Siegbert Tarrasch

Siegbert Tarrasch
Tarrasch, c. 1900
Country	Prussia → Germany
Born	(1862-03-05)5 March 1862 Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland)
Died	17 February 1934(1934-02-17) (aged 71) Munich, Germany

Siegbert Tarrasch (German pronunciation: [ˈziːɡbɐt ˈtaraʃ]; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Life

Tarrasch was born in

Chess career

A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the ageing World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in tournaments (+3−0=1) but refused an opportunity to challenge Steinitz for the world title in 1892 because of the demands of his medical practice.

Soon afterwards, in St. Petersburg in 1893, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger

There was no love lost between Tarrasch and Lasker. The story goes that when they were introduced at the opening of their 1908 championship match, Tarrasch clicked his heels, bowed stiffly, and said, "To you, Dr. Lasker, I have only three words, check and mate"—then left the room.[8] When Lasker finally agreed to a title match in 1908, he beat Tarrasch convincingly +8−3=5.

Tarrasch continued to be one of the leading players in the world for a while. He finished fourth in the very strong St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament, behind only World Champion Lasker and future World Champions José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, and ahead of Marshall, Ossip Bernstein, Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch, Blackburne, Janowski, and Gunsberg. His win against Capablanca in the 19th round, though much less famous than Lasker's win against Capablanca the round before, was essential to enable Lasker to achieve his famous come-from-behind victory over Capablanca in the tournament. This tournament was probably Tarrasch's swan song, because his chess career was not very successful after this, although he still played some highly regarded games.

Tarrasch lost +0-5=1 to Lasker in a 1916 match.^[9]

Chess teachings

Tarrasch was a very influential chess writer, and was called Praeceptor Germaniae, meaning "Teacher of Germany." He took some of Wilhelm Steinitz's ideas (e.g. control of the center, bishop pair, space advantage) and made them more accessible to the average chess player. In other areas, he departed from Steinitz. He emphasized piece mobility much more than Steinitz did, and disliked cramped positions, saying that they "had the germ of defeat."

Tarrasch formulated a very important rule in rook endgames that is often called the Tarrasch rule:

The rooks belong behind passed pawns, behind their own in order to support their advance, behind the enemy's in order to impede their advance.^[10]

Chess publications

In 1895, Tarrasch's book Dreihundert Schachpartien was published. It was first translated into English in 1959 by Robin Ault and John Kirwan in a limited edition and a commercial edition in 1999 when S. Schwarz put out Three Hundred Chess Games. Tarrasch released Die moderne Schachpartie in 1912, but it has not been translated yet. He wrote a famous book about the

He edited the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1897, and Tarrasch's Schachzeitung, for the last two years of his life.^[11]

Clash with hypermodern school

He was a target of the hypermodern school, led by Richard Réti, Aron Nimzowitsch, and Savielly Tartakower, all of whom criticized his ideas as dogmatic. However, many modern masters regard Tarrasch's actual play as not dogmatic. According to American grandmaster Andrew Soltis, Tarrasch's chess was "all about piece mobility".^[12]

As an example of his playing style see his victory on the Black side of the Advance French against Louis Paulsen (Nuremberg 1888):

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 Tarrasch gives this an exclamation mark, and points out that 6...Bd7 allows 7.dxc5 with a good game. However, most accounts credit Nimzowitsch with such anti-dogmatic hypermodern inventiveness when he played 7.dxc5 against Gersz Salwe almost a quarter of a century later.^[13] 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^[14]

Contributions to opening theory

A number of chess openings are named after Tarrasch, with the most notable being:

• The Tarrasch Defense, Tarrasch's favorite line against the Queen's Gambit in which Black takes on an isolated queen's pawn: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5!? 4.cxd5 exd5. A main line is then 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 0-0. Tarrasch famously proclaimed, "The future will decide who has erred in estimating this defense, I or the chess world!"; today it is considered sound, though unfashionable.
• The Tarrasch Variation of the
  French Defense
  (3.Nd2), which Tarrasch late in his career considered to be refuted by 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5, with Black again "acquiring" an isolated queen's pawn. This is not thought a refutation today, but is still one of Black's most important lines.
• The Tarrasch Variation of the Ruy Lopez, usually known as the Open Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4).

Famous Tarrasch combinations

Tarrasch vs. Allies, 1914

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

In the game Tarrasch versus Allies, Black seems to be holding here (at least against an 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

Tarrasch vs. Walbrodt, 1895

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

In the game against

• Tarrasch Defense
• Tarrasch Trap
• Tarrasch rule
• List of Jewish chess players

References

Bibliography

• Isidore Singer, Tarrasch, Siegbert, in Jewish Encyclopedia Vol 12.
• Andrew Soltis, Grandmaster Secrets: Endings (1997, 2003,
  ISBN 0-938650-66-1
  )
• Wolfgang Kamm: Siegbert Tarrasch, Leben und Werk (2004,
  ISBN 3-933105-06-4
  ).
• Alfred Brinckmann: Siegbert Tarrasch, Lehrmeister der Schachwelt (1963).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siegbert Tarrasch.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Siegbert Tarrasch.

• Siegbert Tarrasch player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Siegbert Tarrasch at Chessmetrics
• Ballo, Harald (1996). Siegbert Tarrasch Part 1. ChessCafe.com.
• Ballo, Harald (1996). Siegbert Tarrasch Part 2. ChessCafe.com.
• 1908 Lasker–Tarrasch Title Match, mark-weeks.com
• "Siegbert Tarrasch" by Edward Winter