Breslau 1912

The 18th Congress of the Deutscher Schachbund drew the leading masters of Europe to Breslau for a seventeen-round marathon, and after three weeks it ended in a dead heat: Oldřich Duras and Akiba Rubinstein shared first on 12/17. It was the only one of Rubinstein's four 1912 victories he did not win outright — and the congress is remembered just as vividly for a single move, Frank Marshall's 23…Qg3 against Stepan Levitsky.

◇The German Congress

The Deutscher Schachbund staged its biennial master congress at Breslau — then in the German Empire, today Wrocław in Poland — from mid-July into early August 1912. Eighteen masters played a single round-robin of seventeen rounds, 153 games in all, in a field that gathered much of Europe's elite: Rubinstein, Duras, Siegbert Tarrasch, Richard Teichmann, Carl Schlechter, Rudolf Spielmann and Gyula Breyer, with Marshall carrying the American colours.

For Rubinstein it was the third stop of his golden 1912 tour. He arrived fresh from victories at San Sebastián and Pistyan, and Breslau promised a fourth clean sweep — but Breslau had other ideas.

◇A four-horse race

Rubinstein led for much of the event but looked visibly tired as the finish approached, and Duras — who had already beaten him in their individual game — refused to let go. Entering the final round the two leaders on top were Rubinstein and Tarrasch, with Teichmann and Duras half a point behind. Then the standings reshuffled at the death: Teichmann drew with Rubinstein, Duras beat Amos Burn to draw level, and Tarrasch lost to Carls and tumbled to fourth.

So Duras and Rubinstein finished tied for first on 12/17, ahead of Teichmann on 11½ and Tarrasch and Schlechter on 11. It remains the single blemish on Rubinstein's otherwise perfect 1912 — four great tournaments entered, and only here did he have to share the top prize.

“They tossed over their losses — rubles, marks, thalers, Austrian crowns.”

“Duras is gifted with a nerve-stretching fantasy compared to which the style of Rubinstein seems like the worldly-wise style of the old Goethe.”

◇The gold coins

Breslau's most famous moment was not about the standings at all. In his game with Stepan Levitsky, Frank Marshall unleashed 23…Qg3 — a queen thrown into the teeth of three enemy pieces, unanswerable because every capture allows mate. By Marshall's own later account the spectators were so delighted that they showered the board with money.

Whether or not the legend is literally true, the combination has been celebrated ever since as one of the most beautiful single moves in tournament chess.