Winner's POV Chapter 11: Paris 1867

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.

Chapter 11: Paris 1867

"Exposition universelle d'art et d'industrie" was the next world's fair to host a chess tournament, and it was an absolute behemoth, like this post (so if you're wondering where I've been for the last few weeks, I've been constructing this monster of a blog). Allegedly, the International Exhibition held in London 1862 was a relative failure; this led France to take the initiative in showing, not only can Britain host world fairs, but France can do it better. I'll provide some statistics (ripped off Wikipedia so their accuracy may not be 100%):

- France spent $4.5 million USD compared to Britain's $2 million (2.25x as much)

- France's venue (Champ de Mars) was around 70ha in area compared to Britain's 15ha venue (4.67x increase)

- France attracted an estimated 15 million visitors, while Britain took in roughly 6 million (2.5x as much). The 1851 exhibition in London also attracted 6 million visitors, showing stagnation in Britain's growth.

Suffice to say, France blew it out of the water. Their exposition was certainly the superior of the two, but we're mostly here for the chess tournament. Let's take a look at the logistics.

Format and Prizes

France continued the theme of "bigger" by hosting the world's first (relevant) double round robin tournament. Like London, there were no fixed rounds, so players met each other at their discretion, and usually played both games on back-to-back days. There was also a time control of ten moves per hour (I should mention that an equivalent time control existed at London 1862 of twenty moves every two hours. I should've mentioned that, my bad).

As the book is in French and my grasp of the language is mediocre (je parle un peu français) I had to turn to outside sources for much of my information. While the prizes don't make up one such piece of info, the accounting section spoils the results, so I'll avoid it. Top prize was 500 francs and a Sèvres vase (whose value I've been unable to determine). 2nd-4th received prizes of 800, 400 and 200 francs respectively.

Players:

François Devinck failed to show up, leaving us with 13 competitors total. There were numerous attempts to get Adolf Anderssen to compete, and there were hopes that Louis Paulsen and even Paul Morphy would enter the tournament; all three fell through.

The 1866 Edo lists give us a top field of Ignatz Kolisch (2nd behind Morphy), Wilhelm Steinitz (3rd), Cecil de Vere (6th) and Gustav Neumann (7th). To think: if the stars aligned and Morphy, Anderssen and Paulsen competed, there would be a tournament with all of the top 7 players. Before I spend too much time dwelling on what could have been, let's keep moving.

The Winner: Ignatz von Kolisch

When we last saw Kolisch, he had lost an intense match against Bristol 1861 winner Louis Paulsen. That same year, he played a longer match against Paulsen (+6-7=18), and lost a close one against Anderssen (+3-4=2). He wasn't able to compete at the London 1862 tournament due to being in Russia, however he did play a match against the Russian master Ilya Shumov (+6-2 I believe). He defeated the Frenchman Samuel Rosenthal in 1864 (+7-1), and while he stayed in Paris for many years, he largely abstained from serious chess.

An interesting controversy came about regarding Kolisch (not quite the level of controversy we have right now, but still interesting). He had repeatedly said that he would not enter this tournament, on the grounds of having too much to do with his work in the stock exchange. However, a couple of days before the tournament was set to start (and importantly, after the sign up date), he was allowed to sign up. Steinitz allegedly led the protests, but as we can see, they eventually died down and Kolisch was allowed to compete.

I think this is the most I've typed in this section before - this post is a monster, as I said. Without further delay, it's time to look at the Paris 1867 tournament from the Winner's POV.

vs. Eugene Rousseau

Eugene Rousseau emigrated to America in the early 1840s, quickly becoming one of the strongest chess players in the country. In 1845, he played the first unofficial US Chess Championship match against Charles Henry Stanley. He would lose that match (+8-15=8) but would be an influence on the young Paul Morphy as Ernesto Morphy (Paul's uncle) was Rousseau's second for the match. That was over 20 years prior; what could Rousseau offer to the chess world now?

The first game was an interesting Giuoco Pianissimo where both players castled Queenside. It wasn't a particularly accurate game, with Rousseau making some strategically questionable choices that Kolisch failed to call out. However, Kolisch was the one making more progress, pushing on the Kingside and applying a good amount of pressure.

The second half of the game was probably more wild. Kolisch overpressed, missing a tactic that resulted in him giving up an exchange. However, Rousseau got a little too ambitious and went for an attack, which allowed Kolisch to sacrifice the other exchange to push his central passed pawns. The tactics ultimately favoured Kolisch, who won this roller coaster of a game with about as much drama as one can fit into such a short bout.

