Mikhail Chigorin

1914 – One Hundred Years Ago in Chess

In 1914, the term fairy chess used for heterodox problems was first used. It was introduced by Henry Tate (1873-1926) of Australia.
In January 1914, the All-Russian Chess Federation founded (865 members).
In January 1914, Eduard (Edward) Lasker won 24th City of London championship.
In 1914, Constant Ferdinand Burille died in Boston. He operated Ajeeb in the United States.
In January 1914, Abraham Kupchik won the Manhattan Chess Club championship.
On Jan 8, 1914, Herman Pilnik , Argentine GM, was born in Stuttgart, Germany. IM 1950. GM 1952. Died in 1981.
On Jan 31, 1914, Alekhine and Nimzovich tied at the 8th All-Russian Ch, St Petersburg.
On Feb 21, 1914, Arnold Denker was born in New York City. US ch 1944. IM 1950. HGM 1981. Died on Jan 2, 2005, age 90.
On Mar 6, 1914, Theo van Scheltinga was born in Amsterdam. Dutch IM 1965. Died in 1994.
On Mar 8, 1914, Oleg Neikirch was born. Bulgarian champion in 1937,1938,1948,1953,1957. IM 1952. Died in 1985.
On April 14, 1914, Sandor Banfalvi (ne Brilla) was born in Cehal, Romania. IMC 1967; GMC 1979.
On April 21, 1914, the St Petersburg International starts. The tournament celebrated the 10th anniversary of the St. Petersburg Chess Society.
On April 23, 1914, Nicolai Jasnogrodsky, an American master, died in Baltimore.
On May 2, 1914, Rudolf Spielmann won the Baden, Austria Gambit tournament.
On May 11, 1914, Anatoly Ufimtsev was born. Developed the Pirc in 1934. Died on July 10, 2000.
On May 22, 1914, Lasker won the St. Petersburg International, followed by Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall. Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, conferred the grandmaster title to the five finalists. Lasker was paid an appearance fee, the 1st time this ever happened.
On June 27, 1914, Victor Baturinsky was born in Russia. He died on Dec 21, 2002. He was Vice President of the USSR Chess Federation and director of the Moscow Chess Club.
On July 20, 1914, Mannheim hosted the 19th congress of the German Chess Federation.
On July 20, 1914, the Norwegian Chess Federation was founded.
On July 31, 1914 Alphonse Goetz won the 1st French championship in Lyon.
On Aug 2, 1914, the last round of Mannheim tournament, 19th German Chess Federation Ch was played. Alekhine led by 9.5 – 1.5, followed by Vidmar and Spielmann. After the declaration of war, eleven “Russian” players (Alekhine, Bogoljubov, Bogatyrchuk, Flamberg, Koppelman, Maljutin, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, Saburov, Selezniev, Weinstein) were interned in Rastatt, Germany. On September 14, 17, and 29, 1914, four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman) were freed and allowed to return home via Switzerland. Romanovsky was freed and went back to Petrograd in 1915, and a sixth one, Flamberg was allowed to return to Warsaw in 1916.
On Aug 21, 1914, Blackburne tied for 1st at the British championship, held in Chester. He was72. He tied with Yates. Yates won the playoff on forfeit.
On Aug 26, 1914, the 15th Western Chess Association (US Open) was held in Memphis. Bradford Jefferson took 1st in the playoff against George Wolbrecht.
On Oct 7, 1914, Alexandar Tsvetkov was born in Topolovgrad, Bulgaria. IM 1950.
On Oct 11, 11914, Reuben Fine was born in Manhattan. 1st at AVRO 1938. GM 1950. He died 1993.
On Oct 20, 1914, David Hay died in Melbourne, Australia. 1879 New Zealand co-champ.
On Oct 20, 1914, Mona May Karff was born in Bessarabia. Challenger 1937, 1939, 1949. WIM 1950. She died in 1998.
On Oct 26, 1914, Adriaan de Groot was born in Santpoort, Netherlands. Chess master and author.
On Nov 14, 1914, the film The Wishing Ring was released. It was the first time that chess had appeared in film. Sally, the parson’s daughter, plays chess with the Earl as part of a distraction.
On Dec 16, 1914 Sonja Graf-Stevenson was born in Germany. WIM 1950. US Women’s ch 1964. She died 1965.
On Dec 31, 1914, Carl Schlechter won the 6th Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna, Austria.
Bernstein – Gunsberg, St Petersburg 1914
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 d6 7.Bxc6 bxc6 8.d4 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.Nc3 O-O 11.Bg5 Ne8 12.Bxe7 Qxe7 13.Qd3 Qe5 14.Rad1 Qc5 15.e5 d5 16.Nb3 Qb4 17.a3 Qg4 18.Qe3 g6 19.Rd4 Qf5 20.Nc5 Be6 21.g4 Qxc2 22.Rd2, and the queen is trapped 1-0
– Bill Wall