Karlsbad 1929

Karlsbad 1929 takes its place with its three predecessor Karlsbad tournaments (1907; 1911; 1923).

The 1929 event featured 22 top players in a tournament from July 30 to August 28, 1929.

Two English language resources for Karlsbad 1929 include: Carlsbad International Chess Tournament 1929, annotated by Aron Nimzovich (1886-1935), translated from the Russian by Jim Marfia (Dover Publications, 1981).

This famous book features tournament winner Nimzowitsch's annotations of 30 of the tournament games. Translator Jim Marfia describes the book as "an odd bit of Nimzovichiana, even for the man Spielmann described as 'possessed of an incurable taste for the bizarre'" (v). The publisher notes that here the tournament winner "transformed his greatest performance into a brilliantly eccentric and entertaining book" (Back cover).

Nimzowitsch's accounts are blunt--he was not shy of calling out a "stupid move." The publisher says Nimzowitsch "offers psychological interpretations of style and personal character" (Back cover). Marfia notes: "On the surface, the book appears to be simply a straight-forward account of what was arguably one of the great tournaments of all time" (v). But he continues: "Upon rereading, the book changes character, alters its tone; it becomes less a factual report of a tournament than a tract, a polemic, or perhaps more accurately something we moderns might call 'a bit of self-promotion' (and Nimzovich's contemporaries probably called 'tooting one's own horn')." Nimzowitsch argued that on the basis of his abilities, the chess world was "morally obligated to arrange a match between himself and Alekhine, the world champion" (Back cover).

But this is definitely a tournament book not be missed! Marfia also wrote that "in spite of his dogmatism (which at times rivalled that of his old enemy Tarrasch), and his polemics, Nimzovich had a unique vision of the game, which he backed up with a fine positional sense, matchless endgame technique, and an exceptional tactical flair as well" (vii). Be sure to read this book!

The second source for insights about Karlsbad 1929 is available through the fine post by Edward Winter. Though not a participant, Alekhine wrote six reports for The New York Times. Winter has posted the full texts of all six articles: Alekhine on Carlsbad, 1929. These, too, are not to be missed for perspective and for Alekhine matchless assessment of players and games.

I have drawn primarily from these two sources for this Crossword (for my Crossword on Karlsbad 1907, see  Karlsbad 1907; see also the fine piece by kahns on Karlsbad 1911: A Century of Chess: Karlsbad 1911).

I hope you enjoy entering into this interesting tournament!

See my Blogs for Crosswords on other historic tournaments: Don McKim Blog

For Answers to the Clues, please click the View Solution button below.

Enjoy!