Isidor Gunsberg

Surname	Isidor Arthur Gunsberg
Association	Hungary , England
Born	November 2, 1854 plague
Died	London May 2nd 1930
Best Elo rating	2744 (July 1889; historic Elo rating )

Isidor Arthur Gunsberg (born November 2, 1854 in Pest , Austrian Empire , † May 2, 1930 in London ) was an important English chess player of Jewish - Hungarian origin.

When Gunsberg's Jewish parents emigrated in 1863, he came to England at the age of nine. Three years later he accompanied his father on a business trip to Paris. Here he caused a stir in the Café de la Régence . At the age of 25 he decided to give up the profession of a businessman and to work as a chess professional.

First he worked with Charles Godfrey Gumpel , who had developed a chess machine called Mephisto . Gunsberg was short in stature and could therefore hide in the chess machine. The strength of the machine soon became known.

In the 1880s he won the tournaments in Hamburg 1885, London 1885, Bradford 1888 and London 1888. In the tournament of New York 1889, in which 20 participants played double rounds, he came third and also won a beauty prize for his game against James Mason .

He was also successful in duels: in 1886 he won against Henry E. Bird (5: 1 with three draws ), in 1887 against Joseph Henry Blackburne (5: 2 with six draws). In 1890 he managed to keep a match in Havana against the Russian top player Michail Chigorin (9: 9 with 5 draws).

His success meant that he was given the opportunity to challenge the reigning world chess champion Wilhelm Steinitz . The competition took place from December 9, 1890 to January 22, 1891 in New York and ended after a hard fight with a 8.5: 10.5 defeat (four wins, six defeats and nine draws).

Gunsberg then took part in several important tournaments, with his best placement being the shared second place in London 1900. The last reported tournament participation was in Chester in 1914, where Gunsberg finished third.

He worked as a chess journalist and wrote for several newspapers, so that he was not only dependent on prize money from tournaments. He also organized tournaments himself, for example in Ostend in 1906, and promoted young talent.

Gunsberg was seen as changeable and unsteady, both in his game and in his life. In 1930, Alexander Alekhine wrote in an obituary about Gunsberg that Gunsberg was not a particularly original, but flexible player who understood very well how to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents.

Web links

• Literature by and about Isidor Gunsberg in the catalog of the German National Library