
My Favourite Annotators. Part Eight. Siegbert Tarrasch.
Afternoon everyone.
Siegbert Tarrasch. Indisputably one of the most important players ever! Not only was he the strongest player in the world for a time, he was undoubtably one of the most influential annotators ever.
Well, I have discussed the influence of Niemzowitsch on his reputation at some length elsewhere - lazy writers ever since have been unable to write about him without using the word 'dogma'.( I doubt that they have ever read a single word he wrote unless it is quoted online somewhere!!)
I even offered a challenge - for money - in that regard, which nobody has taken up! ( Rightly, they would lose!!)

Having just posted the picture, I will throw in a couple of links to previous blogs which include his writings and game notes.
Steinitz's writings influenced one generation. Tarrasch's influenced the next one - what I have termed 'The Barmen Generation.' His literary output was extensive. Newspaper columns, tournament and match books, 'The Game of Chess', and, above all, 'The Bible' of The Barmen Generation, 300 Chessgames.
He was conscientious, objective, instructive and honest in his notes. He also understood chess! Decent analyst too. Not the norm at the time.
On the other hand he would make excuses for his own failings now and then - if you believe him he spent his entire career in time trouble or otherwise incapacitated! When 300 Chessgames came out - in 1895, from memory, there was nothing like it in the chess world. In it's day it must have been like the release of the first chessbase and fritz. As I say, 'The Bible' in chess terms back then. It's an incredible piece of work, and I have spent more hours than I care to think of engrossed in it.
Well, there is an English Language translation to be found. It may be useful to those who don't know any German. However, it does not. in my opinion, capture the essence of Tarrasch's work.
So, which game to give here with his notes? Having dug out the header picture I decided to take one from Dresden 1892 - he won the tournament, as he won almost every tournament he played in for a period in the 1880's - 1890's.
Not the most spectacular notes, but they are honest, and you get his opinion on defending the Queen's Gambit, plus his idea that a positional advantage should always lead to a win, and some other stuff! They are a good example of his work. Also there is the question of the threefold repetition leading up to the first time control which caught my eye when I first saw the game. Sadly I have not been able to find the exact rules in use in that tournament.
Well, with my historian type head on, I have never been able to be able to find a picture of his opponent - Gyula Makovetz - anywhere. Barcza's books don't have one, so I guess he was camera shy! I have mentioned him in previous blogs. He finished equal 2nd in the tournament - which was a strong one! Combined with his win at Graz 1890 - ahead of the young Lasker, this puts him at No.5 in the world at the time on the retrospective ratings sites. Sadly, he is not in the group picture in the tournament book.

So, enjoy the game - just a draw and a day at the office for Tarrasch the annotator.