Winner's POV: New York 1889 Part 2
I fell ill again while writing this post. My first sickness of the year happened during part 1, and now my second is here. If this post feels rushed, it's because this event is literally cursed (akin to a haunted idol from a mysterious island) and I want to get out of here.
In Winner's POV, we take a look at tournaments from the 19th century and see the games that allowed the top player to prevail. Some tournaments will be known and famous, others will be more obscure - in a time period where competition is scarce, I believe there is some value in digging for hidden gems in the form of smaller, less known events.
New York 1889: Chigorin 2.0
This post explores the second half of the colossal New York 1889 tournament; for part 1, see here.
Before jumping in, let's remind ourselves of the standings at the end of the first cycle:
In this second cycle, remember that the first draw would be replayed with the colours drawn at random, and only that result would count. Not only is this a dumb format in itself, it also makes tracking the round-by-round scores even more difficult as only one day per week was scheduled for replays - replayed games might be played a week or more in the future. Like with adjourned games, I'm going to pretend this isn't real, and treat both games in a "round" as if they were played on the same day.
While going through some of these games, I paired Steinitz's notes in the tournament book with those in his actual book, The Modern Chess Instructor. I've not really consulted older opening books when doing my notes, and after this experiment, I don't think I will again. There are a lot of novelties presented that are halfway interesting but with objectively poor follow-up analysis, and I ended up spending more time refuting Steinitz than actually looking at the game more than once. Perhaps another day, when there are fewer games to cover and I can reference a less ambitious source, I'll try something like this again.
The Winner*: Mikhail Chigorin
After many years away doing detailed opening analysis, and a respectable showing in his match with Wilhelm Steinitz (+6-10=1), who we'll be looking at today is someone I've nicknamed Chigorin 2.0: the same ambitious and resourceful player of years ago, now with a wealth of opening knowledge and practical skills honed in the most demanding of arenas. Let's see exactly what Chigorin 2.0 has to offer the chess world as we continue exploring the New York 1889 tournament from "the" Winner's POV.
Round 20: vs. Eugene Delmar
As mentioned in the first part, Delmar started this event with a 135-move win over Chigorin, and he would net further wins over James Mason and Henry Bird in the first half.
Contrary to the preamble, this game wasn't at all theoretical, with the players on their own within five moves. Chigorin gained plenty of space, castled Queenside, and invited mutual pawn storms that promised plenty of action. Mistakes for Delmar started to creep in around move 17, and his pieces found themselves lacking squares and purpose. Chigorin wrangled up his opponent's Queen, and everything seemed lost.
Very technically speaking, Delmar did have a saving resource available at move 27, though it would have cost him a handful of pawns in exchange for a very complicated endgame that he might not even have survived. While his actual 27th move was a losing one, it permitted Chigorin to execute a Rook sacrifice that should already serve as sufficient evidence that this chapter will have a much different flavour than the first.
Round 21: vs. Amos Burn
In their first game, Burn blundered the exchange right at the move 30 time control and went on to lose as White. This isn't my first time reading about Burn having time trouble issues, and it makes me wish there was more detailed reporting on clock times.
One of the openings Chigorin had dutifully studied was the King's Gambit, and for this game the players chose Hanstein's approach (7. O-O). Although things were kept reasonably close through the first time control, Burn once again made one especially poor move in 16... h5. Chigorin's Queen quickly invaded the Queenside, "fianchettoing" itself right before our subject played another thumbnail-worthy move.
Round 22: vs. James Hanham
Chigorin beat Hanham in an Evans Gambit in the first cycle, which makes sense; the man devoted the rest of Steinitz's life to beating him with it, and if he could manage about 50% against him, he could beat anybody with it.
One of Chigorin's weapons as Black for this event was the Two Knights, with Hanham preferring 4. d3. His chosen line didn't give him anything, and somewhat uncharacteristically, Chigorin encouraged simplification early. While Hanham was saddled with something like a hanging pawns structure, he was allowed to castle and gained sufficient resources to hold the line. The clock was apparently not one of those resources, as right at move 30, Hanham blundered a Knight.
Round 23: vs. William Pollock
Pollock was on the wrong end of a vicious miniature in the first half, which makes sense given these players' styles: Pollock always played for the brilliancy, and he's been on both ends more than once in his career.
