Friday, January 17

St. Petersburg All-Russian tournament, Round 7: Alekhine maintains lead with win; Niemzowitsch 2nd; Bogoljubow, Flamberg tied for 3rd-4th

Alexander Alekhine maintained his sole leadership of the St. Petersburg All-Russian Masters' tournament by topping Peter Evtifeev from the Black side of a Vienna Game to tally his sixth victory in succession and improve his score to 6-1. Evtifeev, the tourney's early front-runner with a 2-0 score, has now added only one half-point to his total over the last five rounds and finds himself well off the pace. Meanwhile, Aron Niemzowitsch defeated Eugene Znosko-Borovsky in a Queen's Pawn Game to move into second place alone with 5 1/2 points, followed closely by Efim Bogoljubow and Alexander Flamberg, each with 5. Flamberg, victor in a fine contest vs. Georg Salwe, has scored 3 1/2 points from his last four games to join the leading cadre of Masters.

Seventh round results:

Taubenhaus  0-1  Lowtzky
Gregory  0-1  Lebedev
v. Freymann  0-1  Evensohn
Niemzowitsch  1-0  Znosko-Borovsky
Smorodsky ½-½  Bogoljubow
Levenfish  0-1  Alapin
Evtifeev  0-1  Alekhine
Levitsky  1-0  Eljaschoff
Salwe  0-1  Flamberg

Scores  after 7 rounds:  Alekhine 6; Niemzowitsch 5 1/2; Bogoljubow, Flamberg 5; Levenfish, Smorodsky, Lowtzky, Alapin, Evensohn 4 1/2; Levitsky 3 1/2; Salwe 3; Taubenhaus, Evtifeev, Znosko-Borovsky, v. Freymann 2 1/2; Lebedev 1 1/2; Gregory, Eljaschoff 1/2.

We begin today's offerings with the victory by Flamberg over Salwe, a game of absorbing interest. Flamberg offers the exchange in return for King-side attacking prospects and later scores the point in a delicate Knight vs. Bishop endgame. Black's final move reminds us that the simplest method is often the best.

 


Levitsky recovered well from his heavy defeat at the hands of Alekhine in the previous round to record a quick victory of his own over Eljaschoff.


Gregory, as first player in a French Defense, allowed his opponent Lebedev to seize the initiative through the exchange of both Rooks for White's Queen and ultimately went under in a Bishop endgame.


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