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St. Petersburg 1914 Chess Tournament
The St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament was one of the most famous chess tournaments of the early twentieth century. It included all the leading players of the time, and was won by World Champion Emanuel Lasker, who came from behind to narrowly defeat future World Champion José Raúl Capablanca. Background The tournament was held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the St. Petersburg Chess Society. The president of the organizing committee was Peter Petrovich Saburov. Members of the committee were: Boris Maliutin, Peter Alexandrovich Saburov, and O. Sossnitzky. They intended to invite the present top twenty chess players, with world champion Emanuel Lasker, challenger José Raúl Capablanca, and the two winners of the All-Russian Masters' Tournament 1913/14 (Alexander Alekhine and Aron Nimzowitsch). Amos Burn, Richard Teichmann, and Szymon Winawer declined for reasons, such as old age. From the other side, Oldřich Duras, Géza Maróczy, Carl Schlechter, Rudolf Spielmann, Sav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Chess Champion
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match between the two leading players in the world, Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. Steinitz won, becoming the first world champion. From 1886 to 1946, the champion set the terms, requiring any challenger to raise a sizable stake and defeat the champion in a match in order to become the new world champion. Following the death of reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine in 1946, FIDE (the International Chess Federation) took over administration of the World Championship, beginning with the 1948 World Championship tournament. From 1948 to 1993, FIDE organized a set of tournaments to choose a new challenger every three years. In 1993, reigning champion Garry Kasparov broke away from FIDE, which led to a rival claimant to the title of W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Max Weiss
Miksa (Max) Weisz (21 July 1857 – 14 March 1927) was an Austrian chess player born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Weiss was born in Sereď. Moving to Vienna, he studied mathematics and physics at the university, and later taught those subjects. Weiss learned to play chess at age 12, and his strength increased steadily throughout the 1880s. *1880, Graz, tied with Adolf Schwarz and Johannes von Minckwitz for first prize. *1882, Vienna, tenth, won two games from Johann Zukertort, and drew with Wilhelm Steinitz. *1883, Nuremberg, tenth. *1885, Hamburg, tied with Berthold Englisch and Siegbert Tarrasch for second prize. *1887, Frankfort-on-the-Main, divided second and third prizes with Joseph Henry Blackburne. *1888, Bradford, tied with Blackburne for sixth prize. *1889, New York, (the sixth American Chess Congress), scored +24−4=10 to tie with Mikhail Chigorin for first prize, ahead of Isidor Gunsberg and Blackburne. *1889, Breslau, third prize. *1890, Vienna, first prize, ahead of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exchange Variation
In chess, an exchange variation is a type of opening in which there is an early, voluntary exchange of pawns or pieces. Such variations are often quieter than other lines because the early release of tension minimizes the possibility of surprise tactics or sharp, forcing lines, particularly where it results in a symmetrical pawn structure. Intents and implications White may choose an exchange variation as a relatively risk-free way to try to exploit White's first-move advantage. Players such as Mikhail Botvinnik and Yasser Seirawan used the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense this way. White may also play an exchange variation in an effort to draw the game. This approach is not without risks. International Master John L. Watson has written that in the Exchange Variation of the French Defense, "Black can always make the struggle an unbalanced one if he chooses". Moreover, playing so blatantly for a draw may place a psychological burden on White: "White has already ceded th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luděk Pachman
Luděk Pachman (German: Ludek Pachmann, May 11, 1924 – March 6, 2003) was a Czechoslovak-German chess grandmaster, chess writer, and political activist. In 1972, after being imprisoned and tortured almost to death by the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, he was allowed to emigrate to West Germany. He lived the remainder of his life there, and resumed his chess career with considerable success, including playing in the Interzonal in 1976 and winning the West German Championship in 1978. Career Pachman's first chess championship came in 1940, when he became champion of the nearby village of Cista (population 900). The first break in his chess career came in 1943, when he was invited to an international tournament in Prague. World Champion Alexander Alekhine dominated the event, with Paul Keres taking second place. Pachman finished ninth in the nineteen-player tournament. Alekhine paid him a compliment in an article in the ''Frankfurter Zeitung'' and from the fifth round on, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Soltis
Andrew Eden Soltis (born May 28, 1947) is an American chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011. Chess career Soltis learned how the chess pieces moved at age 10 when he came upon a how-to-play book in the public library in Astoria, Queens where he grew up. He took no further interest in the game until he was 14, when he joined an Astoria chess club, then the Marshall Chess Club and competed in his first tournament, the 1961 New York City Junior Championship. Tournaments and championships In 1970, Soltis played second board on the gold-medal winning US team in the 17th World Student Team Championship and tied for the best overall score, 8–1. He was also a member of the silver-medal winning US teams in the 14th and the 18th World Student Team Championships. Soltis won the annual international tournament at Reggio Emilia, Italy, in 1972 and was awarded the International Master title two years later. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isidor Gunsberg
