Frédéric Lazard

Fred Lazard (published in L'Echiquier in 1929 )

Frédéric Lazard (also Fred Lazard , born February 20, 1883 in Marseille , † November 18, 1948 in Le Vésinet ) was a French chess master and composer .

Biographical information

Lazard was a participant in the First World War and was wounded twice near Verdun . He was also awarded the Croix de guerre .

Shortly after the founding of the French chess federation in 1921, he became its first "technical secretary".

At the end of the 1930s, Lazard fell ill with Parkinson's disease , and from 1940 it condemned him to disability . Despite his serious illness, Lazard was interned in the notorious Drancy assembly camp from March 3, 1944 until the liberation of Paris due to his Jewish descent . Even under these adverse circumstances, he managed to compose. A manuscript of his studies includes 57 entries from the period between 1900 and the Second World War and a further 79 studies, mainly composed during the war, the last being dated December 20, 1944.

Gustave Lazard (1876–1948), who died only twelve days after his younger brother Fred Lazard, was a chess master and chess composer.

Chess career

In 1912 he was defeated by Eduard Lasker (0: 2, = 1) in a short competition . In international tournaments that took place in Paris, he finished 7th in 1929 and only 10th and last place in 1933 (the winner was Alexander Alekhine ). Above all, Lazard took part in numerous French national championships , but without winning once. In 1925 he finished second, the same result he achieved in 1926 at the championship held in Biarritz , tied with the winner André Chéron , to whom he was inferior in a direct comparison. Lazard took part in the unofficial Chess Olympiad in Paris in 1924 .

Famous short game

A short role is known which is attributed to Frédéric Lazard (with black). In chess literature it is mostly quoted as follows: 1. d2 – d4 Ng8 – f6 2. Nb1 – d2 e7 – e5 3. d4xe5 Nf6 – g4 4. h2 – h3? Ng4 – e3! and White gives up because of a queen loss (if 5. f2xe3 Qd8 – h4 + and mate). Lazard probably played such a game in 1920 with a slightly different course against a Parisian amateur. To this day, the multiple French master Amédée Gibaud is sometimes given as the loser , although he always protested against it.

Chess composer

Lazard's great passion has been chess composition since his youth. He wrote a total of 600 problems and studies , which won him numerous prizes. In addition, he was the founding president of the French problem chess association ( Union des Genealogie de France ). Lazard composed two-move, three-move, self-mate and endgame studies. In 1929 he published a collection of his own assignments under the title Mesproblemèmes et études d'échecs , to which Alekhine contributed a foreword. The database of Harold van der Heijden (status: 2004) contains 139 studies by Lazard.

The following task illustrates a fortress-like positional draw .

Fred Lazard
L'Opinió 1935, 2nd prize

	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. d6 – d7 Bf8 – h6 battery formation

2. Ba3 – f8 Bh6 – f4! Romans

3. Bf8-d6 Bf4xd6

4. d7 – d8T !! Sub-metamorphosis

4.… Bd6 – f4

5. Rd8 – d2! Self-restraint (a withdrawal by the black king would fail ), mutual pressure to act

5.… Bf4 – g5

6. Rd2 – d5! Ke3-f4

7. Rd5-d2 Bg5-h6

8. Rd2 – d6! Kf4 – g5

9. Rd6 – d2 and a draw.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pallier, Alain: Frédéric Lazard. in: eg , No. 181, July 2010, 182-185
2. ↑ Tournament table at Héritage Échecs
3. ↑ Frédéric Lazard's results at unofficial chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
4. ↑ Bill Wall: "Fireside Chess" ; Edward Winter : Kings, Commoners and Knaves , Russell Enterprises, Milford 1999, p. 351 (there with proof of 1920)
5. ↑ See u. a. Tim Krabbé : "Chess Records"
6. ↑ Calendar sheet , in: Die Schwalbe , issue 230 April 2008. ( online view )

Web links

• Short biography and photographs of Lazard (French)
• Playable chess games by Frédéric Lazard on chessgames.com (English)
• Compositions by Frédéric Lazard on the Schwalbe's PDB server