The year was 1903, the place was Montecarlo.

This was the third time the city hosted an international masters tournament and a respectable reputation had been achieved by the tournament thanks to the victories of Carl Schlechter (1901) and Geza Maroczy (1902) and the participation of players like Chingorin, Alapin and Marshall.

Towards the end of the tournament Siegbert Tarrasch faced Italian champion Arturo Reggio and was in need of a win to keep his one point advantage over Geza Maroczy and win the tournament. Tarrasch had finished fifth in 1902 with 14/24 3.5 points behind Maroczy. Reggio finished 11th in 1901 and 19th in 1902.

Even if Reggio was too far away form the head positions he was determined to beat Dr. Tarrasch and so he used, for the first time in history, the Keres Variation: one of the most challenging answers to The english.

Tarrasch would go to win against Tabenhaus and draw against Maroczy himself to win the tournament.

The full game can be found on chessgames.com although without the commentary.

English Openers of the World

Super Admins

Admins