International Amateur Tournament
Amsterdam, Netherlands
August 7-16, 1899
The tournament consisted of sixteen players, mainly from the Netherlands and Germany with single representatives from England and Austria:
Henry Ernest Atkins; Dirk Bleijkmans; Julius Dimer; Arnold Van Foreest; Jan Frederik Heemskerk; Jan-Willem Te Kolste; Nathan Mannheimer; W B H Meiners; J J R Moquette; Adolf Georg Olland; Josef Partaj; F W Pelzer; Wilhelm Schwan; Rudolf Swiderski; Jan Diderik Tresling; Cornelius Trimborn.
It turned out to be one of those tournaments where the final crosstable speaks louder than words:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Atkins * 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15.0
2 Olland 0 * 0 1 = = 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11.0
3 Tresling 0 1 * 0 = 1 = = 1 = 1 0 1 1 1 1 10.0
4 Bleijkmans 0 0 1 * 1 0 = 1 1 1 = 1 1 0 1 1 10.0
5 Mannheimer 0 = = 0 * 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0
6 Swiderski 0 = 0 1 0 * 0 = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.0
7 Dimer 0 0 = = 0 1 * 0 = 1 = 1 1 = 1 1 8.5
8 Van Foreest 0 0 = 0 0 = 1 * 1 = 1 1 0 1 1 1 8.5
9 Partaj 0 1 0 0 1 0 = 0 * = 0 = 1 1 0 1 6.5
10 Pelzer 0 0 = 0 1 0 0 = = * = 1 1 0 = 1 6.5
11 Moquette 0 0 0 = 0 0 = 0 1 = * 0 0 1 1 1 5.5
12 Schwan 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 1 * 0 = 1 1 5.0
13 Meiners 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 * = = 1 5.0
14 te Kolste 0 0 0 1 0 0 = 0 0 1 0 = = * 0 = 4.0
15 Heemskerk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 = 1 * 0 3.0
16 Trimborn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 * 1.5
Perfect scores in international tournaments are rare and generally memorable, but Atkins' 15-0 is largely forgotten. Part of the reason is that there weren't any big names among his opponents. If you compare his achievement with perfect scores by Lasker (Game Collection: New York 1893, The Impromtu Tournament or Capablanca (Game Collection: New York 1913 (Rice Chess Club Summer Tournament), there seems no comparison between the strength of the opposition--at least, for those more familiar with US chess history than Dutch chess history.In any event, if 15-0 were that easy everybody would do it. Most masters who visited the Netherlands for a tournament knew better than to take the locals lightly.
As it turned out, Atkins needed most of those points. Olland started out with two draws, then ran off nine wins in a row before a round 12 loss left him two points down. He made a gallant effort in their round 13 game, but Atkins ground away to clinch the tournament. By then he had two of the tailenders left to play, so why not go for it? Last place finisher Trimborn put up a grim resistance in the final round and may have even missed a draw, but Atkins was not to be denied.
Atkins played a number of attractive games in this touranment, particularly with White, but it was the round 8 game J D Tresling vs H E Atkins, 1899 which took away the brilliancy prize.
SCORING BY ROUNDS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Atkins 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15.0
2 Olland = = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 11.0
3 Bleijkmans 1 = 0 = 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 10.0
4 Mannheimer = 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 = 0 1 0 1 10.0
5 Swiderski 1 = 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 = 1 1 1 1 0 10.0
6 Tresling = = 1 1 = 0 1 0 1 1 = 1 0 1 1 10.0
7 Dimer = = 1 = = 0 1 = 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 8.5
8 Van Foreest = 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 = = 1 1 1 0 8.5
9 Partaj = 1 1 0 = 0 1 = 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 6.5
10 Pelzer 0 = 0 = = 1 0 1 1 1 = 0 = 0 0 6.5
11 Moquette = = 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 = 0 1 5.5
12 Meiners 0 = 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 = 0 0 0 5.5
13 Schwan = 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 = 0 0 1 0 1 5.0
14 te Kolste 0 = 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 = = = 0 1 0 4.0
15 Heemskerk 0 = 0 = 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3.0
16 Trimborn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 0 0 0 0 1.5
<PROGRESSIVE SCORE>
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Atkins 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
2 Olland ½ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 10 11 11
3 Bleijkmans 1 1½ 1½ 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 9 10
4 Mannheimer ½ 1½ 2½ 3½ 4½ 4½ 5½ 6½ 7½ 7½ 8 8 9 9 10
5 Swiderski 1 1½ 1½ 2½ 3½ 4½ 4½ 5½ 5½ 6 7 8 9 10 10
6 Tresling ½ 1 2 3 3½ 3½ 4½ 4½ 5½ 6½ 7 8 8 9 10
7 Dimer ½ 1 2 2½ 3 3 4 4½ 4½ 4½ 5½ 6½ 7½ 7½ 8½
8 Van Foreest ½ ½ 1½ 2½ 2½ 2½ 3½ 4½ 4½ 5 5½ 6½ 7½ 8½ 8½
9 Partaj ½ 1½ 2½ 2½ 3 3 4 4½ 4½ 4½ 4½ 4½ 4½ 5½ 6½
10 Pelzer 0 ½ ½ 1 1½ 2½ 2½ 3½ 4½ 5½ 6 6 6½ 6½ 6½
11 Moquette ½ 1 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4½ 4½ 5½
12 Meiners 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1½ 2½ 2½ 3½ 3½ 4½ 5 5 5 5
13 Schwan ½ ½ ½ ½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 2½ 3 3 3 4 4 5
14 te Kolste 0 ½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 2 2½ 3 3 4 4
15 Heemskerk 0 ½ ½ 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
16 Trimborn 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½ 1½
<Tournament book>: Amsterdam Internationale Schaakwedstrijd edited by H. D. B. Meijer. http://books.google.com/books?id=-b.... Thanks to <Calli> for spotting it.Other sources
Many thanks to User: thomastonk for tracking down the dates of the individual rounds from contemporary newspapers, mostly the <Algemeen Handelsbad>. Also to User: Stonehenge for submitting many of the games.
British Chess Magazine, 1899, p. 373: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ro...
Deutsche Schachzeitung, September 1899, p. 284, : http://books.google.com/books?id=9j...; November 1899, p. 331: http://books.google.com/books?id=9j...
Tijdschrift van den Nederlandschen Schaakbond, January 1900, p. 16-17: http://books.google.com/books?id=kh...
Wiener Schachzeitung, August/September 1899, p. 126: http://books.google.com/books?id=nR...
Original collection: Game Collection: Amsterdam 1899, by User: Phony Benoni
