Internationales Schachturnier Baden-Baden 1925 - 2nd hand

Dr. Tarrasch explained “Not to publish a collection of the games of such an important and strong tournament as has just ended, would be tantamount to embezzlement. But I have refrained from annotating the games, since full commentaries would have taken too much time, and superficial notes - better not at all! On the other hand I have speeded up the appearance of the tournament book to the utmost”.

Preface by Jimmy Adams to the English Translation:

If there is one event which fully characterises the colour and excitement of the palmy days of Hypermodern Chess - then this must be the Baden Baden tournament of 1925.
Despite the absence of the past, present and future world champions, Lasker, Capablanca and Euwe, most of the world's chess elite accepted Dr. Tarrasch’s invitation to take part in a competition which would surpass even those tournaments of Germany’s golden pre-War period. So many different countries were represented that the Baden Baden contest was dubbed “The Championship of Europe”, while, in addition, America also sent its best players.
Here, as never before, the new, experimental - and frequently extravagant - hypermodern ideas were given full freedom of expression. There was truly an explosion of innovations: Grnfeld played the Grünfeld Defence, Bogolyubov the Bogolyubov-Indian; Nimzovich replied 1...Nc6 to both 1 d4 and 1 e4; the Alekhine Defence provoked White fifteen times. Torre outraged with his Mexican Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6!?; for Black there were King’s Indians and Queen’s Indians, while, for White, Reti prepared to fianchetto on the first move, 1 g3, and Nimzovich, on the second, 1 NO d5 2 b3. Tartakover indulged in 1 c3, the Saragossa Opening, and even a bayonet attack against the Dutch. When Marshall and Spielmann were not gambiting with 1 e4 c5 2 b4!?, Black was defending with the Dragon, Scheveningen or Paulsen Sicilians. Carls played 1 c4 at every opportunity, while, in the Queen’s Gambit, White came up with several sharp attacks, in particular against the Meran Variation, which had itself only been introduced the previous year.
No wonder the ambitious Alekhine, as a consequence, was inspired to write what proved to be the longest openings survey of his life! Indeed, Baden Baden was of great historical significance in that it was Alekhine’s first outright win in a really great tournament. His dazzling play prompted Tartakover to make his famous declaration: “Capablanca is world champion, Dr. Lasker was world champion, but Alekhine plays the way a world champion should play!” Two years later, Alexander Alekhine became world champion.
Only one month after the completion of the tournament, the well-known chess publisher of those days, Bernhard Kagan of Berlin, brought out a book with all the games - but without any annotations. In the foreword Dr. Tarrasch explained “Not to publish a collection of the games of such an important and strong tournament as has just ended, would be tantamount to embezzlement. But I have refrained from annotating the games, since full commentaries would have taken too much time, and superficial notes - better not at all! On the other hand I have speeded up the appearance of the tournament book to the utmost”.
With remarkable enterprise, a dissatisfied Russian, Nikolai Grekov, who, like Kagan, ran his own chess magazine, set about the task of producing a much better book. After some delay a marvellous Baden Baden tournament book, containing notes to all 210 games - many by the players themselves - was published in the Soviet Union two years later.
Since Grekov’s book, a limited edition of only 5,000 copies, is virtually unobtainable today, the present translation, which further includes additional annotations and background material, becomes all the more valuable to modern-day readers. Perhaps, to conclude, we can do no better than quote Kagan’s enthusiastic recommendation of this collection – “I do not know of any other tournament in which so many interesting games were played!”

Jimmy Adams, London 1990

• Casa editrice British Chess Magazine
• Code 1636us
• Anno 1975
• Pagine 127
• Isbn 900846-16-X