Barmen 1905
The industrial city of Barmen — today part of Wuppertal — hosted one of the largest chess congresses the game had yet seen in the late summer of 1905, with around a hundred players spread across several sections. Its top group, the Meisterturnier A, ended in a photo finish: Géza Maróczy and Dawid Janowski shared first place on 10½/15, half a point ahead of Frank Marshall.
◈A carnival of chess
Organised by the city of Barmen rather than the usual chess bodies, the congress was expected to be a modest affair and instead swelled into a festival — around a hundred entrants across the top Meisterturnier A, a second Meisterturnier B, and a Hauptturnier split into two sections for players chasing the master title. Contemporaries were stunned by the scale of it; the American Chess Bulletin remarked that "such a carnival of chess has rarely been arranged."
The undercards mattered as much as the headline event. The Hauptturnier served as the unveiling of Akiba Rubinstein, who shared first with his great rival-to-be Oldřich Duras, and between them the lower sections gave early international outings to much of the coming generation — Nimzowitsch, Spielmann, Tartakower, Vidmar, Forgács and Perlis among them — the players who would dominate the next two decades.
◈The race for first
In the Meisterturnier A a quartet of Maróczy, Janowski, Marshall and Carl Schlechter jockeyed for first down the stretch, in what Irving Chernev later called "an ordeal of six endgames." Janowski had led for much of the way, but in the penultimate round he lost a gruelling endgame to the conservative Johann Berger — enjoying his career-best result — which let Maróczy draw level after grinding down Jacques Mieses.
In the final round Janowski beat Schlechter and Maróczy at last overcame a stubborn Hermann von Gottschall, so the two finished tied on 10½/15 ahead of Marshall on 10. Behind them the 23-year-old Ossip Bernstein had led the section for its first half before fading to a share of fourth, prompting the British Chess Magazine's much-quoted verdict that "in Bernstein we are quite likely to have the next champion of the world."
◈Final Standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Janowski, Dawid Markelowicz | 10½/15 | +9 -3 =3 | games → |
| =1 | Maroczy, Geza | 10½/15 | +7 -1 =7 | games → |
| 3 | Marshall, Frank James | 10/15 | +8 -3 =4 | games → |
| =4 | Bernstein, Ossip Samuel | 9/15 | +7 -4 =4 | games → |
| =4 | Schlechter, Carl | 9/15 | +7 -4 =4 | games → |
| 6 | Berger, Johann Nepomuk | 8/15 | +4 -3 =8 | games → |
| 7 | John, Walter | 7/15 | +6 -7 =2 | games → |
| 8 | Leonhardt, Paul Saladin | 7/15 | +5 -6 =4 | games → |
| 9 | Chigorin, Mikhail Ivanovich | 7/15 | +4 -5 =6 | games → |
| 10 | Wolf, Heinrich | 7/15 | +2 -3 =10 | games → |
| 11 | Von Bardeleben, Curt | 6½/15 | +5 -7 =3 | games → |
| 12 | Suechting, Hugo | 6½/15 | +3 -5 =7 | games → |
| 13 | Burn, Amos | 6/15 | +4 -7 =4 | games → |
| 14 | Alapin, Simon | 6/15 | +2 -5 =8 | games → |
| 15 | Mieses, Jacques | 5/15 | +3 -8 =4 | games → |
| 16 | Von Gottschall, Hermann | 5/15 | +2 -7 =6 | games → |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janowski, Dawid Markelowicz | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | |
| 2 | Maroczy, Geza | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Marshall, Frank James | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Bernstein, Ossip Samuel | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 5 | Schlechter, Carl | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | |
| 6 | Berger, Johann Nepomuk | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | |
| 7 | John, Walter | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Leonhardt, Paul Saladin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | |
| 9 | Chigorin, Mikhail Ivanovich | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | Wolf, Heinrich | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
| 11 | Von Bardeleben, Curt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | Suechting, Hugo | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | |
| 13 | Burn, Amos | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | |
| 14 | Alapin, Simon | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | |
| 15 | Mieses, Jacques | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 16 | Von Gottschall, Hermann | 1 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 |
Each cell shows the row player's per-game results against the column player (in round order). ● = same player.
“It was supposed to be a weak tournament. What was my surprise to see, among others, Janowski, Chigorin, and Maróczy.”
“In Bernstein we are quite likely to have the next champion of the world.”