St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament

The tournament celebrated the 10th anniversary of the St. Petersburg Chess Society. President of the organizing committee was Peter Petrovich Saburov. Members of the commitee were: Boris Maliutin, Peter Alexandrovich Saburov, and O. Sossnitzky. [ [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/saburovs.html The Saburovs by Edward Winter ] ] They intended to invite the present top twenty chess players, with world champion Emanuel Lasker, challenger José Raúl Capablanca, and the two winners of the All-Russian Masters' Tournament 1913/14 (Alexander Alekhine and Aron Nimzowitsch). Unfortunately, Amos Burn, Richard Teichmann, and Szymon Winawer declined for reasons, such as old age. From the other side, Oldřich Duras, Géza Maróczy, Carl Schlechter, Rudolf Spielmann, Savielly Tartakower, Milan Vidmar and Max Weiss could not accept due to tensions of Russia with Austria-Hungary in the year 1914. Finally, eleven top players from Germany, France, United Kingdom, United States, Cuba, and Russian Empire were accepted.

The players got an excellent compensation for their expenses. Lasker got an additional 4500 Rubles for his first tournament in five years. Capablanca was well paid as well. Prizes or money for draws and wins had to be earned. The main event lasted from 21 April to 22 May 1914. The games were played at the St. Petersburg Chess Club in the afternoon and evening. The tempo was 30 moves in 2 hours, followed by 22 in 1½ hours and 15 per hour for the rest of the game. [http://www.endgame.nl/stpeter.htm]

Preliminaries

The preliminaries started as a round-robin tournament. Five players qualified for the final. Capablanca played superior chess in the preliminaries. The great surprise was the elimination of Akiba Rubinstein. The elite of Sankt Petersburg was present on a grand banquet at the end of the preliminaries. Sergei Prokofiev gave a piano recital.

The results and standings: [http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/1900-49/1914spietroburgo.htm]

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Final

The arrogant Capablanca expected to win, but amorous escapades weakened his strength. Lasker played less brilliantly, but his fighting spirit was incredible. His score of 7/8 in the the doubled rounded finals was magnificent. Lasker won 1200 Rubles, Capablanca 800 Rubles, Alekhine 500 Rubles, Tarrasch 300 Rubles, and Marshall 250 Rubles. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who had partially funded the tournament, awarded the Grandmaster title to the five finalists. [citation
last=Sunnucks | first=Anne |authorlink=Anne Sunnucks
year=1970
title=The Encyclopaedia of Chess
publisher=St. Martins Press
ISBN=978-0709146971]

The final results and standings: [http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/1900-49/1914spietroburgo.htm]

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References