Rice Chess Club tournament, Round 6: Idle Capablanca remains in lead; Duras begins play; Adair, Chajes, Tenenwurzel are winners

Tourney leader José R. Capablanca of Havana, with 8 points to his credit, remains two full points clear of the field despite sitting idle during the sixth round of the Rice Chess Club Summer Masters' Tournament. Edward Tenenwurzel, whose appeal of his loss to the Cuban via a time limit violation is still pending, increased his total to 6 points with a victory over Harold M. Phillips and now stands in second position.  In other games, Albert Marder suffered his first defeat of the tourney at the hands of Oscar Chajes, George F. Adair topped Jacques Grommer, and late arrival Oldrich Duras began his playing program, adjourning in a favorable position vs. Abraham Kupchik, whose perfect score to date appears likely to be spoiled by the powerful Czech Master.  Free on the day were Capablanca and F.P. Beynon, who completed their game scheduled for this round a few days ago.  Roy T. Black and Jacob Bernstein, who had been paired against the departed players Beihoff and Stapfer, respectively, also enjoyed a free day.

We have the scores of two of the three completed games to share with our readers, the Tenenwurzel-Phillips encounter being lacking.  We begin with the game Chajes vs. Marder, a stoutly-defended Ruy Lopez in which White only overcame his opponent's resistance well into the endgame.

In Grommer-Adair the first player adopted the Vienna Gambit and conducted the opening of the contest in dashing style, sacrificing two pawns with a view to developing an attack.  Adair, however, defended coolly, and although White did succeed in landing one hard blow with 20.Bxf7+, Black survived the complications with his material advantage intact, and went on to win.

Current scores:

8 points: Capablanca (8)

6 points: Tenenwurzel (7)
5 1/2 points: Marder (7)

5 points: Kupchik (5) 

4 points: Chajes, (6), Bernstein (7), Adair (7)

3 1/2 points: Black (5)

2 points: Duras (2), Phillips (5), Beynon (6), Grommer (7)

Withdrawn: Stapfer, Beihoff

The number in parentheses following a player's surname indicates the number of games he has played to date, including two forfeit victories over Stapfer and Beihoff.  The adjourned games Phillips-Black, Black-Chajes, Phillips-Kupchik, and Kupchik-Duras are not included in the above table, nor is the protested Tenenwurzel-Capablanca contest.