Johann Jacob Löwenthal

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Johann Jacob Löwenthal

Johann Jacob Löwenthal , also János Löwenthal or Jakab Löwenthal , (born July 15, 1810 in Pest , Austrian Empire ; died July 20, 1876 in St. Leonards-on-Sea , England ) was a British chess master and chess theorist of Hungarian descent and one the best players of the 19th century .

Life

Löwenthal was born in Pest as the son of a Jewish merchant. From 1842 to 1845 he was a member of the Pest Chess Club alongside József Szén and Vincenz Grimm , which held a correspondence match with the leading Parisian masters. After the revolution of 1848/49 was suppressed , Löwenthal left Hungary to emigrate . He lived for some time in the United States , where he met 13-year-old Paul Morphy and sensationally lost to him.

In 1851 he took part in the first international chess tournament in history, held on the occasion of the World Exhibition in London . He failed in the first round against Elijah Williams , but now stayed in England and became British. In 1853 he played a dramatic match with Daniel Harrwitz , who now made his living exclusively with chess . This is remembered as Löwenthal lost a lead of 9-2 to a defeat of 10-11. Löwenthal won the important tournaments in Manchester in 1857, where he left Adolf Anderssen behind (the game was played according to the knockout system ), and in Birmingham in 1858, where he defeated Howard Staunton 2-0 (also knockout ). -Mode). That year Morphy visited Europe and met the British Masters in London. Löwenthal, who was full of admiration for the young American master and became his first biographer , played a competition with him, which he lost with 4.5: 10.5 (+3 = 4 −9). Morphy, who was financially independent, gave his friend Löwenthal his prize money (100 pounds) in the form of a complete home furnishings, for which he even added 20 pounds.

He took the position of secretary of the St. John's Chess Club in London and invented the demonstration board in chess. His work in the club brought him the acquaintance of many prominent and wealthy Britons. From 1863 to 1868 he was the editor of Chess Player's Magazine and was responsible for the chess columns of the newspapers Era , Family Herald , The Illustrated News of the World and The Glowworm .

When Löwenthal became seriously ill in 1874 and making money was out of the question, the politician Lord Randolph Churchill made an aid fund possible for the master who died on July 24, 1876 near the city of Hastings . The “Löwenthal Cup”, the cup for the national English championship, is named after him.

Löwenthal's best historical rating was 2616, which was determined for June 1859. From October 1858 to the point in time mentioned, it was in second place in the subsequently calculated world rankings.

Contribution to chess composition

As chess editor of the English weekly magazine The Era , Löwenthal organized the first international composition tournament in 1856. He appointed a committee of well-known English and German problemists to carry it out; The judges were Ernst Falkbeer , Walter Grimshaw , Bernhard Horwitz , Josef Kling , Charles Ranken and Henry Turton , the referee was Silas Angas . Each composer was supposed to send in six questions, no self-mating or conditional questions. The tasks were examined blindly: They were provided with a motto, the motto was attached to the name of the sender in a sealed envelope. The prize was not awarded for a single task, but for the entire set sent in. Participants included Conrad Bayer , Frank Healey , Rudolph Willmers and Antonin Nowotny . The first prize went to Conrad Bayer, the second to Frank Healey. Löwenthal also wrote the tournament book.

The Era tournament was not the first problem chess tournament (a small English composition tournament had taken place in 1854, which Walter Grimshaw had won), but it had a strong impact because of the international attendance and the good documentation. Following his example, other organizations and magazines organized similar competitions, such as the American Chess Congress in 1857, La Régence in 1860 and the British Chess Association in 1861 .

Works

literature

  • Mario Ziegler: The Chess Tournament London 1851 . ChessCoach, St. Ingbert 2013. ISBN 978-3-944158-00-6 , pp. 92–97.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Litmanowicz, J. Giżycki: Szachy od A do Z , Vol. 1, Warsaw 1986, p. 537.
  2. ↑ Conditional problems , not uncommon back then, could be something like: White checkmates a certain piece on the sixth move.
  3. ^ A Selection of the Problems of the Era Problem Tournament , London 1857.
  4. ↑ Tim Harding: Eminent Victorian Chessplayers . McFarland, Jefferson 2012, p. 362; E .: Prize Problems at Chess . In: The Chess Player's Chronicle , Vol. 15 (1854), pp. 322f. On-line
  5. ^ Herbert Grasemann: Problem chess . Sportverlag Berlin NW 7th 1st edition 1955. p. 18.
personal data
SURNAME Löwenthal, Johann Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Löwenthal, János; Loewenthal, Jakab
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British chess master
DATE OF BIRTH July 15, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Pest , Austrian Empire
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1876
Place of death St. Leonards-on-Sea , England