In the summer of 1926 the spa town of Bardejov in eastern Czechoslovakia hosted a fourteen-master international. Latvia's Hermanis Matisons — celebrated above all as an endgame study composer — shared first place with Savielly Tartakower on 8½, half a point clear of Hungary's Lajos Asztalos.
A spa-town international
Bardejov — Bártfa under its old Hungarian name — drew a colourful Central European field in July 1926: Tartakower and the Serbian globetrotter Boris Kostić headlined, alongside Hungary's Lajos Asztalos and Károly Sterk, Belgium's Edgard Colle, Austria's Hans Müller and Hans Kmoch, and a strong Czechoslovak contingent. Kmoch, by one account, had only planned to report on the tournament but ended up taking part.
Fourteen masters started, but Zoltán Vécsey withdrew through illness after five rounds, so the final crosstable counts the thirteen players who completed all twelve of their games — 78 games in all.
The study composer's tournament
Hermanis Matisons was no full-time professional. The Latvian had won the first World Amateur Championship, organised in conjunction with the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, and was a leading composer of endgame studies whose work is still anthologised. At Bardejov he matched Tartakower — one of the busiest and most successful tournament players of the 1920s — point for point, the two drawing their individual game in round 10 and finishing together on 8½ with five wins and no losses apiece.
Matisons' later career was brief but bright: at the 1931 Olympiad in Prague he defeated both Akiba Rubinstein and the reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine on first board for Latvia. He died in 1932, only 37 years old.
The chasing pack
Asztalos took clear third on 8, ahead of Colle on 7½ — a fine result for the Belgian champion, two years after he had finished behind Matisons in the Paris amateur championship — with Kostić fifth on 7 and Czechoslovakia's Jan Schulz sixth on 6½.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Matisons, Hermanis | 8½/12 | +5 -0 =7 | games |
| =1 | Tartakower, Saviely | 8½/12 | +5 -0 =7 | games |
| 3 | Asztalos, Lajos | 8/12 | +4 -0 =8 | games |
| 4 | Colle, Edgard | 7½/12 | +6 -3 =3 | games |
| 5 | Kostic, Boris | 7/12 | +5 -3 =4 | games |
| 6 | Schulz, Jan Sr | 6½/12 | +4 -3 =5 | games |
| 7 | Mueller, Hans | 6/12 | +3 -3 =6 | games |
| =8 | Kmoch, Hans | 5½/12 | +3 -4 =5 | games |
| =8 | Sterk, Karoly | 5½/12 | +3 -4 =5 | games |
| 10 | Balogh, Janos | 4½/12 | +2 -5 =5 | games |
| =11 | Walter, Max | 4/12 | +2 -6 =4 | games |
| =11 | Prokes, Ladislav | 4/12 | +1 -5 =6 | games |
| 13 | Chodera, Miroslav | 2½/12 | +1 -8 =3 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matisons, Hermanis | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 2 | Tartakower, Saviely | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 3 | Asztalos, Lajos | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 4 | Colle, Edgard | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Kostic, Boris | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Schulz, Jan Sr | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | |
| 7 | Mueller, Hans | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 8 | Kmoch, Hans | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Sterk, Karoly | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
| 10 | Balogh, Janos | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 | Walter, Max | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | |
| 12 | Prokes, Ladislav | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | |
| 13 | Chodera, Miroslav | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.