Bad Pistyan 1922
Held in the Grand Hotel Royal amid the spa gardens of a famous Slovak resort, Bad Pistyan 1922 was a memorial to the Hungarian hypermodern Gyula Breyer, dead at 28 only months before. It opened the great post-war tournament season and turned into a furious three-man race among the era's fiercest attackers — Bogoljubow, Alekhine and Spielmann. Efim Bogoljubow, at the height of his fighting powers, edged clear with 15 out of 18, securing first place only in the final round.
◈A memorial in the spa gardens
Bad Pistyan was a health resort famed for its hot mineral springs, and its Grand Hotel Royal, set in the spa gardens, housed one of the first major international tournaments of the post-war revival — played months before London, Hastings, Vienna and Teplitz-Schönau later the same year. The idea came from Gyula Breyer, who shortly before his death in November 1921 had written to his friend Dr Zoltán Vécsey suggesting a strong event to continue the tradition begun at Pistyan in 1912; the Košice Chess Club honoured his memory by staging the tournament as the Gyula Breyer Memorial.
Nineteen players accepted. Akiba Rubinstein entered but withdrew before the start with stomach trouble, and world champion Capablanca did not appear. As tournament director, Dr Vécsey introduced a slower time limit — 25 moves an hour, then 15 — to give the masters room to work through the deep opening novelties of the day. The organisers had hoped the hypermodern school would take centre stage; instead the attacking players seized it from the first round.
◈A three-man race to the last round
Bogoljubow, Alekhine and Spielmann set a furious pace and pulled clear of the field. The result stayed in doubt to the finish: after the penultimate round Alekhine and Bogoljubow were tied on 14. In the last round Richard Réti, with the black pieces, held Alekhine to a draw, while Bogoljubow ground down Max Euwe to take clear first on 15.
Spielmann's late surge — five and a half points from his final six games — caught Alekhine for shared second on 14½, and he was the only undefeated player in the event, a striking result for so risky a stylist. Bogoljubow lost just one game, to Tartakower; Alekhine, too, lost only to Tartakower. Ernst Grünfeld's fourth place confirmed his rise toward the world elite, with Réti fifth, and three special brilliancy prizes were awarded.
◈Immortalised in instruction and in fiction
Bad Pistyan's place in chess history rests as much on the page as on the scoreboard. Réti drew several of its games for the player portraits in Masters of the Chessboard, so that for many readers the tournament is their introduction to Bogoljubow, Grünfeld and the Blumenfeld Counter-Gambit.
More unexpectedly, chess historians have linked a position from an Alekhine–Bogoljubow encounter here to the pivotal game in Stefan Zweig's novella Schachnovelle (Chess Story), among the most famous works of chess fiction ever written. For Bogoljubow himself the event was a definitive statement — the fighting victory of a player who was becoming one of the most feared competitors in the world.
◈Final Standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | 15/18 | +13 -1 =4 | games → |
| 2 | Alekhine, Alexander | 14½/18 | +12 -1 =5 | games → |
| 3 | Spielmann, Rudolf | 14½/18 | +11 -0 =7 | games → |
| 4 | Gruenfeld, Ernst | 11/18 | +8 -4 =6 | games → |
| 5 | Reti, Richard | 10½/18 | +7 -4 =7 | games → |
| 6 | Wolf, Heinrich | 9½/18 | +6 -5 =7 | games → |
| 7 | Saemisch, Friedrich | 9½/18 | +5 -4 =9 | games → |
| 8 | Tartakower, Saviely | 9/18 | +6 -6 =6 | games → |
| 9 | Johner, Paul F | 8½/18 | +6 -7 =5 | games → |
| 10 | Tarrasch, Siegbert | 8½/18 | +5 -6 =7 | games → |
| 11 | Euwe, Max | 8½/18 | +4 -5 =9 | games → |
| 12 | Balla, Zoltan | 8/18 | +5 -7 =6 | games → |
| 13 | Treybal, Karel | 8/18 | +4 -6 =8 | games → |
| 14 | Hromadka, Karel | 7/18 | +3 -7 =8 | games → |
| 15 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | 7/18 | +1 -5 =12 | games → |
| 16 | Prokes, Ladislav | 6/18 | +3 -9 =6 | games → |
| 17 | Przepiorka, Dawid | 6/18 | +1 -7 =10 | games → |
| 18 | Marco, Georg | 5½/18 | +2 -9 =7 | games → |
| 19 | Opocensky, Karel | 4½/18 | +1 -10 =7 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bogoljubow, Efim | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Alekhine, Alexander | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Spielmann, Rudolf | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Gruenfeld, Ernst | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 5 | Reti, Richard | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 6 | Wolf, Heinrich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 7 | Saemisch, Friedrich | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 8 | Tartakower, Saviely | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | |
| 9 | Johner, Paul F | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 10 | Tarrasch, Siegbert | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 11 | Euwe, Max | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 12 | Balla, Zoltan | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 13 | Treybal, Karel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 14 | Hromadka, Karel | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | |
| 15 | Selezniev, Alexey Sergeevich | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 16 | Prokes, Ladislav | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 17 | Przepiorka, Dawid | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 18 | Marco, Georg | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |
| 19 | Opocensky, Karel | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.
“Bad Pistyan was Bogoljubow at his best — a long tournament with a field of mixed quality in which his fighting qualities could come to the forefront.”