Hersz Salwe

Hersz Salwe, around 1906
Association	Russia
Born	December 12, 1862 Warsaw
Died	November 5, 1920 Łódź
Best Elo rating	2644 (January 1910) ( historical rating )

Hersz (Henryk) Salwe (born December 12, 1862 in Warsaw , † November 5, 1920 in Łódź ) was an important Polish chess player.

Life

Salwe, a wealthy manufacturer, learned chess at the age of 20 in cafes in Warsaw . At first he remained a casual player, but since he moved to Łódź , Manchester in Poland , in 1894 he developed great enthusiasm for the game and was considered the leading Polish champions in his 40s. At the championship of Łódź, which was first held in 1897, Salwe came second, and in 1898 won. During this time, Salwe was also involved in organizing chess tournaments and was instrumental in founding the chess society in Łódź in 1903. Two years earlier, Akiba Rubinstein also found his way to Łódź, where he found a play partner and sponsor in Salwe. In 1903 the two played a match 7-7 (+5 = 4 −5) draw, in 1904 Salwe Rubinstein was just defeated with 5–6 (+3 = 4 −4). Overall, the two leading Polish players played over 80 games against each other between 1903 and 1913 (+13 = 32 -36 from Salwe's point of view).

In 1905 Salwe celebrated the height of his chess career when he won the All-Russian Championship of Tsarist Russia in Saint Petersburg . Michail Tschigorin , who was eliminated from the tournament after four rounds, challenged Salwe in 1906 in Łódź to a competition for the Russian championship. Salwe defeated the two-time vice world champion honorably with 7-8 (+5 = 4 −6). Salwe took part in various international tournaments until 1912 , including: 1908 second in Düsseldorf behind Frank James Marshall , 8th – 9th. in St. Petersburg 1909, 7th – 9th in Prague 1908, fifth in Vilnius in 1909. Salwe played competitions against various greats of his time: in 1905 he defeated Jacques Mieses in Łódź 2-1 (+2 = 0 −1), in 1910 he was defeated by Oldřich Duras in Łódź 1-3 (+0 = 2 −2), in 1912 he lost to Efim Bogoljubow with 4-6 (+3 = 2 −5), also in Łódź. Between 1913 and 1914 he edited the Ershte Jiddishe shakh newspaper in Yiddish together with M. Krysek in Łódź .

Salwe's best historical rating was 2644. This he reached in January 1910. At the time he was 13th in the world rankings.

literature

• Tadeusz Wolsza: Arcymistrzowie, mistrzowie, amatorzy… Słownik biograficzny szachistów polskich. [Grandmasters, masters, amateurs ... Biographical Lexicon of Polish Chess Players], Volume 3, Warsaw 1999 (Polish), pp. 107–114.

Individual evidence

1. ^ The international tournament Düsseldorf 1908 (16th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and all games)
2. ↑ Hersz Salwes historical Elo numbers on chessmetrics.com (English)