The Hastings 1895 chess tournament was a round-robin tournament of chess conducted at the Brassey Institute in Hastings, England from 5 August to 2 September 1895. Hastings 1895 was arguably the strongest tournament in history at the time it occurred. All of the top players of the generation competed. It was one of the first times such a "super-tournament" was conducted. Harry Nelson Pillsbury won the tournament against a strong competitive group. Pillsbury, a young American unknown in Europe, was the surprise winner with 16½ out of 21 points – ahead of Mikhail Chigorin and world championEmanuel Lasker. The top five finishers were invited to play in the Saint Petersburg 1895–96 chess tournament. Following the success of the event, the Hastings tournament would become an annual feature. The organizers and players produced a Book of the Tournament, in which the participants annotated their own games. Like the Tournament, the Book too became an annual feature and was of very high instructional value.
Tournament table
Notable games
Many of the games were of high quality and hard-fought. Here are two examples:
Steinitz versus von Bardeleben
In round ten, the position in the diagram arose after a Giuoco Piano: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0-0 Be6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.Bxd5 Bxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Re1 f6 15.Qe2 Qd7 16.Rac1 c6 17.d5! cxd5 18.Nd4 Kf7 19.Ne6 Rhc8 20.Qg4 g6 21.Ng5+ Ke8. At this point Steinitz played one of the most famous moves in history: Black cannot capture the white rook: 22...Qxe7 23.Rxc8+ Rxc8 24.Qxc8+ Qd8 25.Qxd8+, etc. and White wins with his extra piece; while 22...Kxe7 23.Re1+ Kd6 24.Qb4+ Rc5 25.Re6+! wins as well. White's replies are also limited, however, because Black is threatening mate with...Rxc1, as well as threatening to capture White's queen and knight. In order to prevent...Rxc1, Steinitz's rook now "thumbs its nose" at the black king: repeatedly checking right in front of the king, which cannot capture it. This crucial move eliminates the h-pawn and allows White to bring in his queen to attack without ever allowing Black to play...Rxc1 and mate. Bowing to the inevitable, von Bardeleben simply left the tournament hall, letting his time run out. Steinitz demonstrated for the spectators how the game might have continued: 25...Kg8 26.Rg7+ Kh8 27.Qh4+ Kxg7 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qg7+ Ke8 31.Qg8+ Ke7 32.Qf7+ Kd8 33.Qf8+ Qe8 34.Nf7+ Kd7 35.Qd6 This game won the first in the tournament.
Pillsbury versus Gunsberg
The game was played in the last round. Pillsbury was leading the field by half a point. He had assumed that a draw would be enough, and the game therefore opened with the relatively placid Queen's Gambit Declined. Pieces were rapidly traded off the board, reaching the position in the diagram, when Pillsbury realized that Chigorin was winning his game and therefore he would have to win to take clear first.
