CHAPTER IX

Up to and including manhattan chess club masters tournament.

During the rest of the winter I gave a few simultaneous seances in different
cities of the united states, visiting the pacific coast for the first time. I rested
during the summer, and in november and december of the same year I gave
a few lectures at the manhattan chess club, and one simultaneous
performance. I then went home to Habana for Christmas and new year, and
finally decided to spend the winter there, and after resting to return to the
United States. But although I was very ill and had to stay in Habana the rest
of that year, and part of the next. Finally, late in May of 1918 I returned once
more to new york. I had not played chess for one and a half years, but an
event occurred which undoubtedly will have some influence on my future
career. There was in Habana a young girl of from twelve to fourteen years of
age who interested me a great deal. Not only was she intelligent and
modest in every respect, but what is more to th point, she played chess
quite well ( I believe that to day she probably is the strongest lady player in
the world, though only fifteen or seventeen years old). I offered to give her a
few lessons before I sailed. My offer was accepted, and I decided to teach
her something of the openings and the middlegame along general principles
and in accordance with certain theories which I had had in m mind for some
time, but which I had never expounded to anybody.

In order to explain and teach my theories I had to study, so it came about

that, for the first time in my life, I devoted some time to the working of
openings. I had the great satisfaction of finding that my ideas were, as far as
I could see, quite correct. Thus it happened that I actually learned more
myself than my pupil, though I hope that my young lady friend benefited by
the dozen or so lessons that I gave her. It came about that I thus
strengthened the weakest part of my game, the openings, and that I also
was able to prove to my own satisfaction the great value of certain theories
which I had evolved my own mind. I played very little during the rest of the
year until I took part in the Masters Tournament, held at the Manhattan
Chess Club. The tournament began in October, so that I had not played a
single serious game of chess for nearly two years. In this condition I was to
meet successfully on the very first day what might be called the supreme
test of mastership in chess. I with the White pieces had Marshall for a
opponent, and to my surprise he allowed me to play a Ruy lopez, something
which he ad not done for some ten years, since our historic match. The
reason was that he had found and prepared a variation for me, and had kept
it for two years, awaiting the opportunity of playing it in a tournament
against me. The game and the notes that I give below will tell the rest. The
finish of this double round tournament with seven players found me first,
with nine wins and three draws, which will show that there is a great deal of
nonsense contained in the excuses of some masters, and of some socalled
masters, when they do badly in a tournament, and attribute their failure to
lack of practice. Kostic came out second, with six wins and six draws (a fine
performance), and Marshall was third. I beat Marshall in both games, while
Kostic drew both of his games against me, and won one and drew one
against Marshall. The other competitors were: Janowski, Chajes, Black and
Morrison, the last named being the Canadian champion. I give below two
games from this tournament.

I now felt that Marshall had prepared something for me, expecting me to
play B Q5, therefore without hesitation I played my next move.

And now I was sure that I had fallen into a prepared variation.

I thought for a little while before playing this, knowing that I would be
subjected thereafter to a terrific attack, all the lines of which would be of
necessity familiar to my adversary. The lust of battle, however, had been
aroused within me. I felt that my judgment and skill were being challenged
by a player who had every reason to fear both (as shown by the records of
our previous encounters), but who wanted to take advantage of the element
of surprise and of the fact of my being unfamiliar with a thing to which he
had devoted many a night of toil and hard work. I considered the position
then and decided that I was in honour bound, so to speak, to take the P and
accept the challenge, as my knowledge and judgment told me that my
position should thn be defensible.

The normal move P Q4, would finally lead to the same position. I knew this
as I worked out the variation in my own mind, and decided on the text
move, because I thought I might thus put my opponent a little more on his
own and away from rhe analysis. It did not, however, produce such an
effect.
CAPITULO IX

Hasta e incluyendo el torneo de maestros del club de ajedrez de manhattan.

