Debrecen National Masters Tournament, 1913

Incomplete record. This archive holds 26 of the 30 games played; 4 are missing. Twenty-six of 30 played games are preserved; four whole scores are missing. The played total follows the full ordinary published table and contemporary reports.

Lajos Asztalos won the six-player double round robin with 7 points from ten games. Richard Réti and Károly Sterk shared second and third places on 6, followed by Gyula Breyer on 5½, Zsigmond Barász on 4 and Jenő Székely on 1½.

◇The masters competition

The Debrecen chess circle held its national masters tournament at the Royal hotel. Contemporary newspapers distinguish the six-player double round robin from the concurrent amateur groups and their final, which had a separate field and master-title competition. Modern Hungarian championship histories include the masters event in the prewar national sequence.

The first cycle had finished by the report of 13 July. Réti then led on 4 points, ahead of Asztalos and Breyer on 3. After Sunday’s rest, the second cycle began on Monday 14 July. The final report says that Réti declined Asztalos’s draw offer and subsequently lost. It places the finish on Saturday evening, 19 July.

◇The full result and surviving games

The published full table accounts for 30 ordinary game results. Contemporary reports confirm the double round robin and all six final totals; no masters withdrawal or default has been identified. The total of 30 actually played games follows this combined evidence. The original full matrix has not been obtained.

Twenty-six games are preserved here. The missing scores are the Breyer–Asztalos and Barász–Breyer draws, Barász’s loss to Asztalos, and Székely’s loss to Sterk. The contemporary final report explicitly describes Barász–Asztalos as a played adjourned game. Both approved archives lack the four mainlines.

◇Dates and score limits

The original newspapers place play on 7–19 July, whereas all available native score headers give dates in June. Those original headers and their round codes are retained; the historical dates above follow the contemporary reports.

The short Réti–Barász draw survives with 17 plies in both approved archives. Its complete historical course is unestablished. The preserved record does not establish a nine-move agreement or a default. Every approved mainline is retained without importing external moves.