Johann Behting

Johann Behting

Johann Behting ( Latvian Jānis Bētiņš ; born May 9, 1856 in Berzmuiža near Doblen , Kurland Governorate ; † 1946 ) was a Baltic chess composer .

Life

Johann Behting's life was much quieter than that of his younger brothers Carl ( Kārlis ) and Robert. After elementary school and high school in Riga , Behting studied engineering at the local polytechnic from 1877 to 1886 , but finished his studies without a diploma.

As a chess player, he was weaker than his two brothers.

• 1890/91 2nd place in the side tournament of the 1st winter tournament of the Riga Chess Society with 10 out of 12
• 1892/93 Winner in the 1st side tournament of the 3rd winter tournament of the Riga Chess Society with 6.5 out of 8
• The following year he took part in the main tournament.
• In November he played a draw in a simultaneous match against Siegbert Tarrasch , but lost a simultaneous game in which Tarrasch played blind.

In recent years Johann Behting lived in Mellupi, a small rural community near Riga. In the summer of 1944, he left his home country at the age of 88. Its library, comprising around 10,000 volumes along with fiction, was used as fuel by the German occupiers. The exact year and place of his death are not known. He probably died in Germany, one source cites 1946, another around 1948.

Chess composition

During his student days, Johann Behting published chess problems from 1885 and studies from 1890 . Already at the beginning of his creative period he composed some astonishing works with which he and his brother Karl became one of the founders of modern study composition. Encouraged by correspondence with Ottó Bláthy , however, Behting later left his original successful style and composed lengthy studies.

Johann Behting
56 Rigasche Zeitung , November 19, 1911

	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 moves and wins

This pawn ending is a lasting memory of Johann Behting's name among chess players.
Solution:
After 1. a5 – a6? g4 – g3 White is forced to act and loses. Only
1. Kg2 – g1 is correct ! A waiting train . Kb8 – a7
2. b7 – b8D +! With this queen sacrifice, White manages to maintain the forced move.
2.… Ka7xb8
3. a5 – a6! Black is lost. Other continuations do not save:
1.… f4 – f3
2. Kg1 – f2
1.… g4 – g3
2. Kg1 – g2
1.… h4 – h3
2. Kg1 – h2

Chess publicist

In the anthology, which was self-published in 1930 together with his brother Carl, he is represented with 19 of 27 studies and 12 of 40 chess problems. For cost reasons, he did the typography and typesetting for the booklet. However, it does contain a number of inaccuracies in the source references for the compositions.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Baltic Chess Pages , Volume 7
2. ↑ Blaus, Imants: Starschi is bratjew Betinschej. In: Šahs (Riga) , 1981, volume 9, p. 14 (Russian)
3. ↑ Rigasche Zeitung 267, November 19, 1911, page 368, diagram 56

Works

• Carl Behting; Johann Behting: Studies and Problems. Walters & Rapa (Dr.), Riga, 1930.

Web links

• Compositions by Johann Behting on the PDB server