Miksa (Max) Weisz (21 July 1857 – 14 March 1927) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

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 born in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

. Weiss was born in

Sereď Sereď (; hu, Szered ) is a town in southern Slovakia near Trnava, on the right bank of the Váh River on the Danubian Lowland. It has approximately 15,500 inhabitants. Geography Sereď lies at an altitude of above sea level and covers an are ...

. Moving to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he studied

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the

university 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 ...

, and later taught those subjects. Weiss learned to play chess at age 12, and his strength increased steadily throughout the 1880s. *1880,

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

, tied with

Adolf Schwarz Adolf Schwarz (31 October 1836, Gálszécs, Hungary, now Sečovce, Slovakia – 25 October 1910, Vienna) was an Austro-Hungarian chess master. He took 10th in the Vienna 1873 chess tournament (Wilhelm Steinitz and Joseph Henry Blackburne won). ...

and

Johannes von Minckwitz Johannes Minckwitz (April 11, 1843, Leipzig – May 20, 1901, Biebrich) was a German chess player and author. Origins He was the son of German classical scholar and author Johannes Minckwitz. Chess play His best achievement was 2nd place, behi ...

for first prize. *1882,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, tenth, won two games from Johann Zukertort, and

drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

with

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first official World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and che ...

. *1883,

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

, tenth. *1885,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, tied with

Berthold Englisch Berthold Englisch (9 July 1851, Hotzenplotz – 19 October 1897, Vienna) was a leading Austrian chess master. Englisch was born in Austrian Silesia (then Austria-Hungary) into a Jewish family. He earned his living as a stock-market agent. He won ...

and

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 Bresla ...

for second prize. *1887,

Frankfort-on-the-Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its n ...

, divided second and third prizes with

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 ...

. *1888,

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, tied with Blackburne for sixth prize. *1889,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, (the sixth

American Chess Congress The American Chess Congress was a series of chess tournaments held in the United States, a predecessor to the current U.S. Chess Championship. It had nine editions, the first played in October 1857 and the last in August 1923. First American Che ...

), scored +24−4=10 to tie with

Mikhail Chigorin Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also ''Tchigorin''; russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Чиго́рин; – ) was a Russian chess player. He played two World Championship matches against Wilhelm Steinitz, losing both times. The last great ...

for first prize, ahead of

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 ...

and Blackburne. *1889, Breslau, third prize. *1890,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, first prize, ahead of Johann Bauer and Englisch. The New York 1889 tournament was organized to find a challenger for the

World Chess Championship 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 World Chess ...

, but neither Chigorin (who had already lost a championship match) nor Weiss pursued a title match with Steinitz. In fact, having become one of the top players in the world, Weiss quit international chess after this tournament, though he did play a few Viennese events. In 1895 he defeated

Georg Marco Georg Marco (29 November 1863 – 29 August 1923) was an Austrian chess player. He was born in Chernivtsi (Cernăuţi), Bukovina (then part of Austria-Hungary). He later settled in Vienna and was secretary of the Viennese Chess Association. I ...

in a match, +5 −1 =1, and he tied for first in the 1895–6 winter tournament with

Carl Schlechter Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading Austro-Hungarian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker. Early life Sc ...

. Around this time, Weiss began working to create a Viennese school of chess players. In 1905 Weiss was employed by

S M von Rothschild S M von Rothschild was a banking enterprise established in 1820 in Vienna, Austrian Empire by Salomon Mayer Rothschild, the founder of the Rothschild banking family of Austria and a member of the Mayer Amschel Rothschild family of Frankfurt, Germ ...

bank in Vienna. His chess writings, ''Schach-Meistersteich'' (Mühlhausen 1918), ''Kleines Schachlehrbuch'' (Mühlhausen 1920), and the earlier problem collection ''Caissa Bambergensis'' (Bamberg 1902), are little remembered today. In 1927 Weiss died in Vienna, Austria.

References

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Max 1857 births 1927 deaths Hungarian Jews Austrian Jews Hungarian chess players Austrian chess players Jewish chess players

References

See also

External links