Gyula Makovetz

Gyula Makovetz (born December 29, 1860 in Arad , † 1903 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian chess master and chess journalist.

Some sources say he was born in 1859. Makovetz studied law in Budapest and only moved to the Hungarian capital in 1889. He was an official at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 1889, Makovetz was a founding member of the Budapesti Sakkozó Társaság ( Budapest Chess Society ), which published the first Hungarian chess magazine, Budapesti Sakkszemle , under his leadership . Makovetz won the club's first tournament in 1890 with a hundred percent result. Makovetz won again over the next two years.

He won the tournament in Graz in 1890 before Johann Hermann Bauer and Emanuel Lasker and also won the game against Lasker. Together with Moritz Porges he finished second at the Congress of the German Chess Federation in Dresden in 1892, behind Tarrasch . In the match he defeated both Győző Exner and Hugo Diener. Makovetz won a match against Rudolf Charousek 3-2 in 1893 after winning the last two games. But Makovetz had already started to doubt his chess skills and was losing practice games more and more often, including against Géza Maróczy . In addition, his chess magazine had a one-year break in 1894, the definitive end came in 1895. It was a serious setback for him, the chess section in Pesti Napló remained for him , but it was not sufficient as a material basis.

In preparation for the Budapest Millennium Chess Tournament in autumn 1896, he played practice games with Dawid Janowski , who defeated him devastatingly. A year later Makovetz had recovered somewhat, but he was clearly beaten again by Charousek and Maróczy and then withdrew completely from chess and life. There was no obituary after his death, the date of his death is unknown. He suffered the tragic fate of a chess master who could not assert himself as a professional player and failed due to the unfavorable circumstances.

Maróczy reported in his memoirs: “He (Makovetz) completely avoided dealing with people. His gloom turned into paranoid, in everyone he saw the enemy who threatened his life. He also refused the doctor. The chess world only found out about his death late. "

Its highest historical rating was calculated to be 2696 (February 1893). Accordingly, Makovetz was the fifth strongest player in the world at that time.

literature

• Gedeon Barcza , Árpád Földeák, dr. Emil Gelenczei, József Hajtun: Magyar sakktörténet 1. Sport Publishing House, Budapest, 1975, ISBN 963-253-239-2

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Gyula Makovetz on chessgames.com (English)
• Makovetz at chessmetrics (English)