Siegbert Tarrasch

Siegbert Tarrasch (March 5, 1862 – February 17, 1934) was one of the strongest chess players of the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was born in Breslau, when that city was part of Germany. It is now named Wroclaw and is in Poland. He lived most of his life with his family in Nuremberg, Bavaria, later in Munich. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, and a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I, but lived to suffer under the early stages of Nazism. Image File history File links Tarrasch. ... Image File history File links Tarrasch. ... March 5 is the 64th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (65th in leap years). ... 1862 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Chess is an abstract strategy board game for two players that is played both recreationally and competitively. ... Wrocław. ... Wrocław, ( [:vrɔʦwaf]), German Breslau, Czech Vratislav, Latin Wratislavia; many Polish documents in English use the spelling Wroclaw) is the capital of Silesia in southwestern Poland, situated on the Oder River (Odra). ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg, German-Franconian dialect: Närnberch) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... Coordinates: Time zone: CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country: Germany State: Bavaria Administrative region: Upper Bavaria District: Urban district City subdivisions: 25 borroughs Lord Mayor: Christian Ude (SPD) Governing parties: SPD / Greens / Rosa Liste Basic Statistics Area: 310. ... For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert Henry Asquith Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Woodrow... National Socialism redirects here. ...

Chess career

Tarrasch was a medical doctor by profession who also may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the aging Steinitz in tournaments, (+3-0=1), but refused an opportunity to challenge for the world title because of the demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger Mikhail Chigorin in 1893 (+9-9=4). Tarrasch also won four major tournaments in succession: Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892 and Leipzig 1894. Mikhail Chigorin (12 November 1850–25 January 1908) was a leading Russian chess player and the first grandmaster from Russia. ... Wrocław. ... Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, North West England. ... For other uses, see Dresden (disambiguation). ... [] (Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk) is the largest city in the Federal State (Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. ...

However, after Emmanuel Lasker became world chess champion in 1894, Tarrasch could not match him. Fred Reinfeld (in "Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess") wrote: Thereafter Tarrasch always played the second fiddle. When Lasker finally agreed to a title match in 1908, he beat Tarrasch convincingly +8-3=5. However, Tarrasch was still very powerful during Lasker's reign, demolishing Frank Marshall in a match in 1905 (+8-1=8), and winning Ostend 1907 over Schlechter, Janowski, Marshall, Burn and Chigorin. Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player and mathematician, born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland). ... The 1984 World Chess Championship was between Anatoly Karpov (left) and Garry Kasparov (right). ... Fred Reinfeld (1910 - 1964) was an American chess player and writer. ... This article is about the early 20th century chess champion. ...

He also became one of the five original grandmasters by becoming one of the five finalists at the very strong Saint Petersburg tournament of 1914. The title Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

This was probably his swan song, because his chess career was not very successful after this, although he still played some highly regarded games. A swan song is a reference to an ancient and false belief that the occasional Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) is completely mute during its lifespan, but may sing one heartbreakingly beautiful song just before it dies. ...

Chess teachings

Tarrasch was a well-known chess writer, and was called Praeceptor Germaniae meaning "Teacher of Germany". He wrote several books, including Die moderne Schachpartie and Three hundred chess games. But until recently, his books had not been translated into English although his ideas became famous.

He took Wilhelm Steinitz's ideas (control of the center, bishop pair, space advantage) to a higher level of refinement. He emphasized piece mobility much more than Steinitz did, and disliked cramped positions, saying that they "had the germ of defeat". Wilhelm Steinitz Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (May 17, 1836, Prague–August 12, 1900, New York) was an Austrian-American chess player and the first official world chess champion. ...

Tarrasch stated what is known as the Tarrasch rule that rooks should be placed behind passed pawns — either yours or your opponent's. Andrew Soltis quotes Tarrasch as saying "Always put the rook behind the pawn.... Except when it is incorrect to do so." (Soltis 2003:129) Tarrasch stated the rule that rooks should be placed behind passed pawns — either yours or your opponents. ... Staunton chess pieces, left to right: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king. ... This page explains commonly used terms in chess in alphabetical order. ... Andrew Soltis is a chess author and columnist as well as a Grandmaster. ...