The Evans Gambit was on the cards for this game, and the opening surprise was actually played by Pollock, who fearlessly eschewed castling and hid his King safely on f7. The novelty worked to perfection, as Chigorin immediately went wrong and was forced to retreat. His position quickly deteriorated, and Pollock won a second pawn right before the time control.
Facing armageddon, Chigorin had one trap on move 34, and Pollock fell for it by trading Rooks. The initiative given to our subject was enough for him to set up a mating net, and the question became whether Pollock could Queen his pawn without getting checkmated. He ultimately settled on giving checks with his Queen, making no progress, and agreeing to the draw right after the third time control. I love a good swindle.
The replay was played three days later, but I'm pretending that it was played on the same day.
Chigorin won the right to move first, and the players repeated the first 13 moves of that game, with Chigorin playing the correct 14th move this time around. The energy infused into Chigorin's play was palpable, as he forced Pollock to take on an isolated pawn while getting his beloved Knights against an opponent's Bishop. One Knight jumped right into Anderssen's favourite e6 square, and following a time trouble mistake, the other hit f5 and helped force the e-pawn through.
This game, I think, really showcases just how dedicated Chigorin was to the opening. He found his improvement 14 moves in and carried that momentum all the way to the finish line. This game is quite possibly my favourite of the tournament (or at least of Chigorin's games).
Round 24: vs. Dion Martinez
The first cycle saw Chigorin beat the celebrated Cuban in a King's Gambit (declined) full of his trademark delicious aggression. By my count, Martinez had only scored six points going into this round - compared to Chigorin's 18 - so the high regard Steinitz held him in must have only been in relation to other players in Philadelphia.
Martinez's early exchange on c6 in this Spanish was likely a method to get Chigorin out of book, and given how the play developed leading up to the first time control, I would say he succeeded. The problem is that, after Chigorin castled Queenside, it was Martinez who needed to be more precise. It was, somewhat ironically, his 16th move that got him into trouble, as the attack he initiated ended up costing him a pawn he doubtlessly didn't mean to surrender.
Martinez clearly did not read up on his Reuben Fine before this game, opting to trade both pairs of Rooks and defend a pure Bishop vs. Knight ending that was objectively lost. This game is, perhaps, the only one in this chapter that would have a higher likelihood of being decisive if Max Weiss was playing. As the notes will show, both players made crucial mistakes starting right at move 46, but Martinez ultimately managed to find a drawing construction and save the half point... for now.
Chigorin once again received the White pieces and once again his King's Gambit was declined, with Martinez repeating the 4... a6 oddity from the first cycle. Chigorin's play was even more aggressive in this game as he sacrificed a full Rook within the first 10 moves, a fairly common motif in these positions. It could not have been timed much better, as Martinez was forced to make difficult decisions right before the time control, and he went wrong at move 12. Chigorin tore the Kingside to shreds and had a forced checkmate only 20 moves in.
I've not been providing my usual status updates because Weiss had also been winning all of his games, and thus maintained a 1.5 point lead over our current subject. However, after his drawn game with David Baird from this round was replayed, Weiss actually lost in another 100+ move grind to his "lower-rated" opponent. Thus a meagre half point was all that separated our two subjects at this juncture.
Round 25: vs. Max Judd
These gentlemen's game from the first cycle is actually what inspired me to make a part 3 of this event, as there's some drama that really deserves its own post. Hopefully I'll be able to put that out within a week of this post.
Another King's Gambit was played and declined, with Judd having to figure out how to play against the f4-f5 maneuver. The most important question he had to answer was where he would put his King; the center was going to be opened up eventually, and Chigorin had measures in place against a Queenside castle. He decided to go Kingside, which is something Chigorin could only punish if he pushed the pawns in front of his own King. Can you guess what he did?
Any defensive efforts on the part of Judd were made immeasurably harder with his strange 18... Kh8, a decision he regretted three moves later when it was already too late. Chigorin broke through, and while Judd found a strong Rook sacrifice to prolong the game, the odds were always going to be against him.
Round 26: vs. James Mason
Finally we have an opponent that Chigorin had played before, though Mason is as close to a bracket demon as it gets - he'd won five of their six previous games (with one draw at London that was replayed). Chigorin also lost their first cycle game, though it was due to him still dealing with the issue with Judd from the day before. I'll expand more on this point in part 3.
