Friedrich Ludwig Balthasar Amelung ( – ) was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

cultural historian Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

, businessman and

chess endgame In chess and other similar games, the endgame (or end game or ending) is the stage of the game when few pieces are left on the board. The line between middlegame and endgame is often not clear, and may occur gradually or with the quick exchange o ...

composer. Amelung was born at Võisiku (german: Woiseck) manor in

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Jõgeva County Jõgeva County ( et, Jõgeva maakond or ''Jõgevamaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in eastern part of the country and borders Ida-Viru County to the north-east, Lake Peipus to the east, Tartu County to the south, Viljandi C ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

). 1862–1864 he studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

at the

University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. 1864–1879 and 1885–1902 he was the director of the Rõika-

Meleski Meleski is a village in Viljandi Parish, Viljandi County, in central Estonia. It is located about north of the Lake Võrtsjärv. According to Estonia Census 2000, the village had a population of 137. Meleski is bordered by the Põltsamaa River ...

mirror factory which he inherited from his father. Amelung published writings about the culture and history of Estonian localities like

Viljandi Viljandi (, german: Fellin, sv, Fellin) is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

and

Põltsamaa Põltsamaa (german: Oberpahlen) is a town in Põltsamaa Parish, Jõgeva County, Estonia. The town is situated on the Põltsamaa River, and features a 13th-century castle. Gallery Põltsamaa Jõgi.jpg, Põltsamaa River Põltsamaa Vabadussõja m ...

. Amelung was known as a

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player and a famous chess quiz's author. 1879–1885 he lived in

Reval Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ''m ...

(now Tallinn) and studied the chess history of the Baltics. Between 1888 and 1908 he edited the chess magazine ''Baltische Schachblätter''. In 1898 he established the Baltic Chess Society. Amelung published about 230

endgame studies In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially uniqu ...

, making him the first chess historian in the Baltic States. He played a few games with

Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. He won the great interna ...

Gustav Neumann Gustav Richard Ludwig Neumann (15 December 1838 – 16 February 1881) was a German chess master. Neumann was born in Gleiwitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. In matches he lost to Louis Paulsen (+3 –5 =3) at Leipzig 1864, and defeate ...

Carl Mayet Carl (Karl) Mayet (11 August 1810, Berlin – 18 May 1868, Stettin, now Szczecin) was a German chess master. He was one of the most original of the Berlin Pleiades (the seven stars of German chess). In 1839, Mayet defeated Jozsef Szen in a match ...

Emil Schallopp Emil Schallopp (1 August 1843, Friesack, Germany – 9 April 1919, Berlin) was a German chess master and author. He became head of the shorthand department of the Reichstag. He wrote many books, including one on the Steinitz– Zukertort 188 ...

Andreas Ascharin Andreas Ascharin (russian: Андрей Александрович Ашарин, ''Andrey Aleksandrovich Asharin''; in Pärnu – in Riga) was a Baltic German-Russian chess master. Ascharin's father was Russian, his mother was from a Baltic Ge ...

Emanuel Schiffers Emanuel (Emmanuel) Stepanovich Schiffers (russian: Эммануил Степанович Шифферс; – ) was a Russian chess player and chess writer. For many years he was the second leading Russian player after Mikhail Chigorin. Schiffe ...

. He died in 1909 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

and is buried at the

Kolga-Jaani Kolga-Jaani is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Viljandi Parish, Viljandi County, central Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of ...

cemetery in Estonia.

References

External links

*
ARVES Composers biographical data.
* Lewis Stiller
Multilinear Algebra and Chess Endgames
in: ''Games of No Chance'', 29 (1996), p. 151-192 (Amelung's contribution to endgame analysis) 1842 births 1909 deaths People from Põltsamaa Parish People from the Governorate of Livonia Baltic-German people Chess composers Chess players from the Russian Empire Estonian chess players 19th-century chess players Estonian businesspeople 19th-century Estonian historians Cultural historians Historians of Estonia University of Tartu alumni {{Estonia-chess-bio-stub