The Match Tournament at St. Petersburg 1895-6. A Turning Point in Chess History.

Yorklyn, DE, USA: Caissa Editions,. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1989. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. 0939433109 . FINE red cloth-covered boards with Bright Gilt titling to the spine and the front cover, which also has the Caissa 'logo', rather larger than usual, in bright gold. No dustjacket as issued. A few very light spots and a few marks to the page fore-edges but the remaining edges are crisp, and white. Internally NO Inscriptions or Marks. (2pp) + 118 pages, with black & white photographs of the 4 combatants at the front and b/w Chessboard/Moves throughout. " At the closing banquet of the Hastings (1895) tournament, Chigorin announced that the top prizewinners had been invited to St. Petersburg for a match-tournament to begin in December that year. The top finishers Pillsbury, Chigorin and Lasker, plus fifth-place finisher Steinitz agreed to play; fourth-place finisher Siegbert Tarrasch declined. It is worth noting that St. Petersburg posed unusual problems for a 19th century master. "Super-Tournaments" where every player was a leading master, were rare back then. Major international tournaments included a number of local masters, who were easy prey for the likes of Pillsbury, Chigorin, Steinitz and Lasker. But at St. Petersburg 1895-1896, there were no weak opponents. A master in bad form, like Chigorin in the first half of the tournament or Pillsbury in the second half, could expect no mercy... " . Overall, with the exception of a few very minor spots to the page fore-edges this book looks NEW inside and out. An Excellent Very Clean, Tight and Bright copy. See Images. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .