Introduction
I don’t recall enjoying a chess book more in a long time. Having recently finished Capablanca & Alekhine, a great biography of two of the three superstars of New York 1924, I was immediately immersed into the historical part of New York 1924.
Alekhine analyzes all 110 games played during the tournament. He writes as a spectator, not calling Alekhine “me” in the annotations, and gives an objective overview of each round, each game, and every important move.
This is a position from the most famous game played at New York 1924. Reti played against Capablanca in round 5. At the time, Capablanca had an eight-year streak without a loss. Reti had white in his own opening, the Reti. Can you evaluate properly?
The first edition of New York 1924 was published by Verlag von Walter de Gruyter & Company in Berlin in 1925. For that time, it was a revolution in chess books. Detailed annotations, not just simple one-sentence blurbs, real insight from a world-class master – Alekhine, and a depiction of tournament conditions, the drama during each round, the preparation, the pairings, and much more. New York 1924 was perhaps the first proper game collection ever written.
The tournament itself is very interesting. How it came to be, the organization, the funding, and the process of arranging the participants’ transport to New York, accommodation, and all the other details are described at the beginning of the book.
Herman Helms, known as ‘The Dean of American Chess.’, has written the preface to the original edition. It’s included in the 21st Century Edition I had read. His introduction is an eye-opener, both in terms of how tournaments were organized back then and in terms of the historical context. His writing style is …different. He wrote: “It is quite safe to allow the record of the New York Tournament to speak for itself. In no uncertain tones will a listening and appreciative, not to say grateful world be assured thereby that the congress, the history of which is to be set forth herein, if not the greatest of all time, was at least one of the best.”
What an elegant way of saying that he managed to organize the greatest chess tournament in history.
Norbert L. Lederer, one of the organizers, wrote the introduction. He describes in great detail how himself, Alekhine, Helms, and Latz, the owner of the Alamac hotel where the event was held, let’s call them the organizers, were discussing the potential of organizing the event, how they found the funding, and how they invited the participants. It’s captivating to read how such things were done a hundred years ago.
Alekhine has written other remarkable books, including New York 1927 and Nottingham 1936, which are, along with this book, among my favorite tournament books.
The Participants at New York 1924
With the exception of Tarrasch, who was too old already in 1924, and Nimzowitsch, who, despite being in his prime did not participate, although it’s not mentioned whether he hadn’t been invited or if there were other reasons for his absence, every player from the era we would call “super-GM” today played.
The lineup was astonishing. Three consecutive World Champions and eight of their strongest contemporaries.
Jose Raul Capablanca, the World Champion. Not just the world champion – he won the title from Emmanuael Lasker in 1921. And he was undefeated from 1916, to March 21 1924, during the New York tournament, a period that included the world championship match with Lasker and spanned over eight years! He came to New York as an absolute favorite everyone feared.
Emmanuel Lasker, the former World Champion was 55 at the time. The average age of participants was 42, so he was old for a chess player even by 20s standards.
Alexander Alekhine, the soon to be World Champion, was 36 at the time. He defeated Capablanca in 1927 and took the crown.
The rest of the field are names every chess player knows well: Marshall, Reti, Maroczy, Bogoljubov, Tartakower, Yates, Edward Lasker, and Janowsky. All 11 participants were strong, they all played interesting chess, and, by today’s standards, there were remarkably few draws. Out of 110 games played, 72 were decisive (!), with only 38 draws. Today you could flip those numbers and still be short of the usual number of draws in elite competitions.
22 Rounds
New York 1924 was a double round-robin tournament. Each player played each opponent twice and had two byes.
Alekhine wrote an introduction to each round where he provided a brief overview of each game, highlighted the openings played, and what led to the result, often with snide remarks, which were my favorite part. He would address the tournament situation in the intro to each round, talk about the standings and pairings, and bring up many interesting bits of information on what happened before, during, or after the games.
110 Annotated Games
Alekhine writes well! You wouldn’t think he had written the book a hundred years ago. His style is anything but dry. Well, to a chess player reading that is. He is witty, smart, and extremely knowledgeable.
“On the one hand, Alekhine is ruthlessly objective, even with his own mistakes. On the other hand, he exudes some of Siegbert Tarrasch’s poisonous sarcasm, such as when he shows how Reti, as white, finds himself on the defensive by the twelfth move of his game with Emanuel Lasker. “Rather a dubious outcome for the opening of the future!” Alekhine writes. That was just a warm-up to his excellent treatment of one of the greatest games ever played.” ― Andrew Soltis in the Foreword
Each game played is covered and annotated. Alekhine doesn’t just glance over draws or very one-sided games. He had given each a fair treatment.
The annotations show his expertise in all areas of chess and his special love for certain openings or types of positions. It’s obvious when he knows a lot about a certain structure, as a single move may be annotated with a half-a-page long paragraph. And that’s exactly what I’d found most enjoyable about the book. You can see what Alekhine thought was most important.
From today’s perspective, his analysis of the openings, which is also covered in a separate final chapter “Theory of the Openings”, is the least relevant part. Theory has moved a long way away from what was considered optimal in 1924, so take his variation recommendations with a huge grain of salt and use an opening database while reading to find out what strong players play today. Many games, especially by the, what I’d found out while reading, absolute madman Tartakower, were played in weird lines which have been refuted since.
His coverage of strategy, tactical opportunities, and endgames is great, and almost as valuable today. Alekhine was a great teacher, it turns out, and his writing style is instructive, clear, and captivating. He managed to explain concepts in an easy-to-understand way without deviating along the way – something many contemporary chess authors aren’t able to do well.
I feel like the book had been written, especially for that time, for an elite audience. I cannot imagine an average chess amateur in 1924, who had almost no access to chess literature, being able to follow along. Today, one may say that his annotations are suited for most tournament players, perhaps beginners would study, but anyone over 1600 FIDE could easily follow.
Conclusion
Alexander Alekhine, soon to become World Champion at the time the New York tournament was played, has annotated every single one of the 110 games played at the strongest, most prestigious, and historically most important tournament played before the modern chess age. New York 1924 is a wonderful read, a very instructive game collection with annotations written on World Champion level, and a brilliant glimpse into chess history. Truly a must read for an educated chess player. It’s an easy read by today’s standard, and anyone above 1600 FIDE will be able to follow the analysis easily.
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