Take Aways?

[James Pratt]

O'Connell (1983) in his book on Bird's gives a game Bird-Steinitz, a match game won by the then World Champion in 18 moves, and apparently played in 1867. But ChessBase gives 1866.

O'Connell also quotes Fried-Schlechter, 1897, same From Gambit line, but calls the white player 'Fries'. Chips with everything? Good Ole Robinson (A Guide to Bird's Opening) published just after WWII, comes to our rescue with a game 'played in Neuer Wiener CC, 1897. A postal game and clearly Fries-Schlechter? I struggle again. I have the massive Warren H Goldman book on Schlechter but can't get it to help.

So who can assist?
James

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Several sources say that the Steinitz vs Bird match started in September, 1866, and the 18 move win for Steinitz was the sixth game of the match.
There is a kibbitz on chessgames.com that suggests that it was published in London Field on the 13th October, 1866:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1336934

[Tim Harding]

The exact date that game (and indeed nearly all games of the Steinitz-Bird match) was played is uncertain but it was definitely in September 1866 and not later than the 28th since The Field (NOT London Field) of the 29th gave the match score after 6 games. The moves were indeed published in that paper on 13 October (bottom of RH column on page 298).

Instead of referring people to a dodgy website, I suggest reading the definitive coverage of the match in my book Steinitz in London, pages 137-145.
Previously Hans Renette covered the match quite well in his book on Bird but some of his datings were out and the move order he gives (4 d4 instead of 4 Nf3 as shown in The Field) is implausible as Black could have played 4...Qh4+.

So far I am unable to assist with the query on the Austrian game. Can you supply a score or further information please?

[John Townsend]

I'm not up to speed on this, but is the following of interest? Page 204 of Tim Harding's Counter Gambits, 2013, discusses a From miniature, Fried - Schlechter, New Vienna Chess Club, 1894.

Postscript: I see now that Edward Winter's Kings, Commoners and Knaves, 1999, (page 117) has what appears to be the same game. White is L. Fried. Winter gives as the source Chess World, 1 December 1950, pages 276 -277.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

According to Google, this game was referenced in Deutsche Schachzeitung, Volumes 52–53, which apparently was published in 1897.
This is a link to the translated page (with some highlighting): https://tinyurl.com/5ct94fez
If this book really is from 1897, then it suggests that White's surname is Fried rather than Fries.
The date of the game in this publication is 27th April, 1894!
https://tinypic.host/image/FriedFroms.DFJaI6

The game:
1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 d6 4. exd6 Bxd6 5. d4 Nf6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bf2 Ne4 9. e3 g4 10. Bh4 gxf3 11. Bxd8 f2+ 12. Ke2 Bg4+ 13. Kd3 Nb4+ 14. Kxe4 f5#

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

Another German publication that was published around 1894 has a couple of problems by a Ludwig Fried of Dresden:
https://tinypic.host/image/LudwigFried.DFjH0u
I wonder if he is the L Fried who played Carl Schlechter?

Edit:
I couldn't solve the first puzzle so let an engine do the work. It's a really nice puzzle!
1K6/2B5/1P1rpN2/1p2k3/3p4/3P4/1P6/5R2 w - - 0 1

I'm not convinced the second puzzle is a legal position - Black has eight pawns but I don't think any of them are on a square where his a-pawn can get to. The solution to this one is fairly obvious.
5R2/6p1/1Pp1p1Pp/2PpN2k/3PpK1p/4Pp2/5P1B/8 w - - 0 1

[Tim Harding]

I didn't remember when I posted above that Fried-Schlechter was in that old book of mine (originally published in the 1970s) but from the context it seems to have been in a book about Schlechter by Spielmann. Presumably seen in Bob Wade's library.

With the somewhat misleading assistance of Jon's posts I have re-found the game in Deutsche Schachzeitung July 1897 page 210. It is in volume 52: NOT 52-53, each volume number was one year but Google Books have 1897 and 1898 in the same PDF.

So this was definitely a Carl Schlechter game played in 1894, one of three published together in that number of DSZ which he had won in earlier years at the New Vienna Chess Club (so NOT a postal game as the original post in this thread suggested.) Jon's suggestion that the loser was Ludwig Fried of Dresden seems plausible.
Schlechter was just past his 20th birthday when this game was played and it was prior to his first international master tournament (the 1894 German congress in Leipzig).
Schlechter diverged from Bird-Steinitz with 6...h6 instead of 6...Bg4 and the earlier moves were played in a different sequence.

I don't have the Goldman book on Schlechter. Does it have many games prior to 1894?

[Neil Blackburn]

I didn't remember when I posted above that Fried-Schlechter was in that old book of mine (originally published in the 1970s) but from the context it seems to have been in a book about Schlechter by Spielmann. Presumably seen in Bob Wade's library.