Kolisch loved the Evans Gambit, and fired one off for the second game. The players quickly found themselves playing with a wild material imbalance, with Kolisch winning the Black Queen in exchange for a couple of pawns and 2 pieces. An important imbalance was Rousseau's uncastled King, which quickly became Kolisch's focus in many ways.

Honestly, this game is just too fun for me to sully with a lengthy preamble. Check it out for yourself, it's a treat.

vs. Szymon Winawer

Though there were a few important players making their international debut in this tournament, arguably none would ultimately have a career as successful as Szymon (Simon) Winawer. The Polish-born master would be a very strong tournament player over the next 15 years, but for now, let's observe him in his first event.

By 1867, the McDonnell attack had largely fallen out of favour, with this game being another blow against its stubborn practitioners. Kolisch bravely played 3... d5 and pretty much immediately equalized, while Winawer played passively and slowly (9. d3 and 11. d4 are especially good examples of this). Puzzlingly, Winawer soon after decided to begin mobilizing his Kingside forces, despite still having many Queenside pieces to develop.

One of Kolisch's "weaknesses" was his isolated Queen's pawn, but while his opponent worked on the Kingside, he thrust it forward, eventually making it a passed pawn. With no attack to speak of, Winawer did his best to salvage the situation, but the damage was already done, and Kolisch was laser-focused in the end.

Winawer went with the Petroff for the return game, and while the players played theory initially, Winawer deviated in poor ways: he gave up the Bishop pair without playing the correct follow-up right away, and when he played it one move later, it gave Kolisch the chance to trade Queens and double Winawer's f-pawns. Few Romantic era games were in an endgame before move 20, but even among those few, this was probably one of the uglier ones for one side.

However, as it tends to go sometimes, the win was very hard to find. Kolisch continued to advance, but Winawer danced his Knight around on the Kingside and forced Kolisch to prove there was a win. Once Kolisch initiated a Bishop trade, the win was objectively gone, and he had to be somewhat careful after giving Winawer some passed pawns to play with.

On move 45, Kolisch rejected a repetition, which caused him to drop a pawn five moves later. It was Winawer's turn to push and Kolisch's to defend, and while the endgame was still holdable, Kolisch's frustration was never going to help him in such a scenario. He attacked the wrong pawn on move 62, and resigned shortly after due to Winawer's connected passers. A heartbreaker for Kolisch, and a second scalp for Winawer, who had also defeated Neumann in his last pairing.

At the "top" of the standings were Steinitz and Neumann with 5 wins, which is part of what would make this next match very important.

vs. Wilhelm Steinitz

Following the London 1862 tournament, Steinitz played a match against fifth place finisher Serafino Dubois, winning (+5-3=2). He moved to London shortly afterwards, where he began playing chess much more seriously. Serious competitions were scarce (or else I would have covered one), and it wasn't until 1866 that Steinitz played his most important match yet, against the visiting Adolf Anderssen. Due to Steinitz winning that match (+8-6), he was generally regarded as the strongest player in the world - or strongest active player, if you believed Morphy had yet to relinquish his crown. Would he be able to maintain that reputation here? (Well we know the winner of the tournament, but just pretend...)

As mentioned, Steinitz was one of the ringleaders in the protest to keep Kolisch out of the tournament, and perhaps that influenced his decision to play the King's Gambit (it could also be that I'm reading too much into it, who knows?). He had a very strong center with both e4 and d4, however Kolisch was able to fire all of his Kingside pawns at Steinitz's castled King. Steinitz first eliminated two of them with a typical Knight sacrifice, then more trades which left Kolisch up the exchange but down a pawn, with neither King in super secure conditions. Another proper Romantic game, woohoo!

Kolisch was actually the one who was better placed for an attack, with a Rook staring at Steinitz's King and Knights that actually felt more useful than Bishops. Steinitz failed to generate sufficient activity, and once Kolisch regained the lost pawn, the exchange proved too much for Steinitz to hold against.

Against Kolisch's Scotch, what else would Steinitz play besides his own opening, the Steinitz Variation (4... Qh4)? It worked immediately, as after Kolish defended e4 incorrectly, Steinitz put on a crazy amount of pressure; checkmate threats, development/castling prevention, doubling and isolating of pawns - it's clear Steinitz already had a framework for his revolutionary change on chess theory (but that's a discussion for a later tournament).

