CHESS

Lost worlds

Raymond Keene

Surprising things have gone astray from the annals of chess. The great Akiba Rubinstein beat Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine the first time he played each of them, yet the game Rubinstein-Alekhine, Vilna 1912 (from the first tournament they played together), appears to have vanished. When writing my book on Nim- zowitsch a decade and a half ago, I was equally bothered by seeming lacunae in his record. The cross-table of the tournament at Copenhagen 1928 was not readily avail- able, while the score of his game with Spielmann from that tournament was equally recalcitrant. Even worse was the lack of information about the match Nim- zowitsch narrowly won against Stoltz in 1934. Considering that this was a clash between two of the leading Scandinavian masters (Stoltz was Swedish, Nimzowitsch had emigrated from Riga to Denmark) it was, curiously, not reported anywhere in

full.

Now in a recent trip to the celebrated Niemeijer collection in The Hague's Royal Dutch Library, I have managed to fill in some of the gaps. I would like to record my thanks here to the two resident chess archivists, Rob Verhouven and Christiaan 13131, for delving into their notebooks to plug a few holes.

First of all, Nimzowitsch's success in the little all-play-ail at Copenhagen 1928. The other grandmaster competing was Rudolph Spielmann, who had played in the New York 1927 Candidates' Tournament and who beat Capablanca twice in 1928 and 1929.

Copenhagen Tournament 1928

1 2 3 4 5 6 Total

X 1/2 1 1 1/2 1 4 1/2 X 1/2 1/2 1 1 31/2 0 1/2 X 1/2 1 1/2 21/2 0 1/2 1/2 X 1 0 2 1/2 0 0 0 X 1 11/2 0 0 1 /2 1 0 X 1 1 /2

Nimzowitsch's draw with Spielmann, who was evidently out of form, was never- theless a fascinating duel which led, after various fluctuations, to a drawn rook and pawn endgame.

Spielmann-Nimzowitsch: Nimzowitsch Defence. 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bf5 4 Nf3 e6 5 Bd3 Nge7 6 Nc3 Nb4 7 BxfS Nxf5 8 Ne2 c5 9 c3 Nc6 10 Qb3 Rb8 11 Bg5 Bel 12 Bxe7 Qxe7 13 Qa3 cxd 14 Qxe7+ Kxe7 15 cxd h5 16 Kd2 Rbg8 17 h4 f6 18

1 Nimzowitsch 2 Norman-Hansen 3 Gemzoe 4 Anderson 5 Spielmann 6 Ruben Nf4 Kf7 19 Racl g5 20 hxg fxg 2lg4 Nfxd4 22 Nxd4 gxf 23 Nxc6 bxc 24 gxh Rg5 25 Rxc6 RxeS 26 Re7+ Kf6 27 h6 a5 28 h7 Rg5 29 b3 e5 30 Raj e4 31 Rxa5 Ke5 32 Keg Rf5 33 a4 Kd4 34 Rdl + Ke3 35 Raxd5 Rxd5 36 Rxd5 Rxh7 37 Re5 Kd4 38 Re8 Rh2 39 Rd8+ Ke5 40 Re8+ Kd4 Draw agreed.

Even more interesting is the following win by Nimzowitsch from his 1934 match with Stoltz. It is the sole complete Nimzo win that can be found, his other victory only existing in fragments.

Nimzowitsch-Stoltz: 5th match game, Sicilian Defence.

I e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 g6 4 c3 Bg7 5 0-0 Qh6 6 Na3 Nf6 7 e5 Nd5 8 Bc4 Nc7 9 Rel 0-0 10 Bb3 Na5 11 d4 cxd4 12 Nxd4 Nxb3 13 axb3 d5 14 Nac2 f6 15 Bf4 g5 16 Bg3 15 17 f3 f4 18 Bf2 Qg6 19 'Chi a6 20 Qe2 Bf5 21 Radl Rac8 22 b4 e6 23 Rd2 Rf7 24 Rgl Kh8 25 g4 fxg3 ep 26 Rxg3 Qh5 27 Ne3 Bh3 28 Ng4 Rcf8 29 Nf6 Qh6 30 Nb3 Bf5 31 Be3 Bxf6 32 exf6 Rg8 33 Qg2 e5 34 BxgS Qh5 35 Bf4! Bg6 36 Rg5 Qh4 37 BxeS Ne6 38 Rg3 Nf4 39 Qf2 Nh3 40 Qd4 Qh5 41 QxdS Re8 42 Qe6!! Rg8 43 Rxh3 Qg5 44 Rg3 Qe3 45 Rdg2 Rd8 46 Nd4 Black resigns.

A fine and typical example of Nimzowitsch's blockading techniques. White's strategy is crowned by the sacrifice 42 Qe6!! which wins a piece. If 42 . . . Rxe6 43 Rd8+ mates.

I am confident that both of the games above will be utterly new to the vast

majority of British readers.