Siegbert Tarrasch
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| Siegbert Tarrasch |
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.svg){kind=small} German Empire
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| Born | March 5, 1862 Breslau |
| Died | February 17, 1934 Munich |
| Best Elo rating | 2824 (June 1895) ( historical rating ) |
Siegbert Tarrasch (born March 5, 1862 in Breslau , † February 17, 1934 in Munich ) was a German chess player . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries he was one of the strongest players in the world and one of the most important chess theorists.
Chess player
Tarrasch passed the Abitur in 1880 at the Elisabet Gymnasium in Breslau . He then studied medicine and then practiced as a doctor. In his free time he devoted himself to the game of chess with great passion . He won his first tournament in Nuremberg in 1883 and was soon considered one of the world's best players. For professional reasons he had to refuse an invitation from the chess club in Havana , which wanted to organize a competition between Tarrasch and the reigning world chess champion Wilhelm Steinitz for the world championship. In 1892 Tarrasch turned down an offer to compete with Emanuel Lasker , as he had not yet had any outstanding successes. He was all the harder when Lasker took the world champion's crown from Steinitz in 1894.
In 1894 Tarrasch won the international tournament at the 9th Congress of the German Chess Federation in Leipzig . Before that he won in Breslau (6th DSB Congress) in 1889 and in Dresden (7th DSB Congress) in 1892 . At the turn of the century Tarrasch had his greatest successes, especially his first places at the Kaiser Jubilee tournament in Vienna in 1898 and in Monte-Carlo in 1903. At that time, Tarrasch was referred to as the "tournament world champion".
A fight for the world championship with Emanuel Lasker only came about in 1908 after lengthy negotiations. By this point, Tarrasch had already passed his performance peak. The World Cup match was held in Munich and Düsseldorf. Tarrasch clearly lost 3: 8 in five draws , which he could never get over. Although he demanded revenge, another competition with Lasker did not take place until 1916. This competition, in which it was not about the title, Tarrasch lost even more clearly (0: 5 with 1 draw).
Tarrasch continued to take part in major chess tournaments until 1928, with no great success. At the 1927 Chess Olympiad in London he played on the first board of the German team and got 8.5 points from 15 games. His best historical rating was 2824, which he achieved in June 1895.
theorist
At least as important as his tournament successes is Tarrasch's theoretical and literary work. The three great books Tarrasch's Three Hundred Chess Games (1895), The Modern Chess Game ( 1912) and The Game of Chess (1931) are undisputed classics of chess literature . Even during his lifetime, Tarrasch was known as Praeceptor Germaniae (Germany's teacher). Building on Steinitz, he taught the importance of mastering the center . He was also convinced that in almost every position there was an absolutely “best move” to be found. He became a pioneer of the modern game of chess. Critics, however, described Tarrasch's teachings in some cases as too dogmatic . From today's perspective, the accusation that Tarrasch was dogmatic in his teachings is regularly rejected as irrelevant.
Tarrasch was anxious to establish chess as a national sport in Germany and did very well to popularize it.
Furthermore, Tarrasch wrote regularly for several chess magazines. His comments were sometimes so sharp and biting that there were long arguments with the attacked. B. with the Viennese chess master and journalist Georg Marco or with Aaron Nimzowitsch .
From October 1932 Tarrasch brought out his own magazine ( Tarraschs Schachzeitung ). Although he was born a Jew, he was able to continue running the magazine until his death, as the National Socialists did not forbid it. It is not known whether the respect for the great master or the short time that had passed since the Nazi seizure of power were decisive for this “protection” .
Some opening variations are named after Tarrasch. For example the Tarrasch Defense in the Queen's Gambit , which he invented and propagated time and again, and the Tarrasch variant of the French Defense . Both variants enjoy unbroken popularity today and are an integral part of the opening repertoire of many grandmasters . Furthermore, a variant of the Spanish game is called the Tarrasch Trap , after a game by Tarrasch against Marco in 1892.
Chess composition
Tarrasch was also active in the field of chess composition . He composed some studies . The following bishop endgame serves as an example for illustration.
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Solution:
1. Kb2 – c3 Ke1 – f2
2. Kc3 – d4 Kf2 – f3
3. Kd4 – e5 Kf3 – g4
4. Ke5 – f6 Kg4 – h5
5. g7 – g8D! clears g7 with an employment sacrifice Bh7xg8
6. Kf6 – g7 Kh5 – g5
7. h2 – h3! Waiting move Kg5 – h5
8. h3 – h4 Zugzwang White wins.
