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The 12th German Chess Federation Congress was held in Munich, German Empire (Bavaria) from July 22nd-August 18th, 1900. It featured several of the world's best players plus the usual gang of cannon fodder, to wit: Johann Nepomuk Berger
Moritz Billecard
Amos Burn
Wilhelm Cohn
Alexander Halprin
Franz G Jacob
David Janowski
Georg Marco
Geza Maroczy
Harry Nelson Pillsbury
Carl Schlechter
Jackson Whipps Showalter
Curt von Bardeleben
Hermann von Gottschall
Ignatz von Popiel
Heinrich Wolf. By round 4 the tournament had developed into a three-way race among Maroczy, Pillsbury and Schlechter, and they stayed there the rest of the way. Janowski was never a factor, Marco kept up for a while but couldn't stand the pace, and Burn made only a mild charge. By round 10, the big three were a full point ahead and it seemed obvious one of them would be the eventual winner. The plot began to thicken after round 13. Pillsbury had taken his first sole lead at 11.0 points, Maroczy and Schlechter being 1/2-point behind. The latter two were scheduled to play in round 15, and neither could have relished the thought of trying to beat each other in order to catch Pillsbury. It was essential that Pillsbury be slowed down in round 14 to give them a chance to catch up, but he was playing Halprin whose score of 3.5-9.5 didn't inspire much confidence. What happened next is one of the classic stories. To understand it fully, we need to go back to H Wolf vs Pillsbury, 1900 from round 12: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 In round 3, Maroczy played the quieter 6.Bxc6, and the game was eventually drawn after Pillsbury had the advantage. Wolf goes for a more complicated line, with which Pillsbury was also familiar. 6.dxe5 Nxb5 7.a4 d6 8.e6 fxe6 9.axb5 Ne7 This appears to be an innovation by Pillsbury; previously, 9...Nb8 was played. 10.Nc3 Ng6 11.Ng5 Be7 12.Qh5 Bxg5 13.Bxg5 Qd7 
click for larger viewNow Wolf tried <14.Ra3>. This allowed Black to castle safely, beat back a kingside attack and convert his extra pawn in 40 moves. Maroczy studied the position, and discovered the astounding idea of <14.b6> and 15.<Nd5>, giving White a strong attack. He went over the line with Halprin the night before round 14, hoping to give Pillsbury the surprise of his life. Pillsbury was probably suspicious as soon as Halprin, who normally played 1.d4, came out with 1.e4 instead. Then when Halprin went into the complicated 6.dxe5 line, the radar was probably on full blast. But 14.b6 and 15.Nd5 were still a total surprise, leaving him facing a dangerous opening innovation with the clock ticking and first place at stake. Despite all this, Pillsbury managed to fend off the attack in what is generally considered one of the greatest draws in chess history. It wasn't enough to maintain his lead, though, as both Maroczy and Schlechter won to catch Pillsbury. All three played hard in the last round, but draws resulted and the tournament itself ended with a three-way tie for first. However, there were still tiebreak games to be played. Originally each of the three players were scheduled to have two games with each other. However, Maroczy lost the first game to Pillsbury after a horrible blunder and withdrew due to ill health. The format was then changed to a four-game mini-match between Pillsbury and Schlechter. Schlechter won the first game, Pillsbury the second, then after two more draws they finally called it a day. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 Maroczy * ½ ½ 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 12.0
2 Pillsbury ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 12.0
3 Schlechter ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12.0
4 Burn 0 ½ 0 * 1 1 1 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 1 10.5
5 Marco 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 ½ 1 10.0
6 Cohn 0 0 ½ 0 ½ * 1 0 1 ½ ½ 0 1 1 1 1 8.0
7 Berger 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 * ½ 0 1 1 ½ 0 0 1 1 7.5
8 Janowski 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 ½ * 1 1 0 1 0 ½ 1 1 7.5
9 Showalter 0 0 ½ 1 0 0 1 0 * 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 7.5
10 Wolf 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 1 * 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 7.5
11 Von Popiel ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 1 1 0 * 0 ½ 1 ½ 1 6.5
12 Von Gottschall ½ 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 1 * 1 1 ½ 1 6.5
13 Halprin 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ 5.0
14 Von Bardeleben 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 ½ * 1 0 3.0
15 Billecard 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 1 3.0
16 Jacob 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 = 1 0 * 1.5
If you're looking for other interesting games, take a glance at Janowski vs Maroczy, 1900 from round 4. The finish is particularly fascinating.Original collection: Game Collection: Munich 1900, by User: Phony Benoni.
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Kibitzing
