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Berlin (1897) In 1897, during the 70th anniversary of the Berliner Schachgesellschaft, twenty chess masters were invited to particpate in an international round robin event. Despite being the only international master tournament organized for the year, there were a few noticable absences, including the world champion Emanuel Lasker, former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, Germany's strongest player Siegbert Tarrasch, and the strongest chess master of the Americas Harry Nelson Pillsbury. However, several notable chess masters were in attendance making it the one great event to follow for the year. Of note were Mikhail Chigorin, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Simon Winawer, David Janowski, and Carl Schlechter. Also included were Rudolf Charousek, who had tied Chigorin for first at Budapest the previous year, and Carl Walbrodt who was brought in as a last minute replacement for Arnold Schottlaender. Curt von Bardeleben was forced to withdraw after a short draw in the first round to Johannes Metger. His game was cancelled. Berthold Englisch also withdrew after round eleven, thus forfeiting the rest of his games. The participants played in the Architektenhaus from September 13th to October 4th. Though Blackburne lead for most of the event, the final rounds of the tournament belonged to Charousek and Walbrodt. Charousek finished with a nine game winning streak and clear first place. Walbrodt, though an alternate, had the best tournament performance of his life, achieving clear second in the strong field. Charousek won 2000 Marks for his victory and Walbrodt earned 1500 for the silver. Despite the young men's success in the exhausting event, both would die within just a few years of the completion of this tournament. Berlin, German Empire, 13 September - 4 October 1897 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 Charousek * 0 ½ 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 - 13½ 2 Walbrodt 1 * 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 - 13 3 Blackburne ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 - 12 4 Janowski 0 ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 - 11½ 5 Burn 1 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 ½ 1 0 1 0 1 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ - 11 =6 Schlechter ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 - 10½ =6 Marco ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 - 10½ =6 Alapin 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 * 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 - 10½ 9 Caro 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 * ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 1 ½ 1 - 10 10 Chigorin 0 ½ 0 0 1 0 1 ½ ½ * ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 - 9½ 11 Schiffers 0 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ * 1 0 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 - 9 12 Metger ½ 0 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 1 0 1 1 1 0 ½ 8½ =13 Cohn 0 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 * 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 - 7½ =13 Winawer 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 * 1 ½ 0 1 1 - 7½ 15 Suechting 0 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 0 * 1 ½ 0 1 - 7 16 Teichmann 0 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 ½ 0 * ½ ½ 0 - 6½ =17 Englisch ½ - - ½ - ½ ½ - - - ½ - 0 1 ½ ½ * - 1 - 5½ =17 Zinkl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 * 1 - 5½ 19 Albin 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 0 0 * - 2 von Bardeleben - - - - - - - - - - - ½ - - - - - - - * ½ (game cancelled, withdrawn) Original collection: Game Collection: Berlin 1897, by User: suenteus po 147.  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 160  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Burn vs Albin ½-½ 60 1897 Berlin A07 King's Indian Attack 2. Metger vs Von Bardeleben   ½-½ 14 1897 Berlin C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 3. A Zinkl vs Alapin   0-1 51 1897 Berlin D31 Queen's Gambit Declined 4. K A Walbrodt vs Charousek 1-0 42 1897 Berlin C49 Four Knights 5. Teichmann vs Blackburne 0-1 69 1897 Berlin C71 Ruy Lopez 6. H Suechting vs Schlechter ½-½ 46 1897 Berlin C51 Evans Gambit 7. G Marco vs W Cohn 1-0 41 1897 Berlin C83 Ruy Lopez, Open 8. Janowski vs Englisch   ½-½ 59 1897 Berlin C82 Ruy Lopez, Open 9. Chigorin vs Schiffers ½-½ 50 1897 Berlin C51 Evans Gambit 10. H Caro vs Winawer   ½-½ 69 1897 Berlin D02 Queen's Pawn Game 11. A Zinkl vs K A Walbrodt   0-1 43 1897 Berlin C11 French 12. Winawer vs Teichmann ½-½ 58 1897 Berlin C67 Ruy Lopez 13. Schiffers vs Schlechter   ½-½ 22 1897 Berlin C77 Ruy Lopez 14. Charousek vs G Marco   ½-½ 46 1897 Berlin C50 Giuoco Piano 15. H Caro vs Chigorin   ½-½ 73 1897 Berlin D02 Queen's Pawn Game 16. Burn vs H Suechting   ½-½ 52 1897 Berlin D55 Queen's Gambit Declined 17. Blackburne vs W Cohn 1-0 30 1897 Berlin C10 French 18. Albin vs Metger ½-½ 87 1897 Berlin C01 French, Exchange 19. Alapin vs Janowski   ½-½ 51 1897 Berlin C49 Four Knights 20. K A Walbrodt vs Burn 1-0 18 1897 Berlin C26 Vienna 21. Teichmann vs H Caro 1-0 30 1897 Berlin C61 Ruy Lopez, Bird's Defense 22. H Suechting vs Englisch ½-½ 66 1897 Berlin C91 Ruy Lopez, Closed 23. Schlechter vs Charousek   ½-½ 44 1897 Berlin C48 Four Knights 24. Metger vs Alapin   ½-½ 21 1897 Berlin C60 Ruy Lopez 25. G Marco vs Albin 1-0 52 1897 Berlin C11 French  page 1 of 7; games 1-25 of 160    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   Nov-29-14    MissScarlett: I understand there was another, smaller international tourney held in Berlin in January 1897, that also featured Charousek. Does anyone have more details? Nov-29-14    Stonehenge: Here they have some info: http://www.edochess.ca/tournaments/... Mar-06-15    MissScarlett: <Curt Von Bardeleben, although invited, was forced to withdraw after a short draw in the first round to Johannes Metger.> Is it known why he withdrew? Seems he didn't play professionally again until 1900. Jun-17-15    zanzibar: <MissScarlett> so far the best info I have is from <Knowledge v20 Nov 1, 1897 p272> where I found <The other scores (not counting those of Herren Albin, Englisch, and V. Bardeleben, who retired though ill health at different stages of the tournament> Since v Bardeleben retired after just one game, his ill-health was probably the most serious. * * * * * Other info from the same ref: <Herr Schiffers obtained a special prize for best score against the prize winners> And also, <Immediately after the tournament M. Janowski challenged Herr Walbrodt to a match, but the challenge was not accepted.> <The next international tournament will be held at Vienna next year, when very valuable prizes will be offered.> And also this, slightly out of context(?) statement: <The inventor of the Steinitz Gambit, as the result of a single defeat, has admitted the unsoundness of that interestingly eccentric debut. [...]> Jun-17-15    Nosnibor: <Zanzibar> Bardeleben`s ill health was not as serious as that of Englisch who died within 16 days of the end of the tournament!Albin defaulted the last round to Walbrodt who was only half a point behind Charousek.However Charousek managed an extremely good last round win over Chigorin to secure first prize.Following Charousek`s success here Janowsky challenged him to a match but this never came about due the onset of Charousek`s fatal illness. Jun-17-15    zanzibar: I see I forgot to post the link to the <Knowledge> article: https://books.google.com/books?id=j... The scoring is off by one (save for one game(?)), as it includes the nullified v Bardeleben games as forfeits. Jun-17-15    zanzibar: <Nosnibor> Wow, I had no idea. Yes, that's an amazing fact about Englisch that I was completely unaware of. One that definitely should go in the tournament intro. I have Albin also defaulting on the next-to-last round, R18 and maybe more. I'm in the middle of working it out. As for Janowski, I think I remember the American press noting that he was somewhat famous for challenging any and all. (I should find the exact quote, maybe later I'll post an update). Jun-17-15    zanzibar: If the R1 v Bardeleben game had been a win by him, I wouldn't be able to use the <Knowledge - Chess Intelligence> scores to determine who he was paired with in R1. Similarly, if he was paired against Albin or Englisch. But, comparing Metger's score of 9.0 in the contemporaneous reportage, versus his score of 8.5 here, allows the conclusion that a R1 draw was played between the two. The colors are uncertain of course. Jun-17-15    zanzibar: (Of course, one could just look at the Swiss xtab and see Metger has a R1 bye. But that would be far too easy!) Jan-12-16    zanzibar: Harding mentions this tournament in an erratum to his just published Blackburne book: <Page 367: We have been informed that the Berlin 1897 tournament was not in fact one of the German federation series but rather the 70th jubilee tournament of the Berlin club.> http://www.chessmail.com/research/B... Apparently <CG> got this right in the intro. Hooray! Feb-14-18    ughaibu: <Germany's strongest player Siegbert Tarrasch> Are you sure about that? Feb-14-18    Straclonoor: <Are you sure about that?> Definitely! Feb-27-18    MissScarlett: <I have saved my favorite bit of old-time chess reporting for last, which comes from, of all places, an obituary column. Even here, we find a hint of scandal attached to a truly blameless victim. The obituary in the New York Times, October 20, 1897 reads in full: Berthold Englisch Dead Vienna, Oct. 19. – Berthold Englisch, the well-known chess player, is dead. The cause of death was brain affection. Englisch withdrew from the recent tournament at Berlin, declaring that his head was not clear. At the time rumor accused him of accepting a bribe from a weak opponent to withdraw, but his death disproves that report.> http://web.archive.org/web/20070607... Oct-22-19    Marcelo Bruno: Why didn't Schallopp participate in both Berlin 1897 tournaments? NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! 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