Tuesday, August 13

Scheveningen tournament, Round 7: Alekhine alone in lead with 7-0; Janowski 6 1/2; Yates 6.

Alexander Alekhine has opened a half-point lead over David Janowski after seven rounds of the International Masters' Tournament at Scheveningen.  The Russian ace, now at 7-0, defeated Edward Lasker while his erstwhile co-leader could only manage a draw against Dr. A.G. Olland.  That shared point marks the first setback of any kind for the 45-year-old Janowski, who had previously been running stride-for-stride with his 20-year-old rival through the first six rounds of the event, each with a perfect score.  Elsewhere, England's F.D. Yates tightened his grip on third place with a win over Rudolf Loman and now, with 6 points to his credit, enjoys a two-point advantage over his next nearest competitors, Lasker, Dr. Olland, and Sweden's Fritz Englund, victor over Willem Schelfhout.  In other games, Gyula Breyer topped J.W. te Kolsté, Abraham Speijer bested the veteran Jacques Mieses, and Klaas Geus handed Arnold van Foreest his seventh loss in succession.  We understand from our sources that there is doubt concerning van Foreest's continued participation in the tourney, a question that tomorrow's report will likely answer.

Current standings:  Alekhine 7; Janowski 6 1/2; Yates 6; Ed. Lasker, Olland, Englund 4; Breyer, te Kolsté, Geus 3 1/2; Speijer 3; Mieses, Loman 1 1/2; Schelfhout 1; van Foreest 0.

Herr Lasker, as White, played rather quietly in a Three Knights' Game vs. Alekhine, allowing his opponent to take over the attack.  25.Qh5? would seem to be the losing move.

    


Janowski, as first player in a "Tarrasch" defense to the Queen's Gambit Declined, won the exchange against Dr. Olland, but could not manage to make his advantage tell in the subsequent play.  The French Master at last returned the exchange in the hope of somehow achieving victory in the resulting Rook endgame, again without success, and even found himself a pawn in arrears when peace was agreed.

   


Yates scored a relatively easy win against the Center Counter Game of Loman to record his sixth straight victory since an opening-round loss to Geus.


Englund unleashed a powerful attack against the French Defense of Schelfhout, scoring his second successive win.

 


Speijer overcame Mieses, who allowed his centrally-posted Knight to fall victim to a series of pins.  We must here express our doubts concerning the accuracy of the game score received from Scheveningen, since 28...Re7, as given, loses instantly to 29.Rxd8+, while White's 29.Re4 similarly leaves his own Rook en prise.  Stranger things have on occasion occurred in Master games, but to our mind an error in the order of the moves transmitted seems the most likely explanation for this anomaly.

  


Breyer, as Black in a Four Knights' Game, recovered well from three consecutive defeats (one of those by forfeit vs. Yates) to take the full point from te Kolsté in an endgame of Rook and Knight vs. Rook and Bishop.


Geus employed the Vienna Game to became the latest to vanquish van Foreest.  The final position, as in van Foreest's fifth-round contest vs. te Kolsté, does not appear ripe for surrender, and, we suspect, may represent the game's status at adjournment.  We have heard it rumored that the loser may withdraw from the tourney, an unfortunate malady that seems to be in the air in the present-day chess world, having recently made its appearance at both the Budapest and New York events.

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