Henri Rinck

Henri Rinck

Henri Rinck (born January 10, 1870 in Lyon , † February 17, 1952 in Badalona ) was a French chess composer and endgame theorist .

Life

Henri Rinck was born on January 10, 1870 in Lyon, where his family were brewers (Brasserie Rinck). He studied technical chemistry at the Technical University of Munich and, after graduating as an engineer in Munich, worked as an assistant at the Faculté des Sciences in Lyon.

In 1897 he discovered a refining process for green vegetable oils that was first used in Marseille and was then adopted by various olive oil refineries in Spain. In 1900 Rinck founded his own factory in Badalona, ​​Spain, where he also lived with his family. Before the end of the Spanish Civil War , he first left Spain, re-established himself in Lyon, but later returned to Spain.

His first study of the endgame in chess appeared in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1902 . His collection 150 fins de partie was published in 1909, another edition followed in 1913, and finally a third in 1919 ( 300 fins de partie ). 700 fins de partie followed in 1927 . In 1947 his work Las sorpresas de la teoría (The surprises of theory) and, together with Louis Malpas , Dame contre tour et cavalier (Lady against rook and jumper) appeared. Rinck was one of the most distinguished chess composers, who published over 1,650 endgame studies, 58 of which won first prizes.

Rinck died in Badalona on February 17, 1952. Six days before his death he received the first print of his 1414 fins de partie . At his request, he was buried with this book under his arm.

composition

Rinck composed studies around 1670 . His life's work, 1414 Fins de partie , appeared six days before his death and contains most of his studies. They are characterized by extensive correctness. The accuracy of the analyzes was achieved through joint testing in chess clubs. If a study was found to be incorrect, Rinck often spent weeks improving it. Only when he had found a correct position or was convinced that the piece could not be repaired, this work was stopped. Rinck provided many of his studies with in-depth analyzes in order to prove their correctness.

Rinck successfully transferred topics from the composition of chess problems to studies. He composed studies with combinations of lines and controls, such as the Indian theme , the Grimshaw and the Plachutta . However, many of his material studies do not get beyond a certain mechanical game. Often they lack an invigorating counterplay from Black.

Rinck admired Johann Berger and disliked Alexei Troitsky , whom he verbally attacked on many occasions. He did not admire other composers.

André Chéron thought Rinck was the best endgame composer in the world.

The diagram shows one of Rinck's most famous studies:

Henri Rinck
National Newspaper 1921

	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 to move wins

Solution:

1. Re1 – e7 + Kh7 – h8
or 2.… Rg8 – g7 3. Re7xg7 + Kh7xg7 4. Rd1xd8 ...
2. Kh5 – h6! Rg8 – e8
Or 2.… Rd8xd1 3. Re7 – h7 mate.
3. Rd1 – d7! Kh8 – g8
4. Re7 – g7 + Kg8 – h8
5. Rg7 – h7 + Kh8 – g8
6. Rd7 – g7 + Kg8 – f8
7. Rh7 – h8 mate .

Works

• 150 fins de partie . 1st edition, Veit, Leipzig, 1909, 2nd edition, Veit, Leipzig, 1913.
• 300 fins de partie 3ème édition de 150 fins de partie , Paluzíe, Barcelona, ​​1919.
• 700 fins de partie . 4ème édition de 150 fins de partie , Tipografía La Académica, Barcelona, ​​1927.
• 1414 Fins de partie . 5ème édition de 150 fins de partie , Tipografía La Académica, Barcelona, ​​1952.

Web links

• Literature by and about Henri Rinck in the catalog of the German National Library
• Compositions by Henri Rinck on the PDB server
• Portrait of Henri Rinck (French)
• Article about Henri Rinck with picture and short biography (French) ( MS Word ; 58 kB)