When Kolisch was allowed to castle, Steinitz's dominance became much less pronounced. Shortly thereafter, in what I can only imagine to be time pressure, both players made wildly inaccurate moves: Kolisch blundered a full piece, and Steinitz failed to find it while also just not applying the pressure he could have. Once the players reached move 20, Kolisch had solidified enough that Steinitz's advantage was much harder to prove.

While Steinitz was able to win a pawn, he was never given the chance to convert it into a win. At one point he even blundered a winning tactic, but I imagine that the stinging loss against Winawer was still in Kolisch's mind, and he instead played the line which encouraged simplification. Despite Steinitz's efforts to push, Kolisch was able to hold and achieve an incredible upset (Steinitz was considered the favourite at the time, even though Edo says differently).

Neumann scored a win and a draw over De Vere, momentarily taking sole 1st over Steinitz. We're only 25% of the way through the tournament however, so let us continue.

vs. Jules Arnous de Riviere

Following Paul Morphy's retirement in 1858, the European player with whom he played the most was Jules Arnous de Riviere (Morphy's childhood friend Charles Maurian had the overall honour). While not having any serious event victories to his name, he was one of the many strong players to come out of France, so he doubtlessly deserved to be here.

Also, that picture is from shortly after the turn of the century, but I couldn't find a younger picture of him (he was born in 1830, so he wouldn't be 40 years old by this tournament. Alas).

Kolisch played a second Scotch, and this time found a better response to 4... Qh4. In fact, it was so good that it induced a blunder as early as move 6, allowing Kolisch to win a Rook. There's not much else to talk about, it was a mistake in the opening.

Kolisch returned the favour of repeating lines by playing the same line Steinitz used to beat de Riviere in their pairing earlier on. Unfortunately, it's an objectively bad line, and de Riviere was able to improve on his play from earlier and get a solid position. After a couple of questionable moves from Kolisch, de Riviere even had the better position, which hasn't happened often when Kolisch is Black.

Things got interesting when de Riviere pushed 21. d5, which allowed Kolisch to close the center and kill most of de Riviere's positional assets. After a mostly unsuccessful attempt to apply Kingside pressure, Kolisch was given a gift in the form of de Riviere's 27. g3 which opened the Kingside unnecessarily. Kolisch didn't need to be told twice to attack the resulting weaknesses.

Prior to the next match, Martin Severin From withdrew from the tournament, and his remaining games (including 2 against Kolisch) were forfeited. Thus, there will "only" be 22 games in this collection.

vs. Gustav Neumann

Neumann was a German player who had the privilege of playing against strong players like Anderssen and Paulsen, and was a decent player in his own right. He only has games recorded starting from 1860, so how is he so high up on the Edo ranking? A big part of that is because, allegedly, he won a tournament in Berlin in 1865 with a score of 34/34(!). I've not been able to find enough documentation to properly verify this, but if it's good enough for Edo, it's good enough for me. Given that Neumann was leading the tournament at this point, I think it's fair to make some assumptions about his skill.

Kolisch opted for the more reasonable Berlin Defense for this game, and the players set about their work as normal. Neumann went for a delayed Exchange Variation, and was doing just fine until his strategically strange 14. Nd5. This allowed Kolisch to open the position up for one of his Bishops, and the second eventually joined its comrade in pressuring the White Queenside from afar.

The endgame was better for Kolisch, who managed to undouble his pawns and possess the better minor pieces. Of course, being Kolisch, he would sacrifice no fewer than three pawns in the last 10 moves, choosing instead to go on a checkmating attack. It wasn't without fault, but Neumann was the one who made the last mistake, and thus Kolisch scored his fifth consecutive victory with Black.

Although Anderssen and Kolisch were quite amicable - Anderssen was friends with everyone so I suppose this isn't much of an accomplisment - Kolisch clearly didn't study up on his Anderssen enough; his position was the same that Anderssen had in one of his crushing victories at the London 1851 tournament. Kolisch improved the opening using the tried and true technique of "put things on the Kingside," so perhaps he did have some ideas in the opening.

