How Good Was Spielmann? Plus Two Letters.
Good afternoon everyone. I am back with more Spielmann.
No game notes today as I am throwing this together in a hurry, so feel free to ask any questions about the games in the comments, and I will help you out there when I have time. Cheers!
Let's have a look at Spielmann against some legends of the game, with his record against them taken from the chessgames.com numbers, and I will throw in a couple of letters by him which are of interest!
The letters came from another - rather wonderful - book on Spielmann in my library, by Michael Ehn.
It has a mass of biography, and some great historical documents. So, let us begin.
Vera Menchik was a legend in her own right. Sadly she gets the 'fun game' spot here. Spielmann's record against her was +3 =1 -0. Unusually for her she comes out for a fight - not a great idea against Spielmann. You will know the opening from my recent Steinitz blogs. I have set this so you can try the little tactics puzzle at the end.
A rare photo with Menchik and Alekhine as a link to what comes next.
Last time I mentioned an open letter to Alekhine which was published in Wiener Schachzeitung in 1932. This is a translation of Ehn's version, which I haven't checked against the original - O.K., I forgot to do that!
''I accuse!
Not by Zola, nor by Dr. Tartakower, but by R. Spielmann
Esteemed World Champion Dr. Alekhine!
You will surely be astonished, Mr. World Champion, by my audacity, which knows no bounds even before the steps of the exalted World Champion throne. But I accuse!
Of course, not your brilliant game, for which, as a chess enthusiast, I have only the highest respect and admiration. No, my complaint is not directed at World Champion Dr. Alekhine, but at Dr. Alekhine the colleague. For despite your obvious chess superiority, we are and remain your professional colleagues, whom you ultimately need for your immortal endeavors.
A proverb says: "Wealth is a fine knife, but one must use it for distributing bread, not for wounding." Your predecessors Steinitz, Lasker, and Capablanca always adhered to this principle and brought about better general conditions in the championship tournaments. You shouldn't hold it against me if I now examine for what purposes you have used your powerful weapon of the World Championship so far.
Understand me correctly; I'm not driven by envy. I would be the last person to dispute your hard-won right. In all fields, top performances are rewarded, so why not in chess? However, in San Remo in 1930 and Bad Bled in 1931, you imposed special conditions in addition to the extra fee, effectively eliminating Capablanca from these tournaments.
Of course, you didn't reject Capablanca outright, but chose a much more subtle approach, which, however, doesn't change the facts, which I, as someone familiar with the field, am quite capable of understanding.
Must Capablanca really pay such a heavy price for his dominant victory in New York in 1927? But let's leave the past behind and instead turn our attention to your colleague Nimzowitsch, who, after you and Capablanca, is surely the most successful master of our time.
Doesn't it seem striking that he received no invitation to either London in 1932 or now to Bern? At the very least, it would have been easy for you to secure an invitation for Nimzowitsch. As a Doctor of Law, you will be familiar with the concept of 'dolus eventualis.'
Not only that, but it seems that I, a poor fiddler who can only thrive in high-altitude air, have also become an unwelcome competitor. How else can my sudden eviction from the Bernese highlands be explained, after I received a formal, albeit non-binding, letter of invitation more than two months ago? The Bern committee, however, argues that your subsequent acceptance has rendered an international master redundant. Hats off to your greater reputation! But what power in the world, other than the power of the world champion, could have prevented the Swiss Chess Federation from allowing seven instead of six international players?
The Swiss army would then have been only nine men strong, which would have been perfectly sufficient for hosting the Swiss Championship. So, my dear world champion, continue to thrash your opponents, may you achieve many more great feats to the delight of the entire chess world, but please give up the habit of giving orders, otherwise I would have to quote to you the biblical words of the prophet Hosea, freely adapted from Mark: "He sows the wind and he will reap the whirlwind."
The cup is full; on both sides of the ocean, voices are growing louder that rebel against the dictatorship of the world champion.''
So, Spielmann against Alekhine. Spielmann +2 =!0 -3. Not so bad! ( I am not 100% convinced by the numbers, but I don't own a database!)
I gave one of the wins last time, so here is the other. There is a story about it - I have no idea if it is true!!
The night before the game Spielmann, who by his own account got depressed when he was playing badly, was 'drowning his sorrows' in the bar. The next day was the last round. He was down at the bottom of the table, whilst Alekhine - his next opponent - and Reti were at the top. Reti found him and reminded him of his responsibilities to the other players - the prizes were dependant on him. So Spielmann replied ''Tomorrow I will win!''. That's the story!
Next up, Capablanca.
He didn't like to lose! The record. Spielmann +2 =8 -2.
At the above tournament we saw a typical Capablanca game - but one where he was on the losing side. Spielmann just outplays him with natural looking moves, and with the Black pieces.
