Das Internationale Schachturnier des Schaclubs Nurnberg im Juli - August 1896

iv+294 pages with frontispiece, diagrams and tables. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 3/4") bound in three quarter leather with marbled boards and gilt lettering to spine. From the library of Prager Schachklub(Linde-Niemeijeriana:5244) First edition.

After the German Championship at Leipzig in 1894, the committee of the Nuremberg Chess Club, of which Tarrasch was a member, had lobbied heavily to obtain the next championship in 1896. After St Petersburg in it seemed to Tarrasch that his home ground was a perfect setting for restoring him to chess supremacy, so the club set out to attract the best players available including the four contestants at St Petersburg. Interest was high and thirty-nine masters sent in their entries. Twenty were chosen, but at the last minute two of these - Berthold Englisch, the veteran German master, and Amos Burn, the English master - had to withdraw. But to the remaining eighteen, in order that every player might enjoy a day off, the committee, on the recommendation of Moroczy then entering his first master tournament, added the young Budapest player Rudolph Charousek, who, although he was not yet able to contend for a prize, certainly had his moments. Also among the contestants was the veteran Simon Winawer, who had submitted his entry at Hastings but had requested to be allowed to play under an assumed name? His request was denied, but one wonders if he was being hounded by creditors and what disguise he would have assumed to avoid them! Other additions to the field were the nominal U S Champion, Jackson W Schowalter and two German veterans, Schallopp and Porges. Of the absent only Burn was missed. A tournament misfortune was Teichmann's illness which ruined his chances in the early rounds. While he scored only two points in the first 16 rounds, he doubled that score in the last three! There was one other temporary fly in the ointment. Because of their great effort to make the championship tournament a success, the Nuremberg committee did not want to assume responsibility for holding the Hauptturnier and the other minor tournaments, which were customarily the adjunct to the biennial championships. This intramural squabble led to the angry departure of Max Lange and other leaders of the association to Eisenach, where they held a "rump" of minor tournaments.

Condition:

Rebound in 3/4 leather with marbled boards, rubbing to extremities, heavily stamped through out with the Prager Schachklub stamp, else a good to very good copy.