Alexander-Alekhine-New-York-1924
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
New York 1924 by Alexander Alekhine Foreword by Andy Soltis 21st Century Edition! 2008 Russell Enterprises, Inc. Milford, CT USA The Book of the New York International Chess Tournament 1924 by Alexander Alekhine Edited by Hermann Helms Foreword by Andy Soltis © Copyright 2008 Russell Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. ISBN: 978-1-888690-48-4 Published by: Russell Enterprises, Inc. PO Box 5460 Milford, CT 06460 USA http://www.chesscafe.com [email protected] Cover design by Janel Lowrance Editing and Proofreading: David Ellinger and Hanon Russell Production: Mark Donlan Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents Foreword 4 Preface 6 Publisher's Note The Scoring, Round by Round 9 Score of the Tournament 10 Introduction II Review of the Tournament 14 First Round 18 Second Round 32 Third Round 44 Fourth Round 54 Fifth Round 71 Sixth Round 82 Seventh Round 98 Eighth Round 113 Ninth Round 130 Tenth Round 145 Eleventh Round 158 Twelfth Round 173 Thirteenth Round 185 Fourteenth Round 198 Fifteenth Round 214 Sixteenth Round 228 Seventeenth Round 244 Eighteenth Round 258 Nineteenth Round 272 Twentieth Round 283 Twenty-first Round 297 Twenty-second Round 312 The Significance of the New York Tournament in the Light of the Theory of the Openings 324 Index of Players 351 Index of Openings 352 Foreword We use "super-tournament" so much today that, as with "super-model," "super computer" and the like, its meaning has become, well, less than super. But New York 1924 was a super-tournament that was truly extraordinary. This is not merely a question of strength. In today's age of inflated ratings, there are events with a much higher category attached to their name. But they pass quickly out of our consciousness, and next year we'll have a hard time remember ing whether Bilbao 2008 was a strong as Dortmund 2008 or Sochi 2008 - or anything else about them. New York 1924 was different. It had a narrative that is still striking today: Three world champions- undisputed world champions, mind you- fulfilling their des tiny. Richard Reti unleashing his devastating "Opening of the Future," 1 <tlf3!. The invincible Jose Capablanca suffering his first loss in eight years. The re markable comeback of 46-year-old Frank Marshall and even more stunning per formance of 55-year-old Emanuel Lasker. This was a particularly fertile time of innovation, in chess and elsewhere. A month before the first round, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue premiered, also in New York. During the course of the tournament, the first successful round-the world air flights began, George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan debuted - and the first crossword puzzle book was published. The chess of 1924 differs in many ways from that of today and the comparisons aren't necessarily favorable to the present. Nowadays elite GMs compete with the help of computers, analytic entourages, managers, and lawyers. They are more leaders of a team than individuals. At New York 1924 the players didn't even have seconds. Nor did they have databases. They had to do their own research, with very few tools. Fifty years after the tournament Edward Lasker recalled how before each round he and Emanuel Lasker took a stroll through Central Park, a few blocks from the tournament site. The younger Lasker was stunned to learn that Emanuel had no knowledge of the Marshall Gambit in the Ruy Lopez. Marshall had sprung it on Capablanca six years before. But, Edward explained, that was "during the war, when of course no chess news crossed the Atlantic." Today we are struggling with the plague of "grandmaster draws." Young GMs complain they have to make short draws because they can't exert themselves every day in an exhausting twelve-round tournament. New York 1924 was twenty rounds and yet somehow these old-timers- their average age was 42- managed to get by with few quick handshakes. 4 Today's GMs also complain that faster time controls don't leave them enough time to think. But they don't have to think- at least not until move fifteen or twenty or later- because Fritz prepares them for their next opponent the night before. At New York 1924 the players were on their own. They didn't even know what color they would have each day or who their opponent would be until a drawing was held fifteen minutes before their clocks were started. (This helps explain Reti's collapse in the tournament's second half. Due to luck of the draw ing he had five Blacks in a row.) Yet the tournament revolutionized opening theory, which had been more or less in stasis since World War I began ten years before. New York 1924 also rewrote endgame theory. When you see for the first time the I 03-move battle between the two Laskers, when a king and knight survived against king, rook and pawn, it seems like magic. When you play over Capablanca vs. Tartakower, you quickly understand why it's the most famous rook endgame ever played. It's been re printed so often that it seems like nothing new could be said about it. But in the 1990s the Russian magazine 64 began to look at it again and triggered a debate over when Black was lost. The debate is still going on. The book that Alekhine produced was an instant hit and remained a hit. Even after it went out of print, only to resurface in the Dover paperback edition, it remained clearly the best tournament book in English for half a century, until challenged by the translation of David Bronstein's masterpiece in the mid- I 970s. If you've seen the original edition of New York 1924, with its clumsy note for mat, you can appreciate how much this edition improves on it. But you may not appreciate how the quality of Alekhine's notes stood out in the 1920s. Some masters of that day annotated games with comments no more illuminating than "Also possible is 33 ite3."Alekhine provides real analysis, and with words, not just moves. He imbues the book with personality in contrast with the antisep tic notes of most tournament books written by world-class players, even the great Keres-Botvinnik book on the 1948 world championship. On the one hand, Alekhine is ruthlessly objective, even with his own mistakes. On the other, he exudes some of Siegbert Tarrasch's poisonous sarcasm, such as when he shows how Reti, as white, finds himself on the defensive by the twelfth move of his game with Emanuel Lasker. "Rather a dubious outcome for the 'open ing of the future!"' Alekhine writes. That was just a warm-up to his excellent treatment of one the greatest games ever played. New York 1924 was indeed a super-tournament. And this is a book that should never have gone out of print. Andy Soltis New York October 2008 Preface In more than one official book of an international congress of the chess mas ters is to be found an assertion to the effect that the particular contest in ques tion should be regarded as the greatest of its kind ever promoted by the fol lowers of Caissa up to that time. The temptation to do so is strong in this case, but modesty properly places a check upon the desire to have the New York Inter national Chess Masters' Tournament of I 924 get the fullest recognition in the eyes of the chess playing world. That inhibition upon a natural impulse comes the easier because of the absence of at least half a dozen eligibles whose participa tion would have added luster to even so notable a gathering as that of the eleven experts, of ten different countries, who came to the Metropolis of America to test their skill and thereby afford entertainment for devotees of the game all over the globe. It is quite safe to allow the record of the New York Tournament to speak for itself. In no uncertain tones will a listening and appreciative, not to say grateful world be assured thereby that the congress, the history of which is to be set forth herein, if not the greatest of all time, was at least one of the best. In one respect unquestionably it will be entitled to a unique place in the niche of fame. The Old Year went out without so much as a whisper of what the New Year had in store for lovers of good chess; and for good reason. While the idea had for some time been hatching, the impetus to act had been lacking. To be historically accurate it should be here set down that the first meeting for organization did not take place until January 18 at the Manhattan Chess Club. This was shortly after the management of the Hotel Alamac had consented to do its share, and a little more. Once the plan had matured there was no delay and from then on the driving force of the committee which was formed was set in full motion. It was necessary to findguarantees approximating the sum of$1 0,000 with which to finance the tournament on a scale to make it attractive to the most famous of the present day experts.