Tarrasch’s 159th birthday

by André Schulz
3/5/2021 – There is a long list of great German chess players, and one of the greatest was Siegbert Tarrasch. He was the world’s best player at times, but he was unable to win the World Championship title. Today is the 159th anniversary of Tarrasch’s birth. | In the painting by Antti Faven, which shows a scene from the Café der la Regence, Tarrasch is standing at the very back on the left.

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One of the best in the world

Siegbert Tarrasch was born in Wrocław on 5 March 1862. At the age of 15, as a grammar school pupil, he learned to play chess and transmitted his enthusiasm to his classmates. Eventually they got so strong at the game that they competed with adult players at the Fischer & Busch chess café on Königsplatz. Tarrasch soon became one of the best players in Wrocław.

Tarrasch moved to Berlin to study medicine and became friends with Berthold Lasker, also a medical student and a very strong chess player. Bertold Lasker brought his younger brother Emanuel with him at some point.

They all played regularly in the numerous chess cafés in Berlin. Tarrasch was probably the best player of this triumvirate, but Emanuel Lasker quickly caught up with him. 

Siegbert Tarrasch

Tarrasch began his tournament career around 1881, and in the 1890s took part mainly in the tournaments organized by the German Chess Federation. He won the Master Tournament of the Bavarian Chess Federation in 1888, the Master Tournament of the 6th DSB Congress in 1889, the Master Tournament of the 6th Congress of the British Chess Association in 1890, the Master Tournament of the 7th DSB Congress in 1892 and the Master Tournament of the 9th DSB Congress in 1894. Tarrasch finished the super-tournament of the Hastings Chess Congress in 1895 in fourth place behind Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Mikhail Chigorin and Lasker. Tarrasch turned down the invitation to the Master Tournament in St. Petersburg. 

By the beginning of the 1890s at the latest, Tarrasch was one of the best players in the world. Emanuel Lasker, World Champion since 1894, then replaced him, but Tarrasch still belonged to the world elite until World War I.

Tarrasch had turned down an invitation to face Wilhelm Steinitz in a World Championship match to be played in Cuba in 1892. After Lasker became World Champion, Tarrasch challenged him, but Lasker declined at first. In 1904 Lasker finally accepted the challenge, but the match fell through because Tarrasch had injured himself while skating. Many chess followers — and Lasker himself — thought this was a pretext and suspected that Tarrasch could not afford the prize purse. In the end, the two top German players did compete for the World Championship in 1908, but Tarrasch had already passed his zenith and clearly lost the match. Tarrasch won three, lost eight and drew five games.

After his studies, Siegbert Tarrasch moved to Nuremberg and practiced medicine from 1887 to 1914. Then he went to Munich. 

Tarrasch died of pneumonia on 17 February 1934 at the age of 71. After the Second World War, his grave in Munich’s North Cemetery fell into oblivion until it was rediscovered in 1995 by Alfred Schattmann. Together with the chess fans from SK Tarrasch-Munich and Tarrasch’s grandson Rudolf Gall, Schattmann ensured that the grave was restored. It will soon be renovated once again.

Tarrasch’s new grave

A selection of games by Tarrasch

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Ne7?! 9.a4 Rb8 9...Bg4 10.Be3 10.h3 Bh5 11.g4 Bg6 12.axb5 axb5 13.Rxa8 Qxa8 14.Nd4 c6 15.f4± 9...b4?! 10.c3 10.c4 10.axb5 axb5 11.Nd4 Nc5 11...c5? 12.Nxb5 Rxb5 13.Ba4 Bd7 14.f3+- 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Nc3 13.c3!? 13...c6 13...Nxb3 14.Nxb3 c6 15.Nc5± 14.Qh5!? 14.Bxe7! Bxe7 15.f4 14...Ng6 14...Nxb3? 15.e6!± 14...Ne6 15.Nxe6 15.Ne4 Ng6 16.Nxe6 fxe6 17.Ng3= 15...Qxe6 16.f4 Nf5 17.g4 Bc5+ 18.Kh1 Ne3 19.f5!± Qxe5?? 20.Bf4+- 15.Rfe1 Ne6 16.Be3 16.Nxe6 fxe6 16...Nxd4 16...c5? 17.Ndxb5 d4 18.Nd6+ Bxd6 19.Ba4+- 17.Bxd4 Nf4 17...Qg4= 17...c5? 18.e6 fxe6 19.Be5± 18.Qf3 Ne6 19.Be3 Bb4 20.Bd2 0-0 21.Qg3 f5? 21...Bc5 22.Be3 Bxe3 23.Rxe3 22.Nxd5 cxd5 22...Bxd2 23.Nf6+ Rxf6 24.exf6 Bxe1 25.Bxe6++- 22...f4 23.Qg4 23.Bxb4 Rd8 24.Bd6 Rb6 25.Bxd5+- Qf7 26.Qe3 Ra6 27.Rxa6 Bxa6 28.Qb6 Bc8 29.Bxe6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Tarrasch,S-Chigorin,M-1–01893C80Match Chigorin-Tarrasch +9-9=41
Tarrasch,S-Lasker,E-1–01895Hastings International Masters19
Tarrasch,S-Steinitz,W-1–01898C66Wien Imperial Jubilee
Tarrasch,S-Marshall,F-1–01903C48Monte Carlo8
Tarrasch,S-Marshall,F-1–01903C48Monte Carlo8
Nimzowitsch,A-Tarrasch,S-0–11914D05St Petersburg International Preliminary5

Tarrasch vs Chigorin (1893)

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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