| KEG: This game decided 4th place. Going into this penultimate round, the leaders were: Maroczy -- 14.25
Pillsbury -- 12.50
Teichmann --12.25
Janowski -- 12.00
Tarrasch -- 11.50
By winning this game but then losing in the final round to Janowski, Teichmann took 4th prize. By losing this game and then drawing with Maroczy in the final round, Tarrasch ended up tied for fifth with Schlechter and Wolf. Tarrasch often had trouble against Teichmann. Monte Carlo was his first tournament since Vienna 1898. Arguably, his loss to Teichmann could be attributed to his three-year layoff and/or to the rigors of a long tournament. But those arguments take a hit based on what happened a year later at Monte Carlo 1903 where Tarrasch played brilliantly and took first place against basically the same filed as at Monte Carlo 1902 (minus Janowski). At the latter event, however: (A) Tarrasch wiped out the field in the second half (tending to negate the theory that he became tired in long events); and (B) had negative scores only against Teichmann and Schlecter (this showing that Teichmann's win here over Tarrasch was anything but a fluke). Tarrasch and Teichmann contested 15 games over their long career, with Tarrasch (based on wins at the end of their respective careers) managed to finish +3 against Teichmann (8 wins against 5 losses and only two draws). Admittedly, the instant game does not show Tarrasch at anything like his best. On move 12, Tarrasch blundered and allowed a fairly simple combination which Teichmann failed to exploit on his 13th move and which was not noted by any of the commentators. Back on move 10 Tarrasch had violated Ben Feingold's rule "Never Play f6.") While Tarrasch was certainly not lost after 10...f6, the absence of a pawn on f7 played a major role in creating problems he was later unable to solve. The final portion of this game featured Teichmann's Queen and 2 extra pawns against Tarrasch's 2 Rooks. In this contest, the two Rooks were no match for the Queen and the eventual passed White c-pawn. Teichmann wrapped up this portion of the game impressively. 1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 Nf6
The Berlin Defense was popular at the time, and here Tarrasch adopted that response to the Ruy Lopez instead of playing his "Open" Defense (3...a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Nxe4) which later became more popular than the Berlin until Kramnik re-popularized it in his match against Kasparov. 4. 0-0 Nxe4
5. d4 Be7
5...Nd6 immediately has become far more popular than the text. 6. Qe2 Nd6
7. BxN bxB
8. dxe5 Nb7
Although Stockfish favors the text, which is most usually played here, I prefer the more active 8...Nf5. The text leaves a known position I prefer not to defend as Black: 
click for larger view9. Nc3
MCO-13 calls 9. Bf5 as a strong alternative.
9... 0-0
10. Re1 f6?!
I hear Ben Feingold groaning. While the text was by no means a losing move (and while I am sure Tarrasch knew full well the drawbacks of the text) it does create recurring problems for Black here that plagued him for much of the game. 10...Nc5 certainly seems more prudent. Tarrasch was perhaps trying to tempt Teichmann into an indiscretion that never occurred. The position was now (after 10...f6):
click for larger view11. Bf4
How should White proceed here? MCO-13 suggests 11. Qc4+. And 11. b3 is a good alternative. The choice amongst these options strikes me a primarily a matter of style. 11... fxe5
12. Bxe5 Bc5?
Although nobody seems to have noticed it, this should have been a losing blunder (12...Rf7 appears nearly forced, especially with White's light-square Bishop gone). This error by Tarrasch left the position as follows: 
click for larger viewWhite to play and win (thanks to the missing Black pawn on f7). As a personal note, the potentially winning move here was the first one to occur to me when I first played over the game. This is not to tout my own horn; the winning move is not all that hard to spot. | 
Kibitzing
sac: 21.Nxc6
