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Carl Schlechter

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Carl Schlechter
Schlecter in 1895
CountryAustria-Hungary
Born(1874-03-02)2 March 1874
Vienna, Austria-Hungary
Died27 December 1918(1918-12-27) (aged 44)
Budapest, Hungary

Carl Schlechter (2 March 1874 – 27 December 1918) was a leading Austro-Hungarian chess master and theoretician at the turn of the 20th century. He is best known for drawing a controversial World Chess Championship match with Emanuel Lasker.[1]

Early life

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Schlechter was born into a Catholic family in Vienna. He is sometimes deemed to be Jewish,[2][3][4][5] although others dispute this.[6] He began playing chess at the age of 13. His first and only teacher was an Austria-Hungarian chess problemist, Samuel Gold.[7]

From 1893 onwards, he played in over 50 international chess tournaments. He won or shared first at Munich 1900 (the 12th DSB Congress), Coburg 1904 (the 14th DSB Congress), Ostend 1906, Stockholm 1906, Vienna 1908, Prague 1908, Hamburg 1910 (the 17th DSB Congress), and the Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna (1911, 1912, 1913).[7]

Schlechter played several matches. He drew with Georg Marco (+0−0=10) in 1893, drew with Marco and Adolf Zinkl both (+4−4=3) in 1894, drew with Dawid Janowski (+2−2=3) in 1896, drew with Simon Alapin (+1−1=4) in 1899, beat Janowski (+6−1=3) in 1902, drew with Richard Teichmann (+1−1=1) in 1904, and drew with Siegbert Tarrasch (+3−3=10) in 1911.[7]

Lasker–Schlechter match

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In 1910, Schlechter played a match against Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess Championship (in Vienna and Berlin). Schlechter was leading by one point going into the tenth and final game. However, in that dramatic three-day contest, he blundered from a winning into a clearly drawn position, only to blunder again into a loss.[8] The match ended in a 5–5 tie (+1 −1 =8) and Lasker retained the title. It is disputed whether Schlechter needed to score +2 to win the match and thus had to win the tenth game. No contract for the match has ever been located. (For match details see World Chess Championship 1910.) Schlechter nevertheless distinguished himself as the first player to seriously challenge Lasker's hold of the world title.

Later life

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Schlechter struggled to make ends meet as a chess professional during the worsening socio-economic conditions of World War I. He won the Trebitsch Memorial in Vienna three times. In 1918, he took third in Vienna, lost a match to Akiba Rubinstein (+1−2=3), placed second in Berlin (Quadrangular, Milan Vidmar won), tied for third place in Kaschau, and took third place in Berlin (Quadrangular, Emanuel Lasker won).

Schlecter died of pneumonia and starvation on 27 December 1918, and was buried in Budapest on 31 December 1918.[9]

Assessment

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The Carl Schlechter–Arthur Kaufmann–Hugo Fähndrich trio propagated the Viennese chess school, founded by Max Weiss in the 19th century. Schlecter, whose knowledge of the positional chess theories of Wilhelm Steinitz was profound, was known especially for his expertise in the Ruy Lopez. A fine problem solver and composer, Schlecter also worked as a chess journalist and editor.[1]

He prepared the eighth and final edition of the monumental Handbuch des Schachspiels openings treatise. Published in eleven parts between 1912 and 1916, the Handbuch totaled 1,040 pages and included contributions by Rudolf Spielmann, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Richard Teichmann. William Hartston described it as "a superb work, perhaps the last to encase successfully the whole of chess knowledge within a single volume."[10]

A true gentleman chess player, Schlecter would offer courteous draws to opponents who felt unwell. If his opponent arrived late for a game, he would inconspicuously subtract an equal amount of time from his own clock. He also mentored many of his rivals, including Oldřich Duras.

The Carl Schlecter Memorial Tournament is named after him.

Opening variations named after Schlechter

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This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Schlecter's contributions to chess opening theory include:[11]

  • Schlechter Gambit in the Bird's Opening: 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 Nc6
  • Schlechter Variation of the French Defence: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3
  • Schlechter Variation of the Slav Defence: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 (or via a Grünfeld move order, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.e3 c6)
  • Schlechter Variation of the Danish Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 d5

Notable games

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The central character of Thomas Glavinic's 1998 novel, Carl Haffner's Love of the Draw, is closely based on Schlechter. The book presents a fictionalized account of the 1910 World Chess Championship match with Lasker.

References

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  1. ^ a b Divinsky, Nathan (1977). "Schlecter, Carl". In Golombek, Harry (ed.). Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess. Crown. pp. 289–90.
  2. ^ The Great Jewish Chess Champions, Harold U. Ribalow & Meir Z. Ribalow. Hippocrene Books, 1986.
  3. ^ Joseph Jacobs & A. Porter, Chess
  4. ^ 10 Great Jewish Chess Masters Archived February 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Gustavo Daniel Perednik, Judaism and Chess Archived October 19, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Chess and Jews, Edward Winter, 2007
  7. ^ a b c Goldman, Warren H. (1994). Carl Schlechter! Life and Times of the Austrian Chess Wizard. Yorklyn, Del.: Caissa Editions. ISBN 0-939433-18-4. OCLC 31602393.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. ^ Divinsky, Nathan (1990). The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia. Batsford. pp. 188–89.
  9. ^ Verkhovsky, Leonid Solomonovich (1984). Karl Schlechter. Fizkultura i sport. pp. 57 (Russian edition).
  10. ^ Hartston, William (1985). The Kings of Chess. Harper & Row. pp. 87. ISBN 0-06-015358-X.
  11. ^ "Bill Wall's list of chess opening names". Archived from the original on October 28, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  12. ^ Winter, Edward (2025-03-31). "Fleissig v Schlecter, Vienna, 1893". Chesshistory.com.
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