Mannheim tournament, Round 7: Alekhine again joins Spielmann in lead; Vidmar half-point behind

Alexander Alekhine recovered from his sixth-round loss vs. David Janowski to defeat Efim Bogoljubow and move once again to the top of the score table after seven rounds of the Mannheim international Masters' tournament. Alekhine, with 5 1/2 points, shares first place with Rudolf Spielmann, who drew his seventh-round encounter vs. Dr. Saviely Tartakower. Dr. Milan Vidmar holds third place with 5 points following a draw vs. Oldrich Duras, while U.S. Champion Frank J. Marshall assumed sole possession of fourth position with a win over Richard Reti. Three players who had scored well in recent rounds and seemed poised to join the leading group all suffered setbacks: David Janowski, conqueror of Tartakower and Alekhine in the previous two rounds, went down to defeat vs. Walter John, while Bogoljubow and Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch, each winner of three games running, also lost, the former as noted to Alekhine and the latter to Gyula Breyer. In other contests Ehrhardt Post topped Jacques Mieses, while the games Carl Carls-Alexander Flamberg and Paul Krüger-Hans Fahrni were drawn.

The White pieces scored heavily on the day with 5 victories and 4 draws, and now lead the Black by 29 victories to 12, with 22 games drawn.

Results:

Alekhine-Bogoljubow 1-0

Spielmann-Tartakower ½-½

Duras-Vidmar ½-½

Marshall-Reti 1-0

John-Janowski 1-0

Breyer-Tartakower 1-0

Post-Mieses 1-0

Carls-Flamberg ½-½

Krüger-Fahrni ½-½

Scores after Round 7: Alekhine, Spielmann 5 1/2; Vidmar 5; Marshall 4 1/2; Bogoljubow, John, Reti, Breyer 4; Tarrasch, Janowski, Duras 3 1/2; Krüger 3; Post, Tartakower, Carls 2 1/2; Fahrni, Mieses 2; Flamberg 1 1/2.

We have received all game scores but that of the draw between Krüger and Fahrni, and present them below.

Alekhine with 27.Nf5! took advantage of an oversight by Bogoljubow to win the exchange and, subsequently, the game.

Spielmann and Tartakower fought a lively battle for 31 moves in a Caro-Kann Defense before agreeing to a draw.

Duras as White in a Queen's Gambit Declined appeared to gain a substantial positional advantage on the Queen-side vs. Vidmar, but the latter defended stoutly, with a draw as the result.

Reti misplaced his Queen's Bishop vs. Marshall and paid the price in the form of an extra pawn and lasting attack for his opponent, who gained victory at the 32nd move.

Janowski mishandled a Sicilian Defense and went down under a crushing attack by John.

Breyer won a fine game from Tarrasch, sacrificing the exchange at the 21st move to inaugurate an enduring attack that at last brought victory 20 moves later.

Mieses with 11...Nxe4 played a combination that led only to the denuding of his own King. Post delivered checkmate at the 23rd move.

Carls essayed an enterprising endgame exchange sacrifice vs Flamberg that seemed to yield him sufficient compensation, but no more; the players agreed to a draw by repetition of position at the 49th move.

 

Mannheim tournament, Round 6: Spielmann regains sole lead as Alekhine falls to Janowski

(Editor's note: The cable reporting the results and game scores of the sixth round of the Mannheim tournament, played on July 27th, arrived after considerable delay, doubtless owing to an increased volume of cable traffic occasioned by the worsening situation in Europe, with Austria-Hungary having now declared war on Serbia and the other great powers of the continent seemingly on the verge of a general conflagration. We will continue to share with our readers such news from Mannheim as comes to hand in as timely a manner as possible.)

Rudolf Spielmann reclaimed sole leadership of the Mannheim international Masters' tournament by drawing his sixth-round contest vs. Richard Reti while erstwhile tourney co-leader Alexander Alekhine suffered defeat at the hands of David Janowski. Alekhine thereby fell into a tie for 2nd-3rd places with Dr. Milan Vidmar, who played to a draw vs. U.S. Champion Frank J. Marshall. In other games Efim Bogoljubow scored his third successive victory, defeating Carl Carls in only 20 moves, while Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch topped Ehrhardt Post and Gyula Breyer bested Alexander Flamberg. In the day's remaining encounters Hans Fahrni recorded his first victory of the event at the expense of Oldrich Duras, Walter John defeated Dr. Saviely Tartakower, and Jacques Mieses and Paul Krüger played to a draw.

Results:

Reti-Spielmann ½-½

Janpwski-Alekhine 1-0

Vidmar-Marshall ½-½

Bogoljubow-Carls 1-0

Tarrasch-Post 1-0

Flamberg-Breyer 0-1

Fahrni-Duras 1-0

Tartakower-John 0-1

Mieses-Krüger ½-½

Scores after 6 rounds: Spielmann 5; Alekhine, Vidmar 4 1/2; Bogoljubow, Reti 4; Janowski, Marshall, Tarrasch 3 1/2; Breyer, Duras, Joihn 3; Krüger 2 1/2; Carls, Mieses, Tartakower 2; Fahrni, Post 1 1/2; Flamberg 1.

The score of the Reti-Spielmann game having not been transmitted along with the others, we begin with the victory by Janowski over Alekhine, a Queen's Pawn Game won by the veteran Master in his happiest style.

Vidmar won a pawn vs. Marshall, but was not allowed even to begin to attempt to turn this to his advantage, as the clever American with 20...Bxa2! introduced a combination leading to a draw.

