KEG: A truly bizarre game.
Going into this contest, Janowski was having a bad tournament, having scored only 5.5 out of 10, leaving him out of contention for a top prize. He still had chances of a decent finish however, and must have expected an easy win against Bardeleben who had lost 9 of 10 games, including two games in which he resigned in which his position was not lost (one because of illness and one because he apparently misjudged the position). Indeed, as of this point Bardeleben was the only player at Munich 1900 not to have drawn a game. Perhaps because of the above, Bardeleben played all out here for a draw while Janowski was playing for a win. That would not be so strange except for the fact that Janowski blundered a pawn in the opening giving Bardeleben what was probably a winning (or nearly winning) advantage by about move 10. Yet from there on Janowski, despite his pawn minus fought furiously for complications and a win while Bardeleben just wanted a draw. Ultimately, Bardeleben was successful in his modest ambitions. 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 a6
4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0 d6
This modified version of the Modern Steinitz Defense (in which d6 is played on move 4) is a reasonable defense to the Ruy Lopez. 6. d4
More frequently played here, and probably somewhat better, are 6. BxN+ , 6. c3, and 6. Re1. 6. Qe2 and 6. c4 also have their points. MCO-13 calls the text, which is perhaps premature, "satisfactory for Black." It yields at most a small advantage for White. 6... b5!
click for larger view7. dxe5
In his desire for an early trade of Queens, Bardeleben plays this potentially drawish line instead of the more natural and better 7. Bb3. The move was not a novelty. Indeed, Janowski himself had played it against Lasker earlier that year at Paris 1900 (in a gamer Janowski eventually lost). Marshall was to try the move at Monte Carlo 1903 against Wolf, and more recently, Beliavsky tried it against Boris Spassky (the latter two games both being drawn). 7... dxe5
8. QxQ+
Janowski here played 8. Bb3 against Lasker. Both moves have their points. With Bardeleben apparently hell-bent on playing for a draw, his choice was predictable. 8... NxQ
9. Bb3 Bd6
10. Bg5
"!"--Tournament Book.
Both Marshall and Beliavsky played this move in the games mentioned above. 10. Nc3 and 10. Re1 (and perhaps 10. a4) are good alternatives. The position was now:
click for larger viewIn this position in which chances are about even, Wolf played 10...Nb7 against Marshall and Spassky played 10...Ne6 against Beliavsky. 10...Nxe4? here loses to 11. BxN followed by 12. Bd5. Janowski, however, while avoiding 10...Nxe4, committed a different bad blunder with: 10... Nd7?
"??"--Tournament Book.
This loses a pawn by force.
11. BxN KxB
Janowski could have made the best of his probably lost position with 11...f6. Bardeleben's next move should not have been a surprise for him. 12. Ng5
This is much better than 12. Bxf7 Bb7
12... Ke7
Black has nothing better here.
13. Nxf7 Rf8
Possession of the f-file is Black's only compensation for the lost pawn. 14. NxB
Since Bardeleben was playing for a draw, such exchanges were doubtless welcome. 14... cxN
This left:
click for larger viewAs I will discuss in my next post on this game, what followed was truly surreal: Bardeleben--up a pawn--played to draw, while Janowski--down a pawn and perhaps theoretically lost--played all out for a win. | 
Kibitzing