Isidore ( ; also spelled Isador, Isadore and Isidor) is an English and French masculine given name. The name is derived from the Greek name ''Isídōros'' (Ἰσίδωρος) and can literally be translated to "gift of Isis." The name has survived in various forms throughout the centuries. Although it has never been a common name, it has historically been popular due to its association with Catholic figures and among the Jewish diaspora. Isidora is the feminine form of the name. Pre-modern era :''Ordered chronologically'' Religious figures * Isidore of Alexandria (died 403), Egyptian priest, saint * Isidore of Chios (died 251), Roman Christian martyr * Isidore of Scété (died c. 390), 4th-century A.D. Egyptian Christian priest and desert ascetic * Isidore of Pelusium (died c. 449), Egyptian monk, saint and prolific letter writer * Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636), Catholic saint and scholar, last of the Fathers of the Church and Archbishop of Seville * Isidore the Laborer (c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dawid Janowski
Dawid Markelowicz Janowski (25 May 1868 – 15 January 1927; often spelled ''David'') was a Polish-born French chess player. The Janowski variations of the Old Indian Defense and of the Queen's Gambit Declined are named after him. Biography Born into a Jewish-Polish family in Wołkowysk, Russian Empire (now Belarus), he settled in Paris around 1890 and began his professional chess career in 1894. He won tournaments in Monte Carlo 1901, Hanover 1902 and tied for first at Vienna 1902. Janowski was devastating against the older masters such as Wilhelm Steinitz (+5−2), Mikhail Chigorin (+17−4=4) and Joseph Henry Blackburne (+6−2=2). However, he had minus scores against newer players such as Siegbert Tarrasch (+5−9=3), Frank Marshall (+28−34=18), Akiba Rubinstein (+3−5), Géza Maróczy (+5−10=5) and Carl Schlechter (+13−20=13). He was outclassed by world champions Emanuel Lasker (+4−25=7) and José Raúl Capablanca (+1−9=1), but scored respectably against A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Henry Blackburne
Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late age of 17 or 18, but he quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was one of the world's leading players, with a string of tournament victories behind him, and popularised chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country. Blackburne also published a collection of his own games. Biography Joseph Henry Blackburne was born in Manchester in December 1841. He learned how to play draughts as a child, but when he was aged 17 or 18, he heard about Paul Morphy's exploits around Europe, and he switched to playing chess: Blackburne joined the Manchester Chess Club in 1861. In July 1861 he lost 5–0 in a match with Manchester's stronges ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akiba Rubinstein
Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1 December 1880 – 14 March 1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Rubinstein was granted the title Grandmaster (chess), International Grandmaster in 1950, at its inauguration. In his youth, he defeated top players José Raúl Capablanca and Carl Schlechter and was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess Championship in 1914, but it was cancelled due to the outbreak of World War I. He was unable to re-create consistently the same form after the war, and his later life was plagued by mental illness. Biography Early life Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was born in Stawiski, Congress Poland, to a Jewish family. He was the oldest of 12 children, but only one sister survived to adulthood. Rubinstein learned to play chess at the relatively late age of 14, and his family had planned for him to become a rabbi. He trained with and played agains ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ossip Bernstein
Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein (20 September 1882 – 30 November 1962) was a Russian-French chess player and businessman. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title Grandmaster (chess), International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. Biography Born in Zhytomyr, Russian Empire, to a wealthy Jewish family. Bernstein grew up in the Russian Empire. He earned a doctorate in law at Heidelberg University in 1906, and became a Financial law, financial lawyer. Bernstein was a successful businessman who earned considerable wealth before losing it in the October Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution. He earned a second fortune that was lost in the Great Depression, and a third that was lost when France was invaded by Nazi Germany in 1940. His Jewish origins meant that he could not remain in Nazi-occupied France, and he was forced to flee to Spain and settled in Barcelona. According to Arnold Denker, who was told by Edward Lasker, a 36-year-old Bernstein in 1918 was arrested in Odessa by th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank James Marshall
Frank James Marshall (August 10, 1877 – November 9, 1944) was the U.S. Chess Champion from 1909 to 1936, and one of the world's strongest chess players in the early part of the 20th century. Chess career Marshall was born in New York City, and lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from age 8 to 19. He began playing chess at the age of 10, and by 1890 (aged 13) was one of the leading players in Montreal. He won the 1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress (scoring 13/15, ahead of World Champion Emanuel Lasker) and the U.S. Congress in 1904, but did not get the national title because the U.S. champion at that time, Harry Nelson Pillsbury, did not compete. In 1906 Pillsbury died and Marshall again refused the championship title until he won it in competition in 1909. In 1907 he played a match against World Champion Emanuel Lasker for the title and lost eight games, winning none and drawing seven. They played their match in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siegbert Tarrasch
Siegbert Tarrasch (; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Life Tarrasch was born in Breslau, in what was then Prussian Silesia and now is Poland. Having finished school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Berlin and then in Halle. With his family, he settled in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and later in Munich, setting up a successful medical practice. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, converted to Christianity in 1909, and was a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I, yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages of the Third Reich. Chess career A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the ageing World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in tournaments (+3−0=1) but refused an opportunity to challenge Steinitz for the world tit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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