| KEG: Janowski had been tearing up the field. In the first six rounds at Monte Carlo 1902, he had won four times, drew and then won the replay against Eisenberg, and then drawn both the initial game and the replay against Maroczy. In total, this gave Janowski 5.25 points out of a possible six, putting him in first place ahead of Marshall, Maroczy, and Pillsbury. This game began Janowski's fall to earth at Monte Carlo 1902. He had won at Monte Carlo 1901, but after this and later losses to Pillsbury and Mason, he ended up in third place. Had he won this game, and with everything being equal, Janowski would have taken first. Since he later won at Hanover 1902, he would have had three major tournament wins in a row and had a strong claim to challenge Lasker for the world's championship. (They played such a match years later, and Janowski got smoked) Schlechter had tied for first at Munich 1900 and taken second place just behind Janowski at Monte Carlo 1901. And going into this game, Schlechter had a lifetime losing record against Janowski. That all changed after this game. Later in 1902, Janowski and Schlechter played a match which Schlechter won handily: six wins to one with three draws. Janowski was an able tactician, but as a chess theorist, and as a chessplayer, Schlechter was his superior. He ended up with a lifetime winning record against Janowski (18 wins, 11 losses, and 9 draws). In this game, Janowski was completely outplayed by Schlechter in the opening and early middle game. But--surprising to relate--Schlechter faltered on his 18th, 19th, and 20th turns, letting Janowski very much back in the game. Just as things were looking up for Janowski, he blundered away the game with his careless 22nd move. 1. d4 d5
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 a6
click for larger viewThis was Janowski's pet line against the Queen's Gambit from 1899 to 1902. It is actually better than it looks, and it later became a staple for Duras and was later played by Alekhine, Euwe, Polugaevsky, and more recently by Liem, Mamedyarov, and by Magnus Carlsen himself. But Janowski didn't fully seem to understand this line. He won with it against Tinsley, Lee and Steinitz in his final disastrous tournament, and he drw against Showalter. But he lost all his other games with 3...a6, including losses to Lasker and Maroczy, two losses to Pillsbury, and all three games in which he played it against Schlechter. After losing two games against Schlechter in their match, Janowski retired 3...a6. This line really never quite worked for him.
4. cxd5 exd5
5. Qb3
click for larger view5. Bf4 and 5. Nf3 are more usual, but the text is certainly fine. Pillsbury and Lasker, like Schlechter here, used it to defeat Janowski. 5... c6
Janowski favored this move, but 5...Nf6 or 5...Bd6 are surely better. 6. e4
click for larger viewThis aggressive effort was recently tried by Neopmniachtchi. It is sound and perhaps the best try against Janowski who was much stronger on offense than on defense. 6. Bf4 and 6. Nf3 give White a small but comfortable advantage. 6... dxe4
7. Bc4
A nice try to harass Black, and well worth the (at leas temporary) pawn minus). 7... Qe7
8. a4
"To maintain the Bishop at c4." (Tournament Book) 8... Nf6
This creates problems for Black. 8...Nh6 is far better. 9. Nge2
This left:
click for larger viewAs will be seen, Janowski was far from comfortable in this type of position, and soon got into grave difficulties. | 
Kibitzing
