Ernst Franz Grünfeld (November 21, 1893 - April 3, 1962), chess player specializing in opening theory and author, was for a brief period after the First World War one of the strongest chess players in the world. November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... From left, a white king, black rook and queen, white pawn, black knight, and white bishop in Staunton chess pieces. ... The first moves of a chess game are the opening moves, collectively referred to as the opening or the book. ...

Born in Vienna, he lost a leg in an early childhood which was beset by poverty. However, he discovered chess, studied intensely, and quickly earned a reputatation as a skilled player at the local club - the Wiener Schach-Klub. Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ...

The First World War (1914-1918) seriously affected Grünfeld's chances of playing the best in the world as few tournaments were played during this troubled period. He was reduced to playing correspondence matches and spent much of his spare time studying opening variations. He started a library of chess material which he kept in his small Viennese flat until his death at the age of 68 in 1962. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Correspondence chess is chess played by some sort of long-distance correspondence, usually through a Correspondence Chess Server or e-mail or the postal system. ...

He developed a reputation as an expert on openings during the 1920s and success over the board soon followed. He was 1st= in Vienna (1920) with Saviely Tartakower; 1st in Margate (1923); 1st in Merano (1924); 1st= in Budapest (1926) with Mario Monticelli; 1st in Vienna (1927) and he shared first spot in the Vienna tournaments of 1928 and 1933 - the former with Sándor Takács and the latter with Hans Müller; and finally he was 1st in the tournament at Mährisch-Ostrau of 1933. He also became the Champion of Germany in 1923. 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Budapest (pronounced BOO-dah-pesht, IPA ), the capital city of Hungary and the countrys principal political, industrial, commercial and transportation centre, has more than 1. ... 1926 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

During the Bad Pistyan tournament of April 1922 Grünfeld introduced his most important contribution to opening theory - the Grünfeld Defence. He played the defence against Friedrich Sämisch in round 7, drawing in 22 moves, and later that year he used it successfully against Alexander Alekhine in the Vienna tournament. The Grünfeld Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves (in algebraic notation) 1. ... Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (sometimes spelled Aljechin) (in Russian, Александр Александрович Але́хин), (October 31 or November 1, 1892 – March 24, 1946) was a chess master, one of the great world chess champions. ...

During the late 1920s and 1930s Grünfeld played top board for Austria in four Olympiads and his best year was in 1927 when he scored 9½/12. He became a GM in 1950.

Ernst Grünfeld contributed many articles on openings to chess magazines around Europe. Indeed, before he had turned 20, he was already contributing articles on the Ruy Lopez to his local chess magazine, the Wiener Schachzeitung, and over the next 40 years or so he wrote many articles on opening theory for chess publications in Germany, Belgium and the USSR. His favourite market was in Bulgaria though because they used to pay for his work in food rather than in money! The Ruy Lopez, sometimes known as the Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves 1. ...

He published several books which were generally well received and he contributed to a seminal account of the Teplitz-Schönau tournament of 1922. Other publications include The Queen's Pawn Game and the Queen's Gambit Declined (1924) and Taschenbuch der Eroffnungen im Schach (1953).

By the late 50s Grünfeld was playing very little chess and he mainly worked on his prodigious library which by now had completely filled the living room in his flat which he shared with his wife and daughter. He died in Vienna of obesity on April 3rd 1962.

Grünfeld's chess career started well in the 1920s and according to the chessmetrics website he would have been rated around 2593 at his peak. However his style of avoiding complex variations together with an essentially drawish nature was simply not good enough to trouble the world's best.

He reputedly modelled his style of play on Akiba Rubinstein's and only played 1. d4, claiming that he did not make mistakes in the opening. However he will be best remembered for his eponymous defence and for his general expertise in the opening. Akiba Rubinstein (born 12 December 1882, died 15 March 1961 in Antwerp) was a brilliant Polish chess master and a famous grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. ...