Author: Bernhard Kagan (1866-1932)
Year: 1923
Publisher: Schachverlag Berhard Kagan
Place: Berlin
Description:
198+[2 ad] pages with diagrams and portraits. Royal octavo (9 1/4" x 6 1/4") bound in original publisher's cloth over paper boards. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:5355) First edition.
The third master tournament to be held in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia was held from April 27 to May 22, 1923. Twenty-two masters were invited, the same as in 1911, but only seventeen were able to accept their invitations. Among the players who could not attend for various reasons were Milan Vidmar, David Janowski, and Fyodor Ivanovich Dus Chotimirsky. Friedrich Saemisch was brought in as a reserve to create an even number of players.
The eighteen participants played their games in the Helenenhof Imperial Hotel. Among them were an array of European chess masters, including Alexander Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubov, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Akiba Rubinstein. Only the world champion Jose Raul Capablanca, former world champion Emanuel Lasker, and Frank James Marshall were not invited. Although Alekhine had arrived late due to passport trouble, he dominated for much of the tournament until the penultimate round, where his loss to Rudolf Spielmann allowed Geza Maroczy to catch up. Bogoljubov also managed to close the gap, tying with them due to his final round win against Karel Treybal. The three winners earned 3,505 Czech Crowns for their victory, with Alekhine earning an additional "Prize of Honor," a crystal goblet worth 1,000 Crowns, and Bogoljubov receiving a cash prize worth half Alekhine's prize. The tournament also saw the distribution of ten brilliancy prizes, including three "first prizes" which went to Alekhine for his win against Ernst Gruenfeld, Aron Nimzowitsch for his win against Fred Dewhirst Yates, and Yates for his win against Alekhine.
Condition:
Edge wear, corners bumped and rubbed spine ends rubbed, pages age toned else very good.