Erwin Nievergelt (29 April 1929 — 4 August 2018) was a Swiss chess player,

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Biography

Erwin Nievergelt graduated from

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

. In 1956 he defended his thesis ''Die Rangkorrelation U'' for a degree

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

. Erwin Nievergelt engaged in Business informatics: developed a system of electronic processing of economic information. In 1967-1971 he worked as

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

. From 1971 to 1994 Erwin Nievergelt worked as

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

for information systems and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

at the

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

. In 1984 he moved to the post of extraordinary professor of computer science. In parallel with his scientific work, Erwin Nievergelt engaged in predicting

Exchange rate In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...

using

Artificial neural network Artificial neural networks (ANNs), usually simply called neural networks (NNs) or neural nets, are computing systems inspired by the biological neural networks that constitute animal brains. An ANN is based on a collection of connected unit ...

and

Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. He was fond of music and from time to time performed piano concerts. At the age of 60 he started to be engaged in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

. The last years of his life were spent in Spain and Kenya.

Chess career

For a decade and a half Erwin Nievergelt played in chess competitions. In 1954, he ranked 2nd in the tournament in Zürich, ahead of former world champion

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

. Erwin Nievergelt took part in several strong international chess tournaments. He won the Swiss team championship five times. In 1957, Erwin Nievergelt won silver medal in the

Swiss Chess Championship The Swiss Chess Championship is held annually during two weeks of July. It is organised by the Swiss Chess Federation (the SSB), which has been a member of the overall governing body, Swiss Olympic, since 2000. The SSB is itself a relatively new org ...

. He founded the

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

chess club in Zürich. Erwin Nievergelt played for Switzerland in the

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

s: * In 1954, at third board in the

11th Chess Olympiad The 11th Chess Olympiad ( nl, De 11e Schaakolympiade), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several o ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

(+8, =0, -4), * In 1958, at reserve board in the

13th Chess Olympiad The 13th Chess Olympiad (german: Die 13. Schacholympiade), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several o ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

(+5, =3, -5). Erwin Nievergelt played for Switzerland in the

European Team Chess Championship The European Team Championship (often abbreviated in texts and games databases as ''ETC'') is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more ...

preliminaries: * In 1961, at eight board in the 2nd European Team Chess Championship preliminaries (+2, =1, -1). Also Erwin Nievergelt five times participated in Clare Benedict Chess Cup (1957, 1959, 1965–1967).

Personal life

In 1964 Erwin Nievergelt married Marlies Ehrensperger. Marlies and Erwin had four daughters: * Caroline Nievergelt, a biologist * Christine Nievergelt, a teacher * Sabine Nievergelt, a teacher * Susanne Nievergelt, a business consultant

Literature

* Antonio Iglesias Martín
''Erwin Nievergelt: Entre la emociόn y el talento.''
Editorial Club Universitario, San Vicente 2005.Richard Forster
''Zwischen Emotion und Talent.''
In: ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

'' vom 2. Dezember 2005.

References

External links

*
Erwin Nievergelt
chess games at 365chess.com

on the site

German National Library The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...

List of scientific works by E. Nivergelt
on the base

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nievergelt, Erwin 1929 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Zürich Swiss chess players Swiss economists Chess Olympiad competitors University of Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Basel Academic staff of the University of St. Gallen