Winner's POV Chapter 22: The Anderssen Jubilee (Leipzig 1877)
In Winner's POV, we take a look at tournaments from the 19th century and see the games that allowed the top player to prevail. Some tournaments will be known and famous, others will be more obscure - in a time period where competition is scarce, I believe there is some value in digging for hidden gems in the form of smaller, less known events.
Chapter 22: The Anderssen Jubilee (Leipzig 1877)
In 1827, at the age of nine, Adolf Anderssen first learned the game of chess from his father. Although chess came second to his education and career, it was clear that he was a talented player; he drew a match with Daniel Harrwitz in 1848 (+5-5), who Edo ranks as the #5 player in the world for that year. His long and illustrious career would include winning the first major international tournament at London 1851 (see here), the first major round robin tournament at London 1862 (see here), and the first ever super-tournament at Baden Baden 1870 (see here).
In 1876, during a congress of the Central German Chess Federation (which Anderssen also won, defeating Carl Göring and Karl Pitschel in the playoff) it was decided that the 1877 congress would be held to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of their strongest player learning the royal game. It would be the largest tournament held by a regional federation, and would also be where the national federation would be formed. We'll see the result of forming a national congress later, as they played a big role in the 1880s, but that's a topic for another day.
Format and Prizes
Twelve players competed in a single round robin, where draws were not replayed. The time control was 20 moves per hour, and two games had to be played per day. The time control is a little long for double game days, at least by our standards - we tend to receive only 30 minutes after move 40, not an hour, and increment doesn't fully close this gap - but I didn't read about any delays being caused so I assume it all worked out.
The prizes, per the tournament book:
Trying to look up how to properly value 400 German marks has been giving me a headache, so I'm not going to bother trying.
Players
Using the 1876 Edo list, the field is topped by Johannes Zukertort (2nd), Louis Paulsen (4th), Anderssen (6th), and Szymon Winawer (7th). Also in the tournament are strong, not-quite-world-class players like Göring, Wilfried Paulsen and the tournament book writer Emil Schallopp.
The Winner: Louis Paulsen
As poetic as it would have been for Anderssen to win his own tournament, that wasn't the case. Still, it's been a long time since we've focused on a Paulsen success - ever since his win at Bristol 1861 (see here) I don't think we've shown a single win of his in the series. Although his appearances at international tournaments were rather mixed, he was still doing well for himself at the regional tournaments, including this one. For the second time in this series, we study Paulsen's chess as we look at the Leipzig 1877 tournament from the Winner's POV.
Round 1: vs. Johannes Metger
With the Germans being very organized people, there were actual rounds in this event, and this was the first. This was Metger's tournament debut, and the start of a 30-year career (I've found tournament games of his until 1907). His results were subpar, but he found some success as a tournament director for Baden Baden 1925, the first large German tournament after World War 1, so his contributions to chess had some variety.
The defensive Paulsen used the French in this game, and Metger's Kingside attack allowed Paulsen to demonstrate why his reputation was such. His King was somewhat drafty, but Metger was forced to find the correct path forward, which usually involved a Queenside castle. However, the complications that arose after such a move were not correctly calculated by Metger, and when he finally castled Kingside, the result was a very even position without much attacking.
As more moves were played, it was clear Paulsen knew how the position should be played better than Metger. Things came to a head immediately after the Queens were traded, as Metger blundered a pawn that left him in a worse Rook endgame. While Paulsen's conversion wasn't perfect, he gradually progressed on the Kingside, where his extra pawn made it all the way to the second rank to force resignation.
Round 2: vs. Johannes Zukertort
The last time these two played was at a regional tournament in 1869, where one game was drawn and the replay was won by Paulsen. However, that was prior to Zukertort moving to London and becoming one of their best players, so things were certainly different this time around.
Twenty years after losing to Paul Morphy in the finals of the 1st ACC, Paulsen brought back the Four Knights Spanish. Things went wrong early for Zukertort, who chose to double the pawns in front of his King instead of sacrificing a central pawn for activity. Paulsen very quickly showed that the pawn would be lost anyway, and soon had a strong attack brewing.
Zukertort's a very crafty player, and found a strong counterattack along the open g-file. He nearly succeeded in finding equality, but Paulsen's 24. Bxh7 ensured that the full point would be awarded to him. As it was the only move to win the game, and Paulsen isn't much of an attacker, I figured the move would be worthy of being in the banner for this chapter.
Round 3: vs. Ernst Flechsig
Flechsig's main calling was chemistry, not chess; he would earn his PhD in 1878. However, he was still a respectable amateur in the German chess circles, and even contributed to some editions of the Handbuch des Schachspiels, the world's best opening book at the time.
