A hundred years ago: Moscow 1925

by Frederic Friedel
1/13/2025 – The 1925 chess tournament held in Moscow was a groundbreaking event in chess history. The International Chess Tournament was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. It featured 21 players –eleven international stars and ten Soviet masters. It was won by Efim Bogoljubow, who finished ahead of Lasker and Capablanca, the reigning world champion. Against him Bogoljubow played one of the most and complex one of the most widely discussed games in history.

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The International Chess Tournament in Moscow was the world's first state-sponsored chess tournament. It featured 21 players –eleven international stars and ten Soviet masters.

The feature from Social (February 1926, page 35) on the right (click to enlarge) was provided by Yandy Rojas Barrios of Cuba and appeared in the article Moscow, 1925 by Edward Winter. It contains almost everything you would want to know about the event.

The tournament marked a crucial step in the rise of Soviet chess, showing the world the emerging strength of Soviet players. It pitted them against leading foreign masters, including World Champion Capablanca and former World Champion Lasker. The event generated unprecedented chess enthusiasm, with thousands of spectators attending. There was also the production of a silent film, "Chess Fever." 

Chess Fever (Russian: Шахматная горячка) is a silent comedy film about the Moscow 1925 chess tournament, made by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky. The film combines acted parts and footage of the masters at the chess board, with Capablanca appearing separately as himself.

The tournament was won by Efim Bogoljubow, who finished ahead of Lasker and Capablanca. It marked an exceptional year for him, one in which he had won the Soviet Championship for the second consecutive year, and finished first at the Open German Championships in Breslau – making him the only player to hold both the German and Soviet Chess Champion titles in the same year. The victory in the Moscow tournament solidified Bogoljubow's status as a serious contender for the world championship.

Chess historian Edward Winter wrote, in conjunction with Richard Forster, an extensive article entitled "Analytical Disaccord" on his Chess History site. It is stated:

One of the most complex games ever played was Capablanca v Bogoljubow, Moscow, 1925... The occasion itself was tense. The game was played in the nineteenth of 21 rounds, at which time the leading positions were: 1. Bogoljubow, 14½ points; 2. Lasker, 12½ points; 3. Capablanca, 11½ points; 4-6. Marshall, Réti and Torre, 10½ points. Capablanca (and Réti) had the handicap of a bye in one of the last three rounds. The Cuban world champion had lost two games to lesser lights (Ilyin-Genevsky and Verlinsky).

Scan by Edward Winter from Tartakower’s Shakhmatnaya pravda (Leningrad, 1926)

Here is the game between Capablanca and Bogoljubow, with annotations by Garry Kasparov in Mega Database:

