Josef Krejcik

Josef Emil Krejcik (born January 22, 1885 in Rudolfsheim in Vienna , † January 4, 1957 ) was an Austrian chess player .

Life

Krejcik moved to Olomouc in Moravia at an early age and attended elementary and high school there. After his graduation studied Krejcik at the Vienna University of Philosophy (Degree: Dr. phil.). He worked as a teacher and at the Dorotheum auction house as an expert on old prints.

chess

player

Krejcik said he learned to play chess at Easter 1898 from the gifted Karl Andreaschek, who however died young. Thus, as a spectator, Krejcik experienced the Kaiser Wilhelm anniversary chess tournament in 1898 as his first major chess tournament.

In Vienna, Krejcik joined the Academic Chess Association while studying , where he was one of the four strongest players, while he was able to defeat the strongest chess players in Olomouc. He often played with traveling masters during his student holidays. A chess tournament organized by Josef von Grimmenstein in 1905, in which Oldřich Duras and Carl Schlechter also took part, ended Krejcik without defeat.

In Vienna Krejcik played in the Café Central , among others, with Milan Vidmar , Savielly Tartakower , Giovanni Martinolich , Julius Perlis , Leopold Lowy , Rudolf Spielmann and Siegfried Wolf . He also joined the Vienna Chess Club around this time . Krejcik took part in the Trebitsch chess tournaments of the Vienna Chess Club, but achieved only mediocre results, which Krejcik attributes to the high level of exertion during the tournaments. Still, he won several beauty and specialty awards in tournaments. He won the tournament of the Vienna Chess Club in 1917 and his last tournament, the Bendiner Memorial Tournament in 1931. In the Schlechter tournament in 1920, Krejcik shared the second to third prize with Ernst Grünfeld .

Together with Hans Kmoch , Krejcik received the championship title of the Austrian Chess Federation in 1921 . Krejcik finished the Monstre blitz tournament of the trade fair congress in 1922 in fifth to eighth place among more than 100 participants, tied with Alekhine .

Krejcik also achieved good results in match games. He did not lose any games in club and city competitions between 1920 and 1930.

Among his few long-distance games , he remembered the fight against Max Blümich 1904-1906, which ended 4: 4. In a blind chess performance in Café Herz in 1909, Krejcik achieved a result of four wins and two losses from six games. In the Landstraßer Chess Federation in 1911 he achieved "seeing" in a simultaneous performance 26: 1 points in three draws. According to his own account, Krejcik set a record at Pentecost 1910 when he gave 25 simultaneous games in Linz, all of which he lost, for which he blamed the morning pint and the great heat.

Due to a heart condition, Krejcik had to stop playing in the tournament in 1931.

Theorist, author and functionary

Krejcik was involved in the publication of Georg Marcos books on the Gambit tournament in 1903, Karlovy Vary in 1907 and in Vienna in 1908.

Krejcik's articles, in which he described innovations in opening theory, appeared in the Wiener Schachzeitung , some innovations were taken over in the manual of the chess game (so-called "Bilguer"). Articles on chess history as well as tournament reports and humoresque appeared there between 1905 and 1938. He headed many chess columns, including Erdgeist 1908–1909, News-Weltblatt 1908–1938, Sporttagblatt 1919–1921, Wiener Abendblatt 1921–1925 and weekly edition 1923–1938. Krejcik also founded the Urania chess courses at secondary schools, which he directed for years.

In 1909 Krejcik became chairman of the “Steinitz” chess club, before he became the founding president of the Austrian Chess Federation in 1920. He held this office until 1925, after which he was appointed the first honorary member of the association. During his time as President of the Austrian Chess Federation, Krejcik created the club competitions as well as the main and qualifying tournaments. He largely organized the chess tournaments in 1922 for the trade fair congress and in 1923.

Krejcik composed some Matters and Studies and was editor of the Masters of the Problem by Georg Marco and Eduard Mazel .

Game example

Josef Krejcik - Konrad Krobot
Unclear: Café Viktoria, February 14, 1908?

	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

Position after 14.… h6

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. De3 g6 5. Bd2 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nge7 7. 0–0–0 0–0 8. f4 a6 9. Nf3 f5 10. Bc4 + Kh8 11. Ng5 De8 12. exf5 Rxf5 13. g4 Rf8 14. Qh3 h6

In this position (see diagram) Krejcik found a combination that he rated as one of his best.

15.Rg1 b5 16.Nxb5 axb5 17.Bc3 h5 18.Rd6 cxd6 19.gxh5 gxh5 20.Bxg7 + Kxg7 21.Nf7 + Ng6 22.Rxg6 + Kxg6 23.f5 + Kf6 24.Qh4 + Kxf5 25. Qg5 + Ke4 26.Nxd6 + Kd4 27. c3 matt

Works

Krejcik wrote the following works himself. More works edited by Krejcik can be found in the chess section .

Humoresques:

• Josef Krejcik: 13 children of Caïssens. Dedicated to the memory of Georg Marcos. With 1 portrait and 34 poses. Verlag der Wiener Schachzeitung, Vienna 1924.
• Josef Krejcik: Kind and naughty children of the chess muse. A philosophical edification booklet. Leipzig 1925. (Reprint: Edition Marco, Schachverlag Arno Nickel, ISBN 3-924833-12-5 )
• Josef Krejcik: My farewell to chess. Mortal and immortal from the portfolio of a Viennese old master. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin 1955.

literature

• Preface . In: Josef Krejcik: My farewell to chess . Pp. 11-13.

Web links

• Replayable chess games by Josef Krejcik on chessgames.com (English)
• Some compositions by Josef Krejcik on the PDB server

Individual evidence

1. ↑ A Krejcik Brillancy . Edward Winter : Chess Notes . August 1, 2006. Entry 4490.