Perhaps Flechsig's reputation was one of an opening specialist, which would explain why Paulsen went for Owen's Defense in this game. With a novelty occurring on move 5, it was pretty clear that neither player had any knowledge going in, and both were playing on their own. One would think this would benefit Paulsen, but he actually gave Flechsig two different chances to play the knockout blow - either 11. Nxe6 or 12. Ne6 would have gifted him a borderline winning position. However, both opportunities were missed, and Paulsen ended up being the one to apply pressure on Flechsig's uncastled King.
Flechsig played a pretty exchange sacrifice that started with 19. Ng4, forcing Paulsen to prove that he could attack the White King. He actually couldn't, and ended up dropping two pawns as his pieces scrambled to defend. While the endgame had the potential to be complex and double edged, Flechsig ruined things by blundering a sequence that ended with him being down a full Rook. A close save for Paulsen, who very well could've lost this game.
Round 4: vs. Carl Göring
These two had played twice thus far at the regional events: Paulsen won their encounter in 1871, while Göring won in 1876. Interestingly, both games took 74 moves.
Göring elected for the Double Spanish in this game, which was considered preferable to Zukertort's 4... Bc5 from round 2. A fire seemed ignited under Paulsen's shoes, as he quickly played h3 and g4 to announce his intentions on the Kingside. After 20 moves had been played, almost all of his forces were applying some form of pressure on the Kingside, in the kind of style we would have expected 10-20 years prior.
The position became very complicated, moreso for Göring who struggled to properly offset the pressure. As the pieces came off the board, the tactics all worked in Paulsen's favour, who used them to win material amid the Black King running for shelter. Four points in two days is good for Paulsen, though there's one more opponent for him before he gets a break.
Round 5: vs. Szymon Winawer
What has Winawer been up to since we last saw him at Baden Baden 1870? Well, not much. The most activity was in the year 1875, where he appears to have been in Russia, and played a match against the respected analyst Ilya Shumov (winning +5-2). While Russia was not yet the chess powerhouse we know it to be, I'm sure Winawer got some valuable practice during his time there.
Trying to avoid the Four Knights, Winawer played a Bishop sacrifice on f2 that unfortunately isn't too sound. However, Paulsen shut out one of his own Bishops, so by the time both players had their Kings tucked away, the position was about equal. It was Winawer who went on the attack this game, taking advantage of Paulsen's lame light-square Bishop to launch an attack on the Kingside. The pawns were thrown down the board, and the defensive Paulsen was forced to defend.
Unfortunately for Paulsen, things went wrong as Winawer kept opening up the Kingside. Despite there being no pawns in front of his King, Winawer was perfectly safe as his pieces infiltrated Paulsen's position. By the time Paulsen's Bishop got into the game, it was too late, as his King was too far gone. At last, a reminder that Paulsen is human like the rest of us.
There was no second game on this day, as the banquet was held in the evening. Thus, after the first three days, the score stands as follows:
Despite the loss, Paulsen still holds a half point lead, as Anderssen's start to the event has been rather slow. However, we're only at the halfway point, so there's plenty of room for drama. Let's keep going.
Round 6: vs. Karl Leffmann
We're at the next installment of "I know basically nothing about this guy." He has games for two tournaments: this, and another German tournament in 1883. I'll file him under "unknown German amateurs."
There isn't much to talk about for this game. Leffmann delayed castling, and when the weak e6-square was occupied by Paulsen's Knight, that resulted in the center being blown open and Leffmann losing to the resulting tactics. A nice bounce back after yesterday's loss, and one that keeps Paulsen in the lead.
Round 7: vs. Wilfried Paulsen
Louis Paulsen's older brother was less famous as a chess player, and apparently more so as a potato breeder. He's competed at some of the regional German tournaments, winning at the 6th and 10th West German Chess Congresses (Cologne 1867 and Dusseldorf 1876, respectively). The brothers usually tried to avoid entering tournaments together, and as one with a brother myself, I understand completely.
In a double fianchetto opening, Louis seemed to be playing in the Hypermodern style from the beginning. As Wilfried's pawns were pushed up the board, Louis's Knights placed themselves on the resulting outposts, while his Bishops calmly repositioned themselves away from the blocked diagonals. The engine evaluation stayed quite even, but the Black pieces were certainly having more fun.
Once Louis opened the f-file and began attacking f2, Wilfried's position began to crumble. Defensive techniques were not so well developed at this time, and as Wilfried was forced to defend passively, the cracks got larger and larger. The final nail in the coffin was Louis's 33... e4+, after which the tactics once again worked in his favour.
