The Perfect Chess Combination? - Best of the 30s - Tylkowski vs. Wojchiehowski, 1931

What is the origin of one of the finest, maybe THE finest, chess combinations ever played? Remarkably, the story behind the incredible promotional sequence in this game is complicated and contentious. The promotional combination has been published in almost every puzzle collection in chess and is well known, but the combination has been attributed to two possible source games, and the legitimacy of both games has been questioned.

The most known citation is Ortueta vs. Sanz (a Spanish champion), 1933, a contest in the French Defense. This game was even annotated by Capablanca, but the combination and game were only published well after the fact, and witnesses and details regarding the game's source were scarce. From the time of first publication, there was speculation that the combination might have fabricated, at least in part. Perhaps an exciting post-mortem or analysis session unearthed the idea, and the details were then made to fit the combination?

Much later, the game Tylkowski vs. Wojchiechowski (a member of the Polish Olympiad team who died quite young) was published and was said to have been played in Poznan, 1931. This game is covered here and begins with the Bird Opening. Only the final combination is essentially the same. The late publication speaks against the authenticity of this account, but claims of witnesses from Poznan are in the story's favor.

What is the truth? Is Ortueta vs. Sanz, 1933 authentic? Is Tylkowski vs. Wojciechowski? Perhaps both games are genuine? Perhaps neither is genuine? Two of the best historians in chess have looked closely and provided lots of substantive details regarding both accounts, but likely we'll never know more than we know now. One of chess' greatest combinations will always be a mystery.

• Tim Krabbe: https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/chess/rxb2.htm
• Edward Winter: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/ortuetasanz.html

Top 10 Games of the 1930s

• #1: Tylkowski vs. Wojchiehowski, 1931
  
• #2: Euwe vs. Alekhine, 1935
  
• #3: Botvinnik vs. Capablanca, 1935
  
• #4: Keres vs. Dyckhoff, 1935
• #5: Korchmar vs. Poliak, 1937
• #6: Lilienthal vs. Capablanca, 1935
  
• #7: Botvinnik vs. Flohr, 1933
  
• #8: Alekhine vs. Lasker, 1934
  
• #9: Euwe vs. Lasker, 1934
  
• #10: Parr vs. Wheatcroft, 1938
  
• See also: Top 10 of the 1940s, Top 10 of the 1950s, Top 10 of the 1960s, Top 10 of the 1970s, Top 10 of the 1980s, Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s

The game is in many ways quite bad as both players reject excellent positional continuations repeatedly! There is no hint of greatness in the game until the combination strikes on move 30 with four of the finest chess moves ever seen being played in sequence. Beautiful stuff.

My annotations are below.

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