Oldrich Duras

Oldřich Duras, 1909
Association	Czechoslovakia
Born	October 30, 1882 Humny , Austria-Hungary
Died	January 5, 1957 Prague
title	Grand Master (1950)
Best Elo rating	2743 (August 1909) ( historical rating )

Oldřich Duras (born October 30, 1882 in Humny , Bohemia , † January 5, 1957 in Prague ) was a Czech chess master and study composer . In 1950 he was one of the first players to be awarded the title of Grand Master by FIDE .

Career

Duras began his chess career in 1903 when he finished 2nd at an international tournament in Hilversum . In 1905 he was awarded the championship title after winning the main tournament in Barmen together with Akiba Rubinstein .

In the following years Duras achieved a number of great successes: in 1906 he was second in Nuremberg (behind Frank James Marshall ), and also in Vienna in 1907 (behind Jacques Mieses ). He won in Vienna in 1908 (together with Géza Maróczy and Carl Schlechter ) and in Prague in the same year (with Carl Schlechter). In 1909 he shared third place with Rudolf Spielmann in Saint Petersburg (behind Emanuel Lasker and Akiba Rubinstein). In 1910 he was second in Gothenburg . He was also second in the championship tournament of the German Chess Federation in Hamburg in 1910 , which Carl Schlechter won. He won in Breslau in 1912 together with Akiba Rubinstein.

In 1913 he went on a trip to the USA . There he played in a number of local tournaments. At the Manhattan tournament in New York City he was third behind José Raúl Capablanca and Frank James Marshall. In the same place he was defeated by the latter in a competition with 1.5: 5.5 (+1 = 1 −5).

He took part in the 1914 tournament in Mannheim , which was canceled after the outbreak of the First World War . Duras, a civil servant by profession, returned to Prague and gave up the tournament game after the end of the war.

He now devoted himself increasingly to composing studies and became the editor of a Czech chess newspaper. Duras was considered an important composer. He published about 50 studies and issues.

The Duras variant in the Spanish game is named after him: 1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. Bf1 – b5 a7 – a6 4. Bb5 – a4 d7 – d6 5. c2 – c4 .

Duras was known for his tenacity in defending worse positions. In his game against Heinrich Wolf at the tournament in Karlovy Vary in 1907, he only gave up after 168 moves and more than 22 hours of playing time, which was a record at the time.

With his best historical rating of 2743, he was the fourth best player in the world in August 1909.

study

Oldřich Duras
Schachmatny Listok, 1926

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White draws and holds a draw

Solution:

1. Rb5 – b3 e3 – e2
2. Rb3 – e3 Bg6 – h5
3. Ka5 – b4 f6 – f5
4. Kb4 – c3 f5 – f4
5. Kc3 – d2! f4xe3
6. Kd2 – e1 Kd8 – d7
7. d4 – d5 draw

literature

• František Prokop: Duras vítězí . Prague 1944. (Czech)

Web links

• Compositions by Oldřich Duras on the PDB server
• Replayable chess games by Oldřich Duras on chessgames.com (English)
• Oldřich Duras on the BDS website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 74.
2. ↑ The International Tournament Hamburg 1910 (17th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and all games)
3. ^ The international tournament in Breslau 1912 (18th DSB Congress) on TeleSchess (cross table and all games)