Chess Amateur Plays Four Brilliant Moves - Best of the 1900s - Halprin vs. Pillsbury, 1900
Harry Nelson Pillsbury was one of the great masters of the early 1900s. Had his health been stable for longer, a world championship match between him and Lasker seemed nigh inevitable.
With two rounds to go in the Munich tournament of 1900, Pillsbury lead the field and looked likely to book another major victory - one of his finest. In the penultimate round, he faced a tail-ender in Alexander Halprin and was a huge favorite, but one of his rivals, Geza Maroczy, had spotted a spectacular idea from a previous game by Pillsbury in the event. Maroczy showed this stunning sequence and his analysis to Halprin. Halprin was a great student and plunged into the line against an unsuspecting Pillsbury, stringing together a sequence of near-knockout blows.
To his credit, Pillsbury defended excellently, but as his hopes of victory slipped away, so did his chances of tournament success. Ultimately he had to settle for shared first with Maroczy and Carl Schlechter.
Top 10 Games of the 1900s
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- #4: Halprin vs. Pillsbury, 1900
- #5: Daly vs. Young, 1907
- #6: Toupalik vs. Ort, 1907
- #7: Marshall vs. Capablanca, 1909
- #8: Janowski vs. Tarrasch, 1905
- #9: Krejcik vs. Krobst, 1908
- #10: Chigorin vs. Mortimer, 1900
- See also: Top 10 of the 1910s, Top 10 of the 1920s, Top 10 of the 1930s, Top 10 of the 1940s, Top 10 of the 1950s, Top 10 of the 1960s, Top 10 of the 1970s, Top 10 of the 1980s, Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s
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