Paul Saladin Leonhardt (13 November 1877 – 14 December 1934) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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 ...

master. He was born in Posen, Province of Posen,

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

(now Poland), and died of a heart attack in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

during a game of chess. A player with a low profile and not many tournament wins, Leonhardt has been largely forgotten by the history books. However, at his best, he was able to defeat most of the elite players of the period. Tarrasch, Tartakower, Nimzowitsch, Maróczy and Réti all succumbed to his fierce attacking style between 1903 and 1920. He won several .

Tournaments

In major tournaments he was first at

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

1903,

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

1905, and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

1907 (ahead of Maróczy and Schlechter), making him Nordic Champion; third, behind Rubinstein and Maróczy, at Carlsbad 1907; second, behind

Milan Vidmar Milan Vidmar (22 June 1885 – 9 October 1962) was a Slovenian electrical engineer, chess player, Chess theory, chess theorist, and writer. He was among the top dozen chess players in the world from 1910 to 1930 and in 1950, was among the inaugu ...

, at

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

1909 (7th Nordic-ch); second, behind

Rudolf Spielmann Rudolf Spielmann (5 May 1883 – 20 August 1942) was a Jewish-Austrian chess player of the romantic school, and chess writer. Career Spielmann was born in 1883, third child of Moritz and Cecilia Spielmann, and had a younger brother Edgar, an ol ...

, at

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

1909; and second, behind

Carl Ahues Carl Oscar Ahues (26 December 1883, Bremen – 31 December 1968, Hamburg) was a German chess International Master. Chess career He was Berlin champion in 1910 and shared 3rd place at the strong Berlin tournament of 1926 ( Efim Bogoljubow ...

, at

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

(

DSB Congress The ''Deutscher Schachbund'' (DSB) was founded in Leipzig on 18 July, 1877. When the next meeting took place in the Schützenhaus on 15 July 1879, sixty-two clubs had become member of the chess federation. Hofrat Rudolf von Gottschall became Chair ...

) 1929.

Matches

In matches he drew with

Rudolf Loman Rudolf Loman (14 October 1861 – 5 November 1932) was a Dutch chess master, the son of Abraham Dirk Loman. Born in Amsterdam, Loman lived in London for a number of years. He played chess for money against rich Englishmen, like his Dutch pupil Ja ...

(+4−4=2), won against James Mortimer (+5−0=3), defeated Samuel Passmore (6:2), and drew with Georg Schories (2:2) at London 1904; defeated

Hector William Shoosmith In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

(+5−0=1), and lost to

Jacques Mieses Jacques Mieses (born Jacob Mieses; 27 February 1865 – 23 February 1954) was a German-born British chess player. He was one of the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950. He became a naturalized British ci ...

(+1−5=1) at London 1905; lost to Spielmann (+4−6=5) at Munich 1906; lost to Frank Marshall (+1–2=4), defeated Nimzowitsch (+4–0=1), and lost to

Hugo Süchting Hugo Süchting (Suechting) (8 October 1874 – 27 December 1916) was a German chess player. He won at Kiel 1893 (the 8th DSB Congress, ''Hauptturnier'') took 13th at Leipzig 1894 (the 9th DSB-Congress, Siegbert Tarrasch won), shared 2nd with ...

(1½:2½) at Hamburg 1911, and drew with him (2:2) at Hamburg 1912; won against

Moishe Lowtzky Moishe (Mojżesz) Lowtzky (Łowcki) (1881–1940) was a Ukrainian–Polish chess master. Biography He was born into a Jewish family in Ukraine. In 1903, Lowtzky tied for 6-7th with Eugene Znosko-Borovsky in Kiev (3rd RUS-ch). The event was won b ...

(+5−1=1) at Leipzig 1913; drew with

Hans Fahrni Hans Fahrni (1 October 1874 in Prague – 28 May 1939 in Ostermundigen) was a Swiss chess master. In 1902, he took 12th in Hanover (DSB Congress, B tournament, Walter John won). In 1904, he won in Coburg (DSB-Congress, B tournament). In 1905, ...

(1:1), and won against Jeno Szekely (2½:1½) at Munich 1914; and drew with

Curt von Bardeleben Curt Carl Alfred von Bardeleben (4 March 1861 – 31 January 1924) was a German chess master, journalist, and member of the German nobility. Biography Curt von Bardeleben started playing chess when he was ten years old and quickly developed into ...

(2:2) at Berlin 1921.Short Matches of the 20th Century

Legacy

As an expert analyst of the

opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

s, he wrote a monograph on the

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. It is one o ...

(''Zur Spanische Partie'' – 1913). Opening variations have been attributed to him in the Lopez,

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5, c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Ope ...

Ponziani Opening The Ponziani Opening is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. c3 It is one of the oldest chess openings, having been discussed in the literature by 1497. It was advocated by Howard Staunton, generally consid ...

Evans Gambit The Evans Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 :4. b4 The Evans Gambit is an aggressive line of the Giuoco Piano. White offers a pawn to divert the black bishop on c5. If Black accepts ...

, and the Scandinavian Defense.

References

Bibliography *Cunliffe, Steve. ''British Chess Magazine''. December 1977 (article). * *
Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's ''Chess Tournament Crosstables'', An Electronic Edition, Anders Thulin, Malmö, 2004-09-01

External links

*
487 games of Paul Saladin Leonhardt
365chess.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Leonhardt, Paul Saladin 1877 births 1934 deaths Sportspeople from Poznań German chess writers German chess players People from the Province of Posen Chess theoreticians German male non-fiction writers