Best Individual Performance: 2853 in Tarrasch-Walbrodt Match (Nuremberg), 1894, scoring 7.5/8 (94%) vs 2689-rated opposition

-- Tarrasch

Btw, You translation work is also a good practice in German language. After all, it was the language of "old" European masters. Most of chess books written between 1870s and (roughly) 1914 were in German.

Also available is Hoffers booklet http://books.google.com/books?id=Fi...

I would like to improve my almost non-existent Russian, too, because I have some good chess books in that language. But I am handicapped because I can't type in Cyrillic characters, although I think there are ways I can configure my keyboard to do that. Does anyone know?

In the preliminary group Tarrasch scored 3,5 out of 4 games and in the winners group 4 out of 5, sharing first place with Steiner (no initial given) who won his game against T. and Marx, who lost against T. but won against Steiner. The other players in this section were Rose, Raspe and Roll. I said rose, raspe and roll, to satisfy my soul.

sneaky pete: A little known masterpiece played in Zanzibar, 1906, by Tarraschid (white, giving odds of king's rook) vs Marabout, with notes by Harun Tarraschid from the Sansibarer Lokalanzeiger.

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<1.h4> This move invented by me is brilliant, first because it introduces my invention the rook's gambit, and second because it enables immediate development of the rook, if there is a rook anyhow. <1... d5> Many may find this observation remarkable, but it seems to me that with this move black lays the foundation for the later sixtuple pawn and with it defeat. <2.Nh3 ..> This move confirms the advantage in the most consequent manner, because the open h-file is secured; since there is no rook on h1, the knight can not block the rook's exit either. <2... d4 3.c3 d3> A bluff move, but evidently I can't be bluffed and play of course: <4.exd3! Nc6 5.Be2 ..> This move is my invention, demonstrated by me during the great London tournament of 1883 to the great master Zukertort, who used it to win the first prize in brilliant manner. <5... Nd4> Another bluff and again a stroke of genius. Black want to saddle me up with an isolated tripled pawn, which of course doesn't worry me at all. On this issue I firmly oppose Captain Moreau and Nimzowitsch. <6.cxd4 b5 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.0-0 b4 9.Ne4 ..> As at present I didn't see a good move, I naturally made a bad one. Fortunately my opponent misses the opportunity to dissolve my tripled pawn. <9... c5 10.b3 ..> An illness-induced excitement restrained my here from quiet consideration. For the sake of the truth I must, as it happens, state that since years I suffer from a tapeworm, who starts stirring annoyingly when I'm engaged in a match game. This of course influenced me, the resulting tension and excitement causing me to make a bad move. Normally of course I always play the best move. Maybe some will make merry over my tapeworm. Why I come forward with this matter only after 100 moves? Because I would have done the same if it had concerned my opponent. <10... c4 11.bxc4 a5 12.Qc2 ..> This move was communicated to me by master Marco under the seal of the strictest secrecy. I wanted to try it once, but will do it never again. It is a catastrophic move. <12... b3 13.axb3 ..> A fingerslip. I intended to advance the h-pawn, and unfortunately touched the a-pawn. As it happens, I had slipped and fallen during the recent speed skating races and sprained my ankle, which may count as an excuse. <13... Ba6 14.Ba3 ..> One may perhaps wonder why I played this bad move, but it was the fault of the sea. The embalming sea air had, as it happens, refreshed me physically to such an extent that naturally I wasn't capable of any intensive mental exertion. With the next move I noticed what caused this change in my play. I had the window closed and from then on played only the strongest move. <14... Nd7 15.Re1 Bb7 16.Nhg5 h5 17.Nc3 ..> The only continuation to express white's minimal positional advantage. White of course will not let his tripled pawn dissolve at any price.

sneaky pete: Tarraschid vs Marabout, continued from previous post.

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<17... f5 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.cxd5 ..> This is the colossal advantage white acquires: a quadruple pawn and three open lines, which the rook can occupy to its heart's delight. <19... Rh6 20.Bc5 a4 21.b4 a3 22.f4 e5 23.fxe5 ..> I might also capture en passant, but that move, which was recommended to me by the head waiter, I didn't want to play; first because I wanted to keep it a secret, and second because the brilliant young African, who didn't know the en passsant rule, wouldn't accept it. <23... a2> With this move I noticed that my opponent's 63 wives, who up to now had followed the game with keen interest, exchanged meaningful glances. <24.Bd6 Rc8 25.Qa4 Rc5> Black, as one observes, only plays plausible moves! <26.bxc5 Rxd6 27.cxd6 ..> A new white advantage and even more colossal than the previous: a quintuple pawn and four open lines for the rook! <27... f4 28.e6 ..> Of course I could have mated in 2 with 28.Bxh5+ g6 29.Bxg6#, a so to speak thunder and lightning mate. But I have for over 20 years pointed out, that it's no big deal to mate with Bxh7+, Ng5+ and Qh7#. That's stuff for amateurs, I play on principle for connoisseurs. <28... a1=Q> Who might have imagined a few moves earlier that black, out of the blue, would get a new queen. The young African has played all this brilliantly. Yet it is of no avail, because now follows my grandmasterly final stroke. <29.Bxh5+ g6 30.exd7#>

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Published in the Wiener Schachzeitung, 1906. The culprit is apparently Georg Marco.

Tarrasch vs Lasker, 1908

-- Bobby Fischer (on Tarrasch)

(in a Book by Fred Reinfeld)