With the somewhat misleading assistance of Jon's posts I have re-found the game in Deutsche Schachzeitung July 1897 page 210. It is in volume 52: NOT 52-53, each volume number was one year but Google Books have 1897 and 1898 in the same PDF.

So this was definitely a Carl Schlechter game played in 1894, one of three published together in that number of DSZ which he had won in earlier years at the New Vienna Chess Club (so NOT a postal game as the original post in this thread suggested.) Jon's suggestion that the loser was Ludwig Fried of Dresden seems plausible.
Schlechter was just past his 20th birthday when this game was played and it was prior to his first international master tournament (the 1894 German congress in Leipzig).
Schlechter diverged from Bird-Steinitz with 6...h6 instead of 6...Bg4 and the earlier moves were played in a different sequence.

I don't have the Goldman book on Schlechter. Does it have many games prior to 1894?

No. The first game in Goldman's book is from Leipzig 1894.

[Tim Harding]

No. The first game in Goldman's book is from Leipzig 1894.

Thanks for that information. Therefore it is a worthwhile task to seek Carl Schlechter games played prior to Leipzig 1894 (the 9th German federation master tournament).

Gino di Felice's Chess Results 1747-1900 (not a work for which I have enormous respect) first mentions Schlechter on page 141.
This was a quadrangular tournament in Vienna between 4 March and 8 April 1893 in which each player met each other three times.
Schlechter won undefeated with 6/9. Georg Marco and Adolf Zinkl scored 5.5 and Julius Thirring 1 point. All the games between Schlechter and Marco were drawn.

Then on page 146 Di Felice has a match in Vienna during 1893 between Marco and Schlechter; all ten games drawn.

Then on page 149 Vienna winter tourney played between 1 Nov 1893 and 1 March 1894. A 15-player round robin won by Jacques Schwarz with 12.5 points. Marco scored 12 and Schlechter was joint third with Arthur Kaufmann.

My old edition of ChessBase's Mega database has one game by Schlechter from 1893. No source stated, maybe it is in Deutsche Schachzeitung but I have not trawled that yet.

[Event "Berlin"]
[Site "Berlin"]
[Date "1893.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Schlechter, Carl"]
[Black "Kern"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C43"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "1893.??.??"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 2010"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2009.11.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2009.11.30"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Qe7 5. Be2 Ng4 6. Qxd4 d6 7. exd6 cxd6 8.
O-O Nc6 9. Bb5 Bd7 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Re1 Be6 12. Bg5 f6 13. Bf4 Ne5 14. Nc3 Qd7
15. Nxe5 dxe5 16. Bxe5 fxe5 17. Qxe5 Kf7 18. Rad1 Qe7 19. Ne4 Bd5 20. Qf5+ Kg8
21. Rxd5 cxd5 22. Qxd5+ Qf7 23. Qxa8 h6 24. Nd6 Qxa2 25. Qxf8+ Kxf8 26. Re8#
1-0

I also found that in 1893 Schlechter played a short match which Di Felice doesn't mention.

[Event "Vienna (match)"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1893.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Schlechter, Carl"]
[Black "Hruby, Vincenz"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C80"]
[Annotator "Hoffer, The Field Sept 2 1893"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "1893.??.??"]
[SourceTitle "Misc"]
[Source "ChessBase?"]
[SourceDate "1998.09.30"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "2021.03.11"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

{The following is the second game of a match played during Prof Hruby's recent
visit to Vienna with Herr Schleshter (sic), a rising Vienna player. Of three
games sent to us by Prof.Hruby, two resulted in favour of the older master,
and the one below was won by Herr Schleshter. ALMOST CERTAINLY CARL SCHLECHTER;
initial C was given in game header. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.
Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. a4 Be6 9. axb5 axb5 10.
Rxa8 Qxa8 11. dxe5 Na5 12. Nd4 Qb7 13. c3 Nxb3 14. Qxb3 Bd7 15. Nd2 c5 ({
Better would have been simply} 15... Nxd2 {leaving the pawns on the queen's
side intact at present.}) 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Ne2 Be6 18. Qc2 Bc4 19. Re1 Bd3 20.
Qd1 Be7 21. Ng3 O-O 22. Qg4 Rd8 23. Nf5 Bf8 24. Bg5 Ra8 25. Nxg7 (25. Bf6 g6
26. Qg5 h5 27. g4 $18) 25... e3 26. Nf5 h5 27. Qf4 e2 (27... Ra4 28. b4 exf2+
29. Qxf2 {best} cxb4 {would probably have saved the game.}) 28. Bf6 Bxf5 29.
Qxf5 Bh6 30. Qxh5 1-0

I am curious how Schlechter got to play at Leipzig. I think that he would either have had to win the Hauptturnier of the 1893 German congress in Kiel (but he wasn't there if Di Felice is right) or else he was nominated by the Austrians.

