The Berlin Chess Championship is an annual chess tournament in Germany. The first unofficial Berlin Chess Championship was held in 1853, and

Jean Dufresne Jean Dufresne (14 February 1829 – 13 April 1893) was a German chess player and chess composer. He was a student of Adolf Anderssen, to whom he lost the "Evergreen game" in 1852. Life Dufresne was born and died in Berlin. The son of a wealthy J ...

won a match against Max Lange. Since 1904, official Berlin championships have taken place. The first event was won by

Horatio Caro Horatio Caro (5 July 1862 – 15 December 1920) was an English chess player. Caro was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, but spent most of his chess career in Berlin, Germany having moved there when he was two years old. He played several m ...

, followed by Ossip Bernstein, Rudolf Spielmann, Wilhelm Cohn,

Benjamin Blumenfeld Benjamin Blumenfeld (24 May 1884, Vilkaviškis – 5 March 1947, Moscow) was a Russian chess master. He was born in Vilkaviškis, in the Suwałki Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania). In 1905/06 he tied for second/third wit ...

, etc. As a result of the post-war division of the city into

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

and West Berlin, from 1953 until 1990 two separate championships were held. Since the 1991 reunification of Germany, the Berlin championships are again held as single events.Berliner Schachverband :: Sieger Berliner Einzelmeisterschaft

Berlin Champions

West Berlin and East Berlin Champions

Berlin Champions

References

{{Chess national championships Chess competitions Chess in Germany Berlin Chess Championship 1904 in chess 1904 establishments in Germany Recurring events established in 1904 Annual events in Berlin