Der fünfte Kongreß des Deutschen Schachbundes. Frankfurt a.m. 1887

288 pages with diagrams and tables. Octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in quarter red cloth with purple stiff boards and gilt title to spine. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana:5223) First edition.

This was the Fifth German Chess Congress of the Deutschen Schachbund (DSB - German Chess Federation). It took place in Frankfurt am Main in 1887, the venue being the Assembly Rooms of the Zoological Gardens. German chess benefitted from the rapid expansion of the economy after 1880, the period known as "Gründerzeit" (Founding period) in which many large and soon to be prominent industrial companies were created such as: Krupp, Stinnes, Hoesch and Thyssen. A period of economic prosperity extending until the First World War provided the means for German chess to stage large international tournaments. Using Chessmetrics' data, the Fifth German Chess Congress was the strongest tournament held between 1885 and 1895. With the exceptions of Wilhelm Steinitz (1st) and James Mason (8th), it involved all the ten top players of the time. The tournament comprised: a Master Tournament, a Major Tournament ("Hauptturnier"), a First-Class Tournament, a Second-Class Tournament and a "Free tournament" for "for participants in the major and minor tournaments". Due to a small number of players, the Hauptturnier was divided into two preliminary groups, the top players of each group then progressing into the final "Siegergruppe" (Winning group). Bauer won the Siegergruppe and so won the Hauptturnier. George Henry Mackenzie won the first prize of 1,000 Marks. Joseph Henry Blackburne and Max Weiss shared second and third prizes of 750 + 500 Marks. Von Bardeleben fourth prize - 300 Marks and contributing author of the tournament book. Berger and Tarrasch shared fifth and sixth prizes; Englisch seventh prize and Paulsen and Schallopp shared eight prize. Tarrasch's score is notable. After a very poor start, he played with great determination to come in with the second highest tally of wins (11) along with Blackburn. His loses, meant, however, that he could only secure a share of fifth and sixth places. Similarly, Paulsen with 10 wins and 8 losses could only come in to share eighth prize. Outside of the prize list, Burn had 9 wins but 10 loses.

Condition:

Corners bumped and rubbed, previous owner's book plate removed from front paste down, spine sunned else a very good copy of a scarce tournament title