Just when it seemed like Kolisch had his affairs in order, he played the curious 18. Rxh4, giving his Knight a strong outpost for a grand total of two moves before it was traded off. Once it left the board, it seemed like Kolisch had little more than the Bishop pair to call "compensation" for the sacrifice. Although he did quite well for a while at preventing Neumann from progressing, he ended up taking an umbrella pawn that blew the Kingside open, allowing the German to deliver a checkmating attack of his own. A very weird game from Kolisch, I can't quite understand it.

vs. Celso Golmayo Zupide

The first person in this tournament that I don't know very much about. A quick search shows that he was the champion of Cuba since 1862, but there are no other serious results to speak of (which makes sense, given how far Cuba is from Europe). He was also apparently one of Jose Raul Capablanca's professors, however he passed in 1898, when the future world champion was about 10. 

This was a weird opening from the Cuban, who played 2... e6 and 4... e5. Thankfully for him, Kolisch also made some strange choices, which left the opening somewhat equal. There was even a point where Black was probably better, as his one Bishop was better than both of Kolisch's and applying serious pressure on the Queenside pawns.

Kolisch, ever the trickster, set a bait with his Queenside pawns that was taken. A flurry of exchanges soon gave Kolisch an extra piece at the cost of two pawns. With his Bishops much more mobilized, Kolisch soon had a winning endgame, though they played it out all the way until the end just to make sure.

The second game was much more straightforward. Another delayed Exchange Variation-esque opening gave Kolisch the open d-file, which he placed a Rook on quickly. The tactics flowed well on this file, as he first won an exchange with 14... Bd3, and then again the Rook penetrated with the brutal 17... Rd3. This was just a complete stomp.

vs. Samuel Rosenthal

Another strong Polish-born player, Samuel Rosenthal moved to France in 1864 following the Polish Revolution. At present, he could probably be considered the strongest French player, due to him winning the Cafe de la Regence Championship three times in the past three years (and with the Cafe being the strongest chess hotspot in the country, that means something). He only scored 1/8 in their match in 1864, but could Rosenthal work to even the score?

Rosenthal took notes from his countryman Winawer and played the same Petroff line that defeated Kolisch earlier. His deviation on move 11 was not a good one, and while Kolisch had a Greek Gift at his disposal, he didn't give it. Pieces came flying off the board, and a draw was agreed to on move 29, which is possibly the shortest draw of the saga thus far (citation needed).

Rosenthal was evidently saving his energy, as the next game positioned him on the White side of an Evans Gambit. The players played the opening quite accurately, with the first novelty occurring on move 18, which is quite late as far as this series goes. In the other game to reach the position, Rosenthal (later, in 1869) played the attacking move first; here, he made a preparatory move first, which gave Kolisch a key tempo. Kolisch's Queenside Knight rushed over to the Kingside, proving to be an invaluable defender that put the brakes on Rosenthal's attack.

Soon it became clear that Kolisch's Queenside pressure was just as dangerous - likely even more so - than Rosenthal's Kingside activities. This became very apparent when Kolisch sacrificed the exchange on f5, mopping up all of the Kingside's inhabitants and firing his pawn mass down the board. With another strong master toppled, who's left to stop Kolisch from running away with it?

vs. Emile D'Andre

I know nothing relevant about this guy, he's just one of the stronger French players taking part in the tournament. Let's get to the games.

D'Andre played 1. Nf3, and although it became a French literally one move later, I appreciate the attempt. He continued to play strange moves throughout the opening, and while they weren't necessarily bad, they didn't lead to a cohesive game plan. The first proper mistake wasn't until move 12, where D'Andre castled into a tactic that lost him a pawn.

With the King just a little more vulnerable, Kolisch abandoned all attempts at positional play and returned to "put things on the Kingside," firing his h-pawn towards his opponent's camp with great haste. D'Andre's passive defense was exploited when he missed a tactic, and once the exchange was won, Kolisch won without much issue.

Kolisch went for the Evans Gambit again, and D'Andre declined it, which was punishable by amputation of the left hand (or at least, it should've been...). He took the pawn on the following move with the Knight, which was the first of multiple bad decisions. Unlike the previous opening, Kolisch's play was precise and brutal, and after he won the f7 pawn, there was no stopping his bloodthirst. Let this be a warning to all: do not decline the Evans Gambit.

vs. Sam Loyd

While a strong chess player in his own right, where Sam Loyd was truly world-class was in puzzle composition. His first chess puzzle was published when he was only 14, and over the next few years, he published so many chess problems that he was regarded as the greatest puzzle composer in America. He also composed many non-chess puzzles, like the Trick Donkeys Puzzle in 1858 (when he was only 17). 

