In February 1930 the Riviera's grand Palais de la Méditerranée hosted a twelve-player international tournament, won comfortably by Savielly Tartakower, undefeated on 9/11. The event is remembered for more than its winner: it produced Edgard Colle's famous Greek-gift win against O'Hanlon, and the field included the artist Marcel Duchamp.
Chess at the Palais de la Méditerranée
Organized by the Groupe des Joueurs d'Échecs de Nice, the tournament ran from 13 to 23 February 1930 at the Palais de la Méditerranée. Twelve players contested a single round-robin of 66 games: Tartakower, England's Sir George Thomas, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky, Borislav Kostić, Edgard Colle, the veteran Géza Maróczy, Jakob Seitz, José Araiza, Marcel Duchamp, Brian Reilly, Maas, and John O'Hanlon.
Tartakower at his peak
Tartakower — a leading figure of the hypermodern school and author of Die Hypermoderne Schachpartie — went through the field without a loss, scoring seven wins and four draws for 9/11, half a point ahead of Thomas with Znosko-Borovsky third on 8. It came in the middle of the strongest stretch of his career: later that same year he won the great Liège tournament two points clear of Mir Sultan Khan.
A brilliancy and an artist
Nice 1930 gave chess one of its most quoted attacking games: Colle's win over O'Hanlon, a celebrated brilliancy built on the classic Greek gift bishop sacrifice, still used to teach the Bxh7+ attacking pattern nearly a century later.
The field also held a genuine celebrity from outside the game. Marcel Duchamp — the painter and conceptual artist who had largely traded art for chess, and whom the French Chess Federation had declared a chess master in 1925 — scored 4½/11 against this professional company. Contemporary observers noted that, for all his artistic radicalism, Duchamp the chess player was a classicist who knew his theory from the books.
Final standings
| # | Player | Score | Record | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tartakower, Saviely | 9/11 | +7 -0 =4 | games |
| 2 | Thomas, George Alan | 8½/11 | +7 -1 =3 | games |
| 3 | Znosko Borovsky, Eugene | 8/11 | +7 -2 =2 | games |
| 4 | Kostic, Boris | 7/11 | +5 -2 =4 | games |
| =5 | Colle, Edgard | 6½/11 | +5 -3 =3 | games |
| =5 | Maroczy, Geza | 6½/11 | +4 -2 =5 | games |
| 7 | Seitz, Jakob Adolf | 5½/11 | +3 -3 =5 | games |
| 8 | Araiza Munoz, Jose Joaquin | 5/11 | +3 -4 =4 | games |
| 9 | Duchamp, Marcel | 4½/11 | +3 -5 =3 | games |
| 10 | Reilly, Brian Patrick | 4/11 | +2 -5 =4 | games |
| 11 | Maas, Arthur J | 1/11 | +1 -10 =0 | games |
| 12 | O'Hanlon, John | ½/11 | +0 -10 =1 | games |
Cross Table
| Rank | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tartakower, Saviely | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Thomas, George Alan | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Znosko Borovsky, Eugene | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Kostic, Boris | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | Colle, Edgard | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 6 | Maroczy, Geza | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Seitz, Jakob Adolf | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Araiza Munoz, Jose Joaquin | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 9 | Duchamp, Marcel | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 10 | Reilly, Brian Patrick | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ½ | |
| 11 | Maas, Arthur J | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 12 | O'Hanlon, John | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 |
Each cell shows the row player's recorded results against the column player. ● = same player.