Teichmann — Spielmann

St Petersburg, 1909

• Richard Teichmann (1868–1925)German master nicknamed "Richard the Fifth" for his habit of finishing fifth, whose best result was winning the strong Carlsbad tournament of 1911.
• Rudolf Spielmann (1883–1942)Austrian master, one of the strongest attacking players of the early twentieth century, nicknamed "the last knight of the King's Gambit" and the author of the classic book on sacrifice "Richtig opfern" (1935).

Info

The "second game" discussed here is Tarrasch — Spielmann, which has its own page — the two games reached the same position after ten moves by transposition.

Let us look at two games. In the first, White did not see to the e3-e4 advance in time, and Black took a firm grip on the initiative. In the second, White prudently retreated the bishop to c2 (11. ♗c2 instead of 11. ♗e2) and thanks to this carried out e3-e4 successfully.

Boards can be stepped through with the mouse wheel, a swipe, or the arrow keys — not just the buttons below them. Interactive boards

12345678abcdefgh

1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
5. 5.
6. In the years when this game was played, this opening position came up many times. Today it is much rarer. After 3. e3 White is thought to have a hard time getting an advantage, because the bishop on c1 is shut in. Even so, players still turn to this opening now and then
7. 6.
8. Black takes the chance to win a tempo right away: the white bishop reaches c4 in two moves
9. 7.
10. 8.
11. 9.
12. 10.
13. 11.
14. After this move White would make it easier to push the central pawn to e4, and would thereby keep Black's pieces from settling on d5
15. Engine analysis makes it even more precise to relieve the queenside at once
16. 11.
17. 12.
18. Black's pawns on b4 and c4 badly cramp White's queenside. So in what follows Teichmann tries to carry out two things. First, he wants to stir up this dangerous pawn pair somehow, so that he can wedge his pieces between them; second, he wants to try to get his own pawn center moving. Alas, he did not manage to bring this plan off
19. 13.
20. 14.
21. 15.
22. Here is the planned break
23. If White had tried to prepare e3-e4, then, as Em. Lasker points out in the tournament book, Black could play(Black's pawn on c4 is out of danger)Winning a pawn
24. 15.
26. 16.
27. 17.
28. Now it is White who wants to play e3-e4 at last, but the plan collapses
29. 17.
30. 18.
31. 19.
32. 20.
33. 21.
34. This, of course, is no better for White
35. 21.
36. 22.
37. 23.
38. 24.
39. 25.
40. And Black soon won