd

Rudolf Spielmann played to a draw with Zsigmond Barasz to assume a half-point lead over the idle Leo Forgacs after the twelfth and penultimate round of the Austro-Hungarian Championship tournament in Budapest.  Spielmann, with 8 points, and Forgacs, with 7 1/2, are followed closely by Saviely Tartakower, who drew his game vs. Milan Vidmar and now stands third on 7 points.  In the day's other contests, Georg Marco defeated Miklos Brody, Zoltan von Balla topped Karoly Sterk, and Gyula Breyer and Richard Reti divided the point after a drawn battle.  Forgacs, as noted, had the bye, while Lajos Asztalos also sat idle, as his scheduled opponent, Jeno Szekely, withdrew from the tourney several rounds ago.

All three leaders will play with the White pieces in the final round, the complete pairings being Spielmann-Breyer, Tartakower-Asztalos, Forgacs-Vidmar, Reti-Brody, and Sterk-Barasz.  Marco will have the bye, and thus has completed his games in the tourney, as has von Balla, originally slated to meet Szekely on the final day.  Marco, with 6 1/2 points, is assured of sole fourth place, while von Balla, in fifth position with 6 points, may yet be caught by both Asztalos and Breyer, each with 5.  

The complete standings entering the final round are as follows: Spielmann 8; Forgacs 7 1/2; Tartakower 7; Marco* 6 1/2; v. Balla* 6; Asztalos, Breyer 5; Vidmar, Brody 4; Reti 3 1/2; Barasz 3; Sterk 1 1/2.    *Marco and von Balla will be free during the last round, and so have completed their program.

We received only one game from Budapest after the twelfth round, purportedly Marco's win as Black over Brody in the Exchange Variation of the French Defense, but while preparing that contest for publication we noticed that the score was identical to the first round contest Brody-Spielmann.  We are at a loss to provide an explanation for such an error, and find ourselves equally without any games to present from the latest round, for which we express our most sincere apologies.  

The final round will be played tomorrow, the 23rd.