Mason was one of the early practitioners of the London system, with Steinitz's countergambit being essayed by our subject. Things proceeded well enough for the first nine moves, and then on move 10 Chigorin blundered his Queen. That's it.
This round was very important for the leaders as Blackburne beat Weiss, keeping the Austrian at 20.5 while Blackburne and Chigorin stood at 20.
Round 27: vs. Constant Ferdinand Burille
Burille got ground down in their first cycle game, but Chigorin had just recovered from his incidents with Judd and Mason and was likely fired up. This game is a different story.
This game was another of those King's Gambit Declined lines with Bg4 where Chigorin was allowed to sacrifice a Rook, and he did so (technically for the first time, the Martinez game was played after this one). Burille didn't take this bait, instead choosing to displace Chigorin's King but otherwise invite no attacks. Starting at move 18 (perhaps even 17), I believe tilt started to play a role in Chigorin's play, as he sacrificed a pawn to get an attack rolling. The problem is that the pawn sacrifice allowed Burille to be the one attacking, and the American's pieces tore Chigorin's displaced King to shreds in an unusually one-sided game.
Round 28: vs. Max Weiss
A win over Gunsberg in the last round restored Weiss's 1.5-point cushion, but there were still more than enough rounds left for Chigorin to make a comeback. The time to lock in was now.
Chigorin adopted Zukertort's defence in the Open Spanish, introducing a move-nine novelty that helped him equalize by the first time control. Weiss adopted a rather sad and passive position, but one that was compact enough that no attack could realistically be generated. Indeed Chigorin wasn't able to make sufficient progress before stumbling with 33... g6, creating a hole on f6 that Weiss's Knight happily occupied. Had Chigorin been facing a more ambitious player, the attack available to White might have been serious; against Weiss, it resulted in quick liquidation down to a Rook and Knight endgame.
Chigorin's ambition leading up to the move 45 time control signals to me that he was back in the right frame of mind, and was playing to win as much as feasible. Although he didn't calculate everything properly and even dropped a pawn during the simplification, Weiss again failed to construct the proper winning setup and ultimately split the point on move 95. This is probably the most interesting draw we'll cover in this event, and it's a shame it wasn't allowed to stand.
The return game, unfortunately, was nowhere near as interesting. It was the first of a series of purely symmetrical Exchange French games we'll be seeing, and it meant that the action would be delayed for quite some time. Indeed Steinitz himself had basically nothing to say for the first 45 moves, and it wasn't until move 47 that Weiss started to go astray. He sidelined a couple of his pieces before engaging with Chigorin's Queenside pawns, and in the tactics that followed, he dropped one and gave Chigorin a passed d-pawn. The conversion was also long, and while it might have been interesting, I find myself too preoccupied with continuing to curse this tournament's format for being how it is.
Round 29: vs. George Gossip
Their first cycle game saw Chigorin win on the Black side of a Double Spanish in a manner that Steinitz praised as being a textbook example of the modern school's play. Giving Chigorin's predilection for unorthodoxy in his later career, I wonder if he even took that as a compliment.
Ponziani's opening is another we'll become more acquainted with in the second half of this chapter, with the players following the book until Chigorin played another novelty on move nine. It worked about as well as it could have, with Gossip responding incorrectly right away, and then making a mistake on basically every following move until he was checkmated on move 15. After those games with Weiss, I needed something like this, so thank you Chigorin.
Weiss was held to a (third) draw by Bird in this round, so going into round 30 there was a four-way tie for first: Blackburne, Burn, Chigorin and Weiss were all on 22 points, with Gunsberg being the closest follower with 20.5. There were still nine rounds to go, so anything could happen - including you taking a second to stand up and stretch, please don't read this all in one go.
Round 30: vs. Jackson Whipps Showalter
As much as I admire the Kentucky Lion and his luscious locks, he declined Chigorin's Evans Gambit in the first cycle and held him to a draw, so some karmic re-balancing has to take place before I can resume my appreciation.
Showalter began making amends by giving us our first Knight Attack of the series, though the first 12 moves were already played by Chigorin years ago, and the deviation at move 13 was hardly a good one. Chigorin had full compensation for the sacrificed pawn, and his sequence starting at move 20 forced Showalter to make an unenviable choice: trade down into an unbalanced and unfavoured endgame, or give up two pawns to reach an opposite-colour Bishop "endgame." The American champion chose the latter.
