Prof. Christian Hesse

Christian Hesse holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University and was on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley until 1991. Currently he is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). He has been a visiting researcher and invited lecturer at universities around the world, ranging from the Australian National University, Canberra, to the University of Concepcion, Chile. Recently he authored “Expeditionen in die Schachwelt” (Expeditions into the world of chess, ISBN 3-935748-14-0), a collection of about 100 essays that the Viennese newspaper Der Standard called “one of the most intellectually scintillating and recommendable books on chess ever written.”

Christian Hesse in November 2005, in Moscow's Tretjakov Gallery with
Vladimir Kramnik when he was still World Champion

Christian Hesse is married and has a twelve year old daughter and a nine year old son. He lives in Mannheim and likes Voltaire's reply to the complaint: ”Life is hard” – “Compared to what?”.

Recent news

The greatest number you can imagine

6/17/2021 – How many different games of chess are possible? Everyone knows it's a very, very large number. It can be written down in seconds, using just a few digits, is unimaginably huge. Unimaginable? The great scientist Enrico Fermi recommended that we at least try to understand very large numbers, to estimate what they entail. Mathematics professor Christian Hesse attempts to do this for the number of chess games. You will be stunned!

The archæology of chess positions

5/19/2014 – There are many basic motifs in chess, such as the knight fork of king and queen, the bishop sacrifice on h7, the back-rank mate, the pin. They are well known and may be found more or less obviously on the surface, thus standing out from the position. Or they may lie as yet undiscovered at some archæological level. Prof. Christian Hesse uncovers some entertaining examples.

Joys of Chess – Selfmate activists

2/22/2014 – The Darwin Awards "honour" people who have improved the human gene pool by removing themselves from it by an involuntary death in a particularly grotesque manner. In chess, where danger is always lurking, there are some remarkable examples of Freud's thanatos (death) drive in action. They are uncovered by Professor Christian Hesse in his very enjoyable book: Joys of Chess.

Joys of Chess – My favourite

2/5/2014 – Every chess player probably has his favourite game: Byrne-Fischer from the Rosenwald Tournament 1956, Kasparov-Topalov, in Wijk aan Zee 1999, or for chess romantics the Immortal Game Anderssen-Kieseritzky from 1851. In his book The Joys of Chess Professor Christian Hesse has selected a lesser know game, but one dominated by a series of incredible sacrifices. Let him show us this game.

Joys of Chess – Castling

12/13/2013 – Did you know that until the 17th century castling in chess was two separate moves? Or that today there is a chess magazine devoted entirely to castling? Professor Christian Hesse has devoted a section of his book The Joys of Chess to spectacular instances of castling, including rare positions in which the castling move deserves two or even three exclamation marks.

Joys of Chess – Mitrofanov's deflection follow-up

11/4/2013 – In a previous article earlier this week Christian Hesse showed us one of the most beautiful, profound, quiet moves in all of chess composition history. In conclusion he asked: "Has anything as fantastic as Mitrofanov’s deflection ever been successfully employed in over-the-board chess, at least in rudimentary fashion?" It has, as Prof. Hesse shows, in two tournament games. Enjoy.

Joys of Chess – the mother of all moves

10/30/2013 – "6.Qg5!!! What an idea!! A move not yet seen by humanity." These are the comments of Christian Hesse, Professor of Mathematics and an avid chess fan who has written many an article for our news page. In his book The Joys of Chess he continues: "A move from another world. A beautiful, profound, quiet move, a gentle and subtle nuance." Read about Mitrofanov's immortal deflection study.

Joys of Chess – the most over-rated move

9/13/2013 – Christian Hesse, PhD from Harvard and Professor of Mathematics, is an avid chess fan and has written many an article for our news page. As a book author he has been successful with entertaining works on chess. Here's an interesting chapter he wrote on one of the most famous moves of chess history: Marshall's 23...Qg3!!! in 1912. Does it really deserve three exclams? Prof. Hesse thinks not.
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