Hermanis Matisons (german: Herman Mattison; 1894, Riga – 1932) was a Latvian

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 dist ...

player and one of world's most highly regarded chess masters in the early 1930s. He was also a leading composer of

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 ...

. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

at the age of 38. In 1924, Matisons won the first

Latvian Chess Championship The Latvian Chess Champsionship () is the annual national chess tournament of Latvia among men and women players, which was established in 1924. It is organized by the Latvian Chess Federation (), previously - Latvian Chess Union (). History ...

tournament. Later that year he finished ahead of

Fricis Apšenieks Fricis Apšenieks ( Old orthography: ''Fritzis Apscheneek''; 7 April 1894 in Tetele, Courland Governorate – 25 April 1941 in Riga, Latvian SSR) was a Latvian chess master. Biography In 1924, Apšenieks finished 2nd, behind Hermanis Matison ...

, and

Edgard Colle Edgard Colle (18 May 1897 – 19 April 1932) was a Belgian chess master. He scored excellent results in major international tournaments, including first at Amsterdam 1926, ahead of Savielly Tartakower and future world champion Max Euwe; fir ...

to win the first World Amateur Championship, which was organized in conjunction with the Paris

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

, followed by

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 ...

in 1928. Matisons played first board for Latvia at the 1931 Chess Olympiad in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and defeated

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 International Grandma ...

and

Alexander Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine, ''Aleksándr Aleksándrovich Alékhin''; (March 24, 1946) was a Russian and French chess player and the fourth World Chess Champion, a title he held for two reigns. By the age of 22, Alekhine was already a ...

, then the reigning

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. Sixty of Matisons' endgame studies were collected in the 1987 book ''Mattison's Chess Endgame Studies'' by T.G. Whitworth.

References

* 1894 births 1932 deaths Sportspeople from Riga People from the Governorate of Livonia Chess Olympiad competitors 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Latvian chess players Jewish chess players Latvian Jews Chess composers 20th-century chess players Tuberculosis deaths in Latvia {{Latvia-chess-bio-stub