Zürich 1934 was an international

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

tournament held in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Z ...

from 14 to 29 July 1934 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Schachgesellschaft Zürich (the Zürich Chess Society).

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

won, followed by

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

and

Salo Flohr Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr (November 21, 1908 – July 18, 1983) was a Czechoslovak and Soviet chess player and writer. He was among the first recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Flohr dominated many tournam ...

tied for second-third. The tournament also served as the 1934 Swiss Championship, won by

Hans Johner Hans Johner (7 January 1889 in Basle, Switzerland – 2 December 1975 in Thalwil, Switzerland) was a Swiss chess player. He was awarded the title of International Master in 1950, having been Swiss Champion on a number of occasions. His heyday wa ...

as the highest-ranking Swiss player.

The tournament field

The tournament pitted seven Swiss players against nine internationals, including six of the world's leading players. The major omissions were

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Capabl ...

(Cuba) and

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-196 ...

(United States). There were no Soviet players either, and they would not return to international competition until the next year. This type of international tournament in which one third to one half of players were from the host country was first used at Moscow 1925, and later at Moscow 1935 and Kemeri 1937. The tournament field featured the

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

(France), former world champion

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Cham ...

(Germany), two-time championship challenger

Efim Bogoljubov Efim Bogoljubow ( or ), also known as Ewfim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow, ( (); also Romanized ''Bogoljubov'', ''Bogolyubov''; uk, Юхим Дмитрович Боголюбов, Yukhym Dmytrovych Boholiubov; April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952) ...

(Germany), future champion

(Netherlands), and championship contender

(Czechoslovakia). Alekhine won with 13/15 points, his only loss being to Euwe who finished tied for second with Flohr at 12. Alekhine again demonstrated his superiority over his contemporaries, although his winning margin of 1 point was much narrower than at Bled 1931 (5½ points) or San Remo 1930 (3½ points). About a month before the tournament began, Euwe had accepted Alekhine's terms for a championship match to be held in the autumn of the next year. Euwe would win that 1935 World Championship match, becoming the fifth world chess champion. The Czech master Flohr was considered a worthy championship challenger for many years in the 1930s, but the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and

German occupation of Czechoslovakia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

made it impossible for Flohr to arrange a match. Flohr was leading after 11 rounds, but Alekhine caught up in round 12 when they each had 10 points, a half point ahead of Euwe and a full point ahead of Bogoljubov. Alekhine took the lead in round 13 with a win over

Gideon Ståhlberg Anders Gideon Tom Ståhlberg (26 January 1908 – 26 May 1967) was a Swedish chess player. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He won the Swedish Chess Championship of 1927, became ...

(Sweden) while Flohr drew with Bogoljubov. One month earlier Bogoljubov had lost the 1934 World Championship match, his second attempt to challenge Alekhine. At Zurich he finished fourth at 11½, a half point behind Euwe and Flohr. Lasker was returning to competition for the first time since Moscow 1925—a nine-year layoff. Lasker started strong, beginning the tournament with a fine win playing black against Euwe in round 1. After 7 rounds Lasker was tied for the lead with Flohr at 5½ points. At age 65 and being out of practice, Lasker was at a disadvantage in a long tournament and lost in rounds 8, 10 and 12 to Bogoljubov, Nimzowitsch, and Alekhine to finish at a very creditable fifth with 10 points. This was the only time that Alekhine, Bogoljubov and Nimzowitsch beat Lasker. Earlier in round 5 Ståhlberg and Lasker played for the first time in their careers, with the younger Swede victorious.

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

(Denmark) was formerly a world championship contender, but in 1934 his health was declining and he would die just a year later at age 48. He finished tied for sixth with

Ossip Bernstein Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (20 September 1882 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian-French chess player and businessman. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Biography Born in Zhytomyr, ...

(France). Bernstein was a tournament veteran who would be in the inaugural group of grandmasters when

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

created the title in 1950. According to a well-known anecdote, after missing a winning line against

Fritz Gygli Fritz Gygli (12 November 1896 in Villachern – 27 April 1980 in Zürich) was a Swiss chess master. He tied for 3rd-4th at St. Gallen 1920, tied for 4-8th at Neuchâtel 1922, shared 2nd at Interlaken 1924, took 2nd at Zurich 1925, tied for 3rd-4th ...

(Switzerland), Bernstein is reported to have asked "Am I not a chess idiot?" When Lasker agreed, Bernstein had the former world champion sign an affidavit attesting to that fact.

Selected games

In round 1 Lasker defended a

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

against Euwe. After 35. Ng3-e4 (see diagram) Euwe's knight

fork In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with which one ...

ed Lasker's queen and rook. Lasker turned the tables by trading his queen for a rook, knight and pawn, winning with 35...Qxe5! 36. Nf6+ Qxf6 37. Rxf6 Nxf6 38. Rc1 Ne4 39. Be2 Nd4 40. Bf3 Nxf2 41. Qc4 Nd3 42. Rf1 Ne5 43. Qb4 Nexf3+ 44. gxf3 Ne2+ 45. Kh2 Nf4+ 46. Kh1 R2d4 47. Qe7 Kg7 48. Qc7 R8d5 49. Re1 Rg5 50. Qxc6 Rd8 0–1. Euwe was again on the white side of a Queen's Gambit Declined in round 5 against Alekhine. Euwe won a pawn and the game with 31. Nf7!. After 31...Kxf7 32. Qh5+ Ke7 33. Rxe6+ Kxe6 34. Re1+ Kd6 35. Qc5+ Kd7 36. Qf5+ Black will be mated. Instead Alekhine gave up a pawn with 31...Qe8 32. Rxe6 Qxe6 33. Nd8 Qe4 34. Nxc6 but was forced to resign on his 53rd move. In round 12 Alekhine defeated Lasker for the only time in yet another Queen's Gambit Declined. After 25. Nd6-f5+ Kg7-h8 (see diagram), Alekhine forced Lasker to resign at once with 26. Qxg6! as Black has no defense against the threat of Qg7# (26...hxg6 27. Rh3+ Nh6 28. Rxh6#).Alexander Alekhine vs Emanuel Lasker, Zurich 1934
at

chessgames.com Chessgames.com is an Internet chess community with over 224,000 members. The site maintains a large database of chess games, where each game has its own discussion page for comments and analysis. Limited primarily to games where at least one pl ...

Crosstable

Notes

References

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External links

Zurich 1934 game scores
at