The Brooklyn Daily Eagle for April 15, 1915 gave some details four days before game time. The original list of players included Jose Raul Capablanca, Frank James Marshall, Albert Hodges, Jackson Whipps Showalter, Edward Lasker, Oscar Chajes, Abraham Kupchik, and Dr. George F Adair. Showalter, however, did not show up, nor did Adair play; they were replaced by Jacob Bernstein and Einar Michelsen.
A place had been reserved for Newell Williams Banks of Detroit, but he dropped out at the last minute due to business pressure. Kupchik, who had refused an earlier invitation due to his own business affairs but had been able to make arrangements after all, replaced him.
Hours of play were to be 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday; adjournments would be played off on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Picture from Round 1, available at Edward Winter's Chess Notes site, item #5742: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...
Front row of players: Capablanca v. Edward Lasker, Jacob Bernstein v. Frank James Marshall. Back row of players: Abraham Kupchik (almost obscured, as usual) v. Oscar Chajes, Albert Hodges v. Einar Michelsen.
From the beginning it turned into a race between Capablanca and Marshall, with none of the other players able to score over 50%. Capa was totally ruthless against anybody not named Marshall, and won by a point.
Probably the most famous incident from the tournament occurred when Capablanca didn't show for his round 8 game with Lasker. After about 50 minutes, the desperate Lasker (who really was the kind of guy who didn't want to win a game like that) called Capablanca's hotel room to warn him, Capablanca replying rather testily that he was on his way and that Lasker should not have called since that wasted a minute. See Capablanca vs Ed. Lasker, 1915 for further details.
On a more tragic note, Abraham Kupchik finished the tournament even after receiving word of his father's death during his second round game with Hodges. That game was adjourned, and Kupchik left the tournament for several days. His first game back was E Michelsen vs Kupchik, 1915, which is not a typical Kupchik game. You have to wonder what was going through his mind.
Details of round-by-round summaries and leaders can be found in the original collection, Game Collection: New York 1915 (Masters' Tournament).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 Capablanca ** == 11 11 11 11 11 11 13.0
2 Marshall == ** 1= 11 =1 11 11 11 12.0
3 Chajes 00 0= ** 01 =0 10 11 11 7.0
4 Kupchik 00 00 10 ** 01 10 11 11 7.0
5 Lasker 00 =0 =1 10 ** == =1 == 6.5
6 Bernstein 00 00 01 01 == ** 1= 11 6.5
7 Michelsen 00 00 00 00 =0 0= ** 10 2.0
8 Hodges 00 00 00 00 == 00 01 ** 2.0
Original collection: Game Collection: New York 1915 (Masters' Tournament), by User: Phony Benoni.
Kibitzing