After a king move, the bishop is defeated and the path to conversion is free.
Lots
Family and personal life
Tarrasch, who came from a Jewish family, was married to Anna Rosalie, b. Rudolf (1865-1940). He had three sons and two daughters. The first son Friedrich ("Fritz") Max Tarrasch (born March 11, 1888) was a lieutenant and bearer of the Iron Cross . He died on May 14, 1915 on the Western Front of the First World War . The second son, Hans Richard (born July 6, 1890), was killed in an accident in 1916. The third son Paul (born April 15, 1892) was very talented at chess, but he died at the age of 20 on September 9, 1912 in Hamburg. "Acute cardiac paralysis" was given as the cause of death, but in fact it was a suicide out of lovesickness. On May 28, 1909, Tarrasch converted to the Evangelical Lutheran denomination. In 1924 Tarrasch got divorced, in the same year he married Gertrude, nee. Schröder (1892–1966).
Tarrasch died in 1934. He was buried in Munich's northern cemetery, parcel no. 128.
Fonts (selection)
- Siegbert Tarrasch: The chess game. Systematic textbook for beginners and experts. The original version. Anaconda Verlag , Cologne 2006 (reprint by Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, Berlin 1931), ISBN 3-938484-84-5 .
- Siegbert Tarrasch: The modern game of chess. Critical studies of more than 200 selected master roles from the last twelve years with special consideration of the openings. 4th edition, Olms, Zurich 1991 (reprint of the 2nd edition Leipzig 1916), ISBN 3-283-00034-4 .
- Siegbert Tarrasch: Three hundred chess games. A textbook on the game of chess for experienced players. With 474 diagrams. 4th edition, Olms, Zurich 1988 (reprint of 3rd edition, Gouda 1925), ISBN 3-283-00043-3 .
literature
- Harald E. Balló: Tarrasch, Siegbert. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 25, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-428-11206-7 , pp. 791 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Wolfgang Kamm: Siegbert Tarrasch, life and work. Unterhaching 2004, ISBN 3-933105-06-4 .
- Alfred Brinckmann : Siegbert Tarrasch, teacher of the chess world. Joachim Beyer Verlag, Eltmann 2015, ISBN 978-3-95920-006-6 (first edition 1963).
Web links
- Literature by and about Siegbert Tarrasch in the catalog of the German National Library
- Harald E. Balló: Siegbert Tarrasch: chess player, doctor, German, Jew
Footnotes
- ^ The International Tournament Leipzig 1894 (9th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and games)
- ↑ The international tournament Breslau 1889 (6th DSB Congress) on TeleSchess (cross table and games)
- ^ The International Tournament Dresden 1892 (7th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and games)
- ^ Siegbert Tarrasch, The Lasker-Tarrasch chess competition for the world championship in August-September 1908 , Leipzig 1908, online at archive.org
- ↑ Siegbert Tarrasch's results at the Chess Olympiads on olimpbase.org (English)
- ↑ See, for example, Das Schachspiel , p. 306: “Every position must be viewed as a problem in which the aim is to find the right move, which the position requires and which is almost always a single move. There are hardly any secondary solutions in the game of chess, with the exception of the first opening moves, where the choice is free. Often, especially if one player already has a strong advantage, it looks as if he has several equally good moves at his disposal. On closer examination, however, it usually turns out that a pull is the strongest, the very strongest, and only that is the right one. If the advantage is not that great, then it usually turns out that when several moves are considered, not only one is the strongest, but that the others are even disadvantageous, and nothing is more difficult in chess than several equally good appearing moves the best to find the only right one. "
- ↑ a b So his critic Nimzowitsch, in: Wiener Schachzeitung , volume 5. Reprint: Nimzowitsch, Mein System , Hamburg, 1999, p. 282 ff.
- ↑ See for example Kasparow , On my great Predecessors, Part I, engl. Edition, 2007, p. 160 ( "Tarrasch's critics unfairly called him dogmatic" ).
- ↑ Wolfgang Unzicker : Tarrasch ran his chess newspaper until his death , Rochade Europa , February 1999, p. 105.
- ↑ Schach-Report 1996/12 p. 88 - here with a picture of the grave.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tarrasch, Siegbert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chess player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 5, 1862 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wroclaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 1934 |
| Place of death | Munich |