[what is this?]

[what is this?]

Chessical's favourite games I particularly like the style of the first two decades of the twentieth century. The idea that masters played quiet lines and drew with each other is wrong. Many games were sharply fought and whilst being on positional basis are easier for amateurs like myself to understand and learn from than the heavy theory based games of modern top grandmasters. In this collection I have put in lesser known games which I consider worthy of being seen today. 7 games, 1907-1988 Chigorin's bête noire Опасно! Волк! Chigorin the great Russian world championship candidate seems to have been unable to play against the Viennese master Heinrich Wolf. Wolf was undoubtedly a strong player, but as his scores against Chigorin's peers shows he had disproportionate success against the Russian champion. Pillsbury beat Wolf 4 to 0, with 2 draws. Maroczy beat Wolf 11 to 1, with 4 draws. Tarrasch beat Wolf 5 to 0, with 6 draws. Schlechter beat Wolf 10 to 0, with 6 draws. So why did Chigorin fare so badly against Wolf? Chigorin's alcoholism and poor health (diabetes) must have contributed to the sharp decline in his powers evident from 1904, but even so his record against Wolf is extraordinarily bad. 6 games, 1902-1907 MacDonnell - Mackenzie match 1862 Mackenzie defeated MacDonnell by +6-3=1 in December 1862 - January 1863. The Illustrated London News of 20 Dec. 1862 (p. 654) says the took place at the Grand Cigar Divan in London, but other sources have it in Dublin. When this match was played, it represented a very high level encounter indeed. The players were of similar strength and in their prime, Mackenzie being 25 years old and his opponent 32. They were both in a group of elite players who strength at the time was just under that of the leading masters: Paulsen, Anderssen, Kolisch, Steinitz. Mackenzie's rated strength, however, was to increase significantly with regular tournament practice as a professional player in the USA, whilst MacDonnell, who was a priest, did not match his erstwhile opponent's improvement. This was a strongly fought match, and featured interesting new ideas. MacDonnell's defence in game 8 and 10 prefigured Chigorin and the Hyper-Moderns. MacDonnell lead 3-2 after 5 games but then could make only one draw in the remainder of the match. Of the two players, he made the most egregious blunders, but also played the more inventively in defence. Mackenzie : 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1/2 1 = 6.5 MacDonnell: 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1/2 0 = 3.5 10 games, 1862 Marshall versus Tarrasch Match, Nuremberg 1905 WORK IN PROGRESS After defeating Janowski (Paris 1905) by a score of +8-5+4, Marshall issued a challenge to Tarrasch. The match between the then 8th (Marshall) and 3rd strongest players in the world, would be won by the first player to score eight wins. Marshall's credentials as an elite player had been made out through his performance at the very strong Cambridge Springs tournament 1904. This he had won by a two points margin, ahead of Lasker who came second equal (+9=4-2) with Janowski. Marshall had also beaten the world champion in their first individual game at Paris 1900. The match was innovative in that the players attempted to assert their copyright on the moves, and restrict the publication of the games. "The world of chess will be disappointed to learn that the games scores have not been published; they will appear only after the match in in a German language booklet, with the notes of Mr Tarrasch." - La Stratégie, 19 October 1905 Tarrasch 1===1=1101===1=11 - 12/17 Marshall 0===0=0010===0=00 - 5/17 The 42 year old Tarrasch demolished his 27 year old challenger in his third strongest career rating performance, and what would be his best rating achievement after 1900. Tarrasch went onto two further very good performances in Ostend tournaments of 1905 and 1907, but there then began a lengthy albeit slow decline down the rankings. Marshall was about to hit his peaks years which lasted up to around 1918. 17 games, 1905 Match - Mecking v Hilario Ta Fier - 2009 The match took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil 23rd-27th September 2009, and was a trial of Youth versus Experience. At the time, it was between Brazil's first and fifth rated player, with Mecking's rating some 102 points below his opponent. Photographs of the match can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com.br/mato... 4 games, 2009 Tarrasch v Schlechter - Match 1911 This match was part of the German Chess Association Congress in Cologne (July-August 1911). If by 12th August, neither player was more than one game ahead, the match would be declared a draw. It was a very hard fought affair with both players equally matched, and two games went to over 100 moves. Tarrasch...= = = 1 0 = = 1 0 1 = = = 0 = = Schlechter.= = = 0 1 = = 0 1 0 = = = 1 = = 48 year old Tarrasch against the 36 year old Schlechter who was on top form having held Lasker to a draw in their world championship match the previous year. Schlechter was not able to dominate the match, despite several very long games Tarrasch did not wilt and it was Schlechter who had to catch up three times. Schlechter was criticised in print for not fighting hard enough for victory. Overall Tarrasch had a life score of +2 against Schlechter. 16 games, 1911