Sammi Fajarowicz (5 June 1908 in Möckern/Leipzig – 4 July 1940 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

) was a German

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. Fajarowicz was born into a Jewish family with Ukrainian roots. He played several times in Leipzig championships; took 3rd in 1928, 2nd in 1929, shared 1st with

Max Blümich Reinhold Max Blümich (Bluemich) (3 November 1886 – 23 February 1942, Falkenberg/Elster) was a German chess master and editor. At the beginning of his chess career, he played in Leipzig where tied for 4-6th in 1909, took 8th in 1910, took 3rd in ...

, but lost to him a play-off match (2.5–4.5) in 1930, and twice won in 1931 and 1933. He also took 5th at Bautzen 1929, tied for 12-13th at Zwickau 1930 (

Karl Helling Karl Helling (10 August 1904, Luckenwalde, Brandenburg – 15 August 1937, Berlin) was a German chess master. In 1928, he shared 1st with Kurt Richter in the Berlin City Chess Championship, and won a play-off match for the title against him (2 : ...

won), and took 5th at Frankfurt. Fajarowicz took 4th at

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

1935 (

Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960 ...

won). In

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, he could play only in ''Jüdische Meisterschaft Deutschlands''. He won twice those tournaments – in Leipzig 1935 (jointly with J. Mundsztuk and Simon Rotenstein)Chess: Hitler and Nazi Germany
/ref> and Frankfurt am Main 1937. He had tried to escape from Germany but without success. He died in a Jewish Hospital in Leipzig (''Leipziger Israelisches Krankenhaus'') in 1940 from

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, in ...

. The ''Fajarowicz Gambit'' in the

Budapest Gambit The Budapest Gambit (or Budapest Defence) is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e5 Despite an early debut in 1896, the Budapest Gambit received attention from leading players only after a win as Black by Grandmast ...

(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4!?) is named after him.

References

Literature

*Alfred Diel: ''Fremdenpass Nr. 16. Das kurze Leben des Sächsischen Meisters Sammi Fajarowicz'', in: Kaissiber 16/Januar-März 2001, pp. 20–39. *Alfred Diel/Stefan Bücker: ''Spurenlese: Sammi Fajarowicz'', in: Kaissiber 16/Januar-März 2001, pp. 41–57.
Fajarowicz gambit
by Dany Sénéchaud o
Mieux jouer aux échecs
*

External links

* Jewish chess players German chess players Chess theoreticians 20th-century German Jews German people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Sportspeople from Leipzig 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 1908 births 1940 deaths 20th-century chess players Tuberculosis deaths in Germany {{Germany-chess-bio-stub