Round 8: vs. August Wilhelm Franke
The tournament book calls him "Professor Dr. A. Franke," as apparently he was the principal of a secondary school in the city of Celle. In terms of chess, this is his first event (of two), so let's look at his debut.
It was only a matter of time until the King's Gambit was shown, and Franke provided us with it in this game. He elected for the same 4. Qe2 line that James Mason essayed in his only loss in the previous chapter. While Franke's play wasn't quite so egregious, it was quickly clear that he wasn't posing any problems for Paulsen, who quickly showed as much. Really, there isn't much to talk about; Franke played the King's Gambit without ever actually attacking, and was the one who got checkmated in the end.
Round 9: vs. Emil Schallopp
When Schallopp last appeared in this series, I said that I would try to use his writing when it came up, and I kept my word. Schallopp did the annotations for the tournament book, and they're honestly pretty good. His play isn't quite at the level of some of the other players, but he's still a worthy competitor.
Paulsen played a more normal French this time, and the players followed a game from the day before, Anderssen - Flechsig, for 13 moves. Unlike Flechsig, Paulsen found a pretty exchange sacrifice on his 13th move, which was responded to incorrectly by Schallopp. His two central pawns were deleted, keeping material equality but not quality. The position was undoubtedly better for Paulsen.
Things were accelerated when Schallopp castled Queenside, which was not a safe side of the board for his King. His Bishop was quickly pinned, and once it was lost, the rest of the endgame was hopeless. Paulsen was running away with the tournament, and there wasn't much time left to stop him.
Round 10: vs. Berthold Englisch
Englisch was born in July 1851, so right at the tail end of the first international chess tournament. Ignatz Kolisch said that "it is very difficult to win a game of him, but also difficult to lose one," though this was made in the 1880s so it's hard to see if it applies here. Let's see for ourselves.
A Four Knights English (which is, like, ironic, right?) was the battlefield for this game, with Paulsen taking on an isolated Queen's pawn. If this was an earlier game in the tournament, it had the potential to be more interesting; as it happened, the players began trading off pieces, and had it simplified to a R+N vs. R+B endgame before move 30. I would've expected the players to shake hands at about this point, but as it turns out, they first wanted to simplify things into a pure King and pawn endgame.
Now, as we know, the Romantic era was not one where the endgame was super correctly evaluated. Paulsen was actually quite incorrect to trade Rooks, as the resulting endgame was dead lost. However, Englisch missed the key move to win it, 34... d4, and his move then lost him the game. The players reached a classic "mined squares" position, and after Paulsen demonstrated that he could waste more tempi, the endgame was decided. A rough endgame for Englisch, who did not deserve to lose that game, until he did.
Before we enter the final round, I'd like to show you the standings, for context:
We knew that Paulsen would still be in the lead, as he won all of his last five games, but I feel it important to mention that he won the tournament with a round to spare. You'll hopefully see why this is important as we look at his game against the man of the hour.
Round 11: vs. Adolf Anderssen
It's actually somewhat absurd how lopsided this matchup has appeared in this series. We showed Anderssen's wins over Paulsen at London 1862 and Baden Baden 1870, and at Vienna, Anderssen also won their match 2-0. However, the rivalry was closer than it's presented here. Paulsen won a short match after Baden Baden (+2=1), and then two longer matches in 1876 and 1877, so I don't want anyone thinking that he's just Anderssen's punching bag. That being said...
Anderssen broke out the opening that bears his name, almost 20 years after he tried it against Morphy in their 1858 match. Something was off about Anderssen's play, as it was slow and very anti-developmental, which we never expect from him. While his position certainly wasn't great, none of it matters because Paulsen blundered his Queen on move 23. This is why I wanted to point out that Paulsen had already clinched the tournament, because that's the best reason I can think of for why he played such a careless move. A sadly anticlimactic game, but I'm always happy to show another Anderssen victory when given the chance.
Conclusion
Anderssen and Zukertort played a playoff game to determine second place, and that game was won by Anderssen.
Overall, the Leipzig 1877 congress was a massive success. Anderssen got a proper celebration for his 50 years of knowing the game of chess, Paulsen got his first major tournament win in many years (and his last, unfortunately), and the German Chess Federation was formed from the combination of the many regional clubs. This new national Federation would host its first tournament in 1879, and we'll be looking into that event shortly. But before then, we have another World Fair to attend, and it will mark the start of some interesting drama in the chess world, so it'll be the subject of our attention when we next convene. I'll see you there.
Chapter 20 (links to 16-19)
Chapter 15 (links to 11-14)
Chapter 10 (links to 6-9)
Chapter 5 (links to 1-4)