Clash with hypermodern school

He was a great target of the hypermodern school, led by Richard Réti, Aron Nimzowitsch, and Savielly Tartakower, who considered his ideas dogmatic. However, many modern masters regard Tarrasch's actual play as not so dogmatic. For example, Tarrasch annotated his victory on the Black side of the Advance French against Paulsen (Nuremberg 1888), 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 (Tarrasch gives his next move 6 ... cxd4 an exclamation mark, and points out that 6 ... Bd7 allows 7 dxc5 with a good game.) cxd4 7. cxd4 Bd7 8. Be2 Nge7 9. b3 Nf5 10. Bb2 Bb4+ 11. Kf1 Be7 12. g3 a5 13. a4 Rc8 14. Bb5 Nb4 15. Bxd7+ Kxd7 16. Nc3 Nc6 17. Nb5 Na7 18. Nxa7 Qxa7 19. Qd3 Qa6 20. Qxa6 bxa6 21. Kg2 Rc2 22. Bc1 Rb8 23. Rb1 Rc3 24. Bd2 Rcxb3 25. Rxb3 Rxb3 26. Bxa5 Rb2 27. Bd2 Bb4 28. Bf4 h6 29. g4 Ne7 30. Ra1 Nc6 31. Bc1 Rc2 32. Ba3 Rc4 33. Bb2 Bc3 34. Bxc3 Rxc3 35. Rb1 Kc7 36. g5 Rc4 37. gxh6 gxh6 38. a5 Ra4 39. Kg3 Rxa5 40. Kg4 Ra3 41. Rd1 Rb3 42. h4 Ne7 43. Ne1 Nf5 44. Nd3 a5 45. Nc5 Rc3 46. Rb1 Nxd4 47. Na6+ Kd8 48. Rb8+ Rc8 49. Rb7 Ke8 50. Nc7+ Kf8 51. Nb5 Nxb5 52. Rxb5 Ra8 53. f4 a4 54. Rb1 a3 55. f5 a2 56. Ra1 Ra4+ 57. Kh5 Kg7 58. fxe6 fxe6 59. Rg1+ Kh8 60. Ra1 Kh7 61. Rg1 a1=Q 62. Rg7+ Kh8 0-1 However, most accounts credit Nimzovitch with such anti-dogmatic hypermodern inventiveness when he played this against Henryk Salwe almost a quarter of a century later (Karlsbad 1911). The Queens Indian Defence is a hypermodern opening Hypermodernism is a school of chess thought which advocates controlling the centre of the board with distant pieces rather than with pawns, thus inviting the opponent to occupy the centre with pawns which can then become objects of attack. ... Richard Réti (1889 – 1929) was a Czechoslovakian chess player, although he was born in what was then Hungary. ... Aron Nimzowitsch (also Nimzovich or Niemzowitsch) (November 7, 1886, Riga – March 16, 1935, Denmark) was a Latvian chess grandmaster. ... Ksawery Tartakower (generally known as Saviely or Savielly in English, from Polish Sawielly meaning little Saul, less often Xavier Tartacover or Xavier Tartakover; 1887–1956) was a leading Polish and French chess Grandmaster. ... Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg, German-Franconian dialect: Närnberch) is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. ... the traditional English name for the city and spa Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic Carlsbad, California Carlsbad, New Mexico, with Carlsbad Caverns National Park nearby Carlsbad, Texas ...

Contribution to opening theory

A number of chess openings are named after Tarrasch, with the most notable being: A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game (the opening moves). ...

• The Tarrasch Defense, Tarrasch's favorite line against the Queen's Gambit.
• The Tarrasch Variation of the French Defense (3.Nd2), which Tarrasch considered refuted by 3...c5, although this is certainly not thought so today.
• The Tarrasch Variation of the Ruy Lopez, also sometimes known as the Open Defence (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4).

The Tarrasch Defense is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves 1. ... The Queens Gambit is a chess opening that starts with the moves 1. ... Chess position after 1. ... The Ruy Lopez, generally called the Spanish Game outside of English speaking countries, is a chess opening characterised by the moves (in algebraic notation): 1. ...

Famous Tarrasch combinations

Tarrasch versus Allies, Naples 1914

In the game Tarrasch versus Allies, Black seems to be holding here (at least against immediate catastrophe), because the black queen guards against Qb7+ (followed by Kxa5 Ra1#), while the black rook on c8 defends against Rxc5#. Tarrasch played the ingenious interference move 31.Bc7! (known as a Plachutta interference because the pieces both move orthogonally). This blocks off both defences, and whatever piece captures becomes overloaded. That is, if 31...Rxc7, the rook is overloaded, having to look after both the key squares, since the queen is blocked from b7. So White would play 32.Qb7+ Rxb7, deflecting the rook from defence of c5, allowing 33.Rxc5#. But if Black plays instead 31...Qxc7, the queen blocks off the rook's defence of c5 and becomes overloaded: 32.Rxc5+ Qxc5 deflects the queen from defence of b7, allowing 33.Qb7+ Kxa5 34.Ra1#. Black actually resigned after this move. Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... 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Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... The Plachutta is a device found in chess problems: a white piece sacrifices itself on a square where it could be captured by one of two similarly-moving black pieces (for example, a bishop and a queen moving along a diagonal, or two rooks) moving along a different line; whichever... Interference is a chess tactic which seldom arises, and is therefore often overlooked. ... In mathematics, orthogonal is synonymous with perpendicular when used as a simple adjective that is not part of any longer phrase with a standard definition. ...

Tarrasch versus Walbrodt, Hastings 1895

In the game against Walbrodt, Tarrasch did not play most of this game very well, and his opponent had the better of it for a long time. But the game is redeemed by the following startling combination: Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... 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Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... Image File history File links This image is used in the standard chess diagram template. ... 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34.Rxd4 seems obvious, because 34...cxd4 allows 35.Bxd4 winning the queen. But Black has a seemingly strong counterattack which had to be foreseen ... 34...Nxg3 35.Nxg3 Rxg3+ 36.hxg3 Rxg3+ 37.Kf1! Rxd3 and now the startling 38.Rg4!! with devastating threats of 39. Rf8+ mating and Bxe5 not to mention cxd3 to follow. Black resigned.

See also

• Tarrasch Trap
• Tarrasch rule

Tarrasch Trap refers to two different chess opening traps in the Ruy Lopez that are named for Siegbert Tarrasch. ... Tarrasch stated the rule that rooks should be placed behind passed pawns — either yours or your opponents. ...

References

•   Andrew Soltis (1997, 2003). Grandmaster Secrets: Endings. Thinker's Press. ISBN 0-938650-66-1. 

External links

• Siegbert Tarrasch at ChessGames.com
• Ballo, Harald (1996). Siegbert Tarrasch Part 1. Chesscafe.com.
• Ballo, Harald (1996). Siegbert Tarrasch Part 2. Chesscafe.com.
• 1908 Lasker - Tarrasch Title Match
• World Chess Championship 1908 Emanuel Lasker - Siegbert Tarrasch