Imre König (Koenig) aka Mirko Kenig (February 9, 1901, Kula – September 9, 1992,

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, California) was a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master representing Yugoslavia and Great Britain. He was born in Kula, and also lived in Austria, England and the USA during the troubled times between the two world wars. In 1921, he took 2nd in Celje. In 1920s König played in several tournaments in Vienna; he was 3rd in 1921, 14th in 1922 (

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 ...

won), 3rd-4th in 1925, 4-5th in 1926 (

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

won), and 3rd-5th in 1926. He took 12th in Rogaška Slatina (Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn) in 1929. The event was won by Rubinstein. In 1929/30, he took 7th in Vienna ( Hans Kmoch and Spielmann won). In 1931, he took 4th in Vienna ( Albert Becker won). In 1936, he tied for 6-7th in Novi Sad (

Vasja Pirc Vasja Pirc ( ; ) (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Yugoslav chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defence. Pirc was champion of Yugo ...

won). In 1937, he tied for 2nd-4th in Belgrade (

Vasilije Tomović Vasilije Tomović aka Vasily Tomovic (born 11 May 1906, died c. 1994) was a Montenegrin chess master. He was born in Mateševo Mateševo ( cnr-Cyrl, Матешево) is a village in northern Montenegro, within Kolašin Municipality Kolašin Muni ...

won). Mirko Kenig represented Yugoslavia in the

4th Chess Olympiad The 4th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and (unofficial) women ...

at Prague 1931 (+5 –1 =2), the

6th Chess Olympiad The 6th Chess Olympiad (), organized by the FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. and (unofficial) women's tournament, as well as several events ...

at Warsaw 1935 (+5 –2 =8), and in

3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad The 3rd unofficial Chess Olympiad was held by German Chess Federation (''Grossdeutscher Schachbund'') as a counterpart of the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin with reference to 1924 and 1928 events. Many Jewish chess players took part in the event. Si ...

at Munich 1936 (+7 –4 =7).OlimpBase unofficial Chess Olympiads Imre König
/ref> In 1938, Imre König emigrated to England. In 1939, he tied for 4-5th in Bournemouth (

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 Championship, World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 ...

won), and shared 1st with Philip Stuart Milner-Barry in Hampstead. In 1946, he took 4th in London. In 1948/49, he took 2nd, behind Nicolas Rossolimo, in the

Hastings International Chess Congress The Hastings International Chess Congress is an annual chess tournament which takes place in Hastings, England, around the turn of the year. The main event is the Hastings Premier tournament, which was traditionally a 10 to 16 player round-robin t ...

. In 1949, he became a naturalized British citizen. However, in 1953 he moved to the United States. König was awarded the

International Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

title in 1951.

References

External links

*
Imre König at 365Chess.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenig, Imre 1901 births 1992 deaths People from Gyula Hungarian Jews Hungarian chess players 20th-century Serbian Jews Serbian chess players British Jews British chess players 20th-century American chess players American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Yugoslav chess players Jewish chess players Chess International Masters Chess Olympiad competitors Hungarian emigrants to the United Kingdom British emigrants to the United States