Carls paid insufficient attention to his f7-square and suffered a quick defeat at the hands of Bogoljubow.

Tarrasch likewise recorded an easy victory as Post's 12th move led to the loss of a pawn and an overwhelming position for White.

Breyer, on the Black side of a French Defense, won a powerful game vs. Flamberg. The Hungarian Master's King-side attack, begun at an early stage, continued with undiminished force even after the exchange of Queens and persisted well into the endgame.

Fahrni at last showed his strength with a victory over Duras, although the Swiss ace might have concluded matters rather earlier.

Tartakower, who is having a difficult time of things to date, lost a pawn at the 28th move and went down to defeat in a Bishop endgame vs. John.

Mieses won a pawn vs. Krüger but proved unable to score the full point in the endgame; a draw was the result.

  

Match by telegraph between Los Angeles and San Francisco clubs is drawn, 5-5

A match by telegraph played over ten boards on July 4th between the Los Angeles Chess and Checker Club and the Mechanics' Institute Chess Club of San Francisco ended with a drawn result at 5-5. While our report from California did not provide the individual results from all boards, we are informed that in the aggregate each side won four games, with two contests drawn. The Mechanics' Institute Club thus improved on its showing from a similar match held on Decoration Day last year, and we are most pleased to see that our hope expressed at that time - namely, that the 1913 match would prove to be the first in an ongoing series - has so far been fulfilled.

We have two games from the match to share with our readers. In the first, played on top board, E.J. Clarke of San Francisco survives a powerful attack by Los Angeles' C.H. Whipple and scores the game to his credit with the help of the saving 29...Qxe5!, taking immediate advantage of a newly-created pin on the White d-pawn.

In this third-board encounter E.R. Perry of Los Angeles gains a growing advantage after A.J. Fink of the San Francisco team castles on the Quuen-side. White wins the exchange at the 25th move and displays first-rate technique to claim victory in the endgame.

 

Mannheim tournament, Round 5: Alekhine, with victory, claims share of lead as Spielmann, Vidmar play to draw

Alexander Alekhine defeated Carl Carls to claim a share of the lead after five rounds of the Mannheim international Masters' tournament. Alekhine, with 4 1/2 points from 5 games, shares top position with Rudolf Spielmann, who saw his string of four consecutive victories come to an end with a draw vs. Dr. Milan Vidmar, the day's only peaceful result. Vidmar stands alone in third place with 4 points, one half-point ahead of Richard Reti, who bested Walter John. In other contests some of the veteran Masters began to assert themselves, as Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch defeated Paul Krüger, David Janowski topped Dr. Saviely Tartakower, and U.S. Champion Frank J. Marshall took the full point from Hans Fahrni. Oldrich Duras and Efim Bogoljubow moved into the top half of the score table with wins over Jacques Mieses and Gyula Breyer, respectively, while Ehrhardt Post scored his first victory of the tourney, sacrificing his Queen to force checkmate vs. Alexander Flamberg.

For the first time the Black pieces carried the day, scoring 5 wins to White's 3.

Results:

Carls-Alekhine 0-1

Spielmann-Vidmar ½-½

John-Reti 0-1

Breyer-Bogoljubow 0-1

Duras-Mieses 1-0

Krüger-Tarrasch 0-1

Tartakower-Janowski 0-1

Marshall-Fahrni 1-0

Post-Flamberg 1-0

Scores after 5 rounds: Alekhine, Spielmann 4 1/2; Dr. Vidmar 4; Reti 3 1/2; Bogoljubow, Duras, Marshall 3; Dr. Tarrasch, Janowski 2 1/2; Dr. Tartakower, Breyer, Carls, John, Krüger 2; Mieses, Post 1 1/2; Flamberg 1; Fahrni 1/2.

The game scores are appended.

Alekhine, as Black against Cartls' 1.c4, gradually built up an attack against the White King-side and concluded matters with a clever Bishop maneuver on the other wing.

Spielmann and Vidmar contested a Four Knights' Game in which, with the center closed, White probed unsuccessfully to establish an advantage. Black later carried out an advance on the Queen-side and gained a pair of connected passed pawns in the center, but Spielmann's attacking threats served to keep the game in balance and Vidmar was forced to content himself with a draw by perpetual check.

Reti, as Black in a Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation vs. John, gave a vivid demonstration of the power of the pair of Bishops on an open board.

Bogoljubow gained an easy victory at the expense of Breyer, once again - as in the previous round vs. Post - benefiting from an oversight on the part of his opponent to score the full point.

Duras gained a pawn vs. Mieses at the 26th move and converted his advantage to victory in a Queen endgame. The pawn endgame at the close is worthy of notice.

Dr. Tarrasch, on the Black side of a Giuoco Piano, defeated Krüger when the latter first weakened his King-side and then allowed his e-pawn to fall.

Janowski won a fine game from Tartakower, rebuffing his opponent's efforts to mount an attack, slowly taking command of the center of the board, and gaining two pawns before concluding matters by winning the Queen.

Fahrni weakened his Queen-side, residence of his castled King, and allowed Marshall to mount a massive assault. The Swiss Master was fortunate to reach the endgame, at which point he immediately resigned, as Marshall had gathered four extra pawns along the way.

Post scored his first win, the victim being Flamberg, who missed a fighting chance in 17...Qe6 and went down to defeat in 26 moves, the game concluding with a Queen sacrifice to force checkmate.