Loyd accepted Kolisch's Evans Gambit (as you should), and after some logical moves, Loyd found a mostly forced sequence that returned the pawn but killed Kolisch's momentum as the latter had lagged behind on Queenside development. Undeterred, Kolisch threw forth his f-pawn as usual, insisting that an attack is the way to go.

Loyd's position was manageable until the strange 17... f5, which opened up his King and made a lot of the weaknesses in his camp much more clear. Kolisch's game looked strategically won when his Knight hit e6, but it wasn't until a few moves later that he proved the objective win with a Queen sacrifice (that couldn't be accepted, but not accepting it wouldn't be great either).

Now, for reasons I have yet to ascertain, the players didn't play their second game right away, Kolisch instead playing a game against the following competitor:

vs. Cecil De Vere

In 1866, the British Chess Association held their first "Challenge Cup," which was functionally the first British Chess Championship. That event was won by Cecil De Vere, who would remain the youngest British Champion for over a century (at 20, the record wouldn't be broken until Nigel Short won in 1984 at the age of 19). I wanted to show that tournament before this one, but at least half of the games are missing, so it felt a bit strange. In any case, if you're wondering why this previously-unmentioned player was in the top three for the event, you now know why.

Kolisch tried another g3 Sicilian, and while De Vere also played ...e6 and ...e5, the other opening moves justify it much more. De Vere quickly gained space and locked up the center, preventing Kolisch's Bishop from seeing any shred of activity. When Kolisch gave up his Bishop pair (which made some sense given the locked position), the players entered the traditional opposite-wing battle that's central to many Sicilians. This was probably the most intense opening yet.

While De Vere was doing well pushing his Queenside pawns, his piece-play was a little less accurate, as he constantly put his pieces into potentially tactics-inducing squares (the tactics weren't immediately available, but it was a little risky). As Kolisch put forth his trademark "put things on the Kingside," De Vere finally made a tangible slip with 27... Rgc8, allowing Kolisch to open up the Kingside and end the sequence by picking up the Exchange.

Though the endgame wasn't totally lost, De Vere had to fight to hold on, and his technique wasn't up to snuff. Despite the questionable opening, Kolisch thus won his 5th consecutive game in the tournament, charging up the standings in the process.

Worth noting is that, at this point, Samuel Rosenthal dropped out of the event. This one doesn't affect Kolisch's score, but it will partially explain his poor score in the final crosstable (he forfeited 8 games in total).

vs. Loyd (game 2)

I'm presenting these games in the order they occurred, as irregular as it appears. I somewhat wish I didn't show this game, because it's pretty disappointing. Take a look, then let's move on.

vs. De Vere (game 2)

The second game was a complete stomp. Kolisch's play looked straight out of 1851, as he doubled the pawns in front of De Vere's King and began moving pieces towards that area. De Vere allowed a trade that isolated those pawns, and once Kolisch had them blockaded, his influence on the position was tremendous. De Vere made very few attempts to defend the attack, and Kolisch ripped through what defenses remained like they were paper.

I think the length of the tournament was starting to get to De Vere (I know the length of this post is starting to get to me...), who was playing in his first major tournament. With only one opponent left to face, Kolisch's tournament looked almost won.

vs. Heironim Czarnowski

I know that this guy was Polish, and he also moved to France in 1864 like Rosenthal. That's all I got.

Facing the French, Kolisch adopted the Schlechter Variation (probably not called that in the time before Schlechter's birth, but still). Czarnowski's play was subpar, but what ended up being the most damning was his refusal to castle. Kolisch embarked on a Queenside attack this time, and as you'll see, the tactics worked out perfectly for him.

This game is interesting, and while there's a lot I could say, I think I've said enough. Enjoy the last game Kolisch played at Paris 1867, featuring tactics, positional fundamentals, and an endgame grind (rare around these parts).

Conclusion:

I didn't realize that'd be so tiny. I'll make some changes for the next big tournament.

This would be Kolisch's last chess competition, though he would not be done with chess; as he grew wealthy later in life, he would go on to fund many future chess events (I'll try my best to remember to mention him). Perhaps the most surprising result was Steinitz finishing in 3rd, losing the mini-matches against both Kolisch and Neumann. Winawer's 2nd place finish was also incredible, and as mentioned, we'll be seeing his name come up time and time again. But for now, it's Kolisch's time in the spotlight, so I'll save talking about other players for their turn.

Chapter 10 (contains links to chapters 6-9)

Chapter 5 (contains links to chapters 1-4)