The 7th round of the Second American National Tournament featured much hard-fought chess, with only one game finishing in under 40 moves. Capablanca and Jaffe, who occupied the first and second places at the beginning of the round, both registered victories, and so maintained their lead over the other competitors; while Frank Marshall, the American Champion, defeated Oscar Chajes of Chicago and thereby ascended to third position, a placement he now shares with Janowski.
Capablanca continued his unbroken run of successes, scoring the full point for the seventh game in succession, this time as second player in a Queen's Pawn Game vs. Kline. The young Cuban made good use of the board's only open file, as well as of a passed pawn on the Queen-side, to dispatch his opponent, as may be seen from an examination of the game:
Were it not for Capablanca's remarkable performance, Jaffe's excellent start would certainly prove the story of the tournament. The New York Master, playing White in a Queen's Pawn Game, recorded a rather one-sided victory over Whitaker, winning 3 pawns by the 20th move and soon compelling resignation. Jaffe thus brings his score to 6 points from 7 games, yet still stands a full point behind the Cuban ace.
Chajes-Marshall saw yet another Queen's Pawn Game in which the American Champion soon built up a strong attack on the King-side, an offensive that brought him material booty in the form of the exchange and an extra pawn. Black made sure work of the endgame.
Janowski, as Black in a Queen's Gambit Declined vs. Stapfer, strove hard to squeeze out a win against his less-renowned opponent, but to no avail, as a draw was agreed after 59 moves in a Queen endgame in which White was able to deliver perpetual check.
In Zapoleon-Tenenwurzel, a Four Knights' Game, Black seized upon a moment's inattention by his opponent to win a pawn:
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| Position after 18...Bc8-e6 |
Here Zapoleon played 19.f3?, which allowed 19...Nxg3 20.hxg3 Bxe5! After the further 21.dxe5 Qb6+ 22.Rf2 Qxb4, Tenenwurzel enjoyed a considerable advantage on the Queen-side, which he converted with a steady hand, ultimately obtaining two connected passed pawns on that flank and scoring the game to his credit at the 61st move.
Liebenstein for a time looked likely to score a victory of his own against Morrison, who as Black essayed the Open Defense to the Ruy Lopez. The key passage of the game occurred after Black's 21st move, 21...c7-c5, when Liebenstein, by means of the advance 22.f5, initiated an extremely dangerous attack on Black's King. For the benefit of our young readers, we point out that after 25.Rf4 White is threatening 26.Qxh7+ Kxh7 27.Rh4 mate, and we call all readers' attention to the position after 27...Qf5, when 28.Bxd3 seems to assure White of the advantage, the Bishop being immune from capture owing the the above-mentioned mating threat. Instead, Liebenstein chose 28.Rh4, when 28...g5, a reply he may well have overlooked, left him facing the unavoidable loss of a piece. We give the game below, and express our firm confidence that Liebenstein will soon put an end to his unfortunate run of losses, which now stands at seven, and will yet begin to score before the tourney concludes.
Finally, Kupchik defeated Rubinstein in a Queen's Pawn game, trading his two Rooks for the adversary's Queen during an attack on the Black King-side, and eventually eventually promoting a pawn to a second Queen in that sector of the board. We feature this game as well:
Scores after 7 rounds: Capablanca 7; Jaffe 6; Marshall, Janowski 5; Chajes, Kupchik, Tenenwurzel 4 1/2; Stapfer 4; Whitaker, Morrison 2 1/2; Kline 2; Rubinstein 1; Zapoleon 1/2; Liebenstein 0.
The eighth round will be played this afternoon.
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