Capablanca, Jose Raul1–0Bogoljubow, Efim
Moscow International-01
05.12.1925[Kasparov,Garry]
1.d4 The tournament in Moscow in 1925 was the greatest triumph of Bogoljubow's career. A big contribution to his success was the fact that as the champion of Soviet Russia he knew the Soviet participants very well and scored +7, -0, =2 against them. Before this game Capablanca was two points behind the leader, which is why the world champion was prepared to take risks which under normal circumstances he would consider unacceptable. d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 dxc4 4.e4 c5?! 5.Bxc4 In an earlier game in the tournament Capablanca had played 5.d5?! but got nothing out of the opening. cxd4 6.Nxd4 Nf6 7.Nc3 Bc5 8.Be3 Nbd7!? Not satisfied with the position after 8...0-0 9.e5 Nd5 10.Bxd5 exd5 11.0-0 where White retains a stable advantage, Bogoljubow invites his opponent to make a tempting sacrifice. 9.Bxe6!? According to witnesses Capablanca played this move without hesitation. He was definitely in a fighting mood. fxe6 10.Nxe6 Qa5? Bogoljubow's move was not based on sound calculations. He didn't find the right square for his queen. After 10...Qb6! White had to work hard to justify his brave decision. In the post-mortem Capablanca proposed a beautiful line in the old romantic style: 11.Nxc5 Nxc5 12.0-0 Qc6 13.Rc1 Ncxe4 14.Nxe4 Qxe4 15.Re1 Kf7 16.Rc7+ Kg6 17.Bd4 Qf4 18.Ree7 Rd8? 18...Rg8 would have left White with nothing. 19.Rxg7+ Kh6 20.Rxh7+! Nxh7 21.Rxh7+ Kxh7 22.Qh5+ Kg8 23.Qg6+ Kf8 24.Bc5+ etc. 11.0-0 Bxe3 12.fxe3 Kf7 13.Qb3 Kg6 14.Rf5 Qb6 In case of 14...Ne5 15.Nd5! decides: Bxe6 15...Nxd5 16.Rxe5 Bxe6 17.Rxe6+ Nf6 18.e5 16.Nf4+ Kh6 17.Qxe6 Rhe8 18.Rh5# 15.Nf4+ Kh6 16.g4? After his nervous move White's attack collapses. Capablanca later declared that 16.Qf7 was winning. Question one: is this statement correct? ANSWER 1: Yes! 16...g5! Forcing the exchange of queens. 17.Qxb6 17.Qf7 is met by Rf8 17...axb6 18.Rd1! A clever attempt to complicate a lost position. Rg8? Bogoljubow wants to win in great comfort. Obviously 18...gxf4 19.g5+ Kg7 20.gxf6+ Nxf6 21.Rg5+ Kf7 22.exf4 h6 gave him excellent winning chances, although White's resources are not yet fully exhausted. 19.Nfd5 Nxg4? Probably Bogoljubow didn't believe in mates with the queens off the board, and he left too many white pieces dangerously near his king. Capablanca immediately resurrects the dying White attack. The simple 19...Nxd5 would have forced the great Capablanca to fight for a draw. 20.Ne7! Rg7 21.Rd6+ Kh5 22.Rf3! Ngf6 23.Rh3+ Kg4 24.Rg3+ Kh5 25.Nf5 Naturally White could already force a draw by perpetual check, but Capablanca felt there was a treasure to be found! Rg6
26.Ne7? Trying to reach the first time control at move 30 in order to then look for the decisive blow, Capablanca misses a miraculous win. Question two: Find it! 26.Rh3+! [ANSWER 2] 26...g4? Bogoljubow, also in time trouble, quite correctly wanted to avoid a repetition of moves. But he took the wrong route. Question three: What was the refutation of White's mistake on move 26? 26...Nc5‼ [ANSWER 3] would have turned tables again: 27.Nxg6 Kxg6 27...hxg6 28.e5 wouldn't have changed the course of events. 28.Rxg4+ Kf7 29.Rf4 Kg7 30.e5 Ne8 31.Re6 Nc7 32.Re7+ and Black resigned. The remaining moves could have been: 32.Re7+ Kg6 33.e6 Nc5 34.Rxc7 Nxe6 35.Rg4+ Kf5 36.Rcc4 b5 37.Rb4 auf.
1–0

 

If you want to know more about this game – go through all the discussions that have flamed up around it, you should take a look at the "Analytical Disaccord" article mentioned above.

The game has been dissected not only by both players but also by such luminaries as Lasker, Alekhine, Euwe, Spielmann and Tartakower. Many of their comments reflect profound disagreement, as seen in the article – which also includes an English translation of Capablanca’s annotations, published on pages 34-35 of Kagans Neueste Schachnachrichten, January 1926.

The remarkable Edward Winter even managed to obtain a copy of the Cuban’s original manuscript [click to enlarge].


Editor-in-Chief emeritus of the ChessBase News page. Studied Philosophy and Linguistics at the University of Hamburg and Oxford, graduating with a thesis on speech act theory and moral language. He started a university career but switched to science journalism, producing documentaries for German TV. In 1986 he co-founded ChessBase.

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