Chigorin was one who I always imagined would understand the energy required to play this position, and he maneuvered with maximum aggression. His Bishop moves in particular were quite pleasing, going from c7 to g3 and back to c7 again, only to visit g3 one final time to pick up the exchange. It's a good game for Chigorin and a debt repaid by Showalter, thankfully allowing me to continue admiring both masters.
Round 31: vs. David Baird
These two also played a Ponziani game in the first cycle, which I actually didn't learn until I started writing this portion. Baird played 5. d3 instead of Chigorin's Bb5 and the game went in a wildly different direction, with Chigorin ultimately trading into a winning endgame.
The players repeated the same opening as in Gossip's game above, with Baird incorrectly deviating at move 7. It resulted in a very ugly exchange on c6, but there were a series of only moves that Baird could find to keep the balance, which he did through the first time control. Starting at move 17, he had to choose a path that ultimately involved pushing g7-g5, which is not an easy move to play with a King on f7 and Queens still on the board. He understandably chose a different path, and Chigorin cooked up a sufficiently devastating attack.
Round 32: vs. Samuel Lipschutz
Chigorin pretty cleanly refuted Lipschutz's Hungarian Defence (3... Be7 in the Italian) in the first cycle, which I wish we were able to see given that both of Lipschutz's previous games have been rather dry. Perhaps this game will buck that trend.
Lipschutz again played an interesting third move, giving us our first look at 3. Bc4 in the Vienna. It doesn't look like Chigorin's studies gave him any novelties in this game, as normal moves were chosen until Lipschutz played the thematic f2-f4 break. It was actually Chigorin that went really wrong first with 14... Be6, and he had to play very actively to not get swallowed whole by Lipschutz's activity.
The critical moment came on move 19, where Chigorin could plant a Knight on e3, a hole Steinitz criticized back on move 9. He ultimately chose the wrong Knight, leaving one on d5 where it became vulnerable to multiple attacks. It got kicked around while Lipschutz's Knight delivered a powerful sacrifice on g7, and in what was certainly time trouble, Chigorin blundered a mate in 1. Finally we get an interesting game from Lipschutz, albeit at the expense of our subject.
Round 33: vs. Joseph Blackburne
It makes some sense that Blackburne led their head-to-head 4-1 going into this event, with the early 80s being a relative peak for Blackburne but only the beginning of Chigorin's career. Things were already beginning to equalize at this event, with Chigorin defending a Queen's Gambit Accepted in the first cycle and finding an energetic way to draw.
This Exchange French thankfully saw Blackburne break the symmetry early, with the players somewhat reversing the roles usually assigned to their respective colour. Blackburne erred on move 11, offering a Rook trade that immediately left his pawn structure compromised. While he could have tried to compensate with a Kingside attack, he instead chose to wait, and eventually Chigorin picked up a pawn and went on to convert. I wish the game played between these two figureheads was a more interesting one, but with so much to cover, we'll just have to accept it and move along.
Round 34: vs. Isidor Gunsberg
Gunsberg was the main beneficiary of Blackburne's loss, vaulting over his rival to currently occupy fourth place. Gunsberg won their first cycle game, converting a Rook endgame with admirable technique.
It feels weird to have a true novelty on move eight in a Giuoco Pianissimo, but indeed Gunsberg's 8. Bb3 was never played before or since. It's easy to understand why, as three pairs of minor pieces quickly disappeared from the board, leaving Chigorin with the better pawn structure and no problems to speak of. The only really interesting point to speak of is Chigorin's 16... e4, going against Steinitz's principles but opening up an active avenue for his pieces. This activity never got anything concrete, and the players made a very professional draw on move 32.
The replay was Chigorin's last game of the tournament, played after round 38, so its importance is bigger than I can properly convey by putting it here. I will continue to blame the format for being bad.
Gunsberg quickly broke the symmetry in this Exchange French, with Chigorin playing a move-seven novelty. The resulting position could have been better for Chigorin had he made efforts to stop Gunsberg from pushing c6-c5; when he didn't, Gunsberg played the thematic c5 break not once, but twice. His central space was very pleasant, and he left the first time control with a clear advantage.
Like in the first game, Gunsberg proved himself to be the better endgame player. Chigorin incorrectly traded into a Queen and Knight endgame where he had the worse Knight, and while Gunsberg's technique wasn't perfect, he always had the advantage of Chigorin's weak back rank. Somewhat ironically, it was Chigorin's decision to make some luft with 27. h3 that lost him the game. Gunsberg capped off this game with the elegant 28... Nc1! which effectively took advantage of Chigorin's weak dark squares, and our subject lost one of the most crucial games of the event.
