Gideon Stahlberg
Notable Games

Gideon Stahlberg

16 celebrated games · 465 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 465 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1930 Spielmann, Rudolf vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined 40 moves Stockholm m3 Stockholm 1930 against Rudolf Spielmann, the most celebrated attacking player of the age — and Stahlberg, twenty-two, outattacks him with Black. The kingside pawns roll forward: 28...g4, 31...g3, 35...h4, 39...h3, and Spielmann's own weapon is turned against him.
  • 1933.01.25 Spielmann, Rudolf vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 French Defense: Steinitz Variation 38 moves Match Stahlberg-Spielmann +3-1=4 From the 1933 match against Spielmann, which the record books +3−1=4 to Stahlberg — the result that made his international name. A Steinitz French; he doubles rooks on the a-file with 24...Ra3 and 25...Ra2, pushes 31...e3, and after 36...Nxg4 37.Rf1 Nf2+ 38.Rxf2 Rxf2 the position is over.
  • 1933.01.24 Stahlberg, Gideon vsSpielmann, Rudolf 1-0 Semi-Slav Defense: Bogoljubow Variation 68 moves Match Stahlberg-Spielmann +3-1=4 The same 1933 match, from the White side: sixty-eight moves, and none of them a sacrifice. Stahlberg liquidates into bishop-and-pawn, gives the rook back with 60.Rxc3 bxc3, and wins the pawn race by a single tempo — 66.Ke5 Kg3 67.a4 Kf3 68.a5.
  • 1933.06.18 Stahlberg, Gideon vsSoultanbeieff, Victor Ivanovich 1-0 Semi-Slav Defense: Meran Variation 14 moves Olympiad-05 Folkestone Olympiad 1933, fourteen moves in a Meran. Stahlberg lets the c3 knight go with 10.e5 bxc3 and takes the f6 knight instead, and after 12.bxc3 Bd6 13.O-O O-O 14.Re1 there is no answer to the pressure on e6.
  • 1934.02.06 Stahlberg, Gideon vsNimzowitsch, Aron 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation, Stahlberg Variation 64 moves Match Stahlberg-Nimzowitsch +4-2=2 Game one of the 1934 match against Aron Nimzowitsch, which the record books +4−2=2 to Stahlberg — beating the man who had reshaped how chess was understood. The record names the opening the Nimzo-Indian Defense, Spielmann Variation, Stahlberg Variation: he faced Nimzowitsch's own defence with a line carrying his own name, and won a sixty-four-move endgame.
  • 1934.02.08 Stahlberg, Gideon vsNimzowitsch, Aron 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Spielmann Variation, Stahlberg Variation 31 moves Match Stahlberg-Nimzowitsch +4-2=2 The same match, two days later, same opening — and this time it is short and violent. Stahlberg builds up with 20.Rd6 and 21.Rfd1, then tears the king open: 26.Rxf6 gxf6 27.Qxf6+ Kg8 28.Rd6, and 31.Rf6+ finishes it.
  • 1934.02.09 Nimzowitsch, Aron vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 Queen's Gambit Declined: Harrwitz Attack, Main Line 28 moves Match Stahlberg-Nimzowitsch +4-2=2 The next day, Nimzowitsch with White — and Stahlberg wins again, this time by pure technique. Queens come off on move nine; he doubles on the c-file with 24...Rc2 and 27...Rcc2, wins the a-pawn, and Nimzowitsch is helpless by move twenty-eight.
  • 1935.08.16 Silbermann, Heinrich vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation 12 moves Olympiad-06 Warsaw Olympiad 1935 — twelve moves with Black, the shortest game in the archive. Stahlberg meets the Sämisch Nimzo-Indian with 9...dxc4 and 10...e5, and after 11.O-O Re8 12.dxc5 Be6 the pinned pieces cannot be untangled.
  • 1936.08.23 Van Doesburgh, Gerrit RD vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 French Defense: Exchange Variation 15 moves Munich Schach-Olympia (No FIDE event) Munich 1936, and one of the fastest king hunts in this archive. Stahlberg plays the classical bishop sacrifice from the black side — 7...Bxh2+ 8.Kxh2 Ng4+ 9.Kg3 Qxg5 — and after 11...Qe3+ 12.Kh4 Nf2 the white king is on h4 by move twelve, with the game gone by fifteen.
  • 1936.06.07 Keres, Paul vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 French Defense: Advance Variation, Nimzowitsch System 35 moves Dresden Olympia Trainingsturnier Dresden 1936 against Paul Keres, then twenty and about to become one of the strongest players alive. Stahlberg wins the exchange with 20...Nc2 21.Qxb3 Nxa1, doubles rooks on the second rank, and pushes the b-pawn home.
  • 1937.06.21 Stahlberg, Gideon vsKeres, Paul 1-0 French Defense: Classical Variation 74 moves Kemeri International-01 Kemeri 1937, Keres again and seventy-four moves this time. A Classical French with opposite-side castling that resolves into rook, bishop and knight against rook and knight; Stahlberg promotes on a7 and shepherds the c-pawn through to force the win.
  • 1938.04.20 Keres, Paul vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 English Opening: Agincourt Defense, Neo-Catalan Declined 57 moves Match Stahlberg-Keres +2-2=4 From the 1938 match with Keres, drawn +2−2=4 — Keres was months away from sharing first at AVRO, the strongest tournament ever held to that date. Stahlberg wins this one with Black in fifty-seven moves, giving the exchange back with 41...Rxe2 to reach a bishop ending he knows is winning.
  • 1939.10.05 Stahlberg, Gideon vsFrydman, Paulino 1-0 Queen's Indian Defense: Classical Variation, Traditional Variation, Nimzowitsch Line 16 moves Circulo de Ajedrez International Buenos Aires, October 1939 — weeks after the outbreak of war stranded the European players in Argentina, where Stahlberg would spend the next decade. Sixteen moves: 14.d5 exd5 15.Nxd5 Bc5 16.Nf6+, and the knight forks its way to the queen.
  • 1955.09.14 Keres, Paul vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation 40 moves Interzonal-03 Gothenburg Interzonal 1955, and Stahlberg beats Keres once more, twenty years after they first met. He answers the Najdorf attack with 33...dxe4, wins the bishop with 34.Qxd7 Rxc2+, and the rooks reach the seventh: 37.Rxe6 Re2 and 40...Rxe3.
  • 1963.01.09 Langeweg, Kick vsStahlberg, Gideon 0-1 English Opening: Anglo-Dutch Defense 17 moves Hoogovens Wijk aan Zee 1963, seventeen moves with Black at the age of fifty-four. The knights arrive first — 13...Nb4 and 14...Ne4 — and after 16.Rdc1 Nd3 17.Rxc8 Qxc8 the fork on b2 and f2 costs White the game.
  • 1938.04.01 Stahlberg, Gideon vsMenchik, Vera 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense, Classical Variation 24 moves Lodz International-02 Lodz 1938 — a 24-move win with White against Vera Menchik. Selected in Savielly Tartakower and Julius du Mont, 500 Master Games of Chess, game 370 (PDF page 253).
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