On to a third World Champion. I don't need to look up the numbers for this one! Spielmann +0 =3 -1.
By 1935 both Spielmann and Lasker were past their best, but at Moscow they produced the game which is probably the most analysed of all Spielmann's games. Off the top of my head I have at least 7 annotator's attempts to make sense of it. Ehn give about 6 1/2 pages of notes in quite small print. Heidenfeld once wrote a whole article on it. Just an incredible game!! Lasker attempts to improve on an earlier game between Spielmann and Bogoljubov, or at least make the game more complicated.. By move 12 both sides have given up castling rights. Lasker slips on move 16 - perhaps trying to avoid a draw, and his 17th may not be the best either. Spielmann misses his chance on move 21. After that Lasker - 2 Pawns down at move 24 - gets close to winning!! What a battle!
Moscow, February 1935. Lasker, his wife and Valerian Eremeev. Well, as usual, the politicians - in this case Krylenko - get all the credit while others, in this case Eremeev, actually do the work! He was a huge figure in chess history, who nobody takes any notice of!
O.K. Let's do my six games thing, and throw in games against two players who are right up there in the 'greatest player never to become world champion' stuff. Both world number one, I think, on the retrospective ratings sites at some point in their careers.
Last time round I gave a game where Spielmann utterly smashed Rubinstein
at his best. The score between the two contemporaries. Spielmann +11 =8 -15.
You could do a whole blog of the great games between the two. I have chosen this one for a reason. Tarrasch called the Four Knight's Game 'one of the three milk cows of the tournament repertoire. Rubinstein pretty much single handedly ended that! I once intended to do a blog of his games with Black in that opening, and the various theoretical debates of the time. Spielmann takes apart the world expert on an opening in beautiful style.
And finally Tarrasch - he could seriously play! A picture I like.
Spielmann +6 =6 -8.
Here Tarrasch plays a line - Steinitz's, as in my previous blogs, which he had used in that Marshall match. Spielmann destroys him, although the engines point out that 34...Qf1 is a quicker win. He is happy to let the d5 Pawn fall to a trick - Tarrasch's King is on the other end of the d-file!
O.K. last time I mentioned Spielmann escaping to Sweden to escape the horrors of the time, and ultimately dying there in sad circumstances. Ehn gives a letter which is part of all that to the Swedish chess editor and organiser Ludvig Colljin.
I have friends all over the world - chess has gifted me that. All colours, races, religions, ideological and political backgrounds. I HATE all racism, religious group psychology based hatred and presumed 'superiority' Above most of that I hate antisemitism. Right now we are living in a scary world. Just this week there was an antisemitic attack in London.
Has the human race learned nothing in the 9 decades since this desperate letter was written?
Spielmann was like me - a gentle man who loved chess, loved a beer and could feel depressed at times. He deserved better than to find himself in such circumstances.
The letter, via the Ehn book.
To Ludvig Collijn, December 10, 1938
Prague, December 10, 1938.
Dear Mr. Collijn!
''I have not heard from you in a long time, but I hope that you are
in the best of health. - I also hope that you have retained enough interest in me
to receive a brief report on my situation.
It is more than sad, for not only have I been expelled forever from Austria, my beloved homeland, but on top of that, my freedom of movement has been taken away from me.
Almost all chess players in the world have hermetically sealed themselves off from emigrants and refugees; no one will let me in with my Austrian passport, which has become worthless. For about two years I have been enduring all the hardships of these innocent, wandering people, without
receiving even the smallest amount of support. Only the hope that I will eventually find a chess engagement and asylum again keeps me going.
Would it not be possible for you to take me under your wing, just as you did
back in 1919, and secure some kind of chess engagement for me in Stockholm
or elsewhere in Sweden? This is not a matter of a permanent stay. I would like to use Sweden only as a transit country to regain my moral and chess strength and to gather my strength for future
endeavors. Perhaps I could then emigrate to England or America.
I beg you most earnestly: please do not let me down, and help
me lead a life of dignity. I would be content with the most modest
conditions imaginable, as long as I can be of some use.
An entry permit could easily be obtained through the Swedish Chess Federation,
it just needs to be applied for on my behalf in Stockholm. Regarding other matters:
We can work out the details later. The main thing is that I finally get out of this hellhole of Central Europe.
Anti-Semitism is already spreading in Prague and robbing me of any chance of survival.
Once again, in light of our 30-year friendship, I implore you to take me under your wing and reply as soon as possible, so that I may know whether I can still hope.
My address is: Prague - Bubenec, Narodni obrany 7, pensiony. Warm regards from your ever-grateful and devoted
Rudolf Spielmann.''
A couple of rare versions of pictures to finish.
