Romantic Rumble: Mikhail Chigorin vs. Szymon Winawer

Let's close out this opening round with a bang.

Romantic Rumble: Mikhail Chigorin vs. Szymon Winawer

The final match of the first round pits the bracket's two "Russians" (Congress Poland was part of the Russian Empire) against each other. They had a relatively extensive history prior to this decade, with Winawer encountering the young Chigorin in the mid-1870s. They exchanged a handful of games, and Winawer gave Chigorin endless praise; he even secured Chigorin an invite to the Paris 1878 tournament, but work obligations got in the way.

When Chigorin finally began international tournament play, the pair played in three separate events, totaling five mutual games. Let's take a peek.

Berlin 1881 was Chigorin's debut, and his fighting spirit was on full display, with only a single draw across the 16 games (Johann Berger scored the most draws, of course, but even he managed only six). His game with Winawer was a cute miniature, with the experienced Pole going wrong very early in a King's Gambit.

The players tied for third place with 10.5/16.

Vienna 1882 was arguably Winawer's best result, while it showed how far Chigorin had to go as a player. This game was a perfect example, with the younger player going on an ill-advised attack from the get-go. Even in the chaotic opposite-side castling middlegame, Winawer only made one real mistake (which went unpunished), going on to refute Chigorin's exchange sacrifice and deliver his own checkmating attack.

Their return game is my favourite type of Winawer game, featuring pawn and piece imbalances combined with unbounded ambition. Ironically, Chigorin could have done well with more aggression in this game, ideally at move 27. When he allowed a trade into a heavy piece endgame, he was put on the back foot, and one ill-timed pawn grab was all it took for Winawer to take over. It's far from a model game, but such fighting spirit should always be appreciated.

Winawer shared first with Steinitz with 24/34, while Chigorin finished in a very uncomfortable 13th on 14/34—this tournament is the reason why Chigorin is as low in the standings as he is.

Their last encounter for over 10 years took place at London 1883, where they exchanged another pair of games (no draws, so only two games). It was the lowlight of Winawer's decade, and neither game was all that good.

In the first, a "Rossolimo" (a very direct showcase of Winawer's preference for the Knight over the Bishop), Winawer neglected his development to amass a large pawn center, losing one in the process. He struggled to find sufficient compensation, likely relying on the doubled and isolated c-pawns being weak enough to win. By the time he was finally able to win one, Chigorin had launched an attack on the other side of the board, winning an exchange and executing a rather smooth attack.

The return game was also somewhat shaky, with Winawer dropping another pawn after only eight moves this time; luckily, Chigorin didn't see it, and instead got into a rather passive position. The middlegame was tense, with Winawer gradually improving his pieces while Chigorin mitigated his obvious weaknesses in preparation for the breakthrough. Things ended somewhat suddenly when Chigorin miscalculated his 24th move, dropping the exchange and missing Winawer's Queen "sacrifice." Again, the resulting attack was easy enough to carry out.

Chigorin finished fourth with 16/26, while Winawer infamously finished out of the money, managing only 13/26.

Amusingly, both players missed each others' best tournament, with Winawer winning the Nuremberg 1883 tournament the following month (see here), while Chigorin tied for first at the monster New York 1889 tournament much later (see his perspective here). 

With that, you have the players' games, tournament results, and future victories. Now the time has come for you to vote. Was Winawer, who won more tournaments, the stronger player? Or does Chigorin, who would play a World Championship match, earn that honour? The choice is yours: who will be the final player moving on to the second round of our cute little tournament? Happy voting, and thanks for reading.