Durante el resto del invierno di unas cuantas sesiones simultneas en

diferentes ciudades de los Estados Unidos, visitando la costa pacfica por
primera vez. Descans durante el verano, y en noviembre y diciembre del
mismo ao di unas pocas conferencias en el club de ajedrez de Manhattan y
una actuacin simultnea. Luego fui a casa a Habana para Navidad y ao
nuevo, y finalmente decid pasar el invierno all, y despus de descansar
para regresar a los Estados Unidos. Pero aunque estaba muy enfermo y tuve
que quedarme en Habana el resto de ese ao, y parte de la siguiente.
Finalmente, a finales de mayo de 1918 volv una vez ms a Nueva York. No
haba jugado al ajedrez durante un ao y medio, pero ocurri un evento que
indudablemente tendr alguna influencia en mi futura carrera. Haba en
Habana una joven de doce a catorce aos que me interesaba mucho. No
slo era inteligente y modesta en todos los aspectos, pero lo que es ms
importante, jug bastante bien al ajedrez (creo que es probable que hoy sea
la jugadora ms fuerte del mundo, aunque slo tenga quince o diecisiete
aos). Me ofrec darle algunas lecciones antes de navegar. Mi oferta fue
aceptada y decid ensearle algo de las aperturas y del medio juego con
principios generales y de acuerdo con ciertas teoras que haba tenido en
mente durante algn tiempo, pero que nunca haba expuesto a nadie.

Con el fin de explicar y ensear mis teoras tuve que estudiar, as que se
produjo que, por primera vez en mi vida, dedic un tiempo al trabajo de
aperturas. Tuve la gran satisfaccin de encontrar que mis ideas eran, por lo
que pude ver, bastante correctas. As sucedi que en realidad aprend ms
que mi alumna, aunque espero que mi amiga se beneficie de la docena de
lecciones que le di. Se produjo que reforc as la parte ms dbil de mi
juego, las aperturas, y que tambin pude demostrar a mi propia satisfaccin
el gran valor de ciertas teoras que yo haba desarrollado mi propia mente.
Jugu muy poco durante el resto del ao hasta que particip en el Torneo de
Maestros, celebrado en el Manhattan Chess Club. El torneo comenz en
octubre, de modo que no haba jugado un solo juego serio de ajedrez
durante casi dos aos. En esta condicin deba reunir con xito en el primer
da lo que podra llamarse la prueba suprema de la maestra en el ajedrez.
Yo con las piezas blancas tena Marshall para un oponente, y para mi
sorpresa me permiti jugar un Ruy lopez, algo que no ha hecho durante
unos diez aos, desde nuestro histrico partido. La razn era que haba
encontrado y preparado una variacin para m, y lo haba mantenido
durante dos aos, esperando la oportunidad de jugar en un torneo contra
m. El juego y las notas que doy abajo le dirn al resto. El final de este
torneo de doble ronda con siete jugadores me encontr en primer lugar, con
nueve victorias y tres empates, lo que demostrar que hay un montn de
tonteras contenidas en las excusas de algunos maestros y de algunos
maestros, cuando hacen mal En un torneo, y atribuyen su fracaso a la falta
de prctica. Kostic sali segundo, con seis victorias y seis empates (una
buena actuacin), y Marshall fue tercero. Golpe a Marshall en ambos
partidos, mientras que Kostic empat sus dos partidos contra m, y gan uno
y empat uno contra Marshall. Los otros competidores fueron: Janowski,
Chajes, Black y Morrison, siendo el ltimo el campen canadiense. Doy a
continuacin dos juegos de este torneo.

Ahora senta que Marshall haba preparado algo para m, esperando que
jugara B Q5, por lo tanto, sin dudarlo, jugu mi siguiente jugada.

Y ahora estaba seguro de que haba cado en una variacin preparada.

Pens durante un rato antes de tocar esto, sabiendo que me sometera
despus a un terrible ataque, cuyas lneas seran necesariamente familiares
para mi adversario. La lujuria de la batalla, sin embargo, se haba
despertado en m. Sent que mi juicio y habilidad estaban siendo desafiados
por un jugador que tena todas las razones para temer a ambos (como lo
demuestran los registros de nuestros encuentros anteriores), pero que
quera aprovechar el elemento de sorpresa y el hecho de mi ser No
familiarizado con una cosa a la que haba dedicado muchas horas de trabajo
y duro trabajo. Consider entonces la posicin y decid que estaba en honor,
por as decirlo, de tomar el P y aceptar el desafo, ya que mi conocimiento y
juicio me decan que mi posicin deba ser defendible.

El movimiento normal P Q4, finalmente conducira a la misma posicin. Lo

saba a medida que trabajaba en la variacin en mi propia mente, y decid
sobre el movimiento de texto, porque pens que podra poner as a mi
oponente un poco ms por su cuenta y lejos del anlisis. Sin embargo, no
produjo tal efecto.