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Hastings 1895 chess tournament

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The chess tournament that was conducted at Hastings, England from August 5 to September 2 1895 has been called by many commentators as the greatest of all time, and a milestone in the history of chess, for several reasons.

Firstly, all the greatest players of the time were present. This was the first time such as "super-tournament" was conducted. The participants (in the order in which they finished) were Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Mikhail Chigorin, Emmanuel Lasker, Siegbert Tarrasch, Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Schiffers, Curt von Bardeleben, Richard Teichmann, Carl Schlechter, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Carl Walbrodt, Amos Burn, David Janowski, James Mason, Henry Bird, Isidor Gunsberg, Adolf Albin, Georg Marco, William Pollock, Jacques Mieses, Samuel Tinsley and Beniamino Vergani. Pillsbury, a young American unknown in Europe, was the surprise winner with 16.5/21 points ahead of Chigorin (16) and Lasker (15.5). Following the success of the event, the Hastings tournament would become an annual feature. Today such competitions are conducted annually at various places.

Secondly, many of the games were of very high quality and extremely hard fought. Two of the games, in particular, stand out for their depth, beauty and drama: Steinitz vs. von Bardeleben and Pillsbury vs. Gunsberg (see below).

The third unique aspect was the Book of the Tournament, in which the participants annotated their own games. The Book too became an annual feature and was of very high instructional value.

Tournament table

               1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
 1. Pillsbury  X 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 16½
 2. Chigorin   1 X 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 16
 3. Lasker     1 0 X 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 15½
 4. Tarrasch   0 0 1 X 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 14
 5. Steinitz   0 1 0 0 X 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 1 0 ½ 1 1 13
 6. Schiffers  0 1 0 0 0 X ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 12
 7. Bardeleben 0 0 1 ½ 0 ½ X ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 11½
 8. Teichmann  0 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ X ½ 0 0 ½ 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 11½
 9. Schlechter 1 0 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ X ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 11
10. Blackburne ½ 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 ½ X 0 1 0 1 0 ½ 1 0 1 0 1 1 10½
11. Walbordt   ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 1 1 ½ 1 X 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 1 10
12. Janowski   0 1 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 0 1 X ½ 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ 1 0 1 9½
13. Mason      0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ ½ X 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 1 9½
14. Burn       0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 9½
15. Gunsberg   0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 X 0 1 ½ 0 1 0 0 9
16. Bird       0 ½ 0 0 1 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ 1 X 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 9
17. Albin      0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 0 X 0 0 1 1 ½ 8½
18. Marco      ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 1 0 ½ ½ 1 X 1 1 0 ½ 8½
19. Pollock    0 0 0 1 1 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 1 1 1 0 X 0 0 1 9
20. Mieses     0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 1 X 1 1 7½
21. Tinsley    0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 0 X 1 7½
22. Vergani    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 X 3

Steinitz vs. von Bardeleben

The position on the right arose after a Guioco Piano: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxd5! Bxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Re1 f6 15.Qe2 Qd7 16.Rac1 c6? 17.d5! cxd5 18.Nd4 Kf7 19.Ne6 Rhc8 20.Qg4 g6 21.Ng5+ Ke8. (See algebraic chess notation.)

At this point Steinitz played one of the most famous moves in history: 22.Rxe7+!!, amazingly leaving all of his pieces open to capture. Black cannot capture the White Rook (22...Qxe7 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Qxc8+ Qd8 25.Qxd8+, etc. and White wins easily with his extra piece, while 22...Kxe7 23.Re1+ Kd6 24.Qb4+ Rc5 25.Ne6 wins easily as well), however, White cannot capture the Black Queen (or play any other non-forcing move, for that matter), because Rxc1 is instantly mate for Black! As a result, Steinitz's Rook now "thumbs its nose" at the Black King, so to speak: repeatedly checking right in front of the King, which cannot capture it, in order to prevent Rxc1.

The game continued 22...Kf8 23.Rf7+ Kg8 24.Rg7+ Kh8 25.Rxh7+!!

This crucial move eliminates the h-pawn and allows White to bring in his Queen to attack without ever allowing Black to play Rxc1 and mate. Bowing to the inevitable (or perhaps frustrated that even with mate in one, he could not capitalize), von Bardeleben simply left the tournament hall, letting his time run out! Steinitz demonstrated for the spectators how the game might have continued:

25...Kg8 26.Rg7+ Kh8 27.Qh4+ Kxg7 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qg7+ Ke8 31.Qg8+ Ke7 32.Qf7+ Kd8 33.Qf8+ Qe8 34.Nf7+ Kd7 35.Qd6#



Pillsbury vs. Gunsberg

The game was played in the last round. Pillsbury was leading the field by half a point. He had assumed that a draw would be enough, and the game therefore opened with the relatively placid Queen's Gambit Declined. Pieces were rapidly traded off the board, reaching the position in the diagram, when Pillsbury realized that Chigorin was winning his game and therefore he would have to win to take clear first. What followed from this apparently drawn position was pure magic, a delightful display of genius.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 g6 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne5 dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nd5 9. f4 Be6 10. Qb3 b5 11. Bxd5 Bxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Qxd5 cxd5 14. Nd3 Nd7 15. Bd2 Rfc8 16. Ke2 e6 17. Rhc1 Bf8 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 19. Rc1 Rxc1 20. Bxc1 Bd6 21. Bd2 Kf8 22. Bb4 Ke7 23. Bc5 a6 24. b4 f6 25.g4 Bxc5 26. bxc5 Nb8 (diagram)

27. f5! g5 28. Nb4 a5 29. c6! Kd6 30. fxe6! Nxc6 31. Nxc6 Kxc6 32. e4! dxe4 33. d5+ Kd6 34. Ke3 b4 35. Kxe4 a4 36. Kd4 h5 37. gxh5 a3 38.Kc4 f5 39. h6 f4 40. h7 and Black resigned.

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