Gosta Stoltz

Gösta Stoltz (born May 9, 1904 in Stockholm ; † July 25, 1963 there ) was a Swedish chess master .

Life

Stoltz was born into a working-class family in Stockholm as the illegitimate son of the Swedish writer Axel de la Nietze. His great chess talent made itself felt from the mid-1920s. In 1926 he was defeated in a match between Stockholm and Leningrad to the later world champion Michail Botvinnik with 0.5: 1.5. He took part in the Chess Olympiad in London for Sweden as early as 1927 , and took part in the Olympics in 1928 , 1930 , 1931 , 1933 , 1935 , 1937 , 1952 and 1954 . With the team he reached second place in Warsaw in 1935 and third in Folkestone in 1933 , in the individual competition he won the gold medal on board 2 in Prague in 1931 and the bronze medal on board 2 in 1935. Stoltz also took part with the Swedish team in the unofficial Chess Olympiad in Munich in 1936 .

His international career began in 1930 when he was tied for second after Efim Bogolyubov in an international tournament in Stockholm . In the same year he defeated Rudolf Spielmann in a competition in Stockholm with 3.5: 2.5 (+2 = 3 −1), and in the same year beat Isaac Kashdan with 3.5: 2.5 (+ 3 = 1 −2). In 1931 he defeated Salo Flohr in Gothenburg with 4.5: 3.5 (+4 = 1 −3), but was defeated by the Czechoslovak in the same year in the rematch in Prague with 2.5: 5.5 (+1 = 3 −4) ). In the same year he played against his Swedish competitor Gideon Ståhlberg in Gothenburg a playoff for the Swedish championship 3: 3 (+2 = 2 −2), whereupon the title went to Ståhlberg because of a better rating. In 1932 Stoltz won in Swinoujscie , in 1934 he was defeated by Aaron Nimzowitsch in Stockholm with 2.5: 3.5 (+1 = 3 −2). In 1935 he finished second in Sopot .

In 1941 Stoltz celebrated the greatest triumph of his career when he won in Munich (referred to as the European tournament in the propaganda of the time ) ahead of Alexander Alekhine , Erik Lundin and Efim Bogoljubow. Stoltz also took part in other tournaments in Nazi Germany ( Salzburg 1942, Munich 1942 as European championship ), but he could not achieve any further success there. In 1943 he shared first place in Stockholm, in 1944 he was third in Lidköping (winner was Paul Keres ). In 1946 he was second in Beverwijk after Albéric O'Kelly de Galway and second in Prague after Miguel Najdorf , in 1947 he shared first place with Eero Böök in Helsinki , a playoff between the two for the championship of the Scandinavian countries went 4: 4 ( +1 = 6 −1). 1948 won Stoltz in Stockholm and took in the same year on the first Interzonal of FIDE in Saltsjöbaden in part, in which he finished 18th. He was Swedish champion in 1951, 1952 and 1953.

FIDE awarded him the title of International Master in 1950 and the title of Grand Master in 1954 . His best historical rating was 2700. This he reached in January 1942. At that time he was 8th in the world rankings.

Stoltz died in 1963, suffering from alcoholism , in his hometown Stockholm.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gösta Stoltz 'results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
2. ↑ Gösta Stoltz 'results at unofficial chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
3. ^ The international tournament in Munich in 1941 on TeleSchach (cross table and games)
4. ↑ List of the Swedish national champions on the website of the Swedish Chess Federation
5. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 74.