One of these odd matches – like Botvinnik-Smyslov (1958) or Botvinnik-Tal (1961) – that’s not really reflective of the contestants’ playing strength. Janowski sent his announcement of the match from Monte Carlo, which was &...
There has probably never been a chess master whose ascent was as steady and orderly as Géza Maróczy's. He won the amateur tournament at Hastings 1895 in his international début, finished second at Nuremberg 1896 and Londo...
I was tempted to skip over this match – a small-scale event between two second-tier masters – but wanted to showcase the play of Georg Marco, who was for a long time the backbone of the chess world, sort of in the way that John Nunn, A...
David Janowski had such a falling-off at the end of his career that it can be difficult to remember what a formidable, world-class player he truly was - one of the great chess optimists, a very similar player to Geller and Bogoljubow. His real pea...
Carl Schlechter emerged as a top-flight, fully-formed player with his strong showing at Hastings 1895. He was 21 years old, posted a positive score against the world’s best, won his individual game against Pillsbury, and was a clear exemplar...
A gorgeous start to a century of chess. The tournament was held as part of the World’s Exposition in Paris and included all of the top players of the era with the exception of Tarrasch and Teichmann. The Exposition was a manifestation of the...