Round 35: vs. Jean Taubenhaus
Taubenhaus forced the game into a rather dry endgame in their first cycle encounter, which I suppose makes some sense given that I (and hopefully their contemporaries) consider him to be a much weaker player than Chigorin.
Looking at the position at move 11, this could have been another game that would be forced into lame equality rather forcingly, had Taubenhaus taken advantage. He didn't, and instead made a series of baffling decisions like giving up his Bishop pair and doubling his Kingside pawns on move 17. When he sacrificed the exchange on move 22, he could have taken the light-square Bishop and ultimately won a pawn; he instead took the dark-square Bishop and lost a pawn, and Chigorin needed very little help converting such a straightforward advantage.
Round 36: vs. Henry Bird
Unsurprisingly, Bird was not one of Chigorin's bracket demons, with the Russian boasting a 4-1 score going into this game. Their first cycle encounter saw Bird apparently fall victim to the touch-move rule, where he was forced to block a check with his Queen and lost her on the next move. I won't give my usual Bird criticism for that one, I think every club player can relate.
This was a classic Bird opening, a deviation from the norm quite early and an attempt to tactically salvage whatever consequences arose. His play was very provocative, notably 12... Ng4 and 14... Bd6, but things didn't become concretely wrong until his 16th move. Chigorin sacrificed two pawns in order to effect some trades in the center, allowing his Queen to be followed by his Rook in hitting the seventh rank.
I must give Bird props in this dire portion of the game, as at one point he was facing mate in seven, but Chigorin failed to properly convert. The pawn-up endgame was always going to be better for White, but Bird could have continued his tenacious defence had he found 33... Qb5. His choice was yet another blunder, allowing Chigorin to play another Rook sacrifice that I've decided to make the thumbnail of this chapter, primarily because I'm a sucker for a good King walk.
Round 37: vs. Nicholas MacLeod
Chigorin smoothly beat MacLeod in the first cycle, partly owing to the Canadian choosing Owen's Defence, partly owing to the Russian simply being the stronger player. I wish I had better things to say about MacLeod, but unfortunately he's just wholly outclassed in this event. Perhaps this man has a dedicated blog post in his (and my) future.
This iteration of the MacLeod Attack saw a strong third-move novelty from Chigorin, followed up by a weak fourth-move pawn sacrifice from MacLeod. He made some slow moves, fell behind in development, and blundered his Rook on move 23. I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to say.
Round 38: vs. John Baird
Baird declined Chigorin's King's Gambit to conclude the first cycle, and was thoroughly trounced with a move-20 Knight sac that initiated a lasting attack.
In this Two Knights, Baird tried to deviate at move six, but his inferior move was also well documented by Chigorin, who was in book through move 11. Baird's novelty wasn't very good, forcing him to take on an ugly pawn structure that Chigorin was able to chip away at as he placed his pieces for an attack. Some of Baird's moves (22. g4, 28. Kh1) give off the impression that someone was tired after playing two months worth of high level chess. No matter how fatigued Chigorin was feeling, he had little trouble making Swiss cheese of Baird's defences, notching one final win to close out the main body of the tournament.
"Conclusion"
What an unruly table. I really need a different format for tournaments of this size.
With Weiss playing a quick draw against Mason in the final round, Chigorin was just barely able to catch his main rival, and the two shared first place. Gunsberg's comeback was also quite heroic, overcoming a multiple-point deficit to finish a half point off the top. There was a marked drop-off in Blackburne's play between the two halves - 15 points in the first half, 12 in the second - while Burn's performance was very consistent, scoring 13 points in both halves to finish in a respectable fifth. Finally, Lipschutz's performance has to be credited: not only is he far and away the highest scoring American, his second half performance was on par with Weiss's (13.5), only topped by Gunsberg (14.5) and Chigorin (15).
I'm going to save the playoff match for part 3, since it's honestly incredibly uninteresting. I'll also include some brilliancy prize winners, as well as some dramatic moments to make up for the lack of narrative that I try to inject into my posts. Just give me a few days to look at literally anything other than chess, and I'll try to wrap this thing up as soon as my brain will let me.