Further investigations will follow but first contributions from other Forumites are welcomed.

[Neil Blackburn]

He wasn't at Kiel. He was known in Germany as a contributor to D.W. The 10 draws match with Marco would probably have been regarded as sufficient measure of his strength for his entry to be accepted I imagine. There may be something in the Vienna newspapers of the time, but it would be a laborious effort to go through those.

[Tim Harding]

He wasn't at Kiel. He was known in Germany as a contributor to D.W. The 10 draws match with Marco would probably have been regarded as sufficient measure of his strength for his entry to be accepted I imagine. There may be something in the Vienna newspapers of the time, but it would be a laborious effort to go through those.

It would indeed. The ANNO website can be very useful but probably not for this, lacking specific date references.

However I have PDFs of much of the Oesterreichische Lesehalle which had a major chess column so I may eventually find time to work through that.

I think I shall prepare eventually some kind of article for my website about Schlechter's early career since this seems like a worthwhile topic.
DSZ 1894 p91 (March, the earliest reference to him in the index) mentions the Winter tournament at the Neuen Wiener Schachclub. It says Schlechter won 5th prize of 20 crowns. It goes on to say that on 14th March they would be starting a match tournament (4 games between each player) involving Marco, Schlechter, Zinkl and Kaufmann who had won 4th prize.

Marco was also in the Leipzig 1894 tournament. You are probably right about the invitation, though I suspect initially it would have been to Jacques Schwarz and when he (presumably) declined then the Austrians proposed the up-and-coming Schlechter to take his place.

Incidentally, I suspect the ChessBase designation of Berlin as the venue for the game with Kern that I gave earlier was wrong. There was a Heinrich Kern in the 1893-4 Vienna winter tournament. Di Felice's table shows Schlechter won their game. Maybe the primary source for the game will turn up eventually.

I have no more time to spend on Schlechter this week as I want to write something about the upcoming centenary of Blackburne's death but I will get back to Schlechter later. Any more suggestions for sources would be welcome.

[Alan McGowan]

Spielmann's book about Schlechter has Fried-Schlechter as Game Nr. 5, played 27 April 1894 at the New Vienna Chess Club.

Earlier games:
Game 1: Schlechter-D, 31 August 1891 at Cafe Mercur, Vienna (1-0, 21)
Game 2: Schlechter-H. Fähndrich 1 September 1891 at Cafe Mercur, Vienna (1-0,19
Game 3: Fleissig-Schlechter 10 August 1893 at the New Vienna Chess Club (0-1, 18)
Game 4: Schlechter-I. Bendiner 11 October 1893 at the New Vienna Chess Club (1-0, 25)

[Tim Harding]

Spielmann's book about Schlechter has Fried-Schlechter as Game Nr. 5, played 27 April 1894 at the New Vienna Chess Club.

Earlier games:
Game 1: Schlechter-D, 31 August 1891 at Cafe Mercur, Vienna (1-0, 21)
Game 2: Schlechter-H. Fähndrich 1 September 1891 at Cafe Mercur, Vienna (1-0,19
Game 3: Fleissig-Schlechter 10 August 1893 at the New Vienna Chess Club (0-1, 18)
Game 4: Schlechter-I. Bendiner 11 October 1893 at the New Vienna Chess Club (1-0, 25)

That's interesting, especially the precise dates which suggests to me that Spielmann was working from Schlechter's own notebooks?

I suppose that Game 3 is the one beginning 1 b4 e6 which is in many databases wrongly dated as 1895 and attributed to Maximilian Fleissig. I think, though, that it was lost by Bernhard Fleissig. Does Spielmann say which?

The moves appeared in the "Partiestellungen und Endspiele" section of the February 1894 Deutsche Schachzeitung (item number 589) without naming the winner. I translate the introduction as follows:

The following interesting game, which has something "immortal" about it, may belie the lack of opening with its later elegance. Supposedly, this game was recently lost by the Viennese chess player Fleissig:

Incidentally the moves in DSZ go up to checkmate on move 20 which is how it appears with notes in ChessBase's Mega Database (at least the old edition that I have.)

Then in the April issue, in the correspondence section of the same magazine, the editors address "B.F." (hence my saying it was Bernhard) and a rough translation of the paragraph is:

You inform us that you have also played the game [Nr. 589]... against the talented young chess master Carl Schlechter in Vienna… have actually lost, but that this game belongs to the "hussar games", of which 12 go to the dozen and which hardly last longer than a maximum of 5 minutes each.

From which we can conclude this was a skittles game and that the loser was rather annoyed that somebody had recorded it and sent it in for publication.

[Alan McGowan]

Spielmann does show B. Fleissig as White in Game 3. My apologies for not showing that in the earlier posting.

[Tim Harding]

Thanks. It's many years since I saw the Spielmann book in Bob Wade's library but I have now arranged to buy a copy from Tony Peterson.